chapter thirty nine
a kanima's venom

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HAPPINESS COULD not even be used to describe how Odessa Stone was feeling while watching the Sheriff get ready for his date. A date! When Stiles confided in her about his Dad no longer wearing his wedding ring, she could hear the sadness in his voice. So naturally, Odessa turned his Dad's bare ring finger into a positive.

His Dad was moving on after grieving a terrible loss, but he was moving on. And he wasn't forcing himself to or pressuring himself to—he was doing it on his own terms. That's what changed Stiles perspective on the situation. And the boy was glad he heard it from her.

The Stone was currently in her regular position between Scott and Stiles as the three watched the ladder's Dad get ready for his date. Unlike her boyfriend, Odessa knew exactly who the Sheriff was going out with, but she was sworn to secrecy.

Sworn to secrecy with Lydia who told Odessa that her Mom was the one going on a date with the Sheriff.

She liked being the one in the know, especially if it meant she could torture her boyfriend with her knowledge and his lack of.

"Oh," the Sheriff muttered to himself as he tried to tame his hair, "I should've got a haircut."

Stiles walked to stand in front of his Father, "well, you know someone your age should be happy you still have hair to cut."

Odessa couldn't help but wack her boyfriend in the head for his comment, muttering a sarcastic, "nice," as she took her place in between the boys again.

"I think you look great."

"Yeah, Sheriff, very spiffy."

The man smiled at Scott and Odessa and addressed them appropriately, "well, thank you, son I should've had, and girl whom my son doesn't deserve."

As Stiles made a sound of offense, the blonde next to him let out a small snort at the comment, finding the Sheriff's opinion thoroughly amusing, and somewhat flattering? She was mostly glad he approved of their relationship as much as he did. Odessa quickly covered her mouth to prevent any more laughter coming out when her boyfriend gave her an incredulous look.

"Oh, what the hell am I doing," Stilinski groaned as he started to loosen his tie, "this is a terrible idea."

Stiles stopped his Dad's movements and began to fix the tie and suit jacket, "what, Dad... Dad, it's one date, okay? The town of Beacon Hills won't implode while you're out with one woman. Or man," he raised his brows at his Dad at the last sentence.

"It's a woman, Stiles."

"Okay."

The Sheriff reiterated, "a very beautiful woman."

"What beautiful woman, by the way," Stiles glanced at his best friend and girlfriend and noticed the latter was trying her hardest not to implode with happiness. She definitely knew something he didn't.

"None of your business," the man glanced at the two beside his son, "any of you."

She couldn't take it anymore, "I already know," Odessa bursted with a huge smile. At the different expressions that came her way, whether it be surprise or offense (definitely coming from her boyfriend who didn't know), she toned herself down with a shrug, "I have my sources."

Stiles narrowed his eyes at his girlfriend, feigning betrayal at the fact that she didn't tell him, "I wanna know..."

"Stilinski!"

The four in the room turned their heads at the shout of the familiar last name coming from the bullpen. As the last name was shouted again, they left the Sheriff's office to see what the commotion was about.

"I'm going to kill you," a boy declared as he was being held by Parrish and another Deputy.

Stilinski sighed, "Donovan, if you think that shocks me, remember it was well-documented in your Anger Expression Inventory. Deputies, escort the prisoner out."

"I'm not angry like I'm gonna throw a brick through your window," Donovan raised his brow threateningly, "I'm angry, like I'm going to find you, I'm going to get a knife and I'm going to stab you with it until you're dead. And when you look at me and you ask why, remember right now. Because this is why."

Throughout the boy's speech, Odessa's features harden significantly. She didn't know who this boy was, but him threatening the Sheriff while being held by Deputies didn't make him seem like a good guy, obviously. The blonde expected the Sheriff to rebuttal, but it wasn't him who did, it was his son.

"Wow, that was awesome," the blonde snapped her head to her boyfriend, who was reckless enough to keep going, "that was awesome. That was great. We do one more? Give us another one, maybe like Christopher Walken this time, you know. Okay, you know what? It's fine. You'll have plenty of time to work on it when you're in your tiny, little cell, you know. Just stuck there, forever."

