"I'm a werewolf, and I hate it." Carter began softly, twirling the silver ring on her middle finger. "I feel depressed, angry, hopeless, but most of all - I'm completely and utterly scared. I'm afraid that I'll lose control and kill someone, and that the grief will naw at me until turns me into something that I'm not. And I know that I won't be able bring myself back." She lifted her eyes up from her ring, tears trickling down her cheeks. "Why did he do this to me? I never asked for this, Derek. I don't want - I can't be a werewolf."

DANGEROUS LIAISONS PART TWO TRAILER ABOVE!

→

ANCHORS

An inky darkness surrounded her.

She couldn't see anything; everything was silent and eerie; an eternal darkness capturing innocent souls with their razor sharp talons, never to see the light of day again. But with the darkness clenching at her blazing heart, she was unable to fight off succumbing to the depths of the darkness within her. It was as if she had been attracted to the black pit that was consuming her; something was luring her deeper and deeper.

Carter's eyes seared a scarlet-orange as they tried to adjust to her ebony surroundings. All around her, she only saw black, searching to no avail for some sort of exit. She didn't know where she was, but wherever it was - it had been consumed with an intense heat.

BANG!

The sound was deafening as it cut through the still air, like a knife cutting through soft butter. Carter's breath hitches as she cautiously turned around. Finally, she could see the edge of the room, a reddened glow was seeping through the cracks of a door.

Slowly and hesitantly, Carter took steps toward the door, knowing all too well that what lied behind the wooden object would be life-altering.

Her soft footsteps echoed around the room, she was occasionally catching glimpses of the demons that were lurking in the thick darkness. She began fanning her face with her hands, the fabric of her clothes clung to her body as everything became hotter and hotter with each step she took toward the door.

When Carter approached the door she was sweating and squinting her eyes at the bright glow outlining the door. And despite herself, she wrapped a slender hand around the doorknob - slowly twisting it until she pushed the door open and took a couple of steps forward.

Suddenly the door slammed behind her, Carter whirled around to see that the once open door was now sealed shut. She tightly gripped the door handle, to her horror, the door refused to open no matter how many times she tugged at it. A small sting formed in her stomach, growing panicked as she continued to jiggle the doorknob.

Only when a hoarse cough escaped her lips and the stinging in her eyes became more prominent did she turn around to see that the entire room was now up in flames in just a matter of seconds. She coughed hard when her lungs filled with smoke, eyes squinting as she tried to figure a way out of her own personal hell.

Carter's heightened hearing picked up on a slight buzzing noise that could be heard over the roaring of the flames. It steadily grew, filling the room as Carter stood in the center of the blazing room; fire circling around.

The buzzing quickly intensified, screaming in her ears. She winced, her knees buckling before collapsing to the ground, her palms pressed against her ears as a coughing fit clawed at the back of her throat. Carter gritted her teeth together, the brunette trying to block out the noise and fight off the coughs.

And soon enough, the sound ended, Carter glanced up to see that the flames were inching closer almost crawling their way to her legs. Suddenly the flames detonated, sending Carter flying onto her back as the fire morphed into a tsunami of heat as it hovered of the cowering brunette.

"You need to close the door."

Despite the jelly-like feeling in her knees and the heavy pressure in her chest for breathing in the smoke, she shot onto her feet, letting out a soft squeal as her head swiveled around in confusion. The voice seemed to hiss at her, Carter felt herself begin to tremble as the tidal wave of flames rose higher and higher.

The deep oranges flames danced, twisting and turning as they morphed into a shape Carter never wanted to see again. She wasn't going to lie, she was terrified. She had absolutely no idea what was happening or where she was as she watched the fire transform into a demon-bird with its wings outstretched and talons made of crackling embers.

The creature flew forward; the sudden movement caused Carter to go flying backwards, her back arching slightly when it collided with the ground. Heat consumed her entire body as the demon-bird hovered over her, deep black eyes boring into her own - as though it were piercing her soul.

"You need to close the door!"

Her eyes stayed locked on the creature above her, the girl breathing out: "Close the door."

The flaming creature let out a loud screech, raising its talons made of ember before slicing them across Carter's throat, sending her into a whirlwind of pain and heat.

