Chapter 11: Frenemy

During the night of the full moon, Jackson had readied his camera so that he could have the moment he first turned captured and preserved forever. He had gone to sleep with high hopes of looking strong and impressive. Himself with a werewolf's sharp claws, fangs and bright golden eyes that toppled those of either Scott McCall or Stiles Stilinski. That was his final set of thoughts before he let sleep take him.

When the moon was at its peak, his body rose with it, but he hadn't shifted into a werewolf. Jackson's body started to thrash around and shake uncontrollably. His face started to be overcome with reptilian scales and his eyes were yellow and slitted. The camera had caught the grotesque thing that Jackson was becoming before he had run off into the night.

That footage had been edited and looped by someone to hide what had happened, until Danny had finished using the program to recover it. He sent Jackson a text message about recovering it before he put the tablet in the trunk of his car.

Scott and Stiles had gone off to try to track Jackson down leaving Allison to drive Lydia and drop her off at her house. They arrived and Allison took a deep breath but Lydia wasn't leaving the car. She just stared at Allison with wide eyes, freaked out about the things that happened tonight.

Allison steadied herself before she looked over to her friend. "I need you…to promise that you won't say anything about what just happened."

Lydia stared back at Allison with a hard look. "I promise that I won't say anything about what happened if you'll tell me what the hell just happened!"

"Uh, it's kind of complicated."

"Well, how about you start with…why was Derek there? Or where Jackson went? Or what is wrong with Erica?" Allison just looked away. "Oh, do you need a minute to come up with a plausible lie?"

"Part of the reason that I'm asking is because Scott and I aren't supposed to be seeing each other, okay? So, it's better if you keep what you know to yourself."

"Fine…I'll keep what I know about you and your boyfriend…which is nothing, to myself." She then started to get out of the car.

"Hey," Allison said stopping her by putting her hand to her shoulder. "He's not just my boyfriend. You get that, right?"

"Let me go," Lydia said to her.

"Just wait a second. Just try to remember-"

"Remember what?!" Lydia said cutting in.

"Remember what it feels like…all of those times in school when you see him standing down the hall and…you cannot breathe until you're with him. Or, those times in class when you can't stop looking at the clock because you know that he is standing out there waiting for you. Don't you remember what that was like?"

Lydia just silently stared back at her. "No," she muttered after a moment.

"What do you 'no'? You've had boyfriends."

Lydia just shook her head. "Not like that," she gasped out before she went and left the car.

Allison's eyes followed her as she went to her front door.

Derek had taken off after the Kanima on foot after he told Boyd to take Isaac and Erica back to his lair at the train depot. He had sight of it as it ran down the industrial part of the town. Derek was fast but this thing was fast as well and he was barely able to keep it in his line of sight. Derek followed the trail until he seemed to have lost it underneath the highway. He couldn't see the Kanima anywhere until he heard something land a bit behind him. He turned to see the Kanima there, and it hissed at him. Derek let out a growl back at it. It then charged in to attack.

Not too far away, Scott and Stiles were in Stiles' jeep in pursuit. However, Stiles had to stop when there were tire spikes set up ahead.

'Damn', Stiles thought. "What do we do now?" he said turning to Scott but finding the spot empty. He looked up ahead to see Scott was scaling the fence and running off the rest of the way on foot. "Okay, you do that," he mumbled before he reversed the car and went to go around.

Derek backed away to avoid when the Kanima struck at him with his claws. Thanks to its little scuffle with Stiles at the pool, Derek had an idea of how the thing moved and fought. He had to be quick and careful to avoid its claws as the Kanima always seemed deadset to try to deploy its paralyzing venom at any chance it got to immobilize its opponent. Using a tactic he saw Stiles use, he backed up into a column and waited for the Kanima to strike before he moved out of the way and it made its claws break into the column to trap it. Derek went to take its head and slammed it as hard as he could against the column. It was hardly fazed by it as it took its tail and hooked onto Derek's leg and pulled on it making him drop down onto his back. The Kanima then pulled its claws free and started to turn around and was hissing as it tried to bare down on him. This thing seemed to take pain a lot better than Derek originally thought.

