Chapter Text
Jackson felt a strong burning feeling that was coming from his side and spreading to all corners of his body. He tried to shed his jacket and let himself be free to the cool air but it did little to temper the heat. He ran off to the small lake he had noticed earlier and threw himself in. The cold water seeped in through every pore of his body and seemed to finally settle the burn he was feeling. He broke through the water and took a great big gasp of air. His hand went to the big bite at his side and saw that it was no longer inflamed. The sky had little cloud cover so he got a good look at the moon. It wasn't quite full but it would be soon. Which meant that his time was coming soon as well. Soon, he would be ready to claim back what was rightfully his. Soon, he would be a werewolf. Scott McCall and Stiles Stilinski would see what one really looks like.
He didn't know that a pair of red eyes were watching him, glaring at him. Derek let a small sigh loose. He was having second thoughts but with the way that things were, he couldn't afford to second guess himself now. It was only a matter of time before The Argents retaliated against him for what happened to Kate. Him…and the two other betas in Beacon Hills. At least, they were still betas for the moment.
At the opposite side of the preserve, one of those betas was running through the wilderness. He found that it was a good way to organize the rush of thoughts he was having since the night of the Winter Formal nearly one week ago. Much had happened since then and he was still finding time to take grasp of it all.
One of those things was the fact that he was apparently a werewolf forever. Whether it had been a lie or not, he had missed his chance to kill The Alpha Peter Hale and free himself from all of this. That brought him to the second thing, the New Alpha. Scott hadn't really seen Derek since that night outside the day that he was required to go to the Sheriff's Station to give a written account of the events that happened at the school when he supposedly saw Derek. He had to fine tune his story to make it sound that he caught a glimpse of Derek there after seeing the body so he had assumed that the young man had done it instead of the supposed killer Kate Argent.
Which brought his mind to the central point of his life. Another Argent. Allison. Scott may had been scared at the beginning but he was now happy that she knew his secret. There were finally no barriers between them and Allison seemed to accept it. It seemed to have brought them closer.
They had taken her car out to a lookout point by the Preserve to talk about two days after that night and ended up making out.
At least they did until the window was savagely smashed in and Scott was grabbed and pulled out from it. He was thrown to the ground before he was picked up and thrown up against the hood and a cold end of a pistol was pointed at his throat. Scott's vision cleared up to see that it was Allison's father Chris Argent.
"Dad!" Allison threw herself out of the car and ran to him. "You can't do this! He saved our lives! Your life, you can't do this!" she cried desperately to him. "Dad, let him go! Please let him go and I'll do whatever you want!" she pleaded. But her father kept the gun on him. "I won't see him again. I swear I won't. Please."
After a few more times of Allison repeating that word, Please, Chris dropped the gun and let go of Scott. "Never again," he warned her daughter.
Scott then took off through the Preserve and made his way into the public streets. He had started running off on all fours which he found was a little bit faster than just on his two feet. He nearly got hit by two cars but he was too focused on where he was heading to care. He only had a small window to make his way into another kind of window. He jumped to it and climbed through where he immediately rolled on into the room.
"How much time we have?" he said smiling at Allison.
"They'll be gone for an hour," she smiled.
The two of them then started to kiss and began to strip off his jacket. When it fell loose they went on to fall onto her bed.
Over at Beacon Hills Hospital, Stiles was laying the long way across three waiting chairs close by Lydia's room. He was sound asleep as he hadn't been getting much lately. Melissa McCall came on over to look at him and shook his head at how Stiles was. She went to go and wake him up but he turned over and she saw the hard but pained look on his face. She guessed that things weren't going easy for the boy. He had to endure a lot of both from some of the local press about his involvement with the investigation of Kate Argent and all the murders she committed that he helped to bring out into the open so he most likely wasn't getting a lot of rest. The stress of it all probably was getting to him as he was grumbling a bit in his sleep and though she couldn't make heads or tails of it, it didn't sound good.
She didn't know that what was running through Stiles' head was worse than she imagined. Memories were playing out and they had nothing to do with the press or with making all those on the record reports for the police. Stiles had a few major things going on in his life.
First, there was the issue of Derek being the new Alpha. Though he worked with Derek to set up pinning everything on Kate Argent, they weren't on the best of terms. Derek had taken him off when they had a spare moment and asked him that now that he was an Alpha for Stiles to join him and be a part of his pack. Stiles' answer surprised him.
