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Chapter 22

"I've run a few tests," Deaton said, coming back into the exam room.

Lydia, Stiles and Melanie had passed out. They twitched here and there. Deaton and Cora cleaned their minor wounds and covered them in gauze. The infection was getting worse and spreading. Melanie's face contorted, and she whimpered. Her cheek laid off to the side against the cool metal of the exam table. Stiles groaned, his stomach lurching. Lydia was doing the best out of the three of them. Small veins were crawling up her hand, but slowly. Isaac was still out cold and had broken in to a sweat. It was unclear as to why he was unconscious, but he was wavering between life and death.

Derek and Cora leaned against the counter, exhausted from the long day's struggle. They both had retreated into their own thoughts trying out figure out what the cause of the outbreak was.

"There's wolfsbane in their blood system. I'm not sure why it's affecting them. Lydia is having a different reaction than they are. Her body fighting the infection unlike Stiles and Melanie," Deaton explained.

Derek's brow creased like it does so many times. Cora looked to him.

"The others left to look for answers. We need to keep them stable. Their nervous systems are breaking down. If this damage is happening to them, can you imagine what it could do if you any of you had come in contact with it?" Deaton said, looking from Derek to Cora.

"Danny said that Stiles and Melanie had come out here," Scott said, moving his flashlight over the cemetery.

Ethan and Aiden went back to the school to search the area.

"Isaac is growing distant," Allison said. She looked at the ground solemnly. Even her flashlight was limp, shining on the toes of her shoes.

Scott didn't say anything at first. The attempt at boy talk blindsided him. He didn't think that she'd be talking about her boyfriend with him of all people. Especially since they'd been together before Isaac. Allison tucked her hair behind her ear and sighed.

"I don't' know what to do. We've been spending a lot more time together, but it's like he's not really there," she said. "His head is always somewhere else."

"A lot has been going on," Scott said. "It wasn't that long ago that you were nearly killed."

Allison nodded. He was right. She'd been in as much danger as Stiles, Lydia, Melanie and Danny. Melanie still suffered from her repercussions.

"And now our friends are nearly dying, again," Allison pointed out.

"Yeah, but we know what's been going after people now. Have you talked to your Dad?"

"Not yet. He gets back tonight."

Scott nodded, keeping his eyes ahead. He stopped suddenly. His head jerked in small movements. He had their scent. It was faint, but they'd been here.

Stephen Gribalt: Family man and honored hunter.

"This is where it was. They were here mostly," he said. Their footprints still circulated the area in the damp dirt

He knelt down to one knee. The gravestone was cracked. He ran his fingers along it cautiously. It had been broken. Small pebbles broke off from the skimming touch.

"He was a hunter," Allison mumbled.

"He had his own grave booby-trapped," Scott said. Wolfsbane was still present, making his nose wrinkle. It clung to the cracks in the cement.

"It's strange. His pulse is dropping. He's dying, but he hasn't had any contact with the wolfsbane like Lydia. There isn't any wolfsbane in his system at all," Deaton explained. "I'm going to go check on him and run a few more tests."

Deaton left the two werewolves to watch over the teenagers. There was no intention to do any testing. Isaac's condition was different than the wolfsbane. Walking past the exam room Isaac resided in, he went to his office. He'd never seen eyes like Isaac's, but he'd heard about it. From the bookshelf over his desk, he pulled a few old books. Dust clouded over his paperwork from their lack of usage. He sat down at his desk and started going through them. His eye darted across the pages seeking out specific answers that he hoped to never find.

Twenty minutes passed and he stopped mid search and sighed heavily, closing his eyes to make the pages in front of him disappear for a moment. He found answers and they left him feeling defeated. There was only one symptom so far. It was just Isaac's eyes. The fainting could've been a symptom as well, but if and when the boy woke up he'd find out more. Deaton moved the book aside, but looked at the picture on the left page one more time. It was hand drawn; black and white. The inscription below it described the picture as being from the 1700's. A young girl with a basket in her hand looked down at a wolf circling her feet. She wasn't frightened of the animal, but welcomed it with a smile as it nuzzled her fingers with its nose.

"Scott and Allison found out how they contracted the illness," Derek said from the doorway. Deaton had gotten used to Derek sneaking up on him, so his subtle voice didn't have the encroaching intimidation it used to. "They're bringing some back."

"Good," Deaton said, looking away from the picture. He closed the book.

Allison tucked away the wolfsbane. Scott's senses twitched painfully, but slowly he reverted back to his normal self. The burning in his eyes faded more and more with every blink.

"Are you okay," Allison asked.

"Uh, yeah," he said and stood up straight again.

