Chapter 3: Creatures of the Night part 2
Noah was in his office and looked over at his watch to see that it had been a little over two hours since Parrish had left. He thought he would've checked in by now and he couldn't help but feel concerned. However, his concern vanished when he heard shouting outside his door. He looked outside to see two deputies dragging in someone who was shouting and trying to pull himself free.
"What the hell?" he shouted as they pushed him against a ledge. "Are you trying to break my arm?"
The deputy behind him then tightened her hold on his arms. "Keep struggling and I'll be aiming for a compound fracture," she spat at him.
Noah sighed. It was Donovan Donati, his former partner's son and he was being manhandled by Valerie Clark, one of his newest deputies.
"Donovan," he said sternly but still trying to be gentle. "You forgot what the judge said, didn't you? Next time is jail time."
Donovan's face paled a bit. "Stilinski? Please, come on," he said pleadingly.
Noah looked over at Clark. "What's he in for?"
"B and E," she said. "And he was carrying a .38."
Noah let his gaze drop a bit. Donovan started to get more nervous.
"It wasn't mine. Sheriff, it wasn't mine," Donovan tried to explain.
Donovan had been getting into some sporadic bouts of trouble since his father's…injury. He'd had a few domestic disturbance and assault charges to his name since then. Noah had tried to cut the kid some slack whenever they popped up but when he became a legal adult over a year ago, he hadn't stopped. Now, it looked like it was getting serious. Carrying around a gun as he was breaking and entering and no doubt leaning towards armed robbery. Noah realized Donovan was getting worse and he couldn't keep letting it go anymore. His father would understand why he had to do what he was about to.
"Book him," he told his deputies.
Donovan's expression quickly changed from apologetic to livid. "Oh, you're dead," he hissed out at him. He started being carried off by the deputies but saw that the Sheriff wasn't looking at him. That only made him angrier. "Hey, look at me! You're dead! Do you hear me?! You're dead!"
The deputies only carried him off faster for the holding cells. Donovan's threats started carrying themselves off through the station that some of the people stopped what they were doing. Noah noticed that they were either awkwardly listening to Donovan's shouting or looking at him. His own face hardened.
"Can anyone tell me why the hell Parrish isn't back yet?!" he shouted out to drown out Donovan's own shouting.
Scott quickly ran off to his house and headed straight up for his room to grab his helmet and his keys for his bike. He then started to quickly run down the stairs when there was a bolt of lightning and a clap of thunder following it. Scott stopped at the foot of the staircase as it sounded louder than he expected. He then felt a small breeze and he looked over to find that the shades were flapping violently on one of the windows. For a moment, he thought that his mom had left the window open by accident but he froze when he saw the broken glass spilled on the floor in front of it.
"Aw, man," Scott muttered as he moved away.
He then heard a small scratching sound and then sound of something falling coming from the kitchen. Scott ran off, thinking that someone must've broken into his home and was trying to leave when they heard him. Scott was a second away from shifting to ward away the intruder but stopped when he saw the source of the scratching. It was a small black bird that flying against the wall, frantically flapping its wings as it flew across the counter and was knocking some envelopes loose. He saw that there was a broken coffee mug on the ground where they fell and realized that had been the source of the noise he heard.
"A bird," he sighed in relief. Scott let his senses branch out and didn't detect anyone else in the house and it didn't look like anything was burgled or ruined. He then looked at the window whose drapes was still flapping from the heavy winds. "I guess it was the storm," he thought out loud. Scott guessed that the high winds sent a rock or maybe even the bird into the window and shattered it.
Scott then went over to try and catch the bird, which he saw was a raven upon closer inspection. It flapped it wings and soared higher to go out of his reach and Scott started to try jumping in order to grab it and send it off. The raven moved to try and fly over the space above the fridge and Scott moved to try and catch it but almost slipped. On the floor were the refrigerator magnets and papers and photos they had hung and he had nearly slipped on one of them. He quickly opened the kitchen door and the raven moved to fly out of it and Scott quickly shut the door after it did.
Scott looked down on the mess on the floor. "Oh man, I so don't have time for this," he mumbled to himself as he bent down and started to quickly clean up. He gathered the fallen envelops and broken mug pieces. He then got to the magnets and tried to attach them back but they weren't sticking. They just fell right back to the floor as soon as he let them go. Scott then grabbed the paper he almost slipped on and found that it was the note he had left his mother reminding her about Senior Scribe. He narrowed his eyes a bit when he saw that there were holes in the notes. They were small and were shaped a little oddly. He moved his fingers a bit and then squeezed on the paper to find that his fingertips lined up with the holes perfectly. He was brought out of his trance when the magnets suddenly flew off the floor and stuck back onto the fridge.
He then shook his head a bit. "Get a grip Scott," he mumbled to himself. His nerves were probably still wound up from the earlier lightning scare and his talk with Stiles. He couldn't let himself get paranoid.
But he stiffened when all the electronics around him started to go haywire. The hands of the clock on the wall started to spin like crazy. The microwave started beeping on and off every other second. There was then a bright bolt of lightning outside followed by a crack of thunder that shook the house. The radio in the next room turned on and started playing loud music through the house and the lights started flickering on and off. Some things fell from the shelves and a chair even fell back.
