Chapter 12: Light Shines Brightest During Explosions
Allison keeps moving; Sheriff Stilinski doesn't flinch; Derek takes a stand; and Chris finds working with cops uncomfortable.
Chris wasn't used to moving so slow on a hunt, but Lieutenant Bungalon was in charge and he was taking orders from field command, and the orders were that the situation had turned volatile with the arrival of the Alpha Pack, and they were to approach with "due care and caution".
It made Chris want to scream that care and caution were not the way to deal with either his father or werewolves.
His father...
Chris swallowed a bitter laugh. How could he claim a relationship with a person he knew so little? Never had he thought his old man would want, would scheme, to get bitten by an alpha werewolf. Although, cancer was an ugly death...
No. There was no excuse. Nothing excused the depth of Gerard's hypocrisy.
If the sheriff had any problems shooting an old man, Chris might just be up to doing it himself.
-o0o-
"Saying 'it's that way' still isn't helpful," Lydia said.
They were on a dirt road, barely a lane-and-a-half wide, there were no streetlights, no signs, and Allison's GPS program couldn't help them this far into the forest. They were relying on Scott in the backseat, on his pack connection to the sheriff, but he was pointing at unbroken lines of forest saying it was "over there".
"Just look for a road heading left," Scott said. Again. Not helpful.
The road was dirt and terrible, and Lydia was going slow to minimize damage to her car. There had to be some kind of cross road sometime, right?
Allison squinted past the glare of the falling sun. Was it...? "There," she pointed. Lydia slowed even more, turning where Allison indicated.
Lydia stopped. "That's not a road. It's barely a path." Her voice was ultra-calm. It made Allison aware that there was a giant freak-out happening inside Lydia that her friend was not letting out. Well, any night that started with "Stiles has been kidnapped by my crazy grandfather" and ended with "By the way, werewolves are real" deserved a giant freak-out.
"My parents drove it just this morning." Had it really only been hours?
Lydia raised a skeptical eyebrow. "And were they driving a sensible sedan? I don't think so."
The back door opened, but Scott paused when they both looked at him. "We're really close," he said. "I can run there, and you two can stay here where it's safe."
Both Lydia's brows went up. "'Where it's safe', is it?"
For a second, Allison thought Scott would be cowed by Lydia's disdain. Not this time. Instead, his eyes glowed gold. "Yeah. At least I have weapons for a fight." His voice was growlier than normal. It froze her and Lydia in their seats.
Then he stepped out of the car. He was gone in moments, running faster than any human could.
The inside of the car was quiet.
"It certainly explains his vast improvement in lacrosse," Lydia commented, still looking out the window where they'd last seen Scott.
"He used to suffer from asthma," Allison said.
Lydia hummed neutrally. "A part of me is really freaked out by all this," she said. "That part thinks that staying here—or even going back to town—is really what we ought to be doing right now."
Allison kept looking out the windshield, watching Lydia only out of the corner of her eyes. "And the other part?"
There was a huff beside her, so Allison turned to look fully at her friend. Lydia put her hand on the gearshift and glared at Allison. "I am not 'The Little Woman'."
Lydia didn't slam her foot on the gas or anything else equally dramatic, but she did start them moving forward into the dark, unknown forest.
-o0o-
Deucalion had grown back his burned-out eyes. What the ...
Fucking Demon Wolf, Noah realized.
Noah didn't want to know what else Deucalion could do, but as he readied himself to fight the other alpha, he figured he was about to find out. Growing back eyeballs. Jeezus!
Derek growled, low and deep.
"I'm sorry," Deucalion chuckled. "You have one pack member."
"Two," Stiles said firmly. "Well, three if you count mmph—" A quick look showed Noah that Derek had covered Stiles' mouth before he could out Scott as a werewolf.
"Two pathetic betas and a human." Kali wasn't impressed.
"And nearly 800 deputies, officers and civilian staff." The sheriff flexed his fingers, feeling his claws just beneath the surface. "Don't forget them."
"They're not pack," Kali sneered.
Noah wiggled his jaw. "Sure they are. We train together, fight together. Bleed and grieve together. And a bunch of them are on their way here to save my son and back me up. What have you got?" He lifted his hand and was pleased that it was still fully human. "One vengeance-crazed super-wolf—yes I've noticed your creepy eyes," he said with a nod at the Alpha Pack leader. "Two young people in a bad situation that's still better than what they had before." The twins shifted away, staying close to each other.
The sheriff turned back to Kali and Ennis, still flanking Deucalion. "And you two: letting your anger overwhelm your discipline, your humanity."
"We don't need humanity," Ennis snarled. "We're werewolves."
