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safaiagemwritingPart Three
It took Derek just under an hour to find something that looked like a hunt. There was a house about fifty miles away where people were getting hurt or sick unexpectedly. It had ghost or some other spirit written all over it. Stiles seemed far too excited at the idea that they were going to possibly have to do some grave digging. During the drive Stiles could not sit still and a few times Derek had to reach over to still Stiles' shaking leg. Stiles did not say anything when it happened, but Derek caught him staring the second time with big eyes. They arrived in town and Derek took them to a small motel. Derek set his things in the room and lined the door and window with salt. Stiles looked at the salt with disdain, but did not comment on it though Derek left the door open so they could still talk.
"Hunters aren't a dime a dozen," Stiles said as Derek got himself settled for the night.
"I suppose we're not, what about it?" Derek asked.
"What if another hunter gets to the monster of the week first?" Stiles smiled to himself a little. He was clearly a little proud of the 'monster of the week' joke, but Derek was not going to indulge him.
"Then we leave. It's not like we do this for a reward or anything." Derek shrugged and crossed his arms in front of Stiles.
"Your hero complex is adorable, is it just you or does it come with the hunter package?" It sounded like it was supposed to be teasing, but it was almost like Stiles' heart wasn't in it. Something was bothering him.
"Can't say I've met enough hunters to know for sure. Why, is something wrong?” Derek asked.
"Nope, just curious," Stiles said and if he was lying Derek was unable to tell. He was still unsure if it was a demon thing or a Stiles thing. "Let's go poke a ghost with a stick." Stiles was smiling and it was a bright smile. Derek shook his head and gathered his things. If he did not know what Stiles was, it might have been a smile that would have been infectious. With that knowledge it almost felt like Stiles was trying far too hard to set him at ease. It was starting to work, but no one else needed to know that.
Derek gathered his supplies from the hidden compartment in the back of the Camaro. Stiles looked fascinated and amused by his arsenal. The house was close enough that they could walk. His car would be too obvious. The house came into view and it was a simple ranch style house. There was a 'for sale or rent' sign in the yard The last family had left in a hurry. The house was supposed to be empty which is why Derek was surprised when he picked up an extra heartbeat. He put a hand out to stop Stiles as a man walked out the front door. Derek knew who it was instantly and he tensed. He could feel Stiles at his side. The energy stronger than before.
"Hale, what are you doing here?" the man asked. He was middle aged with graying hair and dark eyes. He was armed, Derek could smell the gunpowder, and even without his senses it would have been obvious. He was making no move to conceal it. He wanted Derek to know he was armed.
“Winston,” Derek replied.
“What are you doing here?” Winston asked, stopping a good six feet away from them. That feeling from Stiles intensified.
“I heard about the attacks and decided to come check it out, do you have it covered?” Derek asked.
“Absolutely, so why don’t you and that kid behind you run along.” Winston actually did the flicking motion with his wrist. It was extremely patronizing.
“We’ll leave town in the morning, good luck.” Derek was not entirely sure he was comfortable turning his back on Winston, but not doing so would look odd. It was daylight, so he was fairly sure the other hunter would not pull a gun on him. Without thinking about it Derek took Stiles by the arm and started to pull him away from Winston and the house. It was not until they were a block away that Derek realized he was manhandling a demon. “Sorry,” he muttered releasing Stiles’ arm.
“Well he seemed like an ass,” Stiles said brushing his sleeve off.
“He doesn’t like me,” Derek said.
“Clearly, so what’s the plan? Are we just going to bail? What if that other guy sucks at his job?” Stiles kicked a rock as they walked down the sidewalk.
“I don’t want to deal with him so let’s just leave in the morning.” Derek turned toward downtown, but stopped when he realized that Stiles wasn’t following him.
“Someone I know might be nearby so I’m going to check in and see if anyone has heard anything about Saul. Enjoy your evening,” Stiles said and he vanished from sight. Derek blinked and briefly wondered if this was some sort of hallucination. The smell of sulfur lingered like it always did, but a strong breeze swept it away. Derek turned and walked toward the downtown area. If he was going to continue to deal with all of this shit, he needed food.
+++
Derek passed the time slowly.
He ate at a decent restaurant for once, stopped at the mega mart and picked up a few things to stash in the car, he tried not to think about the few pairs of jeans, shirts ,and plaid that he bought that would fit someone smaller than him because Derek did not know if Stiles would even change his clothes. By the time he was done, it was dark.
Derek purposely avoided the graveyard because if it was a ghost, Winston could be there salting and burning the grave. He was not in the mood to have a run in with the man. He was in the middle of pulling out his motel key when he heard something. It sounded like a struggle only it was far enough away that no human ears could have picked up on it. Maybe he did have some sort of hero complex. Derek dropped the bags on the ground and raced towards the sound.
The closer he got the more Derek became convinced that something was not right. The struggle had stopped, but he could smell something odd in the air. There was a heartbeat nearby, but he could not tell exactly where it was coming from. There was something else, something that set him on edge.
Derek smelled the shot from the rifle before it tore into his arm. Unlike the movies, the shot did not knock him straight on his ass, but he did stumble. The bullet burned, it hurt more than anything had in the past, but it was also a burn that he had seen described before. Derek rolled up his sleeve at the mess in his arm and the wound was almost glowing.
“Shame, I was aiming for your heart, it would have made things easier.” Derek looked up and saw Winston walking toward him. Only he was far enough away that normal human ears could not have heard that. Derek could feel his claws starting to come out, but the rifle was out and pointed at him before he could react. “I’ve had my suspicions about you, but I guess this is all the proof I need.”
“What proof? You shot me, of course I’m in pain,” Derek said through his thankfully still human teeth.
“I don’t think so.” Winston was in front of him now and the rifle was pointed directly between his eyes. “You’re one of the monsters, so it’s time to put you down.” Derek could smell it now, the wolfsbane in the bullets. That was not good. The poison of the bullet was racing through his veins, but that would not make much of a difference if he took a round to the head. Derek only had a brief moment to think about how being killed by this guy was a terrible way to go when the smell of sulfur hit his senses.
“You want to put that gun down,” Stiles said from behind Derek. Winston jumped and turned the gun on Stiles his eyes wide.
“You’re that kid that was with Hale. How did you get here?” Winston asked and Derek looked over his shoulder to see that Stiles was standing with his arms loosely at his side and a dangerous look in his eye.
“I said, you want to put that gun down,” Stiles repeated.
“I’m putting this animal out of its misery and unless you want to be caught in the crossfire, you’ll walk away.” Winston had no idea what Stiles was, but Derek could hear the fear in his rapid heartbeat. Something in Stiles changed at the word 'animal' and his eyes flashed red. It was a deeper, darker red than Laura’s alpha eyes, and the gun was halfway across the field before Winston could react. Stiles had the man by the throat and slammed him into the ground hard enough that Derek winced.
“The only animal I see here is you,” Stiles said dangerously his fingers tightening around Winston’s neck. There was no doubt in Derek’s mind that Stiles was about to snap this man’s neck with his bare hands.
“Don’t kill him Stiles,” Derek said.
“Why not?” Stiles asked though he stopped squeezing.
“Hunters have friends and the last thing we need are more of them with a revenge vendetta. Let him live,” Derek reasoned. Stiles looked over his shoulder at Derek, his eyes still glowing red, but they faded into their amber after a moment. Instead he stood up and punched Winston hard enough that he was going to be out for a while.
“Let me see your arm,” Stiles said kneeling down in front of Derek. When he took the injured arm in hand his touch was surprisingly gentle.
“Wolfsbane. No idea what kind or what I’ll need to do to fix it,” Derek said wincing. The wound was already beginning to look infected and the veins in his arm were turning black. Stiles narrowed his eyes and walked over to the ground where the rifle was. He took a few of the bullets out of the magazine and pocketed them in his jeans.
“Let’s get you cleaned up,” Stiles said casually. He put Derek’s uninjured arm around his shoulder and easily helped him to his feet. “I’m going to move us and if you think you’re going to be sick so help me god it better not be anywhere on me.”
“Got it.” Derek squeezed his eyes shut and felt the scenery around him change. When he opened his eyes again, he was outside his motel room and did indeed feel like he was going to be sick.
“Break the line of salt,” Stiles said.
“No,” Derek said through his teeth. He really felt like he was going to be sick.
“Break the line,” Stiles said forcefully. Derek wanted to say no, he did, but his entire body felt like it was shutting down. He kicked the salt to the side and the entire world shifted in a way that made bile rise in the back of his throat. Stiles seemed to realize that too and he dragged Derek to the bathroom where he threw up black in the toilet. His body was trying to heal, but it couldn’t around the wolfsbane.
“I’m going to die.”
“Don’t be so dramatic,” Stiles said, waving him off.
Derek was about to argue when he saw that Stiles was not even looking at him. Instead he was holding the bullet between his fingers and up to the light narrowing his eyes. He flipped it over in his hands a few times, checked the weight, and eventually opened the bullet dumping the contents on the counter. He leaned forward and took a deep sniff of the wolfsbane. Derek was about to ask what the hell Stiles was doing when he grinned.
“Ah ha! I know what we need to do.” He knelt down next to Derek and began to feel around his jacket and eventually his pants pockets before finding his lighter.
“What are you doing?” Derek asked. He knew about wolfsbane treatments, but they were all different depending on the type.
“Saving you from a slow and painful death by poisoning,” Stiles replied as he lit the wolfsbane on fire. It sparked as it burned and began to give off an almost blue smoke. “Give me your arm.” Derek hesitated and Stiles rolled his eyes taking Derek’s arm and holding it out. He brushed the smoking ash into his hand and stopped. “This is going to hurt, but I promise it will work.”
“I won’t attack,” Derek assured and Stiles looked almost amused.
“I’d love to watch you try,” Stiles replied before he shoved the ash into the bullet wound making sure most of it went into the actual hole. Derek tried to jerk away. It hurt too much, but Stiles had a vice like grip on his arm and it kept him still. When he looked at his arm the veins were fading and the wound was gone. “All better.”
“You knew,” Derek whispered as he stared at his arm. “You knew what kind of wolfsbane that was and how to treat it.” Stiles released his arm and walked out of the bathroom, but Derek reached for his arm to stop him.
Instead, he ended up being slammed against the wall hard enough that his teeth rattled and Stiles was holding him in place with one hand. Derek managed to pull the knife out and pressed it against Stiles’ stomach. They were in a stalemate that was going to end in one of them dying and it was not going to be him. Derek knew he had to diffuse the situation “You reacted when he called me an animal.”
