Chapter 11

Stiles walks out of English class feeling even more certain that something is off about their English teacher. "I'm telling you Lydia, something is just not right about that woman" he insists as they walk out of class heading towards the cafeteria. "Maybe she isn't completely evil, but come on!"

"Stiles, she is competent and actually knows what she is doing. She has managed to get almost everyone in her classes to actually learn, including Greenberg apparently. If she can teach him and still manage to teach our advance class, then you are right, she is probably a mythological creature" Lydia deadpans and Stiles rolls his eyes.

"Okay, fine. She is a great teacher and knows her stuff, but even you have to admit there is something off about her" Stiles prods and manfully pretends not to notice her eye roll. Giving up on that he switches topics "Have you heard anything about the Alpha Pack?" he asks dropping his voice down to whisper.

Lydia pauses and looks at him in surprise. "What? I figured Derek would tell Jackson and he would tell you" Stiles mutters and as Lydia continues to glare at him and his voice trails off. "Right…expecting Derek to communicate."

Lydia harumphs and they head into lunch as Stiles grumbles at how annoying it is when the world doesn't do what he wants it to, it would really make everything smoother if everyone just did what he wanted. "Good news" Scott says happily as they sit down at the table, Lydia next to Jackson and Allison "Harris is out today so we have a free period."

Stiles suddenly feels like a ray of sunshine has touched his life. A day without Harris! "Yes!" Stiles fist pumps in appreciation before exchanging high-fives with Scott while the girls roll their eyes. They continue talking for a while when Jackson's voice suddenly surprises them.

"Danny? What's wrong?" Jackson asks seriously and everyone turns to look at the goalie who has just walked in looking sick.

"Mr. Waters was killed" he mutters and everyone looks confused.

"The band teacher? What happened?" Stiles demanded. Mr. Waters was married so it made absolutely no sense for him to be a victim.

"A guy from the Jungle I know works for the Beacon Gazette and he knows I am in the band. He gave me a heads up about it. Mr. Waters was on his way to his support group when someone grabbed him. They found him with his throat cut" Danny was guided to his seat looking dazed as Jackson hovered worriedly over his friend.

"Support group?" Allison asked looking at Stiles in confusion but he just shook his head. He didn't know anything about that.

"He led a support group for veterans at the Annex" Danny muttered. "He helped a lot of service men and women who came back" Danny explained.

"They will get the guy who did it" Jackson growled but Stiles was suddenly feeling really uncertain.

"Danny…you said his throat was cut? Are you sure?" Stiles asked carefully and saw the rest of the group turn to look at him in surprise.

Danny looked at Stiles uncertainly. "Yeah, Roger, the reporter, he warned me about that since it would be in the papers tomorrow."

"Stiles? What are you thinking?" Lydia demanded looking at the teen with a narrowed expression.

"What if it was like the others? The three-fold death. He might have been another sacrifice" Stiles whispered to her as Danny and Jackson were now talking together and no longer paying attention to their end of the table.

"Stiles, we already know that Kyle wasn't a virgin and Mr. Waters wasn't one either" Scott reminded him but Stiles shook his head.

"No but Kyle was in ROTC" Stiles said with certainty. Scott and Lydia both looked confused but Allison was looking intrigued. "Some rituals required virgin sacrifices, but others…they instead sacrificed people in groups. Virgin sacrifices generate power sure, but maybe whoever is doing this wants something more."

Scott frowned not following. "Stiles? If the first three were virgins, then what is the connection between Kyle and Mr. Waters?"

"Warriors" Lydia muttered and glanced at Stiles who nodded. She noticed that both Scott and Allison were looking at her surprised. "What? I did some research too after I found Kyle and Stiles went on about human sacrifices. There was a really dark ritual called the Five Fold Knot. Virgins, Warriors, Philosophers, Healers, and Guardians were sacrificed in that order to harness tremendous power."

"So there will be another warrior death?" Scott asks looking at them with concern. But they all look confused when Stiles shakes his head.

"Mr. Harris was ex-military" Stiles said looking grim. "He had a thing on his desk from his days in the army" he explained. Scott and Allison looked stunned but Lydia only nodded looking thoughtful. Harris hadn't missed a day of school without everyone knowing in advance, he didn't take sick days. Him not showing up and with all of this information, things were looking bad.

"So what do we do?" Scott finally asks and Stiles looks over to see Jackson and Danny still talking about Mr. Waters.

