Episode Six: To right a wrong pt 2
Derek woke up early, well, that wasn't strictly true because implying he had woken would assume that he had to have gone to sleep the night before. He got up as he could hear the betas moving downstairs and he wanted to make sure that they didn't destroy the place. John had let them stay at his place, knowing that Stiles scent was strongest here and knowing that it would be a great comfort to the wolves. Still, Derek was well aware of his betas limitations and graceful mornings were not one of them. He was not too keen on wearing their welcome out on the first day of the week.
Derek tried to put one his best game face for the betas but quickly realised that was stupid. One he looked like crap and two; he was alpha enough to admit that he was missing his mate.
Erica bless her soul had taken on cooking duties but pouted the whole way through. "He needs to come back soon," was her greeting handing Derek a plate of breakfast.
Derek smiled weakly as he took the only breakfast that he truly needed and that was coffee. "Agreed. Morning Sheriff."
The Sheriff had to smile at the way that all of the betas and even Derek looked a little lost. It was nice to see that there was more than just him, who could appreciate Stiles. Stiles had always had a lot of heart to give and he'd finally found people that he was willing to let go of his walls for. He chose to be nice and ignore making the obvious comment, instead choosing to ask, "Morning, you ready for your shift?"
Derek nodded, "Sure thing, just need to grab my essentials."
The Sheriff snorted as he left the room, he figured that Derek would soon realise that his shirt was on back to front. He didn't feel guilty as It was not like he was the only one not too mention it. Erica was snickering quietly, he couldn't help but be amused and see why Stiles was so fond of the girl. She was strong in spirit before the bite - She had to be to deal with her condition and the cruel nature of certain high school students. The Sheriff was well aware that Stiles had gone a rampage on phones and the 'net to mitigate the damage and he had turned a willfully blind eye to all of it after one particularly nasty fit had occurred on the school grounds..
"Shouldn't you have said something to your Alpha?" John asked curiously. He had accepted the pack and was beginning to see that he was now part of it too - he was trying to get a feel for the way things worked.
She smirked taking a chunk of her red apple, "Unless I said Stiles is home I doubt he would hear me."
John chuckled, "Let's just hope he stays focussed for his shift."
Erica looked proud, "He will ... the Alpha in him would not let him be anything else."
John knew this already which was why he was so glad that Derek was now a Deputy. In fact, some of the other Deputies were having to raise their game seeing just how much effort Derek put in. He knew that Derek was doing it so no one could accuse the Sheriff of favouritism but Derek was showing the other Deputies up with his work ethic anyway.
Erica had done as promised and when the Sheriff and Derek walked out the door they were taking a healthy packed lunch. In all honesty they were too scared of what Erica and then Stiles would do if they found out that that supremely healthy lunch had not been eaten.
Meanwhile in the Fae Realm, Stiles was just absorbing the ambient magic as it was replenishing his core magic. He was taking in all of the great sights; he loved the realm even though he had only been here on a few occasions. It would be hard to describe in mortal terms what the realm was like. It was strange but they best way to describe it is like the scenes in movies where they ramp up the bright filters to make everything kaleidoscopic - it was like that.
He was feeling better almost immediately but he was also far more lonely. There was an obvious reason for that Fae were not built to be far away from their true partners. It was one of the reasons that he knew that his grandfather never spent too long in his realm - he would have to spend too much time away from his grandmother. Stiles was in awe of his grandmother - he had always been fond of strong women and none were stronger than the inspirational Queen Titania.
"Hey Grandma."
Stiles was never quite sure what mood she would be in - that last Stiles heard she was toying with making a human wizard her Winter Night. He would not put it past her just to shake up the courts and so she could prove to everyone that she could do it just because she wanted to, even if it wasn't the done thing.
"Come here Genius." She demanded imperiously, motioning with sweeping hands that Stiles should join her on her couch.
Stiles winced hearing his true name, "You know I prefer Stiles."
She snorted, "Your magic stunt impressed me don't irritate me by asking me to call you by that infernal nickname."
Stiles could have argued the case but knew when to pick his battles. "Sorry Nana."
He saw her narrow her eyes, she did not enjoy reminders that she was old enough to have grandchildren.
"You are definitely my grandchild. Now come tell me about your wolf."
