~Earlier that day~

A normal morning.

That's how her day started.

Just a usual morning spent with four boys that she had come to call her family. Some of her best friends in the entire world. So how did it end up as one of the most stressful days of her life?

Their morning was as uneventful as ever. She was the first one up after a wild pack bonding the night before which was spent seeing who could stay up the longest while watching movies and eating pizza on the floor of Derek's loft. It was initially supposed to be a boy's night, but they couldn't exactly leave her out since she lived there.

Stiles had groaned and grumbled half-heartedly but in the end, he really didn't mind. Scott would never turn anyone away, even for something that small. And Liam, of course, was immediately on her side. He had perked up significantly when she had walked into the room. That boy was like her human puppy. It didn't help that she treated him like one and called him Baby Wolf, but that was their relationship. Wherever she was, Liam was usually found right on her heels. He looked up to her and she enjoyed his company.

The first thing she did was try and clean up a bit and soon enough Derek joined her. They didn't talk much. They didn't need to. They just enjoyed each other's company as they made breakfast for themselves and the other three boys, who she had yet to awaken since they were known for loving their sleep.

Eventually the aroma of breakfast managed to stir them and convince them to get up and face the day. Scott, Stiles, and Liam groggily stumbled into the kitchen as she and Derek dished out breakfast. When they were done eating, they got dressed and went grocery shopping, the boys somehow managing to talk Derek, who's probably the most stubborn person on the planet, into buying all kinds of snacks and junk food. Nothing out of the ordinary.

When they got back, they decided to make lunch.

So, they started an assembly line. Derek was first, picking out kinds of bread and setting them on a plate before passing it to Stiles who was in charge of spreads: jellies, jams, peanut butter, mustard, mayo, etc. Then the plate got sent to her where she had lunch meat, lettuce, and cheeses. She then smushed the two halves together and slid it over to Scott who had a large knife in his hand that he was using to cut the crusts off their sandwiches before shuttling the plate to Liam who was dumping different kinds of chips on it, putting more on the floor and countertop than the actual plate.

That's where the normality ended.

As she passed Scott the last plate, he suddenly went very still, the knife hovering over the sandwich as if he wasn't sure if he wanted to cut it or not.

"Scott?" She asked quietly. He didn't look at her, didn't move. "Scott? Are you alright?" She asked again, gaining the attention of the other three boys. She reached out to him, putting her hand on his shoulder.

She really wished she hadn't.

Scott whirled toward her, backhanding her across the face incredibly hard. Impossibly hard, even with his alpha strength. She spun into Stiles, knocking them both to the ground.

Derek and Liam moved toward Scott but something in his eyes made her scream, "Don't! Stay away from him!" As she tried desperately to untangle her legs from Stiles'.

But her warning was heard too late.

Scott, smiling wickedly, slashed downward with the knife, biting a deep, long gash across Liam's chest.

"NO!" She wailed as Liam collapsed to the ground, letting out a strangled grunt.

Scott turned back toward her, Stiles, and Derek, confirming her suspicions.

His eyes were completely black.

"Scott what the hell is wrong with you?" Stiles demanded, jumping up and looking like he wanted to grab Scott, shake some sense into him, before running to Liam who was lying motionless, but was still wary of the wicked sharp knife in Scott's hand that was dripping with Liam's blood.

"That's not Scott." She warned through clenched teeth, trying not to hiss in pain as she picked herself up off the ground.

A twisted smile crept onto Scott's face as he twirled the knife effortlessly in his hand.

"Who are you?" She asked, motioning for Stiles and Derek to stay where they were. She didn't want them to try anything. Scott was incredibly dangerous at the moment, especially with that knife in his hand.

"You don't remember?" Scott responded in mock disbelief, placing a hand on his chest as if he was wounded. "I'm hurt."

"You're obviously not worth remembering." She snarled, keeping her attention split between Scott and the knife.

Scott tsked, shaking his head in disappointment. "Maybe this will help jog your memory." He raised the knife, getting ready to plunge it into his own chest.

She moved forward before she even knew what she was doing, grabbing his wrist and twisting until the knife clattered to the floor. She winced slightly as Scott's wrist cracked but a fractured wrist would heal, his heart with a knife through it would not. She managed to wrestle him to the ground and pinned him, motioning to Stiles and Derek to help her hold him down.

Scott cackled. "Thanks for the fun, but I should be going now. I'll see you later."

His mouth opened in a scream, thick, foul-smelling black smoke pouring out and sinking through the floor. Scott went limp under them. Stiles and Derek moved to get off but she stopped them.

"Not yet." She said quietly. "We have to make sure he's really back."

Scott stirred, groaning as he did so. "Ow my head." He muttered. When he finally noticed there was a weight on his back he twisted to look up at her, his eyes going wide with worry and guilt. "That wasn't a dream was it?" He asked.

"No, it wasn't." She answered gently before swiftly standing and moving to where Liam still lay, wheezing heavily. She knelt down beside him and moved his ripped shirt slightly so she could get a better look at his wound. "Someone get the first aid kit." She called, ripping Liam's shirt open and gently slapping his cheeks, trying to rouse him.

Scott moved slowly to her side with wide eyes as he looked at what he had done to his beta.

"Scott," She started, about to suggest that he not look, when Stiles came back with the first aid kit.

He handed it to her and he and Derek knelt down.

