Authors Note: Shout out to BloodyAvenger21 for the reviews! This chapter is getting put up so fast because of you! I truly appreciate the encouragement! This was a shorter chapter, I decided to split one episode into two chapters. (I won't bother explaining why.) I would really love to see some more reviews! Thanks for the continued support!

Chapter Three: Scealta

A gem is not polished without rubbing

Nor a man perfected without trials.

I had not decided if it was this town or the damn teenagers that I decided to call friends, but this town kept me busy. Since my arrival in Beacon Hills and slow growing friendship with Scott and Stiles, I had not had enough dull moments. There was always some kind of emergency. Stiles was driving his beloved Jeep and following Scott, who had just jumped out and over a fence to follow Derek and the Kanima. Well, I guess we were calling it -him?- Jackson now. Apparently, we were not the only ones eager to get Jackson either because the Argents were out hunting tonight as well.

"Damnit." Stiles muttered, throwing his Jeep into reverse as we came upon yet another dead end.

"Turn right here." I said calmly, hearing gunshots coming from that general direction. Stiles turned the wheel quickly, the jeeps tires squealing as they worked to make the machine turn in time without flipping us over.

"How are you so calm all the damn time?" Stiles grumbled, shooting me a sour look.

"I have had a lot of practice." I replied with a lazy grin, gesturing with my hand. "Left."

Stiles whipped the jeep to the left and I grabbed what he had called the 'oh shit' handle to brace myself. His driving was honestly making me a nervous wreck, I was just trying not to let it show. I missed the days when everyone used horses to drive; at least those had a survival instinct. This hunk of metal would crash us into the wall without any hesitation. I frowned when I couldn't hear anything all of a sudden, the gunshots and noises of fighting stopping altogether. Stiles phone gave a beep from where it was in the center console, and he glanced down at him before redirecting his attention to the road.

"Read it." Stiles said, both eyes trained ahead

"Scott says that he is by some club called Jungle." I read, before letting out a groan as my eyes scanned the rest of the message on the screen. "He lost him."

"Great." Stiles deadpanned "How do you even lose a six foot lizard monster?"

"I hear music that way." I said, pointing down a side street and ignoring his sarcasm altogether. We turned down the road and saw a line of people waiting to be admitted into a building, a neon sign above it that said Jungle. I jumped from the vehicle as soon as we Stiles parked, leaving my cane and deciding it was worth it to take the risk I might see someone who knows I usually have it. I waited for Stiles to join me before I pointed to where I saw Scott peeking out from an alley around the corner from the line of people. Stiles crouched down and ran over to where Scott was, I followed silently and stood behind Stiles, wondering why we were sneaking in the first place.

"What do we know?"

"Holy cr-" Scott half yelled

"What-" Stiles started to say before he noticed the glare Scott was sending his way. "Sorry, I'm sorry. Did you see where he went?"

"I lost him." Scott said, shaking his head

"You cannot catch his scent?" I asked curiously

"I don't think he has one." Scott frowned

"All right." I said, thinking "Any clue where he is going?"

"To kill someone."

"Ah. That explains the claws and the fangs and all that. Good. Makes perfect sense." Stiles said sarcastically, and Scott threw him a dirty look while my lips twitched, fighting to keep down my amusement. "What? Scott. Come on. I'm a hundred and forty-seven pounds of pale skin and fragile bone, okay? Sarcasm is my only defence."

"Just help me find it." Scott replied, turning back to face the line of people waiting to be admitted.

"Not it. Jackson." Stiles reminded him

"So we are calling it Jackson even when it's going all scaley?" I asked, remembering my earlier internal debate. I got two suprised looks in response to my question and I self-conciously crossed my arms across my chest. "What?"

"Dude." Stiles said, a small grin working its way onto his face. "That's like the most modern I have ever heard you sound. Contraction and all."

