Chapter 17: The Kanima and Former Alpha
The night that Jackson Whittemore got bitten by then new Alpha Derek Hale, he thought that his life would get itself back on track. Instead he had found that his life had flown off the rails started to drift off into the sea. A sea that's current took him from Beacon Hills, California to London, England. After he had apparently been misdiagnosed as dead after that fateful night on the lacrosse field, his parents decided that it was best to just get away from a town that had too much bad memories for them. So, his mother suggested they go back to where she had gone to school, London.
Once he settled in London, Jackson found that he had no desire or strive to regain the shining high school star life he had left back in Beacon Hills pre-bite. His parents had tried to talk him into trying out for the lacrosse or swim team, like before in order to try and get some new friends, but Jackson wasn't interested. He knew he wasn't well versed in controlling himself and was resolved to just keep his head down and not call attention to himself. At least one thing he felt that made him smarter than Scott had been when he first turned.
While Derek Hale had taught him what he needed to do in order to try and maintain control of himself before he left, Jackson found it was much harder than he thought. To let out some anxiety or built up tension, sometimes he would take to running in the local grand parks around London late at night. Not exactly the woods surrounding Beacon Hills but it was as good as he could hope for under the circumstances, which frustrated him. Scott had been a drama queen and Stiles had been a headcase, yet the two of them seemed to go about their lupine lives so casually, so fast after they turned. It only got worse when he found that sometimes, he found himself growing a tail when he shifted. A serpent's tail. A leftover from being the Kanima.
About a month after he had moved to London, he was approached by two guys belonging to the pack that had lived around there. They had detected him and had been watching him since he had arrived and wanted to see if he was fit to join their ranks. Their pack was a decent size, about 11, including an Alpha that was in his late 30's named Garland. Jackson was an Omega and he knew that the only way he would gain more power, and control, was if he belonged to a pack. Yet, when the pack saw that Jackson had a tail, and dug into his past back at Beacon Hills, Garland refused to take him in and make him a part of his pack. Though, the alpha said that he could stick around as long as he didn't make trouble for them, Jackson simply responded by giving him and his betas all the finger before leaving. As much as he hated to admit, being rejected like that had hurt him. What made it worse was that Jackson couldn't find it in himself to blame them.
Jackson deserved this solo and lonely existence. He remembered what Stiles had ranted about him when he was trying to get the bite, about how he wasn't worthy of becoming a werewolf. And Derek ranting at him that he was nothing special; just a selfish, spoiled, rich kid. The spaz and the recluse had both been right. It was from this that Jackson found his anchor, hate. Of himself. Because he was a pitiful and worthless freak, even among other freaks. Self-loathing had become his anchor. One that actually seemed to give him a decent amount of control over himself.
And he went and let himself zip through his senior year of high school without much care or thought. In the days leading up to his graduation, he had no idea what he would do with his life. But then, he went and ran into Ethan.
When Aiden had been killed, Ethan found himself feeling broken. Far more than he had felt when Jennifer Blake had stripped him and his brother of their status as Alphas. The night that his brother was buried, Ethan tried to drink his sorrow away, but his healing didn't let the buzz last for more than a few seconds, even after he downed two full bottles of vodka. It got to the breaking point when he went and saw his brother's bike, that he would never be able to ride again. He then went and started to just let loose on it. Kicking, clawing and throwing it about to just let it feel more miserable than he did. He then took the mangled thing and left it in the local junkyard and got on his bike and rode out of Beacon Hills.
But, where to go? Ethan knew that there were still a couple of packs out there that would like nothing more than to rip him to pieces for what the Alpha Pack had done during their bloody reign. That was why he and Aiden wanted to be in Scott's pack. As a True Alpha, he would have enough of a reputation to protect them, and though he was sure Scott would take him now, Ethan didn't want it anymore. He couldn't stay in the place where he had lost everything. So, Ethan decided to go to England as Deucalion once told them that used to be his old stomping grounds. There might be some sympathizers for him there and he would be able to be safe there.