→

Most people welcome their shadow with open arms, allowing the misty figure to always be a part of them, but not Scott McCall. There was nothing that lied beyond him he wanted to see - nothing he wanted to become. He was not embracing his shadow, but his shadow was trying to capture him with its sharp claws.

The shadow reminded Scott of sophomore year, when the same figure had been chasing him through the woods. What chased after him was not his true form as an Alpha, but an abomination.

It had happened early that morning, as he was getting ready to leave his house he noticed his shadow was changing the form of what was actually there. His fingernails had taken on their own form, morphing into claws extended and ready to kill at any given moment. The lack of control happened next, the werewolf staring down at his reflection that shone on the sleek bike helmet, gazing as his eyes blazed a searing red.

Soon, he became panicked, stumbling away from something that refused to diminish. Scott wasn't even aware of that fact that he was going to go crashing into his best friend.

"Hey. Hey," Stiles Stilinski called, grabbing ahold of Scott's shoulders, ceasing his frantic movements. "You all right?"

Scott's eyes were wide and hazy, his chest heaved up and down as he tried to figure out if it was really Stiles appearing in front of him. He stared at the boy for a short moment, debating whether or not he should lie to Stiles or tell him the truth. Despite his thoughts, he found himself nodding in response.

Stiles tilted his head in uncertainty, "You don't look all right, Scott."

"I'm okay."

"No, you're not," Stiles disagreed. "It's happening to you too. You're seeing things, aren't you?"

Scott's eyes widened even further in surprise, "How'd you know?"

"Because," a familiar voice started, making the two teenage boys turn around to see that Lydia, Allison, and Carter were inviting themselves into the conversation. "It's happening to all four of you."

And before they knew it, they were following behind the strawberry-blonde as she led the four sulking teenagers into the school.

With a slightly satisfied grin on her face, the young Banshee mused: "Well, well, look who's no longer the crazy one."

Carter ran a shaky hand through her hair, trying to bite back her retort upon hearing Lydia's words. She knew that she needed to stay calm, she had to keep herself under control.

Scott glanced down at her, noticing the look of discomfort on his girlfriend's face, he grabbed her hand and laced his fingers with hers. She looked down toward their intertwined hands, a soft smile forming on her lips as she squeezed his hand tightly.

"We're not crazy," Carter denied.

Lydia ceased her walking mid-stride, moving to face the four teens who were slowly going down a spiral into insanity. "Hallucination? Sleep paralysis? Dreams about a demonic creature slicing your throat out? Yeah, you guys are fine."

"We did die and come back to life," Scott pointed out. "That's gotta have some side effects, right?"

The bell rang, Carter groaned as her eyes shut tightly whilst the chiding bell rang horrifically through her heightened eardrums. Scott placed his other unoccupied hand on her shoulder, knowing all too well what she was experiencing. He squeezed her shoulder reassuringly, Carter glanced up at him in gratitude.

From beside them, Stiles stated: "We keep
an eye on each other, okay?" While walking forward he pointed a finger at the strawberry-blonde, "And, Lydia, stop enjoying this so much."

With a feigned look of confusion on her face, she asked: "What?"

And with that, they were forced to conceal their insanity as they tried to carry on with their semi-normal lives.

→

Carter found herself perched in a desk in her history class, her knees bouncing whilst her fingernail tapped anxiously along the wooden desk as she fought to keep herself awake - she feared falling asleep, not wanting to experience the same nightmare she had the night before.

"Good morning, everyone," The new history teacher began, turning away from the chalk board to face the indistinctively chattering class of students. "My name is Mr. Yukimura, I'll be taking over for your previous history teacher. My family and I moved here three weeks ago. I'm sure, by now, you all know my daughter, Kira. Or you might not since she's never actually mentioned anyone from school - or brought a friend home for that matter."

A loud sigh sounded from the back of the classroom, Kira Yukimura slammed her head against the desk, practically dying of embarrassment. All of the students turned to face her, Carter's gaze falling upon a girl with dark curly hair.

"Either way," Yukimura continued, "there she is."