The smell was sharp and terrible and made his nose dry up and crack. The two headed back towards the entrance.

"Once this all blows over things will get back to normal," Scott told her.

He looked down at the ground. His teeth clenched together as he consoled her. Isaac was a jackass. It. was good that he wanted to take care of Melanie, but he needed to wake up and realize what was in front of him. If he didn't, he was going to lose her. Scott looked down at his hands in tight fists and released them.

"Things are never going to be normal again," Allison said.

She walked ahead of him.

"I know," Scott mumbled. Normal stopped being normal when he'd been turned into…this. Werewolf was still hard to think of let alone say aloud.

"It's like he and Melanie are fighting and it's coming between us. They're not really speaking and it's strange. I thought they were friends."

"Maybe they are fighting. It's not unheard of. They've been avoiding each other a lot."

"Yeah, maybe. Let's hurry and get back," she said.

Scott put an arm around her shoulder and jostled her some. She giggled and shoved him with her elbow. He feigned pain in his ribs. The hit did resonate a little, though. She was stronger. She must've been working out more. Her smile, he missed seeing that. Crickets chirped filling the silence as they made their way back to the car.

"Thanks," Allison said as they got in the jeep.

"For what?"

"Being there. You're a good guy, Scott," she said.

Scott smiled inwardly.

They pulled out of the cemetery and headed back towards the clinic. The drive was quiet, but nice. It felt like when they were together. He glanced over at her from time to time. Allison stared out the window in a tired, dreamy daze. Her hand rest on the center hatch. He thought about taking it in his, but didn't. He couldn't do that. She wasn't with him anymore. Putting on the friend façade sucked.

By waiting he hoped that they could repair their relationship, not watch her date one of his friends. Talk about a backfire.

"They're back," Cora said eargerly, sticking her head into Deaton's office.

She looked between her brother and the veterinarian. An awkward silence followed. She looked at both of them skeptically, as they looked at her blankly with distressed expressions from her interruption. They'd talking about something important, something they didn't want anyone else to here. She waited, but they didn't enlighten on the super-secret subject.

"Alright, let's go see what kind of wolfsbane we are dealing with," Deaton replied.

Cora turned and left the room. Deaton followed.

"Deaton," Derek said. Deaton stopped and turned. "Are you positive?"

"No, I won't know until he wakes up. If all the symptoms are evident then there could be trouble," Deaton said.

He left the room. If Isaac wakes up from this coma after Melanie does then it would be her fault that he nearly died, technically. Derek looked down at her as she laid unconscious on the table. The dark veins had reached her down to her toes and up to her cheeks. Stiles was in the same position. Both of them had grown glowingly pale. Lydia however, was just starting to get the veins. They were crawling up her hand to her forearm. Derek took a closer look. There was a paper cut. That's how she was infected, he thought.

Deaton came back in with Allison and Cora. Allison stood by Lydia, taking her infected hand in hers. Cora took her stance beside Derek.

"Here," Allison said.

She held out the small glass jar with blackish crumbs of the plant. Derek and Cora backed up against the counters. Their noses wrinkled with disgust from the prickling smell.

"Scott is calling Aiden to let them know we found what we were looking for," she said.

Deaton nodded as he put some of the wolfsbane into a petri dish and stuck it underneath a microscope beside Derek. He peered into it for a second. Scott came in, stuffing his cell phone in his pocket.

"Was there any trouble," Derek asked him.

"No," Scott replied.

"This is it," Deaton said, nodding toward the small jar beside the microscope. "I will need a lighter."

Loud clanging ensued as everybody searched through the drawers. Lydia's eyes fluttered then opened slowly.

"Help," she croaked.

Allison's face softened. Lydia squeezed her hand lightly.

Derek poured the contents of the jar onto the counter. Deaton took a lighter frohe m Cora and set it to the wolfsbane. It blazed green at the touch of flame. Their pain would be their salvation. Reaching up into the cupboards, he pulled down two small bottles of clear liquid. He pulled out three syringes from a nearby drawer as well.

"Hold them down. This won't feel good," Deaton said as he mixed the wolfsbane with the mysterious, clear liquid.

He started with Lydia. He tied a tourniquet around her infected arm. Lydia looked at Allison, squeezing her hand tighter, but not much. Her strength was weakening more and more. Allison helped hold her down by the shoulders. Scott held her legs. He avoided Allison's panicked stare.

Deaton rubbed his thumb over the inside crease of Lydia's elbow gently. Her blue vein bulged. He pressed a syringe into her skin. The needle pierced the ivory skin easily. He pressed the cure into her system.

