Parrish was having sleepwalking episodes. It happened every night. He didn't know when, and he didn't know what triggered it, but at some point every night, he left his home. When he came back, he found burned clothes and blood. He wasn't just wandering out the door. He was heading out with purpose. He was searching for something.

He asked me to follow him. Said that he needed to know where he was going, and what he was doing. If people were getting hurt because of him. If he was adding to the body count. When he woke up at night, when it took over, he wanted me to follow him. And if I had to, Parrish wanted me to stop him.

So at night at Parrish's house, I was watching him get up from where he was sleeping, leaning forward, pulling out my phone, texting Scott.

He's on the move.

I stood, following Parrish.

*****  

I followed Parrish to the school, seeing that Stiles, Scott and Liam got here in the Jeep.

Scott and Stiles got out of the car, closing our car doors very quietly, walking toward the school.

Liam got out of the car, closing the door loudly.

Scott and Stiles stopped, turning to give Liam a look.

"Sorry," Liam told them.

I walked toward them.

"Where's Parrish?" Scott asked.

"I lost him," I told them. "He's moving too fast."

Liam looked away, seeing a figure lying on the ground nearby. "Guys. He's not moving at all."

Scott, Liam and I slowly started to walk toward the figure on the ground. Stiles slowly followed.

The figure was a man that had been slashed and torn into, dead.

We walked around him, walking around the corner to find another man on the ground.

Stiles looked at the buses. "Look."

The buses had been scorched, burned and broken into.

Several bodies were lying in the bus.

A boy looked up weakly. "Help me..."

Parrish walked closer, shirtless, covered in soot. "It's a trap."

"Please," the boy told us.

Parrish looked over his shoulder toward us, his eyes glowing with fire, fire seeming to be glowing from underneath his skin. "You can't help him."

The boy's body fell apart, his upper half falling to the ground outside.

Stiles jumped.

The Beast was inside the bus.

"That's big," Stiles told us. "No one said it was that big."

"I did," Liam told us.

The Beast roared.

Parrish burst on fire, roaring.

The Beast ran to the front of the bus.

Parrish ran toward the bus.

The Beast burst out of the windshield, making it shatter, continuing to run away.

Parrish ran after it.

The Beast and Parrish ran away, leaving.

"What the hell's happening?" Scott asked.

"It's getting smarter," I answered.

We looked at each other, not liking the sound of that at all.

*****  

I was making sure that Malia was going to be okay while she was at home that night, standing outside. "I'm going to head home. Are you gonna be okay tonight?"

"Do we really need to do this?" Malia asked. "Deaton said the Desert Wolf can't get her power back unless she comes for me on a full moon."

"Just because there are rules to taking power doesn't mean she plans to follow them," I told her. "Your mother, Corinne, tried to kill both you and me, and she almost succeeded because Theo double crossed us. You're lucky that I'm not making you stay with me at the loft so that I know you're safe. I've come up with a rule of my own..." I held up a jar of Mountain Ash, pouring it along the front door of Malia's house. "Never be too careful. This way, both you and your dad will be safe."

I turned to leave.

Malia took a step after me, but couldn't come outside. "Tara..." I turned to face her. "Thank you. For looking after me. For helping me. And protecting me."

"You're family," I told her. "And I don't have a lot of family left."

Malia and I both smiled small smiles.

I walked away from her house to go back to my home.

***** 

Scott and I were in the loft, kissing slowly and passionately, heatedly. 

I slowly pulled his shirt over his head, seeing that his chest  wound was finally healed, smiling in relief, a little smugly. "I told you that would heal once we were a pack again, once you stopped blaming yourself for what happened."

Scott smiled. "Ha ha. Are you okay?"

"Just worried about Malia," I answered. 

"The Desert Wolf almost killed you and her," Scott told me. "Why would she want to kill you?"

"Because she blames my mom for taking Malia away from her before she could kill her when she was a baby," I answered. "And she can't kill my mother because she's already dead, but..."

"But she can kill you," Scott finished. "You're in danger from her, too."

"I can take care of myself," I told him.

Scott smiled a small smile. "I've noticed. I have a lacrosse game tomorrow. I forgot about it until I saw a banner at school. I'm totally out of practice. We're probably going to lose. You want to come to the game tomorrow night?"

