Chapter 2: Creatures of the Night
Scott was sitting on the front of Stiles' jeep, looking at the stars, while Stiles was leaning on the side behind him. He was gazing down at a California map, making measurements and gauging distances. After his internship Scott had gotten picked up from the hospital from Stiles and they went to collect Liam from the party he had gone to when it was around dusk.
Liam had been reluctant to leave, as he was there with Mason, but Lori said that when it was time to go then Mason could hitch a ride with her and Brett. He told her that he appreciated it and gave her a hug before he quickly separated when he realized what he was doing. He hadn't noticed that Brett had seen them and flashed his sister a teasing smirk; which she had answered with a sarcastic finger his way.
Stiles was silently gazing over the marked places he made on his map of the San Francisco area and surrounding counties. "All right, so I found some cool two bedrooms over in the Mission District but they're pretty expensive. A couple in Haight and Ashbury are also expensive."
"Expensive," Scott huffed out. That was one word he had truly come to hate as of late.
"Yeah," mumbled Stiles. "Has your mom brought up giving up the house again?"
"No, she hasn't said anything about it. But…I overheard her on the phone almost two weeks ago. Talking to a realty company and asking about making audits on homes." Scott let his head droop a bit. "She's getting ready to put our house up for sale."
When Scott heard about his mom's promotion at the hospital, he thought that it would mean the end of worrying about them losing the house. If anything, it felt like that idea was stronger and closer than ever.
Stiles held a steadying hand up. "Whoa, Hey Scott, it just sounds like she's only checking into it. It doesn't necessarily mean she's actually going to do it. You said it was over a week ago, right?" Scott nodded. "Well, nothings happened. At least, she would tell you first, before she did anything, right?"
Scott let a sigh loose. "Yeah…you're right." He then cleared his throat. "But if I want to make sure that it doesn't come to that then I really need to knuckle down on costs."
"Well…I guess we could try looking over at Nob Hill for a place. Students like to live there so it shouldn't be too hard to find a decent place."
"A two bedroom place?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Maybe we're being too picky. I think we should try looking into…more."
Stiles moved his eyes from the map to look Scott in the eye. "More? Wait, you mean…roommates?"
"It would be a lot less expensive if there were more than just two of us in on the rent. And there would be a lot more places to look if we didn't limit ourselves to just the two of us. Maybe live in a place with two or three other guys, splitting the rent more ways. I think we should really consider it."
"Consider it? Scott, maybe that's not such a good idea. You know, for us to just live with total strangers all of a sudden."
"Why?" asked Scott. He couldn't help but think it was a good solution to his problem.
Stiles rose his eyes at him, wondering how Scott could be so dense. "Uh how about because of this?"
Stiles then had his eyes shift and glow to him. Yet, at the sight of his blue eyes, Scott's own eyes averted as he looked over to the side.
Stiles tightened his jaw as he made his wolf eyes go back to normal. Scott still wouldn't look at him in the eye whenever he shifted them. It had been the first time in the last six months since Stiles shifted his eyes in front of Scott. Since Mexico there hadn't any trouble or need for him to outside his time with Satomi and her pack. Before, whenever Scott turned and averted his gaze from him and his blue eyes, Stiles would always feel terrible for a few moments. Now, he found a small bit of irritation bubbling in his stomach as he moved to clench his fist. Stiles was finding himself getting more pissed off than upset but as he felt his claws starting to grow and dig into his palms, he unclenched his hand and anchored himself down with thoughts of his dad and Malia. This was supposed to be a happy and special night and he didn't want to ruin it.
Scott turned to look back up at the moon as he sighed at the pin his friend just stuck into his idea. Sharing a decent place close to school along with cutting down the rent. It did seem like it might be the best option he could go for. Or…why not take it a notch further? He could look into rushing for a fraternity. Yeah, guys in a frat didn't have to pay rent at all, didn't they? Yet, he didn't think that Stiles would be hip to that idea if he was against the notion of living with multiple roommates. Though, Scott couldn't help but think that he might have a point. With everything they had to deal with, it was too big a chance that they could get exposed and drag more people into all of this. Scott sighed then. Why did this werewolf stuff have to ruin everything?
"Maybe it's too early to think about this stuff anyway," Scott muttered as he kept his gaze on the sky. "Maybe we should wait and worry about finishing this year before we start thinking about where we're going to live after."
