CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN:
RUNS THROUGH YOUR BLOOD

"THEY'RE COMING BACK, SO WE don't have much time to talk." Deaton told the siblings, causing them to exchange looks with one another. Elaine watched a Deaton quickly grabbed a cloth, pouring rubbing alcohol onto it whilst Scott held up his shirt to reveal his wound.

"What is that?" Scott asked, frowning.

"Rubbing alcohol." Deaton answered. "You don't want it to get infected, do you?" Scott shook his head in response. Deaton quickly patted the cloth against the wound, making Scott wince. "You will heal the same, just not as quickly because of Derek."

"Okay, how do you know all this? Actually, how―︎How do you know anything?" Scott quickly questioned the man as he started to bandage the wound.

"It's a longer story. What I can tell you is that I know about your kind." This made the siblings glance at one another before looking back towards their boss. "Your kind? I can help. This? This is something different." They all glanced towards the body that was still lying on the table.

"Well, do you know what did it?" Elaine frowned, crossing her arms over her chest.

"No, but the Argents will. And this is the crucial part―︎they'll have a record or book, it'll have descriptions, histories, notations, of all the things that they've discovered."

"All the things? How many different things are there?" Scott widened his eyes slightly. However, their attention was quick to turn towards the direction of the front door, the sound of a car pulling in grabbing their attention. And then the door opening. Elaine was quick to grab her brothers hand before glancing at Deaton one last time before muttering a spell under her lips.

"Nullum visa laris." And the two quickly were cloaked from sight. She looked at her brother before whispering, "Don't let go of my hand." He nodded and they were quick to make it out with the success of Argent never knowing either of them were there. They stayed right outside of the door, listening in as Argent, Gerard, and another hunter walked in.

"I'm starting to think I need to buy a more prominent 'Closed' sign." Deaton told them.

"Hello, Alan. It's been a while. Last I heard, you had retired." Gerard's voice filled their ears, and Elaine couldn't help but cringe at the sound.

"Last I heard, you followed a code of conduct." Deaton shot back.

"If you hadn't noticed, this body is one of ours." Argent calmly stated.

"I did. I also noticed the gunpowder residue on his fingertips, so don't assume I'll be swayed by your philosophy just 'cause I'll answer a few questions."

"He was only twenty-four." Argent spoke.

Deaton shrugged. "Killers come in all ages."

"All ages, sizes, shapes. . . It's the last one that concerns us." Gerard informed.

"How about you tell us what you found?"

"See this cut?" Deaton pointed. "Precise. Almost surgical. This isn't the wound that killed him―︎this had a more interesting purpose."

"Relating to the spine." Gerard nodded.

"That's right. Whatever made this cut, it's laced with a paralytic toxin potent enough to disable all motor functions. These are the cause of death. Notice the patterns on each side?"

"Five for each finger." Argent noticed.

"For each claw." Gerard corrected.

"As you can see, it dug in, slashed upward, eviscerating the lungs and slicing through the bone of the rib cage with ease."

"Have you ever seen anything like this before?" Argent frowned.

Deaton shook his head. "No."

"Any idea at all what killed him?"

Deaton once again shook his head. "No. But, I can tell you it's fast, remarkably strong, and has the capacity to render its victims essentially helpless within seconds."

"If you're saying we should be cautious, we get it." Argent assured.

"I'm saying you should be afraid―︎be very afraid. Because, in the natural world, predators with paralytic toxins use them to catch and eat their prey. This prey wasn't eaten. That means whatever killed him only wanted to kill him. In fact, killing may be its only purpose."

━︎━︎━︎━︎━︎━︎

"You're getting way too good at that. Have you had time to practice that I don't know about?" Scott asked as he and Elaine made it away from the clinic. Elaine bit her lip before shaking her head.

"I've read the entire spell book a few times through. Every time I've casted a spell I'm running off of adrenaline and hope that it actually works. And for some reason it does every time. That's not normal."

