The Forgotten One

by Beneath.The.Full.Moon

Elise Blanchett has always tried to keep her identity as a witch from the people she cared about, namely her cousin Stiles. That becomes a lot more complicated when the past comes back to haunt Beacon Hills. Coupled with Scott's new werewolf status, she will have to find a way to protect her loved ones and fulfill her destiny.

3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

I pulled into the driveway at home and parked next to Stiles' jeep, it had been a very unproductive afternoon at Eva's. Selena and I had met after school to brainstorm with Eva about possible ways to track or identify the alpha. It had been wildly unsuccessful, magic had its limits, it was hardly the trump card that books and movies made it out to be. I did, however, find out when the coven was holding their meeting. Unfortunately I would have to skip half a day of school in order to make it. It would have to be done, I just hoped that no one thought to call my uncle to find out why I didn't make it to the second half of my classes. I grabbed my bag and got out, glancing around absently, it was nice out in the evening light. Being home helped me feel a little more relaxed, it was somewhat harder for the anxiety to get to me here.

When I walked into the kitchen Stiles was at the refrigerator drinking milk directly from the carton and I made a disgusted sound, "What's wrong with you? Were you raised in a barn?"

He jerked around and shrugged, "We're the only ones that drink it. We already share DNA you know."

I just took the milk from him and put the cap back on before placing it in the fridge, "Use a glass next time, like a civilized human."

"Where've you been?" He rolled his eyes.

"At Selena's doing homework," It was almost true, "I'm surprised you and Scott aren't off doing whatever it is you boys have been getting into these days. Digging up bodies and whatnot."

"Scott is failing his classes so he had to focus." Stiles answered.

"Why don't you help him study?" I asked and then shook my head, "Never mind, there is nothing more distracting than you."

"He's studying with Allison tomorrow after school," Stiles provided, wagging his eyebrows.

I laughed, "Oh, that should be very productive. There may be someone more distracting to Scott then you after all."

"It better be, if he's the only one of us getting action then he better be getting some action," Stiles noted, "Someone around here needs to."

"The two of you are way too close," I teased, "Besides, I get action."

"You don't even date!"

I blinked at him, "Yes I do."

"Oh, really, when?" Stiles crossed his arms smugly, "Because I've never seen you with a guy."

"Why on Earth would I introduce my boyfriends to you?" I laughed, "Think about it Stiles."

"That's hurtful," Stiles noted, but he didn't seem too hurt about it, "But I see your point."

I punched his arm lightly, "But don't worry, you and Scott will always be my favorite, you're my boys."

"It sounds like you co-parent us when you say that," Stiles snorted.

"Bro, that's because it's incredibly accurate," I joked and started upstairs, "Keep your germs out of the milk Stiles!"

"Psh!" Came his reply.

I shook my head and just went into my room, a figure in the corner caught my eye immediately and I spun around, on guard. Derek stood silently next to my open window and just motioned for me to be quiet. I glared at him and closed the door, my room was getting pretty dark now, the sun would be setting soon. I went over and turned the lamp on and then turned on my music so that Stiles wouldn't hear us talking.

"Jesus, Derek." I dropped my bag in my desk chair, "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

"I need your help," He said simply.

I shrugged out of my jacket and hung it on a hook over the door, "So you break into my room?"

Derek decided to ignore that, "Can you help me track down the alpha?"

"Probably not," I sighed, "I can't use a spell to track someone without knowing who they are. At the very least I need some of their blood to do it without a name or face to picture. So, unless you've learned who this person is or you managed to get a fresh sample of blood then you're out of luck."

He sighed and crossed his arms impatiently, "So you haven't had any visions or anything?"

"Nothing that will help figure out who it is." I shrugged, "You're the seasoned werewolf, don't you have any ideas on how to find the alpha?"

"Maybe," Derek noted thoughtfully and then shook his head, "I know the alpha wants Scott in its pack, but Scott still doesn't trust me."

"You mean to tell me that you haven't won him over with your sparkling personality?" I asked dryly.

He glared, "That's cute. Sarcasm must be a family trait."

"Stronger with every generation," I assured him, "But honestly. On a scale of 1 to 10 how much of an asshole have you been to Scott since you met?"

"I'll remind you it was Scott that got me arrested and outed me to the hunters," Derek noted.

"Not just Scott, Stiles helped get you arrested. It was a joint effort," I reminded him, "And you're going to tell me that you didn't act like a jerk before that?"

"Either way," Derek seemed to be tired of this argument, "I'm going out tonight to try and track the alpha."

"Great," I deadpanned, "What is your plan if you find the alpha?"

He glared at me again so I continued, "Because I guarantee you the alpha will be about as intimidated by you as I am."

"It's getting dark, I should go," Derek ignored my question entirely and turned toward the window.

"Hey, no more lurking around my room okay? It's weird," I told him simply and then grinned, "I mean, what, were you raised by wolves?"

He snorted and just shook his head, "Fine."

Then he was gone out the window and I closed it behind him and turned the lock as loudly as I could. For good measure I also pulled the curtains closed before I settled down to actually do my homework. I decided it was a good thing that he seemed to at least partially trust me, maybe this wouldn't go south after all. I would take whatever progress I could at this point. I spent the rest of the night trying to focus on the issue of the coven meeting first, I could worry about everything else after that was over.

I started awake that night, I wasn't entirely sure what had woken me. I hadn't been dreaming, it was more of a feeling. I rolled over and hit the light on my alarm clock, it was a little after two o'clock in the morning. I sighed and shook my head, whatever it was I would have to figure it out in the morning. I drifted back into a restless sleep, despite everything I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.