Scott was now feeling more than paranoid. He was freaked out.
Jordan gasped as he started to regain consciousness. The first thing he noticed was that his chest felt like it was on fire. He blinked his eyes and looked down to see that there was a deep claw wound cut right into the center of his chest and it was slowly bleeding. Not only did it hurt so badly that he barely was able to get himself to sit back against the wall but it was smoking. It was as if the wound was burning like it was on fire.
He moved his hand and took hold of his radio. "Dispatch," he breathed. "Officer...officer down."
But all he got in return was high pitched static. The kind that his lingering rational mind identified as interference. No one but the Stilinski knew he was there but the Sheriff had sent him to deal with a noise complaint and wouldn't think anything was wrong any time soon. He might bleed out long before anyone found him.
"Jordan," he suddenly heard. "I'm here."
'I know that voice,' he thought as he blinked and looked about.
He detected movement and turned his gaze over and found that it was Lydia. She was walking over for him and then kneel to be right in front of him.
"I'm right here," she said gently to him.
Jordan found himself feeling calmer as he stared at Lydia's gentle face. He caught her eyes just as she moved her hand and softly ran it over his bleeding wound. He let himself lean back and relax into her touch. When her fingers made contact, the pain in his chest seemed to numb itself into a hard ache. He wasn't blind to the fact that Lydia Martin was beautiful but he never dwelled on it as she was younger than him and still in school. Yet, as he stared at her, all that was the furthest from his mind. All he knew was the sight of her was breathtaking. They hadn't broken eye contact and Lydia started to slowly lean herself closer to him.
"Stay with me," she muttered as she leaned in closer.
Her eyes started to close as their faces became inches apart. Jordan found his own eyes starting to shut as he tilted his head a bit to meet Lydia's lips as she leaned in. They were mere centimeters apart when he heard another voice.
"Parrish?" he heard sound out like a distant echo.
Jordan blinked and found that Lydia was now gone and there was a bright beam of light pointing at him. It was from a flashlight and it was coming closer as he heard the person call out his name again, this time a bit clearer and sounding frantic. He blinked as the person's face came into a blurry focus and saw that it was the Sheriff. He was horrified at the sight of him and ran over to him. That was all Jordan could make out before he passed out.
Noah had been without any answers for where Parrish had been so he decided to go out looking for him himself. He decided to retrace his deputy's tracks and went to where he had sent him first. He had relieved when he saw Parrish's van in the front of the house but then got suspicious for what could be keeping him. He saw the house's front door was wide open and quickly ran inside. He frantically searched until he reached the basement and he quickly made out the scattered rubble on the floor before finding Parrish bleeding on the floor. He had to get him help and he knew who to get it from.
The doctors crowded him the moment that he moved into the hospital with Parrish sprawled on his shoulder.
"Sheriff, what happened?!" one of them cried as he ran to him.
"Get me Melissa McCall," he ordered them.
Liam was sitting off to the side, waiting on his stepdad who he saw with Scott's mom as they were talking over a medical chart on his clipboard. He couldn't hear what they were saying because he still had the earphones in his ears. He was letting his mind wander off so he was thrown when he looked up and saw that the two of them were now talking with a new doctor and they seemed frantic. He pulled the earphones out of his ears but Scott's mom was running off down the hall, following the other doctor.
"Hey dad," Liam asked going over to him. "Is something up?"
"Oh, the Sheriff just came in with a wounded deputy and he asked for Melissa specifically."
"Stiles' dad?" mumbled Liam.
The doors of an empty operating room flew open as Noah and Melissa were dragging Parrish in and laid him on the table.
"I thought you said you were going to keep him on desk duty," she said almost scolding.
"It was just a minor noise complaint," he said in defense.
Melissa looked down to get a better look at the wounds. Or lack thereof. "He's not on fire, is he?"
Noah shook his head. "Not that I know of. He definitely looks better than he did when I found him."
The claw marks seemed to have been reduced to scaring. It looked as if his flesh had been heated and melted to seal the incisions. There was also a subtle hint of smoke coming off him. It was a lot different from what they had seen with Scott and Stiles when they had been injured.
"Maybe it's a part of his healing process," she guessed.
They still didn't know what Parrish even was. Neither did their sons, their friends, Argent or even Deaton. No one seemed to. It was a total mystery.
Before any of them could say anything else, Parrish rose up from the table, startling them. He moved to get to his feet and Noah quickly pulled out his gun while he moved to shield Melissa behind him. Parrish was staring straight at him with glowing orange eyes. He was heavily breathing but he was just standing there, breathing deeply as he stared the Sheriff down. After a moment, the light in Parrish's eyes dimmed away and they were back to normal.
Melissa moved to lightly put Noah's hand down to lower his gun. "It's okay. It's okay," she told him gently. Once the gun was pointed safely to the ground, she looked up at Parrish who seemed to be taking deep breaths and blinking his eyes. "You alright deputy?"
Jordan felt his senses coming back to him and looked down at his chest. He lightly grazed at his wounds to find that they had mostly healed from when he had been attacked. As the memory came back to him, he gasped out Scott's name. "We need to find Scott."
