"What do you think you're doing?" A tight voice asked from behind him.

Cale didn't look up from pouring drinks for his friends, "What does it look like I'm doing, Hodge?" he fired back.

"It looks like you're messing around instead of helping me." Hodge said as he gestured across the room to where the girls were sitting.

Cale smirked and let his eyes linger on Malia, "I'm multitasking." he replied.

"You're being reckless. You shouldn't have brought them here tonight." Hodge said as he stole one of the drinks from Cale's hand. "Not with everything that's going on."

"Why am I even here? You haven't even told me what's going on." Cale snapped, as he started filling another cup.

"You're here because Alice Corban said you're her best tracker." Hodge said as he sized him up. "So far I'm not impressed."

Cale twisted his lips, "There are four-hundred and ninety-six people here tonight. Seven of them are supernatural…eight if you count the naiad next door."

Hodge shook his head, "I'd be more impressed, if you hadn't brought three more normals into this. People who might get hurt if things go sideways."

"That's exactly why you need me, Luc." Cale scoffed. "You should get your nose checked. Those three aren't normals. And if things do go sideways they just might come in handy."

Hodge folded his arms, "Normals or not. You just put them in danger."

"This thing scares you." Cale realized. "What is it? What are we tracking?"

Hodge shook his head, "I don't know." he admitted. "Even the professor and the old-ones don't know what this thing is. But it's hunting in this territory. If it keeps to its pattern then it will be here tonight."

"If I don't know what it is how am I supposed to track it?"

"It'll smell old and very powerful. Different from anything you've ever smelt before."

Cale gave him a curt nod, "I'll let you know if I find something." he said as he brushed past him balancing the drinks.

"Cale," Hodge called after him. Cale looked back over his shoulder. "This thing whatever it is…it can get in your head. If you're tracking it and you get a feeling something like déjà vu then you drop the scent and you run."

"You want me to run from Déjà vu?" Cale asked with a smirk.

"I'm not kidding, Cale." Hodge growled before he melted back into the crowd.

Malia collapsed onto the couch next to Kira and Lydia. She was laughing and all her muscles were humming. She hadn't danced like this in a long time. Cale gave a little wave to her from across the room. He had offered to grab them all drinks. Malia gave him a little smile and waved back.

"You two look good together," Lydia said as she watched their little interaction. Malia rolled her eyes at her friend. She supposed they did. Cale looked strong and sleek when he moved. And when he had danced with her he had mirrored her with ease. He was easy to talk to and he had very nice eyes. But something felt a little off about him. He was just too sure of himself. Too cool and collected and he seemed like he was never off his game.

Then again maybe she was just reading him wrong. Every time she had met him the stench of sterile chemicals had clung to his uniform and overpowered her senses. She never had been able to catch any chemo signals off him because of it. But tonight he wasn't in his uniform and yet the only scents she caught from him was just a touch of soap and aftershave. It was weird.

Maybe it was just tonight that was weird. This was the first time Malia had hung out with her friends and brought along a guy who was clearly interested in her. She couldn't help noticing the shift in dynamic.

Cale exuded a sort of natural confidence. Stiles wasn't that guy, but he could always make himself brave for other people. If it was just him then there would be no way in hell he'd end up on a dance floor. But if it meant making Kira feel like less of a dork then Stiles would dance like a total spaz to save her from embarrassment.

Stiles could make dancing so much fun. He would make faces and do wacky moves until Kira would forget about trying to do everything perfect. Lydia would even take dancing less seriously and throw her head back and laugh. The last time they had all gone out it had been a couple months before their breakup. They had gone to Malia's favourite club The River Styx. She had good memories of that night.

Scott and Stiles were jumping around haphazardly, knocking into each other and everyone else. Stiles bumped into her and she shoved him away good-naturedly. He raised an eyebrow and moved back into her space, his arms moving every which way as he danced. He grinned playfully as he brushed up against her. Malia rolled her eyes at him. Stiles caught her hands and started twirling her around with him. He suddenly spun her away from him then wheeled her back to him, in a sloppy imitation of a foxtrot. The move was completely wrong for the techno-dance music that pulsed all around them.

