"Um," Scott said, looking from the Sheriff to Derek and at the Winchesters. "Um."
Derek rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to answer for Scott but the Sheriff – well versed in how to deal with Scott's idiosyncrasies – cut him off.
"Let me guess Scott, you and Derek over here are the reason why my son has been sneaking out of the house and lying to me about what he's been getting up to," he said, continuing at Scott's nod. "Did Derek turn you?"
"No sir," Scott replied. "I have no idea who bit me."
"It wasn't my sister, Scott and Stiles were out in the woods the night your department was searching the woods for the other half of her body," Derek answered. "But I don't have any leads on who it could have been."
The Sheriff sighed. "Ok, while alarming, that's not exactly our priority right now. We'll figure it out after we find Stiles. Scott, how did you find us here?"
"I started looking for Stiles after you called me," he said sheepishly. "I followed his scent here and thought he was in trouble because I didn't recognize their scents." He nodded towards the Winchesters. "But… I guess it wasn't Stiles' scent I was following, it was yours. I'm still not very good at this."
Dean snorted but was quickly silenced by a look from Castiel. Scott glared at him.
"It's harder than you'd think, ok?" he said angrily. "And Stiles and his dad smell alike because they're family."
"And to be fair, it seems like my nephew hasn't been the most forthcoming with information," a new voice drawled from the doorway.
Three guns and two pairs of glowing eyes trained themselves on the stranger lounging in the doorway, looking for all the world completely unfazed at the welcome he was receiving. Only Castiel looked unsurprised to see him there.
"You told me to wait until they knocked to answer the door," he said in response to Dean's glare. "He didn't knock."
"My apologies for the confusion Angel, but I do love to make an entrance," the man said. "Also, I felt it would be more expedient if I just cut through all the questions you were throwing around and got straight to the point."
"Yeah well, why don't you get straight to the point of telling us who you are and what you're doing here?" Dean said angrily.
The man took a step through the doorway and the light from the room caught the shiny pink of healing burns covering most of the man's face. The Sheriff and Scott gasped while Sam's mouth fell open. The gears were turning in their minds but Derek was the first one to speak.
"Peter?" he said, eyes completely normal for the first time since the Sheriff had entered the room. He stretched a hand out towards the man, as if to make sure what he was seeing was real. "But, how? You were in a coma…"
"Yes, about that. Having my Alpha back in close range accelerated the healing process I guess," Peter said. "I was always healing, very slowly, cell by cell. But when Laura came back to town, the strength of the Alpha sped up the process and I was able to wake up. Unfortunately, with the shock of being suddenly conscious after that long coupled with the pain of still healing the burns and trauma I received, my human faculties shut down and the wolf took over. When Laura died, and I became Alpha suddenly, I lost myself entirely. That's why I bit Scott. I didn't mean it, truly. But having a pack again anchored me and I was able to return to sanity." He turned to Scott. "Honestly, you were an accident. If anything, I wanted to turn the delicious smelling human who was in your company that night. The one I believe you are all looking for? Stiles, is his name I believe?"
The sound of a gun being cocked directed the room's attention back to Jonathan.
"Stay away from my son," he said in a level voice. "Victim or not, I will empty my clip into you if I hear you've done anything to harm him."
Derek twitched, arm still in the air, and his eyes flicked back and forth between the men as if trying to decide who would need protecting if the situation escalated. Scott merely stared at the both of them open-mouthed.
Peter chuckled darkly, and his eyes flashed red for a moment. "Easy there Sheriff, no harm will come to your son from me, although I think he'd make a great addition to my pack. Besides, I doubt you have the right bullets in your gun to kill me."
"Maybe not," the Sheriff conceded, not lowering his gun. "But it would still hurt like hell."
Peter grinned widely. "Ooooh, you Stilinskis are a feisty bunch. I do like feisty."
"Alright, alright, enough," Dean said. "Family reunion love fest aside, you still haven't told us how you found us here."
"Oh my boy, that's simple," Peter said, turned a smirk towards the elder Hunter. "I merely followed the sounds of incompetence."
This time it was Dean's turn to growl, lack of fangs notwithstanding, at the intruder and Derek stepped neatly in between them to prevent the situation from escalating. Turning his back on Dean as a show of faith, he confronted his uncle with a pleading look.
"Can you tell us what's going on? Where's Stiles? We need to find him."
Peter sighed and gestured for everyone to relax. He took a seat at the table and exhaled deeply.
"This is what I know. Someone created those animal attacks in the woods in order to lure Laura back home to investigate. And when she did, she was attacked and her soul was harvested for a ritual. She died and the Alpha power went to me. After I regained my sanity, I spent my time trying to hunt down whoever did that to her and I had nearly figured it out when you showed up, Derek."
"But why not reveal yourself to Derek then? Why wait until now?" Scott interrupted.
The group looked at Peter, whose scarred face was emotionless as he looked at his hands clasped on the table.
"Because he knew that I thought another werewolf had killed Laura," Derek answered for him quietly, face white as a sheet from processing the information Peter had just dumped on him. "He knew that it looked like he was to blame and that in my grief, I would strike first and ask questions later."
"But he's an Alpha-" Scott started to say, before Peter cut him off.
"Yes, but I was still weak and healing," he said. "And to be honest, I wasn't ready to face Derek after what I thought he had done."
At this, Derek tensed up all over and his claws accidentally tore a hole through the hotel bedspread. His jaw dropped open before he schooled his expression into resigned defeat. He hung his head in shame and didn't say a thing.
"What do you mean, 'thought he had done?'" Sam asked.
"I thought Derek was the one who had betrayed our family to Hunters, told them our secrets and let them burn us to the ground," Peter said frankly.
