Stiles woke up in a fucking abandoned warehouse, again. Why couldn't he wake up for once in the bed of an attractive stranger? Oh yeah, for that he would have to socialize. He hadn't even been caught drunk on the way home from a party, at least then he'd have an excuse. Someone (or something) had caught him back from the library late at night. He didn't even remember how it happened, just he was on the street and now he was- oh wait, it wasn't a warehouse.

That in the background was the noise of the subway and behind him was an old subway car. Everything looked gray under the few remaining lights on the ceiling (which were brighter than he'd expect), maybe it was just covered in dust. The air seemed stagnant, and he could smell decomposing bodies. It must have been an abandoned station and by the boxes, the makeshift tents with old fabrics, the gasoline drums turned into bonfires and so on, homeless people lived there. He was probably sitting on the bed of one of them. Where were they? There was not a soul around him, not even rats.

Stiles felt his head for any injuries (the bad guys had a habit of hitting him on the head to knock him unconscious) and there was some dried blood, but no wound, it didn't even hurt. He looked down to see if there were any other injuries and-.

His heart stopped. He lost his breath. His mind went blank for an instant, and then he was filled with sheer panic and terror.

It can't be, it can't be, no no no nononononono, not again, how, no, why, it can't be, not again, please, please, why, how, this can't-, nono nonononono...

He couldn't know how long he was like this until his mind settled down, just long enough to form rational thoughts. Everything had returned. Someone... something had kidnapped him and had... had... Oh god, fuck, something, somehow, had made his body return to... its original form. He had tried so hard to get rid of all that and now... now they were back. His breasts. And inside of him... he was pretty sure his ovaries and uterus had returned as well. He brought a shaking hand to his groin and... shit, his clit had returned to its original size as well. He was terrified of looking in a mirror or talking; he didn't want to hear himself, he didn't want to see his face again with feminine features.

Eight fucking years of hormone therapy and operations gone to waste! Who the hell had done that and how? And how come he still hadn't passed out from the panic attack? His chest... didn't ache. It should, and he should be out of breath and blacked out, but it was as if he didn't need to breathe even though his lungs continued to inflate and deflate.

He stopped thinking about it when he felt another presence nearby. "Feel" was the right word because he didn't hear it or see it until it was in front of him. It was a tall man with long blond hair in a ponytail, intense green eyes and extremely pale skin. He was dressed in black from top to bottom with a knee-length leather coat. Was it a requirement for sinister villains?

"How are you feeling?" asked Stranger with a French accent. Oh wait, he had read this.

"Are you a fucking vampire?"

There was a shocked expression on his face followed by a smile that showed too many teeth.

"I knew I had caught a smart one. My nam-."

"What have you done to my body? Why did you do this to me?"

"Um... Well... I admit I didn't expect it." He seemed to be trying to smile, but he grimaced instead. "It's the first time I've turned... well, someone like you. I didn't even know you were a woman."

"I'm not a woman!" he hissed through his teeth.

"I mean, I knew that the transformation regenerates mutilated limbs, missing organs..." he explained with wide gestures of his hands, "but I didn't even know you were an operated girl."

"Man! I. Am. A. Man!" he screamed and flinched at the sound of his high-pitched voice.

"Um... Look... I'm very sorry about this, but I have to say that you look very pretty like that."

Stiles saw red. Something reacted within him, like the snap of a whip, and just as quickly he launched himself at the creature. He didn't think about it, he didn't consciously do it. It was as if the beast mode switch had been flipped and his humanity had stepped aside. He felt everything, he acted with all the precision that his new abilities allowed him, but he did not control it.

When his prey stopped moving in his hands, he came back to his senses. He first noticed the blood in his mouth, a taste that should have been disgusting, but he just swallowed. His hands were covered in the same blood and his clothes too. He had practically bled that pig out, appropriate. He had a broken arm, but he could already feel it regenerating. The vampire's body was at his feet. Or part of it. A pair of limbs were scattered around him, and his head had ended up on top of the subway car.

