Chapter 5: Ice Pick

It was clear to the Argents that something more radical had to be done. They had lost now three hunters in one week. They weren't dead but they might as well be. And they were all lost due to the same teenage werewolf: Stiles Stilinski.

The latest lost hunter was now being held up in the Beacon County Prison on two counts of attempted murder. Stiles had told his father of how he had been looking for him at the station when he bumped into the man. He didn't recognize him as one of the deputies and the man attacked him so he wouldn't raise an alarm. Stiles ran for the holding cells and avoided getting shot by him. The bullet hole left in the wall matched the gun that the hunter had with him along with his prints. Stiles said that he saw Isaac in the cell and wanted to eliminate any witnesses so he opened it to try and kill him when Stiles tackled the guy before he could shoot. Isaac had run away in the chaos for fear of his life while Stiles fought the man off and managed to scratch him before knocking him against the wall and knocking him out.

The Argents quickly made sure to eliminate any evidence that their lost man had any ties to them. If a connection leading to them, especially given the record of Kate terrorizing Stiles already, was found then it would be grounds for them all to be put under hard surveillance. And with what was going on now, that was the last thing they needed.

Chris felt that it was time to tighten the reins on a loose thread in their whole family dynamic.

Allison drove her car out to a local gas station to refill the tank that night. Hers was the only car there. Well, she saw that there was a motorcycle across from her. As she was filling the tank, a guy came out of the station's food mart and hopped on it. Allison caught the guy's face and he gave her a smile before he put his helmet on and rode off. Then the lights in the station just went off all of a sudden. Allison heart stilled and she quickly went to put the pump back. She was about to hop in her car when she started hearing footsteps on the concrete. She quickly looked around, to try and find the source. She was still a little freaked from that creature that she and Scott ran into the other night. But she didn't see anything. She turned around away from her car and then had her sight blacked out when a bag went over her head.

When it was removed she found herself bound and gagged in a chair. She directly across from her father who was also bound and gagged in a chair. She looked around and saw that they were in the Hale House. Then she heard Derek Hale's voice call out.

"Ever wonder what happens when a hunter gets bitten?" Allison tried to find Derek but didn't see any trace of him. He kept talking. "Allison? Ever wonder what happens if you get bitten? What do you think your father would do? What do you think he'd have to do?" She watched as her dad struggled hard against his restraints until the back of his chair finally snapped. He then freed his arms but didn't head for her. He instead reached out and a hand handed him something. She then heard Derek's voice again. "When all it would take to change everything was one bite?"

Chris then revealed that what he had was a phone that was playing an audio message being screen to sound like it was coming from Derek. The figure came into the light and Allison saw that it was the guy from the gas station. It was clear then. This was all a setup. She bit hard on the gag but not from fear, but anger.

"One bite," the voice was then shut off.

"And everything changes," her father said.

He then reached forward and freed Allison's mouth from the gag.

"Is this how we're going to do father/daughter talks from now on?!" she spat.

"No," he said shaking his head. "This is how we're going to train you." The father and daughter duo shared a moment of intense eye to eye confrontation until Chris broke it when he back away. "Do you know why we use arrows?"

"They can't heal until it's taken out," she panted out.

Chris then revealed a broken part of an arrow. "Look familiar?" he asked her. "We found it in our lost man's abandoned car."

"You were going to kill him," she defended.

"That's right!" he spat. "And if we find Isaac on another full moon then we will kill him. That's the hard choice we make."

"Like your choice to try and kill Stiles last week?" she spat back. Her dad let out a huff at that as he glared down at her. "Yeah, I know about that."

"That wasn't my choice. Not with him or Isaac."

Allison kept up the glare. "Gerard?"

"No," he answered before moving closer to her. "You see, our family has a surprisingly progressive tradition. Knowing wars and violence are typically started by men…we place the final decisions, the hard ones, with the women." Allison's eyes widened at that part and he got up and moved his hand to place it on her shoulder. "Our sons are trained to be soldiers. Our daughters to be leaders." He then put a file in her hand and gave her a soft kiss on her head. He then made to leave. "Training starts now. Time her," he said as he left her to escape the chair on her own.

The other hunter hit the timer on his phone and then left the house after him. Allison was left in the chair looking after them. When they were gone, she let a breath loose and then started to file away at her restraints.