“Yes, I did,” Stiles said releasing Derek and walking further into the room. He sat down on the chair at the desk while Derek sat across on the bed, but he kept the knife in hand. Neither of them moved for a long time and Derek was about to find some way of getting Stiles out of the room when Stiles sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “I might be a demon, but I was human a long, long time ago. Back when I was alive I had this really good friend. We would always go out and cause all sorts of trouble for the town. He was like my brother, I guess you could call him my best friend, and I would have done anything for him. One night he shows up at my door saying something had bit him and he felt weird. We didn’t know what it was at the time, but it was a rogue alpha. He turned into a werewolf. We never knew the proper name because we were kind of before the age of mass communication.
Anyway, we worked hard and he eventually had perfect control, even on the full moon. Things were good.” Stiles paused clenching his fists tightly. “Until a few people in our town figured out what he was and decided that he was too dangerous despite the fact that he had control and had never hurt anyone. He was fifteen. So, I guess I have a soft spot for you wolves about a mile wide and even after all of this” Stiles gestured to himself “I still wanted to know everything I could about wolves. That’s how I knew about the wolfsbane.” Stiles fell silent then and Derek did not know what to say. He was never very good at this sort of thing. Stiles did not look upset, but more resigned.
“Thank you for saving me,” Derek said. There was nothing else he really could add. Stiles did not say how long ago his friend had died so ‘sorry’ did not seem like it could cover it nor was pity the thing that Stiles was looking for.
“You’re welcome,” Stiles replied and he stood up. Derek was about to ask what he was doing when Stiles opened the door to the motel and walked out. “Go ahead and salt the door and lay your little head down and get some rest. I don’t sleep and you don’t need to worry about that hunter. I’ll keep watch.”
“Stiles, if he comes back after you attacked him like that, he’s clearly insane,” Derek said as he salted the door again. He tried not to think about the fact that Stiles let Derek lock him out. Derek closed the door and Stiles scoffed, but did not say anything else for the rest of the night.
+++
Derek had woken up to a lot of strange things in his life, but nothing prepared him after opening the door to his motel room to see a demon sitting on the hood of his car reading a bible. Stiles looked up when Derek opened the door and grinned.
"This reading material leaves much to be desired," Stiles said idly tossing the bible into the car.
"I'd say I'm going straight to hell just for being around you, but I really am going to hell so I don't think it means much," Derek said. He was completely healed and felt 100% again. He was still not sure if letting Winston live was the best idea, but the man was probably hundreds of miles away by now.
"So I went snooping through your stuff, did you buy those clothes for me?" Stiles asked and for a brief moment Derek thought he had overstepped some line, but Stiles was still grinning.
"Sensitive nose. Driving would be torture if you kept wearing the same clothes," Derek said. It was kind of the truth.
"So you bought them for you so I don't smell bad. I feel like I should be insulted." Stiles hopped off the car and put his hands in his pockets.. “We taking off now?"
"Well, Winston probably didn't have time to take care of the ghost before he got the hell out of dodge. You still want to go poke a ghost with a stick? Or something with iron if we really want to annoy it," Derek said as he rubbed his eyes. When he glanced back at Stiles he was not grinning anymore, but had this small, soft smile on his lips and Derek felt his mouth go a little dry.
"Yeah, I think I do, let's go mess with a ghost." Stiles smiled. It was bright and felt real. Derek could have easily forgotten that this was a powerful demon that literally had his life in his hands.
"All right. Let's go."
+++
The ghost turned out to be a former owner that was a shut in and did not like the idea of anyone else being in his house. Derek let Stiles antagonize the ghost a little before they both got physically thrown out the front door. Derek groaned and glanced at Stiles who was lying on his back smiling. They made eye contact and both started to laugh. They had just gotten thrown out of the house by a ghost. The entire situation was so unreal that Derek laughed harder than he had in years. He pushed himself to his feet and offered Stiles a hand. Stiles took it and Derek pulled him to his feet. Stiles put a hand on his arm and laughed.
"Is it always like that?" Stiles asked.
"No, usually making the monster angry results in bad things," Derek said. Stiles shook his head and looked down at their clasped hands as if he just realized they were still touching. He released Derek's hand and took a step back. "Let's go dig up a body," Derek said trying to ease how awkward he felt. Stiles nodded and they were off. By the evening they had salted and burned the body and Derek suggested that they leave town. There was about a week until the full moon and Stiles caught him eyeing it.
"You're a born wolf, how is your control on the full moon?" he asked.
"Pretty good. I have an anchor, something to keep me human, and that helps a lot." Derek replied shrugging. "It's anger since I know you're going to ask."
"Yup I was." Stiles paused and a minute or so of silence passed. "I've only seen bitten wolves so tell me about it."
"What do you want to know?"
"Whatever you're willing to tell me." There was something in the way Stiles said those words that made Derek frown. It was like he thought Derek would not tell him anything. So he began to talk, told Stiles the things he felt okay sharing, and Stiles only interrupted to ask for clarification or to ask a question. Otherwise he listened like Derek had the answers to the universe.
Three towns later, they were turning a corner when Stiles ran headlong into a witch. She took one look at him and yanked him into a small alleyway. She pulled him flush against her body and started ranting about how this was her time to shine and she wanted to make sure that everyone knew that she was the most powerful in the land.
Derek stared. He could not quite believe that this woman was going off on what could only be described as a villain rant. About halfway through her talk Stiles busted out laughing and could not stop. The witch looked offended. When she started threatening them Stiles was clutching his stomach, laughing. She shoved him and was about to stomp away when Stiles took her arm.
“Whatever you’re planning, you should stop,” he said. There was an edge to his voice that Derek had come to recognize. “Next time you shouldn’t grab one of us. They might not be in as good of a mood as I am.”
“I’m not afraid of you,” she said defiantly. “A demon wouldn’t kill a witch.”
“No, but a hunter would,” Stiles said, gesturing to Derek. She paled when she saw him as if she was just realizing Derek had been there the entire time. “So stop whatever you’re planning and he won’t become a problem.” The witch glanced at Stiles, his eyes flashing red, and then at Derek. He made his glow blue. The witch raced down the street like the world was ending.
“I’m not sure how I feel about you using me as a tool to threaten people with,” Derek said as he watched her run down the street.
“I’m sure you’ll find some way of getting over it. Should we stick around and make sure she stops whatever she was planning?” Stiles asked. Derek shrugged and they spent the next three days sniffing out hex bags and making sure the witch did not cause anymore problems. Stiles said that he had a feeling the demon she sold her soul to was low level, nothing to really worry about, but she probably had no idea what she was getting herself into. They were sitting in the car watching her and Derek felt a little bad for her. She was younger than him and he could practically smell how power hungry she was.
“I don’t think we need to worry about her anymore,” Derek said. Stiles nodded and they headed out of town. They were still in the midwest so before long they were going through an area where there was nothing but fields. The radio was on low. Derek reached over and turned it off. “You said Lydia is your second, right?”
“Yup, but she knows what she’s doing. I told you not to worry about that. I’m not going anywhere while we’re doing this,” Stiles replied looking out the window.
“Really. So, why is it so important?” Derek asked.
“I told you, he’s basically a serial killer. He should be put down just like anything else that’s out of control,” Stiles said.
“Yeah that sounds like a good answer, but if that was the case you wouldn’t have devoted everything to it. If you were just trying to stop a crazy demon you would have sent some low level demon out.” Derek glanced over at Stiles and saw that he had gone eerily still. “You were also tracking him the night of the fire and that was six years ago. What aren’t you telling me?”
“He’s a killer, isn’t that enough for your hero complex?” Stiles was clenching his fists tightly and Derek could smell the blood from nails biting into palms. It became too much suddenly. He pulled over. “What are you doing?”
“You told me I was too young to make a deal that day, that a sixteen year old can’t rationalize what they’re asking for, and that you don’t deal with kids. That doesn’t seem like a demon thing, but a personal thing. You need to tell me what’s going on here otherwise I’m going to kick you out of this car and sit back for the next ten years waiting for the hounds,” Derek firmly said.
“Your hero complex is seriously the size of a continent,” Stiles huffed. “I told you about my friend, when I was human, well that wasn’t the only shitty thing that happened. My mom died when I was young and it practically killed me. My dad and I, we barely got through it, and it hurt more than anything. I watched her slowly die and it felt like it was eating me up too. That was when I was eight. When I was sixteen I was buried deep in the occult after my friend had died, trying to find answers, anything, when my dad got sick too. This was before modern medicine, when they were still trying to bleed the disease out of you, but nothing helped. Then I remembered where I had read something about having my wish granted for a price. I’m sure you can see where this is going.
So I was sixteen and young and stupid with grief of losing my mom, my best friend and now my dad that I went to the crossroads to make a deal. I didn’t have to wait long before this guy showed up. He told me that he could cure my dad and have ten, long years with him. He was my dad, the only family I had left, so of course I said yes. It was creepy having him kiss me, but he took me back to my dad and I watched him make it all better. It was great, perfect even, and my dad smiled at me because everything was going to be okay. Then the guy who had given me my life back reached over and snapped my dad’s neck. He said ‘I never said how long I was going to make him better for.’ Then he fucking laughed at me and his eyes turned black. He said ‘I think I’m also going to collect early’ and that was the end of my human life.” Stiles took a deep breath and released it slowly his eyes glowing red. He did not look sad, he looked angry, a deep seeded anger that Derek had often seen when he looked in the mirror after the fire.
“Saul was the demon,” Derek said.
“He sure was and he made sure hell was a grand old time for me. I promised myself I would become powerful. King of the Crossroads. That no stupid kid would get taken advantage of again, that no demon would go back on a deal. I got all of that and it wasn’t enough. I couldn’t stand the idea that he was still out there. So, I guess we’re on the same wave length.” Stiles finished and he turned so they were looking at each other. “Will you help me get revenge against Saul?” This was different from when Stiles had asked Derek this back at Laura’s, it felt different, and it was a loaded question. Their revenge was the same thing. Saul had taken both of their families, taken Stiles’ life, and ruined Derek’s.
“I’ll help you,” Derek promised. Stiles’ eyes went back to amber and the corner of his mouth turned up into not quite a smile. He looked back out the window and Derek started the car making his way down the highway. They said nothing until Derek yelled at Stiles to take his feet off the dashboard.
+++
For two days there was nothing that resembled demon activity. The full moon was getting closer and Derek could feel it like an itch under his skin. Stiles seemed anxious too but in a way that was different. He was checking over his shoulder like there was something following them. Derek asked him about it but Stiles just shook his head without a word. The break came they passed Indiana. There was a murder where there was some sort of symbolism left behind. The police had not released what the symbol was so it was off to the next town. There was a small motel a few miles from the sight and Derek was able to hide his car. He turned to ask Stiles if he was okay with walking when he noticed that Stiles had not gotten out of the car.
"Something on your mind?" Derek asked and Stiles actually jumped.