"I've been watching a lot of television." I said, grinning a little proudly back before getting serious once again when I saw Scott shoot us both disbeliveing looks. "Which is not important right now. Right"

"Right." Stiles said, noticing Scott's face as well. "Does he know he's the Kanima? Did anyone else see him at your house?"

"I mean, I don't think so." Scott said, obviously contemplating "but he already passed Derek's test."

"But how did he pass the test?" Stiles asked rhetorically, and I could see the gears working in his mind.

"I don't know." Scott said simply

"Well-" I started to say, and idea forming in my head. "A snake cannot be poisoned by its own venom, but a human can."

"When is the kanima not the kanima?" Stiles asked, and I looked at him as it hit me.

"When it's Jackson." I replied, nodding

"Uh, guys, look." Scott said, pointing up to a window where we saw a tail disappearing through a window leading into the club. Scott's panicked face quickly turned to one of understanding though as he suddenly sniffed the air. "Armani."

"What?" Stiles asked, looking as confused as I felt.

"I know who he's after." Scott said, looking at us before going to try to open a back door and finding it locked. "It's Danny."

"How do we get in there?" Stiles asked "Maybe there's like, a, uh- like a window we could climb through, or some kind of-"

Stiles was interrupted by the sound of grating metal, both of us changing the direction we were looking to from up where the windows were to Scott, marching through the now open door and tossing a broken door knob behind him back into the alleyway.

"-handle that we could rip off with supernatural strength." Stiles finished sarcastically, looking at me and rolling his eyes. "How did I not think of that?"

"Because you do not have supernatural strength?" I suggested, winking at him as I followed Scott into the club. I grinned as I saw all of the lights and heard the thrum of the music, practically making the floors vibrate and my heart jump in my chest. There were men dancing close together, some of them handsome and half-naked. I found it fascinating how much dancing had changed since I had last been to some kind of gathering outside of my own people's. It was so primal, so shameless; I absolutely loved it.

"Dude, everyone in here is a dude." Scott said, looking around. "I think we are in a gay club."

"Man. Nothing gets past those keen werewolf sense, huh Scott?" Stiles asked sarcastically, and I stifled a snort at seeing him surrounded by men who were dressed as women, dramatic makeup on their face. They were stroking and petting Stiles, who looked like he would rather be anywhere else.

"What do we do?" Scott asked as Stiles untangled himself from the men appearing as women and joined us. "I can't find either of them."

"Split up to look. Do not forget to keep an eye on the ceiling, predators often attack from the high ground." I suggested, taking off my v-neck shirt and tucking it into the back pocket of my jeans, revealing my smooth, pale torso. I had lightly defined abdominal muscles and a v that started at my hips and dipped into my jeans, going towards my groin.

Wha-?" Stiles asked, his face flushing as he took in my half-naked appearance. "What are you doing?"

"Blending in." I said simply, walking off to the dance floor to try and look for Danny.

"Dude. You are totally staring at his-" I heard Scott start to say before the music drowned them out and I got sucked into the crowd. It was almost stifling amongst all the bodies, dancing to the beat, and it was not long before I felt a body slide up behind mine. I allowed them to dance behind me, moving my hips like I saw all of the other men doing, and I could feel his arms encircle my waist and come to rest both hands on my hip bone. I rotated around, looking for Danny and basically ignoring the guy behind me, just dancing to the beat and keeping my eyes scanning. I grinned as I saw Danny, dancing with a cute guy, and started to look where Scott and Stiles had run off too. I got away from the guy behind me as soon as I felt something firm poking me, and saw Stiles with Scott at the bar, both of them facing the dancing crowd. As I got closer, I could see that Scott had a dopey grin on his face and Stiles looked kind of grumpy, both of them sipping some kind of drink out of plastic cups.

"Having fun?" Stiles asked drily, his eyes flicking down to my navel, shining with a light sheen of sweat, before going back up to meet my eyes.

