"They're coming back, so we don't have much time to talk." Deaton tells Buffy and Scott as he quickly tries to patch up Scott's wound before the hunter's returned, but they were running out of time and quick.
"No headlights yet." Buffy tells Deaton as she climbs down from the step she was on so she could see out the window "Curse my shortness." She huffs before walking over wincing as she spots the rubbing alcohol in Deaton's hands "Ohh that's gonna sting."
"What?" Scott panics as he glances at her before turning back to Deaton staring in horror "What is that?"
"Rubbing Alcohol." Deaton says simply he says before handing some to Buffy "You're head." He tells her "Neither of you wants those to get infected do you?" He asks them both making both kids shake their heads.
As Deaton rubs Scott's wound Buffy rubs her own before catching the bandages Scott tosses her as she listens to Deaton explain why Scott's wound wasn't healing yet "You'll heal the same. Just not as quickly, because of Derek."
At the mention of Derek Buffy winces slightly before smiling as Scott reaches over and squeezes her hand supportively, smiling weakly she sighs before turning back to Deaton "Okay Watcher man, I get you know about me and werewolves, but what are we missing here because it feels like a whole lot of stuff."
"It's a long story." Deaton explains as he places a bandage over Scott's wound "While I learned some from my grandfather who was a watcher the rest I learned a very different way, what I can tell you is that I know about your kind." He says as he glances up at Scott "Your kind, I can help. This..." He says turning to glance as the dead ripped up body on the exam table "This is something different. I've never seen anything like it."
Buffy's eyes widen at that before she runs a panicky hand through her hair "What about The Watcher Journals."
"Nothing like this." Deaton confirms "But the Argents know something." Turning to both kids he looks at them seriously, this was of grave importance, they were in unknown territory here "And this is the crucial part. They'll have some kind of record or book. It'll have descriptions, histories, Watcher's barely see the front lines but hunters, they see more then we can image. It will have notations of all the things they've discovered."
At that Buffy and Scott's eyes widen in panic, they glance at each other in horror before turning back to Deaton. Buffy merely stares for a moment, how much more out there could there be "More things, isn't what we've see more than enough?"
Before Deaton could say another word the screech of a car approaching makes all of them freeze, the hunters were here.
"Is he hidden?" Deaton asks Buffy as she walks back into the room after quickly hiding Scott from view before the hunters came in. As the blonde nods in a panic Deaton hands her some gloves, Buffy's eyes widen "Why am I not hiding?"
"The Hunter's know I'm your Watcher. They would be expecting me to be filling you in on all of this. Put those on." Buffy groans in annoyance for once she would like to be the werewolf that got to play hide and seek, pulling on her gloves she groans down at the sight of the body before her eyes widen as Chris and another hunter enter the room.
"I'm starting to think I need to buy a more prominent closed sign." Deaton says coolly as he turns to face the hunters.
Buffy gulps slightly before waving "Hi." She mumbles, Chris arches a brow in amusement however Buffy and Deaton's attention is quickly drawn to the doorway as a third hunter enters the room, Gerald.
"Hello, Alan."
At that Buffy's eyes widen "Your first name is Alan? That's really mundane actually."
Gerald chuckles as he turns to face the young Slayer "Miss Summers, pleasure." Pausing he turns back to Deaton "I see you're filling your Slayer in."
Deaton clenches his jaw as he turns to face the elder hunter not the least bit intimidated "As you said, she's my Slayer. She needs to understand. She's the first Slayer to be dealing with anything like this."
Buffy sighs and raises her gloved hands "And what exactly is this?" She says gesturing to the dead guy on the table "Color me confused. I'm more vamp demon knowledge and this isn't my area."
Gerald smiles slightly at her words, despite knowing this would be a very different conversation if the girl wasn't here he shrugs "Always nice for a learning opportunity."
"How about you tell us what you found?" Chris asks, Deaton sighs and turns to Buffy "Turn his head please"
Buffy's eyes widen "What, ew, gek. No." When all four men in the room merely stare at her unamused and she was pretty sure Scott was rolling his eyes at her response she huffs "My day is just getting better and better." She mumbles before groaning in disgust as she turns the dead guys head to the side only for her eyes to widen as she spots a cut on the back of his neck.