"So I can watch you lose?" I asked in amusement.

"So I can watch you," Scott answered. "Make sure that you're okay. You can worry about Malia. I can worry about you."

We both smiled, continuing to kiss. Scott pulled my shirt over my head. I wrapped my arms around his neck to pull him closer into a kiss. We laid down, continuing to kiss. He slid his hand over my skin. I smiled. He laid kisses along her skin over my chest and neck. We kissed slowly, sweetly and passionately. 

  *****   

The Beast was turning by electrical transmissions, and there was going to be a lot at tonight's lacrosse game, because it was going to be filmed to be put on air on live TV.

Scott, Stiles, Liam, Lydia and I were talking in the loft.

"Mason said it's not just to transmit frequency," Liam told us. "It's high powered. Like, a really strong signal."

"And that's causing it to shift?" Lydia asked.

"No," I asked. "I don't think it's just that. It's getting smarter. What if the Dread Doctors are trying to make the Beast grow faster?"

"With frequencies?" Stiles asked.

"No, by shifting," I answered. "The frequency's just the trigger. The important part is when it shifts into the Werewolf."

"Like your uncle," Lydia told me.

I nodded. "Right. Yeah, when Peter was an Alpha, he got stronger every full moon. Eventually, the burns healed and he was back to normal."

"So, the Dread Doctors don't want to wait for the full moon," Liam told us.

"They want the Beast to be as strong as possible, as fast as possible," I told them.

Liam nodded. "Because of Parrish."

"So, if this is happening tonight, what are we going to do?" Lydia asked.

"Uh, we've got one clue to go on," Stiles told us, pulling out a picture from his bag, putting it on the table for all of us to see. "This came from the hospital." The picture was of a half footprint of blood from the hospital. "Whoever's lurking inside the beast is wearing a size ten of indeterminate make."

"Indeterminate?" Lydia repeated skeptically.

"Means it's a partial print," Stiles told us. "Basically, it was all we were able to get considering all of the fire, blood and carnage."

"How many size 10s are out there?" Scott asked.

"Only one with Parrish's blood on the sole," Stiles answered.

"So, are we going to try to get the game cancelled?" Liam asked.

"No, no, we're going to play, but we're just going to hope really hard that it doesn't turn into a blood-soaked massacre," Stiles told him sarcastically.

"Okay, but, um, aren't we kind of missing out on a chance to catch this thing?" Liam asked. "We don't have the 'who', but we have the 'where' and the 'when'."

Stiles looked as if he agreed with Liam.

Lydia and I looked at Scott, torn on the decision.

"There's too many people," Scott told us.

"And we still don't actually know if it's going to happen," Lydia added. "It just might end up being a regular lacrosse game. It's possible, right?"

I nodded sarcastically. "That's absolutely possible."

None of us believed that it would be a regular lacrosse game.

"So, we're still getting the game cancelled?" Liam asked.

Scott nodded. "We're getting the game cancelled."

We stood, walking out, leaving.

*****  

Since the lacrosse coach was a substitute since Coach Finstock was in rehab, Scott and Stiles went to the rehab to convince Finstock to come back so that they could forfeit the game.

*****  

After dark, at the school, Scott, Stiles, Malia, Kira, Liam, Mason and I were in an empty classroom. Scott, Stiles, Kira and Liam were in their lacrosse uniforms.

"Mason, you know your part," Scott told him.

Mason nodded. "Cory and I break into the Devenford bus and search their shoes."

"Tara and I take out the TV vans," Malia told us.

"Right before the whistle, Coach forfeits the game," Stiles told us.

"The rest of us are looking for a size 10 with a bloody sole," Liam told us.

"Just out of curiosity, what if it doesn't work?" Malia asked. "What if we have to go up against this thing? I mean, I hate to bring up bad memories, but Scott's still healing from what Theo did to him."

"No, he's not," I told them.

"She's right," Scott told them. They looked at us in confusion. Scott pulled up his shirt to reveal that his chest was healed. "It happened that night when we got Lydia out of Eichen House." He lowered his shirt. "I healed. When we were all together again, when we were a pack."

I nodded, smiling a small smile. "The Beast doesn't have a pack."

Scott shook his head. "Not like us. We can do this, guys. No one dies tonight."

