Playlist:

Before I'm Dead ~ Kidney Thieves

Bad Blood ~ Bastille

TRISH

"Now's not exactly the time to say it," I said. "But I told you so."

Derek took off.

"Derek!"

"Allison, take Lydia home," Scott said.

I tossed Anna the keys, noticing that Stiles' Jeep and Derek's Camaro were the only cars here. "Anna, take them home then go home."

Scott darted towards Stiles' Jeep.

"Trish..."

"Go, Anna!" I climbed into the back seat. "Follow him!"

Scott stuck his head out the window and we followed his directions. Derek chased Jackson downtown to the industrial district.

"He's going to freaking get himself killed going off by himself like that!"

"He's going to kill Jackson, isn't he?" Scott asked.

"If he can run him down and get close to him, yes."

"We have to stop him."

"Why?" Stiles asked.

"Because Jackson doesn't know he's the Kanima, Stiles," I said.

"I told you it wasn't Lydia."

"Shut up and drive."

Stiles slammed on his breaks and I saw the fence and the spike strip. Scott darted out of the Jeep. "What do we do now?"

Scott was over the fence before Stiles finished the question.

"Stay in the Jeep," I said.

I jumped out of the Jeep and launched at the fence, quickly climbing over it. I don't have the werewolf agility, so my climb and descent were slower. I heard growls and hisses and followed the sound. Then I heard gunshots. Sounded like the Argents arrived. I pushed myself to run faster and arrived on the scene as the Kanima rose behind Chris. And for a split second, I wondered how the hell I got there before Scott.

"Argent!" I screamed.

He spun around and held his gun at Jackson and pulled the trigger. All I heard was a click. He quickly dropped the clip from the gun and reached for another. Jackson jumped up and kicked him in the chest, sending him against a support beam. He went after Chris and I sent a force blast at the Kanima, planting myself between the two. And I may have just made a huge freaking mistake by doing that in front of an Argent. Chris was gasping for breath.

"You okay?" I asked backing towards him.

I couldn't see the Kanima because of the headlights of Chris' car but I could hear it hissing. I looked down at Chris and he nodded. I heard a car door and looked up. Gerard blocked the light of one headlight and I saw Jackson approach him, crawling on all fours before standing. Gerard had no fear of it. A minute later, Scott slammed into Jackson and the Kanima took off. Scott turned and looked at Gerard for several minutes before he took off after him.

"Shit," I whispered.

"Go help him," Chris said. "I'll be fine."

"You sure?"

He nodded and I took off before Gerard came over here.

~~~

I lost both the Kanima and Scott around the downtown clubs, a very colorful string of language coming out of my mouth. Jackson and Scott, and Derek for that matter, could be anywhere. I felt something grab my shoulder and I spun around to slug the offender.

Derek grabbed my fist. "It's just me. I'm really not in the mood for you to punch me in the face again."

Remember me telling you he scared the crap out of me by creeping on me? Yeah, I punched him in the face for that. Laura thought it was hilarious. I saw that Derek was completely wolfed out.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"Tracking," he answered.

"You have a lock on his scent?"

"He doesn't have one, but I have a lock on Scott's. Come on."

He grabbed my arm.

"If you're going to drag me around, retract the claws first."

Derek let go. We both knew that if the scratch of an Alpha was deep enough, I'd turn. And I didn't exactly want to be a werewolf. Actually, I didn't want to be one at all. I was technically a supernatural already, so I wasn't exactly sure I could turn. Derek led the way to the side door of a club and he opened it.

"Oh look, someone with a supernatural grip has already been here," I said, noticing the handle had been ripped off. "Don't you think you should unwolfify first?"

Derek was probably ignoring my sarcasm as he disappeared into the club. The dance floor was full of dancers in various stages of undress. I really felt like I was standing out and I was pretty sure I was probably the only straight woman here. Scott was slowly making his way across the dance floor, focused on something on the ceiling. I looked up and saw Jackson creeping across the ceiling.

"Derek."

He turned and followed my gaze. Then he made his way onto the dance floor.

"Derek!" I whisper yelled.

He was still wolfed out, his eyes looking brighter in the darkness of the club.

"Shit!"

The fog machine turned on, hiding Jackson. I couldn't let the boys do this on their own, so I started pushing my way through the crowd. A good majority of them were probably drunk, which meant I might be able to get away with using my magic around them. I couldn't see Jackson, Derek, or Scott since the fog machine started pouring into the crowd, and with the strobe lights going as well, it was really hard to see anything. My eyes changed color and I was able to see clearer, but not enough to find the Kanima. Until I saw the first body fall.

"There you are." I headed towards where the bodies were falling. Then I saw Jackson leaning over one of the fallen dancers.

"Jackson!" Scott cried. And then Derek was there. "No, don't!"

Derek growled and slashed.

"No!"

The Kanima went down. And then the screaming started. I had to get Derek out there and I shoved on his chest.

"Go!"

He snarled.

"Shut up and get out of here before the Argents show up!"

"Jackson," Derek said.

I turned and saw that Jackson was gone.

"I'll find him," Scott said before taking off.

I grabbed Derek's hand. "Dewolf and come on!"

