Chapter 10: Venomous part 2

Jackson and Danny were in the library as Danny worked on trying to recover the missing footage from the video. Jackson was eager to finally see what was taken. The two of them were soon joined by Matt who went and pulled up a chair.

"So, who do you know that could get into your house?" he asked as he sat down.

"You mean, like, break in?" asked Jackson.

"Or someone who has a key," Matt shrugged. "And who is able to edit out 2 hours from a tape and knows how to loop it?"

"I could do it," said Danny with a small smile. "I have the software and I know that your mom forgets to lock the kitchen door."

"I could've done it too considering that it's my camera," Matt put in. "Actually, we could've done it together."

Danny sent a smile Matt's way. They were talking as if this was all some kind of an amusing game though Jackson didn't find it funny. Though he did narrow his eyes at the way that Danny was looking at Matt.

"Alright," Matt said getting up. "I have to head to my next class but I'm still around to help if you want it."

"Definitely," Danny said to him as he left. He then looked at Jackson who went to avert his eyes though he seemed to be fighting a smirk. "What?" he asked him.

"Gotta a little crush going on there?" asked Jackson.

"No," Danny looked away. But Jackson raised an eyebrow. "Shut up." Danny said to him. "Doesn't matter anyway."

"Why's that?"

"Because, in case you hadn't noticed, he's become completely obsessed with Allison. So…whatever. Anyway this is going to take a couple of hours."

"So, you can't tell me who did the editing?" Jackson asked getting serious again.

"Is there anyone else you know that could get into your house?"

Jackson shook his head as no one seemed to come to mind until his eyes locked on the newest person to walk into the library. It was Lydia and Stiles was walking in right behind her. She went to sit down at a table and Stiles offered to take off her sweater. His eyes narrowed at Lydia. Because she had a key to his place, one that she didn't give back to him. And who was indeed smart enough to do something to the video.

"Yeah," he said looking away from her. "Actually I do."

Allison took a printed copy of the bestiary under the Kanima and gave it to Morrell. Morrell was looking at the page with quite a bit of interest.

"Do you mind me asking where you got this?" she asked Allison. "A book?"

"A…family heirloom," Allison answered.

"Interesting family," Morrell said looking back at the paper. "I'm…pretty familiar with most romance languages but…this is a little out of my reach," she said apologetically.

"Could you give it a shot?" Allison asked with sincere need. Morrell was the best place she could think of to give them what they needed to know about the Kanima.

Morrell nodded and considered the page. "Aright. Ka-ni-ma. Do I have that right?"

"Yeah," Allison nodded.

Morrell then started to translate aloud. "Like the wolf, it's power is greatest at the moon's peak. Huh…sounds like a werewolf," she laughed a bit which made Allison laugh a bit though it only lasted for about a second. "Uh, there are a few words here that I don't recognize."

"Just try," she pressed. "Please?"

"Could I…hold onto it for a bit?"

"Now is better…please." Allison pressed more.

Morrell nodded. "Alright. Okay…Like the wolf the Kanima is a social creature but where the wolf seeks a pack the Kanima seeks…a friend," she gently finished.

Allison raised her eyes in confusion. "A friend? What does that mean?"

"Maybe it's lonely," Morrell shrugged.

"Like a teenager," Allison muttered out.

It was close to three and Scott quickly left the school and headed out to the field where he could sense that Derek would be waiting. However, when he got there he only found Boyd.

"I want to talk to Derek," he barked at the new beta.

"Talk to me," said Boyd as he walked over for Scott.

"I don't want to fight," Scott spat at him.

"Good…because I'm twice the size of you," Boyd said with a small smile.

"True. Really, really true," he said looking Boyd over to see that he was in fact twice Scott's size. "But, you want to know what I think?" Boyd raised his eyebrows as he waited for Scott's answer. "I'm twice as fast." He then went and charged Boyd and successfully knocked him off his feet. Scott then quickly got to his feet with Boyd following after him.

"She failed the test," Derek said shocking Scott a bit.

