LOVERS ROCK

chapter seventeen ; venomous
[ season two - episode five ]

Rushing down the stairs of her home with her four-legged friend almost tripping her up, Honey flung her bag over her shoulder, prepared to scurry out of the house before Abigail had a chance to catch her. Questions were bound to come, there wasn't a night since her aunt had moved here that Honey had come home without being questioned by the woman. She could understand, the woman hardly knew her, they didn't exactly have a familial bond, there were bound to be plenty of questions. But after she had come home last night with soddened hair and in different clothes to what she left in yesterday morning, she was in store for a Grade-A interrogation. 

The blonde followed Bee, both of them stopping in the kitchen archway, tilting their head at the unfamiliar guest sitting at the dining table. Unlike her furry friend, Honey recognized the man in an instant, her stomach churning as she wondered why he was in her home. Well, she knew why, and that was somehow more terrifying than the unknown.

Even Abigail had an unwavering look across her face as she poured the man a coffee, her uneasy eyes peeping over the man's bald head. At the sound of paws against the flooring, the man spun in his seat with his criminal smile, greeting the girl a good morning as he raised his mug. "Ah, just the person I came to see." 

The corners of her lips tugged up into an unconvincing smile as she continued to walk in, taking a seat beside the man. Perhaps she wouldn't be making a hasty exit this morning after all. Great, she would be grounded again. He had to be here about the damage in the pool. He had to know it was her and her friends who had trespassed his office and made a mess of it. Now he was here to dish his punishments firsthand.

Abby was quick to dismiss herself, grabbing Bee's leash off of the wall as her excuse for an exit of her own. Leaving Honey to suffocate beneath the tension of being this close to a hunter who had killed many people who were just like her friends. 

Gerard had almost finished his entire mug of coffee before allowing her to feel the sweet relief of conversation, even if this conversation did have to be one of the most terrifying men she'd met. Certainly not the worst, but he was quickly rising on the list.

He pulled out a small container, popping some pills with the final few dregs of his coffee before he turned in his seat, placing a hand on the arm she rested on the counter. "You're a smart girl, Honey. Very smart. Your parents raised you exceptionally well." he said, making it clear that he wasn't assuming it, but making a statement of his words. "I know you know things, a lot more than you allow people to believe. Perhaps more than your parents did, bless their souls." Gerard continued, marking a cross on his chest. She had never struck him for a religious man. "I want to ask, and I want you to trust me enough you can give me an honest answer." he proposed.

"Okay..." she hummed, unsure that she could give him what he wanted. 

"Truth is a commodity our family holds very high, you know. And yes, through blood, you might not be an Argent. But you are as close as a person can get without being born into our lineage. Our families have a history that goes back much further than you and I. We have to protect each other. Trust each other." he rambled, moving further from the question he claimed he wanted an answer to. "My daughter... unfortunately, she thought she was doing the right thing. Though her intentions may have been a little misguided."

"I'll say." Honey scoffed.

"I apologize that your parents got dragged into her misdoings. They were great-" Killers? Liars? Hunters? All of the above could have fit. "-People." he finished, that answer she wasn't so sure of as she hummed along anyway. "I see them both in you. Strong-minded. Passionate. Cunning. I especially see Emily. She challenged me too. Your grandparents too."

"You met them?" Honey asked, quickly dropping any thought of the impending question as she saw an opportunity to delve into the topic of her family. It wasn't a topic her parents allowed too much talk of. Especially not the family her mother came from.

Gerard hummed. Daisy and Oliver Brown. They were the ones who had gotten Emily and Abigail into hunting, they had worked with the Argents for centuries, happening to have children of the same ages. They collaborated in building an army of werewolf hunters, ensuring that together there wasn't a force of evil that they couldn't defeat. It hadn't gone as well as either families had wanted. Daisy and Oliver dying while trying to fight off the very thing they wanted to kill. Abigail backing out of wanting to be a hunter at all. Emily, Jude and Kate dying too. Werewolves all over the world had cost their families everything. 

As he talked, Honey nodded. She knew that that was the truth. Even with the little details she'd missed, she knew that werewolves had cost her family more than she would like to admit. But it didn't allow them to go around killing innocent people. Innocent teenagers in some cases.

"Your mother challenged the entire order of the hunter's code after your grandparent's deaths." he told her. 

"Is that what you want me to do? Challenge you?" Honey asked. "Repeat the same history as she did?"

"I want you to trust me." he objected with a shake of his head. "You're gonna find yourself put in a position where you question the trust of people close to you, even your closest friends. And when that happens, you have to know the trust you never question is family. So, I guess what I'm trying to ask is... Can I trust you?"

The front door opened again as Bee came rushing in, jumping on the lap of the teenager as if he were still a pup. Abigail came back in, smiling at the pair of the man, proposing that Honey had to hurry up if she wanted to get to school on time. The blonde looked over at the clock, unaware of just how much time had passed as she stood up, grabbing her bag once again. Before the girl walked away, Gerard grabbed onto her arm, reminding her of the question, and he would want an answer at some point.

Can I trust you? . . .

What an absurd question. Could he, a hunter who had played a part in her parent's dying and in turn orphaning her, trust her? She couldn't understand how a man had such audacity to sit right in front of her, demanding her an honest answer when he couldn't even be honest with his own blood. He had lied to Allison. Her entire family had lied. Brown. Argent. Carter. It didn't matter in which heritage they came from, anyone involved with the hunters were liars. 

