Playlist:

Shadows ~ Westlife

Elements ~ Lindsey Stirling

"They're coming back so we don't have much time to talk," Alan said as he quickly reached for alcohol and bandages for Scott's side.

"What is that?" Scott asked as Alan wet a gauze.

"Rubbing alcohol. You don't want it to get infected, do you?" I chuckled as Scott shook his head. "It'll heal the same, just not as quickly. Because of Derek."

"Okay, how do you know all this? Actually, how do you know anything?" He pointed at me. "I know she knows because of Laura and Derek, but how do you know about this?"

"It's a long story," Alan simply said as I placed the bandage and Alan taped it on. "What I can tell you is that I know about your kind. Your kind," He ripped off a piece of tape with his teeth. "I can help," He applied the tape and I made sure the bandage was going to stay on. Alan turned back towards Bennett. "This...."

I straightened and pulled Scott's shirt back down.

"This is something different."

"Well, do you know what did it?"

"Neither one of us knows," I answered.

"But the Argents will," Alan said. "And this is the crucial part. They'll have some kind of record or book. It'll have descriptions, histories, notations of all the things they've discovered."

Scott's jaw almost hit the floor. "All... all the things? How many different things are there?"

"Too many," I responded. We heard a car pull up and a door shut. "You need to hide. Now."

Scott darted into the currently empty dog room as the front door opened and Alan and I went back to Bennett's body. He started examining one of the claw marks as Chris and several Hunters entered the exam room.

"I'm starting to think I need to buy a more prominent 'closed' sign," Alan remarked.

Chris rolled his eyes and moved out of the doorway and Gerard walked into the room.

"Hello, Alan."

Alan took a step back, glancing between me, Chris, and Gerard. He was looking very worried, much like I had been when Gerard basically kidnapped and dragged me here.

"It's been a while."

"For good reason," I muttered under my breath. Luckily, no one heard me.

"The last I heard, you had retired," Gerard said.

"Last I heard, you followed a code of conduct," Alan shot back.

I scoffed and Gerard gave me a look.

"If you hadn't noticed and if Trish hadn't told you already, this body is one of ours," Chris said.

"I did," Alan said. "I already knew Trish was well acquainted with the deceased."

"More than well acquainted with him," Gerard said.

"How about you keep your nose out of my private life," I quipped.

Gerard only smiled.

"We also noticed the gunpowder residue on his fingertips." I knew Alan was just trying to defuse the situation. "So don't assume either one of us will be swayed by your philosophy just 'cause we'll answer a few questions."

"They know I won't," I added, crossing my arms. I still hated the Argents, even though I now knew only one of them had carried out the arson. I wasn't naïve enough to not think that the idea wasn't influenced or instigated.

"He was only 24," Chris said. He looked at me. "The same age as you, Trish."

I looked at Bennett. He was right. We were both 24, graduating in the same class. But I didn't kill.

"Killers come in all ages," Alan responded, echoing my thoughts and looking at Gerard as he said it. He knew as well as I did his reputation. And I'd told him about the Hunter's recent incident with the innocent Omega. "And last I checked, Trish isn't one."

"All ages, sizes, shapes." Gerard looked at me as he said it. I glared at him. At least I wasn't teaching Anna to hate someone for being a werewolf. "It's the last one that concerns us."

"How about you tell us what you found?" Chris said, sensing the growing tension between his father and I.

Alan moved to Bennett's head. "See this cut?" he asked, turning the head to where they could see the nick I'd found. Gerard put on a pair of glasses and examined it. "Precise. Almost surgical. But this isn't the wound that killed him. This had a more interesting purpose."

"Relating to the spine?" Gerard asked.

"Good guess," I said, sarcastically.

"Whatever made this cut was laced with a paralytic toxin potent enough to disable all motor functions."

I motioned to the slashes on Bennett's chest. "These are what killed Bennett. Notice the patterns on each side?"

"Five, for each finger," Chris said.

"Each claw," Gerard corrected.

"As you can see," Alan took up the explanation. "It dug in," He motioned with his hands as he explained how Bennett died. "Slashed upward, eviscerating the lungs and slicing through the bone of the rib cage with ease."