Reluctantly, the girl lifted her head, a small smile on her face as the class began to snicker. If Carter was being honest, she would've said that she felt bad for the girl. She hadn't even taken the time to notice that there was someone new at Beacon Hills High School. But she had been a little preoccupied, as she tried to stop the Darach from sacrificing three of her friends' parents or trying not to get mauled by a vengeful Alpha pack.

"Now, let's begin with American History at the turn of the twentieth century..."

Carter's ears quickly tuned out Mr. Yukimura's voice when she noticed that her boyfriend had been staring at the ground with fearful eyes. Little did she know that his shadow was transforming into a beast, the boy fearing that he wouldn't be able to handle his new-found role as an Alpha - fearing that he'd become like that monster that bit him.

"You need to close the door, Carter."

→

"Maybe we need a little more time to get back to normal."

Scott's voice was filled with optimism, positioning himself next to Stiles as he made an attempt to get his locker open. To the left of the teen wolf was a brunette girl, standing silently as she kept her eyes focused on the ground with her hands shoved in her pockets.

Stiles didn't seemed to be encouraged by his words as he began to spin the dial on the lock, "Yeah, try not to forget we hit the reset button on a supernatural beacon for supernatural creatures. There's a pretty good chance things are never going back to normal."

Stiles then began to tug at his lock, unable to get the contraption open, realizing that it wouldn't open no matter how many times he spun in the correct combination. With furrowed brows, he yanked at it again, the numbers on the dial turning into undecipherable shapes. As Stiles stared at the lock in confusion, Scott let out a shaky breath, Carter glancing up at him noticing that his eyes were ablaze, searing a bright red.

"Scott, your eyes," Carter whispered.

"What about them?" Scott asked, panic settling in his chest as he remembered back to earlier that morning when he saw his red-eyed reflection.

And that, Stiles turned around to face his best friends, noticing that Scott's eyes were glowing. "They're starting to glow," he then glanced down at Carter's shaking hands, seeing that her mundane fingernails had elongated into sharp claws. "Oh, Carter, your fingers."

A gasp escaped her lips when she saw what Stiles meant, she quickly tucked her hands underneath her arms, trying to conceal the unnatural longevity of her nails.

Scott's eyes widened, "You mean right now?"

"Yes, right now," Stiles explained, glancing toward Carter nervously. "Now Carter's eyes are glowing. You two need to stop - stop it before someone sees."

Sweat began to bead on their foreheads; Scott lowered his head and breathed out: "I can't - I can't." Holding his hand up to cover his eyes whilst Carter pressed her chin against her chest in attempt to cover her face with a dark curtain of hair. "I - I can't control it."

Stiles glanced between them before pressing his hands on Scott and Carter's back, making them hunch over while instructing: "All right, just keep y'all's heads down. Look down, come on."

Stiles dragged the out of control teens through the hallway, converse squeaking against the linoleum as they shoved their way through the crowded corridor making their way to secluded location. He threw open a random door, ushering Carter and Scott inside.

The duo tossed their backpacks onto the ground, Scott yanking off his black button up as Carter dropped onto her hands and knees an intense wave of heat pricking at her skin. Scott rushed down an aisle of desks, Stiles was quick to follow, but the teen Alpha held his hand up.

"Get back," Scott cried out, creating distance between himself and Stiles. "Get away from me."

"Scott," Stiles began, Scott letting out a pained grunt as he fought to gain control. "It's okay."

Scott turned around, a panicked expression on his face. "I don't know what's going to happen! Get back!"

Carter's body trembles as she pushed herself into a sitting position, feeling her fangs cut through her gums, a loud groan escaping her throat as another wave of heat flashed through her. And with that, Stiles head snapped in her direction before he moved to help her. But before he could even reach her, she scrambled away from him, pressing her back against the wall - she was a newly transitioned werewolf, she had no idea if she would gain control in time before she hurt Stiles.

Carter and Scott sunk their claws into their flesh at the same time, she felt Scott's wounds appear on her palms as she plunged her claws into her exposed thighs. Their fangs bared as blood poured out of the wounds. Scott's knees buckled, falling down to the floor while letting out a low growl.

Stiles watched with wide eyes, glancing between Carter and Scott as they slowly returned to their human-selves again, the duo letting out shaky breaths as the blood ran trailed out of their wounds. Carter groaned, pushing herself onto her feet before rushing over to Scott, their eyes no longer glowing, fangs and claws had retracted into their hiding places.