Honey had always believed herself to be on the right side, and it wasn't the side that her parents had been on.

She stared into her locker, chuckling to herself over the question. How dare he? How dare Gerard Argent? It was laughable. So laughable, the chuckles turned to tears as she shook her head. With the back of her sleeve, she wiped the stray tears as she continued to titter into her locker, aware of just how insane she probably looked to passersby. But they would call it teenage stress. They would say that the heavy workload of school was too much for her. That she couldn't cope. Or it could be the grief. The poor, grieving girl was losing her little mind.

Suddenly, she felt the heavy weight of someone's hands on her shoulders, putting her tittering and tears to a sharp halt as her heart almost stopped in her aching chest. "No need to cry-" the voice whispered in her ear as she turned to it with a raised brow. "I'm back now." Isaac grinned in a devilish way as she stared at him in complete dismay. "Miss me that much?"

"You can't be here." Honey lectured him under her breath, looking around the hallway of teens who didn't seem to care about the presence of a suspected murderer. 

"Didn't you hear?" Isaac asked, towering over her as he placed a hand on the locker to perch up his oversized stature. "I'm a free man." 

Panting like a dog, Stiles rushed into their class, tossing his bag beside his chair as he jumped in the chair behind his best friend, immediately leaning over the desk to whisper to Scott. "Dude, I just talked to my dad, who talked to Jackson, and I've got really terrible, horrible, very, very bad news." he rambled as the words spewed out of his mouth. 

"I think I already know," Scott mumbled, nodding toward the two desks in front of him. In one, Honey sitting with a bored expression, and in the other, Isaac, who leaned across the aisle just to continue harassing her a little more. Because at her locker and on the way to class simply wasn't going to suffice. 

The very, very bad news just got a whole lot worse as Stiles' jaw dropped enough that it almost hit his desk. This was worse than bad. The world hadn't yet stumbled across a word that would cover this situation. His heart beat out of his chest like it was forming its very own band. Why on God's green Earth was Isaac talking to her? What did he want from her? Those were just a few of the questions he practically shouted down Scott's ear as he shook the wolf for answers, hoping he had put his enhanced hearing to good use to dig up some dirt for him.

"Something about seeing Gerard at her house this morning." Scott shrugged, still listening. 

"Gerard was at her house? Wait... Isaac was at her house? What does everyone just hang around her house these days?"

Scott turned around in his seat. "Don't worry, I'm pretty sure you're the only one climbing into her bedroom," he said teasingly, earning him a slap around the head from Stiles who reminded him to focus. Even if his cheeks did flush a little and he did feel some slight relief that out of all the boys in Beacon Hills, he was the only one to see the inside of her room. 

Isaac continued to nag her, asking what Gerard wanted. Apparently, Derek was worried. Honey was more surprised by the implication that Derek had emotions than the fact that Isaac stalked her this morning. The Alpha was worried about the lack of communication from the girl after the whole "I need revenge." conversation they had. He worried that she was stirring up a plan even an evil mastermind couldn't conjure. And what worried him more was that she might do it alone. Honey reassured him, and told him to reassure Derek, that she was perfectly fine, there wasn't a scheme brewing in her "pretty little head" as he referred to it as, and she certainly didn't need to have a bodyguard.

The beta didn't seem to care about her wants, he had been appointed as bodyguard and it was a role he was more than willing to carry out.

She could feel the stares piercing into the back of her head from Scott and Stiles, both waiting to see her turn around and acknowledge the fact that Isaac had been declared innocent, or to talk about Gerard being at her home, which Scott undoubtedly heard. Instead, she kept to herself for the meantime, still reeling from the conversation as she ignored everything that the teacher said for an hour.

Neither boy was pleased about it, and neither wasted a second in dragging her out of her seat as soon as the bell finalized the class. They practically dragged her down the hall, waiting to get out of earshot before Stiles delved into the world of supernatural, telling them everything his search had found him last night, then, and only then could he move on to supernatural hunters. "Right. I only found one thing online called the Kanima. It's a were-jaguar from South America that goes after murderers."

"That thing was not a jaguar." Scott insisted.

"Yeah, and we're not exactly murderers."

"Just the daughter of one." the blonde mumbled beneath her breath, causing the boys to share a concerned glance that didn't go unnoticed. Something she was eager to stop immediately. "Or it could be because we watched it kill someone?"

Scott nodded, which seemed feasible. "That is probably why it tried to kill you, and it's probably still trying to kill you and it probably won't stop until you're both dead." he continued until both Honey and Stiles had stopped in the hallway, stood with slacked jaws, neither considering it that way before. Now they would be. "Sorry."

"You know, sometimes I really begin to question this 'friendship'." Stiles air-quoted sassily as the three of them walked into Econ. Honey hoped that the mention of being killed by a Kanima was going to be enough to take their minds off of what Isaac said, hoping that the topic of Gerard or what he said this morning would be forgotten. She must have forgotten her two friends' habits, specifically the one where they didn't drop anything, ever. "So, what did he say? Are you a part of their group now? Am I going to have to separate you and Scott before you turn him into some kind of wolf soup?"

"No, I am not part of their group." Honey sighed. "He wanted to know if he could trust me?"

"Trust you?" Stiles repeated, his reaction similar to her own. "Why would he need to trust you? What does he want you to do?"

