Secrets in the Hunt (Book 2)

Ash and a Rave

    "Ketamine?" Scott asks, looking at the bottle in Deaton's hand. I stand slightly behind Stiles, still worried that the vet hates my guts.
     "It's the same stuff we use on the dogs, just a higher dosage. If you can get close enough to Jackson, it should slow him down enough to buy you some time." Deaton explains, turning around and picking up another small jar. "This is some of what you'll use to create the barrier. This part is for you, Stiles. Or Tori. It has to be one of you." He explains, looking between the two of us.
     "Uh, that sounds like a lot of pressure. You've got this, right Tori?" Stiles asks, turning to me with a hopeful smile. I shake my head.
     "I plan on staying inside the building in case Scott has trouble with Jackson. I don't want anyone to get hurt." I say, making Stiles sigh.
     "Anyone?" Deaton asks, and I turn to him with a frown.
     "Yes, anyone. Including Jackson. He might be a jerk, but he doesn't know he's hurting people. If he can be saved, then I'd rather he be saved than dead." I say, and he nods with a small smile before turning back to Stiles.
     "So what I'm hearing is I have to use that stuff?" Stiles asks, gesturing towards the jar.
    "It's from the mountain ash tree, which is believed by many cultures to protect against the supernatural. This office is lined with ashwood, making it difficult for someone like Scott to cause me any trouble." Deaton explains with a smile.
     "Okay, so then what? I just spread this around the whole building and then either Jackson or whoever's controlling him can't cross it?" Stiles asks, picking up the jar of mountain ash and turning it around in his hands.
     "They'll be trapped." Deaton confirms and Scott grins.
    "Doesn't sound too hard." He says, trying to reassure Stiles.
     "Not all there is. Think of it like gunpowder. It's just powder until a spark ignites it. You need to be that spark, Stiles." Deaton explains and I raise an eyebrow.
     "Um-" I start, but Stiles cuts me off, frowning.
     "If you mean light myself on fire, I don't think I'm up for that." He says and Deaton shakes his head.
     "Let me try a different analogy. I used to golf. I learned that the best golfers never swing before first imagining where they want the ball to go. They see it in their mind and their mind takes over. It can be pretty extraordinary what the force of your own will can accomplish." He smiles.
     "Force of will." Stiles mutters, already looking defeated. I reach over and grab his hand, trying to give him support.
    "If this is going to work, Stiles, you have to believe it." Deaton says, breathing in and gesturing. Stiles takes in a deep breath and mimics the gesture, his smile not reaching his eyes. This should be interesting.
***
I rush after Stiles, practically running out of his house.
     "I can't believe you let me fall asleep." I grumble, tying my hair up into a ponytail.
     "Not my fault you fall asleep every time we start a movie." Stiles retorts with a smirk. As we rush over to the Jeep, his dad steps out of his car.
     "Hey Sheriff." I say without stopping.
     "Hey. Can't talk, got to run." Stiles says, then freezes when his dad doesn't respond. I stop and look, finally noticing the crestfallen look on Stilinski's face.
     "Hey, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. What's wrong?" Stiles asks.
     "Nothing." Sheriff says, shaking his head.
     "Where's your gun?" Stiles asks and I glance at Sheriff's side, frowning.
     "I left it at the station along with my badge." He says, and my heart drops.
     "What." Stiles gasps and Sheriff looks at me before shaking his head.
     "It's all right. You know what? We'll talk about this later." He says, turning towards the house.
     "Dad." Stiles mumbles, making Stilinski turn back to us.
     "Don't worry about it." He says.
     "Dad!" Stiles yells, I look at him, the hurt look on his face breaking my heart. Stilinski sighs.
     "It was decided that the son of a police chief stealing police property and having a restraining order filed against him by one of the town's most respected attorneys did not reflect well on the county." Stilinski explains.
     "They fired you." Stiles says flatly.
     "Nah. Look, it's - it's just a leave of absence. It's - it's temporary." Stilinski says, obviously trying to reassure Stiles and himself.
     "Did they say it was temporary or -" Stiles asks, cutting himself off.
     "Actually, no." Stilinski says, pausing and shaking his head.
     "You know, I - it's fine. Don't worry about it though. Hey. We're going to be fine." He turns and starts to walk towards the house again.
     "Dad." Stiles says, and Stilinski stops and turns to look at him. "I don't get it. Why - why aren't you angry at me?" He asks.
     "I don't know. Maybe I just don't want to feel any worse than I already do by having to yell at my son." Stilinski says, letting out a sigh before turning and finally walking into the house. I look at Stiles, frowning at the tears slipping out of his eyes.
     "Oh shit." He mutters under his breath, quickly wiping the tears away.