"Bennett didn't have a chance with the toxin in his system," I added.

"Have either one of you seen anything like this before?" Chris asked.

I shook my head. "Never."

"No," Alan answered.

"Any idea what killed him?" the Hunter asked.

"No, but I can tell you it's fast, remarkably strong, and has the capacity to render its victims essentially helpless within seconds," Alan answered.

"If you're saying we should be cautious, we get it."

"I'm saying you should be afraid. Be very afraid."

"Trish?"

"I'm going to agree with Alan. You should be terrified of it. In the natural world, predators with paralytic toxins use them to catch and eat their prey." I motioned to Bennett. "He obviously wasn't eaten."

"That means whatever killed him only wanted to kill him," Alan said. "In fact, killing may be its only purpose."

"Anyone can be its next victim. Hunter, supernatural, or innocent bystander. No one is safe."

~~~

Alan gave me a ride home, since the Hunters had dragged me to the clinic to begin with.

"Are you alright?" he asked. "I know some old wounds were opened tonight."

"I'll... I'll be fine. I think," I sighed. "I guess I always expected Bennett to be killed by something he hunted, but I never expected it to be like that."

"Did you always know he was a Hunter?"

"I didn't find out until after we'd broken up and I was dating Josh."

Oh, I promised to tell you the story about Josh Hale. I was two years older than him. He was the same age as Derek, born only a couple months apart. Josh was the son of Talia's oldest brother. I was 13 and he was 11. I was waiting for Laura in the living room when Josh's older sister dared him to kiss me, knowing he had a crush on me. I knew he had a crush on me. Hell, I think the whole family knew he had a crush on me. Then he kissed me. I hadn't expected his eyes to suddenly start glowing yellow and fangs to come out. I had discovered that I had the gift, or curse, of magic by that time, so I already knew that the world wasn't as it seemed. Seeing Josh wolf out, a younger, human cousin screamed for Talia, which brought in Talia, Peter, and Josh's father, James. Peter had started laughing at the fact I was just staring at Josh as he struggled to control his shift like it wasn't a big deal. James immediately took him away all while Josh kept muttering "Alpha. Beta. Omega." I got the crash course on the supernatural world and two years later I started dating Josh. Three years after that, Josh and most of the Hales were dead and I was left asking why.

Alan brought me back to the present. "I'm sorry, Trish. I didn't mean to open up that wound."

Alan and Mom had been the only ones able to comfort me, knowing the truth. The fire had left a wound in Alan as well. It was also why I was still single, six years later.

"I don't think it'll ever heal."

"I believe it'll heal eventually. But the scars left over never will."

I nodded and looked out the window. Eleven people had been trapped inside, but I'd gotten ahold of the incident report. Eight people had died. With Peter being the only official survivor, it left two unaccounted for. I'd hoped for years that Josh would show back up but as the years passed, that hope waned. I think I was finally beginning to accept that he was gone.

~~~

"You're going to do what?" I asked.

"Steal the principal's keys and search his office for a bestiary," my sister answered, completely straight-faced.

I rubbed my temples. "Okay, you want to steal the keys of Gerard Argent, who also happens to be your principal, so you can search his office for an encyclopedia of mythical creatures so we can find out what the hell we're dealing with?"

"Yep, pretty much."

I sighed. "Anna..."

"Stiles is going to be the one that does it anyway. Him and Scott won't let me help. They said I have to help Allison keep an eye on Gerard."

"Good, because I don't want you to get suspended or worst."

"Worst?"

"Gerard's well aware that I'm a Druid, but he doesn't know about my abilities or that I'm Derek's Emissary. He'll assume you're a Druid as well because you're my sister."

"Wait, you're Derek's Emissary?" She paused. "What's an Emissary?"

"A Druid that acts as pack adviser. And yes, I'm his Emissary. Although I'm pretty sure he doesn't listen to my advice."

Anna giggled as we arrived at the school and went to the lacrosse field. Gerard and Allison were already there, as were Stilinski and Melissa.