"We didn't get that far." Honey shrugged. "And I don't want to either."

"What if it isn't for some evil scheme?" Scott proposed. Together, Honey and Stiles turned their heads toward him, narrowing their eyes at him. "Yeah, you're right. Definitely evil."

Shutting down the conversation before they could question Gerard's intentions too much, yet another person who Stiles didn't want to see today appeared beside them, taking a seat beside Honey. It was as though she had a bad-boy magnet attached to her. "Hey, testicle left and right." he looked over at the two boys, nodding at Honey, failing to give her a mocking nickname. "So, what is a Kanima?"

With wide eyes, the three turned to him, unsure whether it was a figment of their imagination. How had he learned that word? Why was he asking those questions? Why was everyone asking questions that shouldn't be asked today?

Coach clapped his hands, turning their heads again before they had the chance to ask some of their own questions. "All right, listen up. A quick warning before we begin our review. Some of you, like McCall, might want to start your own study groups because tomorrow's midterm is so profoundly difficult I'm not even sure I could pass it." 

Even if Coach had specifically called him out, Scott was much too focused on Jackson and his sudden knowledge about the Kanima to focus on his failing grades. The moment that Coach's attention had turned from him, he returned to the conversation with Jackson who explained it, surprisingly willingly, without any blackmail. 

After his little conversation with the Sheriff this morning and how it had allowed Isaac back onto school premises, he had heard Isaac and Erica talking before class, something about testing his ex-girlfriend during chemistry to see if she was the Kanima. Not only that, but they had already tested it on him, kidnapping him and taking him to some creepy ass lair where they left him in a state of paralysis.  Whoever it was, even if it was Lydia, they planned on killing them the moment they had the chance. 

He leaned closer to the three of them, clearly as frustrated by it all as they were. Paralyzed from the waist down, he said as his hand slammed on the desk. Do you have any idea what that feels like? He asked. Of course, expecting the answer to be no. Unfortunately, they were familiar. The wolf drew back, questioning why Derek would test Jackson, why he would think that he could be the Kanima. That wasn't something Jackson knew the answer to, as much as he wished that he did. 

Honey turned back to the jock. They're testing Lydia? she repeated, her tone sounding slightly concerned for the redhead's safety, which was a surprise to all three boys. Jackson shrugged, he thought so, but he only caught snippets of their conversation, he wasn't quite up to scratch with the whole wolf thing yet.

All four of them had been so consumed in conversation that they hadn't felt the man looming at the side of their desk, hanging around long enough to know that they weren't talking about how to stop Scott from failing this class. Jackson! His voice bellowed, startling all of them, silencing a full classroom of teenagers in an instant. All looking at the four of them. "Do you have something you'd like to share with the rest of the class?"

"Uh... Just an undying admiration for my... My coach" he smiled charmingly.

"Carter?" the man asked, nodding at the girl who cleared her throat, trying to come up with yet another unique way of charming the man enough for him to leave them be. How the team would be hopeless without you? she proposed as she innocently batted her eyelashes. Coach nodded in agreement, they would be hopeless without him. Hell, they were hopeless with him. The four of them though that would be enough, but before leaving them, he screamed at them to shut up at the top of his lungs. 

After dragging Jackson back to his own desk, the three of them were left to flail after Jackson's revelation. None of them were to know if it was Lydia or not, and if it wasn't, how would anyone explain her sudden paralysis in the middle of a chemistry class? She had already suffered a freak accident that almost ruined her social status, two would send her straight to rock bottom. Stiles insisted that it wasn't Lydia, claiming that when he stared into the Kanima's eyes it was pure evil while Lydia was only fifty, maybe sixty, percent evil. It wasn't her.

Scott and Honey shook their heads, that wasn't a strong case, and the blonde wasn't convinced that sixty percent wasn't a severe markdown for the redhead. She was still convinced that Lydia and her red tint of her was because she was part Satan. Scott turned to her, the girl he appointed as the werewolf expert, asking whether she thought that it could be Lydia. 

Of course, part of her wanted to say yes, that same part was quite tempted by the thought of the redhead being gone for good. Being able to blame her bitchiness on some supernatural voodoo. And the other knew that she couldn't do that, and she couldn't let her personal judgment allow for an innocent to get killed. Lydia may have been a pain in her ass, she may be one of the worst people she had ever met, but even so, Honey didn't believe her capable of what the Kanima had done. No, she told him, acknowledging that there was a chance, but truly, she didn't believe that it was Lydia.  Lydia was fine.

As the words left her mouth, they all looked at the girl as she stood at the chalkboard attempting to answer Coach's question. Only her answer, which was normally correct and sometimes gave more than the man asked for, wasn't even written in English. While Scott tried to say it and Stiles took a picture of it, Honey watched as Lydia slowly backed away from the board in horror. "What is that, Greek?" Scott questioned, turning to Honey, who he had also appointed as the language expert, simply because she knew a little French.

Honey held out her hand for Stiles' phone. "Let me see that?" she asked as he handed it her. The girl clicked a few times as the boys patiently waited. She leaned back in, holding out the image, only now it had been flipped, revealing the true message. Someone help me. They all looked at the shaken girl, none of them so sure that she wasn't the Kanima anymore, even so, they had to stop Erica and Isaac from testing her.

