Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Teen Wolf, The Vampire Diaries, or any music that is in this fic!
Author's note: Hello again! This chapter is a bit longer, but still on the shorter side. Should have a new update for everyone on Monday! Also please note that I have changed the rating of this fic to M out of an abundance of caution. This won't really be an issue, but it might in the later chapters. Don't forget to review and hope you enjoy!
CHAPTER 4
Around 8 in the morning the following week, Lyanna heard a knock on the door and paused, stopping the punching bag as it swung back to her. She grabbed her water bottle and walked to the front door, opening it to reveal Isaac leaning against the wall.
"Isaac? I'm about to get ready to leave for school, what's up?" she asked lightly, out of breath still from training.
Isaac took in her appearance, namely the lack of shirt and the way the sweat clung to her body and worked to stay focused.
"Mind if I hitch a ride to school with you?" he asked with a grin.
"What? Since when are you going to school?" Lyanna responded while stepping aside and letting him in.
"Since I convinced Jackson to take back what he said about me arguing with my dad the night he was killed," Isaac said with a grin.
Lyanna stared at him incredulously, not believing him for a minute. Then she saw his face light up even more and she let out an excited laugh.
"Are you serious? That's great!" she exclaimed, wrapping her arms around him excitedly. Isaac hugged her back tightly, not caring about the sweat. She stepped back and grinned at him.
"I'm going to take a shower then. Just sit tight," Lyanna said before running up the stairs and getting ready.
Lyanna walked into history later that morning in a good mood and sat down after waving to Stiles. He turned to her immediately.
"So my dad talked to Jackson and-"
She held up a hand and smiled at the boy as he looked at her in confusion.
"I already know," she said matter-of-factly.
"Oh. Right yeah. You probably found out first, I guess," Stiles said with a frown before turning back around. Lyanna frowned back, though he didn't see because it was at the back of his head, and tapped his shoulder. Stiles turned back around, eyeing her warily.
"I was thinking...Did you wanna come over tonight? Maybe look at those grimoires that I have for anything on the kanima? And I can start showing you how to translate Latin to English," Lyanna asked, trying to cheer Stiles up. It worked because his eyes lit up instantly and he agreed enthusiastically.
"Wait, won't Isaac mind if I come over?" Stiles asked, sobering up quickly.
"Why would he mind? And even if he does, it's not his place to care," Lyanna said with a raised brow.
"Aren't you two, you know, together?" Stiles asked. She narrowed her eyes at him in annoyance.
"We aren't dating, Stiles" she said, annoyance coloring her voice. He opened his mouth to respond, but the bell rang before he could, which was probably a good thing because Lyanna would've ripped him a new one if he had said anything else on the subject.
Lyanna walked into chemistry later that day with Scott and Stiles, annoyed when they stopped in the doorway to talk instead of sitting.
"Derek wouldn't kill her without proof," Scott said assuredly.
"So then he tests her like Jackson, right? But when and where?" Stiles responded.
Lyanna cleared her throat pointedly and they looked at her. She simply nodded to where Isaac and Erica were slowly entering the room, smirks evident on their faces. Scott and Stiles immediately scrambled to sit on either side of Lydia and Lyanna watched them, sighing and rolling her eyes at their antics. She turned and took a seat next to Allison, casting a wary look at Isaac.. He just grinned back at her before grinning at Scott and Stiles.
"What's going on?" Allison asked quietly. Lyanna turned to look at her concerned face.
"Erica and Isaac are going to test Lydia to see if she's the kanima. Scott and Stiles are being spastic about it, as they do." she explained, leaning back in her seat as she watched Mr. Harris get up to start class.
"Einstein once said 'Two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the universe.' I myself have experienced infinite stupidity," Harris said while not-so-subtly pausing next to Stiles. Lyanna rolled her eyes at the man.
"So to combat the plague of ignorance in my class, you're going to combine efforts through a round of group experiments. Let's see if two heads are indeed better than one, or in Mr. Stilinksy's case, less than one. Erica, take the first station. You'll start with…" he trailed off as almost every hand belonging to a male student was raised. Lyanna scoffed at this, watching as Erica soaked in the attention with a smug smile.
