chapter fifty-three
❝  all this running in motion ❞
i.e.d.

━━━━༺❀༻━━━━

"So, the Walcott's were the first."

"At least the first that we know about."

Stiles rolled his eyes at Kennedy, looking at his dad. "Four murders. Sean, his brother, and their parents. They were killed by a professional assassin called The Mute. Weapon of choice, a military tomahawk. But then The Mute was killed by Peter Hale after he tried to blow up Derek with a Claymore mine." Kennedy nods, remembering the vision clearly.

"Next was Demarco." Kennedy says, "The guy I had a vision about."

"He delivered a keg to the party at Lydia's lake house. And got decapitated outside his car."

Kennedy sighs, "And then last night, 23-year-old Carrie Hudson." She lists off,

Scott speaks up, "It's a dead pool. A hit list of supernatural creatures." He says, holding up a sheet of paper. "This is only part of it. The rest still has to be decoded." The list had multiple names; including Lydia, Scott, Kira, Derek, the Walcotts, Demarco, & more.

"Who found this list?" Asks Noah Stilinski.

"Lydia." Kennedy answers. "She transcribed the code without even realizing it."

Sheriff slowly glances at Stiles. "Banshee?"

"Banshee."

Sheriff sighs, "Beautiful." He mumbles. "All right, what are these numbers next to the names?" He asks, seeing the numbers next to everyone.

"We're getting to that. First, you need to know that the code was broken with a cipher key." Stiles explains to his dad.

"Wait. You mean, like a key word?"

Stiles glances at Scott and Kennedy. "It's actually a name."

"Allison." Kennedy whispers. They all fell silent for a moment. Kennedy thought back to that night. Allison had been trying to tell her something. The boys thought it was about the silver arrows, and maybe they were partially right. But something in Kennedy's gut told her something was missing, she just didn't know what.

Stiles speaks up, "Her name broke a third of the list." He said.

Scott stands up straight. "And now we think there's two other cipher keys."

"Which will give us the rest of the names." Sheriff says. The teens nod, "Okay. So how do we get the cipher keys?"

"Same way we got the code." Stiles says.

"Lydia." Kennedy finishes.

"She's been out at the lake house all weekend trying to find the other two key words."

Sheriff Stilinski looks at the list again. "You didn't know about Demarco or Carrie." The three teens shake their heads. "And what about these other two names on the list? Kayleen Bettcher and Elias Town. They werewolves too?"

"I don't know." Scott answered honestly. "But Deaton said that the Nemeton would draw supernatural creatures here."

Sheriff looking up, "Here being Beacon Hills? Or Beacon County? The population of Beacon Hills is just under 30,000."

"And dropping," Stiles points out. Kennedy smacks the back of his head, causing him to yelp in pain.

Sheriff glares at his son, before looking at Scott. "But if we're talking Beacon County, then you're looking at close to 500,000." Kennedy sighs, knowing he was right. "Look, how many werewolves, banshees, kitsunes and whatever the hell else is out there are we talking about?" He sits in his chair, looking up. "And what if the next cipher key uncovers not 12 names but 100?"

"We don't think there would be that many. There's a limit."

"Because of the numbers." Scott says, pointing to the names. "We think that once we decode the names, the numbers will add up to 117."

Sheriff shrugs, "117 what?" Both boys share a look, moving so Sheriff knew it was Kennedy who had the answer. All three of them looked at her.

"117 million dollars." She bluntly stated. Stiles begins to write M & K all over the paper, signifying 250 thousand, up to 25 million dollars. "Stolen from my family's vault and is being used by someone to finance all these murders."

Scott speaks up, "Someone who wants every supernatural in Beacon Hills dead."

Sheriff rubs his chin. "So the coded list goes out. And somehow these professional assassins get that list."

"And a cipher key." Stiles adds.

"And then they go after the names on the list. They being killers with no mouths, tomahawks, thermo-cut wires that can take your head off." Noah lists off, causing Kennedy to nod.

Stiles looks at the papers. "Carrie was also stabbed." Kennedy looks at the wounds, confused. "What's this mark?" Stiles asks.

Sheriff shrugs. "We're not sure yet. We're still waiting on the ME's report." He tells them. "There's one other thing I don't get. How did this new assassin know that Demarco was going to be at the lake house?"

"Everyone knows he delivers kegs to teenagers for a little extra cash." Scott explains.

"So whoever ordered that keg killed Demarco."

Kennedy nods at the Sheriff. "Yeah, it was someone at the party." She said, looking at Stiles.

Scott looks up. "A student."