"What do you mean no?" Derek hissed at him.
"I mean No. Do you need to hear it in Spanish? No," he said in a perfect imitation of what he did with Jackson the night of Peter's attack at the school.
Derek put on his classic sour face. "May I ask why you're saying no? While we aren't what would be called friends I was under the impression that you and I at least were in an alliance against the hunters."
"Keyword: Were." Stiles said at him. "That changed when you lied to Scott about the cure to get him to help you."
"He wouldn't have helped any other way," Derek argued back.
"You don't know that. Scott wanted to do the right thing and stop Peter from killing. You could've told him that there was no cure"
"Well I couldn't take that chance." Derek's face was hard as he stared Stiles down. "I did what I had to do. Just like you did."
"I never lied to him."
"No, you just didn't tell him the truth of what you were really doing to try and stop the Argents."
"To protect him," Stiles said. "You played with his hope. You used him, and me, so you could get the power. Well, you got it. But you don't and won't have him or me."
Derek glared at him with his new eyes glowing. Stiles merely glared back at him in defiance with his own golden eyes shining back.
Then there was the other, more disastrous issue that was in Stiles' life. The Argents.
His mind went to all of his research that he had undergone in his room, during his spare time. Notes, files and pictures of the Argents as well as the other hunters that he had seen with them. Now that his and Scott's secret was out to these people, he had to find a way to shield themselves against them and make sure that they wouldn't think of touching them. Sadly, it was slow going…and he couldn't afford it to be when Scott had come charging into his house. Stiles had quickly stashed his stuff under his bed as Scott came into his room, panting and frantic.
"What happened to you?" he asked as he saw that Scott looked like he had been through the horror of his life.
Scott then started to talk about what had happened with him, Allison and Mr. Argent. "What are we going to do?" he asked him.
Stiles shrugged. Was he truly surprised because Stiles wasn't. "Scott, you had to know that this was coming."
Stiles called it from the start. Allison was from a werewolf hunting family and Scott was a werewolf, so yeah, issues.
"But I saved her life and we stopped the Alpha," he argued.
Stiles shrugged. "Yeah, I don't think that matters. I think we're just lucky that they haven't shot us, yet." Scott then went and kicked the side of Stiles' bedpost in anger. "I'm sorry Scott."
"I just can't believe this is happening." Scott let out a growl before he went and gave Stiles' bedpost another swift kick.
The smell of anger and defiance was practically oozing out of him and made Stiles' nose twitch. "Scott, what are you going to do?" Scott didn't answer him but Stiles still got the message loud and clear. And Stiles had to send his own message.
Chris and Victoria Argent sure were shocked when a rock suddenly shattered their living room window and ricocheted off the nearby wall. Chris went to it and saw that the word Psychos was etched on it. Chris went to the front door but saw no one in sight. When he closed the door, Stiles stepped out of his place from across the street.
His aim definitely was getting better.
Looking back, that may have been a little petty but Stiles thought that they had it coming. For all of Mr. Argent's preaching of his damn code, they sure found ways around it. They don't kill anyone who is innocent but they seem to like trying to goad them into trying not to be, and that's if they are feeling nice. Well, at least now they don't have to restrict themselves around them since the Argents know about them. Yet, there is the added factor that the same couldn't be said about the others. Argent had other hunters working for them, so did Kate from what Derek had told him. He only saw the faces of two of them from the hospital and there were bound to be more. A lot more. He had no clue who they all were but it was safe to say they knew who he and Scott were.
And Lydia too. It still wasn't confirmed if she was a werewolf or not. They would know for sure by the time the full moon came around and it was soon. That was why he was here, to protect her from anyone who decided not to wait. He had his nose on constant alert from anyone that might be giving off the scent of gunpowder. He took the time to familiarize himself with the scent by being around his dad's gun until he got it committed to memory.
In her room, Lydia was slowly recovering but still feeling sore from the attack she suffered at the lacrosse field. According to the doctors, she would be free to leave in two days. Her father was there, for once, and offered to help her in getting to the shower but she insisted she was fine. Lydia climbed into the shower and started to rinse herself off with the warm water. Her hands lightly rubbed the bite at her side which was still sore. Try as she might, she couldn't remember anything about that time. Every time she tries to recall her attack all she sees is a flash of red. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice the black goo spewing from the drain. It turned all the water pitch black and was building.
