Chapter 9: Condition Terminal
Two guys were running through the trees as quick and hard as they could. Leaping over fallen logs, ducking under branches and plowing through brushes. One of those running frantically was Charlie Harris. He was panting hard and he darted off the side just before a bullet went and struck the tree in front of where he just stood. Charlie fell down to ground and rolled for the cover of moss covered boulder. He caught sight of his fellow runner, the beta who had been added to the pack just over two months ago. His name was Miles. He had taken cover behind a thick tree a few yards from him. He looked back at Charlie, his eyes glowing yellow as he frantically tried to scan the area.
The boulder that he was hiding behind was then hit with a bullet that scraped some moss off and land close to his face. "Miles, can you see them?" Charlie called out to him.
"No," he panted just before a bullet hit the tree a few inches close to his face. He then pulled himself fully to the back of the tree.
Some more shots were taken at their cover spots. They were pinned down.
"I can hear them," said Charlie, still crutched on the ground. "They're coming for us."
Miles' breathing began to quicken as his nerves began to break. "Screw this."
"Wait!" Charlie hissed after him as he took off. "We should stay together!" But Miles didn't stop. He kept running off. "Damn it." Charlie took a deep breath before he threw himself up and ran off after him.
The sounds of more gunfire kept hitting his ears a few more times before the latest one made him hear a hard scream of pain. He ran for a few more seconds before stopping as he found Miles, on the ground, clutching at his now bleeding leg. Charlie distantly heard a click and quickly ducked down, just missing a bullet finding its way into him. He was now crawling on his belly, moving for Miles and pulled him to some cover.
"Are you okay?" Charlie asked him as they got behind some shrubs.
"No, of course I'm not okay!" Miles spat out. "I'm shot!"
Charlie looked off to the distance. "Crap, they're getting closer."
"What?" gasped Miles. "I don't hear anything."
Charlie guessed that Miles hadn't fully grasped full use and control of his new senses yet. But he knew this wasn't the time. "We can't stay here. We have to keep moving."
"I can't move my leg," Miles grunted painfully out to him.
"The bullet must be in your nerve," Charlie said as he looked at the wound. "If we want to move then we have to get it out."
He was cut off by some more bullets firing and hitting around where they were hiding.
"How?" Miles cried out, desperately.
"Uh-" Charlie blinked his eyes rapidly until he looked down to Miles' hand to see that his claws were out. He then focused on his own hand and brought out his own claws. He then stuck in his thumb and forefinger into Mitch's wound, digging in and then got it. Mitch was grunting out painfully. "Hold on, I've almost got it," he told him. He then pulled and he looked upon the blood soaked piece of metal. "Alright it's out."
But Miles' eyes widened. "I can hear them now."
Charlie peeked over the shrub and he could make out dark shapes approaching. As soon as he peeked though, one of them tightened their grip on their rifle and he ducked down just before he could get pelted by the ensuing gunfire. He knew that Miles would need time to heal, more than they had.
"Come on," he said as he moved to throw his arm over his shoulder and try to lift him away.
Miles hissed as he lifted his wounded leg up and tried not to put weight on it as he tried to limp away with Charlie. They moved off a few feet before they came upon the barrels of shotguns, held by two men. They turned around and saw that the ones with the rifles had gotten to them and had them pointed right at them. Charlie and Miles tensed before they all lowered their guns. One of them looked over to the side and they all saw Oscar approaching.
"I gotta say, given your backgrounds, tonight's test results were quite disappointing," he told them.
Charlie sighed out heatedly.
Donovan was freaking out. For the last couple of minutes he'd been hearing screams, roars, and crashing sounds as he was stuck in his cell with nowhere to run.
"Hey, someone let me out of here!" he cried out desperately. "Come on!"
But his heart skipped a beat when the door at the end opened up and three men came in. His face widened when he saw the one that he met in the alley the other night.
The Surgeon came into the holding cell to observe the subject. He looked terrified but seemed to be handling his injections well enough. It seemed that there was a strong possibility that he could be the success they had been waiting for. Opening the cell, he walked gently inside as the young man leapt back against the wall, looking at him nervously. The Surgeon then removed his injector and his fellow doctors went forward to grab and hold him still. He then shoved the needle into the boy's neck and injected a fresh supply of the solution.
Donovan shut his eyes as he struggled against the pain of the injection. It was so much that he couldn't even screamed but did gasp before opening his eyes to show that they were glowing a silver white color before he blacked out. He was then picked up by the Geneticist as the Surgeon led the way as they left the room.
As soon as the jeep pulled up in front of the station, Scott, Stiles, and Theo immediately picked up the heavy scent of blood coming out of the building. Stiles quickly picked up the scent of his father's blood and he almost threw himself out of his jeep, leaving the door and engine running. Scott and Theo followed after him, watching as Deaton had gotten out of his own car, following after them from the clinic. Stiles quickly spotted one of his dad's deputies at the front desk, lying motionless on top of it.
Scott came in after him and looked at the deputy and sighed. "There's a heartbeat," he said in relief.
That meant he was alive, just most likely paralyzed by Tracy's venom.
"That's a relief," Theo muttered as he stood next to him.
Deaton walked in through the station doors and quickly spotted a small trail of blood on the floor, leading off into the offices. "Boys."
Stiles saw it too and moved off for where his dad's office was and took a moment to see that there was blood smeared in spots all around the room. His eyes then fell upon his father who was struggling to move.
"Dad!" he cried as he ran over for him.
Scott ran in with Theo behind him and quickly spotted Kira kneeling over Lydia, laying flat on the floor, paralyzed and bleeding. He took one second to wonder what they were doing here at the station before heading to them.
Noah had regained use of his arms and somewhat feelings in his legs through Tracy's venom and was trying to pull himself up. "Stiles," he gasped.
Stiles moved to try and help his dad lean up on the nearest desk and he was securing himself on wobbly knees. He then noticed that his dad still had one hand on a dark spot of his dress shirt. "You're still bleeding?"
"It's not bad," his dad hissed immediately.
He was in pain. Stiles frowned. He hadn't done this in a while, not since before the night of the eclipse. It wasn't because he had forgotten how to do it or lost that ability after he had gotten his power back. He remembered all too well how to do this, and still was capable of it. He just couldn't bring himself to do it. A few times, others had been hurt and he had tried to help them out, but found himself freezing partway through, unable to finish going through with it. He didn't even show Liam over these last few months of training with him; relying on Satomi to teach him that particular trick herself. But his father was hurting and he wouldn't put helping him off on someone else when he could do it here and now.
"Hold still," he told him. At that, Stiles moved his hand over it and the warmth from his dad's blood started to touch him.