When I met up with Selena at school the next day she noticed that something was wrong, "You look a little pale, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm not sure what it is, I've been feeling strange all day," I sighed and stacked my books in my locker. I had woken up with a persistent headache and I felt sick, but didn't seem to have any symptoms of illness. My headache was definitely getting worse, no matter how much pain medicine I took.

"When are you leaving for the meeting?"

"When the bell rings for lunch, so, soon," I glanced at the clock at the end of the hall.

Selena nodded and tugged on her braid absently, "Do you know what you're going to say?"

"Not really, I'm just going to say that Derek has good in him. Sure, there is potential for him to be dangerous but I feel like the good outweighs it." I shrugged, "Hopefully I'll be more eloquent and convincing under pressure."

"Well, I mean, they can't argue with that," Selena noted, "He's not guilty of anything, yet. The whole thing about white witches is that we have to save someone if we can, Derek is no exception."

"Yeah, I'll definitely bring that up," I closed my locker when the bell rang and everyone started rushing toward the cafeteria.

Selena straightened from where she had been leaning against the lockers, "Good luck. Don't forget to turn your phone off. They get so fussy when your phone goes off at a gathering." She rolled her eyes, clearly she had been guilty of this before.

I laughed and nodded, "I'll keep that in mind, I'll let you know how it goes."

The coven was a rather expansive network of witches that went beyond just Beacon Hills to include surrounding areas. There was the council within it that made all of the real decisions. They would invite the elders like Eva and some other heavy hitters within the coven, but it would be the council I would have to convince. Typically the coven wasn't much of a threat to anyone, especially not the alpha. White witches have an obligation to try to protect the innocent, but the coven had developed a very strong tradition of minding its own business. For the most part they rarely intervened in anything unless they were directly threatened.

Part of it was self preservation and another part was for the sake of not attracting too much attention, even within the supernatural community. They say that if anything is truly dire then of course they will join the fight for good. They may have even considered actively hunting for the alpha when it was just Laura who was its victim. Now with two victims and the town in a panic it was much too high profile for them to get involved with. However, with Derek it would be different.

The alpha had managed to remain anonymous and yet build a hefty reputation for itself at the same time. Meanwhile Derek was attempting to lay low, he was someone with no connections that they could make disappear quietly if they chose to. Derek was a omega, so they could feel more comfortable eliminating him as a threat. Therefore, I would have to appeal to them that he wasn't a big enough threat to warrant their intervention. They would know what Eva had seen about him, about the two paths he could take. I would have to convince them that he leaned more towards taking the better path.

When I arrived at the meeting location I was feeling pretty anxious about it. The Blanchett witches were respected for being powerful, and they would love to have me join the coven simply to say that I was one of them. Yet I didn't know how much they would respect my opinion in this, or they might try to levy this to get me to warm up to joining. The meeting was in an abandoned building owned by one of the coven members. It was used to larger gatherings like this as well as training sessions to hone the skills of their members.

I was a little surprised to see Declan and another coven member were the ones at the entrance. He straightened from where he was leaning against the wall, drawing up to his full height. He looked about the same, for some reason I felt like he would look different to me now that we weren't a couple. He had the same blond hair and gray eyes as before. He seemed okay, not like he was pining away after me. I figured there was a good chance he had chosen this job, which I hoped was a sign that he was going to start talking to me again. Declan pushed the sleeves of his shirt off, revealing some of the tattoos that spiraled up his arms and he moved to greet me.

"You're cutting it close," He noted and opened the door for me to go inside first.

"I had to cut school for this, what do they expect?" I replied and entered.

Declan left his post and moved to lead me down the hall, "Eva says you're here to vouch for Hale."

"I am," I nodded, "He hasn't hurt anyone so far, there's no need to cast judgement based on the mere possibility that he will."

"So, you don't think he's a risk?"

"I thought the council were the ones who are supposed to interrogate me?" I countered and he rolled his eyes.

Declan opened a door for me, "Good luck."

"Thanks," I gave a tired sigh and started in.

I still felt sick, my headache only growing in intensity, and I still didn't know why that was or what it meant. I just tried to push through that and I summoned up all the confidence I could when I walked toward the circle. It was an assembly of the council, the elders, and the most trusted of the coven members. They had been talking quietly amongst themselves, but fell silent when I entered.

"It's good to see you Elise, it has been a long time since you have attended one of our meetings." The woman directly across from me was the one to greet me, I could tell right away she was the one who held the most power here. Not necessarily magical power either, she could be gifted with very minimal magic but still have managed to put herself in charge. She had that sort of air around her, like she had never met a situation where she hadn't been the boss.

I thought back to my first and only other meeting, it had been about me at the time so I hadn't really participated much "Thank you for having me."

I could feel easily twenty pairs of eyes on me, sizing me up, comparing me to my mother and trying to deduce the extent of my powers. I just made sure to look around the circle and focused on not flinching away when I made eye contact with someone. I had to let them know that I wasn't a frightened little girl anymore. I had to make them believe that they could trust me, I had to demand that trust.

"I see no sense in beating around the bush, as it were," The woman who had spoken continued, "We are here to discuss the matter of Derek Hale. Eva, if you would share with us what you have seen of the boy."