When he got there, he quickly learned that while some of the native packs wouldn't give him trouble, they wouldn't take him in either. There was always a chance that there would be wolves that wanted retribution for the Alpha Pack's actions and didn't want to stir up trouble by taking him in. Ethan realized that he was going to be on his own. For months, he wandered the countryside, until his path brought him to London. As he just took in the local sights, his senses suddenly flared up as he came upon a café where he found another werewolf, sitting outside and sipping on some coffee. His eyes flared blue under his helmet as he found him, and as they did, the guy turned over and looked over at him. Ethan tried to ride away but the guy ran after him and caught him at the intersection when the light went red. Got in front of him and jammed his hands down on the handlebars.
"Who are you? Are you spying on me?" he spat at him.
Ethan pushed his helmet's visor up. "No," he spat back.
"Then who are you?"
"Just a guy passing through, Jackson."
That made his jaw tighten. "How do you know my name?"
"We have a mutual friend in common."
Soon, they got to talking and realized that they had a mutual friend in common.
"So, you're Danny's latest ex?" Jackson asked, leaning himself back in his chair.
The two of them had gone back to the café and calmly talking to one another as they sipped on some lattes. Jackson was a little calmer than before and Ethan wasn't as hostile.
Ethan couldn't help the smile working its way onto his lips as he thought of Danny. "Yeah. That's how I recognized you. He had a photo of the two of you together in your lacrosse gear pinned on his locker door."
He nodded. "How is he? Danny?" He hadn't spoken to him since he left Beacon Hills. Or, to anyone really.
Ethan shrugged. "He's fine, I guess. Last I heard he graduated a semester early and went to a university somewhere off the east coast. Virginia, I think."
Jackson smiled. "I'm not surprised." His friend was always an over-achiever. "And Lydia? Did…you know her?"
"Oh, yeah, I knew her. Not as well as my brother did though."
Jackson could smell…what he believed was grief coming off him. "Sorry, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."
Ethan cleared his throat. "No, it's just…it's been a while since I talked. To anyone really."
"Yeah…same here."
The two of them felt at ease with each other as they saw that they had a lot in common. Both of them were essentially self-made outcasts. Felt like they once had the world in their fingertips, Alphas of their own worlds, and now had become Omegas that no one wanted. Over time, the two of them found themselves regularly hanging out and talking with each other over the next couple of weeks. Ethan even was invited to come to Jackson's graduation, which he attended. Soon, Jackson started getting tips from Ethan about how to handle his shifts better. While the tail seemed to make Ethan uneasy when he first saw it, the guy seemed to quickly get over it and would even make cracks at him about it from time to time, which Jackson found annoying though didn't mind them too much. Being around Jackson made Ethan feel better than he felt in a while so he decided to stick around London for the time being.
Ethan filled in Jackson on things that happened in Beacon Hills while he had been gone. Jackson learned of Scott becoming a 'True Alpha', which he still didn't quite get. He also was a little upset to hear about what happened to Allison and knew that Lydia would've taken her death hard. Though, not as hard as Scott would've. And Stiles, he found that he could somewhat picture what the guy was going through, as weird as that was. He knew a thing or two about being used as someone's puppet, though knew that Stiles cared far more about others than he ever did.
Overtime, things between the two of them began to change. They were happy being good friends until, one day, Ethan went and gave Jackson a surprise kiss, out of nowhere. Ethan didn't know why he did that and quickly apologized for it before he went to leave. But Jackson went and pulled him in for a kiss of his own before he could take off. Jackson was a little thrown that he was gay but found that he didn't care as he really did like Ethan. The guy made him feel better and happier with himself than he felt in the longest time. And…it didn't hurt that the guy was hot, well, almost as much as himself, though Ethan would argue that it was the other way around. The two of them soon found themselves in the best relationship the other had ever had.
Jackson and Ethan were hanging around his place, taking about taking a road trip through Europe, when there was a knock on the door. Jackson answered it to find one of Garland's betas standing there with a hard look on his face.
Jackson found his good mood dropping fast. "What do you want?" he asked the guy a bit shortly.
For the last year Jackson had a 'I don't bother you and you don't bother me' arrangement with Garland's pack. Yet, there was no love lost between them, especially after they came to threaten Ethan when he first came around to not bring any trouble or they would tear him to pieces.
