Chapter 8: Abomination part 2

Stiles ran towards the school but his ears picked up some soft crying coming from a car. He knew that voice. He went over and found Lydia was in the driver's seat of her car and was just sitting there crying. He looked over towards the school and back to Lydia. He exhaled deeply before he went over to the car.

"Lydia? Hey, what's wrong?" But she quickly brought her window up to shut him out. Stiles knocked on the window. "Lydia, come on, tell me what's wrong?"

"Just go away," she cried at him.

"What's wrong?" he asked again not moving an inch.

"Look, I don't need anyone seeing me cry."

Stiles rolled his eyes. She was acting like it was a capital offense for her to be crying. Given what's been happening to her lately, he thought that she was more than warranted to do that. "Come on Lydia…you shouldn't care if people see you cry, alright. Especially you."

"Why?" she asked him softly.

His face loosened up. "Because I think you look beautiful when you cry."

That made Lydia settle a bit and she lowered the window to Stiles' delight.

"Really?"

"Yes…really," he said to her softly. "And you could trust me on this. There is absolutely nothing that you could say to me that will make you sound crazy. Literally. Nothing," he added with a playful undertone. Lydia shoulders seemed to loosen up a bit and she actually let a small smile free. Stiles was ready to listen when he then heard the boom of voices sound in the direction of the field which meant the game had started. He suddenly remembered why he wasn't there. He had to get the book. It wouldn't be long before he was missed by both his friends and the hunters. "Uh, can you actually give me five minutes?" Lydia then narrowed his eyes and looked at him completely bewildered. "Yeah, I know. I'm sorry but I kind of need…Look, just stay here. Continue crying, or not crying," he said quickly seeing Lydia getting upset again. "If you want. Whatever works for you. But, um, just stay here and I'll be right back. And then, we could talk. About anything. Yeah?"

Stiles then broke into a hard run into the school as Lydia started to have tears fall from her eyes again.

The game was starting and Coach was less than happy.

"Greenburg," Coach called to him. "You're in for Stilinski! I swear I'm going to throttle that kid."

Scott got into position and looked over to the stands where Allison was. She caught his eye and threw him a soft smile which made him turn away but smile himself. The whistle blew and the game was underway. About two minutes in, the opposing team's star player went and bumped into one of their own players and made him fly into the air until his back collided with the ground.

Jackson went over to Scott. "What the hell are you waiting for? We're dying out here. Bring that roid head into the ground."

Scott narrowed his eyes at him. "Me? You want me to use my strength? You're the one who said that I was a cheater."

"And that freak of nature being out on the field is fair," he spat. "Do something!" he demanded.

"I can't!" Scott said back. "Not while Allison's grandfather is here."

Gerard was looking over where the player was on the ground. "Good god, is it always this violent?"

"Sometimes," Allison said.

"Heaven help anyone that gets on the wrong side of him," he commented with some amusement.

Further down the stands was Scott's mom who was watching everything with a solemn face. Next to her was Matt Daehler who was taking some pictures.

The player who was clobbered was being lifted away. "I can't feel my legs," he groaned out.

Matt looked over at Melissa. "That one belong to you?"

"No. Mine is still on the field. While I am here wishing that he really stuck with tennis." She then looked over at him and noticed the fancy camera he had. "You the yearbook photographer?"

Matt smiled but shook his head. "No. I just take pictures."

"Just lacrosse or other things?"

He smirked as he looked down at the camera's screen. "Anything that catches my eye." On the screen was a photo of Allison that he started to zoom in on.

Coach was in front of Danny, The Abomination's latest victim. His hand was in front of the kid's face.

"How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Four," Danny said when the Coach was holding up two.

"Say two," he hissed at him.

"Two," he said.

"Perfect," he said before backing away and grabbing his stick. "Get out there."

Danny was still a little wobbly on his feet but he headed back out there.

"Still short one player," the referee said to him.

"Damnit," he hissed. He started to look around. "Where the hell is Stilinski? What did he drown in that toilet?" He started to survey the crowd until his eyes fell on Boyd who was sitting next to Erica. "You," he said to him. "Yes, you," When Boyd's eyes widened. "You play lacrosse?"

Boyd meant to get up but Erica pushed at him. "Uh. Derek won't like this."

"Yeah…but I will," he muttered before he got up and headed for the field.

When Stiles got to Gerard's office, he jammed the keys in and dashed right on in. Stiles was rummaging through the office like a cat burglar, which seemed kind of ironic to him. Or was it poetic. He was too frantic to try to remember which was the correct terminology. He searched the drawers of his desk. He looked in the filing cabinets. He checked the bookshelf top to bottom. He even started to lightly hit against the walls of the office to see if Gerard didn't have a hidden safe built into the room.

