Alright peeps! I got good news and bad news

Bad news: I'll be out of town for the next three weeks so there will be no updates of TNH for the rest of July

Good news: Updates will be happening on Thursdays starting August 9th :)

Kira sits among the Skinwalkers with a fire in the middle of their circle. She has a black streak on her cheek from a wound Animal had given her during their spar. Out of the three Native Warriors, Animal has proven to be the toughest one yet.

"You've made a big improvement," Animal tells her. "I think that maybe it's time for you to take the final test."

"Final test?" Kira questions, "I thought you said I was doomed to stay with you guys forever?"

"Not entirely true," Animal confesses. "It was an effort to see if it could motivate you into controlling the fox quicker."

"So, I could've stayed in Beacon Hills and graduated with my friends?" Kira demands to know.

Animal doesn't react to the obvious anger that is showing on Kira's face. "No, because of what those doctors did to you." Kira's face softens slightly, "They corrupted the fox and with the Wild Hunt riding the lightning you would've been used to make Beacon Hills disappear quicker."

"So, I can go home soon?" Kira questions with hope in her voice, "I can see my parents and the others again."

"It's not going to be that easy," War reminds her, "You have shown improvement, yes but there's still more to learning about your fox spirit than just controlling it."

Isaac watches Stiles slam her hand down on the dining room table. The action results in a crack forming, and the lights inside the house start to flicker slightly, telling him all he needs to know about just how well Stiles' effort to contact Derek went.

Isaac remains quiet, but it is his silence is that causes Stiles to slowly turn to him as she gives him a calculated expression, "You know why he's in North Carolina, don't you?"

Isaac holds his hands up in defense, "He told me South America," He claims. "Just as you." This doesn't get rid of the suspicious look Stiles gives him, but it does seem to offer a way to change the subject, "Have you at least tried contacting Cora?"

"She hasn't gotten back to me," Stiles shares, taking a seat at the table with him. She rubs a hand through her hair and snorts a laugh, "You know it's funny." She tells him.

"What is?"

"Every time one of us seems to be in some sort of trouble we can't ever hear or feel each other," Stiles shares with him. "I mean, there was that one time when we saved Cora and Boyd from the bank vault, but ever since then no matter whatever crisis we are having it fails." She shakes her head and the frustration turns into worry, "What if he's in trouble? And I don't mean FBI has a manhunt going on after him."

"You think it's something else?"

"I know it's something else," She says with conviction. She tilts her head to the side as her face goes back to suspicion, "I know it's something else because of that vision with some Hellhound-like creature and the fact that you're still here." Isaac furrows his brow at the statement, "You were supposed to be heading back to France two days ago."

"You have my word, that no one has reported such a creature roaming Beacon Hills, okay?" He then gives her an indignant expression, "I'm not leaving you here alone if he's not back yet." He gestures at her stomach, "Not when you're close."

"I have two months left," She says with clear skepticism, "Plus, I thought Micah was expecting you to meet him there anyway."

"Micah understands completely," He suggests. Stiles squints one eye at him, "I'm offended that you think I have some secret motive in being here." Stiles silently stares at him, "You know I'm bad at keeping secrets anyway."

Stiles snorts a broken laugh, "You're right about that," She agrees with him as her eyes begin to shine.

Seeing that Stiles is on the verge of tears, Isaac reaches out across the table, taking a hold of her hand, "Hey, everything is going to be all right."

She squeezes his hand and gives him a small smile, "If I find out that he is in that kind of trouble, and I mean that kind of trouble, I'm turning his ass into a fur coat."

"Braeden couldn't tell you anything else?"

Stiles shakes her head, "Not until she gets approval from her boss." Her phones dings as she receives a message. "Who apparently wants to meet with me. Wanna come with?"

"I'm going to have to pass on that," Isaac tells her. "Allison and I are supposed to be facetime each other around that time."

This catches Stiles' attention, "A little virtual date, huh?" She asks him, lighting up, sad mood completely forgotten, "Finally going to admit feelings for each other?"

