"Scott is missing!?"
Derek asked the question with surprise. There was real worry in his expression- an emotion he rarely showed.
"They don't know where he went," David confirmed with a nod. "No offense to Stiles, but I think there is something kinda off about his friend Scott."
Derek raised an eyebrow at that remark, while Stiles stared into the roaring flames of the drawing room's grate looking a million miles away.
Derek's expression dropped into a sad frown as he noticed the tragic expression on his friend's face. Stiles looked as though he could cry.
"We'll find him Stiles," Derek said in his most gentle voice.
Stiles nodded and wiped at his eyes a little, forcing a smile.
"Thanks Derek," he replied, wiping the last bit of moisture from his eyes. "I'm really glad you're here."
Derek managed a half smile meant to look reassuring.
"You coming?" he asked, holding up his keys. "I'm going to look for him."
"The police have looked everywhere already," Stiles replied sullenly. "Its no use..."
Derek's mouth fell open in surprise. He'd never seen Stiles so hopeless and unwilling to act.
"What's gotten into you?" Derek asked confusedly. "This isn't the Stiles I know at all. He'd never give up. Now come on- up and at em!"
Stiles smiled slightly, and a boyish gleam kindled in his eyes.
"You're right," he chuckled ironically. "What are we sitting around here for? I'll see you around Uncle David."
"Good luck both of you," David told them.
"Thanks," Derek said good-naturedly.
He and Stiles made their way across the foyer. They stopped when Stiles heard a voice he hadn't heard since his first day at Collinwood.
"I know one place they ain't checked," the voice said.
Stiles turned and looked at old Mr. Loomis in disbelief. Could he really know anything?
"What do you mean Willie?"
"I only meant there's a place around here no one goes," Willie replied, his voice rising as though he expected to be scolded. "The graveyard on Eagle Hill..."
Stiles looked at Derek knowingly.
"Worth a shot," Derek remarked.
"Wait," Stiles said, turning to Willie again. "There's another house isn't there?"
Mr. Loomis looked cornered and alarmed.
"What makes you think that?" he asked awkwardly.
"I heard Uncle Roger talking about it to Uncle David," Stiles lied, deciding not to mention the dream.
"Yeah the old house," Willie conceeded. "Why would you want to know?"
Stiles started to bump his fingers together excitedly.
"Curious is all. Where is this old house?"
Willie frowned at the question. He turned and scratched at his thin, aged hair distractedly.
"Through some hedges on the edge of this estate. Its a pretty thick growth. There's some trees and stuff. You'll know it Mr. Stiles. There's a beaten path through it."
"Thank you Willie," Stiles said, turning to Derek who looked slightly impatient.
"Done?" Derek asked shortly.
"I think so," Stiles replied with a small laugh, hoping one of Derek's moods wasn't coming on.
Derek nodded and led the way out the front doors, toward the garages.
OoooOoooOoooOoooO
"How could you do anything that foolish!?" Patrick thundered at Craig.
Dr. Hoffman looked livid, and started pacing the drawing room of Loganwood.
"I didn't know it would happen," Craig said defensively. "You said I could do anything I wanted!"
Patrick sneered mockingly.
"Anything you wanted didn't mean something so foolish a child wouldn't do it."
Craig flinched at the insult and drew himself up.
"You're blaming me?" he demanded shortly. "Because Scott McCall bit some girl!?"
"You're the one who shot him up with this..." Patrick paused and flailed his hands. "Oh who knows what!"
"You can't absolve yourself of your part," Craig said slyly. "Don't think I don't know what you're trying to do. You gave me that file, and you knew I had the drugs. Admit it: you were too absorbed in thoughts of that Stilinski boy to use sound judgment."
"Maybe I was," Patrick admitted with a sigh. "What of it?"
"Well only that I wouldn't go pointing fingers, if you know what I mean. The police might find that file very..."
"Silence fool!" Patrick thundered. "I do not involve the police in my affairs. I am not a common criminal."
"Not all criminals are common," Craig retorted.
"Hoffman I'm warning you..."
