When Derek meets Allison, he instantly knows that something is not right. Chris doesn't want his daughter dead, so he agrees to Derek's plan. Scott worries about how to protect Mr Stilinski and his mom. Derek leaves the decision to Allison. Alex is finally talking. Isaac gets jealous. Stiles learn something about Alex , but is still not sure if he can be trusted. Melissa has a near-death experience, but Scott saves her.
Sorry, no Sterek moment. My main concern now is how to save Allison, so please hang in there.
It was getting late when almost everybody finally managed to meet up at the loft. Scott and Melissa were still at the hospital with Mr Stilinski, and they were urged to stay put.
The moment Allison walked inside, Derek stared at her and took a deep breath through his nose. She shook her head vigorously when she realized that it would be impossible to hide the truth from him. She could literally see his jaw drop before he collected himself.
"So Hester is in town? How do you know? Did you see her?" Derek was addressing both Chis and his daughter, but his eyes were fixed on Allison.
Allison almost crumbled under the stare. She knew that he knew – or at least that he suspected what had happened. She knew that he could smell Hester on her, just like she could smell her on him. She didn't know if he'd be able to sense that she'd been bitten, but chances were that he did.
"We did. We saw her." Allison and her dad had made up a story on how they'd spotted her outside the house before she took off without doing anything. "We think she came to scout us out."
Derek gave her an almost invisible nod, but she could see that he didn't believe her. She wondered if this was a regular werewolf feature, or if Derek was particularly skilled in sniffing out his own kind. She tried to find out if there were any significant differences in the scent the rest of her friends emitted, but she couldn't. Lydia's scent was partially covered with perfume; Isaac smelled like... detergent and Stiles just smelled like... Derek.
Except for the fragrances they were covered in, she could also smell that they emitted something that was unique to each one of them. She didn't know if there was a difference. She didn't know if there was a difference between humans and werewolves. She'd never really noticed their personal scents before.
"Let's get down to business." Chris pushed past her and strode over to the couch. "Hester knows where we all live now, and I'm guessing that it's just a matter of time before she comes back." He slumped down next to Stiles. "We know what we're dealing with, we just have to find her weakness." He panned the room, and when he noticed Alex sitting next to the radiator, he sighed. "That guy should be able to help us."
Allison cocked her head and looked at the guy. He didn't look anything like a werewolf. She approached him and could see that his eyes widened when she squatted in front of him. "You smell like her." The whisper was almost inaudible, but Allison heard it loud and clear. She didn't know if he was on their side, but she lifted a finger to her lips, hoping that he'd get the meaning.
His eyes flickered a little, before a faint smirk appeared on his face. Allison held her breath, but then Alex lowered his gaze and nodded.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Scott didn't know what to do. His mom's shift was almost over, but they were kind of stuck at the hospital regardless. He wanted to be with the rest of the pack at the loft, but was forced to protect Mr Stilinski. He got a little surprised by himself referring to their group as a pack, but it came natural.
"Get my gun. I can defend myself." Scott got startled when the sheriff spoke. His voice was demanding. "I'm not a baby; you don't need to watch over me." Scott stared at him and thought about the option for a second, but then he sighed. "Mr Stilinski. I'm sure you could, but we don't know what we're up against. They are many, and if they all come, you wouldn't stand a chance." He shook his head. "A bullet wouldn't necessarily stop them."
The sheriff scoffed. "But you and your mom could? I doubt that." Scott thought about it, and he knew that Stiles' dad had a point. There was no way he could fight Hester's pack if they came. It should be possible to defeat a few of them, but four of five werewolves would be too much to handle.
"You're right, we can't. We have to change the plan." He started pacing, and tried to come up with an idea on how to deal with the situation. When nothing came to mind, he picked out his phone and called Derek. He regarded Derek as their leader at the moment, and he could possibly find a solution to this dilemma.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Alex watched them as they gathered around the table. He recognized the girl from the parking lot and realized that he'd been seriously fooled. She was just a human, and he'd let down his guard when he encountered her. It didn't matter so much anymore. If Hester got her claws in him again, he would be dead. One more mistake wouldn't change that.