"I didn't ask for volunteers. Put your hormonal little hands down.. Start with Mr. McCall," Mr. Harris said, and that was the first thing Lyanna actually appreciated that came out of his mouth all semester.
Mr. Harris switched everyone around until Lyanna was put with Stiles at the desk behind Lydia and the experiment began. She picked up the bottle of blue liquid and measured out the correct amount, pouring it into their beaker. She could practically feel the nervous energy radiating off of the boy next to her.
"Would you calm down? You're driving me nuts," Lyanna said sharply while looking at what the next step was in her textbook.
"You need to do something, something witchy," he said quickly, practically bouncing in his seat.
"What do you want me to do? We don't even know how they're going to test her," she whispered back.
"Set Isaac's jacket on fire or something," Stiles said. Lyanna thought for a moment, giving a noncommittal shrug in response.
"Actually, I could do that," she said before pouring the sugar into the beaker next.
"Wait, seriously?" Stiles asked with excitement in his eyes. Lyanna glanced behind her to see that Isaac had been listening the entire time, his eyes wide with worry. Lyanna turned back to the front with a smirk and looked at Stiles.
"It's not like he doesn't deserve it with how he's acting...But I won't do it. It wouldn't exactly be inconspicuous," she explained with another shrug. Stiles groaned loudly and Mr. Harris called for partners to switch. Stiles got up quickly and sat with Lydia, who shot him a disinterested look. Lyanna felt the air shift beside her and turned to find Isaac smiling at her as he settled in his seat. She raised an eyebrow and shot him a scathing look before turning back to the experiment.
"So, what exactly is your plan here, hm?" she asked. Isaac just grinned at her before grabbing the test tube out of her hand and taking over. Lyanna stared at the ceiling in frustration for a moment before turning to make sure he didn't screw anything up.
"It's so much fun to keep all of you guessing about what we're going to do," he said with a small laugh.
"Stop that," she demanded while shaking her head and yanking the beaker from him, and Isaac looked at her questioningly.
"Stop trying to be the 'cool bad boy'. It's not a good look," she said, using air quotes to get her point across. He leaned back in his seat and gave her a cocky smile.
"You don't like bad boys?" he asked. They didn't notice that Stiles had turned his head slightly and was watching them.
"The last guy I dated acted like a self-obsessed dick too and that didn't end well for either of us," Lyanna explained with a hard look at the boy next to her. His eyes softened and he leaned towards her, placing a hand on hers where it sat on the table.
"It's just an act Lyanna. You have nothing to worry about," he said softly, his exterior changing to the sweet boy that she had first met. For a moment, she almost fell for it. Almost.
She leaned towards Isaac and gave him a cold smile back, eyes narrowed.
"It was all an act for him too. That changes nothing," she said before ripping her hand from his and turning back to the experiment. He stared at her incredulously before sitting back again and not saying a word. Stiles turned back to the front quickly when Lyanna shot him an icy look.
Harris called for partners to switch and Lyanna watched as Isaac stood, pausing to glance at her one last time. She ignored him, so he moved to take the seat next to Stiles and Scott took the seat next to her.
"You okay?" he asked, concern in his eyes.
"You heard that, huh?" Lyanna asked. He didn't respond, just shrugged and sent her a sad smile. They worked quietly, listening to the conversation happening in front of them.
"If you hurt one perfect, strawberry-blonde hair on her head, I'm going to turn your little werewolf ass into a fur coat and give it to her as a birthday present," Stiles threatened. Lyanna smirked at this as she worked.
"Really? Because I've never been to one of her big invite-only birthday parties. I did ask her out once though," Isaac explained.
"This sounds like the beginning of a heartfelt story. I'll pass thanks," Stiles said sarcastically.
"It was the first day of freshman year-" Isaac started.
"And you thought everything was going to be different in high school, but she said no," Stiles finished sarcastically.