Craig grinned and folded his arms confidently.
"Ranting at me won't solve the problem you know..."
Patrick groaned and ran his hand across his blonde hair.
"Now I'll have to cancel on Stiles," he sighed. "I can't deny I gave you everything, but I didn't know it would turn out like this..."
"It'll still turn out fine," Craig said more easily. "I'm a doctor, remember?"
"A mad doctor," Patrick shot back.
"We're all a little mad," Craig quipped with a laugh. "Now listen because I can fix everything. I have Scott contained somewhere. Never mind where. He's no danger to anyone else, and I can reverse the girl's change. Enough time hasn't passed yet, I don't think."
"You hope not," Patrick corrected.
Dr. Hoffman sighed.
"Do you want to hear my plan to reverse the bite or not?"
"The bite?" Patrick asked skeptically.
"That's what its called. The condition it causes is called lycanthropy. You remember me speaking of my Aunt Julia? Let's just say she had a thing for the supernatural, and she encountered were...um- the subject of werewolves!"
Patrick looked at him skeptically.
"I hope you weren't about to say encountered werewolves," he deadpanned.
"Of course not," Craig laughed lightly. "Slip of the tongue..."
"Well what is your plan?" Patrick continued.
"If the bite hasn't taken significantly, mountain ash could counteract it. Its worth a shot. The girl will become violently ill of course as her body tries to reject the venom."
Patrick's eyes bugged out slightly.
"The venom?"
"Yes," Craig said, ruffling through his physician's tote distractedly. "I don't know where I'd get any mountain ash. Only problem. Its a longshot anyway."
"I'll get it," Patrick told him impatiently. "You go handle that Scott boy. I'm warning you doctor. No more of these antics. Give him the antidote to whatever you gave him. You're not going to ruin my shot with Stiles!"
Craig watched Mr. Logan storm out of the drawing room, no doubt to try to track down some mountain ash.
"One problem Mr. Logan," Craig muttered scathingly. "Who's going to give you an antidote?"
His smile twisted deviously at that statement.
OoooOoooOoooOoooO
Even the parking lot of the graveyard was hardly discernable beneath years worth of leaves piling up. The fence was rusty and warped.
Derek and Stiles closed their car doors respectively and looked at one another expectantly.
"Follow me," Derek said quietly.
"Um Derek," Stiles spoke as they walked through the creaky old gate. "Why you being quiet? No one's gonna be here."
"Stiles!" the wolf hissed. "That's your problem. You're never careful!"
"You're too careful," Stiles argued back in a whisper. "I'd rather know if something was coming myself. Not try to tiptoe around it!"
Derek glared at him warningly and yep- that glare still worked. Stiles swallowed and said nothing else.
There was an old mausoleum in just ahead. Surprisingly the gate was still in tact. If Scott would be anywhere, it seemed likely he'd be there.
"Scott!" Stiles shouted.
Derek looked at the younger man furiously, but didn't have time to argue.
"Stiles!?" Scott growled from inside. "No! Don't come in. Go back!"
"Don't be ridiculous Scott," Stiles chuckled, reaching for the gate handle. "You can't hate me that much."
Derek grabbed his arm midair, preventing him from opening it.
"Use your head Stiles! Scott wouldn't warn you away for nothing. Look..."
The werewolf looked down, and Stiles saw it now. There was a line of mountain ash across the entrance behind the gate.
"Mountain ash," Stiles muttered strangely. "What does this mean?"
"You can't let me out," Scott grunted in an odd voice. "He did something to me. Even now the rage is barely under the surface. He put some kind of drug in me."
"Who did?" Stiles asked.
"Some guy who came to my hotel room," Scott replied like he was lifting a ton weight. "Its taking everything I've got not to let it...take me again!"
Derek looked extremely worried now and guided Stiles back by the arm.
"Stiles come away," he instructed quietly.
"Let go!" Stiles protested stubbornly, wrenching his arm free. "You expect me to leave him?"
"You heard him Stiles! There's no telling what he might do."
Stiles looked dejected, knowing Derek was right. He remained quiet several moments, pondering the situation.