"Yeah I need to go look into something. Go see if you can find anything on our murder and I'll see you in a few hours," Stiles said and he vanished from sight without waiting for a reply. Derek frowned and walked toward the murder sight. He kept his ears open to see if anyone was gossiping, but it was just small town crap. Derek sat down just in range of the house and listened to the people inside the house.
"Some sick fuck we're dealing with," a man said. "I mean who does shit like this."
"Nothing surprises me anymore," a woman replied. People were walking in front of him and Derek winced as he tried to stay focused, but the moon was turning everything up to eleven.
"What does it mean?" the man asked.
"It's a game of tic tak toe. It means our killer is a nut job." That was all Derek needed to hear. The family was a couple with no kids shot execution style. None of it matches Saul so it was just another dead end. Derek rubbed his temples and decided that a run was the best thing he could do to clear his head. There was a forest on the edge of town and as soon as he was out of sight Derek took off into the wood. His blood was pumping through his veins and it took some effort, but eventually he was a little breathless. He thought about going on a hunt, find something to diminish any blood lust, but he was not in the mood to explain any lingering stains.
After two hours Derek made his way back to town and meandered back to his motel. The closer he got Derek realized he could smell blood in the air. He walked faster and the closer he was to the motel the stronger it got. It took all of his self control to not run as fast as he could. He had not salted the doors and window because he was not there, but Derek was regretting it now. Derek opened the door and the smell of blood was stifling. He closed the door and stalked toward the heartbeat in the bathroom.
Stiles was leaning over the counter holding his plaid shirt over his stomach. There was a pool of blood on the ground. He was pale. Stiles looked up when he walked in and Derek could see his lip was split and there was dried blood under his nose.
"Turns out those friends I have weren't so friendly," Stiles said through his teeth
"Clearly," Derek said as he took a step into the bathroom. "How can I help?" Stiles took a large step back and he had to clench the counter to keep from falling over. He looked spooked.
"I'm fine," Stiles spit out. "So back off." Derek stopped his advance and held his hands up in a surrender.
"I'm not your enemy Stiles. We're working together, remember?" Derek replied carefully.
"Don't patronize me, wolf boy. I know who you are. This guy wasn't my enemy either and look how that turned out. Now back off." Stiles' voice was low, dangerous, and Derek knew that tone from when Winston had attacked them.
"Stiles--" Derek took another step forward.
"I said back off!" Stiles yelled and it felt like someone had punched him in the chest. The next thing Derek knew he nearly through the opposite wall. Stiles was sneering at him and breathing hard like he had just run a marathon. His eyes were a brilliant red that reminded him of Laura. He realized what this reminded him of. He had seen a wounded alpha shove everyone away because he was afraid that someone was going to kill him and take his title.
"I'm not going to take advantage of your weakness. Only a coward would do that. I can't kill Saul without you so you need to let me help." Derek winced as he sat up, Stiles packed quite a punch, and stood. Stiles was still staring at him, eyes red like fire, like he was a threat. A beat passed and the red slowly faded.
"Fine," Stiles said. Derek nodded and walked outside to get a rather extensive first aid kit. When he walked into the bathroom Stiles was sitting on the toilet still holding the shirt to his side.
"What happened?" Derek asked kneeling down mindful of the pool of blood on the floor.
"Someone decided a demon trying to kill another demon is in bad taste," Stiles muttered. Derek reached forward and pulled the ruined shirt away from Stiles' side. There was a deep stab wound that would have probably killed a weaker demon. Derek pushed the t-shirt up and Stiles slapped his hand. "Should have figured your bedside manner would suck. Do you even know what to do with stab wounds?"
"I'm rethinking my previous decision of just letting you bleed out," Derek said as he ripped the section of the shirt off. Stiles muttered something about 'being raised by wolves’. Derek did not rise to the taunt. "Can you even get infections?"
"Yes they are annoying, but they won't kill me," Stiles replied. "Wounds inflicted by one of our weapons take forever to heal too." Derek nodded as he placed a large bandage over the cut. The bleeding looked like it was mostly stopping on its own and he briefly wondered what Stiles' definition of 'forever' was.
"Should we move on or do you think they are going to try again?" Derek asked sitting back on his hunches. Stiles frowned deeply and seemed to think it over.
"We should probably move on," Stiles said after a moment of silence.
"You're going to bleed all over my seats," Derek said. Stiles did not disagree. He just smiled brightly. “We could leave or we could go after the guy that did this to you.”
“You want to take on a demon that did this to me?” Stiles asked surprised. Derek shrugged.
“If we can’t kill this low level guy, how do you expect us to kill something like Saul?” he pointed out. Stiles seemed to think on the matter for a moment.
“Good point. Plus I wouldn’t mind getting back at him for attacking me,” Stiles replied a slow grin forming. “I need a little time to heal though. Give me until tomorrow and I’ll be good to go.” Stiles moved to stand but winced painfully. Without thinking Derek stood up and took his arm to steady him. He should have kicked Stiles out of the room and salted it, but Stiles was pale and unsteady on his feet and Derek could not find it in himself to kick someone who looked half dead out.
“Can I try something?” he asked without releasing Stiles’ arm. Stiles nodded, slowly, like he was not sure where this was going. Derek tugged on Stiles’ arm and lead him out of the bathroom until they were standing near the bed. Stiles was wound up so tight that Derek was sure that if he touched him the wrong way he was going to snap. When he went to touch the wound Stiles hissed, tried to draw back but Derek held on tight. “Trust me for a minute, that’s all I ask.”
“If you hurt me I swear I will hurt you back and it is going to be painful even with your super healing,” Stiles grumbled.
“I’m not even sure if it’s going to work so just stand still before I make you stand still.” Derek reached for the wound again as Stiles glared and pulled the bandage off a little. The wound was still ugly looking with blood oozing around the edges, but Derek did not hesitate as he placed his hand on it. Stiles hissed and jerked. He did not pull away though. Derek closed his eyes and pulled some of the pain from the wound. It was harder than it was with humans or wolves, but he could still feel it being absorbed into his veins. Vaguely, Derek heard Stiles release a breath and sigh in relief. Stiles looked down as the black faded and Derek put the bandage back on.
“You took my pain,” Stiles said softly sounding a little sedated.
“I wasn’t sure it would work on you,” Derek replied releasing Stiles’ arm and taking a step back only to sway on his feet. This time Stiles took his arm and they both stumbled. Gravity took over and Stiles grunted when his back hit the bed and Derek barely felt anything as he fell forward. The room was spinning and maybe it took too much out of him to take away Stiles’ pain. Either way Derek did not care that he was fully dressed, that there was blood all over the bathroom, or that Stiles was inches away from him. The mere thought of trying to move was too much to handle and he closed his eyes welcoming sleep.
+++
Before he even opened his eyes, Derek realized he had turned on his side at some point during the night. He still had his leather jacket, jeans, and shoes still on. That was annoying, but not unexpected considering how bad he felt after taking away Stiles’ pain. Derek opened his eyes slowly and realized that Stiles was on the bed with him and he too had turned on his side during the night. The bandage from his stab wound was still visible from the torn t-shirt he wore and he was facing Derek so he was not lying on his bad side. He appeared to be asleep.
It was strange to see Stiles sleeping. Stiles was always awake in the car and he stayed outside the salted doors at night. He must have been hurt much more severely than Derek had originally thought because he had not woken up when Derek did. Stiles looked weirdly innocent while he was sleeping, like he really was the kid he said he was when he died, and at the same time seeing him was completely terrifying. There were no injuries, but he could feel the power from the attack the night before. Derek realized that he often forgot what a powerful demon Stiles was.
"Do you make it a habit of watching others sleep?" Stiles asked and Derek would deny to his dying day that he jumped. "Then again I guess they would have to actually be asleep for it to count."
"You’ve been awake this entire time,” Derek said.
“Not the entire time,” Stiles replied opening his eyes. “But I’ve been awake longer than you. Just decided to relax, get my strength back, things like that.” For some reason that confused Derek even more. That meant Stiles had woke up, saw they were facing each other and opted not to move. This felt strange, lying on the same bed with Stiles and just talking. It felt intimate in a way that made Derek very nervous. He sat up and stretched cracking his back loudly.
“Are you healed?” Derek asked. The smell of blood from the bathroom was too strong to tell otherwise. Stiles sat up and removed the bandage. There was new skin where there was once an ugly wound.
“All better and you seem good too,” Stiles said. “So, are we going to go after my not-ally now? The lack of searing pain is making me a lot angrier.” He said lightly.
“I have the knife and he’s a demon. Seems pretty easy to me,” Derek pulled the knife out of the case attached to his belt. Since he had acquired it the knife had barely left his sight.
“Our weapons are dangerous,” Stiles said softly. “And rare. The fact that you have one is impressive. You never told me where you got it.”
“There was a fight and I managed to get it off of the demon,” Derek lied before he could think twice about it. For some reason his instincts screamed at him to keep the fact that the knife was in a body when he woke up a secret. Stiles tilted his head to the side and looked a little puzzled.
“Must have been a hell of a fight,” he said. Stiles stood and began to dig through the bag of clothing that Derek had bought. They needed to clean the bathroom and get rid of any evidence that they were ever there.
“Let’s get this place cleaned up and get out of here,” Derek said. Stiles nodded and they began the slow clean up to cover their tracks.
+++
It took nearly four hours, but the motel room was finally clean enough that they could justify leaving. Derek left the fan in the bathroom on to hopefully cover the smell of the bleach that they used to get rid of the bloodstains Stiles left behind. Stiles had complained loudly about the smell and waved off any concerns about evidence left behind. He said that the kids blood was not in any database and they really did not need to worry about it. Derek may have stood in the shower a little longer than he normally did trying to clear his head. Something did not feel right and he could not shake it off. It was irritating because the full moon was two days away and his head needed to be clear. After Stiles showered and changed they checked out of the motel room and headed into town.
“Where did you meet your not-friend?” Derek asked.
“Back alley because he enjoys being a cliche,” Stiles replied. “He won’t come out during the day though so we’re going to have to kill time until then.” Derek thought the matter over for a moment.
“What do you know about the Internet?” he asked and that was how Derek found himself using public wifi on his laptop while Stiles used a library computer to search for any sightings. The hours were indeed ticking by, but nothing was coming up in any of the searches. There were plenty of murders and thunderstorms, but there was no way of knowing whether they were even on the right track. “Do you think your not-friend knows anything?” Derek asked.
“Sure do,” Stiles replied and Derek looked at him only to realize that Stiles was looking through pictures of cats on the internet. “What is with this obsession with cats? I’m much more a dog person myself.”
“Hilarious. Now why do you think he knows something?” Derek said reaching over and closing Stiles’ browser.