"Yes." I answered honestly, smiling at him, before pointing back towards where I had come from. "I found Danny!"

"You didn't get him?" Stiles asked

"You said find him, not retrieve him!" I said defensively "What was I supposed to say? We think Jackson is here to kill you, follow me?"

"I found Jackson." Scott said suddenly, and I gave them both a knowing look as I saw his eyes trained upwards. Jackson was crawling along rafters above the dancefloor. Stiles rolled his eyes at me but didn't say anything.

"You two get Danny." Scott said, giving me a pointed look at the word 'get that I promptly ignored. "I'll get Jackson."

"How are you going to get him?" Stiles asked, watching as Scott thrust his arm to the side and extended his claws. "Works for me."

Stiles and I started trying to make our way to Danny, who had gotten further into the crowd since I left him. A lot of people were in our way, and we determinedly pushed people aside as we attempted to reach him. I could hear Stiles calling his name over and over again, barely heard even with my supernatural hearing over the music. As soon as the smoke got released it was impossible to see where he was, and I felt slightly worried as I could barely see or hear. I had never had my sense obstructed like this; it was not a good feeling. The feeling grew worse when I heard people screaming, and small thuds I barely heard over the roar of the music. Suddenly I was being jostled as people ran from what I assumed was the Kanima. The next thing I knew I heard Scott yell out Jackson's name and Scott running out of the back door of the club. I found Stiles and we pushed our way through the crowd to follow him.

"Blood." Stiles said, pointing to the ground where a trail of dark, red blood led to where most of the cars were parked.

We reached Scott at the end of the trail and saw him bending over a bloodied and naked Jackson. Scott asked Stiles and I to get Jackson into the jeep while he went to ask Danny some questions in order to figure out why Jackson may have been after him in the first place. By now, EMT's had arrived on the scene in their vehicles with flashing lights and were escorting the paralyzed men out of the building.

"Head or feet?" I asked Stiles

"God, this is way more of Jackson than I ever wanted to be near too." Stiles complained, grabbing underneath Jackson's armpits.

"You must admit, he is handsome." I commented, grabbing his feet before smirking at Stiles and pointedly looking at Jackson's genitals and back to Stiles face. "Although, I see why he acts so.. Cocky."

"You didn't just say that." Stiles groaned, gaping at me as we shuffled along to the jeep awkwardly. "I think I'm going to be sick. His shitty personality dwarfs any other redeeming physical feature. Besides, he isn't that impressive, I'm way-"

"Yes?" I asked, surprised, letting a sly grin come over my face when I thought about what he was most likely about to say. "Please continue. You're way what?"

"Nevermind." Stiles said, his cheeks heating up and scowling at me as I teased him. "Just help me get him into the jeep."

I laughed quietly as we loaded him in the back, at both what Stiles had said and the disgusted look on his face when he put a pair of sweatpants on Jackson to cover him. We both hopped into the jeep and waited until Scott came running up, hopping in the back with Jackson, and listened as he told us that he had not gotten anything out of Danny.

"Alright. Let's get the hell out of here before one of my Dad's deputies see me." Stiles said, going to turn the key as soon as a car with flashing blue lights pulled up in front of us. "Oh my god. Could this get any worse?"

"Get rid of him!" Scott exclaimed, gesturing to the brown-haired man getting out of the police vehicle.

"Get rid of him?" Stiles asked, panicking "This is a crime scene and he's the sheriff!"

"Do something!" Scott yelled as Stiles father started walking towards the jeep.

Stiles groaned, doing a spazzy motion and basically tripping out of the car to meet his father halfway. As soon as I heard his father start to yell at him, I grabbed my cane and started to get out of the car. Scott grabbed my arm with an alarmed look on his face.

"That might be a bad idea, dude." Scott warned

"I will be fine." I told him, shaking off his arm and opening the door, gracefully climbing out. I put on my most pleasant smile as I approached them.

