As Stiles' Jeep bounced around the dirt road, Derek winced at each bump. The arrow in his leg seemed to be releasing more wolfsbane into his veins with each movement. There was no getting around it, he just had to deal with it.
"Shirt. Please." Derek prompted Isaac. "Now!" He demanded.
Isaac quickly discarded his shirt and handed it to Derek. Wrapping it around his hand, Derek used it as a barrier so he wouldn't burn his hand with wolfsbane as he tried yanking out the arrow. Tugging on it caused him to groan, his head leaning backwards in pain against the seat of the vehicle. Perspiration began to collect on his forehead, despite the chill of the night. A burning sensation ripped through his flesh as he finally managed to dislodge the arrow from his leg.
Derek quickly tossed it to the side and into the dirt before Stiles' Jeep veered off onto the road. "Damn it," He cursed under his breath, panting heavily. The wound wouldn't heal as quickly as they usually did. The hunters knew that.
"Take us to the loft," Derek instructed Stiles.
"I'm not budging until you give me some kind of information." Dean's voice was almost a warning. "Who are you and why do you have this damn thing pointed in my face?"
Sam stood behind his brother, his handgun also at the ready. By the looks of things, this guy was a hunter and the other two men standing behind him, also wielding weapons, were most likely his pals. "Dean, I think they're just like us."
The middle-aged man didn't falter in his stance. His fingers still firmly held the arrow in a drawn position, ready to release at any given second. "Maybe you should listen to your friend."
"Don't interject, Sam. Don't say anything." Dean added after a brief pause. He was wary of these guys, even if they were hunters.
With his finger on the trigger, Dean shook his head. "Wolfsbane." The brunette told the other male. "You must be hunting werewolves, too." He paused. "That doesn't make you and me the same though, does it? What makes me sure you won't just kill me now?"
The middle-aged man laughed. Obviously this guy wasn't going to give. Finally, he lowered his weapon, allowing the arrow slack from the bow. "You'd already be dead." The man told Dean, a smug grin on his face.
Seeing the man lower his weapon caused Dean to follow and he finally lowered the gun, Sam doing the same. "You did get the jump on me." Dean admitted.
"I can only assume that you're hunters." The man looked back at his two friends. "You recognized wolfsbane right away. So, I guess you already knew about our town's little secret." He extended a hand. "The name's Chris. Chris Argent."
Emerald hues fell down to Chris' extended hand and Dean was a little apprehensive to accept the gesture at first. Cautiously, he extended his own hand and shook Chris'. "Dean Winchester. This is Sam." He motioned towards his younger brother.
"Winchester?" Chris repeated. "That name's awfully familiar around these parts of the woods." He chuckled. "You happen to know a John?"
"That's our father." Sam stated.
"Oh." Chris was stunned. "Now I feel awfully bad about pointing this arrow in your face." Turning around, Chris headed down the slope, motioning for the men to follow. "C'mon. I'll catch you up to speed on the wolves around Beacon Hills."
Dean glanced at Sam, shooting him a confused look. What had just happened?
Once at the loft, Isaac and Boyd helped Derek walk into the building, each wolf had one of Derek's arms draped around their shoulders. "The couch." Derek motioned his head towards the sofa. At his request, the two brought him over to the piece of furniture and placed him down gently.
More sweat had collected on his face and the burning sensation from earlier hadn't ceased, despite the arrow having been dislodged from his leg. Derek's eyelids felt heavy, thicker than usual and he was having a hard time keeping his eyes open.
"He's burning up." Erica told the others as she placed a hand on Derek's forehead. "What do we do? He's not healing, either." She pointed out, worry painted on her face.
Stiles put a hand over his mouth before he dragged it down his chin. He began to pace. "We take him to the hospital."
"They can't help me there." Derek responded. "Not with this."
"Deaton. Deaton. We'll go to Deaton." Stiles wanted to feel useful. He didn't want to see Derek in agony.
Writhing on the sofa, Derek suddenly groaned out in pain, unable to focus on his surroundings. Everything began to blur and suddenly, he was no longer in the loft but rather in his old home before the fire had brought it to shambles.
Faint laughter could be heard and confusion seeped into his bones. "Mom? Dad?" He neared the kitchen before peeking in. Could they really be alive? Were they real? He watched as his father gave his mother a kiss on the cheek and as he entered the kitchen, the lights bathed him with warmth upon his skin, allowing the moment to be real. No, he had to be hallucinating. That was when Cora walked by and he reached out to touch her.
She spun to face him. "Derek?"
"Cora.." He breathed out but was taken aback when Laura also walked by. "Laura." Puzzled, his brow crinkled. "But you're both.. you're.." Derek trailed off.
A sudden roar of pain shocked him back to reality and his eyes snapped open widely. "Ahh!" Erica had placed a warm towel upon his head, only for the material to cause more agony to the alpha.
She quickly withdrew the item and gasped in horror. "Derek, stay with us." She almost begged.
Stiles wasted no time and fished out his cellphone from within his jeans. Instantly, he speed dialed Scott. "You need to get to the loft. Quick." Abrupt in his words, Derek was in real trouble and time was ticking.
"So, you knew our dad, how?" Dean wondered before taking the glass of whiskey to his lips. He sat on a stool at the bar next to Sam and next to Chris.
"John was amazing." Chris relished in the memories of the man. "He was smart and witty. He had these thought out plans for each town he would travel to and each monster he was hunting. He mapped them all out, used fake identities to reach the townspeople." Chris explained. "I didn't even know his real name until the second or third time I met him."
Sam took a swig of his beer as he listened. Second or third time? His father had never mentioned Chris Argent.
Chris shook his head gently before he took a sip of his beer, too. "We met very similarly to how you and I just crossed paths." Mr. Argent began. "He was hunting a skin walker at the same time I was. The same exact skin walker. Once we found the creature, we also found each other. We took that thing out together." Chris paused. "Then we found out there were more of the damn things and they nearly killed us." He laughed lightly.
Dean gave Sam a look before he grinned, a tiny curve of his lip became lopsided. "So, you nearly killed each other, too?"
"Yup." Chris answered.
"Sounds.. scary."
"It was." Chris took another drink of his beer. "But, you know, I never realized he was related to Natalie. Not until word got around that he.." The male trailed off.
Dean lowered his head slightly, as did Sam.
"Yeah, we're not exactly close relatives." Sam explained.
"So, are you boys following in his footsteps?"
"The family business." Dean clarified. "He left us this journal and we're just following it religiously. You know, helping people out and finding weird cases. Things like that."
"It's good to hear you're keeping the memory of your pop alive." Chris looked over at the two brothers. "And it's nice to finally meet you, too." Clearing his throat, he sighed. "I'll have to introduce you to the whole family. What do you guys think? We work on this together?"
Dean was reluctant to share a case with another group of hunters. As far as he saw it, him and Sam were always meant to fly solo together; you never knew when someone would betray you or screw you. He needed a moment to ponder it over. However, if his father could trust Chris, maybe they could too.
"Sam and I usually do our own thing but.. we'll make an exception this one time." Dean agreed.
"Good. We can talk strategy and information tomorrow morning. Here, I'll give you my address." Chris took out a pen and jotted down the information on a napkin.
"See you then." Dean replied. Without another word, the hunters vacated their stools and left the two brothers in the bar.
"Well… that took an unexpected turn." Sam announced.