"That's right. She even laughed and told me to try again when the bike I rode to school had an engine, not a chain," Isaac said with a bitter laugh. Lyanna winced at this, her dislike for Lydia growing.
"Unrequited love's a bitch. Maybe you should write about it in English. Channel some of that negative energy," Stiles said while gesturing wildly with his hands like he usually did.
"Nah, I was thinking of channeling it into killing her. I'm not very good at writing," Isaac said while turning to Stiles with a handsome smirk. Lyanna froze at that in alarm, sharing a concerned look with Scott. Maybe Isaac wasn't who she thought he was.
"And switch," Harris called out and Lyanna watched Isaac closely as he sat next to Lydia. Stiles moved to go to their table and Mr. Harris stopped him in irritation.
"Now, this last part of the experiment, I'm sure you'll all enjoy. You can eat it," Harris said with mock excitement a few minutes later. Lyanna glanced down at her own sugar crystal, satisfied that she had done the experiment correctly. She looked up as she took a bite of her crystal to find Lydia doing the same. Only when she looked close enough, she could see a clear, syrupy liquid dripping off of the top. Kanima venom, Lyanna thought.
"Lydia!" Scott shouted while standing up. She stared at him in annoyance, stopping abruptly from eating the candy.
"What?" she asks confusedly.
"Um...nothing," Scott said before sitting back down.
"Way to be subtle, Scott," Lyanna whispered to the boy.
Lydia bit into the crystal and everyone held their breath as they waited for something to happen. Nothing did.
Well crap, Lyanna thought with irritation. If it was possible to like Lydia any less, she would.
"Derek's outside waiting for her," Scott said as they all rushed into Coach's office. Lyanna briefly wondered why they would meet here, but didn't pay it anymore mind.
"You mean waiting to kill her?" asked Allison frantically.
"If he thinks she's the kanima? Then yeah, especially after what happened in the pool," Scott said matter-of-factly.
"But it's not her," Stiles said adamantly.
"Stiles… She didn't pass the test. It's gotta be her," Lyanna said softly, placing what she hoped was a comforting hand on his arm.
"It can't be her," Scott responded in denial.
"It doesn't matter, Derek thinks it's her. So either we convince him he's wrong or we figure out how to protect her," Allison said.
"Maybe there's something in the Bestiary to prove that he's wrong? It's at my house. There may also be something in one of the grimoires about it," Lyanna said quickly.
"That book is 900 pages and written in archaic Latin," Scott said hopelessly.
"Plus you have like 20 grimoires, there's no way you could find anything that quickly," Stiles added.
"It's still better than nothing. Plus I know a spell that can help narrow the search," Lyanna explained.
"I could talk to Derek, maybe convince him to give us a chance to prove it's not her," Scott threw in.
"Okay great. What should I do?" Stiles asked while bouncing on the balls of his feet in anticipation. There was silence as everybody thought for a moment.
"Go with Lye, she'll need help searching through those books," Scott said. Lyanna nodded in agreement.
"If anything happens, you guys let me handle it," Scott said shortly.
"What does that mean?" Allison asked.
"It means you can't heal like I do. I don't want you getting hurt," Scott said simply. Lyanna watched as Allison reached into her duffel bag and pulled out a compact crossbow, locking it into place with a flick of her wrist.
"I can protect myself," she told Scott with a meaningful look. Lyanna nodded and looked at the girl with a newfound respect. Scott was quiet.
"What? Did something else happen?" Allison asked, setting the crossbow down.
"I just don't want you getting hurt," Scott said quietly, moving closer to the girl.
Lyanna stopped paying attention as she watched Stiles' eyes lock on the abandoned crossbow. She just knew that Stiles would accidentally shoot the arrow and, with a wave of her hand, she moved it mid-flight on its way towards Scott's face, imbedding itself in the wall next to him. Everyone was quiet as they watched Stiles slowly put down the crossbow, a sheepish look on his face.
"Sensitive trigger finger on this thing…" Stiles muttered in explanation. She rolled her eyes at him before digging in her bag for her keys.
"Here," she called out to Allison before tossing the keys to her miata at her.