Stiles glances over at the betas' table and sees Erica watching him. "Did you hear all of that?" he asks barely above a whisper and sees her nod. "You will let Derek know?" another nod. Stiles turns back to the table. "Scott, Erica will tell Derek but you should tell Deaton. He might know more about this since both the three fold death and the Five Fold Knot are Druidic in history. Allie? Can you see if your dad knows anything?" Stiles asks. Both Scott and Allison agree and then the bell rings and they have to head to their next class.

Stiles decided to tag along with Scott to go to the animal clinic to talk with Deaton. Stiles had been assured by Boyd that they would tell Derek everything that he and Lydia had discussed at lunch. Stiles had been surprised when Boyd had spoken to him after history and carefully asked whether Stiles would be considered eligible for any of the remaining sacrifices. Stiles doubted that the person doing it would see him as eligible for any of the remaining groups. He was touched by the Beta's concern.

"Are you going to explain everything?" Scott asks as he gets off his bike as Stiles closes the door on his jeep. "I mean you really came up with all of it" he says sheepishly. Stiles just shakes his head at his buddy's obvious attempt to get out of talking magic with Deaton. Despite everything, it still seemed that Scott felt the office was a refuge from the craziness and that Deaton wasn't in on all of this even though Scott always went to the man for assistance. Stiles did not get how Scott's mind worked sometimes but he understood that he needed it.

"Sure buddy. I can do that" Stiles offers as they step in to the office and see the ever serene vet look up at them and nod, not giving away anything.

"Boys. How are you today?" he asks with his typically unperturbed smile.

"Oh you know. Lacrosse practice was intense with the coach making us run suicides, the cafeteria had tater tots, oh and our Chemistry class was cancelled and we think it is because our teacher was probably killed as a victim in some evil ritual of human sacrifice" Stiles tells him with a jaunty wave.

Deaton raises and rather unimpressed eyebrow at the teen and sighs heavily. "Perhaps you might want to explain that last item" Deaton asked cautiously.

Stiles spends the next few minutes going over all of his and Lydia's thoughts and ideas about the sacrifices including the Threefold Death and the Five Fold Knot. He explains how the first three were probably virgins and the next three were warriors. "We don't know for sure that Harris is dead" Scott protests and Stiles gives him his patented 'are you serious' look. "Well we don't!" Scott defends.

"I am afraid that I agree with Mr. Stilinski" Deaton says surprising both of the boys. "What Stiles and Ms. Martin have concluded provides a very good answer for this situation and if they are right, then we are dealing with someone doing something very dark and very dangerous."

"Then this is Druidic Magic" Stiles states.

Alan shakes his head sadly. "Unfortunately. But it is not the way of the Druid, but the Darach." Deaton sits down at the confused looks on the teens. "Druid translates as 'Wise Oak' but Darach translates as 'Dark Oak' and they are called that because they are Druids who have abandoned their oaths as balance keepers in order to draw power from the darkest elements of our magic."

"I haven't found Darach mentioned in any of my readings" Stiles mutters unhappily and Deaton huffs a bit with a smirk.

"I'm not surprised Stiles" Deaton gets up and crosses his office, pulling down a very old book and handing it to Stiles. "This might give you some insights on the Druids to go along with your other studies" he says with a slight smile that causes Stiles to pause. "I'm sorry that I can't do more Mr. Stilinski but even if you cannot do serious magic, there is still much you can do and knowledge is never a waste" he said hopefully.

Scott glanced at the book in Stiles' hand and then frowned. "But what are they doing? I mean sacrificing people for what end. What do they want?" Scott asked.

Deaton sat back down and clasped his fingers together thoughtfully. "There is something you need to understand Scott, the word sacrifice has many different meanings. At one time, Druids did use the Threefold Death in their magics, but some of those sacrifices were made willingly and knowingly. The magic thus created was not dark, but light" he told them.

"How could human sacrifice ever be a good thing? I mean no one would willing do that!" Scott demanded sounding offended.

"Actually they did and not just druids, but in many cultures" Deaton was, as ever, unperturbed by Scott's outburst. "Think of a soldier, who in order to save others, throws themselves upon a grenade. They trade their life to save others. The Threefold Death was done in a similar manner, and it often accomplished the same thing. However it was never undertaken casually or without purpose."

"So what? They just chose some poor idiot to kill in order to grow crops or something?" Scott was getting worked up.