"And you're still missing a few names, right?" Sheriff asks. "Like Kennedy?"

Stiles nods. "Exactly. We're just hoping nobody else has gotten that far with the list." He says, eyeballing his girlfriend. Kennedy sighed, looking at the list, if Lydia and Scott were worth 20 and 25 million, and Derek was 15 million, what about her? Would she be 10 million? Would she be 25 million? 30 million because she's an Alpha and a Seer? She didn't know.

And she didn't really want to find out.

༺❀༻

Kennedy stood in Stiles's room, waiting for him to drive her to school. Stiles pulled on his flannel, looking over at her for a second. Neither of them had talked about the confession Kennedy made at the party. The confession of her losing control. Maybe they were too scared to. At least they were. But Stiles is nosy, and needed answers

"Why didn't you tell me?"

The Hale's eyes drifted to Stiles, who stood at his desk. He fiddled with the Jeep keys in between his hands, waiting for an answer. Kennedy swallowed thickly, looking back down at her shoes. "I felt guilty." She confessed. Stiles knitted his brows together, taking a few strides forward to pull Kennedy's face upwards. The girls eyes met her boyfriends.

"You never should feel guilty. You defended your friend. You defended yourself."

"I could've killed him, Stiles," She warily said, her tone hoarse.

Stiles shook his head. "But you didn't." He says to the girl, pushing her hair behind her ear. "You controlled it. It's okay if you lose that sometimes, because you always get it back." His smile caused Kennedy's heartbeat to slow, and she slowly leaned in. Their lips met, and Stiles could taste her cherry flavored chapstick.

When she pulled away, "I love you," She whispered, causing Stiles's smile to widen into a cheesy grin.

"I love you too." Stiles replied, kissing her again. "Come on, we have to get to school," Kennedy groaned, putting her bag over her shoulder as she followed the boy out the door.

༺❀༻

"Do you really have to be all broody & emo?"

Derek looked at his little cousin, holding Liam's lacrosse stick in his hands. The locker room door opens, and Derek holds a finger to his lips. Kennedy rolls her eyes, silently sinking behind the lockers as whoever walks in heads to their locker.

"What the hell?" Liam's voice echos through the locker room. "Where's my stick?" Kennedy snaps her head at Derek, who starts dragging the stick along the wall of lockers. She rolls her eyes at the dramatic effect, but knows she would do something similar.

Derek and Liam walk into the opening at the same time, Kennedy close behind Derek. The Hale looks at the stick. Liam glares at the Hale. "Is this yours?" Derek asks. Liam was silent. Kennedy watched as Derek snapped the stick into two, both teens jumping slightly. Emotionless, Derek tosses the stick at Liam's feet.

Liam slowly looked up, his eyes glowing yellow. He was growling lowly, breathing heavily. Kennedy crossed her arm, boredly watching as Liam jumps at Derek. The elder Hale grabs Liam by the neck, pinning him onto the lockers.

"Let him go, Derek," Kennedy said, looking at Liam as she watches as he tried to go at her cousin. Derek rose a brow, and Kennedy smiled innocently. Liam glared at Kennedy, seeing her eyes turn red. Derek released Liam, and the beta jumps at the female Hale. She dodges his claws, spinning around and shoving him to the ground. Liam face plants on the floor, Kennedy easily pinning his arms behind his back. Liam struggled under her, snapping his teeth at her.

"Liam," Scott's voice echos in the Dunbar's ears. His eyes shift to the McCall, his eyes instantly turning back to their normal blue.

Derek tilted his head to the side. "You're right. He is angry." He chimes. Kennedy snickers, releasing Liam from her grip. Liam slowly looked over at Scott, not wanting to look at the man he had never met or Kennedy. It was as if after the night she helped him, and he ran off, she hasn't liked him very much since.

Scott held up a lacrosse stick, "This one's yours." He told the freshman. He tossed it in the air for Liam. The youngest werewolf catches it, looking back at Derek and Kennedy. The school bell rang loudly. "Get to class, Liam." Scott says. Liam looks back at the Hale, walking away. Derek smiled as he looked between his cousin and her best friend. Scott looks over. "What are you smiling about?"

Derek pats Kennedy's shoulder. "You're gonna be good at this." He says to them.

"Are you kidding? I am totally unprepared."

"I still kinda wanna kill him." Kennedy confessed.

Scott ignores Kennedy's remark. "Remember how you said you could teach me a few things? I think, right now I could use a full-on training manual."

"I'll tell you one thing." Derek began. Kennedy leaned onto the lockers, crossing her arms. "That anger he's got? It'll make him strong."

"And dangerous." Scott adds.

