I wanna have a cool excuse like I died or something, but ... I don't. I had an eventful end of the year. BTW, MERRY CHRISTMAS, AND HAPPY NEW YEAR! The Beliebers waged war on Supernatural (LOL) and I was drafted to fight the good fight. Sorry if you are offended by this message. (Not sorry.)

Anyway ...

Jeff Davis is Satan.

Kira kills me with feels.

WHY MUST YOU BE SO CUTE?!

I LOVE the reviews! KEEP EM COMING! Anyway, I know that you want more Dellie, but believe me, I'm trying. I can't just randomly put those two in the same room. And for those of you that questioned the scars that Peter left on her, I have something for that. HeHE. No Spoilers!

Disclaimer: It's Ellie and I against the world. We'll manage.

L.O.A.F.M

Previously . . .

I walked over to the van and opened the steel door."Good Morning, cupcake."

"Let me out, now!"

I winced at the tone, hopping in the van and closing the door.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Placating The Beast

"So, I brought you some food. Pre-packaged, and a juice box." I stated casually, ignoring the annoyed look on his face.

"I swear to god, if you don't let me out-" Jackson started, but I cut him off.

"I get it, you're tied up and pissed, but don't think I wanna be here. I had to sit in my car with your naked body laying on me and my seats, then my brother was scared for life trying to get some pants on you. Try and be just a bit grateful, we're doing you a favor." I finished my rant and crossed my arms. I'm so glad that I showered before coming here

He gestured to his cuffs angrily, he said, "This is doing me a favor?"

"You're killing people." I stated as normally as I could. "And you've struck the fear of god in others. Fortunately, I'm a part of the team that wants you to live. So you're staying until we can figure out how stop you."

He just continued to glare.

I threw my hands up slightly, "Okay, glare at me all you want. I left the last fuck I gave outside. You're not getting any sympathy from me. So get over it." I pulled the sandwiches out of the bag. "Ham and Cheese, or the Turkey club?"

"You really think that my parents won't come looking for me?" He looked at me indignantly to match his haughty tone.

"So I tell you that you're killing people and you're worried about your parents looking for you." I raised my eyebrow. "Gosh, I wonder how they would feel if you saw you turn into an overgrown reptile. I can't imagine how awkward Sunday dinner would be."

I tossed him the ham and cheese and pulled out his phone to show him the message, "Besides, my brother sent your dad a message."

"What do you mean, reptile?" Jackson asked me in a disbelieving tone.

"How could you not know what you do at night? You pretty much killed two people, and tried to kill a third last night."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Jackson growled lowly. I heard the handle being pulled, and the door opened, causing me to move back.

"Are you guys leaving now?" I asked Scott, who was trying not to look at Jackson's murderous glare.

"I really don't want to leave you alone." He told me with the puppy dog look. Go figure. I don't want to be stuck with Jackson either, but I wasn't about to put myself in a position where I would have to face either Lydia or Isaac at school.

"I'm fine. That's why we restrained him. I'm gonna stay with him." I told him, giving out my 'no nonsense' look.

"I'll text you." Scott told me.

"Okay." He then shut the door and Jackson turned his glare on me. "So, we're back to being Mr. Moody again." He stares at me blankly. "You look really ugly as this thing, and it kills people. I mean, the scale-y skin-"

"Scales?" He cut me off, "Like a fish?"

I shook my head. "No, more like a reptile. I would think that the rest of the things that you do were cool, but you kill people with it. You have some kind of paralytic substance coming from you claws, and you have a tail."

"I have a tail?"

"Yeah, you have a green, slimy, scale-y tail."

Some time passed and I was now laying down on the other side of the truck picking at my nails. Jackson was just glaring the wall ahead of him, seemingly thinking.

He was the first to break our silence, "Look, I don't think that you were the mastermind to this stupid plan." I was offended by this, so cue the appalled face. "But if you let me go, I won't send your ass to jail."

"I can't." I snapped. "Derek wants to kill you. And when Allison's grandfather finds out who you are, he's gonna wanna kill you too. We're the only people standing in between that."

"Are you done?"

"Yeah, you still don't believe me." I rolled my eyes. "All right. The night of the semi–final game, what did you do right after?"

"I went home." He responded in a 'duh' tone.

"Wrong. You attacked me and Derek at the school, and you trapped us in the pool. You also killed a mechanic– right in front of me and my brother, by the way. It was riveting." I commented sarcastically. "And one of Argent's hunters. Oh, and last night, you tried to kill Danny." I said the last one bitterly.

"Why would I want to kill my best friend?"

"I don't know. That's what Scott's out trying to figure out right now." I shrugged.

"Mm. Well, maybe, he should be trying to figure out is how he's going to pay for a lawyer when I prosecute your asses all the way to jail!" He shouted.