"Garland has something to discuss, with him," he said, pointing his chin over in Ethan's direction.
"What?" Ethan asked.
"He didn't say. Only that it was something he had to tell you in person and I was to escort you. Immediately," he said, roughly stretching the last word.
"Are you kidding me?" Jackson started to complain. "Garland couldn't come himself, he had to go and send a messenger telling us to come over and see him?"
Ethan just sighed. "Be happy, he's actually being considerate. Most alphas I've met would've had us jumped and dragged to him with bags over our heads."
"Alright fine, we're coming," Jackson slurred out.
But the werewolf held his hand out and stopped him. "Uh, before we go, I should tell you guys that where I'm supposed to take you has a bit of a dress code."
Jackson and Ethan went to put on their dinner jackets and fancy trousers before they let their escort move to take them down to downtown London. They soon found themselves over at a nightclub where they could see a line of about two dozen people waiting to get in. Jackson made out a sign over the entrance that read: Crescent Blue Moon. The two omegas were brought over around to the alley and came up to a metal door that he went and gave a special knock to. Soon enough, the door opened and the sound of music was quickly heard as a thickly built bouncer stepped out. He gave the beta and the two omegas a small look before he let two glowing blue eyes show.
"Garland's expecting you," he told them in a deep voice. He moved aside to let three of them head on inside.
Back in Beacon Hills, Jackson had gone to a few warehouse parties and raves but this place had them all beat. There was blue, green and white strobe lights flickering overhead as dozens of clubbers were dancing to the music being spun by a rocking DJ. There were small tables surrounding the dance floor with some people standing next to with their drinks while the walls were plush seat booths lining them. In some of them were small groups or couples talking, laughing or making out. At the far end, Jackson could make out an exquisitely stocked bar with four cute bartenders. Jackson suddenly didn't mind getting dragged down here anymore. They were led off to a booth at a quiet corner of the club where a sharply dressed Garland was sitting in wait with a handful of his betas.
"Ah gentlemen, thank you for coming," he greeted them as soon as they arrived.
"Nice place," Jackson said, giving the club another once over before looking back at Garland. Just then, a cocktail waitress came by and placed a Mai Tai in front of him. "Yours?"
"Oh no," he laughed out. "This is my Second's actually." He moved to take a small sip of his drink. "But, I am a patron and frequent customer of his. Please sit," he said gesturing to the seats at the opposite end of his booth. "Drink?" he asked as they slowly settled themselves into the booth. "The Mai Tai's here are top notch."
"Yeah, sure," Jackson muttered. Ethan gave a nod himself.
Immediately, the cocktail waitress left to head for the bar. Ethan cleared his throat and made eye contact with the Alpha.
"So, why did you want to see me?" he asked Garland.
Garland moved to lean back a bit. "You do remember the stipulations that I pressed into you when you first arrived, do you Ethan? I don't want trouble from you. I have enough issues and problems without dealing with anyone else's."
"I haven't been causing any trouble," he defended.
"Oh, I know that. But, what about trouble looking for you?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Recently, I received a whisper. It turns out that an Alpha back west has been sending feelers out about how they could find you. Asking for any kind of information whatsoever."
Ethan stiffened up. If there was someone trying to track him down then it couldn't be for anything good. He knew that when he was part of Deucalion's pack they had made quite a few enemies. He wondered which of them it was.
"Do you know who it is?" he asked.
"Satomi Ito."
"Satomi?" Ethan said taken aback. He wasn't expecting that to be the answer.
"Who the hell is Satomi?" asked Jackson.
"She's a Buddhist Alpha whose territory is in the area of Devenford."
Jackson's eyes widened in surprise. "What? That's practically next door to Beacon Hills." There had been another alpha? Jackson thought that Derek Hale had been the only one around at the time.
"And she has quite the formidable reputation," Garland threw in.
"She's Buddhist," Jackson tried to argue. "How dangerous can she be?" It sounded like hippy dippy nonsense to him.
Garland rolled his eyes. "Teenagers today, ruled by general conceptions and impressions. Samurai were Buddhists themselves and they were the most lethal warriors of their age." The cocktail waitress returned at that moment and placed drinks in front of the two omegas. "In her early days, Satomi was a very lethal and aggressive woman. Embracing Buddhism has given her focus and drive, which essentially makes her all the more formidable. Good thing, considering some of the rumors popping up around that area."