Donovan only nodded slightly before starting to turn around to leave, only to try and jump from the Deputies' holds and lunge to Stilinski, or even to Stiles. Odessa instantly placed herself in front of the pair, seeing as she was the closest to be able to.

"Get him out of here!"

As Donovan was pulled out of the station, Odessa relaxed and stepped to the side of Stilinski instead of in front of him, knowing the threat to him was gone.

Scott sighed, "what the hell's an Anger Expression Inventory?"

"It's a test you take when you're applying to become a deputy," Stiles answered, shifting his stance.

Odessa raised her brows at the information, "that dude wanted to be a cop?"

Stiles nodded, tilting his head to the side, "at least now he's getting the full law enforcement experience."

As the three teens exchanged nods of agreement, the girl of the group's phone buzzed, "the girls are outside," Odessa informed them as she read the text from Lydia. She would be tagging along with helping Malia practice her driving, "I'll see you guys later," she did her usual fist bump to Scott then looked to her boyfriend who was expecting a kiss, "one more thing, please don't do anymore sarcastic speeches to fugitives. Leave that to me."

She patted his chest before beginning to walk through the bullpen to the exit. Stiles' speech he gave to Donovan reminder a little too much about her episode in the locker room with Theo yesterday. She didn't want to become a bad influence on Stiles, especially when it was hard for him to defend himself, even though he never wanted to admit it.

As Odessa walked out of the building, she heard one last thing before meeting her friends in Malia's car.

"Oh, so you can do sarcastic speeches and be all hot and stuff but I can't?!"

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Malia's new car was way nicer than Odessa's, and the blonde couldn't help but feel a little jealous. But who wouldn't? Malia's car was a newer model with better longevity. Don't get Odessa wrong, she loved her car. It was her baby. But would she have liked to afford to get a newer make and model so she doesn't have to worry about her car breaking down more often? Yes.

Of course, Malia actually had a parent to pay for the car, unlike Odessa, so that was also a contributing factor.

The Stone guessed that was another reason to be jealous of Malia at the moment, especially while sitting in the back of the girl's car watching her drive... horribly.

"Okay," Kira started after Malia adjusted her mirrors, "hands on the wheel, at 10 and 2."

"Actually, the recommended position is now 9 and 3," Lydia corrected while putting on her seatbelt, "at 10 and 2, a deployed airbag could break your thumbs."

Malia furrowed her brow, "mine would heal."

"Save your strength," the Banshee encouraged, "and try not to destroy your beautiful new car."

Huh, Odessa couldn't help but think bitterly, no one called my car beautiful.

After the three passengers watched Malia take a deep breath, the werecoyote stepped on the gas and started her way down the streetlight lit road. What started off as straight down the road turned into veering into the grass next to the road. The three other girls told Malia to go back on the road multiple times, but it seemed the Tate just wasn't listening. It was only when the car beeped in warning of colliding with a tree did Malia turn back onto the road, which was thankfully void of any other cars. After doing a couple of donuts and going way over the speed limit, Malia finally got into the groove of driving straight down the road ahead of her.

"Anybody want to tell me where we're going," Malia asked as she listened to Lydia's directions.

"The school," the strawberry blonde informed, turning to look at the two girls in the back seat, "we can finish with parking practice in the lot."

Though, where Malia was driving was contradicting those words. Odessa furrowed her brow at the sight of downtown Beacon Hills coming into view a few miles ahead. The bright lights of the buildings and fancy street lights guiding their way, "uh, Lyds," the blonde trailed, "we're heading downtown."

Lydia blanked, turning back around to face the front, "what?"

"If we want to go to the school we should do a U-turn," Kira added, "shouldn't we?"

"No," the girls in the backseat exchanged looks of caution at Lydia's sudden lack of expression and her monotone, "keep going."

"You sure?"

"Yes. We're almost there."