~~~

Derek's Camaro pulled up as the sirens wailed.

"Did you catch him?" the Beta asked.

"Yes, but he's not dead. Get in the back."

The Beta did as he was told and Derek got into the driver's seat and I got into the passenger side.

"What now?" I asked as Derek sped off.

"We need a better plan."

"We need something that'll prevent us from being paralyzed," the Beta said from the backseat.

I turned to him. "What is your name?"

"Boyd."

"Nice to finally get to meet you." I turned back to Derek. "I'll look in my stash and see what I have. But I can't guarantee that I'll have anything to protect from a paralytic toxin that isn't toxic to you guys as well."

"It'll be better than nothing."

"I'll look through it when you get me home."

~~~

I waited until Anna went to school, getting a ride from Allison, before I went into the basement and opened the door into the hidden room. Since two of the walls were full of jars of herbs, it was going to take me a while to go through and see if I had anything that wouldn't kill the werewolves. I had a lot of herbs that were toxic to them and some that wouldn't work at all. I actually never realized that I had so many jars of Mountain Ash. Did we really need this many? We only had a few werewolves in this town. And a Kanima. It wasn't like we were overrun with supernatural creatures. Then I stopped. Unless Mom saw something and gathered all the Mountain Ash she could in preparation. After hours of combing through the jars, I found nothing that could combat Kanima venom. I sighed and stood on my toes, reaching for an old book that had every herb known to my family. They had carefully written down everything, so I hoped there was something that could prevent a poisoning somewhere out there. As I pulled it out, I bumped the top of the bookshelf. It came apart and another book fell. I turned my head from the dust and wood and hopped out of the way to avoid the falling book. Why was there a book hidden inside the bookshelf? I set the herb book on the bed and picked up the mysterious book. I'd never seen it before. I dusted it off and read "Brúdlann" on the front. Puzzled, I opened the book. On the first page it read: "Tá cumhacht Eolais. Is mór an chumhacht a thagann le freagracht i bhfad. Úsáid sé críonna." Beneath that, written in English: "Knowledge is power. It is a power that comes with much responsibility. Use it wisely." I knew my mother's handwriting. I turned the page and found a note. I set the book down and opened it.

My dearest Trish,

If you are reading this, then I have passed on. It also means that you have discovered this book. I know you are wondering why it was hidden. The Argents and the Hales are not the only ones with records of the creatures of the world. I saw a time when you would need this. I have painstakingly translated the entries. I have seen many things in my time and I see a time when your powers will be greatly needed. Keep those you love close. I know you keep your abilities and what you are a closely guarded secret, but a day will come when those abilities will be the difference between life and death. One day, you will be all that stands between everything you love and death. Do not let grief and anger consume you in the future, nor let it take your life. I love you, my daughter, my legacy.

                                                                                                                                    Elizabeth

I looked at the book. We had a bestiary? I set the note carefully back into the book. We had a bestiary that was in English? My phone started ringing and I saw that it was Allison.

"Yes?"

Can you meet us at the overlook in the Preserve?

"What did you do now?"

Just meet us there.

I knew the book would be fine where it was as myself and werewolves were the only things that could access the room, but I slid our bestiary back onto the shelf, leaving the herb book where it was and left the room.

~~~

"A prison transport van?" I asked when I met Allison, Stiles, Scott, and Anna in the Preserve. "Whose bright idea was this?"

Scott pointed at Stiles.

"Go figure." I paused. "Why do we have a prison transport van here?"

"We put Jackson in it...," Stiles said.

"You what!? What the hell is wrong with you!? Were all four of you in on this?"

"Just us," Scott said motioning to himself and Stiles. "Allison and Anna knew about it, but they weren't involved."

I rubbed the bridge of my nose. "What explanation did you give Jackson?"

"I explained to him that he was the Kanima and killing people. He doesn't remember being the Kanima and he actually thinks I'm an idiot," Stiles said.

"I think you're an idiot. I take it he didn't believe you." I said.

Stiles shook his head.

"If Jackson doesn't remember being the Kanima," Scott said. "He's definitely not going to remember stealing Danny's tablet."

"Why would Jackson steal his best friend's tablet?" I asked.

"Jackson took a video of himself on his first full moon. Danny was restoring it because it was missing two hours of footage," Anna explained.

