Chapter Sixteen
'Isaac asked you for the bite?' I repeated, half hoping I'd heard him wrong as I drove to school the next day—I had the alpha on the hands free system as Lydia and I listened.
'Yes, and when his father threw a glass at him last night he saw a cut on his face heal. Isaac freaked out, ran, and his father went after him.' Derek said, taking a deep breath, 'and something killed him.'
'Something that wasn't Isaac?' Lydia asked, not convinced.
'I know it wasn't him, when he came to tell me his heart was steady and he scented of fear and horror, not guilt. I trust my instincts.' The alpha's voice was firm and I found myself nodding in acceptance of his words.
'Okay, so did he get a look at what did it?' I bit my lip—we already had the possibility of Peter popping back up if he successfully manipulated my strawberry blonde best friend, adding a new monster to the mix was added stress that we didn't need.
'He didn't see anything; he only realized what happened when he smelled blood. He found his father torn apart.' He said grimly.
'Jesus Christ,' I murmured, my heart squeezing in sympathy for the curly haired boy—his father may have been abusive but he had still been the only family he had left.
'So what can we do? The police are probably going to suspect him, especially if they find out about the abuse.' Lydia pointed out as I turned onto the school parking lot.
'If the police start to suspect him, I can hide him until it blows over and we find a way to clear his name.' Derek said, I could hear his car door closing over the line.
'Are you on your way here?' I asked as I turned off my engine, picking up my phone to continue the conversation now the car was off.
'Yeah, I'll be around to keep an eye on things. He's gonna be coming in today seeing as it would be suspicious if he didn't show up. He's a new werewolf and today would be stressful enough with it being a full moon tonight, but this added in just takes the cake.' He sighed and I felt my heart clench at the frustration I could hear in his voice.
'We'll handle it Derek, I'll let Scott and Stiles know, that way we can have eyes on him at all times encase he freaks out. We know the drill by now.' I assured him, knowing the weight of Isaac would be resting heavily on his shoulders—he wouldn't have bitten him if he hadn't been prepared to take responsibility and look out for each of his betas.
'Thank you Stacey,' his voice was soft, 'keep me updated.'
I sighed wearily and accepted my bag from Lydia as she passed it over, 'well, todays gonna be a long one. I can already tell.'
'I wish I could say I disagreed with you.' She mirrored my sigh as we climbed from the car, linking arms and making our way into the school.
Yesterday hadn't ended up being very peaceful either—Lydia had a premonition at the ice rink, of a purple flower leading to her seeing Peter screaming under the ice. It had been terrifying from what both she and the others had told me, but once she'd calmed down and was assured she'd returned to reality, she'd insisted on continuing their fun and they'd skated for another hour or so before going home. Derek had called to say that Jackson had been rejecting the bite—black blood was leaking from his ears, his nose, and his mouth. I'd been horrified, but not surprised—I'd warned Jackson of this very possibility, and he'd asked anyway. It was awful to think about, and I couldn't quite bring myself to consider that he was going to die as his body slowly rejected the bite, but it had been his decision and he wouldn't have been content going on without trying to become a werewolf. He had been obsessed and wouldn't have been satisfied until he'd been given what he wanted. It was just a shame that getting what he wanted was going to result in his death.
'Do you think I should go and see Jackson? Before he… you know.' Lydia's voice was so quiet that I had to strain to hear her, and my arm tightened in hers at the despair I could scent coming off her.
'That's up to you honey, I can't tell you what to do, but if you do go you might wanna prepare yourself because—' my voice trailed off when I saw the very person we were talking about strutting into school looking completely… fine and smug.
What the hell was going on? That wasn't right. There were two options when you were bitten, according to Derek: you became a werewolf or you died. You didn't reject the bite, then recover and become a wolf. I couldn't help but wonder… Isaac's dad had been attacked last night by something powerful enough to tear him apart, and Jackson had been bitten two nights ago and started to reject the bite yesterday. What if the bite had turned him into something else all together, like how Lydia's Banshee abilities had been triggered?
'H-how?' Lydia's green eyes shone with confusion as she glanced from Jackson to me and back again.