"This should be an interesting game," I said as we sat behind Melissa and Stilinski. We could see Gerard and Allison from where we sat.

~~~

Number 9 went flying through the air, landing hard on his back.

"Holy crap!" Stilinski cried.

"Come on! Is that thing even a teenager!?" I heard Coach yell. "I wanna see a birth certificate!"

Gerard stood and took off his coat, putting it on Allison. Smart girl, the old "I'm cold even though I'm already wearing a jacket" trick. I noticed that Erica was sitting behind them. Talk about irony. The big kid on the other team, number 42, slammed into two more Cyclone players. Anna brought my attention back to Allison and her grandfather. Stiles passed by them and then started looking around before disappearing from view.

"I guess he's got the keys," I whispered.

"Yep."

The EMTs took a Beacon Hills player off the field and a player with a camera bag holding a camera stopped next to Melissa.

"He belong to you?" he asked.

"No, mine is still on the field. While I'm here, really wishing that he would have stuck with tennis," Melissa looked at the kid. "Are you the yearbook photographer?"

"No, I just take pictures."

"Just lacrosse or other things?"

"Anything that catches my eye." That didn't sound stalkerish at all.

"You're still short one player, Coach!" The referee called as Coach sent number 6 back onto the field.

"Where's Stilinski?"

"Uh oh," Anna muttered.

"Where's Stilinski!?" Coach started to scan the crowd. "You!" He pointed to the kid sitting next to Erica. "You! You play lacrosse?"

He looked at Erica before starting to stand. Erica grabbed his arm and said something to him. He made a comment back before standing and taking off his jacket.

"Yeah. Oh, ho, ho, ho! We got ourselves a player!"

The kid was put into gear and put on the field. Number 42 charged at the new player. He braced himself and the two collided. The other player flew backward, the Beacon Hills kid didn't move an inch. While the kid was a good size, 42 was still bigger than him.

I snorted. "I'm gonna kill him."

"Who?"

"Derek."

"Why?"

I just gave her a look.

"Oh!"

Of course, Derek didn't take my advice. Go figure. I was sure he was going to wish he had come the full moon. The crowd was going wild.

"The bigger they are, the bigger they are!" Coach yelled. Okay, that made no sense. But right now, I was more focused on the new werewolf on the field.

"Where's Erica?" Anna suddenly asked.

I looked over to where she and the other wolf had been sitting. Sure enough, Erica was missing. But I couldn't worry about her right now. Scott ran up to his fellow werewolf and conversed for a minute. The whistle blew and the kid darted past Scott. Scott gave chase.

"Give it to McCall!" Coach shouted. "Give it to McCall!" The crowd was cheering Scott on. Scott made the goal, then was blindsided by 42. Scott landed hard and I was pretty sure something broke. Scott didn't immediately get back up.

"Oh, God!" I took off, the instinct to protect the pack and its secret strong. Melissa was a few steps behind me. I reached him the same time as Allison. He was hurt bad.

"It's fine. I'm healing. It's okay."

"Well you need to heal faster," I whispered, examining his leg, which was broken. He looked at Allison.

"The book?"

"It's not in his office. It's gotta be at the house."

I straightened his leg out so the bone could set quicker.

"Oh my, God, Scott. Your leg is broken."

"Not for long." He sat up and I helped him to his feet.

Coach pushed his way through the crowd. "Don't move!"

"Scott!" Melissa was right behind him.

"He's fine," I said.

"It's okay. It's okay," Scott confirmed, standing and putting weight on the formerly broken leg. "I'm fine," he chuckled. "I'm fine."

"I could have sworn I literally heard bone-breaking from where I sat." Melissa looked at me.

"Heard it?" Coach asked. "I felt it."

"I thought I did, too. But his leg's fine. No broken bones here."

Gerard was giving me an odd look like he could see right through my lie.

"Seriously, guys. I'm fine."

Allison joined her grandfather. "We should go."

"Hold on. I wanna ask him one more thing." I'm pretty sure my heart was going to beat out of my chest. "Would you like to join us for dinner?" Okay, scratch that. I was going to have a major heart attack.

"Uh..."

"Go ahead, Scott," Melissa said. "I can get a ride to work from Trish. Just remember to pick me up."

"Um, okay, Mom."