Malia laughed pressing her hand against his chest, "You're ridiculous."

"You're pretty." He replied before brushing his lips against hers in a light teasing kiss.

Malia smiled against his lips and laced her arms around his neck pulling him closer. He hummed into her mouth when she bit his bottom lip, and slid his hand up to tangle in her hair.

After a minute she pushed him away and enjoyed the heat that lingered in his eyes.

"We're supposed to be dancing, remember?" she teased.

Stiles winked at her, "I thought we just were."

"Malia…Malia?" Cale's voice urged her out of her thoughts. He was holding a drink out to her and his eyebrows were drawn together. "You OK? You look a little flushed."

Malia released a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding and nodded at him. "Yeah, yeah it's just hot in here." She replied. Lydia and Kira both gave her odd looks which she pointedly ignored. She accepted the drink Cale offered her. The heat didn't explain the way her lips were still burning.

Malia brought the drink up to her lips, but then stopped herself, "I'm gonna go get some air." She said passing the drink back to Cale.

"Uh…OK." He muttered confused. Malia quickly strode away from him, merging with the crowd and making her way to the patio door.

For the first time that night Cale looked unsure of himself, he shot a confused look at Lydia.

"Is she OK?" he asked. Lydia and Kira exchanged a look.

Lydia gave Cale a sugary smile. "Here hold this for me." she said passing him her drink. "I'll go check on her. Kira why don't you tell Cale that joke you know?"

Kira's eyes widened and she shot a look at Lydia in alarm. But Lydia just smiled mischievously and left her stranded with Cale. He gave her a small reassuring smile. And Kira awkwardly attempted to say something but she just couldn't get the words out. She was saved from forcing small talk when a strange look passed over, Cale's face. His eyes flit around them searching through the sea of people before locking on someone. "I'll be right back." He said distractedly as he brushed past her. Kira exhaled in relief.

Malia sighed in relief as she stepped out into the cool night air. She sat down dangling her feet off the edge of the porch. She sat forward and gripped her elbows. She was assaulted by a flash of memories. It was the little things she missed most. Like how Stiles always kept a sweater for her in the Jeep. And how no matter much he grumbled about it he always let her steal curly fries from his plate. She was so easily charmed by those big brown eyes of his and how they changed with his mood. She even missed how adorable and frustrating it was that he was completely incapable of keeping still.

She missed his inexplicable bursts of confidence and timidity. How he would occasionally catch her off guard, with a kiss, or a stroke on her cheek, when she said or did something he found sweet. Though she rarely ever knew what she'd done to deserve it. She got a heady sort of satisfaction from the way she could drive him to nervously ramble, when she walked toward him with predatory eyes. And yet at other times it was him crowding her with his body, with his eyes full of heat and his teeth grazing her skin. Malia shivered.

He was her first boyfriend. The first and only guy she had ever kissed. It was completely normal to feel all twisted up inside like this. Maybe Lydia was right and she just needed to rip the Band-Aid off. She should take her advice and let Cale take her on a real date. Maybe she should trying kissing him to know for herself, what it was like to kiss someone else.

Malia lifted her head as Lydia's perfume tickled her nose, and she heard her heels echoing against the patio floor.

Malia grimaced, "I don't want to talk about, Stiles." she said cutting her off preemptively. Lydia smoothed her dress and sat down on the edge of the patio with her, and folded her hands in her lap.

"Good." Lydia quipped. "Me neither." Malia cocked an eyebrow at her, surprised. Lydia had been trying to get her to open up about the breakup since it had happened. Lydia lived to pry, to involve herself in the lives of her friends and help them even when they really didn't want help.

"Is this reverse psychology?" she asked confused.

Lydia laughed. "No. If you ever want to talk about it. You know I'll be there for you to talk to, right?" Malia nodded. "Good. Then I want to talk about how we can take our plan to the next level."

Malia remembered listening to Lydia hatching her plan earlier that night when she had been talking her into going out. It was the only reason she agreed to crash a Delta Phi party.

Malia sat up straighter, and gave her a small grin. "I'm up for that."