"Again, with the threats." I sighed in annoyance. "Look, I don't wanna be here. Why would I lay myself on the line to help my brother and Scott teen-nap you for no reason? It sounds a little stupid, don't ya think?" He says nothing. "What happened the night of the full moon?"

"Nothing. Nothing happened." He answered sullenly.

"Something had to have happened." I mused to myself. "Maybe you don't remember or something."

"Drop it. Nothing happened." Jackson snapped.

"Yeah. Whatever." I rolled my eyes. It was obvious to me that there was no way that Jackson was going to believe me. I mean, the thing that I just described to him sounded like it came from a comic book. It made me sound crazy. I was actually pretty sure that if Jackass managed to get away, it wouldn't be good for any of us.

Luckily, I'm a minor.

I really wished that they had gotten Jackson a shirt, because if someone finds me and Jackass in this van and he's shirtless, who knows what will happen. I mean, a shirtless guy shackled in a van? They're gonna be all 'Ellie, what type of kinky fuckery are you into?' I might even be registered as some sort of man-predator.

God, the things that goes through my head. PLEASE PRAY FOR ME.

This was a terrible idea. I should have tricked my brother into doing this shit. Sitting awkwardly with Beacon Hill's very own douche-bag was not doing much for my sanity. Of which how much was left.

It was so quiet in the van that I jumped when the familiar beep from my cell phone startled me.

I need to talk.

Allison texted me. I immediately jumped out of the van and moved closer to the cliff that overlooked Beacon Hills. I pressed the call button and wasn't surprised when she answered after the first ring.

"What's going on?" I answered casually.

"He's putting up cameras here!" Allison was freaking out. "In the school."

"He must be getting desperate then." I thought aloud.

"Where are you?"

"I'm at the cliffs with the transfer van." I told her, looking out to the town. "Scott should be on his way in like thirty minutes."

"Yeah, I'll be there. Are you there by yourself?" I almost rolled my eyes at the concern in her voice.

"Yeah, so what?" I answered back moodily. I wasn't about to be lectured by one of my friends. Am I the only one with priorities today.

"Nothing." Oh, goody. Now it's slightly awkward. "Gerard almost caught me lying again."

"Maybe you should try to avoid him." I suggested, grateful for the change in conversation change.

She scoffed. "You make it sound so easy. He just pops out of nowhere." I started to hear Jackson yell and whine again. "Is that Jackson?"

"Yeah, he's still not adjusting to the fact that we're saving his life." I shrugged, even though I knew that she couldn't see.

"I gotta go. See you later."

"Bye." As I hung up the phone and stared over the cliff at Beacon Hills, I wondered just how the hell we were going to get out of this one. I'm pretty sure that in the end, Scott and Stiles would most likely take the fall for this and Jackson might press charges. I thought about how close Gerard was to figuring everything thing out, and that Derek was probably going to continue trying to kill Jackson unless we figured out a solution (which was less likely going to happen). It's like a constant tug of war; Gerard wants Scott to be his puppet and Derek wants us on his side.

My thoughts were cut short as I heard the familiar rumble of our Jeep creeping up behind me along with another car. I slowly turned around and greeted my brother and friends with a serene smile on my face as I ignored Jackson's continued threats.

"Greetings." I breathed sarcastically.

"Only you would be this happy about a criminal offense." My twin wisecracked.

Scott pointed behind him to the van. "Has he been like that all day?"

"Only since I told that I didn't know how long we were keeping him." I half-shrugged, "I guess he doesn't feel very special being the first Hotel Stilinski guest. We also had a talk." I continued, looking back at the van. When I turned back around, all three of them were staring at me.

"Well?" Allison urged.

"Oh," I smiled sheepishly, "Right. He doesn't remember any of the times that he's been the kanima. He says that he was doing something else, but he doesn't sound entirely sure. So he basically just thinks I'm nuts." Stiles snorts. "Oh, shut up."

"So if he doesn't remember being the kanima, then how is he going to remember that he stole Danny's tablet?" Scott asks.

"What would he even steal the thing if he doesn't know what's on it?" Stiles adds.

"What if someone else took it?" Allison offered, giving me an idea. I decided to do the head math. Jackson on tape as kanima plus Danny's tablet equals potential exposure, and according to the research on Kanimas, it seeks a friend. This friend may want to protect the kanima.

"It seeks a friend." I whispered to myself. "Someone's protecting him and helping him wrongs."

"What wrongs?" Allison asked, "What're you talking about?"

"What if the murders are revenge?" I elaborated.

"Revenge?" Scott and Stiles said simultaneously.