~~~

I dropped Melissa off at work and Anna and I headed home.

"Stiles isn't answering his phone," she said as we walked into the house. I tried Derek and it went straight to his voicemail.

"That's weird," I said. "Derek always answers his phone."

"Why are you calling Derek?"

"Well, for starters, making sure his Beta got home alright." I suddenly frowned. Something didn't feel right.

"Trish?"

"I... I just got this weird feeling. I can't explain it."

"What kind of feeling?"

"A bad one in the pit of my stomach. I had this same feeling right before we found out Peter was the Alpha and he kicked mine and Derek's asses. And right before Mom told us..." Something in my gut told me I needed to go back to the school. "Anna, stay here, I'm going back to the school."

"But..."

"Don't but me in this, Anna!"

"Fine."

I ran out to the Renegade and took off.

~~~

"Stiles!" The principal's office door was wide open, the keys still in the lock. "Stiles, where the hell are you?" I heard a screech. "What the hell was that?" I stepped into the hall and listened.

"No!" Derek's shout echoed. And there was only one place that echoed like that.

I ran towards the pools and sure enough, I heard splashing. What the hell were Derek and Stiles doing in the pool?

"Stiles!"

I heard another screech. I walked into the area where the pools were and saw no one.  A few seconds later, Stiles popped out of the water with Derek. But something wasn't right. I knew for a fact that Derek was an excellent swimmer. It made no sense for... I heard a hiss. What the hell was that?

"Tell me you got him!" Derek gasped.

My eyes searched the area but I couldn't see what was making the hissing noise. I saw Erica and darted over to her. She was unconscious but alive.

"Trish! Get outta here!" Derek called. "Now!" I heard the hiss behind me.

"Look out!" Stiles cried.

I spun around, instinctively sending a force blast out of my hand. This lizard-like thing flew backward and hit the wall. "What the hell is that and why are you two in the pool?"

"It can't swim!"

"It can't swim or is it afraid of the water?"

The lizard screeched as I backed up towards the space between the pool Derek and Stiles were in and another pool. It was watching me intently, its tail flicking back and forth. I held my hand over the water and made a spinning motion, bringing some water out of the pool. If it was afraid of the water, I was going to trap it. Note to self: Start carrying Mountain Ash. The lizard started to charge at me and I brought up a wall of water between me and it. It stopped in its tracks and began to back up. I wasn't exactly sure how long I was going to be able to hold the water barrier up, but I was sure hoping it would be long enough for Derek and Stiles to get out of the pool.

"Get out of the pool." I took a few steps forward, trapping it against the wall. It screeched at me.

"Easier said than done," Stiles said.

"What?" I looked over my shoulder. Derek wasn't moving his body at all. I realized then why Stiles was holding him up. "You let it nick you!?" Derek was paralyzed from the neck down.

"Well, not on purpose!"

My eyes changed color as I drew more of my magic. "Stiles! Get him out of the pool and get the hell out of here!"

"How long can you hold that?"

"I don't know." The lizard batted at the water, screeching and hissing. I heard splashing behind me. I was using too much magic. I took a step back. "I can't hold it much longer!" The barrier was weakening.

I couldn't hold it anymore without passing out. It, and I, collapsed. I knew it was going to come after me now. A second later, I heard a long and loud roar. I looked over my shoulder and saw Scott, fully transformed, on one of the diving boards. Derek and Stiles were on the floor behind him. The lizard decided that Scott was the bigger threat and went after him. I scrambled towards Derek and Stiles as the two creatures roared at one another. The paralysis seemed to be beginning to wear off as Derek moved his arm. I heard a crash and looked up to see the lizard had thrown Scott against a mirror. It started to move towards Scott and the teen wolf grabbed a shard of the broken mirror. Derek could now move his upper body and dragged himself to the diving board.

Stiles sat up. "Trish, do something," he said.

"I can't," I said breathlessly.

The lizard caught sight of its reflection and stopped, turning its head from side to side. Scott looked at the shard, puzzled. The lizard then screeched, jumped over Scott onto the wall, climbed across the ceiling, and jumped through the skylight above the pools. Scott looked over at us. Derek was bracing himself on the diving board. All three of us were panting, they from nearly drowning, me from the use of my magic. Scott gave a breath of relief and dropped the shard. He returned to his human form as Stiles stood.

"How much feeling do you have?" I asked Derek as Scott approached us.

"I'll have it all back in a couple minutes."

I nodded.

"You guys okay?" Scott asked.

I nodded again. "We are now."

"We figured out where the bestiary is," Scott said. "It's on a flash drive on his keys."

"Go get the flash drive. Start trying to figure out what it is." I helped Derek to his feet as the boys left.

"What was that?" Derek asked.

"A lizard that seems to be afraid of water and is confused by its reflection," I responded.

"You know that's not what I'm talking about."

I sighed. "You've known I have magic."

"Yes, I did. But I have never seen you do anything like that. And when did your eyes start changing color?"

"We should go wake your Beta up from her nap."

"Trish."

I turned back to him. I had heard that tone many, many times. But never from Derek.

"You just sounded exactly like Talia." I saw the pain in his eyes at the mention of his mother. "My eyes started turning several years ago. I've grown stronger since the fire." I sighed. "It's because of my protective instinct." Because I'm an Eamonn. I was keeping it from my Alpha as much as I was keeping it from everyone else. It was to protect them as much as it was to protect me from Hunters. Erica was now sitting up, rubbing her head.

"Have a nice nap?" Derek asked. She looked up at him and he crouched down next to her. "You okay?"

"Yeah."

He stood and offered a hand towards her. She took it and he helped her to her feet. We started to leave when Derek stopped at the shards of mirror, picking up one that had a clear liquid on it.

"I know what it is."

