Blood Runs Cold

Chapter Nineteen

As it turned out, having third and fourth degree burns really fucking hurts. Even with Scott doing his pain leeching and Melissa giving him some pretty strong pain pills, Stiles was in agony. Maybe part of that was because the pain medicine lasted about five seconds in his system before his super metabolism used them all up.

"Will somebody please tell me why we aren't taking Stiles to the hospital?" Melissa snapped as she worked on wrapping his arms in bandages. "This isn't a simple boo boo you can fix at home, I can see bone and, while I understand I'm the only medical professional in here, I think everyone knows that usually is the sign of a pretty bad burn."

"And I'm sure the hospital will be able to make perfect sense out of seeing Stiles make a miraculous recovery in a week," Peter snapped back. "What he needs is his pack and rest."

Melissa raised an eyebrow. "Thank you for your expert opinion, Peter. May I ask where you got your medical degree at?"

"In case you've forgotten, I lost six years of my life to horrible burns that covered over half of my body that I had to suffer through alone, in a hospital, without my pack." Peter clenched his fists and scowled at Melissa. "I might not be a doctor but I am uniquely qualified to decide what to do in this situation."

Melissa opened her mouth and closed it a few times and finished wrapping the bandages around Stiles' arms, pulling them tight enough to make Stiles wince in pain. After a few moments, she finally found her words, "Are you serious right now? I'm sorry, but no, there are explanations that can be made about his rate of healing, but I am not putting Stiles' life at risk because you suffered alone for six years." She crossed her arms across her chest and met Peter's steely gaze. "I don't doubt that he'll heal faster with his pack around him but you can be there during visitor hours. Right now, werewolf healing or not, he is at risk of losing both arms and the medication that I've given him is out of his system almost as fast as it goes in. He needs to see a doctor."

"What about the nine herbs?" Chris spoke up, getting between Peter and Melissa. A smart decision Stiles thought to himself, because god knows how long until those two began to actually fight. Stiles put money on Melissa winning whatever fight between the two of them, for the record.

"The what now?" Melissa asked.

"The nine herbs are an ancient remedy, primarily used for curing wounds of toxins. Last time I checked, Christopher, the burns on Stiles' arms are from fire, not chemical burns," Peter said in a snappish tone.

"And there are records of them having been used to treat other types of injuries." How Chris managed to keep his cool with Peter, Stiles didn't think he'd ever be able to figure out. The man had a penchant for getting under everyone's skin, especially when he was miserable. "Maybe they'll do nothing but that's the worst case scenario. We try them and if they don't work, we take Stiles to the hospital."

"Okay, can we hit pause here?" Melissa cut in, frowning. "So they're a magical cure, great, got that, but last I checked, CVS doesn't exactly carry their generic."

"No, you'd be better off looking in your grandmother's herb garden. The nine herbs are literally nine different herbs, mugwort, betony, lamb's cress, plantain, mayweed, nettle, crab-apple, thyme, and fennel. You crush them to a powder and mix with honey." Peter drummed his fingers on the back of a chair as he spoke.

"Would Deaton have them?" Scott asked. "That sounds like a pretty druidy healing concoction and he has plenty of jars of questionable powders at the clinic."

Chris and Peter shared a brief look. "It would save us a trip to the garden center," Peter said, frowning slightly. He then turned his gaze towards Scott, "You, go see Deaton."