Deputy Parrish had nearly been killed by an assassin because he was on the dead pool and worth 5 million. The assassin had been another deputy named Haigh. 

Actually, Parrish was supposed to be dead. 

Deputy Haigh had set him on fire. He had burned alive.

And now he was standing in front of Lydia, Derek, Scott and me in the loft without so much as a scratch. 

Derek had both of his hands, flipping them over for an examination. "He covered you in gasoline?" 

Parrish nodded. 

"It's the hair and nails, isn't it?" Lydia asked. "The parts of the body that are essentially dead." 

"Well, they should be gone," Derek said.

"I was set on fire," Parrish said. "All of me should be gone." 

"Not if you're like us," Scott told him.

"Like you?" Parrish repeated.

"I don't think he's like us," I said.

Lydia looked at Parrish. "Then what is he?" 

"Sorry, but I have no idea," I said. I looked to my brother to the right. "Derek?" 

Derek shook his head.

"But you both knew about Jackson and Kira," Scott told us.

I tilted my head at him, pretending to be mad at him still. "This is a little out of our experience." 

Scott looked at me. I looked away.

Derek looked between us in confusion, but like he knew something was going on. He looked at Scott. "There might be something in the bestiary. Did you try Argent?" 

"I don't know where he is," Scott said

"Okay, hold on," Parrish said. "What's a bestiary?  Actually, that's not even my first question." Parrish sighed, looking at us. "Just . . . Just tell us one thing. Are all of you like Lydia? Are you all psychic?"

"Psychic?" Derek repeated.

"Yeah,"  Parrish said.

"Not exactly," Scott told him.

"Okay," Parrish said. "Then what are you?"

Scott looked at me.. I tilted  my head and raised my eyebrows.

Scott closed his eyes, looking at Parrish, opening them, his eyes glowing red.

*

We had tried to tell him everything, but we barely scratched the surface. 

 Parrish was now sitting down on the couch. "What's a Kanima?"

Lydia raised her eyebrows, tilting her head.

Scott looked from Lydia, Derek and me  to Parrish. "We'll get back to that." He walked closer to him, sitting on the arm of the couch. "Just know that everyone like us, everyone with some kind of supernatural ability is on the dead pool."

"But we don't even know what we are," Parrish said. 

"I'm pretty sure they don't care," Derek told him.

"How many professional assassins are we talking about?" Parrish asked.

"We're starting to lose count," Lydia told him 

"But is it still just professionals?" I asked.

"I don't think Haigh's ever tried anything like this," Parrish told us. "I think he was taking a chance."

"But that means anyone with a dead pool can take a chance," Derek told us.

"If Haigh had it, who else does?" Parrish asked. "How easy is it to get this thing now?"

No one had an answer.

*

Lydia said she had something important to tell us, sitting on Derek's bed.  "Meredith was only at my grandmother's lake house once. But I think once was enough."

"How did your grandmother know her?" Derek asked.

"She didn't," Lydia answered. "She found her. Because of another woman named Maddy. The woman she loved." She stood, holding a picture, walking closer to Scott. "I never met her." She handed the picture to Scott. "But I saw her name everywhere. She used to be part of a yacht racing team. There were plagues and trophies at the lake house from all the regattas she won."

"How did she die?" Parrish asked.

"How's not the story," Lydia told us. "It's what happened right before. My grandmother, Lorraine, used to work in San Fransico for IBM." She turned around, walking closer to the wall of windows. "She was there on a weekend, catching up on work. She started hearing this sound. Like rain. But when she looked out the windows, all she saw was blue skies."

"But she kept hearing the rain?" Scott asked.

"And it just kept getting louder," Lydia answered. "Rain, thunder, cracking. Like gunshots in her head. It got so loud, she finally just screamed."

I was sitting on the spiral staircase, nodding. "Like a Banshee." 