"What rumors?" asked Ethan.
Garland then flew into a brief explanation of the new 'hybrids' that were appearing and the so-called Dread Doctors that were creating them. "And now, in the midst of all that, Satomi is looking for you. I hope you can start to understand my concern."
As far as he knew, Deucalion had no desire to cross Satomi's path as he was both respectful and wary of her as Garland seemed to be.
"I have no idea what Satomi wants. I never gave her any trouble and I have nothing to say or do with these, Dread Doctors. It's probably nothing."
"Yeah, unfortunately I'm going to need more assurance than that. Someone like her doesn't put in this much effort to find someone unless there's a serious manner to be had lad. If you want to stay around here then you'll go and pay her a visit. The last thing I need is for her to come and bring her kind of trouble here."
"What? He can't just give this Satomi a call?" Jackson spoke out.
"And risk her coming here herself. I'm not going to have unwarranted trouble for me and my pack. What if she wants does want your head, and realizes that I allowed you to stay in my territory? That makes me a collaborator. I would have no other choice but take your head myself and give it to her to maintain peace. No, you'll go and sort out…whatever this is. If it really is nothing, then there's no harm in it, right?" he asked, giving Ethan a pointed look.
Ethan let out a hard breath before he nodded. "Right," he said in a hard tone.
"Good. Please, feel free to stick around and enjoy the rest of your night."
Garland then moved to leave the booth with his betas and left the two of them alone. Ethan huffed before he moved to begin downing his Mai Tai.
Ethan quickly moved to purchase plane ticket for California, but was thrown when Jackson went and purchased one for himself.
"You don't have to do this," Ethan had told him. "I can go see what Satomi wants for myself."
"And what if she wants to see your insides?" he said back.
"Worried that I'll let her," he tried to say wittedly back.
Jackson rolled his eyes. "It won't hurt for you to have backup."
"Look, I'm sure Garland is overreacting. Satomi may have had a vicious streak to her but she also has an honorable reputation. It probably is just nothing."
"Well, to quote that hard ass, 'If it really is nothing then there's no harm in me going with you, right?'"
"Alright, fine," Ethan surrendered. "Let's just go."
"Not without my Porsche," Jackson added.
They reached San Francisco and from there, began the drive down to Devenford, but they would have to drive through Beacon Hills. When they got into the town limits, the two of them fell quiet. Neither of them could believe that they were there again, at least so soon. Driving his Porsche through these once familiar streets, Jackson couldn't help but feel a bit nostalgic. He was snapped out of it when he sensed smelled sudden high emotions coming off Ethan due to seeing a guy on a motorcycle. One that he thought looked like his brother's.
They headed off into Devenford and they pulled up to a beautiful looking house close to the woods. Seeing it, he couldn't help but compare it somewhat to the old Hale House, before it was burned down.
"Alright, we're here," he grunted. "Now what do we do?"
"We knock on the door," Ethan said simply, before he let himself out of the car and headed off for the front door.
"Right, knock on an Alpha's door, why didn't I think of that?" Jackson slurred out before he got out to follow him.
After hearing about this Satomi woman from both Ethan and Garland, Jackson readied himself to face a hard and stone cold bitch of an Alpha. Yet, he was thrown completely off by what he did see when the door opened. An old woman with a pleasant look on her face, smiled at the two of them..
"Yes, may I help you?" she asked.
Ethan nodded. "Hello, my name is Ethan. I believe you were looking for me, right Satomi?"
"Oh, you received my message," she sighed out.
Jackson eyes widened. "Wait, you're Satomi?"
"Yes?" she said, giving him a bit of a look. "Is that a problem?" Satomi tone dropped a bit, as did her eyes, which made Jackson have a sudden urge to back away.
Ethan bit the edge of his bottom lip to keep himself from laughing when Jackson quickly shook his head. "So, what is this about?" he asked, getting them back on track.
"Why don't you come in? I'll brew some tea and we can talk."
Satomi went on to explain that she had sent word that she was trying to find Ethan, but not for herself. She had been asked to locate him by Stiles.