Isaac already gives her an unamused expression at the relentless teasing that is bound to happen, "I'm going to stop that train before it leaves the station," Isaac points at her, "Nothing is going on between the two of us."

Stiles makes a face at him, "Because living together for two years hasn't created any kind of sexual tension between the two of you," She comments in a dead tone.

Isaac shakes his head, "None."

Stiles leans back in her chair, crossing her arms, "God, you really are a terrible liar." Isaac rolls his eyes at Stiles' statement, "How much longer are you going to be in denial?"

"A guy and girl can be just friends without one having any kind of romantic feelings for the other," Isaac replies. "After all, you and Scott are like the epitome of that being true."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," Stiles comments. "You know maybe-"

Isaac shakes his head and gets up from the table, "I'm not having this conversation with you."

Stiles gives him a small smile, placing a hand over his, "Gonna have to tell her at some point, Baby Beta." She tells him as he starts walking out the room. She smiles to herself and heads to the bedroom, "I seriously love teasing him."

"I heard that!" Isaac shouts from the other side of the house.

Kira stands in the darkness of the desert. The air filled with sounds of chittering and wind blowing. However, despite the illusion of nothing sinister happening, Kira remains on high alert. The sounds around her, seem to have been getting closer. She automatically tightens her hold on her sword.

The sound of a sword dragging against the sand catches her attention and she swings her sword, forcing the source to go back into the darkness.

She knows it is far from over when another shadowed figure makes another appearance. She swings her sword and the figure disappears. Only instead of getting a chance to recover another appeared as more and more begin attacking from the darkness.

Effortlessly, Kira manages to knock all the figures back into the darkness. All except one, that manages to hold off her attack with a sword of its own.

She stares into the figure's glowing yellow eyes. She feels her eyes glow orange in return.

Allison frowns at the screen of her laptop as she has a video chat with Scott, Landon, and Micah. Apparently, there had been a supernatural related incident in the woods of Beacon Hills, "A dead Hellhound." She repeats after the entire encounter has been shared.

"Yep, got that," Micah agrees.

"Well, I don't get it," Allison tells them. She shakes her head trying to make sense of what had occurred, "I didn't think you could kill a Hellhound."

"Looks a lot easier than we thought," Micah comments with his arms crossed. Whatever has been going on their side of the globe has the werecoyote on edge.

Allison sees that Scott has an apprehensive expression on his face that seems to go unnoticed by Landon and Micah, "You got anything you wanna add?"

"Yeah," He confesses, "I don't think it was just any bullet."

He ends up showing her a bullet casing with a fleur-de-lis etched on. The symbol for The Argent family.

Allison just stares at the bullet with a blank expression, "Why didn't you say anything?" She questions them, "Why didn't either of you say anything?"

"Wait, was I supposed to say something?" Micah says in an absolute innocent tone.

"None of us said anything because he is your Dad," Scott says coming to their defense, "And none of us are going to say anything until we talk to him."

"Immediately, would be preferable," Landon tells her.

She gives him a knowing expression, "Premonition?"

"Yeah," Landon nods his head.

Allison closes her eyes at the information, taking a deep breath, "Let me guess, this one was filled with screaming and death."

Landon raises his finger, "That's the one."

She opens her eyes, crosses her fingers together, and lays them under her chin, "We need to find him."

Scott gives a slightly concerned expression, "Isn't he at home?"

"No, he hasn't been in a couple of weeks," Allison shares with as realization falls on her face, "In fact, he left for Beacon Hills around the same time Isaac left to stay with Stiles. I assumed it's because he wanted to finally talk to Melissa," Allison notices the confused expression forming on Scott's face. She tsked, "From the look on your face, I'd say you haven't seen him, but I do have a hunch of where to find him."

Eyes still orange, Kira parries each attack and just like before when she first experienced the test, each time she cuts the Oni the wound appears on her body. She already as one her arm, ankle, and stomach. However, she is still standing focused now on one Oni.

Unlike the first time, she took the test, the wounds don't appear to affect as much as she continues swinging her sword just for the Oni to meet the sword easily with a sword of its own.