Derek quickly picked up a stray piece of a damaged car door and used it as a shield as the Kanima repeatedly tried to scratch Derek and paralyze him. Derek was then forced into another column as the Kanima went and roared in his face. Derek roared back and put his full Alpha strength into pushing the thing down. The Kanima ran for the column and started to climb it to the top of the underpath. He also remembered that it was a good climber which it used to try to gain maneuverability and speed during its fight with Stiles in the pool. It used it here to try to confuse Derek as it moved around above him. No doubt it would soon jump down at Derek to try and claws him like it did against Stiles. The Kanima managed to cut into some of the electrical wiring running up there causing a great flash of light and sparks that blinded the Alpha for a moment. A moment that the Kanima used to drop down and grab Derek and throw him off to the side. It seemed to be a bit smarter than he thought too.

However, at the next moment, a pair of bright headlights lit the area and had the Kanima look at the new arrival. Chris Argent got out of the car and immediately emptied a while clip of bullets at its torso. The Kanima faltered with each bullet it got hit with before it finally fell to the ground. The lizard lay motionless, seemingly dead. The hunter then looked around and saw that Derek had disappeared. Chris tried to see where he could've taken off to but felt something tingle on the back of his spine. He turned around to see the Kanima standing there, completely fine. He tried to shoot again but he was empty. Chris tried to quickly reload but the Kanima went and struck him and he went and collided with one of the pillars as he dropped his gun. He opened his eyes to see that the Kanima was now staring down his father who had gotten out of the car.

Gerard and the Kanima were now face to face. Neither one of them seemed to be waiting to make a blow or intimidate the other. They were just staring at each other, as if contemplating the other on some kind of deep level. The staring was stopped when something went and collided with the creature. It was Scott and he stared the thing down until it just took off. Scott then turned to give Gerard a look before he went and ran off after the Kanima himself.

Stiles heard the roar and quickly sped his car off to follow after it. His ears started to zoom in on the sound of its claws hitting the pavement as it ran and he followed after it. However, that sound was soon covered up by the sound of many voices and the distant thump of music. He drove up a little closer and saw that the noise was from a club called Jungle. He parked his jeep a little off to the side and then got out to try and track it on foot. He headed for the back of the club when his nose picked up a familiar scent. He followed it to see Scott looking around the corner at the entrance of the club and tapped his shoulder.

Scott flipped and jumped from that and Stiles quickly held his hands up. "Sorry. Sorry," he said to him. It was obvious that Scott had tense from trying to chase after the Kanima. Scott just let out a breath of relief. "Did you see where it went?" he asked.

Scott shook his head. "No. I lost him."

Stiles sniffed the air. "Did you catch a scent? Back at the pool, all I could smell was the chlorine from the water."

"No," Scott gasped out. "I don't think he has one."

Stiles exhaled deeply. That would make finding it even harder. "I heard it heading this way but I lost it with all the noise going on around here. Any idea where he's going?"

Scott caught his eyes. "To kill someone."

"Oh…that explains the claws, fangs and all of that. Makes perfect sense. Thanks for clearing it up for me buddy." That made Scott give him an aggravated look. "Scott, c'mon. This isn't exactly a leisure time right now. Sarcasm is my preferred coping mechanism."

"Just help me find it," he huffed out.

"Not 'it'. Jackson."

"Yeah, I know."

"But does 'he' know that? Do you think that Derek or the rest of his pack knew that he was at your house?" The last thing they needed was for Derek and his pack to put them all through that again.

Scott shook his head. "No, I don't think so. Besides, he already passed Derek's test anyways."

"Yeah, but that's the thing. How did he pass the test?" Stiles thought it weird that Jackson's own venom paralyzed him and yet it didn't do anything to Lydia which is what made her the suspect for the Kanima over him in the first place.

"I don't know," Scott breathed.

"Well…maybe it's an either/or thing?" Scott looked back at him with narrowed eyes. "Derek said that a snake can't be poisoned by its own venom, right? When's the Kanima not the Kanima?"

Scott looked off. "When it's Jackson," he answered lightly.

Scott then looked back to see all the people letting into the club while Stiles let his eyes wander before his ears picked up a light scratching overhead. He looked up and then tapped Scott's shoulder.

"Dude…I think I found him."

Scott looked up to see the Kanima's tail disappear into an open high window. "He's inside."

"But what the hell is he going to do? Why come here anyway?"

