Chapter 7: The Benefactor
Talia Hale was sitting with one of her betas in the living room. They were in a deep conversation while Cora was reading a storybook in the next room. Talia and Derek then walked into the house, back from school. Cora put down her book and went over to see them.
"Hi Laura. Derek," the nine year old said as she came over.
"Hey Cora," Derek mumbled out. "Someone here?"
"It's Ray," she told them.
"Ray?" Laura asked. "When did he get here?"
"The same time we did," Cora said. "He was with mom when she came to pick me up from school. But she asked to leave them alone to talk."
Laura looked into the room to see Ray was in a deep talk with their mother. He was a young man that worked as a contract painter in town and was very likeable. Ray was the last beta their mother had made close to three years ago but it felt like he had been a part of their lives a lot longer.
Derek just let a heated breath out. "Well, say hi to him for me. I'm going to drop my bag off and then go to meet with my friends."
Laura watched her brother hang his bag up on a coat hook close by the door before he headed out without another word. He was still a bit bitter about being banned from basketball from their mother. There was only a month of school left and while Laura would be graduating, Derek would be in his senior year next term but he wouldn't be able to play one last year with his team and forced to watch from the sidelines. He hadn't really talked with their mother since she gave him that punishment. She then looked down and noticed that Cora had a book in her hand.
"What are you reading?" she asked her little sister.
"Oh." Cora then held up the book to show Laura that it was the story White Fang. "It's one that's on my summer reading list. Mom said I would like reading this one."
Laura smiled at her as she had read that book before and thought it was funny considering what their family was. "You will. I know that I did," she said with a small laugh in her tone. But she looked up when she saw their mother and her beta walking towards them. "Why don't you go up to your room and keep reading and in an hour I'll take you to go off for a swim."
Cora smiled as she ran up the stairs as Talia and Ray made it into the foyer.
"Thank you for your time Talia," Ray told her as they stopped in front of the front door.
Talia stopped and folded her arms as she looked back at him calmly. "Of course. And, I'll take some time to give it some thought but I won't make any promises."
Ray gave her a nod as he went to open the door. "Good to see you Laura,"
"Ray," she said after him as he went to leave and close the door behind him. She then turned to look at her mother. "What was Ray here about?"
Talia went to head back into the living room. "He wanted to talk about his girlfriend Janice. He just proposed to her last night."
Laura squealed. "Oh my god. That's wonderful." But then she noticed the look on her mother's face and felt there was something else. "Wait, she didn't turn him down, did she?"
She shook her head. "No, she said yes to him. But, he came to ask if I would consider turning her and make her part of the pack."
"Oh." Laura didn't expect that one. "What did you say?"
"I told him that I would look into it. See if I think it would be a good idea to turn her or not. If I did then I would do it but only if she agreed."
"Well, why wouldn't it be a good idea to turn his fiancé? She seems strong to me and could be turned and make a fine addition to the pack with Ray."
Talia turned to face her daughter. "It's not always that simple Laura. Not everyone can be turned and not everyone that can be can handle it." Her tone went to that of an authoritative lecture. "The bite changes a person's life, forever. Not too many people can adapt to that kind of change. There are those that can come to accept change over time, even embrace and thrive on it. But that kind of change can also make a person self-loathing, cut off or even abuse the power. When it comes to expanding a pack, you have to take the person's nature into account more than their age, appearance or physical prowess. An alpha needs to know if a potential wolf is one that its pack can depend on and be one worthy of them guiding, trusting and protecting; or will it be one that brings the pack trouble and danger and will come to make the alpha regret turning them? Also, will it be the best thing for them or will they turn out for the worst? All important questions to ask before turning someone."
Laura narrowed her eyes as she dropped her gaze in thought at everything her mother just said. No doubt this was more grooming for the time when she must take over. "What if there's not enough time to consider all of that? How do I make the right choice then?"
Talia sighed as a sad smile snuck its way on her. "You won't always make the best of choices, I know I haven't. All I could tell you is to follow your instincts and trust in your feelings. Sometimes, the wolf part of you will know and sense things before the human part does and may choose for you. Sometimes even when you didn't realize you were looking to expand the pack. It knows both what you want and need, even if you might not."
The roof of the hospital was full of deputies and crime scene officials as a helicopter flew up ahead. One person was taking a full record of the scene including photos of the spot of blood on Sean Walcott's back. Sheriff Stilinski looked the scene over with a grim look on his face. He saw Parrish nearby and made his way over to him.
"Alright, let's get everyone off the roof. And see if you can stall the M.E. for five minutes. I've got experts of my own coming in to take a look."
Parrish just gave him a look. "You have experts on teenage cannibalism?"
When Parrish finished checking the house, he had gone to the meat locker and found that the Sheriff had brought his son and his friends to take a look. He claimed that they had followed him in their and told them to leave. Parrish saw that one of the bags had been wide opened and saw that body inside was half eaten. At first, he thought it had to be the work of a rabid dog but the Walcotts only owned a cat. On their way to the hospital, Stilinski had a hunch and asked for the bodies of the Walcotts be examined again, particularly their stomachs and Melissa took personal charge of the situation and found traces of human flesh. This meant that the Walcotts were cannibals and it explained why Sean hadn't eaten anything that was given to him.
