Authors Note:

I got major writers block trying to write the chapter so if it sounds off I'm very sorry! I had to revert to using script from the episode to help drive me forward. Overall it's still on the right path. I just get sick of writing dialogue sometimes. But otherwise, I hope you enjoy. Also a million thanks for the reviews, they keep my creative spark going!

Chapter Fifteen: The Broody Chronicles

Avery sat quietly in Derek's car, parked outside the veterinarian clinic. Sam was sitting next to her, as Derek and Isaac went to talk out the new plan with some wolf-kid named Scott and the magical vet Dr. Deaton. Avery was not happy in the least. Although it would seem like overkill, Avery had got into yet another screaming match with Derek over using her brother to help him sort out his own problems. It would also seem that Derek's uncharacteristic kindness was masking a deeper scheme, which Avery had guessed. They were currently back in the 'I hate you, I refuse to talk to you' phase. The switch for that mode had been constantly toggled back and forth recently. Just when they thought 'Hey! Maybe they're not so bad' one of them would do something to tick the other off. Currently the tally board was favouring Avery 3-2.

The conversation about Kanimas fighting Kanimas had been two days ago. If there was anything that Derek and Avery had in common, it was that they were both champion brooders. Capable of annoying the crap out of anyone with their moody antics.

So there the Venators sat, while Derek discussed the plan, not willing to risk Avery interjecting again.

xxxx

"Nope." Avery shook her head, "I leave you alone with him for an hour while I nap and now you're all pumped to fight a giant mutant kanima lizard."

"Because it's the right thing to do!" Sam rolled his eyes, "I get it that you want to be protective, but I can't sit around hiding and doing nothing the rest of my life."

"Yeah you can and you will." Avery replied, pointing to a chair. Without a complaint Sam walked over to it and sat down. When he had done so, he snapped out of her control and frowned. He went to get up but his feet were planted firm on the ground.

"I can make you, remember?" Avery said with defiant pout.

"What's that going to achieve?" Sam threw his hands up in the air with defeat letting his voice raise to a height she hadn't heard before, "More bickering? Hateful comments? It's not going to make the situation go away."

"It's just…" she stopped to swallow the lump that was forming in her throat. She hated it when he guilt tripped her, "It's not just about you fighting that worries me. It's the fact that once we get involved in this mess, the hunters are going to find out about our existence. The Argent's will tell Mum and Dad."

Avery slumped beside him and hung her head in her lap. The decision was coming down on her. Even if she wouldn't help Sam shift, she had a feeling he'd still want to help out somehow. It pissed her off that he thought he needed to do it to pay back Derek too. Like there was a debt her owed him. When Derek had told her what was going on and how Sam had agreed to his plan she felt a little betrayed to say the least. As if Sam couldn't trust her or didn't want to deal with her angry response. She couldn't help it that she was a pessimist, nor could she help the side of her that always braced for disaster. Anyone with half a brain knew that this wasn't the best idea. But there were a few upsides. For one, if they were discovered by the Argents, the fact that they were in a larger 'pack' meant their safety wasn't entirely compromised. If they could continue training the new wolves, their chances against the hunters were doubled. Neither of them though, was betting on the hunter's code. Their parent's proclamation had made things very clear; that was out the window. She had to pray that if she took a leap of faith that all would pan out well. She would never be entirely convinced though.

"You know, that Jackson kid is in a hard place. He doesn't have someone like you in control." Sam gently prodded, "And despite what you think, we're still hunters. We protect those that can't protect themselves."

Avery let out a pained sigh and looked her brother in the eye, "Okay. I'm in."

There was a loud cough as Derek entered the room. He looked almost pleased, but that couldn't be right. Derek didn't have a happy setting.

"Well I'm glad your pep talk is over." He said flatly, crossing his arms and cracking his neck, "Although he's useless if he can't fight off the Kanima venom."

"Have you got it?" Sam rose from his seat to meet Derek in the middle of the room. Derek held up a small glass vial, giving it a little shake. Inside there seemed to be a clear gooey liquid. The Kanima Venom, "Okay. Good."

"Would you do the honours?" Derek turned to Avery. Avery walked up as well and stared intensely at her brother. Within a couple of seconds his yellow eyes began to show and he grew claws, fangs and fur. They were officially in business.

