A/N: The final part of the interlude. I hope you like the poster up above that I made based on this season for this storyline.

___________

After Argent's visit, Stiles found that he wasn't much in the mood to focus on his Desert Wolf mystery. He put the pendant he got from him in the drawer where he had the other ones and sighed. He needed a break. Something to clear his mind and help him relax. He let his eyes look out the window and saw that the sun would be setting in over an hour and it was supposed to be a clear sky tonight. Sounded like the perfect night to have a good old fashioned run into the woods. But he didn't feel like running through them alone. His first impulse was to call Scott and ask if he would like to come, but with everything going on between and around them, he thought maybe it might not be a good idea. Stiles knew that with how he was feeling, he would likely shift when he let loose out there and the memories of Scott looking away replayed in the back of his mind. He then thought of Malia but remembered that she and her dad were spending the day together. But there was another person now on his list. Someone who could probably use the run even more than he did. He dialed him up and heard him pick up the phone as answer with 'Stiles?'.

"Hey Liam, uh are you doing anything right now?"

Soon enough, he found himself pulling up to Liam's house and found the kid already ready and waiting outside his front door.

Before Stiles had called him, Liam had just been sitting in his room and trying to distract himself with homework, video games, anything to keep his mind from straying into thought. Because whenever he did, he began reliving when he was nearly burned to death or when he narrowly avoided get sprayed with bullets. The last two days straight were the most terrifying he ever lived in his life. He was so jumpy that he barely slept a wink the previous night as he was too hyper and tense. Mason had texted him to see if they could hang out since they hadn't seen each other since the bonfire. Liam had lied and texted back that he was busy. Liam was getting bummed out that he was lying to his best friend so much but what could he do? He was so worked up and agitated that he might end up hurting him. That was the last thing he wanted to do. Liam was starting to get scared that Mason might just end up ditching him, but, maybe that was for the best. That added to the mountain of things weighing on him. So when Stiles called to see if he would like to go to the woods, he practically jumped at it as his training usually got his mind off things.

"Hey, Stiles," Liam asked after a few minutes of just silently watching the passing things on the road. "You know the lacrosse rematch against Devenford coming up?"

"Yeah," Stiles droned out as he nodded. Of course he knew that.

Their last game against Devenford had ended prematurely, due to that whole mess with Garrett and Violet, and this one would be an actual game rather than a scrimmage.

Liam didn't turn to look directly at Stiles but at car radio. "Do you think it'll be okay for me to play this time?" Before, Scott and Stiles had told him not to play and he ignored them. Then he had gone and sent someone to have to get treated and was benched by Coach. Luckily, that person had been a werewolf and it hadn't truly been his fault. But, it could've been. "Or do you think I'll have to sit this one out? If you and Scott say no, I promise I'll listen."

Stiles tilted his head as he went to stop at a red light. "Really?" he said with a side smirk which clearly said he was doubtful.

"Stiles," Liam said softly.

Stiles looked over and saw the sheepish expression Liam was wearing. The kid was actually serious about this and Stiles sighed. "I don't know," he muttered. "You're still kind of new to all of this." Liam looked like a kicked puppy and Stiles rushed to yank his foot from his mouth as the light turned green and drove them off. "This isn't like the last time," he confidentially said. "Before you were kind of cocky and didn't know any better. Now, you're starting to take it seriously and you've found your anchor too. Maybe now it'll be okay for you to play." But Stiles looked over as he felt that Liam wasn't giving off any feelings of happiness or relief. He was still scared. "Are you worried because the game's the night before the full moon?"

"You do remember my last one, right?" he mumbled.

"With stunning detail," Stiles muttered as he made a turn.

"And how I was before it even happened," added Liam. "I don't want to do any of that again."

"Hey, it was your first one and you had only been a werewolf for a day. Of course it would suck and let me tell you something Liam, everyone's first full moon sucks. You actually got off pretty lucky. Scott and I had a few days on us before our first full moon."

His face fell. "Was it bad?"

"Bad would be an understatement," Stiles snorted as he recalled nearly attacking his dad and Scott getting shot in the woods. "But hopefully, after tonight, you'll feel a little bit better about the full moon coming up."

They made it to the preserve just as it became sunset. They got out of the car and started to step into the woods.

"So," Liam said after a minute of them walking in silence. "What are we going to be doing this time?"

"Yeah, about that." Stiles stopped and so did he. He looked at Liam for a moment and that started to make the kid nervous before Stiles suddenly broke into a run. "See if you can keep up!" he yelled back at him.

"Wait! Stiles!" Liam shouted before he took off after him.

Stiles went and let himself be lost in his run. Let the feel of the cool night air hit his skin and smell the surrounding trees and wildlife. He could hear the sounds of the crickets, nocturnal birds and animals starting to come out as the sky darkened. Sometimes, he would let himself fall onto all fours to give himself a small boost before he leapt up into the air. Every now and then, he looked back to see if Liam was still behind him and saw that the younger wolf was still running after him. He was a good thirty or so yards behind him but started to gain some ground after a bit. Stiles could feel the wolf in him howling to run faster as he enjoyed playing with another wolf. Stiles hadn't had fun like this since last summer. He couldn't contain the high emotions he was feeling and he let his wolf be brought to the surface and shifted to try and gain ground to not make too easy for Liam to keep up. But he could feel that Liam was not only keeping good pace, he was enjoying the thrill of not just trying to keep up but to want to catch him.

Stiles ran them quite deep into the woods until stopping in front of a small creek. He panted with a content smile on his face as Liam got to him and bent over to catch his own breath. When Liam lifted his head, Stiles saw that he had fully shifted too. Liam was staring straight at him and was looking right at him, a little confused.

Liam pointed towards Stiles' face. "Why'd you bring that out?" he said referring to his shift.

Stiles snorted. "I'm not the only one showing," he said pointing at Liam's own shifted face. Liam ran his hand along it and his golden eyes widened. Stiles' own blue eyes narrowed as Liam's surprise flowed through his nostrils. "You didn't shift on purpose, did you?"

Liam shook his head. "I didn't even feel it," he gasped.

He then took in deep breaths and seemed to be trying to focus in turning back but Stiles grabbed his hand. "Whoa, relax. Liam, there's no rush. It's just you and me out here. Let it stay out for a bit." He then looked over to the water. "Come on, let's take a break," Stiles muttered as he settled at the bank of the creek. He took off his shoes and socks and let his feet rest in the water. "I love this spot," he breathed out. He often came here whenever he got the chance. Stiles just got comfortable and was sitting there, still shifted as if it was a completely normal thing to do.

Liam was standing off to the side as his still glowing eyes were wide open. He was watching as Stiles just sat there, lounging by the water's edge in his shifted appearance, as comfortably as if he were lounging on the couch in his home. He then let his eyes roam over to where the near full moon's light was shining down and being reflected on the water's surface. The breeze started to pick up a bit and he found himself breathing it in, a small growl being heard as he did. "I guess it's cool," he muttered.

Stiles looked over. "Liam, it's okay. Just, sit and relax."

Liam's golden yellow eyes met with Stiles' sapphire blue ones and he found himself moving to lower himself down next to him. He sat and moved his legs into him as he sat in like a crutching position as he looked over at the water.

"Stiles?" he asked after a little bit.

"Yeah?" Stiles mumbled as he kept his eyes still out at the distance.

"I was wondering, how is this supposed to help me get ready for the full moon?" he asked a little timidly. "I mean, you said that tonight was supposed to make me feel better. So, I thought, you know, that you were going to train me to have control, like you and Scott did last time." During the full moon, while Liam had been half out of his mind, Scott and Stiles looked so perfectly calm the whole time. Then, at the lacrosse game, they were both playing as though they were normal. "How do you do it?"

Stiles slowly moved his gaze to him. "Someone once told us that an anchor would help keep yourself grounded during the full moon." Stiles left out the part about having an Alpha would also give someone control. He wasn't sure how exactly that situation between Scott and Liam was right now. He continued. "But, I found that focusing on an anchor doesn't always work, especially when something is happening around or to you." Stiles narrowed his eyes a bit in thought. "Then I found something to help me handle the full moon, almost easily. I've tried it out with Malia and it seems it might be working for her. I wonder if it might with you too."

"What is it?" he asked eagerly.

"Liam, how do you feel right now?"

"Huh?" he asked. "What do you mean?"