"Yeah, which doesn't prove anything," Scott quickly said to him. "Lydia's different."

"I know. At night she turns into a homicidal walking snake," Derek spat at him.

"I'm not going to let you kill her," Scott told him.

But Derek raised his eyes at him. "Who said I was going to do it? It's a shame you're all alone now, isn't it Scott?" Scott just shook his head until he seemed to get what Derek meant. Isaac and Erica. Scott tried to run for the school when Boyd went and charged Scott to the ground, hard. "I don't know why you think you have to protect everyone now Scott but Lydia has killed people and she is going to kill again. And next time it's going to be one of us."

"And what if you're wrong?" he bit out.

"She was bitten by an Alpha. It's her."

"You saw that thing up close. You know it's not like us."

"But it is," Derek argued. "We're all shapeshifters. You don't know what you're dealing with. It happens rarely and it happens for a reason."

Scott's face softened a bit. "What reason?"

"Sometimes the shape you take reflects the person you are," said Derek almost like he was quoting someone else. He then went to help him to his feet. "Even Stiles calls her cold blooded."

"And Stiles says that he knows that it isn't her."

"No, he wants it not to be her. There's a difference."

That made Scott narrow his eyes. That sounded exactly like Stiles when he said that Scott wanted to trust Allison. He knew that Stiles was wrong about her. He did trust Allison and he knows that Derek is wrong now with Lydia.

"He's the only one that's actually fought against the Kanima. He knows what it feels like to be toe to toe with that thing. He doesn't just want it not to be her. He knows. He can feel it. He…trusts his instinct. Like you do." Scott said remembering what Derek told him about how he could sense that Isaac hadn't been the one to kill his father.

"And how would that be possible?" Derek tried to argue.

"Well, what if Lydia is immune? What if she has something inside of her that makes her immune to the bite which is why she didn't get paralyzed?"

"No one's immune," Derek spat out. "Never seen it or heard of it. It's…never happened."

Scott heard the hesitation. Derek was scared. Scared that Scott might be right. "And what about Jackson?" he said glaring at him. He remembered that Lydia wasn't the only one that Derek tested. Stiles had called him out for lying about why Derek tested him and now Scott knew what the lie was. "That is why you tested him, isn't it? Because you gave him what he wanted, didn't you?" he said accusingly.

"Scott," Derek started.

But Scott cut him off. "Peter told Stiles that the bite either turns you or kills you. Which is why you did it. You were probably hoping that he would die. But nothing happened to him, didn't it? Right? And you have no idea why, do you?" he said smiling a bit at Derek's discomfort.

"No," Derek finally admitted.

"Well I have a theory. Lydia's immune and somehow she passed that on to Jackson. You know I'm right!"

"No!" said Derek determined to fight Scott on this.

"You can not do this!"

"Look, I can't let her live! You should've known that!"

"I was hoping that I could convince you…but then, we weren't counting on it."

Derek was taken aback. We? But then it was his turn for his eyes to widen. He assumed that with how estranged the two of them seemed to have gotten lately that they would be both on their own. But, it seemed that even whatever personal issues were coming between them, it wouldn't stop the two of them from working together when they needed to.

Isaac and Erica were roaming the halls on the hunt for Lydia as per Derek's plan. He purposely had made it easy for Scott to spot him during Chemistry so that he would seek him out. And with he and Stiles fighting it would be easy to separate them from each other and Lydia. Isaac went and ran his claws against the lockers as he made his mind ready to use them against the girl. They moved for the Library where they heard that Lydia had headed when their noses had flared to life. They caught Lydia's scent leaving the Library and go through a door next to them. One that led to the basement. Their ears heard footsteps moving around below. They looked to each other and then went for the door and went down the stairs into the dark basement levels. Her scent was fresh and from the sounds up ahead, she was close.

Why would Lydia be heading down here?