"When you're done here, get Lydia and take her to my house. We can protect her there," Lyanna said before grabbing Stiles' hand and turning for the door.
"Wait! I don't know where you live," Allison said quickly. Lyanna just smiled at her easily.
"Check your right jacket pocket when you leave," she said before leaving Allison and Scott looking after her confusedly.
Lyanna and Stiles ran into her house, taking off their jackets and haphazardly dropping their bags by the front door.
"Okay, so what are we gonna do?" Stiles said when they faced the wall of grimoires. She just closed her eyes and held her hands up, palms facing the books. She muttered what sounded like Latin to Stiles and after a moment, 5 books flew out of the bookcase and opened, causing Stiles to jump.
"Witches are so creepy," he said before grabbing a book and looking at the page it had opened to.
"Rude," she sang, though she wasn't serious. She pulled out the copy of the bestiary that she had printed out over the weekend and sat in her usual arm chair, lighting the fireplace with her mind. Stiles jumped again at the sudden fire before sitting in the other arm chair, leaning away from the roaring fireplace with a feeling of unease.
They flipped through the books for the next half hour quietly, with Stiles occasionally asking her about different spells he found. Lyanna paused as she finally came to the section of the book about the kanima.
"I think I found something…" Lyanna muttered to herself. Stiles heard her, dropping his book and moving to stand behind her chair. He leaned in close so he could look too.
"What does it say?" he asked.
"Like the wolf… Its power is greatest at the moon's peak. The kanima is a social creature. But where the wolf seeks a pack, the kanima seeks a… friend? No, the kanima seeks a master" Lyanna finished, not totally sure if she got that right.
"A master?" Stiles asked. Lyanna just shrugged and looked at him. He moved back to the sofa, thinking about the word.
"What if… What if someone else is telling the kanima who to kill?" he asked.
"...Which would mean that the murders are all somehow related. We just need to find the link," Lyanna thought aloud.
"Hang on, it's getting close to 5. Isn't Allison supposed to be here soon?" Stiles asked, looking at the sun starting to slowly set outside.
Lyanna nodded, grabbing a spare piece of paper from a music stand and scribbling a note to the girl on it. She crumpled the piece of paper and held it in her hand, imagining the note in the pocket of Allison's jacket. With a whoosh, the paper disappeared from her hand and Lyanna opened her eyes again to see Stiles' confused expression.
"So cool," he murmured to himself.
10 minutes later, her door slammed open and Allison was pushing Lydia and Jackson inside. Stiles immediately stood and went to the door, locking every lock and glancing out the window with concern. He turned back to the girls and saw Lydia's confused expression.
"There've been a few break-ins in the neighborhood. And a murder. It was bad," Stiles said in explanation of his weird behavior.
"What the hell is he doing here?" Lyanna asked with a pointed look at Jackson. He glared back at her and didn't say anything.
"He's here to help," Allison said placatingly. Lyanna just narrowed her eyes at him before grabbing the grimoires and placing them back on the shelves.
"Lydia, follow me. I need to talk to you for a minute," Jackson said suddenly, leading her up the stairs.
"Not my bedroom," Lyanna called up after them.
"Uh guys," she heard Stiles say shakily.
She came up behind him and glanced out the window, noticing 4 silhouettes watching her house. She narrowed her eyes as she recognized Isaac standing among them. He made eye contact with her and a flash of doubt showed in his eyes, but Lyanna ignored it. She stepped back from the window and turned to Allison.
"Call Scott," she ordered.
Allison, Stiles, and Lyanna paced in front of the door and Allison pulled out her phone again.
"What are you doing?" Stiles asked her.
"I think...I think I have to call my dad," Allison said with worry.
"But if he sees Scott with you… You and Scott-" Stiles started.
"I know, but what are we supposed to do? They're not here to scare us, they're here to kill Lydia," Allison said, stress evident in her voice.
"I've got an idea, just shoot one of them," Stiles said quickly.
"Are you serious?" she asked in surprise.