The older wolf pointed to him with a clawed finger. "I mean, right now, while you're shifted. How are you feeling?"

Liam narrowed his eyes as he silently contemplated it. He finally shrugged. "Uh...I don't know. Normal I guess."

Stiles grinned at him. "Well then, maybe it could go and work for you too."

"What?"

The next couple of minutes, Liam was told some of the most enlightening and bizarre things he had ever heard. Some of it, Liam understood, while some others he just nodded even though he didn't have the first clue of what it meant. After it was done, Liam just sat there and took in the scenery, letting his posture go a bit looser. He began to let himself lay down flat on his back as he stared at the moon and the night sky. He didn't realize that his face had slowly shifted back to normal as he let himself feel calmer than he had in days.

As Liam silently lounged next to him, Stiles took that time to think for himself, now that he had burned off some of the tension he had built up from today. He calmly began recalling his meeting with Argent and everything the man told him. Stiles didn't know if he actually believed him or not. Argent felt sincere when he told him that he didn't want to have anything happen to him. And there was the fact that he had trusted him with the only tangible reminder of his daughter. However, he knew that Argent was hiding something about the medallions. It was a moment but Stiles saw that his eyes lit up in recognition and had lied when he said he didn't know who had tried to kill him. And there was the fact that if he really didn't want anything to happen to Stiles, then why did he shoot at him back at the hospital? There were things to point to both putting some faith in the man and to keeping him away as usual. Before, his stance and relationship with Argent was simple and easy for him to understand but in the span of twenty minutes, it had become complicated. Stiles honestly didn't know what to think or do. He needed to talk to someone to help him find some sense in this. He couldn't go to Scott because he would automatically favor the man and he couldn't go to any of their friends because they might just side with him. Stiles couldn't go to his dad, because he hated Argent as much as he did and might not help him sort out his new feelings. He needed someone more neutral, who wouldn't just automatically swing for one way. Maybe Derek? The guy had a history with Argent but he was steadily starting to work with him; that might mean he could be neutral. Stiles couldn't really think of anyone else. He didn't know many other people, especially who understood what he was going through, but he stopped right there. He did know someone else now, thanks to Deadpool, ironically enough.

"Alright um, we should be getting back," Stiles said as he pulled his now wrinkling feet out of the water.

Liam went to brush some dirt stuck at the back of his pants. "What's up?"

"Nothing," Stiles said as he was pulling his socks back before getting his shoes back on. "I just want to pay a little visit to Satomi before it gets too late." Satomi had lived around here for years so she would know about Argent's history, and seemed to be a smart and collected person. She might be able to help him.

"Satomi? Wait, that's Brett's Alpha, right?"

Stiles nodded his head. "Yeah. I need to go talk to her."

"About what?"

Stiles shrugged. "Just stuff. You could come too, if you want. Her pack might be around and I think they would love to meet you."

Liam narrowed his eyes a bit. "Why?"

"Well, you saved them. You're the one that found the key and shut down the Deadpool. That's what got the assassins attacking them to tuck tail and run. Not just them but you helped save our lives too. You were a real hero last night Liam."

Liam ducked his head a bit at that and rubbed at the back of his head to stave off as he tried hard not to blush from the praise. He could pick out the proud tone in Stiles' voice as he called him a hero. Liam let himself drown in that before he re-lived the moments before he shut down the Deadpool, and then he started to stiffen up as there was a sudden twist in his stomach. "Actually, maybe it's not a good idea," he nearly coughed out.

"Why?" Stiles asked surprised.

"Uh well, Brett might be there," he huffed out. "And, he and I...the last time we really saw and spoke to each other was when he made me mad during the last game. I don't want to risk us ruining it for everyone."

"Well, if I see him, I could try talking to him for you," Stiles offered.

Even though Liam was using it for an excuse, he felt defensive. "No. It's okay. You don't need to do that. Brett is my problem. I can handle him," he said a little stubbornly.

Stiles saw that Liam was feeling a little extra strong about this. He guessed that there were still strong past issues to work through when it came to Brett Talbot. Even with all this new stuff thrown into their dynamic, what happened between them wasn't just going to change overnight. Stiles could completely relate. "Fine, well let me go and take you back home."

"Okay," he mumbled back.

They took to head back to the jeep, but this time, Liam found it wasn't as freeing as before.

___________

It was Saturday night and Talia flipping through some of the photos that had been taken at the wedding the day before. Ray and Janice were currently enjoying a small one day getaway before they came back tomorrow for the full moon. After that, they planned to go away for their official honeymoon. She was hoping to finish putting together a little scrap book before they went away. She was so consumed with what she was doing that she didn't hear anyone come up to her room until they knocked as they stood at the open door.

She pulled her eyes away and saw her daughter standing there. "Laura, sorry I was distracted. Are you getting ready to head back?"

Laura came in, closed the door and moved to sit at the foot of her mom's bed. "About that, I wanted to talk to you."

"What? Is something wrong?"

Laura quickly shook her head. "No, nothing's wrong. I just had an idea."

"What idea?"

"Well, I was thinking that I could leave tomorrow night instead."

Talia tilted her head a bit at her daughter. "You want to stay in town for the full moon? Honey, it's okay, you don't have to. You know you're okay."

"Yes, I am, but Derek isn't."

Talia narrowed her eyes angrily at that. "Well, Derek is grounded for his little stunt yesterday. Bailing on Ray and Janice like that and didn't even have the decency to say where he had gone. He is under strict house arrest. Derek's going to be spending all day today and tomorrow inside the house and for the next two weeks, he won't be allowed to leave except for school." She then went and let out a heated but tired sigh. "I just don't know what is coming over him lately."

"Well, Derek hasn't exactly had the best year mom," Laura said in her brother's defense.

"Yes I know Laura but Derek can't keep just using that as an excuse to keep acting like this. Going off on his own and pulling stupid and selfish stunts when he should more than know better. He has to understand that what has happened to him doesn't give him a pass on responsibility."

"Yeah but now he's not even talking when you're in the same room," she pointed out to her mom.

Talia shook her head. "If your brother wants to paint me as the enemy, that's on him. He has to remember that I'm both his mother and his Alpha. I have to look after, guide and protect him but doesn't always mean I'm a shoulder for him to cry on. Sometimes, that means putting my foot down and not be so nice."

"But maybe you don't have to be the enemy for this one mom," Laura softly said which made her mother still a bit. "I was thinking that it might be a good idea to give him a pass to let him leave the house and go to Senior Scribe tomorrow night."

Talia's face widened. "Laura, you know he can't go, even if he wasn't grounded."

"Because of the full moon and his lack of control," she cut in. "Yeah, I know. That's why I was thinking that I could go with him and watch him."

"Watch him?" Talia repeated.

"To make sure he doesn't lose it. It will just be for around an hour mom. I'll stay close to him, help him keep the shift in check and if I even get a hint of him slipping in control, I will knock him across the head and drag him back home by the scruff of his shirt if that's what it takes."

That almost made Talia laugh but she sobered up before it even got out. "Laura," she said gently. "What about you? If you do this then by the time you get back, you won't have any time to rest before you have to get to your first class on Monday morning."

Laura shrugged. "So I'll be little drowsy during English. I think it's a small price to pay. I remember how important Senior Scribe was to me. You only get one and Derek should get to start his senior year with it, just like all the rest. And who knows, maybe this way, it could go on and help in him actually start cutting you a little slack."

"Even if I said yes, Laura, why would you want to do that?"

She sighed. "Because...I can understand what Derek is going through. In the last year, his first girlfriend died in his arms, he's lost basketball and now he's going to have a hard time come admission time because of his tanked grade point average. It's starting to weigh on him. He's getting more and more detached from everyone. I guess that Derek doesn't believe that anyone is on his side anymore. I was feeling that same way when, Riley was found," she muttered as she looked away from her mother for a moment. "I want him to know that he can still count on us to be there for him."

Her mother sighed with a sad but touched smile on her face. She gave it some real thought for a moment. She trusted Laura and she knew that her oldest was more than reliable. She trusted her and knew that she would do whatever she had to in order to protect the pack and family. "Okay. If you're there, then I guess it'll be alright for him to go tomorrow." Talia moved to give Laura a tight hug. "You are a good daughter, and an even better sister. Derek and I don't deserve you," she said before breaking away. "Laura, you are going to make a wonderful Alpha one day."