"Scott, why?" Melissa quickly asked.
"Because this guy is after him."
"Oh god." The next minute Melissa then pulled out her phone. "Damn. There's no service," she said frantically.
"Because of the storm," Noah explained. He took another look at his deputy's wound. "Parrish, what the hell happened to you at that house? Who attacked you? A werewolf?"
But Jordan shook his head. "No, I don't think so."
"What do you mean?" asked Melissa.
"His claws were different. More like talons."
"Talons?" said Noah.
Melissa straightened a bit. "If that's the worst part, that doesn't sound too bad."
"It's worse," Jordan breathed. "They did something to me. I don't know how to describe it other than it felt as if the life was being drawn out of me through them. Through the claws."
That freaked Melissa out. "And now he's looking for Scott?"
"Which got me thinking about what this guy can do. The rule is to kill an Alpha in order to steal their power, right?"
Noah remembered what his son told him about this. "Yeah, that's usually how it is but I bet its different for Scott. You can't steal a True Alpha's power." That was because Scott didn't get his power by killing another Alpha for it.
Jordan's jaw tightened. "I think that this guy can. We have to warn him."
Outside the room, Liam's eyes widened in shock. He had gone looking for them and had started listening in on their conversation. Scott was at the high school with Stiles, Malia and the others and he didn't know what was coming for him. None of them did. He had to warn them. So he went and took off to do just that.
The rain was still pouring hard as the cars on the road had hardly moved at all since the heavy downpour had started. Kira was getting irritated as her nerves and impatience at the stalled traffic was building. It didn't help when her father started to try and kill the silence.
"You know, there is a legend for a storm like this," he started.
"Dad," Kira sighed. "Please don't turn a three hour traffic jam into an educational experience."
Noshiko looked over to the rear view mirror to glimpse her daughter. "He's talking about the Wild Hunt. About the Ghost Riders." That seemed to make Kira stiffen and look off to catch her mother's eyes in the mirror. Noshiko continued. "Imagine a night like this Kira, in storm clouds just like these, phantom hunters would appear riding black horses with blood-red eyes and wolves and hounds at their side, baying and snarling."
Kira felt a small chill crawl up her spine. "What were they hunting?" she asked, tensely.
Her mother was silent for a moment before she answered with just one powerful word.
"Souls."
The atmosphere was so thick that they jumped when they heard a hard roar of a motorcycle engine.
"Noshiko?" Kira's dad asked.
Kira knew that sound. "Do you hear that?" she asked.
But she didn't wait for an answer as she opened the door and threw herself out.
"Kira!" her mother called after her.
But Kira didn't stop and she stepped out into the rain. Out in the road there was a motorcycle riding in through the space between the cars, heading in her direction. Kira started running towards it as it kept heading for her.
As she ran in the rain, she passed by a teen that took special notice of what was happening and cracked his window down a bit.
Kira kept running as the bike stopped a couple of yards away from her. It's rider pulled their helmet off and she saw Scott's face looking down at her as she finally got to him.
"Did you have fun in New York?" he asked as soon as she got to him.
She smiled as she shook her head slightly. "Not really," she said a little breathlessly.
Scott smiled at her. "Good," he sighed in relief.
Then he grabbed at her chin and pulled her in for a kiss. Over a week without seeing or speaking to each other fueled into it.
Back in the car, Kira's parents noticed what was going on and they shared an exasperated but amused look.
After they had finished, Scott moved Kira to sit behind him on his bike so they can head to the school. As they took off, the boy from before let a small smirk loose as he watched them disappear off into the distance. He then looked off at the two in the front seat.
"I'm going to head off on foot from here. I'll probably be late getting back tonight. Don't wait up," he finished with a polite smile.
"Okay Theo," the woman up front said with a too eager smile.
"Have fun," the man behind the wheel said very enthusiastically.
"Oh, I will," he said before he opened his door.
Scott rode them off through the gap in the cars, through the jam and made it back into Beacon Hills limits where he then sped off for the high school. Compared to the highway, the streets were actually low in traffic and Scott was making good time. He and Kira would make it to the school in time for Scribe with the others. Stiles had been going over this not with him but Lydia, Malia and Kira before she took off with her parents, making sure that they all were there. He had been obsessing over this night for almost two weeks. Not on the same level as his 'vision' for after graduation but it was in the area.
With Peter and Kate locked away, and no new hunters or assassins coming around, Scott had hoped that he could finally have his focus back on just being a regular high school kid. Focus on school and having Kira as his girlfriend and not worry about any werewolf stuff getting in the way. It didn't turn out to be that easy or simple though. Not with Liam and Stiles in tow.
With everything having settled down, he hoped Liam would be able to adjust and be free of the stress of losing control of himself. But it turned out that even with this new peace, he still had to stay on his toes with Liam. The kid still had difficulty with control even with an anchor and managing his anger. Stiles then thought that Satomi might be able to help as she had Brett and his sister Lori as well as other young betas their age, at least before the Deadpool, but she had experience with teaching young werewolves. While he didn't like how Liam occasionally went through having sparring drills against members of her pack, Liam claimed that it was helping him learn. He did notice Liam showing great improvement in the last six months…save for his little slip up. Hopefully, this would mean his sophomore year would end up better than Scott's had. After tonight, he might not need to worry about Liam much.