Of course, she and the Sheriff knew that there was more to it than that.
Noah sighed as he looked back at his young deputy. "Five minutes Parrish," he said tirelessly.
He nodded and waved off to the others. "Alright guys," he called out to the others as he led them off of the roof leaving the Sheriff there alone.
Once they were gone, he sighed. "You can come out now," he muttered.
Stiles then jumped eagerly out of his hiding spot and landed right next to his father. Derek Hale stepped out of the shadows a little more quiet and subtly as he made his way for Sean's body. After Stiles had realized what was happening, he asked for Malia and Lydia to head on home while he raced for the hospital with his father and deputy not too far behind him. He found Melissa and quickly told him what happened and he called Derek to get some help with understanding what was going on.
Stiles stepped over to the body too and his eyes went to the red spot on the guy's back. "The axe guy?" he asked Derek.
"He actually uses a military tomahawk. According to Braeden anyway."
"Whoa, when did Braeden get in on this?" Stiles asked him.
"Who's Braeden?" the Sheriff asked them.
Stiles gave him a side look. "It's a long story dad."
"Which you will tell me in great detail later. Right now, we have to see to this. Scott said that he called himself a...Wendigo?"
"Cannibalistic shapeshifters," Derek told them, not taking his eyes off of the Wendigo the whole time. "But I haven't heard of them being in Beacon Hills for a long time. Must've been well hidden."
"I'll say," Stiles slurred out. "They weren't exactly storing beef in that secret meat locker of theirs."
Derek then rose his head up and took a deep sniff. "How many people did Scott say had been up here?"
Just Sean and the axe murderer," the Sheriff told them. "Oh, and get this. Apparently he has no mouth."
Stiles' eyes widened. "Are you serious?!"
His dad scoffed. He wish he wasn't. He looked over at Derek. "Have you ever come across this before?"
But Derek was focused on the edge of the roof, where he found some blood and the scent didn't belong to Scott or Sean. "There was someone else here. Someone young. Male."
The Sheriff narrowed his eyes. "You can smell his age?" Stiles shrugged. "What else can do you smell, his fear?"
He turned to look at them. "And his blood." Stiles went over to see what Derek had found and his eyes widened as the scent hit his nostrils. Derek turned to him. "You recognize the scent?"
Stiles kept his eyes on the blood. "Yeah, I do."
"Who is it?" the Sheriff asked his son.
But before Stiles could answer, his phone rang. He took it out and looked at the screen. "It's Scott."
Scott had been waiting on pins and needles outside his house as Stiles pulled up in his jeep.
"Scott, I just left my dad back at the hospital. He's with Derek and your mother now, going over the Walcotts' bodies."
"What did you tell him?" he quickly asked him. Scott was beyond scared right now.
"Not much. You hardly told me anything."
"Did you tell him about Liam?" he pressed.
Stiles gave him a tense look. "Scott, Derek caught Liam's scent on the roof. When I caught and recognized it, Derek caught me and outed me to my dad. I had to tell them it was Liam. They know he was there with you."
Scott just stopped and furiously ran his hand across his forehead. "Oh god," he gasped.
"Whoa," Stiles moved to put a calming hand on his shoulder. "Relax. We got this." He waited a second for Scott to calm down. "Where is Liam anyway?"
"He's upstairs."
"Doing what?'
Scott looked back at him nervously, trying to find the best words to answer that. "Lying down," he finally told him.
Scott took him to the bathroom and opened it to show Liam in the tub. He was bound completely in scotch tape and his mouth was taped shut. At the sight of them, he stared back at them frightened and hysterical. Stiles sighed and rolled his eyes as he went and closed the curtain despite Liam's muffled whimpers. The two of them went over to sit on Scott's bed and just stared ahead, lost in thought.
Scott was scared. He had just bitten a kid. Someone that was younger than he and Stiles had been when they had been bitten. Now, this kid was likely going to be a werewolf and his life was never going to be the same, and it was all his fault. Not to mention that Araya had given him that warning in Mexico just over a week ago. And the Sheriff knows that he had someone with him on the roof too. He didn't know what he was going to do.
Stiles didn't know what he was feeling right now. This wasn't exactly unfamiliar territory. He and Scott had been here before, with Isaac, Erica and Boyd when Derek had bitten them. But the fact that it was Scott who had bitten someone changed things. A lot.
"So, you bit him," Stiles muttered after a bit.
"Yeah," Scott breathed out.
"And you kidnapped him."
"Yeah."
"And you brought him here," Stiles said almost scolding.
"I panicked," Scott said defensively.
Stiles nodded. "This won't end with us having to bury pieces of his body in the desert, is it?" There was then a loud whimper from the bathroom to show that Liam had just heard that. Stiles rubbed at his face. "Okay, this is why I always come up with the plans. Your plans suck."
"I know," Scott huffed out. "That's why I called you. So, what do we do?"
The next thing Liam knew, Scott and Stiles grabbed him from the tub and placed him in a chair in the middle of Scott's bedroom.
