Chapter 18: Party Guess part 2

Derek had finished in fastening both Erica and Boyd and was tying down Isaac.

Isaac was gritting his teeth as Derek tightened a restraint on his arm. "How are you not feeling this?" he hissed at him. To him, Derek seemed his usual self.

"I feel every second of it," Derek argued as he tightened Isaac's chain on him.

Isaac took a moment to see that Erica and Boyd seemed to be in very visible pain being chained down here like this.

"Find an anchor," instructed Derek. "Something meaningful to you. Bind yourself to it. Keep the human side in control."

"What is it for you?"

Derek gave him a look before looking away. "Anger. But it doesn't have to be that for everybody."

Isaac remembered that comment that Stiles made to him over the phone. That Derek's way didn't have to be for everyone. He had said to find something good to focus on. "Scott and Stiles," Isaac breathed out. "Their anchors are different, aren't they? Good ones?"

Derek nodded. "Yeah," he said softly. "Loving ones." Scott's was his love for Allison while Stiles' was the bond he shared with his father and best friend. He was privately jealous that the two of them could keep themselves grounded with that. Whenever the two of them struggled and worked for control he was always able to sense the love they felt when they tried to cling to their anchors. But he only had the anger he felt at himself for what happened to his family all those years ago to rely on. But he shook himself free. He had to keep focused on his betas right now. "That should do it."

Derek did a final check but saw that Isaac immediately broke the chains around his feet loose from the seat he attached them too. Isaac was giving him a strained look and he turned his vision to Erica and Boyd and they were looking at him with a primal rage. He was starting to think that he might need some help for this one.

Chris came down to the basement where his wife Victoria was silently waiting for him and Gerard was sitting off in a distant corner, watching. Victoria was pacing and she seemed to be walking fine which told him that her ankle had healed. That meant that the change was already ongoing. He set down a case and opened it to reveal some things he had picked up from the pharmacy. In following the rules of their code, any hunter that is turned must kill themselves on the night of their first full moon. It's often done in a private matter but they were now public figures in this town so it had to be staged like a common suicide.

Victoria looked at all of them with disdain. "You really thought I would do this with prescription pills?" she said scoldingly to him.

Chris tried to keep his poise. "According to general statistics most women-" Victoria cut him off there by pulling out a thick kitchen knife. Chris let a breath loose. "But you're not most women."

Victoria stepped away. "I'll go and write the note."

She then headed upstairs and left Chris with Gerard. Chris just went and slammed the case shut and pushed it against the other case on the table as he dropped himself into the nearby chair in despair.

Gerard got up from his chair. "Don't hesitate because of Allison," he said sternly to his son. "She'll feel the ground shifting beneath her feet time and again in her life. It is our job to teach her how to keep standing."

Chris just shook his head. "The ground isn't shifting. It's crumbling."

Chris was starting to wonder if this all was worth it. In the span of a few months, he had lost his sister, he was about to lose his wife and his daughter was starting to lose her innocence in ways that no child should have to. And for what?

But Gerard seemed to sense what must be running through his mind. "You want easy? Change your last name. Otherwise, go up there and help your wife die with dignity. Because if she doesn't fall on her own sword then one of us is going to have to run her through," he said not taking his eyes of him once. He then looked down at the other case to see that it was full of a collection of knives. "And, unfortunately, that is going to have to be you. I have other matters to see to." With that Gerard began to make for the stairs himself.

"What matters would those be?" asked Chris.

Gerard stopped and turned around. "Cleaning up the most recent bit of foul play orchestrated by young Mr. Stilinski."

Chris understood what Gerard was off to do now.

Those two new men that Stiles attacked, they were reached by the authorities quite quickly; faster than any of them could reach them. Stiles had gone out of his way to call for them to have immediate attention after his attacks and while some may look at that as merciful, Gerard saw it strategic. Those men, had in their possession a number of weapons and tools that would have people getting interested, such as the police. A few of their guns were registered and legal to have but a lot of their equipment was off the books. Gerard would have to see to quite a bit of legal and political maneuvering to make sure that the wrong people looked in the right places and talked to the right people. If not, then there was a chance that a link could be found to them.

