I actually managed another chapter, yay, and fair warning, it ends with a cliffhanger. ;)

Have a great New Year's Eve, everyone!


Chapter 58

To Stiles' surprise and pleasure, he and Isaac were actually able to finish the reusable ward stones on Saturday afternoon. That included getting Peter, the sheriff, and Jackson's dad to add a small bit of paint to each of the stones before sealing them with a thick layer of varnish.

"They're looking good," Isaac said as they stood before the table where the stones were waiting to be picked up. "I dig how colourful they are."

"Me too," Stiles agreed. "I know we added the stealth rune but I'm still worried that we'll lose some of them."

Isaac brushed his shoulder against Stiles' in a show of support. "Don't be. Peter said his stealth rune works great. Plus, I actually believe that you'd find any that got stolen."

"That's a little weird, isn't it?" Stiles mumbled. He rubbed his index finger over a blue and silver bird Lydia had painted onto one of her stones. "This … this attachment to stuff I've worked on is new."

"But not really surprising," Isaac replied. "Think about it. You don't want to lose them, so your magic is taking care of that." He glanced at his watch. "We have a few more hours until we need to get going. Do you wanna play Mario Kart or something?"

Stiles did and for an hour or so they harassed each other virtually while shouting obscenities.

Around seven, however, Jackson called to tell them that people would begin to arrive soon.

"Some of my friends are assholes and decided to predrink since my mom banned hard alcohol from the Jungle," Jackson explained grumpily. "They're on their way already. Can you come a bit earlier to do your ward stone stuff? They're dumb, but I don't want to see them mauled by crazy werewolves."

Isaac rolled his eyes but put down his controller. "We're on our way."

"I saved you a good space in the underground garage," Jackson said. "Just drive in, you'll see me there."

Stiles shrugged when Jackson hung up on them without a goodbye. "He's an asshole, but it's nice outside. We could grab burgers when we're done and get inside later. With the ward stones, things should be just fine."

"I'll call Derek and Peter."

While Isaac informed the two werewolves, Stiles carefully placed the stones into a padded bag and made sure to touch the runes on each of them one last time.

It'll work, he thought fiercely, because it has to. There won't be any casualties on my watch!

A minute later he and Isaac were on the way, Derek following in his Camaro.

oOo

"Wow, you really saved us a great spot," Stiles remarked after parking his Jeep right behind the entrance. "We can just slip out and do our thing."

"I'll help, just tell me where to put those things," Jackson said. "I'm guessing you want to cover the whole block?"

"Yeah, that's easiest." Stiles placed the bag on the hood of Derek's car and opened the zipper. "We're four, so each of us takes a quadrant. Try to space them evenly, but don't sweat it if it doesn't work out perfectly. You can begin right here, Jackson, Isaac will go in the opposite direction, and Derek and I will shadow you until we get to our own quadrant. Cool?"

"Not cool," a female voice called out.

Stiles whirled around. There, in the sunlit gateway to the underground garage, stood five people, four tall men and one woman.

The woman stepped forward, her lips twisted into a cruel grin. "How mean of you to deny us some fun, little wizard. I think we'd better break up this little conspiracy before it goes any further. All in favour, raise your hand."

All five of them raised their clawed hands and their eyes began to glow red.

"Fuck off," Isaac growled, shifting in front of Stiles and Jackson. "You'll regret coming here, intruders."

"I don't think so," the woman purred. "We're five alphas and you're but two measly betas and two even more measly humans."

With a sinking feeling in his stomach, Stiles noticed the claws on her bare feet. Still, he had a job to do and that meant dialling his father and buying time. "They might be betas, but that doesn't mean they're weak. Also, there's me."

"Ah, yes. You. And who might you be?" The woman stepped a little closer, head slightly tilted so that her long, dark hair was falling over her shoulder. She would've been attractive if she hadn't been so utterly evil. "You smell like magic, little lamb, but I don't think that you can defeat us. You're so young and weak. Our source told us and she's never wrong."

