the panic and shock was so strong on the field that everyone could feel it, especially the present werewolves. melissa had checked jackson's pulse more than once, stating that he was in fact dead. she insisted on going with the ambulance to the hospital, and aneksi being aneksi, she demanded to join her out of impulse — much to isaac's dislike after what just happened.
"you're sure he's actually–" aneksi started in a husky voice.
"yes." melissa answered with a trembling voice. "i'm sorry."
"i just can't believe it. why would gerard want him dead? why jackson? why–" she started, but stopped when she felt how close she was to crying again.
melissa sighed before wrapping her arms around the brunette. aneksi would've been surprised over her doing such a thing after finding out about her and scott, but she was too down.
"i know you two were friends. i'm really sorry." she kissed the top of aneksi's head and caressed her arm with her thumb.
"i just can't believe he's dead. i mean, he might've been a real jerk but i liked him. and now he's gone." she cried silently while the ambulance took a stop.
melissa and aneksi were in the morgue together, staring at the body bag. aneksi heard something just as melissa noticed something too.
"what's that?" melissa mumbled as the two looked at some liquid dripping from the bag.
"take a step back." aneksi warned in a soft tone. melissa obeyed before aneksi slowly started unzipping the bag. letting out a shaky breath, she stepped back with her hand covering her mouth. jackson was in the bag, but not just in his dead body. there was a clear, disturbing cocoon from his neck and down. she looked back at melissa and swallowed a lump in her throat.
melissa didn't hesitate before calling scott to tell him. after pshyching herself up, aneksi placed herself close to jackson's body and glanced down at his claws. she bent down the slightest as she grazed her fingertip against the solid liquid.
"scott and isaac are coming. now i want to take a look at you." melissa said after hanging up the phone.
aneksi frowned abruptly whilst peering up at her. she usually caught up with things, and figured stuff out before anyone else — she even knew what scott was up to, in spite of him not telling her. but this, she didn't understand what melissa meant.
"what?"
"i couldn't help but notice how you literally limped out to the field with a hand against your stomach. also, your shirt is bloody."
"oh. okay." she mumbled and took off her jacket. aneksi carefully pulled off her shirt too, making it easier for the nurse to examine the wound. melissa made a face before kneeling down just a bit, barely touching the big wound.
"does that hurt?" melissa asked just as aneksi sucked in a sharp breath and expressed her pain through her face. "i see. what happened?"
"jackson paralyzed isaac on the field, and they took him to the locker room." aneksi started, twitching her fingers frequently. "i joined him, and then gerard showed up. i knocked out his hunters, but as i went for the old sack, he struck a silver sword in me. and then he ran away. he was about to kill isaac with it, to cut him in half."
melissa stared up at her and swallowed. she cracked a little smile and went to get some antibiotic ointments, to make sure the wound wouldn't get infected. aneksi put a hand lightly against her stomach and pursed her lips.
"you saved his life." she said once she got back. "scott told me you don't really feel helpful sometimes. but aneksi, you don't have to kill someone to save someone else's life. you just proved that. now, i don't know how much human help i can give you, but i'll just apply this and then bandage the wound."
"thanks, melissa." she smiled and prepared for the worst. the melissa hesitated before applying the antibiotic on the wound, which gave them a stronger reaction than they expected.
aneksi whimpered as she backed away with a shaking hand. it stung and burned really bad against her skin, let alone inside her. breathing heavily, she buried her face against her hands and harshly bit her lip, just waiting for the hurt to fade away.
"oh god, i'm sorry. i had no idea–" melissa started anxiously, shaking her head.
"it's fine. just put the bandage on and get it over with." aneksi assured her, and that's exactly what she did.
"i'm really sorry." she apologized once again, but then smiled oddly.
"what?"
"it just reminded me about... when you used to come because of a scraped knee, or even a papercut. your mom was usually busy, so i got to help you a lot. you loved the hospital, strangely so."
"i guess death fascinated me." aneksi said sarcastically and folded her arms together carefully.
"no, it's not–" melissa laughed quietly and pulled her fingers through her hair. "you used to listen to stories for hours. different stories from different people here. that's was fascinated you."
"sounds like me." aneksi smiled and quickly looked behind melissa's shoulder when she heard noises.
isaac and scott soon entered the morgue, stopping abruptly when they laid eyes on the half-naked teenager. isaac barely opened his mouth whereas scott simply raised his eyebrows. melissa was fast to toss aneksi the shirt before nudging scott's shoulder, so that he would look away. isaac, however, didn't.
