A/N: This chapter is dedicated to the-awesome-bee, who has been one of my biggest supporters for all of my stories and who truly helped me out with this chapter. Thank you truly, my wonderful sounding board; I will most likely need you many more times before this is over! Without another word, please enjoy and review!

Chapter Seven: Comhlachtaí

You'll never plough a field by turning it over in your mind.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, why?" Stiles responded to Scott, seemingly breaking out of whatever had been occupying his thoughts on the way from my house to the rave.

"You just didn't say anything on the way over here." Scott said tentatively, throwing his friend a worried look.

"No, I'm fine. Just grab the other bag." Stiles said, shrugging off Scott's worry and gesturing to the other bag of mountain ash as he lifted one up onto his shoulder.

"I can't." Scott said apologetically, giving his friend a sheepish look. "Remember? Deaton said you have to do it alone."

"Okay, this plan is really starting to suck." said Stiles heatedly

Scott looked as though he wanted to say something until he got a weird look in his eye and sniffed the air before his brown orbs widened in panic. "No, not here. Not now."

"What?" Stiles asked, glancing at me and then at his friend's retreating back as he ran away from us. "Scott! What am I supposed to - plan officially sucks."

"You can do this Stiles." I told him, giving him an encouraging smile. "You just need to believe."

"Believe this freaking magic fairy dust is going to keep a scaley killer lizard trapped?" Stiles scoffed, shaking his head. It was strange for the normally optimistic boy to look so downtrodden, so defeated.

"Believe in yourself, Stiles." I told him, feeling my phone begin to vibrate. He flicked his eyes, which were the color of honey-suckles in the light of the alley we had parked in, up to meet mine before looking at the pocket of my gray jeans where my phone was. "We believe in you. You can do this."

"I can do this." Stiles repeated, clenching his jaw in a determined way; determined to play his part, determined to not let us down. I gave him one last nod before I picked up my phone, holding it to my ear.

"Yes?" I answered

"The Argents are here." Scott almost shouted over the hypnotic music in the background.

"Fuck." I swore, causing Stiles to look at me sharply; He had never heard me swear before, I realised, but I had never been so blind-sided. How the hell had they known? "What do you need me to do?"

"Can you buy us some time?" Scott asked

"How long do you need?" I replied, nodding reassuringly at Stiles before starting to walk down the Alley.

"As long as you can give me." was the grim reply, and with that I shut my phone with a decisive click.

"What's wrong?" Stiles called to me

"The Argent's are here." I replied, turning to face him and seeing his surprised look and newfound anxiety. I smiled wryly at him before continuing to head them off. "The plan is the same, Stiles. I'm handling it."

"Cian." He called, causing me to stop once more. "Be careful."

"You as well." I said, running down the alley as Stiles got started on making the circle. It was as I turned the corner that I saw Gerard with a couple of his hunter friends with him, walking towards a door on the side of the building.

"I hope you have your ticket." I said, making the two hunters jump and Gerard to tense, his dark, beady eyes watching me as I stepped out from the shadow of the building. I smirked at him as I slowly made my way forward, cautious but confident, and stopped a few feet from where they stood. I clicked my tongue disapprovingly, shaking my head. "What would the parents think of the High school principal skulking in the shadows of a rave?"

"I guess it's a good thing you don't have any, isn't it, Mr. Hyland?" Gerard's gravely voice replied, a sneer on his face. That insult might have even stung if I both of them were actually dead like I led him to believe. Instead, I smiled politely in return; putting both my hands on my cane and spreading my legs evenly, casually standing between them and the door.

"Come now, you can do better than that." I replied mockingly

"You would do well to find yourself somewhere else." Gerard advised me, a dark look coming across his face for a moment. "We wouldn't want anything happening to you, out here all alone."

"Who said I was alone?" I asked curiously, cocking my head to the side. As if to answer my rhetorical question, the howls of werewolves and gunfire filled the crisp night air and the already tense hunters with Gerard got twitchy.

"Running with wolves, I see." Gerard observed, an unreadable expression on his face.

"Do I look as though I'm running?" was my cool response, tilting my chin up in defiance. "You aren't going to be going to the party tonight, Gentlemen. So leave."