"Magic literally runs through your blood, El. It's practically second nature to you whether or not you've practiced it." Scott told her, the words of Rebekah echoing in his head. Elaine was catching on way too quickly to what her full potential could be, and that made his nerves skyrocket. He didn't want her to become a killer like Rebekah said she would be, but the way that she had looked at Derek as he writhed in pain told him that she was already heading down that path, and she was making it to that destination of destruction way too quickly for his liking. He sighed before pulling out his phone, checking the time.

"Hey, I gotta―︎"

"Meet Allison." She nodded. She offered him a small smile before nodding her head. "Go. I'm gonna go steal mom's car and just ride around for a little while."

"Alright." He nodded before glancing at her one last time, quickly running off.

Elaine liked to believe that she was the favorite child. Because every time she asked for the car, or asked to go out, she was allowed. Unlike Scott. But Melissa swore up and down that she loved them both equally. Elaine, however, didn't believe it. Elaine drove around the town after promising her mom to pay for gas, listening to the radio and taping her fingers against the steering wheel. That's when her phone rang. A smile bloomed on her face when she saw who it was.

"Hey, Stiles." The girl greeted. "What's up?"

"Can you come get me?" He sounded off, his voice not filled with usual sarcasm or joy, but instead it almost sounded shaken.

"Stiles, what's wrong?"

"I was getting my jeep fixed a-and I became paralyzed, and I witnessed―︎look I just, can you pick me up? I'm at Tucker's Garage and my Jeep has to stay here for evidence."

"Yeah, yeah." She quickly nodded. "I'm on my way. I'll tell Scott to meet me there."

"Alright, thanks, El." The phone call ended and Elaine was quick to do a U-turn, speeding towards Tucker's Garage whilst calling Scott and explaining what Stiles had told her, telling him to meet her there. Elaine pulled up, glancing around at all of the ambulanced and police cars before quickly getting out of the car and making her way towards Stiles who had been talking with his father, sitting on the back of the ambulance. Upon noticing the female, Stiles stood up and walked over to her.

"Hey, are you alright?" Elaine quickly asked, placing her hand on his cheek as she searched him for any signs of injury.

"Yeah." Stiles simply answered. Elaine's frown deepened, as did her worry. He watched the worry continue to build in her eyes and he grabbed her hand that had been placed on his cheek, interlacing their fingers in hopes of giving her reassurance. "Laney, I'm fine."

"You didn't sound fine on the phone." Elaine told him.

"Look at me." Stiles told her, trying to keep the panic and worry from growing even more. Elaine's blue eyes met his and he offered her the best smile he could muster at the moment. "I'm okay. Don't worry about me." After a reluctant moment, Elaine nodded her head before the two walked over to the car, getting inside. Scott was sitting in the back, waiting for them.

"You okay?" Scott asked.

Stiles nodded. "Yeah." He then sighed before turning his head to look at the boy. "You were right. It's not like you. I mean, its eyes were almost, like. . . reptilian. But there was something about them."

"What do you mean?" Elaine frowned.

"You know when you see, like, a friend in a Halloween mask, but all you can see are their eyes? And you feel like you know 'em, but you just can't figure out who it is?" Stiles asked, making the siblings nod.

"Are you saying you know who it is?" Scott questioned, but Stiles shook his head.

"No. But I think it knew me."

━︎━︎━︎━︎━︎━︎

The next day in school, Elaine had been finding amusement the entire day with watching Stiles run back and forth between Allison and Scott, relaying their messages to one another. Now, Scott and Elaine sat on the steps with Stiles relaying the message Allison had given him, a wide smile of amusement on her lips.

"I'm so sorry about the other day. I'm trying. We'll get through this. Uh, I know, because I love you. I love you more than―︎" He let out a groan before cutting himself off. "Oh, my God, I can't. You and Allison just have to find a better way to communicate."

Elaine let out a laugh. "No, go on, I was enjoying this."

"Stop enjoying this so much!" He lightly snapped at her, making her smile grow wider.

"Come on, you're the only one that we can trust." Scott spoke. Stiles' mouth fell open as he pointed a hand towards Elaine. Scott glanced towards his sister before shaking his head as he looked back towards Stiles. "She refused to do it, and I really don't feel like arguing with a witch only to get thrown into another wall again." Scott quickly changed the subject back. "Is she coming to the game tonight?"