They both push their swords against each other for a power of dominance.

In doing so, a flaming outline of a fox begins to envelop her body as she pushes against the Oni's sword.

With every push, the outline grows bigger and Kira roars with power. It rises up to a point where it appears comes out of her body.

Just when it seems like Kira is no longer in control, she kicks forward at the Oni, knocking the shadowed figure back and spins her sword around her body, stabbing it right into the boulder. The sword goes into the boulder without shattering as streaks of lightning run through it and her aura immediately vanishes.

Instantly, the darkness that once surrounded her disappears and Kira finds herself surrounded by the three Skinwalkers. None of them look pleased with the action.

"You almost had it," Red tells her. "What is stopping you?"

"You may no longer see your Fox spirit as a curse," Animal tells her, "But you still have the fear."

"It's not fear," Kira claims in an exasperated tone. "I just can't stop thinking about how nearly killed my mother, almost killed an innocent kid, and though it was never proven, I'm sure that I killed someone."

"Your friends have harmed people when learning their abilities," War states. "No power comes with a struggle. You must learn from your mistakes."

"When you went back home, you were in control of the Fox when you wielded the sword," Red reminds her, "Even after bringing the Chimera back, you still had control."

"Because Stiles was in danger," Kira defends herself. "She's important."

"You're important too," Animal tells her. "Your friends knew that you had no control of your Fox, but yet they came here when they needed help to save your friend locked in Eichen House."

"They had faith in you, Kira." War tells her, "They have faith in you now."

Red then throws an unexpected question, "So what's keeping you from having faith in yourself?"

"It's not about her faith," Animal says when Kira is unable to give an answer. Kira looks to Animal with confusion written on her face, "I think it's time that you and your fox meet face-to-face."

When Stiles arrives at the Department of Justice, Braeden is already waiting for her. She wears a neural expression, "How bad is it?"

"Not bad enough to have him on America's Most Wanted," Braeden tells her with certainty.

"But enough to have a team scrambling to find him," Stiles comments, recalling the slideshow from the day before. "He told me that he was going to South America to help out the pack that Cora is staying with," Stiles tells her. "That's honestly all I know."

"What I can tell you is that it wasn't just any mass murder," Braeden tells her as she stops them at a door, "It was the pack that Cora was staying with." Stiles eyes widened in alarm, "We were able to identify the bodies, but it doesn't appear that she was in the group."

"Then where the hell is she?"

"No clue, right now you're going to need our help in finding Derek," She tells her just as she opens the door and reveals a different group people who are all busy with some type of work. Stiles walks into the room in awe. It is a complete and more professional setup of how Stiles organized the facts and details when handling the supernatural crisis in Beacon Hills.

She walks to a board that has the same layout as her murder board back at home. She places her items on a nearby desk and stares at the series of pictures Derek that seem to have been taken during the three weeks of him being gone.

"Hello, Stiles," A voice comments, breaking Stiles' attention from the board.

"No way," Stiles breathes as she is face-to-face with Marin Morrell.

"I'm sure, you have a lot of questions, but right now you need to give them all the information that you have on Derek Hale." She says without even batting an eye, "The sooner you can do that, the better."

"Wait," She says, "Are any of these people aware of, you know…"

"They have experience in dealing with odd occurrences that happened in their own hometowns," Marin explains. Stiles looks rather impressed by the information, "Beacon Hills isn't the only place that has supernatural residence."

"So, no?"

"No."

"He's not here either," Scott tells Allison as he and Micah search the bunker. They go through his bullets, but they don't match the casing they found.

Scott breaks the lock from a crate and opens it. It is packed with guns. Scott says he thinks Argent is back in business selling weapons. He finds a compound bow in another box and realizes what his computer password would be.

"He's not answering of my calls or texts," Allison tells them. She sighs with a bit of frustration, "This isn't the first time he dropped off the face of the Earth when something big is happening."

"Maybe he just doesn't wanna be found?" Micah suggests.

