Panthera Onca ➳ Derek Hale

22. De-Void

Derek's P.O.V

   The Sheriff took out a pair of handcuffs and took a step toward the nogitsune.

   "You want to handcuff me?" The nogitsune asked. The way he talked... As if he was trying to make us believe that he's Stiles...

   "If my son is still here, if there's still a part of him standing here in front of me, then he'll put these on willingly and he'll come with me, because he knows I'm here to protect him from himself and from others." Surprisingly, the nogitsune held up his hands and allowed himself to be cuffed. Then it glanced up at the Sheriff with a look that is nothing like one Stiles would give. "You're not my son." The nogitsune busted the handcuffs off, and we all flew into the loft: Allison, Chris and I. We were watching them to see if he'll act differently if only the Sheriff approaches him. Allison attacked first, trying to shoot the nogitsune with a taser. He caught the prongs and held the cords for a second before whipping the device from her hands. I tried to attack, but the nogitsune slammed me into a table and then threw me into the wall. I felt surprised to see that power coming from someone that looked like Stiles. Stiles wouldn't hurt us like that. Chris pulled a gun, which the nogitsune found particularly interesting. It turned to face him.

   "Argent, listen to me. Don't do this." The Sherriff warned. It's his son, of course he'd worry, especially since we promised him no leathal weapons.

   "Why not? I've done it before. Werewolves, berserkers. I can easily add a nogitsune to the list." Chris replied.

   "You're not going to shoot my son."

   "You said it yourself, Sheriff. That's not your son."

   "Put it down." The Sheriff used his threatening voice. "Put it down."

   "Dad, he's going to shoot me. He's going to kill me, Dad." The nogitsune begged, trying to play a little mind game with the Sheriff.

   "Don't listen." Chris ordered.

   "Put it down." The Sheriff demanded, but Chris didn't flinch. "Now! Do it! Put it down!"

   "Pull the trigger. Come on." The nogitsune teased, challanging Chris. I began feeling a little impatient. Someone need to stop him now. It's our chance to tie him and find a way to stop him.

   "Listen to me, you put the gun down now!"

   "Shoot me."

   "Put the gun down now!"

   "Dad." Allison tried to stop them.

   "Shoot me!"

   "Put the gun down!"

   "Shoot me!"

   "Argent, you put it down!

   "Strife." Allison mumbled.

   "Put it down! Put it down!" Allison and I looked out of the window.

   "Stop, stop it!" Allison yelled. "This is what he wants. This is exactly what he wants." The night fell. Shit. The oni are coming.

   "Not exactly. I was kind of hoping Scott would be here." The nogtsune began. "But I'm glad you all have your guns out. Because you're not here to kill me. You're here to protect me." And he was right. Four oni materialized inside the loft. The nogitsune backed up to stand behind the Sheriff and Chris. Chris tried to shoot, but his gun doesn't fire, so he drew a spare. They fired at the oni. Allison and I circled around the nogitsune to the back, protecting him from the other side. All four oni attacked. After we tried to fight them, and we sucked at it, they disappeared. That's when Scott and Kira arrived. They saw Chris and I were kneeling on the floor and the Sheriff and Allison still standing looking dazed.

   "What happened?" Scott asked, having a little worried look.

   "They disappeared. They literally just vanished." Allison replied.

   "And so did Stiles." The Sheriff informed. Oh, my fucking God, are you kidding me-

☼

   I dumped a pile of chess pieces onto a board and started arranging them.

   "What are you doing? And more importantly, why aren't you healing?" Peter asked me. One of the wounds that the oni gave me didnt heal even though it happen long enough for it to be healed.

   "It's from one of their swords. It'll heal." I assured him, actually hoping that it will.

   "By playing chess?"

   "Back in his room Stiles had a board with my name on one of the pieces. If this is a game to him, then I need to figure out the plays."

   "Not so easy to do when it's a game without rules."

   "What does that mean?"

   "You're dealing with the kind of spirit that's lived too long to play by human rules. It's a fox spirit that chose to become human. And supposedly, that's something they can do only after about 100 years. If a kitsune is an annoying pain in the ass, then a nogitsune, which is a dark kitsune, is a freaking disaster. Besides, chess is Stiles's game. It's not the game of a Japanese fox." He explained. "Do yourself a favor and put something on that, before it gets infected." Ignoring him, I decided to give up on it.

   "Where's Jade?" I asked loudly, waiting for an answer from Peter.

   No comment.

☼

   I went to Chris's apartment. I'm going to get my revenge at him. Maybe he did something to Jade. I saw how he was with the nogitsune. And I suddenly hade a lot of anger held towards him. Burning desires to kill him.

   "I'm on my way." I heard him say. He opened the door. "Derek, you all right?" He asked when he saw me. I got inside his office.

   "I need to show you something." I told him. I put my mom's claws on the desk in his office. "Do you know who these belonged to?" He shook his head. I felt myself aching with hatred towards him. "These claws are all that was left of my mother after your psychotic sister burned her and the rest of mine and Jade's families alive." He reached for his gun, but I attacked him before he could reach it. Does he think that I'm going to give up that easily? I'm not an idiot. I'm not going to give up. Everything for Jade. To find her. I tied Chris to a chair and then opened the bag I brought with me, taking out a bottle of lighter fluid.

   "Derek." He called. "Okay, listen. Listen to me. Whatever's gotten into your head, this isn't the way to deal with it." He tried calming me down as I doused him with accelerant. It's not going to work on me. He's not going to talk me out of this.

   "You burn my family, I burn yours. In fact, I'll burn the whole building down around you." I flicked the lighter and waved the flame in front of Chris' face. Chris blew the flame out, and I grabbed his face in annoyance. How dare he try to stop me?? I'm going to finish this once and for all!

   "That was Kate. You know I had nothing to do with that. I'm not your enemy, Derek. Not anymore." I lighted the lighter again and waved the flame back and forth, watching. Of course he is. He kept trying to haunt me back when Jackson was the kanima. Does he think that I don't remember?

   "Yeah, you are. You and Allison. Which is why, I'm not gonna light this yet." I chuckled. "I'm not." I smiled. "We're going to wait until she gets home. And we're going to let her watch." I noted. Chris fought his bonds and yelled. I went to stand near the window. "Why shouldn't I kill you? How many of us have you murdered? You're not my ally. You're not my ally. You're a hunter."

   "You're right." Huh? "I am a hunter. Trained before I could even speak, and trained others. Do you know what the first lesson we teach is? We take our children, we bind them in a chair just like this. Then we wait for them to get out. Most of them, it takes hours. Others? Seconds." Chris threw himself back in the chair, breaking the arms off. I shifted and turned with a roar. Chris grabbed a gun he kept under his desk and stands, shoving it under my chin just and I landed on his side of the desk. Fuck! "I don't want to kill you, Derek. don't make me kill you. Please." I heard a roar and black ooze came out of my nose. Everything had become blurry and I felt dizzy. It didn't take too long until I fainted.

☼