"Yes!" Stiles groaned. "Okay, message complete. Now, tell me about your boss."

"He thinks that Allison's family keeps some kind of, uh, records of all the things that they've hunted, like a book."

"A bestiary." Both Stiles and Elaine said in unison.

"What?" Scott frowned, glancing between the two.

"A bestiary." They once again repeated.

"I think you mean bestiality." Scott said with amused laughs.

"Nope, pretty sure we don't. It's like an encyclopedia of mythical creatures." Stiles told him, Elaine nodded her head making Scott's eyebrows furrow in confusion.

"How am I the only one who doesn't know anything about this stuff?"

"Okay, you're my best friend, you're a creature of the night, Laney's a literal witch. . . It's kind of, like, a priority of mine." Stiles explained.

Elaine shrugged her shoulders. "I ran out of things to read."

"You read an entire―︎" Stiles cut himself off, shaking his head. "I shouldn't even be surprised by this."

"Okay. If we can find it, and it can tell us what this thing is―︎"

"And who." Elaine cut in.

Scott and Stiles both sighed before saying in unison, "We need that book." The two shared weird glances with one another whilst Elaine just looked between them before standing up, shaking her head, and walking away. The boys exchanged glances before quickly getting up and following after her. Almost immediately, Scott and Allison were sending Stiles back and forth again, bringing Elaine her entertainment of the day back. After sending Stiles to ask Allison where the said book was, the boy came back wheezing, out of breath.

"She says. . .has to be. . .office. . ." Stiles breathed, leaning against the locker and clearing his throat as he tried to breathe in fresh air. Elaine chuckled in amusement, watching as Scott sent the boy off once more.

"You're going to end up killing him." Elaine smiled.

"I believe in him." Scott assured. "I gotta go. I'll see you at the game."

"Yes you will." Elaine saluted before watching her brother walk off.

━︎━︎━︎━︎━︎

"Come on, is that thing even a teenager? I wanna see a birth certificate!" Coach yelled as another of his players got knocked down. Elaine sat there besides Stiles on the bench, watching the game blankly as she waited for the plan to take place. "Who or what is that genetic experiment gone wrong?"

"Eddie Abramovitz, Coach. They call him 'The Abomination.'" Stiles told him.

"Oh, that's cute." The man commented before noticing Elaine. "McCall, why are you sitting on my bench."

"Because this bench is more comfortable than the bleachers." Elaine shrugged. He opened his mouth, ready to yell at her to get off of it but Elaine held up a finger. "Coach, we've been going at this since my brother joined lacrosse, can we just both admit that me sitting on the bleachers just isn't going to happen."

"Be glad I like you." The man muttered before turning back to the game. Elaine glanced back towards Allison who met her eyes, giving the simple nod of her head. She nudged Stiles before getting up, both of them casually walking away. When they walked past Allison, Stiles was quick to grab the keys before no one noticed, the two quickly making a run for the school. However, they stopped upon noticing Lydia sitting in her car. Elaine frowned.

"I'll just be a second." Elaine told Stiles who nodded, watching as she walked over to Lydia. Her frown deepened upon noticing the fact that the girl was crying. "Lyds? Lydia, why are you crying."

"Go away." Lydia spoke, rolling up her window. "I don't need anybody seeing me cry."

"I've seen you cry before, Lydia." Elaine softly told her, watching as she rolled the window back down. "And it looks good on you. So, trust me when I say, you should not be ashamed of people seeing you cry. You're human, you have emotions, you should be allowed to cry and not get judged for it."

"Really?" The girls broken voice whispered. Elaine offered her a small smile before nodding her head.

"Really." She glanced towards Stiles who was impatiently signaling for her to hurry up. She sighed before turning back towards Lydia. "I have to go and do something real quick. But when I'm done, I'll come over your house, and we'll talk all about it, yeah."

"Okay." Lydia whispered. Elaine smiled before placing a hand on her shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze before she quickly turned on her heels and ran after Stiles who had just entered the school building.