"Stiles wanted to find me?" he asked, shocked that this was what this was all about. "Why?"
"He needs to talk to you, urgently."
"Why?"
"He has questions only you can answer," she answered cryptically.
Jackson sighed. "If only we thought to just pick up a phone and call? Oh wait, I did."
Ethan ignored Jackson's sarcasm. "Fine, I'll head over to the school and talk to him."
"Uh, I don't think he's there right now. There is something a situation in Beacon Hills right now."
"We heard," Jackson slurred out.
"Well, we weren't planning on staying here long. We have a flight in the morning."
Satomi nodded. "I understand. Just, let me give him a call and ask that he come here."
Satomi then went over to the other room and reached for her phone to quickly call Stiles up. Jackson and Ethan listened in and heard his voice talking with her through the receiver. Jackson suddenly got to his feet.
"Hey, I'm going to go out for a bit," he told him.
"And go where?"
Jackson just shrugged. "Just going to check on some things." And he was uncomfortable with the thought of seeing Stiles, or Scott again. "I'll be back around 6, okay?"
"Alright," he said, shrugging his shoulders.
Stiles didn't take too long to get to the house after Satomi had called him. It was barely an hour when he was walking right through the front door and Ethan came face to face with him. The very last time that Ethan had seen Stiles was when he was comforting Lydia as he was cradling his brother's body in his arms.
"Ethan…what are you doing here?" the guy asked when he seemed to get over his shock.
He rose his eyebrows at that one. "What am I doing here? Weren't you the one looking for me? You went to Satomi and asked for her to send feelers out to try and find me."
Stiles rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, I didn't know where you were after…"
"Aiden." Ethan wished that Stiles didn't try to step delicately around that.
"You just left without a word to anybody."
"Yeah, there wasn't a reason to stay anymore," he said gruffly.
"Right…but I thought you would, I don't know, give me a call or send me an e-mail or something. Not come all the way back to town."
"Believe me, we didn't want to come back here."
"I didn't ask you t-" Stiles stopped and then narrowed his eyes. "Wait, did you say we?"
"What?"
"We. You said, 'we didn't want to come back here'. Are you here with somebody?"
Ethan wanted to wince at his slip. Jackson didn't want any of them to know he was back in town. He guessed there was still some bad blood with between him, Scott and Stiles. But he decided to cover up his slip by hurrying this up. "What did you need to find me for Stiles?" he asked impatiently.
Stiles face then grew serious. The kind he saw from the guy when things got dark or serious. "I wanted to ask for your help."
He could guess about what and neither he nor Jackson were up for it. "Do you? You know, I've been hearing some crazy stories and rumors about what's been happening after I left. If you were trying to ask if I could help you fight against these mix and match freaks showing up-"
Stiles cut him off. "That's not it. I needed to ask you some stuff."
"About what?" Did he think he had some information about the Dread Doctors, by experience or from Deucalion?
"About your pack. Your old one, before you and your brother joined up with Deucalion. And the alpha you two killed to get your power."
Ethan rose his eyebrows up. "Why?" he asked, surprised. Why did Stiles go through all these hoops to ask him about his pack?
Stiles' face hardened. "Because, there is a werewolf here who claims to have been turned by him. And you're the only one who could prove for me once and for all that he's lying."
"What are you talking about? And, please make it quick. I can't stay long."
"Before school started, this guy named Theo Raeken came to town. He actually used to live in Beacon Hills as a kid. He went to school with me and Scott back in the fourth grade but he moved away a couple of years ago. But now, he's a werewolf. According to him, he was turned by your Alpha but before his first full moon, you and your brother killed him."
Ethan narrowed his eyes as he let that sink in. "Well…that might be possible. Our alpha didn't exactly share his day to day activities with us, especially me and my brother."
"Yeah, I figured. But, he also said that he had met another of his pack a few weeks later who told him the whole story."
Ethan quickly shook his head. "No, that can't be right. Aiden and I, we didn't spare a single one of them," he said in a bit of a hard tone. Thinking about them now, the ridicule and hell that they all put them through, even after all this time it still hit a sore spot.