Scott shook his head before he froze. "I know who he's after."

Stiles looked down to him. "How? Why, did you smell something?"

"Armani," Scott said softly.

Stiles then followed Scott's line of sight to see Danny entering the club's front entrance. The two of them walked around, trying to find another way in when they came upon the back door. Stiles went and put his ear through the door.

"No one's watching it," he said. "You want to do the honors?" he said as he backed away from the door and gestured to the doorknob. Scott then went and ripped it off and handed it to Stiles before he walked on in. "Nice," Stiles said before he let the door handle fall to the ground and walked in after him and closed the door.

The entire club was buzzing with noise and flashing lights. Scott looked around at all the people dancing, with clothes or half-naked and something about them all stood out to him.

"Dude, everyone here's a dude!" he called out to Stiles. "I think we're in a gay club!"

He then looked over to see that Stiles was being fondled by three cross dressers.

Stiles just looked at him with narrowed eyes. "Wow, nothing gets passed those teen werewolf senses, huh Scott?" His tone was laced with more sarcasm.

Danny was off at the bar buying himself a drink as he turned around to see his boyfriend on the dance floor. He was dancing with someone else and made a point to look at him straight in the eye. That only made Danny turn his back to them and look away.

"You're better off without him," the bartender said to him.

"Still doesn't feel good," he said swirling the glass in his hand.

"You know what will feel good? That guy," the bartender said as he pointed to a good looking guy dancing off by himself not too far away.

Danny smiled at the sight of him and decided to go over to him. The bartender was soon joined by Scott and Stiles.

"Two beers," Stiles called out as they settled in.

"ID's," the bartender said to them. Scott and Stiles brought out their wallets and took out their driver's licenses. The bartender looked at them and raised an eyebrow. "How about two cokes?"

"Rum and cokes? Sure!" Stiles said shrugging his shoulders and let his head move with the music. "Don't let the look fool ya. We could hold our liquor, right?" he said to Scott as the memory of the Jack in the woods came back to them. But the bartender just stared at him. "Just cokes fine," he said giving up.

Soon a drink was put in front of Scott by a different, shirtless, bartender. "That one's paid for." He then looked off to point out a guy further down the bar who raised a bottle off to Scott with a flirting kind of smile.

That got Scott to give Stiles a sort of smug smile while he rolled his eyes.

"Oh shut up," Stiles said going for his coke.

"I didn't say anything," Scott said with a smile.

"Well, your face did." Stiles then turned and took a sip from his cups as his eyes scanned the dance floor. They then zeroed in on who they were looking for. "Scott, I found Danny."

Scott was looking up though. "And I found Jackson."

On the ceiling was the Kanima, stealthily climbing through the fixtures and lights, right above where Danny was dancing. The Kamina was leering down on him as if it was a lion about to pounce on a gazelle.

"Get Danny," Scott breathed out.

"Right. What about you?" Stiles breathed out. Scott just brought out his claws which made Stiles' eyes harden. "Works for me."

The two of them then headed into the dance floor. Scott was pacing into it but keeping his gaze up on the ceiling trying to keep on Jackson. He didn't seem to notice that it had been made and Scott just hoped that Stiles could get Danny out of there without it dropping into sight of all of these people. Stiles was trying to push on through the sea of people to get to Danny before Jackson could make a move on him. He remembered how that was like from his previous fight with the Kanima and had to get the guy out of there fast. But, the people were dancing wildly with each other and started to cut Stiles' sight from staying with Danny. As for Jackson, one of his claws went and hit the smoke machines on the ceiling and started to cover it from Scott's line of sight as well. Then more smoke started to leak out into the club space. Scott looked around but couldn't find where the Kamina had gone. Stiles was being tossed and turned around and couldn't find Danny anywhere either.

With the smoke starting to seep onto the dance floor, all Scott and Stiles could make out was the dark outlines of people and the beams of light pushing through from overhead. They couldn't see that the Kanima was now stalking its prey with no danger to itself at all and was starting to move amongst the people on the floor. But their ears were able to pick up the sickening thud of a body hitting the floor along with that hissing roar that they had, unfortunately, become accustomed to. One by one, more thuds followed as the Kanima started to scratch and paralyze the clubbers as it made its way to Danny. Until finally Danny too was attacked and he was paralyzed.