"This cut." Deaton explains "Precise. Almost surgical. But this isn't the wound that killed him."
"I'm gonna guess the stomach ripping stuff is?" She questions, before frowning as she realizes something "He doesn't look like he struggled." She realizes pointing at his fingers, you would expect to see marks on his fingers from trying to escape.
Deaton nods "Because he couldn't. Whatever made this cut was laced with a paralytic toxin potent enough to disable all motor functions."
"What about a Gnarl?" Buffy questions curiously, she was pretty she had seen in one of Deaton's books that a Gnarl demon paralysis it's victims before killing them.
Chris looks at her slightly shocked, he didn't figure her for the type of Slayer that liked studying.
Deaton merely nods slightly impressed "The lacing is similar. But the main difference is here." He says hovering his hand over the five claw marks across his body "A Gnarl demon kills it's victims slowly by skinning them alive, eating the skin as they go. But this creature...notice the patterns on each side."
Buffy frowns however before she could say a word Chris speaks up "Five, for each finger."
"Each claw." Gerald corrects.
Buffy sighs in annoyance before turning back to Deaton who explains further, honestly, she had to admit this was a nice distraction from her current predicament with her sort of maybe still maybe not anymore boyfriend. She really needed to figure that out.
"As you can see, it dug in, slashed upward, eviscerating the lungs and slicing through the bone of the rib cage with ease."
Buffy winces at that, she really didn't like this but as she thinks she remembers something, the creature Scott had told her about, glancing in the direction where he was hiding she spots Scott watching her and he nods confirming her thoughts. He was pretty sure he had seen what they were up against.
"Killing may be it's only purpose." Deaton says drawing Buffy back to the conversation making the blonde gulp this was bad. She was right, their lives were about to get a hell of a lot worse.
Stiles huffs in annoyance as the asshole of a mechanic continues to up the price for fixing his jeep, he only needed a new starter to replace the one Erica had ripped out but no the guy was redoing more than needed. And it was going to cost the teen pretty much all of his allowance.
Huffing he storms over to the waiting room, as he goes to open the door he groans in disgust and yanks his hand off the door handle only to find it covered in a gross clear slime thing "Nice. That's real sanitary. Quality establishment you're running here." He exclaims before opening the door, as he steps into the waiting room he shuts the door before wiping his slimy hand on his jacket.
As he walks into the room he couldn't help but scoff at the photo on the wall of the mechanic in a lacrosse uniform from a few years ago "Figures."
Sighing he grabs his phone and attempts to dial in Buffy's number only to frown as his fingers freeze up "What the..." He mumbles in confusion as suddenly his hands begin shaking and he drops his phone, what the hell was happening, it felt like his body was turning to stone or something he couldn't move.
Looking up to call out his eyes widen as he looks through the window into the garage only to spot a reptile-like creature crawling in the darkness "Oh... Hey... Hey!" He calls out but speaking was getting harder and harder "hey!" He yells once more before his legs give up and he collapses to the ground next to his phone his face unable to move as he is forced to look out the glass door into the garage.
The Mechanic was now in a state just like Stiles but unlike Stiles, he was paralyzed underneath the machine holding up the jeep which was slowly lower down towards him, and if it reached him it was going to crush him to death. Stiles pants in a panic as he desperately tries to move his fingers, with immense struggle he manages to dial 9...1...1 before his entire body goes still and he has to force his eyes shut so he didn't have to watch the guy get crushed.
After a minute he opens his eyes only to find the reptile creature staring at him through the door hissing at him.
As she and Scott re-enter their house, Scott locks the door behind them before watching Buffy carefully, she hadn't said a thing the whole drive back, she had been quiet which was very un-Buffy like. And after the whole sobbing in his arms thing he was beyond worried, she wouldn't talk about it but he was so sure that there was more behind just finding him and Derek fighting. Something else must have happened, it must-have for her to be so crushed.
"Buffy." He calls making her halt halfway up the stairs and turn back to face him "Are you okay?"