"She called Maddy," Lydia told us. "She was planning on taking one of the boats out on the lake. Maddy said the sun was shining there too. So Lorraine didn't say anything."

"There was an accident?" Parrish asked.

*

"It took them four days to find Maddy's body," Lydia told us. "And then it took decades to figure out how Lorraine knew. She started with parapsychologists, like a PhD in their name made it more scientific. They built the study in the lake house according to every psuedo-scientific theory they could find. None of it worked. And then she started to get into more extreme occult. Things like mediums and psychics, all of them failures. Until she found Meredith. They found her at Eichen House. This fragile girl who didn't understand the things she heard. They brought her to the study. And they almost killed her. She was hospitalized for over a year. She . . ." Lydia shook her head. " . . .never really recovered. My grandmother drove her insane. And I drove her to suicide. And all she ever wanted to do was help." She took out a piece of paper with random sybolms and letters. "My grandmother created the code for the dead pool. I think she's the Banshee who put the names on the list in the first place. She left me this message in the same code."

"But she didn't leave a cipher key, did she?" Scott asked.

Lydia shook her head.

*

Everyone had left besides Scott. 

I looked at him before walking toward the spiral staircase.

"Tara . . . " Scott trailed off, pretending to be feeling guilty. "Can we at least talk about this?" 

"There's nothing to talk about," I sai, starting to walk up the stairs.

"Really?" Scott asked. "Because I can name at least a dozen." 

"Oh really?" I asked, turning to face him. "I can narrow it down to one and make it easier on you. You lied about Malia being Peter's daughter, and my cousin. Doesn't sound like there's much to talk about after all." 

"Yeah, actually, there is. You deserve an explanation." 

"I know it wasn't to protect me. There was no reason I would need protection. Maybe it was so that I wouldn't tell Derek or Malia, when you know I'm better than that at keeping secrets." 

"I know." 

I stepped closer to him, taking two steps down the stairs. "You were worried about a chaste kiss outside the vault pushing me away. A chaste kiss, Scott. Did it ever occur to you that not telling me the truth about Malia might have an even worse effect?" 

The fake arguement trailed off when we heard footsteps behind me, walking down the stairs. We both turned to look at Peter with annoyed looks.

Peter gave us a fake look of innocence. "Oh, don't let me interrupt. Just passing through." He looked at Scott as he walked further down the stairs, stopping next to me. "You know, Scott, you really should have told her the truth about Malia." He looked at me. "But don't be too hard on him, Tara. He had the best intentions but the misguided ways." 

I gave Scott a look. It worked.

I looked back at Peter in annoyance. "Get out of here." 

"My pleasure," Peter replied, turning for the door and taking his time with leaving.

Scott and I waited in silence, listening to the sound of Peter really leaving the loft and the place for good. 

Scott looked at me with a small smile. "Well, that worked." 

"Yes, it did," I agreed. "He wants something. Kate's involved. We just have to figure out what it is." 

"And how are we supposed to do that?" Scott asked.

I shook my head. "I have no idea." 

"What are you two talking about?" Derek asked as he walked into the room.

"Nothing," I lied.

"Uh-huh," Derek said sarcastically as he walked toward us. "The two of you really think that you're going to pull this off, don't you?" 

"I don't know what you're talking about," I lied.

"So you two are just fighting for the fun of it and it just magically stops when Peter leaves?" Derek asked. I pursed my lips, looking away. Scott tried not to smile. "Now why don't you tell me what's really going on?" 

I looked at Scott, tilting my head for him to explain.

"Okay," Scott said. "We know that Peter and Kate are up to something, as usual. But it's different this time. They seem almost fixated on the fact that we were fighting. Or 'fighting'. Kate tried to use Tara as bait for me at the hospital to see if I was really dead." 

"And right before Kate used the Beserkers about me, all Peter wanted to do was taunt me over the fight," I added. 