Barely a moment later, the veins in his hand started turning fingertips started turning black. Both Stiles and his father looked down to see it running through the length of his palm. Stiles began to feel the foreign but familiar sting from him siphoning pain. He soon began breathing a little harder and his eyes began to blink a little rapidly. When the black started to get passed his wrist and begin traveling up his arm, he started to feel the bile begin to rush up to his throat. But, Stiles didn't let up. Soon, it got to his head and he began to have clear mental images of Isaac, Coach, his father's deputy, Deaton and dozens of people in the hospital, all in pain and suffering. He then saw himself, a vicious expression on his face and a sword in his hand, readying to plunge it into his victim.
When Noah saw his son place his hand over his wound, he knew already what Stiles was going to do. He was going to pull some of his pain away. Stiles had told him about how he had done it for him back when he had been hit by that car after the mountain lion appeared at the school near two years ago. He'd never seen it done with his own eyes though. He suddenly began to feel a sudden wave of relief and he looked down to see that the veins in his son's hand were starting to turn black. But, he began to feel Stiles begin shaking and he looked up to see that his son's eyes were blinking so rapidly.
"Stiles?" Noah muttered softly. He didn't answer. He just kept pulling pain and a blue glow was starting to shine through his rapidly blinking eyes. He started to begin breathing hard and it seemed to get harder every second. Stiles also seemed to be paling a bit and it looked like he was going to be sick. "Stiles?" he tried again, but more nervously.
Noah knew that doing this caused a werewolf to feel a little pain but what seemed to be happening to Stiles was nothing little. It looked like his son was on the cusp of having a panic attack. He then tried to move his son's hand away but Stiles kept it there.
"Stiles, stop," he hissed at him. "Let go." He then grabbed Stiles' hand and yanked it down. He watched as the veins in his hand turned back to normal and the feeling of pain from his wound came back, though it was slightly less painful. His son didn't stop his shaking and his eyes were still blinking rapidly. Noah suddenly realized what this was. He'd seen it before, back with some guys he served with in his army days. Stiles' hand, stained with his blood, was still outstretched like he was still holding it to his wound. Noah moved to grasp it tightly, at his wrist. "Stiles," he hissed at him. "Breathe, son. Breathe. Focus on my heartbeat, just like you told me you did before. Breathe."
The pictures racing through Stiles' mind stop and he heard his father telling him to focus on his heartbeat. He blinked his glowing eyes one more time before shutting them eyes shut. "I-"
"Just listen to it son," his dad cut in, sternly. He knew this should work. He was his son's anchor after all. His first one.
Stiles coughed a bit and let his ears hone to the rhythm of his father's heart beating in his chest. The familiar thumping sound made Stiles' own heart settle and he found his breath slowing and settling down. After a few more seconds, he opened his eyes, slowly bringing himself to look his father in the face. His eyes were back to normal. "I'm sorry," he muttered.
But Noah shook his head. "You okay?" Stiles dropped his gaze and he deflated. "Stiles, it's alright, I'll heal." He then looked down and noticed the tear at the front of his son's shirt where he saw that there was dried blood from what he guessed was an already closed wound. "Maybe not as fast and well as you," he tried to throw in humorlessly. But he saw that Stiles seemed to still be struggling and his face fell back down again. "I'll be fine, don't worry. I already feel better."
Stiles moved to take a deep breath as he wiped some stressed tears that had welled at the side of his eyes and nodded.
The moment between the two was being watched by Theo. He saw what happened and his eyebrows rose a bit at it. It looked like he just found out something interesting and filed it away. It might be useful in the long run.
And Theo wasn't the only one to take notice of Stiles' reaction either.
Noah felt something tingling at the side of his head, which made him turn over to where the others were, next to Lydia. He focused on Theo, who started to bend down and begin to pull out his belt to wrap around and apply pressure to Lydia's wound. He watched the boy that Stiles suspected for a moment before he looked back at his son. As soon as his eyes left him, Theo spared another look back at the Stilinskis before he and Kira moved to help Lydia try and sit up.
Stiles eyes then zoned out onto where his father was off with Deputy Clark, her uniform darkened at her side from where she was bleeding. He took a step back but stopped when he felt his foot had stepped in something. He looked down to see that it was a spot of blood. His eyes went from the blood below his foot to his father's blood that was on his hand.
Deaton moved over to where there was a severed reptilian tail lying on the ground. "Scott," he hissed as he moved to get his jacket off to try and cover it up.
They managed to conceal it from sight just before Natalie Martin walked in. Her eyes fell on the floor, that was stained with blood before her eyes fell on the group of people standing over the body of her daughter. "No," she cried. "Lydia."
Lydia blinked as she looked up at her mother, who got right to her side, looking at her with shining eyes.
Scott looked out in the direction that Ms. Martin had come from and saw there a fresh scent of blood that seemed to be coming from the basement. "Stiles," he called out.
But Stiles didn't seem to hear Scott. As soon as her mother cried her name, his gaze had fallen on Lydia, rather to where there was a deep wound in her side, that was still bleeding and staining the floor and everyone else's hands with her blood. The scent from all of it was thick in the air as tears built in both Lydia and her mother's eyes as they gazed sadly at one another. The wound then made him remember another person that had been wounded in a similar way.
"Malia," he mumbled. She had left the clinic ahead of them, to go after Tracy. He let himself look around but didn't see any sign of her.
"Tracy," Lydia said in a small voice, teary eyed at him. She had heard him say her name. "She went after her."
Scott looked back when he started hearing the approaching sounds of ambulances approaching. They wouldn't have much time, they had to move fast, so he tried again. "Stiles!" That made Stiles finally break his gaze away to look at him. "Come on," he hissed at him before he ran off. Deaton moved to follow after him.
Stiles grit his teeth as he looked back at Lydia and everyone surrounding her.
Kira pulled her eyes away from Lydia to look up at him. "Lydia will be fine, Stiles. Go."
"Yeah, it's okay," Theo threw in. "She'll be alright."
After Noah saw that Clark was fine, he sent her to check on the other deputies before going over to grab his son's shoulder. "Come on son."
Stiles let himself be led out as the two of them followed after Scott and Deaton as they headed into the basement.
Scott practically jumped down to the bottom of the stairs as the scent of blood got stronger and he ran off until he found Malia. She was standing right over the body of Tracy. She turned around and quickly shook her head at the sight of the look on his face.
"It wasn't me," she said quickly.
Right behind Scott came Deaton and Stiles and his father were not too far behind. All their eyes were on Tracy, lying on the floor, a puddle of blood building next to her dead body.
"What the hell happened to her?" Noah hissed out.
"There were these people. There were…three of them." Malia was speaking fast and her eyes were a bit red. "I think they were three."
Stiles blinked at her. "What? What are you talking about?"
"They were strong Stiles!" she cried desperately at him. "They had some kind of weapon. Stiles, I didn't do this!"
Stiles quickly nodded and moved to reach for her to try and show that he believed her. "Okay." He then moved to take her into her arms to try and settle her down. She desperately squeezed him as they embraced.
"She's not changing back," Deaton called out to them from where he and Scott were crutched over Tracy's body. "We're going to need to get her out of here."
Stiles and Malia broke apart while Scott moved to straighten himself up. Yet, before they could do anything, the Sheriff stopped them.
