A/N~ In case it needed repeating there is a T for a reason people. Some foul language is to be expected, there will be no sex, but there will be intimate, romantic moments and possibly implied off screen sex. Also slash, there is a reason for Stiles and Derek to be in parenthesis together, so there is that folks. ~A

Chapter 16

Stiles stared from the darkened room out into the hospital parking lot and into the night sky beyond where the partial moon was rising above the trees. He heard the soft sound of the door opening behind him. He knew instantly it wasn't Boyd or one of the nurses and stiffened. "Come to finish the job Allison?" he said and his voice while soft, was silky with menace, as he turned to face the intruder. "I guarantee you won't find either of us as easy a target this time around."

Trying to ignore the frisson of fear that went down her spine at the coldness of the voice, she changed the subject and asked, "How is she?"

His head tilted to the side slightly Stiles asked "Do you really care or are you just trying to ease your guilt over your part in her ending up here?"

"I didn't put her here," the huntress denied hotly, "That was the Alpha Pack."

"Oh yes of course and the things you and your family did had nothing to do with it. The multitude of arrows, the electrocution, the beatings, the kidnapping, and torture didn't weaken them so they were easy pickings for the Alpha Pack I suppose? You know the only reason that you and your little pack of homicidal maniacs aren't in jail right now?"

The tearful teen shook her head as the boy advanced on her, "It's because my dad was out of it, he had no idea about the supernatural. Don't worry though he's very nicely clued up about everything, and yes I do mean everything. So stay out of the Preserve and away from the Pack, including Scott. Oh yeah, and as for my dad, if anymore teens show up dead or injured you and yours are at the top of his suspect list. Right beside the Alpha Pack, the fact that he may throw the lot of you in with the Alpha's is a definite possibility."

"Stiles, I didn't make the monsters they did," Allison began.

"Really?" and in a trick of the light from the hall his eyes glowed as he asked, "Just who are the monsters Allison, the werewolves who protect the town from the kanima's, the Alpha Pack and the other creatures that decide we look like fair game or the hunters who attack a bunch of teenagers because they're different or because they hang out with the different ones?" Another trick of the light caused her to see the bruises on his face that her grandfather had put there once again. "Did you really think your family was going to let me go when they got done with me Allison? The Sheriffs son who you kidnapped and beat up and let me see what you were doing with my friends. Just going to let me go and say sorry for the trouble and oh here's an icepack for the eye. Apologize," he demanded.

"I…what?"

"Apologize. Make me believe your sorry for all of this," he hissed indicating the bed with the still form of Erica lying in it. "I …can't They killed my mother Stiles." She said as she turned away to try and make her escape.

Only the teen wouldn't let her, he snatched her back around and when she took a swing at him. He dodged but swung back and slapped her across her face. "The truth is your mother killed herself and you can't face it because she would rather leave you than become a werewolf. The thing she hated most. And do you know why? Because she couldn't face the fact that you and Scott were still dating, still in love enough to defy her. So she tried to kill him and Derek saved Scott by biting your Mom. How exactly did your dad and grandpa spin it to make it sound otherwise or did they tell you the truth and you just spun it into some horror story, where it was the werewolves fault because your mom loved you too much to just give up like that?"

"OH like your mom did?" Allison nearly yelled and there was nothing of the sweet girl in her now. "She left you because you were such a spazz, isn't that what everyone says."

"MY mom had fronto-temporal dementia Allison," and the tone of voice was just wrong there was no heat, no anger, just resignation as Stiles continued, "It's a disease that basically eats the brain bit by bit. She fought for nineteen months to stay with my dad and me, she fought hard. Your mom should have fought to stay with you and your dad, I'm sorry she didn't but that's not your fault, its not Derek's fault, not anyone else's except your families twisted sense of reality. They both heard the quiet alarm start going off from his phone. "I've been very patient with you Allison but now its time for you to go. Remember tell your family my dad knows about you and the supernatural. You don't hunt in our territory anymore until you prove your back to following the code." He said as he shoved her out the door and locked it behind her with a resounding click.

He pulled the curtain to shield the bed from the sight of the little window in the door and began the spell.

~O~

Bo grew bored quickly. She was a woman of action after all, whether sexual or otherwise. After finding Vex's wardrobe and availing herself of one of his larger shirts and squeezing her curvy figure into a pair of his jeans without having to use a shoe horn thank you very much. After that there was nothing left to do but watch Vex heal, and let's face it , watching Vex heal was like watching anyone heal…tedious.

So she began to explore the Mesmer's apartment. She started with the Mesmer's living room, and was studying the decorations. Unlike most menthe dark fae seemed to love to surround him self with interesting or beautiful things instead of going the minimalist route.

On a stand in an oddly lit little alcove sat a large, shallow bowl. The glaze if that's what it was, was in beautiful earthy tones of copper, blood red, and black. As she stepped closer to examine it, an array of lasers shot out to play across the surface of the bow. She began to hear voices from the bowl. The succubus had been around the fae long enough to recognize one of the fae languages, but she didn't know it well enough to know what the voices were saying.

Bo backed away startled by the voices and the array of lasers shut off again, as soon as the lasers stopped so did the voices. "Ok that was random and a little freaky." admitted the succubus out loud. She looked around a little desperately for something else to attract her attention.

Her gaze fell on a piece of driftwood on a shelf on another wall nearby. It actually had a spotlight on it, as if to be noticed and highlighted. The wood was beautiful in that way the things of nature have. It gleamed with a natural patina, free of dust, polished smooth and dark from what she could only imagine were many years at sea. She had just laid her hand on the smooth surface of the dark wood when someone kicked in the front door of Vex's apartment.

~O~

There was pain. The pain was all encompassing, there was not hair or cell of her body that did not burn with pain, scream with it. There was darkness, it was an old fear that she had never been able to shake. The fear of the darkness swallowing her up one day and there would be nothing she could do about it. The fear that one day she would succumb in one of her seizures and never again be able to escape that darkness remained even after Derek had given her the gift.

Most horrible of all though was the loneliness. Ever since she had been diagnosed the loneliness had been her constant companion and it had only increased as time and her illness had progressed. Even her parents had begun to distance themselves in more recent years as though preparing themselves ahead of time for the ultimate goodbye. She may be bad ass now but fear was still her constant companion that all of that would return and it had.

Then the burning and the pain began to ebb away. The pain eased away to minor hurts instead of the constant mind numbing roar. The burning eased to warmth, and the loneliness eased as she felt someone holding her hand in theirs. It wasn't Boyd his hand would have swallowed her in his grasp.

Then a voice came from the darkness and it was a good voice, comforting, familiar and gentle as it said, "Don't worry Cat Woman. You're safe, the pain will be gone soon. Your Pack loves you and we are keeping watch over you. Sleep. When you wake up again, Boyd will be here and so will some of the other members of your Pack." A soft kiss to the forehead and she slipped back into the darkness for a time. The darkness which no longer seemed so forbidding or lonely as before.