"Where the hell is that thing?" he muttered as he searched. He also made sure to go back and leave everything like he left it so that it didn't look like someone had been in here. When he was sure that he searched every square inch, he started to reach for his phone. "There's no book," he muttered as he scrolled down till he got to Scott's name. "Nothing here," he said as he typed in the text message to Scott. He looked at the time on his phone and saw that he had been in the office for more than five minutes. It was almost fifteen. He didn't realize that he had been looking for so long. He put his phone away and was preparing to dash out when he nearly fell back in surprise.

In the doorway stood Erica.

"Hello Stiles," she said a bit flirting.

"Erica," he breathed. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you actually," she answered. "Derek would like to talk to you."

"Really? Well, now's not really a good time," he said moving for the door but she moved to block his way. Stiles narrowed his eyes at her. "We've been down this way before. I didn't think you enjoyed it much."

"How are you so sure of that?" she said with a smirk. "Maybe I like my men a little rough and wild."

"Cute," he said with a side grin. "But I have someone waiting for me so if you don't mind."

"If its Lydia you're talking about then you're too late," she said with a narrowed gaze. "She was pulling out of the parking lot when I was walking inside."

Stiles froze in his tracks. "She's gone?"

Erica nodded. "Fraid so. So I guess you can come with me to see Derek. Don't worry. He just wants to talk."

"About what?"

"He didn't say. But he did tell me that he insisted and that it couldn't wait."

Stiles let a frustrated puff loose.

Over at the field, The Abomination was still dominating the field. No one from the Beacon Hills team wanted to be near the guy. When Beacon Hills had the ball, the guy was running towards the wrong goal when The Abomination was moving for him. Boyd was in the guy's path and kept his ground. Everyone in the stands watched in bated breath as Boyd was about to get gored by this guy. However, when they made contact, it was The Abomination that went down, not Boyd.

When he went down, the crowd all stood up and let roaring cheers loose.

Coach especially was ecstatic. "Whoo, the bigger they are, the bigger…they are," he ended up saying.

Scott was off to the side looking at Boyd. He was joined by Jackson and they both watched as Boyd took his helmet off to bask in the cheers. He didn't seem to realize that his eyes were glowing gold.

Scott ran over to him. "Boyd, you have to get off the field. Your eyes. Someone's going to see."

But Boyd wasn't listening to him. He just took off. Scott was worried that Boyd was going to end up hurting someone. With Gerard in the stands, it would be bad if he did. He had to stop him. He ran off to cut Boyd off and took the ball for himself as he ran to the goal. He then went and shot the ball and scored the goal just a moment before the referee blew the whistle when there was no time left on the clock. The crowd cheered for his score but it was shortlived when a member of the opposing team slammed into him. He went and landed right on his leg in a painful angle.

Allison ran down from the stands as Gerard watched off after her. His mother also took off for the field to get to him.

Allison reached him first. "Scott," she cried to him.

"It's okay," he said softly. "I'm healing. Did Stiles get the book?"

"No," she whispered. "He must not have found it which means it's not in the office. It must be at the house." She then got a look at his leg. "Oh Scott, your leg. Your leg is broken."

"Not for long," he grunted. He then forced himself to get up.

But the Coach was already there. "Whoa, McCall. Don't get up."

"No really, it's okay."

"Scott," his mother said scolding.

"I'm fine," he insisted. He then moved a bit to show that his leg was good. "I'm okay."

His mom narrowed her eyes. "I could've sworn that I heard your leg bone literally breaking from where I sat."

"Heard it. I felt it," said Coach.

Scott noticed that Gerard had come over and was watching him. "Seriously guys," he said to everyone. "I'm fine."

Allison then went over to her grandfather. "We should go."

"Hold on," Gerard said. He then looked over at him. "I want to ask Scott one more question."

Stiles followed Erica into the pool area where Derek was standing there in wait.

"Stiles," he said as Erica went to stand next to him.

"Derek," Stiles said back. He then let a smile loose. "You like the little decoration I left for your place," he said looking over at Erica's glaring face for a moment before looking back at the Alpha. "It seemed appropriate considering I never did get you a housewarming gift."

Derek just looked down at the basketball he had in his hands. "What did you see at the mechanic's garage?'

"Uh…several disturbing EPA violations that I'm seriously considering reporting," he said with a bit of a smirk.

Derek let a small noise free from his throat before he went and brought his nails out and punctured the basketball and squashed it until it was completely deflated. "Let's try that again."

Stiles raised an eyebrow at that. "You know that you now owe the school a new ball, right?"

