CHAPTER 72

He weaved through the congregation of students, not even caring as some shouted with the way he shoved them out of the way, as he made his way towards the repugnant smell he'd picked up first things after he pulled into the parking lot.

His senses told him that Jackson was currently in the shower of the lacrosse locker room so he made his way inside without stopping, a little thankful that no one was around, and came across Jackson who had a towel tied around his waist. 

"What are y-!!" 

He didn't give the boy the chance to speak a word as his clawed hands wrapped tightly around his neck and raised him up before slamming him fiercely against the wall. 

"Arghh!" 

Jackson grunted in pain, not understanding what the hell just transpired in the frame of a few seconds, only knowing that Tristan's eyes, without being changed, looked colder than he's ever seen it.

Despite feeling the fingers wrapped around his neck and the deadly prickling of the claws that were tightly pressed against his skin, Jackson managed to croak out the simple question that befuddled him in the most recent setting. 

"W-what did I do?"

He looked at Jackson who was trying to pry his hand away from his neck and noticed the absurd strength the boy was exerting, confirming Jackson's new supernatural status, but that wasn't what he was here for. 

"Did you kill Isaac's father?"

His hands tightened even more as he felt Jackson's irritation trying to bubble up, deflating any hissy fit  he was about to throw. 

"I-I don't k-know what you're talking about!" Jackson managed to shout out despite Tristan currently crushing his larynx. 

Tristan looked at Jackson for a while before a frown settled on his face because he could tell that Jackson wasn't lying, but that didn't mean that he was letting him off the hook that easily. 

"Then what were you doing in their house last night?" 

"What the fuck are you talking about, you crazy bastard?! I didn't go anywhere during the night." Jackson said with gritted teeth, a wave of frustration flowing off of him. "I slept through the entire full moon, snoring away like a fool on my bed"

Tristan normally was someone who usually has his emotions under control in normal circumstances but what he just heard from Jackson's mouth, scratch that, everything he picked up from Jackson's inner circulatory/nervous system and even his minute muscle movement all said that the boy was telling the truth. 

"So you don't remember being at the Laheys all hunched and clawed out?" He asked just for clearance and once again all he received from Jackson's head shake was that he was telling the truth. 

"Wait, what do you mean by 'hunched and clawed out'?" Jackson asked, feeling a little bit of hope creeping up. 

Tristan put Jackson down and looked at the boy, his eyes carrying the faintest traces of uncertainty but he pushed them aside since he knew his instincts have never lied. 

'Was it because of the full moon's influence that he can't remember? It's a normal thing to experience a lack of memory when undergoing their first shift but…' 

"What happened?" He instead asked. 

Jackson asked back in the middle of putting on his clothes. "What do you mean?" 

"After Derek bit you, what happened?" 

Hearing Derek's name, Tristan once again felt Jackson's anger and frustration but the look he gave him made Jackson swallow any of his petty grievances and told Tristan everything that happened; from when Derek bit him to the lack of any 'supernatural' changes following that glorious moment. 

"Wait." Tristan paused as he remembered something Jackson mentioned earlier. "How did you know you didn't do anything last night?"

"How do I know?" Jackson scoffed. "Well, I t-" 

"Jackson?" 

The air in the empty locker room changed as the two of them stared pointedly at each other; Tristan because there was no way something this obvious could escape his notice, and Jackson because…

"Jackson isn't here?"

He didn't display any kind of shock or surprise to Jackson's words, his mind more focused on trying to understand what he was seeing. 

'A split personality?' He thought. There are a lot of weird things that are considered 'normal' in the supernatural community so he couldn't completely rule that out. Either that or, 'Maybe someone is controlling him?'

Both were valid points, the most prominent ones he could come up with after seeing how the air around him had changed. 

"Who are you?" He asked calmly, not showing any sign of feeling threatened by Jackson's behavior and the partial transformation he was currently undergoing with his skin turning into scales. 

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Despite the bland tone Jackson was speaking with, Tristan could feel the amusement behind the words spoken. 

'Some kind of remote mind control?' He deduced. 

It was a harrowing thought since he didn't know the conditions or the circumstances that surrounded Jackson falling under someone's control. His mind was already running on a highway of worst possible scenarios. 

