CHAPTER 7: Dreams

Click. Scott unlocked the dead pool after entering his name. Liam stood next to Scott in front of the laptop. A list of three names illuminated the dark classroom: THE MUTE, THE ORPHANS, THE CHEMIST.

"I can't kill them," Scott said.

"Someone has to," Liam replied. "It has to be you, you're the Alpha."

"I'm not a murderer, Liam," Scott rebuked.

"You're a predator."

"We're predators but we don't have to..." Scott's voice trailed off as he struggled to find the words Derek had spoken to him over a year ago on the rooftop of a video store.

Scott shut the laptop forcefully and sensed that something was wrong. He turned around and saw the Mute standing over Liam's still body. With horror, Scott realized that Liam was dead. The Mute looked at Scott and gestured the shush motion, as if asking him to keep it a secret.

Kira looked down at Scott's seemingly lifeless body with a worried expression etched on her face. She hoped this plan would work and that they could stop the Benefactor once and for all. She feared for her life and the lives of her mother and friends. The lights flickered on an off and Kira sighed. She picked up her sword and left the morgue, mentally preparing herself to fight.

Stiles and Chris stood over the laptop they set up in the empty hospital wing. Chris sent a message to the Benefactor asking for payment for Scott's death.

"That's it? That's your assassin speak? Don't you think it sounds a bit dry?" Stiles said.

"What?" Chris asked, not following.

"You gotta make it sound more badass. Let me get the next one."

A reply appeared on the laptop's screen. "VISUAL CONFIRMATION IS REQUIRED."

"What the hell is going on here?"

Stiles and Chris looked up to see Rose in her white coat.

"Stiles? What are you doing here with an Argent? What is all this stuff?"

"Rose! Long time no see! We're a bit busy at the moment, so you mind if we catch up later?"

"Don't sass me, Stiles. Let's get out of here," she demanded, eyeing Chris with a look of pure hate.

"I'm not your enemy, Rose," Chris reassured calmly. "I'm not here to hurt anyone, I just want to help Scott and his friends."

"Stop with the bullshit, Argent," Rose spat out. "I will never trust you or anyone else in your family."

"I don't hunt werewolves anymore."

"I don't care. I will never forget all the things your family has done."

"Can we talk about this later?" Stiles interrupted. "We're on a very tight schedule."

"Who else is with you?" Rose asked Chris, ignoring Stiles. "Is she here too? Where is Kate?"

"Trust me, I'm not on Kate's side," Chris said sternly.

"Trust you?" Rose yelled incredulously, a wild look dancing in her eyes. "Your sister shot me and you let her! How can I possibly trust you?"

Stiles looked from Rose to Chris in complete shock but quickly snapped out of it and grabbed a bottle nearby.

"I'm calling security," Rose said as she pulled her phone out of her pocket, but before she could do anything else, Chris tried to subdue her.

With surprising skill, Rose dodged his attack and punched him hard in the throat. Chris sputtered and was about to counterattack, but Stiles snuck up behind Rose and held a cloth against her nose. She passed out instantly in his waiting arms.

"Kate shot her?" he asked Chris.

"Put her down, we got work to do," he said, brushing it off.

Scott had to kill. Scott wanted to kill. Again and again, he slashed the Mute in the chest with his sharp claws. He could smell his blood in the air and feel drops of the red liquid spray on his face. He loved it. He wanted to feel his heart stop beating, wanted to see the life leave his eyes. The mute killed Liam and he had to pay. He needed to be punished for murdering his first and only beta.

"Scott!" her voice yelled.

He paused, his claws about to sink into the warm flesh.

"Allison?"

He slowly turned around and there she was, as beautiful and lifelike as the last time they met. She walked calmly up to him and cupped her warm hands around his wolfish face.

"This isn't you."

She looked scared. Scott looked away in shame. She must've thought the worst of him. He was acting like the kind of werewolf that justified the work of the hunters.

"What's happening to me?" he asked her, surprisingly calm.

"Go back, Scott." She took her hands away.

"Maybe I don't wanna go back," Scott replied. "Maybe I should stay here with you."

She smiled at him sadly. "Go back," she repeated.

With a start, Scott woke up surrounded by his mother and friends, feeling the aftereffects of Kira's shock run through his body.

"Scott!" Kira cried and threw her arms over him.

"I'm back," he said softly, hugging her with as much force as she was hugging him.

"Thank God," Melissa sighed, putting her hand on her damp forehead. "Never do that again!"

Scott spent the rest of the night talking to Kira about the Benefactor and how another banshee had to be involved. He also told her everything he saw in his dreams, including Allison.

"I think she's watching over you," Kira said. "You must miss her a lot."

"I do. Sometimes I wonder what she would do if she were still here," Scott said.

"What about Rose? She walked in on Stiles and Argent. She knows something's going on."

Scott sighed. It had taken a lot of effort to avoid his cousin and her endless questions. She was fuming when Scott left her at the hospital.

"I don't know what to do about her. I wanted her to stay out of it," Scott said. "Stiles told me that when she saw Argent, she freaked out. She said she wouldn't trust him because Kate shot her and Argent didn't do anything to stop it. I mean, she told me Kate attacked her but I didn't know to what extent."