"So you're plan is to keep pretending to be fighting so you can find out what's really going on?" Derek asked.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Well, for one, if so much as one thing goes wrong, one of you could end up dead," Derek answered. "And expeciallly if you're right about Peter and Kate working together." 

"We don't know that for sure," I told him. "All we know is that they're both taking a seemingly large interest with us." 

Scott walked away. "Yeah, and knowing Kate and Peter, that could be very dangerous." 

Derek looked at me. "One thing, though. You told me Scott didn't tell you about Malia." 

"He didn't," I told him honestly.

Scott looked down in guilt. 

Derek gave me a confused look. "Then how did you really find out?" 

I looked toward Scott.

*

Flashback 

It was after Scott, Malia, Kira, Young Derek and I had fought the Berserkers at the school. After Derek had returned to normal.

Scott drove me home on his bike. I got off, starting to walk toward the loft without so much as a parting glance. "Tara." I turned back to look at him. "Are you okay? I mean, after what happened earlier . . ." 

"The fight with the Berserkers at the school?" I asked. Scott nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine with that. what I can't stop thinking about is Peter's behavior toward Malia earlier." 

Scott pressed his lips together, looking up with a slow sigh and a shake of his head. "It's probably nothing. Just Peter being Peter. You know how he is." 

I nodded. "Yeah. I do. But you know what else is probably just 'nothing'?" Scott raised his eyebrows. I took a step toward him. "The fact you lied to me right before we saw him." He looked down. I took a step toward him. "The fact that you wanted to tell me something about Peter right before we saw Malia." I took another step forward, in front of his bike now, crossing my arms over my chest. "And finally, the fact that Peter asked Lydia for a name months ago, and she gave him Malia's." Scott looked up at me. "Please tell me if I'm reading too much into this." 

"No," Scott answered, his voice almost a whisper as he looked down, shaking his head. "No, you're not reading too much into it." 

I tilted my head. "So you goona tell me that these are nothing, too?" 

"No," Scott answered.

"Let me take a wild guess," I said. "Peter and Malia are somehow connected." 

"'Related' is the more correct term," Scott told me.

"Which makes her related to me, too," I said. "I know she's not my sister, I would've known about it. She's Peter's daughter, isn't she?" 

Scott exhaled with relief, looking up. "Thank God." I raised my eyebrows. "Thank God you figured it out. Stiles made me promise not to tell you until we told Malia. I didn't wanna lie anymore." 

"So, it's true?" I asked what sounded like a statement. Scott hesitantly nodded. "Malia's my cousin. And because of some promise you made Stiles, you weren't gonna tell me. Were you ever gonna tell me?" 

Scott sighed. "You're mad." 

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't be," I told him.

"No, you have every right to be," Scott told me. "I actually expected you to be. I just . . . I'm sorry. And I want to know if you can ever actually forgive me. I mean, you just got back yesterday. I don't wanna lose you after I just got you back." 

"Give me some time to sort it out, I'm still processing," I said.

"How long?" Scott asked.

"I'll let you know," I said, turning around and walking away with quick, annoyed, and even a little angry footsteps.

"Tara," Scott said. I stopped, looking at him over my shoulder. "I really am sorry." 

There was a beat of silence.

"I know," I said finally. "I believe you." 

I turned back forward, walking away, leaving without another word.

*

Now 

"I was pissed at him," I said honestly, looking at Scott. "I didn't see him for two weeks. I didn't even call or text. I didn't respond to any of his." 

"The two weeks we spent looking for Kate before we hired Braedan," Derek realized.

I nodded. "Mm-hm. I guess the . . . chaste kiss . . . . he gave me without realizing it and hearing him and Stiles in the locker room put things in perspective for me even more. I stopped being mad." 

Scott walked closer to Derek's bed.

"So all this anger you're using to convince Peter it's all real . . . " Derek trailed off.

"I felt before I forgave Scott," I finished.

"How did you know he was definitely up to something?" Derek asked.

