raving
"You agreed to a date with Matt Daehler?"
"No." Kinsey shook her head strongly. "I accidentally agreed to a date with Matt Daehler."
Stiles and the brunette girl sat back in the Jeep, her feet up on the dashboard as she looked at the boy in the passenger seat, the two laughing away, parked up in the drive-thru of the local burger place. Sheriff Stilinski had invited Kinsey round for dinner, telling his son that he wanted to get to know the girl better, simply because he had presumed the two of them were dating since they'd got awfully close lately. What else was he supposed to think? Though Stiles hadn't been aware of his father's little presumption, he told Kinsey, and she agreed to attend. Originally, the dinner was supposed to be held at the Stilinski house with actually cooked food but after the Sheriff had been called into the station for an unexpected shift plans had changed. The Sheriff refused to cancel, it was the first time Stiles had agreed to ask her after weeks of pestering him, after all of that effort he refused to cancel at the risk of never getting him to agree again. Instead, he'd arranged for his son and Kinsey to come to his office instead and to bring burgers, a lot less formal than he had anticipated, but as long as he was still able to sit and talk with the two of them he was willing to alter his plans slightly.
While they had been waiting in the drive-thru Kinsey had decided it was a good time to tell him about the accidental date she agreed to go on with Matt Daehler considering it was tomorrow night, she had managed to ignore it up until now, subsiding the thought in her mind. It was her beloved cousin who pressured her into telling Stiles, claiming that it was only fair since she had been using him as her pretend boyfriend around her aunt and uncle. That, she couldn't disagree with, it was only fair that she told him. Besides, it was his fault that Matt thought she was into him in the first place, it all went back to that stupid bet the two of them had made before formal.
"So how does one accidentally agree to a date?"
"Stiles, if I knew that don't you think I wouldn't have done it?" Kinsey deadpanned. "I was trying to be a good backup for Allison so I just kept agreeing to everything he said and by the time I realized it was too late, he'd left and I'd agreed to a date."
"Was he the one leaving the creepy notes and poems in your locker?" The boy asked.
"How did you know about those?" Kinsey's face dropped as she turned to him. She hadn't told anyone about those notes apart from Isaac when she accused him, not even Allison knew about the notes that had been left inside of her locker. Partially, because she had forgotten about them, but also because she hadn't known who sent them so she didn't think it was necessary to bring it up. Despite all that he had somehow managed to find out about them.
"I have the combination to your locker, remember? You gave me it so I could get back the math book I gave you." Stiles began to explain, she could barely remember doing that after all of the things that had been going on, but she knew she had done it. She knew she'd had that book and told him to get it from her locker whenever he wanted to so that neither of them had to carry it around the school. "When I went and got it I saw the pile of notes. So... Was it him?"
"No." Kinsey shook her head. "I don't think so, anyway. Wouldn't he have told me when he asked me on this stupid date that he was the one who'd been putting them there?"
Stiles still suggested that it could have been Matt. Maybe it was his hatred for the boy that was talking, or maybe it was the fact he'd claimed him as his latest suspect for controlling Jackson. He didn't quite have a reason for why he thought that other than believing that something about him looked evil, but it still felt worth mentioning to Kinsey that he could be the creepy person who kept leaving her notes. His hatred and suspicion were something he chose not to mention. He justified his point by explaining that while she'd been trying to listen out for Allison ready to help her with Jackson the boy could have owned up to sending the notes, but because she hadn't wasn't paying attention she hadn't heard it. To Kinsey, it seemed like a fair point, at least she couldn't think of an argument, she said herself that she hadn't been listening to him.
Maybe she could have created an argument against it if she knew that Stiles had said it simply because of his strong hatred towards Matt, which had only grown since finding out he had a date with Kinsey, but that was a detail he chose to keep between himself and Scott. Just in case she tried to attack Matt like she had Jackson. Frankly, he was quite terrified of her after seeing how angry she could get. He knew to stay on her good side, or at least try to.
When the two walked into the Sheriff Department Kinsey held most of the food in her arms, particularly, the salad that Stiles had gotten for his dad. She warned him that it wouldn't go down well, he had specifically asked for a greasy burger after a rough day at work, or more so a rough few months at work. And Stiles had gotten him a veggie burger and a salad. Despite her warning, Stiles insisted that his father wasn't allowed his greasy burgers, he could only have healthy foods that would keep him healthy and alive for as long as possible. After finding out that was the reason behind the diet Stiles was putting his father on unwillingly she couldn't argue anymore, he wasn't being selfish, in fact, he couldn't have been being more selfless.