Mr. Martin came out of Lydia's room and looked over at Stiles.
"He's been here all night?" he asked Mrs. McCall who was still staring at him.
"He's been here all weekend," she corrected for him.
One of the nurses came over to empty a waste basket that was close to him when she froze when she heard growling echoing from Stiles' throat. The images of the hunters he was seeing in his sleep was being expressed out in the surface. It sounded a little predatory to the nurse so she quickly left but made some noise when she did which seemed to jolt Stiles awake. He looked over to see that Lydia's dad and Scott's mom were both staring at him.
"Hey," he grumbled to them.
"Stiles," Melissa said approaching him. "Maybe it might be best if you head on home. Get yourself some rest, in your own bed, instead of hanging off these chairs."
Stiles shook his head. "No. Don't worry. I'm good here," he insisted with a small smile.
Stiles couldn't leave. Lydia was bitten and until they could see for sure if she was going to turn or not, she wasn't safe. He had to stay close by and protect her in case the Argents or any of their thugs came around packing wolfsbane bullets with her name on them. And to protect anyone from Lydia as well.
After a few minutes he felt that he could use some sugar. Getting up brought some stiff feeling into his back from where the armrest had pressed into it. He dragged himself over to the vending machine and made his selection. But when his candy was coming out, it instead stayed on the hook.
"Seriously," he mumbled. "Come on," he said giving the machine a good whack. He checked around and when it looked safe, he went and wrapped his arms around the machine and tried to lift it up and shake it a bit. It lifted just a bit over his toes and Stiles then let it go as he hoped that would loosen the candy. It didn't. "No. No. I don't need this now," he growled to himself. He grabbed the machine and shook it violently but put too much of his strength behind it and it fell to the floor with a crash.
'Oh crap,' he thought to himself in a small panic.
That crash snapped Lydia out of her thoughts as she looked out of her shower. She wondered what that was before she just shrugged it off and went back to her shower. But when she looked down, she noticed that the water in the tub was pitch black. She reached into the drain to see what was clogging it up and found hair. Her hair. She put it to the side but the water wasn't going down yet. She reached in and found more. And more. And more. There was just so much hair and Lydia was starting to freak out. She was outright terrified when a burnt and bloodied hand reached up and grabbed her wrist.
Lydia then let out a great scream.
Stiles quickly lifted the machine back into place to find that the glass front was completely shattered and broken on the floor. He was about to start kicking the pieces underneath when the scream vibrated in his ears. He almost put his hands to them but it was over far too quickly. But, he knew who made that scream.
"Lydia?" Stiles said before he ran for her room.
"What the hell was that?" Mrs. McCall asked as she and her father were running to the room as well.
"Lydia!" Stiles shouted as he pushed past the two adults and into the bathroom.
The shower was still running but the tub was empty. Stiles' eyes were then drawn to the open window. He could see the woods just beyond them.
Scott and Allison were on her bed, with most of their clothes gone, enjoying their limited time together. They were heavily making out and they were so into it that they knocked over her lamp and then fell off the opposite side of her bed. The two of them laughed and let themselves be intoxicated in their bliss. That is until Scott straightened up and his body tensed.
"Do the right side brakes of your dad's SUV squeak a little bit?" he asked quickly.
"Yeah," she said.
Scott's face paled. "Then we're dead."
Allison's face paled also. "Oh my god. Hurry. Hurry," she said frantically. Soon, Allison's mother walked on into the room without so much as a knock on the door. Allison was dressed again on her bed with a book open. The room was empty except for her. She spared her mother a small glance. "If you don't trust me enough to let me have a lock on my door than the least you could do is knock."
"Did I interrupt something?" her mother hissed.
"Just my studying, my life, my happiness, my will to live," she said listing everything she could think of at the moment.
"I picked up your dress for the funeral tomorrow."
Allison spared it a look. She almost forgot. Kate's funeral. Allison wasn't sure how she should feel. She loved Kate, but the first memories she seems to have of her nowadays is her holding a gun at Scott's face with a smile on her own.
She shook herself out of it. "Just…put it there on my desk," she mumbled.
But her mother didn't head for the desk. She headed for Allison's closet and moved the clothes about to find it empty. Scott wasn't there but was just outside of her window.
"Can I go back to studying now?" Allison asked her mom. "Or would you like to do a full body cavity search?" Her mother didn't seem to be done as she continued to give the place a once over. "Mom?"