He also recognized Stiles – obviously Derek's mate – from the hospital. He seemed nice, but Alex couldn't understand how an Alpha could have a human mate. He already knew who Chris was. He'd recognized him the moment he saw him at the hospital. Hester had showed them pictures of him. She'd been searching for the guy since her brother got killed, and they were all urged to keep an eye out for him. Alex was baffled by the fact that a werewolf hunter would collaborate with this pack.
The only person in there that he didn't remember seeing before was that girl, Allison. The moment she walked through the door, he'd guessed that this was Chris Argent's daughter. She was also a hunter and a target for Hester's revenge. When she came over to him, he'd immediately discovered that she was lying to her friends. If it was true that she and her dad only spotted Hester outside their house, she wouldn't be reeking of her. That Derek didn't notice was a surprise, but then again, he also had her scent on him.
When she urged him to keep it a secret, he decided to do so. Alex had a strange feeling that keeping on her good side was crucial to his survival. He didn't know why, but it was partially because there was an atmosphere of leadership around her, and he sensed that this girl could be vicious to her enemies.
Alex had to admit to himself that this was the weirdest concoction of people he'd ever encountered. Hunters and werewolves being friends was unheard of, and in Hester's world, humans were looked upon as trash.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Derek's phone rang and when he discovered who it was from, he just handed the phone to Allison. "It's your boyfriend. You deal with him." She took it and walked over to the kitchen area. She knew that the werewolves in there would be able to hear the conversation regardless, but she had pretend that she wasn't aware of it.
When she learned the reason for his call, she turned to the others. "I think we have a problem. What if Hester and her pack comes to the hospital? Scott can't fight them all." She panned the room before she let her eyes rest on Stiles. "You're dad is much better, maybe he should be here, with us." Stiles seemed to startle a little, but then he collected himself. "I think that's a good idea. Derek, what do you say?"
Derek didn't get a chance to reply before Allison continued. "Melissa can come too, she's a nurse, she can take care of him." She looked around. "This place is big, we can just all camp here until the danger is over." Stiles was nodding vigorously. "Yeah, yeah, I agree. We should definitely get everybody together here. It's the only way. I mean..." He looked at Derek. "You have to say yes. It's your place, but... but..." He had to draw his breath giving Derek an opportunity to get a word in. "It's okay. Good call, Allison."
From that moment on, there was a change in rank at the loft. Allison had suddenly taken charge and even if Derek got the final words on this issue, he seemed relieved to let her take the lead. "Should we let them get here on their own, or would it be better if we picked them up?" Derek changed his gaze between Allison and Stiles, as if the two of them ran this show together.
"I can do it." Chris stepped forwards and lifted his hand with the car keys. "My car is more suited for transporting Mr Stilinski." He shrugged. "Will you come with me?" He'd turned to his daughter.
Allison thought about it for a second before she shook her head. "No, I will stay. You and Derek can go. Isaac and I can protect the others." She threw a peek at Alex. "He will help us. I think we can trust him."
After unloading an arsenal of weapons from Chris' car, Allison gave her dad a hug. "Thank you for not... you know. Take care."
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
In the car on their way to the hospital, Derek kept peeking over at Chris. He wasn't sure if he should say the words that was on the tip of his tongue, but when they reached their destination and Chris was about to exit, Derek stopped him. "What happened? I know you guys lied about Hester. What really happened?"
Chris shrugged and tried to play it cool. "Nothing, we spotted her outside, and when she noticed us in the window, she took off." He tried to get out of the car again, but then Derek grabbed his sleeve and forced him back in the seat. "You think I'm stupid. I could smell Hester on your daughter. I could smell..." He didn't finish the sentence because to his surprise, Chris covered his face with his hands and leaned on the steering wheel. "Well, she came to the door, we had to fight her off." Derek wasn't sure, but he could have sworn he heard a sniffle from the guy.
