Scott glared at the silent forest around them with golden eyes as his instincts rang even louder that he was definitely being watched and focused on.
"Come out! I know you're there!" He called out.
"Maybe not calling them out is the wisest choice? We don't know who is out there and it's just you and old buddy Stiles here, you know."
Scott ignored Stiles' words and fully transformed with bared claws and fangs as he put his full focus on the forest before them, pushing his senses to ti's edge to locate who was stalking them.
It took a few seconds but he was finally able to pick up a faint presence behind one of the trees a few meters away from them.
Before he could call out to whoever was hiding, the presence became more pronounced as their stalker finally revealed themselves.
"You."
"Me."
He eyed Tristan with extreme caution as his mind already came up with a number of scenarios while Tristan would be stalking them, and most of them were not for good reasons.
Stiles noticed his caution and his thoughts were already on how they were going to escape Tristan if this was as bad as it looked. His heart skipped a beat further when he thought of Lydia and the fact that Malia was probably at her house while Tristan was here.
'We are fucked.'
"What are you doing here stalking me, Tristan?" Scott didn't undo his transformation as he knew fully well that he'd need it if they ended up fighting.
On the other hand, Tristan's face was in its usual unexpressive visage as he paid no importance to how warily they regarded him.
"Do you have any idea where Derek might be?" He didn't have any hope for an answer but he still asked. Scott was Derek's beta for all intent and purpose so if anyone might have an inkling where height be, then it was Scott.
"Why are you looking for Derek?" Scott didn't put his guard down and replied with a question of his own.
For all he knows, either it was Tristan who killed Jackson and Matt, or it was Derek. And his guts told him it was the person in front of him who did it.
"You can forget your hostility because I don't care for it, I only want to find Derek." He said and turned around to leave the dumbfounded duo behind him.
"Wait!"
He stopped and turned to Stiles who had called out to him.
"What is happening to Lydia? I know you know what's going on with her. Is she-"
Tristan cut him off with a clear response that showed he couldn't care more what was happening to Lydia. "She's a banshee. Probably undergoing a metamorphosis or the banshee equivalent. And no, I don't want to kill her."
He left out the part where he would kill her if she tried coming for his life or Malia's.
"Wait, you still didn't say why you were looking for Derek!" Scott shouted but Tristan didn't say anything else and just disappeared into the forest, leaving the two of them to themselves.
"Come on, let's go to Lydia's place to see if she's alright before you go out looking for Derek again." Stiles pulled Scott towards his jeep and kicked it into ignition and drove towards Lydia's house.
"I wonder why he was looking for Derek." Scott mused but Stiles snorted.
"What else? Maybe it's time for their weekly meeting where they decide who to kill next." He said with conviction causing Scott to roll his eyes at what he perceived as Stiles' exaggerating something simple.
"Come on. You can't say I'm entirely wrong with that. You keep forgetting they killed two of our classmates last week." Stiles reminded him in a serious tone and though he understood, Scott wasn't entirely convinced.
"But they were responsible for killing all those people last month."
"It doesn't make it right, Scott. You know what, let's just leave it there for another time." Stiles suggested and they both silently agreed.
...
"I was kinda joking about Derek always being caught but it seems like it wasn't that much of a joke." Tristan said after retrieving his car from where he parked it and drove away.
He shook his head and left it like that since this was out of his power. If Derek was already caught, and he was sure Derek was, this time there was nothing he could do.
The young Alpha was on his own this time around.
Besides the fact that there was no reason for him to risk his and Malia's safety, and the safety of his pack in extension, to save Derek, the few instances of cooperation they had didn't make them life or death allies.
He was still a bit cautious of what the Hunters might come up with to fight him. They already had one of his weaknesses, but what if they had another? He wasn't about to find out if he could help it.
"Hopefully this time he can make it out from anywhere they have him chained up."
He sighed tiredly and drove towards his home to get started on their dinner and clean up where they messed up yesterday because he knew that neither Brett, Lori nor Tierney will clean the house before they leave.
...
[The Martin's House]
Just like the day before, the two girls promptly showed up to Lydia's house and headed straight for her room after her mother let them in.
Malia closed the door behind them while Allison dug into her bag and brought out some of the papers she took home from Lydia's room yesterday.
They were all arranged in an order of progression, at least the way she interpreted the drawn events.
"What's all that?" Malia asked Allison who was bringing out a smaller stack of papers from her bag.
"Well I did some research yesterday on supernatural creatures connected with death and things related to it. I also browsed through some of my family's archives and I think I found something interesting."
"She's a banshee." Malia said.
"…"
"…"
Allison looked between the small pile of printed research and Malia and visibly had to force down the scream that she really wanted to let out.
She looked aggrieved at Malia and spoke in a defeated tone. "… And you couldn't tell me that so I wouldn't have to waste hours coming up with conjectures?"
"Honestly, I forgot." Malia said with a shrug and pointed at the two piles of papers. "Soooo, did you find out anything else other than what she is?"
Allison showed no reaction to the sarcastic comment and explained what she found.
"Banshees are believed to be able to see when someone's death is approaching and they scream to signify that, so with that I started arranging all the pictures, at least the ones that made sense, and a few events came up."
She took out a few sheets and arranged them for Malia to see.
"The Alpha, some werewolf that was supposedly cut in half.." She ignored Malia snort, knowing fully well which party did that.
"I think this is Mr. Lahey… a mechanic crushed to death by a car, a few other guys, and then we have Jackson and Matt, along with the Hunters who died that day."
"So? These are all things I could come up with."
"Right, but what I found was that there are some clues as to who or where the next death will be. Like this for example…"
She pointed at the picture of Alpha Peter and on the scribblings around it, there was a background drawing of a dead wolf – the omega.
She was about to continue but was interrupted by someone knocking the door and then trying to push it open.
"Scott, kick the door in."
"Why?! People are inside."
Allison looked confusedly at Malia who rolled her eyes and stood up to open the door.
"Can I help you guys with something?"
"Eh.. No, I mean yes. We, me… help me out here man." Stiles couldn't get out an intelligible response and pushed Scott forward.
"Erm, we came to visit Lydia. Mrs. Martin let us in." He said with a wry smile as Malia squinted her eyes at them before letting them in.
Allison had wanted to say something and hide the drawings but Malia beat her to it.
"Don't worry they already know. And Scotty over here is a werewolf." She explained.
Allison looked shocked to an extent while the other two had pale faces as if Malia just gave them a death sentence, which in a way she did.
Scott looked at Allison awkwardly while Allison looked at him warily. The atmosphere in the small room became too uncomfortable for Malia with the prolonged silence as everybody was staring at the other.
"Can you guys cut it out? I'm already irritated with being dragged here. Don't make me commit a murder too." She said and took the chair at Lydia's table while motioning her hands for Allison to continue.
.
.
.
=================
Don't forget to vote
Read up to 20 chapters ahead on my patreøn
Patreøn*com/Draul_TheOminous