Stiles lit up just thinking about Derek, "He is mine." It was the simplest way to describe everything he felt about Derek.
She quirked an eyebrow, clearly amused, "How like a possessive wolf."
Stiles was not taking none of that, yes, wolves were possessive but that did not mean a thing to the Fae. "Nana I heard the story of you and Grandpa coming together."
She grinned fondly at the memory, the tramp should not have gotten in her way, "No sarcasm was meant I am interesting in hearing about the wolf that you deemed good enough to bond with and to accept your full powers."
Stiles snorted and came to sit by her finally as he knew that he would have to explain what had been going on. He could tell that his grandfather was going to be a chicken and take this opportunity to run away, far away.
Sure enough Edward did disappear, "I need to make sure we're ready for the audience."
Stiles sighed, "And I have to go."
"You're our heir, you bet your sweet ass you have to go." Edward said, and Stiles could hear the sickly sweet tone that suggested mortal peril should he not. His grandfather was an expert in saying one thing but meaning another thing.
"I'll be there," Stiles promised dutifully.
His Nana would not be deterred - she wanted to know about Derek. "What do you want to know Nana?"
"Why?" She said and frustratingly, her tone gave nothing away.
Wow, what a question, Stiles thought - it was so open ended and whilst it should be an easy question; it was too big. "He is mine." He knows he was being repetitive but it was all he could think without gushing.
She chuckled pulling him to sit down next to him, "You would think that you are the wolf."
Her needling provoked the response she wanted though and Stiles knew it when he jumped to his mate's defense. "Don't be mean ... Derek is so many things and all of them are perfect for me. He has suffered so much and yet he keeps going. He reminds me of what it is to be so human ... and yes I know the irony. He loves so very deeply and despite being absolutely terrified of having his family taken away he has built a new pack with me."
Titania watched her grandson speak with such passion. She was used to it but she had not seen it since Claudia faded away. She might not have been so keen on the idea of her Grandson bonding with an Alpha werewolf but even she could see that it was doing him good, and he was not just content, he was happy. "Okay I will give him the benefit of the doubt now tell me how you came to have used up so much of your energy that you needed to spend time here to recharge."
She was impressed that he'd pulled off so much magic that he had to recharge here but her husband would not reveal the details.
Stiles watched as she momentarily paused almost as if she had considered how it might sound,
"Not that I am not happy to see you dear."
Stiles laughed as he had long since understood that that was just his grandmother's way. She was not human and she never even bothered feigning to be anything other than she was and Stiles respected the hell out of her for it. "I love you too Nana."
"How?"
She said again, and Stiles could tell that she was getting annoyed. Stiles had also come by his tenacious spirit honestly.
Stiles sighed knowing that he was going to have to explain everything to her. He just hoped that her temper held long enough to make sure he could enact a solution that made all sides content. "I had to stop a Kanima in its tracks."
She quirked an eyebrow and Stiles could tell that she was a little bit impressed. "How did you stop a beast that is impervious to magic in its tracks?"
Stiles grinned, "I was following our houses motto, 'to protect ones self-interest,"
Stiles could tell the minute that she got it, "They went after your mate."
"Yes the creature has been hijacked into serving an unnoble master. He is subverting nature to help him gain his own revenge." Stiles spoke passionately, letting his clear distaste for the topic shine through. It was very true that to the Fae it was a horrific notion, to go against mother nature was unfathomable.
"Who?"
Stiles debated telling his grandmother as if her mind was taken with a notion then there was nothing that would stop her seeking the most creative, painful, excruciating ways that she could seek revenge. In fact, now that Stiles thought about it, why wouldn't he tell her?
"His name is Gerard Argent."
"Him? One of the silver clan."
Stiles nodded, "Yeah with a particular hard on for hunting any wolf that breathes."
She was mad, "He is being dealt with?"
Stiles shrugged as he had no sure way of answering that question whilst he was stuck in this realm. Don't get him wrong, he loved his grandparents but they were not the pack, or his grandfather and it was like losing a limb being so far away from them. "His son has claimed the first option."
"Will he honour it?" She asked seriously, Titania was one of the greatest at twisting even the simplest promises.
"If any in his family will then it is his him."