'I don't know, something's not right, Lyd, but I'm gonna figure it out. I need to call Derek.' I murmured, already reaching into my bag for my phone as we veered off entering the school and went back to my car where it was less populated. We needed to get to the bottom of this.
/
'You think Jackson is the thing that killed Isaac's father?' Stiles asked, running a hand over his buzz cut.
'I'm not certain, but it's too much of a coincidence for him to reject the bite and still become a werewolf.' I pointed out from where I was sat on Derek's sofa in the abandoned train station.
We'd all agreed this was a good place to meet to discuss what the hell was going on and form a plan to get Isaac out of holding before the moon came up. He'd been arrested during lacrosse practice and Scott had assured him we would find a way to help. The pressure had been piled on even more when Allison called to inform Stiles that her parents and grandfather were sending someone to "take care of" the new wolf.
'Let's worry about that later. Right now, we need to figure out what we're going to do about Isaac.' Derek said, his arms crossed over his chest and his brows furrowed to give him his usual brooding look.
'Stiles knows that station better than anyone, he can get you in and out without being seen.' I said, smiling a little at the proud look that came over the hyperactive boys face.
'She's right. Since cuts, they'll only have three people in the precinct for the night shift—whoever is at the front desk and two other deputies arranging paperwork and being available for call.' Stiles started to explain; 'once we're past the desk I can get the key to the holding cell from my dad's office, which will be empty because he's on patrol until midnight.'
'Then we'll get Isaac out and leave through the back exit.' Scott finished, anticipating where his best friend was going.
'Yes. We just need a distraction for whoever's at the front desk.' Stiles sighed, running a hand over his head again, the movement hinting at his agitation, 'I would do it, but they've grown to recognize when I'm trying to sidetrack them.'
'Okay, so you, Derek and Scott are going… what about me?' I asked, confused at my lack of involvement.
'We don't know if we're gonna be out before the moon goes up, Stacey, and we can't risk having two werewolves transforming.' Derek explained, his voice soft.
I met my twin's eyes when he glanced over, confusion shining in his brown orbs and I shook my head to answer his silent question. I hadn't told Derek that he was my anchor, mainly because I didn't know how to.
'I'll be fine, Derek, I wouldn't ask to come if I thought I'd be in danger of sabotaging this, you know that.' I said, my voice sincere as I met his stare, allowing him to search for whatever he needed. I don't know how long we stood there, him evaluating me, but eventually he gave one curt nod.
What he didn't know was that as long as he was there, I would be fine.
/
'Oh for god sake, I'll distract her, this is ridiculous,' I huffed, climbing from the back and over Derek to exit Roscoe.
They'd been arguing for five minutes over how the alpha was going to distract the officer at the front desk and honestly as amusing as it had been at the beginning, I was slowly losing my patience with the spiel. I didn't know if it was because the moon was rising, or because deep down I didn't want to know how the alpha was planning on distracting the woman, but my temper was short. I closed the door with a slam and forced myself to take a deep breath, focusing on the heartbeat of my anchor behind me before opening the door to the station, now much more calm.
'Hi, Sheila!' I grinned, walking up the counter and placing my right arm on top of it, my fingers tapping to the rhythm of Derek's heartbeat that I was still in tune to, 'how's Nellie?'
'Hi Stacey, and she's fine, it's so sweet of you to ask! Her leg's healed up real nice, I've got to take her in on Monday to get her stitches out, will you be there?' She wondered, moving to face me as I strategically turned so she was directed towards me more than the door.
'Not Monday no that's my one day off,' I forced a chuckle, my finger still tapping on the counter top as I saw my human friend lead Scott and Derek past the desk.
Once they were gone I felt myself relax into the conversation and continued chatting until she went to use the restroom. I waved goodbye, waited until she was gone, and then made my way to the fighting I could hear in holding cell area. I felt my heartbeat pick up when I heard an unfamiliar growl, but that was nothing compared to the roar Derek released that had my eyes involuntarily flashing for a moment before I blinked it away. I entered the room to see Stiles and Scott crouched down by the opposite wall to Isaac, the latter looking more like he was cowering. The alpha was stood in the middle, a passed out deputy in the holding cell in front of him—I assumed he was the one the Argents had sent.