“Rude, I was looking at those,” Stiles said swinging around in the chair so they were facing each other. “He seemed plenty eager to help me find Saul until I mentioned that I was going to kill him. Then he got all righteous, like he has any reason to act better than me seriously, and decided trying to cut out my kidney was an excellent problem solving method.”
“I’ve found that threatening to do that tends to work better than actually doing it,” Derek replied. “The sun is almost down, what should we do?” Stiles swung the chair back and forth a few times, deep in thought, and he kept brushing up against Derek’s leg. It was annoying and eventually he stopped the chair with his foot. Stiles smirked but did not say anything about it.
“It’s not like we can sneak up on him so we’re just going to have to go in. I’ll try to draw his attention and you go for him. We’ll just have to hope doesn’t hit anything vital before that,” Stiles said shrugging.
“Seems like a bad plan,” Derek said.
“Oh it’s a terrible plan, not even really a plan if you want to get technical, but this guy knows that I’m nearby and he probably knows that I’m not dead. What he won’t be expecting is you so I’m hedging my bets on that.” Stiles turned around and shut down the computer. “Basically if you screw up we’re both dead.” Stiles turned around grinning. “So no pressure, right?” Derek rolled his eyes and packed his things as they walked out of the library. The sun was indeed down and the streetlights were turning on. The full moon was the day after tomorrow and he could see it starting to rise. He had control, he had total control, but being in control was not the same thing as not affected. Stiles paused when he noticed Derek eyeing the moon, but did not say anything. They walked toward the alley where the demon had attacked Stiles. Derek had the knife in a sheath attached to his belt and he was itching to have it in hand. It was their ace though and not something to wave around. They turned the corner and Derek immediately smelled old blood. He must have made a face because Stiles tilted his head.
"Your blood is still on the ground," Derek explained.
"I see. Well I did say he is a cliche," Stiles replied. They walked further down the alley and turned a corner to see a middle age man waiting for them. Derek could smell the sulfur on him and he was smiling to himself like he had just heard a good joke.
"I should have figured you were hard to kill Stiles," the demon said.
"I'm not King because of my pretty face, though it does help," Stiles replied shrugging. Derek could see the knife in the demon's hand and it still had blood on it.
"You should always clean your blades," Derek commented and Stiles grinned. The demon looked annoyed, however, and he tightened his grip on the knife.
"I see the rumors are true about your guard dog. I feel like I should break into a version of Peter and the Wolf," the demon said. "Run along wolf. This isn't any of your business anyway. Saul wanted me to make sure Stiles here died and I intend to follow through with that." Maybe it was the moon, but Derek was struck with a desire to protect that he had not felt for anyone besides Laura after the fire. He stepped in front of Stiles without thinking twice his eyes flashing blue.
"I don't think so," he said.
"Your dog needs a tighter leash," the demon chuckled.
"Does anyone have any originality? These canine jokes are getting old," Stiles groaned. "Derek do me a favor and duck." Derek ducked immediately and the demon was sent back several feet slamming into some garbage cans. Derek shifted, fingernails growing into claws and sharp fangs appearing in his mouth, and he charged before the demon could recover. He swiped and his claws sliced through the demon's torso. That familiar feeling of being punched in the chest followed and Derek hit the wall hard. He blinked and the demon had charged Stiles. He was swiping at Stiles with quick and precise movements. Stiles dodged each one but they were too close for comfort. Stiles managed to get some distance and shoved the demon back. The demon twirled the knife in hand and threw it. Stiles held up a hand and stopped the knife mid air but the demon was trying to push it as well. Derek tried to move forward to attack the demon but he kept getting thrown back. He joined Stiles who looked like it was taking a fair amount of effort to keep the knife from flying forward and imbedding itself in his heart.
"So I have an idea but it has one major flaw," Stiles said.
"Yeah?" Derek asked.
"Yup. You're going to have to trust me quite a bit," Stiles replied. "Can you do that?"
“Do I really have a choice?” Derek asked.
“Unless you want to see if I can survive a knife through the heart? Then no, you really don’t.”
"Fine." Derek was not sure this was the best idea to trust Stiles, but they were at a stalemate. Stiles nodded and he gestured to the knife. Derek pulled it out and watched the demon pale. Derek realized that he could not ask Stiles what he had planned and he braced himself. Within seconds he was airborne and moving toward the demon with impressive speed. He had half a second to think before he embedded the knife in the demon's thigh. He let out an inhuman scream and Derek pinned him with a hand on the blade, an arm over his throat and hand angled so his claws were at his throat. He glanced over his shoulder to see Stiles picking the knife off the ground. "So, here's how this is going to go down. You are going to tell me what you know about Saul or Derek is going to twist that knife and get creative with his claws."
"You can go straight back to hell," the demon said and he spit something out in Latin. Judging by the way Stiles grimaced it was not very nice. Derek twisted the blade. The demon screamed in pain and Stiles knelt next to him to slap a hand across his mouth.
"You will tell me what you know," Stiles said that dangerous edge to his tone returning. Derek dug his claws into flesh just enough to draw blood.
"Fine, fine! Saul told me that he knows you're tracking him again and he knows about the wolf. He said he was going back East, but he didn't tell me where. I swear that's all I know!" The demon was breathing hard but Derek heard no lie in his heartbeat. Derek glanced up at Stiles and he looked thoughtful. He stood up and walked a few feet away. He began to draw something in the dirt and after a moment he nodded to Derek. Derek was fairly sure where this was going and he pulled the demon to his feet. There was a brief struggle but Derek ripped the knife free and shoved the demon into the devil's trap. "What are you going to do with me? I told you what I know."
"You still tried to kill me and ruined a perfectly good shirt," Stiles said and he placed a hand on Derek's shoulder. "I'll let Derek take care of you." Stiles took a few large steps back and crossed his arms. Derek pulled out book and began to read out the Latin for the exorcism. The demon's body twitched and eventually he threw his head back and screamed black smoke pouring from his mouth. The body fell to the ground and there was no heartbeat.
"He'll climb out eventually, won't he want revenge?" Derek asked as put his book in his jacket pocket.
"He might, but killing him would be mercy compared to the pit," Stiles said joining Derek. "We have a lead though." Stiles grinned his amber eyes shining mischievously.
"That we do," Derek replied and he did not fight the grin pulling at his lips.
+++
They got rid of the trap and the body before leaving town. Derek put the extra knife in the back of the car. They drove for a day and a half and by the night of the full moon Derek was restless. He did not say anything though. The sooner they got to the coast the better. The sun was beginning to set when Stiles heaved a frustrated sigh.
"Oh my god if your twitchiness is bugging me, we have a serious problem. What do you need?" Stiles asked.
"I have control," Derek replied.
"Yeah, that's just wonderful, gold star, but your twitching is driving me insane so I'll ask you again; what do you need?" Stiles said. Derek glanced over and saw that Stiles looked a little eager.
"You just want to see a born werewolf shift," Derek deadpanned and Stiles grinned.
"That too so what's the plan?" Stiles asked.
"There is a preserve a few miles up. If I can go on a run I'll be fine," Derek said after a moment of silence.
"Running it is," Stiles said. They lapsed into a semi comfortable silence and Derek felt better just knowing he was going on a run. The moon was rising when they pulled into the parking lot of the preserve. There were a few picnic tables, but the lot was empty. "Nope," Stiles said all of a sudden.
"'Nope' what?" Derek asked.
"You were going to ask me to wait in the car and the answers 'nope'." Stiles replied looking a little smug.
"Actually I was going to ask you to hold my wallet and keys," Derek said. Stiles frowned deeply but caught the keys easily when Derek tossed them. Derek handed off his wallet but kept the demon knife on his hip. Derek felt he could trust Stiles enough not to kill him when he turned his back, there had been too many opportunities that Stiles had not taken advantage of for him not to, and they had two now so Derek felt comfortable holding onto it. "So you’re going to follow me?"
"That's the plan man. Have fun howling at the moonlight and killing bunnies." Stiles smiled but Derek did not indulge him. Instead he let the moon guide his transformation. The world glowed red, claws formed and he could feel his fangs. Derek glanced at Stiles whose eyes were wide and took off into the woods.
This run was a good idea. Days of running around like he had been with Stiles had set him on edge and it felt amazing to release some of that tension. Derek could smell Stiles nearby, the lingering smell of sulfur that seemed like it was being replaced by something else. A little bit of his own scent and that made him happy on a very primal level. Derek was not going to kill anything simply because he knew that was what Stiles wanted. He ran and ran feeling all of that energy burning out of him.
The smell of gunpowder and two extra heartbeats were a surprise. Derek could hear two voices talking, a man and a young woman, and they were talking about hunting. There was a edge to the man's voice that Derek did not like and the girl did not have a gun, but a bow and arrow. No one used a bow and arrow to hunt normal game except for a werewolf they were perfect. A wolf could not heal unless the arrow was removed. There was a howl and Derek knew he had stumbled into another packs territory. The man and girl took off toward the sound, but they were also heading right toward Stiles.
That sense to protect hit him like a freight train again and before Derek could second guess himself he was sprinting toward Stiles. The man and girl were closing in when he caught sight of Stiles. Stiles turned when Derek approached his eyes wide, but Derek did not give him a chance to say anything before he he yanked Stiles to the ground. Derek covered Stiles with his body and wanted to growl to keep these hunters away.
"Derek what the hell--" Stiles began, but Derek slapped his hand over Stiles mouth, mindful of his claws. Derek forced himself into his human form and put a finger to his lips to keep Stiles from trying to talk. They stayed like that for a moment until Derek was sure the man and girl were gone. Derek relaxed and took his hand off of Stiles' mouth. "Derek, what the hell is this?"
"Hunters," Derek explained.
"Yeah, I got that. You do realize I can look after myself and how lucky you are I didn't take your head off for shoving me into the dirt," Stiles snapped. Derek blinked and realized that he was still on top of Stiles despite the fact that the danger had passed. He did not quite scramble back, but it was a close. Stiles sat up on his elbows and glared, deeply irritated.
"Sorry. Instinct," Derek grumbled and he offered a hand to help Stiles to his feet which Stiles did not take. "I appreciate you resisting the urge to decapitating me?”
"Damn right you do,” Stiles grumbled, but he took Derek's hand. "Did you get it all out of your system? Eat any woodland critters?" Stiles asked as he brushed himself off.
"Yeah, you missed out on a free meal," Derek replied as sincerely as he could.
"Your sense of humor leaves something to be desired," Stiles said but he was smiling again. They began to walk back toward the car taking the long way despite the fact that both had faster ways of getting back. Stiles began to ask a million question and Derek knew he was forgiven for the tackling incident. Derek was not sure why he was overcome with the desire to protect Stiles, but decided that it was more than likely because of the full moon and would go away soon.