There was a sharp intake of breath from Lydia's lips. She looked around the room scared as her chest moved up and down in large intakes and outtakes of air. Deaton moved on to Stiles and Melanie. Both of them shook and whimpered. Their bodies cringed and wrenched in pain. Amidst the agonizing burning that surged through their bodies and the blinding light from overhead both of them stopped. Their eyes closed slowly. Scott looked up at Deaton. Deaton's eyebrows furrowed.

"What happened? What's wrong," Scott said.

His voice shook with panic. He moved over to Stiles. Drool pooled from Stiles's mouth. Deaton hurriedly checked their pulses and let out a long sigh. A small nod to himself, he smiled hopefully at Scott. Unlike Lydia, they'd just passed out into a sleep.

"Derek, check on Isaac," he ordered.

Derek left the room quickly. Isaac laid perfectly still with his arms at his sides. His chest rose and fell evenly with no sign of imminent death.

"Nothing's changed," Derek called out the door.

Isaac shot up gasping for air suddenly, his limbs thrashing up as if defending himself in a fight. Derek jerked around and stared at the beta wide eyed. His claws slowly retracted from the alarm. Color flushed through Isaac's face as his tense features relaxed. He braced his knees for a moment then swung them over the edge of the table.

"What happened? Did you find out what's wrong with me," Isaac breathed.

Derek just stared at him expressionless. No words could formulate what happened. Something was indeed very wrong now. There was nothing that could help Isaac either.

Isaac blinked several times and looked around the room. He focused on the poster about heart medication for dogs. He rubbed his chest. His stomach swirled sickeningly. He swayed a little. As soon as the nausea subsided, he jumped off of the exam table. He could hear them in the other room.

"Stay here," Derek ordered.

Isaac cursed the whole alpha-beta connection. Melanie was in the other room. He could hear her breathing. The heavy pounding of her heart calmed little by little until it was like waters crashing onto a shore then slowly receding. Allison was there too.

In the other room, Melanie opened her eyes. They were sore. Eye sores, she thought. Bad pun. They watered painfully, but she could barely move. Every part of her body felt heavy. Each movement sparked electrifying pain. The further the pain crawled, the more it faded.

"Melanie your immune system is weak. Just rest," Deaton instructed.

Deaton looked to Derek.

"Take her home. Cora, help them get Stiles and Lydia home. Their parents are probably worried," he said.

Nobody argued. Cora helped Scott carry Stiles out of the room and to his jeep. His head lolled to the side and settled on Cora's shoulder. She huffed and rolled her eyes, hoping he wouldn't drool on her jacket. He groaned at her incoherently.

Allison helped Lydia stand. Deaton watched her walk out of the building. She recovered faster than the other two. She was a little wobbly on her feet, but Allison held her around the waist just in case.

Derek scooped Melanie up in his arms, receiving distorted cries from her limp form. Her eyes were puffy and red from the many times that he'd wiped her eyes of bloody tears. She looked around tiredly as much as her eyes could pan. Derek stopped at the doorway and turned. Melanie bobbed in his arms. Her white flip flops nearly fell from her feet and her gauzed arm hung limply to the side.

"He's awake. Your theory is right," Derek said.

"What do you suggest we do," Deaton asked.

He leaned against the exam table Melanie had laid on for the last ten hours. He looked at her concerned. She was too tired to ask what was wrong.

"Nothing. It will pass in time," Derek said, no emotion evident on his face.

"Just like that?"

"She will die long before he has his first wrinkle. It will pass."

"So, you won't change her then?"

"No, she deserves a normal life."

"Derek, she won't ever be normal. She's the girl who was raised by wolves. One doesn't go live a normal life with that. Danny keeps her attached to normalcy, but she is like you in so many ways. She just isn't you."

"That's why I won't change her. As long as she doesn't have to deal with the change she has a chance."

"I see."

Derek walked out of the room quickly.

Deaton remained where he stood. Conflict creased his eyebrows. Melanie still had to make the decision. Keeping distance between the two of them would be dangerous to everybody.

"Where is everyone?"

Deaton looked up. Isaac stared blankly around the room. He rubbed the spot where he'd hit his head.

"Isaac, they went home. We need to talk."

Of course it would fall to him that he would have to tell Isaac. He was Derek's advisor. This was his beta. It wouldn't be easy. Isaac bore a look of confusion muddled with the hunch that he already knew, but was trying to forget. He leaned against the opposite wall, broken down with no way to get past this. Did he even want to. Crossing his arms over his chest, he bit the inside of his cheek.

All of this was a myth up until now, but after all it is Beacon Hills.

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