"Okay, Liam," Stiles started as he pointed his finger at him to draw his full attention. "We are going to take the tape off. If you scream, it goes right back on. If you talk quietly it stays off, got it?" Liam narrowed his eyes at him but nodded just the same. "Okay." Stiles then reached for it and quickly yanked it off causing Liam to give a small start. Stiles let himself breathe. Scott was off to the side but seemed to be trying to avoid directly looking at Liam. Stiles could feel the anxiety leaking out of him like a running faucet. He guessed that meant that he would have to do most of the talking but he thought that might be a good thing. Out of the both of them, it was him that had the easier transition into all of this so that made him more suited to try and ease Liam into it. "Okay, are you okay?" he decided to lead off.
Liam gave him a glare. "Do I look okay?"
Stiles gave him a noticeable once over before clapping his hands together softly. "Okay, uh so Liam, I'm sure you have some, if not a lot of questions right now. I mean, you've seen some pretty scary and confusing things tonight. And some more scary and confusing things have happened to you and even scarier and more confusing things are going to happen because of it. Do you understand?"
Liam shook his head. "Not really."
"Good, that's good."
Scott narrowed his eyes as he gave Stiles a look. "I don't understand either." And he knew what Stiles was trying to say.
Stiles rolled his eyes. "Then maybe you should be the one to explain what you did to him."
Liam started looking frantically between the two of them. "Tell me what? What did you do to me?!" he said settling his eyes on Scott.
Scott braced himself. "Liam, what happened to you. What I did to you, which I had to do to save your life," he stressed out. "It's…going to change you."
Stiles nodded. "Well, unless it kills you." That made both Scott and Liam give him a look. Stiles shook his head. "But don't worry, there's not a too big of a chance of that actually happening." He remembered the story of Paige and the circumstances behind her not taking to the bite and Lydia told him about Deaton's explanation of the Supernatural Bell Curve. Stiles pulled Liam's sleeve back to reveal Scott's bite. Stiles and Liam's eyes widened at it and Scott turned to try and not look at what he did. "Well, it's not bleeding black." Stiles covered it back up and then leaned in and sniffed at Liam, which made both him and Scott be taken aback. Stiles then pulled away with a thoughtful expression on his face. "And it doesn't smell like he's dying. Your chances of pulling through seem pretty good," he quickly said with a smile and raising his hands for a double thumbs up at Liam.
That only made both Liam's nerves and fear rise and Scott gave Stiles a quick slap at the gut to make him stop. "Dude, enough," he said to him.
"What?" Liam gasped out in both fear and confusion.
He then bowed his head and his breathing quickened. Scott and Stiles tensed as they heard sniffles starting to escape from him.
"Wait, is he crying?" Stiles asked.
Scott felt his insides shrivel as Liam started to let some whimpers out. It made him look even younger than ever. "Look, Liam, it's going to be alright," he said quickly and nervously.
But Liam kept crying so Scott tried to help him out by ripping his bindings off to try and make him feel better.
Stiles was feeling off about this move. "Are you sure that's a good idea Scott?" he asked.
Scott didn't stop in untying him. "He's not our prisoner. And I don't think he'll be able to-"
But Scott never said what he thought Liam couldn't do because what he did do was shoot out of the chair and grab it. He then whacked Scott who was caught off guard as his attention was fully on Stiles. Scott fell down towards Stiles grabbed at Scott and broke his fall.
"Hey!" Stiles cried out as he went for grab Liam with his free hand.
Liam quickly moved to clobber Stiles in the face but Stiles quickly brought up his hand and caught his fist in his palm. Stiles felt a mix of dejavu and a warm tingle travel up his spine as he stared at the stopped attempt to punch him. Liam's eyes widened but he quickly looked down and then sent a hard kick at Stiles' ankle with his good leg while Stiles seemed dazed. His kick made contact and made Stiles twitch and let go of both Scott and Liam. As soon as he did, Liam then spun and grabbed the chair before bringing it down right at Stiles' head and caused him to fall down, on top of Scott.
"Stop!" Scott cried out as he tried to push Stiles off him.
Liam quickly bolted from the room into the hallway but he suddenly stopped. He looked down at his leg to realize that he was running almost normally. His hurt leg didn't feel broken anymore and felt like it was fighting off a slight cramp. But he turned around when he saw that Scott and Stiles were tumbling out into the hallway. Scott was breathing a little hard and Stiles was holding his head slightly but both were looking at him with annoyed glint in their eyes.
"Get him!" Stiles roared out.
The two of them then charged for Liam and he screamed as they practically tackled him. The force of it sent the three of them tumbling down and begin to fall down the stairs. They fell and tumbled all the way down the stairs until they ended up back on the ground floor. The three of them were all in a heap on the floor and were groaning from the pain of falling one full flight of stairs. Liam was on the top of them and he quickly recovered and moved to try and get away. His movements stirred the others and they moved to try and keep him from escaping. Limbs began to flail around and Stiles ended up grabbing a leg trying to kick its way out of his grip.
"I got him. I got him!"
But he noticed that it stopped moving and he looked to see that it was Scott's leg. He was glaring at him as Stiles' own foot was pressed up against his cheek. Scott pushed his foot off and Stiles quickly let his go and they looked around and saw that Scott's front door was wide open. Liam was gone.
"Your plan sucked too," Scott muttered out.
Stiles tilted his head. "Well, you're the one that wanted to untie him." Stiles moved to sit himself up straight.
Scott let out a defeated puff of air before he let himself lie flat on the floor.