"Yeah, maybe," Stiles muttered back. He then started to fold the map back up. When he was done, he saw Scott was still staring at the sky and he turned to gaze at the full moon himself. "It's not bothering you, is it?"
"No. Just thinking," Scott said with a shrug.
"About what?"
"Stuff," he mumbled. "Mostly about it being senior year. I can't believe it's really here."
"Actually, senior year doesn't officially start until after our thing at midnight." Stiles noticed the expression on Scott's face seemed glum. "You don't seem happy about it though."
Scott kept his eyes on the moon as he shook his head. "No, I am, it's just…with how things have been lately."
"What are you talking about?"
"Deaton said something to me once."
"Oh, what?"
"You ever hear of regression to the mean?"
"No, I don't think so."
"Well, basically its his way of saying that life can't ever be all bad or all good. You know, eventually, things have to come back to the middle. The last six months, things have been good, right? But not amazing," Scott explained to him.
Stiles sighed as he started to draw invisible spirals on the hood of his jeep with his finger. "You mean like how no one's tried to kill any of us in the last six months?" he dryly said.
"Things have been pretty much in the middle for us for a while. That means, at some point, the scale has to tip one way or the other. Things are either going to be really good-"
"Or really bad," Stiles ended for him. With the tense feelings he's been having lately, Stiles hoped that it all wasn't a sign that things were going to swing for them to be getting bad, soon. He then looked at his watch and his eyes nearly popped out. "Oh man."
"What?" Scott asked. "We still have plenty of time, don't we?"
"Yeah, but no that's not it. We have to go," Stiles coughed up. "Uh hey, you think it's been long enough?"
"Yes!" Liam shouted off from the side.
Scott and Stiles took a look over where Liam was bound to a tree in thick chains. It was wrapped completely around him and the tree two times and held by a thick steel lock. The kid had an annoyed look on his face as he stared back at them.
"Hey, do you mind?!" Stiles shot at him. "Trying to have an adult conversation over here!"
Liam rolled his eyes. "You're only two years older than me." He had been listening in and while he thought some of what they were talking about was uncomfortable, he would hardly call it 'adult'. He then gestured over to the chain linking him. "You going to let me out now?"
Scott gave Stiles a look and Stiles answered it with a roll of his eyes. Scott moved over, pulling out a set of keys from his pocket and Stiles walked over with him. Scott stopped a few feet from Liam as he looked expectant at him.
Scott sighed. "Liam, look it's not like I don't trust you-" he started.
Stiles cut him off. "It's that I don't trust you."
"I said I was sorry," Liam sighed. "You didn't have to chain me up, you know."
Stiles put his hands on his hips as he gave the kid a critical look. "Yeah, well I knew you could handle being on your own last month and you saw how wrong I was there."
Liam suddenly could detect the smell of disappointment drifting over from Stiles. He'd recently started getting trained in identify chemo signals though it was still a work in progress. Yet, he found he knew this scent all too well. Liam dropped his gaze a bit. "It was just one slip up," he defended meekly.
That made Stiles raise an eyebrow. "A slip up? A dozen calls to the Sheriff's Department about a monstrous dog boy running around Beacon Hills naked, you call that a slip up?"
Scott then narrowed his eyes. "Why were you naked?"
"It was really hot that night okay. It won't happen again."
"I still don't get why it happened at all. The month before, you were handling the full moon, no problem. I even started to teach you chess because it was starting to get boring just sitting around with you all night. How could you have lost control two hours into the night on your own? What were you doing?" asked Stiles.
Some color went to Liam's cheeks. "Uh…just stuff."
Stiles could guess what kind of 'stuff' Liam was up to by the rush of emotions now coming from him. "So, instead of taking a cold shower like a normal teen, you shift and run out into the streets in your birthday suit?" he asked incredulously.
"Can you just let me out now?" Liam turned to look away from them, trying to drown out the fresh humiliation he was feeling. "Please?" he asked, looking over at Scott.
Scott's face softened as Liam looked desperately at him and the Alpha decided to spare him anymore embarrassment.
"You sure you're okay?" Liam nodded. As he did, Scott detected a small hint of blood in the air. "You're in complete and total control?"
Liam caught him in his eyes. "I'm fine," he said, staring at his Alpha's eyes.
"Are you?" Stiles pressed, his tone clearly saying he wasn't convinced. Not only did he hear a jump in Liam's heart as he said that to Scott, but he could smell the faint scent of blood as well.