"She got bit, didn't she?" He wasn't sure how to comfort the guy, but decided to just sit back and wait for a response. It took a couple of minutes for Chris to recover. He sighed heavily as he nodded. "She did. She bit my little girl. I have to kill her."
Derek didn't know if Chris was referring to Hester or Allison, but knowing a few things about the hunter's code, it wouldn't surprise him if he was talking about his daughter. "Chris! Relax! It's not the end of the world."
The look he got from the hunter was slightly intimidating, but he didn't let himself be thrown off. "I'll help her. Maybe we can find a cure." Chris shook his head. "There's no cure. You know that. I understand that you're trying to be helpful, but forget it. Allison doesn't want to become a werewolf. She begged me to kill her."
Derek gave Chris a lopsided smile. "But you're not going to. You're trying to find a way to avoid doing it, and I can help you." He sighed heavily. "Let's do what we came here to do, but then you should leave town. Get as far away as you possibly can, and wait for my call."
When Chris again tried to get out of the car, Derek didn't stop him. He exited too, and as they walked up to the hospital, Chris turned to him. "Tell me how. How will you rescue my daughter?"
Before they entered the building, Derek stopped and turned to the hunter. "I'm gonna keep her busy until the full moon, and then, I'm gonna help her through the final transition. I may have to use force, so I don't want you around to stop me." He paused to make sure Chris understood. "There's nothing I can do if she decides to kill herself before that, but I will do everything in my power to prevent it." He drew his breath. "When it's over, her mind will have changed. She might still be conflicted, but as a werewolf, she'll develop a survival instinct that will overpower her wish to die."
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
As soon as Chris and Derek had left, Allison walked over to Alex and sat down next to him. "Tell me about her. Tell us how to defeat her." Knowing that the guy had barely opened his mouth to speak since they brought him there, Isaac didn't expect him to say anything to Allison either, so it surprised him greatly when Alex started talking. For some reason, it made him jealous also.
Isaac listened as Alex gave Allison a short introduction to Hester's pack. When he mentioned a guy named Eric; it was with a fondness in his voice that made Isaac squirm. "She has a weakness. I mean... technically two." Alex giggled a little and gave Allison a shy smile. "Her hate towards your dad is probably the most important one. It could cause her to act a little erratic and make a mistake."
Isaac wasn't quite sure, but it looked like Alex was smirking for a split second before he continued. "Derek Hale is her other weakness. She want's him. Sexually, whatever, I don't know, but she want's him alive and possibly in her bed." He shrugged a little. "Maybe not anymore. She's probably seriously embarrassed about the recent events, so she might just want to kill him also."
Alex sighed heavily and leaned against the wall. "Me, of course. She wants to kill me too. If she thought I was a real prisoner, she could have tried to rescue me, but I guess she knows that I begged them to take me, so I'm practically dead." A ghost of a smile traveled across his lips. "I screwed up big-time, so she would probably have killed me regardless."
Through the whole time since she came in, Lydia had kept quiet. Isaac had noticed that she'd seemed scared, but there hadn't really been any time to take care of her. She'd been sitting on the couch with Stiles during Alex' little speech. Now she leaned forward, and looked at the guy. "How can you so easily change alliances? How do we know you're not planted to infiltrate and conquer?"
Alex chuckled a little. "Look at me! Who could I conquer? I could possibly overpower you and Stiles there, but come on..." He shook his head. "I have nothing to gain by lying to you. If you think about it, you'll understand." He threw a peek at Isaac. "I never in my wildest dreams believed that they would actually save me from her, but..." He hitched his breath and hurried to wipe a tear out of his eye. "It was an act of kindness that I hope I'll be able to repay."