Over at the loft, Peter was coming into the loft and shut off the alarm system.
"Derek, you here?" he called out.
There was no answer and he guessed that Derek was out trying to find Kate again. Peter had just come back from the vault and had moved to secure some of the legal papers that were left in there to see if nothing else had been taken. For one, he was surprised when he found adoption papers, belonging to Malia. It seemed that Talia had overseen her adoption into the Tate family behind his back. He was reading one of the forms when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest but it wasn't from emotions. It was from the tomahawk that had flew right into him. Derek collapsed on the floor and was eventually looked down upon by a bald man with no mouth.
"Derek," he gasped out.
The Mute went to a device on his arm and pushed some buttons before a dark, computerized voice sounded. "Don't worry Peter, Derek is next."
Derek was staring away out a window as Scott and Stiles sat across from Scott's mom and Stiles' dad. The three of them had come over from the hospital when Stiles had called Derek and asked him to come over quickly. Unfortunately, he had been with their parents at the time and relayed the message to them. The three of them then rushed over and they were forced to tell them the whole story about tonight.
"Will he be okay?" Scott asked Derek after they finished explaining.
Derek finally tore his gaze from the window and turned to look at him. "How long ago did you bite him?"
"Almost four hours ago," Scott told him.
"How long does it usually take to know if it worked or not?" the Sheriff asked.
Derek thought back to Paige. "If it didn't take, then he would've shown signs at least two hours after." He then looked at Stiles. "You say that his scent was normal?"
Stiles nodded. "Yeah. And I checked his bite. It wasn't bleeding black blood and not even bleeding that much."
But Melissa narrowed her eyes. "And he got away from you two?"
They nodded.
"He surprised us," Scott told his mother.
"Then he ran away," Stiles finished.
"But, how did he run with that ankle?" she asked.
Scott and Stiles gave each other a look. They had forgotten about that. Liam's ankle had been hurt by Scott back at practice. He never should've been able to get away from them.
"It started healing," Scott muttered.
Derek crossed his arms. "Seems your bite took, and pretty fast too."
Scott leaned forward from where he sat. "This is all my fault."
"Scott, you were trying to save Liam's life," Stiles said to him.
"And I went ahead and ruined it instead," Scott slurred out dismally.
"No, you didn't." The Sheriff's face softened. "You gave him a second chance." He leaned back into the chair. "So, what usually happens now? With those that get bitten?"
"Right now, its best that he sleeps off this night, just like these two did. After that, well, that's up to the Alpha," Derek said as he let his gaze settle on Scott.
He looked away from his, and everyone else's gazes and got up to go on upstairs.
"Scott," Melissa called after him but he kept on walking.
"It's okay. It's his first time," Stiles told her lightly.
At that, both Melissa and the Sheriff gave Stiles a condescending look and Stiles then realized just how that sounded.
Derek sighed and rolled his eyes behind his closed eyelids before deciding to move this along. "What do you know about this kid anyway?"
"Not much," said Stiles mumbled. "All we really know is that he came from Devenford Prep."
"That's on the other side of Beacon County," said the Sheriff.
"His stepfather is also one of the new head doctors in the hospital," Melissa told them. "He told me that he felt his family needed a change."
Stiles then narrowed his eyes. "Hang on, when me and Scott spoke to him before practice he lied about getting transferred. When we called him out on it, he admitted that he got kicked out. In fact, he was scared and angry that we caught him in his lie."
"I'll do some digging at the station tomorrow," The Sheriff told them.
Stiles nodded before he narrowed his eyes. "What about the axe murderer with no mouth? He's still out there."
Derek sighed. "I'll look into that. You two should focus on the kid."
"And it's still a school night," Noah said as he picked himself up from the couch. "So, maybe it's time to call it one."
Raphael McCall had gotten the call about the murders at the hospital. Two people had been killed, a security guard and Sean Walcott, who it turned out was part of a family of cannibals. When he had reached the Walcott's home he was shocked at the sight of the bodies that the coroners saw had signs that they were being eaten, gradually. By the time he made it to the hospital, the Sheriff had already overseen much of the mop up of the latest murders. He got the report from Parrish and Haigh who had been left. Sean Walcott had killed and eaten the guard before his family's killer had tracked him down and killed him before he could escape. Since he was there, he decided to see Melissa but found that she had left early. She had been the one to find the deputy's body. He then hurried home to check on her and was now watching as the Sheriff, Stiles and Derek were all leaving the house with Melissa seeing them off.
Malia was sitting in Stiles' room where he had gone into his closet and come out with a rucksack. He threw it on the bed and reached in to reveal that they were full of high end restraints.
Malia gave them a slight glare. "I hate full moons," she said distastefully.
Stiles sighed. "They're not so bad, once you get hang of them. Like me and Scott."
She raised her eyebrows at him. "Last full moon, you weren't tied down because you and Scott didn't think you needed to be because you had control. Two hours in, you tossed Scott across the room and then ran out of the lake house. He chased after you and both of you ended up in the lake."
Stiles gave out a nervous smile. "Yeah, well it was my first full moon in a while. My tolerance was down and we should've guessed that I needed to re-adjust. But, I did. The rest of the night, I was okay...didn't even need Scott to handcuff me to the radiator though I think that decision was more for payback then safety." Stiles smiled at her but Malia still looked at him nervously and his face fell a bit. "It'll get easier Malia, I promise."