"He would have his calendar on his laptop," Allison tells them. "It's not here, so the next best place would be there as well."

Micah opens a drawer and pulls out a laptop with a victorious smile. He opens it up and it immediately asks for a password, "If we crack the password."

He immediately gets to work and starts typing Gun, the laptop beeps at the incorrect password. This doesn't deter Micah as he tries Lots of guns. Another beep.

"It wouldn't be something that simple," Scott tells him before he inputs another password. "It would be something that no one else would be able to figure out."

"What about Hunter?"

"Why would it be hunter?" Allison questions them. "We're not even hunters anymore."

"Would that mean there are no more werewolf hunters?" Micah wonders, "If not then, why would anybody think that there was a hunter in the woods when it was actually just deputies?"

While Micah and Allison try to figure out the reasoning, Scott's voice gets their attention, "I don't think that Argent took off from Beacon Hills." Allison sees Micah turn into the direction of Scott's voice. From her screen, she sees him holding up a compound bow, "I think he's back in business."

Allison shakes her head, "That bow is mine and it was supposed to be a gift my mom was supposed to..." She trails off as she starts putting two and two together, "I think I know what his password is."

Stiles has cleared off the board and places a picture of Derek on the board, "Derek Hale," She starts, "Comes from my hometown of Beacon Hills." She places a picture of Laura and Derek together, "He and his sister, Laura Hale, were the remaining survivors of a fire that resulted in the death of their entire family. They did have an uncle, who survived the incident."

"Peter Hale," Marin shares with the group, "He was in Beacon Hills Intensive Care Unit for multiple years. We've reached out to him, he wasn't able to offer any kind of assistance of knowing where Hale can be located."

In other words, Peter has no idea where Derek or Cora are either.

"Derek came back to Beacon Hills for the first time in years close to the anniversary of the Hale fire."

"Why did he go back?" Someone asks in the group.

"Because unfortunately, at that time Laura Hale died as a result of a mountain lion attack," Stiles answers. "And Peter had also gone missing from the medical facility at the time."

"Says in his file that he wanted for her murder," Another person comment.

"That was before the police had tested the DNA that was found at the scene," Marin tell them. "He was then released."

"What about when he was fugitive of the state?"

However, Stiles doesn't answer the questions due to a familiar humming sound. She looks around the room and sees that no one else in the room seems to be aware of sound, "Excuse me for a moment." She tells them before she hurriedly exits the room.

But she doesn't stop moving. As if her body is moving on its own, Stiles ends up standing at a door of a single bathroom located down on the hall of the room. She opens the door and sees the same white room with the Nemeton.

"No," Stiles argues with the stump. "First time was only okay because I asleep and nothing that you could've done would hurt us, but I'm awake now." A louder hum resonates from the stump and Stiles stares at almost as if she understands it. "Nothing better not."

She shuts the door and walks to the stump and reaches out to touch it and just like before thick vines shoot out of the stump and wrap around her wrists.

Stiles finds herself standing in the Boy's Locker Room in Beacon Hills just as she sees a lacrosse player wearing a helmet walking into the room, "Yeah, I don't know what kind of game you're playing, but showing me some kid about to get naked, isn't gonna work with me." Stiles complains, "So, I'm going to go now." Just as she heads towards the same direction, the lacrosse player came in, the player takes off his helmet and Stiles ends up jumping back.

The lacrosse player has spiders swarming over his face and going right into his mouth. Stiles' mouth drops in horror as the player doesn't even seem to be bothered by it. But Stiles is completely bothered by the whole situation because if there is one thing in the world she hates more than anything that they've ever faced it was spiders. She screams in terror.

Stiles comes to screaming at the top of her lungs. Isaac comes to her side, "You're okay," He tells her immediately as Stiles starts to calm herself down, "You're okay."

Stiles nods her head at his encouragement taking in their surroundings. It takes a second, but she does manage to calm down, "What happened?"

"Braeden called," He explains. "Apparently, someone found you unresponsive leaning against the bathroom floor. You're in the infirmary." He gives her a concerned expression, "What happened?"