"I just hope it's not anytime soon. I'm in no hurry," she said with a lazy shake of her head.

"Neither am I. Most that seek the status usually only are willing to only see the benefits and power that being an Alpha holds. It's a demanding position with hardship and sacrifices, not to be taken lightly at all. But, I will admit, it has quite its fair share of privileges to balance it all out, and they're better when you earn and deserve them."

"I hope I will."

"I know you will honey." Talia moved to Laura's forehead and gave it a soft kiss. "Speaking of, there is something I'd like to share with you. It's something I meant to give you when you graduated but I was so caught up in everything that had been happening over the last few months that I'd forgotten."

"What?"

Talia's face became unflinching as she caught her daughter's eye. "Our motto."

Laura narrowed her eyes in confusion. "Uh mom, I already know it." Their mother said it to them all the time. "We're predators but we don't have to be killers."

"That's only half of it. The half that you, your brother and sister need to know because you're still only kids. But you can't stay kids forever and it's a big and hard world out there, and things have gotten pretty tough here too. And when the time comes, I'll be telling Derek and Cora all of it themselves, but, you're no longer a child Laura and its high time you hear it in full."

And she told her.

___________

As the sun had set on Beacon Hills, a police cruiser pulled into an abandoned lot. From it stepped Jordan Parrish and he looked out at the spot where his life turned upside down. Where he had been burned alive in his squad car by Haigh. The car had been found and towed away and there was now nothing but a great big scorch mark as the only proof of what had happened. It had been less than a week but to Jordan it felt like it was so long since he had believed that his life was somewhat normal. His life was far from normal now, because he wasn't.

When he had been given the chance, he had gone online and tried to look up things that were immune to fire. Lists of things popped up from Efreets, Salamanders, Fire Kitsunes, Phoenixes and Demons. Many of those searches were linked to video games and monster movies. Before, he never really gave such concepts any kind of real thought. Now? Now, it was all he could think about considering it was his life, and he didn't even know what kind of thing he was. He wasn't like the Sheriff's boy and his friends. He was never bitten by anything during a full moon or had even seen anything out of the ordinary before he had even come to this town.

But why did he come to this town? The Sheriff told him that there was something here, a Nemeton he think he called it, that acted as a beacon and drew 'things' here. And Jordan had felt drawn here and despite how crazy all this was, he actually found himself feeling somewhat comfortable with all of it. Does that mean that he had been, something, all along? He didn't understand how this was even possible. No one in his family ever told him about any of this growing up so he couldn't have been born like this, could he? Unless, they never knew. After all, Lydia's family never knew that her grandmother was a banshee like she was.

And at that, a certain red tinged blonde came to mind. He had felt there was something about her from the moment they had first met. From what he could gather, she had been dropped into all of this by a near death experience like he had. But Lydia seemed so confident and comfortable with herself. Will he be that way too? He moved over and bent down to the scorch mark on the pavement. He could almost smell the gasoline again and see the flames surrounding himself as it was ignited. Flames that didn't burn him at all. For a second, a dim orange glow passed over his eyes.

___________

When Derek woke up on Sunday to surprisingly find that not only was Laura staying an extra day, she had helped convince her mother to go to Senior Scribe.

"Are you serious?" he asked in disbelief.

Talia nodded. "Yes. Laura is going to go with you and help watch over you in case anything happens during the full moon."

"I got to call everyone," he said excitedly.

"Derek!" Talia cut in before he could go off anywhere. "Did you forget that you're grounded? Me letting you go tonight doesn't change that which means no phone and no leaving the house today. You're only getting a break for going to your school thing and that's all. Laura's going to give you a ride and stick close to you to make sure that the full moon doesn't trigger your shift while you're there. And you're not going to linger. Laura will be bringing you back to the house before she starts driving back for Berkeley and its not a short drive so you can't take too long. Your sister is giving up the chance to settle back in at school and rest before classes tomorrow for you so I hope you appreciate what she's doing and not take advantage of it. Understand?"

Derek was kind of irked that he had to be 'babysat' but at least now he wasn't going to miss Scribe Night. He nodded. "I do." Derek then moved to head back to his room and threw himself into his bed. He smiled as he looked back at the ceiling. He wished he could at least call Kate and tell her the good news. Well, maybe he could catch her tomorrow morning when school started.

The day leading to that night was too slow and suspenseful for him. It dragged on as he desperately waited for it to be time to go and get out of the house. The arrival of the pack and his relatives somewhat made the time go faster.

Derek was at the top of the stairs, watching as Talia hugged her cousin Darla and then her husband James. Though Talia's cousin, Darla wasn't a werewolf herself but her husband James was. Talia hugged him tight, for he wasn't just any werewolf, but the very first one she had bitten and turned. Their three kids then filed into the house. The eldest and youngest were both boys, and human. However, their second child, their daughter, was a werewolf like her father and even though she was almost two years older than Cora, but like her, she hadn't come into her shift yet. When Talia motioned for Derek to say hello to his second and third cousins, he quickly muttered a 'Hey' and gave them a mild wave. Laura and Cora were a bit more accommodating. Ray and Janice arrived almost an hour after they had. Then Talia's two other betas, Craig and Stephanie, who worked as a cashier at the bowling alley and as a reporter for the town newspaper respectively. Craig had brought his human little brother with him, and he was excited to be starting at Beacon Hills High as a freshman this coming semester. Derek momentarily entertained him with what to expect when school started and he found that the day sped up slightly.

Before he knew it, he was looking out the window at the dark night sky as Laura's Camaro pulled into the school parking lot about a half hour before midnight and they could already make out two dozen seniors scattered around the front entrance.

"You feeling okay?" Laura asked him.

"I'm fine," he sighed out. "I'm not as helpless as mom likes to think I am."

Laura found a parking spot at the front and pulled the car in for a stop. "She's just trying to look out for you Derek. We all are, you know that right?"

He huffed out a bit through his nose. "Well, if mom stopped treating me like a baby, she could see I can take care of myself. I'm only over a year younger than you and she never acted like that with you."

"Well try not acting like one so much of the time and maybe she might," she lightly suggested. "Look, just keep calm and keep focused while we're here and maybe she'll start bending a little more for you. Okay?" Derek sighed heatedly as he glared in the opposite direction. Laura rolled her eyes. "Okay, go on." She watched her brother open the door and move off to join the crowd of seniors.

Derek then stepped out of the car and his eyes fell on two of his former teammates laughing off to the side and he ran over to them.

"Derek? I thought you weren't coming tonight?" one of them said as he caught sight of him.

"Things changed," he said as he gave him a high five.

His other friend looked over at the car Derek just came out of. "Cool, you got a car. A sweet ride at that."

But Derek shook his head. "No, it's my sister's. She's my ride for tonight."

They then watched as Laura stepped out of the driver's seat and moved to lean against the door.

"Talk about sweet rides," his first friend said as he ogled Laura. "I didn't think your hot sister would be here too. This night just got better."

"Hey," Derek said with a bit of a growl. Suddenly he saw his friend trying to do things with his sister and he found that he didn't like it, one bit.

His friend quickly held his hands up. "Dude, relax. I was just joking," he defended quickly. "Kind of."

"Derek," he heard his sister say lightly from where she was with his hyper hearing. "Calm down. You've barely been here a minute. Settle down bro and ignore him. Your friend is just being stupid. And very delusional," she added amusingly.

Derek let out a deep breath and started to mentally chant 'Alpha, Beta, Omega' over and over in his head. After a few seconds, he was still kind of buzzed but in control. He went and found some more of his classmates and tried to keep himself distracted by hearing out about everyone's summer and what they were looking forward to this year. Laura kept herself off to the side but was still close enough to move in if she had to. So far, it seemed like everything was going fine. Soon enough, it was midnight and it was time to start the Scribe. Everyone calmly filed into the library and headed for the shelves. One by one, they all took a marker and went and inscribed their initials at the flat sides of the shelves. Derek was behind his two friends as they went and put their own initials in. When it got to be Derek's turn, he went to look at all little scribbles all around. He found that he didn't want to be another scribble. He wanted to be noticeable for seniors down the line. He went and put a bigger than necessary D before putting an H just as big next to it. He smiled to himself as he found it to be just perfect. After he was done, he saw that his two friends were talking with some of the others that were already finished and he decided to look for Laura. He quickly found her in the aisle behind him and went over to her.