Gerard nodded once, and on unspoken command, one of the hunters rushed me, swinging a fist out towards hims. I neatly side-stepped him, sticking a foot out to make him trip and knocking the flat of his head hard enough to leave a big bruise with my cane. I raised an eyebrow at Gerard, and the other hunter pulled out some sort of shock stick; the thing was teeming with electricity, I could see the mesmerizing volts of blue going from the tip to an area right before the grip almost hypnotically. I nimbly evaded the few swings the man made, containing my laughter at how clumsy these professional werewolf hunters were.

"Do you have anyone without training wheels?" I jeered at Gerard as he watched stoically from behind the man, ducking as the hunter swung the shock stick towards my head. On my way back to an upright position, I punched him in the gut once; then, my pointed ear twitching as I lost concentration of my glamour, I heard the sound of another shock stick from behind me. Quickly, I twisted the man in front of me to cover myself, expression grim as he screamed from all of the electricity now coursing through his body courtesy of the man I had knocked on the head earlier. I promptly dropped the hunter I was holding and swept the other off his feet while he was preoccupied with his partner, a swift kick to the temple knocking him out.

I turned towards Gerard, skin softly glowing and my pointed ears revealed in all of their glory, and tilted my head slightly in confusion at the look on his face. Black eyes glittering, he was examining me with.. Jealousy? Greed? It was hard to tell, to be honest, but it discomforted me. Not letting the unease show on my face, I stood my ground as he smiled a shark-like grin.

"Sidhe." Gerard said, a small smirk on his face. My uneasiness grew as I got the particular feeling that he had wanted me to reveal myself and that it had gone according to plan. "I've been looking for one of your kind, but it is so rare to see one of your people now a days."

"Why have you been seeking the Sidhe, mortal?" I asked, a small sneer on my face. I thought I noticed his lips twist into a snarl as I said mortal, information I filed away for later, and my grip on my cane tightened.

"Oh, I have questions." Gerard said menacingly, backing away from me to leave the alley we were standing in. "Tonight's not the night, however. I'll be seeing you soon, I'm sure, Mr. Hyland."

"Oh piss off." I said, glaring at the man. Silently I thanked him, because now I knew to be on guard for the possibility of an ambush in the near future. Whatever he wanted to ask, I'm sure it would not be done politely and I am also sure that it couldn't be any good. I startled on the inside when I felt my phone ringing, and pulling it out of my pocket, I saw that it was Stiles calling for the second time.

"Is everything alright?" I asked in lieu of a greeting

"No! I have like fifty feet left and not enough of this magic fairy dust. My best friend is not picking up his phone even though this was his and his bosses plan, and we are trying to lock a murderous lizard in a party full of people." Stiles replied snarkily, and I could imagine the look on his face would match.

"Honestly? It sounds like one of yours and Scott's typical nights." I told him, walking around the bodies of the two hunters after I checked to see if they would be out of commision a little while longer; hopefully, until everything was done here. The simple thing to do was to kill them, but I knew Scott would not approve and even though they would kill me as soon as the order was given, my conscience dictated they stay alive.

"Not helping." Stiles groaned through the telephone "What do I do?"

"Finish the line." I told him, branching off into one of the main streets that surrounded the building. From the black powder on the floor, I could tell Stiles had already been through here. Stepping over the unfinished line, I headed for the door. "A wise man once said you can have all the tools in the world, but if you do not genuinely believe in yourself, they are useless. Believe, Stiles."

"That sounds like you got it off of a fortune cookie." Stiles deadpanned, making me huff a laugh so as not to frustrate the teenager anymore than he already was.

"I'm going into the rave to find Jackson." I told him, ignoring his sound of protest and indignation on the other line. "Stiles, call me when you have the line up and then come find me. Good luck."

I hung up the phone just as the door opened. I flashed my ticket at the man watching the entrance to the party, a black shirt emblazoned with the word security in yellow, block letters on the back. The noises and lights were incredibly distracting, and I could smell heady sweat of mortals in the air the moment the door opened; not necessarily a bad smell overall, but some individuals were more ripe than others. I scanned the room, my eyes darting to find either one of Derek's pack or Jackson himself slinking around the crowded room. I went around the edge of the room, trying to stay out of the massive amount of people dancing so that I could spot someone easier, and that was when I ran into Danny.

"Hey! You made it!" Danny said, smiling at me. I returned the smile tersely, still scanning the room over his back. He must have noticed how tense I was because it face went from pleasantly surprised to concerned in the span of a couple of seconds. "Are you okay?"