The young beta's eyes moved to him and Liam's heart skipped a beat. Stiles was looking right at him and Liam began to fight the urge to nervously swallow.
"Stiles, a storm is coming, remember?" Scott said pointedly. He then moved to release him from the chains. "Besides, didn't you just say we have to get going? We don't want to be late."
"We can always come back for him later," Stiles lightly suggested. Scott just stared at him and Stiles rolled his eyes. "Alright, fine."
Stiles let himself look at Liam for another second before he moved back to his jeep.
"Come on Liam," Scott gently said to him before he followed after Stiles. "We'll drop you off at the hospital with your stepdad."
Liam let himself watch their backs before he looked down at the palms of his hands. There were deep cuts in the palms, made from his claws. The smell of fresh blood was so clear to him. If the scent was that clear to him then Liam guessed that Scott and Stiles caught it right away. They must know he had been lying.
As they walked on ahead, Scott dropped his voice to a whisper to not let Liam hear them. "You don't have to be so hard on him."
"Well, you don't have to be so easy on him either," Stiles said back. "I know you could smell it too. He lied right to your face."
"I know but we can't just start treating him like a criminal over one mistake. It's not like we didn't make any or lie when we first turned."
Stiles let out a small huff at that one. He won't deny the lies but was tempted to remind Scott where the bulk of the mistakes had come from. "Maybe not but Scott, at least I don't coddle and indulge him whenever he makes sad eyes at me. Keep it up and instead of a beta, you're going to wind up with a baby."
Scott had flinched and gone silent until they got into the jeep and Liam got into the back. The next five minutes in the jeep were spent in silence. Stiles was driving them out of the woods, Scott was staring off at the passing trees. Liam was sitting firmly, scrolling down the playlist on his phone, focusing harder than normal on each one. He couldn't help but feel the thick tension that was in this car; so thick that you could tear into it with a set of claws.
"Hey," Liam suddenly said, trying to break the gaping silence. "What's going on tonight at the school anyway? Is it a party?"
"No, it's not a party," Stiles replied, keeping his eyes firmly on the road.
"Then what's at midnight?"
"Your bedtime," Stiles said shortly.
Liam guessed Stiles was a little pissed with him. "What about the girls?" he went on. "Why aren't they going?"
"Because they're meeting us there, okay? We're picking Malia up now. And could you quit it with the questions already. It's a senior thing and you'll know when you're a senior," Stiles huffed out.
Stiles darted his eyes a bit and looked over at his friend who was gazing absently out the window at the passing trees. Scott had been silent after he made that last statement about Liam. The kid lied right to their faces, to Scott's face, and Scott knew that he did. He no doubt smelled the blood coming from him just as he had. Yet Scott caved and gave in to what Liam wanted just by him batting his eyes and crying to him. He couldn't help but be upset with him, both of them.
But Scott hadn't been thinking about Liam or the fact that he lied. He was stuck on Stiles and how he said he'd be the one to wind up with a 'baby'. He couldn't help but think it ironic coming from Stiles of all people.
After everything had calmed down after Mexico, Scott had called Derek and came out with his suspicions of the father of Cora's baby; even though he had been bracing for it Scott was still thrown when Derek admitted that he was right. Stiles and Cora had slept together during her time in Beacon Hills and had gotten pregnant though hadn't found out until two weeks after they had left. Peter also knew and Derek told him that it would be safer for Cora and the baby if not too many others did. About Cora having a baby or that Stiles was the father. Scott felt that Stiles should at least know but Derek told him not to say anything. Stiles was smart and if he knew that Cora had a kid then he would quickly guess who the father had to be. He said the situation was complicated now and Cora also didn't want Stiles to know, at least not now. Scott didn't like it but agreed to keep it a secret though he already found himself struggling around Stiles enough without all this. He just wished he could talk about it over with somebody though.
He faintly registered Stiles mentioning his girlfriend. "Malia's back?" he asked softly. Last he heard, she still hadn't come back from her vacation with her father. And he wanted to take his mind off what he had just been dwelling on.
Stiles sighed but nodded. "Uh, yeah. Malia called me earlier. She and her dad got back into town this afternoon."
"You didn't go see her?"
