▌𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐄𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ━︎━︎ 𝐈.𝐄.𝐃. ▌

━︎━︎━︎━︎"𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐎𝐌𝐈𝐂 𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐘 𝐄𝐗𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐒 in all forms." Coach spoke. Elaine sat there at her desk, notebook open and pencil in hand as she doodled in her notebook. Stiles was sitting right beside of her, shifting through the photos of the murders and trying to figure out what the mark on Carrie was. "Well, take sports, for example. Some teams have better training facilities. Some have better equipment. Unlike Beacon Hills that can barely afford the duct tape to keep our equipment together." He came to a stop beside Stiles' desk, slamming the lacrosse stick in his hands onto the boy's desk, making him jump. Coach glanced at the photos on his desk before leaning down so that his face was closer to his. "You know, Stilinski, if I could grade you on how profoundly you disturb me, you'd be an A plus student."

     Stiles nodded his head. "Thanks, Coach."

     "Put those pictures away." He stood up straight, tapping the end of the lacrosse stick onto his desk. As Coach went to turn and walk away, Stiles quickly grabbed the end of the lacrosse stick, ignoring Coach's call of his name as he pulled the rubber end off of the stick. He took one of the pictures, comparing the two before Coach ripped the stick from his grasp and went back to teaching.

     Elaine raised an eyebrow at him. "What the hell was that?"

     Stiles sighed before looking between Elaine and Scott. "It's a lacrosse player."

     "The killer's on the team." Scott breathed.

     "Well, it looks like you two got a mystery to solve." Elaine answered before turning to look back at Coach. "And it looks like I have to convince Coach to let me be assistant coach for the games this year." When class was dismissed, Elaine decided she would talk to Coach whilst Stiles, Kira, and Scott looked through all the lacrosse sticks to try and find the weapon. She stood in there with the man for thirty minutes, convincing him to let her assist, instead he said she could sit on the bench and make sure the other team wasn't playing dirty.

     Elaine found Stiles standing outside of the room, waiting for her. "He said no. But at least we don't have to argue about me sitting on his bench this year." Elaine shrugged. "It's the closest I can get to help besides muttering a few spells to throw possible killers off, there's nothing more that I can do."

     "In all honesty, I'd rather you do that than be directly involved." Stiles told her. "Your brother and Kira aren't afraid of this, which is insane to me. And knowing you, you're not afraid of these killers either."

     "Well, then you don't know me at all." Elaine stopped walking, turning to look at him with her arms crossed over her chest. "I'm scared, Stiles. Terrified. My name has the most money on that entire list, news of my existence has probably spread halfway around the world by now, I'm going to be at the top of everyone's hitlist. I've already died once, almost twice, I don't want to die again. I can't do that to my mom, to Scott, Lydia. . . to you." She took a deep breath. "I wish there was more that I could do to stop all of this madness."

     Stiles looked at her for a moment before reaching forwards and grabbing her hand, giving it a small squeeze. "Maybe you should leave until we solve this. I know you don't like to hide, but if it means keeping you safe, then I don't give a damn what you think." Stiles looked at her, his brown eyes meeting her blue ones. "You've been through so much. We all have. But you more than a lot of us. You deserve to let yourself breathe. We'll be alright without you."

Elaine stared at him for a moment. Her heart quickened in her chest. Every time Stiles expressed his concern for her, something made her stomach fill with butterflies. She loved that about him. She loved that he cared so much that he would do anything he could to protect her. She loved the way that his eyes would grow soft whenever he glanced in her direction, love and admiration taking over him. She loved that he loved her and she hated that he had done what he'd done because she loved him so much that it pained her to be apart from him. It wasn't even her trust that she cared about anymore, it was the fear that she felt that night when she was under the influence of the full moon and had pounced on him, ready to kill him. It was that fear that was keeping her locked in, keeping her from kissing him like she would if they were together.

     She swallowed thickly, bringing herself out of her thoughts. She forced a small smile on her face, squeezing his hands. "As much as the idea intrigues me, the guilt would eat me alive knowing that I'd just left you guys with killers chasing after you, knowing that there's maybe a chance that I can keep them from killing you." She then let go of his hand and started walking backwards. "Besides, you guys would fall apart without me."

     Stiles sighed, watching her walk further and further away from him. "I wish you weren't right." And then he quickly caught up with her. The two made their way outside joining Scott's side and standing there as they watched Liam move to stand in front of his old team mates. He held out his hand, wishing them a good game only for Brett to laugh in his face.

     "That's cute, Liam." Brett smiled. "Is that what they told you to say in anger management? Apologize and everything's fine?"

     "Scott," Elaine mumbled, listening to Liam's heartbeat.

     "I hear it." Scott nodded.

