I hope the holidays were special for all you fantastic readers. Also, I want to say thank for favoriting, following and reviewing. It makes me smile to see readers interested :)

Here's a new chapter.

Chapter 60

Isaac knocked on the ivory apartment doors. He stared at the numbers that were inlaid with a deep gold paint. Chris opened the door.

"Uh, Allison isn't here. She's with Scott," he said.

Hearing that didn't faze Isaac. He paused for a moment. There wasn't a single feeling about knowing that the two of them were back together in full force. Isaac shook his head.

"I was looking for you actually," Isaac said, stepping past him into the apartment. He looked around the living that connected to the kitchen. Strange didn't cover how he felt at stepping into the abode since the last time he'd spent time here was when he and Allison were together.

Chris stepped behind the counter and pulled a mug down from the cupboard. He grabbed the half empty coffeepot and poured his cup up to the brim. A droplet trickled down the ceramic.

"What can I do for you," he asked after taking a long drink.

His tired eyes shot opened from the sudden caffeine burst.

"One, you're next to be taken," Isaac said. "Your name was on the site of Melissa's disappearance. Two, you have to come with me."

Chris set down his cup.

"Why?" he said.

The lightly peppered, blonde's eyebrows furrowed. His eyes tightened with an uncertain stare. Isaac inhaled deeply, avoiding looking at him.

"There's a warrant out for your arrest," Isaac said. "You're a suspect behind the murders."

Chris's head dropped and hung with ease as he leaned against the counter. He didn't say anything for a couple minutes, though it felt like longer. The police could be here at any time. He glanced at the front. His own arrest back during sophomore year. There wouldn't be hunters to shoot him, but he did have a chance at getting charged with all of the murders. He'd gotten too close to the investigation. Being a salesman in weaponry didn't help.

"We have to go. This will be one of the first places to be searched."

"And where do I go, Isaac? Hm?" Chris's face fell, exhausted.

Isaac turned away. The propellers in his brain were losing power like that of the Titanic's after colliding with the iceberg. His thoughts stuttered. He ran his fingers through his mess of hair. His eyes lit up suddenly and he spun back around quickly. Chris's eyebrows were piqued with curiosity.

"I think I have a place," Isaac sawere piqued with curiosity.

"I think I have a place," Isaac said.

"Let me call Allison and let her know not to come back here," Chris said.

He pulled out his cell phone.

Allison walked back into the exam room where Deaton was treating a Rottweiler for worms. Walking back behind the counter to see the local was no longer strange to her. Scott handed him the medication to treat the pup.

"I just called my dad," she said "Isaac is with him."

"Good," Scott said.

Stiles licked his lips and let out a sigh, ringing with stress.

"So, is there a plan?" he asked.

"Plan?"

All heads turned toward the doorway.

"Oh shit," Stiles mumbled under his breath. He leaned back on the counter, gripping it tightly under his sweaty palms. He wondered which shallow breath he took in would possibly be his last. He looked at Scott whose stance was cautious. Deucalion stood, relaxed, in the doorway.

"Relax, Stiles," he said. "We're here to help."

"I doubt that. This is all happening because of you," Stiles snapped.

"Us? Hm." Deucalion said.

His stature remained still. Stiles contemplated waving his hand in front of his face to see if he was truly blind but decided against it. He valued his limbs. Cora valued his limbs. She would go on a death mission, first killing him and then going after Deucalion for doing the imaginary limb ripping. So he stayed put and thought about what would be a useful weapon if he went crazy.

"There's not really a plan," Scott said finally.

"No plan...well…" Stiles said. "That's usually my forte. The not having of plans."

Scott looked over at him, his face corkscrewed, and he shook his head. Now was a bad time for sarcastic comic relief.

"Right, shutting up," Stiles said. He crossed his arms, shaking his eyebrows and shifted on his feet uncomfortably.

"I understand your distrust," Deucalion said. "How is Derek?"

"I don't know. He and I don't talk anymore," Scott replied shortly.

"It's not much," Isaac said as he gave the closed subway a onceover, "but it does the trick when you need somewhere to hide."