"We told Scott we could protect ourselves. Let's prove that to him," Lyanna said, agreeing with Stiles.
"Which one?" Allison responded with.
"Derek, shoot him. Preferably in the head," Stiles said without a second thought.
"No way, an alpha can easily catch an arrow. Go for Isaac, he's their next best fighter," Lyanna said with narrowed eyes.
"...I don't see him," Allison said after peeking outside.
"What?" she said before pushing her aside and looking for herself. Sure enough, Isaac was gone and Lyanna just barely caught the smirk on Derek's face. There was a commotion behind her and she turned to see Isaac grab Stiles and toss him against the bookshelf, grimoires falling on top of him.
"Great," Lyanna muttered sarcastically as Allison raised her crossbow, only to have it knocked out of her grip. Isaac grabbed a handful of her coat and threw her across the room. He turned to Lyanna and stopped abruptly, sizing her up. They both glanced at the stairs leading up to Lydia and Jackson, then scrambled for them at the same time. She got there first, turning on the first step to block him and glaring at him challengingly.
Stiles shook off the books and turned to watch the showdown.
"I don't want to hurt you," Isaac said with his hands out in surrender.
"Good, that'll make this easy," Lyanna said before kicking him directly in the chest. He stumbled back, but before he could recover she followed him and landed two quick punches to his abdomen.
Isaac groaned before reaching out to grab her. She spun and ducked underneath his arm before shoving him into the wall of the kitchen. He recovered faster this time and turned towards her again, seeming to take the fight a bit more seriously. He moved to grab her and she ducked and tried to kick his legs out from underneath him, but he grabbed her by the wrist and spun her into a chokehold. She tried to pry his arm off but he was stronger than her.
"Lyanna please, stop," he said desperately. She didn't listen, instead hooking her ankle around his and throwing off his balance so that they both fell backwards onto the ground with Lyanna landing on top of him. She scrambled out of his grip and turned quickly only to find that Isaac was knocked unconscious. She sighed in relief before leaning against the wall and watching him for any sign of movement.
"Ow," she muttered to herself at the pain that ebbed in her lower back.
"Are you okay?" Stiles almost shouted, running over to her and checking her over. She pushed him away, breathing heavily with her hands braced against her knees.
"I'm fine Stiles, don't worry," she said slowly. Just then, Scott ran into the kitchen.
"What's going on? Where's Allison?" he asked in a panic. Lyanna turned and searched the room, not noticing that Allison had disappeared up the stairs earlier.
"She went upstairs to check on Lydia. You should go check on her," Stiles said, not taking his eyes off of Lyanna. Scott ran upstairs, not needing any convincing to check on her. Lyanna and Stiles stared at each other for a moment before laughing quietly.
"That was awesome," he said to her with a grin. She smiled back at him and they waited for Scott. He walked down a moment later with Erica in his arms and Lyanna watched as he opened the door and tossed her onto the yard. When had Erica shown up? Lyanna shrugged and followed him to the door, standing on the porch and watching Derek's reaction as Isaac was also thrown at his feet.
"I think I'm finally getting why you keep refusing me Scott. You're not an omega. You're already an alpha of your own pack," Derek said with a hint of respect in his voice.
"But you know you can't beat me," Derek finished.
"We'll see about that," Lyanna said quietly. Derek glanced at her with mild irritation, no doubt remembering the ice skating rink.
"We can hold you off until the police get here," Scott said as the sounds of sirens in the distance reaffirmed his statement.
Suddenly there was a scurrying sound and Lyanna looked up to see the green lizard from the other night climbing on the side of her house. The kanima turned towards everyone with the others and shrieked menacingly before scurrying away.
"The bastard scratched the paint on my house," Lyanna said first, breaking the stunned silence.
Isaac and Erica had regained consciousness at this point and Derek turned to them, ordering them to move. Just as he was about to leave and chase after the kanima, Lydia ran out the front door.
"Would somebody please tell me what the hell is going on?" she said with tears in her eyes.
Everyone stared at her for a moment before turning to look at where the kanima had disappeared.
"Jackson," Scott whispered.