He let out a shaky breath and staggered backward until he tripped over some box and fell to the ground. His mind returned to his situation and he stopped breathing. Not that he needed it anymore. He reached into his pocket for his cell phone, but it slipped between his blood-soaked hands. He tried to catch it a couple more times, but ended up giving up. He left it on the ground and dialed the number. It was a miracle that there was signal there, and he attributed the first tears to the relief it made him feel. He lay down next to him with his knees and arms curled, making himself as small as he could, and waited as the tones sounded.

"Hello, Stiles."

He heard Peter's cheerful voice, and a sob escaped him.

"Stiles, what's wrong?" His voice quickly turned concerned.

"Peter." Shit, why did his voice have to sound like this?

"Stiles?" He sounded confused, perhaps because he didn't recognize his voice.

What could he say? How could he explain all that? He didn't want to say it out loud, he didn't want to hear himself in that voice talking about his worst nightmare. He sobbed again, his chest contracting in a strange way because he didn't need to breathe, but he was trying and surely it was necessary to speak.

"Stiles, listen to me, I need you to take a deep breath and tell me where you are."

That made him give a nervous laugh, and he seemed to be able to control his diaphragm again.

"An abandoned subway station."

"Can you go to a public place? Can you get help?" he asked calmly, though his voice was full of concern.

"Um... I can... Wait, what time..." He turned his head to see the screen. 3:29 pm. "No, I can't go out. Peter..."

"Don't worry, I'm on my way." It was true, he could hear the car's engine. "If you can, don't turn off your phone, I have located you. Are you safe? Do you have danger nearby?"

"No, I'm alone." He felt a great relief knowing that Peter was on his way. He was going to take hours, he had to get there from Beacon Hills, but Stiles knew he would speed up as much as he could to get there as soon as possible.

"Okay. Are you hurt?"

Stiles began to cry louder. No, technically he wasn't hurt, it was even worse.

"Stiles, sweetheart, I need you to talk to me. Are you hurt?"

"N-no, no. Peter..." he said with a whine.

"I'm on my way, hold on. Hide if you can. You'd have to hang up or the battery-."

"No! Peter, please..." The idea of staying there alone without even Peter's voice terrified him.

"It's okay, I'm here. Can you tell me what happened?"

He knew Peter just wanted to distract him so that time would pass faster, although for him it was enough to hear his heartbeat on the other end of the phone (it was strange and at the same time comforting that he could hear it).

"I was coming back from the library last night. God, I don't know how I could have been unconscious for so long. I woke up here a few minutes ago and this..." he gave a humorless laugh at how ridiculous it was," this vampire appeared. A fucking vampire, Peter! Why did it have to be a vampire? If it had been... anything else."

Anything, even if its only intention had been to kill him. That would have been better than what had happened.

"Well, now we can be a cliché."

Stiles wanted to laugh, but the sound that came out of his mouth sounded more like a groan. Then his cell phone started beeping.

"No, no, no, no, no."

He leaned over the phone, there was only five percent battery.

"Stiles, you have to hang up. I promise I'll be there soon, but you have to hang up and keep your phone nearby in case you move. I have your GPS signal located, I don't want to lose it."

Stiles wasn't going to ask how he had located his phone, Peter was up to date with technology. At that moment he was only grateful for it because the truth was that he had no idea where that station was.

"Okay. Don't let the police arrest you."

"They couldn't reach my car even if they tried. Although maybe you should be listening for police sirens."

He hung up the phone reluctantly and brought it close to his body, it was his only connection with Peter. Maybe he should feel bad about not calling his father. He could have arrived quickly with the siren without risking a chase, but the truth was that Stiles didn't know if he would come, he didn't know if he would pick up the phone or if he would believe him when he explained the situation or even if he would consider it important enough to travel from Beacon Hills. In short, he couldn't trust his father to help him. He had been aware of it for a long time, but at times like this it was particularly painful.

He could have called Derek, he also lived in Los Angeles, but most likely he wouldn't even pick up the phone and besides, Derek had no idea of his situation and it would be very awkward to explain. Lydia lived in New York, they barely kept in touch in recent years; and it would be futile to try to contact Scott now that he was on the run in Canada with his latest romance, a hunter whose family weren't too happy about her dating a werewolf. (Stiles was not at all surprised that history repeated itself.)