"Nemeton," Stiles answers in a strained-tone almost as if she had been screaming in real life.

She opens her mouth to continue, but the door to the infirmary opens as Braeden and Marin come in both wearing worried faces, "You gave us quite a scare," Braeden tells her.

"Too big of a scare," Marin agrees. "We should've taken your condition into consideration before bringing you in."

"It wasn't her-" Isaac says, jumping to Stiles' defense.

At the same time, Stiles jumps to her own defense as well, "No, I'm okay," Stiles assures them, rubbing her hand down the bulge, "We're okay."

However, Braeden doesn't seem convinced at the words, "That's not a risk that the higher-ups want to take and for once, I actually agree with them." Stiles gives her a minor look of betrayal, "I'll keep you updated on whatever information that we find or have."

Marin gives her a casual expression, "Any luck with your bond?"

Stiles shakes her head, "No, feels like I'm hitting a wall just like all the other times."

This seems to surprise Marin, but as quickly as it showed on her face, it disappears, "Keep trying on your end, but if it becomes too much, you take a step back." She tells her, "Not for your or Derek's sake, but for your unborn child's."

Stiles nods her head in agreement, "Definitely."

"Get some rest," Marin tells her as she leads Braeden and herself out the room.

"What happened with the Nemeton?" Isaac wonders, giving Stiles an inquiring look.

Stiles looks away from the door, giving him a serious expression, "Whatever Scott and the others supposedly handled wasn't handled."

Kira questions them, "How is that even possible?"

"Remember the fox is a part of you," Animal explains. "It plays a role in your life rather you realize it or not."

"Like me never getting sick," Kira remembers from her mother's words.

"That is correct," Animals tells her. "What else do you know about them?"

"There are 13 different kinds of them, each possessing a unique power of its own," Kira shares knowingly. "Void being the most dangerous of them all. We are just like any other supernatural creatures with the abilities of enhanced strength, speed, and accelerated healing."

"You know the basics then," Red comments. Kira nods her head, "What most don't know about Kitsunes is that they usually have another separate personality from their own. And because of that, you need to find a balance and learn to coexist."

"We were coexisting just fine before the doctors came to town," Kira defends them. "Had it not been for them I'm almost certain that whenever I wield my sword it wouldn't have tried to kill people."

"So, you think it was something mentally?"

Kira shrugs her shoulder with an unsure expression on her face, "Like I said after I read that novel, I remember my own encounter with them." Awareness shows on her face, "Maybe we have been looking at this all wrong. When do I get to meet it?"

"You rest up for tomorrow," War decides. "We don't know what you could be facing so you should be rested mentally."

Kira looks up to the night sky above them, "Always with a full moon."

Isaac sits at the table with his laptop open. On the screen, he sees Allison in one frame and Scott, Micah, and Chris in the other. He can tell by the impromptu face timing session that things were not looking so good their end.

"We have about another hour or so before Stiles wakes up," He informs them while trying to listen carefully out for Stiles. "She's already getting suspicious about me staying here longer than necessary."

"Is she okay?" Scott questions.

"With Derek missing and the FBI manhunt after him, I don't think so." He hears two steady heartbeats in proximity, "Nemeton isn't helping either."

"Called out to her again?"

Isaac nods his head, "This time it showed her someone covered in spiders." He gives a conflicted expression, "Freaked her out bad."

"Aside from the Nemeton, has anything else unusual happened on your end?" Chris questions him.

Isaac frowns slightly but shakes his head, "Nothing so far." He reports, "I've been keeping on a close lookout since the Nemeton started reaching out to her."

"I'd advise you to continue doing so," Chris tells him.

Isaac frowns at the advice, "Why's that?"

In a deserted concrete stall, Chris Argent is doing a gun deal with a group of men wearing military fatigues. He is suspicious of not all their clothes, but his normal informant isn't among the group, "Major Delane is my contact at Camp Robertson." He explains to the group of men, "I'm surprised he didn't tell me about the change in protocol."