"And you had no idea all this was happening?" Kira asked.

"No, I guess she's just really good at keeping secrets. I have a feeling that Rose will get involved in the end, though. She seems to be getting in the mess of things."

The next morning, Rose stopped by the Sheriff's office before going to work. She had the worst dream the prior night of Kate and Chris shooting her repeatedly. Coming face-to-face with an Argent after all these years had really shaken her up. She hated the thought that he was close to Scott and his friends. How could they leave him alone with Stiles? Scott had told her about Allison and she couldn't judge someone she never met, but she could judge the father all she wanted and knew he was a bad man.

She didn't buy the story of Argent not hunting werewolves anymore. How could a hunter like Argent, who was from a long line of hunters, suddenly stop? It had to be a setup.

"Good morning," she said walking up to an officer.

"Good morning," Parrish greeted her, "How can I help you?"

"I was wondering if I could look at a particular file on an incident that happened about 7 years ago - an incident that happened to me."

After ten minutes, Parrish handed Rose the folder containing every detail of that night and the days that followed. Ever since her unpleasant reunion with Argent, she couldn't stop thinking about the night she was attacked, the night she had buried deep in her mind and pretended had never happened. She hoped that facing it head on would help her let it go.

"Here's the file for Rosaura Delgado. You can look through it in this room over here. Nothing can be taken from the file and no pictures are allowed."

He lead her to an interrogation room and opened the door for her.

"Thank you. By any chance, is the Sheriff in his office? He's an old friend," Rose asked.

"Not at the moment. Did you want me to tell him you stopped by?"

"That's not necessary," Rose said. "I should be about 15 minutes."

He stood at the corner of the room to her dismay. She sat down at the metal table and poured through the folder, examining photos of her half-naked body, reading the statements her seventeen-year-old self had made. She tried to remember that night but stopped herself. There was a reason why she wanted to forget.

"You okay, ma'am?" Parrish asked.

"I'm fine."

Rose was ten minutes late to work that morning. After preparing some tests, she couldn't wait any longer and snuck into the hospital's records room and retrieved her medical records. She had surgery to remove the bullet from her stomach and spent a full week in the hospital before being discharged. She absentmindedly touched the spot where the bullet had pierced her which now had a tattoo over it to cover the ugly scar.

She studied the results of her blood work and found something odd.

"Wolfsbane?"

She read on, her eyes racing across the page.

Later in the afternoon, Stiles typed away on his laptop in the library. Ever since the events at the hospital, he was more determined than ever to find out the true identity of the Benefactor. Although he was half-kidding when he suggested to Scott that Rose may be the Benefactor, he was starting to think he was on to something.

He was glad that he had something to keep him busy. It helped him not think about Malia and the mess he had gotten himself in. He had called her hundreds of times, but she remained silent. She even skipped the classes they had together to avoid him. It was beyond frustrating. He needed this project to keep him sane.

Lydia took a seat next to him and dropped her bag on the table. "What are you looking at?"

"Articles from Rose's accident."

"You mean Scott's long-lost cousin? What does she have to do with anything?"

"Do you remember that time when someone found a girl in her underwear on the street next to the woods? That girl who said she tried killing herself on prom night? That was her."

Lydia looked closer at his screen. "No way, that was her?"

"Yeah. It looks like it was an unsolved case."

"You still haven't told me why you're looking into this."

Stiles stopped typing. "She's a suspect."

"Why?"

"Think about it. Scott told me he first saw her after Violet tried beheading him at the lacrosse scrimmage. That was around the time the dead pool first started. What if she's the Benefactor? She knows about werewolves and Scott said she shot Derek with an arrow. She might have some kind of grudge against werewolves and the supernatural world."

"But she put Scott on that list. You think she would want her own cousin dead? She even put the largest bounty on him, making him more desirable than anyone else," Lydia said.

"Well do you think your grandmother wants you dead?"

He smiled triumphantly when she didn't answer and continued reading the articles he had found.

"None of these are helping. All they say is how they found her with a gunshot wound. Probably from Kate."

"She was shot by Kate?"

"That's what I heard her say to Argent."

"Then shouldn't her dead pool have hunters on it? Not werewolves or banshees?"

"I don't know all the details yet, but I think we have enough reason to question her motives. I mean, she was gone from Beacon Hills for years and she suddenly shows up?"

"What does Scott have to say about all this?" Lydia asked.

"He's biased of course," Stiles said. "I don't want Rose to be the Benefactor either, but we have to consider all our options and we know nothing about what Rose has been doing over the last few years and why she moved back. Anyway, you still seeing Parrish after school today?"

Lydia nodded. "Hopefully he can help us."

Stiles returned to his laptop and continued to click.

Thanks for reading! When I watched Time of Death, I really wish Scott had envisioned Allison. As you can tell, I enjoy including Allison in the story as much as I can even though she's dead. I wish they will mention her more next season.

Lies of a Silver Tongue - Yes, I will go more into detail on Derek and Rose's relationship. They have an interesting history and a chemistry that I'm looking forward to sharing in future chapters. Thank you for the constructive criticism. Looking back, I do see that I need to write longer chapters.

I have Chapter 8 already written. I'm still playing around with some ideas, so it probably won't be posted until the end of the week the earliest.