With that Ennis leaped nearly six-feet straight towards the sheriff. Without thinking, the sheriff raised his hands. He caught the big alpha. He let the momentum turn him. Then, instead of a little boost that would carry Ennis past him, he tossed the big werewolf through the wall, and exploded a tree on the other side.
"Holy shit," Stiles whispered in awe. The remaining walls shook and groaned. Dirt and rust filled the air.
Kali screamed and charged.
Despite the ferocious start, she attacked with more finesse than Ennis had. She'd obviously had some martial arts training, because she used leverage as well as supernatural strength to toss him up into a rafter. The hard wood cracked across his spine and it hurt, but it didn't stop him from landing as if it hadn't.
She kicked out with her ridiculously long toenails, precisely aimed strikes that would've looked fantastic in a movie. Noah appreciated them less when they were aimed at him.
Noah dodged and blocked, slowly relearning the rhythm of hand-to-hand. It had been a long time since he'd used his close-combat training in actual combat. His safety vest didn't help. It was constricting and he couldn't twist his body the way he needed to. He forced himself to adjust his moves.
She landed a solid kick to his chest. He slid backwards, but she stopped and stared. "You have armor."
Noah huffed out a breath, shaking off the pain. "I'm a cop," he said. "It's part of the uniform."
"Yeah, Dad!" Stiles shouted.
She'd backed away, prowling around him and regrouping. When Noah winced at his son's shout, her eyes flicked to him. "Get the fucking kid!" Kali shouted at the twins.
"He's got no part of this," Noah growled at her. He felt the rage rising inside him.
She smiled triumphantly, like she'd found his weakness. "I think he's key."
"I've got Gerard's gun, bitch," Stiles said from behind Derek.
Noah knew his own wolf features were fully visible. "You," he said. "Are not touching my son."
In the corner of his eye, the sheriff saw Derek wolf out. He heard the beta roar a challenge.
Damn the vest and damn proper form!
Army training, police training, too much Mortal Kombat with his son: all the moves merged in his mind into a fierce determination. That woman was not touching his son. If Kali put her weight on her back leg, he swept it. If she left an opening over her kidneys, he hit it. He caught her foot and used her momentum to flip her. Over and over.
The longer they fought, the easier it got. It was as if she was moving slower and slower as the fight dragged on.
"Jesus, Dad." This time Stiles' voice was filled with awe.
Noah heard noise behind him, from outside. Ennis was back up.
He gave Kali solid hit on her sternum. He felt something crack before she flew across the shed, through the old equipment and into the wall.
Ennis tackled him before he could turn completely. He tucked himself as much as he could and dragged Ennis into a roll with him.
On the ground, he twisted and got his arm around the alpha's neck. Ennis bucked, and scrabbled at the arm encircling his neck. It hurt more doing this to someone who had claws instead of fingernails, but the sheriff hung on.
"Stand down," Noah muttered. A request. Ennis ignored him.
He hung on, tightening his grip.
He could do this, he thought as the alpha's struggles weakened. Just a minute more…
When Deucalion slashed his cane at him, he couldn't duck.
-o0o-
Despite the order from Kali, the twins didn't move. They were weak alphas, and one of them was still recovering from the wolfsbane-laced bullet, and the sheriff's description of them had shaken them. Derek didn't ignore them, but he kept most of his attention on the main fight between Kali and Sheriff Stilinski.
Derek had never seen anyone move like the sheriff outside of film. It was like Bullet Time from The Matrix. Well, not really but it was the closest analogy he could think of. The sheriff dodged almost before Kali moved. He hit before she had a chance to block. It was mesmerizing.
He was so focused on the sheriff and Kali that Ennis jumping back into the fight startled him. He took a step forward, but Sheriff Stilinski twisted before they hit the ground and somehow ended up with Ennis in front of him, his arm around Ennis' neck in a choke lock.
How the hell?
In the corner, Kali groaned—she wouldn't be down for long. In front of them, Deucalion looked pissed—not long until he joined the fight.
Beside him, the twins took another step back.
"Are you repudiating your pack?" Derek asked. It was a formal question. If they answered yes, it would break their bond with Deucalion, and weaken the other Alpha Pack alphas.
Aiden glared at him. "Why do you care? Stilinski isn't your alpha. That's what you said in the car." The tone was one of nasty mockery, but unlike on the drive to the forest, Derek didn't feel defensive or embarrassed. Instead, he felt clear.
"He's a good man, unlike your piece-of-crap packmates," he said seriously. "If he ever asks, I'll accept him as my alpha."
It was a thread, not a rope, not as strong as he'd felt with his mother, but somehow purer than his bond had been with his sister—tainted as that had been by his guilt over Kate. Derek felt larger, and stronger, and more planted in his soul than he'd felt since the death of his family. He could feel the sheriff's fierce certainty that he would win this, and he felt that confidence in his bones.