Isaac and Erica shrugged and brought out their claws. It didn't really matter to them why. The point was that now they could do what they had to do and not worry about anyone seeing them. They sniffed the air. Lydia's scent was in the air and they followed it through a dimly lit corridor. They found it going into a dark room. The two of them went in and saw that it was an enclosed room. The room seemed to be a little messed up as if something had bounced around the walls here once. Erica stepped further in and saw that there was a sweater on a shelf. The scent was fresh. She looked back at Isaac. It was then that they both shared the same thought. But it was too late as the door shut behind him and they rushed to find that it was now blocked.

Stiles exhaled as he pushed the table to block the door. He was happy to see that it was still there. Part of Stiles wondered just how many werewolves could actually fall for the same trick. He and Scott thought that it was a nice little tactic to recycle. After he had found Lydia again, he and Scott texted each other and made a plan. The two of them had heard what Erica had said to Allison about the two of them fighting and thought that it was a useful little cover and smokescreen to use. Whether they were mad or fighting with each other, saving the people they cared about would always come before whatever was with the two of them. Luckily, Derek and his pack didn't seem to know that.

He had taken Lydia's sweater and left her in the library while he waited outside its entrance. He then put it on to both mask his scent and bait Isaac and Erica when they moved in to make their move when Scott made his to head to Derek. When he caught their scents, he moved for the basement and lured them into that room. Now they could get Lydia away from school safely and be far away by the time that Derek and Boyd found and got these two out.

Stiles shined a light through the door's window at them and gave them a wave. "Solid stone walls and a solid steel door. Guaranteed to hold even a homicidal Alpha at bay. Well, except for the roof until the school had it repaired and extra reinforced with solid concrete. Don't worry, I'm sure that Derek and Boyd will find you guys…eventually."

Isaac growled at Stiles through the door's little window before he saw him take off. Isaac backed away from the door and push at the walls and the metal shelves that where inside.

"Isaac, what's wrong with you?" Erica called out.

But Isaac just kept yelling out as he had a few flashes of the dark enclosed walls of the freezer in his basement replace the dark enclosed walls of this fortified room.

Allison had Lydia in her sights as they down the hall for the school's main doors. They were with Jackson as the two of them were practically escorting Lydia to the doors.

"Where are we going?" Lydia asked them.

"To go and study, remember?" Allison said to her.

But Lydia narrowed her eyes. "Why can't we just study in the library?"

"Oh, because we're going to meet with Scott and Stiles," she explained.

"Well…why can't they just meet us in the library?" Lydia asked her.

"Uh, Scott's out doing something and told us where to meet him and Stiles is already waiting at his car."

"What is Scott doing anyway?"

Jackson rolled his eyes and just took a firm hold on her arm. "Lydia, just shut up and walk," he told her as he almost pulled her closer to the doors.

They headed out to the parking lot and walked over to where Stiles' jeep stood. They stood there waiting for about half a minute when Stiles came running over to them, panting a bit.

"Sorry, I'm late," he said to them.

"Is everything okay?" Allison asked knowing that Stiles would get the double meaning.

Stiles spared her a small look. "Everything's fine. We should probably get moving though…to, you know, study. I want to be ready for Coach's midterm," he said smiling a little too widely at Lydia as she narrowed her eyes at them.

They all got into Stiles jeep and he carefully but quickly drove them away.

Scott had ran off from Derek and Boyd when they realized that they had been set up and was trying to make it to his house before Derek could reorganize everyone to go after Lydia. He was just outside the locker rooms when the Coach caught sight of him.

"McCall!" he shouted as Scott ran by and caused him to stop. "Get over here!"

Scott thought about just ignoring Coach and just keep running but he thought the guy sounded mad enough and he figured that he shouldn't try his luck right now. He just hoped it was fast and he moved for him.

"You know I require an explanation for this."

Coach walked over with a set of shredded and ruined pads. Scott narrowed his eyes at them. It looked like the pads had been torn apart by…claws. But those didn't look like they came from werewolf claws. It was Kanima claws. "What?" he audibly whispered as he narrowed his eyes at them.

Coach lifted them higher. "You know there are certain responsibilities of being captain of the lacrosse team."

"Co-captain," he corrected.

"Okay, partial responsibilities," Coach shrugged.