He was shocked that he remembered how to get the long since abandoned substation. It had never even been finished. It had been a while since he'd come down here. The place had been a safe haven when there was nowhere to go and when he needed to hide from his father who'd gone on a binge.

The dusty area was musty and stunk but was bearable. He ducked into the old subway car. The open doors were rusted in some places. As he took a look around the car he noticed the chains that sat in a seat nearby, reminding of his first days under the moon. Derek had helped him greatly. No matter what was happening lately, he wouldn't forget it. He'd remember how decent Derek used to be.

Isaac walked out of the subway car.

"You stayed here?" Chris asked.

"Yeah," Isaac answered. "My dad had gotten really pissed once and threw a glass…"

Isaac touched his cheek where he could still remember the glass cutting him. It almost felt as if the glass was still there in his skin, but only sometimes.

"It nearly blinded me," he continued. "Anyway, I came here. It was like a sanctuary or whatever."

"Thank you, Isaac," Chris said.

Chris turned and looked at him with saddened eyes. Isaac was beginning to hate that look. The only people who weren't giving him that look were Danny, Cora and Scott. He sighed, pacing a few steps.

"I wish everyone wouldn't look at me like that. It's like you're all trying to remind me." he said quietly.

"Isaac," Chris said, pursing his lips as if biting back regret. "I'm sorry."

"It would be magnificent if people would quit saying that too." He wasn't sure how he was supposed to move forward, live like everything was alright if it wasn't. Nobody was moving on. He didn't want to. Moving on…it wasn't that it felt wrong. It was wrong. It was like forgetting the reason for being alive. The thought made him want to vomit.

"That's not why I'm saying sorry."

Isaac turned. His scowl of confusion shifted to wary surprise. Chris held a slender gun up, pointed at him. Isaac eyed the barrel.

"What are you-" Isaac was quickly cut off by the gun going off.

Two darts sprang out, hitting Isaac in the shoulder. His vision blurred, multiplying. Chris caught him before he fell to the ground and helped him sit up against the wall.

"I'm sorry," he told Isaac as he wrapped chains around his wrists, tying him to a nearby pipe. "I have to do this and you have to make sure that Scott and Allison will be alright."

Isaac mumbled incoherently. The tranquilizer wouldn't last long.

"I'm not sure if it's sweet or stupid that you've decided to be a martyr for these brats."

Chris turned steadily and faced Jennifer who sauntered from the shadows. Her dark lips pulled up in malicious grin.

"I got your message," he said. He glanced down at the tranquilizer gun in his hand and dropped it.

"I thought you would've put up a fight," she said. "It seems that Melissa McCall has put up the biggest fight."

Chris didn't get out a single word. He didn't have a chance to. Jennifer her out her hand, palm up and blew. Dust flew in his face. Coughing, he inhaled more and coughed harder. He blinked rapidly. Black dots corroded his vision and then he fell to the ground unconscious.

Derek let go of the metal bar after his fiftieth pull-up. Cora had gone off to god knows where. He didn't bother to ask. Her attitude was worse than usual lately.

He wiped his forehead that was slick with sweat. His breathing was even and at ease.

"I can smell you, Jennifer," he said firmly.

He turned looking from the floor up a pair of black, suede, knee high boots past a skin tight attire to a stone stare by the bitch herself. Her deep red lips smiled seductively dark.

"Having watched you lurk around, it's good to see you, Derek. You seem to be done mourning," she said. Each word was said with precision. Her face was perfectly relaxed. She had the power and knew that none of them did.

Derek didn't hesitate. He grabbed her by her the throat and slammed her against a nearby pillar. She grabbed his wrist, her nails pinching his skin. He jerked her hard, tightening his grip on her windpipe and she coughed. Her face scrunched as she tried to breathe.

"You coming here only makes this less complicated," Derek said.

"Does it?" she gasped, her voice all scratchy.

He pulled her a few inches from the column then slammed her back against the column. Though his eyes glowed ominously with hatred, she was unfazed. Bringing her leg up, she kicked him in the side and broke free of his grasp.