"Yeah." She says quickly nodding too much for his liking "Just gonna take a shower and sleep. Lots of drama today fighting. Need a recharge."
At her words Scott arches a brow, he could smell something off with her, yes being able to smell and sense certain emotions was kind of gross and he normally wouldn't do it with her, but he was worried, and what worried him more was the fact that he didn't recognize the smell coming off her.
"Let me at least order you a pizza before I go see Allison."
Buffy sighs before walking down a few steps till she was level with him grabbing his hands she squeezes them "I'm fine. Really. What would be wrong?"
Scott watches her for a moment in confusion, he didn't know what it was but he had known her long enough to know there was something "I don't know...you just look..."
Buffy's eyes widen in a slight panic, she in no way wanted Scott or hell Stiles to find out what happened last night with Derek especially after Derek had attacked Scott. Sighing Scott shakes his head and merely smiles "Thank you." He tells her making her frown in confusion "For stopping Derek." He explains making her tense slightly "I know you love him so thank you. Just do me a favor. Stay in tonight. With that creature Deaton's talking about, stay safe."
Buffy nods before smiling "Be careful with Allison." She tells him before sighing and heading upstairs.
Scott frowns and watches her go before sighing in worry, he heads towards the door before hesitating, he couldn't go while she was like this, he grumbles before texting Allison 'So sorry Buffy's in a bad place, I won't make it. I love you."
Buffy shuts her bedroom door and carefully peels off her jacket, well actually it was Derek's jacket as was the shirt she was wearing. Taking a shaky breath she walks over to her mirror only to freeze as she spots the cross Derek had given her the day they met reaching out she cups it in her palm before sniffling as tears begin spilling down her face. Backing away she tosses the jacket on her bed only to halt as she realizes she was still wearing Derek's chain with his old ring hanging on the end of it. Her eyes widen and she lifts up the chain staring down at the ring.
And as much as she was trying to be strong right now, that sent her over the edge, she places her hand to her mouth as she begins sobbing tears streaming down her face, as her sobs become louder she gasps as her door opens and Scott was stood there staring at her with wide eyes "You're not okay." He tells her before walking into the room, Buffy watches him before shaking her head and sobbing loudly, Scott tilts his head in worry before walking over and wrapping his arms around her while she sobs into his chest again.
As he holds onto her he couldn't stop the bubbling feeling of anger filling his chest, he owed Derek a reel ass-whopping.
After the incident in the garage Stiles now finally having his mobility back sits in an ambulance with his father again trying to explain what he saw, well the less-supernatural version "I told you, I just...I walked in, and I saw the jeep on top of the guy. That's all."
The Elder Stilinski watches his son curiously and he couldn't help but notice the way Stiles kept rubbing his hand "What's wrong with your hand?"
Stiles grumbles under his breath and shakes off the still weird feeling in his hand before turning to his dad, he just wanted to go home "Nothing. Can I just get out of here now?"
"Look, if there's something you don't think you can tell..."
Stiles' eyes widen and he couldn't help but groan "You think I'm lying?"
"No, of course not." Stilinski argues before sighing, how his son kept getting into these situations worried him beyond belief "I'm just worried about you. Now, if you saw someone do this, and if you're afraid that maybe they're gonna come back and make sure you don't say anything about it..."
As his dad trails off Stiles sighs, as much as he hated lying to his dad there was no way in hell he wanted his dad caught up with that creature he had seen "I didn't see anything. At all. Can I go now, please?"
Stilinski sighs before nodding, he couldn't force his son to talk to him "Fine. But not your jeep. We're gonna have to impound it. Sorry, kid, evidence. See ya at home."
As his dad walks off Stiles huffs in disbelief, of course, this would happen to him, because he had the worst freaking luck "All right, well, at least make sure they wash it."
"Stiles?" Buffy calls as she climbs out of Melissa's car that Scott had driven so they could pick up their best friend after he had called them in a panic.
Stiles turns his head and sighs in relief, running over he hugs the blonde tightly, The Slayer tucks her chin into his neck as she hugs him so glad he was okay. Inhaling tightly she pulls back "Are you okay?" Stiles shakes his head and looks around before sighing "Not here." He tells her before he frowns as he gets a good look at her face, her eyes were all puffy and red, this was a post-crying Buffy face. He knew it very well this face and Angry Buffy were his least favorite of her looks.