"Whoa," Noah cut in, making them all freeze. "Absolutely not. This is a crime scene. We call the coroner."
"I think the coroner might be very confused by this girl's severed reptilian tail," Deaton threw in there.
"I don't care," Noah spat out.
"You should. Unless you're prepared to hold a press conference to announce the presence of supernatural creatures in Beacon Hills."
"Dad, he's right," Stiles said softly to him.
Noah then started to pace.
Scott sighed. "Maybe, at the clinic, we could figure out a way to change her back, then call the coroner?"
"There…there is a line," the man stammered out. "There is a line that we have to draw."
"Dad," Stiles cut in. "You've already crossed it. More than once."
Noah looked up at his son for a moment, hesitation still clear on his face.
"Sheriff, please," Deaton pleaded with him. "Let me help. I've dealt with things like this before."
After gritting his teeth, the Sheriff shook his head but visibly deflated. "Just do it fast," he conceded.
Deaton nodded before he and Scott moved to scoop Tracy's body up and carry it away. Malia slowly moved after them but Stiles stayed back. He was watching as his father looked down at the spot where Tracy's body had been before he sighed and began running his hand frustratingly across his face. Stiles then turned and followed after the others.
Noah didn't know how long he spent staring at he spot on the floor, but he had left the basement and returned back to the offices to find that everyone had gone. He passed by the front door and could make out Natalie looking downtrodden as they loaded her daughter into the back of the ambulance. He should call Melissa and tell them the kids were on their way. And call Malia's father too.
"Sheriff!" Noah looked over to see Clark running to him.
"Clark," he said, turning to face her. "You don't need to head to the hospital?"
"Sir, it's Donovan."
Noah tensed up. "What happened to him?"
"He's gone."
Jordan Parrish had just gotten home from his shift that day and he was letting himself rest on his couch. He saw his pack of playing cards nearby and decided to flip through them as he let his mind wander about to what was going on lately.
That whole mess with Tracy for starters. He couldn't help but feel a little responsible for what had happened. Jordan had been watching her after all. Something, he felt there must to have been something that he missed while checking her room or was watching over her. If he had picked up on it, then maybe he could've stopped what had happened. Sure, the logical part of him was telling him that he couldn't blame himself for everything that happened with that girl, but that didn't change the little sliver of blame he was feeling.
Then there was his situation with the Sheriff. Jordan still couldn't shake the feeling that Stilinski was still trying to hold out on him. Recently, his involvement in all this new stuff going on had either been accidental like when he had been attacked at that house because the Sheriff sent him to check that noise complaint; or had found its way to him like when Lydia asked for his help with Tracy. Despite Stiles telling him that his father wasn't mistrusting him, Jordan still felt that the Sheriff was going out of his way to try and distance him from everything. He just couldn't understand why.
He then flipped the next card in the deck and saw that it was a Queen of Diamonds. Jordan stopped and stared at the picture. He couldn't help but think that the picture on the card looked a lot like Lydia. He let out a small sigh as he just stared at the face which seemed to be staring right back at her. Jordan's mind seemed to go back to a memory of him and Lydia together the afternoon before the full moon.
Jordan and Lydia were alone at the station, looking at pages of lore about supernatural creatures, trying to find anything to help identify what he was. Lydia suddenly sighed out of nowhere and went to grab the nearby lighter on the desk. She started to turn it on and off, every other second, drawing his attention to her. It was clear to him that she was feeling a little bored.
"You going to do a magic trick?" he asked her.
She stopped and looked right at him. "No, but you are."
"I only know one trick and it's with a playing card."
"Well, this one involves a lighter and your hand."
"That sounds less like a magic trick and more like assault," he playfully threw in there.
"Hey, you did it before, remember?" she reminded him. "That's how you were able to find Argent in those water tunnels."
Jordan remembered. "Yeah, I guess, technically, that makes it a magic trick. Though, I'm kind of tentative with the idea of deliberately burning myself to help me better understand what I am."
"Still, holding your hand over a lighter is not as bad as being lit on fire, trapped in a deputy sheriff's car. Which, I'll remind you, you walked away from unscathed."
He shrugged. "Not entirely. I had to pay for the uniform."
They took a moment to smile amusingly at each other before Lydia's face fell back down.
"Give me your hand," she said, before igniting the lighter.
He stared for a second before putting his hand out to hover over the flame. He had it a couple of inches over the little flame before Lydia moved to raise it closer to palm. The fire began licking his skin and a moment later, he pulled his hand away.
"Son of a-" he hissed out, but still had an amused smile on his face.
"You can last a lot longer than that," Lydia smirked. "I want to try something different." She then moved to caress his hand, making him freeze up and look straight up into her eyes. "Don't think about the flame." She then unfolded his hand. "Don't think about the heat." Jordan's eyes then moved down to follow the movement of her lips. "Don't think about it hurting." Lydia raised his hand up, gently running her fingers along it, making him straighten it back up. "Don't even look at it."
He nodded, not letting his eyes leave her. "Okay."
Jordan then let his eyes latch back on to hers as she stared right back at his. Not turning their gaze from each other, Lydia moved the lighter back underneath the palm of his hand, and lit it back up. The fire started to run along the skin of his palm, but Jordan didn't look away from Lydia's bright eyes. Smoke was starting to build around Jordan's hand but neither of them seemed to notice. They just kept staring at each other, eyes never leaving one another, and both not even breathing to distract them from staring. Lydia's eyes sharpened a bit as she saw that Jordan's pupils were dilating, like his eyes were glazing.
Suddenly Lydia pulled away. "Ow," she gasped.
Jordan jumped, blinking his eyes. "Are you okay?" he quickly asked.
"My thumb was too close to the flame," she told him, blowing a bit on it. "I'm okay. What about you?"
Jordan looked down at his hand to see that the spot where the flame had been in his palm had been covered in ash. He rubbed it away and saw that he didn't have a single scratch. "Whoa," he muttered to himself.
Lydia saw it too. "Did it hurt?" Jordan shook his head. "When you were staring at me, your eyes kind of…drifted. What were you thinking about?"
He settled back a bit as he thought back to a moment ago. "A dream," he muttered.
"What dream?"
"I've had it here and there for the last six months. I'm walking into the woods, carrying a body. But it's completely burned. I can't see who it is, or who it was."
"Where are you taking it?"
"A clearing. There's a huge tree right in the middle of it. You'd think it was 1000 years old. It's real old but it's been cut down."
Lydia sighed. She knew what he was talking about. "It's real. It's a real tree, in a real part of Beacon Hills. It…used the be the center of a grove a trees called a Nemeton."
"What's a nemeton?"
"A sacred meeting place for Celtic Druids. They were scientists and healers thousands of years ago." 'Ones that didn't end up going psycho,' she silently added, as memories of Jennifer Blake came back.
"I've never seen this place."
"But that's why you're here. It drew you here. That's what it does. It's a beacon for supernatural creatures. It might even make them more powerful."