"Hey, I'm done," he said to her.

She didn't look up at him though. Her eyes were on the shelf and Derek saw that there were initials all over there too, but she was focused on a LH that was written there. Derek tapped her on the shoulder and she looked over and noticed the marker in his hand. She saw that there was actually some space next to her name as it was surrounded by other initials and got an idea. "Can I have this?" she said yanking the pen from him.

"Sure," he shrugged as she already uncapped it.

She went and scribbled in a R and an A right next to her own initials. After it happened, Laura found herself closing herself off. She hadn't been on one date for a good bit of her junior year or entire senior year. In the couple of weeks since she left to go to school, she had been asked out by three different guys and she turned them down without batting an eye. Her uncle had gone on and reminded her of why that was. Riley. His death had hurt her. So much that she tried to not think of him. But, seeing how Derek is getting, and the talk with her mother last night, she sees that isn't fair. Not to her and especially to Riley. Riley had left his mark, figuratively and now literally, and would always be with her, but she had to move on. "Goodbye," she muttered as she gazed at their joined initials. She then checked the time and saw it was already 12:45 and cleared her throat. "Alright, did you scribe yourself in yet?" she asked him.

He nodded as he pretended to not notice her being a stone throw away from crying a second ago. "Yeah, just did."

"Okay, then we better head back. You've been out long enough."

Derek waved bye to his friends before he followed after his sister to her car.

"Hey Laura," he said before they got in. She stopped to look at him. "Thanks."

She smiled. "Just doing what any older sibling would do. And Derek." His eyebrows rose as he stopped in the middle of opening his door. "Mom's only doing what any mom would do, you know that, right? Do you think you could lay off her a bit? She didn't have to let you come out here tonight, not with how you've been treating everyone. She cut you some slack tonight, try to return the favor, huh?"

Derek's jaw tightened a bit as he pushed down the hard rush of bitter feelings that swelled up in him. "I guess," He sighed out heavily.

Laura saw that he was getting riled up again and thought there was a good stopping point. Best to get him back home now. They started to drive back to the house, the windows slightly down to let the summer breeze fan at their faces to help in grounding them, especially Derek and he kept calm.

However, that changed when they finally reached their home. Or, what was left of it.

___________

In the cells of the Sheriff's station, Richard Baxter was sitting with his back to the wall as he lightly tapped his fingers at his knees to pass the time. After the failed hunt at that lake house, he and the men he had brought with him were taken away when Sheriff Stilinski had come to the property with a squad of his deputies as Agent McCall handed them over. Right now, he was alone. Most of the men had to be taken to Beacon Hills Memorial's secure wing to be treated and the others were being questioned right now.

His mind was so lost in the events of the previous day that he didn't notice someone approaching until they stepped over to stand directly in front of his cell.

"Rich, long time no see."

Richard looked up and caught the face of his old trainer and friend, Christopher Argent. "Chris," he gasped as he got up to his feet. He gave the man a good hard look. "It's really you. What are you doing here?" Last he heard, there was an official warrant out for his arrest.

Chris shrugged. "Don't worry Rich, no one saw me. And I heard what happened so I had to see you," he mumbled before he looked over at his friend with narrowed eyes.

"You could've just waited until I was out. It shouldn't be that long after my contact arrives. You know the one."

Chris nodded. He did, since it was his as well. "He's not coming Rich. I contacted him and told him to stay away."

"Chris?" His old friend sounded pissed. "Why the hell would you do that?" he spat out in shock and anger. Chris didn't answer him. He just dug into his pocket and then tossed him something. Richard caught it to see that it was his medallion. "I thought I lost this. Where'd you get it?"

"From the one that took it from you," he answered.

Richard's jaw tightened up. "Stilinski." He then gripped it hard.

"What were you thinking Rich?" hissed Chris.

Richard blinked. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb," he said sternly at him. "Like I said, I heard about what happened. The assault you led at that lake house. Against three kids and one's human father. And I know that you're connected to that attack at my depot because I was there when your partners stormed in like it was a shooting gallery."

Richard gaze turned into a glare. "So, the rumors were true. You know, I didn't believe them. I refused to believe them and even defended you. Fellow hunters laughed and mocked you. Said that you went and made yourself the guard dog to a bunch of young mutts but I stood up for you to all of them. I knew that there was no way that Chris Argent would ever go and actually go and defend vicious creatures instead of putting them down. Shows what I know," he spat out.

"Which has never been a lot Rich," Chris said back. "How you've fallen from what you actually were. A man who was brought into a well-respected family and given a honored title of a hunter. Now, you're just a common low-down mercenary."

"Don't patronize me Chris," Richard spat as he pointed harshly at him. "You're not my superior anymore. You gave that up when you sent us all away after that whole thing with your father. Seems its your family that's fallen and not me." His glare softened into a smirk. "Which brings us to why you're really back here in this crap of a town. Or rather who you're here for."

Chris stiffened up. "I came here to stop her."

"Then why didn't you take care of her when she was at the hospital two weeks ago?" Chris' jaw tightened at that. "Yeah, I know about that. What happened Chris? You off your game? Because that's the only way that Kate could've gotten away from you that night unless you chose to let her go." Chris' nostrils flared but Richard held his hands up. "Hey, I understand. She's your sister. Your family. I can see why you would look the other way. It's not exactly the first time you've done that for Kate. We all did that, over seven years ago. That doesn't mean it was wrong."

"It was," Chris quickly bit out. "That was...wrong. Just as it was wrong of you to attack those kids and try to kill Stilinski last night."

Richard then moved to put his face at the bars as he looked at him and he lowered his voice a bit. "Don't give me that. You sure didn't say that back then. And you sure didn't say that when you went to bring Stilinski in for some of Gerard's 'special' attention. What changed Chris? Your daughter?"  

Chris pointed his finger at him. "Don't Rich," he hissed in warning.

But he didn't stop. "Because she decided to live some romantic fantasy with some mongrel. Is that why you're doing this? Why you're even trying to scold me about Stilinski, because your girl had decided to throw herself to that wolf Scott McCall?"

"Shut up Rich," Chris said as he went closer to him. "I'm warning you."

"I'm trying to be your friend Chris. And as your friend, I should've been there for you. Seven years ago, we failed to get that woman away from that beta before she married him but I know that we could've saved Allison. And while you couldn't save her, we can damn well avenge her. You want to leave her precious loverboy alive, fine. But that shouldn't extend to that damn friend of his. It's him that took her away from you. It must hurt that you have to stomach him being alive but you have to hold back on some foolish debt you have for McCall. If you can't handle it fine, but I can. Let me do this for you, not just as your friend, but your brother. You looked the other way for your sister. You can do that now, for me. For you. For Allison."

Chris' gaze dropped down for a moment as he took a deep breath. "You know, you're right Rich. We are friends." Richard smiled as it looked like Chris would help him after all. He then looked up at him. "And I did teach you everything you know about being a hunter. You were just like the little brother I never had." His eyes fell into a glare. "But you violated the code, which I taught you as well. I wouldn't be a good friend, brother or hunter if I let you get away with it."

"Chris," Richard growled.

But Chris reached through the bars and pushed his friend away. "It's the law and you've dishonored it, the heritage and yourself. You now have to answer for it Rich." Chris then started to leave.

Richard ran to grip the cells so tightly that his knuckles went white. "Hold it Chris," Richard grumbled, making him freeze before he could leave but he didn't turn back. "Don't think that by pulling some high and mighty act that you are somehow better than me. You're not fooling me...or are you trying to fool yourself? After all, don't forget that you're the one who always threw the first stone whenever we found a so-called innocent. You taught me the code, yes, but you also taught me about 'innocents' too. What was it again?" Chris didn't say anything. "Say it Chris," Richard puffed out.

Chris was silent for a moment before he let a heated breath out through his nose. "They're only innocent until they're not. Better to make them not sooner rather than later, for everyone's and especially their own good."

"And you did more good for them than any of us. You always made the first shot and made sure we followed your lead. With stray and isolated werewolves we found, or other creatures like that Avian we helped Gerard put down around here a while back. Yet you stand there and say that I dishonored the heritage and have to answer for it? That's the pot calling the kettle black. Wouldn't you say?"