Mrs. Argent then looked out the window but didn't see anything. Scott had moved to around the corner. He stayed there for a while, waiting for Mrs. Argent to leave but his ears stiffened as a distant scream entered them.
"Lydia," he mumbled.
He had no idea how he knew that was her, he just did.
Sheriff Stilinski responded to the call at the hospital and went right to Melissa for the story. And boy, was it a story. Lydia had escaped from her room leaving everything behind. Literally everything.
"Naked? As in nude?" he asked her to see if he hadn't misunderstood.
"I'm pretty sure they mean the same thing," she said to him. "As far as we know she left here clothing optional."
"You checked the hospital?"
"Every last corner," she said. "She just took off."
"Let's get out an APB out on a 16 year old red-head," he said to his deputy. "Any other descriptors?"
Stiles then came right on over. "About 5 foot 3. Green Eyes. Fair Skin and her hair is actually Strawberry Blonde," he said filling in his dad on all of Lydia's physical descriptions.
"Is that right?" his father asked. Stiles nodded and then his dad grabbed him by the neck and dragged him off to the side. "What the hell are you still doing here Stiles?"
"Uh…providing moral support."
"Uh huh," his dad nodded. "How about you provide your ass back home, where you should be?"
Stiles nodded. "Yeah…I can do that too."
"Yeah," his dad said before he let him go.
Stiles eyes looked down at the custodial staff at the broken vending machine trying to clean up the broken glass on the floor and he walked around them. He wasn't planning on staying anyway. He had to find Lydia. He got a text from Scott. He was heading for the hospital. Stiles texted back for him to meet him at the parking lot at his jeep. Stiles then left the hospital but went around the building to just underneath where the window to Lydia's bathroom was. On the floor was her bloodied smock which Stiles had taken the liberty of throwing out the window without Mrs. McCall seeing him. He grabbed it and went over to where Scott was waiting. He then gave the smock to him so that he could get her scent.
"This is the one she was just wearing," Scott asked taking it. Stiles nodded to him firmly and he knew what his friend was thinking. "Don't worry. We'll find her. No one's going to hurt her. Not again."
"Alright," Stiles huffed. "Just shove that thing in your face and let's find her. I already have her scent." He then started the car and the headlights lit Allison up right in front of them. "Wow," he hollered out.
Allison then ran to the passenger side to Scott. Scott immediately lowered the window. "What are you doing? Someone's going to see us."
"I don't care. She's my best friend and we need to find her before they do."
"We can find her before the cops can," Scott argued.
Stiles nodded. He didn't want Allison to come along with them though his reasons were different than Scott's.
"How about before my dad does?" Allison quickly said back.
Stiles stiffened. "He knows?"
"Yeah. I just saw him and three other guys leave my house in two SUV's."
Stiles eyes narrowed. How did Argent learn about this so quickly? There hasn't been enough time for the news to really spread outside the police. Maybe they had a police scanner. But then his eyes focused on Allison. Or maybe they learned from a different source. Allison knew it immediately because he was sure that Scott had told her before he came by. Did she tell them?
The suspicion wasn't shared by Scott as he just looked back at Stiles with a grim face. "A search party."
"More like a hunting party," said Allison.
"Get in," Scott said opening the back door.
"Wait," Stiles said quickly making them freeze.
"What?" Scott said looking at him confused.
Stiles tried to keep himself calm. He thought of something fast. "Are you sure that's a good idea. The last thing you want is for those guys, or even worse her dad, to spot us, with her, in the woods."
"Look…we don't have time for this Stiles. We need all the help we can get."
Stiles huffed but waited for Allison to get in before he backed the car up and sped off. He went as fast as the speed limit as he raced down for the preserve. "If Lydia really is turning, do you know if they will actually kill her?"
"I…I don't know. They won't tell me anything. All they say is that we'll talk after Kate's funeral when the others get here."
Stiles looked up to the mirror at her. "Others? What others?" Already he had three other guys with the Argents and now even more were on the way. He had to know just how many so that he could find some way to prepare and protect themselves.
"They won't tell me that either," she said.
Stiles let out a puff. "Okay, your family has serious communication issues to work on." 'Among other things,' he silently added. He looked back at Scott who had his head out the window. At any other time, Stiles would say something witty about that but this was too serious. He would do it himself if he wasn't worried he would crash the jeep. "Scott, where to now?"