"For it to be a True Sacrifice, then the person had to face the sacrifice with both full knowledge and the intention to do so and no, it wasn't some idiot. Usually it was a chief, or leader, or even a wise-man who offered up their lives for their people. Sometimes it was a young warrior or maiden, but coercion, deceit, or other ways of manipulating someone would corrupt the sacrifice and make things worse. And it was only used for serious issues that could not be resolved in other ways" Deaton added. "The practice, like anything can, ultimately became corrupted and turned from a True Sacrifice to taking life. That is why the Druids ultimately forbid it."

Scott still seemed to be angry at the idea but Stiles actually understood it. It was similar to other things he had read in his books about the power of intention. If a chief sacrificed his life for his people, that would create some pretty powerful magic which the Druids could harness and use to save many others. "But these are not willing victims" Stiles counters when Scott has quieted down a bit. "So the magic wouldn't be the same."

Deaton nodded and smiled at the teen in approval. "Very good Stiles. These sacrifices are definitely unwilling and combined with the Five Fold Knot, which I believe Ms. Martin was correct about, then they are probably being used by a Darach for a much more sinister goal. The FIve Fold Knot gives power in specific ways. Killing the virgins generates tremendous power that would be highly effective in certain magics, spells to mask darkness or corruption by using the stolen innocence of the virgins. The Warriors killed gives the Darach enormous strength" Deaton laid it out and Stiles didn't like it. That meant that whoever is doing this is probably going to be able to hide from most forms of detection.

"Stiles?" Deaton suddenly asks and Stiles looks over to see the vet staring at Stiles' hands in confusion. Glancing down he spots his moonstone ring and almost flinches. "Where did you get that ring?"

Scott looked surprised that he had a ring on in the first place, great observational skills wolfboy, but Stiles schools his face to look innocent. "This? I found it in a junk shop in San Francisco" Stiles said quickly.

"May I see it?" Deaton asked with a calculating look on his face.

Stiles pauses for just a moment but he doesn't want Deaton to be suspicious so he slips it off and hands it to the vet. If he knew anything about it, maybe it would be worth Deaton finding out!

Deaton turned the ring around several times, looking thoughtful, before finally handing it back to Stiles. "It is a very interesting ring, silver and moonstone I believe?" he said looking at Stiles.

Stiles smiled broadly. "Yep and even better, the guy said it was magical, owned by a powerful magician" Stiles jokes and laughs when Scott rolls his eyes at his friend.

"I don't know about that" Deaton says with a chuckle "but it is a very nice ring." Deaton hands Stiles back the ring and Stiles puts it back on with a sigh.

"So, are you saying it doesn't have any super magic powers or anything?" Stiles asked hopefully causing the vet to just shake his head as they all got up. Scott went to the back to get started on his tasks when Deaton reached out to Stiles.

"I'm sorry I can't tell you anything about the ring, but your insights about magic are very good and that should be encouraged. When you finish, return that book and I will get you some others to read that should help you" he offered and Stiles smiled gratefully, thanking the man before leaving for home.

"It seems that Hale is keeping his pack close and they have abandoned his loft" Kali reported and Deucalion was getting annoyed.

"What about the betas? Have you been following them? They should lead you to wherever Hale is hiding" he asked of the betas and they all flinched and avoided his eyes.

"They have been, but there is a problem. The three betas will often leave town and go over to Dansforth where they enter one of the plants there" Kali tells him and when he just stares she sighs. "It's a meat processing plant. The smell of livestock and blood is so thick that we can't scent trail them once they go in. They go in and disappear in all of that and somehow they are getting out without us catching them. The next thing we know they are back at their homes or school" she explains, clearly frustrated. "The plant has also planted large beds of wolfsbane and stinkweed all around the place" she adds with a growl.

"A meat plant surrounded by wolfsbane and stinkweed?" Deucalion stares for a moment before he laughs. "Peter Hale" he says with an irritated sigh and Kali and Ennis both start at the older Hale's name.

"What about him? He is weak and useless" Kali argues but Deucalion just shakes his head at her foolishness.

"Peter Hale may be physically weak after doing whatever he did to return from the grave, but do not make the mistake of underestimating him. He is clever, too clever, by far. Peter was Talia's hand and was the one she sent when she did not want to be seen acting less than admirably. He is cunning and well versed in our ways and he is capable of anything. This reeks of one of his schemes and I would bet it's not the only one they are using which is why finding his nephew has been so difficult." He pauses for a moment before his lips shift to a rather dangerous smile. "Perhaps we should try a different tactic."