The leader of the group, Harper holds one of the guns that Chris has provided, provides some answers to Argent's suspicion, "Well, the Major got promoted and was promptly shipped overseas."

"Huh?" Chris questions with slight fascination, "Didn't know the Army worked that fast."

Harper chuckles at Chris' lack of knowledge of knowing the standard procedure, "They do when they want to."

Chris chuckles himself until his face falls serious, "The Major's not Army, he's a Marine." He closes the packed weaponry, "Who sent you?" He questions Harper, "Who's buying all this weaponry?" He sees that group of men aren't exactly as confident as he is, "We don't need to have a situation."

Harper gives him a confident expression, "We already do."

Argent gives him a no-nonsense stare, "See, I don't sell to weekend warriors." He explains easily, "You want these guns, you'll answer my question."

Harper doesn't hesitate to point the automatic weapon at Argent, "We're taking the guns, and the ammo, and the crates."

Argent remains stone-faced at the threat, "If you knew anything about guns, you'd know they're not loaded."

Harper pulls out a clip from his uniform, "We brought our own."

"And I always have a backup plan," Chris informs him just before Micah appears out of nowhere and knocks one of the men in Harper's group before he and Scott stand in front of Argent. Argent is slightly angry and surprised at the sudden appearance of the two, "What the hell are you guys doing here?"

"We're your backup," Micah answers him as if the answer was obvious.

"I had a guy on the inside," Argent explains to them.

Micah gives him a look, "Who?"

"You're standing on him."

The imposter men seem to have had enough the reunion between the former hunter and the werecreatures and start firing. The trio immediately take whatever hiding spots they can find until the sounds of empty weapons clicking became their advantage.

Argent, Scott, and Micah began to fight back. Argent sends a good few of the men running has he starts firing his pistols. Micah moves to get Argent's inside man to safety from the shootout while Scott takes on some of the few brave men that have stayed to fight.

In the fray, Harper manages to load his weapon and sets his sight on Micah who punches out one of his men. However, he doesn't pull the trigger when he feels the barrel of Argent's pistol on his head, "Who are the guns for?" Argent demands to know.

Instead of answering the question, Harper drops a hidden grenade. As Scott and the others dive for cover, Harper escapes with one of the vehicles.

"For the record, I had everything under control," Chris says when he sees that there is a slight panic on Allison's face.

"Clearly," Micah comments.

"How did you find me?" He questions the two.

Micah points to Scott, "He did it."

Argent gives Scott a questioning look, "You left your computer in the bunker."

Chris then exchanges a knowing look to his daughter, "Ah." He realizes, "I guess I need a new password."

Allison says, "So, you met with people who are claiming to be something that they weren't. That doesn't explain why you've been avoiding my calls."

"I haven't been avoiding you, I've been busy." Argent defends himself, "Business is booming, and I'd like to know why."

Scott questions him next, "Have you made any unusual sales recently?" The True Alpha questions the former hunter, "Like a bullet with a fleur-de-lis?"

"I haven't stamped a bullet since the Nogitsune," Chris answers plainly.

"Someone just killed a Hellhound with one," Landon informs him.

"You guys told that the situation was handled," Isaac reminds them in a harsh whisper, "How do you even kill a Hellhound?"

Allison shakes her head at the question, "We are not going through this again." She decides immediately, "But it's too much of a coincidence that the day Stiles has a visit from the Nemeton about an escaped creature, he turns up dead the same or next day."

"You don't think the Nemeton could be warning her about what's going on, do you?" Landon questions. "Like you said, the vision of Hellhound resulted in a now dead Hellhound." He crosses his arms, "And now spiders and the only thing spider related so far was that vision of spider webs I had filled with screaming."

"Then either she already knows or is going to find out," Scott realizes.

"We can't have her finding out what's going on over there," Allison says taking charge. "We made that promise the moment she and Derek left Beacon Hills."

"Do you still have the casing?" Allison questions to Scott and Micah.

Scott pats his pockets, but feels that they are empty, "It must've fallen out."

"You don't need the casing, you need the slug." Chris assures him, "Find that, and you'll find your killer."