*****  

The game was about to start.

Everyone who was involved in the game was getting ready, pulling on their helmets, grabbing their lacrosse sticks, throwing practice shots.

Scott, Stiles and Liam sat on the bench together, all of them not wearing their helmets yet. They looked from the Devenford Prep team toward Finstock.

Scott and Liam looked at Stiles, nodding.

Stiles nodded, standing, walking toward Finstock. "Hey, Coach. Now is the time to, uh, forfeit the game." Finstock didn't answer. "Now is the perfect time to forfeit the game. You gotta... Coach?"

"Stilinski, I've never forfeited a game," Finstock told him. "And I never will." He chuckled. "Get on the field."

Finstock blew the whistle.

Scott, Liam and Stiles looked at each other in disbelief.

Scott and Liam stood.

The Devenford team ran onto the field.

Finstock smirked.

Malia and I exchanged a look, nodding, starting to take out the news vans by pulling the wires off of the satellites on top one by one, but there were quite a few vans.

*****  

Scott and Liam ran out onto the field, wearing their helmets, having their sticks.

Stiles was talking to Stilinski on the sidelines.

"What if we called in a bomb threat?" Stiles asked.

"You remember the bomb threat at the airport three weeks ago?" Stilinski asked.

"Yeah, of course I do," Stiles answered. "It was all over the news." Stilinski tilted his head. Stiles nodded. "I see your point."

Brett Talbot and Scott were setting up to take the first ball.

The referee blew the whistle.

Brett used the stick to pick up the ball, running toward his goal.

Scott followed him in a run.

*****  

The game continued.

Stiles was checking people's shoes from underneath the bleachers.

Malia and I were in the process of taking out the TV vans.

Kira slammed a guy on the ground, having the ball, running toward our goal, throwing the ball past the goalie into the net.

Everyone cheered.

Liam looked at Scott. "You think she's playing a tad aggressive?" 

Scott nodded.

Kira swung the lacrosse stick like a sword.

We all looked at the three guys behind Kira on the ground, writhing in pain.

Kira walked toward Scott and Liam. Her eyes were glowing a dark gold.

Scott looked toward me, knowing that I could hear him from on top of the TV van I was in the middle of taking out. "Tara. We might have a problem."

"Plan B?" I asked.

Scott nodded. "Plan B."

*****  

Kira was running on the field, taking out a guy in her way, then another, running past.

The referee blew his whistle.

Coach winced. "That girl is damn serious about charity."

Scott ran up to Kira, taking off his helmet. "Kira, maybe you should ease up on the other players."

"I'm trying to win," Kira told him coldly.

"But you didn't even have the ball," Scott told her.

Kira looked from the guys on the ground behind her to Scott. Her voice was distorted like the fox inside of her. "Stay out of my way."

Kira pushed past him, walking away.

Scott and Liam pulled on their helmets.

The whistle blew.

The referee put the ball on the ground in the middle of the field. "Down." Brett and Liam knelt for the ball, nodding to each other. "Set."

The referee blew his whistle.

Liam let Brett take the ball.

Brett ran past toward the goal.

Kira ran toward Brett.

Brett took her down.

Kira sat up.

Brett turned to face her. "Not so tough now, are you?"

Kira stood, hitting Brett in the face with the lacrosse stick, but his mask mostly protected him, making him fall.

The referee walked up to Kira. "You, you're done. Get off the field."

Kira glared at him, walking off the field.

Liam knelt next to Brett. "That was perfect. Thanks, dude."

Liam stood, running off.

Brett shook his head, lying his head back on the ground.

Kira walked toward the bleachers, saying in Japanese, "Dono yo na taikutsuna gemu. [What a dull game.]"

I jumped off the TV van I was standing on, watching Kira go. I looked toward Scott.

Scott nodded, knowing that I could handle a Kitsune even if the fox inside Kira was starting to take over her again.

I nodded, walking into the school to follow Kira and to get through to her before she hurt someone.

***** 

 I followed Kira into the school to keep an eye on her, finding her in the school hallway, speaking in Japanese. "Daijobedesuka? [Are you okay?]"

Kira stopped walking, obviously not Kira at the moment, but the fox inside her, speaking in Japanese, looking over her shoulder toward me. "Okami otoko wa kinugawa ni nihongo a hanasou to shite imasu ka? [Is a Werewolf trying to speak Japanese to a Kitsune?]"