For the rest of the drive, Malia took Lydia's instructions the best she could, only missing a turn or two a couple of times, but sure enough, the four girls found themselves at a random backroad in downtown Beacon Hills. The girls walked closer to what seemed to be a scene of an accident of some kind. In front of them, a destroyed van with its doors wide open on both sides, and bloodied bodies in front of the open double doors.

"Call 911."

Soon enough, after the call was made, ambulances and squad cars were everywhere. Flashing blue lights of police cars and investigators were starting to hurt Odessa's eyes as they flashed toward her every few seconds.

She was currently standing with the girls as an officer asked them the standard questions. How did you end up here? Did you see anything suspicious? Do you know anything that could've happened here? And of course the girls gave them the standard answers. We stumbled upon the van while heading to a movie. Nothing suspicious, just the bodies on the ground covered in blood. We don't know.

The Stone opted to stay quiet as her friends did the talking. She was officially over tonight—wanting to go home or spend the night at Stiles'. Speaking of her boyfriend, Odessa glanced over her shoulder to see him and Scott walking quickly into the crime scene, being stopped by Stiles' Dad who started asking them questions as well.

She wanted nothing more than to go up to him and hug the life out of him, but she knew she had to wait.

After the officer finished his questioning, the girls were filled in as to what exactly occurred. The van was taking Donovan, the guy who threatened the Sheriff earlier that night, to prison with his lawyer and two officers. The lawyer was killed and the officers were the bodies the girls found in front of the van, still alive. And Donovan was nowhere to be seen. Scott had to be recruited by the Sheriff to see if he could track Donovan down and took a walkie talkie with him to communicate.

"Scott," Parrish asked as his radio buzzed on his shoulder. The name called attention to the boy's friends, who all moved closer to Parrish to hear what was going on, "is that you?"

"Yeah. I found Donovan. He's completely freaked out. He keeps saying some name."

The Sheriff then used his radio, "what name?"

From next to her boyfriend, Odessa heard him mutter, "Theo," under his breath, prompting her to wrap an arm around his waist. Stiles wrapped his arm around her shoulder in return, feeling her shiver slightly against him from the cool night air around them.

"Tracy," Scott relayed over the radio, "he keeps saying Tracy."

"Tracy who?"

Lydia was the one to answer the Sheriff's question with a heavy sigh, "Stewart. Tracy Stewart."

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Odessa loved the size difference between hers and Stiles' hands. She loved how she could only cover so much of his hand while his practically swallowed hers. She also loved the roughness of her palm mixed with his soft ones. The blonde never understood how someone could have such soft hands when hers were rough and pretty dry, but Stiles didn't seem to mind.

The girl was currently laying on her back on her boyfriend's bed with him leaning on his elbow so he was sort of above her, looking down at her.

Stiles could tell something was bothering her, which was why he was the one to ask her if she wanted to sleepover. At the start of their relationship, they both had separate talks with Melissa and Noah about sleepovers, and since they were now both seventeen, the parents agreed, though somewhat hesitantly. But they were trusted with their relationship and the decisions they made together.

Right now, Odessa Stone was fiddling with his hands, but he wasn't paying attention to it. He was paying close attention to her face.

She looked exhausted.

She had bags under her eyes that were much easier to see up close. Her lips were sort of cracked from lack of moisture and Stiles made a mental note to stop at the drugstore to get her the chapstick she liked. They learned a lot about each other in the six months of being together and the boy couldn't wait to learn even more.

Things he did learn were her tells.

Whenever something was on Odessa Stone's mind, she went quiet. Her eyes grew misty, distancing herself from everything around her, allowing her mind to focus on whatever was bothering her and only that.

He knew she had been having trouble sleeping for the past few months. They all have. But he was mostly concerned for his girlfriend, for obvious reasons. A lot had happened since she was practically thrown into the supernatural of Beacon Hills, and even though she was a supernatural herself, things could still be overwhelming for her. If there was one thing Stiles did know for sure, it was that silence doesn't stop your brain from going a mile a minute, it makes it worse.

"Aren't you going to ask me what's wrong?"