"Pain makes you human," Scott panted out, Carter nodded as she kneeled down beside him.

Stiles slowly made his way forward, crouching down in front of his best friends, he began: "This isn't just in our heads. This is real - and it's starting to get bad for me too. I'm not just having nightmares. I'm having these dreams were I have to literally scream myself awake. And sometimes I'm not even sure if I'm ever actually waking up."

"What do you mean?"

Letting out a nervous breath, Stiles spoke: "Do you know how you can tell if you're dreaming?" The two werewolves shook their heads. "You can't read in dreams. More and more, that last few days, I've been having trouble reading. It's like I can't see the words. I can't - I can't put the letters in order."

"Like even now?" Carter asked with furrowed brows.

Slowly, he stood up, Stiles' eyes falling upon the chalkboard, skimming over all of the posters that were plastered on the walls within the classroom. On each one had been pure insanity, no words were shown, the letters all scrambled in incorrect order.

"I can't read a thing."

→

Coach Finstock blew on his whistle, "Stilinski!" he shouted, annoyed that the boy wasn't paying attention in his class.

"Uh-huh?"

"I asked you a question," Finstock snapped.

"Uh - sorry, Coach," Stiles stammered out, still trying to wrap his mind around what had just happened. "What was it?"

"Oh, it was, "Stilinski, are you paying attention back there?""

"Oh, well, I am now," Stiles mumbled.

Finstock pointed a finger at the boy,
"Stilinski, stop reminding me why I drink - every night. Does anybody else want to try the question on the board?"

Carter moved her attention away from Stiles' to look back up at the front of the classroom, but her entire body stilled when she realized there was another figure standing in front of everyone and it hadn't been their Economics teacher. Her hands quickly wrapped themselves around the sides of the desk, her supernatural strength causing the wood to crack slightly under the pressure of her grip as her breath caught in her throat.

The familiar figure of Carter Hale stood right before her eyes, standing in the same outfit Carter had worn to school that day - it was as though she had been looking in one of those circus mirrors, where you recognized the reflection but the image was distorted. Her doppelgänger stood in the same position, not a single trace of any emotion on her face as her eyes bored into her own.

Carter's lungs constricted, no longer being able to inhale as sweat began to bead along her forehead. Carter's double slowly walked forward, moving down the aisle with determination, the brunette tightened her grip on the desk causing a large crack to form right down the middle, barely even aware that the students around her were performing sigh language; holding up their forefingers, allowing their other hand to circle around it before raising their thumbs and flicking it under their chins before tapping their hands together.

Carter scrambled out of her seat, pressing her back against the wall as her doppelgänger advancing toward her. She closed her eyes, a screech falling from her lips as she felt the other Carter's breath fan over her face. She tried to press her back harder against the wall, hoping that she would magically disappear within its confines.

A hand suddenly clamped itself around her throat, her back slid against the wall as her doppelgänger lifted her off the ground. Carter' s eyes snapped open, clawing at the hand around her neck, taking in hollow breaths as her lungs began to burn.

"Look at me!" a demonic voice belted - a morphed version of her own.

Her eyes slowly fell upon the figure before her; the double's skin chipped into charcoal, the whites of her eyes darkened into an ebony haze while her orbs burned into golden flames.

"You need to close the door."

With that hand that wasn't occupied with Carter's throat, she retrieved a sword, pulling the long black blade out of her chest. And Carter could only watch in horror as her demonic doppelgänger reared her arm back before firing it forward. A bloodcurdling scream fell from her lips, feeling the blade embed itself deep within her abdomen, her body slowly crumbling to the ground as the Demon Carter released her throat.

"Carter!"

A frightened scream escaped her lips, there was a rough shaking of her shoulders and her lids snapped open, completely oblivious to what had been happening while the demonic version of herself was destroying the little sanity she had left, until she was staring into the familiar brown eyes of Scott. He had a tight grip on her shoulders, worry evident on his features as he continued to shake his girlfriend back into reality.

"Carter," Scott called, grabbing her face in his hands so that she was looking at him. "Carter, can you hear me?"