'How are we gonna explain this?' Scott asked as he stood up, looking over to the unconscious hunter and the broken furniture in the room.
'I got it, you guys get out of here before he freaks out again.' Stiles urged, practically ushering us from the room and tossing me his keys.
After I dropped Scott off at home, Derek took my keys and he and Isaac followed in my car while I dropped Stiles' off at his house. I left the keys in his ignition and climbed into my passenger seat, slumping down and wondering if I'd be able to get any sleep that night.
'Can I stay with you tonight?' I asked quietly, not opening my eyes as I waited for an answer.
'Of course you can.' Derek replied just as soft, a wave of fondness cascading from him and intermingling with a wave of confusion from the exhausted beta in the back.
I know it didn't make sense, but I'd grown so used to sleeping with Derek that when he wasn't there I didn't sleep a wink, and I was so exhausted that the thought of facing another night of getting three hours of rest made me want to cry.
'Thanks Der.' I mumbled, already feeling myself drift off in the warmth of the car.
The last thing I remembered before the darkness consumed me was being lifted, then the comforting scent and heat that came from the alpha wrapping around me like a blanket. I nuzzled closer, inhaling deeply and sighing contentedly as I fell into unconsciousness. I felt his chest rumble as he spoke, but I was too far-gone to register the words.
/
The next day I woke up in Derek's compartment of the train, my head resting on his chest, my right hand entwined with his left and resting underneath my chin and on his sternum, while my leg was thrown over his and his other hand rested on my waist. I had no idea what time it was, and that probably should have been more of a concern seeing as I definitely had school, but I was just so comfortable and warm. Plus my alarm hadn't gone off yet, so I didn't feel too guilty for nuzzling further into Derek's chest and just appreciating the tranquility and absolute peace in that moment. I knew that the day was probably going to be stressful and hectic so it was nice to just bask in the calm before the storm. I didn't know how long I lay there for, but I couldn't help but get lost in my thoughts thinking about this new monster that no one knew anything about—we hadn't even gotten a good look at it yet so we didn't know what we were dealing with. But I was pretty certain that it was Jackson. It had to be, there was no way that he'd been bitten and nothing had happened to him, especially not if he'd started to reject the bite only to be okay twenty four hours later. It was too big of a coincidence. I wondered if there was some way that we could essentially trap Jackson without him knowing, to see if he transformed?
'What are you thinking so hard about this early in the morning?' Derek's voice was husky from just waking up and I felt my heartbeat quicken in response before it settled again.
'I think that whatever killed Isaac's dad was Jackson.' I admitted, explaining the reasoning's behind my justification before I asked, 'is there a way we can trap him without him knowing he's being trapped?'
'Mountain ash will trap any supernatural creature if a line is made around them, I'm pretty sure Deaton has specialized wood in the clinic that contains mountain ash, it makes us weaker and if he ever wanted to keep anything like you or me out of there, he'd simply have to sprinkle a line at the doorway to complete the barrier.' He explained, his hand moving from my waist to my bare shoulder where he traced random shapes onto the skin.
'Couldn't you just break it?' I asked.
'It can only be created or broken by someone who isn't supernatural.' He murmured.
'Do you think we could lure him there and convince him he's stuck?' I rested my chin on his chest so I could meet his eyes.
'It's an idea, we'd have to talk to Deaton about it first, because him or Stiles would be the only ones who could secure the trap.'
'I'll ask him.' I said, ignoring the anxiety twisting in my gut; we had all been dancing around the issue of us being werewolves but I think this was too important to pass up the opportunity to figure this out before it escalated.
/
'This is crazy Stacey,' Stiles said, not for the first time.
'You might be right, but we don't have a better option. This thing has already killed someone, we need to get a handle on what it is before it strikes again, Stiles.' Scott told him for what felt like the hundredth time.
'We're not going over this again,' Derek's eyes flashed at the honey eyed boy and the human cringed away, miming zipping his lips and throwing away the key.
'Jackson's on his way,' Lydia said, breaking the tension that was starting to form in the room.
