Monster. (Sterek)

Part 14: So... What's The Plan?

TW: Mention of needles

~~~~~

Stiles sprawled across Derek's bed. He had already told his father the news an hour or so ago, and The Pack had all decided that they would think of a plan tomorrow before leaving. Now it was just Stiles and Derek left in the loft. "Are you sure you trust me enough to let me bite you? What if the notebook is wrong and I end up hurting you?" Derek had wanted to ask earlier but there had been too many people. When it was just Stiles, though, everything was just... Easier.

Stiles sat up, eyes trailing over Derek, taking him in, "Derek, Sourwolf, Dere-bear," he smiled that small, private smile, "I trust you with everything I have and everything I am." The words sang in Derek's ears and danced around his head. Laced with something Derek didn't quite understand. "I trust that you won't hurt me." Derek sat down next to him.

"Do you?" His voice crumbled under the intensity of the moment.

Stiles reaches forward to tilt Derek's head up, "Yes."

"I trust you, too." He wished he could make it sound just as poetic as Stiles had. The words seem to have their desired effect nevertheless; Stiles' eyes lit up and he ducked his head.

Something was going through Stiles' head, Derek could see that. For a brief second, he wondered if he was second-guessing himself. Then Stiles spoke again, "I know we said we'd make a plan tomorrow but I kind of hate feeling so unprepared. Lydia hasn't even told us when the bite needs to happen! I just want to know what to do."

Derek moved closer, pulling Stiles' hands into his lap to trace the lines on his palms. "I know, Sti. I know it's hard, I know it's been hard, but we're getting close now. All we have to do is find Evalyn, wait for the new moon and then everything will be in our control. We'll be able to call the shots." Stiles' shoulders dropped, he leaned forward until his head pressed into Derek's chest. And, in that moment, Derek was so strongly reminded that Stiles was still only seventeen. Yes, his birthday was next month but he was still young; six years younger than Derek. He seemed so much older. Dealing with this much at seventeen, he didn't deserve that.

All Derek could do right now though was offer support, so he pulled Stiles onto his lap and let Stiles bury his face in the crook of his neck. They both needed this. In amongst the quiet, dry sobs that escaped Stiles' lips he heard a small, "One day." Stiles' fingers curled into the back of his shirt.

~~~~~

When Derek went to sleep, Stiles curled around him – he wouldn't need to sleep for hours to come but he'd said that he didn't want to leave Derek's side or be alone right now. So they lay there. And in the state between consciousness and sleeping, a soft pair of lips fell to Derek's brow – maybe he was already asleep.

*****

Stiles pushed the door to the loft open. He'd gone home before Derek had woken up so that he could feed. Derek kept insisting that he keep a few blood bags at the loft but Stiles prefered to eat alone whenever possible. After Stiles had explained this, Derek had respected his boundaries and backed off. That thought put a smile on his face.

Although, as soon as he walked through the door, it fell away, replaced with a frown as he looked into a set of wild eyes, "Woah, Der, where's the fire?" Derek opened his mouth to speak, registered what Stiles had said, and growled instead. As he turned away, eyes mimicking the spin of his body, Stiles laughed, "What?" But he pinched his lips together when that only resulted in Derek glaring at him.

"You were gone." There was a moment of genuine pain in Derek's voice but it disappeared quickly – he couldn't hide it in his scent, though. Stiles thought they had gotten past the hiding emotions part of their relationship.

"Yeah, I do that." He smirked, trying to get a smile out of his wolf... he blinked; Derek wasn't his anything. Shaking his head, he moved closer to Derek and hugged him from behind. "I was hungry."

"You should've left a note."

"You're cute when you're worried." Stiles chuckled, Derek just growled again, "I'm sorry, I'll leave a note next time." Derek turned in Stiles' arms and buried his head in Stiles' neck.

"I am not cute. I could kill you with my teeth alone."

"So could a Polar Bear if it tried hard enough. Doesn't mean they aren't cute." Stiles untangled himself and made his way over to the kitchen to make breakfast for The Pack. Derek followed after him, a small smile gracing his lips.

*****

"So, what's the plan?" Stiles asked, addressing The Pack as a whole.

"Well, step one would be to find Evalyn." She explained to The Pack that they'd already talked to Deaton about how they would do that. "Then we wait for the next new moon and do the ritual, I'll explain how we do that later as we have more important matters at hand. Like how to take Evalyn away from her coven." That was all rather obvious but it was good to make sure they were all on the same page. Stiles nodded and, once a few questions had been answered, spoke up again.

"Maybe we won't have to take her away from her coven. We just need a vial of her blood after all."

"What are you suggesting, Stiles?" Lydia asked.

"We distract her coven. If I remember correctly, Marco will be the hardest to get away from her. But once they're distracted we can jam a needle into her vein and take her blood." It seemed simple enough, they could fight the rest of the coven long enough for Stiles to collect the blood. But they'd need a plan to keep them distracted.

"Would that work, would a needle be strong enough to pierce her skin?" Isaac asked, leaning closer to Danny when everyone turned to look at him. "It's just, I saw Stiles slip with the knife when cutting up the strawberries for breakfast when I came in and it didn't even leave a scratch."

"That's true, it barely hurt either." Stiles sighed. "So how are we supposed to get her blood then?"

"We could try a silver-coated needle," Mason suggested.

Lydia hummed and said, "We could. Although, we might have to test it first, just in case." She pulled her hair over her shoulder and looked at Stiles.

"Oh, no. No, no, no, no. You are not sticking a needle in me." Stiles stood up and backed away, tripping on a pair of shoes that had been unceremoniously chucked there by Ethan earlier. "I don't do needles. Nope. No. Nuh-uh."

Derek caught him when he tripped again, pulling him closer to stop him from continuing his escape. "Stiles, it'll only be for a second and I'll stay right next to you the whole time." Derek's eyes stayed focused on Stiles'. Stiles wondered if it was because, as Derek had told him before, it was easier to talk when it was just him and Stiles, or if it was because he was trying to get Stiles to understand that he meant it. Either way, Stiles felt slightly calmer knowing that Derek wouldn't leave his side.

He still didn't want a needle anywhere near him though, "I- no, Der, I can't. Please."

"What do you suggest we do then?" Jackson asked, interrupting the moment. "We managed to kill some of them, we could just kill her."

"The rest of her coven are probably not her fledgelings, meaning she won't be able to be killed in the same way you killed some of the others." Lydia sighed.

"That and she's the head of the coven, so she'll be stronger," Stiles added on. He let out a long sigh; they'd have to test the needle on him if he wanted any chance of being human ever again.

"If you do keep her and her coven alive, she will go after you. Vampires do not take any threat lightly." Peter stated as he strode off the staircase and over to where Stiles and Derek stood. "I'd recommend killing them, as Jackson suggested, but that may be difficult if unprepared."

"We can't just kill them all." Liam's voice seemed unsure, wavering in the silence that had fallen after Peter had spoken.

"What would you do then, Little Wolf?" Peter tilted his head, looking over at Liam.

"I don't know, but we can't just kill them all."

"No, he's right, there were a lot of them. We'd end up losing, we might be able to distract but not kill. But Peter's also right." Stiles said. There was one thing that he knew – that his instincts told him – that they could use against her. "I think I have a plan."