"Take only a drop, put it on your finger and then swallow it." Derek instructed, holding out the bottle. Sam took it and did as he was told. There was a moment of eerie silence as the clear liquid moved from Sam's claw into his mouth. They all had their breaths held, hoping that this would work. Sam stood still for a second, Derek even looked hopeful, but then Sam stared down at his hand. His knees, back and arms tensed, sending him toppling over onto the ground. Avery stepped forward just to catch him as he did, laying him gently on the ground. Derek let out a breath, he had been holding, in disappointment.

"Scrap that plan then." Derek said dryly. Avery glowered at him while inspecting her brother was all right, "He's just as useless as anyone when the venom gets in his system."

"Maybe I can talk it to death." Sam said half-heartedly, his mouth being the only part of him to actually function.

"Wait." Avery held a finger in the air to silence the pair. She was staring at his foot. She could have sworn she saw it twitch. Derek followed her eye line as Sam's foot indeed moved.

"Try moving your ankle Sam." Avery insisted, propping his head up. He was looking down at his foot that was moving slightly when his ankle started to move too.

"It's like someone was standing on me, keeping me down and then it goes away." Sam explained, getting some more movement back in his chest. Derek walked over and without warning drew his claws and dug them into Sam's leg. He let out a howl of pain, eyes popping in their place.

"What the fuck Derek?" Avery jumped to her feet and pushed at the Alpha's chest, who stepped back.

"The thing attacked me and Erica once. Pain is sometimes the key to getting the healing process to accelerate." Derek raised his hands in surrender as Avery went to shout at him again. As she was about to, she felt a light tap on his shoulder. She spun around to see Sam standing there with a bright grin.

"You're not immune, but you recover from it much faster." Derek stated, "We could still use that to our advantage."

xxxx

"Do you reckon he does his own laundry?" Avery said in the silence of the car. Sam looked at his sister and scoffed. She was talking about Derek, obviously, "Because I feel like he has so much black in his wardrobe. If you and I are out in public now, I might as well offer to help him with his washing, I can go to the local dryers and not have to worry about being seen. I could throw in some bleach with his blacks and then some red socks. It could be glorious."

"I thought we had sorted this out." Sam said in a slightly amused tone, "You are going to help me turn, so I can help Derek."

"I agreed to help out the Jackson-kid." Avery corrected.

"You realise he's probably listening in to our conversation right now?" Sam asked, as the handsome devil himself appeared, "And there he is."

"Good. It was starting to get hot in here." Avery said, as she opened the car door and stepped out. She stretched her arms out and gave a little yawn, "What took you so long Hale?"

"Scott's… difficult." He said with a tight jaw.

"Can't be as difficult as me." Avery smiled and walked past him, Sam in tow.

She pushed the front door open and a little bell sounded. The veterinarian's was very quaint. Inside there was the typical waiting room setting; less that comfortable armchairs, a little desk with magazine's on it and the office desk that lead into the hidden workspace. Standing on the other side of the office gate was Isaac, leaning on the doorframe into the back.

"Where's this Scott?" Avery called out, "I already like him. He's got Derek fuming."

As she said that, a bald man walked out to greet them.

"How polite, you must be Scott." She held out her hand, going to open the little gate to meet him. It wouldn't budge though. It wasn't like it's hinges were stuck, no it was like there was something else at play. She could feel a heat coming from it and reached out in the open air to press against it. There was a barrier, a force field.

"Mountain ash." The bald man smiled, opening the gate for her. Instantly the heat disappeared. She scoffed with stunned delight. She had never been on the receiving end of Mountain Ash's power. This was something new.

"Well look at that. Apparently, I'm supernatural!" Avery smiled, raising an eyebrow at her brother, "As I was saying, Scott." She held out her hand again. The bald man took and smiled back.

"Actually I'm Alan Deaton. The veterinarian." He corrected. Avery went red, as a younger looking boy poked his head around the corner.

"That would be Scott." Derek said, walking through the gate. He still had the angry tone in his voice.