"Stop playing, Kali," the oldest man of the group chided. He wore large sunglasses and held a blind man's stick in his hands. His disability obviously didn't make him any less dangerous than the other alphas. "Let's use this opportunity to decimate Hale's pack before we get some unwanted attention."

"So your name's Kali?" Stiles babbled. "Interesting name for an interesting lady. And hey, look at that! You've got twins in your little group of murderers! Can I guess their names? It's Thing 1 and Thing 2, right? I mean, just look at those vacant faces, it really can't be anything else."

The twins growled loudly and simultaneously sprouted fangs and fur.

"Holy fuck," Jackson, who'd gone deathly pale, warbled.

"And that huge dude looks like a rip-off Hulk," Stiles continued. "Maybe his name is Hugh Manner or something? Wouldn't that be a hoot?"

"That's Ennis," Derek said quietly. "He's the one that bit Paige."

Stiles froze. "What?"

"And the one with the sunglasses," Derek went on, "is Deucalion. He was here seven years ago to finalize that treaty with my mother and the Argents."

"He's the one who got blinded," Stiles breathed. "Well, fuck."

Deucalion showed his teeth in a terrifying smile. "Since we're already known, let me introduce the rest of my pack. The twins are called Aiden and Ethan, not that you'll gain any sort of advantage by knowing this. You'll all die in a moment, but if you're good little pups we'll make it painless."

Kali made a scoffing noise.

"Relatively," Deucalion amended, his smile never wavering. "Ennis, please lock up. We don't need people messing up our business."

The huge guy promptly turned and lumbered off to manually let down the gates. As they rolled down, Kali and the twins came closer, their murderous intent clear on their faces.

"Hands away from the stones," Kali demanded, eyes aglow with feverish hunger. "You'll only prolong the inevitable."

"Yeah, no, forget it," Stiles retorted. He'd never been so grateful for the bags of mountain ash he'd packed in a fit of paranoia, or the chalk markers he'd forced on all of his friends. "We're gonna stay right here, snug like a bug, behind a barrier you can't breach. The police will be here soon, too." He raised his phone and wiggled it a little. "What with the sheriff on the line and our alpha on his way and everything."

Kali cursed and the twins glanced at Deucalion before returning their attention to the four young men.

"It's no matter," Deucalion decided. "Killing you won't be a challenge and the fallout is of no interest to me. Do it."

Kali shot forward, only to be intercepted by Derek mid-air. Snarling and growling they went down in a tangle of limbs. Kali's claws slashed Derek's shirt and pecs, while Derek's unconventional and brutal rip on Kali's hair nearly broke her neck, not to mention cost her half the length of her mane. The strength of his retaliation caused Kali to retreat and scream in fury.

"Damn, he's good," Jackson said roughly, still white as a sheet. His fingers grappled for a hold, any hold, on Stiles, and settled on the side of his T-shirt.

'"He is," Stiles replied, a fierce explosion of pride warming his chest. Only a second later, the two werewolves were at it again and clothes, skin, and blood went flying.

Derek's sacrifice allowed Stiles to drop half a dozen stones around himself, Jackson, and Isaac, although Isaac was already itching to help their friend. Since there was no holding him back, Stiles uncapped his marker and scrawled a series of hot pink runes onto Isaac's arm before sending him off with a small tap. He did the same to Jackson and finally himself and even squatted down to paint more onto the concrete floor.

Isaac taunted the twins with exceptionally rude language and promptly vanished into the depths of the parking garage, the two alphas hot on his heels.

"Lahey will get himself killed," Jackson muttered and licked the sweat from his upper lip. "And we're sitting ducks with those two scary dudes standing right there."

"Quite right, Mr. Whittemore," Deucalion drawled. His grin never wavered. "Don't take it personally that Ennis will be flushing you out now. We're on a tight schedule, after all."

"Flush us how?" Stiles retorted snippily - and regretted it almost immediately.