"What can we do?" Derek asked in a small voice that managed to surprise her since it was so unlike him.

She was about to answer when a rattling sound came from the ceiling. "We'll have to patch him up, just not here." She whispered, glancing upward expecting the black smoke to come back at any moment.

"Are you going to tell us what the hell happened and why I tried to kill my beta?" Scott asked, terrified tears swimming in his eyes.

"Not here." She repeated. "Stiles, Derek, go to the garage and grab the bag of road salt and bring it to my room. Scott, you're gonna help me get Liam there." She grabbed one of Liam's arms and slung it over her shoulder. Scott did the same on his other side.

"What's with the salt?" Derek wondered.

"Just trust me, we need it." They nodded and moved to walk away but she called them back with one last piece of advice. "Look, stay together, don't take your eyes off of each other for even a second, do you understand?" She finally let them go when she got their nods of confirmation.

She and Scott had a bit of a hard time dragging Liam up the stairs, seeing as he was still unconscious, but they needed to barricade themselves and the bedrooms on the second floor were the only rooms that had only one entrance. They laid Liam on the bed as gently as they could and opened the first aid kit just as Stiles and Derek rejoined them.

"One of you line the entire room with salt, the other come help me." She ordered.

Neither of them questioned it as Stiles grabbed the bag and began pouring it around the perimeter of the room. Derek joined her and Scott next to the bed.

She uncapped a bottle of clear liquid and paused, looking at Derek and Scott. "You're gonna need to hold him down."

"Why?" Scott asked, looking at the bottle she held with worried eyes, but he was already grabbing Liam's arms as Derek laid across his legs.

"This is gonna hurt." She warned. "But it'll also help trigger the healing process." She took a deep breath. "Sorry Liam." She upturned the bottle, pouring it over his wound.

Liam immediately became livid, screaming and trying to buck Scott and Derek off as he tried to escape the burning pain spreading throughout his chest, his eyes flashing yellow.

She tossed the now empty bottle of rubbing alcohol onto the floor and gripped Liam's shoulders, using all of her weight to keep him pinned to the bed. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It's almost over Liam. I'm sorry." She muttered uselessly to him.

Liam finally stopped convulsing and lay panting on her bed.

"Ok," She said, slowly taking her hands off his shoulders. "Ok guys let him up."

Liam's gaze was flicking frantically between all of their faces, his eyes back to blue but filled with pain. They landed on Scott and he started to hyperventilate trying to shuffle away from him.

She put her hands out to stop him. "Liam. It's ok. He's ok now."

Liam ignored her, attempting to sit up and gasping in pain as he pushed himself as far from Scott as he could get before passing out again.

Scott kept his eyes on the ground, his body language screaming hurt and guilt.

She sighed and rummaged through the first aid kit until she found some butterfly bandages and gauze. "The cut should start healing on its own now but we still need to clean and cover it." She muttered to no one in particular. "He should be ok in time."

Scott's eyes met hers and he immediately knew what she meant. Liam wouldn't blame him once he knew the whole story.

"So, what was that black smoke?" Stiles asked timidly, wondering if it was the right time to bring it up.

"A demon." She answered, getting straight to the point.

"And the salt?"

"It's like their Mountain Ash. They can't cross it."

"Why did it possess Scott and make him try and kill Liam?" Derek asked.

"Demons know things about people." She explained as she carefully cleaned the dried blood off Liam's chest with a wet rag. "Their deepest, darkest fears. They manipulate them and then feed off the fear they cause. Liam's biggest fear was obviously that Scott would hurt him."

Scott winced and any further questions were dropped.

Derek and Stiles wandered around the room, Derek pacing aimlessly while Stiles double checked the salt barrier he had laid. Scott stayed next to the bed and held Liam's limp hand in his.

She glanced up at him as she discarded the now bloody rag. "I'm sorry about your wrist."

Scott shrugged, not taking his eyes off of Liam's face. "You did what you had to do. Besides, it healed already."

She shook her head as she placed butterfly bandages over the deepest sections of the long cut. "I probably could've disarmed you without fracturing your wrist." She admitted.

Scott sighed heavily. "I was still aware of everything. I could see what he was doing." Scott suddenly looked exhausted, dark rings forming under his eyes, his skin pale and chalky. He shook his head, trying to rid himself of the memory of his beta falling to the floor. "How do you know all this stuff about demons anyway?" He asked, changing the subject.

She hesitated, not knowing how much to give away at this time. "I've come across them before." She finally admitted.

"Specifically the one that possessed me?" Scott wondered.

She nodded slowly as she taped down large gauze pads to Liam's chest. "Yeah." She whispered. "I've run into him before." She didn't give Scott the opportunity to ask any more questions. "I'm sorry but that's all you're getting for now." She said with a weak smile.

Scott nodded in understanding and dropped the subject.

"That should do it." She finally said after wrapping Liam's torso with gauze to keep any more bleeding contained as much as possible. "He should be fine fairly soon. I have to make a phone call. It'll only take a minute." She quickly wiped off as much of Liam's blood off her hands as she could and grabbed her cell from the nightstand where she had put it when she was patching Liam up, dialing a number she never thought she would have to use again.

She listened to it ring. Two…three…four times now. She chewed her bottom lip as it rang a fifth time and she almost hung up but finally he answered.

"Skylar?"

"Dean, I need your help."