Eva stepped forward, as calm as ever and spoke evenly, "Derek Hale is a lost soul, he has endured much pain and it has left him tormented. As it is now he has committed no crime worthy of punishment, but there is certainly possibility that he will. For now he is lost but soon he will have to make a choice. Two paths lie before him, one will lead him into the influence of the alpha. If he follows this path he will spill innocent blood, he will make himself a monster to mirror that of the alpha he has chosen to follow. This path will spiral him into a darkness that he will not be able to come out of."

They were all murmuring at that, seeming troubled by this, but Eva wasn't done. "Yet, there is another path, and should he take it then he will shun the darkness of the alpha. This path will eventually lead him to be an ally in the fight against darkness, to become a protector of the innocent. Should he choose this path he will be capable of doing much good, and this is the path that will lead him toward his hidden greatness. To take this path would set him up to achieve something many others could not." She fell silent and met my eyes with a reassuring gaze.

"Elise," The other woman turned to me, "You have taken it upon yourself to be an active protector of Beacon Hills. You have had contact with the boy, we will hear from you now. Do you think that he could fall into darkness?"

"Yes, he could," I said, keeping my voice level, "but then so could we all. Let us not make the mistake of falling into the bias of werewolf hunters. We all have a monster inside of us, just because we can see Derek Hale's more clearly does not make our own any less real. I have felt the danger in Derek, I won't lie to you, it is there and very real. I also felt the good, the potential. As white witches we have an obligation to try and save him. Our duty and our code will not afford us the right to passing judgement against him based on one possible outcome. We must give him his chance, and hope that in the end the good will outweigh the bad."

"If we were to leave Derek Hale be and he were to take life, would you be willing to do what needed to be done?" A man in the corner asked suddenly.

"I assure you, if Derek Hale joins the alpha in its slaughter I will not hesitate to do what I must to stop him," I spoke not only the man but still to them all, I needed them to believe that. I would, if I had to, but I really hoped it didn't come to that.

"We will deliberate, thank you," The woman from before nodded in dismissal.

I turned and went back out into the hall where Declan was, "How did it go?"

"I'm not entirely sure, they have really great poker faces." I sat down on a chair, "How long do they usually take to decide on something like this?"

"They can spend two hours debating the simplest of decisions," Declan noted, "Since this involves an actual life... even longer. I would get comfortable, you're in for a long wait."

With that he turned and started back to the entrance of the building, leaving me alone in the hallway to wait it out. I rubbed my temples, fighting the throbbing in my head. This was a side effect of whatever had been bothering me, something happened last night. It didn't feel like an attack, but something was wrong. I shook my head, I had to focus on one thing at a time. I grew bored of sitting there and pulled my homework out of my bag to work on, since I skipped class I might as well use this time to get my school work done.

I had finished all of my homework and actually gotten ahead on my reading and now was resolved to pacing the hall. It was taking hours, I was getting hungry. I had skipped lunch and now it was getting to be around time for dinner. I was hoping that the fact that they were taking all of this time was a good sign, but I couldn't be sure. The door opened and I turned to see Eva there, she motioned silently for me to come back into the room.

I followed her quickly, impatient to find out what they had decided. I was so weary and hungry that I was finding it difficult to care what the decision was so long as it was made at last. I walked back to the circle and they all looked at me with somber eyes. I felt my stomach clench, they must have decided not to listen to me. Surely they wouldn't all be so serious if they had decided to let him live.

"We have come to the conclusion that we leave Derek Hale to find his path," The woman from before broke the silence, "I'm afraid that either way, he is your problem now."

This hadn't been exactly what I was bargaining for, but I guess I didn't have much of a choice at this point. I nodded and that seemed to be all that was required of me, they all moved from their stillness and went to their own conversations again. I took this to mean that I was dismissed and I smiled at Eva as she came to walk me outside. She was silent for most of the walk to my car, seeming deep in thought.

"I think your mother would have been proud," Eva told me at last, "You did what was right, though it has place yet another burden on your shoulders."

"Thank you for walking with me," I nodded and she turned to go back inside.

I sighed and got into my car, starting the engine first and then leaning my forehead against the steering wheel. It was cool and actually felt nice, my head was still throbbing horribly. I took a few deep breaths, one advantage to feeling like total crap was that I didn't really seem to grasp how serious this all was. It seemed I had somehow volunteered to be the protector of Beacon Hills. I hadn't exactly thought of it that way, then again no one else was lining up for the job so... I guess in a sense that was correct.

I straightened and turned on the overhead light, the sky had grown dark while the council had deliberated. I pulled my bag into my lap and started to dig through it for my phone. I had taken Selena's advice and turned it off earlier so I pressed the button and tossed my bag into passenger seat while I waited for my phone to power up again. I was greeted by four missed calls from Stiles, but he hadn't left a single message.

I shook my head and called him back, it rang three times before he answered, "Hey..."

"I'm sorry I had my phone off, is everything okay? You called four times, Stiles, why wouldn't you leave a message?" I asked, putting my seatbelt on.

"Yeah... well. Uh," Stiles answered seeming confused, "I'm not entirely sure - hey!"

There was a strange shuffling sound and then Derek's voice spoke, "I need your help."

"Derek?" I frowned, "What's wrong?"

"I've been shot, a bullet with some form of wolfsbane," He spoke quickly, "We're going to the animal clinic."

"I'll meet you there," I said simply and hung up, he was my problem now. Great.