As Gerard made his leave, he couldn't help but think that this town was providing him a challenge the likes he hadn't experienced in years. He actually let a small content smile loose.

At Lydia's, the scene was completely different than the one that had been there only an hour ago. The house was packed with party goers and Lydia seemed much more stronger and confident in herself than ever. She moved about serving more of her punch and the latest person she was serving happen to be Matt Daehler.

He took the punch from her and she left him without another word. He raised it, ready to take a sip when his eyes fell upon Allison. She stopped and gave him a look before she turned the opposite direction and headed off, away from him. Matt frowned and he went and threw his undrunk punch into a trash bin and went off in the opposite direction. He passed Jackson as he entered the house.

Jackson was just standing around, looking at everything and everyone but not truly reacting to anything. Scott was a bit aways and had his eyes locked on him. Scott took a moment to look down at his hand and saw that he was unconsciously opening and closing it. The full moon was starting to weigh on him a bit. The next moment, Scott's open hand had a cup of punch put into it.

Scott looked straight up at Lydia's smiling face. He tried to politely refuse her. "Uh, can't drink tonight."

Lydia just rolled her eyes. "Alright, what is with the two of you?"

For a moment, Scott thought that she was talking about him and Stiles. Stiles had left his side a little while ago but was still close by. Scott's eyes went over to where he was standing off with his head resting against a wall and seemed to be breathing in and out slowly but deeply. It seemed that he was having a bit of a problem with the full moon himself tonight. But he noticed that he had a cup of punch in his hand though.

"No, Stiles is drinking. But I-" But Lydia cut him off.

"Not Stiles." She then looked off to the other side of the pool where a certain brunette was standing off looking at him but turning away when she noticed them looking. "You and Allison. I don't care why you have to keep your little love affair so secret but, right her, right now, seems like the perfect time just…to have a good time."

Scott looked and saw that Allison seemed troubled and lonely and suddenly, he just got up. "You know something…you're right." He said that because she was. Right now, there was a party going on where no one seemed to care about anything going on outside it and Scott wanted to join them. Here, there was no parents and no hunters to keep him from just being with the one he really wanted to be with. Stiles and him might be on ends when it came to Allison, but, so what? Their relationship was their business; not Stiles, Allison's parents or anyone else's. He then went and took a sip of the punch.

"See?" said Lydia. "Isn't it good?"

Scott felt something shift off of him. He felt like a small surge as soon as the punch entered his stomach and spread all the way to his fingertips. The pull of the full moon seemed to be getting…replaced. He smiled at what was replacing it. "Yeah? Really good," he said before taking another drink.

He started to empty the cup as Lydia then went off. When he was done, Scott looked over to Allison but found that she was gone. He just breathed out in frustration.

Allison had gone inside the house and had run into Matt who said that he needed to talk to her. She decided to listen to what he had to say and led him to Lydia's room and dropped her now empty glass at a random spot.

"You get two minutes," she said back to him.

But she froze when she saw that Matt was starting to close the doors behind him. At the look on her face, Matt went and pushed it wide open again.

"Okay…right. So, I know that I took some pictures of you that I should've told you about but…is it really that bad…that I think you're beautiful? That I think you should be the subject of a perfect photograph?"

"Matt…some of those pictures…I don't even know how you took them." And to be honest, a part of her didn't want to know.

But Matt shrugged it off like it was like he was getting busted for putting his hand in a cookie jar. "Telephoto lens. Come on Allison. Photographers call them candids."

Allison let out an uncomfortable laugh. "Well…police officers call it stalking."

That seemed to make Matt start looking a bit put off. Allison looked away and noticed someone out in the hallway behind him. It was someone in a black hooded sweater and, it looked like they were carrying a crossbow.

Matt, however, didn't notice her distraction. "Stalking?" he all but spat out. "I'm a stalker now, is that it? You think that my bedroom is wallpapered with your photos?" He was mildy glaring at her now. "You think I'm the kind of guy that's gonna say something like: 'Well, if I can't have her, no one can'? Yeah, well get over yourself because there's another pretty girl walking through the room every five minutes." When he was done he was suddenly staring at her and he let his head drop a bit.