Then there was Stiles. He had been visiting Satomi and her pack a lot that summer from what Liam had told him and a good bit of those visits involved him sparring far more than Liam, even going against Satomi. It even looked like he was trying to learn to hone in more of a werewolf's power from the Alpha and he often tried to talk Scott into joining but he found himself making excuses not to. Scott couldn't help but start to worry that Stiles might be getting too caught up in the supernatural and wasn't even going to try and be normal anymore. Scott couldn't remember the last time that he and Stiles hung out and did normal stuff like play video games or watch a movie. At least without the supernatural weaving their way in somehow. Scott could remember his friend's 'Turniversary' idea when he wanted to mark when they had been turned. Even Stiles' 'vision' for after graduation didn't seem to be leaving room for them to try and be normal as he quickly shot down his extra roommate suggestion by glowing his eyes at him.
That's why he wanted to make sure this night went right for him. It was actually something normal Stiles was putting real care in for once. Lately, Scott felt that most of his time was spent on trying on pretend to be normal. But with Senior Scribe, they could relax and actually be normal with all the other seniors of the school. Maybe after tonight, with school starting again, along with them reining as co-captains of the lacrosse team, Stiles would let his focus start to come away from the supernatural and back to normal stuff.
"Looks like we're going to make it," Kira called out behind him.
"Yeah," Scott sighed as they saw the lights of the school peeking through the rain.
When they made it, they ran for cover to get away from the rain that hadn't let up the whole time they had been out.
"Where are they?" Kira said, laughing a bit as she wiped the rain from her face. "Are we too late?"
Scott checked his watch and found that it wasn't quite midnight yet. He shook his head. "No, they're just not here yet."
She looked up to see that there was a big toothy smile up on Scott's face. "What are you smiling at?" she asked him.
"You," he answered.
That made Kira move to kiss him and they tumbled back until they were against a wall. They began to make out for a bit when Kira pulled back suddenly. She thought she heard a growl but it didn't sound like it came from Scott. Scott narrowed his eyes before he heard it too.
They then turned and saw someone pushing through the falling water beyond their cover. He brandished his fangs as well his very large talons. He roared at them before he launched for them.
When Scott left them at the hospital, Stiles brought Malia to his jeep and they drove off for the school. But they didn't go in right away. They stayed in the car, lightly kissing and playfully laughing with each other while the rain pounded outside. Malia went and pulled away slightly.
"Hey, I'm going to come over tonight."
"Yeah?" Stiles panted out a bit as he let his fingers dance over her cheek.
She nodded. "I did have fun with my dad these last few weeks but it got lonely when it came time to sleep. I missed you having you there with me," she said softly.
Stiles backed a bit to gaze at her face, her eyes better. "Yeah…I missed you too." Sleeping always did seem to come easier and better when he had Malia with him. And recently, he had a good share of restless nights. "But, you just got back today. Won't your dad be upset you just came back with me without asking him?"
"No, I did. When we were heading out to meet you. I told him not to wait up for me tonight because I was going to stay with you after."
Stiles raised his eyebrows surprisingly at that. "And he was okay with it?"
Malia shrugged. "Well he kinda was upset at first. But I told him that I really missed you and how better it always made me feel after I slept with you. Before I could finish asking, he said I could as long as I didn't keep talking about it."
'I bet,' Stiles thought as he nervously scratched at the back of his head.
Mr. Tate would've found that she was causing him to visualize something uncomfortable about him and his daughter even though she meant that they more often just slept in the same bed together. Malia often didn't realize how awkward she worded things sometimes.
But Stiles found it adorable and funny at times and let a small giggle loose. "Okay then, but, I get to be the big spoon tonight." Stiles rose his left eyebrow a bit flirtatiously.
She gave him a toothy smile. "Uh…we'll see." They moved to share another kiss but broke apart when a car went and parked in the spot next to them. The people in there came out and cheered as they ran off for the school through the pouring rain. "Maybe we should head on in now?"
"Yeah," he breathed.
They quickly threw themselves out of the jeep and made for cover. They stayed to the side as they observed all the other seniors running for shelter but in seemingly high spirits.
"Wow," Malia said as she saw the smiles and eager expressions on all the seniors' faces. "Can you smell that?"
"Yeah," Stiles mumbled. "They're all excited." Even with this hard and heavy rain, he could detect the excitable emotions coming off all of them when he sniffed the air. They were all eager for Senior Scribe.
He turned towards the front doors and caught sight of pair of seniors who went and gave each other a high five before lowering their hands for a fist bump. No doubt something only for them being best friends. It reminded him of the one that he and Scott had made last year but he couldn't remember the last time they ever did it. The two senior guys then went on into the school and Stiles couldn't help but let his shoulders slump.