"I don't think you need me to ask again," Derek said calmly. "Because you're not leaving until you answer me."

Stiles just rolled his eyes. "Alright, fine. The thing was pretty slick looking." Derek and Erica were listening intently now. "Skin was dark. A pattern…I think I actually saw scales. Now is that enough? I do have something that I have to get back to, so." But Derek just gave him a look. Stiles let a frustrated groan out. "Fine, alright. The eyes…its eyes were yellowish. Slitted. Has a lot of teeth. Oh, and it had a tail too. Are we good?" he asked letting some anger show. But his anger faded when he saw Derek and Erica faces. "What? Have you seen it?"

But then Stiles stopped when he smelled the fear practically oozing out of the two of them. He saw that they were looking up, behind him. Stiles' eyes widened as he slowly turned around to look up himself.

There was the creature. It was just as menacing and creepy as the last time he saw it. When Stiles met its eyes, it snarled at him. Stiles backed up out of the way just as the thing jumped down. The creature swiped at Erica and threw her against the wall and she landed on the ground, knocked out.

Derek flashed his red eyes and howled at the thing. "Run!" he said pushing Stiles back.

But the creature went and made a swipe at Derek with its claws.

"Derek, your neck," Stiles said when he noticed the cut. He then remembered what Scott told him about the other body.

The cut at the neck that made the guy paralyzed and helpless. He immediately noticed that Derek was starting to wobble where he stood. The poison was taking effect. Stiles went and grabbed him and started to move him off and put some distance between that thing and them. As they moved they could hear the creature's hissing echoing through the room.

"Call Scott," Derek said to him when he felt his legs starting to go numb.

Stiles got out his phone but Derek's wobbling made him drop it. He tried to reach for it but the sudden change in movement made Derek fly off and land in the water. Stiles looked at him in horror. Derek was paralyzed which meant that he wouldn't be able to swim. But he looked at his phone and knew that he had to have Scott's help. But if he stopped to call him then Derek could drown. Stiles grit his teeth and dived into the water after Derek. They soon broke through the surface and Derek took a big gasp of air.

"I got ya," Stiles said as he helped Derek float. He then looked around. "Where'd it go? Do you see it?"

"No," Derek gasped out.

"Well…maybe it took off," he said hopefully.

But then a high pitched howl was heard by the two of them.

"Or not," said Derek.

Gerard had insisted that Scott come with him and Allison back to their home for dinner. Scott was surprised that Gerard would even ask that of him. He shared a look with Allison and saw that she was just as surprised. Scott guessed that maybe Gerard didn't know that Scott was a werewolf after all. He wasn't detecting any negative emotions from the guy. He seemed to truly want to be friendly. He said that he could go if it was okay with his mom. His mother said that it was okay but asked that he pick her up from the hospital when her shift was over.

At the Argent house, Allison's parents were putting the final touches on dinner. They heard the front door open and close.

"Good, you're back," said Victoria.

"How was the game?" asked Chris.

"Why don't you ask the star player?" Gerard said as he moved out of the way to let him be in view.

As surprised as Scott and Allison were, it was nothing compared to the surprise of Chris and Victoria when they saw Scott come into their home with the two of them.

"Hi," he said to them.

It wasn't Scott's first dinner at the Argent House but it was clear that the awkwardness he felt from the last one was nothing compared to this. Everyone at the table was tense. Everyone was paying extra attention to their plates and avoiding eye contact. The only one that seemed at ease there was Gerard.

"Alright," he said out of nowhere. "Why is everyone so quiet?" he asked. "Is it that uncomfortable that they dated?"

Scott and Allison caught each other's eyes from across the table.

Chris looked over at his father. "Did you ask them if they'd be uncomfortable?"

"Okay…I know it's been a few centuries since I was a teenager but even back then we dated and broke up all the time," he shrugged like it was no big deal.

"We're fine," said Allison. "Right Scott?"

He gave her a small smile. "Totally fine," he said to her.

Chris and Victoria were looking at Scott with hard looks. Made harder when Gerard spoke again. "Then why did you break up?"

Scott's eyes widened. "Uh…she dumped me."

That made Gerard's eyes widen.

"No offense," Chris suddenly said. "But maybe Allison felt that the two of you were just…growing apart."

That made Allison raise her eyes at her father. The only apart that his father witnessed was when he pulled Scott from her car and threw him to the hood before putting a gun on him. Scott's jaw tightened on that.

"How do you know that they weren't just passionate?" Gerard put in. "As passionate as Romeo and Juliet."

"Romeo and Juliet committed ritual sacrifice. It could use a little less passion," Chris told his father before he took a sip of wine.

"Can we please talk about something else?" asked Allison with a fake smile.