<-- back forward -->
It took Derek just under an hour to find something that looked like a hunt. There was a house about fifty miles away where people were getting hurt or sick unexpectedly. It had ghost or some other spirit written all over it. Stiles seemed far too excited at the idea that they were going to possibly have to do some grave digging. During the drive Stiles could not sit still and a few times Derek had to reach over to still Stiles' shaking leg. Stiles did not say anything when it happened, but Derek caught him staring the second time with big eyes. They arrived in town and Derek took them to a small motel. Derek set his things in the room and lined the door and window with salt. Stiles looked at the salt with disdain, but did not comment on it though Derek left the door open so they could still talk.
"Hunters aren't a dime a dozen," Stiles said as Derek got himself settled for the night.
"I suppose we're not, what about it?" Derek asked.
"What if another hunter gets to the monster of the week first?" Stiles smiled to himself a little. He was clearly a little proud of the 'monster of the week' joke, but Derek was not going to indulge him.
"Then we leave. It's not like we do this for a reward or anything." Derek shrugged and crossed his arms in front of Stiles.
"Your hero complex is adorable, is it just you or does it come with the hunter package?" It sounded like it was supposed to be teasing, but it was almost like Stiles' heart wasn't in it. Something was bothering him.
"Can't say I've met enough hunters to know for sure. Why, is something wrong?” Derek asked.
"Nope, just curious," Stiles said and if he was lying Derek was unable to tell. He was still unsure if it was a demon thing or a Stiles thing. "Let's go poke a ghost with a stick." Stiles was smiling and it was a bright smile. Derek shook his head and gathered his things. If he did not know what Stiles was, it might have been a smile that would have been infectious. With that knowledge it almost felt like Stiles was trying far too hard to set him at ease. It was starting to work, but no one else needed to know that.
Derek gathered his supplies from the hidden compartment in the back of the Camaro. Stiles looked fascinated and amused by his arsenal. The house was close enough that they could walk. His car would be too obvious. The house came into view and it was a simple ranch style house. There was a 'for sale or rent' sign in the yard The last family had left in a hurry. The house was supposed to be empty which is why Derek was surprised when he picked up an extra heartbeat. He put a hand out to stop Stiles as a man walked out the front door. Derek knew who it was instantly and he tensed. He could feel Stiles at his side. The energy stronger than before.
"Hale, what are you doing here?" the man asked. He was middle aged with graying hair and dark eyes. He was armed, Derek could smell the gunpowder, and even without his senses it would have been obvious. He was making no move to conceal it. He wanted Derek to know he was armed.
“Winston,” Derek replied.
“What are you doing here?” Winston asked, stopping a good six feet away from them. That feeling from Stiles intensified.
“I heard about the attacks and decided to come check it out, do you have it covered?” Derek asked.
“Absolutely, so why don’t you and that kid behind you run along.” Winston actually did the flicking motion with his wrist. It was extremely patronizing.
“We’ll leave town in the morning, good luck.” Derek was not entirely sure he was comfortable turning his back on Winston, but not doing so would look odd. It was daylight, so he was fairly sure the other hunter would not pull a gun on him. Without thinking about it Derek took Stiles by the arm and started to pull him away from Winston and the house. It was not until they were a block away that Derek realized he was manhandling a demon. “Sorry,” he muttered releasing Stiles’ arm.
“Well he seemed like an ass,” Stiles said brushing his sleeve off.
“He doesn’t like me,” Derek said.
“Clearly, so what’s the plan? Are we just going to bail? What if that other guy sucks at his job?” Stiles kicked a rock as they walked down the sidewalk.
“I don’t want to deal with him so let’s just leave in the morning.” Derek turned toward downtown, but stopped when he realized that Stiles wasn’t following him.
“Someone I know might be nearby so I’m going to check in and see if anyone has heard anything about Saul. Enjoy your evening,” Stiles said and he vanished from sight. Derek blinked and briefly wondered if this was some sort of hallucination. The smell of sulfur lingered like it always did, but a strong breeze swept it away. Derek turned and walked toward the downtown area. If he was going to continue to deal with all of this shit, he needed food.
+++
Derek passed the time slowly.
He ate at a decent restaurant for once, stopped at the mega mart and picked up a few things to stash in the car, he tried not to think about the few pairs of jeans, shirts ,and plaid that he bought that would fit someone smaller than him because Derek did not know if Stiles would even change his clothes. By the time he was done, it was dark.
Derek purposely avoided the graveyard because if it was a ghost, Winston could be there salting and burning the grave. He was not in the mood to have a run in with the man. He was in the middle of pulling out his motel key when he heard something. It sounded like a struggle only it was far enough away that no human ears could have picked up on it. Maybe he did have some sort of hero complex. Derek dropped the bags on the ground and raced towards the sound.
The closer he got the more Derek became convinced that something was not right. The struggle had stopped, but he could smell something odd in the air. There was a heartbeat nearby, but he could not tell exactly where it was coming from. There was something else, something that set him on edge.
Derek smelled the shot from the rifle before it tore into his arm. Unlike the movies, the shot did not knock him straight on his ass, but he did stumble. The bullet burned, it hurt more than anything had in the past, but it was also a burn that he had seen described before. Derek rolled up his sleeve at the mess in his arm and the wound was almost glowing.
“Shame, I was aiming for your heart, it would have made things easier.” Derek looked up and saw Winston walking toward him. Only he was far enough away that normal human ears could not have heard that. Derek could feel his claws starting to come out, but the rifle was out and pointed at him before he could react. “I’ve had my suspicions about you, but I guess this is all the proof I need.”
“What proof? You shot me, of course I’m in pain,” Derek said through his thankfully still human teeth.
“I don’t think so.” Winston was in front of him now and the rifle was pointed directly between his eyes. “You’re one of the monsters, so it’s time to put you down.” Derek could smell it now, the wolfsbane in the bullets. That was not good. The poison of the bullet was racing through his veins, but that would not make much of a difference if he took a round to the head. Derek only had a brief moment to think about how being killed by this guy was a terrible way to go when the smell of sulfur hit his senses.
“You want to put that gun down,” Stiles said from behind Derek. Winston jumped and turned the gun on Stiles his eyes wide.
“You’re that kid that was with Hale. How did you get here?” Winston asked and Derek looked over his shoulder to see that Stiles was standing with his arms loosely at his side and a dangerous look in his eye.
“I said, you want to put that gun down,” Stiles repeated.
“I’m putting this animal out of its misery and unless you want to be caught in the crossfire, you’ll walk away.” Winston had no idea what Stiles was, but Derek could hear the fear in his rapid heartbeat. Something in Stiles changed at the word 'animal' and his eyes flashed red. It was a deeper, darker red than Laura’s alpha eyes, and the gun was halfway across the field before Winston could react. Stiles had the man by the throat and slammed him into the ground hard enough that Derek winced.
“The only animal I see here is you,” Stiles said dangerously his fingers tightening around Winston’s neck. There was no doubt in Derek’s mind that Stiles was about to snap this man’s neck with his bare hands.
“Don’t kill him Stiles,” Derek said.
“Why not?” Stiles asked though he stopped squeezing.
“Hunters have friends and the last thing we need are more of them with a revenge vendetta. Let him live,” Derek reasoned. Stiles looked over his shoulder at Derek, his eyes still glowing red, but they faded into their amber after a moment. Instead he stood up and punched Winston hard enough that he was going to be out for a while.
“Let me see your arm,” Stiles said kneeling down in front of Derek. When he took the injured arm in hand his touch was surprisingly gentle.
“Wolfsbane. No idea what kind or what I’ll need to do to fix it,” Derek said wincing. The wound was already beginning to look infected and the veins in his arm were turning black. Stiles narrowed his eyes and walked over to the ground where the rifle was. He took a few of the bullets out of the magazine and pocketed them in his jeans.
“Let’s get you cleaned up,” Stiles said casually. He put Derek’s uninjured arm around his shoulder and easily helped him to his feet. “I’m going to move us and if you think you’re going to be sick so help me god it better not be anywhere on me.”
“Got it.” Derek squeezed his eyes shut and felt the scenery around him change. When he opened his eyes again, he was outside his motel room and did indeed feel like he was going to be sick.
“Break the line of salt,” Stiles said.
“No,” Derek said through his teeth. He really felt like he was going to be sick.
“Break the line,” Stiles said forcefully. Derek wanted to say no, he did, but his entire body felt like it was shutting down. He kicked the salt to the side and the entire world shifted in a way that made bile rise in the back of his throat. Stiles seemed to realize that too and he dragged Derek to the bathroom where he threw up black in the toilet. His body was trying to heal, but it couldn’t around the wolfsbane.
“I’m going to die.”
“Don’t be so dramatic,” Stiles said, waving him off.
Derek was about to argue when he saw that Stiles was not even looking at him. Instead he was holding the bullet between his fingers and up to the light narrowing his eyes. He flipped it over in his hands a few times, checked the weight, and eventually opened the bullet dumping the contents on the counter. He leaned forward and took a deep sniff of the wolfsbane. Derek was about to ask what the hell Stiles was doing when he grinned.
“Ah ha! I know what we need to do.” He knelt down next to Derek and began to feel around his jacket and eventually his pants pockets before finding his lighter.
“What are you doing?” Derek asked. He knew about wolfsbane treatments, but they were all different depending on the type.
“Saving you from a slow and painful death by poisoning,” Stiles replied as he lit the wolfsbane on fire. It sparked as it burned and began to give off an almost blue smoke. “Give me your arm.” Derek hesitated and Stiles rolled his eyes taking Derek’s arm and holding it out. He brushed the smoking ash into his hand and stopped. “This is going to hurt, but I promise it will work.”
“I won’t attack,” Derek assured and Stiles looked almost amused.
“I’d love to watch you try,” Stiles replied before he shoved the ash into the bullet wound making sure most of it went into the actual hole. Derek tried to jerk away. It hurt too much, but Stiles had a vice like grip on his arm and it kept him still. When he looked at his arm the veins were fading and the wound was gone. “All better.”
“You knew,” Derek whispered as he stared at his arm. “You knew what kind of wolfsbane that was and how to treat it.” Stiles released his arm and walked out of the bathroom, but Derek reached for his arm to stop him.
Instead, he ended up being slammed against the wall hard enough that his teeth rattled and Stiles was holding him in place with one hand. Derek managed to pull the knife out and pressed it against Stiles’ stomach. They were in a stalemate that was going to end in one of them dying and it was not going to be him. Derek knew he had to diffuse the situation “You reacted when he called me an animal.”