Well, this explained the strange feeling I'd had all day. Derek had been shot and was being slowly poisoned to death. I wasn't sure how much I would be able to help him, and more I wasn't sure how I was going to manage to explain all of this to Stiles. This was definitely not the way that I had wanted him to find out about my being a witch. Well, it had to happen eventually. Now that I knew why I had been feeling so horrible my headache had started to fade. I felt much better by the time I arrive to the clinic. Stiles' jeep wasn't anywhere to be seen so I assumed I had beat them here.

I got out of the car and went to peek into the clinic door. The business hours were clearly posted on the glass, but that didn't necessarily mean that it was vacant. I cupped my hands around my eyes and peered through the door. I didn't see any sign that Dr Deaton was working late, that was a relief. I didn't need anyone else finding out that I was a witch today. It was already going to be Stiles and Scott, they were a package deal after all. I stepped back from the door and turned to watch for their arrival.

I recognized the racket of the jeep before I saw it, and sure enough it a rounded the corner and jolted to a stop in the parking lot. I raised a hand to shield my eyes from the headlights as I approached the jeep. At my approach the driver's side door opened and Stiles practically fell out of it in his haste.

"El!" He spoke urgently as he recovered his balance, "You know Derek?"

For the moment I chose to disregard the question, and walked past him to open the passenger's side door. What I found definitely wasn't what I was hoping for. Derek looked half dead already, he was paler then a corpse with deep purple circles under his eyes, "You look like hell."

Derek glared at me but it lacked the usual intensity, his eyes were glassy and feverish. He tripped the side of the jeep and got out slowly, placing his feet deliberately as if he wasn't sure if he would be able to support his own weight. I had just argued to keep him alive and here he was, on death's doorstep not even an hour later. I felt a familiar wave of concern as he leaned against the side of the vehicle. It reminded me of when Stiles had broken his arm.

I reached up to find the pulse in his neck, it was ragged. Derek offered his arm to me without a word and pushed his shirt sleeve up to show me the bullet wound. It was dark in the parking lot but I could see enough of the festering wound to know that it was bad. I could also see the infection blossoming out from it through the veins up and down his arm. I knew almost immediately that it was too deep. It had been left to spread for too long, it was beyond my abilities to draw out.

Derek had been watching my expression, "You can't heal it," he concluded weakly.

"I'm not sure, I need to take a look at it in the light," I tried to keep my voice neutral, "Do you have a plan in case I can't?"

"Scott is getting the bullet, I need to know what's in it." Derek straightened and moved to close the door of the jeep.

"How do you know him?" Stiles asked.

I shook my head and brushed the question off, "Let's get inside. Did Scott tell you where to find the key?"

"Yeah," Stiles answered begrudgingly, clearly frustrated with my lack of explanation thus far.

I took Derek's arm to help keep him steady and we followed Stiles around the side of the building. Stiles turned on the light near the side door and went to fetch the key. There were six or seven large bags of dog foot stacked against the wall and Derek collapsed onto it. He leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes as if the short trip from the car had nearly been too much for him. I felt a wave of fear wash over me suddenly, I hadn't saved Laura, I couldn't let him die too. I rubbed my hands together anxiously and was grateful for the distraction when Stiles' phone made a sound to notify him that he had a text message. He pulled it out of his pocket and read the message, his brows drawing together in confusion.

"Does Nordic blue monkshood mean anything to you?" He asked Derek.

"It's a kind of -" I started at the same time Derek said "It's a rare -"

We both stopped and exchanged a looked before I continued, "It's a kind of rare wolfsbane."

Derek sighed wearily, "He has to bring me the bullet."

Stiles glared at both of us but his curiosity got the better of him, "Why?"

"Because I'm gonna die with out it," Derek replied and that seemed to sober Stiles a little bit. As much as he seemed to not like Derek he didn't seem very keen on having him die either. He turned to reply to Scott's message quickly and I offered to help Derek up from his seat.

"Come on, let's go inside and I'll see what I can do." I urged and we went into the building turning on lights as we went and finally ending up in the exam room.

Stiles had sent his message and followed us in silence, "Okay, seriously. What's going on with you two?"

I shrugged out of my jacket and set it on the counter, "So, what happened?" I asked Derek, continuing to ignore the unwanted questions.

Derek leaned back against the counter and offered his arm to me again, "I was out last night, tracking the alpha. I was getting close, he attacked a car. It turned out to be... a hunter. She shot me. I heard her saying that I had less than 48 hours."

"48 hours and you waited until now to tell me?!" I shook my head irritably and rolled the sleeve of his shirt up so I could get a better look at the wound, "I probably could have healed it if you had come to me in the first hour or so!"

He winced lightly at my touch in my frustration I wasn't being very gentle, "I went to the school to find you, but you weren't there." Then he got serious, "So, you can't heal it."

I tucked my hair behind my ears firmly and gripped his arm, keep my touch much softer this time, "I can draw some of the poison out and buy you a little bit of time. Not much, it's advanced far beyond the point where I could heal it."

Stile slammed his palm down on the exam table irritably, "Have I been speaking in Greek this whole time?! I know you can hear me."

I closed my eyes and let out a long breath through my nose before turning to him, "I'm a witch, Stiles."

Stiles snorted dubiously, "Yeah, right, and I'm Godzilla."

"Your best friend is a werewolf but you draw the line at witches?" I raised an eyebrow at him and just turned to Derek's arm.

"Well, I think I would have noticed if you were a witch, we live in the same house." Stiles said simply, "Besides, what does that even mean?"

"It means, that she's a witch, idiot," Derek noted shortly.