"No. I wanted to let Malia and her dad settle back in first. They had been gone for a while and I thought I shouldn't come barging in at the front door not even an hour after they just got home," Stiles said a bit glumly. He had been missing Malia in the last couple of weeks. But he knew that he wasn't the only one without his girlfriend. "What about Kira? Her flight was today, right?"
Scott nodded. "She and her parents' plane should've landed less than an hour ago. They're probably on their way back to Beacon Hills right now."
"Kira knows to be at the school though right?"
"And what's happening at the school?' Liam cut in.
Stiles looked up at the rearview mirror to narrow his eyes at the kid. "What did I just say? Don't make me turn this jeep around."
Liam just huffed and let his back sink into the seat as he moved to pull back out his phone. Scott took out his own phone to try and call Kira to see how far off she was but found that he wasn't getting any reception.
"Hey Liam, are you having trouble with your phone?" Scott asked, moving it around a bit. "Stiles?"
"What? No service?" Stiles asked. But before he could get an answer, there was sputtering noises in front of him and the jeep started to slow. "Oh, what the hell?" he sighed.
The jeep moved on for a few more seconds before it slowed to a complete stop. The headlights then went off as well.
"You out of gas?" asked Liam.
"No, it's electrical," Stiles said. "Probably the alternator again," he stressfully said as he moved to get out.
Scott got out and joined him as Stiles moved to pull the front hood up. Scott's eyes widened as he gazed inside.
"Whoa, that's a lot of duct tape." A lot was an understatement. The entire engine and all the valves had duct tape almost everywhere. There were few places that weren't covered up at all. That made Stiles give him a short look. "Kidding," Scott said quickly. "We'll fix it."
"I know," Stiles stressfully sighed out. "It's just that it's the last night of summer so I wanted to make sure that everyone was there tonight."
"We'll make it. You got any tools?"
"Yeah," Stiles said before he revealed a roll of duct tape.
Some lightning was starting to flash overhead as Stiles started to pull some out and put a new layer on top of the old one. Liam was trying distract himself with some music when a bolt of lightning struck at the road about a couple of yards behind them.
"Guys," he called out, just before another bolt of lightning struck the road. This time a bit closer. "Guys!" he cried out.
"Yeah, give us a second please," Stiles said as he pulled out some more tape.
"Yeah, Liam stay in the car, okay?" Scott said before moving to help Stiles apply the tape on.
But then a bolt of lightning struck about ten feet behind them, making the two of them jump.
"That was close," Scott said staring at the charred spot.
"Very close," Stiles breathed, also staring at it.
Just then, the jeep seemed to spur to life as the lights came on and the engine restarted.
Liam stuck his head out of the window. "Can we go now?"
Two pairs of wrists were wrapped by metal cuffs as the two werewolves they belonged were sitting against a stone wall, where they were chained to. The chains were jingling as one of the werewolves was pulling on them, thrashing about trying to get free. The full moon was driving him into a frenzy while the other one chained next to him was sitting more calmly but was breathing harder and quicker than usual. Their eyes both burning bright gold.
Charlie Harris was feeling the effect of the full moon drilling into him and trying to drive him into a primal frenzy. He had been bitten by the Alpha named Oscar not too long ago and the one chained next to him had been bit just one month ago. Charlie looked over at the six others in the room who were watching them in a semi-circle like formation. Mixes of gold and blue eyes were glowing in the darkness as they stared at him.
Over in the shadows, Oscar was observing them with another of his betas.
"Charlie seems to have fully mastered control after only six months. He hasn't showed any kind of effect all night."
Oscar nodded. "Yes, he's disciplined. Thanks to his military training he is already adept at coping and keeping focused in stressful circumstances. The other was a military school student. He will probably also adapt quickly too though maybe not tonight on his second full moon. But, when he does then our pack will be at 13. But that's still not enough." He turned away to go to the window and gaze up at the full moon overhead. "Any new information?"
"No sir. The Hales seemed to have settled in Green Ridge. Derek and Cora have been integrating themselves with the locals there as well as staying in contact with your Emissary's student Maggie. They have not made any indication of leaving any time soon."
"Good. I want you to keep the watch over them but make sure it stays at a distance. I don't want them to feel the need to leave."
His beta nodded. "Of course sir."
"In the meantime, we might have to step up our time table a bit."
"Oscar?"
"My instincts are at their peak tonight and they're telling me that things have been accelerated. So we must do the same if we want to stay ahead of what's to come."
"Alright everyone, we have to hurry and get this moved off the road," said Henry Tate.