"It better," she said as she took one of the restraints that looked worn and a few good pulls away from ripping apart. "Because these won't hold much longer."
"Well, then lets make tonight the last night you have to use these," he said as he checked them on Malia. "Besides, we might need them for Liam."
"You guys sure he's going to turn into a werewolf?"
Stiles let out a deep sigh. "Looks like it. And it'll be his first full moon tonight."
He didn't say more than that as he turned and noticed his father come and stop at his doorway. Stiles then looked down and saw that he had Malia's wrist bound in the restraint that he had just fastened to a chain.
"Kids," his father sighed out.
Stiles then realized what must be going through his dad's mind, particularly after their embarrassing talk yesterday. "Oh, hey, uh, this is not what you think, at all."
His dad just shook his head. "I'm, just trying not to…eh, forget it," he said before he went off.
"There's nothing to forget!" he cried out after him.
Malia shrugged as she moved to take the restraint off. "I don't get it."
Stiles smiled. "Yeah, I told him that."
Better that she didn't know what his dad was trying not to imagine, because this day was going to be awkward enough already.
Derek spent the night trying to track down the Mute that Scott came across at the hospital but couldn't find any trace or scent of him away from the hospital. He guessed that this guy knew how to hide from them. He tried to head over to the Walcotts to see if he could find any clues there but came up short there as well. He decided to head on back for the loft and found his first solid lead, right next to his bleeding uncle. He had been stunned by the axe being plunged into him but seemed to have gotten enough strength to manage to pull the axe out of him. Derek helped Peter sit on the table as he took the axe and looked it over. There was a smell on it that was all too familiar and explained why his uncle wasn't healing and was still suffering side effects.
"The axe was laced with wolfsbane. I don't know the species so, we're going to have to burn it out." He then brought out his lighter and lit it up.
Peter glared at the flame in his hand. "I think I can handle a little fire," he stuttered out sarcastically. Derek smirked at him, just before he went and brought out a blowtorch which he instantly lit with it. Peter lost his wit at the sight of it. "Oh hell." Only a few seconds later, the loft was full of his screams. After they were finished, Peter was healed and helped back to his feet by Derek. "He said he was after you."
Derek narrowed his eyes. "How does a guy with no mouth say anything?"
Peter then moved over and pulled out a glove that seemed to have some kind of device on it. "With this."
Lydia was sitting in science class with Kira as she was scrolling through her notes. Kira was looking over her shoulder. It looked like a jumble of numbers, letters and symbols all jumbled together.
Kira's eyes nearly shot out at the sight. "These are your math notes? No wonder Malia's failing."
Lydia kept her gaze on it. "Some are my notes. The rest I think might actually be a code."
"Wait, you don't remember writing it?" Kira asked.
Lydia shook her head. "Not in the slightest. Which, according to Stiles, means my banshee side is trying to tell me something."
"What?"
"No idea. But, considering my drawing of a tree led us to the Nemeton, I should probably figure out what it means before it tries to kill us," she added on a sarcastic note.
"Maybe it's like the enigma code the Allies always used. Remember, my dad was a WWII buff. My mom was, well in it," she said thinking back on her story over a few weeks ago.
Lydia just shook her head a bit. "I think this is a variation on something called the Vigenere Cipher."
Kira knew what that was. It was basically a code within a code. "Do you know how to crack it?" If anyone would know how, it would be Lydia.
Lydia looked over at her. "With a key."
Before they could say anything else, a set of keys were now dangling in front of them. They were being held up by Lydia's mother, who was their teacher. Lydia recognized those keys. They were the ones to their lake house.
She was looking at Lydia with a stern expression on her face. "Remember the rules. No more than six people allowed in the lake house. Stay out of the wine. And, if anything gets broken, it's getting added to your credit card debt."
"Fine," Lydia said as she reached for them.
But her mother pulled them away. "And lock up the basement. From all the scratch marks and cracks on the wall and floor I found, it looked like a pack of wild animals got in down and had a battle royal." She then handed the keys to them.
Lydia took them and shared a look with Kira. Last month, Malia had gone wild and started clawing out to try and escape the chains and restraints she had been bound in. Her loss of control seemed to effect Stiles and he unexpectedly lost control. He snapped by grabbing and throwing Scott across the basement. Their rolling about made Malia even more wild and aggressive too. Then Stiles ran off while he was heated up and Scott went after him while Kira had been left to try and calm Malia which had a bit of claw and sword action exchanged between them. Thankfully, she came out of it with only a few scrapes…mostly, while Scott cooled Stiles off with a grab and tackle into the lake.
"Maybe this one will be better?" Kira whispered to her.
Lydia just narrowed her eyes at her and Kira let out a heated sigh. With how things were going, chances are this one would be worse.
Mason got off the bus and rolled his eyes as he heard Garrett and Violet lightly argue with each other as they held hands. Garrett was telling her that he didn't want to spend another night watching movies at her house. He asked Mason if there was something going on that they could do but Mason shot the idea of doing something exciting down as they were freshman. Violet smirked as it seemed that she had won and told them that they were going to Mason's for a movie at nine. She then led Garrett away while Mason walked off and spotted Liam. He was running over to him and was panting slightly.