Derek raises a brow. "Very." He tells the boy.

Scott glanced at Kennedy. "Hey, I haven't bit anyone! You can't pin this on me." She stated, pointing at the McCall. Scott sighed, slowly sitting on the bench.

"This was supposed to be the semester I could focus on school again." He began. Derek and Kennedy made eye contact, the two Hales moving to sit on either side of Scott. "But Kate's back. And I've got a Beta. And there's a dead pool."

Derek looks down, "If all our names are on that list, then that's what we should be focused on." He tells the McCall. "Do you think Lydia can get that second key?" He asks the two teens.

"She's working on it." Kennedy affirmed. "Honestly, I think she's more worried about if I'm on the list and how important I am." She says slowly. The two boys nod, knowing that thought was definitely an important one.

Scott chuckles. "But I think Stiles is more worried than any of us." He mutters. Kennedy huffs, nodding in agreement.

༺❀༻

Kennedy stood at her locker, putting away her textbooks when Scott, Stiles, and Kira come running over. "The killer!" Stiles breathed, out of breath from running across the school. "He's on the lacrosse team," He chokes out before sliding onto the metal lockers.

"What?" Kennedy asks, looking at Scott and Kira.

"The print of a lacrosse stick matches the stab wounds on Carrie Hudson," Scott explains, "It's like they have a literal knife hiding in their lacrosse stick."

Kennedy holds up a finger. "Okay, I don't know if I am deeply disturbed or impressed by the creativity." She looks between the three teen, who all sent her confused looks.

Kira rolls her eyes, "The weapon could be any of the lacrosse sticks," She said warily.

Stiles looks over. "So we just look at all of the lacrosse sticks." He says. Kennedy goes to protest, but is stopped when Stiles grabs her arm, tugging her behind him as they all rush to Coach Finstock's office.

The four of them began looking at sticks upon sticks. Pulling off the cap on the bottom, checking for any underlying weapons. Scott sighed in frustration, tossing another stick onto the desk. "This is pointless. Most of the team plays with their own gear." He explained to the group

"Maybe instead of trying to find a lacrosse stick with a hidden dagger in it, we should be trying to get the game canceled?" Kira offers, looking up.

Scott looks at his girlfriend, leaning onto the desk. "The game's the best way to catch him red-handed."

"But what if he's red-handed 'cause his hands are covered in the blood of the person that he just stabbed to death?" Stiles asks, clasping his hands to theater. "Which, by the way, could be either of you guys."

Kennedy glances at Scott. "Or Liam." Everyone looked at her, "We don't have the whole list and he could be on it. Just like Malia and I."

"We don't know anything about that list." Stiles points out. "How it's made, how it's updated. I mean, who's been out taking a supernatural census anyway?"

Kira shrugs, looking at Scott. "How do they even know about me?" She asked. She had a fair point, out of everyone, Kira was the least obvious supernatural.

"They know about everyone." Says Scott. Kennedy bit the inside of her cheek.

Stiles sighs, "I think Kira's right. I think we should stop the game." He tells the McCall.

Scott pushes off the desk, standing up straight, "I'm not afraid." He tells the human boy. Kennedy shifts her eyes to Kira, who turned to Scott.

"Neither am I."

"Well, I'm terrified! And I'm not even on the list!" Stiles shouts, causing Kennedy to turn to face him. "Guys, these are professional killers. It's their profession. One of them's got a thermo-cut wire that cuts heads off." Stiles looked at his best friend, Kira, and then Kennedy. Three supernaturals who are all and could potentially be on the list. "Who knows what else they have?"

༺❀༻

Liam walked down the hall, pausing when he sees Kennedy leaning onto the lockers. Liam came to a stop. "Um, what are you doing?" He asks, noticing the bored look on her face.

"I'm waiting for you," Kennedy chimes, smiling as she stands up straight. "You heard about who you're playing against?"

Liam nods, "Yeah, Mason said they'll be here any minute." He tells her, eyeing her suspiciously.

Kennedy smirks, "Then let's give them a Beacon Hills welcome, huh?" She pats Liam's back, pushing him down the hall. Mason Hewitt spun around the corner, seeing his best friend walking off with the junior.

"Liam, wait." Mason called, "What, no, no."

Liam and Kennedy looked over at the students piling out of the white bus, "Brett!"A tall attractive freshman turns his head, seeing Liam approaching with Kennedy close behind. Brett didn't know Kennedy, but he was already checking her out shamelessly.

"Ah, here we go." Mason sighed, knowing this wouldn't go well.