Rushing into chemistry class, the three of them tried to snag seats around Lydia. Scott and Stiles had been less discreet, taking the seat beside her, as well as adding one to the bench just so she was protected from both sides. Meanwhile, Honey and Allison at the desk beside them. Though Erica and Isaac weren't too far away, there wasn't enough of them to take the seats behind Lydia too, but they hoped that surrounding her like this would be enough to protect her.

Einstein once said; two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity. Harris announced across the room as his eyes scanned it, landing upon a particular pair in the front.  I'm not sure about the universe, but I myself have encountered infinite stupidity. He said as he walked to the desk where Stiles sat, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder, making it clear that he was the one who had allowed him to encounter infinite stupidity. "So, to combat the plague of ignorance in my class, you're going to combine efforts through a round of group experiments. Let's see if two heads are indeed better than one. Or, in Mr. Stilinski's case, less than one."

Erica! He called, announcing that she would take the first section. Harris had hardly opened his mouth to announce her partner before multiple hands shot up, volunteering themselves. Mostly males. Her new appearance had granted her that honor. Harris immediately shot down all of the hormonal little hands, offering up Scott instead.

Allison visibly shifted in her seat as she watched the two move to sit one another. Honey reached over, placing a hand on the girl's arm, reassuring her that Scott would be fine. The only thing the other blonde was capable of was over-wearing animal print. Erica's eyes were squinted at Honey as the insult left her mouth, the Carter girl's lips pulled into a smug smile as she waved. 

Harris continued to form pairs. Allison with Lydia. Honey with Stiles. Isaac far from Lydia on the other side of the class. For now, they were safe. But that didn't stop the two wolves terrorizing everyone else in the meantime. 

Pouring the chemicals into the beaker, Honey anxiously tapped her foot, her eyes darting back and forth from the beaker to Lydia. "Do you think they're gonna hurt her?" Stiles asked, noticing her nervous looks. If anyone knew how far Derek was willing to go, it had to be her. She was a lot closer to Derek than any of them liked, he would even say that the two of them were friends. The thought almost made him green.

Honey shrugged. "Honestly, I'm not sure," she admitted. "It's Derek, who knows what he will do to her, especially if she is the Kanima."

After a few more minutes, the bell rang, signaling for them to switch partners as everyone began to swap benches. Scott had quickly snatched up the space beside Lydia again. Stiles beside Isaac and Honey with Erica who seemed eager to have her fellow blonde beside her. Honey tried not to look at the girl, instead focusing on Stiles and Isaac as they stared each other down, trying to be the Alpha male.

Unable to suffer watching that anymore. Honey turned to another method of torture, looking at Erica who impatiently waited to terrorize her. "You know, if you had taken Derek's offer then you would be able to hear the two of them right now." Erica hummed, nodding back over to the boys who had finally started talking, or more so arguing. "Why would I do that when I know that you are going to tell me anyway?" Honey asked. Erica shrugged, she had a point.

If you harm one perfect blonde hair on her head, I'm gonna turn your little werewolf ass into a fur coat and give it to her as a birthday present. Erica relayed Stiles' words. "How sweet. Stiles is fighting for your honor." the werewolf pouted her lips. "I wonder if he would still do that if I told him about what you said to Derek. You know, the whole "I want to kill all hunters" thing?" Erica reminded her, as if she had ever forgotten. "Not as perfect as you look, are you?"

"I can extend it to werewolves too?" Honey proposed, refusing to let the werewolf get under her skin. "I'm sure if Derek told you that then he told you I'm a little more experienced with wolves than the average person in Beacon Hills," she said, then leaning closer to the blonde. "You don't scare me. Derek doesn't scare me. So if you think you can hurt me by coming for Stiles, then you should know I can inflict pain in ways that you can't even imagine."

The bell rang again as Honey stood up, leaving Erica swallowing a lump in her throat as Allison, her next victim, took the seat beside her. While Scott, Stiles and Honey found themselves at one desk, Isaac had landed beside Lydia, leaving them all on the edge of their seats as he looked at them with a smirk. 

Honey stood up, about to sit with them and hopefully stop Isaac, but Harris stood in front of the girl, preventing her from going anywhere. If you're trying to test my patience, Miss. Carter, I can guarantee it will be a failing grade. He said as he towered over her, the girl sinking back into her seat as she nodded.

The three of them kept a close watch on Lydia who seemed completely unbothered by the wolf beside her as she focused on finishing the final stages of the chemistry experiment. Through all of the moving, she hadn't batted an eyelid at the people beside her or how strange they were all acting. She was in her own little world. When the final bell rang, Harris announced that, if they'd been successful, they should all now be looking at a crystal.

Those who had been paying attention found themselves holding one up. Others, such as Honey, Stiles, and Scott, were left grimacing at the beaker of slime in front of them, questioning how the three of them had gotten it so, so, wrong. For those who did have a crystal, Harris was sure they would be pleased to hear that they could eat it.

Their hearts dropped as they turned to Lydia who held up a crystal with some mysterious slime on it, watching Isaac offering it to the redhead. Oh, no. Honey had nervously gripped onto Stiles' arm as she watched the slime linger closer toward Lydia's mouth, the poor girl unaware of what repercussions it would have, no matter which way it went.

Just as Lydia was about to place the crystal on her tongue Scott jumped out of his seat, shouting her name across the class as everyone came to a sharp halt. What? She asked innocently. Scott's face froze as he realized there was nothing he could do or say. He couldn't shout that it might be a crystal that could paralyze her, or that Isaac and Erica would kill her if she came out of it okay. He mumbled "nothing" beneath his breath as he sank back down.

