Laura spit into Chris Argent's face. Her only regret was that she hadn't had the opportunity to offer the same insult to his wife. The best thing that had come out of being captured by the Argent pack was that she was now aware of who it was that killed her family. Victoria was the Alpha. That meant that she was the one who had given the order. Laura was going to enjoy killing her.
"Petty," Chris said, but the calm in his voice was betrayed by the vibrant blue glow of his eyes. "I'm going to enjoy strangling you to death with your own entrails."
Laura laughed. He could talk as much as he wanted, but she'd overheard the enraged shrieking of his wife. Derek had managed to capture the Argent's daughter. He should be organizing a trap, using the girl as bait to lure them in then execute them. She knew that instead he would be organizing a trade. He was going to try to exchange the girl Allison for her.
"The only chance you have of accomplishing that is while I have these cuffs on, dog. So, you better do it before I get out of them. Otherwise, your family is never going to find all your pieces when I'm finished."
"Is that supposed to intimidate me?" Chris laughed. "I'm not the kind of man to be unsettled by empty threats."
"You're not any kind of man," Laura said through a smile she knew was showing too many teeth. "You're just a rabid animal that's going to be put down, right after I snap your daughter's neck in front of you."
The impact of his fist to her face was its own kind of victory. It looked like he could be unsettled by threats, especially the kind that weren't empty. Derek may have softened up to some of the werewolves, might not have it in him to kill a teenage girl, but Laura wasn't conflicted at all. She spit into his face again, but this time there was blood mixed in.
Chris grabbed her by the neck and lifted her off the floor, his elongating nails digging into her neck. "Do not test my patience."
Laura refused to be cowed by him. She just kept smiling her bloody smile at him as he pulled a hood down over her head.
Allison struggled uselessly against the chains that bound her. They'd laced the inside of the hood over her head with powdered wolfsbane. It confused her senses and weakened her.
"I'm going to pluck your eyes out," she raved, "I'm going to feed them to you along with your balls. You're going to beg me for death, but I'm not going to be so generous. I'm going to train you like I did my favorite puppy."
"Wow. You're a real bitch."
"How dare you talk to me like that! Who are you?" It wasn't the hunter or woman she'd met in the bakery. It was someone new, she'd been unable to overhear their plans while she was a captive because they'd put some sort of headphones on her that played a constant grating static noise.
"My name's Scott," he said. "Not that it hasn't been fun listening to you go full crazy, but I'm going to go ahead and gag you now. Sorry. I mean not really, but… well."
She screamed in rage, tried to howl out to her family but she choked as he sprayed something onto the hood that even through the fabric made her cough and sneeze.
"Bad girl," Scott said.
She would enjoy killing him. She had no idea what he looked like, or what he smelled like, but she'd memorized his voice, and she couldn't wait to hear him begging her to let him die.
"Stay here," Derek said. "The only target they're going to have is me. If things go sideways then you can come out and—"
"Save you," Stiles said, nodding eagerly.
"No," he sighed. "You come out and try to grab my sister and escape with her."
Stiles made a face like he'd just eaten something terrible. "Shot me."
"Okay, that's true, but you can be better than she was."
Stiles eyed him dubiously. Derek lowered his head, reached out and put his hands on Stiles's arms. "Please," he begged. "I need you to do this for me. I'm trusting you to help me save someone I love."
The werewolf reached out and brushed his fingers against Derek's cheek, urged him to raise his head back up. Stiles's eyes were full of golden fire and a promise. "Never hurt you," Stiles said. "Save her."
"We're breaking into groups. Scott and his dad, Deaton and your mother, you and me."
Stiles made a low animal growl at Deaton's name.
"Don't trust."
"We don't have any choice. There's no time. Besides, I'm pretty sure your mother can handle anything."
Stiles didn't appear to be comforted by that, but he moved into position behind the shipping crates as he was supposed to. Derek moved out into the center of the room and waited. He'd done everything he could. Now he just had to wait.
Danny let out a sigh of relief as Jackson helped ease him onto the stool. They were in the underground laboratory that he'd lied and said the exchange would take place in. Jackson was looking at the bodies in the cylindrical tanks in nauseated horror.
"What is this place?" Jackson asked.
"You don't want to know," Danny replied, and it was probably the most honest thing he'd said in years. "Let me borrow your cell phone? I can check on the status of the exchange."
Jackson handed him his phone. He was so trusting. It was going to be a shame what was likely going to happen to him. Danny tried not to look at the empty tank in the corner of the room as he dialed.
"I'll be right back. Just wait here."
Danny didn't wait for a response as he stepped back out into the hall so Jackson wouldn't overhear his conversation.
"Hello," Deaton said as he answered his cell phone.
Claudia eyed him suspiciously. He was unnatural. The way he had moved when Scott's sonic device revealed that Stiles was a werewolf was eerie. There was also some sort of strange nearly sub audible frequency almost like static that emanated from him. It was so subtle that she doubted that anyone else had noticed, except perhaps her son. Claudia had a very good ear for sounds, possibly because she'd been a singer her whole life or because—
"Doc, it's me," the voice on the other end of the line said. Claudia was able to make it out clearly despite the distance between her and the doctor.
"I see," Deaton said. He glanced over at Claudia and then turned his back towards her. "You have something that requires my attention? I expected you to be working on the project we discussed."
"Ran into a bit of trouble while securing the package for my other job. I didn't get to pick your pet reptile up from your ex-girlfriend's, but I was able to get some new material for your work."
"Curious. I look forward to investigating. Please be sure to get my… pet, as soon as you can. She's very rare, and very valuable."
"No problem, doc. I sent some of my guys to go get her earlier. I'm here in the lab, they're probably already on their way back by now. She'll be here by the time you get finished."
"Excellent." Deaton disconnected the line and turned back to look at her.
Claudia was inspecting her gun, doing her best to give the impression that she hadn't been able to overhear their conversation. Deaton had secrets. Claudia had her own secrets. Everyone in Beacon Hills had secrets. She wasn't going to let Deaton's endanger her family though.
She smiled at the doctor as she pumped the shotgun to make sure a shell was loaded.
Natalie was pushed roughly down onto her living room couch. The two men that had come to the door were minor members of the Argent pack. She did her best to keep her head down and stay out of the Argent's way. You didn't survive in Beacon Hills by making waves. The fact that they'd broken down her door to get inside meant that things were escalating far more rapidly than she expected.
"Where is she?"
Natalie didn't know exactly where Allison was. Likely being prepared for transport to the exchange site. "I'm not sure where Allison is, but if you give me some time I can likely find out," she said, trying to defuse the situation before it could get out of hand.
"Not the Argent bitch," the other man said. "Where's your daughter?"
"What do you want with my daughter?" If they were looking for Lydia, they had made a grave mistake in only sending two men.
One of the them backhanded her, and she tasted blood from where her lip had been split. That was… unfortunate. She wasn't going to be able to keep the situation from spiraling out of control. A shadow moved across the ceiling right above them. Natalie caught a brief flash of her daughter's yellow and orange eyes.
"I'm right here, boys," Lydia said. Both men locked up in shock to see the girl hanging from the ceiling, scales rippling out across her body as she began to change. "You really shouldn't have put your hands on my mother."
Natalie dove over the couch and rolled towards her desk where she kept her gun, but she didn't think she'd need it as the men started screaming in fear and pain.