We all looked back to Deaton and waited for him to explain the plan—it hadn't actually taken much to get him to agree to help, which I was a little surprised by given how eager he seemed to be to keep the supernatural topic under wraps. But I wasn't going to complain at his assistance, especially if it meant we could stop Jackson before anyone else got hurt.
'Stiles, when he gets here Stacey will text us and we will seal the front and back door with a layer of mountain ash. Paired with the ash that's in the wooden fixtures in the building it will make the clinic impenetrable, meaning anything supernatural will not be able to get in or out.' Deaton explained, his tone calm yet serious as he glanced around to make sure everyone was paying attention, 'Stacey will exit before we seal it and once that's done we'll trigger the hurricane protocol in the security system. Metal shutters will fall over the windows and the doors, and all of the security cameras will switch to night vision. The metal is strong and thick so he won't be able to get cell phone reception and the office line in here has already been cut to prevent him from calling the police. We'll only leave him in there long enough to see if his panic triggers a transformation, which it should seeing as he will be relatively new to changing and won't have a strong control over his ability to shift.'
'Anyone else thinking this is a little… harsh?' Scott said what we were all thinking and I sighed, not happy with this plan myself.
'It's not ideal, but if he his the thing that killed Isaac's father then we need to figure out what he is and how to help him to prevent it from happening again.' I reminded him which seemed to ease the tension in the room a little.
Five minutes later and Jackson's Porsche could be heard pulling up in the parking lot. Everyone filtered out of the back exit, Deaton lingering by the back door and Stiles working his way around to reach the front after Jackson had entered.
'Lydia?' He called out, 'Stacey? You said you wanted to talk to me?'
'Back here,' I said back, my voice not too much higher than normal volume seeing as he wouldn't strain to hear me.
'What's up?' He joined me in the back room, his arms crossed over his chest.
'I just wanted to check up on you. Derek said you were rejecting the bite.' I was careful to keep my voice and heart steady, not wanting to clue him in on my panic.
'I was, but I'm fine now, I'm the same as I've always been. Human.' He sounded disgusted with the word and I frowned as a realization settled over me. If he was the thing that appeared the other night, then he wasn't aware of it.
'What happened to you on the night of the full moon?' I found myself asking.
'Nothing.' He struggled to get the words out, rage and disappointment seeping from him.
'Are you sure?'
'Positive. I taped it and watched it back the next day. I didn't move for eight hours.' His heart remained steady, which meant one of two things: he indeed hadn't turned into anything and had somehow not died even though his body had rejected the bite… OR someone knew his plans and intercepted the recording to cover it up and keep Jackson unaware. But who would do that and why?
'Would you mind if I saw it?' I stepped forward, the vibrating of my phone in my back pocket reminding me of what I was supposed to be doing.
He gave me a funny look and opened is mouth to say something before he thought better of it and said, 'if it'll keep Derek from being the messenger then I don't see why not.'
He pulled out his phone and bought up the video, forwarding it to me before returning it to his back pocket with a sigh.
'Are we done? Is that all you needed?' He asked, seeming frustrated now.
'Actually, no, wait here for a minute there's something I need to show you but it's in my car.' I said, moving to walk around him, trying to keep my pace normal as I headed for the front door. But his next words stopped me in my tracks. I pulled out my phone and sent off the text before I turned around to face him.
Me: NOW.
'You're lying.' His voice was certain and when I turned around to face him I had to smother a frightened gasp at how close he suddenly was.
'Lying about what?' I mentally high-fived myself when my voice came out steady but my heartbeat sped up, the threat of danger impossible to ignore.
'You don't want to show me something. Why am I here, Stacey?' His head cocked to the side and a sickening smile formed on his face.
'For an experiment, Jackson.' I said, hearing the front door creek open as Stiles moved to put the mountain ash in place.
Jackson heard it too and I took advantage of his distraction to punch his jaw, sending him flying into the desk, as I sprinted towards the back door. Deaton was there, waiting and gesturing for me to hurry up, a panicked look in his eyes. I was maybe a step away when I felt a hand grab my ankle, talon like claws piercing my skin and dragging me down.