"Where'd you find these?" Scott asked taking them. For them to be shredded like this, it looked like someone was attacked. But, they didn't hear anything about someone hurt or missing. That had to mean that whoever shredded them was the one that owned them. The Kanima.

"Under the bleachers. You know, someone's going to have to pay for them."

Scott turned them over and brought two pieces together to see a name had been written on them: Mahealani. "Danny's," he said.

"Oh great," said Coach with a sarcastic smile. "Mystery solved. Why don't you tell your buddy Danny to take care of his equipment? Or I'm going to make you take care of his equipment for him," he said pointing at him chest. "Do you really want to be taking care of Danny's equipment all the time?"

Scott was taken aback. "That depends, are we still talking about lacrosse pads?"

That made Coach get taken aback as he thought more on what he just said.

Stiles drove them to Scott's house. His mother was gone already to do the night shift at the hospital which meant that they would have the house to themselves.

"If we're studying at Scott's house then where's Scott?" Lydia asked as soon as they were out of the car.

"Meeting us here," Stiles said taking her inside. "I think…I hope," he added nonchalantly.

Behind them were Allison and Jackson.

"Thanks for doing this," Allison whispered to him.

"I need to talk to her anyway," Jackson said as he followed after them into the house.

Once they were all inside, Stiles moved to completely lock and padlock the front door completely. He then went to move the curtain to look outside for a bit before he turned to face everybody. Lydia, Allison and Jackson were all giving him looks as he finished. Lydia was puzzled, Jackson was a bit freaked and Allison seemed uncomfortable.

"Uh…there's been a few break-ins around the neighborhood," he tried to shrug away at Lydia. He then went off and took a nearby chair and barred the door. When Lydia pointed to it, he answered with, "And a murder. It was bad."

Allison looked over at Jackson and silently asked him to take Lydia somewhere so that she and Stiles could be alone which Jackson was all too happy to do then.

"Lydia, follow me. I need to talk to you for a minute." He then went to head upstairs.

Lydia just let out a sigh. "Seriously? What's going on with everyone?" she asked but she followed after him nonetheless.

That left Stiles and Allison alone together and the air started to feel a little chilled. They spared each other a look before Stiles went off to resume his watch of the window by the door. Allison just decided to pace around where she was.

Jackson went and led Lydia upstairs into what was undoubtedly Scott's room. Lydia seemed confused about, well, everything but he had to get to the bottom of this. He closed the door behind him but, out of nowhere, he felt lightheaded.

"You okay?" Lydia asked him lightly. Jackson just rubbed at his temple but he did nod. Lydia then stepped closer to him. "So…?"

Jackson stopped rubbing at his head before bringing his hand to the back of his neck. "So, you never gave me back my key."

Lydia's face fell a bit. "What? Your key? That's what you wanted to talk about?" she asked with some venom leaking out of her voice.

"Why didn't you give it back?" he asked as he narrowed his eyes at her.

"Are you kidding?" Lydia was now straight up angry. "I'm attacked by some lunatic that bites me! A lunatic that by the way still hasn't been caught! I spent two days, freaked out my mind, walking around the woods naked! All of my friends are acting like total nutcases…and you expect me to be worried about some stupid key?!"

Jackson just stared at her with a hard look on his face that didn't break through any of that. "So, do you have the key or not?"

"Not," she spat at him.

Jackson's eyes then zeroed in on some sweat coming off her brow. He then heard what sounded like a distant thumping sound. Like a drum…or heartbeat. It was beating fast but stopped when she finished talking. He remembered Stiles saying something about the changes in his heart and he narrowed his eyes at her.

"You just lied to me."

That made Lydia just stare at him.

Danny was still in the library with Matt after he watched Lydia being escorted out by both Jackson and Allison a little while ago. He was overseeing the program for the footage as Matt was checking out his photos that he took during the lacrosse game.

"That's so bizarre," Matt said as he scrolled the photos.

"What?" asked Danny as he leaned in to see.

"Uh, my camera must be some kind of glitch/meltdown."