Alex looked at Isaac as the words was uttered, and Isaac could feel a blush coming on. He tried to turn away, but he felt pinned down by the Alex' stare. It lasted only a couple of seconds, and he hoped nobody else had noticed.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
"Okay, you guys. I came back for the exam, and I'm going to take it." Lydia sounded a little annoyed. "And my parents are expecting me to come back to grandma after." She looked at Stiles and Allison. "Aren't you two having the exam also?"
Stiles turned to her and shrugged. "I guess. We should. I don't know what's going to happen, but I think we should." He too looked at Allison as if she could make a decision for all of them. Allison didn't see the point. She would be dead soon, and taking that exam would just be a waste of time.
"I don't know. It could be dangerous for us to go outside." She didn't want the other two to know about her own struggles, and for them, the exam was quite important. "We'll figure something out." If she had to do it just to make sure Stiles and Lydia could, she would find a way. That meant postponing the inevitable, but it wouldn't matter. The full moon wasn't until Wednesday, so she had time.
The most troubling part was that as time passed, she got more and more conflicted. She tried to push the survival instinct away and focus on her obligation. Knowing that her mom must have gone through the same, Allison felt weak for even thinking about living a life as a werewolf.
She worried what would happen when Scott arrived. If Derek could smell that she'd been bitten, chances were that Scott would too. She decided to take a shower. She needed to get rid of Hester's scent. It could do the trick, but she wasn't convinced.
Alex wouldn't say anything, she was quite sure of that. Even if he had a smirk on his face when he discovered that they'd lied about the encounter with Hester, it seemed like he was eager to please Allison.
Isaac hadn't commented on it at all. Allison had made sure not to get too close to him, but she was surprised that he didn't even mentioned the scent. Allison couldn't possibly know that Isaac was going through his own set of conflicts, and was unable to even care about what went on with the others.
She picked up the bag she'd brought from her house. Allison had packed a few changes of clothes just to please her dad. She was pretty sure she wouldn't be needing a lot of them, dressing up for death wasn't necessary.
"I'm taking a shower." She'd dug out a pair of pajama-pants and a T-shirt. "We're not going anywhere today, so I'm going to get comfortable." She gave her friends a smile as she entered the bathroom. "I'm gonna be quick."
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Stiles felt slightly ignored. It was very uncomfortable. He wasn't used to this. With everything that had happened lately, he was strangely in lack of words. It bothered him greatly.
Allison acted like she was the leader of this makeshift pack, and it annoyed him. He wanted Derek to be in charge. Derek would listen to him and take his suggestions into consideration. He felt that his status had dropped significantly. He couldn't understand why Derek so easily stepped down and let Allison run the show.
Lydia didn't seem to care. She was obviously eager to get out of there; she just had to do that exam first. Isaac was in his own little world, pacing around trying to avoid talking to anybody. Stiles knew that Isaac was responsible for Alex being there, and he wondered if the guy regretted it. Alex could easily be a liability.
If what Alex had told Allison was correct, it wouldn't really change much, but he could be lying. He'd screwed up big time. Maybe he wanted to get back to Hester. Maybe he would try to get on her good side again.
Stiles threw a quick peek at him. Alex was sitting on the floor picking on the hem of his shirt. Hair was partially covering his eyes, but Stiles could see that he was watching them from under the curls. He was intimidatingly good looking, and again Stiles felt the little pinch of jealousy.
He startled a little when he noticed that Alex stared right at him, before he hurried to lower his gaze. Then he turned his head and looked at Isaac standing by the kitchen counter. He smiled shyly and nodded, as he again threw a quick peek at Stiles.
Stiles looked at Isaac, before he turned to Alex again. He wasn't sure what that little gesture meant, but it could seem like Alex was trying to tell him something. He pondered on it for a second, and then it struck him. The guy wanted Isaac, not Derek. Maybe Alex had noticed that Stiles was intimidated by his presence, and wanted to show him that he was no threat to Derek's and Stiles' relationship.