However, he had no doubt that Peter would come, even if he had to cross the country to do so. He was the last werewolf in Beacon Hills and the one in charge of protecting the town since Scott had abandoned his duties as alpha of the territory. After Scott's departure, Peter had sent the few werewolves of his abandoned pack out to other packs to take care of them while he stayed there alone. Peter was an omega, but he was far more capable of keeping the people of Beacon Hills safe than Scott and his entire pack had been. Stiles had kept in touch with him while he was studying in Los Angeles. At first it had been to keep up with the threats against Beacon Hills, but everything had settled down in a few months and they had still kept in touch.

Peter didn't know about his situation either, but Stiles felt that he would understand it much better than Derek. Although if Peter told him like that asshole that he was fine like this, Stiles was not responsible for his actions.

Maybe he fell asleep at some point or got too distracted because suddenly a noise made him react and he jumped up. His body took on a fighting pose not unlike a cat instinctively. It was a distant metallic noise, but more sounds followed like footsteps, gates opening and closing, and a heartbeat. He then smelled a person before he even saw it. He heard a kind of hiss and realized it was coming from him. He was a snake now? Then he saw Peter appear from one of the tunnels and the hiss stopped. His legs shook, and he was about to collapse, but then Peter was there to hold him. He tried to call his name, but he had forgotten to breathe and there was no air in his lungs to make his vocal chords vibrate.

"I've got you, I've got you," Peter whispered, sitting him down on the closest mattress without leaving him.

Stiles shrugged and buried his face in Peter's neck, clutching his shirt with both hands. He had forgotten about the blood that now also stained the wolf's clothing. He sobbed in great relief now that at last he was not alone. One hand stroked his back comforting while the other held him tightly.

"You did a great job," Peter commented. Stiles frowned and then realized he was talking about the vampire's corpse. "We'll have to burn it to make sure it doesn't resurrect, but decapitation is definitely the best method."

"Good to know, you can use it with me."

"Hey, no, don't say that." Peter hugged him tighter and kissed his hair. "You're going to be fine, you're going to get over this."

"Peter, I... this... m-my body..." Fuck, he couldn't say it.

"I know. I know, sweetheart. We'll fix it, I'll find a way," he told him confidently, and his heart didn't give any lies away.

"How are we doing...? Wait, you know?" Stiles lifted his head and looked at him confused.

Peter looked at him almost tenderly, a slight curve on his lips.

"From the beginning, well, from the formal. At first the smell of Adderall prevented me from recognizing the other medications, but then it was clear."

"So, all werewolves..." The idea that any werewolf, any creature with enhanced senses could...

"No, don't worry, if you don't know how to recognize them, it's difficult to distinguish between medications. I had a friend in college who was also under hormonal treatment, that's why I was able to recognize them."

"My smell isn't... is..." He had always worried about so many things so that people would not notice his situation and now he had to worry about another one.

"It's slightly different from most boys your age, although mainly because of its lack of smell of semen and most would attribute it to a lack of sexual activity. Anyway, you don't have to worry about it, you will soon be practically scentless."

Stiles frowned and ducked his head to smell himself. He smelled of blood and other foreign smells, but he could barely smell his personal scent.

"It's a peculiarity of vampires," Peter explained. "It's the way to recognize them, although the most skilled strive to simulate a human smell."

"Huh. Well, it's not my main concern right now. What...? Fuck, how am I going to-?"

"We. We're going to fix this, both of us."

"But how?! I can't even have surgery again! It'd just... again..."

"I know, but I'm sure there's some magic that allows us to recover your body. In ancient times surgeries wasn't an option, but magic is older than science. We'll find the spell we need or create it if necessary," he said it with such conviction that it made him think it was true, that it was possible.

"Werewolves can't use magic," he whispered.

"But vampires can. You already had a slight affinity for magic as a human, but now, with a little training, you'll be able to use it without restriction." That proud smile on his face made him blush (or would have if he could still blush).

"You don't have to-."

"Shh, none of that. We're going to do this together, don't doubt it." His expression was determined. Stiles was sure that, even if he refused, Peter would keep trying to help him behind his back.

It was comforting that someone cared so much about him. Stiles sighed in relief and relaxed next to Peter, waiting until it got dark.