~~~

"Is that even a language?" Stiles was asking as we approached them. He and Scott had a laptop on the hood of Melissa's car.

"How are we supposed to figure out what this thing is?"

"It's called the Kanima," Derek informed them. For a Druid, I wasn't very well versed in all the supernatural creatures out there. I knew about werewolves and other canine shape-shifters, but Kanimas were new to me.

"You knew the whole time." Stiles didn't sound very pleased.

"No. Only when it was confused by its own reflection."

"It doesn't know what it is," Scott said.

"Or who."

"What else do you know?" Stiles asked.

"Just stories. Rumors."

"But it's like us?" Scott asked.

"On the Argents' radar? Yes," I quipped.

Derek gave me a look. "It's a shape-shifter, yes. But it's... it's not right. It like a...." Derek tried to think of something to describe the Kanima.

"An abomination," Stiles finished.

Derek looked at him and then nodded. He then looked at Erica and the two turned to leave.

"Derek." The Alpha turned back to Scott. "We need to work together on this. Maybe even tell the Argents."

"You trust them?" Derek asked.

"Scott, we've already been over this." I didn't want to admit that Scott had a point. The Argents had the experience and know-how to stop the Kanima, even if their methods might be a bit on the lethal side.

"Nobody trusts anyone!" Scott cried. "That's the problem. While we're here arguing about who's on what side, there's something scarier, stronger, and faster than any of us and it's killing people! And we still don't know anything about it!" There he went again. Sounding like an Alpha.

I looked at Derek. I knew that look. That anger he always had now was beginning to show.

"I know one thing. When I find it." He turned and started to walk away. "I'm gonna kill it."

I looked at Scott before I followed Derek. "Derek."

He kept walking towards his Camaro.

"Derek!" I put my hand on his door and he just looked at me. "Scott has a point."

"You want to trust the Argents, too?"

"I'll never trust the Argents. You asked me to be your Emissary. I'm advising you now. You need to trust Scott. We need to work together to stop the Kanima. 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend'"

"You're going to quote ancient proverbs to me?"

"You obviously need to hear it. We can try this on our own, but if we can't stop the Kanima, as much as I hate to say it, we may have no choice but to work with someone with a common enemy. Just think about it, Derek. Actually think about it before you let your emotions get yourself or your pack killed by this thing. And give us time to actually figure out its weaknesses."

Derek took me by my arms and moved me to the side. "I will kill it. And I will find out who it is."

Derek squealed the tires as he drove off.