That smell
Rrriiiinnng, riiiinnngg
‚Not falling for you prank again, Stiles!' Came the voice of one angry Derek Hale over the phone before the line went dead.
'That son of a bitch hung up on me!' Stiles panted in return while trying not to slip on the slippery, slimy ground him and Scott were running on.
'What?' Scott shouted. 'He has to! He's our only hope!'
'Well why don't you try calling him then?' His friend snapped. 'He doesn't seem to want to listen to a word I have to say even if I start my call with 'don't hang up!''
'Fine! Hand me the phone.'
The shrieking behind them grew louder and closer. Both boys instinctively picked up the pace, turning left, right, left again in the labyrinth of the sewers, trying to find a way out without running into whatever was after them.
Derek's phone buzzed in his pocket. He took it out and glanced at the screen. He rolled his eyes and set it down on the table.
'Not gonna happen Stiles.'
'He's not picking up!' Scott yelled over the sound of wind coming from the ventilations shafts, blowing the stink of rot into their face. 'I'll text him!' He managed to type in some words but suddenly slipped, lost his balance and let the phone fall into the whirling black water flowing next to them.
'Dude, my phone!' Stiles shrieked.
Scott tried shooting an apologetic glance towards his friend while praying that by some miracle his message had gone through.
Derek was in the middle of a workout session. He was doing one of many pushups while trying to ignore the occasional buzzing sound coming from his phone.
He wasn't going to fall for this again. Not again. His beard had grown back but his pride was still bruised. The subsequent prank phone calls and various traps he had walked into didn't help to assuage his anger. Unfortunately all his attempts to get back at Stiles had been fruitless. It was as if that little bugger could anticipate his every move. He had even started to suspect that they had bugged his apartment! He tirelessly kept flexing and relaxing his muscles, lowering his body and pushing it up again, down and up, down and up. He wasn't thinking about Stiles or his pranks, not thinking about why nobody other than that useless comedian had called him today. Usually by now he had received at least three phone calls from three different members of the group asking for assistance or advice. Nothing today. Except for Stiles. He shrugged it off. He was happy to have a quiet day. Except that quiet days didn't usually happen in his line of work… Who was he to complain? No problems… No calls…
'Dammit!' He cursed himself as he interrupted his physical exercise and checked his phone.
'DAMMIT!' He yelled when he saw the text displayed on the screen.
DEREK. It's Scott. Help. In sewers with Stiles. Monster.
He instantly called the number but no one was picking up.
'Dammit.' He breathed. This was either a very elaborate scheme or the boys were really in trouble. He couldn't take a chance with Scott's life on the line. Fine, Stiles shouldn't have to die either. Then again it could just be another prank and he'd make a fool of himself by running around the sewers. He grimaced, grabbed a t-shirt and ran out of the building.
Five minutes later his car came to a screeching halt outside the nearest entrance to the sewers. He still hesitated. If the boys were in there, he couldn't smell it. An unusually strong odor emanated from the opening in the ground. He frowned but moved onward.
'Here we go.' He grumbled but froze after suddenly hearing an ear-piercing shriek.
'Okay.' He paled. 'Not a prank.' He backed away and turned back towards the car. 'I need some equipment.' He just hoped Scott and Stiles had enough life left to live for him to go shopping.
'This is taking too long.' He cursed under his breath while lighting the next scented candle. He was crouching inside the entrance of the sewers surrounded by a mountain of candles and incense sticks already clouding the area with their tiny strings of smoke. Derek had covered his mouth with a mask and was busy unscrewing the perfume bottles he had bought. He dumped their contents all over the stone floor and into the dirty water. Even through the mask he had trouble breathing, his wolf smell being too sensitive. When he reached the last bottle, he hesitated and instead of pouring it away dumped the liquid over his head. He almost lost consciousness as the sickly sweet scent enveloped him. He tried breathing slowly, waiting for the nauseating sensation to subside. When he was sure he wouldn't fall over, he heaved the clinking backpack onto his shoulder and started down the corridors, running towards the intermittent shrieks and hopefully towards Stiles and Scott.
'Scott!' He shouted. 'Can you hear me?' He rounded a corner, almost slipping and falling, but kept running. Dammit all why did he always have to end up doing this bullshit? He wasn't a babysitter and somehow ended up running to everybody's rescue every other day. Help with this, tell us about that. Derek is just a phone call away. At this rate, he'd have to start charging them for his services. He should set up a consultant business like Deaton. Though, now that he thought of it, that guy wasn't asking for money either. At least he had his veterinarian business to keep himself going.
'I should get a job.' Derek murmured to himself before suddenly listening up. He thought he had heard something besides his own voice and that infernal shriek. He jumped over the sewer river and followed the noise. It didn't take long before he ran into Scott and Stiles, literally bumping into the latter. Stiles bounced back like a rubber ball and fell on his ass, letting out a surprised yelp.
