CHAPTER TEN:
A RAY OF SUNSHINE

ELAINE SAT THERE, THE RADIO being the only sound in the car. Stiles had texted Scott, asking if he found the bullet yet only for Scott to reply he needed more time. Stiles let out a huff, putting his phone down before glancing towards Derek and saying, "Hey, try not to bleed out on my seats, okay? We're almost there."

"Almost where?" Derek questioned.

"Your house." Stiles answered him.

"What?" Derek asked, alarmed as he looked up at the boy. "No, you can't take me there."

"I can't take you to your own house?" Stiles asked, disbelief clear in his voice.

"Not when I can't protect myself." Derek shook his head.

Stiles quickly pulled over to the side of the road, Elaine raising a silent eyebrow at the boy as he turned off the car. "All right. What happens if Scott doesn't find your little magic bullet? Hmm? Are you dying?"

"Not yet." Derek said. "I have a last resort."

"What do you mean?" Stiles exclaimed. "What last resort?" Derek pulled up his shirt sleeve, revealing a bullet wound as well as dark veins crawling up his arms. Elaine scrunched her nose up in disgust whilst Stiles looked away saying, "Oh my god, what is that? Oh, is that contagious? You know what, you should probably just get out."

"Start the car. Now." Derek demanded, although very calmly which seemed to make it ten times more intimidating.

"I don't think you should be barking orders with the way you look, okay? In fact, I think, if I wanted to, I could probably drag your little Werewolf ass out into the middle of the road and leave you for dead." Stiles ranted, pointing towards the outside as he spoke.

Derek looked at the boy before once again calmly saying, "Start the car. Or I'm gonna rip your throat out. . . with my teeth." Elaine's eyes widened as Stiles just looked at him for a minute before huffing and turning the car back on, starting on the road once again.

"Jesus, you're terrifying." Elaine muttered.

"I try." Derek responded.

They continued driving around, night soon falling on them and Elaine now laying down in the backseat, her eyes closed and she had almost fallen asleep until Stiles started speaking to someone, Elaine assuming it was Scott. The female opened her eyes, looking at Stiles from her laying position.

"What am I supposed to do with him?" Stiles asked, clearly irritated by the situation at hand.

"Take him somewhere. Anywhere." Scott answered.

"And, by the way, he's starting to smell." Stiles spoke, scrunching up his nose as he glanced towards Derek.

"Like what?"

"Like death." Stiles hissed.

"Okay. Take him to the animal clinic." Scott told the boy.

"What about your boss?" Stiles questioned, Elaine immediately sitting up at this as she put two and two together.

"He's gone by now. El should have a key, but if she doesn't, there's a spare key in the box behind the dumpster."

Stiles sighed before handing the phone towards Derek whilst saying, "You're not going to believe where he's telling me to take you."

Derek took the phone, putting it up to his ear before asking, "Did you find it?"

"How am I supposed to find one bullet? They have a million! This house is like the frickin' Walmart of guns!"

"Look, if you don't find it, then I'm dead, all right?" Derek simply responded.

"I'm starting to think that wouldn't be such a bad thing."

"Then think about this―︎the Alpha called you out against your will. He's gonna do it again. Next time, either you kill with him, or you get killed. So, if you wanna stay alive, then you need me. Find the bullet." Derek spoke before ending the call. Elaine rose an eyebrow at the male's bluntness.

"You're just a ray of sunshine, aren't you?" Elaine asked, giving a sarcastic smile towards the man though he couldn't really see it.

"Hey, Laney?" She hummed in response at Stiles' question. "You wouldn't happen to have your key for the animal clinic on you, would you?"

"Uhh. . ." The girl paused, grabbing her bag and going through it before feeling a set of keys and pulling out before nodding her head. "Yeah, I do. Why?"

"'Cause that's where we're heading." Stiles answered before taking a left turn. They arrived at the animal clinic and the trio got out. Elaine walked up, quickly unlocking the door and entering, turning on the light whilst Derek sat down on some of the animal food just as Stiles got a text.