While Stiles was distracted by the scene, Malia had taken out her phone and texted Lydia and asked where she was. She quickly responded back that she was already there. She quickly responded that she and Stiles were too right before her nose crinkled. She took some sniffs and realized it was Stiles. His chemo signal completely changed. She wasn't hiding the sniffing though and it made Stiles turn around and startled the both of them.
"You smell terrible all of a sudden."
Every guy wanted his girlfriend to say that to them. "Gee thanks," he sighed. "It's called anxiety. I'm anxious. It seems to be a normal thing for me these days so you should probably get used to it," he trailed off.
"What's wrong?" She looked back at all the seniors heading into the school. "Is it because Scott and Kira aren't here yet?"
"No, well, I guess that's part of it."
"Why is all this so important to you?"
"It's not," he said. Malia then gave him a look that said that she clearly didn't believe that. He rolled his eyes. "Okay, maybe a little. But…I don't know. I'm worried if it'll feel as great as I thought it would."
"What do you mean?"
He dropped his gaze from her a bit. "I asked my dad about his high school friends a little while back. Guess how many he still talks to?" But he didn't give her a chance to guess. "None. Not a single one. You know, these were his best friends and he says that he just lost touch with them. And I even talked with Satomi and her second Wilson about their high school friends; basically the same happened with them. Then I started thinking, you know like I usually do."
Malia nodded. "Obsessively."
"Yeah," he nodded back. "Why is it expected that we're all supposed to just go our separate ways after we graduate? I've already found the people that matter most to me and I don't want to lose touch with them. But I've started to worry that maybe they might sort of be telling me the truth."
She remembered how worried he was back at the hospital when Scott left to go get Kira. "You're talking about Scott."
"You know, we've been friends since fourth grade. Scott's been not just my best friend, he's like my brother. Lately though, I can't help but feel that we're already starting to drift away. Just like my dad and his friends from high school. So…I can't help but start thinking that maybe Scott and I are friends now but what if we're not friends for life?"
Those thoughts have been wracking his mind in the last few days. This summer, they didn't really hang with or see each other too much, unlike last summer where they saw and hung out constantly. True, Scott was busy with summer school, his internship at the hospital and working at the clinic while Stiles had been spending a lot of time with Malia, Satomi and her pack, along with Liam. Yet Stiles found he hadn't even noticed the change until a few days ago.
"But doesn't that just happen sometimes?" asked Malia, snapping him out of his thoughts.
"Yeah, it does because we just let it happen. You know, if I've already found the best people in my life then why don't I just try to stay with them?"
"Well, I thought that was the plan. The dream."
"The vision. And don't mock the vision."
"I…I like the vision." Malia then moved up to him. "Especially if I'm part of it." Stiles brought his eyes to look square at hers. "So that's why you wanted everyone here together tonight? You don't want to lose your friends."
"And I hope they don't want to lose me either."
Looking back, the last year seemed to feel like he and Scott's rhythm had done a 180. He couldn't help but wonder if Scott noticed the change…and if he even cared as much as he did. Especially after their argument earlier tonight, and him now getting angry over upset whenever Scott flinches away from his eyes. After being with so many people, strangers, having no problems looking him in his 'eyes' the last couple of months, he couldn't help but get angry his best friend couldn't. Derek had told him that Scott would get over it and just needed time. Stiles didn't know how long he was expecting to wait.
Malia started to move in closer to him. "Well I know I don't."
Stiles felt the weight on his chest get lighter and his face softened a bit. The two of them let their eyes catch each other for a moment in a gentle stare before they moved to catch each other's lips again. Stiles moved to wrap his arms around Malia while she moved her hands to rub against his cheek and the back of his neck as they lightly made out against the hard rain coming down around them. But, Malia suddenly jerked herself away.
"Mal?" Stiles asked as she suddenly looked tense.
"Someone's coming," she told him. "Someone fast."
He narrowed his eyes as he let his senses branch out. "Yeah, you're right," he mumbled. But then he caught a familiar scent. "Wait," he cried, but it was too late.
A fraction of a second after he called that out, Malia had moved in and threw her hand out to intercept who ran up to them and pinned him to the ground.
Liam's back slammed flat into the pavement. "Ahh," he cried out as Malia's hand crushed him.
Stiles took a step back. "Liam? What are you doing here?" He was supposed to be at the hospital.
Liam looked up at them. "Scott's in trouble," he grunted out through the pressure that Malia was still holding him down with.
Stiles' eyes widened. "What the hell are you talking about?!" He reached down and went to pull Liam to his feet.
"Your dad. He brought Parrish to the hospital. He was attacked and I heard him tell him and Scott's mom that the guy is looking for him to want to take his power. Where is he? I thought he was with you guys."
"Scott left to get Kira," Malia told him before turning back to Stiles. "Do you think they made it?"
Their ears then picked up an echo of a howl through the rain and they stiffened. It sounded like it came from around the other end of the courtyard.
"I think so," Stiles grunted before he took off in a run with Malia and Liam on his tail.
Scott shifted and he stood his ground as this unknown werewolf stomped over for him. He tried to cut off his attacker's advance with a swipe of his claws but the guy answered with a swipe of his talons. They managed to cut through Scott's defense and had him tumbling back in pain.