"I can't let them in!" Carter shrieked, tears streaming down her cheeks as she glanced around in a frenzied manner. "I have to close the door. We can't let them in!"

→

Carter couldn't stop shaking.

Something was happening to her, and she didn't know what. Ever since she saw the demonic version of herself, she kept seeing hallucinations of people around her dying. In the middle of her fourth period, she burst into tears when she looked up from her textbook to see that every single person in the classroom had their throat slit from ear-to-ear. A thick pool of deep crimson surrounded her desk as she tried to shake herself out of the illusion.

To her left was Scott, the boy took his hand and placed it on Carter's knee, calming her down and making her body cease its shaking. And to her right was Stiles, and on the other side of the picnic table in the courtyard was Isaac, Lydia, and Allison.

After Stiles and Carter's episodes in Finstock's class, and Carter's traumatic experience in her fourth period, they decided that it was time they all tried to figure out what was happening to the four of them.

"Okay," Scott began, "so what happens to a person who has a near-death experience and comes out of it seeing things?"

"And is unable to tell what's real or not?" Stiles added, feeling the need to add in his own symptoms.

"And is being haunted by demonic visions of dead relatives?" Allison muttered, frowning as she thought back to the scene where she saw her aunt at the hospital with her throat slashed.

"And is seeing a satanic flaming-bird cutting out their own throat, being haunted by a demonic-version of oneself before being impaled with a sword, and seeing an entire classroom of students turn into bloody corpses?" Carter listed, keeping her eyes on the table as she twisted the ring on her finger - shakily listing all of the things that she had experienced.

The other three surrogate sacrifices were only experiencing one thing, but with Carter, every time it was something different.

Glancing up from the notebook he was writing in, Isaac cut in: "They're all locked up because they're insane."

"Can you at least try to be helpful?" Stiles snapped, annoyed at the constant negativity coming from the curly-haired werewolf. "Please?"

Isaac raised his eyebrows, "For half my childhood, I was locked in a freezer. So, being helpful is kind of a new thing for me."

Scott buried his face in his arms while Stiles rolled his eyes before he spoke: "Okay, are you still milking that?"

"Yeah, maybe I am still milking that."

"Hi," someone called out, causing all six teenagers turn their heads in confusion as who was intruding on their conversation. "Hi, sorry. I couldn't help overhearing what you guys were talking about. And I think I actually might know what you're talking about." Kira, the girl that had gotten embarrassed in history class, looked between the six teens before she continued: "There's a Tibetan word for it, it's called Bardo. It literally means 'in-between state'. The state between life and death."

"And what do they call you?" Lydia demanded.

"Kira," Carter broke, making everyone turn their attention over at her. "She's in our History class."

"So are you talking Bardo in Tibetan Buddhism or Indian?" Lydia asked, wanting to know if the girl actually knew what she was talking about.

Without asking, the girl slid into the spot beside Stiles, the three teens squishing together in order to make room for the girl to sit down.

"Either, I guess," Kira explained, Carter listened to her words intently. "But all the stuff you guys were just saying, all that happens in Bardo. There are different progressive states where you can have hallucinations. Some you see, some you just hear." That explained the vivid dreams and the taunting voices Carter had been hearing. "And you can be visited by peaceful and wrathful deities."

From across Scott, Isaac asked: "Wrathful deities? And - And what are those?"

"Like demons," Kira replied, a casual grin on her face.

"Demons," Carter mused. "Why not?"

"Hold on," Allison interjected, her attention being more focused on the earlier part of the conversation. "If there are different progressive states, then what's the last one?"

"Death," Kira informed, saying it as though it had been obvious. "You die."

Could nothing ever be normal in Beacon Hills?

→

"It sounds like your subconscious is trying to communicate with you." Deaton explained, making his way into the back room on the animal clinic, all three of the mentally unstable teenagers following behind.

"Well, how do I tell my subconscious to use a language that I actually know?" Stiles inquire, unable to translate the sign language he and Carter had saw earlier.

Turning toward the duo, Deaton asked: "Do either of you remember what the sign language looked like? The placement and movement of the hands?"

"You know sign language?" Scott asked, eyebrows raised.

"I know a little," Deaton then nodded toward Stiles and Carter. "Let me give it a shot."