"Yeah, being carried out through him?" Maybe I wasn't making sense, because there was barely enough evidence to prove what I was saying, but we had to look at the whole picture.

"Well remember, it tried to kill all of us, too." I scratched my scalp. He had point there, so I'm going to leave that one in the suggestion box.

"I don't know about you three, but I haven't murdered anybody." Twin clarifies.

"Well, we all were kinda in the wrong place at the wrong time." I offered, looking to Scott, who was see where I was going with this.

"Ellie's right, maybe it wasn't trying to kill us." Scott explained.

"Well, it tried to kill Ellie and Derek at the pool." Stiles added.

"But, it was just circling us, like it was babysitting- I feel so violated right now." I shook my head in disbelief. That thing tricked me!

"We don't know anything about it right now or about who's protecting him." Scott sighed.

"Know thy enemy." I heard indistinctly coming from Allison.

"Wha?" I was the only one who answered.

"Nothing, just something my grandfather said." Allison shook her head dismissively.

We all took the silence to figure out our next move. I was mentally reminding myself to look into linking our victims together to find a connection.

"Alright, kill Jackson." My twin looked pleased at his suggestion. "Problem solved."

I rubbed my temples. "Shut up. Please. Before I strangle you." He raised his hands in defense as everyone glared at him.

"He risked his life for us against Peter." Scott reasoned with him.

"Not really." I spoke up. "I kinda threatened his life. The whole way there."

"Yes, but what did we just find out? He got the bite from Derek. It's funny how he just got

exactly what he wanted by supposedly risking his life for us, it's really funny." My brother argued.

Good point.

"It doesn't mean that he's not worth saving." Scott stated firmly. Scott was so kind-hearted that it was adorable. I loved it, really.

"Exactly." I stepped in. "We go to school with him. He's my best friend's boyfriend. He may be a douchebag but he doesn't deserve to die. No one does. And if Derek or Gerard have a problem, then he's going to have to get through us."

"I had Derek to help me." Scott added. "He has nobody." I nodded and looked to my twin who sighed in agreement.

"So I'm loving this kumbaya thing, really. Save Jackson, yea! But I just want to figure this out so I can catch up on Supernatural. I behind on six episodes and-" I stopped my ranting when I noticed stares all around at me.

"Yeah, sorry." Not sorry.

Sam and Dean have been put on the back burner for too long.

Lydia had been calling me all day. And Cassie, considering the fact that I practically ditched school to babysit. So basically, my twin and I had to do some damage control. Only, Lydia was waiting for me already on my bed.

"Err ... hey!" I soo was not prepared for this conversation yet. I planned to come up with some bullshit while I was in the shower and on the way to her house.

"I've been waiting for an hour." Lydia Martin answered to my idiotic reaction to her sudden appearance. She looked ... different. She had her strawberry blonde hair in a high ponytail, no makeup, and she had a worried look on her face.

"What are you doing here?" I carefully asked, slowly crossing my arms.

"I just need ... someone to talk to." My shoulders visibly relaxed as my eyes softened and I went to sit next to her.

"Maybe now isn't the right time-"

"Why isn't right now ever available?" Lydia slightly raised her already shaky voice. I like my best friend in the eye and let out a cautious breath.

I turned my back on her. "Because I don't want to have to lie to you."

"Then don't." I felt her behind me. "If it's about Jackson, I need to know. Please." Why does she always know how to break through my defenses? I mean, it's not like we can lie to her anymore already. She had already seen a lot that wouldn't be possible to explain with leaking even some of the truth. But I don't need Lydia to be a part of this. She's an innocent, and she's my best friend. I wanted to keep some of that normality, even if it's just a little bit.

I made a decision.

"I need you to promise me three things." She furrowed her eyebrows momentarily, before I had finally seen my best friend come back. Vulnerable Lydia was no more.

"I accept your conditions." She nodded as she stated confidently.

I walked over to my doorframe and opened the door. "We're gonna need some refreshments for this one."

One big confession later ...

"And now Allison and I are stumped with five pages of archaic latin to decipher." I finished, as I took another spoonful of Ben & Jerry's Fudge Brownie Ice Cream. Lydia hadn't said anything, like she promised, until I told her that I was done. But the fact that I had finished and she was still silent kind of irked me.

"Do you believe me?" I asked her softly as I peered at her through my dark lashes.

I don't know why I needed her to believe me. I honestly don't. Maybe it was the fact that she was important to me, or the fact that she wasn't the only person that needed to know the truth and I needed to know if it sounded believable. Her face was an expression of complete concentration. Her eyes were narrowed and slightly distant, her now tie-free red-tinted hair flowing over the side of her left shoulder.

Her normally plump full lips (thanks to her lip plump gloss) were pursed like she was piecing things together in her head. "I can read archaic latin." My face was so stuck on her expression, that I had almost missed the words as she spoke them. "Let me see them."

