Hoping for Heroes

Chapter 12

Standing in the backroom of the building, where Deaton and Scott fix up the animals, Harley is between Isaac and Scott. Deaton has laid out an assortment of things that Harley does not quite recognize. They stand in silence while he lays them out, until Isaac leans down slightly and sniffs. Harley recoils.

"Are you sniffing me?" she asks, appalled. 

"Are you bleeding?" Isaac asks, ignoring her. "You smell like blood."

"Lahey, there's a time of the month when girls-"

"That's not what I meant and you know it," Isaac sighs, ears turning pink at the tips. "Besides, I know it's not that."

"How would you know?"

He pauses, blushing harder. "It just, smells different, I don't know." He shakes his head. "You avoided my question."

"You avoided mine first. I wanted to know if you were sniffing me."

"I smelled blood, so yes, I was checking on you. Why are you bleeding?"

Harley pauses. "Checking on me? Wh-" Scott grabs her arm and pulls her to the other side of him so she is standing only by him. He glares at Isaac.

"Don't touch her," Scott warns.

"I wasn't hurting her!" Isaac protests. 

"Everyone, shut up," Derek scolds. They stand in silence for a moment, until Isaac reaches forward to try and grab one of the vials. Derek yanks his hand back before he can. "Watch what you touch."

Harley snickers under her breath in an attempt to be quiet, but she knows the three wolves can hear her. Scott grins down at her.

"So, what are you, some kind of witch?" Isaac asks, leaning forward on the table.

Deaton glances once at Harley, then stares at Isaac. "No," he says. "I'm a veterinarian." Isaac nods, mouthing a silent "oh". 

"Unfortunately, I don't see anything here that's going to be an effective defense against a paralytic toxin," Deaton says, putting the vial he had been holding back down.

"We're open to suggestions," Derek quips.

"What about an effective offense?" Isaac suggests.

"No, we already tried," Derek denies. "I nearly took its head off. Argent emptied an entire clip into it. That thing just gets back up."

"Maybe you aren't effective enough," Harley whispers to herself. The room goes silent, and she notices all three werewolves staring at her. "Yikes, forgot you had fancy hearing."

"Has it shown any weaknesses?" Deaton asks, ignoring her.

"Well, one, it can't swim," Derek says.

"Does that go for Jackson as well?"

"No," Scott interjects. "He's the captain of the swim team."

"Essentially, you're trying to catch two people," Deaton explains. He grabs something out of a drawer and comes back. "A puppet..." he raises a pendant. "And a puppeteer." He places it on the table. "One killed the husband. The other had to take care of the wife. Do we know why?"

They're silent for a moment. "I don't think Jackson could do it," Scott decides. "His mother died pregnant too, and she was maybe murdered. I think he couldn't let the same thing happen to someone else."

"How do you know it's not part of the rules?" Isaac asks. 

"That makes sense," Harley agrees. "The Kanima kills murderers. If Jackson kills the wife..."