Chapter 11

Katie's phone chimed as she headed back into the main room.

Meet me at the warehouses, I need your help tracking it. You're the only one fast enough.

"Boyd, Isaac," Katie shouted as she hurried up the stairs. "Derek needs my help, I'll be back later. Take care of Erica."

"I'll come with you," Isaac said as he started after her.

"Isaac, you need to heal, I'll be fine, Derek will be with me," Katie said before pushing the door open. She took off at a run enjoying the way the wind wiped through her hair. It didn't take long for her to pick up Derek's scent and to catch up to him.

He was standing at the docks, looking around. Katie jogged up next to him, turning when she heard a growl. She leapt out of the way as Derek lunged at the kanima. She did her best to stay out of the way, but as soon as the kanima headed up the wall out of Derek's reach she darted forward.

In one swift movement, she ran at Derek, used him for leverage and leapt onto the wall, high enough so that she could get at the kanima. She grabbed the tail, digging her claws in just a flash of light went off. Katie dropped with the kanima, but landed on her feet.

Derek pulled her out of the way as another set of lights appeared. A man rushed forward with a very large handgun and fired several rounds directly into the kanima. He stepped over the creature, his eyes scanning the area for her and Derek.

"Who is that," Katie asked softly enough for only Derek to hear.

"Chris Argent, he's Alison's dad and a hunter."

Suddenly there was a hiss and the kanima threw Chris into a pillar. Katie leaned forward unable to tell what the kanima was doing now. It was next to the SUV, staring at another man. Scott came out of nowhere and shoved the kanima away. He exchanged a glance with the man before taking off after the kanima.

"Let's go," Derek said as he tugged her up.

"How are we going to track it? It doesn't have a scent."

"We're going to track Scott."

They ran for what felt like forever. Katie paused and leaned against a wall. "Dude, I think we lost him too," she said tiredly.

"Damn it," Derek cried before kicking over a trashcan.

"Easy there, the trashcan didn't hurt you."

Derek shot her an annoyed look before shaking his head. "We have to stop this thing, now we have no idea who it is," he exclaimed.

"So we'll figure it out, come on, we should get back. We obviously need a plan if we are going to stop it, I mean a gun didn't even put that thing down," Katie replied. She took a deep breath and froze. "Wait, wait, I got it."

Katie took off at a run, Derek right on her heels. She rounded the corner and found the backdoor open. She slowly made her way inside, Derek right behind her.

"Interesting choice," she said when she realized where they were.

"You can say that again," Derek said as he looked around. He pointed to the dance floor. "There, you see him?"

"Yeah, let's go."

"Stay behind me, I don't know what it will do."

Katie nodded as she followed Derek forward. They slipped through the throngs of dancers, Katie pushed aside any guy that tried to dance with Derek, not that she could blame them, he was an attractive man. Derek shifted and let out a growl.

The kanima hissed as it turned to face him. Derek slashed its throat and watched it drop before grabbing her hand and pulling her back. They joined the scramble of people trying to get out of the club. Derek pulled her along, making sure that she was keeping up with him.

Katie stumbled along behind him until they got to the station. Derek thundered down the stairs Katie right on his heels. "Did you get it," Isaac asked as he came out of his train car.

"We'll know soon enough," Derek said as he sat down. Katie sat down next to him and ran a hand through her hair. She and Derek exchanged a glance, before they burst out laughing. "I can't believe..."

"I know! Did you see how they were looking at you," Katie asked through her laughter.

"Thanks for helping me out," Derek said with a wink. Katie continued to laugh, pressing a hand to her head as she laughed.

Derek tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, his fingers skimming across her cheek as he did so. Isaac froze when he saw Derek's hand lingered on her cheek. They were sitting so close together, laughing hysterically over something, he'd never heard Derek laugh before, ever.

"What happened," he asked as he glanced between them.

"Nothing," Derek said with a shrug.

"You had to be there," Katie said before going into her train car.

"Derek," Isaac said as he caught his arm. "Are you guys..."

"No, but I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought about it," Derek replied before going into his car.

...

Katie climbed out of bed and headed into the main room. She was the first one up, which was unusual. She rolled her shoulders for a moment before climbing up a pole. She slowly walked along a beam extending her arms out on either side. She paused for a moment before performing a backflip.

She slowly worked her way through her old beam routine, ignoring the fact that she was 20 feet up in the air. She stuck each landing precisely, before moving on to the next combination. She didn't realize that she had drawn a crowd on the floor below. Katie paused when she got to the end, she kenw she couldn't dismount from that high up without hurting herself so leapt off the beam catching a nearby pole. She spun around it a few times before flipping off it to the next one.

Katie worked her way across the room, flipping and flying from beam to beam until she reached the staircase. She carefully hopped down from the rafters and started down the stairs. She froze when she saw Derek standing at the base of them.

"Sorry, did I wake you up," she asked.

"It's fine, I didn't know you could do all of that," he said as he nodded toward the cieling.

"Well, I told you I was a gymnast."

"When's the last time you actually took a lesson?"

"A few years ago, my foster parents couldn't afford it, not at the level I was competing."

"You could take lessons now, if you wanted to," Derek replied.

"I can't pay for them."

"I'll pay for them."

"Derek," Katie said in shock. "You've already done so much for me, I can't let you do that too."

"Look, think of it as part of your training. You can learn things there that I can't teach you. You'll have to hold back, I mean with your abilities, you could compete at the olympics, it would draw too much attention to you. Let me do this for you, it can help you, more than I can."

"Are you sure," Katie asked nervously.

"Yes, I'm sure," Derek assured her. Katie squealed and threw her arms around his neck. She was so small that her feet weren't touching the ground. Derek hugged her back, a genuine smile on his face.

Someone cleared their throat and Katie pulled back from Derek. He set her on her feet as he looked over. Erica was standing there with a smug look on her face. "Well now I know who you had in mind for yourself, Derek," Erica said.

Katie blushed dark red as she stepped back from Derek. Derek glanced at her for a moment before walking toward Erica. "Jealousy is unbecoming Erica, you should work on that," he said as he walked back into his traincar.

Erica shot an angry look after him before turning to look at Katie. "Want to tell me what that was about," she asked.

"Not really," Katie replied with a smirk. "You've already decided what it was, it won't matter what I say."