With no further objection, Lydia placed the crystal on her lips, taking a bite as Honey and Stiles' eyes screwed shut, waiting for the screams as she collapsed to the floor in a state of paralysis. It was much worse than that. There was nothing but silence, and when they opened their eyes, the redhead was unaffected and smiling while they were all horrified. 

In a hurry, four of them piled into Coach's office, some flustered, which was their constant state, and others had never felt fear like the one they did now. Honey paced back and forth, pushing a bunch of blonde hair out of her face as she tried to consider what to do. It was no secret that she was the one being relied on to come up with some groundbreaking plan to save Lydia. Because of her experience, there were high expectations. Ones she couldn't meet. 

She couldn't blame them for thinking that she knew what she was doing, they had no idea what had happened in her past, the kind of experiences that she had with the werewolf she knew. She could have told them, perhaps she should have told them, but the thought of rehashing it all yet again made her want to dig a hole and die in it. She couldn't. She wouldn't. 

"Derek's outside, waiting for Lydia." Scott sighed, leaning on Coach's desk as he watched Honey try to figure something out. He worked fast. 

"Waiting to kill her?" Allison asked, her voice higher than usual. She was freaking out. She was on a Stiles level of panic. Until now, she and everyone else had always thought that how Stiles usually freaked out was absurd, and yet here they were, arguably worse than how he acted on a normal day. 

"If he thinks she's the Kanima, then yes, especially what happened at the pool," Scott answered honestly, maybe a little too honest as Allison's eyes widened and she scoffed in disbelief, taking a lead out of Honey's book as she began pacing. Stiles insisted once again that it wasn't her. He was stuck on it. "Stiles, she didn't pass the test, man. Nothing happened." the werewolf sighed. He didn't want to believe it either, but it was right in front of them. Even so, he continued to tell them it wasn't hers, begging Honey to agree with him, to pull out all the stops and figure out the real Kanima. 

Honey's face was uneasy as she finally stood still, unsure what to tell him. She had believed that Lydia was innocent. She had believed that she wasn't capable of being the Kanima. But they had all watched her eat the Kanima venom and come out unaffected. It was the only explanation. "I- I don't know, Stiles." she mumbled.

It didn't matter what any of them thought, Derek thought it was her, and that meant he would do anything and everything to stop her. He had promised them that he would kill it, and much to their surprise, Derek kept promises. There were only two options left. Either they try to convince Derek that he is wrong or figure out a way to protect Lydia. Scott hoped that he wouldn't risk the chance of exposing the supernatural at school, which meant they only had until three o'clock to help Lydia.

Allison questioned what happened after three o'clock. What happened when they hadn't come up with a way to protect her? Or a way to prove to Derek that she was innocent? Did they just let him kill her? Did they give up? Did they form a human shield around her and let him go through all of them to get what he wanted? Because he would.

"What about the bestiary?" Honey asked, turning to the Argent who lived in the same house as the legendary book. "Could that help?"

"Oh, you mean the 900-page book written in archaic Latin that none of us can read? Good luck with that." Stiles sarcastically retorted, the blonde narrowing her eyes at him until he raised his hands, surrendering. 

"Actually," Allison hummed. The three of them raised their heads, wondering what she had come up with, hoping that it was a breakthrough. And she had. "I think I know someone who might be able to translate it."

Scott proposed that he could try and talk to Derek, maybe convince him to give them a chance to prove that it wasn't her. But if he couldn't, he insisted that the three of them let him handle it. His eyes mainly on Honey and Stiles who were most likely to step right into the fighting ring if it all did go wrong.  While Stiles nodded, Honey and Allison looked at him with folded arms, both of them taking it in the wrong manner, both ending up offended by his comment. What is that supposed to mean? They asked in unison. "It means that none of you can heal as I do. I just don't want either of you getting hurt."

The two girls shared a roll of their eyes, in utter disbelief that he was implying that because they couldn't heal instantaneously, the two of them weren't capable of handling themselves. Allison rummaged in her bag, pulling out a compact bow as she held it up proudly, causing Stiles to take a large step back, almost tumbling over Coach's desk as he tried to get away from it.

"I can protect myself." Allison deadpanned. Stiles nodded, completely understanding that, after seeing the size of the weapon, he wouldn't dare second guess her abilities to use it. Both of the boys looked at Honey, waiting for her to unpack some sharp weapon, and while she didn't have one, she did believe herself to have a pretty mean punch, raising her fist as she offered them all a demonstration. Of course, none of them deemed it necessary.

"I just don't want you getting hurt." He reiterated again. "Seriously, if anything goes wrong, you call me, okay? I don't care if your dad finds out. Call, text, scream, yell, whatever. I'll hear you and I'll find you as fast as I can. We have until 3:00."

Before Scott left, Allison stopped him, talking through it one last time while Honey took a chance to look around Coach's office, perhaps for some badass weapon of her own. With no eyes on the much-too-clumsy boy, Stiles lingered around the compact bow Allison had left on the desk. With it in his hands he felt unstoppable, his eyes lit up like a Christmas tree as he fiddled with it, until he played with the wrong button. 