"I am." I told him, my eyes darting to meet his at the unexpected question. "Have you seen Isaac Lahey around?"

"Yeah, he was with Erica over there not too long ago." Danny said, curiosity shining in his dark brown eyes.

"Thanks." I said gratefully, clapping him on the shoulder. "I have to find him, it's urgent."

"What's going on?" Danny asked

"I-" I froze, which was quite unlike me. I couldn't tell him without risking him being sucked into all of this, especially considering Jackson was his best friend; but I did not want to lie either, Danny was a great person from what I had gathered so far. Very kind, generous, and he had dealt with my weirdness before. "I can't tell you."

"Okay." Danny said, looking slightly crestfallen but as though he had not expected anything else. "Can I ask why?"

"It's complicated Danny, and I honestly don't have a good explanation except that it is something dangerous to know." I told him seriously "Something you don't want to know."

"Alright." Danny said, proving how much of a good person he was. Most people would press for information, but Danny easily accepted my admittedly lame excuse and let it rest. Something I was exceedingly grateful for. Danny turned to head back onto the dance floor, where some guy in a tight black shirt was waiting for him and glaring daggers at me, when I opened my mouth.

"Danny."

He turned, eyebrow raised expectantly, and I thought about what I was going to say. When I froze again for a moment, he walked another step towards me and asked "What is it?"

"You should leave pretty soon, Danny." I told him, an obviously forced grin on my face mixed with a pleading look which made his expression cloud with confusion. "Maybe take your date out to eat? This place is getting kind of.. Wild."

"Okay." Danny said slowly, nodding his head slightly as if he understood. "Maybe I'll do that."

I nodded to him before turning and going towards the DJ booth where Danny had said he saw Isaac and Erica headed towards. I hoped Danny would take my advice and leave, I would hate for him to get caught up in any of this more than he already had. I gracefully made my way through the throng of people, and was just in time to see Isaac inject Jackson with the ketamine. I walked towards the two wolves and Jackson, slipping one of Jackson's arms around my neck and helping Isaac carry him into what looked like an old storage room. Erica got a chair and we sat him down on it, the only furniture in the small room with four metal walls. I quickly sent Stiles a text message about where we were, and then took my jacket off as I leaned down to examine Jackson better. He seemed as though he were knocked out, but I was not willing to test the idea out quite yet. Moments later, Stiles burst into the storage room with a look of pride on his face and I knew instantly that he had finished the line. I gave him a grin, putting my tongue to my teeth to hold back the 'I told you so' that was so eager to come forth, and nodded towards the apparently unconscious Jackson.

"He okay?" Stiles voiced, gesturing towards Jackson.

"I don't know." Isaac said, before a wicked smirk came across his face and he extended his hand, claws out. "Let's find out."

Isaac went to hit Jackson on the side of the face, but Jackson easily caught the swing and clenched down hard, causing Isaac's eyes to go wides in shock. "God-"

"Okay, no one does anything like that again, okay?" Stiles said, all of us backing away from Jackson in trepidation as soon as Isaac got his hand out of the Kanima's grip.

"I thought the ketamine was supposed to put him out." Isaac voiced, shaking out his hand.

"Yeah, well, apparently this is all we are going to get." Stiles quipped back, shaking his head. "Let's just hope whoever is controlling him decided to show up tonight."

"I'm here." Jackson said in an unnatural voice, as though there were more than one of him and in a deeper tone than he would normally speak in. "I'm right here with you."

"Well, that is peculiar." I commented, ignoring the 'well duh' looks sent to me by the other occupants in the room who were not a homicidal lizard-man.

"Jackson?" Stiles said tentatively, approaching the man like one would a wild animal, hands out in a placating gesture and trying to keep his voice calm. "Is that you?"

"Us." Jackson said, half-shifted with scales all along his face. "We're all here."

"Are you the one killing people?" I asked, eyebrows raising slightly at him talking as though he were more than one person.

"We are the ones killing murderers." Jackson spit out, venom in his voice on the last word.

"So, all the people you've killed so far-" Stiles began, trailing off slightly.

"Deserved it."

"See, we got a little rule book that says you only go after murderers." Stiles said, a little of his sarcasm seeping into his voice. I shook my head slightly, marveling that a human could have so much bravado faced with the supernatural as Stiles was.