"Sun flare," Danny said as he saw the photos.

"Yeah, but it's only happening on one player. McCall," he said as he scrolled down a number of pictures that had Scott's face flaring. Matt then got up and took his bag with him. He started to look around and hoped that the guy in question hadn't left school yet. He was searching for a few minutes when the one he was looking for literally bumped into him as he seemed to be heading for where Matt just came from. "Hey McCall," he shouted to him. Scott looked over at him just in time for Matt to take his picture. "Thanks."

Scott just gave him a look and then kept walking on. He was too set on finding Danny to care what Matt was up to.

Matt watched him walk off before he looked down at the screen of his camera to see that the flare was back. Only, in the sunlight, the flare was focused right around Scott's eyes.

Scott made it to the library and found Danny at the table working. Scott took a deep breath and calmly approached him. It seemed that there might be a new suspect for the Kanima. He then went and slammed the guy's pads on the table but kept his eyes on him.

Danny looked up and his face fell in horror at the sight. "Dude, what did you do to my pads?" he asked as he turned them around in his hands.

"Me? You're the one that was wearing them?"

"No, I wasn't," Danny hissed a little heatedly.

Scott's eyes widened. "What?"

"I was in goal, remember? Different pads."

Scott's phone started ringing but he let it ring to find out more. "Then who was wearing them?"

"Someone who owes me a new set of pads," Danny huffed out.

Scott reached for his phone and saw that it was Stiles calling him. He picked it up quickly but it was Allison who answered.

"It's me," she said. She had to use Stiles phone to talk to him since she couldn't use her own.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"You need to get over here now," she said sharing a look with Stiles.

Stiles went and turned to slightly glare out the window at the sight. The sight of Derek Hale standing outside the house with his three betas.

"I'm leaving now," said Scott. "On my way."

Scott then ran out of the library leaving Danny to look over his ruined pads with regret. He was so distracted by the sight of them that he didn't see that his program had recovered some of the footage. Footage of Jackson suddenly sitting up in his bed and his eyes flared out a light reptilian yellow.

Stiles was looking out of the window at Derek and his pack. Boyd seemed to be talking with Derek but Isaac and Erica were looking out at the house with slight glares on their faces. Stiles could smell the annoyance and anger radiating off them from here. Allison also took a look and then quickly put the curtain back after a quick second.

Allison was scared. Scott was too far away to get here fast enough and the only protection that she, Lydia and Jackson had was Stiles. She then went and took out her phone.

"What are you doing?" Stiles asked after she made the first touch on her screen.

Allison looked over to him to see that his eyes were narrowed at her. She knew that he wasn't going to like it but she didn't see any other choice. "I think that…I have to call my dad," she said with a nervous wipe to her nose.

"I'm sorry. I think my hearing is acting up, because it sounds like you just said that you want to call your dad, from here, Scott's house, so that he could come here, to this house, armed to the teeth." He was glaring at her. "Not to mention that it will expose you and Scott to them."

"I know," she said back to him. "But…what can we do? They're not here to scare us…they're here to kill Lydia."

"I won't let that happen," he bit out.

"I know but I don't think you'll have a choice," she nearly cried out. "There's four of them and only one you. You can't fight all of them."

"I don't have to. I just have to hold out long enough for Scott to get here."

But Allison just shook her head. "Even if Scott does get here in time, you guys would still be outnumbered. And Derek is stronger than either of you."

Stiles saw her looking at her phone desperately. "Allison, if you call your dad, the only thing that he's going to care about is the fact that you're here and are surrounded by wolves. That's all he's going to hear before he goes off to grab the sharpest sword he could get his hands on before he and his hunters show up here to slice us in half just like your grandfather did to that other one. He and his buddies won't care about protecting Lydia, just about killing every one of us, especially Scott," he said heatedly to her.

That made Allison turn swiftly to him. "What? What happened with Gerard?"

Stiles' face loosened a bit. "What? You don't know?" There was a pause that told Stiles that she really didn't. "Gerard, your father, and their hunters strung up the werewolf Scott found and he then cut it in half with a swing of his sword."