Stiles nodded. "I know. I felt how much hate you guys had for them, remember? It was back when we fought at that condemned building. I tapped into the event scar left on you and your brother from the sick pleasure your old pack had at tormenting you guys and the hate you had at them. I had seen each of their faces, laughing at you."
"Event scar?" Stiles then went into a quick explanation of what he learned of them from Satomi. "So, that's what that was."
"Yeah, I've gotten some better control over it but it's still kinda touch and go for me, literally," he mumbled off. "And then, I remember you telling me and Scott that you two had worked your way through your pack one by one, saving your alpha for last. That seemed like a major hole in Theo's story but Scott didn't catch it."
"But you did. Well, that guy's story is completely wrong. After we killed our pack, we didn't leave right away. Deucalion wanted us to stay a while and adjust to having our new rank as Alphas before we left with him, Kali and Ennis. If there was a freshly turned beta around, we would've found him."
"Where was this exactly?"
"Detroit."
"I thought it was supposed to be lions in Detroit, not wolves," Stiles said with a bit of a snicker. Ethan gave him a mild exasperated look. "See you haven't lost your sense of humor."
"What do you think this Theo guy is up to?" he asked, getting back on point. "Why would he lie about who turned him?"
"I don't know, but from the moment we met him something has been telling me that we shouldn't trust this guy."
"Instinct?" Stiles then nodded. "Well, from what I've seen, your instincts are among the strongest level for werewolves to have. One of the reasons why Deucalion was taken with you. Would've tried recruiting you into his pack if he had the choice."
"I'm flattered," Stiles said flatly.
"So, now that you know his turning story is crap, how are you going to tell Scott?"
Stiles shook his head. "No, I can't tell him, yet. If I go to Scott with just this, he'll just think that it's all probably just a mistake. That I'm just grasping at straws to prove I'm right. Besides, there's still a chance that Theo can somehow talk his way out of this."
Ethan narrowed his eyes a bit. He could sense some hostility in Stiles' tone. Not towards Theo, but Scott. "Stiles, why are you working so hard to get Scott to listen to you?"
"Because he never seems to anymore. I mean, it was hard enough before, but now it's practically impossible," he mumbled roughly.
"Before what?"
"Before this." Stiles then looked up and flashed the blue glow of his eyes. "Scott can't even look at me when these come out. Every time I shift them, he always looks away and doesn't look back at me until they're gone. He can't stand the sight of them."
"What are you talking about? Scott has been around werewolves with blue eyes before. Me, my brother, Derek, Peter. Even Malia."
"Yeah, but Allison wasn't the one who made yours or their eyes go blue," he huffed out. "Scott can't see the eyes that killed her. I'm sure you get how he feels."
"You didn't kill Allison, Stiles" Ethan said simply. "Or Aiden." Ethan didn't blame Stiles for what happened to his brother. He never did, but it felt like Stiles wanted him to.
"I think these eyes would disagree with you." Stiles then moved to make his blue eyes dim go back to their normal honey brown.
"The blue is a parting gift from that demented fox. You don't have a killer's eyes Stiles because you aren't one."
Donovan then moved up to the front of Stiles mind. "Want to bet?" he muttered more darkly than before. Stiles then moved to throw himself into a nearby chair.
Ethan stared at him for a while, able to detect a complex mix of emotions coming off the guy. It seemed that more seemed to have happened and be happening that he wasn't sharing. Not that Ethan cared, or want to care, about Stiles. But he did have a degree of begrudging respect for the guy. So, he cleared his throat.
"Stiles, do you remember the night at the Glen Capri?"
"Uh, creepy motel in the middle of nowhere, that made you try to saw yourself to pieces and made Scott try to burn himself to death…vaguely," he shrugged.
"Well, you stopped me from doing that. But, do you remember what you said to me when I asked you why you did that, considering that we were all trying to kill each other back then?"
Stiles shrugged. "Can't say I do."
"Well, I do. You said that if I was going to be taken out, then it would be on your terms."
Stiles lowered his gaze to the floor. "Sorry about that."