It wasn't just Stilinski, either. He could sense Stiles behind him, not just sheltering but also keeping an eye on the twins and Gerard, making sure nothing came at them from behind. Beyond the still, he could feel the deputies Stilinski had mentioned, maybe five minutes out and moving steadily closer.
Then, even further out, was Scott, heading their way. Derek's impression of him was much clearer than the ones he gotten from the Beacon County deputies. So clear, he could tell that Scott was clutching his chest as he adjusted to the addition of Derek to the pack. Scott wasn't overjoyed to feel him in the pack bond, and all Derek could do was smirk.
"Shit," Ethan said. It wasn't fear, but awe. He looked at his brother and the two of the held a whole conversation with eyebrow twitches and tiny shoulder shrugs.
"Do you repudiate your pack?" Derek asked again. More urgently this time, though—Deucalion had attacked the sheriff and Kali was picking herself up.
A final look. A tiny nod. "We have no pack."
Gerard laughed. "Turning on each other, just like the animals you are." They ignored the hunter.
"You can leave," Derek offered them. "But if you stay, you fight for us." He didn't have the right to offer the two alphas a place in the sheriff's pack, but he could make the rules clear.
They didn't have a chance to answer before Kali lifted herself off the floor. She roared in anger, flicked out her claws and prepared to charge back into the fight. Derek roared a challenge and jumped in front of her.
She smiled at him. "You again," she said. "This should be fun." Then she charged, still smiling.
Derek stood his ground. This time he wasn't a packless omega. This time he had his body's bulk, Stiles and Scott, and the weight of 800 deputies, officers and civilian staff behind him. This time, when Derek hit her, she went flying.
-o0o-
The sheriff tucked his head in as much as he could, but the cane still caught him hard on his skull. He felt the skin split, smelled the blood—his blood—but he didn't let go of Ennis.
"Stubborn, aren't you," Deucalion said. It wasn't a compliment.
"You have no idea," the sheriff said through gritted teeth. Ennis was so close to being unconscious; Noah couldn't let go now. He tucked his head into Ennis' neck, hoping Deucalion wouldn't want to hit his packmate.
Deucalion didn't hit him again. Instead, he pulled the cap off the end of his cane and revealed a sharp pointed end, not unlike a javelin.
Noah prepared himself. The safety vest under his shirt protected against bullets and knife slashes, but it wasn't great with getting stabbed with thin, pointy things.
Deucalion aimed it at his exposed ribs, where his arm was lifted to brace the one across Ennis' throat. He twisted, reducing the target. He heard Deucalion shift as he thrust downward. He heard Stiles call out to him in desperate fear. He felt Ennis relax into full unconsciousness, and then impact. The vest absorbed some of the momentum, but the point of the cane penetrated. It didn't go deep, but it scraped along a rib. Not as bad as having it broken, but it still hurt like a motherfuck!
The sheriff's body tightened involuntarily, a full-body flinch. His arms squeezed, and he felt the crunch inside Ennis' throat—he'd just crushed the hyoid bone.
"Oh dear, oh dear," Deucalion chortled. "All that hard work to be non-lethal." Of course, the alpha had heard it.
"He'll heal!" Derek shouted from where he battled Kali.
"Yeah," one of the twins confirmed. "You'd have to rip his head off."
"Go ahead! Rip his head off," Gerard added. "It's what you creatures do!"
Noah ignored all of it. Whether permanent or not, Ennis was out of the fight and that's what he needed. Derek was keeping Kali busy, which left him with Deucalion, an experienced, ruthless alpha.
Deucalion thrust with his cane as if fencing at the Olympics. Noah grabbed the cane and tried to jerk it away. It pulled Deucalion closer, but it didn't rip it out of his grasp. Instead, Deucalion pushed it forward, hoping to catch him in the chest. If the sheriff had been standing behind it, it would've worked. Instead, Noah let it go, stepping forward and meeting Deucalion's push with a punch to the chest, hoping the alpha's lungs would seize and he'd be forced to stop to breath.
Didn't happen, but Deucalion did go tumbling, two rolls before regained his feet.
And he'd dropped his cane.
"Do you really think you can stop me? I am the Demon Wolf!" His already dark skin turned ashy grey, his mouth elongated into a small muzzle, and his eyes' glow flickered like flames. It cast weird shadows on his bone sharp cheekbones.
The sheriff examined Deucalion's stance. How his weight was firmly planted and his feet too wide. The way his breathing was ragged with anger. Unlike Kali's deadly ballet, or Ennis' WWE moves, everything about Deucalion screamed of lack of practice.