That seemed to make Allison put down her phone. Stiles didn't get much of a chance to think more on this as his nose picked up something. It was…sadness. And bitter anger. He focused and found that it seemed to be coming from upstairs. It was Lydia and Jackson. Something big was going down with them. Stiles didn't think it was a mystery which was the one that was giving off the sadness and which one was giving off the anger.

"Where's my key Lydia?" Jackson asked her again as he paced for her but she just turned to face away from him. "Hmm…it was you, wasn't it? You edited the tape."

"What tape?" she asked as she let out a small sniffle from her nose.

"The night of the full moon," he said heated and pointedly. "The recording. You came into my house, into my room, and you saw what was happening to me." He started to circle her. "So you took the tape from the camera and you edited out the most important part." He was so angry that he could hardly string the words to be steady. He then started to circle her again "I don't know why. Maybe because you wanted to take that from me? My moment, like you take everything." But he took a breath and tried to settle himself. "Or maybe you thought you were protecting me? But, it was you. Wasn't it?"

Lydia finally turned to face him as Jackson saw that there were dry tears on her face.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said with her voice cracking. "But, if you need it so badly…fine."

She then reached for her neck and pulled out a key attached to a chain that she was wearing around her neck. His key. She had worn it around her neck the entire time. Jackson watched as she took it off and held it out to him. Jackson went and extended his hand and Lydia went to slam it into his palm. Jackson slowly took the key and gave it a look. The sight of it on the chain seemed to make all the anger and spite he felt disappear in a flash. Now he felt…low.

"I hate you," she said to him. "I hate you so much," she said with her voice cracking through the tears.

Jackson shook his head. "No," he managed to say lightly. "No you don't."

"I should! I should hate you!" she spat out angrily. Her eyes started to cry even harder and Jackson went to wipe the tears away but Lydia turned her head. "Don't," she tried to edge away from him.

"Lydia," he said simply to make her stop and look back at him.

The two of them looked at each other with forlorn looks on their faces before they slowly leaned in for each other. It had been a while but their lips moved against each other like no time had passed at all. Their hands moved to where the other knew that they liked them as if by muscle memory. The two of them felt content with each other, more content than the two of them had been feeling for weeks.

When Lydia went to run her hands down the back of Jackson's neck, she moved his collar to expose a layer of dark green scales that were trying to push their way to the surface.

Downstairs, Stiles and Allison were still observing the pack standing outside. Allison had put her phone away but then replaced it with her crossbow which she had locked and loaded and was pointing down at the floor. The sight seemed to spark something in Stiles.

"I have an idea," he said to her. "Shoot one of them."

Allison eyes rose at him. "Are you serious?"

"Yes. You told Scott that you could protect yourself. That he didn't have to worry about you. Now's your chance to prove it…unless you were just saying that," he said narrowing his eyes a bit.

"I wasn't," she quickly answered back.

"Okay then," he nodded to her. "Look, they're out there right now probably thinking that we won't fight back until Scott gets back. Or probably think that we can't with Lydia here. But, if they see that we can and one of them is hit with an arrow, I guarantee that at least Derek's betas will take off." Isaac, Erica and Boyd were still new to this and haven't been shot at yet. The three of them had been walking and talking a big game but from what he and Scott had seen of them, they underestimated how serious things around them could get. And, from his and Scott's actions today, they weren't too smart. And from their long and disastrous time at the pool, Derek hadn't been doing a good job in directing them and being an effective leader. "It might get Derek to take off too to try and go after them when they run. So, shoot one of them."

Allison saw that Stiles seemed pretty confident and sure about this move. He wasn't showing any kind of hesitation or doubt and that seemed to make her nerves loosen. "Okay." She took a breath and headed for the window with her hands gripping her crossbow more confidently. She then pulled the curtain back. "Which one?"