He was with a small group of people and helping to move a downed tree that was spread along the middle of the road. He knew that a storm was impending and even though the rain hadn't hit them yet, there were already a few strong winds and the skies were darkening.
Malia looked up to see that the full moon was almost fully blocked by the impending cloud cover. "Yeah dad. The storm is almost here. I can smell the rain getting closer," she said to him.
A man next to Henry rose an eyebrow. "Did you just say you can smell the rain?"
"The moisture," Henry quickly explained. "It's getting thick enough to smell."
"Well, I guess it's getting humid," the guy shrugged.
Henry clapped his hands to get the others attention. "Yeah, so unless we want to just hang around and get drenched, let's get this out of the way." The guys moved to gather around the tree and tried to lift it up but the tree was only shaking a bit in place. "C'mon, lift with your legs!" he called out to the others. "That's where your power is."
Malia stood to the side and watched as her dad and the others only managed to make the thick tree hover over the ground as they slowly tried to move it. She looked to her phone and saw the time. This whole tree business was slowing them down enough and decided to just speed this along. She moved over and bent over to take hold of the tree. She pushed it out of the grasps of the others and they watched as she tossed it off to the side, all on her own. She turned around to see them all looking at her a bit gob smacked, including her father.
She shrugged at them. "What? I lifted with my legs like you said."
Henry gave a nervous chuckle. "Yes. Yes, you did Malia." He then turned to the others. "My daughter loves to climb," he explained. "Lots of upper body strength."
They then quickly moved for his car as they moved to not stick around and drive out of there. Malia was able to see that her dad was wound up and could smell how anxious he was.
"I'm sorry," Malia said.
Henry sighed. "You have to learn to be more careful Malia. You can't just show off your strength in public like that."
"Yeah," she mumbled. "I know. It was just that you all were taking too long."
Henry let his eyes fall to the clock and saw that there were already ten minutes late and they would still take fifteen more to get to where Henry was supposed to drop Malia off. That made him sigh. "I know you're eager to see your boyfriend but you shouldn't put yourself at risk like that."
"I've just…never been this long without seeing Stiles before."
"Malia, I'm sure Stiles wants to see you too but he wouldn't you to get in trouble over him."
"I know," she sighed. "He's just been so excited about tonight. I don't want to ruin it by being late."
Henry moved his right hand to lightly take her left. "You won't ruin anything. Malia, you could never make anything worse, only better. My life may have gotten stranger and crazier since you came back, but it's much better with you back in it then out of it."
Malia smiled widely at him which he returned. They had such a good time that they could hardly believe that their dual vacation was really over. Henry and Malia had taken the last few weeks to go off on a father-daughter road trip. He felt they had a lot of time to make up for, and with Malia pushing past her late start to pass junior year, a lot to celebrate. They left town at the start of the month and started cruising down the interstate. The first week, it was just random driving and they found themselves camping at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. She remembered how she and her dad heard a howl in the distance that night and she told him it was a coyote. They drove to all kinds of places in the country, like Las Vegas, Mount Rushmore, St. Louis, the Mississippi River and New York City just to name a few.
They were half an hour late at the meeting spot but there was no sign of Stiles' jeep anywhere. Malia pulled out her phone but saw that there were no bars.
"I have no service."
"The storm might not be fully here yet but it looks like its already taken out the cell towers. You don't think Stiles already came and then took off do you?" asked Henry.
Malia shook her head. "Something probably happened with Liam. He was going to help Scott watch him a bit tonight."
"That kid still having problems with, you know, the whole thing?" he asked suggestively.
"Stiles thinks he's improving but could still use a little bit of help with a few things. I hope nothing happened tonight."
Henry nodded before his eyes narrowed as he caught something to the right. "I guess we're about to find out," he said before he pointed the approaching jeep out to her.
Stiles jeep moved to park itself across the street and the horn honked. Malia started jogging right for it with Henry walking calmly behind her.
Stiles stuck his head out of the window and smiled brightly over at Malia. "Sorry we're late! Hey."
Malia just smiled at him as she moved to grab at Stiles' face and gave him a deep kiss which he eagerly returned. Stiles moaned softly as he smelled, felt and tasted Malia again after weeks of her being gone. They broke apart and Stiles was grinning at her with a drunk like smirk.
A second later, Liam moved up and smiled at her in a mocking copy of Stiles grin. "I'm sorry too," he said to her.