Allison was starting to get uncomfortable, and she could see Scott was also, with her father talking about their relationship as if he didn't know that he was the real reason that they were forced to break up.

"Brilliant idea," her mother muttered.

Chris looked over at Scott. "Scott, how about you help me grab the dessert from the kitchen?" It wasn't a request. When they got to the kitchen, Chris went and immediately grabbed Scott by the throat. "Do I need to remind you of what would happen to you if he found out what we all know?"

Scott glared at him. "I'm kind of wondering what would happen to you, actually."

Chris let a smile loose before it quickly faded into a vicious snarl. "Well it wouldn't be very good for me but then I would have plenty of chances to redeem myself." He then let him go. "And that wouldn't be very good for you."

Scott just silently glared at him as he went for the dessert. The both of them then headed back into the dining room.

Stiles was flapping in the water with Derek still in his grasp. He didn't know how long that they had been in there but it felt at least over an hour.

But Derek was growing tired of this floating and flapping. "Can you get me out of here before I drown?"

"You're worried about drowning? Did you notice the thing out there with the multiple rows of razor sharp teeth?"

"Did you notice that I'm paralyzed from the neck down in eight feet of water?" Derek snapped back.

"Okay, okay," Stiles said looking around. "Where's?" He then noticed his phone where he had dropped it.

Stiles then started to take them there when Derek's eyes widened. "Whoa, wait. Stop, stop, stop," he said quickly.

Stiles followed Derek's field of vision and saw the creature at the opposite end of the pool it seemed to just be circling the whole length of the pool.

"What's it waiting for?" he asked. They were vulnerable right now. Why wasn't it coming after them? Stiles got his answer when the thing approached and put one of its claws on the water but withdrew quickly. Like it was terrified. "Did you see that? I don't think it can swim." Which is why it was circling them. It was waiting for them to come out so that it could finish killing them.

Which Derek pointed out. "Then it's just going to keep circling the pool until we come out."

"Yeah, I figured," Stiles spat. "Where are Isaac and Boyd? Shouldn't they have noticed that you and Erica have been gone a while?"

Derek grit his teeth. "I don't know."

"Awesome," Stiles said. "Terrific. You really are off to a superb Alpha start."

"We are a pack. They will feel something is off and should come around and look eventually. Which is more than I can say for Scott and you."

Stiles glared at him. "Yeah, because you made sure they have your loyalty. It's not like you tricked them for it or anything."

"What are you talking about?"

"You know…when I was stringing Erica up at your place, something interesting happened. My hand brushed the base of her leg, by accident," he added quickly. "And I suddenly got this flash of you and Erica. In the hospital, with you running your hand over her trying to be Mr. Suave, all right after she had an embarrassing seizure in front of so many people at school." Derek glared at him but Stiles glared back. "You seduced her into saying yes to you. Manipulated her into making sure she said yes. And not just with her, right? With Isaac, I bet you told him about all of this after his dad had a rough go with him and went to Boyd in the middle of his lonely shift at the rink. After what happened to each of them why would they say no? And to think I actually defended you biting them to Scott saying it was their choice and you were manipulating their choice. So thanks, for making me look like an idiot." Stiles quickly turned his head back at him. "And say anything on that and I will let you go," he said before Derek could try and take advantage and say something witty.

Dessert was hardly any better than dinner. In the middle of it, Allison felt that it had gone on long enough. "Uh, do you mind if we're excused? There's actually some notes that I have to go over with Scott." She directed this over towards her grandfather rather than her parents.

Gerard nodded his head.

But Chris wouldn't have it. "I'm not sure it's appropriate," he said quickly.

"Okay," Gerard said looking over at Chris. "I'm the one that supposed to be old fashioned here." He then looked over and smiled at Allison. "The two of you, go," he said gesturing his head for upstairs.

Both Scott and Allison spared Chris a hard look before they went off up the stairs at a break neck pace. Allison then grabbed Scott and they both ran off into Gerard's room. They immediately started to look around for that leather book that Allison saw. Eventually, Allison's search brought her to a tarp covered safe.

"There goes that plan," she said.

Gerard would want the book safe and where better to keep it than a safe.

"No, wait," Scott said moving for it. "Let me try something."

Scott put his ear against the safe's door and then began to turn the combination dial. He focused on hearing the unlocking clicks inside the safe. When there were three, he pulled on the handle and the door opened.

"You want to do a few banks later?" Allison joked.

Scott looked inside and he found the leather bound book. He eagerly took it and opened it. But as he turned the pages, something didn't seem right. "Salmon, Mutart, Crème of Frege? What is this?"

Allison's face fell. "A recipe. It's a cookbook."