"Take the next right," he called out before Stiles did just that.
They kept this up until Scott told them to stop when he found the scent moving straight ahead into the trees. Stiles left the road and started to drive into the preserve for a bit before he stopped when the terrain wasn't suitable anymore.
They then got out and continued on foot. Both Scott and Stiles locked onto the scent and Stiles immediately took the lead in following it. They moved through the woods quickly but carefully until they ended up at the familiar sight of the old Hale House.
"She came here?" Stiles asked in disbelief.
"This is where the scent goes," said Scott.
Stiles just shook his head. "Why here though. Has Lydia even ever been here?" He looked at Allison as he said this.
"Not with me," she said in a small voice. Stiles gave her a look before he moved on ahead. Allison didn't think that she liked the look Stiles just gave her but shrugged it off. She just turned to Scott who was still looking around. "Maybe she was drawn here, by instinct. Looking for Derek?"
"You mean…looking for an Alpha," said Scott hesitantly. If that was true then maybe Lydia was a werewolf after all.
"Wolves need a pack right?" she asked him.
"Not all of them," Scott said stubbornly. Scott had no desire to be with an Alpha given what he saw from Peter and he felt that Derek was hardly any better. He didn't need them. And he knew that Stiles didn't need them either. They were fine by themselves.
"But," Allison continued. "Would she have been drawn to an Alpha? Is it instinct to be part of the pack?"
"Yeah…we're stronger in packs."
"Like strength in numbers?"
"No. Like literally stronger. Faster. Better in every way."
"That the same for an Alpha?"
Scott nodded. "Yeah, that would make Derek stronger too."
Stiles was listening to everything the two of them were saying and he just shook his head at it. It was good that Scott felt that he could talk with Allison about all of this. But he didn't like that Allison didn't try it this way first instead of taking her compound bow and shoot bolts at Scott in the woods before she could have the sit down.
He then caught the faint smell of rubber and metal in the ground. He crutched down as his eyes caught the source. "Hey, look at this. You see this?" he said looking over at Scott. Allison came over to him and Stiles flinched a bit but kept his eyes on the contraption. "I think it's a trip wire." He then lifted it and heard something click. He looked on ahead but didn't see anything change. That was because what had happened didn't happen in front of him but behind. Scott was now hanging upside down when the noose looked onto his foot and lifted him up in the air.
"Stiles," he called.
"Yeah buddy." Stiles turned around and stiffened. "Oh."
"Next time you see a trip wire, don't trip it," he muttered out, letting his annoyance show.
"Noted," Stiles nodded as he huffed at the set up. Allison was laughing, but he wasn't. The Argents had to have set this up to try and catch one of them.
They went over to try and help him but Scott held his hands out. "Wait, wait. Someone's coming."
Stiles stiffened and let his senses reach out. "More than one."
"Hide," he said to them.
Stiles and Allison then took off and hid over by a thick tree. Stiles saw how close they were and backed off a bit. Something that Allison couldn't help but notice. She didn't dwell too long on that when she saw her father and his men come out into the open.
He walked over to the hanging werewolf. He crutched down to him. "Scott," he said simply.
"Mr. Argent," Scott said back.
"How you are doing?"
"Good. You know, just…hanging out," he said with a small smile making it sound that this situation was completely normal. "This one of yours?" he said looking back at the snare. "It's good. Nice design. Very…constricting."
"What are you doing out here Scott?" Mr. Argent asked getting serious now.
"Looking for my friend," Scott answered.
"Oh, that's right. Lydia is in your group now. Or your clique. Is that the word you use? Or is there another way to put it? Part of your pack?"
That made Stiles narrow his eyes at Argent as he full on glared at the hunter.
But Scott just gulped. "Actually, clique sounds about right to me."
"I hope so. Because I know she's a friend of Allison's. And one special circumstance, such as yourself, I can handle. Your friend Stiles, that one is already pushing it. But no more."
Stiles hand went into a deep fist and the bones cracked so hard that Allison heard it. Stiles couldn't believe it. Mr. Argent was making it sound that letting the two of them live was a decision that he made from the goodness of his heart. If anything, the man had it backwards. The only reason that he was out and about what out of the goodness of Stiles' heart. Stiles thought it was time to set the hunter straight. He took out his phone and went to a sound file. He then went and sent it out to Mr. Argent's phone.