Liam clearly wanted to try and get back at Stiles for earlier. Stiles turned to give him a pointed look while Scott bit the corner of his cheek to not laugh or grin at this.
Henry wasn't amused though, especially after the shameless kiss that they had right in front of him. "You boys do remember I own a gun, right?"
"Vividly," Stiles nodded. A memory of Henry cocking and firing his shotgun coming clearly back to him.
"Okay, bye dad," Malia said to him, with a wave.
Henry gave Stiles a mild glare before he turned over to Malia and gave her a quick wink before he took off. Liam scooted over as Malia hopped in the back seat with him.
"How was your trip?" Scott asked.
Malia smiled as she let the back of her head rest against the seat's head rest. "It was great. My dad and I saw so many great places. Had a lot of fun. And you guys? Anything interesting happen while I was gone?"
Scott, Stiles and Liam gave each other some looks before they shrugged. "Not really," they mumbled together.
"Not even when they found you naked during the full moon?" she asked, looking at Liam.
"You told her about that?!" Liam cried.
She shrugged. "Yeah, why not, it's not like they haven't seen me naked before."
"What, they saw you naked? Can I?" Liam said fast paced and a bit eagerly.
Stiles quickly cut in. "Okay, no more talking. And keep your hands to yourself," he said, pointing a warning finger at Liam before he turned back around. "Or I'll make you wish you stayed chained to that tree." He then pulled the car back into drive and moved them out of there.
It hadn't started to rain yet but already there were flashes of lightning flashing through the sky. There were a few scrambled cell towers and some blackout spots. Many people were already making calls to the Sheriff's department about it all. The officers were running around and Deputy Jordan Parrish was at his desk, taking calls from complaining townspeople.
"Yes, ma'am, we're having trouble with the power as well. It's most likely related to the storm," he said in a mechanical voice before he then hung up.
"Parrish!" Noah Stilinski said as he stepped out of his office. "Go and check the back up generator and make sure it's fueled." The deputy nodded to him as the phone rang again. "And Parrish, answer the phone," he said before stepping back into his office and closing the door.
Jordan let out an annoyed sigh as he looked at the phone that was ringing in front of him. "Alright," he muttered to himself. He then moved, not to answer the phone or to go and check up on the back up generator, but to the Sheriff's office. He had enough.
Noah looked up from his desk, surprised to see Parrish coming into his office, with a driven expression on his face. "Parrish, what-"
But Jordan didn't let him say more than that as he shut the door behind him. "Six months. Six months of directing traffic, doing courthouse security, serving subpoenas, and today I finished a total organizational overhaul of evidence lock-up. Now, I'm stuck behind the front desk while there are downed power lines, a jackknifed tractor-trailer and reports of gunshots downtown?!"
That made the Sheriff sigh, "Parrish" almost tiredly.
But Jordan wouldn't bend. "I don't know what I did to lose your trust but you need every available deputy out there."
He didn't understand why the man was doing this to him. Six months ago, he had gone and helped protect the man's werewolf son and his pack of friends; fighting against giant, skeleton wearing monsters before locking up the deranged madman and she-devil behind it all in a Mexican ghost town. He thought he more than proved himself to Stilinski but then he just started making him do scut jobs out of nowhere.
Noah then nodded. "Okay, got something for you." He then lifted a file from his desk up to him.
Jordan went to take it and gave it a glance before he looked back at him. "A noise complaint?" he asked incredulously.
"Yeah. Somebody made a noise, somebody else complained about it. Check it out."
Jordan bit down his irritation and then just left the office without another word.
He didn't see Noah's eyes following after him with a glum look on his face. Noah didn't like doing this and wondered if maybe he and Melissa were really handling Parrish's situation in the right way after all.
Jordan got to the address and found that it looked like an extravagant looking but condemned house. He stepped inside to see that it looked empty.
"Hello?!" he called out as he shined a flashlight inside. "This is the Beacon County Sheriff's Department!"
The house didn't look like anyone had stepped in it for a few years now. There was a layer of dust and even a downed chandelier in the hall. He looked around and started to head down to check the basement. He kept calling out but there was no answer or any kind of noise outside his own feet and the wind. The rational part of his mind was thinking this was just a prank though there was a part of him making him feel like he was stepping closer and closer into danger.