"Powerful?" he asked.
Seeing as how her friends and even some of their enemies had been around that thing, she didn't doubt it. "What else happens?"
He blinked before standing up to look out at the far corner of the room. He took a moment to think before turning back to her. "I put the body down, I lay it down on the rings of the trees and-"
"What?"
Jordan blinked as he saw himself standing over the body before laying it down. His body erupted into flames as he settled the body on the ground, next to another one. He then sat down on the stump as he looked off to gaze at the clearing, filled with bodies. The flames from his body then began to spread out, engulfing the whole field in flames.
"Nothing," he said. "That's it. That's the end of the dream."
His mind was back in his home, looking at the playing card. He flipped it around to reveal that the face now had a scorch mark on it. He then flipped it back again and the mark disappeared. He then let himself reveal the secret to the trick. Two different cards of the same suit, one with the mark and one without it.
He was pulled out of his trance by the ringing of his phone. His eyes widened at the caller's id.
"Stiles," he answered. "What's up?"
In his apartment, Virgil was hitting a hanging punching bag with a set of black boxing mittens on his hands. He was breathing heavily as he struck at the bag, again and again. He kept going until he heard a notification ping from his phone.
"Whoa," he panted as he wiped off some of the sweat that gathered at his brow.
He went for his phone to see that there had been a local news alert. It looked like there had been some kind of attack at the station. Apparently, a girl had been rushed to the ICU at Beacon Memorial because it looked like she had been deeply stabbed and poisoned. An alert had been put out for a guy named Donovan Donati, who had escaped from the station and it said he was a suspect for what had happened, as he had escaped from his transport that left two guards hurt and a third man dead.
"Another attack at that station?" Virgil mumbled to himself.
He knew about that incident with that kid from school, Matt Daehler, almost two years ago. One of those guys he met at the alley had talked about it. Virgil also remembered that, the night Beacon Memorial had been attacked by men in black with swords, they had been spotted at the station as well. This now makes it the third time in the last two years.
That couldn't be a coincidence.
Lydia was slowly blinking under the lights as she was being wheeled through the hospital hallway on a gurney, with her mother at her side, tightly clutching her hand.
"You're going to be okay sweetheart," she cried at her.
"Mom," Lydia muttered weakly. "You, you can't say anything about what you saw."
She had seen her mother come in, right when Tracy had started attacking Kira. She must've seen Tracy with her claws and tail visible, as well as Kira using her sword and surrounded by foxfire. They couldn't afford to have her mother say anything.
Natalie tensed up. "All I saw…was some lunatic girl trying to kill everyone. You're going to be fine."
Lydia guessed that her mother was either in shock or was trying to live in denial. Either way, she had to make sure that her mom didn't say anything. "You can't say anything mom. You just can't."
Her mother's eyes started to light up a bit. "You're going to be fine," she repeated.
Following not too far away were Malia, Kira and Theo. They were soon stopped and told that they couldn't go any further and had to wait. Stiles came up to them a few moments later.
"Sorry guys, I had to make a call," he told them.
"Who were you calling?" Kira asked him.
"Parrish," he told her. He had stepped off a bit to tell the deputy what had happened to Lydia. He knew that the guy would want to be here.
"Lydia's mom is freaking out," said Theo.
"Her daughter was attacked by a girl with a lizard tail right in front of her," said Kira. She then turned to Stiles. "Do you think she'll say anything?"
"That's not what I'm worried about right now. Malia, tell me what happened down there."
"I told you already," she said to him.
"I know, I know," he told her quickly. "But, just walk me through it, step by step."
Malia breathed in deeply and then let it out. "Okay," she sighed. "I went after Tracy and found her with Lydia's mom. We fought a bit and I managed to pin her down. I had her, but then it looked like she was starting to get confused. I thought she was waking up from her night terror so I let her go and tried to talk to her. She asked me what was happening and I tried to tell her, but then she…"
"She what?" Stiles asked in concern.
Malia just stared at him. A haunted look came over her and she looked away.
"She tried to kill you," Theo mumbled, answering for her. "Didn't she?"
Malia looked over at him. His eyes were staring directly into hers and she found her nerves deflating a bit and she ended up nodding.
"What?" said Kira. "Wait, she didn't snap out of her night terror?"
"No," Stiles nodded. "Tracy was never in a night terror. The attacks at the transport, the hospital and at the station; she was awake for every one of them. She knew what she was doing the whole time." A dark look started coming over him as he clenched his hand into a tight fist at his side. Something that both Malia and Theo noticed.
"How'd you get away?" Kira asked her.
"Those guys, in the masks," Malia continued in a somewhat small voice. "They grabbed Tracy and killed her by sticking some kind of needle thing in her neck."
"How many of them were there?" Kira then asked.
"Three. And, I heard one of them say something. Something about her condition. It was...terminal? What does that mean?"
The others seemed as stumped as her, though Theo secretly knew what it was about.
Just walking into the hospital were Scott and Liam. Scott had helped get Tracy into Deaton's car and taken her to the clinic before he quickly headed out for the hospital. He had bumped into Liam at the front, who had been dropped off by Brett and Lori. He quickly started telling Scott what he and the others had found.
"Tracy was buried?" he gasped.
Liam nodded. "In a hole. Buried alive and crawled out. Then we found another hole."
More? Scott's eyes widened at the idea of another person like Tracy. "Who was buried in that one?"
Liam shook his head. "I don't know but I think we're gonna want to find out."
They made it to the ICU level in time to see his mother heading for the others.
"Scott," she said when she caught sight of them. She then took in the sight that they all were in. The tears in Scott, Stiles, Malia and Kira's clothes. Stiles had dried blood visible through his tear at the front. "Are you all alright? Scott? Stiles?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Scott told her gently. "We're okay."
"Not all of us," Stiles cut in. He made sure to give Scott a pointed look at that.
Scott almost take a step back in recoil. Stiles seemed to be mad at him so suddenly. Scott was about to ask what was wrong but Stiles had moved on to talk with his mother.
"How bad is it?" he asked her.
"Could have been worse," she sighed. "Theo, nice going on that tourniquet. You probably saved her life."
Theo just stared blankly back at her. He kept his gaze on her, feeling that Stiles was watching him, though he tried to act like he didn't notice. He had to be careful and not let any emotion slip out and be detected. Stiles' senses seemed to be on high right now. And it seemed he wasn't the only one. He could make out Liam also staring at him a bit hard at him from the corner of his eye. No doubt following Stiles' lead with his suspicions of him.
Scott noticed the look Stiles was giving the guy and stepped in. "Thanks Theo," he said in appreciation. Theo answered him a slight nod. He then sent Stiles a look of his own.
Stiles sighed and gave a sharp, curt nod. "Yeah," he said curtly.
Scott guessed that was as good as he was going to get right now and then turned back to his mother. "Mom, what's going to happen?"
"Well, we're prepping her for surgery right now. Are there any other supernatural details that I should know or do we just stitch her up and hope for the best?"