"Does that mean you-"

"I want to see them." Lydia repeated. I didn't detect any attitude in her voice, just softness and a bit detached.

"Allison has them." I finally said.

"I'll drive." She then just waltzed out of the room.

I'm just thinking, 'what the fuck did I just do?'

L.O.A.F.M

The car ride was quiet and awkward. When we got to Allison's house, just her mom was home. Her condescending smile creeped me out as she let us in, I shuddering as I walked past her. I went straight for Allison's room. I found the pages sitting on Allison's desk and I handed them off to her.

"Why do you know archaic Latin again?" I piped up.

She shrugged, "I got bored with classical Latin."

"Wow ... okay."

"Kanima, like the wolf," She glanced at me briefly, "is a creature that lacks control."

"Wait." I was confused. "Morell said that it was a social creature."

"Morell was wrong." She clarified. "Should I continue?"

"Yeah." I nodded, trying to put the pieces together in my head. "Yeah, go ahead."

"Where the wolf seeks an alpha, the kanima seeks a master." Wow. Fucking wow. Excuse the head cursing but you have to understand where I'm coming from here.

"Morell was way off." I announced.

"No offense, but Morell is an amateur." Lydia boasted. "So does this help, or do you need more?"

"Hell yeah, I need more." I told her in a serious tone. "Allison should be here soon. We should wait for her."

I began to pace the room. I mean, seriously? This is BIG! Not to mention that I was right (I always am) and this changes everything. Why? Because Jackson is being controlled by some asshole out there. And this sick person is making him kill people! And the worst part is― SMACK!

"What the fuck, Lyd?!" I whisper-yelled.

"You were having an anxiety attack. You were pacing and breathing irregularly as you muttered to yourself." Lydia explained as her eyes bore into mine. "The pain distracted you." Lydia lead me over to the bed. "Now sit down and relax until she gets there."

"Okay." I took a deep breath. "Okay, you're right."

She gave me a small uneasy smile. "I know."

In the next thirty minutes, I heard the front door open from downstairs. Lydia and I exchanged a look as we waited for her to get in the room. When Allison got in the room, she was beyond flustered. And that was suspicious.

"God! Jesus!" Allison exclaimed. "You guys scared the hell outta me."

"We waited a half hour for you." Lydia said quietly.

"Tonight's not the night, guys." Allison sighed exasperatedly.

"You're gonna want to hear this." Lydia stated proudly.

"Really?" Allison snapped. "If it's not important, I just can't. I have five pages of archaic Latin to translate, but that's not happening either."

"And if it could?" I slowly smiled.

Allison was confused and interested. "I'd ask how." I put my hands out forward, gesturing to our very own genius. "You read archaic Latin?"

"I got bored with classical Latin." She repeated her statement from earlier. I told Allison about Lydia knowing some things, and she gave me a look that I had to specify to her just exactly what some things are. We showed Allison everything that Lydia translated, and she was easily as confused as I was.

"Are you sure?" Allison asked. "Ms. Morrell said that word means "friend." "The Kanima seeks a friend.""

"As I said, she was wrong. It means "master."" Lydia shrugged.

""The Kanima seeks a master."" Allison repeated

"Why? Is that important?" Lydia stared between us. "What does it mean for him?"

"Yeah." Allison answered slowly, as she turned away from the screen to face us. "Someone's not protecting him. Someone's controlling him."

"Can we help him?" Lydia asked. I sent her a look, to which she rolled her eyes. "I mean, can you help him?"

"We're gonna try our hardest." Allison promised.

"Okay, I ... I just need some time." Lydia said, gathering her things. "I'll keep my promises, but I need time." I looked Lydia in the eyes, but all I could see was that she was sorry, concern, and ... fear. Fear. And I hated that I did to her.

Allison was the first to speak up. "We can deal with that. It's perfectly understandable."

"Yeah." Lydia's voice piped up kind of cheerfully. "Bye!"

Allison turned her cold eyes on mine. "Now what exactly did you tell her?"

Yeah, I finally finished this. The funny thing is, I started it three days after the last update. I was in a different mindstate, and it wasn't supposed to end this way. I know that Lydia isn't supposed to know anything until after she raises Peter, but I believe that this small detail will not affect canon (not that I care. I mean, this is my canon).

Question: What do you think that Lydia promised Ellie? What do you think she told her? And what will everyone else think?(Not that Ellie cares!)

Next: Group Reaction. Isaac/Ellie. Ellie/Derek (real time this time!), Ellie reveals her suspect list.

Read. Review. Repeat!

I will try to have the next one ready before St. Valentine's Day!

RealHuntress18