Kennedy pranced over, "Hi, boys!" She says, looking at them all. She oozed confidence, and it seemed to catch their attention as she looked at them all with her mischievous smile. Scott and Stiles looked over from a far, Stiles's eyes widening in alarm.

Liam spoke up, "I just wanted to say," Kennedy side eyed Liam as he held out his hand. "Have a good game."

Brett and the other teammates all made eye contact, beginning to laugh. Liam's hand fell to his side, and Kennedy clenched her jaw. "That's cute, Liam. Is that what they told you to say in Anger Management? Apologize and everything's fine?" Brett asked. Liam avoided eye contact, trying to keep control. "You demolished Coach's car."

"I paid for it."

"Yeah, you're going to pay for it." Brett said coldly, "We're gonna break you in half out there. And it's gonna be all your fault." Liam clenched his dist, his claws digging into his skin.

Kennedy stepped in front of Liam, glaring at the prep student. "Listen and listen closely, Troy Bolton," Kennedy ripped Bretts lacrosse stick out of his hand, twisting it between her fingers. "I don't know who you think you are, coming to my school and acting like you're top of the food chain. Cause guess what?" Kennedy stepped forward, glaring at Brett with an angry, Peter-like look. She shoved the stick into his chest. "I'm the Alpha here,"

Scott and Stiles rushed over. Scott grabbed a hold of Liam, "Woah, let's go," Scott mumbled. Brett checked out Kennedy further, finding her angry side attractive.

Stiles wrapped an arm around Kennedy, smiling awkwardly. "Hey, what's going on prep students? Welcome to our little public high school. How you doing? I'm Stiles," The boy holds up his hand, which nobody takes. "That's a firm handshake you got there. This is my girlfriend, Kennedy," Stiles said as he side eyed Brett, who still remained checking her out. "Uh, we're very excited for scrimmage tonight. Uh, but Let's keep it clean, all right? No rough stuff out there." Stiles grabbed Kennedy's hand, tugging her along. "All right, see you on the field."

Scott, Stiles, and Kennedy drag Liam to the locker room. "I've been in here a lot today," Kennedy says to herself.

"Why did you think that was a good idea?" Stiles asks her. Kennedy holds up her hands in defense.

"Hey, Liam was going to do it anyways, I was just there to make sure things didn't get out of hand!" Kennedy defends herself, "And look! Nobody got mauled by a dog boy! I say that's a win."

Liam growls loudly as Scott and Stiles shove him into the shower. Kennedy stays back, refusing to get her shoes wet. "Okay, are you calm yet?" Stiles asks. In reply, Liam roared at him. The two boys shove him back under, and Kennedy pulls out her phone, texting Kira about their possible sushi outing over the weekend with Lydia and Malia.

"Okay! Okay!" Liam yells. The two boys let the freshman fall to the tile ground as Stiles turns off the water. Kennedy looks up, walking over to wipe Stiles's arms with her sleeve.

"That car you smashed. I thought you said that was your teacher's." Scott says to the boy.

Liam looks up, "He was also my Coach. He benched me for the entire season."

"What did you do?"

Liam shook his head, looking down. "I got a couple of red cards."

Stiles over from Kennedy drying him off. "Just a couple?" He asked, swatting away Kennedy's hand as she tried to fix his hair. Liam guiltily played with his hands. Scott kneeled down, looking at the freshman

"You gotta be honest with us. What else happened?"

Liam looks up slowly, "Nothing. I got kicked out of school. They sent me to a psychologist for evaluation."

Scott shrugs, "What did they call it?" He asks.

"Intermittent Explosive Disorder."

Stiles raises a brow. "I.E.D? You're literally an I.E.D?"

Kennedy rolls her eyes. "He has I.E.D. he isn't an I.E.D." She corrects, glaring at her boyfriend. "Is there anything else you'd like to say, or do you want me to start invalidating your mental health?" The human boys eyes are wide, and he shakes his head.

Scott ignores the couple, "Did they give you anything for it?"

"Risperdal. It's an antipsychotic." Liam explains.

Stiles scoffs. "Oh, this just gets better."

"Stiles, you're about to be a single man."

Liam looks up. "But I don't take it." Kennedy turned to flare at Stiles, making sure he doesn't have anything more to say. "I can't play lacrosse on it. It makes me too tired." The boy explains. Kennedy sighs, feeling bad for the boy.

Scott nods his head. "Okay. I think you should bail out of the game. Tell Coach your leg is still hurting."

"No, no! I can do this." Liam says, standing up. "Especially if you're there."

"But, Liam, it's not just about the game." Scott tells the beta. "We think whoever killed Demarco might be on our team."

