4. MAGIC BULLET

"I think we have to explore the possibility of cracking open that trunk and using the bow staff.".

I caught Stiles up on the other night's events about the third werewolf, and how he could be coming after me.

"And by the way, I freaken told you it wasn't Derek… Speaking of… Have you heard from him lately?".

I hardly slept. It was as though something kept me up the whole night and when I finally fell asleep, I was awakened by the sound of a loud gunshot. In utter panic, I rushed out of the room to check on my mom, just to find her snoring lightly on her bed, in her scrubs. We still weren't on proper speaking terms because of my stubbornness. Stiles raised his eyebrows in amusement at my concern.

"Not like that you jerk! I have a sort of feeling…".

"Romantic? Love? Attraction? Infatuation?", Stiles listed.

"What are you guys talking about?".

Scott joined in our conversation.

"Stiles' feelings for Lydia.", I said quickly, sticking out my tongue at him.

Scott chuckled, but a second later, his face darkened.

"Last night I tried to track down the Alpha when I heard its howl… It wasn't the best idea but there were gunshots and I think someone got hit. Allison's dad was there along with another woman…". 

"Maybe… Maybe it was Derek?".

We stood in the hallway, processing the news when the bell rang, signaling that first period was about start. After a quick goodbye, I rushed off to History, a heavy feeling of dread on my chest.

∞∞∞∞

"There you are! I've been looking for you all day!"

Allison linked her arm in mine as we exited our last class. To be fair, I was avoiding everyone due to how awful I was feeling. She was saying something when suddenly, everything went quiet, and I could hear someone gasping for breath.

"Lorelai… Help me…".

My heartbeat quickened as I looked around to pinpoint where the familiar voice was coming from when Allison tugged my arm. Clearly, I was the only one who could hear Derek.

"Hey, is that okay?". 

Bringing my attention back to her, I nodded, having no idea what I just agreed to. 

"Hey Allison! Lorelai.", Lydia greeted, joining our conversation. 

They started talking about their plans for the rest of the day- Scott was going to Allison's house to study, and Lydia went on about how it may turn into something more. 

"Lorelai… Help me…", Derek's faint voice called out again.

Quickly excusing myself, Lydia not missing the opportunity to point out my odd behavioral patterns, I practically raced down the stairs and almost crashed into the very pale werewolf. 

"I've been looking… All… Over…". 

He was on the verge of passing out and muttered something underneath his breath. Just as he was about to crash, I caught him, putting my arm around his waist, and rushed him out of the school before anyone noticed. 

Finally reaching the parking lot, I couldn't carry Derek's weight anymore and he slipped out of my grasp, right in front of Stiles' Jeep. Luckily, he noticed us, pressing his breaks hard just in time.

"Stiles! A little help please!", I shouted.

Irritation written on his face, he threw his arms up in the air, "You've gotta be kidding me. This guy's everywhere!".

I gave him a helpless look before crouching beside Derek. Scott came running towards us, yelling at Stiles and he scoffed, eventually getting out of the Jeep. 

"What are you doing here?", Scott questioned Derek, looking from me back to the injured werewolf. 

"I was shot.", he answered breathlessly.

In attempts of comprehending how accurate my instincts were, I pushed down the feeling of panic- this wasn't the time nor place for my emotions to get in the way.

"He's not looking so good, dude…", Stiles stating the obvious, graced us with his presence. 

"Derek, why aren't you healing?", I asked calmly.

He answered breathlessly, saying that it was a different kind of bullet.

"What, a silver bullet?", Stiles questioned, genuinely serious.

Derek shot him an irritated expression, "No, you idiot…".

"It was poisoned.", I said. 

Scott frowned, his eyes widening as if he realized something, "Wait, wait. That's what she meant when she said you had forty-eight hours…". 

"What? Who, who said forty-eight hours?", panic laced in Derek's voice. 

"The one who shot you…".

"We need to get him out of here, people are staring, Scott!". 

Derek groaned out in pain, and his eyes began to flicker from his usual hazel to bright blue. 

"What are you doing? Stop that!", Scott muttered angrily at Derek, who admitted couldn't control it. 

"Come on, help me get him up!", I instructed to my two friends who looked alarmed. 

The cars behind us honked loudly, getting impatient with traffic holdup. I climbed into Stiles' Jeep first, moving to the backseat before the two of them managed to get Derek inside. 

He turned to Scott, "I need you to find out what kind of bullet they used.".

Scott scoffed, "How the hell am I supposed to do that?".

"Cause she's an Argent. She's with them.". 