"Don't be. That actually made me start to respect you." That made Stiles look back up at him. "You showed me that you had a code. And unlike the hunters, you keep to it, no matter how hard it is. I was your enemy, but helped me because to you in that moment, I was an innocent person and you wanted to protect me from being the Darach's next victim. You could've let me die and no one would've blamed you, but you didn't, because you have a code. Killers don't have codes Stiles. I've killed enough people to know, innocent people. My eyes, these eyes, they're ones that belong to a killer." He then let his own blue eyes glow. "Doesn't matter if they're glowing or not. You don't have these eyes."
Stiles felt some tears threatening to break through. "Are you sure about that? If it came down to it, I was prepared and willing to kill you back then if I had to."
"Yeah, if you had to. And there, you just proved my own point. You'll do whatever you need to do to protect innocent people and those you care about. You would've killed me, if that's what it took to stop me from hurting or killing anyone else. Killers don't concern themselves with things like that, they just kill, whoever and whenever they want. But, that doesn't matter, what matters is believing it yourself. And I can't and won't do that for you."
At the top of the stairs across the room, Satomi stood, listening with a grim look on her face.
Jackson went over to the local welfare center to check on a certain 1 year old girl. It was the girl that he had orphaned, well, that he and Matt had orphaned. He had killed her father and Matt had killed her mother. Before leaving town, he looked into the child and heard that she was placed into state custody. And she had been given the name Carmen. After Jackson turned 18, he went and left a small trust for Carmen and asked that she not receive it until she turned 21. Also, he left instructions that she not know about it until then. He didn't want her to turn out like he had. Right now, he wanted to check on how she was.
After he verified who he was, and why he was there, he was told that Carmen had been adopted about six months ago. They couldn't reveal who it was but they did tell them that it was a nice couple who lived out in Bakersfield. He was happy to hear that, but it didn't stop him from feeling some guilt.
Afterwards, he decided to pop on by Lydia's place. As he pulled up to it, he couldn't help but smile at how it looked exactly the same it did as he left. He saw Lydia's car in the driveway, which meant she was home. But, he saw that there was a police van parked right next to it. His heart jumped, thinking that something was wrong. He quickly listened out for Lydia and found her voice, calmly talking with someone else. Whoever this cop was, Jordan he heard Lydia call him, the two of them sounded…chummy. He felt a twist in his stomach as he heard how Lydia was talking with him. True, he was with Ethan now, but Lydia will always have a place in his heart. Yet, he also found that he was happy that Lydia seemed to have found someone that she could truly be herself with. He can hear the care that 'Jordan' seemed to have for her in his voice as he spoke to her.
And they were talking about Lydia having visions and her being a banshee. Ethan had told him all about that and explained that this part of her had been dormant until it seemed to have awakened after she had been bitten by Peter. Jackson was surprised that his high school girlfriend had been supernatural herself. It seemed like it was a common trend in this town. It looked like they were talking about the problems that seemed to be gripping this town. When he heard that they were getting ready to leave, he started up his car to get out before Lydia spotted him. She didn't need him drudging up the past right now.
Besides, he had to go and pick Ethan up.
Ethan was standing off in the front of Satomi's house, staring off into the distance. He had been there since Stiles had left. He had gotten a text from Lydia and was on his way to the hospital. After thanking Ethan for his information, he got into his jeep and drove off. The sun had gone down and Ethan was just taking in the view. After months of being in the noise and bright lights of the city, it was actually nice to be close to actual wilderness.
"That was a good thing you did."
Ethan looked over to see Satomi stepping outside and heading over to him. "What do you mean?" he asked her.
"What you said to Stiles. About the nature of a killer."
He shrugged. "Well, I wasn't trying to be nice."
That made her give him an amused grin. "Well, he'll need it. More than you could ever know."
"Why, because he's evolving?" That made her grin flatten a bit and that made him grin back. At the corner of his eye, he spotted two headlights approaching. "Ah, my ride's here."
Jackson spotted the house up ahead and he headed up to it with his head looking out the window. He was ready to take him and get them out of this place. But as he was closing in, his blue eyes flared up as a scent entered his nostrils. He started to feel his tail begin to find its way out and he stopped the car. He then looked off to the trees to his left and a pair of golden orbs briefly lit up in the dark before they blinked out. Eyes, and Jackson could feel their owner making a run for it. He leapt into the trees after it.