Stiles raised his hands up, holding the forefinger on his left hand up before using his right index finger to circle around it, "Okay, the first movement was like this."

"That's when."

"And then there was this," Carter cut in, tapping her hands together, "twice."

"That's door."

"And this in between it," Stiles took his thumb and flicked it out from under his chin.

"That's it?" Deaton questioned, quirking up a brow.

"Yeah," Stiles whispered, Carter nodding her head in agreement.

"When is a door not a door?" Deaton translated.

Carter's jaw fell slack, "When is a door not a door? How is that supposed to help me stop seeing hallucinations of dead people?"

"When it's ajar," Scott mumbled.

"You're kidding me," Stiles muttered in disbelief. "A riddle? Our subconscious wants to tell us a riddle?"

Carter's eyes widened, softly breathing out: "I need to close the door."

Deaton looked toward the youngest Hale, "You've been hearing that in your sleep?"

"Not just in my sleep," Carter clarified. "In all of my hallucinations, someone or something has been screaming it at me - like my life depended on it."

"When the three of you went under the water - along with Carter, when you crossed from unconsciousness to a kind of super-consciousness, you essentially opened a door in your minds."

"So what does that mean?" Scott asked, his eyes widening as he stared at his boss. "The door's still open?"

"Ajar."

"A door into our minds?" Stiles muttered to himself.

"I did tell you it was risky," Deaton reminded them.

"What do we do about it?" Scott demanded, knowing that everything that's been happening to them was steadily getting worse.

Reluctantly, Deaton began: "Well, that's difficult to answer."

"No, wait a second, I know that look," Stiles interjected with dismay. "That's the: we-know-exactly-what's-wrong-with-you-but-we-have-no-idea-how-to-fix-it, look."

"One thing I do know is that having an opening like that into your mind, it's not good. You each need to close that door - and you need to do it as soon as possible."

And in that moment, the three of them realized that they were vulnerable to the darkest of creatures that lurked in the shadows.

After getting all of the information they could out of Deaton, they found themselves exiting the clinic wordlessly. They hadn't been able to bring themselves to converse, knowing that whatever was happening had been much worse than they had anticipated it was going to be.

Headlights suddenly shone upon them, the trio glancing up to see the Sheriff's patrol car pulling into the parking lot of the animal clinic. The teens made their way over, Sheriff Stilinski filing out of the vehicle and meeting his son and his friends halfway.

"Dad, what are you doing here?"

"I'm here because...I could use some help." Stilinski began, Carter glanced toward Scott and Stiles. Then he looked toward Scott and Carter, he clarified: "Actually, their help."

Slightly confused, Carter inquired: "Why us?"

"Because eight years ago, almost an entire family died in a car accident. One of the bodies, a young girl named Malia, was never found." Stilinski explained to them. "There's enough evidence to have me thinking that - that a werewolf could have caused the accident, and then dragged her body away. If you two could somehow get a lock on her scent, if y'all could somehow help me find her body, it might provide the missing clue."

"But what if it was a werewolf?" Stiles asked.

"Well, there's somebody out there who murdered an entire family - someone who still needs to be caught."

→

Carter's eyes frantically glanced around, the three of them creeping onto the back porch of the Tate household, stepping over a metal rat trap on the porch. Sheriff Stilinski was currently speaking with Mr. Tate, Malia's father, inside the home while trying to buy Scott and Carter enough time to get a lock on the girl's scent.

Stiles hesitantly reached his hand out to turn the doorknob, pushing it open only to have it creak, all three of them dramatically cringed at the sound. He then tried again, the sound becoming even louder which caused Carter to run her hands over her face while Scott looked pained. He quickly pushed it all the way, ushering Scott and Carter in before closing it.

Soon enough, the trio was off to work. Stiles was grabbing two stuffed animals off of the young girl's bed at a time, tossing them toward Scott and Carter, the werewolf and Were-Pheanix catching them with ease and then pressing their noses against them.

Carter took in a deep breath, feeling the fibers of the plush koala tickle her nose as a fetor smell invaded her nose. She immediately pulled her face away from the stuffed animal, "All I'm getting is some animal smell."

"What kind of animal?" Stiles questioned.

"Dog."