A gasp echoed throughout the room before Derek jumped up, jaw tense and eyes full of agony.
"But I did! I was stupid and foolish and trusted a human with our secret even though I knew she wasn't my mate because I thought I was in love," Derek yelled. "I betrayed them and now they're all dead!"
His outburst was met by shocked stares and awkward silence. Surprisingly it was the Sheriff who broke the silence.
"It wasn't your fault Derek," he said, his eyes fierce and protective. He was beginning to fit all the pieces together and his instinct was telling him that Derek was just another victim, an innocent kid that had everything ripped away from him, just because he had chosen to love. He could see how Derek had shut the world out and kept only the bad memories and pain as his penance. "You are not to blame for what happened."
"He's right, you know," Peter said softly. "I know that now. And I'm sorry for ever blaming you. Nothing you could have done in that situation would have changed what happened. And if you hadn't been with her that night, you would have died with the rest of them."
The room started spinning around Derek and he slammed his eyes shut and dug his claws into his legs to ground himself. The pain and the guilt he had been carrying for years would probably never completely go away, but the tiniest bit of relief at hearing his last remaining family member didn't blame him washed over him like a tidal wave. Even Laura, who had been the one to rescue him after Kate left him chained and hooked up to a car battery while she burned his house down, had still acted stiffly around him for months and he had known that even though she tried not to, she still blamed him at least a little bit for what happened.
His eyes pricked with tears he tried to will away when a hand clamped down on his shoulder and a thumb rubbed reassuringly over his collarbone. He opened his eyes and saw Peter standing in front of him.
"It's not your fault," he said, eyes glowing and voice reverberating with the power of an Alpha. "And I don't blame you for what happened. Kate Argent was a psychopath and she wasn't working alone."
He turned to the Winchesters, hand never leaving Derek's shoulder, and Derek leaned into the touch.
"What do you boys know about Purgatory?" Peter asked.
/
As Kate spoke, and the bile rose higher in Stiles' throat, he tried to distract himself from what she was saying by singing '99 bottles of beer' in his head. It worked, mostly, and he had managed to get to 62 bottles of beer still on the wall before the demon realized he wasn't listening.
Eyes flashing back to black, a slow smile spread itself across her face. "Now, now, you're no fun when you're not participating," she purred, walking closer to him. "You can't expect me to do all the work."
She reached up to where Stiles was still suspended in the air against the wall and ran her fingers up under his shirt. Curving them into claws, she dragged her nails hard down his stomach, leaving little red furrows on his skin. Stiles inhaled sharply and bit down on his tongue as frissons of revulsion shuddered through his body.
"You're no fun," she mock pouted. "You don't like my dirty talk or my teasing. Even Derek was a little more willing to try some new things."
She dropped her hands lower, fondling his belt buckle with one hand and caressing the inside of his thigh with her other.
Stiles saw red at the mention of Derek's name.
"Go to hell," he spat out, struggling against the invisible bonds holding him.
She laughed darkly before replying. "Been there, done that sweetie." She turned away to leave but turned back suddenly like an idea had struck her. "But you know what I haven't done in a while?"
She waved her hands and suddenly Stiles was shirtless and shivering against the concrete wall. Another wave of the hand produced a small silver blade in her hand. The insane glint in her eyes made Stiles' toes curl up in fear and he began to shake as he saw where she was going.
"I've always loved a little body art," she said as she lowered the gleaming blade towards Stiles' skin.
Stiles bit his tongue and tried not to scream as she carved the first intricate rune into his skin.
By the third rune, he had given up on not screaming.
By the ninth, he didn't have a voice left to scream with.
/
"So that's its endgame? Harvest the souls of your family to open a door that would unleash a monster that could destroy the world?" Sam asked as Peter finished talking.
Peter nodded and Scott shuddered. "That sounds horrible."
"Sounds like a slow Tuesday for us," Dean said drily. Sam glared at him.
"So how do we stop it?" the Sheriff asked, to no one in particular. "We have to find my son and stop this son of a bitch, now."
"Stopping it will be easy. Just leave that to Derek and I," Peter said ominously. "Finding it is the problem. Whatever it is isn't leaving a scent trail and has been very careful to cover its tracks. I've been dancing around it for weeks but I haven't been able to get close."
"Leave that to us," Dean said, nodding at the angel beside him. "Cas can do a sweep for anything out of place."
The angel disappeared at once in a rustle of wings and Scott and the Sheriff looked startled, before Jonathan heaved a sigh and tilted his head back to stare at the ceiling. Sam looked over at the Sheriff, impressed with how he seemed to take it all in stride. The young werewolf boy, however still looked confused.
"But…how?" he said, looking to the Winchesters.
"Angels, man," Dean said with a snort and a shake of his head. "You get used to it after a while."
Cas reappeared in the motel room with a confused look on his face. "Dean," he began, voice grave. "I cannot locate Stiles, nor do I sense anything out of place. I fear the demon may be using warding sigils to keep its location concealed."
"Dammit, I was afraid of that, do you think you-" Dean started to say before Derek let out a yell.
The entire room turned to stare at him as he fell to his knees on the floor, clutching his chest. He shouted again, eyes flashing blue and he lifted his shirt to reveal a shape cut into the skin just above his heart. Before their eyes, the cut faded into smooth skin only to be replaced by a different shape below it.
Scott turned horrified eyes towards Peter, looking for an explanation but Peter simply stared at the disappearing and reappearing marks on Derek's skin at a loss for words.
"It's Kate," Derek said to Peter weakly, as yet another cut appeared on his skin, this time deeper than the others and a trickle of blood started snaking its way down his torso. "The demon is possessing Kate Argent and she has Stiles."