I kept my focus on the bullet wound, I had to do something quickly and I could deal with Stiles after. I closed my eyes and felt the tingling in my hands as my magic started to flow through them, seeping into his skin. I sent it out to search for the infection, to separate it from the blood and tissue of his arm. Once I felt I had as good a grip as I could manage I placed my right hand directly over the wound, gripping his wrist with the left to keep his arm steady.

"This will hurt, try not to move too much." I cautioned and he gave a curt nod. I took in a deep breath and started to pull my hand back from the wound, feeling the tug of my magic as it started to be drawn out, dragging the poison with it. Derek tensed in pain but otherwise didn't move or make a sound. I continued and the poison had started to rise from the wound in a black mist mixed with some flecks of his blood. The veins in his arm were bulging under the strain and I imagined it must be excruciating. My hand was starting to shake with the effot, and when I had pulled all I could I snapped my fingers. This ignited a spark that burned through the little cloud of infection, turning it to purple smoke that drifted away into nothingness.

I turned to Derek, wiping sweat from my brow and noted that his eyes seemed a bit clearer now, "You look a little better. That's all I can do. I bought you some time, not much."

"Thank you," Derek nodded and just leaned back against the counter heavily.

"Holy shit," Stiles was staring at the air where the infection had been a moment ago, "Holy shit. You're a witch!"

"Your powers of observation are truly astounding," I sighed tiredly.

"Wait, how did you become a witch?"

"Another witch bit me," I joked weakly but at his look I answered honestly, "You don't 'become' a witch, Stiles. You're born with the gift. It's typically passed down from generation to generation."

"So your mom was a witch," Stiles concluded, "Was my mom a witch?"

"Not to my knowledge, if she was her powers weren't strong enough to be noted," I shrugged, "If she had been trained in making spells perhaps they could have become more apparent, but I doubt it."

"A coven? There are more?"

"Loads more," I glanced at the clock on the wall to check the time.

Stiles was thinking this over very carefully, "But they aren't all the same then. If people can be witches and not even know it."

"Yes, the power manifests itself in different ways," I replied as patiently as I could, "Mine is more... well you saw. Whereas Selena can hand craft a spell much better than I can, and Declan has a talent for communing with spirits."

"Selena?!"

"Yes, Stiles, Selena. Don't say anything to her either. I'm trying to keep Scott's... condition, a secret for as long as I can." I told him firmly.

He nodded and raised a hand in a dismissive gesture, "Who's Declan?"

"Another witch," I decided not to get more specific then that at the moment.

Stiles seemed satisfied with that answer and then launched into a line of questions, most of which seemed completely idiotic. He seemed thoroughly disappointed when I told him I hadn't seen any indication of magical abilities from him, but he quickly recovered from that to continue with this stream of inane questions. Mostly they were questions spurred from pop culture references. He seemed convinced that I was actually Sabrina the teenage witch. Stiles was also very unimpressed with the lack of wand or magical staffs. After about half an hour of the questions I noticed that Derek was starting to look worse again. He had definitely tuned out of most of our conversation and was leaning his head back against the cabinets with his eyes closed, his breathing slow and steady.

"Okay, Stiles, I'll answer more questions later," I cut him off quickly between questions, "We need to focus on getting that bullet over here. Have you heard anything from Scott?"

We both knew very well his phone hadn't gone off but he pulled it out of his pocket and checked it dutifully, "No."

"Okay..." I strummed my fingers on the exam table thoughtfully and watched Derek, he was my responsibility now. As if I didn't already have my hands full with Scott and Stiles, I just had to take in a stray. He seemed to feel my gaze because he opened his eyes and met my gaze. I felt the understanding dawn on us both that whatever time I had been able to buy him was running out.

I grabbed my jacket and started to put it back on, "I assume he's at Allison's?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I'm going to go get him," I said simply.

Derek's expression darkened, "Is that such a good idea after the other night?"

"What happened the other night?" Stiles asked, looking lost again.

"Don't worry, I'll play it super cool." I started toward the door, "You boys play nice while I'm gone."

Derek did have a point, I would have to be sure not to set off any alarm bells with the Argents. Chris definitely knew who I was and what that meant. I didn't need the Argents getting suspicious of Scott because of his affiliation with me. I had too many problems already without them finding out that their daughter was dating a werewolf. It was a risk, but I just kept thinking of Laura in that boy bag and I knew it had to be done. I hadn't been able to save Laura but I knew that she would absolutely want me to save her brother. I had to save Derek's life for the second time today, this was turning into quite the job.

I broke several traffic laws on my way to the Argents, paying little mind to stop signs or the posted speed limits. Time wasn't on our side so I had to save all the seconds I could now, I knew I couldn't act too urgent at the Argents. I had to stop outside their front door and compose myself. I didn't need to seem anxious, I needed to be calm and unhurried. Play it cool, cool as a cucumber. I banished the image of having to bury Derek's body out in the forest somewhere if we failed and knocked on the door.

It was likely only a moment, but it felt like a century before a woman with short red hair opened the door, "Hello, can I help you?"

She tried to hide it but I saw it, the flicker of recognition in her eyes, "Um yes, I'm so sorry to intrude. My name is Elise and I'm here looking for Scott McCall, his mom sent me."

"Oh, yes, he's right in here," She seemed to relax at my casual tone.

I followed her into the house and to the left where Scott was sitting with Allison, Chris Argent, and another woman I had never seen before at the table, "Scott, someone is here for you," Mrs. Argent said and moved back to her chair, but not sitting down.

"Elise?" Scott gave me a confused look and cast a glance down at his lap, where I assumed his phone was.