"Jackson!" Scott roared out.

Stiles' nostrils flared as a certain familiar scent made itself known. "Scott!" Stiles called out. "We've got company!"

Scott saw what he meant when two red dots appeared through the smoke. The eyes of an Alpha. Derek. "No, don't!" he cried out to try and stop him.

But Derek roared and shifted as he went in to attack the Kanima. He clawed at its shoulder which made it drop down a bit. The screech from it made the clubbers start to panic and shout out in fright. Derek went in to try and go for another attack but a clawed hand grabbed onto Derek's wrist.

"Not here you idiot!" Stiles spat at him before he took his other hand and threw a punch at Derek's jaw.

Derek's face shifted back to normal as he saw Stiles eyes let a faint yellow glow before he faded into the smoke. Derek tried to go after him but instead grabbed onto one of the partygoers. The guy gave him a look which made him quickly let the guy go. The smoke was starting to dissipate and the dance floor started to clear giving everyone a clear view of the bodies on the floor. Derek looked around but saw no sign of Stiles, Scott or the Kanima anywhere.

Scott moved out through the back door where he and Stiles had sneaked in and moved for the parking lot. His nose flared as the smell of fresh blood hit him and he saw that there was a splatter of it on the floor that went off like a trail. He quickly but carefully followed after it until he came upon a naked but human Jackson passed out on the ground.

Stiles also sneaked out of the club with the screams and voices of the people following after him when he also picked up the smell of blood. He ran to it and caught Scott's scent as well. He took off double time and he came across Scott kneeling over Jackson in the parking lot. Scott looked up at him and Stiles looked down at him, with the same panicked looks on each other's faces.

"What do we do with him now?" Scott asked.

That was the question indeed.

Lydia was stepping out onto her back porch with her dog in her arms. She gave him a soft kiss on the side of his head before she let him go to go and run off into the shrubbery. She then took a deep breath and just stared out. After a while she looked off to the open gate for any sign of her dog.

"Let's go Prada!" she called out. "You're all but six pounds," she added lightly. "Can't be that much to come out of you." She then started to cross her arms. "Prada, let's go!" But her dog still wasn't coming back. "Prada?" she called out softly. Lydia then started to walk off for the gate to see what was taking her dog so long. She started to call her dog's name, repeatedly and with a shaking voice before her dog emerged in the arms of someone.

"Lose something?" he said.

It was the boy from school that she had been noticing looking at her. He handed Prada to Lydia who went and tossed him inside. The guy was leaning on one of the support beams outside and Lydia walked over to be face to face with him.

"So, should I call the police or is there a non-rapist explanation of why you're in my yard in the middle of the night?" she said teasingly.

"I heard him barking," he started to explain. "And I live in the house…back there. Is that okay or should I start running?" he asked back in the same teasing tone.

That only made Lydia smile a bit. "Well…thanks for bringing him back."

She then started to move back inside but the guy stopped her.

"Anything okay?" he asked her.

Lydia looked back at him. "Okay meaning what?"

"Meaning…are you alright?"

"Meaning the other day in class?" she asked remembering that he was one of the few that didn't outright laugh at her. The guy just shrugged which seemed to make her mad. "I'm not crazy," she spat defensively. "I may be the girl that sleepwalks naked and writes backwards on the chalkboard but at least I'm not one of those Vicodin popping wrist cutting girls at school."

That made the guy smirk. "Oh? Is that what the other girls are like?" He then moved in a little closer to her but Lydia backed up a bit until her back hit the beam behind her. He froze. "Why'd you do that?"

"Do what?" she asked wide eyed.

"You…stepped back."

Her head went to the side. "You stepped forward," she pointed out.

"Maybe, I wanted to kiss you?" he shrugged.

Lydia shook her head. "Maybe I don't want you to."

"Does that mean…maybe I could?"

Lydia smiled at him. "If you want me to punch you in the throat."

The guy scoffed at that. "Could I…hold your hand?"

And that made Lydia chuckle a bit. "What am I, nine years old?" She rolled her eyes and headed back inside.

But the guy reached for the pillar where there was a vine growing and plucked something from it. "Could I give you a flower?" he said holding out a small purple one. Lydia went to reach for it but he pulled it back. "Promise to keep it? If I ask you tomorrow if you have it and you say no, then I'm going to be really hurt."