Scott was reluctant to help him but eventually gave in and it wasn't long before we were speeding off away from the school. The heavy feeling that weighed down my chest was no longer there, however, there was something hovering in the air around Derek, like a dark cloud above his head. I had to rub my eyes twice to make sure I wasn't seeing things.

"Hey, try not to bleed out on my seats, okay? We're almost there.", Stiles said to Derek as we drove. 

He was slightly disorientated and struggling to stay conscious when he asked where we were going. As soon as Stiles mentioned his house, he panicked, believing that it wasn't somewhere he wanted to be while he couldn't protect himself.

"I know you can feel it…", he muttered, attempting to look over his shoulder. 

Before I could say anything, Stiles stopped on the side of the road, turning to Derek. 

"All right. What happens if Scott doesn't find your little magic bullet? Hmm? Are you dying?".

I hit Stiles hard in the arm. 

"OW!!!".

"Not yet. I have a last resort.", Derek responded weakly. 

Stiles began to question him as he pulled his sleeve up, revealing the bullet wound. It looked ghastly. I gazed at him, his face white as a sheet.

"Oh, my God. What is that? Is that contagious? You know what, you should probably just get out.", Stiles gagged.

Derek was losing his patience with the guy and growled, "Start the car, now.".

"I don't think you should be barking orders with the way you look, okay? In fact, I think, if I wanted to, I could probably drag your little werewolf ass out into the middle of the road and leave you for dead.", Stiles retorted.

"Start the car... or I'm gonna rip your throat out... with my teeth.", the sickly werewolf threatened.

"Would the two of you give it a rest!?! Nobody is leaving anyone for dead or ripping any throats out! The longer we wait, the worse he's going to get!", I yelled, pointing at Derek. 

"Stiles, if you were the one in Derek's place, we'd be busting our asses trying to help you. We need to keep him alive until Scott finds that bullet… So, stop being a brat and drive the damn car!", I gritted my teeth.

Stiles grumbled underneath his breath as he started the Jeep. The three of us sat in silence as we drove around aimlessly until Stiles glanced at Derek's arm.

"Can you cover it up? It's staring at me…". 

I was starting to worry about Derek as he drifted in and out of consciousness. Fighting off the poison was taking a toll on him- there were moments where he'd let out a breath and take forever to breathe in again.

"If he… You know… What should we do with the body?", Stiles whispered. 

"What the hell, Stiles?!?", my breath hitched in my throat. 

"We could bury it in the woods, blame it on the mountain lion or burn it. It'll get rid of the evidence completely…". 

He pulled up close to the Beacon Hills Preserve and turned his attention to his phone. I moved to the edge of my seat to check on Derek, who wasn't moving at all. Panic settled in my chest as I placed my hand on his shoulder. 

"Derek? Derek, wake up!". 

I shook him hard, and he grunted, barely opening his eyes. 

"I'm fine.", he groaned weakly.

"No… You're not… Let me see it.", I whispered.

He slowly pushed up his sleeve, wincing in the process. It looked worse than before, the veins around it were starting to turn black. I felt this weird tingle in my fingers just as I grazed his skin just above the wound, and he immediately let out a sigh of relief.

It took me a few seconds to realize that I was actually trying to heal him. However, after a while, I started to feel dizzy, and my chest began to hurt.

"Wait, stop!", he gasped, pushing me away. 

"How did you do that?".

"I'm… Not sure…". 

I was about to place my hand back on his arm, but he stopped me. 

"It's hurting you… Look.".

He turned my wrist around. There were dark blue lines running across my forearm.

"We don't know how your body is going to react to the poison if you take in anymore… She was right about you.", he said thoughtfully before groaning out in pain. 

Stiles was on the phone with Scott while this whole craziness went down to find out where we should go because he was running out of gas. 

"And, by the way, he's starting to smell… Like death…", the guy turned in Derek's direction.

"You're not gonna believe where he's telling me to take you…". 

I tuned out their whole conversation after Stiles sighed and handed the phone to Derek. I wondered whether he was referring to my grandmother… And now, was it possible that I had the ability to heal others? Glancing back to my arm, the blue lines had disappeared, and the lightheadedness was gone.

"We're heading to the animal clinic, Scott says his boss is away, we'll be able to wait for him there.", Stiles informed. 

We finally reached the clinic and Stiles and I helped Derek out of the Jeep. Stiles unlocked the door, opening it up and switched on the light while Derek broke out of my hold and collapsed onto a pile of animal food, clutching his arm. He was burning up.

Stiles looked at his phone and then turned to Derek, "Does Northern Blue Monkshood mean anything to you?".

"It's a rare form of wolfsbane. He has to bring me the bullet.", Derek explained. 