Stiles knocked softly on the door, there was no going back now. He'd have to deal with the torture of his father sharing embarrassing stories about him as a child, or even from recently. At least in his office, he didn't have a baby book to hand, maybe this dinner being held in his office wouldn't be as bad as he had originally thought it would be. When they'd heard the man shout a mumbled come in Stiles opened the door, as soon as Sheriff Stilinski had seen who was in his doorway he quickly rushed to shove something in his desk draw, quickly chewing whatever was in his mouth. Kinsey assumed that it was chocolate or something else that didn't abide by the new diet that Stiles had put in place in the Stilinski house by the way he'd acted.
Once he'd disposed of the evidence he jumped up to greet the girl, pushing past his son to reach Kinsey, even shoving Stiles playfully in the process until he'd landed on the sofa facing his desk. The girl barely muttered a hello before she was wrapped in a tight hug, her words muffled by the man's arms as he beamed about her being here.
"I've been asking Stiles for weeks. I thought I was never going to properly meet you."
"Weeks, huh?" Kinsey asked with a confused smile. Together, both of them turned to look at the boy who'd already begun digging into his curly fries, a guilty look across his face. "You told me that your dad only asked yesterday."
"Miscommunication?"
After sharing enough embarrassing stories about Stiles that the boy's blush had turned into a completely bright red face his father and Kinsey finally stopped sharing all of their funny moments with Stiles, of course, Kinsey couldn't include any that were supernatural related. Or she'd at least have to change some of the details so that it didn't involve them. Kinsey and Stiles watched wearily as the Sheriff picked up his burger, ready for him to realize it wasn't the beautiful greasy burger that he had been waiting hours for, instead, it would be some disgusting creation that the girl believed should be illegal for anyone who wasn't a vegetarian.
The Sheriff almost gagged as he took a bite of the burger. "Oh, what the hell is this?"
"Veggie burger." Stiles deadpanned.
"Stiles, I asked for a hamburger."
"I told him that," Kinsey added, squaring her eyes at the boy.
"Well, veggie is healthier. We're being healthy." Stiles insisted as he held up his and Kinsey's salads, he'd forced her into this diet too, at least for just one night. Little did he know that the girl had text Allison to save her some pizza for when she got home, she needed grease in her life.
"You had fries." Sheriff Stilinski complained.
"But I got a diet coke."
With a sigh the man turned from his burger to one of the other boxes hoping that his sons logic worked for him too, he at least had to have curly fries, if he was dealing with diet coke and a veggie burger he at least had to have his beloved curly fries. Unfortunately, his son's logic didn't in fact apply to him, he'd opened the box to a selection of vegetables that caused him to release a pained groan. "Oh, hell, why are you trying to ruin my life?"
"I'm trying to extend your life, okay? Could you just eat it, please? And tell me what you found." Stiles pleaded while trying to sneak in the last little bit of his sentence, he hoped his dad would be concentrating too much on the first two parts that he'd answer the first without a second thought, maybe then the two would be blessed with some information about the Kanima case.
"No, I'm not sharing confidential police work with two teenagers. No offense, Kinsey."
"Is that it on the board behind you?" Kinsey asked.
Both her and Stiles raised slightly out of their seats to look behind the man, their eyes darting across the board as they connected all of the pieces of string together, analyzing all of the images of the crime scene and the victims who had been killed. The man warned them to not look at it, but the two simply lowered back into their seats, still looking around him to try and get some more information from the board as he continued telling them to stop looking. He was beginning to understand what his son saw in Kinsey, she was just like him in ways, trouble like him, always wanting to know something she shouldn't like him.
"Okay, okay, stop. Fine." The man sighed, immediately the two averted their eyes, looking straight at him with their eyes wide, glazed over as they waited for him to spill some secrets. "I found something. Mechanic and the couple who were murdered. They all had something in common." He began to explain, leaving them on the edge of their seats.
"All three?" Stiles asked.
"Yeah. You know what I always say. One's an incident. Two's coincidence."
"Threes a pattern."
"The mechanic, the husband, and the wife. All the same age. All 24."
"Wait a minute, what about Mr. Lahey? Isaac's dad isn't anywhere near 24?"
"Which made me think that either A, Lahey's murder wasn't connected, or B, the ages were a coincidence until I found this, which would be C."
"Did you know that Isaac Lahey had an older brother-"
"Camden." Kinsey finished before Sheriff Stilinski was able to.
During the time she'd been stuck in a jail cell with Isaac the little conversation the two had shared, his brother was mentioned, how he'd died was mentioned. As well as the other day in the hall when he'd tried making conversation with the girl in hopes to follow his orders from Derek, he thought mentioning his brother would help her to see him as a human again, like when they had first met, not now when all she was him as was one of Derek's betas. Though Kinsey had remained in silence most of the time, she had still listened as he talked about his older brother, how the two of them had never been too close, but he missed having a big brother. He talked about how he wished that if his brother were still alive they'd have the same relationship that Kinsey has with Allison, he envied a relationship that close to his family.