"I know who, or rather, what you are, Tristan." The puppet Jackson said. "You, Malia, Scott, Derek."

"Are you going to tell me who you are or not?" Tristan questioned. 

"No. No, I don't think I will." Half of Jackson's body was now covered in scales and his voice had gotten more croaked and raspy as he spoke. 

"No problem then."

Before 'Jackson' could get another word in, Tristan grabbed a nearby lacrosse stick and whacked him across the face with it, breaking it in the process and sending him crashing against the lockers behind him and denting them.

Jackson's tail shot out and wrapped around one of Tristan's hands as he came forward but the latter didn't look as if he minded it. 

Well he probably didn't, a visible fact that he perfectly showcased as he stabbed through the tail with the broken end of the lacrosse stick in his hand which caused the half-transformed Jackson to shriek. 

He was already mindful of any kind of secretion from Jackson after finding out about his paralytic toxin so he paid extra attention to his claws and fangs. 

Removing the stick from Jackson's tail, and before the annoyingly agile could get the chance to run around in circles, he threw the stick with so much force that impaled Jackson's chest. 

"SCREEEEECH!!!" Ignoring the shrill scream, he picked a fire extinguisher hanging on a way and smashed it against Jackson's head, effectively knocking the boy out with how forceful his swing was. 

Somehow, without anyone knowing, Jackson just made it more troublesome for every supernatural he knew. 

Two things currently bothered Tristan as he looked at Jackson, with the first being what kind of creature Jackson was and the other was the obvious question of who was controlling him. 

"Guess I need to talk to grandma again."

He noted that Jackson was almost completely healed up despite being knocked out so he lifted him by the scruff of his neck and threw him into the shower before opening a faucet of hot water. 

"Clean up the mess you made." He said after the confused and somewhat frightened co-captain jolted awake, before leaving the room. 

'Do I need to keep an eye on Jackson? Definitely not.' His reason for that was simple. If the person controlling Jackson was any smart, then he won't make any sort of connection with Jackson and just remotely control him. 

Jackson, oblivious to everything happening, didn't know that he just narrowly escaped death because Tristan thought he needed to be alive in order for them to find who was behind him. 

After the day ended, he didn't waste any time, not even saying anything to either Allison or Boyd, and drove off after receiving a reply from Satomi. 

'Hopefully she knows about whatever kind of snake Jackson is.' Were his thoughts as he floored his gas. 

... 

"You look like you're in a hurry." Satomi said as she saw how fast he was moving, even when he pulled over. 

"So tell me; what's this about one of your classmates turning into a lizard man?"

Tristan then narrated all what he knew about Jackson and his transformation all while Satomi just sat there with nary an expression on her face. 

After listening to all what Tristan had to say, Satomi remained quiet for over ten minutes but Tristan said nothing as he waited for her, and as he'd hoped, she did know something. 

"What you've described to me is a Kanima." She started. "They are known as weapons of revenge; supernatural creatures whose purpose is to carry and settle the vengeance of their master."

"Master?"

"Yes. The one who is controlling Jackson is most likely the master and since the Kanima bonded itself to him, which means that he has a vengeance to carry out."

Having someone like Satomi around made things a lot easier since only few could match the repertoire of knowledge and experience she had in both the human and supernatural world. 

"So to draw out the master I need to draw out the kanima?" Tristan asked tentatively to which Satomi replied with a single "Yes". 

"But do be careful, my child. Kanimas, being weapons of vengeance, are very strong supernatural creatures that no single beta can think of beating one. Even some Alphas are no match for them, and the more it carries out his master's vengeance, the stronger it becomes." Satomi stressed but quickly noticed the skeptical look on Tristan's face. "What is it?" She asked, a little bit concerned, at least until she heard his next words. 

"I mean, he's kinda strong, but he doesn't feel like someone I can't beat, or even have that hard a time trying."

Satomi let out a dry chuckle along with a tired sigh. "You're not a werewolf, Tristan. Despite always keeping yourself on a leash, you've now become stronger than any of your brothers and sisters. Vampires were feared and hated throughout history for a reason, so you shouldn't be surprised if you see things differently than everyone else."

Tristan didn't say anything and just nodded his head while inwardly thinking, 'Is the kanima really that strong?... Does his blood taste as repugnant as he smells?'

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