The Stilinski's eyes shot up to meet Odessa's brown as she lazily looked up at him, still playing with his fingers. He swallowed thickly at the silence in the room, it was slightly intimidating, "I didn't know if you wanted me to ask. Wanted you to tell me on your own terms and when you're ready. But if you are... what's going on, pretty girl?"

Even through her sadness, Odessa couldn't help but smile softly at the nickname. That one was by far her favorite. Truth be told, she didn't really know where or how to start with explaining how she was feeling—so she asked the first question that came to mind.

"Do you like Malia's car?"

Stiles blinked at the question, definitely not expecting that to be the topic of conversation, "uh," he trailed cautiously, "it's nice, I guess."

Odessa brought her brown eyes back to their hands as she asked, "do you like my car?"

"Of course I do," the boy almost scoffed, "I picked it out with you."

The Stone smiled softly again at the memory. He was there for her every step of the way with getting her license and getting her car, "do you think if Malia's Dad wasn't in the picture, she would've had to get the same car as me? You know, an old one?"

Stiles was finally starting to understand her random questions and her mood for the night. Whenever she had days or nights like this, the main theme of it would be her parents. They consumed her every thought.

"Because, like," when he didn't answer, Odessa took it upon herself to continue, though it didn't seem like she was directly talking to him anymore, "I like my car... and I'm grateful to have one, obviously. I just don't understand why Malia gets a brand new one when she doesn't even have her license yet. Why does her car get to be called beautiful and not mine? Why does she get to have a Dad who is there for her and buys her a brand new car and I don't? Why does she get to have you as her first kiss but not me? I just—"

The blonde stopped herself after her last question. She didn't want to say that out loud. She didn't mean to say that out loud. As a small tear ran down her cheek involuntarily, she made sure to avoid Stiles' eyes.

The boy pursed his lips as he spoke quietly, "do you remember when we found all that stuff about your parents that one night? I will never forget your face when we found where they were buried."

"Okay," Stiles Stilinski started as he sat with his girlfriend at his desk, the two of them staring intently at the laptop screen in front of them, "I'm pretty sure all we need to do is type in their names and something should pop up," he glanced at his girlfriend, "you ready?"

Odessa Stone took a deep breath before looking at her boyfriend of 2 months, "as I'll ever be."

"When we found all those photos and used Melissa's log in for the hospital to find your Mom's medical records and we found your birthday on there," Stiles continued, his eyes in a form of remembrance, "I had never seen your eyes light up so much in my life. Of course I was a little sad when I saw we had already missed it, but you didn't care."

Odessa's birthday was June 10th 1995. Only 5 days before Stiles', believe it or not. At that new information, the boy's feelings for her only grew. He was so happy for her. He was also happy at the fact they could practically celebrate their birthdays together.

"And when we found where your parents were buried, you didn't seem sad at all," Stiles reminisced, not paying attention to the girl below him. If he was, he would find her watching him with tears in her eyes, "you looked at it in such a positive light. And the next day, you texted me and asked me if I wanted to come with you to visit them. Like, I saw that text and I thought to myself, 'does she not realize how strong she is?' 'cause you are, baby. You are so strong and I wish all of your negative thoughts and feelings would shut the hell up so you could see that."

As soon as those words left his mouth, he was cut off by lips pressing against his own. He rolled onto his back in surprise and the sudden contact but didn't complain. Odessa deepened the kiss while she straddled his lap, keeping her hands on his cheeks. She felt him place his hands on her waist tightly, keeping her in place. The blonde felt her hips grind against him slightly, feeling the air around them start to become humid.

Reluctantly, she broke the kiss, still on top of him. Odessa felt his heavy breath on her lips as their noses brushed together. In that moment, Odessa wanted to say the three words she had never thought she would say to any boy. She felt her lip quiver as she took in the sight of him beneath her. He was so beautiful.

Tugging her bottom lip between her teeth harshly, she let out a heavy breath before whispering, "I like you, so much, Stiles."

Her blonde hair was tucked behind her ear softly, "I like you, so much, too, baby."