Kali and Ennis both look at each other not catching on. The twins are quiet as usual, Lisa was standing behind the other female alpha, clearly showing her allegiance, while Ricardo just looked uncertain. "What do you mean?" Kali finally asked after Deucalion had been silent for several moments.

"The omegas. What kind of Alpha allows not one, but two omegas to not only stay in his territory, but to act those two have been?" Deucalion asks sounding like a professor.

"A weak one" Ennis declares easily and Ricardo can see their leader's irritation with the large Alpha.

"No. One who is grooming them to join his pack. The Jackson boy is almost pack by now from what the twins tell us, even though he hasn't fully submitted. McCall though, that one is the weak point in all of this. He was bitten by Peter Hale, which should make him one of the Hale pack, but he refuses to join and Hale allows it. He is also involved with the Argent girl" Deucalion says with an empty laugh. Deucalion doesn't share his last bit of information with the pack, that Morrell told him about the boy having the potential to be a True Alpha.

"So we remove them from the field?" Kali says easily with a smile of anticipation. "They can't join Hale if they aren't breathing."

"My dear you miss the point entirely. The boy is desperate to hold on to his humanity and that is why he is not joining Hale's pack and recklessly dating a Hunter. He thinks he can ignore all of this, but he is vulnerable and if we push his weak spots, then he will do whatever we tell him, perhaps even taking the alpha power from Hale" Deucalion lays out with a smirk. If McCall is truly an Alpha, he will belong to Deucalion.

"Well then, what are his weak points?" Ennis asks and turns toward the twins who have been gathering the most intel on the teenagers.

"Stilinski, Argent, and his mother" Aiden says easily and Ethan nods a bit slower.

"The Argent girl will be protected and we don't want to draw the hunters in quite yet and his mother has the most value. He will do anything to protect his mother so we can use her to finally push him over the edge. Which leaves the friend" Deucalion nods to himself.

"And Stilinski is connected to Hale's pack as well" Ethan adds slowly and sees the others look at him in surprise. "He isn't a member, but he is connected somehow to Hale's betas. Maybe even Hale."

"Then if something were to happen to him?" Deucalion asks with a smirk and Kali and Ennis both grin at the idea. "I think it is time that we increase the pressure on all fronts. Ennis, take the boy and bring him here. And restrain yourself, nothing permanent. I want him alive so that we can use him to send an appropriate message to Hale and McCall." Ennis smiles wickedly and starts to move when the demon wolf's voice stops him. "Oh, and go ahead and kill the sheriff while you're at it."

Allison smiles as Scott holds the door for her as they enter the diner. The dinner with her dad the other night had gone fairly well, at least no blood was spilled, and they had spent quite some time afterwards catching up. Allison had shared her experiences in France and was happy when Scott reacted like she had upon hearing that the Argent Grande Matriarch had once had a non-human lover. "I also got to meet several hunters who had married non-humans. It seems that it is more of a taboo here in America than in Europe. It really surprised dad but I think it caused him to really reconsider some things" Allison said after they had ordered.

"So he is okay with us being together?" Scott asks tentatively and smiles and the nod and smile that Allison gives him.

"He is dealing with it, but I would still like to take it slow though. Dating first. We need to talk about a lot of things especially about keeping stuff from each other. Lady Argent was very unhappy when she found out about Kate and what she did to the Hales. She worries that it is things like that will lead to all-out war and that cannot be allowed to happen" she tells him.

"Why was she so angry? I mean, she's a Hunter" Scott was kind of surprised to find out that hunters would have been bothered by it based on Allison's family. He knew Allison was different, but then she hadn't been raised to think like hunters even if she was trained to eventually become one. Scott's impression of her parents? They scared him in how it didn't seem to ever bother them to kill people.

"Because the majority of supernaturals, even werewolves, know that when humans die so visibly, everyone is at risk of exposure. If one goes feral, it puts the others at risk. In fact it is just as often a stable pack that kills a rogue omega as it is hunters but we have seemed to forget that. So many hunters have been recruited because a loved one was a victim, so they are twisted by their loss instead of learning the full truth. Clarissant found evidence that Gerard had been doing that, recruiting hunters who know no else even knows about and keeping them isolated from the families in order to be his own personal army" Allison said looking mortified.