"..The hell is going on, Stiles?" The Sheriff was saying, gesturing angrily, before he noticed me walking up. I extended my hand, still smiling, and the Sheriff look confused as he took it and shook it hesitatingly.

"Hello, Sheriff." I said conversationally, noticing the flash of pity in his eyes as he took in my limp before it disappeared. "My name is Cian Hyland."

"You're one of Stiles friends?" Sheriff Stilinski asked

"I am, sir." I confirmed, allowing a guilty expression to come over my face. " I am also the reason we are here tonight. I noticed how upset you were and I wanted to apologize personally for that."

"Is that so?" the Sheriff asked with an evaluating look, glancing at Stiles who quickly wiped the dumbstruck look off of his face and nodded in agreement.

"Yes sir." I said, lowering my eyes in fake shame. "I recently moved here, and Scott and Stiles were nice enough to show me around. It can be hard to meet someone when I have this beauty" I emphasized my point by tapping my leg with my cane, ignoring the clenching in my stomach at using a fake limp to lie to a kind-hearted man. "I knew Stiles would be too kind to say it was because of me, but I didn't want him to get into trouble."

The Sheriff instantly softened, the anger leaving him as suddenly as it had come. He looked over to his son, who was looking at his father with wide eyes to see if he would still be in trouble. "You guys are good friends. That's really great of you guys."

"They are." I agreed, meeting Stiles golden brown eyes with my own gray ones. "I'm honored to be counted among their friends."

"I'm just glad that Stiles finally made such a well-mannered friend." Sheriff Stilinski joked, before waving us away. "Alright, you guys get out of here. Stay out of trouble."

Stiles clapped his father on the arm and I waved a good-bye, both of us heading back towards the jeep where Scott was waiting. After we climbed in, Stiles put it into drive and we drove off, leaving the club parking lot. I passively stared out of the window and watched as we passed buildings.

"Where do you think we should take him?" Scott asked Stiles as we raced along the streets.

"What about your house?" Stiles asked, his eyes flickering between the road and looking at me with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Not with my mom there!" Scott responded loudly "We need to take him somewhere we can hold him long enough to figure out what to do with him or convince him that he is dangerous."

"I still say we just kill him." Stiles said, and he looked up surprised as I let out a loud laugh.

"We aren't killing him." Scott said, shooting me a disapproving look.

"Okay, okay." Stiles said, pausing a moment to think before his eyes widened. "I've got an idea!"

"Does it involve breaking the law?" Scott asked tentatively

"By now don't you think that's a given?" Stiles responded sardonically.

"I was trying to be optimistic." Scott said, sighing a little

"Don't bother."

I smiled at the easy banter between the two, squashing the slight feeling of jealousy as I remembered having that sort of relationship with a friend I had left behind. It was not long that I had to dwell on the thoughts, though, because pretty soon we were pulling up outside of the police station, the side of the building where they kept the vehicles. Stiles explained what he had in mind; to steal a prisoner transport vehicle and keep Jackson locked inside of it.

"Now all we have to do is get the keys from the guard." Stiles said nervously, his heart beating faster with anxiety.

"I can do it." I volunteered, grabbing my ever present messenger bag and my cane before opening the door and hopping gracefully out of the vehicle. "Come with me, Stiles."

"Wait, what's the plan?" Stiles asked spastically

"I am going to ask." I replied with a mischievous grin, getting out of the jeep. "Now come on. I cannot drive."

We walked to the guard station, me with a calm gate and Stiles a bundle of nerves and energy beside me. The guard looked up as we approached; He was a middle-aged man with a pot belly in his uniform. He seemed more curious than suspicious as we approached, recognizing Stiles almost instantly.

"What are you doing here, Stiles?" the guard asked

"Uh, hey. Mr Lloyd." Stiles said, looking at me as if asking 'what now?'