Back at the house, Ethan and Satomi grew concerned.
"What's happening?" Ethan asked.
Satomi let her red eyes reveal themselves as she looked out. "Jackson's chasing after something." Barely a second after she said that, Ethan ran off and Satomi was right behind him.
Jackson ran through the woods and could make out a figure darting around through the trees. They weren't running on the ground, but darting from tree to tree like a pinball. Jackson was gaining ground and when he was just below his target he went and jumped for them. He extended his tail out and the end struck out for their foot and managed to just wrap around an ankle. The shock of it made them panic and they ended up falling for the floor. Jackson saw that it was a girl around his age, but the kanima part of him saw her as prey. A tasty morsel to hunt down and devour.
Courtney had gone to spy on Satomi's place to make sure they were staying out of the way when she had spotted Stiles jeep parked out front. She had watched from the safety of her usual hiding spot and later saw him leave the house along with someone she didn't recognize. After Stiles left, the guy stuck around and she moved about to try and get a better idea of who this guy was. When she spotted another car, a Porsche approaching, she moved to get a better look but was shocked when the driver just stop the car and seemingly look up towards her, she panicked and ran away. She was worried when he started running after her and gaining ground but was caught off guard when he used his serpentine tail to intercept her. Her eyes widened when she saw that he had a werewolf's eyes and fangs, coupled with that tail.
"Are you one of us?" she gasped. Could this guy be a chimera made by the Dread Doctors?
But Jackson didn't say anything. He just glared down at her, slowly letting his claws retract. It freaked Courtney out and she quickly brought out razor sharp needle claws from her right hand and jammed them down at the tail still holding her. Jackson let out a pained roar that was a mix of a wolf howl and serpent's hiss and his tail's grip loosened and she pulled herself away. She got on her feet and brought out the claws in her other hand and snarled.
Jackson dove for her and she backed away to avoid the swipe from his claws. Courtney made her own swipe at Jackson but he batted her hand away before he spun around in an effort to whack at her with his tail. She barely managed to duck away from it and it hit the branches of a nearby tree. Courtney dove for the fallen branches and threw them at Jackson's face. It stunned him for a moment, but a moment was all she needed for her to get a good swipe in with her claws. The claws cut into his sternum and caused him to fall back.
Courtney stood over him, raising her clawed hand up, ready to quickly make a killing blow. The next thing she knew, a knife went and found its way into the her shoulder and she screamed out in pain.
"Get away from him!" Ethan yelled through the trees.
Her eyes widened as she saw him and the Alpha running for them. It was one of Satomi's combat knives that had been thrown at her and the Alpha was twirling her other one, ready to throw it.
"Your other arm is next!" she shouted as they got closer.
Courtney quickly ripped the blade out and made a mad dash into the trees, heading for the denser and darker part of the woods.
Ethan moved over and kneeled down in front of Jackson. "Are you alright?" he quickly panted out.
Jackson gave out a pained grunt. "I see Garland was actually right. That Satomi really is a badass."
That made Ethan let out a relieved chortle. He then looked over at Satomi, who was walking up to retrieve her blade. "Who was that? She smelled different." He then looked at the marks she left on Jackson's chest. "Those aren't werewolf claw marks."
Satomi lifted the blade to see that there wasn't red blood on the blade. It was metallic gray. "Mercury," she muttered to herself. "That must've been a chimera."
"She was watching the house," Jackson coughed out.
"Spying." Satomi's eyes narrowed into a fine glare. "Wilson." That must've been his killer, or one of them at least.
After cleaning his wounds back at Satomi's house, over an hour later Jackson and Ethan found themselves back on the road.
"You sure you're alright?" Ethan said, behind the wheel. He had insisted that he drive to let Jackson have time to recover.
"I'm sure. Let's just get out of here."
Ethan looked up at the rear view mirror, seeing the distant lights from Beacon Hills grow fainter as they zoomed down the highway.
A/N: Honestly, I originally didn't plan for a chapter like this. Originally, I planned for Jackson and Ethan to have the final segment with the attack from Courtney in the next chapter but then I was hit with this idea. I'd love to hear what you all think of it.