"So hunters and packs are supposed to work together to keep the peace?" Scott asks and Allison nods causing the teen to inhale deeply. "Then what Kate did to Derek and his family" his voice trails off and he sees the guilt and shame in Allison's face but he hesitates for a second before he reaches out to comfort her. Kate's actions were even worse than he knew, and that was saying something! Her betrayal was on so many levels. The woman was truly evil. "Which is why Derek didn't want me around you" Scott says looking at her and seeing her acknowledgment.

"After what I learned, I realize that he is a lot stronger than I am" Allison admits with a flush. Scott squeezes her hands and starts to counter that but she smiles waveringly. "I mean it Scott. My mom killed herself because Derek bit her, and I let Gerard use that to manipulate me. I hurt Erica and Boyd and if I had even the slightest chance, I would have killed Derek. I didn't care. I convinced myself that they were not human, just animals. But when Derek was wronged so horribly by my family, he didn't lose his humanity. There were eleven people in that house Scott, including a six month old baby!" she says, tears running down her cheeks. "But he didn't go nuts and try to kill people afterwards. He even got you away from me on your first full moon and gave me a ride home to keep you from hurting me."

Scott nodded remembering how crazed he was that night. Not long after that he attacked Stiles in the locker room and he had accepted that he was having so many issues with control. Stiles had never held that against him and had come up with the idea of using the Lacrosse balls to help him focus, though Scott was sure at least part of that was payback, and the thing was that it did really help him. Allison had turned out to be his salvation in more ways than one in the end. She had anchored him to his humanity, but she had also made him stronger by wanting to be able to protect her.

"Allie, this isn't all on your family. Derek is not completely innocent in all of this either. He lied to me to get me to help him fight Peter which" he paused and sighed "was probably the only way he could get my help" he acknowledged. "Dammit" he muttered "I hate it when Stiles is right. Okay, but he did keep trying to kill Lydia and Jackson" he reminded her with a look.

Allison laughed and he smiled at her. "It's okay. Lydia did pretty much the same to me the other day. She reminded me how basically everyone is a little too quick to jump on the 'kill everything when things go bad' train" she pauses with a smile "though she did qualify that by saying that killing Peter should always be up for consideration. We really need to fix this so we can all deal with whoever is killing people or before something even worse shows up."

Scott frowns and at Allison's questioning look, he proceeds to tell her about the Alpha Pack and what they did to Isaac. By the time he finishes, Allison is worked up. "Two supernatural enemies at the same time? Scott, that stretches the odds of coincidence. What if they are connected somehow? We need to talk to my dad and find out what he knows and then we all can talk to Derek" she declares.

"You want to talk to Derek?" Scott says in disbelief.

Allison looks at her boyfriend carefully and nods. "We need to fix this and since Derek and my dad are probably incapable of making the first step, maybe it is up to us to bring everyone together. If they hurt Isaac just to send their first message, what will they do for the next one?"

Scott agreed and they left for the Argent's house and Scott looked happy at Allison's determined expression. If she and Derek could work together, after everything that happened between them, then maybe he could too. He had a lot of anger towards the guy, especially after Derek wanted to kill Lydia and Jackson when he thought they were the kanima, but these alphas are way worse and if he has to choose a side, he is going to choose the right one.

Stiles pulled the pan of lasagna out of the oven and put it on the counter-top with a smile. He was trying a new recipe and he had used ground turkey instead of hamburger in addition to lots of veggies in his never-ending efforts to get his dad to eat healthier. He typically used the ground turkey when he could get away with it and his dad hadn't caught on so far so Stiles kept looking for other ideas. He turned to finish the salad when he heard the front door open and he called out "In here!"

Noah Stilinski walked through the living room with a tired sigh but definitely perking up at the smells coming from the kitchen. He had a long shift and unfortunately would have to head back for a few hours after dinner, but he had carved out some time since Stiles had promised him lasagna and he wasn't going to pass on getting real meat. "Smells great" he tells the smiling teen.

"You have enough time if you want to get changed first" Stiles offers as he moves the garlic bread to the oven.

"Stiles…" Noah says carefully and watches as his son looks up and seemingly deflate.

"You can't stay?" Stiles says tonelessly.

"I am staying for dinner" Noah declares firmly "but I do need to go back to the office afterwards for a bit. I'm sure that you will hear this tomorrow but we found another victim, your chemistry teacher Mr. Harris." Stiles didn't react which triggered his sheriff's instincts. "You aren't surprised."