The sheriff settled into the close quarter combat stance that had been drilled into him, and that he'd practiced endlessly while in the service, and still practiced to this day. Not Kung Fu, not MMA, not boxing, but an unholy effective mix of everything his drill instructors had taught him about staying alive in the field.
"I think you use intimidation and a scary reputation to get what you want," Noah replied. "And I'd bet you never fight fair. That it's always your pack against one, maybe two, opponents. So, yes, I really do think I can stop you."
The condescending tone he used (a mirror of Deucalion's) was enough to make the other alpha charge. The sheriff let him swing and kick, blocking and dodging and circling slowly backwards, away from Stiles and Derek.
Just like with Kali, his opponent again seemed to slow down. Each move took ages to go from Deucalion's body to where Noah had been standing. Deucalion hit him less, and he hit Deucalion more. Plus, Noah's hits got more focused, and more powerful, making the other alpha stagger and whine. He couldn't quite keep hold of the Alpha Pack leader yet, but soon, he figured. He should've known it was going too well.
-o0o-
The best thing Derek could say about fighting Kali this time, was that it was taking her a lot longer to hurt him. It helped that the twins stayed back. It would've been nicer if they'd helped out.
What didn't help was Gerard Argent cackling and heckling from the sideline, as if anyone gave a damn for his opinion.
"How is he doing that?" he heard Stiles whisper.
Derek knew it was about Sheriff Stilinski, but he couldn't take his eyes off Kali long enough to check. "Is he okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, man. He's like... Neo." Stiles sounded both awed and scared.
"The size of the pack affects the abilities of its alpha," one of the twins said.
Kali leaped forward. Unfortunately, her ridiculous toenails transferred over to her shifted shape and Derek didn't dodge fast enough. He was going to have to buy a new jacket after this.
And a new shirt. and new jeans. Christ, he was bleeding everywhere.
-o0o-
Chris could admire Lieutenant Bungalon's dedication to procedure. Chris could admire the precision of it, but he also fumed as Bungalon kept him from charging in.
The officer had had them all stop a suitable distance from the still. Then he took out his phone with the thermal imaging attachment and pointed it at the building where, yes, it confirmed what they already knew: seven werewolves and two humans were battling it out. The fight had taken out the sheriff's phone. It hadn't worked great, muffled and static-y from cloth and poor reception, but it had been enough to let them know his father's hostage-taking had been hijacked by the Alpha Pack
Chris lifted his rifle and rested it against a tree trunk to keep it steady. Like Bungalon's phone, it had a thermal-imaging sight. He confirmed that at least one werewolf was down, four were fighting each other, and two were standing menacingly close to the humans.
"Can we go in now?" Chris asked the lead deputy.
"Not yet. We need to get everyone into position first."
Chris loosened his jaw. He'd expected the answer. It didn't make him happy. "If one of them makes a move towards the humans..."
Bungalon nodded. "You can take them out.
-o0o-
Kali was winning.
Wanting to accepted by an alpha with a pack of 800, didn't make him part of that pack. Not yet. And it didn't replace training. Derek was bigger. She was faster. Derek was stronger. She was more precise.
Kali, blood-covered and battered, was still an alpha and he wasn't. She was recovering faster from the damage he'd inflicted on her than he was from what she'd done to him. She'd hit something in his left shoulder and now he could barely lift his arm. His knee was making similar complaints.
A second hit on the same knee and he was down and struggling to breathe through the pain—dislocated for sure, possibly broken. Kali may have become monkey-nuts insane, but at some point in her life she'd had martial arts training and the lessons had stuck.
He saw her smile, watched her tear a rusty pipe from one of the abandoned machines. He tried to stand. He tried to crawl away. He tried to force his body to heal faster.
Failure all around.
She jumped, lifting the pipe high, getting ready to drive it through his body. He snarled defiance even as he braced for pain.
Stiles fired Gerard's gun.
It was a big gun. The sound boomed in the enclosed space, making the thin walls creak and ping.
Blood exploded out of Kali's wound, flaring bright-red as it passed through the beam of the portable work light. The force of impact changed her trajectory, pushed her sideways. He could smell the wolfsbane.
The second shot hit her high in the stomach. Less blood in the air, but more delicate organs for the wolfsbane to poison.
"Kali!" Deucalion shouted. He turned his weird eyes on Stiles and roared. It was challenge and death. Stiles looked scared, but determined. Derek couldn't do less. He fought against a beta's instinct to cringe in front of an angry alpha, and roared back. He reached down to his knee and tried to wrench it back into place.
Gerard started laughing.
"He's out!" yelled one of the twins. Everyone who could move turned towards the crazy hunter.
-o0o-
Through the scope on his rifle, Chris saw one of the over-hot werewolves shift towards a cooler human.
He called it out, and took the shot.