Baby|| Stiles Stilinski

68

The man led them to a dimly lit room high above the room where the club was situated. Red lights shone through the windows and only one lamp was alit on the desk. In the corner was a couch where a woman sat with a large gun on her lap, opposite where a man was shrouded in shadows as he leant against the wall. Baby could hear the muffled pulse of the music downstairs and the thuds of feet on stone floors. The man from the bar pushed the three of them towards the dark varnished desk and the matching three chairs that had been arranged opposite it. Stiles sat down first, followed by Lydia and then Baby. The woman on the other side of the desk barely glanced up. She was old, sixties or seventies, and obviously rich in how well cared for her hair was. Her hands though were strong as she sliced through the stitches in some cloth with the practised hands of those that knew a knife. 

"Severo hates this music", she stated cheerfully as she concentrated on her work. The man from the bar didn't react at his name. "Me? I've always loved the music of the youth". The sentence was punctuated by another slash of the blade. "This kind especially. It has a savage energy". 

"We're here for Derek Hale", Lydia spoke up, her voice masked into calmness. 

The woman's face was half illuminated by the lamp. Her smile amused. "Is that so?" 

"We know you have him", Baby stated. He was calm and relaxed in his seat, though ready to tense as soon as anything went wrong. 

"We have heard you can be bought". Lydia leaned back in her seat as Stile stacked five wads of notes onto the desk. 

"That's fifty thousand for Derek". 

The woman sighed and put down her unpicked stitches. The knife was placed down on the table as she gestured to the money. "Now where does a teenage boy get money like this? Japanese mafia?" Instantly all three guards in the room cocked their guns with loud clicks. Lydia and Stiles jumped but Baby just smiled. 

"Family fortune actually", He responded, lips twitching in a smirk. (Now that had been an interesting conversation when he had offered the money to the pack). 

The woman narrowed her gaze on him. "Goldsmith. It is such a shame that their once great legacy has fallen into ruin and left to a corpse like you". 

"Don't call him a corpse", Stile snapped. The woman snorted as if the anger was amusing. 

"You should have not come alone. Even with a vampire on your side, you cannot fight your way out of here". 

"Oh", Stile leaned forwards. "What makes you think we came alone?" 

Instantly the woman's face fell in to angry lines and she stood up suddenly. "You brought a wolf into my home?"

"We brought an alpha", Stiles smirked. Baby grinned as he listened to the music thrum in the walls. Below Malia, Kira and Scott waited amidst the crowds on the dance floor. 

The woman paused for a second before seemingly regaining her composure. She turned and gazed out of the shadowed window. "My friends, I don't think you're aware of your poor timing. Do you know what the dark moon is?"

"A part of the lunar phase when the moon is least visible in the sky", Lydia responded. 

"But do you know it's meaning?" The matriarch of this hunter family asked. 

"Some people say that it's a time of reflection or grief", Lydia's voice was monotone. 

"Grief and loss Mija", the woman answered as she turned to face them fully again. "I wonder why when you and your friends have suffered so much loss, you would risk it again for someone like Derek Hale". 

"Because we don't like to lose", Stiles met the woman's gaze dead on. For a second there was nothing but her condescending little smile before the moment was broken by a voice speaking Spanish over a radio. 

"South clear", a second voice added in English. "West clear". A third.

"What about north?" Severo asked into his radio. "North?" No response. 

Baby, Lydia and Stile all waited as the guard asked again. They body language calm and relaxed. Then came a new voice, one they recognised. "Stiles", Scott greeted over the radio. "Take ten off the table". Stiles pulled one stack of money off the desk and stuffed it back into his pocket. 

"Maybe you should just take the deal", Lydia suggested. 

The matriarch smiled and leaned over the desk. "While I am keen to follow the warning of a banshee. I am going to have to decline". 

"Alright come on, just give us Derek", Stile sighed. "You don't want him anyway. Haven't you noticed what a downer he is? No sense of humour, poor conversationalist. Just come on, take the money". 

The woman's response to that was to snatch up the radio on her desk and point towards the door. Severo strode out of the room and she spoke into the mic. "Show them how the Calaveras negotiate".  Then she smiled at them, it was mean and calculating. "Stay". Her voice was a command as she strode from the room. Lydia and Stile turned but the two guards in the shadows stepped forwards, their guns a deterrent. Baby sighed and kicked his feet up onto the desk. 

"What do you think is going on?" Stiles asked. It was less than five minutes before the Calavera Matriarch returned with a smug smile on her face. 

"Your plan has failed. Take that one but leave the vampire and the banshee. I want to talk to them". The guards moved and grabbed Stiles harshly by the arms, dragging hi out of his seat. Baby reached for him but the cold metal of a gun barrel pressing harshly to his back stopped him. He froze, mid rise as Stiles was pulled away. 

"Stiles?" He called. 

"I'll be okay", Stiles shot him a grim look back as the guards dragged him from the room. Baby let out a huff as he watched Stiles disappear out the door. 

unedited