Someone yelled my name but I was thrown into the wall with such force that I felt my vision blacken around the edges. I tried to move, to lift my head and look around, but I was frozen. At first I thought it was the fear keeping me in place, but it was more than that, it wasn't just that I couldn't move—I couldn't feel any of my limbs. I was paralyzed. I took a deep breath, well as much as I could with my face essentially smushed against the floor, and forced myself to calm down. Panicking wouldn't get me anywhere. Instead I focused on the sounds around me and felt a huge wave of relief when I realized they'd managed to initiate the plan: the shutters were closing and I was glad that meant he hadn't got out and hurt anyone else until the quiet settled over me.
It was silent enough to be eerie, and yet I still couldn't hear him, I tried to catch a scent but it was as if he didn't have one—no chemo signals or animal scent, nothing. What the hell was he? I hoped the others were having luck figuring it out. Allison had managed to gain access to her family's bestiary after she had heard her father and grandfather talking about it a few hours after they'd tried and failed to kill Isaac. Apparently they recognized the being that had killed the curly haired boys father hadn't been a wolf either and the oldest Argent had assured Chris that he would narrow down likely possibilities when he looked over the bestiary. Allison had kept a close eye on him for the rest of the night and noticed that he plugged his flash drive into the family's computer to start shifting through the digitalized book. She had managed to distract him and copy the file onto her own flash drive and then proceeded to email it to us all. Lydia and I had quickly realized it was in archaic Latin, which was why the banshee was here—to translate the words. Hopefully if we figured out what he was, we could figure out how to stop him.
I didn't know how long I had lain there for, but I found myself wondering why he hadn't tried to hurt me, beyond subduing me anyway. What was stopping him? I was certain that Jackson had no idea that he actually had the ability to transform into something else, so that begged the question—what was responsible for the being's decisions when he was transformed? Why kill Isaac's dad and not me? Was someone else making the decisions for him? Not that I was complaining—I was incredibly grateful to still be breathing in that moment, given what this creature had done to the last person it encountered. It was the why that was tripping me up.
What felt like hours later I felt something amazing—my toes started to twitch and the rest of my limbs followed, slowly but surely and before I knew it I was rolling myself over and trying not to groan in relief as the pressure was released off my face. I glanced around, trying to locate Jackson but I couldn't see him anywhere and I didn't particularly want to move and piss him off again so I decided to stay put and pushed my back against the wall before drawing my knees to my chest. A part of me was relieved that he wasn't in the back room, because I wasn't sure I wanted to see the creature that had talon like claws laced with a paralytic gel. It didn't exactly sound like the Easter Bunny.
A hissing noise drew my attention to the ceiling and I was grateful when my scream of horror got stuck in my throat. Scales is what I registered first. Green, slimy looking scales and yellow reptilian eyes, which is probably the worst thing I could have imagined. I hated snakes, reptiles, anything cold blooded I just couldn't stand and I was helpless to stop myself from trying to inch away from it. But that was a bad idea, it's cold unblinking eyes followed me as I slowly edged towards the doorway that would lead me to the front before it leaped down and crouched in front of me.
'You had to look like a freaking snake. Honestly you could be the size of a bear with devil eyes and claws like wolverine and I'd be less freaked out than I am right now.' I rambled, a nervous habit that chose now of all times to rear its ugly head, 'I mean seriously, Jackson, how inconsiderate of you.'
Something weird happened when I said his name, half of his face flickered, revealing Jackson's pale freckled skin, his blue eye a startling contrast to the yellow for a brief moment. Maybe he needed to be reminded of who he was?
'In freshman year, you started a rumor that I let you nail me underneath the bleachers and I told everyone that you had a small penis and an inability to maintain an erection as revenge.' I blurted out, and when his face flickered to human again I carried on, hoping to make it stay for longer, 'when you found out I told everyone that you were furious and tried to take it back but no one would believe you. I'm pretty sure that's why Lydia didn't want to go out with you at first, but I can't be certain.'