Again, Stiles looked at Isaac. The way he'd behaved around Alex had been strange and puzzling. 'Maybe Isaac was bothered because Alex had tried to hit on him?' Stiles wondered. 'Or maybe it was quite the opposite.' He could be bothered by the fact that Alex hadn't hit on him.
Stiles decided to keep this to himself for the time being. He wanted to see how this panned out. Knowing that he possibly shared an intimate secret with Alex, made him feel a little better. He felt like he was in the loop again.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Melissa didn't react when the door opened slowly. The swooshy sound was too faint for her to hear. She had her back turned towards it, as she detached the saline drip from Mr Stilinski's hand. Scott had popped out for a second to find a wheelchair, since they expected to be picked up shortly.
When the sheriff's eyes widened in horror, as he stared at something behind her, Melissa turned quickly. She almost fell backwards onto the bed when she saw the man standing in front of her. He sneered at her with a wolflike face. "Melissa McCall, I presume?" He said as he reached his hand out and grabbed her by the throat.
She wanted to scream, but he held on so tight that she couldn't even take a small breath. She could feel claws digging into the back of her neck, as she with her hands tried to find something to defend herself with. She knew that if he kept the pressure on her neck for very much longer, she'd pass out shortly; either from mere lack of oxygen, or from not getting enough blood to her brain.
Melissa didn't know, but when Allison left the hospital that morning, she'd slipped a taser gun under the sheriff's pillow. Mr Stilinski knew, and he managed to dig it out. It wasn't a perfect weapon to fight werewolves, but it could throw the attacker off.
Melissa didn't know what happened when the guy suddenly released her and grabbed his own chest. She could see the thin wires as he pulled the electrodes out of his skin, before he reached out to grab her again. He didn't manage to do much more. A loud howl from the door startled them all. Scott rushed through the door with a wheelchair in front of him. He hit the back of the werewolf's knees, causing him to fall backwards into the chair. With both hands, Scott grabbed his head and with a swift twist he broke the guy's neck.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Scott knew that they didn't have much time. The commotion must have alerted some of the staff. His mom was partially lying over Mr Stilinski heaving for breath, and couldn't be at any help at the moment.
Scott lifted the werewolf off the chair, and practically threw him to the other side of the bed. He was still visible from the door, but after a quick rearrangement of the furniture, it wasn't so obvious. The whole thing had taken only a few seconds, and just as a nurse came through the door, Scott lifted his mom off the bed and rushed towards him. "She got attacked by a maniac. How could a mental patient get in here? Don't you lock them up?"
The nurse tried to look over Scott's shoulder, but Scott just moved forward forcing the guy to retract from the room. "She need's medical attention; look at her." Bruises were already starting to appear around his mom's neck, and blood was seeping out from the wounds in the back.
Everything had happened so fast, that Melissa herself hadn't had a chance to react. Now, she squirmed in her son's arms. "I'm fine, I'll be fine. Put me down." She stared at the nurse as Scott loosened his grip on her and let her stand on her own feet. "I'll be fine, just get some bandages."
Even if she still was a little woozy from the incident, Melissa insisted on waiting outside the door to the room while the nurse went to get bandages. Scott understood that she was doing it to stand guard while he was trying to find a way to get rid of the werewolf.
He hadn't recognized him at first, but as he maneuvered him back into the wheelchair, he remembered him as one of the guys that escaped from the garage. Sheriff Stilinski seemed to be in lack of words, and when Scott tugged at his blanket, he just unwrapped himself from it and sighed.
After a few minutes of trying and failing, Scott finally managed to make it look like the guy was sleeping in the chair. He could hear that his mom was talking with the nurse outside, but they didn't come in.
Another few minutes went by before Melissa peeked inside the room. She nodded when she saw the guy wrapped up in a hospital blanket. "It'll work, I'll get him out."
Before Scott got a chance to respond, she turned and looked down the hall. A sigh of relief escaped her, before she turned to her son again. "Chris and Derek are here. Let's get this show on the road."