"Liam? Why weren't you on the bus?" he asked.
Liam panted a bit but got his breathing under control. "Uh, I ran."
Mason narrowed his eyes. "You ran? Three miles to school?"
Liam just shrugged. "I started running," he told him.
The truth was it wasn't a run...it was a dash. Last night, after he escaped Scott and Stiles, he had run all the way back home and he was amazed at how not tired he was from it. Last night had been so crazy that he had overslept and he had missed the bus. He then just ran to try and get to school on time and he hadn't needed to stop until he had actually made it there. While he might be a little tired, it wasn't as much as he thought he should be.
Mason then looked down at his feet. "Guess your leg's okay then?" He then noticed the bandage on his wrist. "What happened to your arm?"
"Uh," he started but then Liam's voice started to crack a bit. His heart started to beat a bit faster and harder. He felt himself started to burn up a little on the inside.
"Hey, are you okay?" Mason asked him.
Liam had turned away from his friend and looked up to see that Scott was standing across the courtyard. He was looking straight at him with a hard look on his face. Scott looking at him made him tense up and back away. "I'll talk to you later, alright. I have to get to class," he told Mason.
Mason watched Liam go off but turned around. He had noticed that Liam seemed freaked but he didn't see anything or anyone that could've made him feel that way. What Mason didn't notice was that there was someone else, staring at him with the same kind of calculating eyes. Stiles, and he was rolling those eyes before he moved them to look upon Liam as he was stumbling off.
"Scott, he's heading for the locker room," he said, knowing Scott could hear him.
"Yeah, I know. I'll follow after him and you cut him off," Scott told him from where he was moving after Liam.
"Got it."
Liam stumbled off inside but panicked when Scott started to move in after him. He tried to go faster but his path ahead became blocked by Stiles.
"Liam, stop right there," Stiles pointed at him as he moved for him.
Liam tried to find another way out but he was trapped.
"We need to talk," Scott told him.
"No, you need to back the hell off, okay!" he spat at them. "Both of you!"
Stiles brought his hands out to show that he wasn't going to touch him while Scott bared in on him.
"Liam, you need to listen. Please," Scott asked urgently, but gently. Liam still looked scared at the sight of him but he seemed to be calming down. Scott then let a small breath loose. Finally, he said, "Liam, we're brothers now."
Immediately, Stiles ducked his head and pressed his fingers against his eyes in irritation. "Oh god," he muttered.
Liam looked at Scott like he was crazy. "What?" he asked. "What are you talking about? We just met and you bit me."
Scott then decided to try something else. "The bite, the bite is a gift."
Stiles heard the thump in Scott's heart and he sighed. This had gone on enough. "Scott, just stop. Stop talking." He then moved over to him and pushed his friend aside. They needed a new approach. "Liam, you ran to school today, right? Three miles."
Liam's eyes widened. "What, you followed me from home?!"
"Alright, settle down you little runt," Stiles hissed as he put his hands out at him to try and get him to not be so loud. "And no. I heard you tell your friend that just a minute ago outside."
Liam shook his head. "Wait, how could you have heard us? We were alone and I didn't see you anywhere."
Stiles snapped his fingers and then pointed one over at him. "Yes. Good question. How did I hear you? And here's another good question, how did you run all the way here when your leg was practically broken just yesterday?"
"Because of you two," he accused at them.
"Well, to clarify, it was really because of him," Stiles pointing over at Scott.
Scott shoved him at his shoulder. He then looked down at Liam's leg and saw where Stiles was trying to take this. "Your leg isn't broken anymore Liam. It healed overnight. Doesn't that seem strange to you?" Scott took a moment to think that his own bite disappearing last year should've shaken him more than it did, but then again, he did have a lot of things going on back then. And he had been quite distracted by his new feelings for Allison.
Liam took a moment to look over from Scott to Stiles as they were looking intently at him, waiting to hear his answer. He looked down and gave his leg a another look. True, he was thinking that was weird but he guessed they were trying to make a bigger deal out of it to keep hounding him and just shrugged his shoulders. "I guess it just wasn't as bad as it looked."
"No, it was," Stiles said. "Liam, your leg was broken but it healed itself."
"And how did it do that?" Liam asked condescendingly.
"Because I bit you," Scott threw him. "It helped heal your leg."
Liam gave Scott a look. "Funny, I didn't think bites did that. Must've missed out on that part in biology class."
Stiles bit the side of his cheek to keep from smiling. He couldn't help but think that was totally something he would say.
Scott, who already had years of experience with sarcasm with Stiles as his best friend, brushed it off. "My bite isn't a normal one Liam. It changed you in more ways then one, and you could feel it already, can you?"
Liam glared at him. "What I'm feeling is annoyed because you two haven't stopped bothering me since we met at practice. Just leave me alone."
He moved to leave but Stiles jumped forward. "Whoa Liam, stop. Okay, what is happening to you now isn't just going to go away. You can't ignore it and need to start listening to us."
"No, what I need is to get away from you psychos. Nothing is happening to me."
Stiles' eyes went down to the bandage Liam had over his arm. "Really? So show us the bite."