She laughed under her breath like this was some sort of game.

"Down boy, I didn't come here to fight," she said.

Derek growled, pulling himself into a crouch, his facial features having shifted. His chest ached from the amount of rage coursing through his veins. He was finally face to face with her. Revenge wasn't going to be sweet. It was going to hurt worse after he was finished with her, but she didn't look like she wanted to fight. She smelled…desperate.

"You've come to beg for your life?" he growled. "Go ahead. Beg. It won't change anything."

Jennifer's eyes narrowed and she paced a few steps.

"You're still upset that I killed her," she said with realization. "Huh, interesting."

Derek's frame tensed. Don't you dare say her name, he thought to himself.

"Interesting isn't it, Derek? That she became one of the sacrifices. I didn't even see it coming, but I hit two dogs with one stone. She figured it all out." Miss Blake. "And let's not forget her combat skills, all of which she learned from you. They were uncanny. Such a small, pathetic, human girl knowing how to fight like that? Of course she was my warrior."

She paused, looking off into the distance almost as if she felt sorry, felt bad. The thought filled moment slipped away and she smiled like a happy child that was going to get her way.

"And now, I have my philosopher," she said. "Mr. Westover wasn't as well hidden as he thought."

She paced a couple more steps, meeting the alpha's eyes once more. She stopped in front of him and perched forward, placing her hand on her knees.

"Tell me, how is Isaac?"

Derek's upper lip pulled up and he bared his sharp teeth, snarling at her. She cackled and stood back upright.

"I'm surprised he's lived so long. He's very weak and possibly more pathetic than his dead girlfriend," she said. "Now, to get to the point of why I'm here."

Derek shook his head. The time for talking was over. His arms lashed, barely missing her, and swiped nothing but air. She backed away from him as he advanced on her slowly. She made her way toward the door while also keeping the window in her line of sight.

"I'm going to kill you and fix all of this," Derek said.

"You kill me, and you'll never find any of the guardians better known as parents," Jennifer snapped.

Derek caught the tremor in her voice. She was panicking. Even her heart was matching with the high octane emotion.

"Help me and I'll give them back," she continued.

"What says they're not already dead?"

"I need them for the eclipse next week." She replied. "Help me and I won't touch them."

"No."

"Fine, consider it your fault that they're dead."

"If I help you, you'll kill them anyway," Derek said.

He stood back up.

"Probably," she said.

The loft door swung open suddenly and they both looked quickly. Danny froze in the door. He eyes widened with rage at the sight of his former English teacher.

"Derek," he said breathlessly, not taking his eyes away from Jennifer.

Giving Danny a smug look and then directed her attention back to Derek. He had shifted out of his beastly form. She looked back at Danny. He took slow, cautious steps away from her.

"Don't you even want to know why?"

"We know. The pack you advised killed you," Danny said.

"Tried," she corrected. "They're back and they have back-up."

Derek turned and walked to the window. Danny followed him, raving that they shouldn't do anything and that she should get ripped apart for everything. His anger wasn't misplaced. He definitely wasn't wrong either. She deserved to get ripped apart by them.

Melissa, the sheriff, Chris? They didn't deserve to die and imagining the others without parents like him and like Isaac left him conflicted. Where was the winning part of this? Odds were that even if they did help she would kill them anyway to finish her little ritual and get enough power to kill him and then Scott.

"We'll do it," he said.

Jennifer sighed with relief.

"What!?" Danny exclaimed angrily. The tiny veins in his forehead bulged.

Derek turned around and heaved a defeated sigh.

"You will keep your word about letting them go," Derek asked, deflecting Danny with a wave of his hand.

"Of course." Jennifer nodded.

Derek gave a small nod.

"Get the fuck out."

"See you soon," she said with a small, prima-donna wave.

As soon as she loft door closed Derek pulled out his cell phone.

"Are crazy or stupid? I really have to know. If Melanie were here-" Danny gritted out angrily.

"If Melanie were here she'd think nothing. She's not here. She's gone," Derek said point blank. "Now shut up. I have to call Cora."