Lydia then took it from him. "Well, if I don't, I'll lie."

She left him with that as she rushed on inside.

Danny was loaded onto a stretcher and being pulled out by the EMT's when Scott went and jumped on down to be next to him.

"Danny," he breathed.

"McCall?" Danny slurred out. "What are you doing here?"

"Just, uh, seeing if you're okay. And…wondering if anything weird happened to you today? Besides being paralyzed from the neck down," he added quickly.

One of the EMT's cut in. "Sorry, but we need him at the hospital."

"Just one more question," he insisted. "One." He then looked down at Danny. "Are you okay?"

Danny gave him a look. "Did it happen to my ex too?"

Scott looked back and saw that Danny's ex-boyfriend was also being loaded into an ambulance because he was paralyzed. "Yeah," he said to him.

Danny smiled. "Then I'm great," he said making Scott laugh a bit.

Scott looked off and saw that Stiles had pulled his jeep up a short distance away and quickly went for it.

"Well?" Stiles said as he came in.

"Couldn't get anything out of Danny."

"Well then could we get the hell out of here before my dad's deputy sees me?" he said frantic. With all of these instances of Stiles being around during the attacks and recently the call at a disturbance at Scott's house, the last thing he needed was for him to be caught at another scene with Scott and Jackson knocked out in the back of his jeep. Before he could start the car, his dad's personal squad car pulled up directly in his jeep's line of sight and blared its siren out at him. "Oh my god. Oh my god! Could this get any worse?" he spat out. But then Jackson let out a moan in the back, a sign that he was coming too. "That was rhetorical!" he shouted.

Scott shook his head and pointed to the sheriff. "Get rid of him."

Stiles' eyes widened. "Get rid of him? We're at a crime scene and he's the sheriff," he reminded Scott.

Now Scott was starting to fidget in his seat. "Do something!" he cried desperately.

Stiles then pointed behind him. "Keep him out of sight," he said before getting out of the car just as his dad came out of his own car. "Hey," he said to him.

Jackson started to move to sit up but Scott went and pushed him down as he tried to shush him.

"What are you doing here?" Stiles dad said as they came up to each other.

Stiles seemed taken aback. "What do you mean what am I doing here?" He then gestured to the Jungle. "It's a club. We were clubbing. At the club."

The sheriff gave the Jungle a hard look. "Not exactly your type of club."

"Uh…well dad, there's a conversation that I think we need to-"

"You're not gay," he cut him off.

Stiles gave him a look. "I could be," he said sounding a little offended.

But his dad shook his head. "Not dressed like that."

Stiles then looked at his clothes. "What's-" But he stopped right there when his dad seemed to be heading for his jeep and Stiles stepped in his way.

Back in the jeep, Jackson was moaning again and Scott bared his teeth. "Jackson, be quiet!" he hissed at him.

"This is the third crime scene that you just happen to stumble on, not to mention the craziness from those murders a while back that you seemed to have been diving into" the sheriff said to Stiles with narrow eyes making Stiles freeze up a bit. "At this point, I've been fed so many lies and stories I'm not even sure that I recognize the kid standing in front of me anymore! Now what the hell is going on?!"

Scott flinched at the bite coming from Stiles' dad and he could hear his friend's pulse start to rise a bit. His own went up a smidge when Jackson started moaning again.

"What's going on?" Jackson mumbled as he started to come to.

"Jackson, I'm sorry but-" Scott left it at that before he went and punched Jackson, knocking him out. He then turned around to look back at Stiles and his dad. Just in time as the sheriff looked over at him and Scott gave him a small wave and a nervous smile.

Stiles cleared his throat. "Dad, I-"

"The truth, Stiles!" The sheriff was all but glaring at his son.

Stiles found the claws extend from his fingertips as he clenched his hands into fists and dug them into his palms. "The truth? Alright, uh." He bit the inside of his jaw as his eyes caught sight of the ambulance that Danny was loaded into. He then released his hands from their clenching and rubbed at them to try and wipe the small bit of blood on them as he felt the skin of his hand healing already. "The truth is that we were here with Danny," he breathed out. "He…just broke up with his boyfriend so Scott and I thought we would try and, you know, take him out and get his mind off things. That's it," he finished with a shrug of his shoulders.