Both of the boys looked toward the girl who spoke, her dark eyes trained on the doorway where a large Rottweiler was positioned, grimy teeth bared with saliva bubbling out of its mouth. The animal let out a low growl, the two boys huddling around Carter - their eyes trained on the dog.

"Hi, puppy," Stiles began with wide eyes, before whispering toward to Scott and Carter. "Get rid of it."

"Us?"

"Yes," Stiles confirmed through gritted teeth, "Glow your eyes at it, something, be Alphas."

"We can't," Scott pointed out, knowing all too well that he and Carter almost lost control at the school. "We don't have control."

"Okay, buddy, you're going to have to try something."

Scott hesitantly held his palm out toward the dog, murmuring: "Nice doggy..."

The second that Scott leaned in, he went jumping back as the dog began to bark ferociously at the three teens, Carter's eyes widened even further. The dog continued to bark, its dark eyes locked on the teenagers while Carter glanced at the two boys nervously.

"Apollo!" a masculine voice shouted from the front of the house - Mr. Tate. "Apollo, shut up! Shut the hell up!"

And with that, the dog ceased its barking, wagging its little nub-of-a-tail before turning around and scampering down the hallway. Stiles shook his head in disbelief, opening a drawer and rummaging through it. He handed Scott a small children's book the girl must have read when she was younger, searching for something that might have a strong scent laced within the confines.

"Anything?"

Scott let out a defeated sigh, "All I'm getting is that dog."

Carter nodded in agreement, "Me too."

Stiles sighed, his eyes flickering onto a framed photograph of two young girls, the boy pulled his phone out before taking a quick photo of it. One of those two girls had been dragged away from the scene of the crash - and they were expected to find the body.

But they weren't sure if they were going to be able to.

→

Carter was lying in her bed, staring up at the ceiling as she absentmindedly tapped her fingers on her stomach. Her body was screaming at her to just shut her eyes and fall into the depths of the darkness, but she was afraid of what she was going to experience if she allowed herself to fall asleep.

Panic immediately settled in her chest when her bedroom door opened, she wasn't expecting anyone and she lived by herself so whoever it was knew that she lived there. But, of course, she was met with the faces of Stiles Stilinski and Scott McCall. She shot up into a sitting position, her dark eyebrows furrowed together in confusion.

"What's going on?" Carter asked, looking at them in question.

Stiles grinned while Scott explained: "Us three - we're going to go out and find a body. A dead body."

Carter soon found herself trekking through the Beacon Hills' Preserve, now completely dressed as sweat beaded along her forehead, feeling the fire inside her grow brighter as they trudged through the forest.

"You know, if my dad's right, that means there's another werewolf in town that we haven't met yet," Stiles announced, Carter had decided until now that she didn't even want to think about it. They already had enough on their plates with their psychological instability; they didn't need to be dealing with another werewolf or werewolf pack coming into Beacon Hills.

"I know," Scott agreed, glancing back and forth between the woods that lied in front of him and to the map on his phone that led to the scene of the car accident.

"If it turns out to be something like triplets that form into, like, a three-headed hound of hell, I'm seriously not up for that," Stiles continued, Carter rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, me either," Carter added,
"Especially if I can't even control my own transformation anymore - and on top of that, having intense waves of heat flood through my body every other second." She began fanning her face with her hands as more of the warmth spawned throughout her body.

Soon they arrived at a small drop-off that led down to a shallow stream, a coyote's howl pierced through the air. Stiles quickly jumped, grabbing onto both of the supernatural teens beside him, knowing that they had claws and fangs to protect him, but causing both of them to stumble and Scott's phone to go tumbling into the water. Carter and Scott shot a glare toward Stiles, the pale boy wearing a sheepish expression.

"Sorry, buddy," Stiles stated, both of them looking down toward the phone in the water. "I hate coyotes so much. They always sound like they're mauling some tiny, helpless little animal."

Deciding to ignore Stiles' comment; Scott hopped down off the small drop-off, landing in the shallow water. He held his hands out, assisting Carter as she safely made her way down, Stiles soon to follow. But unlike the other two, his descent was not nearly as graceful; his feet skidding down the rocks roughly before he clumsily landed on his feet.