“Yes, I did,” Stiles said releasing Derek and walking further into the room. He sat down on the chair at the desk while Derek sat across on the bed, but he kept the knife in hand. Neither of them moved for a long time and Derek was about to find some way of getting Stiles out of the room when Stiles sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “I might be a demon, but I was human a long, long time ago. Back when I was alive I had this really good friend. We would always go out and cause all sorts of trouble for the town. He was like my brother, I guess you could call him my best friend, and I would have done anything for him. One night he shows up at my door saying something had bit him and he felt weird. We didn’t know what it was at the time, but it was a rogue alpha. He turned into a werewolf. We never knew the proper name because we were kind of before the age of mass communication.
Anyway, we worked hard and he eventually had perfect control, even on the full moon. Things were good.” Stiles paused clenching his fists tightly. “Until a few people in our town figured out what he was and decided that he was too dangerous despite the fact that he had control and had never hurt anyone. He was fifteen. So, I guess I have a soft spot for you wolves about a mile wide and even after all of this” Stiles gestured to himself “I still wanted to know everything I could about wolves. That’s how I knew about the wolfsbane.” Stiles fell silent then and Derek did not know what to say. He was never very good at this sort of thing. Stiles did not look upset, but more resigned.
“Thank you for saving me,” Derek said. There was nothing else he really could add. Stiles did not say how long ago his friend had died so ‘sorry’ did not seem like it could cover it nor was pity the thing that Stiles was looking for.
“You’re welcome,” Stiles replied and he stood up. Derek was about to ask what he was doing when Stiles opened the door to the motel and walked out. “Go ahead and salt the door and lay your little head down and get some rest. I don’t sleep and you don’t need to worry about that hunter. I’ll keep watch.”
“Stiles, if he comes back after you attacked him like that, he’s clearly insane,” Derek said as he salted the door again. He tried not to think about the fact that Stiles let Derek lock him out. Derek closed the door and Stiles scoffed, but did not say anything else for the rest of the night.
+++
Derek had woken up to a lot of strange things in his life, but nothing prepared him after opening the door to his motel room to see a demon sitting on the hood of his car reading a bible. Stiles looked up when Derek opened the door and grinned.
"This reading material leaves much to be desired," Stiles said idly tossing the bible into the car.
"I'd say I'm going straight to hell just for being around you, but I really am going to hell so I don't think it means much," Derek said. He was completely healed and felt 100% again. He was still not sure if letting Winston live was the best idea, but the man was probably hundreds of miles away by now.
"So I went snooping through your stuff, did you buy those clothes for me?" Stiles asked and for a brief moment Derek thought he had overstepped some line, but Stiles was still grinning.
"Sensitive nose. Driving would be torture if you kept wearing the same clothes," Derek said. It was kind of the truth.
"So you bought them for you so I don't smell bad. I feel like I should be insulted." Stiles hopped off the car and put his hands in his pockets.. “We taking off now?"
"Well, Winston probably didn't have time to take care of the ghost before he got the hell out of dodge. You still want to go poke a ghost with a stick? Or something with iron if we really want to annoy it," Derek said as he rubbed his eyes. When he glanced back at Stiles he was not grinning anymore, but had this small, soft smile on his lips and Derek felt his mouth go a little dry.
"Yeah, I think I do, let's go mess with a ghost." Stiles smiled. It was bright and felt real. Derek could have easily forgotten that this was a powerful demon that literally had his life in his hands.
"All right. Let's go."
+++
The ghost turned out to be a former owner that was a shut in and did not like the idea of anyone else being in his house. Derek let Stiles antagonize the ghost a little before they both got physically thrown out the front door. Derek groaned and glanced at Stiles who was lying on his back smiling. They made eye contact and both started to laugh. They had just gotten thrown out of the house by a ghost. The entire situation was so unreal that Derek laughed harder than he had in years. He pushed himself to his feet and offered Stiles a hand. Stiles took it and Derek pulled him to his feet. Stiles put a hand on his arm and laughed.
"Is it always like that?" Stiles asked.
"No, usually making the monster angry results in bad things," Derek said. Stiles shook his head and looked down at their clasped hands as if he just realized they were still touching. He released Derek's hand and took a step back. "Let's go dig up a body," Derek said trying to ease how awkward he felt. Stiles nodded and they were off. By the evening they had salted and burned the body and Derek suggested that they leave town. There was about a week until the full moon and Stiles caught him eyeing it.
"You're a born wolf, how is your control on the full moon?" he asked.
"Pretty good. I have an anchor, something to keep me human, and that helps a lot." Derek replied shrugging. "It's anger since I know you're going to ask."
"Yup I was." Stiles paused and a minute or so of silence passed. "I've only seen bitten wolves so tell me about it."
"What do you want to know?"
"Whatever you're willing to tell me." There was something in the way Stiles said those words that made Derek frown. It was like he thought Derek would not tell him anything. So he began to talk, told Stiles the things he felt okay sharing, and Stiles only interrupted to ask for clarification or to ask a question. Otherwise he listened like Derek had the answers to the universe.
Three towns later, they were turning a corner when Stiles ran headlong into a witch. She took one look at him and yanked him into a small alleyway. She pulled him flush against her body and started ranting about how this was her time to shine and she wanted to make sure that everyone knew that she was the most powerful in the land.
Derek stared. He could not quite believe that this woman was going off on what could only be described as a villain rant. About halfway through her talk Stiles busted out laughing and could not stop. The witch looked offended. When she started threatening them Stiles was clutching his stomach, laughing. She shoved him and was about to stomp away when Stiles took her arm.
“Whatever you’re planning, you should stop,” he said. There was an edge to his voice that Derek had come to recognize. “Next time you shouldn’t grab one of us. They might not be in as good of a mood as I am.”
“I’m not afraid of you,” she said defiantly. “A demon wouldn’t kill a witch.”
“No, but a hunter would,” Stiles said, gesturing to Derek. She paled when she saw him as if she was just realizing Derek had been there the entire time. “So stop whatever you’re planning and he won’t become a problem.” The witch glanced at Stiles, his eyes flashing red, and then at Derek. He made his glow blue. The witch raced down the street like the world was ending.
“I’m not sure how I feel about you using me as a tool to threaten people with,” Derek said as he watched her run down the street.
“I’m sure you’ll find some way of getting over it. Should we stick around and make sure she stops whatever she was planning?” Stiles asked. Derek shrugged and they spent the next three days sniffing out hex bags and making sure the witch did not cause anymore problems. Stiles said that he had a feeling the demon she sold her soul to was low level, nothing to really worry about, but she probably had no idea what she was getting herself into. They were sitting in the car watching her and Derek felt a little bad for her. She was younger than him and he could practically smell how power hungry she was.
“I don’t think we need to worry about her anymore,” Derek said. Stiles nodded and they headed out of town. They were still in the midwest so before long they were going through an area where there was nothing but fields. The radio was on low. Derek reached over and turned it off. “You said Lydia is your second, right?”
“Yup, but she knows what she’s doing. I told you not to worry about that. I’m not going anywhere while we’re doing this,” Stiles replied looking out the window.
“Really. So, why is it so important?” Derek asked.
“I told you, he’s basically a serial killer. He should be put down just like anything else that’s out of control,” Stiles said.
“Yeah that sounds like a good answer, but if that was the case you wouldn’t have devoted everything to it. If you were just trying to stop a crazy demon you would have sent some low level demon out.” Derek glanced over at Stiles and saw that he had gone eerily still. “You were also tracking him the night of the fire and that was six years ago. What aren’t you telling me?”
“He’s a killer, isn’t that enough for your hero complex?” Stiles was clenching his fists tightly and Derek could smell the blood from nails biting into palms. It became too much suddenly. He pulled over. “What are you doing?”
“You told me I was too young to make a deal that day, that a sixteen year old can’t rationalize what they’re asking for, and that you don’t deal with kids. That doesn’t seem like a demon thing, but a personal thing. You need to tell me what’s going on here otherwise I’m going to kick you out of this car and sit back for the next ten years waiting for the hounds,” Derek firmly said.
“Your hero complex is seriously the size of a continent,” Stiles huffed. “I told you about my friend, when I was human, well that wasn’t the only shitty thing that happened. My mom died when I was young and it practically killed me. My dad and I, we barely got through it, and it hurt more than anything. I watched her slowly die and it felt like it was eating me up too. That was when I was eight. When I was sixteen I was buried deep in the occult after my friend had died, trying to find answers, anything, when my dad got sick too. This was before modern medicine, when they were still trying to bleed the disease out of you, but nothing helped. Then I remembered where I had read something about having my wish granted for a price. I’m sure you can see where this is going.
So I was sixteen and young and stupid with grief of losing my mom, my best friend and now my dad that I went to the crossroads to make a deal. I didn’t have to wait long before this guy showed up. He told me that he could cure my dad and have ten, long years with him. He was my dad, the only family I had left, so of course I said yes. It was creepy having him kiss me, but he took me back to my dad and I watched him make it all better. It was great, perfect even, and my dad smiled at me because everything was going to be okay. Then the guy who had given me my life back reached over and snapped my dad’s neck. He said ‘I never said how long I was going to make him better for.’ Then he fucking laughed at me and his eyes turned black. He said ‘I think I’m also going to collect early’ and that was the end of my human life.” Stiles took a deep breath and released it slowly his eyes glowing red. He did not look sad, he looked angry, a deep seeded anger that Derek had often seen when he looked in the mirror after the fire.
“Saul was the demon,” Derek said.
“He sure was and he made sure hell was a grand old time for me. I promised myself I would become powerful. King of the Crossroads. That no stupid kid would get taken advantage of again, that no demon would go back on a deal. I got all of that and it wasn’t enough. I couldn’t stand the idea that he was still out there. So, I guess we’re on the same wave length.” Stiles finished and he turned so they were looking at each other. “Will you help me get revenge against Saul?” This was different from when Stiles had asked Derek this back at Laura’s, it felt different, and it was a loaded question. Their revenge was the same thing. Saul had taken both of their families, taken Stiles’ life, and ruined Derek’s.
“I’ll help you,” Derek promised. Stiles’ eyes went back to amber and the corner of his mouth turned up into not quite a smile. He looked back out the window and Derek started the car making his way down the highway. They said nothing until Derek yelled at Stiles to take his feet off the dashboard.
+++
For two days there was nothing that resembled demon activity. The full moon was getting closer and Derek could feel it like an itch under his skin. Stiles seemed anxious too but in a way that was different. He was checking over his shoulder like there was something following them. Derek asked him about it but Stiles just shook his head without a word. The break came they passed Indiana. There was a murder where there was some sort of symbolism left behind. The police had not released what the symbol was so it was off to the next town. There was a small motel a few miles from the sight and Derek was able to hide his car. He turned to ask Stiles if he was okay with walking when he noticed that Stiles had not gotten out of the car.
"Something on your mind?" Derek asked and Stiles actually jumped.
