CHAPTER ELEVEN

EQUALIZED

Derek sighed into his cell phone as he heard the betas growling and writhing around inside the subway train, "Scott, can you call me back? I'm probably gonna need some help." He hung up the phone as he heard a crash, "Definitely gonna need some help."

Derek's nails grew as he charged into the subway car, seeing all the wolves thrashing in their chains, fully transformed. Isaac jolted in his seat, growling. Baako and Erica snarled in the back.

Erica broke free first, ripping her headband off her head and charging for her alpha. Derek wrapped his arms around her to hold her back as Isaac thrashed in his seat, breaking free of his chains and throwing his body out the window. "Isaac!"

Derek let go of Erica to try and follow Isaac but Baako assailed him, throwing the Hale boy onto a seat, slashing at him with his claws.

Scott leaned Stiles up against a brick wall next to a small pool, holding a water bottle to his lips, "Stiles, look at me. Drink the water. Stiles, drink it. Something's happening, and I need you to sober up right now. Come one, Stiles."

A girl Scott recognized as Danielle from his Algebra class freshman year appeared next to Stiles, "What do you think you're doing? You want to sober him up fast, that's not the way to do it."

"You can do better?" Scott asked her.

"I can do best, boy," Danielle haughtily replied, grabbing Stiles and dunking his head into the pool next to them. He came up gasping and spluttering with a splash. "Whoo!" Danielle breathed, water splashing from him on his face, "How do you feel?"

"Like I might have to revisit my policy on hitting a girl," Stiles sarcastically replied.

Danielle looked satisfied, "He's sober."

Isaac growled and panted on the stone floor of the warehouse, wanting to rip something to shreds. He tried desperately to hold himself back, to hold onto his humanity. But nothing he thought of was working.

Isaac called out Jessie's name as he frantically ran for her. As she saw he was safe, she rushed to meet him, their lips crashing together and arms wrapping around each other, reveling in their lives. Isaac pulled back and they pressed their foreheads together, "I'm so glad you're okay."

Jessie sniffed and nodded, "I'm so sorry you had to get dragged into all this..."

"Don't," Isaac cut her off, kissing her again, still not believing what was happening.

Isaac's breathing increased, his claws fading into human hands.

She slowly cupped his face with one hand and whispered, "I love you."

"I love you too," He said back and kissed her. And they laid there side by side, facing each other, kissing until they fell asleep.

Isaac's breathing had returned to normal, his face transforming back to normal.

He quickly got to his feet, morphing himself again and rushing back into the subway car. He found Derek still struggling with Erica and Baako. He grabbed Baako and slammed him into a seat, growling, "Calm down. Think of Jessie. Think of Bethany—think of your parents."

Derek, meanwhile, was roughly chaining Erica back up.

Baako panted heavily, trying to hold himself back and focus on what Isaac said.

Eight year old Baako held four year old Jessie's hand in the waiting room of a hospital in Portland, Oregon. Their Aunt Rory walked stood with a big smile when their daddy walked into the waiting room, covered in green scrubs, "It's a girl."

Aunt Rory clapped her hands and tugged on Baako's shoulders, "Let's go meet your sister."

Baako held Jessie's hand as the kids followed their Aunt and father into the hospital room, seeing their mommy laying on a bed, looking sweaty and tired but blissfully happy. Baako peered into her arms, seeing a small bundle of pink in her arms. The only other baby he'd seen was Jessie when the strangers brought her. Paula smiled at her children, "Look, Baako, Jessie. It's your baby sister, Bethany."

Hunter clasped his proud hands on Baako's shoulders, "You're a big brother to two now. You gonna help me protect them son?"

Baako looked up at his Daddy with his large brown eyes, "Yes, Dad. I'll protect them."

He gasped, instantly controlling himself. He panted in exhaustion, sagging into the seat Isaac was holding him into. He sighed, letting his eyes slip closed as he passed out.

"Think you'll be okay now," Derek told Isaac as he re-chained the stoic, still-transformed beta, "Looks like you found an anchor."

Isaac didn't say anything at first. But the next moment he whispered, "It's her."

Derek paused, looking at the teen wolf, "Jessie." It wasn't a question—he knew.

Isaac sighed, "She makes me want to be better. She makes everything better."

"She broke up with you," Derek pointed out, not really believing Isaac could still worship her so much.

"She still loves me," Isaac breathed with finality.

Derek stood and walked out of the subway car. He was startled when he saw Lydia Martin staring doe-eyed at him. before he could say anything she held up a hand of purple dusk, blowing it in his face.