Chris didn't know how long he stood there, staring at nothing before finally turning to look back at Richard. "I say that I already have started to answer for it." He then turned to look away from him. "And will keep answering for it, for the rest of my life." He then left without another word.

___________

At around 11 o'clock, Laura and Derek had started to move out the front door. Talia moved to hug Laura goodbye and wished her to be safe and watchful and she assured her that she would be. She then stood to look at Derek and waited for what he would do. He mumbled a barely audible 'Whatever' to her before he hurriedly threw himself out the door. Laura threw her a soft smile before she followed after him. Talia then stood outside the door to watch them and gave them one last wave before the car started up and they drove off. Talia sighed to herself as she made her way back into the house. She moved to start making some Reshi tea both to calm her nerves and settle anyone else's that might need it tonight. She decided to have some right now but, before she could take her first sip, she heard shouting coming from upstairs. She put her mug down and made her way upstairs. She caught sight of Cora running into her room as Darla's youngest son was laughing as he was being chased by her.

"Give it back!" Cora cried after him.

Talia couldn't make out what was in the boy's hand but he went and threw it out Cora's window. Cora cried out before she stuck her head out and looked like she was going to fly out to go after it.

"Cora!" Talia ran over and pulled her back inside before closing the window. "What is the matter with you?!"

Cora pointed to her third cousin. "He took the bouquet I caught and was trying to mess it up."

But her cousin pointed back at her. "She wouldn't let me watch the movie with her."

Talia noticed the open laptop on Cora's bed that was paused.

"I didn't let him watch because it's a horror movie. It's too scary for him." Cora was glaring at her cousin. "Then he went and grabbed the bouquet I caught at the wedding and started pulling it apart."

Talia looked out and saw no sign of it on the ground. She guessed it flew off and went into the trees. "That's not worth jumping out of the window for," Talia scolded her.

"Mom, can I go get it?" Cora asked disregarding her words.

"No," she told her. "You're grounded for the rest of the night for trying to do something so stupid."

"But mom," she started.

"I said no Cora," Talia cut in. "Don't worry. It won't be going anywhere. You can get it in the morning."

"Talia," she heard her brother call after her and she moved back downstairs. "Can I see you for a minute?"

She huffed before she looked over her shoulder. "Alright, I'll be right down!" she cried out to him. She then turned to her daughter. "I want you to stay in your room for the rest of the night. You can stay up for another half hour but then I want you to get some sleep. No more trouble, okay?"

Cora nodded before her mom took their little cousin out of the room and closed the door behind her. Cora continued her movie but wasn't watching it like before. She let herself move over to her window. She didn't want to wait until morning. She liked having that bouquet with her ever since she caught it. Cora went and unpaused the movie before turning the volume up high. She then opened the window and moved to grab the nearby gutter pipe at the side of it. Her mother didn't know that she had already learned how to slide down it like a pole. She stopped about seven feet from the ground before she let go and landed on her feet. She then moved to start looking into the brush. She was so into looking for it that she didn't notice the people approaching the house.

Talia told the little boy to stay in his guest room and get to bed as he was already supposed to sleeping and if he didn't then she would tell his parents. He ran off and she started going downstairs and walked about until she found her brother in the living room. He was sitting in one of the armchairs, tapping absently on the arms with his fingers as he waited. "Peter? What is it?"

"I need to talk to you." He gestured to the armchair in front of him. "You may want to sit down for this."

She moved over to him but didn't sit down. "What is it Peter?" she asked sounding a bit annoyed as she was feeling irritated enough by the full moon and Derek's leaving attitude. "I have to go back to the cellar and check on everyone."

"Yeah, but you're going to want to hear this. Well, actually you won't 'want' to but it's something you should know. It's about Derek."

Talia moved to sit down. "What about Derek?"

"I found what he's been up to. And why's he's been so secretive and aloof this whole summer."

Talia could see that Peter actually looked and sounded serious. The most serious that she could remember him being in the longest time. "What?"

"He's been sneaking off to see someone. A woman. From the look of it, this has been going on for a while."

"Derek has a new girlfriend?"

Peter shook his head. "No, not a girl. A woman," he stressed. "And they seem to be getting to know each other very well."

Talia's face widened. "How do you know?"

"The wedding. I noticed that Derek had taken off and I snuck off to track him down. I managed to follow his scent and tracked him down to an apartment building. He went to be with a woman named Kate."

"Kate?" she gasped. Talia knew a Kate. "Did you find out her last name?"

He nodded. "I did some digging. It's Argent. Kate Argent. Chris Argent's younger sister and Gerard's daughter." He paused for a moment to let those facts sink into his sister before he gladly continued. "Turns out that she had been serving as a T.A. at the high school and had started during the close of spring and has been there all summer. I'm guessing that's how Derek first met her. And, I bet that's how the Argent knew of the wedding, even though we've been trying to keep a low profile. His sister had seduced it out of Derek for him."

Talia was livid. The Argents had taken to taking advantage of children now? Derek had been heartbroken and vulnerable after losing Paige and they had gone on to pimp one of their own to seduce him for information?! And Chris had made a point to menace Janice about getting married to a werewolf when his sister was banging her underage son for intel!?! She got to her feet, grabbed the armchair she was sitting on and flung it across the room where it made a large dent in the wall on impact.

It was so strong and sudden that even Peter was thrown back in shock. He could see that Derek would be getting quite an earful when he got back home. Not only that, but it looked like Talia was finally done playing nice. He'd been waiting for the right time to spring this on after he'd learned about it. He decided that, here, right now, during the full moon when Derek was out of the house with his sister would be the best time to have the maximum effect. Talia would have time to build her fury in anticipation for Derek coming back while he could stem the fire. But, it looks like he wouldn't have to work as hard as he thought. It seemed that Talia was finally through with taking the hunters' presence with stride. It looked like there would be some real hell to pay and that was all fine with him. There was then a hard howl heard from down below. Peter recognized it as Ray's. He guessed the rest of the pack had been listening in. That only made it better. It looked like everyone would be clued in soon enough and not likely to be so hesitant to try and do things his way, including his sister.

"Go and make sure that Ray is okay," Talia told him in a low and authoritarian tone of voice.

Peter quickly got up from his chair. "I'm on it." He then moved to get back to the cellar.

Talia then went and sighed to herself. She couldn't believe that this was actually happening. But, she knew this finally explained everything about what had been going on with her son. The first chance she got she would seek the Argents and let them know that they finally got the war they wanted, and she would give them one to remember, if what was left of them had the ability to remember anything. She couldn't help but think it poetic that after she shared their full code with her daughter that she would now call to enforce it on behalf of her son the day right after.

But she narrowed her eyes when she went and picked up the smell of gasoline. She took a deep sniff of the air and found that that she couldn't pick up the direction that it was coming from. It seemed to be all around. She went to the kitchen, hoping it was a minor leak from a pipe but found that the smell wasn't coming from there. She looked out the window to suddenly jump back when she saw giant flames bursting up out of nowhere. Talia moved to the back door to try and get to the fire but found that it was repelling her. As if there was some kind of invisible wall keeping her from passing. She only knew of one thing that could do this. Mountain Ash. Talia gasped as she realized that someone had sealed them all in the house. She then backed away when smoke started to spill in from the other side and the door burst into flames. She had to get one of the others to break this barrier, and fast, before the whole house went up. Talia heard the screams from the pack below and quickly moved to head for the cellar but there was a crash from a window and a Molotov flew in and impacted just in front of the door, blocking her with a wall of fire. She tried to move to the front door but it repelled her just the same and she could see smoke and flames from the windows on this side of the house. It wasn't just mountain ash that was surrounding them, it was fire as well. There were trapped. Talia's eyes flew to the staircase and remembered that Cora and a few of the kids were upstairs. She got to the second floor landing when hard screaming started getting closer. She looked and saw James and Darla's eldest son thrashing about as his arm was caught on fire. He was thrashing too wildly to see where he was going and Talia tried calling for him but he was too blinded from the pain that he couldn't stop thrashing and ran right through the overhead banister, crashing through it and falling face first to the ground. Talia let out a horrified cry as she heard the sickening thud and could see the motionless body of the boy that was now burning and leaking blood. Talia wailed out as the flames started to spread around her before she heard cracking sounds and screaming coming through the closed door of Cora's room. Her red eyes flashed as she moved and tackled the door in, breaking it down.