"Does Northern Blue Monkshood mean anything to you?" Stiles quizzed, glancing towards the man.

"It's a rare form of wolfsbane." Derek weakly answered. "He has to bring me the bullet."

"Why?" Both Stiles and Elaine asked.

Derek looked between the two before answering: "'Cause I'm gonna die without it."

"Oh. . ." Elaine mumbled before she quickly turned on her heel and led the way with the boys following her. She pushed open the double doors that had a metal table in the middle of the room and cabinets on every wall. She quickly turned on the lights whilst Derek took off his shirt, revealing a tattoo on his back. Elaine looked at it for a moment, not realizing she had been staring until Stiles slapped her, narrowing his eyes at her.

They all walked over to the table, Derek placing his arm on it. The veins had only grown, and the wound and yet to stop bleeding and made Elaine scrunch her nose up once again whilst Stiles said, "Okay, you know, that really doesn't look like anything some echinacea and a good night's sleep couldn't take care of. . ."

"Are you seeing the same thing that I'm seeing?" Elaine asked, looking at the boy in disbelief.

Derek was panting as he responded. "When the infection reaches my heart, it'll kill me."

"Positivity just isn't in your vocabulary, is it?" Stiles questioned the man as he searched through the drawers and cabinets.

"If he doesn't get here with the bullet in time―︎last resort."

"Which is?" Stiles quizzed.

Derek pulled out a bone saw before looking towards Stiles and saying, "You're gonna cut off my arm." Derek walked back over to the table, sliding the machinery towards Stiles who picked it up, testing it and then quickly placing it back down as he looked away.

"Oh my god." He spoke, clearly uncomfortable with the situation. He looks back towards Derek, watching as he tied an elastic tightly around his upper arm in order to stop the blood flow. "What if you bleed to death?" Stiles questioned

"It'll heal." He answered. "If it works."

Stiles looks down in disgust before looking back towards the man before saying, "Look, I don't know if I can do this."

"Why not?" Derek asked, getting fed up with the boy.

"Well, because of the cutting through the flesh, the sawing of the bone, and especially the blood!" Stiles exclaimed.

"You faint at the sight of blood?" Derek asked, annoyance growing thicker and thicker by the minute.

"No, but I might at the sight of a chopped-off arm!" Stiles yelled.

"All right, fine. How about this, either you cut off my arm, or I'm gonna cut off your head."

"Okay, you know what? I'm so not buying your threats any―︎" However, Stiles was cut off by Derek taking a fistful of his shirt, pulling him towards him and glaring at him. Elaine's eyes widened at this. "Oh, my God! Okay. All right. Bought. Sold. Totally. I'll do it. I'll do it." Suddenly, Derek started to heave. "What? What are you doing?" He opened his mouth and black liquid fell from it.

"Oh my god!" Elaine snapped. "What the hell is that?!" While at the same time Stiles said, "Holy God, what the hell is that?

"It's my body trying to heal itself."

"Well, it's not doing a very good job of it." Stiles spoke in disgust.

"Now." Derek urgently spoke. "You gotta do it now."

"Laney, you're the nurse, you do it." Stiles spoke, handing the bone saw towards her.

"Exactly, I'm a volunteer nurse, not a doctor!" Elaine hissed. "I'm not qualified to chop off some random ass guy's arm!"

"Neither am I!" Stiles responded. Elaine pushed the saw back into his hands, making him narrow his eyes at her before turning towards Derek once more. "Look, honestly, I don't think I can―︎"

"Just do it!" Derek snapped.

"Oh my God, okay." He took the bone saw, not ready at all for what was about to take place. He placed it right at the blue elastic before saying, "Oh my God. Alright, here we go."

"Stiles? El?" Scott called.

Stiles stopped, looking up towards the direction of the voice as Elaine did the same. "Scott?"

Scott entered the room, stopping at the door before exclaiming, "What the hell are you doing?!"