And it all went black.

Jessie calmed down enough to find Allison. She rushed to the girl who was standing lost in a sea of people. She grabbed Allison's arms, "Something's going on."

"I know," The huntress breathed out, "I thought I saw..."

"I had some kind of hallucination too," Jessie told her, not making her say it.

"What did you see?" Allison asked the girl.

Jessie averted her eyes to the ground, a tear slipping down her cheek, "I'd rather not..."

Allison placed a hand on her shoulder, "You don't have to talk about it. I guess we're both a bit shook up."

Jessie nodded before they heard Allison's phone ring. She peered at the caller ID curiously before answering it, "Hello?"

Jessie watched her friend's face fall into utter shock and despair, "What?... What happened?... I'll be right there." She violently hung up her phone and Jessie could see she was holding back tears. She started to go for the door but Jessie grabbed her shoulders, "Allison, what's wrong!?"

"Oh god!" Allison gasped out, "My mom..."

Jessie grabbed Allison's keys out of her hands, "Come on—I'll drive."

Tears fell freely down Allison's face as the girls walked out of the elevator. Allison paused at the sight of her mother's body covered in a sheet and her father emotionally talking to a police officer. She shook her head to herself, "No." Chris noticed Allison there and his face morphed into barely concealed agony. Allison tried to blink away her tears and hold them back, because with every fallen tear, the truth of the situation became a painful reality, "No. No, dad. Dad! If this is some kind of sick training session you had—you better tell me! You better tell me!"

Chris cried and tried to hold his daughter in his arms. She fought him for a while but eventually leaned into him, her knees giving out. "No. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry..."

"What happened?" Allison gasped, "What hap-"

Chris stroked her hair, "Oh, sweetie, shh." He then noticed his daughter's friend. The Grimm. Jessie stood, watching the painful image of a family reeling from the loss of mother and wife. Her hand covered her mouth as her own tears streamed down her face. She shook her head to herself, uncovering her lips long enough to mouth, "I'm so sorry," to him.

In that moment, she wasn't an enemy. She was just a teenage girl, a friend to his daughter. And she was here in their time of need. He nodded to her, acknowledging her as an equal for once.

Chris sat heavily on the chair next to Jessie, "Allison is taking a moment. Then I'm going to take her home."

Jessie nodded mutely, "I'll go then." She went to stand but Chris grabbed her arm, making her pause and sit down.

"Victoria told me Allison wouldn't talk to her until you told her too," He stated.

"It seemed important," Jessie played it down.

"Thank you," Chris whispered, his throat thick with emotion, "I know you don't agree with my family. I know you're on the side of the werewolves. But what you did..."

"It wasn't about this coming war, Mr. Argent," Jessie told him sternly, "It was about a mother who wanted to say goodbye to her daughter."

Chris slowly let go of her wrist, "None the less, thank you."

Jessie nodded, brushing her loose hair out of her face, "I'm going to tell Allison I'm heading home. Don't let this change you, Chris. Or her."

She left before Chris could even dissect what she said. Jessie knocked on the room door before entering gingerly. Allison lifted her blank gaze from her mother's dead body to look at her friend, expressionlessly.

"I have to go home," Jessie murmured quietly, "Your dad says he'll take you home soon." She felt the guilt rise up in her chest upon seeing the devastation on Allison's face. "I'm so sorry, Allison. I felt something was wrong... I should've investigated or something. Maybe if I did... then this wouldn't have happ-"

"This was not your fault," Allison whispered bitterly, "You have feelings. And we follow them for the most part. But you can't be expected to know what every single feeling means. It's not your fault."

"I still feel guilty," Jessie sighed, "what use are psychic feelings if I can't prevent bad things from happening?—I'm sorry. We can't talk about this now. I'm gonna go... but call if you need anything, okay?"

Allison nodded into the girl's shoulder as they embraced farewell.

Derek groaned in tiredness as he heard someone calling to him in his bleariness, "Derek—can you hear me? Derek—can you hear me? I need you to answer me, Derek. Derek! We don't have much time."

He heard a sharp whistling that eventually forced him to open his eyes, "That sound—what was it?"

Deaton held up a dog whistle in his hand, making Derek roll his eyes unimpressed. "You're going to be weak for several hours."

Derek stood slowly with Deaton's help and stared at the ground, where a hole in the floor boards was. He sighed heavily, "It actually happened."