The hunter looked like he was going to say something before his phone beeped. He saw that he received a sound file. He opened it and suddenly heard Stiles voice.
"You don't hurt innocents especially when they're young. Like shoot crossbow bolts at kids in the forest at night, flash rifles at them outside of their school dance or hold a gun, with the safety off, under one's chin in a public hospital. You don't do things like that, do you Mr. Argent? Right?!"
Then he heard his own voice. "That's right."
He remembered this. It was from the night of the Formal when he had confronted Stiles and Jackson at the hospital.
Scott may have been dangling upside down but his ears still worked. He heard the whole thing. He knew that Stiles and Allison's dad 'met' at the hospital that night but his friend never told him the details of it. From how they sounded on that message, it had to have been intense.
"I see you got my message."
Suddenly the other men rose and pointed their guns at the new one to enter the scene. Stiles left Allison to keep hiding behind the tree while he calmly walked over to say that to them in the same normal tone that Argent had with Scott a minute ago.
Chris held his hand out to them to tell his men to stand down. "Stiles," he said calmly to the boy.
"Argent," he said back in the same tone.
"So...you managed to record me that night," Chris mused. He wouldn't deny it. He was impressed with the boy's ingenuity.
"Just in case you're wondering, there's another copy. At home, where my dad can easily find it," he said smugly though it contradicted his hard face.
"So, the whole pack is out and about tonight?" Argent said looking from Stiles back to Scott.
"Just the two pack," Stiles said sending a smirk Scott's way. He then went back to staring hard at the hunter. "And you Mr. Argent. You and your buddies just out for a nighttime stroll? With your guns?"
"You never know what you might find," Argent said back.
Stiles nodded his head. "Oh. You're looking for something? Tracking something, is that the word you use? Or, is it…hunting? You do know that this is a preserve. Hunting isn't allowed." Scott couldn't help the smirk he let loose on that one. Stiles sure had his moments. But Stiles wasn't smirking or laughing. He was dead serious. "Given your position I don't think you could afford any trouble with the law right now."
Argent and his men glared hard at the young werewolf.
"If you're worried that I was going to hurt Scott, you can put your concerns to rest Stiles. I was just trying to offer…guidance."
"Yeah, well I think we had enough of your guidance for one lifetime. And you could spare Lydia your guidance as well. She's an honors student, she doesn't need them."
Argent smirked at him. "Thank you for sharing. Now why don't you two head on home now and let us do what we have to do."
"Or what?" Stiles challenged.
"Stiles?" Scott muttered to him in warning. The last thing they needed was to start something. Especially with Allison right there watching all of them.
"You know, I couldn't help overhear what you were saying to Scott. You made it sound like you were reaching some kind of a limit." Stiles just put his hands out to his hips. "You still go by your code, right? Or has that changed? Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't it say you're supposed to not kill innocents," he said stretching the last word. "Innocents, with an S. Meaning all innocents. Unless your code has a sub clause which says that the 'innocents' part has a limited capacity."
Chris glared at the kid but he just glared right back. "Do you boys know what a hemicorporectomy is?"
"I have a feeling that I don't want to," Scott said while Stiles just stared blankly at him.
"It's a medical term for amputating someone at the waist. Cutting them in half. It takes a tremendous amount of strength to cut through tissue and bone. Right here," he said running his finger down Scott's side. Stiles straightened himself as the hunters next to Chris tightened their hold on their rifles. "Let's hope a demonstration doesn't become necessary."
Scott face froze while Stiles face tightened. That sounded exactly like what had happened with Laura Hale. If hunters did that then they could understand why Derek thought The Argents had killed Laura at the beginning. And from his tone of voice, the both of them guessed that Mr. Argent had plenty of experience with that.
"Yes, let's," Stiles said drawing the hunter's eyes back to him. "Because if either Scott or Lydia end up being half the people they used to be, I'll be holding you fully responsible. As will my father if I'm only half-way there." He then looked to Argent's hunters. "So keep a tight leash on your men. And coming from someone like me, you know that means something."
They all could feel it. Scott, Stiles and Argent. A line had just been drawn. Scott took a look at Stiles. He didn't know if he felt that the way that his friend dealt with the hunter was awesome or disturbing. Maybe both. And the way Stiles' eyes were. They were like a predator, staring down his prey. Waiting for it to make the first move.
