Appetite for Destruction

Treading Water

"You're not the first person to come to me about this," Deaton's tone, while not hostile, was definitely not friendly either. It night have been the most neutral thing I had ever heard. "I'll tell you what I told them; this is something new, something far more dangerous than your kind."

At least that was confirmation that we weren't dealing with another rogue werewolf, but it also gave me more questions than answers. "Do you know what it is?"

"No, but I can tell you that it possesses a tremendous amount of strength and is capable of rendering someone completely powerless in a matter of seconds." He said calmly, but his words made a chill go down my spine. "It produces a venom that is capable of paralyzing its victim - it can even be fatal if administered in a large enough dose, paralyzing the diaphragm and ceasing respiratory functions."

Well... that was absolutely terrifying. I was willing to bet the person who'd come to Deaton searching for the same answers I'd come here for was one of the Argents. It was the exact same thing that had happened with Peter; we were all working towards a common goal while fighting each other.

"Well, thanks, I think?" I said, feeling worse about this whole thing than I had before entering the clinic. "I'm just... I'm gonna go and hunt down the monster of the week and try not to die. See you around."

Deaton watched on, faintly amused now instead of suspicious, as I backed up to the door, pulled it open, and practically fled the building.

-x-x-x-

When I called Derek and it went straight to voicemail I wasn't initially concerned; he was probably busy interrogating Stiles or butting heads with Scott or something, and I tried to believe that when I called a second time and got the same result.

I was reminded of the bone-deep worry I'd felt when we first came to Beacon Hills and tried to contact Laura to no avail, the feeling of dread sitting heavy in my stomach.

I spent a good ten minutes circling the school trying to pick up his scent, trying his phone once more for good measure and only making my nerves worse when it went to go to voicemail again. His scent was faint but I followed it anyway - into the school, through the halls, and eventually to the pool where the chlorine was too strong for me to pick up anything else.

When I threw open the door to the pool I stopped in surprise; Stiles was in the middle of the pool, treading water and holding his phone to his ear while Erica lay on the ground apparently very unconscious. Stiles threw his phone away from him in frustration and that's when he noticed me. His eyes widened.

"Get in the pool!" He yelled frantically, and I stared at him as I tried to work out why Erica was lying on the floor and Stiles was fully clothed in the middle of a pool.

It started making sense when I heard an unusual sound; it sounded like a strangled hissing with an undertone of something else that had the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. I turned towards the origin of the noise and regretted it immediately.

It was human shaped, mostly, with dark green scales covering its body and a long, smooth tale curving around it. Its claws were pale and sharp, and when it opened its mouth to hiss at me I could see that its teeth were long, thin, and double-rowed like a shark.

I backed away when the monster advanced. Where the hell was Derek? His scent was here, underneath the chlorine what burned down my throat with each inhale, so where was he?

"Jesus, Ginger! Just get in the pool!" Stiles shouted as I continued to back away, trying to keep the creature on the opposite side of the pool, but it was gaining on me. What good would a water do to prevent this thing from eating me? Couldn't lizards swim? Lizards seemed like they would do well in water, didn't they?