His whole face turned back this time and he blinked at me and mumbled, 'Stacey?' before he collapsed like a dead weight to the floor, I jerked forward and managed to catch him and avoid his head bouncing off the concrete.
I checked for a pulse and found it there steady and even, he was just unconscious. I found one of the blankets Deaton kept around to place in the kennels for the dogs that needed a little comfort and covered him with it, seeing as he didn't get to keep his clothes when he transformed back. By the time I was finished I heard the screeching of metal as the shutters lifted and less than a minute later everyone spilled into the room. Lydia hugged me first and then promptly stepped aside so Stiles and Scott could embrace me at the same time.
'That was terrifying.' Scott said, holding me tighter and inhaling my scent as if to convince himself that I was okay.
'It was, but I'm fine, all right? Nothing to worry about.' I assured them both and they pulled away, moving to help Deaton secure Jackson.
Before I could blink I was in the alpha's arms and feeling myself really relax as his scent surrounded me. I hadn't realized just how anxious I had been until I suddenly felt safe again. My hold tightened on the alpha's waist as I subconsciously held him tighter as he lifted me up onto the metal table in the middle of the room. I frowned in confusion until he reached down to inspect my ankle, I winced a little when his fingers moved over the still healing skin—I supposed the toxin had slowed down my healing a little.
'It's healing, just a little slower than normal.' I said, squeezing his hand comfortingly when I scented his concern.
I looked over my right shoulder when I saw Isaac lingering in the doorway, looking a little lost.
'You can come in, Isaac, we won't bite.' I teased, offering him a reassuring smile as he slowly made his way into the room.
'Yeah get over here, scarf, we could use some extra werewolf muscle over here.' Stiles snarked where he and Scott were trying to hold up Jackson's dead weight so Deaton could secure him to the chair.
The new werewolf rushed over to help and Derek shot me a disapproving look when I shuffled forward in attempt to offer some assistance too.
'They've got it, you're hurt and you need to mend.' He said, his voice firm, but it was the concern and pleading look he was giving me that made me stop fussing.
'Okay Der.' I offered him a smile and a hug.
He held me tight enough that I struggled for breath, but I never once complained about it. He had told me how much he cared about me and seeing me be attacked in front of his very eyes with no ability to do anything about it must have been awful. So if he needed to hold me tight enough that I genuinely worried about my ribs cracking, then I was going to let him do it.
/
Jackson had been secured to a metal chair, his arms and legs tied down, with a circle of mountain ash spread around him to prevent him from escaping when he woke up. Once he had regained consciousness we explained to him what had happened, showed him the security footage when he didn't believe it, and managed to get him to agree to stay isolated until we figured out how to help him. That might have had something to do with me telling him that the alternative was us handing over the footage to the Argents and letting them take care of him, but who knows—maybe he just wanted to do the right thing?
Deaton offered accommodation—a house he had in the woods that was completely made of mountain ash. The vet offered to keep watch over him while we figured out how to change Jackson's shift from the Kanima. It meant closing the clinic and feigning a family emergency while Jackson only had to tell his parents he was camping with some friends from Davornford Prep. He promised to keep in touch seeing as he didn't know when he would be back. When I asked him how it was possible for him to literally disappear off the map for an unspecified period of time, and for that to be okay with his parents he just smirked and said it was a perk of having rich parents that weren't really present in his life.
Once that was taken care of, Jackson was given wolfsbane to keep him unconscious for the trip and driven to the cabin. The Kanima would have access to the basement—it had been converted so it had a small kitchenette, bedroom, living room and bathroom. The fridge had been fully stocked and he still had some daylight seeping into the room. Once he had been placed in there with the bag of clothes Lydia had snuck in to pack for him, Deaton set up the cameras and sealed the room with a Mountain Ash barrier.
Now we just needed to figure out how to fix this.
This is the chunkiest chapter of season 2, so if you made it here, well done! The next one is 2,000 words or so just to wrap things up! Hope you're enjoying it so far, but please keep in mind that this isn't my usual style. As I explained at the end of the previous chapter, I'm not fond of this storyline and I'm trying to wrap it up as soon as possible without brushing over it completely.
See you soon,
VampireGirl1797
Xoxo