After the initial who-ha, of Avery throwing a friendly arm over Scott and congratulating him on a job well done, they had to get to business. They all stood around one of the silver tables trying to decide the best course of action. Derek, as usual, had trouble keeping his end of bargains and was insisting that to end the Kanima threat they had to kill it despite what he had promised Sam.

"He's not an it!" Scott interjected, "He's Jackson and as much of a tool as he is, he doesn't deserve to die."

"I agree, not when he's not in control of his actions. I say we find the master and take them down. They're the one responsible for the murders." Sam added.

"That's all well and good to say that we'll get the master, but do either of you have any idea who it actually is." Derek's voice was slightly raised. There was silence for a moment. Alan got an idea and walked over to one of his shelves. All eyes followed him, until he returned with a spice rack of small jars. Each had it's own unique symbol across the lids. Isaac's face lit up like a child in a candy store, he leant forward to pick one up when Derek swatted his hand away.

"Watch what you touch."

Isaac tried to ignore what his Alpha had said and directed his curiosity to Deaton himself. "What are you? Some kind of witch?" he asked, intrigued at what the good doctor was up to.

"No. I'm a veterinarian." Deaton responded with a knowing smirk, "Now, none of these will actually be effective in fighting off the Kanima's venom."

"We're all open to suggestions." Derek said as Isaac jumped in.

"What about an effective offense." Isaac furrowed his brow.

"We already tried, I nearly took its head off and Argent emptied an entire clip into it. It just get's back up." Derek finished.

"Well if there's something I do know, it's that no matter how strong something may seem, nature always demands a weakness. The trick is to find out what the Kanima's weakness is." Deaton said.

"It can't swim." Derek stated.

"Does that go for Jackson as well?" Deaton questioned. Scott shook his head.

"No. Jackson's the captain of the swim team." Scott said with a confused look. Deaton only nodded.

"It's manifesting something from its master then." Avery said, Deaton seemed like he was about to say the same thing.

"Essentially, you're trying to catch two people." He turned away again to get something from his drawers, stepping back with a medallion in hand, "A puppet and a puppeteer." He put the medallion down of the table.

"One killed the husband, so the other had to kill the wife, do we know why?" Deaton questioned.

"I don't think Jackson could do it. His mother died pregnant too and she was maybe murdered. I think he couldn't let the same thing happen to someone else." Scott said through strained thought.

"How do you know it's not part of the rules? The Kanima kills murderers. If Jackson kills the wife, then the baby dies too. " Isaac proposed instead.

"Does that mean your father was a murderer?" Scott turned to Isaac.

"Wouldn't surprise me if he was." Isaac gulped and let a sour expression cover his face. The Venator's hadn't been aware Isaac's dad was a victim, although Isaac himself didn't seem too hung up about it.

"Hold on, the beastiary says their bonded, right? What if the fear of water isn't coming from Jackson but the person controlling him." Deaton pulled out one of his jars, "What if something that affects the Kanima also affects its master." He sprinkled black mountain ash around the medallion.

"Makes sense." Sam nodded, "When Avery and I were running from… hunters, I wasn't afraid to go into a fight. Like Jackson's not normally afraid of water. But Avery was thinking about survival, getting out safely and so I would do what she wanted. The connection we have it's not like being siblings or friends. It's like your sense of right and wrong becomes turned upside down. No matter what is actually morally right, I would see Avery's point of view as correct."

"So what?" Avery spoke, "I guess we find all the people in the town that can't swim and try to drown them. If Jackson comes to the rescue then I suppose we've got out master. I don't think so."

"Not like that, but … I think it means we can catch them." Scott said with a buoyant smile, "Both of them."

"Anybody got any ideas?" Isaac asked openly. Again everyone was caught deep in thought.

"I saw Jackson the other night, he was buying tickets to this rave that's happening. He had this twisted look on his face, the one he gets when he's not in control. I think something's going to go down." Scott explained.

"Then we need a plan." Avery nodded, "Scott you need to be in charge of getting tickets. I don't care how you do it, just get them. We're gonna need a few."

"What are you planning on doing once you're inside?" Derek questioned. She gazed over at the Mountain Ash on the table and got an idea. The metaphorical lightbulb appeared above her head.

"We're going to cage ourselves a Kanima." She said blatantly, picking up some of the ash in the jar and letting it fall into her other hand.