Chris then looked over to his men. He nodded his head and then took off with them following behind. One of them made a point to bump against Stiles with his shoulder as he passed but Stiles just kept on staring ahead and didn't react. He just focused on his breathing and tried to keep himself calm. For so long that he didn't notice Allison approach until she spoke.
"Are you guys okay?"
"Yeah," Scott said looking up at her. "Just another life threatening conversation with your dad," he joked.
Stiles wasn't laughing as he followed the wire at Scott's ankle and it led him to the harness device. "Hold on buddy. I'll get you down."
He ran to the device and Allison was right behind him.
Scott then went and brought his claws out and swiped at the wire on his leg. He then landed back down on his feet. "Guys," he called to them. He was smiling. "I think I got it."
"Oh," Allison giggled.
"Coming?" he asked them.
Allison began to move but Stiles stayed put.
"Uh, go on. I'm going to take care of this thing," he said pointing to the harness trap.
Allison gave him nod and went over to Scott and the two of them then started walking for the Hale House together while Stiles began to pull the harness out and gather the wire. As he worked he didn't notice Allison look back over at him with a sad look on her face. A look that Scott caught and he looked over at his friend's back himself. His eyes were narrowed in wonder and confusion. Was something the matter with his friend and girlfriend?
Over at the cemetery, there was a lift at work digging into the ground. It was the space in front of a gravestone that was marked Kate Argent. The operator was a teenager by the name of Isaac Lahey. He was digging this whole for a funeral that was going to be held here tomorrow though was in no hurry to finish. The more time he took working then the less time he had to spend at home. His hand went over to his left eye which was still a little bit sore from the last time that his dad lost it. But he stopped when he heard a crack. It was followed by the sound of rustling leaves, like someone or something was running. He tried to spot what it was but wasn't seeing anything. He finally found what looked like a hand running across one of the headstones. It then vanished.
"What the hell?" he muttered.
He didn't get too long to dwell on that as something started running at him and the lift suddenly started to tip over. Isaac fell into the open grave and the machine tipped over and trapped him in the hole. He tried to stand up but then something ran across the top with a snarl. He thought it looked like an animal. Isaac was scared out of his wits. Which got worse when he heard the growling. He climbed up to look over the gap and saw that something was digging into one of the graves. He then quickly went down. Soon, he heard the sound of a growl and the sound of that animal running away. Before he could do anything else, the machine started to move away from the hole. It wasn't being pushed…it was being lifted off, until it was right side up again.
Isaac soon caught sight of the guy who did it. Derek Hale. "Need a hand?" he asked the kid.
In the morning, that cemetery was full of people. Most of them cops including the sheriff. He was over by Isaac who was standing next to his father.
"It's Lahey. Isaac Lahey," he said when the sheriff asked for his name.
"You work for your father Isaac?"
"When he's not in school," his father said for him. "Where he needs to be in twenty minutes."
"I understand that. But I have a missing girl and our K-9 unit led us here," the sheriff explained. "She's not wearing clothes and if she was out here tonight, with the temperature drops, then-"
"I'm sorry," Isaac cut in. "I didn't see anything."
Mr. Lahey sucked on his teeth. "Trust me, if he saw a naked girl outside a computer screen, he'd remember."
Mr. Lahey was laughing and his son tried to look anywhere but at him. Sheriff Stilinski wasn't amused. And he noticed something about Isaac's face.
"How'd you get that black eye Isaac?"
His father looked at him as he answered. "School."
"School fight?" asked the sheriff.
"Lacrosse," Isaac answered.
"Lacrosse? You play for Beacon Hills?" Isaac nodded. "My son plays too. He's on the team, do you know him?"
Isaac nodded again. "Yeah, Stiles." Isaac looked off and noticed Derek standing there looking at him. "I know him," he said with that far off look.
The sheriff followed his line of sight but didn't see anyone there. "Something wrong Isaac?"
"Huh," he said snapping out of it. "No. I just remembered. I have a morning practice to get to."
He nodded. "Okay, just one more question. You guys get many grave robberies here?"
He pointed out to the grave that had been disturbed last night.
"A few," said Isaac. "Usually they take stuff like jewelry."
"What did this one take?"
"Her liver."
Over at the opposite side of the cemetery, Stiles was crutched down at the other side of the gate where the shrubs were hiding him from sight. When he heard his father get the call this morning he followed after him. Did Lydia do this?