Kira quickly moved for her metallic belt and thrust it out of the loops and hit the hidden trigger. The links came together and it turned into her custom sword that she and her parents made for her. She cut the air a few times, getting a feel for her new weapon as she never had the chance to use it before. Yet her opponent didn't seem worried as he smirked at her as she pointed her weapon at him. She moved to strike at him but he stepped away and then ducked away her next attack. He struck at her with his talons but Kira sidestepped and avoided it by a hair. She quickly spun and sent a slash at the guy's head but he growled as he ducked away from it. He came up behind her and sent another slash at her and his talons managed to make contact. Kira cried out in pain as she fell face first into a large puddle on the ground.
After he struck down Kira, he turned to look down at Scott who was writhing a bit on the ground. "A True Alpha?" he mocked. "Where's your power Scott?"
The next moment, Scott rose his head up to face him. "Who are you?' Scott spat.
The guy growled. "A devoted fan. Show me the man that defeated Deucalion and Gerard Argent. I came for that Alpha. Come on!" he roared out in challenge.
Scott answered with a hard roar as threw himself to his feet and moved to send two slashes at his upper arms and sent a hard kick to his face. The guy took a step back but quickly shrugged it off. He just leered at Scott before starting to move for him. Scott quickly swiped and clawed at his face and it made him flinch in pain. Scott then tried to swipe at him again but the guy moved to catch and lock his hand under his left arm before moving his right to grab at Scott's throat. He then moved and threw Scott against the opposite wall where he then lifted him up by his throat and tightened it harder to cut off his air.
He then threw Scott to the ground when Kira screamed as she came at him with her sword again. She thrust her blade but he moved making her miss and the blade bounced off the wall. She tried to make a spin slash at him but he swiped it away before he moved to grab her wrist. He squeezed it, making her gasp out in pain, before he threw her away.
He then turned back to Scott. "I didn't come just to claim your status." He then brought up the hand with the talons as they glowed bright blue. It was unspoken. He came to claim his life.
But then a figure jumped down from the other end of the terrace and his roared filled the air. He then ran off to the wall next to them and bounced off it before he made a swipe at the enemy and made him flinch back. Scott blinked, and for a second, he thought it might be Stiles. Yet, he could see the glow of golden yellow eyes which meant that it wasn't him. This new guy moved and then sent a claw strike right at the guy's right thigh and made him bend down in pain. But the guy grabbed him before he could make another attack and threw him off to the side like he did Kira.
Scott moved to stand up but the guy moved his talons in and stabbed them through Scott's chest. Scott groaned out as the guy pushed his talons further into him. He blinked as the crimson glow of his eyes started to dim. The guy happily snarled as Scott could see a bit of red start to seep into his eyes. The more his own eyes dimmed, the brighter red this guy's eyes seem to get. His legs were rocking and they began to give out as Kira and the new guy tried to move to their feet.
But then Stiles, Liam and Malia ran into the terrace and they eyes widened at the sight of Scott being held up at clawpoint. The three of them quickly shifted and gave a collected roar that made the guy's head snap over to them in surprise at the three new shapeshifters ready to challenge him. The roar also seemed to stimulate Scott. He felt a fire burn in through his ears that seemed to go right to his eyes. They started to glow bright red again and Scott growled under his breath making the guy turn his gaze back on him again. Scott then moved his hand to the guy's wrist and gave it a hard twist. It was so strong that it broke it and made the bone start to stick out. He pulled away as he took a knee and whimpered in pain. The talons had come off and were still stuck in Scott's chest but he moved and pulled them out and threw them to the ground.
Scott then stood over to speak down to him. "I don't know who you are or what you thought you were going to do but I'll give you a choice. You can stay and I'll break something else. Or you can run." Normally, Scott wouldn't resort to something like this but he found he didn't care right now. This was supposed to be a normal night with his friends and this guy tried to ruin it. Scott was beyond pissed.
"I'd run," Stiles spoke out. He then snarled before he lifted his foot and slammed it down on the pavement making a small crack on impact. "Far and fast." Malia and Liam snarled themselves as they stood on either side of him.
The guy looked over to gaze at each one of them before he got up and quickly hightailed out of there. As he ran off, Scott got up and Kira moved to him and held her hand out in concern. Stiles and the others moved over to them, each shifting their faces back to normal, with Scott going back after all of them. But they then turned to look at the newcomer, who had his face back to normal too. Stiles narrowed his eyes as his face came into focus. Malia felt something in her chest twist and fall to her stomach at the sight of him. Kira immediately remembered him as the kid from the highway. Liam was just plain confused.
He smiled as he stepped over to the group. He looked over at Scott. "You don't remember me, do you? I guess I look a little different since fourth grade."
At the mention of fourth grade, Scott's eyes widened. An image of a short haired boy came to him whose smile seemed to mirror this guy's. "Theo?" he gasped out in shock.
Theo nodded and he gave them a toothy smile.
Malia looked over at Scott. "You know him?"
"They used to," he said. "Trust me, I never thought I'd see you guys again." He looked from Scott to Stiles whose face was a bit blank. "A couple of months ago, I heard of an Alpha in Beacon Hills. When I found out his name was Scott McCall, just couldn't believe it." He looked back at Scott and his smile widened. "And not just an Alpha, but a True Alpha," he said in slight adulation.