"He wasn't in school for the second day" Stiles tells his father. "They guy doesn't go on vacation unless he loads us down with killer assignments. Him being gone…he fit the pattern."

"Pretty sure he wasn't a virgin son" the sheriff says looking tired of Stiles' efforts to convince him that all of this was about virgin sacrifices.

"No, the second group of three victimes were all warriors. Harris and Mr. Waters were ex-military and Kyle was ROTC" Stiles explained to a now thoroughly confused sheriff. "It's complicated but basically there is this old ritual that I think the killer is following where he or she kills certain kinds of people. I can show you my research" Stiles offers cautiously.

The sheriff stares at his son for a moment, assessing the serious expression and demeanor and realizes that the kid has probably been desperate to help with all the negative press the department has been getting. He remembered that the profiler that had come to assist had mentioned the killer was probably following some kind of pattern based on the ritualistic nature of the killings so maybe Stiles had found it. "After dinner" the sheriff agrees and Stiles smiles just as there is a knock at the front door.

"I'll get it" Noah says and Stiles just nods as he heads to the door. Flipping on the porch light, Noah opens the front door and is surprised to see a large, bald man standing at the front door.

"Sheriff Stilinski?" the man asks with a smile and Noah nods slowly feeling suddenly uncomfortable with the way the man is looking at him.

The man's smile turns vicious and Noah flinches as he sees the man's eyes suddenly glow red and his face turns into something bestial. He steps back, his hand moving towards the gun that he was still wearing, but he was too slow. The man, monster, or whatever it is strikes out so fast Noah can barely react before he is being thrown across the hall to the living room where he hits the wall, crashing into the television before he crashes to the floor.

"Dad?" Allison called out as she walked into the house, Scott following behind her closely. They had come straight from the diner to update Mr. Argent about the situation.

"Allison?" Chris looks at the determined face of his daughter with concern. He wondered if this was anything to do with the recent killings that had been occurring. Although all of his informants had confirmed that the slit throats were done with a blade, not claws, they were still disturbing.

"Dad, Stiles and Lydia put some information together that we thought you should know about and there is also another problem" Allison tells him with a fierce look that reminds Chris very much of Clarissant Argent and he restrains the smile that tugs on his lips. This summer was very good for Allison and she was already starting to show serious growth.

"Okay, let's talk" Chris said leading them into his office. Sitting at his desk he motioned for them to proceed. The next twenty minutes involved all of Stiles' theories, Lydia's ideas, and what Scott had learned from Isaac about the Alpha Pack. (No Stiles, he didn't have to talk to Derek to get information, nor was he ignoring everything even if he wasn't directly involved, thank you very much.)

Chris was frowning, definitely unhappy as the finished their story. Getting up he grabbed one of the Argent histories and opening it up he flipped the pages till he got to the section he was looking for "One of our ancestors fought a Darach who was attempting the Five Fold Knot" he explained and pointed to the diagram and notes on the page. "It is very dark magic and usually is tied to vengeance or fury."

"So the person doing this is trying to get back at their victims?" Scott sounds confused. "But none of the victims were evil…except maybe Harris."

"No, the victims are not the important part, they are being used to fuel the Darach's vengeance against someone else" Chris explains and then frowns. "You know, that may be what happened to that coven " he muses.

"The witches who ran out of town?" Scott asks surprised while Allison looked confused as she had been gone when all that happened. "You think the Darach took them out?"

"It's definitely possible and even makes a certain kind of sense. If they were in the way or maybe even competing for something, they may have been eliminated to give the Darach a clear field" Chris suggests but then shrugs "but that's just one theory."

"What about the Alpha Pack?" Allison asks after a moment and her father looks uncertain.

"I haven't heard about a pack of Alphas. I can ask, but I think that would have been noticed and the word would have gone out. Do you know who any of them are?" Chris asks.

"Isaac said their leader was named Deucalion and he heard the names Kali and Ennis as well. There are also two twins our age, Ethan and Aiden Carver" Scott reports and looks at Allison when they notice the elder Argent's reaction. "You know them?" Scott pushes.

"I recognize the name Deucalion" Chris says with a frown. He tells them of a peace summit where Deucalion and several other Alphas were meeting with Gerard and that the Alpha had attacked and killed several of Gerard's hunters. The hunters were furious at the betrayal and attacked the packs that were present and Deucalion was blinded by Gerard before the wolves got away.