Stiles dropped his head to think. "Any of the betas. Derek would be my first choice but that might not work. I'm pretty sure that Scott and I could catch one of your arrows so Derek definitely could too. Safe bet is one of the others. Pick the closest one and shoot them, but in a more effective place than the bottom of the leg. It has to look scary and exposed enough to get the others to scatter," he directed her. "Try to get them at the shoulder. It's a good spot to scare the three of them."

But Allison backed her head a bit. "You mean two."

"No, I mean three," he said making his way to the curtain. But he saw that Allison was right. There were only two out there with Derek. Erica and Boyd. "Where the hell is Isaac?" he spat out.

Allison didn't know but she saw that there was an opening. She aimed her crossbow to aim it for Boyd. He was the logical choice since he was the newest. Her back was turned to someone that was approaching her from behind. It was Isaac and he started to reach for her but his hand was then grabbed. It was Stiles and that made Allison turn around to see that he had caught and kept Isaac from touching her.

"You call that sneaking?" he hissed at Isaac. "Squeaky shoes."

Isaac then let out a yell as he charged into Stiles and they fell off their feet and rolled into the next room. They separated and stared each other down. Isaac made his eyes flare at him. "I'm going to kill you for that thing at the school," he said to him. "And Derek's not around to help this time."

Stiles just let a chuckle loose at him. He then let his own eyes burn gold themselves and his fangs show a bit. "Right. He's not here to help this time," he said sparing Allison a look before he locked eyes with Isaac.

The two of them then ran for each other, their claws out and ready. They crashed into each other and started to roll around and push each other against the walls or the floor as they tried to beat the other down.

Jackson and Lydia's private moment was then broken by the sound of things being tossed around and the sound of glass or china breaking from downstairs. They separated and Lydia went for the door.

"What was that?" she asked. Lydia went to the door and opened it to stick her head out to see what was going on.

But Jackson felt himself starting to get stiff. The feeling went to the back of his neck and he started getting hot. He reached for his neck when his knees suddenly gave and he fell to the floor. Jackson's eyes were shut as a hard pain started to travel down his spine and spread to all corners of his body. Lydia didn't notice because she was out of the room and making her way down the hall. She stepped for the stairs lightly as the sound of…growling started to be heard. There was heavy pounding and the growls seemed to get deeper. To her it sounded like animals were fighting downstairs.

"What's happening?" she cried out softly.

But before Lydia could reach the stairs to look down them, Allison appeared at the top and held her hands out to her. "Stay back," she loudly whispered to her. "Someone's trying to break in," she explained. "Go, Lydia Go!" she said to her before she took off back downstairs.

Lydia let out a small whimper before she backed away and headed back into the room. She shut the door behind her but found the room was empty. "Jackson?!" she cried out. She looked around and noticed that there was an open window. Lydia then went off into the bathroom and locked the door behind her. The sound of hard movement could be heard behind the door and Lydia went for her phone and immediately dialed 911. "Hello," she cried when she got through. "I need the police," she lightly cried as the thumping got louder.

Allison went into the room and bolted it closed. Her crossbow was still locked and loaded as her eyes went to the window sill. She then brought it up. "Stiles!" she called out. "It's here." The window had traces of that same clear liquid that Scott had told her about. The one that came from the Kanima's claws which paralyzed people with a touch. That gave her an idea.

Lydia quietly listened from the bathroom to what Allison just said. She even heard the door being kicked in.

Erica had kicked it open and was now facing Allison who aimed her crossbow at her. It had an aiming laser built into it and Erica looked down to see that Allison had it aimed below her left collar bone. That only made Erica snort.

"This may make me sound like kind of a bitch," she said as she folded her arms at her. "But I've always wondered what it feels like to steal someone's boyfriend. I bet it's a pretty sick rush of power…I think I might try it with Scott," she said with some laughs at the end of it. "You know, I don't think it's going to be that hard…because why would he be waiting around to steal ten minutes with you when he could have me anytime he wants?" That made Allison finally shoot the arrow but Erica quickly turned to the side and caught it in mid-air. Erica just laughed. "You didn't really think that would work did you?"

But Allison just retracted her bow arm and stared back at her unflinchingly. "Actually, I did."