"Your mom said you weren't responding her to her texts so she called me," I told him lightly, "I'm here to drive you home. If we lay down the seats your bike will fit in the back of my car."

"Oh," I could tell he had no idea why I was here but he played along, I could almost see the wheels turning, "Right, sorry."

"Go get your stuff and we can load your bike up," I fought the urge to give him a meaningful look. The kid really needed to work on not acting completely suspicious, subtly was not his strong suit.

Allison stood, "I'll help you get your things from upstairs."

"You can get his backpack for him, Scott should go ahead and get his bike in the car," Chris Argent said firmly in his role as overprotective dad, imagine if he knew Scott was a werewolf. I had to hold back a grin at that, it all seemed like a horrible sitcom.

Allison rolled her eyes and just started up the stairs quickly, I handed Scott the keys as he walked by and went outside to put his bike in my car, "Um, thanks again for dinner." He told the Argents a bit awkwardly before going outside.

"So, how do you know Scott?" Chris asked as soon as Scott was out of earshot, clearly he wasn't in the mood to be cryptic anymore.

"He's best friends with my cousin," I shrugged and tried to seem a little annoyed at having to come pick him up, "Somehow I've become their unpaid babysitter. To answer your next question: no, they don't know about me."

He nodded, seeming satisfied, "Have you heard any more about these animal attacks?"

The woman I had never met before turned in her seat to look at me, she was able to hide it if she did recognize who I was. There was something odd about her though, well not really odd but seeing her seemed to tug at something in the back of my mind. It was almost recognition, almost a memory. However, the more I tried to figure out what it was the more elusive it became.

"Not yet, it's a working progress," I glanced at the door, suddenly uncomfortable standing here with this, "Scott probably needs help figuring out the seats in my car. Thank you for feeding him, you have a lovely home."

I went outside and hastily helped him get the bike in, "Go get your things," I instructed when he was about to ask me a question.

He went back into the house, it took longer then it should. If it turned out he was just killing time with his girlfriend while Derek was dying at the clinic I was going to be extremely pissed off. My anxiety was coming back, so I got in and started the engine of the car. My mind kept wandering back to the other woman that had been there, who was she? Very likely she was the hunter that had shot Derek last night, but why would she seem familiar to me? More importantly, why did he presence make me so uneasy? Those were all queries that would have to wait until later and I pushed them to the back of my mind when Scott finally exited the house.

"Scott!" I snapped my fingers at him impatiently, "Come on, get in. What happened in there?"

Scott just shook his head, looking very satisfied with himself as he got into the car and I pulled swiftly back onto the road. Immediately I broke the speed limit in the neighborhood and I ordered him to put on his seat belt as we drove.

That's when he occurred to him to ask, "Did Stiles send you?"

"Not exactly," I replied vaguely, "I'm sure Stiles will waste no time explaining when we get there. For right now you just need to know that I know about werewolves. I know that you are one and I know that Derek is one. You got the bullet right?"

Scott was looking at me warily and he pulled the bullet out of his pocket, "Yeah, I got it."

"Great."

After that we were silent for the hurried drive to the clinic. I noticed that I no longer felt ill, and my headache was completely gone. It seemed that knowing Derek was in trouble was enough to alleviate my false symptoms. That didn't necessarily mean that Derek was out of woods, he could be dead already for all I knew. Then again I had a feeling I could have sensed that, in addition to the frantic phone calls from Stiles we would have gotten by this point. My anxiety must have been contagious because Scott was clambering out of the car before I was even pulling in the parking spot.

I cut off the engine and had to run to catch up with him. I let him lead the way back to the exam room and in the doorway we both stopped to take in the scene before us. Derek was looking pretty bad again and I could clearly see where the infection had begun to spread again. It had already reclaimed the surface area I had been able to get back and was surging onward, toward his heart.

I could see this very clearly because he had removed his shirt, and despite his state I made a mental note to let Selena know that he definitely wasn't hard on the eyes. I also noticed the tattoo between his shoulder blades. It was three simple black spirals that connected at the center, there was a word for it but I couldn't remember what it was at the moment. I'm sure that the presence of impeccable abs had nothing to do with my memory lapse. The hand saw that Stiles was holding was much more distracting. The blade was resting on Derek's bicep about a inch below a tourniquet had been tied.

"What the hell are you doing?" Scott demanded, rushing forward.

Stiles gave a breathless and relieved laugh and dropped the saw quickly, "Oh, you just prevented a lifetime of nightmares."

"Did you get it?" Derek asked simply and Scott fished the bullet out of his pocket and handed it over.

"What are you gonna do with it?" Stiles asked, eyeing the bullet from the other side of the exam table as if he clearly expected it to be more impressive considering all the work that had gone into getting it.

"I'm gonna..." Derek drew in a deep breath and seemed to be struggling to focus on the task at hand, "I'm gonna..."

"No, don't. No, no, no!" Scott cried as Derek's eyelids fluttered and he swayed. Scott and I both lurched forward to try and catch him as we fell, but the bullet slipped from his fingers. It bounced onto the floor and rolled under a set of shelves and into the drain. Scott shifted his focus and dove after the bullet while I grabbed Derek's arm as he fell, he proved to heavy for me and hit the floor anyway. Though I would like to think I definitely softened his fall. I knelt down next to him to make sure he was still alive. I leaned down to determine that he was still breathing, but he was out cold. I straightened to find that Stiles had joined me on the floor.