"It was the tail," Kira said to her. "Tracy got her with her tail, if that helps any."
Melissa sighed and nodded. "Okay," she said nervously before she took off.
"But it's not just Tracy anymore," Malia put out. "There's those guys, in the masks."
"Liam found out that Tracy was buried."
"Buried?" Kira mumbled.
"And, there was more than one hole," Liam finished.
Stiles narrowed his eyes. "So, there's more than one of them."
"Of what?" asked Liam. "What are they?"
They all just stood there silently. That was a very good question.
Lydia was in the operating room, with the surgeons around her getting the equipment ready for her operation.
"Okay Lydia," the head surgeon said through his mask. "I'm going to need you to relax and start counting backwards from ten, okay?"
She lightly nodded and then began slowly counting backwards as they started to give her some anesthesia to get her ready.
"Ten," she started. "Nine."
As Lydia began counting down, her senses began getting blurred from the drugs. The surgeon had her back to her but as he turned around, Lydia saw someone in a metal mask leering down at her. All the other doctors were in masks.
"Keep counting," The Surgeon said to her in a muffled metallic voice.
And Lydia did, before everything went dark.
Donovan was slowly coming too but quickly found himself strapped and restrained on a table. He tried to break free but he was quickly approached by the three he found in. They were surrounding him and looking down on him through their metal masks and Donovan started to freak out.
"What the hell are you doing?" he cried out at them.
They didn't answer. They just continued looking down at him, restrained him, before they began moving for some equipment nearby.
The Surgeon moved on in and grasped him by his cheeks in order to expose Donovan's teeth. He then turned to the other two. "His condition looks promising."
Donovan blinked. "What? What does that mean?" he gasped.
The doctors ignored him and continued with their work. The Pathologist went and grabbed a pair of thick pliers and the Geneticist moved to force Donovan to open his mouth. He shouted and tried to resist but his head was held on tight. The pliers soon went into his mouth and one of his teeth was violently yanked out of him. It fell to the floor as Donovan let out a muffled scream through his squeezed lips. One after the other, his teeth kept getting yanked out with spots of blood spewing out more and more with each passing one. Donovan's screams got louder as it kept going on until his last tooth was yanked out.
After that, his mouth was let go but Donovan still felt great pain. He felt pressure at his gums and screamed more as two sets of razor sharp, bloodstained, flesh tearing teeth grew in place of his old ones.
Scott and Kira were walking into his house together silently and solemnly. His mother had told all of them that it looked like Lydia's surgery had gone through with no problems and she would make a full recovery. Parrish had arrived and told all of them that they should go home and that he would stay and watch over Lydia.
As Kira walked in, she looked down at her hands, still stained with Lydia's blood. Because she couldn't stop Tracy from hurting Lydia and nearly killing Malia too. Scott reached over and grasped them, squeezing them comfortingly before they moved to stare at each other. As they did, the two of them leaned in and started to let their foreheads connect and their noses graze against each other's. The pressure of the day seemed to be catching up to them. By impulse, the two of them brought their lips together for a deep kiss, each seeking comfort in the other. Looking to feel something other than despair and tension. Scott felt his heart start to lighten a bit as he started to move his hand to cup Kira's cheek.
"Sorry to interrupt," they heard suddenly. They broke apart to find Deaton walking in. He set a bag on the table and then pulled out a jar that contained the talons from the werewolf that attacked them at the school. "A werewolf with the talons of an eagle. Possibly a shapeshifter known in eastern mythology as a Garuda." He then brought out another jar. "Tracy's claws, the unmistakable claws of a werewolf but…" He then pulled out a jar containing a piece of her tail. "A werewolf who also possesses the venom and scales of a kanima."
"What do you even call that?" Kira asked.
"Personally, I call it terrifying. But, at the moment, I'm more concerned with how Tracy was able to get across the mountain ash."
"I thought nothing supernatural can do that."
"Baring a few rare exceptions, as did I," he said, casting Scott a look. "So if Tracy was able to cross the mountain ash, and no one supernatural can do that."
"Tracy's not a supernatural," Scott finished.
"Exactly. If she wasn't born and she wasn't bitten, she had to have been made."
"Made?" gasped Kira.
"Someone is trying to make supernatural creatures with non-supernatural means. And whoever they are, they're somehow managing to blur the lines between science and the supernatural."
Scott blinked before he thought of something. "But there's more. Liam said that he found another hole out in the woods."
"Burying them could be part of their process, a kind of incubation."
Kira was starting to get scared. The werewolf at the school and Tracy had come dangerously close to killing her friends. If there were more of them coming, she didn't want to think of what would happen. "What are we supposed to do?"
"What you've always done. Protect your friends. Protect each other."
Scott blinked. "What about someone like Tracy?" The people who were being taken and then turned into these…things. What about them?
Deaton sighed and shook his head. "I wish I could tell you. Hopefully, I'll have more answers soon. I'll be gone a few days."
Scott widened his eyes. "You're leaving?" Deaton couldn't leave them, not now.
"Just a few days," he quickly told him.
Kira let her eyes fall on the bottles with the claws and scales from these new…things. Who knew what the next ones would have on them? "How scared should we be?"
He cast a look upon them as well. It was plain to both Scott and Kira that he was scared himself, but was trying to not show just how scared he was. "I've lived in the world of the supernatural for a long time, but I'm still a doctor. Still a man of science. Something like this happens…it rattles the foundation of everything you believe. Something like this shakes you to the core."
"Something like what?"
"The rules. The rules have changed."
Kira had her answer. They should be very scared.
After Parrish had sent them away, Stiles and Malia went back to his house and were in front of the his mystery board. Stiles started to add things to it like Tracy's name, as well as put a note of the three in masks. Malia however was looking at where Stiles had the question 'Who is the Desert Wolf' circled. Just that morning, Stiles had given her the first real lead into her. She had been prepared to pursue it but, after tonight, finding her mother didn't feel as important now. She looked over at Stiles and saw that he was trying to find room to fit the new things that they learned tonight but was lacking room. She reached for the eraser and cleaned out the part of her mother. When Stiles saw what she did, he put the pen down and reached over to pull her into a hug. Stiles held her tightly, just as tightly as she was holding him. Malia found some sniffles from her nose as she took in Stiles' scent as they kept hugging. Stiles picked his head up and moved to kiss her on the top of her head before letting his forehead rest against hers. This night was starting to catch up with them.
There was a beeping coming from Malia's phone and she reluctantly broke away to bring it out and see that she got a text. "It's my dad. He wants me to come home."
Stiles guessed that his dad called her dad and told him about what happened at the station. He nodded. "I'll take you."
Soon enough, they were in his jeep and were pulling up in front of the Tate House. Henry Tate was standing there in wait and the two of them could immediately smell his worry and concern. Malia almost leapt out of the car as she ran into her father's waiting arms. Stiles watched them both sadly for a bit as they just embraced. Henry then started to pull apart from her and Stiles heard a 'Thank You' coming from him with his hearing and he nodded back to the man. The two of them then headed into the house and Stiles let a deep, winded breath loose.