She then left the house rubbing her wrists. She got to where the hunter was still waiting and he stopped the timer.

"Congrats," he said.

"For what? It took me two and a half hours," she hissed at the guy.

"It took me three when I did," he said back to her with a small smile.

That got her to smile as she got into her car and headed for home. The hunter then moved for his bike when he caught his foot on something. He looked down to see what looked like a snake wrapping around his foot, except, he couldn't see the head. He then felt a pull and he hit the ground face first. He then felt a scratch at the back of his neck. He quickly got up and pulled out his gun. He tried to find what had attacked him but quickly found his legs getting wobbly. He then fell to his knees just as his sight locked onto some slimy claws. He then fell completely to the ground, unable to move a muscle.

Over at school gym class, Coach Finstock had set up a climbing wall and told them that they were to race in pairs to the top. Right now, it was Scott and Allison going up the wall. They were supposed to be racing but the two of them weren't rushing it. They were savoring their time together even if they were discussing the creature they saw at the Lahey House.

"It had a tail," Scott said grabbing for a grip setting. "I don't have a tail."

"Maybe you just haven't grown it yet," she teased.

Scott snorted. "I'm not growing a tail. Ever." He then noticed that she stopped climbing and was watching him. "Are you slowing down for me?"

"I was waiting for you," she corrected.

He smiled at her. "Waiting for me to catch up?"

"You looked like you were struggling?"

Scott took a look at her shorts. Very short shorts. "Maybe I was admiring the view," he said smiling towards her ass.

That made Allison huff. "Try admiring from afar," she said picking up the pace in her climb up.

Allison started rapidly climb up and then met the sight of Scott already waiting close to the top. He shrugged his shoulders at her. She then kicked at his footing and he started to fall back for the mat at the bottom. Everyone in the gym laughed when Scott made it to the bottom. The harness stopped him from hitting the ground but then let him go a moment later to fall the rest of the way.

Coach was laughing as he sat next to him. "McCall, I don't know why but your pain gives me a special kind of joy," he said before pointing to his chest. "Right here." He then looked out to the class. "Alright! Next pair. Stilinski. Erica."

Stiles looked over to where Erica Reyes was standing next to him as they looked up at the wall. Stiles quickly climbed to the top in record breaking time before he then started to rapidly scale the wall back down until his feet hit the mat. Coach gave him an approving nod to which Stiles raised his arms up in victory. But then he heard panting. He looked up to see that Erica was stuck at the wall and couldn't move any further.

"Help me," she panted out.

"Erica!" Coach called out. "What's wrong? Dizzy? Is it vertigo?"

Lydia narrowed her eyes. "Vertigo is a dysfunction of the vestibular system of the inner ear. She's just freaking out."

Stiles looked back up at Erica before he let a breath loose. He could smell Erica's fear and discomfort coming off from her up there. He went to the wall again and started climbing until he got to her. "Hey," he said to her. "It's okay. I'm here, alright?" he said trying to be comforting.

Erica just looked up and seemed to be on the verge of crying. "Help me," she cried again.

From the bottom, Allison looked over at the Coach. "Uh, Coach maybe she shouldn't go any further. You know she's epileptic."

His eyes widened. "Why does no one tell me this stuff?! Erica," he called out to her. "You're fine. Just…kick off from the wall. Look, there's a mat to catch you."

Erica just shut her eyes and stayed still.

Stiles leaned in closer to her. "Hey…Erica, you want me to help you climb back down?" he muttered to her.

She shook her head. She just took a deep breath and then kicked off from the wall and slowly drifted down. Stiles came down right after her.

Coach then went over to her. "See? That a girl. You'll be fine. Why don't you just…shake it off?" he said in a surprisingly reassuring tone of voice.

Erica walked off amidst the laughing from the students. Only Scott, Stiles and Allison were watching her off with sorry looks on their faces.

Later, when the gym was cleared, Erica returned to the wall. She tied her hair back and narrowed her eyes at it. She then started to climb it.

In the locker room, Coach whistled for attention.

"Anyone sees Isaac Lahey then you immediately tell the principal. Get a teacher. Or call me. Except for you Greenburg. Don't call me for anything. I'm not kidding. You shouldn't even have my number."

With that everyone started to walk off. Scott and Stiles went off to the corner.

"Isaac?" Scott asked.