The twins might have left but apparently Ennis was strong enough all by himself to heft a motorcycle he'd brought back from his short stroll to the gates and throw it right at them.

"Holy shit!" Stiles screamed. He and Jackson ducked as the bike crashed violently against the Jeep. Glass and small plastic parts rained down on their heads and the jerking car body touched them more than once. Wedged as they were between the Jeep and the Camaro, they didn't have any space to evade.

"You might be protected against werewolves, Mr. Stilinski, but it appears that mundane objects are more than adequate to the task of maiming you," Deucalion called smugly. "Ennis has one more. Shall we bet on the accuracy of his aim? Maybe your father wishes to join that bet?"

"No, thanks!" Stiles yelled and stabbed the red button on his phone's screen. Whatever happened now, his dad didn't need to witness it firsthand.

"We need to move!" Jackson hissed. Both his hands clenched tightly around Stiles' biceps. "Even if he misses, he might push Hale's car against your junk car and squish us!"

"I don't miss!" Ennis grunted. He heaved up another bike, easily avoided Derek's desperate lunge for his side, and threw it right at the boys.

Stiles saw it coming in slow motion and only had a second to decide what to do. Jackson was no help - couldn't be, in all fairness - and so he did the only thing he still had available.

He yanked a handful of mountain ash from his pocket and threw it at the motorcycle with all of his might. In the back of his mind, Lou howled with rage.

The effect was spectacular.

As if hit by a giant battledore, the bike bounced back in a physics-defying manoeuvre, right into Ennis, and flung the behemoth of a man so far back that he almost crashed into the closed gates. The sickening sound of metal hitting flesh and bone was far too loud but even louder were the pained and infuriated shouts of the werewolf. They certainly drowned out Derek and Kali's vicious growling and snarling.

Stiles didn't feel an ounce of remorse. Instead, he recalled the ash and it obediently rushed back and joined the writhing mass on Stiles' body.

"Holy fuck, what was that?" Jackson demanded.

"Come!" Stiles yelled and dragged the shocky teen with him. With his free hand, he grabbed the bag with the ward stones. Deucalion didn't move, which was somehow worse than having him pursue them, but Stiles didn't waste more than a second's thought on that.

As fast as their legs would carry them they sought refuge in the bowels of the garage. One flight down, then two, Ennis and Kali's angry snarls always behind them. Derek did his best to impede her and Ennis' progress, but he was no match for Ennis' brute strength.

"Take cover!" Derek shouted and jumped onto Kali's back. Unfortunately, she turned in a split second and backhanded him so hard that he slammed into a wall. The alarm of the car he dropped into began to wail loudly and obnoxiously.

Cursing up a blue streak, Stiles shoved Jackson down another ramp, only to curse even more when they nearly ran into the twins, who were ganging up on Isaac.

"Hey, you motherfuckers!" Stiles screamed. "You too dumb to off one little beta?"

Isaac sprinted off as soon as the twins' attention wavered. One followed, but the other turned to Stiles and Jackson and grinned unpleasantly.

"You've got balls for a puny human," he said mockingly. His gaze raked over Jackson. "I thought the pretty boy next to you had more fire in him."

Stiles fervently wished for his baseball bat. Instead, he threw a bit of mountain ash at the alpha and trapped him in a circle. "How about shutting your mouth, loser."

"No!" the twin howled. "Aiden! He's got me!"

From a level below, a roar sounded, followed by another roar of that same voice, this time definitely pain-filled. The delay in Aiden's return caused his twin to howl even louder in his impatience.

Seems like Isaac is really holding his own, Stiles thought as he shoved Jackson away from the werewolf and into a dark niche around the corner, hot satisfaction burning in his gut. Good! Hastily he laid out a ring of ward stones around himself and Jackson. "You stay in here," he ordered.

"What about you?" Jackson hissed.

"I need to help," Stiles hissed back. "If I can trap more of them, I need to do it now, before they actually manage to kill one of us!"

