Teen Vamp

Chapter 12 - Stand Up If You're Ready For A Fight

***DEREK***

What the hell is Stiles doing? I mean, I know he's a clumsy fool, but to the level I'm seeing here? For a first-time weresomething - his smell is just a little off to me, not quite lupine, maybe not even in the canine family - he's not fighting very well at all. Even Scott was better at this when he first started out, and Scott was hamstrung by some pretty serious health issues when he was still human, as far as I remember. Stiles, though, he's just a clumsy fool. A clumsy-ass fool, to be true, and not to sound too much like Mr. T or somebody.

But his newfound powers are helping him more than I ever would've expected, frankly. Or is that grief powering him as well? I wouldn't blame him. I'm a little extra pissed off myself. Nobody kills one of my people and gets away with it, and when they have the audacity to do it in front of me? That's the end of Deucalion as far as I'm concerned.

I'd let Stiles keep on fighting all on his own, but there's no way he'd last long. He's a teenager, what do you expect? I was his age once too, and I'm still at that level of maturity in a lot of ways. I get my hotheaded moments, I admit. But he's going to need a steadier hand to take down Deucalion, and I volunteer mine.

Just as soon as I'm busy dealing with Renard once and for all, that is. Which should only last as long as it takes for me to push him aside. Push him aside, and get him exposed to so much sunset through the holes in the outer walls that he can't possibly cover up in time.

Yes, I actually do that, and the sulfurous smell of him catching fire soon overwhelms the nostrils of everyone present. Regardless of species.

Skylar and Hunter look at me with a flash of horror for a second, but it's not long before they each give me a nod. They accept that it had to be done. Especially Hunter, the whole reason why Renard had come to Beacon Hills in the first place. Poor guy deserves so much better than a bad dad like that.

Okay. Renard's gone. Now for Deucalion.

But no, he's too wily to get caught today. He wriggles out of Stiles' grasp and, before any of us can grab him up, he takes his cane and takes off running. Blind or not, he's very good at navigating his way through the woods.

Stiles stares after him in sheer despair, and - though it's more than a bit out of character for me - I embrace him. He buries his face in my chest, sobbing. I'm crying too, because while Stiles can't bear to look at Scott's corpse, I'm seeing him right before my eyes. Absolutely no signs of life whatsoever. Even the heat that's lingering from when he was still alive is fading away, bringing him down from red to gray in my infrared vision.

For all that talk I heard from Deucalion about Scott being the supposed "true Alpha..."

...where's that strength now?