"He's officially been declared missing after what happened at the station," Stiles explained. But he shrugged. "Well, the important thing is we saved him. The issue of him being a suspected killer is Derek's problem now."

Jackson had heard what they said. Isaac Lahey. If he was off with Derek then that had to mean that Derek had given him the bite. Isaac was turned into a werewolf. He couldn't believe it. Derek's bite didn't turn him but it turned that quiet recluse Lahey? What the hell was going on?

Over by their lockers, Scott and Stiles' conversation soon turned to their plans for that night.

"What do you mean it's not a good idea?" Stiles practically shouted at him.

"I don't know. That…thing that we saw that night. Isaac missing. Allison's grandfather. All this stuff happening with Derek…it doesn't feel right," he said with a bit of a puff at the end.

"No," Stiles huffed. "You're not backing out. You want to know why? Because you and Allison have been having a lot of good time together lately and you know who else wants to have a good time? Stiles," he said pointing to himself. "Stiles wants to have a good time. Many times. Several times in a row. In several positions. And now I have a chance with Lydia but she would only go if Allison goes too. And I'm willing to bend for this. Besides, you owe me for taking the fall with her grandfather with that detention Friday." He then narrowed his eyes at him. "Are you even listening to me?" He then noticed that Scott's hand was twitching. "What is that? Why are you doing that?"

Scott just looked out and ran out of the locker room. Stiles was right behind him. Many of the other students noticed them running and followed after them to see why.

Erica was halfway up the wall when she started struggling like last time and she then lost her footing. She fell down but Scott managed to catch her before she hit the ground. Stiles, Allison and a few others from gym class were right behind.

"Put her on her side," Allison said moving to kneel next to him. "Put her on her side." Erica was then put on her side and her seizures started to slow a bit. "How did you know?" she asked him.

"I just felt it," Scott answered.

"Alright," Stiles called out. "Someone call 911."

Erica was in a hospital bed and she was being looked over by Ms. McCall.

"It's been a while since we've seen you Erica. You were being so good about taking your medication."

"Are you going to tell my mom?" she asked her.

"Well, I swear that I don't want to but…there's this team of lawyers in the back that would break my legs and I don't know if you've seen my legs but for a girl my age they're still pretty hot so…" That got Erica to smile and silently laugh. Ms. McCall put a gentle hand on the top of her head. "Doctor's going to be in a minute, okay?"

Erica nodded. "Kay," she said.

Ms. McCall then left for Erica to relax. Soon though a pair of hands reached for her gurney and started to wheel it down the hallways of the hospital until she was brought towards the morgue. She opened her eyes to see that she was being moved. She started to move when a pair of fingers pushed on her forehead.

"Lie still," she heard.

When they finally reached the morgue, Erica sat up to get a good look at the stranger and it was seen that the one who brought her there was Derek Hale. And he had her medication in his hands.

"Side effects may include anxiety, weight gain, acne, ulcerative…colitis," he read off the label. "Sheesh."

"Who are you?" she asked.

Derek looked at her and gave a soft smile. "Let's just say that we share...mutual friends." He then put the medication down and walked to her. "You get a…warning right before you have a seizure?"

Erica swallowed. "It's called an Aura. It's like…a dog taste in my mouth."

Derek shook his head. "You don't have to lie Erica. What's it really taste like?"

"It…tastes like blood," she said with a bit of a cry in her voice.

Derek nodded. "What if I told you that all of this, could go away?" He then started to rub her leg. "The side effects. The side-effects. The symptoms. All of it." He then pulled her up to him so that their faces were over an inch away from each other. "What if all those things went away…while everything else…got even better?" he finished by stroking her hair and cheek.

"How?" she asked gently.

Derek smiled. "Let me show you," he said before making his red eyes appear.

Jackson was sitting in science class as there was a video playing but he wasn't paying attention to it. Instead, he was just thinking more on why he didn't get turned into a werewolf while Scott, Stiles and Isaac did, with absolutely no problem.

Matt was sitting next to him and was looking at the camera that Jackson returned to him. "What the hell did you do to my camera?" he quietly hissed at him.

Jackson snapped out of it. "Huh?"

"The lens is cracked," he said showing it to him. "Did you drop it?"

But Jackson's ears perked up when he heard the word immunity. Matt was still complaining about the cost of the camera. "Just send me a bill," he hissed at him so he could concentrate on watching.