"Yeah I need to go look into something. Go see if you can find anything on our murder and I'll see you in a few hours," Stiles said and he vanished from sight without waiting for a reply. Derek frowned and walked toward the murder sight. He kept his ears open to see if anyone was gossiping, but it was just small town crap. Derek sat down just in range of the house and listened to the people inside the house.
"Some sick fuck we're dealing with," a man said. "I mean who does shit like this."
"Nothing surprises me anymore," a woman replied. People were walking in front of him and Derek winced as he tried to stay focused, but the moon was turning everything up to eleven.
"What does it mean?" the man asked.
"It's a game of tic tak toe. It means our killer is a nut job." That was all Derek needed to hear. The family was a couple with no kids shot execution style. None of it matches Saul so it was just another dead end. Derek rubbed his temples and decided that a run was the best thing he could do to clear his head. There was a forest on the edge of town and as soon as he was out of sight Derek took off into the wood. His blood was pumping through his veins and it took some effort, but eventually he was a little breathless. He thought about going on a hunt, find something to diminish any blood lust, but he was not in the mood to explain any lingering stains.
After two hours Derek made his way back to town and meandered back to his motel. The closer he got Derek realized he could smell blood in the air. He walked faster and the closer he was to the motel the stronger it got. It took all of his self control to not run as fast as he could. He had not salted the doors and window because he was not there, but Derek was regretting it now. Derek opened the door and the smell of blood was stifling. He closed the door and stalked toward the heartbeat in the bathroom.
Stiles was leaning over the counter holding his plaid shirt over his stomach. There was a pool of blood on the ground. He was pale. Stiles looked up when he walked in and Derek could see his lip was split and there was dried blood under his nose.
"Turns out those friends I have weren't so friendly," Stiles said through his teeth
"Clearly," Derek said as he took a step into the bathroom. "How can I help?" Stiles took a large step back and he had to clench the counter to keep from falling over. He looked spooked.
"I'm fine," Stiles spit out. "So back off." Derek stopped his advance and held his hands up in a surrender.
"I'm not your enemy Stiles. We're working together, remember?" Derek replied carefully.
"Don't patronize me, wolf boy. I know who you are. This guy wasn't my enemy either and look how that turned out. Now back off." Stiles' voice was low, dangerous, and Derek knew that tone from when Winston had attacked them.
"Stiles--" Derek took another step forward.
"I said back off!" Stiles yelled and it felt like someone had punched him in the chest. The next thing Derek knew he nearly through the opposite wall. Stiles was sneering at him and breathing hard like he had just run a marathon. His eyes were a brilliant red that reminded him of Laura. He realized what this reminded him of. He had seen a wounded alpha shove everyone away because he was afraid that someone was going to kill him and take his title.
"I'm not going to take advantage of your weakness. Only a coward would do that. I can't kill Saul without you so you need to let me help." Derek winced as he sat up, Stiles packed quite a punch, and stood. Stiles was still staring at him, eyes red like fire, like he was a threat. A beat passed and the red slowly faded.
"Fine," Stiles said. Derek nodded and walked outside to get a rather extensive first aid kit. When he walked into the bathroom Stiles was sitting on the toilet still holding the shirt to his side.
"What happened?" Derek asked kneeling down mindful of the pool of blood on the floor.
"Someone decided a demon trying to kill another demon is in bad taste," Stiles muttered. Derek reached forward and pulled the ruined shirt away from Stiles' side. There was a deep stab wound that would have probably killed a weaker demon. Derek pushed the t-shirt up and Stiles slapped his hand. "Should have figured your bedside manner would suck. Do you even know what to do with stab wounds?"
"I'm rethinking my previous decision of just letting you bleed out," Derek said as he ripped the section of the shirt off. Stiles muttered something about 'being raised by wolves’. Derek did not rise to the taunt. "Can you even get infections?"
"Yes they are annoying, but they won't kill me," Stiles replied. "Wounds inflicted by one of our weapons take forever to heal too." Derek nodded as he placed a large bandage over the cut. The bleeding looked like it was mostly stopping on its own and he briefly wondered what Stiles' definition of 'forever' was.
"Should we move on or do you think they are going to try again?" Derek asked sitting back on his hunches. Stiles frowned deeply and seemed to think it over.
"We should probably move on," Stiles said after a moment of silence.
"You're going to bleed all over my seats," Derek said. Stiles did not disagree. He just smiled brightly. “We could leave or we could go after the guy that did this to you.”
“You want to take on a demon that did this to me?” Stiles asked surprised. Derek shrugged.
“If we can’t kill this low level guy, how do you expect us to kill something like Saul?” he pointed out. Stiles seemed to think on the matter for a moment.
“Good point. Plus I wouldn’t mind getting back at him for attacking me,” Stiles replied a slow grin forming. “I need a little time to heal though. Give me until tomorrow and I’ll be good to go.” Stiles moved to stand but winced painfully. Without thinking Derek stood up and took his arm to steady him. He should have kicked Stiles out of the room and salted it, but Stiles was pale and unsteady on his feet and Derek could not find it in himself to kick someone who looked half dead out.
“Can I try something?” he asked without releasing Stiles’ arm. Stiles nodded, slowly, like he was not sure where this was going. Derek tugged on Stiles’ arm and lead him out of the bathroom until they were standing near the bed. Stiles was wound up so tight that Derek was sure that if he touched him the wrong way he was going to snap. When he went to touch the wound Stiles hissed, tried to draw back but Derek held on tight. “Trust me for a minute, that’s all I ask.”
“If you hurt me I swear I will hurt you back and it is going to be painful even with your super healing,” Stiles grumbled.
“I’m not even sure if it’s going to work so just stand still before I make you stand still.” Derek reached for the wound again as Stiles glared and pulled the bandage off a little. The wound was still ugly looking with blood oozing around the edges, but Derek did not hesitate as he placed his hand on it. Stiles hissed and jerked. He did not pull away though. Derek closed his eyes and pulled some of the pain from the wound. It was harder than it was with humans or wolves, but he could still feel it being absorbed into his veins. Vaguely, Derek heard Stiles release a breath and sigh in relief. Stiles looked down as the black faded and Derek put the bandage back on.
“You took my pain,” Stiles said softly sounding a little sedated.
“I wasn’t sure it would work on you,” Derek replied releasing Stiles’ arm and taking a step back only to sway on his feet. This time Stiles took his arm and they both stumbled. Gravity took over and Stiles grunted when his back hit the bed and Derek barely felt anything as he fell forward. The room was spinning and maybe it took too much out of him to take away Stiles’ pain. Either way Derek did not care that he was fully dressed, that there was blood all over the bathroom, or that Stiles was inches away from him. The mere thought of trying to move was too much to handle and he closed his eyes welcoming sleep.
+++
Before he even opened his eyes, Derek realized he had turned on his side at some point during the night. He still had his leather jacket, jeans, and shoes still on. That was annoying, but not unexpected considering how bad he felt after taking away Stiles’ pain. Derek opened his eyes slowly and realized that Stiles was on the bed with him and he too had turned on his side during the night. The bandage from his stab wound was still visible from the torn t-shirt he wore and he was facing Derek so he was not lying on his bad side. He appeared to be asleep.
It was strange to see Stiles sleeping. Stiles was always awake in the car and he stayed outside the salted doors at night. He must have been hurt much more severely than Derek had originally thought because he had not woken up when Derek did. Stiles looked weirdly innocent while he was sleeping, like he really was the kid he said he was when he died, and at the same time seeing him was completely terrifying. There were no injuries, but he could feel the power from the attack the night before. Derek realized that he often forgot what a powerful demon Stiles was.
"Do you make it a habit of watching others sleep?" Stiles asked and Derek would deny to his dying day that he jumped. "Then again I guess they would have to actually be asleep for it to count."
"You’ve been awake this entire time,” Derek said.
“Not the entire time,” Stiles replied opening his eyes. “But I’ve been awake longer than you. Just decided to relax, get my strength back, things like that.” For some reason that confused Derek even more. That meant Stiles had woke up, saw they were facing each other and opted not to move. This felt strange, lying on the same bed with Stiles and just talking. It felt intimate in a way that made Derek very nervous. He sat up and stretched cracking his back loudly.
“Are you healed?” Derek asked. The smell of blood from the bathroom was too strong to tell otherwise. Stiles sat up and removed the bandage. There was new skin where there was once an ugly wound.
“All better and you seem good too,” Stiles said. “So, are we going to go after my not-ally now? The lack of searing pain is making me a lot angrier.” He said lightly.
“I have the knife and he’s a demon. Seems pretty easy to me,” Derek pulled the knife out of the case attached to his belt. Since he had acquired it the knife had barely left his sight.
“Our weapons are dangerous,” Stiles said softly. “And rare. The fact that you have one is impressive. You never told me where you got it.”
“There was a fight and I managed to get it off of the demon,” Derek lied before he could think twice about it. For some reason his instincts screamed at him to keep the fact that the knife was in a body when he woke up a secret. Stiles tilted his head to the side and looked a little puzzled.
“Must have been a hell of a fight,” he said. Stiles stood and began to dig through the bag of clothing that Derek had bought. They needed to clean the bathroom and get rid of any evidence that they were ever there.
“Let’s get this place cleaned up and get out of here,” Derek said. Stiles nodded and they began the slow clean up to cover their tracks.
+++
It took nearly four hours, but the motel room was finally clean enough that they could justify leaving. Derek left the fan in the bathroom on to hopefully cover the smell of the bleach that they used to get rid of the bloodstains Stiles left behind. Stiles had complained loudly about the smell and waved off any concerns about evidence left behind. He said that the kids blood was not in any database and they really did not need to worry about it. Derek may have stood in the shower a little longer than he normally did trying to clear his head. Something did not feel right and he could not shake it off. It was irritating because the full moon was two days away and his head needed to be clear. After Stiles showered and changed they checked out of the motel room and headed into town.
“Where did you meet your not-friend?” Derek asked.
“Back alley because he enjoys being a cliche,” Stiles replied. “He won’t come out during the day though so we’re going to have to kill time until then.” Derek thought the matter over for a moment.
“What do you know about the Internet?” he asked and that was how Derek found himself using public wifi on his laptop while Stiles used a library computer to search for any sightings. The hours were indeed ticking by, but nothing was coming up in any of the searches. There were plenty of murders and thunderstorms, but there was no way of knowing whether they were even on the right track. “Do you think your not-friend knows anything?” Derek asked.
“Sure do,” Stiles replied and Derek looked at him only to realize that Stiles was looking through pictures of cats on the internet. “What is with this obsession with cats? I’m much more a dog person myself.”
“Hilarious. Now why do you think he knows something?” Derek said reaching over and closing Stiles’ browser.