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Odessa finally got her full night's sleep. She had a certain boy to thank for that. After their proclamations to each other, they laid together until they fell asleep, and Odessa was happy to say she never woke up once until his alarm blared through his room.

But the couple's bliss didn't last long.

The McCall pack met around Stiles' Jeep that morning before first period to discuss a new problem on their hands with a werewolf by the name of Tracy Stewart. Odessa had never met the girl but knew Lydia and her Mom were helping her with some things.

"Tracy wasn't just having trouble sleeping," Lydia told her friends as she paced in front of them, "it was a real disorder. It was night terrors."

"Well, now she's the night terror," Stiles added as he leaned against the hood of his Jeep, his girlfriend standing next to him. He missed the disapproving glance she gave him at his words as he continued, "especially since no one can find her."

Scott sighed, "okay, I know we're all tired and miserable," he then looked to Mason, who stood next to him, practically bouncing in his spot, "except for you."

"Oh. I'm sorry," Mason apologized, but didn't seem too apologetic about his reaction to everything happening around him, "this is all just mind-blowing. You're a kitsune," he gestured to Kira, "I don't even know what that is."

The Yukimura nodded, "I'm still learning."

The Stilinski wrapped a casual arm around Odessa's shoulders, "Liam, we said you could tell him. Not invite him to the inner circle."

"Uh, I'm in the inner circle?"

"No."

Odessa couldn't help but snort quietly at the simultaneous answer Stiles and Liam gave Mason. If she were being honest, she didn't mind the boy. He was a fresh face with a great personality. And most importantly, he was a great friend to Liam. That alone put Mason in the blonde's good graces.

"Guys, look, back to Tracy," the McCall put his pack back on track, "she's just one lone wolf. We can find her."

Malia interjected pointedly, "one lone serial-killing wolf."

"Uh, she only killed one person, you know," Stiles corrected, "the other two were mauled."

Odessa broke her silence from under Stiles' arm, "all right, so what do we do when we catch her?"

"I say we put her down."

At Malia's suggestion, the pack glanced at each other, seemingly actually considering this. At the silence, Mason looked around with a nod, "intense."

"Guys, let's concentrate on catching her first," Scott instructed his pack, "we'll figure out the rest later."

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Tracy Stewart was right under their noses the whole time. They found her at the school and once she collapsed on her own accord, was taken to the Animal Clinic for Deaton to take a look at her and figure out what exactly was wrong with her. Odessa, along with Stiles, Scott and Malia all went to the clinic while Lydia and Kira were going to Tracy's house.

"Pupils dilate under normal conditions," Deaton observed as he did the usual check up he conducted. When the teens brought Tracy in, he didn't even look surprised or shocked, he looked like he was ready to work, "heart rate is 250," after checking her pulse, he pulled the shoulder of Tracy's sweater, "evidence of an allogeneic skin graft on the right shoulder. Now, this silvery substance on her lips is not something I've seen. It almost looks like mercury."

The room flinched back as Tracy twitched on the metal table. Odessa wrapped her arms around herself in a defensive manner at the sight.

"Can't you just give her a shot of something?"

"She doesn't look to be in any pain," Deaton furrowed his brow at Malia's question.

"I meant a shot to kill her."

The Doctor clicked off his flashlight, "I generally prescribe to a code of ethics that frowns on such measures."

"Malia, you know we're not going to do that," Scott shook his head firmly, his brows raised at her request.

The Tate scoffed, "how do you know she's not going to kill us?"

"She makes a decent point," Stiles pointed to her, "either way, eventually I'm going to have to let my Dad know she's here."

"Agreed. And while I may argue against euthanasia," Deaton gave Malia a pointed glance, "I'm not opposed to a little... extra security."

Odessa watched Deaton unscrew a jar and fling it in the air. Grey ash spread across the other side of the room as a line appeared at the door. Deaton had just flung Mountain Ash at the door.