"Cora!" she cried out before letting off a cough from inhaling smoke. But her eyes widened as there was no sign of her daughter anywhere in the room. The noise in her room was all coming from the horror movie still playing on the laptop on her bed. Talia then saw that her window was opened again. She moved to stick her head out slightly and found she could only barely stick half her head outside. The mountain ash that had been spread was keeping her from moving any farther. "Cora!" she screamed again.

"Mom!"

Talia's eyes widened when she saw her daughter outside. She was just in the tree line and she could make out a bouquet in her arms. She realized that Cora must've climbed out her window to fetch it. Any other time, Talia would be mad but right now she was ever so grateful that her daughter disobeyed her. Cora was crying as she stared up at her and Talia's clawed hands gripped into the wall tightly.

"Cora, run!" she shouted.

But that was all she could let out before the ceiling above her collapsed and blocked her from the windows view. Cora cried out in horror and she ran into the trees. Talia found everything was fading as the weight of the burning rubble on her took its toll and her last conscious thought was that at least all three of her children were still safe.

Peter had headed down to the basement cellar to find that Ray was viscously tugging on the chains restraining him. He was fully shifted and he was growling through his fanged teeth. No doubt he had eavesdropped and heard what was said upstairs. As he saw him, Peter knew he didn't want to be the Argents or Derek right about now. Janice was in front of him, whispering words of comfort but he was still fighting against the chains. Peter went and pushed him hard against the wall where the back of his head slammed against it.

"Peter!" Janice cried at him.

"Relax," Peter mumbled nonchalantly at him. "Look, he's fine." He pointed over at him and they saw that Ray was breathing a little more calmly than before and his expression was a bit settled though there was still great anger in his eyes.

Peter looked over to Talia's other betas to see that Stephanie was actually sleeping while Craig's eyes were glowing somewhat but his little brother was sitting next to him, holding his hand as they were talking about something meaningless. They both seemed to be withstanding the moon just fine.

But Craig's head snapped up. "Hey, does anyone else smell that?" he asked as he sniffed the air.

"Smell what?" asked his brother.

Peter took a hard whiff of the air himself. "Yeah, that smells like...gasoline."

All of a sudden, there was a great big fire seen right outside one of the cellars windows. Quickly, everything went crazy. Janice and Craig's brother moved to unshackle the chains from the betas while Peter moved to run out of the cellar. However, before he could make it to the door, he heard the sound of glass breaking right before a fire leaked out from under it. The sudden flames made Peter fall back in surprise, tumbling backwards down the stairs. He had hit his head and was barely able to make out the sounds of shouting and moving people around him. When he healed enough to get back his focus, he sat up to find that the flames were surrounding them. 

He looked over and saw that everyone was shouting and crowding around the window, pushing at the bars to try and get out. Peter despaired as he knew that wouldn't work. This place had been built with the purpose to make sure that their kind didn't get out especially on a full moon. It was supposed to be for safety but Peter couldn't help but find the irony that it was what was going to be their undoing.

But then, he remembered that there was an escape route built in case of emergencies. He moved over and saw that the switch to open it was covered in some rubble. He went and quickly through the rubble over and found the switch. He hit it and there was an audible click where the wall next to him flew back to reveal a small door.

"Everyone!" he cried out.

Just as they all turned to look at him, there was a loud bang and an overhead pipe burst. It was a gas pipe and it ignited with the surrounding flames and the last thing any of them saw was a bright flash. The explosion caught them all but Peter had been standing by the exit when the force and flames pushed him into the somewhat reinforced passage, with the flames dancing on his skin. As he lay there, burning, he couldn't help but think that this couldn't be a coincidence. He knew who was responsible for this. His sister, though now ready to act, was too late. The hunters had made their first strike, and they had made it so they couldn't strike back. But he would. He swore he would, with everything he could as he tried to endure the pain of the flames.

At around 11:30, a handful of people were starting to make their way to the house. Canisters of gasoline in their hands. The one at the forefront, was Kate Argent. She smiled as she looked at the building. The Hale House, she was a beautiful sight under the light from the full moon. There were no street lights or any man-made structures around it save for some transformers that provided electricity. It was a great home within nature. As Kate and her cohorts walked up to it, she thought it was ironic given that the ones inside were the opposite of natural.

When Kate had learned from Derek about this gathering, she wasted no time after he decided to head off. She was about to tell Chris the news but he had called her and told them that they had to lie low due to some trouble with the police as they had spotted their man Richard sneaking around the wedding. The local police would be on the lookout for him and their vans. Kate then decided that she had to take this into her own hands. She wouldn't be the one to disappoint their father again. There would never be a better opportunity than this, especially considering that everyone, including a now grounded Derek, would be all in one place, out of the way of witnesses. But Kate knew she had to find a way to make this look like an accident so had decided to offer the school's Chemistry teacher, Adrian Harris, a chance to hang out together at the local bar. One look at her and he had quickly taken the offer, no doubt hoping he might get lucky. Kate had noticed a while ago that the man was more depressed and gullible than many of the teenagers that he seemed to despise teaching. After a few drinks, and playing as if he was the most interesting man in the world, he was wrapped around her finger and told her of ways that this plan could work. Afterwards, she found some local low rent thugs and went to them with an offer of a job. She paid them well to do the job, and to not ask questions.

"Wait here until I give you the signal," she ordered at them.

She then grabbed her own separate canister that wasn't filled with gasoline, but mountain ash. She knew that there was a strong chance that they would pick up the smell of the gasoline as soon as it left those cans. She had to seal the place up first. She got to the front door and went to pour a line in front of it. She then moved to spread it along the perimeter of the house and got back to where she started. As soon as she was done, she went and called for the others to come on over and get started. They began to pour the gas at all the places where Kate had told them to, that she learned from Harris, and then went to ignite it when they were done. One of them even went and made a Molotov cocktail and threw into the nearest window which quickly made a wall of flames to block the inside from its view. They all quickly ran for it but not Kate. She moved to linger back and watch as the house started to get encased in flames. 

Kate thought that the flames actually made the house look even more beautiful than it was before. She started to hear scared and the pain induced screams from the humans mixed with hard growls of the wolves as they all burned inside. Kate closed her eyes and threw her head back as the sounds felt as soothing as a symphony to her. They were all suffering and burning, like the animals they all were. As for the humans in there, she admitted that it was sad for them, but they brought it on themselves to associate with mutts like them. They kept growing louder and louder, until they stopped, one by one. Finally, tonight, she accomplished what her father and brother couldn't in over a year. She finally got rid of the Beacon Hills pack. It wasn't long before the sounds of firetruck horns and police sirens were heard closing in. She went and slipped away as the firemen started to get to work trying to douse the flames. So she wasn't around to see the Camaro pull in and the two very alive young wolves step out and look at the burning house with tears and anguish in their cries as they were held back by some police. They could only watch as the firefighters moved to put out the fire and go into the house to try and find any survivors. They broke in through the windows, unknowingly breaking the mountain ash line, but found no one alive save for Derek and Laura's burnt and half dead uncle Peter.

And none of them knew about the little girl in the woods. Cora kept running, just like her mother cried out to her and didn't stop running. She finally stopped when she just ran out of breath. She didn't know how far she had run but she could looked back to see some smoke visible in the sky behind her. Her eyes were sparkling from the tears that were falling down her cheeks but, slowly, a faint golden like glow began to shine on through.

Off to the side, there were another set of eyes watching her, from a coyote. It was curious why this person seemed to smell like they were a wolf. It kept watching this girl before she decided to run off. The coyote looked at the direction she ran from and smelled the faint tint of smoke and something burning. It found that it didn't like the smell and decided that it would be best to head back to its den.

___________

Kate was off in her secluded space in the sewer system as her Berserkers were nearby, on guard. Though she didn't have to worry about being pursued by assassins anymore, she was still being hunted. She knew that both her brother, along with the Calaveras were still looking for her. Then there was Derek Hale and all of his teenage friends. They had been distracted by the Deadpool but now would be free to focus and be on the lookout for her so she had to remain in hiding for a bit longer. However, she still was keeping an eye on the situation. She managed to learn that her old friend Richard Baxter had been arrested. It turned out that he, and some mercenaries he hooked up with, had been captured at a botched holdup in a lake house, or that was the official story. Kate knew that he had been trying to hunt down the shifters that were there, specifically Stiles Stilinski.