He looked to the video to hear about how the human body fights infection from diseases and even rabies from an animal bite. Or, in his case, a transformation from a werewolf bite. How there are enzymes that could be made to immunize someone and be used on others. He then looked over towards Lydia. He remembered how she was in the hospital for all that time after she was bitten by the Alpha and hadn't healed like a werewolf should. His eyes widened in realization.

After class, he went over and pulled her off to the side. "What the hell is wrong with you?" he barked.

"What?" she said looking at him like he was crazy.

But Jackson didn't falter. "Show it to me," he demanded. "Show it to me," he said going to try to see the spot where she was bitten.

When he touched it, she flinched in pain and pushed his hand away. "Are you out of your mind?" she cried.

Jackson's chest tightened. "Nothing happened to you," he realized with horror. "It's like…you're immune."

"I don't have a clue of what you're talking about?" she hissed at him.

But Jackson glared harder at her. His anger rising at what he had been denied. Lydia hadn't become a werewolf and, somehow, she had passed that immunization to him which is why his body fought the bite and he didn't turn. He pushed her until her back was against the wall. He then raised a finger to angrily point at her. "You," he hissed. "It was you. Whatever it is, blood, saliva; whatever soul killing substance is running through your veins…you did this to me. You ruined it for me. You ruined everything!" he roared out at her.

He remembered that they were in a crowded hallway and then just left her. Jackson stopped for a moment to look back at Lydia and saw that she looked quite hurt. But he shook himself out of it and then kept on walking, too angry right now to care.

Lydia rushed into the girl's bathroom and locked herself in a stall. She just let out everything. All the horror from what happened to her at Formal, the confusion at wandering around the woods and now everything with Jackson, she just cried and let it all out. Nothing was making sense to her and no one seemed to be able to help her. She was completely alone. Or she was before she heard the sound of the door opening, but no footsteps.

"Hello?" she called out. Suddenly a pair of bare feet stepped into sight underneath the stall door. Lydia saw that they weren't a girl's pair of feet. "This is the girl's room," she choked out.

Then the feet walked off. Lydia opened the door to see who it was but found the bathroom empty. She stepped out and caught sight of someone walking up the stairs down the hall. She went to follow after him and she caught sight of the guy just outside the trophy case. She couldn't see his face but it looked like he was taken with the sight of the trophies. He then walked off. Lydia went over there to try to find what they guy had been looking at and saw that the trophy in front of her read Peter Hale: Team Captain. Suddenly, Lydia saw flashes of herself in the lacrosse field the night of Formal. A man in a leather jacket had been walking over to her. The flash only confused her.

Stiles made his way through the cafeteria until he made his way to Vernon Boyd. He worked at the ice rink and approached him to get what he needed for the double date he and Scott were having there tonight.

"Boyd," he said as he went over and sat down in front of him. "Got the keys?" Boyd brought his hand up and the keys were seen hanging down from them. Stiles went to get them but Boyd held on to them. "They glued on?" he asked him.

"This isn't a favor," Boyd said quickly. "It's a transaction."

Stiles resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Right, of course." He then went to his pocket. "Absolutely," he said before slamming down the money for Boyd to take.

Boyd looked down and saw that Stiles had put down two ten dollar bills. "I said fifty."

Stiles brought his bottom lip out. "Really? I remember twenty. And I have a very good verbal memory. I remember twenty. Remember the distinctive 'twa' sound. Twa-enty."

"I said fifty," shot back Boyd. "The 'fa' sound. Hear the difference because, if not, I can demonstrate other words with the 'fa' sound."

Now Stiles rolled his eyes. "Okay, I think I might be recalling it now. Maybe I got it confused with forty," he said before placing another twenty on the table. Boyd just popped a chip into his mouth but held onto the keys. Stiles let out a huff. "Come on man, have you seen the piece of crap jeep I drive?"

"Have you seen the piece of crap bus that I take?" he countered.

Stiles shrugged. "Touche," he said as he reached up and placed a ten on the table to make it an even fifty. At that Boyd smiled at him before he presented the keys which Stiles took with a matching smile. "Thank you."

"No, thank you," he said taking the money.

Stiles then got up and went over to where Scott was sitting. "Got em," he said taking a seat. "Alright, I'll pick you up after work and then we'll head down to the rink."