Erica then looked over at the arrow and felt something rubbing against her fingers. She took the arrow away from her palm to see that her hand was now coated with something. It quickly became apparent to her a second before her legs went numb and she fell to the floor completely paralyzed.

Allison went over and kneeled down to her and pushed some stray hairs from Erica's face. "I thought you were psychic…bitch." She then took off leaving Erica on the floor, unable to move anything but her eyes.

Allison went off to try to find Stiles when another figure emerged from down the hall. She had her bow ready to shoot when the figure held up their hands.

"Whoa." It was Scott. "I know I'm a little late but I don't think that's call for you to shoot me."

That made Allison run to him and give him a hug. "You're here."

"Of course," he said before they separated. "Where's Lydia?"

"Safe," she said looking back in the direction of Scott's room. "Wait, Stiles. He was fighting Isaac."

Scott's face widened and the two of them ran down the stairs for the living room to see that there were a pair of feet visible behind a turned over couch. They ran to them, thinking it was Stiles but froze when they saw that they belonged to Isaac. He was face down and looked like he out cold. They heard a crunching sound and turned to see Stiles sitting off at the kitchen, calmly eating an apple. "Hope you don't mind but I haven't really eaten anything all day," he said with small smile on him as he chewed.

That made Scott roll his eyes while he shook his head but his lips curved into a small smile nonetheless.

"What now?" Allison asked them. "Derek's still outside."

Stiles got up and walked over to look down at the unconscious werewolf. "Scott, doesn't your mom keep badgering you to not let the trash just sit around and to take it out?"

Scott nodded at that with a hard look on his face.

Outside, Derek and Boyd were watching the house as suddenly there was the heavy sound of new pounding and things being pushed aside and squeaking against the floors. The lights inside the house went off and that made Derek smile. The front door then opened and then two bodies flew out the door and landed on the front lawn. It was Isaac and Erica with one knocked out and the other unable to move at all. Boyd took a step back in surprise. Derek's smile fell at the sight as he let a frustrated puff loose as he looked up back at the house.

Scott, Stiles and Allison made their way out of the house. All three of them didn't look any worse for wear as they stared Derek down.

Derek took the sight in and smiled a bit. Scott, Stiles and Allison. There were clearly things going on between all three of them but they were able to put it aside to protect someone that all three cared about. "You know…I think I'm finally getting why you boys keep refusing me. Scott. Stiles. You two aren't Omegas after all. You already have your own pack. A little hard to see who the Alpha is though." That made Scott and Stiles look at each other for a moment before they looked back at him. "Still…you can't beat me," he finished with a confident smile.

Scott was glaring at him. "No…but we can hold you off until the cops get here."

Derek looked off into the distance as his ears picked up the faint but incoming sound of police sirens.

"My dad and his deputies…their timing is impeccable, isn't it?" Stiles said as he stared back at Derek and Boyd with focus.

But then there was scratching heard above them followed by some thumping. Scott, Stiles and Allison ran out into the lawn as they looked up to the roof of the house. A moment later, the Kanima slowly came into view as it crawled to the edge. It then looked down at all of them and then let a hard hissing roar at them. It made all of them tense before it went and ran off.

Derek glared at the spot where the Kanima had been before looking down at his two indisposed betas. "Get them out of here," he said to his only beta still standing.

Then, more steps were heard towards the front door as Lydia stomped out and looked to all of them. "Would someone please tell me what the Hell is going on?!" she snapped.

The sight of her made everyone freeze up. The Kanima hadn't been her after all. But to Scott, Stiles and Allison, that meant that there was only one other person that it could be who had been with them but was now gone.

"It's Jackson," Scott lightly breathed out.

Off by the side of the road was a car parked. On its back bumper was a sticker that read: Imagination is more important than Knowledge. The Kanima started to crawl for the driver's side window and looked inside. It went and put its clawed hand to the glass which was then joined by a gloved hand on the other side. The Kanima stared at it for a moment before it let out a roar and ran off into the trees. The car then started up and drove off.