Odessa still didn't entirely grasp the concept of Mountain Ash. She knew it wasn't harmful to her. It just kept her trapped if it was used somewhere. She didn't quite know how to feel about Tracy also being confined by the ash. The blonde didn't know if Tracy being in with them was best for everyone involved, the girl's actions once she regains any kind of consciousness still unknown to everyone in the room. And she knew she wasn't the only one uneasy about it.

"Don't worry, Stiles," Deaton consoled as he also saw the uneasy expression the boy had on his face, "Tracy won't be able to cross a line of Mountain Ash. She's not going anywhere."

"Yeah, that's kind of what I'm afraid of."

"Well, you and I will be able to get out of here no problem," Deaton then motioned to the Alpha, Ember and werecoyote in the room, "you three. Not so much."

Odessa pursed her lips and muttered a quiet, "lovely," just as Malia pressed her hand against the ash barrier. A wall of some kind of blue force field pushed her hand back instantly after she pushed against it.

"Scott, would you mind holding her down," Deaton asked while grabbing one of his blades, "I'm going to be trying a few more invasive tests."

Odessa watched Deaton start to cut Tracy's arm from her place against the wall. Though as the man was cutting, she couldn't smell any traces of blood. Deaton held up the clean, but broken blade, up for more of an observation.

"I think you're gonna need a bigger blade."

As the day turned into night, Deaton tried to find out exactly what was going on with Tracy, but to pretty much no avail. The girl was still unconscious and didn't look like she would regain it anytime soon. Odessa had moved around during their time in the examination room, now leaning against a side table while she watched Deaton's examination.

"Now, this is interesting," the man muttered to himself, but caught the attention of the blonde beside him. Odessa moved closer to see what Deaton was seeing and furrowed her bow at the lump moving around the side of Tracy's neck, "Odessa, help me turn her over, please."

The Stone didn't hesitate to nod and help Deaton turn Tracy on her front instead of her back. Deaton then lifted the girl's shirt so that her back was exposed.

"I think I know what she is."

"Do you care to enlighten the rest of us," Deaton asked Stiles after hearing the boy's statement, "because this doesn't look too good."

The two teen boys and Malia walked closer to the table and all eyes went to Tracy's back. There was movement right down her spine. It looked as though a snake or something was slithering inside of her and pressing against the top of her skin's layer. Deaton cautiously pressed his fingers against the movement, trying to depict what it was.

Suddenly, Tracy's back split open, causing spurts of black blood to spray out onto Deaton and Scott.

Everyone flinched back in shock and watched as something that looked like Tracy's spine began to crawl out of her body. Before anyone had the time to react, a huge tail sprang out of the girl's back, first cutting Stiles in the chest, sending the boy to the ground with a groan. Tracy got up to her knees on the table while the tail coming from her back cut Deaton in the face. The tail then whipped to the other side of the room, catching the open skin of Odessa and Malia, who crashed to the ground. Tracy then turned herself around again to face Scott and cut him in the neck before leaping off the table and leaving the room, severing the line of Mountain Ash in the process.

Odessa could only lay there in shock. She had no idea what was going on, and the fact that she was starting to lose sense of her body wasn't helping.

"It wasn't a werewolf," she heard her boyfriend yell from the other side of the room.

"Kanima..."

The word was familiar to Odessa, but she was too freaked out and panicked to think of where she had heard it from.

"Hey, Deaton," Stiles' voice was muffled by his face first position on the ground, "how the hell did she get through the Mountain Ash?"

"I don't know," the man answered as he tried to come to terms with what just happened, "it's a barrier no supernatural creature should be able to cross."

"Scott did it."

Odessa could see Scott in her peripheral vision as the boy's chest moved up and down with his heavy breathing, "once, but it almost killed me."

"We should've killed her," Malia gritted out by her place leaned against a table.

"Meanwhile, she's probably on her way to kill someone else."

"Listen, everyone," Deaton panted out, "we need to concentrate. Scott, Malia and Odessa, you three will probably be able to move long before Stiles and I can. But you need to focus."

"Focus on what," Malia's breathing started to grow heavy and Odessa was scared the girl was going to start panicking a lot more soon.