Noticing the look of worry he was giving her she shakes her head and merely climbs into the backseat of the car allowing Stiles to climb into the passenger seat.
"You okay?" Scott asks as the two climb into the car, Stiles nods awkwardly "Yeah." He tells them before turning to look in-between his two best friends "You're right. It's not like you. Either of you. I mean, its eyes were almost, like, reptilian."
"Huh?" Buffy questions in confusion.
"Like a lizard or a snake." Stiles explains as he thinks back to that horrifying moment tonight, there was something about it that he just couldn't shake "But there was something about them."
"What do you mean?" Scott asks, what the hell was Stiles talking about?
The human of the three sighs trying to think of a way to describe it before finally it occurs to him "You know when you see, like, a friend in a Halloween mask, but all you can actually see I their eyes and you feel like you know them, but you just can't figure out who it is?"
Buffy's eyes widen at his words, this was not good if he was saying what she was pretty sure he was saying this was going to be very bad for all of them "Stiles...is it someone you know?"
Stiles shakes his head before looking at them both with a horrified look on his face "I don't know...but I think it knew me."
Buffy sighs and runs a shaky hand through her hair, this was terrifying, this creature from what Deaton said kills and kills, first the dead hunter in Deaton's office now this guy, how many people was it going to keep going after.
"Buffy!" Scott exclaims for the third time as he tried to get the blonde's attention but she was fazed out, it was like she was in a completely different world "Buffy!"
The blonde jumps slightly before groaning and rubbing her head "Scott, seriously! Your voice makes my brain ache."
Scott rolls his eyes before handing her phone over to her which had been blowing up with messages and calls "Derek called. Again."
Buffy's eyes widen and she looks down at the missed calls, as much as she knew she needed to talk to Derek, right now she wasn't ready she couldn't be thinking about this. Between this and now this creature...it was all too much.
Stiles and Scott both stare with wide eyes as Buffy's eyes fill with tears before to their shock she crushes her phone in her hands "I'm gonna walk home...I...I need some air." And before either of them could say another word she was slamming the car door shut and was running down the street.
As she runs Stiles turns to Scott in complete confusion what the hell had he missed, last he saw Buffy she was all happy and peppy and this was far from pep "Scott what the hell happened tonight?"
"Ugh, I don't get why I have to see the guidance counselor." Lydia huffs as she readjusts the pink gloves she was wearing which were currently hiding the cuts she had found covering her hands this morning.
Buffy shrugs as she walks beside her best friend, pulling open the entrance she follows Lydia into the school before the two begin to head to the guidance office.
Lydia sighs and turns to her quiet friend she couldn't help but frown, her hair was in a messy bun plus she was wearing pretty much all black, she looked like she was going to a freaking funeral, bumping her slightly she smirks "So did you figure out when you are going to claim that god of a boyfriend of yours."
Buffy's frowns slightly before shaking her head "Um, no, I just, sorry my head still hurts."
Lydia arches a brow, not believing a word of it, Buffy was leaving something out here and she didn't like it when Buffy kept things from her "Well at least the vampire didn't ruin your face for good." She jokes "Otherwise our friendship...may have to end. Or be less public."
Buffy who hadn't smiled in almost 2 days finally cracks the smallest smile "Yes Queen Lydia. No more headshots." She jokes before the smile falls again.
As she watches the smile fall the strawberry blonde halts in her steps and places a hand on her best friend's arm making her finally stop moving "B what am I missing? Is this about what you were planning to do with Derek or did something bad happen."
Buffy's eyes widen and she shakes her head and begins walking away, Lydia's eyes widen "Buffy Anne Summers, don't you walk away from me I am in stilettos!" She yells as she chases after the blonde.
"It's okay, if Buffy was upset then I understand." Stiles tells Scott as they sit on the steps on one of the many staircases of the school while Scott gazes at him lovingly...it was weird, beyond weird and Stiles so was not pleased with his job right now "We'll get through this." He continues "Uh...I know because I love you."