Scott swallowed a bit at the praise before he nodded. "What do you want?"
"I came back to Beacon Hills, back home with my family, because I want to be a part of your pack." Stiles' eyes were now narrowed in suspicion while Scott's eyes had widened in surprise. "It's okay. You don't have to give me an answer yet. I guess it isn't the best time right now but I'll be around and you can give me an answer when you're ready."
He then moved to head on out as they all watched him disappear into the rain. As the water poured over him, he let a smirk creep on him. He had ran to the school from the highway and had arrived just in time to make a good first impression with Scott. He seemed happy to see an old friend again though, he could tell that Stiles wasn't as quickly taken but that's to be expected. The important thing was the doctor's first project played his part well. He can only guess what was going to happen to him now but Theo didn't care less. The guy's job was done.
Soon, after Scott told Liam to head back to the hospital and tell his mother and the Sheriff that he was alright, they headed into the school. Stiles started speaking as soon as they got through the front doors.
"Scott, we haven't seen this kid in years and now suddenly he's back and is a werewolf, you don't find that highly suspicious?"
"I'm kind of more concerned about the guy who just tried to kill me," Scott said back.
"Yeah," Kira said behind the boys making them turn to look at her and Malia. "And what was he? What kind of werewolf has talons?"
"We probably should've asked him before we let him get away," Malia suggested.
"There you are!" They turned over to look at Lydia approaching them. "Where have you guys been? The whole senior class is here. Are we doing this or not?"
The four of them sighed before they turned to head on off. Stiles hooked his arm over Malia while Scott hooked his over Kira who hooked in Lydia as they walked. The issues of this new attacker and Theo could wait. Right now, they had Senior Scribe.
In the library, the seniors had gathered and lined up as they moved some books off the book cases to expose the surface of the shelves. There was writing on some of them and they moved the books off to free up the space that was still free and clean. They began to inscribe their initials in permanent marker before they passed it over and moved off to let the next one do it.
When it got to Stiles' turn he moved to find a spot. His eyes fell on a D.H. inscribed. He sighed as he moved his finger to dance over it and he had a momentary flash. He saw the image of the young Derek Hale excitedly take a marker from his friend and verbally claim it was his turn. He then bent down and wrote in his initials. He then smiled off at his friends as he went to pass the marker down to the next person. Stiles blinked as he found himself staring back down at his own hands.
"Stiles?" Lydia asked from behind him. "You okay?"
"Yeah," he sighed. He gave his head a shake before he moved and wrote in M.S. in what he felt was a good spot before passing the pen to Lydia.
She found a spot and wrote L.M. in a good clear font before handing the pen over to Kira.
She thought of the talk with her parents earlier. "This isn't vandalism, is it?"
Lydia tilted her head a bit. "Not technically."
Kira then wrote K.Y. right below Lydia's initials before passing it to Malia. Malia went and placed an M next to theirs but stopped. Her initials for her name but Malia had two names, as she remembered what it had listed her as in the Deadpool. Yet, her time with her father came to mind, as well as his parting wink to her made a small smile creep onto her and she finished with a solid T.
Scott then moved to write in his initials, S.M. but he lingered on it. He then moved to write A.A. below it. His friends had been standing behind him and they saw what he had wrote and knew who it was for, Allison.
Lydia caught his eye. "She's still with us you know," she told him.
Scott nodded. "Yeah, I do. And she always will be."
They all just stood there, silently staring off at it. Scott wrapped his arm around Kira and they looked at it together as they embraced. He turned his head slightly to see that Stiles was staring at him, with a blank look on his face. Scott couldn't read it and he didn't know what was going through his friend's mind. In truth, Stiles didn't either because he didn't know how to feel. Allison will always be a sour subject for him.
Scott then began to move off with Kira to head on out. Malia moved to follow them but Stiles stayed put.
"I'll catch up in a second," he told her. Malia nodded before she headed off and he looked over at the guy who had the pen. "Can I have that for a sec?"
The guy gave a nod and handed it to him. Stiles then moved to where he saw Derek's initials. There was some space around them so he wrote an E.R. to the left, a V.B. above and finished with an I.L. to the right, all in smaller sizes then the D.H. Stiles felt it was only right. Allison wasn't the only one of them that was lost. Those three were Derek's betas and they would've wanted to be with their Alpha like this, had they been given this chance. Stiles then turned around and found that Lydia had seen what he just did. She didn't say anything but moved to take the pen and headed for the shelf. She moved to where her initials were. She then wrote in a J.W. to the left and an A.S. to the right of her L.M before writing an E.S. next to his brother's. She then handed the pen over to the next guy in line before looking over at Stiles. They just shared a nod before they moved to join the others and they headed out of the library together.
At the Dread Doctors lab, their 'specimen' returned after battling with the Alpha, wounded and pleading.
"Give me another chance. I can do it, with a little more power. I just need more power."