Stiles let out a laugh of relief before placing the saw down. "Oh, you just prevented a lifetime of nightmares!"

"Did you get it?" Derek asked, standing up.

Scott pulled the bullet from his pocket, handing it to Derek who looked at it while Elaine asked, "So. . . what are you gonna do with it exactly?"

"I'm gonna. . . I'm gonna. . ." However, Derek soon fell to the ground, sending the bullet from his hand and into the vent. Scott was quick to go to the floor, trying his best to reach for the bullet whilst Elaine and Stiles tried to wake Derek up, but to no avail.

"Scott, what the hell are we gonna do?" Stiles quickly asked.

"I don't know!" Scott exclaimed.

"Well, we have to do something." Elaine huffed.

"He's not waking up." Stiles spoke, Scott still struggling to reach for the bullet.

"Hey, uh, try punching him." Elaine spoke, tapping Stiles shoulder.

"What?" The boy asked, his eyes widening.

"Trust me!" Elaine huffed.

"You want me to punch the man who said he would rip my throat out with his teeth earlier?" Stiles asked in disbelief. Elaine narrowed her eyes at the boy

"I think he's dying." Stiles spoke. "I think he's dead."

"Hold on!" Scott snapped, and then after a moment he managed to pull the bullet from the vent. "I got it! I got it!"

"Stiles!" Elaine snapped, before nodding towards the man.

Stiles glanced at her before looking down towards the man, raising his fist before saying, "Please don't kill me for this." He then connected his fist with Derek's face, the man's eyes snapping open whilst Stiles let out complaints of pain, holding his hand whilst Derek looked towards Scott, requesting for the bullet. Scott quickly gave it to him and the two boys pulled him up, Stiles still shaking his hand in hopes of getting rid of the pain. They watched as he ripped the top off of the bullet, pouring the ingredients out before taking a lighter and lighting it on fire. Once the fire died out, Derek quickly put it in his hands, placing the stuff on his wound making Elaine look away as he let out yells of pain, collapsing to the floor as it continued. When he let out an animalistic roar, Elaine's fear crept back into her, making her take a step back.

After a moment, Stiles quickly said, "That was awesome! Yes!"

Derek stood back up whilst Scott asked, "Are you okay?"

"Well, except for the agonizing pain." Derek answered.

"I'm guessing the ability to use sarcasm is a good sign of health." Stiles spoke, earning an annoyed look from Derek.

"Okay, we saved your life, which means you're gonna leave us alone. You got that? And, if you don't, I'm gonna go back to Allison's dad, and I'm gonna tell him everything―︎"

"You're gonna trust them? You think they can help you?" Derek questioned, appalled with Scott's words.

"Well, why not? They're a lot freaking nicer than you are." Scott snapped.

"I can show you exactly how nice they are." Derek answered.

Scott frowned. "What do you mean?"

━︎━︎━︎━︎━︎

Elaine sat in the car with Stiles, Scott having gone with Derek so that the other wolf could show him something. She sat there, her hands propping her head up as she watched the scenery fly by. Stiles glanced between the girl and the road before he stopped in front of the females house, parking his car.

"Hey, are you okay?" Stiles asked.

Elaine held the door handle for a moment before turning to face him. "Yeah. I mean, I have to be right? I have to get used to the fact there are werewolves that live in this world. And that I know two of them. Well, I don't really know Derek, but I know that he's a wolf and that he exists."

"Well, I must say, you were handling that situation ten times better than I was." Stiles told the girl. He offered her a small smile. "I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?"

Elaine offered him a small smile before she nodded her head, "Yeah." With that she got out of the car, stopping at her door and watching as Stiles drove off. Just as she was about to open the door, a voice stopped her.

"Elaine McCall?" Elaine frowned, turning her attention towards the voice, only to see a woman with dark hair walking up to her. A very familiar woman. Elaine only nodded her head in response and the woman sighed before saying, "We need to talk."