At those three words, Scott grins brightly as Stiles continues "I love you more than—"
"Wow." Lydia chuckles as she cuts Stiles off laughing loudly before she grabs Buffy's arm "Stop trying to run." She huffs and yanks over the blonde who stands there quietly while the boys stare at her.
They hadn't seen her pretty much since that night with the creature, hell she hadn't left her bedroom all weekend and after she crushed her phone to pieces she wasn't exactly answering phone calls or texts.
Lydia merely crosses her arms "I knew you two were secretly in love."
Scott groans in annoyance as he turns to strawberry blonde "It's Allison's message."
Stiles nods quickly hating the fact that two hot girls had just walked in on what looked like him professing his love for Scott, turning to Scott he huffs "You and Allison just have to find a better way to communicate. But hey at least you didn't shatter your phone into pieces. Seriously Buffy..." He says turning to his best friend "Just call your boyfriend he's been blowing up my phone...also how the hell does he know my number?"
Buffy's eyes widen at that and she tenses up tightly "Derek called you."
"A lot." Stiles groans in annoyance before huffing "Look if you're ghosting your psycho of a boyfriend all for it but come one. I like not being terrified to be yelled at by Derek."
"Dude." Scott hisses, yes he got that Stiles was annoyed and also a little happy about the fact Buffy and Derek were on the rocks but they didn't know everything here, and she clearly wasn't ready to talk about this.
Buffy who was clutching the ring on her chain whiles staring down at her feet tries to hold back tears, Lydia glares at Scott and Stiles before turning to Buffy "B? Are you okay? What do you need?"
"Buffster what's with you?" Stiles pipes up, as much as he was worried they also had a nutso creature chasing after them right now and a game to prepare for tonight, now was not the time for their best player to be falling apart.
"It's private." Buffy whispers clenching her jaw as she looks back down at the floor.
Stiles sighs and despite Scott trying to get him to shut the hell up he continues having no idea that she was so close to falling apart right now, but how was he supposed to know she wouldn't talk to either of them "Just call Derek, maybe you can get him to help us with the thing."
"No." Scott argues, honestly, he wasn't sure he wanted Derek or the other Beta's involved with this creature, not until they knew what they were up against.
Stiles sighs "Fine I just want him to stop calling me he's mean and evil but we all know that."
"I—I..." Buffy begins stuttering "Stiles, please I can't..." As tears begin streaming down her face the blonde runs down the hall away from them all making all three stare in shock and confusion.
Stiles stands "Buffy?!"
Lydia who was slowly putting it all together in her head glares at the human boy "Stiles, shut up!" She warns before sighing she knew exactly what happened with Buffy and Derek, and there was nothing anyone could do right now to make her feel better.
Running after the blonde she ignores the boys who stand there in utter confusion "We're out a Slayer."
Scott sighs in worry before clenching his jaw "We leave her out of it this time. Finding this book. There's got to be more than just finding me and Derek fighting. I don't think she's gonna be okay until they speak...so we leave her out of this."
Buffy runs down the hall, ignoring students staring she heads right into the girl's locker room. Sitting in the corner of the room she brings her knees to her chest, she thought she was all cried out, but now here she was a complete basket case. How was she supposed to talk to Derek? He had lied to her again, and then almost killed Scott plus...a part of her knew she wouldn't be able to stay away once she saw him again.
"I know sweetie." Buffy's eyes widen at the words and she looks up to Lydia groan in disgust as she is forced to sit on the floor beside her, Lydia grumbles slightly and ignoring the fact she was going to be late for her appointment she turns to her best friend "You did, didn't you? With Derek?"
Buffy takes a shaky breath before nodding through her tears "It was everything I could imagined but when I woke he was gone. And there was a message from Scott, so I went to meet him and Derek...he almost killed Scott, Lydia. How can I be with someone who would do that to Scott? Scott is family I've known him my entire life..."
"But you love Derek." Lydia tells her realizing the blonde's dilemma, how was she supposed to give up the love of her life, especially after that night. But how could she stay after seeing that?