When he got to the basement, he started to hear a scratching noise. He followed it and came into a wall, that seemed to be dust free and freshly assembled. The scratching got louder and he pressed his ear to the wall and jumped when he heard and felt banging. Jordan's eyes widened as he realized that someone was stuck inside the wall.
"Hey! Hey, can you hear me?!" he cried. The person banged against the wall even harder, probably out of response. "Okay, okay, I'm going to get you out of there! I'm coming right back, just hang on!" Jordan ran out for his truck where he went to the back and pulled out a crowbar and ran back for the basement. "I'm back. Listen, back up if you can!"
Jordan then moved to strike at the wall but only managed to make a small chip in the stone. He kept hitting and chipping at it until he made a small hole clean through it. As soon as he did, a black substance begun pouring out of it. The wall began to crack and the goo sprayed off at his face. Jordan wiped at it and realized that it was blood. The very next second, something crashed through the wall and grabbed at his throat. Jordan found himself getting pushed back as he was lifted into the air. He looked down and was staring into the blue eyes of something covered in what seemed to be black blood. His eyes were glowing blue and when he made eye contact, it roared and bared fangs, all like a werewolf. He looked down and noticed that there were claws on his free hand but the claws were bigger and thicker than he remembered seeing on Scott or Stiles. He didn't get to think anymore on it as it then took those claws and stabbed them right into his stomach.
Jordan cried out as the thing started to twist and turn them, tearing into his insides. Jordan's eyes glowed a fiery orange as he glared painfully at the creature and its eyes went from blue to a matching orange as he stared back, smiling.
"Not a werewolf," he said through his fangs. "But you're something." He then threw him to the ground.
Jordan's eyes weren't glowing anymore as he stared up as the creature was smiling maniacally and hungrily down to him. He was breathing heavily as he felt barely able to lift his head. It was like most of his energy was sapped from his body.
"No, you're no normal creature deputy, but then neither am I. Not tonight." The creature then held up his set of long claws to show that they were glowing blue and his eyes were back to glowing blue to match. "I'll let you live if you answer me one question. Where is Scott McCall?"
Jordan just glared at him. "Never heard of him," he panted out as he held onto his wound. He wouldn't tell this thing where Scott, or anyone else was.
The creature then slashed his claws at him, a light trail of blue light following after them as they moved.
On the road back into town there was a major traffic block. Cars were bumper to bumper and some people were standing outside their cars looking out to try and see how far the holdup was. Not too many as a light rain was starting to come down. One person was standing on top of her car though, holding her phone up into the air. Kira was trying to call Scott but there was no signal at all. She was shifting weight nervously from one foot to another.
Inside the car, her parents were hearing it and they shared a small look with each other. Noshiko decided to be the one this time and stuck her head out the window.
"Kira," she said as she looked up at her daughter waving her phone around. "Get back inside the car, please?"
Kira sighed but moved to jump off the roof and landed firmly on the ground. She straightened up as she noticed a guy standing close by with his phone out too. He then turned around and she saw that it was a handsome looking guy and he smiled at her.
"I'm not getting anything either," he said holding his phone up at her.
Kira smiled before she got back into her car. "We haven't moved in fifteen minutes. I'm going to be late."
Noshiko looked back over at her. "What is this thing you're going to anyway?"
"It's called Senior Scribe and I'm not supposed to tell you about it," she told her.
Noshiko then looked at her husband.
"Don't look at me," he quickly told her. "I don't know anything either. Sounds like they're supposed to write something or…" He shrugged his shoulders.
"It sounds like vandalism."
"It's not vandalism," Kira quickly said. "At least, I don't think it is." She then looked off to see nothing and no one still moving and Kira shook her head. "That's it, I'm going."
"What? You're going to walk?" her father asked skeptically.
"Yep," she said stepping out of the car. But then a clap of thunder rang out and the light rain turned into a heavy downpour and she got right back in. "In a few minutes."
When they got to the hospital, Stiles and Malia waited in the lobby while Scott took Liam up to see his father. Liam checked in with the receptionist and he found his way back to Scott.
"My dad is busy in surgery. He's not going to be done for hours. So, I'm either hanging out here or I could still go with you guys," he suggested a little hopefully.
Scott called for the elevator and then turned to Liam. "Show me your hands."
Liam deflated as he moved to reveal the cuts in his palms that had dried blood and were still bleeding a bit. "You knew."