Scott listened to Chris' story and noted that it was a new one for Allison as well but something didn't sit right with him. "Sir" Scott looked really uncomfortable when both Argents turned to stare at him "I know this may sound harsh, but it is possible that Gerard is the one who started the fight?" he asks and sees the older man tense. "I mean, he just seems so anti-wolf, could he have only agreed to the meeting so that he could have the opportunity to attack the werewolves?"

Chris leans back as Allison frowns. "Scott, you are forgetting that several hunters were killed first causing the fight."

Scott nodded slowly but he was watching Chris and the man's face gave a different tale. "You might be right Scott" he finally said surprising Allison. "My father was never interested in peace and I remember being surprised he even agreed to try, but I thought that maybe it was because my mother had died the year before. It wasn't from hunting or anything, but I was thinking that maybe he was changing, getting tired. But he never really changed. I hate to say it, but I think that killing his own men to justify his attack on the wolves, not to mention making any future peace treaties between packs and hunters more difficult, is something that makes a whole lot more sense" he said with a heavy voice.

A silence sat over the three of them as they all thought about everything that Gerard had done to each of them and what he was capable of and how it seemed that the aftershocks of the man's actions were never ending and it wasn't very reassuring. "We need to talk with Derek, share information and see what we can do together" Allison finally stated startling her father.

"You want to ally with Hale?" Chris asked with surprise. Allison just nodded, resolution clear in her eyes. Though technically he was Argent Regent, he also knew that Allison needed to start taking a greater role in the family business and he couldn't really argue with her logic. Agreeing, he gathered up the information to take with them while Scott called to talk to Derek.

"Dad, I know this will be hard, but we need to do this" Allison said gently looking a lot less certain than she had a few seconds before. Chris could see the concern and uncertainty on his daughter's face as well as the determination.

He pulled her in for a hug to reassure her just as Scott walked up. "Derek and Peter will meet us at the animal clinic" Scott told them as they walked up. "Derek said he is calling Dr. Deaton to come as well."

They all head out and Scott was going to call Stiles to join them but he remembered that Stiles was supposed to be having a night home with his dad. He could talk with him later.

Stiles dropped the salad bowl when he heard the crash and came running around the corner and saw his father sliding down the wall. He screamed and started for the sheriff when the Alpha he had seen at the market suddenly appeared and backhanded him hard, sending Stiles crashing into the breakfast table landing among the wreckage of their dinner.

"Stiles!" the sheriff yelled as he fired his gun at the man/monster in his house twice in rapid succession, both shots hitting the wolfed out Alpha in the chest causing the man to roar in pain. In the blink of an eye, the Alpha crossed the room and grabbed the gun out of the sheriff's hand, tossing it across the room. His other hand, claws out and pressing against the skin, were gripped around Noah's throat, slowly cutting off his air supply as the Sheriff was lifted off his feet.

Ennis looked at the sheriff with a maniacal glee and the sheriff had just managed to grab his taser when the Alpha's other claws raked across his stomach causing Noah to scream in pain and drop the stun gun. "We have plans for the boy, and afterwards, we will leave his body for Hale to find, but first, I am going to let him watch me kill you" the alpha snarled and Noah felt his blood go cold at the man's threat. He was going to die and there was nothing he could do to stop it or protect his son.

Noah was looking into those glowing red eyes when suddenly there was a bright flash of yellow light and then he was hit with a hot splash on his face as he collapsed to the floor, fingers still tight on his throat as he looked up in surprise at the now screaming man gripping the bleeding stump that used to be his arm.

Stiles had watched movies and the one thing that had always annoyed him was whenever the good guys seemed to waste time talking or giving a warning instead of just shooting the bad guys. He always felt that it was monumentally stupid and though he honestly couldn't say that he was really thinking about that in this moment, afterwards he is certain that it had affected his decision when he looked up from the mess of dishes, food, and table he was laying among and saw his dad, pinned against the wall, with an Alpha strangling him with one hand while clawing him with the other. Stiles eyes saw red and he summoned his mystic shield. He had begged Wong to teach him how to throw the shield like Captain America and the guy had, even though they both knew that the shield's motion and return was due to his magic controlling it rather than any skill he possessed, he was still able to make it work.