     "Stiles." I say softly. He ignores me and turns to walk to the driver's side of the Jeep. I stop him, grabbing his hand and making him look at me.
     "Can we just go, please." He asks, avoiding looking at me. I shake my head.
     "Stiles, it's not your fault." I say and he scoffs.
     "How is it not my fault Tori? I stole the police van, it was my idea and now my dad. Now my dad lost his job because of me." He snaps, more tears threatening to fall.
     "You were just trying to help, Stiles. It'll be okay, I know it will." I say, leaning in and wrapping my arms around him in a big hug. He freezes for a second before he wraps his arms around me. I feel him shake a little, his breathing heavy. We stand there for a few minutes before I step back and smile softly at him. "Let's go catch the kanima master."
***
The second the Jeep stops, I hop out and rush inside to give Stiles a chance to talk to Scott. He didn't say anything from the time we picked up Scott until we got here, so they definitely need to talk. I walk in, glancing around at all of the people, trying desperately to find Jackson. I wander around for a little while, not seeing anyone I recognize. I nod at Allison when I see her standing with Matt. She frowns and walks over to me.
     "What are you doing?" Scott snaps from right behind me. I jump and whirl around, glaring at him until I realize his focus is on Allison.
     "You told me to go out with him." She argues and I frown.
     "You did?" I ask incredulously.
     "No, not here. You don't get it. We have a plan." He says worriedly, completely ignoring me. Why is he freaking out so bad? Allison can help if she's here.
     "You have a plan? Okay, okay. My father and Gerard, they're coming here." She says, her eyes wide. My jaw drops.
     "Gerard and Chris planned a hunt and didn't say anything to me? Why the hell is your family ignoring me lately?" I rant, and Allison shakes her head as if it to tell me to drop it for now. It's not like I want to hunt Jackson, but knowing when the Argents were going on a hunt helped me to prepare my friends and try to save them. If I don't know what's happening, I can't help them.
    "What did you tell them?" Scott asks, betrayal on his face.
     "I- I told them-" Allison stutters. Oh god she didn't.
     "Allison please tell me you didn't." I beg, my eyes wide as I look at my best friend.
     "I-I had to tell them." She counters and Scott freezes.
     "Oh my God, they know it's Jackson." He says.
     "People are dying, Scott. What am I supposed to do?" Allison asks, nearly in tears as her hands shake.
     "You're supposed to trust me." Scott argues and I back up, wringing my hands together to keep myself from pacing. Holy shit. This isn't good, this is so bad.
     "I trust you more than anyone." Allison insists, her voice cracking.
     "We've - we had a plan." Scott mutters, clearly panicking.
     "So do they." She reassures him. That isn't reassuring. Gerard isn't the type of person whose plans should be followed.
     "This isn't going to work." Scott continues to panic.
     "What do you want me to do? Okay, I can - I can fix it. Please, please, Scott. Just tell me." Allison begs, grabbing onto his arm.
     "Just stay out of the way." He says, turning and trying to get away.
     "Scott!" Allison yells, trying to follow him.
     "Stay out of the way!" Scott yells before running away. She turns to me, tears in her eyes.
     "They have a plan, Tori." She says, sniffling.
     "I know Gerard, Allison. Chances are his plan ends with Jackson's head on a spike. We want to save Jackson." I say, shaking my head at her.
     "Tori, please." She says, but I back away.
     "I have to go try and protect people." I say before running away from her. I love her, she's my best friend. But I can't believe she's legitimately trusting her grandfather. I wander around the dance floor for a while longer until I notice Isaac, Erica and Jackson dancing together. I stay where I am, but keep an eye on them, dancing a little so that I can try to avoid suspicion. My eyes widen when I see Jackson walk away, Erica and Isaac both collapsing to the ground with pain on their faces. I rush over to them.
     "Take the needle." Isaac hisses out, nodding towards the needle thing on the ground.
     "What do I-" I ask and he cuts me off.
     "In a vein, Scott says the neck would be easiest. Pull back on the trigger." He says quickly. I nod and grab the needle, rushing towards Jackson. I jam the needle into his neck and pull back, immediately sticking my arms under his so that I can try to drag him away. I struggle for a second before Isaac is there to help. We drag him into a little room off the dance floor and prop him up in a chair, his eyes shut.
     "What do we do now?" I ask, and Isaac shakes his head, turning to Erica who just shrugs.
     "I have no clue." He says and I frown, pacing. I start to say something, but the door swings open and I jump towards the person.
     "Uh, no, no, no! Just me, it's just me. Don't freak." Stiles yells, holding his arms up in surrender. I sigh and step back. "He okay?" He asks, nodding towards Jackson.