Scott gave Stiles a look. He remembered that was the way Stiles had tried to get Scott to listen last year. By showing him that the bite on his arm had vanished. He then looked at Liam and looked at him with a pointed look.
Liam then impatiently ripped off his bandage. Liam's arm was clean. Scott's bite wasn't there anymore. "There, happy? Now, just go away."
He then stomped off and the two of them shared a look before they solemnly watched him disappear. It was official. Liam was a werewolf now. And he would be experiencing his first full moon night in just a few hours.
Noah Stilinski was at the station and approached Parrish. He gave him the task to find out what he could about the boys' new addition to their pack. Right now, he had some work to do about the side supernatural issue hitting the town.
"Sheriff?"
He looked up and saw Raphael McCall standing by his door frame. "McCall?" he said as he put the folder down.
Raphael noticed. "What you got there?"
"Oh, they ID'd most of the bodies we found at the Walcotts. Some missing people from the surrounding counties."
Raphael nodded. "Yeah, I heard. They seemed to have abducted a person every two or three weeks. All loners so that no one would really try and look for them. They were pros."
"No wonder no one knew about them." He meant that as being hidden as kidnappers and wendigos.
He then went and put his hands in his pockets. "Is there anything else you can tell me about the Walcotts?"
"There's not really any more to say," Noah sighed out.
Raphael narrowed his eyes. "Officially," he said pointedly. He then took a few steps further inside. "How about unofficially? What can all of you say then?" The image of the Sheriff, his son and Derek Hale leaving his home was replaying in his mind's eye.
That made the Sheriff raise his head at him. McCall seemed ready for a full confrontation. "What is that supposed to mean?" He knew that McCall had been circling around them lately but it seemed like he was reaching the end of his rope.
"I think you know exactly what I mean."
But before Raphael could say more, Parrish was at the doorway. "Parrish," he said a little louder than necessary to stop McCall from saying more.
"Sheriff," he said before he held up a folder. "I have it."
Noah rose his eyes at Parrish. "That was fast. I only asked you to look an hour ago."
"It wasn't too hard. Turns out that there was a record already in the system."
He then handed it over to him and Noah quickly opened it up. His eyes scanned the file and they widened as he read on. There were even pictures and they were shocking ones. He then looked over to see that the two of them were silently watching him and he closed it. "Thanks Parrish. I appreciate it a lot."
"It was no problem sir."
Noah then looked over at McCall. "I'm sorry but I have to get back to work." He politely saw the two of them out of his office. He went right for his phone and dialed up his son. "Stiles," he said as soon as he heard his son answer. He then turned and noticed that McCall was watching him and then moved to softly close his door.
Raphael kept his eyes on the closed office as he could make out the Sheriff pacing slightly as he spoke with his son. Something told him that the Sheriff was now sharing whatever was on the file that Parrish had given him with their sons. Maybe on whoever they were supposed to be looking for.
"Hey Parrish," he said as he went over to where the deputy had returned to his desk. "What exactly did you give to Sheriff Stilinski?"
The deputy shrugged. "Nothing special. Just a juvenile's report on somebody he had me run a background check on."
He narrowed his eyes. "Who?"
"Some kid named Liam Dunbar."
Raphael shook his head. "Who is Liam Dunbar?"
Scott and Stiles met back up with the girls by the school buses during lunch. After telling them that it was verified that Liam had turned, some silence came over them as they all took that in.
Malia broke the ice. "I'm not sharing my basement."
Lydia gave her a look. "Actually, it's my basement. And, my mom noticed that you tore it up last time."
"Alright, she's still learning," Stiles said in her defense.
She folded her arms and gave him a smirk. "And what's your excuse?" Lydia said back to him.
"Give me a break. It was my first full moon in a while. I was a little rusty. But, I'm better now. It's like riding a bike."
"Stiles, you can't ride a bike," Scott pointed out which made Stiles give him an annoyed look. Scott shook it off. "Anyway, we are going to use the boat house for Liam. It's got support beams. We can chain him to one of them."
"But how are we going to get him out to the lake house if he doesn't trust us?" asked Kira.
"My dad called and gave me his address. I say we just lie in the bushes and then jump him as he comes home," Stiles suggested. "Knock him out and drag him away. If he turns on the way and tries to run, we can just throw the little bastard into the lake." Stiles gave a pointed look to Scott at that.
"Sounds like a hunt. I'm in," Malia said raising her hand eagerly.
"We're not hunting or kidnapping him," Scott told them.
"Then let's be smarter. We tell him there's a party and invite him," Lydia suggested.
Seemed like a plausible plan.
Stiles narrowed his eyes. "You're going to ask out a freshman?"
"No, I'm done with teenage boys. But," she said, lightening up her tone to be playful and mischievous. "If we're going to play a trick on someone, let's use the trickster," she said looking over at Kira.
At that, all of them looked over at her and her eyes widened. "Who, me? No way. Not me," she said frantically shaking her head.
"Yes, you," Lydia pressed. "You know what they call a female fox? A vixen."
They all knew what that word implied. And Kira didn't think that was her in the slightest.
"Me?" she asked doubtfully.
"You can do it Kira. Be a vixen," Lydia told her with a smile.
They all smiled at her too.