"okay, where's jackson?" scott asked as he clasped his hands together. he turned his head to the side and gave isaac a look, which was completely ignored. "subtle, isaac. really."
aneksi rolled her eyes once her shirt and jacket was back on, watching melissa move scott over to the body. aneksi stayed by isaac's side and bit on her thumbnail.
"how's the wound?" isaac asked quietly and looked down at her.
"bad, thanks for asking. hopefully it'll get better." she frowned and averted her eyes to scott.
"what's happening to him?" scott asked, completely clueless. melissa gave him a look, hoping he would've had an answer.
"i thought that you were gonna' tell me! is it bad?" she answered, crossing her arms together.
"sure doesn't look good." isaac mumbled as he studied the kanima. jackson suddenly twitched, making everyone freak out for a brief moment.
"mom, could you please zip it?" scott asked. melisss gave him a stupid look, a short moment of hate since he was the big werewolf. nevertheless, she zipped it up to his chin where it got stuck.
"okay, what's happening? please, finish the zipping." aneksi said, not helping the situation at all. suddenly, jackson gnashed his strange teeth, making melissa jump back in fear.
"zip. zip! zip, mom, zip! zip!" scott repeated hastily, and after a moment, she managed to fully close the bag.
"we should call derek. maybe he'll know what it is and what to do." aneksi suggested, then nodded a little. "yeah, we should do that."
while scott called derek, isaac gazed at her and slid his hands down his pockets. he had tried to just ignore the image in his mind, and refrained from asking, but now he just couldn't.
"why were you only in a bra before?" he asked with a weak smirk. she hit his chest playfully and then gestured down to her stomach.
"melissa wanted to check on me. now get it off your mind." she explained, turning to scott.
"we need to get jackson to derek right now. mom, you go home, call aneksi's dad and tell him everything's fine." scott informed them, giving his mom a kiss on the temple before he took a hold of the bag.
aneksi and isaac assisted him with carrying the heavy body out of there unnoticed. unfortunately, they were stopped by the very chris argent.
"what do you want?" scott asked the hunter. aneksi felt isaac rest a hand softly against her back, sensing the slight fear growing inside her.
"we don't have much in common, scott, but right now we have a common enemy." chris said blankly, looking at them all.
"that's why i'm trying to get him out of here." scott retorted, nodding down to the bag. aneksi weakly shook her head, knowing that chris wasn't talking about the kanima.
"i didn't mean jackson." gesturing with her arm in the air in front of her to the obvious, she leaned her head back a little and blowed up her cheeks. "gerard has twisted his way into allison's head in the same way he did with kate. and i'm losing her. and i know you're losing her too."
"you're right. so can you trust me to fix this?" scott answered, receiving a weak head nod from chris. "then can you let us go?"
"no." chris said, making isaac look down at the ground with a sigh. "my car's faster."
they drove off to where they were supposed to meet up with derek. aneksi leaned her head tiredly against isaac's shoulder and fiddled with his fingers, trying to register everything that had happened the past hours in her head.
"what're you thinking about?" isaac asked so quietly and glanced at her.
"a lot. this is probably calmest and least eventful moment i've had since i woke up in that forest. so much happens so fast, i... i don't know. one second i'm in the locker room, and the next i'm on a lacrosse field. too much motion in so little time." she sighed and licked her bottom lip inside her mouth. "i want to sit for a week and do absolutely nothing. but that'll never happen."
"well... maybe you should step back for a while. i know that'd be pretty much impossible since you really want to help, but maybe you need to breathe. you are, as you say, everywhere."
"yeah, maybe." she mumbled and twisted a bit in her position. "on the other hand, helping you guys makes me feel good. besides, i don't believe my kidnappers turned me into all this so i can sit and do nothing. whatever their motives are, and what their real purpose and mission is... we'll find out. until then, i'm doing my best to do the right thing. like helping jackson."
"i wonder what they expect you to do. it bothers me somehow. i mean, there must be something they want." he mumbled and smiled tiredly at her. "anyway, how about you and i set a day to eat ice cream? or maybe watch a movie. or play some game–"
"that sounds great." she laughed and nodded faintly. "i've got all the time in the world. literally."
"unless someone stabs you with a wooden stake." he whispered to remind her and she rolled her eyes sideways.
"i really hope that never happens." she mumbled and bit on her thumbnail.