Scott spun on his heel, catching the arrow before it could hit anyone, immediately looking back at Stiles who shoved the bow into Honey's chest, blaming her for the almost fatal accident. The blonde slapped him around the head, taking the bow from him at the same time. "Sorry. That's a real sensitive trigger," he mumbled in defense. "You really shouldn't let that thing out of your sight..."

In Scott's absence, the three remaining teenagers split up. While Allison and Stiles were left to try and convince Lydia to hang around with them tonight, Honey sought out the only person in the entirety of Beacon Hills who might be able to read Archaic Latin. A woman she hadn't quite intended on seeing again if not in French class. Miss Morrell. 

Much to her relief, the woman was much too interested in the page of the bestiary to bring up a second counseling session, nor did she have the chance to with the blonde running out of the room as soon as she had gotten what she came for. She rejoined Stiles, Allison and Lydia to find out that they too were successful. Lydia wasn't thrilled by the idea of a study group involving the four of them and Scott. Especially not if Honey was there, if she were honest, Allison begging her was the only reason she was willing to go. The Argent had used Scott's and his very real failing grades as her bait. If Scott didn't pass, he couldn't play, and nobody wanted him to keep his title more than Lydia who wanted to spite her ex. 

Turning another corner, the four of them ran into Jackson. For a moment, they all paused. It was clear they were up to something. Jackson stared at the three walking slightly behind Lydia, they shook their heads, hoping that he wouldn't give them up, and he didn't, all it cost them was the blonde girl telling them what they were up to. Honey didn't mind telling him, she was him as an additional form of protection for Lydia. In fact, he volunteered, apparently, there was something she had of his that he needed back anyway, so it suited him to be around her all night.

Of course, there was something in it for him. However, she didn't dwell on that. She focused on the fact that he was an extra body for the human shield they may just need to create. Having two werewolves on their side couldn't possibly be a bad thing.

"If we're doing a study group, why didn't we just stay in the library?" Lydia asked as she looked around at the four teenagers surrounding her, each of them guiding her towards the exit as they planned to hide out in Scott's house.

"Because we're meeting up with somebody else." Stiles quickly answered.

"Hmm. Well, why don't they just meet us in the library?" she asked. Honey threw her arms up, asking why none of them had thought of that, but oh well, she shrugged, continuing to speedily walk toward the exit. As Lydia opened her mouth to ask another question, Jackson put his hand on the girl's back, hastily pushing her forward as he told her to shut up and keep walking. Then, she began growing suspicious of the real motive.

Even as they approached Scott's house, Lydia's questions hadn't stopped. She tried to figure out why they were all acting so strange. Over the ride, it occurred to her how it wasn't just now, but it was during chemistry too. In fact, for weeks they had all been acting strange. Allison and Scott were together but pretended not to be when anyone was around. Jackson had broken up with her out of the blue. Stiles, well, he was his usual strange self. And then there was Honey, the girl who usually rolled out insults like it was a red carpet, but today, had been nothing but nice. She was perhaps acting the strangest of all. "If we're studying at Scott's, where is he?" she asked, the jock still pushing her with a hand on her back, eager to get her inside as he looked around.

Meeting us here, Stiles told her, I hope, he mumbled under his breath. As soon as he got through the front door, he began turning every lock, lacking any discretion as Lydia watched him with a raised brow, the others looking at him questioning if he could be any more obvious. Nervously, he cleared his throat, nervously screwing his foot into the carpet. Uh... there's been a few break-ins around the neighborhood?

Honey's fingers pressed against her temples, shaking her head as she walked toward the kitchen to lock the back door too. If Derek and his betas didn't kill them all to protect Lydia, the act of actually protecting her might just do it for her. She couldn't take much more of it, and it was only 3:30. 

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After hours of staring out of the small windows in Scott's door, watching the sky become darker, an urgency began to settle in. Allison's hand was wrapped tightly around her compact bow while her eyes stared at the four werewolves on the opposite side of the street, waiting for one of them to make a move, to begin a fight that she was determined to win. Jackson and Lydia were talking upstairs still, keeping the girl out of the way, allowing the others to try and come up with a plan. It would be much easier if they knew where Scott was. But none of them had heard from the boy since he left them standing in Finstock's office.

While Stiles and Allison refused to move from the windows, Honey paced back and forth until the corner of Scott's rug had curled up from her movements. Her phone was constantly pressed to her ear, hoping that just one of these times he would pick up. Where the hell was he? Allison's bottom lip trembled every time Honey said no answer. Both because of her worry, as well as the thought that she had lingering at the back of her mind. An option, one might call it. If things got too bad tonight, she would have to call reinforcements, the only kind that she knew could stop a creature like the Kanima. Her father. Her grandfather. She didn't want to have to make that call. She knew how it would end. With Lydia dead. Perhaps even with Scott dead.

As far as her family knew, she and Scott had ended with the deal that Allison had made with her father. She promised to stay away from him. She promised not to get involved with werewolves again. And he promised that if she did, he would kill Scott. 

While she considered calling her reinforcements, so did Honey. Though the blonde didn't have to fear for the life of her friend and boyfriend by calling her, calling Abigail was still the very last thing she wanted to have to do. She had managed to convince her aunt that she wasn't getting herself into trouble, that being friends with a werewolf hadn't put her in any harm. Truthfully, it wasn't possible for those two things to be in the same sentence. Werewolves always pathed the way for trouble, whether they intended to or not.