"Derek, wake up! Wake up!" Stiles slapped Derek's face slightly and looked up at us in a panic, "What the hell are we gonna do?"

"I don't know!" Scott shouted from where he was sprawled on the floor, "I can't reach it."

"Keep trying to wake him up," I instructed Stiles before going to see if I could help Scott. His progress was being hindered by the metal shelves that were positioned over the drain. The shelves looked heavy enough as it was but they were also currently loaded down with a ton of supplies for the clinic. It would take way too long to move, or make way too big of a mess. I could try to fish the bullet out with magic, but there was a risk with that, since I couldn't see it. I could easily just knock it further down the drain. I took a moment to consider just knocking the shelf over and glanced back to see if Stiles was making any progress.

"He's not waking up!"

"Scott," I knelt down next to him to try and get a better look, "Do you think you could extend your claws?"

"How the hell am I supposed to do that? I've been a werewolf for like, two minutes!" He shook his head and seemed to be trying to stretch his fingers as far as possible.

"All you need is two," I assured him patiently and making an attempt to keep my voice as calm as possible, "Close your eyes and visualize what you want to happen. You can control it, Scott. All you have to do is find that part of you, the wolf part and command it."

This was a simplified version of how my magic worked, I wasn't entirely sure how it would translate to this situation. I didn't really have much other choice at this point. Scott closed his eyes tightly and was making an effort to do what I had told him.

"I think he's dying. I think he's dead!" Stiles panicked and I moved back over to Derek, checking for a pulse.

"He's not dead."

"Just hold on!" Scott replied and then spoke softly to himself, "Come on." He closed his eyes again and went still, clearly focusing on what he had to do. A heavy moment passed, "Oh, I got it! I got it!"

"Do you know what he was going to do?" Stiles asked me quickly and I shook my head, I wasn't nearly familiar enough with werewolf healing techniques. I had a feeling I was going to have to brush up on it in the very near future. Stiles nodded and looked back at Derek, seeming determined, "Please don't kill me for this!"

He pulled back his fist and punched Derek in the face, "Ugh! Ow! God!" He shook his fist in pain and stumbled away from Derek, clutching his aching fist. Either way, it had worked and Derek was conscious again.

"Give me that!" He slurred, eyes focusing on Scott.

Scott handed him the bullet quickly and we both helped to pull the werewolf to his feet quickly. Stiles was still nursing his fist and cursing it softly. Once we had restored Derek to an upright position he bit the end off of the bullet and dumped the contents onto the metal exam table. He produced a lighter from his pocket and attempted to flick it on. It didn't seem to be working. Derek turned to me, as if remembering that I was there.

I was still gripping his arm in case he toppled over again but I understood what he needed, "Just light it on fire?"

He nodded so I lowered my hand over the little pile of werewolf poison and snapped my fingers. A small flame flickered to life from between my thumb and pointer finger and lit the wolfsbane on fire. It sparked and we all took half a step back until the fire faded and all that was left was a bluish smoke rising from the ashes. Derek wasted no time scooping it into his hand but then hesitated, as if bracing himself before applying it to the wound. He groaned in pain before he pushed the ashes in deeper with his finger, crying out as he did.

Derek fell to the floor, writhing in pain, his screams of agony turning into growls as the wound sizzled and emitted more blue smoke. Instinctively I ushered the boys back and stood in front of them. I knew that wolfsbane could have a bad effect on werewolves and I was a little worried that Derek might lose control. Then, as we all watched in horror, the infection began to visibly draw back to the source and the bullet hole healed. We all blinked at the werewolf before I noticed that I had my arm extended up in front of Stiles. It something my mom used to do whenever she had to hit the brakes hard in the car, as if her arm could do more then the seatbelt. I lowered it quickly, a little embarrassed that I had just 'mommed' him. Stiles hadn't even noticed.

"That was awesome! Yes!" Stiles noted and pumped his fist triumphantly. I couldn't help a small laugh at his enthusiasm.

Derek was getting up from the ground slowly, but it wasn't the timid movements from before. He looked as healthy as ever, with no trace of the bullet wound or the infection. Despite my own background in the supernatural I wasn't accustomed to seeing someone recover so quickly from something so serious. Or from any sort of injury, really. Then again I had never really been around many werewolves before.

"Are you okay?" Scott asked him once the werewolf was back on his feet.

"Except for the agonizing pain?" Derek snapped.

"I'm guessing the ability to use sarcasm is a good sign of health." Stiles noted drily and I snorted again. Derek straightened and shot a glare at both of us before he reached up to cut the tourniquet loose with a claw.

"Okay, we saved your life," Scott was making an effort to sound intimidating, "Which means you're gonna leave us alone. You got that? And if you don't, I'm gonna go back to Allison's dad and I'm gonna tell him everything."

"You're going to trust them? You think they can help you?" Derek demanded, not seeming very intimidated.

"Why not? They're a lot freaking nicer than you are!" Scott shot back.

I felt really tired again, "I told you that you needed to be less of an asshole."

Derek glared at me again before shifted his gaze back to Scott, "Yeah, I can show you exactly how nice they are."

Scott frowned at him warily, "What do you mean?"

"I think it's time for you to meet Peter," Derek said and went to pull his shirt back on quickly.

It took me a moment to realize what that meant, the name clicked into place and I instantly did not like this idea, "Derek, is that necessary?"

"He's the one that wants to trust them!" He argued with me.

"Neither of you is entirely right, you know." I pointed out.

Scott frowned at me, "Wait, so how do you know each other?"