Stiles looked his dad in the eye and he could smell the anger in his dad ebb away and be replaced with some compassion. "That was real good of you guys," his dad ended up saying softly to him. Stiles let a small smile loose. "You're good friends."

Scott heard and sensed everything between the two of them and let a breath loose. He could feel that Stiles had started to tense up and even smelled a bit of blood coming off him but he was relieved that Stiles managed to handle it. He knew that it couldn't have been easy for Stiles to do, but he did it.

Stiles started to back away from his dad but not before giving him a wider smile and a little enthusiastic send off before he headed for his jeep and his dad went off to the crime scene. Stiles got into the jeep and then quickly started the engine and drove them off. The jeep passed Chris Argent as he was walking to his SUV with his father waiting inside.

"Seven paralyzed," Chris said as he got in. "The rumor is drugs. Probably hallucinogens since witnesses say that they saw a demonic monster on the dance floor."

Gerard smiled. "Now who would believe something like that?"

"You know what I'm having trouble believing? How you could just stand there while that thing circled you and you did nothing. You want to explain that to me?" His tone was soft but it didn't disguise the bite behind it.

"Intuition," Gerard said simply.

"Then you know what it is?"

"I have a suspicion," he said before reaching into his pocket for his pill case. "And if I'm right then it plays by certain rules. Rules that don't bend easily." He then swallowed his pills.

"Do we need to put a hold on Derek to figure this thing out?"

But Gerard shook his head. "Not necessarily. Tonight's the first time that you had a glimpse of him since Kate died. Am I right?"

Chris tensed. "Unfortunately."

"And the only other tie we have to him is Isaac Lahey since we are sure that Stilinski, while he did help in exonerating him and pinning everything on Kate, isn't with Derek, am I right?"

"What are you thinking?" Chris asked softly.

"I think that if this thing bothers Derek enough to bring him out of his little hole then we might have an opportunity. What did I teach you is the best way to eliminate a threat?"

Chris let a grin appear. "Get someone to do it for you."

The jeep rushed through the empty road as the two teen wolves were debating on where to head with their 'guest'.

"What about your house?" Stiles asked.

"Not with my mom there," Scott shrieked. "We…need to take him somewhere where we could hold him long enough to figure out what to do with him. Or long enough to convince him he's dangerous."

Figure out what to do? What could they do? The one that killed the hunter and the mechanic, as well as attacked him and Derek at the pool was laying right behind them. As for convincing him that he was dangerous part, it was Jackson. That was explanation enough. Even so, that doesn't change the fact that they now had the Kanima, a creature that was even made an Alpha like Derek nervous, at its most vulnerable. Stiles honestly didn't see what they really could do, besides the obvious.

"I still say we should just kill him."

"We're not killing him!" Scott cried out.

Stiles bared his teeth. "Ah, fine!" Stiles tried to think of another solution. Then he got one. "I think I may have something."

"Does it involve breaking the law?"

"By now, don't you think that's a given?"

Scott shrugged. "I was just trying to be optimistic."

"Don't bother," Stiles cut in.

Jackson opened his eyes to find himself in a brightly lit space that wasn't his bedroom. He tried to move but found that his hands and feet were cuffed and attached to a chain melded into the floor. He took a closer look and saw that he was in some kind of prisoner's van. A police vehicle and he could think of one person who could get this and would do this to him. Him and his friend.

"Stiles!" he roared out. "McCall! I'm going to kill you!"

Outside Scott and Stiles were standing not too far away from the van and just stared at each other.

"You think that will really hold him?" Scott asked as he gave the van a once over.

"It's the most secure and private thing I could think of."

Scott nodded. It was as good as they were going to get. "We can't leave him alone. One of us has to stay and watch him and the other has to go to school and find Danny."

Stiles nodded. "So…who has the first shift?" Scott just gave him a look and Stiles let out a small sigh. "Why did I know you were going to do that?"

"I can't afford to miss a day right now," Scott said apologetically.

"Alright," Stiles breathed out and threw his arm out. "Go. But don't forget to talk to Danny. Find out why Jackson would go after him."

"Yeah," Scott said. He turned to head out but he stopped and looked back at him. "Stiles…thanks."

Stiles just nodded his head and shrugged his shoulders.