Scott bent down, pulling his phone out of the water before wiping away to water with his sleeve. "It still works."

Instead of looking toward Scott's working phone, Stiles' eyes were focused on something in the distance. "Let me see the flashlight," He quickly snatched the object from Scott's grasp before he could protest, shining it on something a little ways ahead of them He took a step forward as he spoke: "I think we found it."

The two supernatural teenagers were following behind Stiles, the beam of light falling upon a flipped over vehicle with ivy plants weaving in and out of the car, and all along the sides of it.

"Uh - why wouldn't they move it?" Scott probed, wondering why they would keep an overturned car out in the middle of the Preserve for all these years. "Isn't it evidence?"

"Probably too much of a pain in the ass to tow out," Stiles pondered, taking a step forward to shine the light on the metal of the car before moving closer. "Look at this." The three of them crouched down, noticing the long claws marks running along the metal. "See those?"

Carter extended her hand; fingers trailing along the marks like a hand would - proving to them that the normal paws of an animal couldn't have created those marks.

"Animal claws would be closer together, right?" Stiles inquired, "A lot closer."

"Then it was a werewolf," Carter pointed out, her eyes not wandering from the deep marks in the metal.

"So, my dad was right," Stiles mumbled, bending down and shining the light on the inside of the vehicle. Carter and Scott crouched down as well, all three peering into the trashed vehicle.

"What is that?" Scott wondered, pointing to something that had caught his eyes in question.

Stiles reached out for it, grabbing a small plastic hand and yanking it out of the car. The teens backed away from it, gazing upon the baby doll. Carter's heart lurched painfully in her chest, knowing that because of an out of control werewolf, a mother and two little girls were torn to shreds and ripped away from the world.

"I'm hungry."

Stiles let out a scream, tossing the doll as him and Scott jumped back. Carter watched the scaredy-cats in disbelief, rolling her eyes at the two of them.

"Come on, guys, it's just a baby doll," Carter scolded them, running an exasperated hand through her hair while the others regained their composure.

From his spot on the leave-strewn ground, Stiles breathed out: "I think I just had a minor heart attack."

Carter let out a wistful laugh, Scott placing his hand over his chest as he got over the initial shock of the baby doll, but that's when a low rumbling growl sounded in the distance, the creature being concealed within the trees. Carter and Scott both looked over, Carter taking immediate notice of the cold steel blue eyes glowing in the darkness.

"Hey, Stiles," Scott called out, pulling Stiles toward him and carter so he could get a glimpse of what they were seeing. "Please tell me you see that."

Carter nodded, "I do."

"I see it," Stiles announced.

And with that, Scott and Carter took off toward the creature, Stiles' eyes widened. They couldn't control their shift, much less go after the unknown werewolf.

"Wait, hey, Scott!" Stiles shouted, taking a step forward. "Carter, wait! Scott!"

But they were already gone, out of sight.

Scott and Carter's panting breaths could be heard as they ran full speed behind the creature, its tail whooshing back and forth as it sprinted ahead of them. Whatever the creature had been, it was fast. The two wolves could feel their eyes glowing; one pair searing a bright crimson while the other was blazed with a fiery scarlet-orange.

The duo pushed themselves harder, urging their bodies to move faster as they dodged fallen trees and leapt over large roots. They soon approached a wide canyon, the two jumped right across the river below before landing on all fours on the other side.

When Carter's head lift up, she was face-to-face with a dirty-blonde coyote. Its lips pulled back over its teeth into a snarl as it released a growl, large ears pulling back against its head. Carter gritted her teeth, flashing her blazing eyes at the creature in front of her.

The coyote's face instantly relaxed, its own eyes flashing a cold steel blue - the color only a werewolf's eyes could portray.

"Malia?"

Suddenly, a shrill scream ripped Carter's throat raw, electricity coursed through her. Her vision instantly went grainy as waves of electricity pulsed through her body. She quickly dropped to the ground completely, back arching while her body convulsed as screams of agony ripped their way out of her throat, blood streaming out of her nose as she experienced someone being electrocuted.

"Carter?" Scott asked in panic, bending down beside her, grabbing her arms in his hands as he tried to keep her still. "Carter, who's hurt?"

"Derek."