Titania would have no more talk of this she decided to finish it with a simple, "Then he gets his chance but if not Genius you send a message that no one messes with a Fae."
Their matching grins would have had even psychopaths running for cover, "I have already quite a few ideas but that is not the important question. What do you know about phantom shades of a person being left on a banshee?"
Stiles watched his grandmother tilt her hand to the side as if she was contemplating a great mystery. "A shade you say?"
Stiles had not better way to describe what had seen in Lydia's soul. "It was nasty it took grandpa and I to block it."
"Was the person who died learned in the magic rites?"
Stiles frowned as Peter was many things but stupid he definitely wasn't. "He would know a trick or two but he was crazy."
Even to Stiles he was trying to convince himself and not very successfully that it couldn't be right.
Titania shuddered at even the mere prospect of what the crazed wolf may have done. There was a type of magic darker than black in that they could create a death shade so strong housed in another so that with the right ingredients and power you could resurrect a person. "It is monstrous."
Stiles was pragmatic - he was longer thinking about the terrible deed but rather what Peter would need to do in order to resurrect himself. Oh, and he vowed to hunt down and eviscerate whichever Fae had told tales to the Potter author putting the idea of Horcruxes in peoples heads.
"What would he need in order to complete the resurrection?" Stiles asked with mounting apprehension in his heart.
His grandmother could see his worry and moved to reassure him, "I'm not sure but let us head to our spell library and find out."
Stiles let out a sigh of relief; it was not him being with pack but if he could be forewarned before he headed home then he would be better able to protect the pack.
Chris had been a hunter all his life, unlike Allison he was not offered the chance to have a childhood first. He had hoped that he and Vicky had made the right choice by not forcing her into this life. Still, it meant that he had grown up fast but even so - he never thought he would have to plan on how to kill his father.
Yet here he sat on a Monday evening, looking over the city, planning the best place to trap a hunter and kill them. He looked up with the knock on the door, he smiled seeing Allison,
"Is everything okay?"
She shook her head, "We don't like Stiles not being here."
Chris understood in theory what was happening but it was an interesting point, one that he would definitely not be sharing with Victoria. Whilst packs could and would have human members, it was only in the strongest packs that the human members could feel the supernatural pack bonds.
"He will be back soon?"
That earned him a true smile, these days he only saw it when she spoke about that damn boy, McCall. "Yeah there is no way that he would leave Derek."
Oh to be so sure of something in life. It was sad that Allison was more sure and seemingly trusted the Alpha pair of the local pack more than she did her own family - in fact, it was just plain tragic. "I can only imagine."
In truth, he couldn't imagine, the boy Stiles was probably the scariest one in the whole pack. He was loyal, ruthless in his defence of his pack which eased his fears about Allison but Chris had no doubt in his mind that the boy would happily stab him in his heart should he make any type of move against any of the pack. Worst of all, when you fought the wolves their weapons were physical, ones that you could see and hear but with Stiles you would be battling his mind and magic and that had the potential to be decidedly more deadly on a grander scale..
Allison's look suggested that she knew he was trying to placate her but he got points for trying. "You wanna talk to me about what is bothering you?"
Chris knew he could fob her off and she would respect it but Chris felt that she was the most important thing in his world and she deserved the truth now. "I'm beginning to see that things are not so straight forward and your mom is mad at me."
She frowned, " Why because you want to stop Gerard?"
Chris snorted mentally and that was one of the things wrong with the family - Allison should think that Gerard was her loving grandfather and yet she couldn't even say his name. There was also the fact that she knew what he intended to do and yet was showing no doubts, even if it was killing her hunter grandfather.
Allison mutters something, "Nous protégeons ceux qui ne peuvent pas se protéger eux-mêmes."
Chris looked up in surprise, "What did you say?"
Allison smirked at him and said it again but slower. She was gaining confidence in the idea and knew in her heart that even if her parents were not going to adopt it that she would. She had figured out what type of hunter she would be.
He thought about it and he was liking it but still he was unsure, "Your mother won't like it."
Allison shrugged, "Didn't she marry into the family?"
It was true and Chris could not deny it - it still left the question of what to about his father but he would reach out to Hale. He was thinking an ambush on Hale land would be poetic end to the man who had started the feud with this particular family of wolves so long ago.
It was time to make a call.