"Wait Derek," he said suddenly. "Don't you think the guy might come back?"
"Yeah he probably would," Derek agreed knowingly. "Let's wait for him. He'll see the car and know someone is here. We'd better hide..."
"Couldn't we hide in the..." Stiles stopped short, remembering why they couldn't go anywhere near Scott.
"Yeah," Scott grunted, catching on to Stiles's meaning. "You guys can hide in here. I'm walled into a corner. There's mountain ash here too."
Stiles looked at Derek, and the older man actually nodded.
Stiles stepped forward with his hand out, trying to focus on that spark he knew was in him. He hadn't called on its power in a long time.
Something seemed to pulse against his palm and he thought it must be working.
He opened the mausoleum gate with his other hand, and swung the sparked hand down like a karate chop. The mountain ash parted with a gentle gust.
Derek walked past him and looked around the dreary place strangely. Scott was still huddled into his corner looking scared, almost in a panic. He was trembling.
Stiles entered and read one of the grave markers on the wall.
"Sarah Collins," he sounded out. "A Collins ancestor! I wonder if Uncle David knows about her?"
The sound of leaves rustling outside broke his conversation.
"Someone in there!?" a male voice demanded loudly.
Derek grabbed Stiles quickly, but there was no where to hide in here. The coffins wouldn't hide two grown men like themselves...
Derek thought fast. Didn't it seem like something else might be in here? He'd felt it since he came in...
He looked at the golden lion heads above each wall grave marker. There was a little ring in each mouth. The middle one...
Derek approached it, examining it closely. A cord retreating up into the lion's mouth...
He grabbed the ring and pulled. Footsteps were coming much closer now. They could hear the footfalls clearly.
The wall opened with a low creak and slowly swung back. He stepped forward and gestured Stiles in.
The footfalls were louder now. Almost right at the mausoleum steps...
Derek grabbed the wall and forced it closed behind them, taking in the strange room they'd found.
There was a single coffin in the middle of it, and chained shut very haphazardly. Almost like someone had struggled to get the chains fitted over it...
"Who's in here!?" a male voice demanded from the other side of the wall.
Derek and Stiles remained silent, not daring to move a muscle. They heard footfalls on the mausoleum floor in the other chamber.
Stiles inhaled, feeling his nervous heart jumping as he looked to Derek's anxious expression.
"Was anyone in here?" the man demanded.
"N-no," Scott coughed out. "Let me go, please..."
"I can't do that," the man said. "Not yet..."
They heard the man pace for several moments.
"I don't trust this place," he said finally. "This is where I needed you. Where IT is, but we'll have to come back. I know someone's been in here! Come on!"
"Let me go!" Scott protested and Stiles made to jump forward, but Derek restrained him, claming a hand over his mouth.
"I'm sorry Stiles," Derek whispered in his ear. "Forgive me. This man is too dangerous to give ourselves away..."
Stiles went limp in Derek's grasp, submitting. Derek released him. Stiles looked as though he might cry again.
The gate opened with a loud creak and then closed.
"No!" Scott called from a distance now. "No..."
Stiles looked wide-eyed and miserable. He covered his eyes with his hands and finally broke down.
Derek placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry," he muttered dejectedly. "I was protecting you."
"I know," Stiles hiccuped. "It isn't you..."
They heard the roar of a car engine, and tires squeaking as the man jetted- Scott his captive once more...
Stiles wiped at his eyes and looked at the coffin strangely. Was he imagining it?
Something like drum beats was sounding in his ear. Boom booom! Boom booom!
They terrified him.
"Do you hear that?" he whispered.
Derek was feeling around the room frantically. He didn't answer. Something clearly had him spooked though.
"How do we get out?" Derek thought out loud.
He turned to the steps and started pulling at the stone tiles in them. Success! One of them shifted with the sound of stone grinding stone.
He gave a heave and the stone tile moved easily. There was something like a button in the floor under it...
He pushed it until the door shifted and swung back again.
Sure enough- the mausoleum was empty. Scott was gone...