Lydia slung her purse off her shoulder and unzipped it, setting it across Malia's lap. Malia peered down into the bag and looked back up at her friend with a slow dangerous smile. "Let's prank these assholes."

Stiles slipped into a swarm of college kids on the lawn and covertly watched as Kaley strode toward the frat house. Matt Hollister was casually slouched against one of the pillars on the front steps. He had a girl sitting on either side of him and he was laughing with a group of guys who were sitting on the steps. Kaley dodged around half a dozen frat boys and ended up standing right in front of him.

Hollister straightened up as he spotted her, his lazy smile slipping. "Kaley." He said sounding confused. "What are you doing here?" Kaley let her eyes pass over the girls on either side of him for a fraction of a second before they landed back on him.

Kaley tilted her head at a soft angle and asked, "Can we talk?" Hollister's eyes considered her for a few seconds. "Matt, please." Something lit in his eyes the second she said his name.

Hollister cleared his throat, "Yeah, sure." he said gruffly, before passing his drink to one of the girls beside him and following Kaley down the steps. Stiles watched the pair of them as they started walking away from the party. Hollister had his hands jammed in his pockets awkwardly. Kaley was fiddling with her necklace and kept brushing the same stubborn lock of hair behind her ear.

Stiles did a double-take. Kaley and Hollister?

Stiles couldn't imagine Kaley being with a guy like Hollister. And in the year he had known Kaley he had never seen Hollister go anywhere near her. So whatever this was it wasn't recent. But as Hollister held open the picket fence gate for her, Stiles could tell that whatever this was between them, it wasn't over for Hollister.

Stiles felt grateful for Kaley, she had just gone off to have what would obviously be an uncomfortable conversation with Hollister, so that he could have a chance to talk to Malia. Not everybody would do that for a friend. He shot a final glance toward her as she strolled down the sidewalk. Later he'd have to tell her she deserved a hell of a lot better than Matt Hollister. But right now he had a wall to climb.

Stiles wedged his way through the crowd and slipped into the shadows along the side of the house. He pushed his sleeves up his arms and licked his lips. He had free climbed the walls of Oldcastle thousands of times. But this wall was covered in lattice and creeping vines. Stiles grabbed a handful of vines and brought his foot up testing his weight against the latticework. He grimaced as he heard the lattice creak under the pressure. He would have to do this fast. Stiles bit his lip and started climbing, he tensed slightly as the vines swayed under his weight, and started climbing faster. Stiles cursed quietly as he pricked his hand on a barbed vine. He shifted his weight and grabbed at a different vine.

He was half-way to the window when his cellphone went off in his back pocket, and he lost his footing. Stiles flattened against the wall with a grunt, dangling by his arms, his feet scrambling to find a foothold. His foot finally caught on a vine, and he pulled himself back up the wall. Stiles sucked in a breath, his hands were a bit shaky as he gripped the vines. His phone was still blaring obnoxiously and broadcasting his location, he risked reaching behind him with one hand trying to silence it, but it was too late.

"HEY!" yelled a deep voice. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING UP THERE?"

Stiles jolted at the voice but didn't stop moving. He pulled himself up to the window's ledge and then started to shove. The window was old and stiff with age and Stiles had to force his shoulder against it for it to open enough for him clamber through it. He tumbled through the window landing in a heap on the hallway floor, with a groan.

Stiles reached blindly for his phone and cracked open one eye to check the caller I.D. The name Joe Garrity glared at him from his screen. Stiles forced himself onto his shoulder with a groan, and hit the answer key.

"Boss," he rasped. "Now isn't a really good time." He said as he lay on the floor.

"Stilinski!" Garrity barked in reply. "Where the hell did you put the Jackal case files?" Stiles heard Garrity crashing around his office pulling open drawers even as he asked.

Stiles opened both eyes, "They're in your storage locker. With all your other old cold cases."

"Right." Garrity grumbled to himself. "Forget coming into the District Attorney's office tomorrow. I need you to pick up those files and meet me at the FBI field office on Wiltshire at 6 A.M."

Stiles crawled to his feet. "The FBI field office?" he asked incredulously. Joe Garrity was a District Attorney's Office investigator, and a former SFPD Homicide detective. Stiles had been working as his assistant for the last five months. Garrity was always giving him weird assignments but this was a first.