When he pulled the jeep away, he hadn't headed back home. Stiles had driven off for a deep part of the woods and had then run off into the trees. There was no destination in his mind, he didn't care where he was going or where he ended up. He just needed to run, to burn out his anger. Needless to say he was enraged from everything that had happened today. From him not being able to help his father to nearly losing both Malia and Lydia. He was full of rage. Rage at Tracy. Rage at himself. Rage at Scott. Just then, Stiles saw a downed log up ahead and he moved to leap over it, landing about thirty feet away on all fours before he continued sprinting off.
A shape suddenly jumped out from the trees and Stiles was barely able to stop before it could collide with him. The figure growled at him, and Stiles growled right back. Right now, he didn't expect a fight but he wouldn't turn one down right now. It seemed the other guy wanted one to because he charged for him. Stiles quickly caught the guy's attempt to claw at him, when he got a good look at the guy's face, illuminated by the partial moonlight and his eyes widened.
"Wilson?!" Stiles sputtered.
Wilson Grant's eyes widened in surprise. "Stiles?!" he panted back. He then pulled himself back and free from Stiles as he started to try and settle his breathing back down. "What the hell are you doing all the way out here at this time of night?!"
"I could ask you the same question!" he huffed out indignantly.
The two of them were soon sitting off the edge of a cliff, overlooking the lights of the town, as they began to talk once they'd settled down.
"Brett and Lori called me about what had happened," he told him lightly. "How they found those holes out in the woods and then I saw the news about the attack at the Sheriff's station. That's why I decided to come out here. I figured that if whatever came in and destroyed our pack's marker is behind that the girl and that werewolf with talons, then they or their other freaks might be roaming around here so I wanted to try and track them down."
Stiles nodded as he let himself draw spirals going left then right in the dirt, watching the town's lights in the distance. "So, you decided to just up and attack any poor bastard you come across as you search?" he asked, condescendingly.
Wilson narrowed his eyes, annoyed but quickly shook it away. "About a half hour ago, I caught someone lurking around in the woods near Satomi's house. I called out at them and they immediately took off, and they were fast."
"A spy?"
"That would be my guess. I chased them to around here. I then felt something moving through the trees, fast."
"So you thought I was the one you were after," Stiles finished for him. "But, didn't you pick up my scent?"
Wilson's eyes hardened a bit. "Stiles, I couldn't pick up your scent because it was being overpowered."
Stiles leaned back a bit. "Overpowered?"
"By rage. A lot of it. So much that I couldn't read your scent. That's why I was ready for a fight." Stiles then looked away from him. "Stiles, what's wrong?" Stiles just stared out into the lights, silently. "You know, over these last couple of months, I've noticed an interesting difference between you and Liam." Stiles gave him a sidelook. One that Wilson easily interpreted. "Your anger," he answered. "Liam has trouble controlling his anger and he can feel it in extreme and uncontrollable levels. But, it's all in the moment. It comes quickly and goes almost as fast because he lets it out. With you Stiles, your anger is gradual and you have a good deal of control over it. Too much control. You tend to push it down and you just add more anger to it, little by little over time. It builds and starts to burn you up from the inside. If you keep holding it in and don't let any of it out then eventually you'll explode. And from what I felt earlier, you are close to going nuclear. You need help."
Stiles tightened his jaw and moved his eyes away to keep him from looking at Wilson. "No one can help me," he said almost to himself.
Wilson settled back a bit and he looked out at their shared view. "Maybe I can help," he said after a moment. "I can be an impartial listener, ask anyone. Besides, who might understand better than a fellow Second?"
That made Stiles break composure and look at him. Stiles stared at Wilson's calm face and he sighed. Soon, Stiles started speaking, and when he did, he found he couldn't stop. He talked about everything that had happened since Senior Scribe. The werewolf with talons' attack, his ignored suspicions about Theo, him unable to handle pulling pain from his father, and everything that happened with Tracy. All of it coupled with his worries about his life with his friends after high school and his increased number of sleepless nights. When Stiles was finished, he found himself breathing hard and was wiping some tears that had swelled up in the corners of his eyes. During the whole thing, Wilson didn't say a word. He just sat there and let Stiles talk. Only once Stiles started to settle back down did he speak.
"Whoa...that's quite buckload of crap you're pushing." That made Stiles let out a cross between a laugh and a cough. But Wilson's face fell a bit as he let himself become serious. "First, let me just say that you're probably being too hard on yourself. I know about what you went through last year and you can't expect yourself to just bounce back. Hell, I'd say it's a miracle you're at where you are now. Be more patient with yourself Stiles. We might be werewolves, but we're still only human."
Stiles let his gaze drop a bit at that. Wilson kept going.
"As for what happened today. I can see how that might make you angry at not only her, but with Scott as well. He's not wrong to show compassion for these people."
"Yeah," Stiles cut in. "But Scott seems more upset about happened to Tracy then what happened to Lydia or Malia. He told Malia to save Tracy and nothing about being careful. She was almost killed because she listened-
Wilson quickly held his palm up. "You didn't let me finish," he abruptly said to him. "While Scott's not wrong to show them compassion, he has to be careful to not give out more than he's keeping for his own pack. Saving people like Tracy is a noble and honorable thing, but not if it comes at the expense of his friends." Now it was Wilson who was dropping his gaze. "He's an Alpha, and an Alpha's priority and concern should be to the pack first. To their loved ones, their territory and those in their charge. Everything else comes second."
"Is it that way with Satomi?" Stiles asked him lightly.
A far off expression came over Wilson. "Satomi cares about people and she tries to have us lead good and peaceful lives. She uses buddhism to help us hone ourselves in and do that. But, that doesn't mean she's a pacifist. If someone tries to hurt her or any of her betas, if that's what it takes she will show no mercy. At her core, she's a warrior and I have the greatest respect for her. You know, most samurai were buddhists too and they are among the most greatest and feared warriors of all time. Words and open arms can only go so far, and I've seen times where that wasn't too far at all. After all, what good is making peace if you don't fight to keep it?"
"Not much I guess," mumbled Stiles.
Wilson shook his head in agreement. "How are you feeling now?"
Stiles blinked a bit before he shrugged. "A little bit better, I guess. Thanks Wilson."
He nodded. Stiles started to move to get back up but Wilson stopped him.
"One last thing, this Theo kid you told me about. I don't think you're wrong to be suspicious of him."
"Yeah?"
Wilson narrowed his eyes. "Based on what you said, there are things about him that don't add up. Little things. Like, his story about coming here. There's already some issues with that. First off, his parents. They take him and leave this town to deal with the death of his sister, but they move back because he wants to be in Scott's pack. Do they even know about him? And even if they did, would they really be willing to just drop everything in their lives and come right back here? Where were they before they came back to Beacon Hills anyway?"