Allison just smirked at him. "Well, all you have to do is wait another three. Good luck."

She then started to leave but Matt went for her arm.

"Allison, wait," he started. But didn't go further than that because Allison quickly grabbed at his shoulder and tossed him down into the floor where he landed on his back. Matt looked up at her shellshocked. "What is the matter with you?" he cried you.

Allison looked and saw that there were people staring at her wide eyed. "I'm sorry," she said before she just left.

Allison headed off into the hall, trying to find where that person she saw got to. She wondered if one of her grandfather or father's people had come here to look for Scott, Stiles or Jackson. She froze when she caught sight of that person moving through the crowd and the crossbow was very visible to her. Allison shook her head and then called out for Scott to try and warn him but she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her stomach. The hunter had shot the crossbow bolt at her. She gasped as she looked at the bolt in her gut before she looked up at her attacker.

An attacker that had her very face.

"Look at you," her double said. "Yelling for help. Always…yelling for help. And when you're not yelling for help, you're crying as you hope some mouthy, rabid mutt would finally trust and even like you. It's pathetic Allison," she said to her in disgust. "You have…no idea how long I've been looking forward to this." The double then raised and aimed her crossbow higher before pulling the trigger.

Allison flinched but found nothing coming for her. She was standing in the hallway, her hands clutching her bolt free stomach, and the party still in full swing. The double was gone too.

What was that?

He knew that Scott, even though they should be watching Jackson, would be too preoccupied with Allison so Stiles decided to leave him alone as he didn't need any of that to make this full moon even harder to bear. Stiles was breathing in and out deeply as he tried to ground himself to fight off the full moon's effect. He was having some trouble, more than usual. He never had a full moon this bad before. The logical part of him wasn't surprised. The things that they were going through leading to this full moon were tenser than they have ever been so it was bound to weigh harder on him. The last full moons, he had plenty to distract him from worrying about the moon's effect on himself. Now, at this party, not so much. He tried to think of his dad, but then his thoughts suddenly went to the fact that his dad was fired and how disappointed he no doubt was so it wasn't working for him. He took a hard sip from his cup of punch before his eyes scanned the party and they landed on Scott. His best friend that looked like he was moping around. Suddenly, he felt the concern in him overpowering his ache from the full moon so he went over to him.

"Scott, hey," he said as he reached him and started to walk with him. "Are you feeling okay? If not, you're not alone. We were bound to have a harder time than usual this time around."

"Uh, I don't think it's the moon. It feels different."

Stiles was about to ask what he meant when he heard something.

"Why am I wearing black? Are you an idiot?!" Stiles froze. He knew that voice. He moved off to the side and saw his dad, in a suit, hounding on a kid. "I just came from a funeral. People wear black at funerals!"

The kid leaned back to try and put distance between them. "Dude, chill," the guy said to him.

But his dad shoved the kid away. "Get out of my face." Stiles then noticed that his dad's right hand held a bottle of booze and it looked almost empty. His dad started to stumble a bit before he noticed him. "It's you," he said pointing to him. "It's all you. You know…every day, I saw her lying in that hospital slowly dying, I thought: How the hell am I supposed to raise this stupid kid on my own? This hyperactive little bastard that keeps ruining my life?!" Stiles found himself tightening his jaw and his fingernails digging into his palms. "It's all you. It's you Stiles." He then pointed a hard finger at him. "And, you think that you have something to be proud of? To hear how much of a natural and seemingly special mutt you are? You're actually proud to be a no good and savage…monster. That's what you are,"his dad spat. Stiles felt tears starting to drop from his eyes but he stood there and just let his dad talk. Let his dad say what he felt he deserved. "She was right. You killed your mother. You hear me. You killed her…and now you're killing me. It'll be better for everyone if I just put you down." He then went and threw the bottle at him.

Stiles went to shield himself with his arm and moved to avoid it but didn't feel anything. Nothing but an internal pounding in his head but no hit from a bottle. He moved his arm covering his face to find that his dad was gone. The crowd that had been silently watching the whole thing was partying as if nothing had even happened. Stiles just blinked as he wiped some of his tears away and coughed.