“Rude, I was looking at those,” Stiles said swinging around in the chair so they were facing each other. “He seemed plenty eager to help me find Saul until I mentioned that I was going to kill him. Then he got all righteous, like he has any reason to act better than me seriously, and decided trying to cut out my kidney was an excellent problem solving method.”
“I’ve found that threatening to do that tends to work better than actually doing it,” Derek replied. “The sun is almost down, what should we do?” Stiles swung the chair back and forth a few times, deep in thought, and he kept brushing up against Derek’s leg. It was annoying and eventually he stopped the chair with his foot. Stiles smirked but did not say anything about it.
“It’s not like we can sneak up on him so we’re just going to have to go in. I’ll try to draw his attention and you go for him. We’ll just have to hope doesn’t hit anything vital before that,” Stiles said shrugging.
“Seems like a bad plan,” Derek said.
“Oh it’s a terrible plan, not even really a plan if you want to get technical, but this guy knows that I’m nearby and he probably knows that I’m not dead. What he won’t be expecting is you so I’m hedging my bets on that.” Stiles turned around and shut down the computer. “Basically if you screw up we’re both dead.” Stiles turned around grinning. “So no pressure, right?” Derek rolled his eyes and packed his things as they walked out of the library. The sun was indeed down and the streetlights were turning on. The full moon was the day after tomorrow and he could see it starting to rise. He had control, he had total control, but being in control was not the same thing as not affected. Stiles paused when he noticed Derek eyeing the moon, but did not say anything. They walked toward the alley where the demon had attacked Stiles. Derek had the knife in a sheath attached to his belt and he was itching to have it in hand. It was their ace though and not something to wave around. They turned the corner and Derek immediately smelled old blood. He must have made a face because Stiles tilted his head.
"Your blood is still on the ground," Derek explained.
"I see. Well I did say he is a cliche," Stiles replied. They walked further down the alley and turned a corner to see a middle age man waiting for them. Derek could smell the sulfur on him and he was smiling to himself like he had just heard a good joke.
"I should have figured you were hard to kill Stiles," the demon said.
"I'm not King because of my pretty face, though it does help," Stiles replied shrugging. Derek could see the knife in the demon's hand and it still had blood on it.
"You should always clean your blades," Derek commented and Stiles grinned. The demon looked annoyed, however, and he tightened his grip on the knife.
"I see the rumors are true about your guard dog. I feel like I should break into a version of Peter and the Wolf," the demon said. "Run along wolf. This isn't any of your business anyway. Saul wanted me to make sure Stiles here died and I intend to follow through with that." Maybe it was the moon, but Derek was struck with a desire to protect that he had not felt for anyone besides Laura after the fire. He stepped in front of Stiles without thinking twice his eyes flashing blue.
"I don't think so," he said.
"Your dog needs a tighter leash," the demon chuckled.
"Does anyone have any originality? These canine jokes are getting old," Stiles groaned. "Derek do me a favor and duck." Derek ducked immediately and the demon was sent back several feet slamming into some garbage cans. Derek shifted, fingernails growing into claws and sharp fangs appearing in his mouth, and he charged before the demon could recover. He swiped and his claws sliced through the demon's torso. That familiar feeling of being punched in the chest followed and Derek hit the wall hard. He blinked and the demon had charged Stiles. He was swiping at Stiles with quick and precise movements. Stiles dodged each one but they were too close for comfort. Stiles managed to get some distance and shoved the demon back. The demon twirled the knife in hand and threw it. Stiles held up a hand and stopped the knife mid air but the demon was trying to push it as well. Derek tried to move forward to attack the demon but he kept getting thrown back. He joined Stiles who looked like it was taking a fair amount of effort to keep the knife from flying forward and imbedding itself in his heart.
"So I have an idea but it has one major flaw," Stiles said.
"Yeah?" Derek asked.
"Yup. You're going to have to trust me quite a bit," Stiles replied. "Can you do that?"
“Do I really have a choice?” Derek asked.
“Unless you want to see if I can survive a knife through the heart? Then no, you really don’t.”
"Fine." Derek was not sure this was the best idea to trust Stiles, but they were at a stalemate. Stiles nodded and he gestured to the knife. Derek pulled it out and watched the demon pale. Derek realized that he could not ask Stiles what he had planned and he braced himself. Within seconds he was airborne and moving toward the demon with impressive speed. He had half a second to think before he embedded the knife in the demon's thigh. He let out an inhuman scream and Derek pinned him with a hand on the blade, an arm over his throat and hand angled so his claws were at his throat. He glanced over his shoulder to see Stiles picking the knife off the ground. "So, here's how this is going to go down. You are going to tell me what you know about Saul or Derek is going to twist that knife and get creative with his claws."
"You can go straight back to hell," the demon said and he spit something out in Latin. Judging by the way Stiles grimaced it was not very nice. Derek twisted the blade. The demon screamed in pain and Stiles knelt next to him to slap a hand across his mouth.
"You will tell me what you know," Stiles said that dangerous edge to his tone returning. Derek dug his claws into flesh just enough to draw blood.
"Fine, fine! Saul told me that he knows you're tracking him again and he knows about the wolf. He said he was going back East, but he didn't tell me where. I swear that's all I know!" The demon was breathing hard but Derek heard no lie in his heartbeat. Derek glanced up at Stiles and he looked thoughtful. He stood up and walked a few feet away. He began to draw something in the dirt and after a moment he nodded to Derek. Derek was fairly sure where this was going and he pulled the demon to his feet. There was a brief struggle but Derek ripped the knife free and shoved the demon into the devil's trap. "What are you going to do with me? I told you what I know."
"You still tried to kill me and ruined a perfectly good shirt," Stiles said and he placed a hand on Derek's shoulder. "I'll let Derek take care of you." Stiles took a few large steps back and crossed his arms. Derek pulled out book and began to read out the Latin for the exorcism. The demon's body twitched and eventually he threw his head back and screamed black smoke pouring from his mouth. The body fell to the ground and there was no heartbeat.
"He'll climb out eventually, won't he want revenge?" Derek asked as put his book in his jacket pocket.
"He might, but killing him would be mercy compared to the pit," Stiles said joining Derek. "We have a lead though." Stiles grinned his amber eyes shining mischievously.
"That we do," Derek replied and he did not fight the grin pulling at his lips.
+++
They got rid of the trap and the body before leaving town. Derek put the extra knife in the back of the car. They drove for a day and a half and by the night of the full moon Derek was restless. He did not say anything though. The sooner they got to the coast the better. The sun was beginning to set when Stiles heaved a frustrated sigh.
"Oh my god if your twitchiness is bugging me, we have a serious problem. What do you need?" Stiles asked.
"I have control," Derek replied.
"Yeah, that's just wonderful, gold star, but your twitching is driving me insane so I'll ask you again; what do you need?" Stiles said. Derek glanced over and saw that Stiles looked a little eager.
"You just want to see a born werewolf shift," Derek deadpanned and Stiles grinned.
"That too so what's the plan?" Stiles asked.
"There is a preserve a few miles up. If I can go on a run I'll be fine," Derek said after a moment of silence.
"Running it is," Stiles said. They lapsed into a semi comfortable silence and Derek felt better just knowing he was going on a run. The moon was rising when they pulled into the parking lot of the preserve. There were a few picnic tables, but the lot was empty. "Nope," Stiles said all of a sudden.
"'Nope' what?" Derek asked.
"You were going to ask me to wait in the car and the answers 'nope'." Stiles replied looking a little smug.
"Actually I was going to ask you to hold my wallet and keys," Derek said. Stiles frowned deeply but caught the keys easily when Derek tossed them. Derek handed off his wallet but kept the demon knife on his hip. Derek felt he could trust Stiles enough not to kill him when he turned his back, there had been too many opportunities that Stiles had not taken advantage of for him not to, and they had two now so Derek felt comfortable holding onto it. "So you’re going to follow me?"
"That's the plan man. Have fun howling at the moonlight and killing bunnies." Stiles smiled but Derek did not indulge him. Instead he let the moon guide his transformation. The world glowed red, claws formed and he could feel his fangs. Derek glanced at Stiles whose eyes were wide and took off into the woods.
This run was a good idea. Days of running around like he had been with Stiles had set him on edge and it felt amazing to release some of that tension. Derek could smell Stiles nearby, the lingering smell of sulfur that seemed like it was being replaced by something else. A little bit of his own scent and that made him happy on a very primal level. Derek was not going to kill anything simply because he knew that was what Stiles wanted. He ran and ran feeling all of that energy burning out of him.
The smell of gunpowder and two extra heartbeats were a surprise. Derek could hear two voices talking, a man and a young woman, and they were talking about hunting. There was a edge to the man's voice that Derek did not like and the girl did not have a gun, but a bow and arrow. No one used a bow and arrow to hunt normal game except for a werewolf they were perfect. A wolf could not heal unless the arrow was removed. There was a howl and Derek knew he had stumbled into another packs territory. The man and girl took off toward the sound, but they were also heading right toward Stiles.
That sense to protect hit him like a freight train again and before Derek could second guess himself he was sprinting toward Stiles. The man and girl were closing in when he caught sight of Stiles. Stiles turned when Derek approached his eyes wide, but Derek did not give him a chance to say anything before he he yanked Stiles to the ground. Derek covered Stiles with his body and wanted to growl to keep these hunters away.
"Derek what the hell--" Stiles began, but Derek slapped his hand over Stiles mouth, mindful of his claws. Derek forced himself into his human form and put a finger to his lips to keep Stiles from trying to talk. They stayed like that for a moment until Derek was sure the man and girl were gone. Derek relaxed and took his hand off of Stiles' mouth. "Derek, what the hell is this?"
"Hunters," Derek explained.
"Yeah, I got that. You do realize I can look after myself and how lucky you are I didn't take your head off for shoving me into the dirt," Stiles snapped. Derek blinked and realized that he was still on top of Stiles despite the fact that the danger had passed. He did not quite scramble back, but it was a close. Stiles sat up on his elbows and glared, deeply irritated.
"Sorry. Instinct," Derek grumbled and he offered a hand to help Stiles to his feet which Stiles did not take. "I appreciate you resisting the urge to decapitating me?”
"Damn right you do,” Stiles grumbled, but he took Derek's hand. "Did you get it all out of your system? Eat any woodland critters?" Stiles asked as he brushed himself off.
"Yeah, you missed out on a free meal," Derek replied as sincerely as he could.
"Your sense of humor leaves something to be desired," Stiles said but he was smiling again. They began to walk back toward the car taking the long way despite the fact that both had faster ways of getting back. Stiles began to ask a million question and Derek knew he was forgiven for the tackling incident. Derek was not sure why he was overcome with the desire to protect Stiles, but decided that it was more than likely because of the full moon and would go away soon.
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