That wasn't the bestiary.

Stiles followed the movement of the creature as it kept circling them. Stiles spit out some water.

"Okay, I don't know if I can keep on doing this," he gasped out. "I have to get to that phone and call Scott for help."

"Don't even think about it," Derek coughed out.

"Can't you just trust me this once?"

"No!"

"No? Have you forgotten that I'm the one that's been keeping you alive? And I'm not even in your pack."

"Yeah, and when the paralysis wears off who's going to have the better chance at fighting that thing? You or me?"

"Seriously? That's why I've been holding you up for the past two hours?" Did Derek forget that for all of his so called power, it was he who had been paralyzed and not him?

"You don't trust me and I don't trust you but you need me to survive which is why you're not letting me go." He said giving Stiles a hard look. But then a moment later he cried "Stiles!"

Stiles had let Derek go. They couldn't afford to just wait for Derek's paralysis to wear off and Stiles was not as helpless as Derek seemed to think he was. Derek was plummeting down to the pool floor while Stiles furiously swam to his phone. He heard the creature roar and heard the sound of it running on the floor for where he was. Stiles reached the end and grabbed his phone and kicked off back into the water just as the creature made it there and miss him. Stiles let out a smile of triumph before he went and began to call for Scott.

Scott was putting the recipe book back in the safe when his phone rang.

"Shut it off," Allison hissed at him.

"Okay, I'm sorry," he said reaching for it and picked it up to stop the ringing.

"Scott!" he heard Stiles say.

"Can't talk right now," he said quickly before hanging up. He saw that Stiles had also sent a text a few hours ago and saw that it said there was nothing in Gerard's office, which he knew, so he deleted it and silenced his phone.

Stiles heard the click. "Scott?" He then looked at his screen in horror to see that Scott had hung up on him. He let out a growl as he threw his phone away and dived to retrieve Derek from the bottom.

Derek felt arms grab him and pull him up to break the surface of the water where he let out what he had been holding in and took a gasp of needed air. "Tell me you got him," he said desperately.

Stiles' silence was all the answer he needed.

Scott and Allison were silently wondering what they were going to do.

"Without it then we'll have no idea what this thing is," he said to her.

"But if it's not at school or here then where else can we look?"

"Well, what haven't we thought of?"

Allison narrowed her eyes in thought. "Maybe it's not a book. What if it's something else? Something he keeps close to him?" Allison tried to think of what else she'd seen on her grandfather other than that leather book. Something that would have what they needed. But then she had a memory flash of the drive on his keys. Her face widened. "I know what it is," she said happily.

The two of them then made their way downstairs and Scott went for his coat. "Principal Argent, Gerard," he corrected himself. "Mr. and Mrs. Argent, thank you for dinner, but I realized that I have to get going and pick up my mom from work." He then took off through the front door.

Gerard watched him go with a smile. "I don't get it. What's not to like?"

That only earned him a shrug from both Chris and Allison.

Stiles bared his teeth and found that he couldn't just keep floating around here waiting for Derek to get feeling back in his body. He didn't know how much his stamina could hold out for now that he was a werewolf but he didn't want to use now as a test run. He waited for the monster to be on the opposite side of the pool before he quickly started to swim them for the edge.

"What are you doing?" Derek coughed out. The creature caught sight of them heading for the opposite edge and then started to run off on all fours for them. Stiles threw Derek to be behind the lifeguard tower and he turned to face the creature. "You're crazy!" Derek coughed out.

Stiles kept his narrowed and focused eyes on the thing. "Come on. Come on," he said under his breath. The thing kept running until it looked ready to pounce when Stiles quickly reached down and sent a giant splash of water at the thing. The water hit it and the creature started to growl and back away as if acid had hit it instead of plain water. Stiles then ran over and sent a hard kick at its torso which sent it sliding off a bit. Stiles' eyes went to the thing's long claws. It's slimy claws. He remembered that he became paralyzed when he touched it's slime, no, it's venom. It's claws were laced with it so he had to avoid getting scratched. No, he had make sure that his skin avoided any direct contact with its venom at all costs. Then he would be paralyzed and be easy pickings.

The beast quickly got to its four feet and hopped over and stuck to the wall next to Stiles. It then whipped it's tail back and brought it forward, hard into Stiles' chest. The blow knocked Stiles off his feet and sent him backwards until he hit the ground and started to slide back a few feet. Stiles groaned as the pain spread from his chest to his arms and legs. He lifted his head and saw that the lizard creature was crawling on the wall for him and then got to the floor and then pounced for him. Stiles rolled away before it could get its claws on him. The beast quickly brought its tail up and sent it back down and Stiles rolled off again to avoid being slammed by it. He then hopped off and got to his feet to stare the thing down. It was slowly leering at him and seemed to be daring him to try to either attack or flee.