Scott was dodging the scores of people moving throughout the house as he tried to find Allison. He was starting to feel a small pounding on his head that made him start to slow down a bit. He took a deep breath as he made his way to the stairs. The pounding intensified and he lifted his eyes to the upper windowsill and froze.

There, lying at the window was Allison, with Jackson, and they were heavily making out. The sounds of their lips smacking against each other, as well as their moans and groans echoed in his ears. His eyes followed the sight of Jackson running his hands all through the length of her as he heavily made out with her and Allison seemed to be enjoying it. Scott then felt another pounding at his head and found Jackson suddenly replaced with the fully transformed Kanima.

Scott started feeling the pounding hitting him again. This wasn't right. He couldn't be seeing what he was seeing, it wasn't right and it couldn't be real. The pounding kept hitting at him and forced his face to partially shift as he tried to push it all away. He gave a small roar and suddenly found the pounding gone. He was breathing heavily and looked up to see the sight he had seen at the window gone. His hand tightened his grip on his punch cup where he looked down and saw something. It looked like a small speck of purple. A flower petal…from wolfsbane.

"Lydia," he muttered as he realized what was going on. He had to find Stiles and Allison and tell them what was going on.

Jackson lifted the punch to his lips and took a deep drink when his eyes suddenly snapped open. It felt like he had woken up from a dream and he found himself in the middle of a party. He was so surprised that he dropped his cup. But, before he could do anything about it, he heard something.

"His name is Jackson," a woman said. "We're looking for Jackson Whittemore."

"Has anyone seen Jackson?" a man asked. "We're his parents."

Jackson looked over and spotted a man and a woman off a distant corner with their backs facing him. They were talking to Lydia.

"Mr. Whittemore?" she asked him.

"No we're his real parents," he said to her.

But Jackson was shaking his head. "No, no."

"Can someone tell him we're here," his mother said.

"And tell him that we're his real parents," said his dad.

Jackson started to feel a pounding in his head as his parents turned around but their faces were fuzzy and distorted. He couldn't make out any features of their faces at all. The pounding intensified and he felt the features of his own face fade away. He turned away and the pounding stopped as he found himself fine again, in the middle of the party. Those people he had seen were gone.

Jackson then heard Scott's voice and looked over to see him moving about the crowd.

"Has anyone seen Lydia? Lydia?" he called out. "Where's Lydia?"

Lydia was currently in the front of her house, with her car keys firmly in her hand as she made her way to her car.

Victoria was in Allison's room looking at one of her photos with Allison and her father that she remembered taking herself. Chris walked into the room and made his way over to her.

"I didn't get a chance to talk to her," she said in regret as she put the photo back. "So I want to do it here. Where I could be with her." She then looked over at Chris. "I think I'm going to need your help."

Chris gave his wife a look before he let his eyes move to the window where the full moon was in view, half hidden in the clouds.

Victoria was looking at the moon too. Her face was hard and absolute. She readied the knife at her chest, right over her heart. She took a breath and was ready to make the plunge but Chris quickly rushed and pushed at her hand to stop her.

"I can feel it," she spat out. "It's happening." That made Chris let go. "You know what to do. You know what to tell people. Tell them I had a history of depression. Make sure that it's clear to everyone. Promise me." She didn't need to leave behind any trouble for Chris, Gerard or Allison to deal with. They already had enough on their plates with the Kanima, Derek Hale, Stiles Stilinski and Scott McCall.

Chris nodded. "I will." But he sighed. "You know, I don't think I've ever seen you depressed once in twenty years."

"Allison needs to say it too," she sternly told him.

"But I won't let her believe it," he promised.

Victoria shook her head. "She'll hear things," she warned him. "People will say I was weak. They'll say I took the easy way out."

He swallowed down the rush of emotions he was feeling. "I'll tell her it was the hardest thing you ever did."

She then turned to him. "Then they'll ask, how could I do this to my family?" There was a bit of a sob in her voice.

He stared into her eyes unflinchingly. "She'll know you did it for us."

He moved in to give her one last gentile kiss before they looked back to the moon. The sky was starting to clear up and the moon's light would soon be stronger. Victoria tried to plunge in the knife but found that she couldn't do it now.

