Derek couldn't say how long he was lying in the dark. His whole body hurt and he couldn't stop trembling. He was to weak to move, let alone change back into his human form. He could faintly hear the feeble heartbeats of the knocked down werewolves and the stertorous breathing of the dying alpha. His heart sank as he thought about the fact that all of this pain had been caused by him.
His ears perked up as he heard the sound of the elevator doors opening and hurried steps coming into the suite. The person's heart skipped a beat at being faced with the destroyed interior and the many knocked out werewolves. Derek waited quietly as the man searched for something between the victims, until his scent wafted up into the vent and the wolf couldn't stop the whine coming out of his mouth.
„Hang on!", Stiles warm voice resounded through the suite.
Derek's heart started to pound and he felt torn between his feelings of wanting nothing more than to be wrapped into the human's arms again, breathe in his delicious scent and hide away from the world, but he also felt incredulously emberrassed. He didn't want Stiles to see him this way, wearing the skin of a murderer, still being stained over and over with the blood of his victims. He wanted to cringe away, to hide himself from the gentle man who's care he didn't deserve, but he was to exhausted to move.
The loud squiek of something heavy being pulled over the marble floor could be heard and then Stiles' head popped through the opening of the ventilation shaft.
Derek turned his glowing eyes towards him and Stiles held his breath at the sight of him. For a moment, fear was written over the human's face, but then the wolf let out another low whine and the expression was replaced with horrified realization.
That's it, Derek thought. He's going to run away from me now and never ever look at me again.
But instead of doing the sensible thing and flee, Stiles slowly reached out his hand. Tentatively, he ran his hand through the black fur and Derek leaned into the touch. He could smell the blood on Stiles' hands and anxiously licked at it. His concern decreased as he noticed that it wasn't Stiles'. Still, the human looked awful. The shirt he was wearing was drenched in blood and torn apart, one sleeve missing completely, and his skin glistened with sweat. Over and over, he was covered in dirt, his auburn hair looking nearly grey from all the ash in it. His exhaustion was clearly written on his face.
„Come on", the human breathed and carefully took hold of the werewolf.
„How did you get yourself into this position?"
He panted as he pulled the heavy wolf out of the shaft and laid him down onto the table he had climbed on to reach into the ventilation.
„Here. I'm here, it's alright. Everything is okay now", he whispered against Derek's fur and the wolf purred at the reassurance. „I got the stones. Just take it easy, alright?"
The werwolf had difficulties to keep his eyes open and just let the human's voice lure him into a peaceful state of mind as he drifted in and out of consciousness.
More footsteps came closer and Derek opened his eyes, his muscles tensing painfully, but ready to defend his human, but it was just Scott who came breathlessly rushing through the door. A woman, Allison if Derek remembered correctly, and the radio host, that Stiles was complaining the whole day about, followed close on his heels.
Derek growled as the hunter stepped closer, but she didn't seem impressed by his hostility. She eyed his injuries and then took a closer look at the bullet wound in his hind leg.
„Wolfsbane", she stated with a severe glance at Stiles, who kept a reassuring hand on Derek's neck.
„My man", came the shrill voice of Peter from where he stood in the doorway. He grabbed Scott by his shoulders and pointed at a device fastened at the door. „My man, what's this thing with the numbers?"
Scott starred at it with wide eyes and then turned back to the dj stammering.
„It's- It's- It's a- It's a-"
„No, no, no." Peter shook his head quickly. „That's not a-"
„That's a bomb", Allison interjected as she had stepped closer and looked at the device.
Stiles head shot up at he declaration and he hurried over to them to affirm it for himself.
„Can you defuse it?", Allsion asked him tense.
He examined the square bomb. He knew the type and he knew how it was defused, but that would take time, which they didn't have because the countdown was already down to ten minutes.
„Stiles. Stiles, my man, you know how to stop this, right?", Peter pleaded.
Stiles looked at him, then at the bomb again, and then rushed back to Derek's side.
„Pull the fire alarm! The hotel needs to be evacuated", he shouted at Allison as he heaved the werewolf into his arms and she immediately ran outside to follow his order. The shrill sound of the alarm rang out withing seconds.
Stiles hurried after Scott and Peter out of the suite. The two stood infront of the elevator, the dj pushing the button repeatedly.
„Those don't work during a fire alarm!", he yelled as he went past them towards the emergency exit where Allison was already holding open the door for them.
They rushed down the staircases, all of them panting hardly as they passed floor after floor. Derek laid heavy in Stiles arms. He knew that he was weighing way to much to be carried down all these flights of stairs, but the lethal danger seemed to be arousing an unnatural strength inside the human.
A few floors beneath them, the other hotel guests and employees were running for their own lives, screaming loudly and some of them stumbling and falling down the steps, but immediately jumping up again and continuing their flight.
Soon, they were the last ones inside the staircase, only two more floors away from the lobby.
Scott suddenly tripped and tumbled down the stairs, only stopping as he crashed into the opposite wall.
„Scott", Allison shrieked and hastened to his side.
„I'm okay", the alpha assured her and got up quickly, but he winced as he put weigh on his right ankle.
„Don't worry, it's gonna be healed in a minute."
„We don't have a minute!"
Peter came wheezing to a stop beside them and let himself drop down to the floor.
„Stiles, man, leave me here to die. I can't take another step."
„We have to!", Allison urged them on and pulled Scott's arm around her shoulder to support him.
„Wait", Stiles said full of hope, panting heavily himself. He shifted Derek's weight onto one raised tigh and took a look at his wrist watch. The ten minutes had ticked by.
„Maybe it's a misfire."
They all looked up between the staircases, holding their breath.
A loud explosion suddenly boomed through the halls and shook the whole building. Plaster crumbled of the ceiling and the sound of windows breaking clanked loudly. The elevators rumbled loudly as their cables were cut through and they plunged down the shafts. They crashed into the first floor and shook the walls around them with great force.
„Shit!", Stiles cried and wrenched Derek back into his arms.
With new energy awoken by utter fear for their lives, the group scudded further down the last two flights of stairs and then rushed through the lobby, dodging away from the broken debris that fell from the ceiling. They finally ran outside into the californian sun, but they didn't slow down for a second. The tall hotel behind them cracked alarmingly and in a blink of an eye, the building collapsed.
The blast hit them in the back and hurled them forward. The noise was deafening and Stiles couldn't breath anymore as the air was suddenly filled with ash and dirt. He could feel the debris raining over them and threw himself protectively over Derek.
The noise stopped and the dust slowly settled down.
Allison was the first back on her legs. With a few quick steps, she had walked over to Scott and flung herself at him. He catched her in his arms and burried his face in her neck.
Stiles looked down at Derek. He shortly panicked at the sight of him lying motionless and with closed eyes on the ground, but he quickly found his pulse and let out a gasp of relief as he felt it steadily beating beneath his fingers.
„Ladies and gentlemen, it is now seven pm", Peter gasped into his mic. „ It's time for the news. See you tomorrow for a new adventure."
He removed the microphone from his head and let it wearily drop to the ground.
„That's the best show I ever did."