Enemy Fire ➸ Stiles Stilinski

02. Choking on Blood in the Least Deadly Way Possible

"This," Erica started, looking between Emerson and the large metal door in front of them, "this is where Derek lives? In an abandoned building in the middle of nowhere?"

"I hope so," Emerson sighed, giving the dead girl a sideways glance, "it's where Laura told me that he lives. But I don't think she'd lie to me."

The thought of sneaking out of his house – okay, well, walking stealthily downstairs so he wouldn't wake up his step-mom – and driving out to the middle of nowhere this late on a school night, going only on the address that Laura had provided for him ending in a bust had crossed his mind. But then again, there was the fact that this night could end in a good night for everybody involved, especially if it meant rescuing Vernon Boyd and Cora, who was Derek and Laura's formerly thought dead little sister (Laura had actually materialized in Emerson's room to hug and cry with Erica as the blonde girl explained the situation in which Boyd and Cora were in. Emerson had concluded that she had left out some very important details because the only thing she provided had been "Boyd and Cora are locked in the vault of the Beacon Hills First National Bank, which is abandoned", but he decided not to push on the subject), from a bank vault. The good definitely outweighed the bad, so he made the conscious decision to help.

"Well, it's definitely an upgrade from the abandoned train station," Erica muttered, crossing her arms over her chest and shifting her weight to her right side.

Emerson shoot her a look that read "are you serious right now?", but she just looked back at him with a slightly annoyed look on her face, motioning to the door.

"Are you going to knock or what, Danny Fenton? I'd like to try and get Boyd and Cora out of the vault sometime this week."

"Yeah," Emerson sighed, running his suddenly-sweaty palms down his jeans before walking forwards as he raised his arm, halting when his fist was hovering inches from the door. The thought of this place no belong to Derek hovered in the back of his mind, stopping him from completing the simple task of knocking.

"Sometime this century, Emerson," Erica reminded him.

"Okay, I'm doing it," he snapped as he knocked on the door before taking a step back and shoving his hands in his pockets. Shortly thereafter the sound of footsteps could be heard before the stopped and were replaced by the sound of the door being pulled open. It was only pulled back a foot or so, just enough for the person who had opened the door to be seen: one tall, curly-haired boy that Emerson had secretly pined over after being harshly dumped by his first official boyfriend just three weeks after they had started dating – Danny had been his first unofficial boyfriend, in seventh grade when they both discovered that liking boys instead of girls was a thing that happened, and they had decided to test it out. It had been one week of one kisses on the cheek, hand-holding, and spending more time together than usual before they both decided that it was weird and "broke up", but remained even better friends than they had been a week ago – last year until Danny had bought him a carton of ice cream and told him to quit his whining and move on. Granted, a year later Isaac Lahey was even better looking than he had been sophomore year, and Emerson would totally be down to date him if the chance ever made itself present.

Isaac looked at Emerson (since Erica was not visible to him) with confusion written across his features.

"Emerson?" he asked, "what are you doing here?"

"Uh, hi Isaac," Emerson greeted awkwardly, thankful that his hands were stuffed into his pockets, otherwise they'd be trembling, due to the sudden wave of anxiousness that had overcome him. So much for his anxiety medication actually doing its job. "Is Derek here? Derek Hale?"

The question just caused the confused expression deepen on his face.

"Tell Isaac you need to talk to Derek," Erica told the anxiety-ridden teen, elbowing him gently in the arm.