"I can't do this by myself. Chris…help me."

Chris moved his hand to the knife just as the full moon was freed and it's light poured in through the window. Victoria yelled for him to do it as she felt the moon's power and her eyes shined golden. Chris then plunged the knife into her heart and he held her tightly in tears. Her body loosened and the light in her eyes faded as she died.

At Derek's lair, it was pandemonium. Isaac was in pain as his hand's claws forced their way out and he bent down to try and stay the pain with little success. Boyd was roaring out loud as he was pulling against his restraints. Erica was screeching as she tried to claw herself free from her bonds. Their shouts started to morph into animalistic growls.

Derek was outside the train car as he got Scott's voicemail. "Scott, can you call me back? I think I'm going to need some help." He then ended the call and heard a deep crash inside. "Definitely going to need some help," he muttered before he brought his claws out.

He then walked into the train car to find that all three of them were now fully shifted. He made his way slowly. Isaac tried to claw at him but Derek easily moved out of the way and out of his range. He then looked up to see that Erica had freed her arm from the metal brace he had put on her and then pulled her other arm free. She started to make her way to him and Derek went try and restrain her back. But the sound of metal snapping drew his attention and he looked back to see that Isaac had managed to completely free himself. Isaac then went and jumped through the window to escape.

"Isaac!" Derek yelled.

But he was being held back by Boyd, who also broke free. He forced Derek down and tried to claw at him while Derek tried to fight him off. He pushed Boyd off of him by pushing at his chest with his leg. Boyd fell back and Derek quickly got back to his feet. But Boyd had recovered and went back for the attack. He was then joined by Erica who tried to come at Derek from behind. He gave Erica a push before he turned on Boyd. He gave him a shove and then brought his head to butt the beta in the face. As Boyd went down, Derek quickly turned and went for Erica. He grabbed her arm and dragged her back and went to fasten her wrist back to the nearby metal cuff. He fastened her in but looked up to see that Boyd was trying to escape. Derek moved to try and get him but he was met by Isaac who pushed him back into the train car. Derek was then clawed from behind and he cringed but still turned to slam Erica in the face and knock her out. He then turned to see that Isaac slammed Boyd down into the nearby seat. He looked over at Derek with his shifted face and nodded. Derek nodded back.

It seemed that Isaac had managed to find a way to anchor himself against the full moon. Derek went to secure Boyd as Isaac sat back down and waited for him. Derek calmly went to him and helped to put the chains back in.

"You found your anchor," he said.

Isaac nodded. "My father."

Derek narrowed his eyes. He wondered how that could serve as his anchor. "Your father locked you in a freezer in the basement to punish you."

"He didn't use to," he said.

Derek narrowed his eyes as he thought back to earlier today, when Stiles called. How the revelations he revealed seemed to have had an effect on Isaac. "Your brother."

Isaac nodded again.

Derek fastened the last lock and then calmly stepped out to let the three of them have some peace. He let a breath loose until he noticed someone stepping out from the shadows. It was Lydia. He wondered what she was doing here as she stepped closer to him. She then held out her hand to reveal purple dust gathered in her palm. She then went and blew it at his face. Derek started to feel woozy and he suddenly lost consciousness and passed out.

Scott found Stiles. He was sitting on the floor as he leaned against the walls by the pool. Scott bent down to him to see that his friend's eyes were completely out of focus. Scott could smell a deep scent of depression and sadness oozing right out of him. Stiles was no doubt seeing something just as he had and it seemed to be causing him great emotional pain.

"Stiles," Scott said shaking him. "You have to wake up." He held a bottle of water at him. "Drink up. Something's happening and I need your help. Stiles, drink the water." But Stiles only bobbed his head about as he was stuck in his daze.

A girl suddenly came over and pointed at the bottle in Scott's hand. "What do you think you're doing? You want him to sober him up fast, that's not the way to do it?"

Scott raised his eyebrows. "You could do better?"

"I could do best." The girl then took Stiles and dunked his head straight into water. She held him in for a couple of seconds to Scott's shock. She then let go of him and Stiles came up from the water with a howl. "How do you feel?" she asked him.