"me either."
looking up at him, aneksi flashed a soft smile of gratitude and a sort of love. she thought about how much more dreadful all of this would've been if isaac wasn't her friend. despite accusing him of being one of the bad guys, she knew better. he was just faithful and bonded with his alpha, and that wasn't anything she could blame. however, she couldn't understand it or try to imagine how it felt; she was her own pack of one person, not needing an alpha.
isaac kept his light eyes on her, lacing their fingers together in some comfortable way against her lap. he was aware that whatever he said wouldn't prevent her from helping them and interfering as if on instinct. she was stubborn, kind, open-minded, impulsive, daring, clever, observant and good. that's what he had picked up, and more. he simply wished that they would be granted more time to be alone, without any supernatural problems.
as he gently moved his hand to her cheek, caressing away some hair with his thumb, he began leaning in. scott turned around to speak but closed his mouth as he noticed how ready isaac was to kiss her.
"okay, awkward." aneksi laughed and carefully pulled back.
"i can literally smell the extreme tension back here. what's going on between you two?" scott asked with a childish smile. the two in the back exchanged a quick look, shrugging as they agreed to be blunt.
"we're not exactly sure, but he kissed me. twice." she answered, nodding towards isaac. "and we haven't really had any time to discuss this because there's more important things to do. i can hear jackson shifting inside his bag, are we there yet?"
"wait, you two are a thing now?" scott grinned, a few seconds before chris stopped the car in an alley.
"please, spare me the teenage babble. and for your own sake, don't be complicated. it's pretty easy not to be." chris said and stepped out of the car.
"we're not babbling, we just haven't had the time to talk about it!" aneksi defended as she followed him, folding her arms together. chris gave her a look and raised his eyebrows. then a strange expression flickered on his face, making her frown and then raise her fist to her mouth. "i'm so sorry. how insensitive."
"what are you apologizing for?" chris asked confused and took a step closer. she swallowed and glanced down at the ground.
"not to pour salt over the wound, but i sort of owe you an apology for what happened with... your wife. i never meant for her to get hurt. i just needed to save scott, and suddenly derek was there and–" she spoke hastily, but chris just lifted his palm in the air and cracked a weak smile.
"no need for that now. i understand. now where's der–" he assured her, just as derek stood up in front of them, sending chris a glare of hostility. "i'm here for jackson. not you."
"somehow i don't find that very comforting." derek stated, glancing at aneksi. "get him inside."
as the two teenagers carried jackson inside, derek barely grabbed aneksi's arm and walked beside her closely. she frowned up at him and sighed through her nose.
"what is it?" she asked. "if you're gonna' ask me for a favor or anything–"
"no, don't worry." he smiled and shook his head. "i want to thank you for all you've done so far. and i want to thank you for being there for isaac."
"yeah, i heard about boyd and erica. i mean, i don't doubt that the argents have captured them by now, but i'll help you find them. erica's my friend too. if anything happens to her..."
"you don't need to do that. they're my responsibility." he objected.
"i don't care. i want to. you should've learned by now that whatever you say won't affect my decision." she remarked, playfully nudging his arm as she neared jackson's body. much to everyone's surprise, derek unzipped the bag and grew his claws out. scott was quick to stop him and remind him how they were supposed to save him.
"think about it, scott. gerard controls him now. he's turned jackson into his own personal guard dog. and he set all of this in motion so that jackson could get even bigger and more powerful." derek argued, looking up at him.
"you promised me that we'd save him, derek." aneksi retorted, a hand on his shoulder. "there must be a way. we just have to break him free from gerard."
"we can't. i'm sorry, i know he's your friend–" derek started sadly, but wasn't allowed to continue his sentence with her as usual.
"you're right, he is my friend. i don't believe that the only solution is to kill him. where's lydia? if anyone could help, it'd be her."
"aneksi, i am just as severe as you are. we can't save him. he's gerard's dog now."
"no. no, he wouldn't do that. if jackson's a dog, he's turning rabid, and my father wouldn't let a rabid dog live." chris objected in denial.
"of course not. anything that dangerous, that out of control, is better off dead." gerard suddenly appeared, a disturbing smile on his face.
aneksi let out a threatening growl, but isaac took a hold of her hand knowing just how much she acted on impulse. derek ignored whatever gerard said and aimed his claws to jackson's chest. the kanima however, dug its nails into derek's chest as it woke up. it lifted him up in the air before throwing him against the wall. aneksi was just about to rush to derek when an arrow hit isaac's shoulder out of nowhere.
he dropped to the floor, so she kneeled down beside him and pulled out the arrow quickly, getting a glimpse of allison behind the wall. helping him up as scott joined them, derek rolled back to the floor with his eyes glowing.
jackson had now fully transformed, but so had the rest of the teenagers. aneksi's face wasn't as wolf-like as the boys; her eyes were now black, her fangs visible and her claws sharp and ready. they all attacked one at the time, but the kanima had grown stronger.
aneksi was thrown towards the wall. learning from earlier, she pulled half a derek-move and jumped up in the air, landing on top of the kanima and locked her legs around its neck. forcing it down on the floor, she growled and knocked its head against the floor harshly.
isaac was about to hurry over to his alpha since jackson had paralyzed him when allison blocked his way. she slashed his guys furiously and then spun around to stab his back. aneksi widened her eyes as she used the element of surprise by vamp-speeding to allison, grabbed her wrist and harshly turned her around in a painful position.