     Brett continued, "You demolished Coach's car."

     "I paid for it." Liam said through clenched teeth.

     "Yeah, you're going to pay for it. We're gonna break you in half out there. And it's gonna be all your fault."

     "Alright, I'm stepping in." Elaine spoke, walking forwards. Scott and Stiles quickly followed after her. "Hey, Liam, everything alright?"

     Scott quickly grabbed Liam's shoulders, pulling him back as Elaine turned her head to look at Brett, narrowing her eyes at him. Stiles stood in between Elaine and Brett, holding out his hand. "Hey, what's going on prep students? Welcome to our little public high school. How you doing? Stiles." Brett didn't shake his hand and Stiles nodded. "That's a firm handshake you got there. Uh, we're very excited for the scrimmage tonight. Uh, but let's keep it clean, alright? No rough stuff out there. Alright, see you on the field." He turned towards Elaine, grabbing her hand and motioning for Scott to go. "Go."

Scott and Stiles held him under the running water, watching as Liam struggled in their grip. Annoyed and angered roars fell from the beta's lips as he thrashed around. When he finally calmed down Scott turned off the water and Liam slid down the wall until he was on the floor. Elaine stood there with her arms crossed, a deep frown on her face. She glanced between Stiles and Scott before looking back over at Liam who seemed to be looking at the ground in shame.

Scott spoke first. "That care you smashed. I thought you said that was your teacher's."

"He was also my coach." Liam replied, taking deep breaths. "He benched me for the entire season."

Stiles looked at him with disbelief whilst Scott took the liberty to ask, "What did you do?"

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

"Just a couple?" Stiles asked earning an elbow in the rib from Elaine.

Scott kneeled down so that he was eye level with Liam, his voice was gentle as he spoke. "You gotta be honest with us. What else happened?"

"Nothing." He sighed. "I got kicked out of school. They sent me to a psychologist for evaluation."

"What did they call it?"

"Intermittent Explosive Disorder."

"I.E.D.?" Stiles asked. "You're literally an I.E.D.? That's great. That's great. You gave super powers to a walking time bomb."

"Stiles." Elaine sternly said, narrowing her eyes at him. "Stop it."

Scott ignored him. "Did they give you anything for it?"

"Risperdal. It's an antipsychotic."

Stiles shook his head. "Oh this just gets better."

"But I don't take it."

"Obviously."

"Stiles!"

"I can't play lacrosse on it. It makes me too tired." Liam explained himself, trying to hide his amusement as he watched Elaine hit Stiles in the head.

"Okay." Scott nodded. "I think you should bail out of the game. Tell Coach your leg's still hurting."

"No, no!" Liam quickly stood up from the floor. "I can do this. Especially if you're there." His eyes darted over to Elaine before quickly looking back at Scott.

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

Liam shook his head. "Who's Demarco?"

"The one who brought the beer to the party." Stiles answered. "The guy who was beheaded. Remember?"

"We think the person who ordered the keg killed Demarco." Scott watched as Liam looked away from them and towards the ground. "Liam? What, you know something?"

He shook his head again. "I don't know who ordered the keg. But I know who paid for it."

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ

━︎━︎━︎━︎𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐄 𝐓𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐀 seat beside of Stiles on the bench. Her nerves were starting to eat away at her as she glanced over to Garrett who was laughing with one of his teammates as if he hadn't been the one killing these innocent werewolves. Her knee bounced up and down, grabbing Stiles' attention. He reached over, placing a hand on her knee which immediately made her nerves calm down. She turned her head to look at him, worry evident on her features. She didn't want him to get hurt. She didn't like that her brother, Liam, and Kira were all in danger and although Stiles wasn't on the list, knowing him if he saw Garrett make an advance he would get in the way and let it happen to him instead of anyone else.

"Hey," Stiles gently spoke, brown eyes meeting her blue ones, "they've got this."

"I know." Elaine whispered, biting on the inside of her lip. "I know."

"If you see my dad. . ." Stiles started, trying to trail away from the topic of conversation.

Elaine smiled a small smile, nodding her head. "I'll give you a signal. Maybe like a thumbs up or something." She placed a hand over Stiles' which was still covering her knee, the spark of their hands touching almost made her jump, but she refrained from doing so. "He'll be here, Stiles. Don't worry about it. Now, go out there and kick there asses, yeah?"

Stiles smirked. "Whatever you say, sweetheart." He stood up and walked over to where Kira and Scott were whilst Elaine tried to calm her quickly beating heart. He still had such an effect on her. She wished that she could just let go of her worries. That she could just be with him. Maybe once they all figured out this dead pool then she could do just that. But she would have to wait until then.