"It won't be that hard Kira. He's a young hormone driven teenage werewolf. You should've seen this one when he first turned," Stiles said, pointing his thumb over Scott's way.
Scott's jaw dropped. "What? Come on, I wasn't that bad," he laughed out. But Stiles and Lydia gave him a look which sobered him a bit. "And you weren't?" Scott mumbled at him.
"Yeah but the right head was calling the shots," Stiles stated proudly. That made them all give him an awkward look.
"I've never done anything like this before," Kira explained, trying to make them nip this plan. "What if he doesn't even look at me?"
But Stiles looked at Kira with confidence. "Kira, you'll do great. I know it," he said to her gently. "You got this." That made them all smile at Stiles before they all looked at Kira in encouragement. He had warmed quite a bit to her in the last couple of weeks following being freed from his possession.
At the sight of them all having faith in her, she went and took a deep breath before she nodded. "Okay."
But then Stiles' face fell a bit. "Kira, just keep an eye out when you're alone with Liam, okay?" he told her with some concern.
That threw them a bit, especially Scott.
Derek placed the glove with the device attached along with the tomahawk on the Sheriff's desk as he explained how and where he got them.
Noah went and picked the glove up. "I still don't get how this guy has no mouth. How, how can he eat?"
Derek couldn't help but think that he was definitely Stiles' father. "Peter didn't really get a chance to ask. He was fighting him off with a tomahawk buried in his chest."
"Yeah, but who runs around with a tomahawk?"
They didn't notice that his office door had been opened and Parrish had listened in on his question.
"I carried one for IED removal in Afghanistan," he told them. They were stunned silent when they he started walking in. "It's military," Parrish said giving the tomahawk a once over before setting his sight on the glove's device. "So is that."
Derek couldn't help but think that this deputy might help them make some sense of all this. "Do you know what it's used for?" he asked him.
Parrish put the tomahawk down and went for the device, giving it a once over. "Cutting edge. But this one looks like it's been modified."
Both Noah and Derek gave each other a small look. For the Sheriff, the young deputy was someone that he was finding both dependable and trustworthy. Lydia had told him of their conversation before finding the bodies at the Walcotts. He had a unique kind of outlook from the other deputies that could be their best chance to find this mute. As for Derek, he remembered how Parrish had treated him when he had been de-aged. He seemed like a genuine nice person that seemed to want to do his part to help. And he did seem to know more about the Mute's tools then they did.
The two of them ended up giving each other a subtle nod in mutual agreement.
Noah slowly went over and closed the door to his office. "Show us," he told him.
After the door had closed, it drew the attention of Deputy Haigh. He saw that the Sheriff, Derek Hale and now Parrish were talking in hushed whispers over something on the desk. He saw the light reflected off the tomahawk's surface and then got his phone out and went to make a call.
Parrish was hacking the console on the glove with the Sheriff and Derek watching him work silently from behind. Parrish was entering code sequences before he seemed to have finally found something. "Alright, I think I have an IP address," he told them.
"That means we can find him, right?" asked the Sheriff.
"Definitely. Especially if-" But Parrish was cut off when the glove started to move of its own accord.
"What was that?" Derek asked.
But Parrish was distracted by something new appearing on the screen. "I think I found a message. Does anyone recognize the handle, Benefactor?"
No, they did not. A moment later, a set of words appeared next to the name saying Money Transferred.
"What does that mean?" Derek asked him.
Noah Stilinski straightened himself up. He knew exactly what that meant. "It means that this guy's not just a killer. He's an assassin."
Derek tensed up. If this mute was an assassin, then he was probably hired to kill a family full of wendigo. There was also the fact that the assassin was still around. That means he was after a new mark. And Derek had a feeling that he knew who. The Mute attacked Peter but didn't kill him. It was possible that he was now after him. If that was the case, the question now was, Who hired him? He could only think of one person. Kate. "How long until you could find him?" Derek asked.
Parrish was still at work. "Maybe another minute or two."
Liam was walking out of class with his friend Mason when he stopped as he suddenly stopped.
Mason stopped too. "Liam?"
But Liam didn't answer him. His eyes were on the staircase ahead of them, or rather on who was walking down them. A pretty junior girl was slowly stepping down them in heeled boots and the light from the nearby window seemed to be hitting her in a way that made her almost glow. As she was coming down, she seemed to be looking right at him. As his eyes caught hers, he felt something stir within him. He felt himself heating up from the inside and his heart was definitely beating a few ticks faster. She was focused on him, so focused that she slipped and fell at the last step. Liam then snapped out of it and ran over to her.
"You okay?" he asked her.
Kira then lifted her head to smile at him, trying to make it look like she was comfortable on the floor. "Yeah, fine. Uh, want to go to a party tonight?"
Liam was stunned at the forward question but he found himself quickly nodding.
Scott and Stiles were watching all this unfold, down the hall with bemused expressions.
"A bit unorthodox, but hey, whatever works," Stiles shrugged.
Scott kept listening and nodded. "She got him. He's going with her tonight."
"Good. Not the way we thought our Turniversary would turn out, is it?" Stiles asked giving him a solemn look.
"I wouldn't exactly say that I expected much good to come from this day," Scott sighed. "And quit with that name already. Come on, we better get going."
He then turned to leave and Stiles huffed but followed.