Peter took him out of the subway station through its abandoned entrance. It was in the suburbs, a pretty abandoned area in every sense, which was good since he was still covered in blood. Peter's Shelby Cobra was right at the entrance (it was a miracle it hadn't been stolen while they were waiting). It was a shame to stain the extremely expensive upholstery with blood, but he didn't have a choice either, and Peter didn't seem to care.

It took them almost an hour to get to Peter's apartment in one of the highest-class buildings in Los Angeles. It had been his property for years, but he didn't use it often, a few times a year when he went to visit Derek or when Stiles needed help with a research. It was an open, modern space with wooden floors, large windows, and metal, glass, and leather furniture. It was quite impressive, especially the views of the city, but Stiles preferred his house in Beacon Hills, much more homey and full of antiques and books.

"Did you bring your laptop?" Stiles asked.

"I'm afraid not, I was in a bit of a hurry. Why don't you take a shower, and I'll go find yours at your place?"

"I had it with me in my backpack, but I haven't seen it at the station. Maybe he got rid of everything when he kidnapped me."

"Then I'll go to buy a new one, there'll still be a store open. Make yourself comfortable, there are clothes in the room, take what you want."

Peter left before Stiles could tell him that he didn't have to buy him a new laptop. It would have been useless anyway, he was that stubborn. Stiles walked into the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror without thinking, which was a big, big mistake. There was the body that he had worked so hard to change. As if he had done nothing in those years, as if all the suffering had been for nothing. He got into the shower and slammed the glass door. The crystal exploded, falling into small fragments around him. Stiles started crying cowering in the corner of the shower. He was a monster and not just because he was a vampire.

When Peter returned, he didn't say a word. He stepped over the glass and scooped him up, carrying him into the bathroom attached to his bedroom. He sat him on the shower bench and turned on the shower head, not caring about getting wet himself.

"Stiles, tell me if I can take your clothes off or if you want to do it yourself. You have to take a shower, you have to clean this blood."

At any other time the idea of being naked with that body in front of someone else (in front of himself) would have been terrifying, but he saw the blue eyes that were watching him so worriedly, and he knew that Peter could handle it better than himself. He nodded and raised his arms almost like a zombie. Peter didn't bother to pull the shirt over his head, he just ripped the front with a sharp claw.

"Hey!" he exclaimed in surprise.

"It's beyond saving."

Peter removed his T-shirt along with the shirt he was wearing on top of it, then lifted him with one arm around his waist and pulled down his pants and boxers. Peter let him sit down again, his body was shaking. He reached for the shower head, and the water washed away the surface blood before Peter scrubbed it all off with the sponge. He was meticulous, cleaning even behind his ears and between his fingers. At some point, Stiles stopped shaking and relaxed under his attentions. Not a single improper touch or look. Stiles wanted to hug him and thank him.

When he finished, Peter turned off the tap and wrapped him in the fluffiest bath robe he had ever seen. They went out into the bedroom, and Peter started looking for clothes in the closets. Even though he didn't live there, there were more clothes than in Stiles' closet.

"Are you tired or hungry?" Peter asked him as he held up a pair of pants in the air to see if they would fit him.

"No, I'm fine, I don't have... Oh, god! I'll have to feed on blood! I'll have to kill!"

Before he could panic, Peter was already there, kneeling in front of him.

"Hey, hey, no killing. First of all, you can feed on the blood of animals. It won't be as satisfying and it won't help you get stronger, but it's possible. Besides, if you wanted to feed on human blood it wouldn't be a problem either. Nowadays it's not hard to have access to a blood bank."

Stiles snorted a laugh and shook his head.

"Of course." He couldn't help but smile. After all, Peter was a man of resources like few others. "Sorry about the shower."

"It's okay, you have to learn to control your new abilities. Put this on," he said, handing him the clothes. "I know you'll want to star researching right away, but I have to tell you that you should get some rest. Your body has yet to adjust to your new abilities."

"I can rest with the computer on the bed," he replied with a shrug.

Peter smiled and brought his new laptop.

"Think about whether you want to stay here or go back to Beacon Hills. Whatever you decide, I'll stay with you, but I think at first it'd be easier in our territory."