The three of them then started to walk up to him and saw that not only was he wounded but his talons were also gone. The Surgeon moved and brandished his cane up and unsheathed the blade underneath it. At the sight, their specimen started to cry and beg. They were indifferent to it.
"Your condition worsens," the Surgeon said through the crying.
"I'm okay. Really, just please, give me another chance."
"You were supposed to remove the obstacles. Our time is limited."
"Whatever you're here to do, I can help."
But the Surgeon shook his head. "No second chances."
"But I can help!" the man cried.
"No Second Chances," the Surgeon repeated, this time with the Geneticist and Pathologist joining in.
The Surgeon then speared his blade into the man's chest and he fell to the ground with a pained cry. As he lay dying, crows began to crawl out of the cut and fly off.
Virgil was underneath an elevated car, tweaking with some parts that had been dinged up by what he heard was driving into a fallen tree. He had already taken out some pieces of bark and leaves and had placed them over in a small pile on the workbench nearby. Now he was loosening some parts to check the extent of the damage. The car's owner was sitting off in a bench in the reception area while Virgil was working and his boss was in his office checking with the guy's insurance. When he finished replacing and mending the broken parts, Virgil wiped some sweat from his brow and headed off for his boss' office.
"Come in," his boss said after he knocked.
Virgil opened the door and slid his head in the crack. "All done," he told him.
The man looked at his watch. "In less than two hours?"
"The damage wasn't as severe as we thought. Only two parts had to be replaced completely and I salvaged the rest. So it should be about 200 dollars extra."
"I see," his boss muttered. He made a mark on the charge forms he had ready. "You didn't tell the customer you were done yet, did you?"
Virgil nodded. "I did, right when I finished. And I also gave him the estimate."
The man's jaw tightened a bit. "I see. So a two-hour charge rate then. Well thank you Virgil."
Virgil gave a slight nod before he turned to leave and then let a small side smirk creep up. "You could thank me by actually paying me when I work," he mumbled as he walked off.
His boss was ticked off at him, he could tell. But, he also knew that the miserable bastard couldn't fire him outright because Virgil was the only one that would put up with his cheap skating. Any rate Virgil didn't care.
He started to move for the bathroom to freshen up when he was stopped as he passed through the waiting area. The customer moved to flag him down.
"Excuse me," the guy said. "I just wanted to say thanks again for fixing my car up so fast. From what your boss said when he picked me up, I was half afraid I might have to spend the night sleeping here."
Virgil fought the urge to snort. Yeah, that didn't shock him. No doubt his boss thought he could swindle this guy 'And I'm supposed to be the criminal around here,' he thought glumly to himself.
"It's no problem man," Virgil tried to wave off. "The damage wasn't that bad. I'll lower your car back down in a few minutes and you'll be set."
The customer sighed. "That's a relief. Oh, and this is for you." He then pulled out a fifty and held it out for him.
"That's okay," said Virgil, his hand out in protest. He didn't like anything that made him feel like he were any kind of a charity case.
But the customer didn't put away. "No, I insist. Hey, I can't help but feel that if it hadn't been for you then I would've spent a lot more than this."
Virgil was feeling uncomfortable and just wanted this to be over already so he just lightly took it. "Thank you," he nodded in gratitude.
He then took off and went outside to where the rain was still falling though not as hard as before and he stood under the garage's awning. Virgil looked at the watch on his wrist to see that it was already over half passed midnight. It was the night right before the new school year started. That meant that the Senior Scribe at the high school should be just about over right about now. He took some time to remember that he had gone to that event this time just last year.
Normally he didn't like social events, mostly because nobody in his class wanted to socialize with him. With all the talk made about him when he moved here, he wasn't surprised but it hadn't really bothered him. Most at that school were rich, spoiled, selfish and/or whiny pricks and he'd had more experience and memories of them than he wanted as it was. Yet, the whole idea of Senior Scribe had been something he actually thought was pretty cool. To leave your mark along with all the others that had gone through those halls and ready to leave them for the world outside. It was something that he couldn't help but respect. Though he didn't leave his with along the sea of other students one after the other like everyone else did. He had gone to that school alone, left it alone, so his mark should be alone. His initials, V.E., he had tagged into one of the shelves at the school library that was off to the side, in the shadows. It was a part of the library he had found void of any marks and couldn't help but find it perfect for him.
He turned and caught sight of the customer moving to wait in front of his car. Virgil yanked out his tarot deck and shuffled them to prepare to see what his card was when something seemed to come at him out of nowhere. He was startled and he ended up dropping a card. It fell face first into the damp pavement and he quickly moved to pick it up before it could get ruined. He started to fan it a bit when he looked up as he heard a small 'caw' sound. He looked to see a crow nestling on one of the awning's support beams and it was looking down at him. He guessed that's what came at him. He shook the card for another few seconds before he turned it around to see that it didn't look like it had been ruined. Virgil narrowed his eyes when he saw that it was the Wheel of Fortune. It was upside down in its reversed position. The same position that he had drawn it this morning. He heard another caw from the crow and looked back up at it before it cawed one more time and flew off. It was then followed by a small flock of crows as they flew off towards the distance, cawing as a group.
Virgil felt a chill crawl down his spine despite how warm and humid it was out.