As the game began, she couldn't help but sigh every time the other team got a point. So far they had two and Liam had already been tackled once. She had a bad feeling forming in her stomach causing her to stand up and take a stand beside of Coach. She watched as Kira got the ball, ignoring Coach's yell for her to pass it as she threw it into the other teams goal, giving them their first point. Elaine couldn't help but smile and cheer for her friend. Her smile faded when Coach walked away, yelling for Kira to come to him. And then, he sat her on the bench for the rest of the game.

Elaine's eyes met Scott's, both sharing a worried look with one another before Scott sent his sister a reassuring nod to which she nodded back. She walked over to Kira and sat down beside of her, giving her a small squeeze on the shoulder before they both went back to watching the game. The points went up on both side, the other team in the lead. When two of the players got knocked over landing roughly on the ground, a gasp ran through the crowd.

Both Brett and Liam were on the ground, both of them in pain. Elaine stood up and immediately ran out into the field although she was sure she was going to get in trouble for it, she didn't care. Liam was her priority. Scott pulled Liam up and Elaine ran over to the group of three, Stiles standing with them as well.

"Liam, are you alright?" Elaine asked, eyes filled with worry.

"How hard did you hit him?" Scott asked.

"I didn't." Liam answered through pants, trying to let himself heal. "He hit me." They looked at his arm which was clearly broken and Elain winced at the sight.

Scott quickly took off his gloves, grabbing Liam's arm. "Close your eyes." Liam did as he was told before Scott quickly snapped his bone back into place. Stiles turned away in discomfort, Elaine rubbing a hand on his arm trying to comfort him. The sound of Brett screaming made them turn to look at him.

When they picked Brett up, his right leg dragged numbly across the ground. Elaine furrowed her eyebrows at the sight. She placed a hand on Stiles' shoulder before walking away, ignoring his question of where she was going. She quickly followed after him and when she found two unconcious men instead her worry quickened.

"Brett?" Elaine called.

"Not exactly." Before Elaine could process what was happening she was being slammed into the wall. She pushed herself away, dodging the next hit only to be slammed into the locker room mirror. The glass shattered, falling with her to the ground and burying itself into her skin. SHe cried out in pain as a foot came slamming on her ankle, the sound of it breaking echoing throughout the locker room. She was quickly punched, head slamming against the wall, blurring her vision.

"For a hybrid, you sure are weak." The person kneeled down. "I was going to take Brett, but you're worth so much more than him. Maybe I'll take you instead." Suddenly a wire was being placed against her throat and just as it started to burn, just as it started to choke her, it disappeared. Her vision started to clear and her eyes found Brett laying on the floor, body still paralyzed. She turned her head to see the girl wrapping the thermo wire around her brother's neck.

Anger fueled her and before she could even mutter a spell Scott was grabbing the burning wire with his hand, pulling it away from his throat and growling as his red eyes turned to look at the girl. He placed a hand against her throat, putting her in a choke hold as the weapon fell from her hand. He slammed her against the wall, knocking her out and letting her fall to the ground. Stiles came sliding into the room right after, eyes looking at the scene in front of him before he spotted Elaine.

"Laney!" He quickly slid to the ground, coming to a stop right in front of her. His hands immediately went to her face, eyes frantically searching for injuries and wincing everytime he found one. He looked back at her face, pushing the hair from her eyes. "Are you okay?"

"I'm okay." Elaine nodded, glancing at her ankle and yelling out as it snapped back into place on it's own. "Son of a bitch that hurt." Her eyes met Stiles' and reached up, placing a hand around his wrist and closing her eyes as she let herself lean into his touch. He leaned forwards, placing a kiss on her head. "Is Brett okay?"

"He's okay." Scott nodded. "He probably wouldn't be if you hadn't come chasing after him."

"By yourself. Which was the dumb part of the plan." Stiles added. He grabbed onto Elaine and pulled her up from the ground. When he was sure she was alright he walked out of the room and pulled out his phone to call his dad.

Scott walked over to her and she looked at him, noticing the worry in his eyes. Elaine gave him a small reassuring smile. "Scotty, I'm okay."

"I know." He nodded. "It's just. . . the way her focus immediately went from Brett to you. . . maybe Stiles is right. Maybe you should just leave for a little bit, just until we're sure that you're safe―︎"

Elaine shook her head, a sad smile playing on her lips. "Scott, I'm never going to be safe. I'm one of the rarest supernatural creatures. And I'm a Smith witch. I'm going to be hunted for the rest of my life no matter how hard I try to hide."

He sighed. "I know. I was just hoping you wouldn't be stubborn for once in your life and listen to me."

"Now, why on earth would I ever do such a horrendous thing as that?" Elaine chuckled and Scott smiled back, giving his sister a hug before they turned their attention back to Brett.