"I'll have to drop out of college," he realized suddenly. One more thing to add to the long list of misfortunes. "I was so close to finishing the master's degree."

"You can always follow the classes online."

Stiles shook his head and took the laptop out of the box. He needed to focus on something, he had to stop thinking about all the things that fell apart in his life.

"The problem is not the classes. In a couple of months, I'd have to start with the internship, and where am I going to do an internship at night? Anyway, what for? What night shift jobs I need my degree for? I'll end up at a gas station or a 24-hour store. I don't need a university degree for that, much less a master's degree."

He had tried so hard, working to pay for his classes and studying every spare minute to be one of the best in the class. No parties, no friends, no social life, no coming home except in the summer. All that for nothing. Again.

Peter sat next to him and put an arm around his shoulders, letting Stiles lean against him.

"We'll find something. You could be a night class teacher. And if there isn't a school for that, I'll open one."

Stiles snorted and buried his face in his neck. He knew that Peter wanted to tell him that he didn't have to work, that he had money to spare to support him, and Stiles was grateful that he didn't. Peter knew perfectly well how important it was for him to be self-sufficient.

"Thank you. For everything, Peter, thank you."

"I'm here for whatever you need, sweetheart." Peter tightened his arm around him and kissed his head.

He didn't remember Peter being so tactile, or so affectionate, or so close the last time they'd met, but it was probably the only thing keeping him from falling apart right now.

While Stiles was searching the internet and the bestiaries he had uploaded to the cloud for information on vampires, Peter went to collect some things from his apartment. Even if he did not return to Beacon Hills, he would no longer be able to live with his current roommates. Even if they didn't find it strange that he only left his room at night (something that was not entirely unusual among students), they would find the sudden change in his appearance strange.

He texted his father to call him as soon as he could and considered informing the others, but he wasn't ready for that yet. If it had only been the part of turning into a vampire, it would have been easier.

"You should find less naive roommates," Peter commented when he returned with ALL of his things.

"Then I couldn't have done some of the things I've had to do," he replied.

He opened the first bag looking for his hard drive. He made regular copies of his computer there just in case.

"When you put it that way."

Peter took the hard drive out of the inside pocket of his jacket and offered it to him with a smile. Stiles rolled his eyes and returned with the hard drive to the bed. He hadn't moved from there even though there was a perfectly comfortable sofa in the living room.

"Did you tell Derek?" Stiles asked, trying to sound casual.

"No, I won't unless you ask me to. It's your decision to whom and when to tell."

Stiles nodded tightly and remained focused on the computer. If it had been Scott, half Los Angeles and all of Beacon Hills would already know.

"Did you find anything useful?" Peter asked, sitting down next to him.

"I thought there was a lot of fake shit on the internet about werewolves, but vampires take the cake." I was researching on the topic of sunlight, you know, to know if I'll turn to ash or glow like a gloworm. But there are so many possibilities, so many variations that not even something so basic is clear."

Thanks to his studies, he had a better training to know how to distinguish between reliable sources and junk sources, but it didn't help in something like that. One might think that hunters with their vast knowledge could be a reliable source, but experience told him to doubt every word that appeared in their bestiaries and forums.

"I can assure you that you won't glow like a gloworm and, please, don't read that garbage full of toxic relationships again, it leaves us all in a very bad place."

"I haven't read it! I've only seen memes on the internet," he replied. Peter looked at him with an arched eyebrow, and Stiles lowered his head. "Okay, maybe I read the first one out of curiosity. Anyway, do you know anything about that? The sunlight thing, I mean."

"I can't say for sure, but as far as I know, right now your skin would burn and then your muscles down to the bone. Over time, when you get stronger, you'll be more resistant. You may not be able to expose yourself to the midday light, but you may hold out longer during dawn and dusk."

"Mm... That matches Anne Rice's type of vampires," he mused, opening the folder named in precisely that way.

"I have good books at home on vampires, and I can get more, don't worry. I can also speak with some contacts. Vampires are quite closed about their nature, which is understandable, but if I explain your situation to them, some of them may decide to help us."

Stiles squeezed his knee with one hand and smiled at him. It was a miracle that he could still smile.