"Healing."

If Deaton could nod as Scott's answer, he would have, "that's right."

"I don't know how to tell my body to heal!"

Odessa tried her hardest to calm her friend down while also trying to keep herself calm, "Malia, relax. Everything's gonna be fine."

"I can't relax. I can't move."

"It won't last long. We're gonna be okay," the McCall tried to reassure, "Doc, how do we focus?"

"Think of a body part. Your hands, your feet, even just the tips of your fingers. Imagine them moving. See it in your mind and your body will follow."

At Deaton's words, Odessa closed her eyes and concentrated on her legs moving first. Picturing herself walking or running. She tuned out everything around her, not hearing her boyfriend's voice when he declared he felt his leg move even though it wasn't. And even Malia's hand twitching that turned into her body being able to move and walk out of the room completely. Odessa only regained some sort of consciousness when an ache started to form on her chest, like her body was starting to warn her about something.

As her breath got more rapid and choppy, the others remaining in the room took notice.

"Odie? Odie, what's going on?"

"I don't know," the blonde shakily answered her boyfriend, "it feels like someone's stepped on my chest. Something's wrong!"

Deaton's calm voice sounded from nearby, "Odessa, you need to try and relax. It's your Ember side trying to tell you something. Just listen to me, okay?"

Odessa felt tears stream down her face that she wished she could wipe away, "okay..."

"Embers have the ability to control their veins. I'm sure you've read about it while researching. You can basically control anything in your bloodstream and veins, meaning you can essentially burn out the Kanima venom in your body. But it's gonna hurt a little."

"I don't care," the blonde grit her teeth, "someone's hurt—I can feel it. I need to help them."

"And you will as long as you listen to my words," Deaton assured, trying to keep his voice steady so she could follow in his example calm down, "picture your body taking out the venom. It's a bit difficult to try and picture but imagine it like taking anxiety away from someone and putting calm energy into them, something you've done many times. Just concentrate on getting the venom out with your mind and your body will follow."

With slight annoyance at the situation as a whole, Odessa shut her eyes tightly and pictured random colored lines appearing out of her body and into the air. After a few seconds, she felt her arms start to burn slightly, causing her to groan out at the sensation. Her boyfriend's calls to her went unanswered as she felt her arm twitch, then her foot. Soon, after a couple of tries, Odessa finally got her body to cooperate and get up completely.

She didn't waste any time in leaving the clinic in a hurry, needing to help whoever it was that was in danger or hurt.

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Odessa didn't know what to expect when she ran into the Sheriff's Station, but she wasn't expecting to see a trail of blood on the floor. Leading in Malia's example, she followed Tracy's scent to the station. But when she got there, however, Tracy was nowhere to be found.

The ache in her chest grew larger, causing the blonde to have tunnel vision in trying to find the person hurt because whoever it, they had a connection with the Ember. A strong connection.

Feeling her eyes start to tear up from the strong scent of blood, her heart dropped to her feet at the sight in front of her.

Lydia Martin was laid on the ground with blood coming from her side, seemingly paralyzed. As soon as the two girls locked eyes, Odessa snapped out of her shock and ran to kneel down to her friend, who was trying to calm her down, ironically.

The Stone looked up to Kira, who was holding Lydia's side to try and slow the bleeding, "what happened?"

"Tracy cut her with her tail."

Odessa stifled a sob as she grabbed both of Lydia's hands that were limp in her grasp, "o-okay, Lyds, I'm gonna take your p-pain and you're gonna be fine. J-Just breathe."

The Ember Wolf molded her friend's hands with her own and squeezed tightly, watching the black veins travel from Lydia's arms to her own, ignoring the slight pains she felt. Even when Odessa couldn't take away anymore pain, she still held onto Lydia's hands with a firm grip. Ignoring the tears streaming down her face, she focused on her friend's fading eyes and willed her to stay awake.

"Just breathe..."

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this chapter is long asf but next chapter will not be lol i promise
hope u enjoyed and cried a lil cuz stodessa makes me so soft
pls comment & vote <3