'Derek!' Scott's voice showed relief for a second before his hand shot up to cover his mouth and nose. 'Oh my God. What the hell is that smell?' He gagged.
'Our ticket out of here!' The grown wolf shoved a can of women's deodorant in his hand and threw one at Stiles. The sheriff's son caught it and gave Derek and excited glance.
'Great! Homemade flame throwers! Though I have to admit, the real deal would have been more efficient against that thing THAT JUST SHOWED UP AROUND THE CORNER!' He screamed the last part and quickly got to his feet in order to retreat behind the werewolves. The cloudlike blob that had floated into sight approached with frightening speed.
'Derek if you brought any lighters for this stunt now would be an amazing time to hand them out!' Stiles nudged the muscular man to his right.
'You don't need one.' The green eyes were fixed on the rapidly approaching enemy.
'What do you mean?' Stiles' voice was shrill. 'These cans aren't going to catch fire by themselves!' He exclaimed.
'Fire is not the point.' Derek's voice was calm while he raised the spray can at the abomination. Scott who had eyed the approach of their pursuer with rising worry found himself imitating the older werewolf. I just hope this works, he thought to himself a second before the enemy was on them.
At that exact same moment Derek pressed the catch on the deodorant, unleashing a cloud of spray and in a flash, the monster recoiled. It let out a deafening scream and stopped, retreating instantly, while the tallest of the three was ceaselessly spraying it. When Derek's can ran out he threw it away and fished out a new one from inside the bag.
'What just happened?' Stiles found his voice again and stared at the can in his hand.
'That thing is sensitive to odors. The more disgusting it is, the better for the monster. Flowery smells disorientate and repel it.' He motioned at them. 'You should probably spray yourselves too, you can't be too careful.' Then he set off at a brisk pace retracing his steps. 'Let's move!'
With Derek in the lead they ran through the maze, getting closer and closer to the exit. As they approached it Scott felt more and more sick and the shrieks of whatever monster had been following them had grown angrier.
'Guys…' Scott got out when he felt his legs weaken. 'I don't feel too good…'
'Shit!' Derek suddenly realized the alpha wasn't wearing a mask and was probably getting the full wave of scented candles and incense right about now. He grabbed one of Scott's arms and dragged him along shouting 'GO!' At Stiles who ran ahead, holding the spray can ready, in case the monster showed. They had been spraying various amounts of deodorant along the way and empty cans were floating down the never ending stream of sewer water while Derek noticed the bag get lighter and lighter. They had to get out soon.
'There!' Stiles suddenly shouted and Derek only had to turn a corner to notice the wall of fire caused by the rows of scented candles, the flames strangely vanishing into the layer of smoke that had entrapped the entire entrance.
'Keep running! Don't stop for anything!' He told the teen and shot a glance at Scott. He was clearly out for the count, eyes watering, and breath shallow and fast. Derek looked over his shoulder only to see what he had dreaded. The cloud of fog surrounding the monster had drifted closer. He strained his muscles and was trying to run faster. Defending Scott and himself wouldn't be easy in this cramped space. If they could only reach the safety of that odor bomb waiting ahead…
It was coming up ahead. Not far now. The monster came closer from behind. It felt like an endless stretch before Derek finally started seeing the light of day shining through the curtain of smoke curling towards the exit, being pulled back by the slight current of air.
'A little bit more.' He got out and tried keeping his legs going while his head was filling with the strong scents around him. His vision blurred and he blinked as lights began to dance in front of his eyes. He stumbled and almost let go of Scott. The deadly shriek behind him shook him from this trance and with a superhuman leap he suddenly found himself standing on earth and grass, Stiles already lying on the ground, hugging it in fact, and breathing hard. He let Scott slide off his shoulder and dropped to his knees, tearing off the mask and trying to suck in a breath of fresh air. He had to suppress a coughing fit. When he was sure not to puke out his lungs on the grass he turned to Scott who seemed to be recovering as well.
Stiles had started laughing and crawled closer to the former alpha slamming a hand down on his shoulder.
'Man, we would have been dead without you.'
Derek only shot him a spiteful glance and Stiles removed his hand. They sat next to each other until Stiles turned towards the wolf.
'You smell nice.' He said despite himself and crawled away after ducking a punch that was aimed for his head.
'Shut up' Derek spat. 'Now, where are the girls?' He asked trying to switch the conversation.
'They have been consumed by that thing.' Scott's voice was quiet. The two others turned towards him while he sat up and rubbed his eyes. 'Whatever that thing is.' He added.
'They are still in there?' Derek asked.
The teens nodded.
'I'm not going back in there.' The oldest of the three declared firmly.
Stiles and Scott both turned towards him.
'Not a chance.' He growled.
The two boys stared at him pleadingly. Damn it all to hell…, Derek thought gloomily.
'We should get some more equipment…' He looked away. The alpha and his sidekick high fived and he sighed.
This was going to be a long day.