Stiles was panting a bit but it was more from fear than tiredness. His gold eyes were locked on the horror he was facing. He was officially starting to pine for the days when Peter's alpha form was the scariest thing in his life. He remembered how he and Scott were in this very school being chased by it not that long ago and had even been ready to fight against it. Together. He really wished that Scott was here right now. He knew that together they would be teaching this thing a real lesson. But, it was just him. Scott wasn't here. Then Stiles had a flash. It was of why he wasn't here. A certain fair skinned girl with dark brown, curly hair. Stiles then felt his heart grow hot and it pumped his now molten blood through all four corners of his body. It reached his fingertips and he felt them tighten as his claws came out sharper than ever. The blood flowed through his legs making them feel fresher and ready to dash. The blood rushed to his head and his fangs made themselves known. His face shifted fully and the sides of his head grew fur as his eyes burned a brighter shade of gold then ever before.

The sight of the brighter eyes seemed to set off the creature and it ran for him. It thrust it's claws but Stiles quickly backed up and turned his body. The thing's claws just narrowly avoided connecting with him. Stiles then made a swipe at the thing's back with his claws and sent it crashing for the floor. As it did, Stiles quickly sent a kick at it to make it slide away. But as it went over, its tail hooked onto Stiles ankle and pulled him off with it. Stiles was on his back and slid a bit along the floor. When they stopped sliding, Stiles kicked at the thing's tail to let go of his ankle and managed to make it loosen. Stiles moved off to the side as the creature got back on it's hind legs again.

Stiles looked around and saw that he was close to the wall. And he noticed something on the floor close by and it gave him an idea. He backed away until his back made contact and the creature made his way for him again. Stiles bared his teeth as he tensed but it was in anticipation. The thing pounced to stab Stiles with its claw and, at the last moment, he let himself fall to ground and the creature had stuck it's claw into the wall where it seemed stuck. Stiles then went and clawed it at it's face with his left hand and brought his right in for a solid punch that actually freed its claw as it was forced back. Stiles then quickly bent down to pick up what he saw. It was a five foot pole net used for cleaning the pool. He had the spear end of it pointed at the thing and he charged making it connect with it's chest. The creature dug it's hind feet into the floor and anchored it's claws to help in keeping it still but Stiles put his back into pushing on the pole. It started to drag leaving thin trails dug into the floor as Stiles tried to push it back for the pool. Its tail managed to make contact with the water and it seemed to freak. It surged with frightful adrenaline and power and pushed the pole out of the way while it ran off a bit to get away from the water.

Stiles had nearly fallen forward in surprise but still had the pole ready in his hands as he stared the thing down. It was furiously wagging its tail to get rid of the water. It let out an angry roaring snarl at Stiles who answered with a hard roar of his own.

Derek could feel some feeling returning to his body as he moved his hands to grab onto the lifeguard tower Stiles left him at and tried to pull himself to try and stand. He watched as Stiles fought the thing and while it didn't look like he was in control, he was indeed holding his own. His chances may be better than he thought but it would only be a matter of time before this thing wore him down.

Outside, Scott had pulled up in front of the school and then pulled his phone out. "Stiles," he said to leave a message since his friend wasn't picking up. "Where are you? I need Argent's keys. There's a USB drive on it. That's the bestiary!" He then hung up and ran inside. Maybe Stiles had left it in the office for Gerard to find when he left? He didn't realize that Stiles' phone was sitting helplessly on the bottom of the pool and Stiles was facing down the thing right now. Scott just ran for the office and saw that the door was left open and the keys were still in the keyhole. He went to reach for them when he heard a monstrous hiss in the distance followed by a hard wolf roar. "Stiles?" he said as he went and ran in the direction it seemed to come from.

The creature hopped for the wall and climbed it before launching itself for Stiles with its claws bared. Stiles took the pole and swung it like a bat and hit the creature at it's head. It landed on the ground and backed up a bit before it shook off Stiles' blow. It was on all fours and lowered itself a bit as a small growl leaked from its throat as it stared the boy down. Stiles spared Derek a look and saw that he was starting to try to get to his feet. That had to mean the paralysis was wearing off. He was hoping that he could hold this thing off by himself for a little bit longer.

It wasn't as long as he thought as Scott came charging into the pool, full shifted and roared at the thing. The creature's tail wagged and it grabbed onto Scott's leg and then launched him into a mirror on the wall like a shotput. The mirror cracked and shattered. The thing turned around and focused its attention on Scott now. Scott quickly reached for a piece of broken mirror and held it at the ready.