"Don't worry," Deaton told him blankly, with a slight lecturing tone, "You're still an Alpha. But, as usual, not a particularly competent one."

"Where is he?" Derek asked urgently.

"I wish I could tell you," Deaton shrugged, putting his whistle in his pocket.

"Then how about you tell me what you're doing here," Derek offered sternly, "and why you're helping me."

"Helping your family actually used to be a pretty important part of my life," Deaton informed him cryptically, "Helping you was a promise I made to your mother—as well as Jessica Sange."

"You're the one my sister talked about," Derek slowly remembered, "She said you're a—kind of adviser?"

"She was right," Deaton said, "And I have some advice that you need to listen to very closely right now. What Peter managed to do doesn't come without a price. He'll be physically weak, so he'll rely on the strength of his intelligence, his cunning. He's gonna come at you, Derek. He'll try to twist his way inside your head, preying on your insecurities. He'll tell you that he's the only way you can stop Gerard. Do no trust him."

"I don't trust anyone," Derek replied, slightly smugly.

"I know," Deaton droned, condescendingly, "If you did, you might be the Alpha you like to think you are. And unfortunately, the one person you should trust doesn't trust you at all."

"Scott," Derek muttered in acknowledgment.

"He's with Stilinski right now," Deaton told him, "You need to find him, you need to find him as fast as you can. I've known Gerard for a long time. He always has a plan. Something tells me—it's going exactly the way he wants it to."

"Before-" Derek cut off with a pause, "You mentioned Jessie—what does this have to do with her?"

"Everything," Deaton answered cryptically.

Jessie slipped off her shoes when she saw she had a text on her phone from Scott.

We have proof the killer is matt. At the sheriffs station. Come quick.

Jessie sighed and slipped her shoes back onto her feet and headed back out the door.

Scott walked back into the office, hanging up his phone, "She's on her way here." He stopped short when he saw Sheriff Stilinski staring at something behind him. He turned around to see Matt carting Stiles into the office with a gun to his back.

Sheriff Stilinski immediately went into 'talk the crazy gun-man down' mode, "Matt? It's Matt, right? Matt, whatever's going on, I guarantee you there's a solution that doesn't involve a gun."

Matt snickered as Stiles went to stand beside Scott, "You know, it's funny you say that, because I don't think you're aware of just how right you are."

"I know you don't wanna hurt people," Sheriff stated calmly.

"Actually, I wanna hurt a lot of people," Matt corrected him with a eerie calm that hid his budding anger and impatience, "You three weren't on my list, but I could be persuaded. And one way is to try dialing somebody on your cell phone, like McCall is doing." Everyone's attention went to Scott who was quickly snatching his hand out of his jeans pocket. "That—that could definitely get someone hurt. Everyone. Now!"

Jessie pulled up and parked her car in front of the Sheriff's station and got out of her car. She gripped a hunting knife and quickly slipped it into the waistband of her jeans, underneath her shirt when she noticed Melissa parking her own car in front of the station. "Melissa—what are you doing here?"

Scott's mom looked startled to see the young girl, "Jessie, um, Scott called. What are you doing here?"

Jessie held up her phone, "Scott texted me." This didn't make any sense. Why would Scott text her that they found out Matt was the Kanima master and then call his mom over?

The women walked in together, seeing the front desk was left unattended. Jessie was getting a very bad feeling in the pit of her stomach, like someone else was here with them. She called out, "Scott? Stiles?"

Her bad feeling intensified and Melissa folded her arms together in worry, looking around the place, "There's no one here..."

"Mom?" Scott's voice filled their ears.

Melissa and Jessie both sighed in relief. "You scared me, where is every-" But she stopped short seeing her son standing with a gun aimed at the back of his head by the teenage boy she was asked to come in and identify.

"Mom, Jessie, just do what he says. He promised he wouldn't hurt you."

"He's right," Matt stated, losing his gun a fraction of an inch and pulling the trigger, getting Scott in the stomach with a cracking BANG!

Melissa screamed upon the sight of her son crumpling on the ground next to a bench, gripping it for support. Jessie gasped loudly as she heard Sheriff Stilinski's voice shout, "Scott! Stiles! What happened?"

"But I didn't say I wouldn't hurt you," Matt mentioned with a cynically smug smirk on his evil little face.

And there it is! The beginning of the end. I still wish this story was getting more reviews. I've been working pretty hard on this whole series and I still have a lot of plans for its progression. Let me know what you think please!

REVIEW!

RegalGirl94