"Why would he steal the thing if he doesn't even know what's on it?" Stiles asked.

"What if someone else took it?" Allison asked.

"Then somebody else knows what he is," I said.

"Then somebody else is protecting him," Scott said.

"Like the bestiary says 'The Kanima seeks a friend', right?" Allison said.

"You found a translator?"

"Sorta," Anna said. "Ms. Morrell."

"Oh." I didn't know Marian could read archaic Latin.

"Okay, hold on," Stiles said. "So somebody watches Jackson make a video of himself turning into the Kanima and then just erases part of it so he wouldn't know? I mean who would do that?"

"Somebody who wanted to protect him?"

"There's something else. You said the only thing you found online about the Kanima is that it goes after murderers. What if that's actually true?" Scott said.

"Well, no, it can't be. Tried to kill all of us, remember? I don't know about you four, but I haven't murdered anybody lately," Stiles countered.

"No it didn't," Anna said. "That first night all it did was hiss at us."

"Anna's right. I don't think it's actually trying to kill us. It went right by Allison, Anna, and I the first time we were at Isaac's," Scott added.

"It just hissed and ran off," Allison confirmed.

"It didn't kill you at the mechanic's garage."

"Well, yeah, but it tried to kill me, Derek, and Trish in the pool."

"Did it?"

"It would've. It was waiting for us to come out."

"It came after me before I used the water to make it back off," I offered.

"What if it was trying to keep you two in?" Scott turned to me. "What if it was trying to make you go in?"

"Why do I feel so violated all of a sudden?" Stiles asked.

"Because there is something else going on. We just don't know what it is. We don't know anything about what's going on with Jackson or why someone's protecting him."

"'Know thy enemy'" Allison suddenly said.

I nodded. It was something we really needed to do. The other three gave her an odd look.

"Just something my grandfather said."

"Alright, I got it," Stiles said. "Kill Jackson. Problem solved."

All four of us looked at him. Stiles threw his arms out in a "what?" gesture.

"We're not killing Jackson," I said.

"He risked his life for us," Scott reminded Stiles. "Against Peter, you remember that?"

Anna gave him an odd look.

Oh, crap. I hadn't told her the details of that night, although I had told her that her friends had been there.

"Yes, but what did we just find out? He got the bite from Derek."

"Then it should be Derek's problem," Anna said.

"If Derek had his way, Jackson would be dead," I countered.

"He already tried that, remember," Scott said.

"This is true."

"My point is it's funny how he got exactly what he wanted by supposedly risking his life for us," Stiles said.

"Yeah, but it doesn't mean that he's not worth saving."

I looked at Scott. That suspicion I was starting to have about him was becoming stronger. First, with what Derek said to him last night, now with Jackson.

"It's always something with him, though," Stiles quipped.

"He doesn't know what he's doing."

"So what?'

"So, I didn't either."

Stiles snorted.

Scott turned to Allison. "You remember when I almost killed you and Jackson?"

Allison nodded. That had been the night that Scott had escaped from Stiles and Anna and I had recruited Derek to find him. He'd kept Scott from killing Allison and Jackson and had taken him home after he helped him regain control.

"I had someone to stop me. He has nobody."

"That's his own fault."

"Doesn't matter. If we can save him, we should try."

"I'm with Scott on this," I said. "If he can be saved, if we can somehow find out why he's a Kanima and not a wolf and help him become a wolf, we should. I just found our family's bestiary. I'm going to look through it and see if our family has it in our bestiary." I looked at my watch. "Unfortunately, I work the late shift tonight, but I will look after work."

~~~

I had just enough time to find the entry and take photos of the pages with my phone. I had read the pages during my break. I found that the Kanima wasn't seeking a friend like Marian had translated for Allison, but a master. Which meant someone was controlling Jackson, not protecting him. The question was who? It had been a long night and Melissa and I were ending our shift. Her phone rang just as we were leaving.

"Hello?" It was late so I wasn't going to text Anna about what I found but I wondered if Derek knew this. "He did what!?" Melissa screamed into her phone. "Are you freaking kidding me!?" Melissa was livid. This didn't sound good. "I'm gonna kill him. I'll be there as soon as I can." Melissa hung up.

"What was that about?"

"Seems like Stiles stole a prison transport van and he and Scott put Jackson Whittemore in it."

"Scott?"

"I can't believe it either."

I can't believe he got caught was my thought. My phone went off. My heart stopped a minute before I saw it was Allison.

Have you read yours yet? she asked in a low voice.

"Yeah, I had to take a photo of the pages. We might have a problem."

Someone's not protecting him. she said and I knew she knew.

"Someone's controlling him."

Yeah. We just need to find out who.