Liam friend. "Who's Demarco?"

Kennedy speaks up. "The one who brought the beer to the party. Got decapitated," She explains. Liam nods, remembering slowly.

"We think the person who ordered the keg killed Demarco." Scott explains. Liam looks down in thought. "Liam?" Kennedy and Stiles share a look, watching the freshman boy think about something he didn't think was possible. "What, you know something?"

Liam looks at Scott, "I don't know who ordered the keg. But I know who paid for it." He says. Kennedy quirks a brow, not expecting that at all.

༺❀༻

Kennedy walked up to Kira, who sat on the bench sadly. "He benched you, huh?" Kennedy sighed, sitting down.

"Yeah," Kira muttered. They looked back onto the field. "But Garrett is out there and we need to stop him."

Kennedy sighed, looking at the field as the group played. Kennedy watched as three separate players fell to the ground, one of them being Brett. Kennedy looks up, standing slowly. Her eyes land on Stiles and Scott. They gathered around Liam.

"What? What's wrong?" Kira asks. Kennedy jumps as she hears a blade with her wolf senses. She snaps her head, looking around.

"Are you cut? Did Garret cut you?" She hears Scott ask.

Liam shakes his head. "No, no. I'm okay."

"Then he missed."

"What do you mean?" Liam asks.

Scott looks back at the Dunbar. "It's you, Liam. You're the one he's after." Kennedy's eyes widen in alsarm as she slowly glances at Brett, who is carried off the field. If Garrett was killing people, he wouldn't have suddenly missed Liam. Unless he didn't miss at all. Kennedy looks over at Kira.

The Yukimura looks at the Hale. "What?"

The Hale exhales sharply. "I'm going to go check on Brett." She says, unsure if she was correct at all. She grabbed her bag, walking after where Brett was carried off to.

The game continued, and Liam approached Scott and Kira. "I talked to Coach. I'm out for the rest of the game." Liam explained, looking at the others. "What are you gonna do?"

Scott shrugs, "I don't know. Something's still not right. We're missing something."

Stiles walks over, holding his phone. "Guys. Lydia just broke another third of the list."

Liam looks up. "Am I on it?"

"Or Kennedy?" Scott follows.

Stiles shakes his head. "No. But someone else is." He holds out his phone, letting them all see Brett Talbolt on the list.

Kira's eyes are wide. "Kennedy just went to see him." She said softly.

Brett crawled away slowly, breathing heavily. He looked up at the girl standing over him. "What did you do to me?"

Violet, another freshman, shrugs. "You were cut with a poisoned blade. It was laced with wolfsbane." She whips her heckles, "It won't kill you. But this will." She triggers her thermo-cut wire. Brett tried to crawl away.

"Why? Why are you doing this?"

Violet stomps on his back, "Because you're worth a lot of money, Brett." She says honestly. She wraps the cord around his neck, tugging sharply.

Kennedy walks down the hall, eyes wide as she sees the body of the EMT. She spins around, seeing Scott running over. She looks at him, ready to go in. Scott grabs her wrist, putting a finger over his mouth. Kennedy furrows her brow, watching Scott walk inside.

Scott glanced at Brett, trying to see if the boy was alive. Suddenly, Brett's eyes sprang open, and the wire wraps around Scotts throat. Violet snarls as she triggers the heat. "He said we shouldn't try. But now I've got you. I got an Alpha."

"Boring!" Violet turns her head slightly, seeing Kennedy walk in. "Oh, don't look at me, you should be worried about the very angry Alpha." Violet turned her head, seeing Scott pull the wire away from his throat. Violet tried to tug, but it was no use. Scott snarled, his eyes red as he grabbed her by her neck.

Scott looked at the girl. "You don't just have one angry Alpha," He began. Violets eye twitched in a moment of confusion.. "You have two." The human girl didn't understand what he meant. But as Violet turned around slowly, she could see Kennedy's hazel eyes shift to a searing crimson red. Fangs for teeth grew from Kennedy's gums as she snarled lowly. Violet's face fell, realization hitting her.

Kennedy let out a growl as she grabbed Violet by the arm, throwing her into the air. Violet gasps as Kennedy grabs her by the throat, slamming her into the wall. It was sudden, and Violet was unconscious. Kennedy sighed, throwing the human girl to the side, almost bored. Scott tugged the wire off his head. Stiles scrambled into the room, looking around in confusion.

The McCall looks up, "I think you better call your dad," He says honestly. Kennedy groaned, and both Scott and Stiles looked at her.

"I chipped my nail!" Kennedy whined, holding up her previously purple painted nail.