Kira turned to face me.

I tilted my head slightly, speaking in Japanese. "Kono okami otoko wa anata no futsu no okami yori mo haruka ni oku o shitte imasu. [This Werewolf knows a lot more than your ordinary wolf.] Watashi wa anata o toru koto ga dekimasu. [I can take you.]"

Kira tossed her helmet and her uniform aside, using her lacrosse stick to hit me in the face. I punched her in the face, making her spin away. Kira pulled her hair out of her face, turning to face me, swinging her lacrosse stick toward me. I ducked. Kira used the stick to push me against the wall. I grabbed the stick, running forward, pushing Kira against the lockers on the other side of the hall, using it to spin her around, pushing her into the trophy case, making it shatter, and making Kira and the trophies and the glass fall to the floor.

I took a deep breath, still speaking in Japanese, though trying to speak to Kira and not the Kitsune. "Anata jishin o misete, Kira. [Show yourself, Kira.]"

Kira stood, kicking me through the door into the girls' locker room, closing the door behind her.

*****  

I pushed Kira face first against a grate. Kira used her lacrosse stick to hit me in the stomach, making me let go. I backed away. Kira turned to face me, breaking the net off of her stick to use it as a staff. I picked up a lacrosse stick, swinging it toward Kira. Kira used her stick to block the move, swinging it toward me. I ducked, swinging the net toward her stomach. Kira backed away enough to make me miss. I spun to kick her in the chest, making her back away. Kira ran toward me, using her stick to push me back against the lockers behind me. I used my stick to keep her stick away from me, making an X shape. Kira's eyes were glowing a dark gold. I let my eyes glow blue, growling, using my stick to push against her to push her back away from me. Kira kicked my lacrosse stick, breaking it in half, swinging her stick toward me. I spun out of the way. Kira got her stick stuck in the grate, pulling it out, swinging it toward me. I used both halves of my tick to deflect the blow, using them to grab her stick, hitting them against the grate next to us. Kira tried to pull her stick free. I used one half of my stick to hit her in the face, making her spin away. Kira turned to face me furiously, breaking her stick in half like mine, breathing heavily, smirking.

I sighed, speaking in Japanese. "Kanojo o ririsu, Kitsune. [Release her, Kitsune.]"

Kira swung one half of her stick toward me. I used one half of my stick to block the move. Kira swung the other half of her stick toward me. I used the other half of my stick to block the move, spinning to try to kick her. Kira ducked, standing, trying to hit me with both halves of her stick in a blur of motion. I used both halves of my stick to block the moves just as fast, catching one of hers. Kira headbutted me to make me let go, running toward me, tackling me into the coach's office, making us both land on the desk, both of us losing both pieces of our lacrosse sticks in the process. I pushed Kira off of me, to the floor, standing, grabbing Kira, pushing her through the door into the hallway, walking into the hall. Kira stood, walking toward me, letting her eyes glow a dark gold, trying to backhand punch me. I caught her wrist. Kira tried to punch me with her other arm. I caught that arm, pushing Kira into an empty classroom. Kira started to glow with Kitsune aura. 

I shifted, letting my eyes glow blue and canines grow, roaring her name like I had done to Scott on a full moon to make him shift back to human, hoping it would work for a Kitsune, too. "Kira!"

Kira shifted back to human, as the Kitsune aura faded into nothing.

Kira closed her eyes. She opened them. They weren't glowing. She seemed to be herself again, looking confused. "Oh, my God. What did I do?"

I didn't answer, sighing in relief that I had gotten through to her.

*****  

People were running into the school, screaming, horrified, terrified and confused.

Kira and I walked out into the hallway.

I saw the Beast running inside, pushing Kira back into the classroom, following her, closing the door.

The Beast ran past the door.

Kira breathed heavily in confusion. "What... what was that?"

I slowly opened the door, stepping out into the hallway.

There were four long, giant slashes in the wall across the hall.

Kira and I exchanged a look, knowing that the Beast could kill a lot of people in the school if we couldn't stop it, but we also knew that Kira couldn't stand a chance against that thing.

And even if I couldn't kill the Beast, I was still going to put up one hell of a fight.