Stiles, being the curious cat that he is asked why. 

"Because he's gonna die without it. The poison is the antidote.", I choked.

On that note, the three of us rushed into the examination room. Derek tore off his shirt, and I tried my best not to stare at his ripped torso. Clearing my throat, I looked around for any form of disinfectant for his bullet wound.

"Okay, you know, that really doesn't look like anything some echinacea and a good night's sleep couldn't take care of…", Stiles suggested as Derek stared his injury, breathing heavy.

"When the infection reaches my heart, it'll kill me.", he panted.

"Positivity just isn't in your vocabulary, is it?", Stiles deflected. 

I froze in my tracks when I heard Derek mention his last resort if Scott didn't make it in time. Holding up an electric saw, he revealed his backup plan. 

"You're going to cut off my arm.". 

I grabbed the power tool from his hand and poured the rubbing alcohol I found onto the wound, looking him straight in the eye. 

"Are you out of your freaken mind?!?!". 

He winced at both my words and the burning sensation of disinfectant. Turning away from me, he picked up the saw again, sliding it to Stiles who inspected the tool.

"Oh, my God. What if you bleed to death?", Stiles whined. 

"It'll heal… If it works…". 

I wasn't sure if Derek was trying to convince us or himself. He tied a piece of elastic around his arm indicating where we'd have to start sawing. Stiles hated the idea and complained about the cutting through the flesh, the sawing of the bone, and the blood. 

Derek gave him an irritated look, "You faint at the sight of blood?".

"No, but I might at the sight of a chopped-off arm!". 

"All right, fine. How about this, either you cut off my arm, or I'm gonna cut off your head.", he threatened. 

The two of them began to argue again and I had no idea how to handle the situation. Derek grabbed Stiles by the shirt and a few seconds later, he threw up this nasty looking black liquid. 

"Holy God, what the hell is that?", Stiles turned away as he gagged. 

Derek breathlessly mentioned that it was his body trying to heal itself. 

"Derek, maybe I should-", I pleaded.

I thought that if I could absorb a little more of the poison, then I could buy him some time.

"No.".

Stiles was about to question me about my idea, but Derek went back to the arm cutting argument, still holding Stiles by the collar of his shirt.

"Oh my god, all right, here we go!".

Stiles looked to me, his eyes full of panic when Derek turned his head away, placing half his body on the examination. Stiles pressed the blade to Derek's bicep, and I stepped back, immediately shutting my eyes.

"What the hell are you doing?!?". 

I had never been so happy to hear the voice of Scott McCall. He ran towards them, and Stiles dropped the saw, moving away from Derek. 

"Oh, you just prevented a lifetime of nightmares!", he said, relieved. 

Scott handed the bullet to Derek and just when we thought this whole thing was over, the bullet slipped through Derek's fingers as he collapsed to the ground, passing out.

"Lorelai! Help him!". 

Scott's voice pulled me out of my shock, and I ran to Derek's side while Stiles tried to wake him up. I knelt down to check Derek's pulse- it was growing weaker by the second. 

"He's not waking up… I think he's dying… I think he's dead!", Stiles yelled while I kept tapping Derek's face. 

Scott shouted that he got the bullet. 

"Please don't kill me for this.".

Stiles was going to punch Derek in the face, and just as he was about to make contact, I caught him by the wrist in midair. Something weird was happening to me again while the familiar high-pitched ringing filled my ears.

The same tingling sensation that I felt in my fingers when I touched Derek earlier that afternoon seemed like electric sparks now and I could physically feel them around me.

"Lorelai… What are you…?", Stiles drifted off.

I don't how, but I was able to absorb those little electrical tingles through my hands and as soon as I hit Derek's chest hard, he jolted upright. I basically became a human CPR machine.

"We'll figure it out later! Derek! The bullet!", I cried, brushing off what had just happened.

Stiles and I helped Derek to his feet. He took the bullet from Scott, bit it open, and poured its contents onto the examination table before lighting it on fire. It gave off a blue smoke before turning into a powder form, which Derek applied right onto the wound.

He bellowed out in pain as the antidote did its work and we watched in amazement how the bullet hole, along with the back veins surrounding it, disappeared. 

"That. Was. Awesome!!! Yes!!!", Stiles exclaimed. 

"Well, except for the agonizing pain…". 

Judging by his use of sarcasm, Derek was back to normal. We stood quietly around the examination table. 

"Stiles, will you take me home please?", I asked quickly, the events of the night hitting me right in the face, knowing well I wasn't sane enough to deal with an interrogation.