Jackson tried to grab Stiles' arm. "You can't leave! That's suicide!"

"They're my friends." Stiles yanked his wrist from Jackson's grasp and left their dark corner. "Stay here! I mean it!"

He had only been gone for a minute, two at the most, but in that time everything had gone to shit. Kali and Ennis had reached their trapped fellow alpha, and they were holding a badly injured Derek hostage between them.

"Release him," Kali demanded, "and I'll make his death swift. If you don't, he'll suffer." She had her claws deep in Derek's neck and shook him like a rat.

Stiles' heart was in his throat even as Lou's fury radiated hotly and implacably all over his body. "I'll let your friend go if you release Derek. While he's alive."

Kali laughed shrilly. "In your dreams, human!"

The rage seeped from Stiles' skin into his very being. The line that separated him from the wolf spirit blurred and for the first time since their permanent joining, he truly felt like they had one purpose.

Save pack!, the spirit howled in his mind, eerie and relentless. Save him!

I will, Stiles replied, winding his self around Lou's agitatedly wandering impression in his mind. We will.

Just then, chaos descended. A huge black creature appeared silently behind Ennis, giving no one but Stiles a split second to appreciate his horrifying snarl, before attacking with finger long claws to the back and a bite to the shoulder that probably would've torn a human to shreds.

Ennis' shrill yowl alerted Kali to the monster in their midst, and while Peter was very efficient in subduing Ennis, one frantic kick of the man's shoe sole caused the mountain ash barrier to break.

In a flash, Ethan was out and attacking Peter.

Instead of helping him, Kali viciously threw Derek away from the fight. Blood was bubbling from the deep gouges in his neck and he was desperately gasping for air.

For help.

Without conscious thought, Stiles gave his body over to Lou to do what needed to be done to save their friend. There was a sensation like stretching too far for a moment, of something in him leaving his body.

Then, his eyes caught up. Awed, he saw a long, thick bolt of mountain ash shoot from his flung out hand. In a flash, it formed a huge hand with three inches long claws, and that hand buried itself like a live bear trap in Kali's neck. The impact was horrifying, every last nerve in Stiles' body tingling with the odd sensation. Even worse, the pure satisfaction that followed threatened to swallow him whole.

A rush of light and colour and strength slammed into Stiles and he couldn't help but roar to let off at least a little of that unbearable, all-consuming power.

With a snap, it was over, and with another snap, all of his mountain ash was back on his body and forming two gloves with nasty claws.

"Holy fuck!" the twin screamed as Kali's head fell from her crumpling body and rolled over to where he was facing off against Peter. Blood was gushing everywhere like one saw in the cheapest of horror movies and rapidly formed a lake on the concrete. Ethan disengaged from Peter's monstrous bulk and backed up, red eyes wide and horrified, but the horror wasn't for Peter.

It was for Stiles.

Stiles was certain that he'd never, ever get that visual out of his mind.

Ennis had somehow managed to crawl away from the fight, but his whole torso looked mangled beyond repair. "Deucalion!" he cried, spitting blood. "Help!"

"Too late," Peter rumbled and grinned terrifyingly with his wolf snout. "Two dead alphas are better than one."

"Don't be too hasty," Deucalion's cultured voice called out.

Stiles whirled around - and moaned in terror. There, almost dangling in Deucalion's grip, was a barely conscious Jackson. And from the other side, Aidan was back, holding a bloody and bruised Isaac in a similar grip.

"Seems like we have a bit of a stalemate," Deucalion went on. For a moment his face darkened and the depth of his displeasure was clearly visible. "You killed one of mine, so I'll have to kill one of yours."

"Mine is as good as dead," Aiden crowed and shook Isaac so roughly that the teen cried out as his broken bones were jostled.

"Mmh, tempting, but I think we need to replace our lost comrade first and foremost."

Before anyone could make sense of that statement, Deucalion had already bent down and sliced Jackson's shoulder with his wolf teeth.


End of chapter 58