As he did the thing stopped in it's tracks. It was looking at the shard in Scott's hand with peculiarity. Scott, Stiles and Derek looked confused as it seemed to be mesmerized by what it saw. It then let out a pained hiss and then took off for the skylight on the ceiling. Scott, Stiles and Derek all stared at each other with their jaws slightly dropped. Stiles actually dropped the pole he was holding which made an echoing metallic clang when it hit the floor. He was heavily panting as everything started to catch up with him. Derek was leaning on the wall as a better bit of feeling came back to his legs. And Scott was sitting against the wall looking at that window.

Stiles went to get his laptop while Scott got the flash drive. They popped it in and looked to see hundreds of pages, but they were written on something that neither one of them understood.

"Is that even a language?" Stiles complained. He didn't want to think that he went through all of this for some prehistoric mumbo jumbo.

"How are we supposed to figure out what this thing is," Scott growled out in aggravation.

"It's called a Kanima." Derek was walking up to them with Erica who was now conscious again.

"You knew the whole time?" Stiles asked him.

"No. Only when it was confused by its own reflection," he said.

"It doesn't know what it is," Scott realized.

"Or who," Derek finished for him.

Stiles shook his head. "What else do you know?"

"Stories. Rumors," he said.

"It's like us?" asked Scott.

Derek nodded. "A shapeshifter, yes, but it's not right. It's like a-" he was having trouble finding the right word.

"An Abomination?" said Stiles. Derek nodded.

Derek was getting ready to leave but Scott stopped him. "Derek, we need to work together on this. Maybe even tell the Argents."

Derek glared at him. "You trust them?!"

"Nobody trusts anyone. That's the problem. While we're here arguing about who's on what side there's something stronger, faster and scarier than any of us and it's killing people! And we still don't even know anything about it."

Derek kept glaring at Scott before movement caught his eye. It was Stiles. He was folding his arms and glaring, but not at him and Erica. He was glaring at Scott. "I know one thing. I find it, I'm going to kill it." Derek then brought his hand out. "Stiles, he's all yours," he said before he walked off with Erica in tow.

Scott looked back to see Stiles looking at him with a small glare and had his arms crossed. Arms that he put down when Scott finished turning around. "Stiles, what-" But a punch across Scott's jaw went and cut him off. Scott took a step back from the recoil as he put the back of his palm to his bottom lip. "Stiles! What the hell!"

Stiles just kept his glare up. "You can't say that you didn't deserve that," he said to him.

"What are you talking about?"

"Where the hell were you Scott?!" Stiles all but roared at him. "And if the answer is with Allison, so help me," he said shaking his head.

Scott dropped his hand from his jaw. "Her grandfather caught me after the game and…he invited me to his house for dinner."

Stiles' jaw tightened. "And you couldn't just say no?" He didn't yell this time. It was calm and quiet but Scott felt it was even more vicious. "No, of course not. It was your big chance to be with Allison in the open. You had to take it."

"To find the book," he defended. "We thought it might be at the house."

"Well, looks like you were wrong on that one, weren't you? You couldn't have just let Allison search her own house by herself?"

"It would've been too dangerous for her."

"How?" Stiles cut in. "How would it have been dangerous? She gets caught and her dad points his finger at her and grounds her? Says she can't ever leave the house except for school and takes away her car keys. Yeah, you can't have that. How else is she supposed to go off to meet you in the woods alone at night? I practically had to pull you away from Allison the other night to pick me up after what happened to me." Stiles' pulse was rising and his insides were burning up. "It's also why you had me search for the book in Gerard's office in her place right? Couldn't risk anything happening that would keep you two from seeing each other. I mean if she gets caught, you see less of her but if I get caught then I get a bullet to the head." He shrugged his shoulders. "What's there to think about? Of course you sent me."

"That's not true!" Scott said quickly.

Stiles let out a disbelieving scoff from his throat. "Of course it is Scott. Risking my life was better to you than risking your time with Allison. I mean…did you even notice that I was missing? That I was nowhere to be found since the game started and after it finished. Before I called you, did you even give me a thought? No, because you couldn't afford to because it cut in with your time with Allison. That's why you hung up on me. I risked my life and Derek's to try and call you and all that earned me was 'Can't talk right now'?" Stiles shook his head with his eyes loosening in their glare. Scott looked a bit embarrassed now which changed Stiles' feelings. He was now more disappointed rather than angry but still that all the same. "Hell, the only reason you even came back here was because Allison finally figured out that the bestiary was in the drive on the keys in the first place. I was fighting for my life, could've been killed. We all could've been killed and you wouldn't have noticed otherwise."