"Anything can break if enough pressure is applied." Jackson said ominously

"All right. So the people you are killing, are all murderers then?" Stiles asked him

"All." Jackson said forcefully "Each. Every one."

"Alright, who did they murder?" Stiles asked

"Me." Jackson replied promptly

"Wait, what?" Stiles asked, the bewildered expression he was wearing matching his tone perfectly.

"They murdered me." Jackson said, spitting the words out and beginning to stand up. "They murdered me!"

"Okay, all right. More ketamine." Stiles said nervously, gesturing to Isaac hurriedly. "The man needs more on."

"We don't have any more." Isaac said anxiously, and I threw him an incredulous look before I could stop myself. Seriously?

"You used the whole bottle?" Stiles basically shouted, echoing my thoughts, and Isaac retracted into himself nervously, nodding his head. Stiles took a breath, and started backing away from Jackson who had gotten out of his seat completely now, scales covering almost all of his body. "Um - okay, out. Everyone out."

I was the last one to leave the room, Stiles slamming the door behind me before turning to me. "Hold the door while we find something to brace in front of it."

I nodded, pressing my back to the door and bracing my legs in front of me. If it was the last damn thing I was going to do, there was no way anything was going to make it out of this -

I was jarred from the side as Jackson tore through the metal wall next to the door, leaving me gaping at the hole he had left. How powerful was this creature? Stiles, Erica, Isaac and I shared startled expressions before deciding it was better to split up and look for Jackson. A lot of people were leaving the building as we walked out together, Erica and Isaac taking another way. It was when we were heading outside that we saw Derek, and Stiles rushed up to him and started speaking.

"Hey, so we kind of lost Jackson inside, but it's-" Stiles trailed off, noticing Derek staring at me as I tried to cross the line of mountain ash. It was like hitting an invisible barrier, or trying to put two magnets together that were polar opposites. My hand slid right off, and Stiles had an ecstatic expression on his face when he saw it, making me grin a little. "Oh my god, it's working. Oh this is- I did something!"

It was at that moment that a loud, mournful howl sounded out across the warehouse district, making me tilt my head in puzzlement at Derek, who had a shocked look on his face. "Scott?"

"What?" Stiles asked him, baffled because he could not hear the sound with his human ears.

"Break it." Derek commanded, gesturing towards the line.

"What?" Stiles said again, before firmly shaking his head. "No way!"

"Scott's dying!" Derek said, a strange desperation in his voice that had me instantly believing him.

"Okay, what? How do you know that?" Stiles asked

"He's telling the truth." I said, gesturing to the line preventing me from crossing and Derek from going after Scott.

"Oh my god, Stiles!" Derek growled out "I just know! Break it!"

"Ah-" Stiles said regretfully, before fanning the ash and breaking the circle. Derek sprinted through and, presumably, went towards where Scott was being kept. That was when I heard a scream and in an unspoken agreement, I went towards the scream to check out what was going on inside, trusting Derek to find Scott. I told Stiles I would be right back, jetting off faster than a human could hope to go, only to find a girl with bright pink hair, a hand over her mouth, and looking at a dead body of a dark-skinned woman who had been murdered. I cursed to myself, knowing it was the Kanima and that we had lost this round again, before telling her to call the police and leaving. I knew we had to get out of here - it would not do for Stiles or Scott to be seen at yet another crime scene. I found Stiles almost in the exact place I had left him, waiting for me, and told him about the deceased girl I had found.

"We didn't stop it." Stiles sighed, disappointment and guilt heavy in his words.

"Stiles, we will figure this out - we know it can be contained and even though tonight didn't go as well as we had hoped, we learned important information." I told him, gripping his bicep comfortingly. "We did our best and that is all anyone can do."

"Yeah. Scott's okay." Stiles told me morosely, still upset about the girl who had been murdered and our ineffectual plan. "Derek is taking him to Deaton know, so I guess we should get out of here before the cops show up."

"Yeah." I agreed, both of us walking towards his jeep, shoulders slumped. I knew it was sick to view this as a game, but it had worked in the past to distance myself emotionally - to think of it as a game of shogi, or chess. It was another victory for the Kanima master tonight, and it did not sit easy with me that we had not done as well as I had hoped, even after teaming up with Derek and his pack. As Stiles started the engine and made his way back to my house to drop me off, I got the strangest sensation that everything was coming to a head - that tonight set something in motion that we were going to have to stop. I just hoped the next body I found wasn't one I recognized.