Kate grit her teeth at the thought of him. Stiles, whose name wasn't even Stiles but was called that because his real name was too hard to even pronounce. That was only half as annoying as the kid himself. It was thanks to him that her name was now in the dumps. He had gone on and completely humiliated her, post-mortem. She might not really be dead but she was still pissed at the thought. He had spun the story of her burning the Hale House and seducing the young Derek Hale all for the purpose of trying to be some kind of trampy henchwoman. Not to mention that he pinned the other murders on her and claimed she had done it because she was greedy. She had done everything in doing her sworn duty as both a hunter and an Argent. But some kid went and had made her to be no better than those fool assassins that had flocked here for the Deadpool. Her name had been smeared forever and she would make him suffer and pay for that. And especially for the death of Allison.

Not just Stiles, but on Scott as well. Him and his adorable puppy dog look and beady brown eyes had ruined her niece. Allison had so much potential. She had reminded Kate of herself. A strong and unflinching hunter that could've gone on and replaced Gerard as the head of the family in only a few years and that mongrel came and turned her into a helpless, lovestruck schoolgirl. He was as much to blame for her death as his savage friend. Thanks to their so-called love, Allison became cannon fodder and her father, Kate's brother, was now a shell of the man he used to be to even avenge her.

But she will. She will take her revenge on both Stiles Stilinski and Scott McCall. And if all went according to Peter's plan, she would have it soon.

___________

Noah Stilinski was sitting at his desk with Laura Hale sitting directly in front of him. The girl was staring off while he filled out his report. He could see that the girl was hiding something from him. Something about all of this didn't add up to him. The insurance investigator, Garrison Meyers, he had sent him his report and his analysis reported that it was arson. Just a random destructive act, but Noah wasn't buying that. Around a week before the fire, he gets a report about a public harassment before one of the woman, Laura's mother Talia, comes to him and requests for some a police presence during the other woman's wedding. Then they nearly catch someone sneaking around before he gets away with help. Then, a few days later, the two just happen to be in the same house that is caught ablaze. This couldn't just be a random act of arson gone wrong. One is an accident, two is a coincidence, but three is a pattern. Something was telling him that someone had wanted to deliberately harm, and even kill these people. And he had a feeling that Laura, and her brother Derek, might just know who these people are. But they either weren't saying anything or deflecting. He guessed they might be scared. He didn't blame them. They were only just kids. If someone had done this to their friends and family then they would be scared, but it meant that whoever did this would be getting away with it.

"Can I be excused for a moment Sheriff?" Laura asked suddenly. "I...just need to use the bathroom real quick."

Noah's gaze softened and he nodded. "Of course," he said with full understanding.

Laura nodded in appreciation before getting up and heading into the woman's bathroom. Once there, she quickly went to grip the sink with both hands as she breathed heavily over it. She then went and splashed some water on her as she took slow and deeper breaths. Slowly, she lifted her head up and looked into the mirror to find that her eyes were glowing but they weren't her usual beta gold. They were red, bright Alpha red. She noticed it the morning right after the fire. Now that her mother...died, the power and status moved down to her second, herself. She had showed Derek and it made him cry as it seemed to make everything 'official'. Their Alpha, their mother was gone.

The stress was starting to get to her. Derek had completely shut himself off which left Laura to have to handle everything herself. She had to settle all the arrangements in the hospital for their uncle, the only survivor of the fire, if he could even be called that. His body was badly burned as was half his face. He suffered both external and internal damage in the fire and it was so severe that if it weren't for his healing, he wouldn't even be alive. But Peter had been rendered comatose and no one knew when he would ever wake up, if he ever did. Their kind hardly went into states like this and she had heard stories of it not being pleasant. Some part of her thought it might've been more merciful if he had just died. Then there was the fact that she had to answer the Sheriff's questions about how the fire could've started. The Sheriff also was asking about the trouble at Ray and Janice's wedding and the harassment incident. Laura was genuinely surprised at how close the man came to finding a connection but could sense the high concern and sense of duty he was giving off as he tried to gather the facts. She saw that the man didn't believe that this was just a freak tragic accident but couldn't necessarily tell him that this fire was the work of hunters who had wanted to kill them for the longest time and seemed to have finally acted and succeeded. Laura had seen the traces of mountain ash around the house and knew that was why everyone couldn't escape the house. Only hunters could've done that but she couldn't have the police get more involved so she just answered his questions with vague facts or simply that she had no idea.

But the stress was starting to catch up with her. Laura found that keeping her control was harder than it was before but she pushed through and then watched as the red tinge began to dim from her eyes until they were back to normal. She then left the bathroom and headed back into the office area but stopped short. She found that the Sheriff was off at one of the desks, speaking to a little boy. Not just any little boy, but one of the ones she had met with Cora a few weeks before she left for school. The ones that she thought would be great to turn and have in her pack one day. Stiles, his name was. That wasn't one she would forget any time soon, well one anyone could really forget.

This was a real coincidence. A few days ago, back at the hospital after she had visited her uncle, she had moved to leave when she had seen the other boy from that day sitting in the waiting area, Scott. She felt that he was having a bit of mild frustration and had gone over to speak with him and found that he was there doing his homework. She started to talk to him and learned that his last name was McCall and he was there working on his homework while he waited for his mom to finish her shift. She was one of the hospital's rookie nurses who had the afternoon shift. He had seemed a little bored with working and quickly asked what she was doing in the hospital. When she told him that her uncle was seriously hurt, his big brown eyes lit up and he said that he hoped his mom could help him for her. She felt his genuine concern and empathy for her and her family and she thanked him for his concern. He had pointed his mom out to him and Laura could sense that she seemed to be a gentle and affectionate woman. She could understand how Scott had gotten that compassionate and tender demeanor that caught her eye that day. She then went and started to help him with some of his homework for about a half hour before she left. Her mood had gone up slightly after all that.

Now, she had run into the other one. Laura went over and the Sheriff looked up at her.

"Oh, Ms. Hale, I'm sorry but I was just checking on my boy."

"It's no problem." She then looked over at Stiles who was staring wide eyed at her. "This is your son?" she asked with somewhat wide eyes. She had to admit, she hadn't seen that coming. Though this explained where the boy got that brave and protective attitude she had been taken with that time in the park.

"Yes. I'm afraid he has to stay here while I work my double shift today," he said as he rubbed at his son's shoulder.

But Stiles shook his head. "It's okay dad. I know that you have to work and find out what really happened," he said gently to him. That made his father gave him a small smile back.

"Sheriff?" one of the deputies called out to him.

Noah turned back to Laura. "Excuse me, this should only take a few minutes."

"Of course," Laura said to him before he took off. She then looked down to the boy to see that he was drawing a picture with colored pencils. She looked down to see that it was some kind of ship with a giant sail and it looked like it was over a giant wave. Laura thought that it was pretty good art for a nine year old. "Hey, that's a nice ship there," she said to him.

He smiled bashfully at her. "It's the S.S. Mischief. The strongest ship ever."

Laura let a small grin loose at him. "Sounds like a fun name to give to strong ship."

Stiles ducked his head a bit. Fun name for something strong. His mom had said the same thing to him once. When he had called himself Mischief because he couldn't say his name right. When his mom started getting sick, he knew that she liked boats so he drew them for her and kept calling them the Mischief. She added the S.S. part because they were his initials and should stand for 'Strong Ship' because his own penchant for mischief was as strong as him. Even after all these months, he still liked drawing ships.

Stiles narrowed his eyes then. "My dad called you Hale? You're Cora's sister, right?" he asked. His face then softened. "I'm sorry. She was supposed to be in my class this year."

Laura's face fell a bit. "She was?"

"Our teacher called out her name for attendance the first day of school," he explained. Stiles then saw that Laura's eyes were getting a bit shiny as she moved to look away from him. He then looked down at the picture he was drawing and he tore the paper out of his book. "Here," he said lightly as he then handed it out to her.

Laura looked over and gave him a small smile. "Thank you," she said as she took it. "My brother and I appreciate it."

She then looked over to where he was sitting and Stiles moved his gaze to the teenager quietly sitting at the bench.