Scott was looking at Stiles in shock. How could Stiles say all that to him? He was his best friend and he just said that Scott wouldn't have cared if he was dead. "Stiles, I know you're kind of angry right now. But you have to know that isn't true in the least. Things just got a little crazy tonight."

"Scott, this isn't just about tonight. This has been going on with you ever since you and Allison first met. You've been putting all of our necks on the line, endangering our secret, risking innocent lives…all to either impress Allison or to be with her. And that's what it's still about. You think I don't know what you're really trying to do? All this stuff with Derek's new pack, stopping them from getting turned or finding Lydia before the hunters…it never was for them, not really. You were trying to keep as many werewolf like problems down and out of sight because you think that if you can do it long enough then you'll somehow convince Allison's parents that it might be worth it to let you two be together after all."

"You don't understand Stiles. I'm just trying to keep everyone from killing each other."

"No you're not Scott," Stiles cut in with some bite. "You're trying to win over the Argents. Even before they found out about us you were looking for ways to suck up to them. Now that there's no chance for a cure you want to make them think that you're 'different'," he said making quotation marks with his fingers. "That you're not like the others they've seen. You even stand back and let them threaten and insult you with a grin on your face. Allison's dad threatened you and I had to step in and defend the both of us. Now there's this creature that you want to run to the Argents about because you think it will finally win you a treat? Scott, you are and will always be nothing but a dumb animal to be put down to them. I was nearly killed three times in the last week, two times belonging to the Argents, and you still want heel and curl up to those psychos because of Allison."

"No, that's not what I'm doing Stiles." Scott glared at Stiles. Glared at him for how he was mocking his feelings for Allison and twisting the situation into something that just wasn't true.

"Well I'm done," Stiles breathed out. He became calm. Saying that felt like a weight had been lifted at long last.

Scott lost the glare and his face softened as he looked as lost as he felt. "What are you talking about? What do you mean you're done?"

"I mean I'm done." Stiles then pointed at the school. "Scott, when I was fighting that thing, the Kanima, do you want to know what was going through my head? I was wishing that you were there with me. But I knew you weren't…because of Allison. And when she entered my mind, I felt this heat, like…a power surge. I never felt so strong before. Allison may be your anchor, but, it looks like she's now my trigger." Scott actually looked freaked about that and Stiles rubbed at his eyes. "So, that's it. When it comes to protecting Lydia, watching Derek and his pack and stopping that creature, fine. I'm with you. But, when it comes to Allison, her family and your relationship with them…you're on your own. I never had a problem being your wingman Scott, but I won't be your doormat." Stiles then took his laptop and headed for his jeep.

"Stiles. Stiles," Scott called out. "Stiles!"

But Stiles just kept walking on. He grit his teeth as he forced himself to just keep walking leaving Scott looking after him with a forlorn look on his face.

Scott got over to the hospital. With everything that's happened he just wanted to pick up his mother and head on home to bed to move on from this crappy day. He got out of the car and was getting ready to head on inside when he felt someone grab him from behind. He turned around in time for a knife to be jammed into his gut. He gave a yelp and squinted to see that it was Gerard.

"Don't move," Gerard said to him. "Even though I could practically feel the tissue around the blade already beginning to heal you never know with a beta," he growled. "Besides, we'd lose this perfect picture. The kind old grandfather embracing his kind hearted grandson after hearing good news from the doctor," he said leaning in to make it seem to anyone watching that they were hugging. He then twisted the knife which sent a new surge of pain through Scott's body. He had a big smile on his face as he looked down on Scott's tortured one. "That's right. I can play the nice doting grandpa that likes to cook and tell stories and be sweet and charming," he topped off with ruffling Scott's hair. "And trust me, I could do it far better than you playing the average, broken hearted teenage boy." He pushed the blade in deeper. "Are you listening?"

Scott glared at him. "Yes," he grunted.

"Perfect. Now, you're going to do me a favor one of these days and you're going to do it, because if you don't, this knife goes in her." He then looked over and Scott followed his gaze to his mother. "Scott," he said calling back his attention. "I truly believe that's it's so much easier when bad things don't have to happen to good people." He then put more pressure on the knife. "Don't you agree?"

"Yes," Scott quickly bit out.

Gerard then pulled the knife out and walked off. He acted like he hadn't just stabbed a teenage boy and even pulled his hat off to a young woman passing by. His mother walked out of the hospital and got to the car.

"Hey there," she smiled before she noticed his face. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said quickly. "Everything's fine."

His mom got in but Scott kept holding on to where Gerard had stabbed him. He watched a thick drop of his blood fell onto the pavement like a crimson tear. Followed by a few more…than a bunch as if he was a leaking pipe.