It was a fluid motion when Stiles summoned the shield and threw in all in one maneuver without saying a single word. The shield that flew between his father and the werewolf was different from any he had ever made before in two very important ways; first, it was spinning rapidly and second, Stiles had visualized the edge to be as sharp as possible. He felt immense satisfaction at the scream of pain the Alpha let out as Stiles' magic disc hit Ennis' arm, the one holding his dad to the wall, and sliced it clean off, just below the elbow.

The Alpha reared back looking at the blood gushing out of his bleeding arm in shock before glancing at the teen and Stiles saw a moment of sheer disbelief that turned to terror he saw the glowing lights surrounding the boy as the disc flew back to his hand. Ennis turned to run out the door when he hear a crack like thunder and the wolf screamed again when a whip of light suddenly wrapped around his throat and he slammed to a stop.

Stiles, running high with adrenaline, pulled back on the magical whip, hauling with all his might and the wolf was pulled off his feet and thrown through the back door of the house, tearing the door off the hinges and shattering it into several pieces. "You fucker!" Stiles screamed at the man who rolled over and stared at the teen, eyes burning a bright emerald green as Stiles' right arm erupted in green flames. "You hurt my dad! I will kill you for that!" his voice throbbed with rage as he tossed fireball after fireball at the Alpha as he tried to get up.

Ennis was blasted onto the back porch and Stiles stalked forward, arm blazing as the Alpha turned and looked into the green eyes and saw only death. He let out a roar of desperation and jumped to his feet but Stiles' left arm, the tattoos glowing with a white-blue light, summoned a column of air from high in the sky that came slamming down into the Alpha and Stiles exulted as he heard the loud crack of both of the guy's legs as they broke and he went down to his knees screaming in agony.

Stiles held out his hand, palm up as the fire burning there intensified. Stiles could barely see he was so mad but all of that rage and fury didn't stop him from hearing the desperation in his father's voice. "Stiles. Please. Don't do this."

Stiles spun his head around in surprise and saw his dad leaning against wall, blood drenched shirt hanging in tatters, his hands clutching his stomach, staring at Stiles with a look of desperate fear. "He tried to kill you" Stiles yelled.

"I know son, I know. But he didn't. And I don't want you to be have to be a killer" Noah whispered but Stiles shook his head and looked back at the groaning Alpha.

"Too late. I've killed before to stop people like him. You don't know him dad. He's killed people, lots of people, people who trusted and depended on him. He slaughtered them for power and greed and he came here to kill my friends" Stiles voice is angry.

"Stiles I don't know what's happening to you and I am so sorry I haven't been there, but he is beaten. You don't have to kill" Noah moved to touch his son's arm and he winces when the boy flinches at his touch.

"Dad, he's a werewolf. Even if you could hold him, you can't just arrest him. His friends would either kill everyone at the station to get him out assuming he didn't do it himself" Stiles looks at his dad but Noah sees that he is reaching him, the flames and light on his arms have dimmed as has the fire in his eyes.

"Then I will shoot him" Noah says finally and that's what stops Stiles. The green is suddenly gone and his eyes are the warm color of whiskey once again.

Stiles looks at his dad for a moment and knows that his father, the man to whom being Sheriff is the core of his identity, is willing to shoot Ennis to keep Stiles from carrying that burden and he suddenly lets go of his rage. "Okay dad, I won't kill him…but you won't have to either."

"Stiles?" his dad looks confused but Stiles holds up his hands and starts moving them and Noah blinks in shock as a circle of fiery sparks appear behind the…werewolf…and all of a sudden he can see through it daytime blue sky, a white, sandy beach and tropical plants. Once the circle stabilizes Stiles holds out his left hand and his son's tattoos, which he will address later, glow blue again and a blast of air comes from behind them, slamming into the alpha and throwing him through the circle to crash into the sandy ground.

"Here" Stiles yells and throws the severed arm after him before waving his hands and the circle closes like it was never there.

"Stiles? What did you do?" Noah asks looking at his son who is looking rather proud of himself.

"I opened a portal. Sent him to a deserted island in the south pacific. No people around for hundreds of miles, just water. He can live a nice, long life rotting on that island" Stiles says with grim satisfaction.

His look of pride slides off his face when Noah groans and starts to tip over. Stiles is there, grabbing him around the back, holding him up as the sheriff pulls his bloody hand away from his stomach. "I think I need an ambulance" he says with a groan.

"I can do better" Stiles does that thing again with his hands and this portal opens into a room that looks vaguely familiar. Stepping through it, Noah realizes that they are in an empty triage rooms at Beacon Hills Hospital.