But Scott didn't answer. His eyes just widened and Stiles narrowed his and turned to see what Scott was looking at. At the entrance to the cafeteria, was Erica. It seemed that she was out of the hospital but she was completely different than she was that morning. She was…gorgeous. Her face was cleared up, her hair was smooth and she seemed to look much healthier. However, she was dressed in a leather outfit and high heeled shoes. She had on bright red lipstick and a bright shade of eyeshadow. The whole cafeteria was speechless at her new look. Erica went over to someone's tray and took the apple from it and gave it a slow and tantalizing bite.

Lydia made her way over to Scott and Stiles. "What the hell is that?" she asked them.

"It's Erica," Scott answered.

Scott and Stiles shared a look. It was obvious what had happened. Derek had given her the bite and turned her like he had done to Isaac. Erica seemed to have her fill of attention from the cafeteria and then took off. Scott and Stiles went to follow after her. They passed Jackson who was glaring at the door that Erica left from.

Scott and Stiles ran down the hallway, following after Erica, until they got outside. They spotted her by a Camaro. She looked over at them and let a smirk fly their way before she opened the door and got in. In the driver's seat, Derek looked from her to them and let a smirk creep up on his lips. He then drove off with her.

Stiles stared after them with an annoyed look on his face while Scott was full out glaring after them.

After school, Stiles went over to the hospital and was walking over to the reception area towards Scott's mom. She spotted him immediately.

"Stiles, what brings you here this time?"

"Oh, I just wanted to ask about Erica. She was brought in this morning from school."

"Yeah. Well, if you were hoping to see her than I'm afraid you missed her. She left a few hours ago."

Stiles already knew that but still made a show of looking surprised. "Really? Oh…how was she?"

Her face tightened a bit. "She was a little depressed. Given what happened to her, I could understand. Though, when she was leaving she seemed to be looking better. She managed to smile a bit so I take that as a good sign. Even though she gave us a bit of a scare."

Stiles eyes narrowed. "Scare? Why? Did something happen?"

She quickly shook her head. "Oh, no. Nothing like that. She had just wandered from her room and wasn't there when the doctor came in. She said that she had just headed to the bathroom."

"Oh…that's a relief."

"Well, I'm sure that she appreciates someone from school coming to check up on her like this. That poor girl doesn't seem to have many friends."

Stiles nodded. "I wouldn't worry Ms. McCall. Something tells me that Erica is going to be having more attention than she ever thought possible," he said with a small smile.

He then left the hospital now that he had all the information he needed.

Over at the animal clinic, Scott was so full of jumbled nerves from everything going on that he dropped and broke a jar on the floor. He rushed to clean it up and Deaton came to kneel over next to him.

"Why do I have the feeling that you have a lot on your mind?" he asked Scott.

Scott shook his head. "Sorry…it just kind of…slipped through my fingers. Like everything is slipping through my fingers."

Deaton let a small smile come up on him. "Now that sounds like a too worldly thing for a teenager to say."

Scott let a breath loose. "Sorry," he said shaking his head as he kept cleaning up the glass.

"You might want to try a different perspective." He then lifted a big piece of the broken jar. "This is just entropy at work." He then picked up a smaller piece. "This is more a natural way of the universe. But that doesn't necessarily mean its falling apart," he said before tossing it with the rest. "It's just…changing shape."

Scott narrowed his eyes. "For better or worse?"

"Exactly."

Scott wasn't sure what Deaton was trying to tell him exactly but he had a feeling it was closely related to everything that was happening lately. When Deaton started to walk off, Scott stood up. "Hey, Doc?" Deaton turned back to look at him. "When are we going to talk about…the thing, that we never got a chance to talk about?" he asked nervously.

Deaton's face fell. "Oh, yes. We never did get a chance to talk about that, did we?" Scott shook his head. "Now's definitely a good time."

"Thank god," Scott breathed out in relief.

"What do you think?" Deaton said folding his arms. "Two dollars?"

"Two dollars?" Scott repeated with a shake of his head. What was Deaton talking about?

"You're right," he said. "$2.50 more an hour. Seems like a good enough raise."

Scott deflated. "That's not exactly what I was-" He then stopped. "$2.50 more an hour?" he repeated with interest.

"Done," Deaton said shaking his head. "Now, get to cleaning the cat cages."

Scott nodded and went back to cleaning the broken jar with a smile on his face on his new raise.