I was already walking out of the animal clinic and Stiles jogged to catch up. Exhaustion flooded my body as I slumped into the passenger seat. Stiles didn't say anything at first as he drove, but I could feel him glancing at me, waiting for the right moment to bring it up. Once we reached my house, he switched off the engine. 

"What the hell happened in there…?".

"I wish I knew… When you were on the phone with Scott, I felt this tingle in my fingers when I touched Derek's arm… And I was able to somehow absorb his pain… But it affected me, like I was not only taking away the pain, but the poison as well. That's why he shut me down when I brought it up. However, when he passed out at the Animal Clinic, I didn't just feel the tingles in my fingers, it was in the air around me… Maybe the thought of him dying sorta triggered it.".

Stiles scratched the top of his head, trying to process what I had told him. 

"Stiles, since that day we found the body in the woods, I feel like I'm living in a nightmare. Like when I was young… And I have all these questions- what if my dad died because of what he was? What if the murderer is here waiting for a perfect time to… To come after me.".

Stiles scooched closer, throwing his arm around me. 

"Hey, it's gonna be okay… besides, the killer has to get through us first… You're not alone, we're all scared, even Derek… So, we can either run from it or stand our ground and face it!".

"Where did all this wisdom come from?". 

I broke out of his hold, shocked at his response. 

"I may have watched one too many Hallmark movies.". 

I smacked his shoulder playfully and opened the door. The porch lights switched on and I was greeted by my screaming mother. 

"LORELAI HYACINTH MAOLÁN!!!!! You are in so much trouble young lady!!!!". 

"Your second name is Hyacinth? What kinda name is that?", Stiles laughed.

"Oh god, I thought she was working tonight! Just follow my lead… Look sad!".

 "Wha…".

Confused, he jumped out and joined me to confront the raging woman that stood before us. 

"Mom, this is Stiles Stilinski. I know this looks bad, but it was an emergency!", I asked quickly.

"Nice to meet you, young man. Lorelai, you didn't even bother calling, or texting!!! Is this the time to come home?!?", she yelled.

"Scott's dog was having trouble breathing so we had to rush her to the emergency room at the animal clinic and it took all night trying to figure out why her throat closed up but… She um… She didn't make it… She ate something poisonous…", I rambled, keeping my gaze down.

"Scott was devastated, and he didn't wanna be alone. So, we waited for him to fall asleep…", Stiles added. 

My mom looked to from Stiles to me suspiciously.

"It happened so fast, and Chichi was dying!". 

"Yeah… Chichi is in a better place now…", he said, emphasizing the made-up dog's name, his eyes wide.

Stiles said a quick goodbye in case my mom decided to interrogate him further.

"Lorelai, you can't go out willy nilly, and coming home this late with a murderer on the loose!", she yelled, locking the front door.

"Hmm, are you referring to the one who's killing people now, or the one who murdered dad?", I shot.

"Okay, that's enough! I am tired of your attitude! I get that you're mad for keeping the truth from you, but I never raised you to be this disrespectful! We'll talk about your punishment in the morning!".

She didn't give me a second glance and stormed up the stairs. With a guilt ridden conscious, I dragged myself to my room before changing into my pajamas. I was about to flop onto my bed when I heard a thud outside my window. 

Frowning, I went closer, peering through it to see where the source of noise came from. I opened it to get a better look, when a hand gripped the windowpane and I jumped back in surprise as the figure entered my room.

"Derek?!? What the hell?!?", I whispered loudly. 

He moved from the window and sat down on the chair next to my desk. Breaking into bedrooms was becoming a thing for the guy. I crossed my arms against my chest while I perched onto my bed.

"You're going to tell me what the heck you're doing here?".

"I… I came to thank you… And to warn you.", he sighed before continuing.

"Lorelai, when I was younger, I heard a rumor… Depending on your bloodline, when your kind joins a pack, you're able to strengthen its Alpha. That's why he's specifically after you…", he said, refusing to meet my eyes. 

"That's not new, you already said he'd try and claim my power… Oh god, there's more to it, isn't there?".

He nodded grimly.

"Well? What is it?".

"If you don't submit, he will kill you and… And-".

"Take my power which will make him unstoppable.", I finished his sentence for him.

We sat in silence for about five minutes when I remembered something from earlier that day.

"Derek, when you were at the school, did you ask anyone where to find me? Or call out my name by any chance.".

He scrunched his eyebrows, shaking his head.

"No. Why?".

"I felt it, I mean you. I already knew you were in trouble… Just like with Scott when he almost got caught by the hunters… I literally heard your voice calling out to me- why are you looking at me like that?".

Derek wore an expression of concern and bewilderment with a flash of fear.

"Lorelai, I think your situation just got a whole lot worse…".