"Yeah, we did. That's why Stiles is kind of pissed right now at you. You lied right to our faces."
"I'm sorry." He sighed. "Okay, so the truth is I'm still having trouble.
Scott shook his head. "No, you're still learning."
"Still? I mean, I thought that having an anchor was supposed to give you control and I have two. But, its still hard."
"Two, yeah. Your stepdad and Satomi's mantra."
"Well more like a memory of my stepdad teaching me his saying and one of Stiles teaching me the mantra. But, it's hard to focus on them. Satomi and her pack have been trying to teach me to learn focus and keep control with sparring. It's helping I guess and I've learned a lot. I thought I was getting it but…it's getting harder to stay focused for some reason."
Scott knew that Liam and Stiles were visiting and meeting with Satomi and her pack more and more, especially over the summer. Though he himself didn't find himself up for meeting Satomi as much as they did. But he saw that it was helping, even if he still didn't really like the fact that Liam was learning how to fight along with trying to learn control.
He shrugged that last bit away. "Well I would think it's hard to keep focus on specific memories. What do you do to try and not change when you can't?"
Liam pulled out his headphones. "But it's not working."
"It's working enough. Listen, Derek told me that you were one of the strongest that he'd ever seen at your age. Coming from him that means a lot. Maybe that means things are just gonna be harder for you for a while." The elevator got there and Scott stepped in. "But it also means something else, doesn't it?"
"That I'm really strong?"
Scott smiled. "Hell yeah." The elevator doors then started closing but he kept his gaze on Liam until they fully shut.
Scott got to the ground floor and moved off to the lobby. He got there and he sighed when he saw Stiles and Malia were sitting in the chairs by the front desk, lightly making out and dead to the world around them. They got a few looks from people passing by and the two nurses at the desk were trying to work like nothing was going on but Scott could smell their discomfort and unease. He guessed that the two of them were catching up with each other. Scott stood there, giving them a few more seconds, before he loudly cleared his throat. The two of them slowly broke away and Stiles moved to stand up as he straightened himself up.
"How it go?" he asked with a slightly winded voice.
"I think he's going to be fine." He then looked down to his phone and saw that there was still no service. "I still can't reach Kira though."
"When was the last time you talked to her?" asked Stiles.
"Uh…I don't know. Over a week ago."
Stiles' eyes widened. "A week?"
"Yeah, I didn't want to bother her while she was in New York," he explained.
Malia nodded. "It was great there."
Stiles gave a look before turning back to Scott. "Well, how did you leave things before you left?"
Scott shrugged. "I just said don't worry and go have fun."
"Go have…no, Scott you didn't."
Scott's face fell. "What? What's wrong?"
Stiles turned to Malia. "Malia, if before you had left, I had told you "Don't worry, go have fun." What would you think I was talking about?"
"Uh, fun like bowling or sex with other guys?"
Stiles then turned to Scott and his eyes widened.
"Okay, yeah. Now I'm worried."
He tried to call Kira again but Stiles pulled him back as a pair of gurneys came through, each carrying a wounded patient.
"That's five in the last twenty minutes," Stiles told him.
Scott then spotted his mom following after them. "Mom, where's all this coming from?" he asked as she passed them.
She stopped to look back at him. "A jackknifed tractor-trailer on 115. Caused a major pileup."
"Uh, okay there is only one way back into Beacon Hills from the airport," said Stiles.
"115," Scott breathed. Kira was no doubt stuck in that pileup.
Stiles dropped his head down a bit. "Kira's never going to make it."
But Scott shook his head. "I can get her." He then moved for the entrance. "You guys head to the school. Lydia's probably already there. We'll meet you by midnight."
"How are you gonna get to her in the middle of a traffic jam?" he called after him.
Scott turned to look back at him. "We'll make it. Trust me."
He then went out.
Over at the McCall house, the creature that attacked Parrish crashed in through the living room window, sending shattered glass all over the floor. He sniffed the air around the house and looked up at the ceiling.
"No one home."
He walked down to the kitchen and saw that there was a note written on a pad on the fridge. He pulled the paper off and read the message.
Senior Scribe Tonight. I'll be back by 12:30. Scott.
He then left to head to the high school.
A/N: Well, there you have it. I had to make a few changes to things with the changes I made for what everyone was doing during the summer. I also decided to not include the Lydia stuff from this episode because I want to keep everything that goes on this year fresh with the timeline.