"Uh, I think it was around Detroit."
"And they moved halfway across the country just so Theo could have a chance to be in Scott's pack? Then there's the issue of his control. He claims the alpha who turned him was killed before he could bring him into his pack, yet he seems to have seasoned control over his abilities and himself? How did he get so good? Also, you accuse him of lying and having imposters for parents, right after he leaves flowers for his sister at that, but he just smiles and jokes around about it? How could someone, a teenager no less, not get upset? Unless, they were trying to hide something. Honestly, I can go on about a dozen other things I see off about this kid."
Stiles had a wide smile creeping on his face. It seemed that there was someone ready to believe him about Theo without him having to try so hard. "So, what do think I should do?"
"My advice, focus on the little things. His parents, names, places, hobbies, memories, things like that. Call him out on them, as often as they come up. He might be able to talk his way out of them but, if he's guilty, he won't be able to keep it up forever. Having to answer on the spot each time, a liar won't be able to constantly keep track, his stories and explanations will start to cross or contradict each other so file each one of them away. Eventually, they'll slip and you can catch them."
Stiles eyebrows rose. "That's not bad."
"Hey, it works when I'm dealing with the teenagers I catch trying to sneak around and make trouble at work." Wilson then looked down at his watch. "Alright, that's enough for tonight. It's a school night and you're out way too late as it is."
Stiles then grunted as he pulled himself to his feet. "And you? Technically it's a school night for you too." He was a security guard at a school.
He shrugged. "I got the afternoon shift. I can sleep in a little longer than you. But you, you need all the sleep you can get. Sleep can help out with your anger too and not getting enough will help burn you out."
As they started to head off, they were being unknowingly watched and spied on from a distance by Courtney. It had been her that Wilson had been pursuing but had been thrown off with Stiles' arrival. She stayed back and had listened in on everything they had talked about. As she rubbed her long and razor sharp needle claws together, she waited until they were far enough away so she could move without being detected. She had to get to Theo and warn him about these two.
Lydia was starting to open her eyes and she found herself lying on a bed, though she quickly felt she wasn't in her room. She then saw it was a hospital room and the events of the station quickly came back to her. She turned around and saw the sun peeking through the nearby window. She tried to get up, but found she didn't have the strength. She also noticed some sound, and turned to see a tv was on. At the foot of her bed was Jordan and when she started to move, he turned around to look at her.
"What are you doing here?"
He smiled gently at her. "Officially, I'm here to gather an eyewitness testimony. Unofficially, I'm trying to find something to watch but the only thing that comes in is this kung fu movie," he smiled a bit deeper at her. "You like kung fu movies?"
She let herself relax a bit. "How long have you been here?"
"Stiles called me after you were brought in here. I've been in here since you were cleared out of surgery."
"All night?" she mumbled.
He nodded. "Cleared it with my Sheriff. Witness protection detail."
"Protection," she mumbled almost to herself. She let herself look around the room and realized that this was the second time in two years that she'd been sent to the hospital. Her eyes then went up to the fighting on the screen. "You know how to do that?" She knew that Jordan had been in the military before coming to Beacon Hills.
He nodded. "I know a little Jiu-Jitsu. In the army they taught us CQC, Close Quarters Combat."
"Can you teach me?"
He was taken aback. "You want to learn Jiu-Jitsu? Hand to Hand?"
"I want to learn how to fight." Lately, it seemed that she was the only one among her friends that wasn't. All of them, Scott, Stiles, Kira, Malia, Liam, Jordan…they all were fighting to keep themselves and others safe. Keeping her safe. Last night, she could only stand around while Kira fought to protect them. All she seemed to do was scream or take them head first into death. She was tired of having to stand back while everyone around her fought. "No, I need to learn," she said assuredly.
Jordan could see the determination swelling up in her eyes. He didn't know how but he could read perfectly well what was going on in her mind. She wanted to protect herself, help protect others, instead of letting herself be protected all the time. He nodded his head. "Yeah…I can teach you." His lips curved to smile a bit.
She smiled lightly back at him.
Scott was sitting with Kira in AP Biology, trying hard not to stare at Lydia's empty seat and dwell on the fact that she was still lying in the hospital. As everyone was copying down the notes that were being placed on the board, Scott was making a list of all the strange aspects found in each of these new shapeshifters, trying to find some way to make sense of them all. A werewolf with harpy eagle talons and a werewolf with a kanima's venom and tail. Not only that, but it seemed that Tracy was immune to mountain ash, which means that others like her were too. But, what were they?
"If 99.9% of our DNA sequence is the same as other humans, what could account for the missing 0.1% difference?" their teacher, Ms. Ramsey, asked out to the class after finishing the last of her notes. She looked out to the room before choosing her student when no one was raising their hand. "Theo?"
Theo looked up from his book. "Um, nucleotides."
"That's right," she said approvingly.
Kira let her eyes fall on the list that Scott was making and she had a hunch about how they could find a connection. She raised her hand.
"Yes Kira?" Ms. Ramsey asked.
"Can there be more than one species in the same DNA?"
"No, but there can be multiple sets of DNA in the same individual. We call that a Chimera. Anyone know where that term comes from?" she asked the room at large. "Sydney," she said to the student that raised her hand.
"Greek Mythology. It's a lion with a goat coming out of its back and a tail that has the head of a snake."
"That's right Sydney. Do you want to read us the full Wikipedia entry off your phone?" she said disapprovingly, as she stared at the phone in her hand. Sydney's face fell and she put her phone away.
At that, Scott wrote that term down. Chimera. Multiple sets of animal features within the same shapeshifter. It seemed as these things now had a name.
Ms. Ramsey continued. "But, that does get us into the next topic of mutation. As you know from the reading, DNA is a fragile molecule. Isn't it Scott?" That made Scott finally pull his head out from his notebook to face her. "Or did you miss last nights assigned reading?" she asked, her expression and tone a mix of disapproving and scolding.
"Kind of," he mumbled.
"Kind of, or yes?" she said, in the same tone.
"Mostly yes," he said, nodding his head down a bit. With everything that happened yesterday, he had put not just the reading, but all of his school work out of his mind.
"Well, thank you for yet another helpful transition in topic." She stared at him for a moment before she moved to her desk and pick up a small stack of papers. "Drop forms," she said, holding them up for everyone to see. "All those now acutely aware that they do not belong in this class, you should fill one out." She then went off to two different students, ones she felt were lost causes, and placed one right in front of them before heading back up to the front. "The rest will be on my desk." She then slammed them on there before the bell rang.
Everyone started to get up and pack their stuff. Kira and Theo were already heading out the door but Scott hung back. He was looking at the stack of drop forms. He stared at them for a second before he reached for one. It's only been two weeks and he was already missing out on doing readings and feeling lost with more than half the course work. With everything going on, it'll be a miracle if he caught up, let alone score high final marks. And it'll no doubt get worse. He sighed at the thought. Maybe he didn't belong in this class after all. He then felt a tingle and looked over to see that Ms. Ramsey was looking right at him with that same disapproving look as before. He quickly threw the form in his bag and then left the room to see that both Kira and Theo were waiting for him.