Stiles spat out some water. "I should warn you that it wouldn't be my first time hitting a girl."

She turned back to Scott. "He's sober."

What was it that Stiles had once told him? Brutal, but effective.

He thanked the girl and rushed off to get a towel for Stiles to dry himself with. The two of them then started to move about the party to try and find Lydia. As they walked about, their eyes were wide at the scenes they were witnessing. They saw one person was dirty dancing with a pillar and another was talking to a plant.

Stiles was sniffing at the air as hard as he could but wasn't picking up Lydia's scent anywhere. "I can't find her. And dude, everyone that drank that crap, they're freaking out," he said just in time for some guys to jump wildly into the pool with their clothes on.

Scott just stared. "I can see that."

"What the hell do we do?"

"I don't know, but we gotta-"

He was cut off by a person shouting: I can't swim. At that, the both of them turned to look over at the pool. They saw that a person was being herded up into the pool by some guys and then was thrown into the water even though he kept shouting that he couldn't swim. They watched as that guy flailed around and struggled in the water. That is until Jackson went and reached in and pulled him to safety. Matt came out of the pool dripping wet and everyone was looking at him.

Scott and Stiles were looking at him too. Him and Jackson who stood at his side like an obedient pup…or a servant waiting on his master.

"What are you looking at?" Matt spat at everyone.

Scott couldn't take his eyes off of him. Suddenly, everything started rushing to him. The fact that Matt had a deep fear of water as well as the fact that he had known about the footage. He also remembered Stiles accusations and while he dismissed them earlier as ridiculous, he was finding them making more sense than ever. Stiles was also looking at Matt unflinchingly. Or rather smelling him. He detected the strong hint of hate oozing out of him. Not adolescent hate, but pure, unrelenting, wrathful hate.

Matt started to walk until he spotted both Scott and Stiles staring at him. He gave them, especially Scott, a look before he cut through them and headed out.

Sirens started to be heard and the people started to scatter. Scott and Stiles ran too, but to try and find where Matt had gone. Scott managed to find him first. Matt was standing there, in the middle of the street, looking at him with seething rage. Scott's eyes widened when he noticed the Kanima standing right there next to him like a trained pet as his tail wrapped around him. A crowd of people ran across from Scott cutting off his vision and when he looked again, they were both gone.

He ran off to try and find Stiles. It was undeniable now. Matt was the Kanima's master and the one behind all those murders in Beacon Hills.

Allison got a text from her father to hurry to the hospital as something had happened to her mother. Allison quickly ran from the party to her car and sped all the way there. She rushed through the parking lot into the building and into the elevator. She came out panting hard as she looked about and spotted her father speaking with a deputy. When the officer left, Allison looked at him and inaudibly asked where her mother was. Chris then turned to look into the room behind him and through the windows was a body covered in a tarp.

"No," she said in tears and shaking her head. "No. No dad. No dad, if this is some kind of training session you have to-" But her dad held her and tried to shush her. But she didn't stop. "You better tell me. You have to tell me," she cried.

But her dad shook his head. "No…I'm sorry."

Allison then broke down and cried and her father went and took her in his arms. Allison wept hard as she looked off and couldn't take her eyes off her mother's covered body.

Lydia and Derek were in the living room of the Hale House and she was dragging the weakened werewolf inside.

"Lydia," Derek tried to say but was still being dragged in. "Lydia, stop."

Lydia took him to where there was a giant hole in the floor. She set him down and then looked into the hole where the body of Peter Hale was laying. She then went over to a mirror and aimed it so that it could catch and reflect the moon's light into all the other mirrors set up in the room. They aimed the moon's light straight into the hole to shine of Peter. Suddenly, his hand moved and went to dig its claws right into Derek's forearm. Derek screamed as his eyes flashed red for a moment before it faded away.

The next moment, the floorboards popped up as Peter shot out of the hole, completely healed of his burns and alive. His head was bent down as he took his first new breaths of new life. Suddenly…

"I heard there was a party," he said as he lifted his head to gaze at both Derek and Lydia who were shocked to see him. "Don't worry…I invited myself," he said with a joyous smirk.