"you easily manipulated moron." aneksi whispered with so much anger in her voice. seeing isaac getting so hurt triggered something in her, something she didn't like. "i know you're pissed because your mom died, but trust me, she had it coming."
allison sucked in a shaky breath, and aneksi opened her mouth — her fangs growing so slightly — as the veiny marks appeared beneath her eyes. she glanced down at the neck of the hunter and heard scott yell for her to back away, but chose to ignore it.
within a second, the kanima had kicked aneksi down to the floor beside isaac. allison was ready to attack derek, but the kanima grabbed her wrist and then took a hold of her neck. she listened whilst making sure isaac was okay as gerard exposed his real plan; to cure his inevitable cancer by turning into a werewolf.
that's when scott didn't have a choice but to give him what he wanted. aneksi discreetly smiled though, because when derek reluctantly gave gerard the bite, the old man's body violently rejected it.
"mountain ash!" gerard said in a raspy, angry voice.
"thank god that worked." aneksi whispered to herself as she looked up at scott with a proud smile.
"you knew about that?" isaac asked her and removed his hand from his now healed wound.
she nodded wearily as an answer. she had suspected scott's plan and therefore bluntly asked him about it, and scott trusted her. he trusted her a lot actually, maybe more than he liked to admit, because he knew she only wanted to do the right thing and she could keep it a secret.
out of nowhere, stiles' jeep came crashing through the wall, hitting the kanima. it was back up on its feet a second later, and lydia didn't hesitate before stepping forward. stiles tried to stop her, but both scott and aneksi held him back.
"jackson." she said quietly as she held up a key. jackson drew his claws back, refraining from slashing her. he slowly came back to normal, stepping back with the key in his hand.
aneksi averted her eyes to derek and frowned as he stared into the darkness. she followed his gaze and opened her mouth once she noticed another silhouette, hiding.
"derek..." she started, but he darted towards jackson, plunging his claws into his chest. "derek!" she yelled and was about to run after him, but scott held her back. "you promised!"
derek didn't stop. he and his uncle killed jackson without a second thought, right in front of lydia. she began — of course — to cry while everyone else stared in shock and sadness. stiles was about to step forward and comfort her when jackson started scraping his claws against the floor.
aneksi quickly nudged lydia, ushering for her to approach him. jackson had turned to a wolf for a moment before getting back to normal, embracing lydia in a tight hug. he then looked over her shoulder and locked eyes with aneksi, mouthing a "thank you."
she just smiled while sighing in relief. exiting the warehouse with isaac, she put her hands in the pockets of her jacket. isaac folded his arms together as they walked aimlessly; mainly trying to get away from everybody.
"neks... were you about to bite allison?" he asked the question perhaps everyone was wondering at that moment.
"i don't know. when she attacked you, i was just so furious. it didn't feel like me. and then i saw her neck and i heard her heart, the blood floating through her veins, i– i'm so glad jackson knocked my ass down. i don't want to know what would've happened otherwise." she looked down at the ground and almost felt disgusted with herself. "i'm just glad this night is over, and that jackson's finally okay."
"as okay as you can be after all this." isaac commented quietly and licked his lips. "seriously though. would you have actually bit her?"
"i don't know!" she exclaimed and gave him a look of frustration. "okay, i don't know. let's just state the obvious; i am a vampire. and as much as i might hate the thought of blood, maybe the craving for it is impossible to resist at some point. allison stabbed you and i lashed inside. i wanted her hurt because that's how much i care for you, apparently. to be quite frank, yes, i might've bit her."
isaac looked at her in silence and took in her words. his shoulder slumped down as he sighed, and he slowly released his arms, only to wrap them around her in a soothing way.
"you helped us in there. we'll figure all this out as soon as possible, okay?" he mumbled and felt her relax slowly.
"i don't think we can figure this out. it just is. besides, we've got something important to do." she reminded him, a look of remembrance on her face.
"and what's that?" he asked and studied her face carefully.
"we have to find and free erica and boyd. i don't care how long it takes, or how much effort. we need to help them."