"It's a Chimera," he said to them.
Ramsey had watched as Scott headed out and sighed before shaking her head in disappointment. She reached over to grab her cell phone. She began sending a text, saying that they needed to talk after school, about Scott.
At the station, Noah was with Deputy Clark, watching the security footage of the holding cells. Donovan was acting frantic before he seemed to freeze up in the camera's direction, then there was static and the picture went gray.
"Wait for it," Clark said as they kept staring.
A few frames later, the picture cleared up, but the cell was empty.
"Well, that's a pretty convenient time for a camera malfunction," he said dryly.
"Very," Clark said before she closed the laptop and then started to walk off.
But Noah stopped her. "Hey, isn't it your day off?"
Clark turned to look back at him. "I stood there, listening to that kid threaten your life. In front of your own son. I'm not taking time off until he's caught."
Noah both admired and appreciated Clark's loyalty. If he wasn't mistaken, she had a younger sister who went to Beacon Hills High along with his son. He remembered when she first transferred to his department over a year ago. She seemed to always linger in the background but had really stepped up in the last six months, ever since Haigh had tried to kill Parrish.
But he didn't think Donovan was the threat right now. Not with these strange werewolves with long talons and serpent tails popping up.
He just sighed. "Look, wherever Donovan is, I'm pretty sure that he's running as far away as possible, as fast as he can. I'll be fine, don't worry. Now go, get out of here."
"Sheriff." Clark nodded before she left the Sheriff's office.
Noah sighed as he leaned back in his chair. He wished he could believe what he just told Clark, he really did.
Donovan was stuck in that chair, still strapped and bound by his wrists and head. His lips and shirt still stained with blood as his teeth still felt sharp under his tongue. Off to the side stood Theo, watching him. It was a shame that Tracy was taken out when she was. Her being part Kanima, he still could've used that but it wasn't his call to make. It didn't matter though, in the end, she did what he needed her to do. Her actions had not only made an opening for Scott to start letting him in, but had also made his mother and girlfriend start trusting him. Lydia would likely also start trusting him since he did help save her life. That was half of his pack right there.
The other half of the pack though, still were an issue for him. Tracy's attack hadn't distracted or dampen Stiles' instincts to distrust him. He was still watching him as closely as ever and Theo had to stay on his toes and not give Stiles an inch. Malia and Liam, they were leaning towards Stiles' side, with Malia keeping her distance around him and Liam sharing a bit in Stiles' distrust of him. Not only that, but it seemed that his father, the Sheriff, was starting to get a little wary of him, if his look back at the station was anything to go by. And, from what Courtney had just told him, Stiles was getting yet another werewolf to stick his nose in on his business. A Second from another pack at that. This couldn't go on. If Theo's plan was to work, he would have to have Stiles...dealt with. That was where Donovan could come in. A guy who was part werewolf, part wendigo, with a strong grudge against the Sheriff, he could be just what he needs.
Suddenly, Donovan stopped wriggling in the chair and seemed to be trying to look out, like he knew he wasn't alone. Theo rose his eyebrows appreciatively. He hadn't given any obvious signs but it looked like Donovan was quickly starting to adapt to his new hyper senses after being made into a Chimera. Chimera…that was what Scott decided to call them. Theo had to admit, he kind of liked the name. It was far better than being referred to as 'subjects' by the Doctors.
Theo decided to make himself known and started walking to him. "You're lucky they're letting me talk to you. They normally don't do that. They're not giving me much time either. See…these guys, they believe in numbers. And their results. They weigh the pros and cons and decided pretty quick-"
"Decide what?" Donovan spat in.
"Whether or not you die." He got square in Donovan's line of sight and held up the folder he was holding. "By the way, this is your psych evaluation for when you applied to be a sheriff's deputy." He then started to read it aloud. "Multiphasic Personality Inventory. You know what that is?" Donovan answered by trying to pull harder against his restraints. Theo smirked at him. "It's a test, that assesses abnormal behavior. It's supposed to be able to tell when you're lying or being defensive…or if you're a total psycho."
"Shut up," Donovan growled, full on glaring at him.
But Theo didn't lose his smug poise. "Your results were pretty disappointing Donovan. You scored high on the Psychopathic Deviate scale." Donovan tried again to break free from the restraints and Theo smiled and amusingly smacked the folder against his chest. "And that, that's bad. I'm not even going to get into your Anger Expression Inventory. Just this one, small, part here at the end. 'Not Suitable For Law Enforcement'." He then smirked at Donovan's pissed off look and tossed the file away. "Then to top it all off, Stilinski sends you to prison for 3-5 and no doubt will get you more since you've escaped police custody, twice. That's gotta suck, right?"
Donovan tried to yank himself free again, to no avail. "Let me go," he hissed heatedly.
Theo leans in close to him and lets his head go from the strap but keeps the rest of him still bound. "You know, you've actually been given a real gift here Donovan. You've been made stronger, faster, and..." He then reached over for a small mirror and held it up for Donovan to see his new fangs. "You can rip people apart with those new pearly whites of yours." He then watched as Donovan's eyes sparked up at the sight of them. With an idea to match. "Now, I already know what you're thinking. You want to go and find Stilinski. Use your newfound gifts and tear him to pieces and have your revenge, am I right?" Donovan didn't say anything but him catching Theo's eye was answer enough. "I get it, but you see, that would be a waste. The thing about physical pain Donovan, as much as it hurts, over time it fades. But emotional pain, that's the kind that lasts. You want to cause Stilinski everlasting pain, then you don't go after him. You go after who he loves. The most important person in his life.
"Stiles," said Donovan after a moment, his fangs grinding against each other at the end. The smartass bastard who mocked him in front of everyone and who Stilinski was counting the days before seeing him as the cop Donovan himself would never become now.
Theo widened his smirk as he detected the bloodlust bringing up in him. "But, I should warn you Donovan that it's not going to be as easy as you might think. You see, Stiles, he has 'gifts' of his own. If you're going to bring him down, you'll need a bit of an edge. And I know just how and where you can get it from."
Wilson Grant was getting out of his car, dressed in his school security uniform, heading into Devenford Prep. On the other side of the parking lot, he was being watched by Courtney, who had a hard, predatory expression on her face.
A/N: Seems like a lot of wheels are turning behind the scenes for our favorite pack of teen wolves. Who was Ms. Ramsey reporting on Scott to? I was disappointed that we didn't see more of that teacher. I thought her character had potential. When I first saw her, how she bluntly and critically responded to Scott in the classroom, I thought she might be the new Harris or something. Well, that's what I'm going to make her. She'll be giving Scott no mercy like Harris gave Stiles no mercy. Yet, there is more to her than meets the eye. It's not surprising, new teachers in that high school seem to always carry some kind of trouble or share a connection to what's going on.