"You heard me, Stilinski. The files need to be there by—"

"—6 A.M. I know." Stiles said cutting him off. He suddenly heard the pounding of feet rush up the stairs, behind him. Stiles started moving. "…Gotta go, Boss." he whispered before pocketing his phone and taking off down the hall.

Stiles ducked inside a hall closet just before three Delta Phi's came rushing down the hall.

"Check the rooms. There's no way he got too far." One of them growled. Stiles recognized the voice as the same guy who had spotted him on the wall. Stiles held his breath as he heard them branch out down the hall. He braced himself psyching himself up the same way he did on the lacrosse field when he knew he was about to get hit. The music from downstairs was vibrating through the floorboard beneath his feet. Stiles strained his ears for the sound of approaching footsteps.

The door knob raddled. Stiles tensed on his toes of his shoes, all of his muscles were coiled tight and ready to spring forward. When the door started to swing open, Stiles slammed into it with all his weight and knocked the frat boy behind it off his feet. He dodged around the boy sprawled on the floor and took off running. He dashed down two flights of stairs as fast as he could before he saw a couple Delta Phi's coming up the stairs. They weren't looking at him yet but if they saw him they'd recognize him. He spun around on his heel and ducked into the crowd of people on the second floor. He was reaching for his phone to text Scott as he moved down the hall. As he rounded the corner he suddenly skidded to a stop and his breath caught in his throat.

Down the hall next to one of the bedroom doors he saw a girl in a familiar blue flower dress. Her face was turned away from him. Somewhere along the way she had shed her jacket and discarded her shoes but Stiles knew it was her. Her hair was mussed from dancing and there was a slight flush to her skin. She was pressed up against some tall guy in a Greek letter t-shirt, and then she rose up on her toes and she was kissing him.

Stiles winced and looked away. His jaw clenching and his fist tightening at his side. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't move. Not when Malia was less than fifteen feet away from him kissing some waste of space. Emotions rolled through him so fast and intense that he felt nauseous. He chanced another look and found the guy leading her into one of the rooms.

He suddenly felt a crushing weight bearing down on him. He slumped back against the wall and thumped his head against it, in frustration. He wasn't sure how much time he lost just standing there but when he eventually peeled himself off the wall, he felt numb. He drifted listlessly down the stairs, suddenly uncaring if the Delta Phi's found him, nothing they did to him could make him feel worse than he did right now.

When he reached the bottom of the stairs an arm reached out and snagged him. Stiles found himself being tugged out of the path of a couple of frat boys and into a dark alcove.

When Malia pulled back from the kiss the first thing that registered to her was that her lips felt wet. She didn't feel the tingly feeling she normally felt when she kissed Stiles, but the kiss hadn't been bad either. She brushed the back of her hand over her mouth and grinned as he led her into the room. As he shut the door he gave her an appreciative glance, and he really was quite cute. It almost made her regret what she was about to do next. Almost. The guy moved back into her space and put his hands on her waist. Bad idea, frat boy.

Malia grinned menacingly up at him. "Say goodnight." she whispered. His eyebrows drew upward sharply just before Malia pressed her hand against his neck. She held the pressure point exactly the way Kira had taught her until the cute frat boy lost consciousness. Then she let his dead weight drop back onto the bed. She should feel bad about impulsively kissing him and knocking him out. But to be fair, if he hadn't started chatting her up while she was busy trying to break into this room, she wouldn't of had to get creative to get rid of him.

Turning away from him she slung Lydia's purse off her shoulder and reached inside finding the dye packets. Moving into the adjoining washroom, her nose wrinkled at the stench of unwashed tiles and dirty clothes littering the floor. Ugh. Boys are gross. Climbing onto the side of the tub she reached up and unscrewed the shower-head. After shoving a few of the dye packets inside she reset the shower-head, smirking to herself. Malia looked back into her bag of tricks and tried to decide what she was going to sabotage next.

She hoped Lydia was having as much fun as she was, the strawberry blonde was currently downstairs in the kitchen super-gluing childproof locks onto all the all the drawers, cabinets and appliances.