Quickly, I reached into my bag and brought out a small wooden box, emptying the contents into my hand before blowing the powder into the guard's face. I ignored Stiles gasp as the man started coughing loudly, fanning his face to try and get the powder away from his air tubes, and Stiles started to stammer apologies about his mentally handicapped friend. I calmly waited patiently for the vacant look to appear in the man's eyes before I started to speak to him, hushing Stiles with a hand motion.

"Good evening. I would like for you to hand me the keys to that vehicle." I told him firmly, pointing to the vehicle Stiles wanted to apprehend, and as Stiles disbelieving look, I added the word please as well. Stiles rolled his eyes but his mouth fell open in shock as Mr. Lloyd dug into his pockets and pulled the keys out, putting them in my outstretched hand. "Thank you. Once we are gone, I would like for you to kindly forget we were ever here. If they ask what happened to the vehicle, tell them that it was there when you last checked and that you saw no one around last night."

I walked away, pulling Stiles with me when I realized he wasn't moving, just staring at the man. I gave him a triumphant smile as I took in the look on his face, and it was not until we were in the vehicle driving away that the questions started. Scott was following us in the jeep, and I was honestly surprised Stiles had waited until we were out of the parking lot before the onslaught.

"What was that?" Stiles asked, half anxious and half excited "Is it going to hurt him? Do you have more? Does it work on everyone? That was awesome! Don't get me wrong, but I feel kind of guilty too, you know what I mean?"

"It is called Devil's Breath, not if he is only exposed once and it isn't a prolonged exposure." I answered his questions in the order he asked them "It is very rare, so I do not have any more, no. It works on most humans, the less willpower they have the better the effects. I am not only aware of the guilt you are experiencing but I also share in it. Although, I suspect it is more from the act of stealing than using the Devil's Breath. I hope he does not get into too much trouble. Does that answer all of your questions?"

"For now." Stiles responded before assuring me that his father would most likely not go too hard on the man.

"He seemed extraordinarily kind." I said softly, referring to Stiles father.

"Yeah." Stiles said, a fond look on his face "Hey. About earlier.."

"I apologize if I overstepped." I said hurriedly, glancing at him from the corner of my eye. "I merely wanted to help."

"I wanted to say thank you." Stiles said sincerely "Why did you do it?"

"I did not want you to have to lie to your father when you obviously did not want too." I said, before ashamedly admitting "I heard how he said that he has heard a lot of lies lately. I did not want you to have to do another one."

Stiles looked at me and let out a deep breath, smiling at me. "That was nice of you."

"It was nothing." I assured him with a small smile

"It wasn't nothing." Stiles contested, making eye contact before focusing on the road again. "Ever since Scott and I have met you, you've been helping us. It's great not to feel like I'm- We are alone in this anymore. And I.. well, I'm proud to be your friend as well."

"Thank you." I replied softly, squeezing his shoulder affectionately. It was quiet the rest of the ride with us both lost in our thoughts and the radio playing in the background.

As we pulled up to the spot Stiles had picked for us to hide out, I climbed out of the heavy-duty transport van and helped Scott put Jackson into the back of it, handcuffing him to the floor with chains. I yawned loudly, attracting the attention of Scott and Stiles. I had not slept the night before, I had gotten wrapped up in painting, and I did not realize we would be chasing a Kanima for half of the night.

"Do you want me to take you home?" Stiles asked, turning towards me.

"No, I'll run." I replied

"Okay." Stiles said, looking towards Scott "We should stay the night, watch Jackson. I doubt my Dad will be home tonight."

"My Mom is on the night shift, so I'm free too." Scott said

I said my good-byes to the two boys before heading towards my house, holding my cane in one hand by the middle. It wasn't longer before I made it back and I gratefully climbed the stairs to my bedroom, shedding my jeans and t-shirt before collapsing on my bed. I blearily thought I should bring those two breakfast in the morning since they were guarding all night before sleep overcame me.

AN: Please someone review! I'm desperate!