     "Well, let's find out." Isaac says, whipping his claws out and walking towards Jackson. Without opening his eyes, Jackson reaches over and twists Isaac's arms, breaking it. Issac yells in pain and I wince.
     "Okay, no one does anything like that again, okay?" Stiles insists, waving his arms around. I nod in agreement.
     "I thought the ketamine was supposed to put him out." Isaac complains, holding onto his arm, and I shrug, focused on watching Jackson.
     "This is as good as we're going to get." I say.
     "Let's just hope that whoever's controlling him just decided to show up tonight." Stiles adds.
    "I'm here. I'm right here with you." Jackson says, his eyes shooting open. Well shit.
     "Jackson?" I ask. "Is that you?" I move closer to him, only stopping when I feel someone, I'm assuming Stiles, grab my hand.
     "Us. We're all here." Jackson says, his voice almost distorted.
     "Are you the one killing people?" Stiles asks, stepping forward, not letting go of my hand.
     "We are the ones killing murderers." Jackson hisses out.
     "So all of the people you've killed-" I trail off. "Deserved it." He insists. Well this is messed up.
    "See, we got a little rule book that says you only go after murderers." Stiles says calmly.
    "Anything can break if enough pressure's applied." Jackson replies, his voice really freaking me out.
     "All right, so the people you're killing are all murderers then?" Stiles asks, frowning.
     "All. Each. Every one." Jackson practically growls.
    "Who did they murder?" I ask.
    "Me." He replies. I look at Stiles, my eyebrows scrunched in confusion.
     "Wait, what? What do you mean?" Stiles asks, shaking his head.
     "They murdered me." Jackson says, his eyes changing. "They murdered me." I back away from him, pulling Stiles with me. My eyes widow hen I realize his claws are out.
     "Okay, all right. More ketamine. The man needs ketamine. Come on." Stiles insists, looking at Isaac expectantly. I wince and hold up the needle thing.
     "We don't have anymore." I say.
     "You used the whole bottle?" He groans, and I wince again. He wipes his hand over his face, then glances at Jackson. I frown when I see him start to move.
    "Um - okay, out, everybody out." He insists, shoving me towards the door.
     "Go, go, go." Isaac calls and we all rush out the door, slamming it shut behind us. We all lean up against the door, desperately trying to keep Jackson inside.
    "Okay, find something to move in front of the door." Stiles says, I start to move away from the door, but jump when the wall of the small room is broken by Jackson breaking through the wall.
    "Well that wasn't supposed to happen." I say, frowning at the huge whole in the wall. Stiles starts to rush away and I follow after him, rushing out the back door of the building. He grabs my hand and pulls me with him over the line of mountain ash.
     "Hey, um, so we kind of lost Jackson inside, but it's -" He starts to say to Derek, before glancing over and noticing that Erica and Isaac couldn't follow us. "Oh, my God. It's working. Oh, this is - I did something." I smile at the huge grin on his face.
     "Told you ya could." I say, bumping him gently.
     "Yeah, sure. And you-" Stiles starts, but is cut off by Derek.
     "Scott?" He says and I raise an eyebrow at him.
     "What is it?" I ask and his eyes widen.
     "Break it." He orders Stiles, a panicked look on his face.
    "What? No way." Stiles argues, shaking his head.
     "Scott's dying!" Derek yells, gesturing. Wait what.
     "Okay, what? How do you know that?" Stiles asks, concern immediately covering his face.
     "Oh, my God, Stiles, I just know! Break it!" Derek yells again, the panic clear on his face. Stiles huffs, but reaches down and swipes through the line of ash. Derek immediately runs and I try to follow him, but Stiles grabs my hand and stops me. I whirl around and frown at him.
     "It's Scott, Stiles." I say, but he just shakes his head.
     "If it's something that can kill a werewolf, you'd be in danger too. Just, let Derek handle this one. Plus if it's other hunters, they don't need to see you protecting a werewolf." He reminds me, and I huff, but nod in agreement.
     "I hate it when you're right." I mumble, adjusting our hands so that we're actually holding hands and he's not trying to keep me next to him. I try to focus on Stiles and the plan that went wrong, but all I can think is what happened to Scott?
***
Honestly, what's not wrong with Scott. By the way, I changed Tori's faceclaim. I just didn't see Ryan Newman as Tori anymore. She worked well for the flashbacks, which was the main reason I chose her. Anyway, the new faceclaim is Natalia Dyer, aka Nancy Wheeler from Stranger Things! I cannot wait until the next chapter. Things are going to get crazy and I feel like there's a lot more freedom with the next episode than with this episode when it comes to plot. Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed it! As always, comment and vote!

LydiaRoseMartin