Wrapping an arm around her Lydia holds her tight before sighing in worry as Buffy whimpers "I don't know what to do Lyd."
"I know sweetie. I know sweetie."
Allison couldn't help but smile at the word Stiles had just used to describe the book that hunters kept about supernatural creatures "I think you mean—"
"No, I mean Bestiary." He argues in frustration, it was bad enough he was being sent outside to talk to her knowing he was going to have run across campus to relay this message back to Scott "And the two of you, I don't want to know what's going on in your heads."
Allison snorts in amusement "Okay. Um, can you describe this thing?"
"Uh, it's probably like a book. Old, worn..."
Allison thinks for a moment before it clicks in her brain "Like, bound in leather?"
Stiles runs through the halls towards Scott who was currently looking for Buffy with no luck, as he runs up to Scott he places a hand on his shoulder drawing his attention "Yes. Seen her grandfather with a book like that. Any luck Buffy front?"
Stiles runs outside to the courtyard and over to the table where Allison was currently studying, as he reaches the table he pants heavily completely out of breath "Where...does he keep it?" He gasps out as he feels a stitch begin to grow around his ribs, he was so out of shape "Also we can't find Buffy? Do you know where she is?"
Stiles slams against the locker next to Scott as he struggles to get his feet to stop running, panting heavily he gasps for air before attempting to speak "She says it has to be in the office." Groaning he inhales tightly "Also...Lydia covered for Buffy...Buffy skipped her first class. We don't know where she is. But Allison said Buffy will be at the game tonight. With all the class she skips she can't risk losing her extra credit from Coach."
Stiles inhales from Scott's old inhaler as he stands in front of Allison again completely out of breath and this time even more annoyed "You know, drug dealers have been using disposable cell phones pretty successfully for years."
"My parents check every call, email, and text message I send. Trust me, they'd find it."
Stiles groans in annoyance he was so sick of being their relationship mule "All right. Can you get the book?"
"Not without his keys."
Buffy winces as she watches one of their players go crashing to the ground after getting knocked down by the insanely sized kid on the other team. If you could even call him a kid, the guy looked like the hulk!
"We're screwed." Buffy tells Coach who huffs before glaring back at the field "Come on!" He yells "Is that thing even a teenager? I wanna see a birth certificate!" Sighing he turns back to Buffy "You're a weird hulk creature wanna put on a uniform and take him down. By his kneecaps."
At his suggests Buffy's eyes go wide and shakes her head, this man had so many things wrong with him, like seriously "A world of no."
"That's Eddie Obomowitz, Coaches." Stiles says as he climbs off the bench and stands next to Buffy "They call him The Abomination."
"Oh, that's cute." Coach mumbles while Buffy tells her head "I don't see where you get cute from. Although he's kind of like a pitbull, their cute."
Coach sighs before shaking his head and walking away from the blonde as he goes Buffy sighs as Stiles moves to stand in front of her "Buffy, I'm sorry."
"Stiles I don't want to talk about this right now." She huffs, she had finally managed to get herself together enough to come to this game and figure out what she was going to do about Derek... sort of, that one was still a bit of a struggle.
"I know..." Stiles mumbles, before groaning, he hated the fact he had upset her, it killed him, like really killed "I'm sorry. I don't know what's going on between you and him, but you can talk to me. And as a gift, we are leaving you out of Operation keys."
Buffy goes to turn away only to halt at that, she didn't like the sound of that, what idiotic thing were him and Scott planning, normally when they planned things, they almost died "We talked about this you two can't make plans alone anymore! Ugh!" She huffs before groaning as Coach calls her over to talk through the next play, walking backward so she could still look at Stiles she glares at him with a big warning look "If you get caught! I swear Stiles I will watch with your dad as you rot in a jail cell. And we will eat all the curly fries we want!"
With that she turns around, waving at Melissa who smiles at her, however before she could reach Coach someone yanks on her arm dragging her underneath the bleachers.
Shoving the figure off her she drops to her knees swinging their feet out from under them before placing her feet on his chest.
However, as she finally gets a good look at who had grabbed her she felt her heart begin to pound out of her chest "Derek."