I looked at him. "When he told me to go after you when he heard the Berserkers because he supposedly 'cared' about me, and when he suddenly got stronger and you suddenly got weaker and your eyes changed and your healing suddenly got slower." Derek looked down with a small smirk. "You don't really think I haven't been noticing you're keeping things from me too, did you?" 

Derek didn't answer, looking back up.

Scott picked up the gun from Derek's bed.

Derek walked closer to him. "Careful with that." 

"Thought you didn't like guns," Scott said. 

Derek held out his hand for the gun. Scott gave it to him.

I slowly walked closer. "Does this have something to do with your eyes?" 

"My eyes, my strength, the healing," Derek told us. He looked up. "All of it." 

"Gone?" Scott asked.

"Whatever Kate did to me, it's still happening," Derek told us, putting the gun down on the bed.

"So, Kate is doing this to you, taking your power away, and Peter is suddenly all the more powerful?" I asked.

"You think it's all connected, don't you?" Derek asked.

"It would sure explain a hell of a lot," I answered.

"If the dead pool really was made by a Banshee, then there's something else that you should know," Scott told him. "Your name broke the third list. It was a cipher key." 

I looked at Derek as he looked down. "And the other two keys were Allison and Aiden." 

"And I don't want to make you nervous, but . . ." Scott trailed off. "It kind of feels like there could be a pattern there, doesn't it? Allison, Aiden, Derek . . ." 

"Names picked by a Banshee," I said, still looking at Derek.

Scott stammered. "It could mean that you're in danger." 

"Scott, Banshees don't predict danger," Derek told him. He looked from Scott to me. "They predict death." 

I knew why he was looking at me.

Even though I tried to stay as cold and remote as possible, Derek knew it would kill me if I lost him. 

*

Derek, Braedan and I knew that there would be a group of assassins posing as security guards out to kill Scott, Liam and Malia at the bonfire at the school, thanks to Braedan posing as a U.S Marshal and "interogating" Deputy Haigh. I had heard that she had broke his nose.

Haigh had also told her how they were using electronic music to make them weak and suffer, only a sound that werewolves or werecoyotes could hear. 

That's why I had headphones in as Braedan, Derek and I walked into the hall, seeing the many different assassins in the hall. Scott, Liam and Malia were laying on the floor, too weak to move yet, covered in gasoline, with an assassin in front of Scott. Scott held his hand, squeezing, causing bone to break.

Braedan used her shotgun to hit his head, making him fall. 

Derek, Braedan and I turned to the three guards down the hall, walking toward them. 

Two came toward me, both raising, their arms. I raised both of mine to block theirs, punching one's stomach, then the other's face, then the other's face, then the other's stomach. I kicked one into the other, making them both fall. 

Scott, Liam and Malia started to sit up. 

One went after Derek, punching his side, raising his other to punch his face. Derek raised his arm to block it, grabbing his head and head-butting it, throwing him to the side into the other one attacking me. He turned to the other, pushing him against the lockers. Braedan tossed him her gun. He used it to hit the guard's head hard enough to make him fall unconscious. 

Derek tossed Braedan's gun back to her. 

Braedan caught it, walking toward the other one in front of Scott, Liam and Malia, hitting his head hard enough to make him fall unconscious.

I turned to Scott, Liam and Malia, walking closer.

"How did you not get effected by the music?" Scott asked.

I pulled out the headphones, holding them up for him to see. "Told you I didn't like electronic." 

Scott smiled a small, surprised smile. He looked at Derek. "What happened to the gun?" 

"You're covered in gasoline," Derek reminded him.

"Oh, yeah," Scott said, looking back at Liam and Malia. 

I walked closer to him, holding out my hand. He took it, letting me help him up. 

Scott gave Derek and me a relieved smile.

Yes, we had just saved his life. Again.

But we all knew that this wouldn't be the last of the assassins that would try to kill us.