"Oh, Elise is a witch," Stiles said quickly, his enthusiasm returning, "No, really. A witch."

Scott was looking at me and then seemed to remember the flame I had produced, "Oh!"

"Take us to my car," Derek ordered Stiles simply, clearly Stiles wasn't invited.

"Are you sure about this?" I asked Derek wearily and he gave a curt nod.

"He needs to see for himself."

I sighed, "I'll meet you at the hospital." I raised my hands in surrender, perhaps he was right. Scott needed to understand the dangers of his new condition, but I also didn't want Derek to give him the wrong impression about the Argents. Sure, it was possible that hunters were responsible for the fire, but I doubted that Chris Argent would have been one of them. From what I could tell about him he seemed like a man with honor, like someone that would take the code seriously.

I was feeling pretty weary by the time Derek's car pulled into the parking lot at the hospital. I stood from where I had been leaning against the bumper of my own car and walked to meet Scott and Derek. I guess Derek had made it clear that Stiles wasn't invited along for this particular field trip. I was wondering if he wanted me here, he probably wouldn't when I started to contradict the message he was trying to prove to Scott.

"What are we doing here?" Scott was asking but Derek ignored him and just walked toward the entrance. I followed, letting my mind drift to back when my life was so much simpler. It seemed like only yesterday my biggest worry had been filling out college applications. Then Laura had appeared and everything went to hell.

Derek lead the way through the halls, it was past visiting hours again but nobody tried to stop us. He stopped at a closed door and glanced around before opening it and going inside slowly as if not wanting to wake whoever was inside. I wasn't sure why, from the research I had done in recent days I knew that his uncle wasn't likely to be roused by our entrance. I followed him in second and Scott came in behind me into the dark room, nobody had turned on the lights for him and for some reason that made me sad. Peter Hale was sitting in a wheelchair that was turned toward the window. We could only see his profile, but it was completely void of expression. He stared straight ahead without seeming to see anything at all. Derek stopped and just looked down at him solemnly. Everything I had read about the fire and about it's lone survivor I knew that Peter Hale was catatonic. I had known this, but seeing it was a whole other experience, to see someone alive yet so vacant.

"Who is he?" Scott asked, still seeming confused.

"My uncle. Peter Hale." Derek introduced.

"Is he like you? A werewolf?" Scott asked after a moment and Derek glanced at him before replying.

"He was. Now he's barely even human." Derek let that sink in before he continued, "Six years ago, my sister and I were at school. Our house caught fire. Eleven people were trapped inside. He was the only survivor."

Scott looked at Peter thoughtfully, finally grasping what Derek was trying to tell him, "So what makes you so sure that they set the fire?"

Derek shook his head, "'Cause they're the only ones that knew about us."

"Then they had a reason." Scott said and I grimaced.

"Scott..." I started but Derek cut me off.

"Like what?" He challenged defensively, "You tell me what justifies this." He turned the wheelchair so that we could see Peter's face full on. One half was covered in burn scars, the tissue of his scalp had damaged his tissue so badly that his hair didn't grow in certain patches. When he was turned Peter's head flopped to the side and he didn't respond at all.

"They say they'll only kill an adult and only with absolute proof." Derek continued while Scott took in the burns with shock and horror, "But there were people in my family that were perfectly ordinary in that fire. Not to mention Maddy Blanchett who was killed trying to warn them. This is what they do. And it's what Allison will do."

Scott blinked and looked at me quickly, "That's not necessarily true." I told him gently, "And there's no proof that I've seen that incriminates the Argents in this."

"Who did it then?" Derek snapped, rounding on me.

"Probably hunters, but we can't know which ones," I turned to face him quickly, "They've spent centuries turning themselves into predators. Predators with knives instead of fangs and bullets instead of claws. They are predators in their own right. Sure, some of them are probably cold blooded killers who have taken it too far and justified breaking the code, but to say that they are all that way would be as incorrect as saying that all werewolves are killers."

"They hate us, they hunt us," Derek argued, "They probably killed your mother too, and tried to kill you! Are you seriously going to defend them?"

"Of course they are biased but you're not exactly above that bias yourself," I snapped, "I don't defend whoever did this but I won't let you give Scott the wrong impression either. The world isn't black and white Derek. It's not good and evil, us and them, it's all shades of gray."

Scott had taken a step back when we had rounded on each other and was watching the exchange in silence. I stand at a height slightly above average for a woman, and Derek was probably around six feet tall and still seemed to tower over me. He wasn't as tall as Declan, but he made up for it in muscle and he had his signature glare on full blast. Maybe that might have gotten Scott or Stiles to back down, but it was decidedly ineffective on me. I was mad, mad that he was trying to force his rigid ideas of the world on Scott. So I glared back defiantly, drawing myself up to my full height and I leaned forward to show him I wouldn't cower away. He might be a big bad werewolf but I was a witch, and perfectly capable of holding my own against Derek Hale. A tense moment passed, and it was becoming clear that neither of us was going to back down.

"What are you doing? How did you get in here?" A voice from the doorway cut the argument short.

We all turned to see a nurse standing there, her red hair pulled back into a ponytail. She wore white, not scrubs like the others nurses. I guessed she probably had to care for Peter personally. I realized how this must look and so I relaxed my offensive stance and shifted toward Scott.

"We were just leaving," Derek replied and started out of the room, brushing past us and the nurse on his way to the door.

Scott glanced at Peter again and I took his arm gently, "Come on Scott, I'll drive you home."