Honey sighed loudly, causing Allison and Stiles to turn to her. "If he doesn't answer this time... I'm going out there." she declared, neither of them having a chance to argue before she began to dial Scott's number again. Listening to the constant ringing sounded like they waiting to hear if they were receiving a death sentence, which for Honey, she might just be. 

"Honey, hey. I'm sorry I-"

"You need to get here." Honey interrupted the wolf. Her chest rose and fell with relief, glad that she didn't have to actually go out of this house. Even if she did believe Derek had somewhat of a soft spot for her, the determination across his face made her question her judgment. "Right now, Scott."

Scott hummed through the phone, he was on his way, he claimed. After a dozen phone calls that he hadn't acknowledged missing he was finally coming. Stiles turned to the street again, happy to see that the four wolves were still looking back at her. "Can I borrow that?" Allison asked, the blonde nodding as she gave her the phone. She watched the girl hover over the numbers, still so unsure about what she was doing. Allison... Honey mumbled with a bad feeling rising within her. "I think... I think I have to call my Dad."

"You can't." the blonde immediately objected. "If he finds you here... you and Scott..."

"I know." she nodded, biting down on her lip. "But what choice do we have? They're not here to scare us. They're here to kill Lydia."

"I can call Abby. Maybe she can help."

"Abby will just call the Argents." Stiles chimed in. "Allison calling her dad is just cutting out the middle man. "

Allison and Honey shared uneasy looks. He was right. No matter who they called, it would end in death and chaos. And if they didn't, it would still end in death and chaos. They came to a mutual agreement to not call anyone until Scott came, they could wait it out a little longer. While they'd secured the doors, Jackson was up there, perfectly capable of protecting Lydia. Just a little while longer, and they could figure this entire mess out. 

"Someone should guard the back door too." Honey quietly muttered, losing hope in their ability to protect Lydia.

"Nu-uh." Stiles turned to her with a point of his finger. "We stay together."

"And leave the back door free for them to break through? It's just around the corner and with all of the knives, it's probably the safest room to be in." Honey argued, already heading toward the kitchen. "Be safe," she warned them for a final time before disappearing around the corner.

The first thing she did was search the kitchen for Melissa's sharpest knife, holding it tightly to her chest as she nervously stood opposite the back door. She could feel her heart in her throat, both of her hands shaking, one around the knife much too close to her face, and the other around the phone she wished she could use to call her mom or dad for help. She had never really felt a need to call them for help while they were alive, it was only since they weren't there to call that Honey wished she could take advantage of it. 

She should have called them more. She should have been a better daughter to them. She should have fought harder to keep them alive.

When she finally pushed her thoughts out of her head, she could hear the two in the foyer trying to figure out who Allison should take down with her arrow. Stiles offered up Derek, for personal reasons mostly, but he was also the leader, Allison disagreed, reminding him that if Scott could catch an arrow, Derek definitely could. Though he didn't like it, he knew she was right, opting for the death of any of the other three instead.

Two, Allison corrected him.

Stiles' head quickly whipped toward the window again, correcting her to three. There were three betas. There had always been three. Derek. Boyd. Erica. He counted as his heart pounded loudly. "Where the hell is Isaac?"

"Allison!" Honey's voice screamed from the kitchen, quickly followed by a series of crashes and muffled screams. Isaac. Stiles was about to rush after her until Allison grabbed him, holding him back, telling him that he couldn't take on Isaac. He was forced to listen to the blonde fight, Isaac clearly overpowering her as she continued to grunt with every punch she swung at him, knives clattering on the ground and cupboard doors slamming shut as she tried to find something that could help her. "Get Lydia!" her struggling voice screamed for the two in the foyer, while Allison ran up the stairs, Stiles ran straight for Honey.

As soon as Allison reached the top of the stairs, she found a teary Lydia slowly making her way to the staircase. All she could hear was the sound of screaming and crashing from downstairs. Not to mention the heartbreaking conversation she had had with Jackson. She was both scared and hurt, just wanting to know what was happening. 

Allison held out her hand, stopping the girl, whispering for her to get back, telling her that there was someone trying to break in. Of course, she became even more scared, but scared was good. Scared would encourage her to stay hidden until someone told her she could come out. Scared might just be the thing to save her. Allison pushed the girl into the bathroom while she headed to Scott's bedroom, still holding the crossbow in her hand. 

Her back rested against the door as she finally took a breath. Her eyes opened, moving toward Scott's open window, seeing a familiar slime dripping from the frame that caused her to stand tall once again. Stiles! Her voice echoed through the home as she raised her bow. It's here!

Honey's back scaled against the wall as she kept her breaths low, trying to find Lydia, Jackson or Allison. She headed toward Scott's bedroom, hoping that Lydia and Jackson were still talking in there, hopefully blissfully unaware of what had been happening upstairs. She tightened herself around a knife once again, walking on her tiptoes as she slowly peered around corners.

Just as she passed the bathroom, someone grabbed her, startling her as she dropped the knife, her scream muffled by the hand that dragged her into the bathroom with them. "Shut up!" Lydia snapped at the girl as she finally released the blonde. "What the hell is going on?"

"You just scared the shit out of me, that's whats going on!" Honey snarled back, flailing her arms around, infuriated by the redhead as her hand touched the door handle, about to storm out and help the others.