Derek was sitting down at that bench, staring out at the folded hands in front of him, not hearing or even noticing that he was being looked at. It had been a week since the fire but Derek could still hardly believe it. His sister was there to take care of more of the paper work and questions that the Sheriff had for them. Derek had hardly said anything since that night. When he and his sister were held back from running into the house, his nose stiffened when he had found a familiar scent: Kate's. He would know her scent anywhere. It was fresh, and he found that it was mixed in with the smell of gasoline. He then remembered that he had told her about this full moon and how everyone would be at his house when he met with her after ditching the wedding. He didn't want to believe it but the more he thought about it, the more sense everything seemed to make. He had to know the truth and, two days ago, when he had some time separated from Laura, he snuck off and had stormed over to her apartment. He knocked for over a minute before he lost patience and broke down the door. Inside, he found the place had been emptied of nearly everything, as if Kate had left in a hurry. He went to the building's supervisor and found that Kate had filed to leave the building the day after the fire. Derek was then forced to accept that as concrete proof. Kate was truly a hunter as the rest of her family and had been working to kill them all along, and he had helped her do it.

___________

Chris Argent sat in the corner of a motel room, sipping hard on a bottle of beer in the low light. His mind was on both his meeting back with Stiles and his reunion with Richard. They both got him thinking, and forced him to take a real honest look at himself and everything that has happened in the last few years. He remembered what he told Stiles when he saw the board setup in his room, about the Nexus. The point where everything that was laid out came back to. From Stiles' point of view, he felt that everything that had happened in the last two years to this town stemmed from when he, his family and their hunters had first come to Beacon Hills. But Chris felt that the boy was wrong. That wasn't the Nexus point for all of this. Thanks to Richard, he now knew where everything truly started.

It was with him. When he made the choice to be apathetic and blind. To his father and his agendas, his wife and her mindset, and to the dealings of his sister. He remembered the night when news came to them about the fire at the Hale House. Back then, Chris had been suspicious of both the timing and the circumstances. Not to mention that his sister couldn't be reached until the morning after and her sudden and surprising support to his suggestion they go and make themselves scarce afterwards. He recalled how he had suddenly started wondering how Kate got the intel on the Hales to give them such as the wedding, where it was, and the movements of the Hale children like where and when Laura Hale was going off to school. He, and his closest friends like Richard, had guessed what Kate had been up to, but chose to do nothing. The night of the Winter Formal, back at the hospital, Stiles had been right about him. He knew exactly what his sister had done but had played ignorant because it had gotten rid of Talia Hale and most of her pack. Werewolves but innocents that didn't deserve what had happened any more than the humans in that fire did, like that woman he tried to menace before her wedding. Then there was his father. Chris knew that Gerard wasn't the peaceful type or that he had very little to no empathy for others yet he came back to them with an accounting of Deucalion attacking and killing his hunters and almost killing him when he went to try and have peace. He had suspicions of his intentions and actions but had chosen to do nothing because it gave them the mandate to finally go after their packs. Just as he believed it when he told them that Stiles had gone to finish the job on the hunters he had disabled because he was angry at the boy as well as with Derek and his pack. And because of Chris' chosen ignorance, the Alpha Pack as well as the Darach were created and his daughter nearly became a cold blooded killer and was almost killed by her own grandfather. And his wife...deep down, he knew what she was capable of. The night they attacked the high school principal was her idea. And he knew how she felt about young werewolves, especially about Scott but he chose to turn a blind eye to his wife on all of that. That came back to hurt him and his daughter in the worst way.

He couldn't be apathetic and blind anymore. Not to his family, or to his fellow hunters. The code had been dishonored enough. That was why he was here now. And he didn't appear to have to wait any longer as he heard the sound of footsteps approaching and stopping at the door. The sound of the motel room cardkey going through the reader was heard and there was a faint buzz before the door unlocked. It opened and in walked Agent Rafael McCall. He stepped in two steps before he froze when his eyes fell upon Chris Argent.

"Agent McCall," Chris said calmly to him. "We need to talk."

___________

Laura was exiting the Animal Clinic with a somber look on her face. She had gone to speak with Deaton, her mother's emissary. She gave him all the new contact information she had to keep her informed if anything significant happened in Beacon Hills or to her uncle while she and her brother were gone. Deaton promised that if anything happened then he would inform her immediately. Laura told him that she would come back here when she felt she was fully ready to assume her role as Alpha but that it wasn't the right time yet. She felt she needed some time to adjust to the changes in her life. That included now being an Alpha werewolf, as well as being her brother's legal guardian until he became 18 in a few months just to name two. She was taking time off from school to give her the space and time to deal with all of it. Then she would go back. She didn't want to be an Alpha that was expected to take care of this town when she was barely ready to take care of herself, let alone her brother and a pack. Deaton was supportive of her decisions and told her that she was showing a good level of maturity in admitting that she had much to learn and wasn't jumping into her new role when she felt she wasn't ready. Before she left, Laura had made a final request and asked him to also keep a sharp eye out on the two boys Scott McCall and Stiles Stilinski. When she told him they were local children, Deaton was curious why he was to be mindful of two normal nine year old boys but she said that it was private. He told her that he would keep watch over them for her while she was away. She didn't know that Deaton was already closely guessing why she cared about two seemingly random human boys. Laura got to her car, which was already packed with some of the things they were able to salvage from the house. It was time to leave, but she had to pick up her brother. He would be where he tended to hang around lately.

Derek was standing outside the wreck of the house. It had been almost two months since the fire but the smell of smoke and burnt wood still permeated the air around here. He had been coming here every day since he was allowed to when the Sheriff finished having the place investigated. His once loving home was now just a blackened husk. Everytime he came here, he would just stare at all the damage that was done to his home and family...that he had done. This was his fault. Kate had destroyed his home. His family. And he had helped her. She had played him and he had enjoyed it every step of the way. He trusted her and she was using him probably from the very start. He looked over to where the remains of a bouquet now laid in front of the house. It was the one that Cora caught at the wedding. He and Laura had found it hidden in the brush a little bit away from Cora's window a few days after the fire. Their sister's scent had been all over it. She was so young, so innocent and she was now gone. They decided to leave the bouquet at the front of the house in her memory. Hers, Ray's, Janice's, their cousin and her family, their mother's betas...and their mother. Derek was especially torn up about that one. His very last word to his mom was 'Whatever' and he hadn't even looked her in the eye as he said that before he ran out on her because he couldn't way to get away from her. Now, the only thing he wanted right now was to hug her. She was right all along to treat him like a little kid, because he was. A stupid little kid. The ironic thing was, now he had himself a strong anchor to keep him controlled during a full moon. The first one he had after the fire had it come into play. Anger. Anger at what happened to his family, and to himself for allowing it to happen because of his foolishness. Laura was surprised at how his situation had changed but he never told her exactly how it did. He couldn't bear to see the disappointment, disgust and betrayal that would no doubt come over her if she knew. He couldn't have that. Laura was all he had left now.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled at the front of his house.

There was the sound of a car pulling up and he turned around to see his sister pulling up to the house. They were going to leave Beacon Hills. Their mother had some old contacts that said they could stay with them until they were back on their feet. Laura was all for it and Derek couldn't fight her at all, and didn't want to. The things that could've kept him here: his senior year, the basketball team, his school friends; none of that mattered to him anymore.

"Ready?" Laura asked as Derek climbed into the car.

"Yeah," he said buckling up. "Let's get the hell out of here."

Laura nodded. She gave their home one last look before she pulled the car out and then drove them off to head out of the property and towards the road, out of Beacon Hills. But, one day, they would be back.

___________

Stiles was dragging himself into his home after his visit to Satomi. It turned out that her pack had been there, including Brett and his sister. They all thanked him for his help but he told them that the one they should really be thanking was Liam. He made sure to let his eyes linger on Brett as he said that. Afterwards, he spent a good hour speaking with Satomi. He didn't immediately jump into his situation with Argent, but when he got around to it, she had quite a lot to say. Stiles still didn't know if he was to trust the man or not but thanks to her words, he wasn't stressing about it as much as before.

He was now ready to let himself fall and collapse on his bed but he found that there was someone already sitting on it. He seemed to have been calmly waiting for him to get back and was lightly staring at him.

"Scott?" Stiles muttered.

____________

A/N: Well that's it. For Argent's old buddy Richard, I pictured him being portrayed by Matthew Morrison.

The looks into the past helped to wrap up some vague questions and filled some holes, as well as give alludes to the future. I hope you enjoyed it.