"No." Lydia grabbed her. "What's going on here? And don't tell me a robbery because I didn't buy that when Allison told me." she said with a perfectly manicured finger pointing in the girl's face. "I hate saying this but you are the only person here I trust right now. You're the only one who has been brave enough to tell me how it is. I hate it, but I respect it. I respect you."

"I don't have time for this." Honey shook her head.

"Please," Lydia begged, her tone changing entirely as she looked at the girl with tearful eyes. "I need you to tell me, please, Honey. I'm begging you. I'm terrified and I feel like I'm going insane and I just need someone to tell me the truth."

"I don't think you're in any position to ask me for anything." the blonde said with folded arms. "All that you've done since I got here is treat me like something on the bottom of your Loubiton."

"You don't get it, do you?" Lydia asked, sighing as she sat on the edge of the bathtub, wiping her smudged mascara. "I wasn't a bitch to you because I didn't like you or because you deserved it. I did it because I'm jealous. You walked in all pretty and perfect and in an instant you got all of the things I ever wanted. You got Jackson, Honey. I dated him for years and I could never get him to look at me the way he looked at you. All I ever wanted was for someone to like me the way boys like you. And the worst part is, you didn't even have to pretend to be stupid to get one to notice you. I destroyed myself, all for a boy." 

Honey sat beside the girl, taking a deep breath, trying to forget about everything that was on the other side of the door for a moment. "We all make mistakes, Lydia. We're teenage girls. We want a lot of things we can't have, and we do stupid things sometimes. We act like we're people we're not. That doesn't make us bad people." she told the redhead who sniffled. "It might mean we're a raging bitch." the girl muttered beneath her breath, causing the girl to smile. "But that doesn't mean we don't deserve any less than anyone else," she reassured her. "You want the truth? I can tell you that you don't. But you asked, so I'll give it you. Out there is something that not even a mind as brilliant as yours can comprehend. It's terrifying. It's the thing of nightmares, and it will kill us all. So I need you to stay in here. Can you do that?" Honey asked. Lydia nodded, wiping a stray tear as Honey stood up, warning her to stay put once again as she slid back out of the door.

Heels edged closer to Scott's bedroom door as Allison stood at the bottom of Scott's bed. There were two options here. Erica had broken into the house and managed to find her, or Honey had gotten away from Isaac and heard her calls, coming to save her. She hoped for the latter, but as three kicks sounded on the door, revealing the supernatural blonde, her faith was lost. "Hmm." Erica stood in the doorway with a grin, looking at the head of the arrow Allison pointed toward her. "This might make me sound like kind of a bitch... but I've always wondered what it would feel like to steal someone's boyfriend. I bet it's a pretty sick rush of power." Erica commentated. "I don't think it's going to be that hard. Why would he be waiting around to spend ten minutes with you when he can have me anytime he wants?"

Allison pressed down on the trigger sending the arrow straight towards Erica, the blonde's hand shot up, grabbing it just like Scott had. Just like Allison hoped for. "You didn't really think that would work, did you?" Erica laughed at the girl.

"Actually..." the brunette titled her head teasingly. "It worked exactly how I planned."

Erica's smile faded as she opened the palm wrapped around the arrow, seeing the arrow dosed with the Kanima's venom. She looked up at the proud huntress just as her paralysis set in, within seconds she had hit the floor, left staring at Allison's boots as they slowly approached her. 

The brunette stepped over her, peeling back the hair from the werewolf's ear, smirking through her words. "I thought you were psychic?" 

As Allison reached the foyer once again, the entire house was in darkness. The power had been cut, barely allowing her to make out shadows as she bumped into Honey who lingered on the bottom step. Glowing eyes suddenly appeared in the darkness as they both stumbled back, the two girls gripping onto one another, cowering as Stiles quickly joined them, scrambling from the floor. 

Scott and Isaac were fighting, both tossing each other around the house. The three hiding on the staircase watching in awe and horror as every piece of furniture in sight was broken by the boy's heavy bodies. With Isaac eventually down and out for the count, Scott turned to them, asking for the other beta. In unison, the three of them pointed upstairs, parting to the side as he hurried up the stairs, returning with the paralyzed girl whom he had thrown over his shoulder. He nodded at Stiles to open the front door, tossing them to Derek and Boyd's feet, both of them at a loss for words as their eyes darted between the two on the floor and those who stood on the porch.

"I think I'm finally getting why you keep refusing me, Scott," Derek admitted, his arms folded as he still tried to assert dominance. "You're not an Omega. You're already an Alpha of your own pack." He said, nodding at the three who stood behind him. They were Scott's pack. They didn't abide by the rules of a normal pack, but they were. "You know you can't beat me."

"I can hold you off until the cops get here." Scott deadpanned, almost on cue the sound of sirens wailing began in the air, growing closer to the home.

Before the Alpha could spit out another remark at them, a hiss sounded from above their heads, causing the four teenagers to rush out from beneath the porch, looking up at what crawled over Scott's roof. Reptilian eyes glared down on them, releasing a high-pitched raw before running off into the night. 

"Get them out of here," Derek instructed his only standing beta, nodding at the two on the floor. Boyd grabbed them, already running off to avoid the cops as Derek was about to follow him. His foot raised to take a step, quickly stopping at the sound of someone inside the McCall house. A frantic Lydia ran out of the house. Would someone please tell me what the hell is going on? All of them stared at each other with wide eyes, coming to the same realization. 

"It's Jackson."