Sheriff Stilinski nodded, continuing to explain his evidence. If Camden were alive today, if he hadn't died in combat like the file in Stiles's hand said, he'd be 24 too. The man had quickly turned from refusing to give the two of them information to all three of them standing, looking at the board in front of them with folded arms wondering whether it was better for three pairs of eyes to be looking at the evidence rather than just his like he had been doing so far.
For a few moments the three of them were quiet as they all tried to tie the evidence together and create their theories as to the reasoning behind killing people all of the same age, or what was so significant about the age 24, because although they hadn't reached it yet, neither Stiles or Kinsey could see what would be so thrilling or evil about the age. It was just a number.
"Now, what if same age means same class? Did you think of that?" Stiles asked, breaking the silence they'd established with the first theory that any of them had come up with.
"Yeah." Sheriff Stilinski answered quickly. "Well..." He continued turning the head of the girl and his son wondering what required his hesitation, he'd seemed pretty adamant that he had looked into that theory already. "I would've. I mean, look, I just got Lahey's file two hours ago."
"Two hours?" Kinsey and Stiles said simultaneously. "Dad, people could be dying," Stiles added.
"Yeah, I'm aware of that. Thank you."
The three turned back to the board, analyzing the images again. Horrific ones at that, the crime scene investigators hadn't held back while taking all of the pictures, some of them were pretty close up, very gory. Very bloody. Now Kinsey was glad she hadn't had a burger and ketchup, because there wasn't much difference between that and what she was looking at pinned on the board in front of her. Death really could look horrific.
As Kinsey stared at the board she muttered the words "same class" to herself again, scratching her head in thought. The two Stilinski's both turned their head towards, the same thought appearing in all of their minds simultaneously, one big ass lightbulb lighting up above their head as they looked at one another. Before they knew it the three were scouring the entire office for anything with 2006 on it, Kinsey and Stiles dug through the box of evidence that had been dropped off to the Sheriff a few hours ago which had included Lahey's file while the Sheriff himself rushed out of his office collecting everything he could from his staff, anything to do with the murders, 24-year-olds or 2006. Soon, the entire office was plastered with files and yearbooks with each of them taking up a corner of the room as they scoured through all of them, slowly working to the pile that had been created on the desk.
"They all went to Beacon Hills." Kinsey deadpanned as she held a file in her hand, showing it to Stiles who peered over her shoulder as he stood beside her with a file of his own.
"Including Isaac's brother." Sheriff Stilinski added.
"All right, but so what if they all knew each other, you know. I mean, two of them were married so maybe all of them just hung out." Stiles suggested.
"Well, they could have had the same classes together. They could've..." The man paused as he turned the page in his file, both teenagers asking what he'd found. "Same teacher."
He handed the two the file with the picture of the teacher in the corner, a face they'd gotten pretty sick off lately, especially after their detention yesterday. Harris. All four of the people who were dead as well as Isaac's brother were in his class, they weren't sure how Mr. Lahey fit into the puzzle piece yet other than being Camden's father but this was definitely some kind of pattern for them to follow. After that, the man asked for the 2006 yearbook that they had found, Kinsey laying it flat out on the desk in front of them, Sheriff Stilinski gave them the list of names instructing the two teenagers to find names for the people in that chemistry class while he picked up the phone quickly dialing the phone number as he continued talking to them. If the killer wasn't finished killing it meant one of those names would be next, they needed that name as quick as possible, maybe then they'd be able to stop it before it was too late.
-☽○☾-
Kinsey hadn't been able to finish searching for answers with the two Stilinski's, her search had been interrupted by a phone call of her own. Well, multiple. The first ten had been from her uncle who frankly, she didn't feel like talking to, she'd barely spoken to him since the night that she'd had a restraining order filed against her. Since he said that. The next phone call had been from Allison which she missed after having a quick toilet break as an interval for all of the yearbook searching, when she'd returned she'd had another five phone calls from her uncle. Now she was beginning to grow concerned that something had happened if both her uncle and Allison had phoned her consistently. Just as she was about to call her uncle back her phone began ringing again, Allison. Kinsey quickly exited Sheriff Stilinski's office as she mumbled an apology to them to excuse herself, but her panic hadn't been necessary. It was her uncle on the other side of the phone despite it being Allison who she had answered, he was outside waiting for her in regards to "secret business". Which was the term he used for anything hunter-related. Most commonly used when she was with Stiles, even though he was aware of the supernatural Chris liked their hunter business to be as private as possible and his nieces "boyfriend" still applied to that.
The brunette had popped her head back into the office for a moment to tell the two that she had to leave, that her uncle had called her home because of a family emergency. Stiles had given the girl a weary look, ready to walk her out until she insisted that she was fine, that she would call him later on so the two could return back to their investigating.
When she reached her uncle's SUV Allison was sitting in the passenger seat anxiously waiting, she too had been dragged away with little to no information of where they were going. He had told her they were getting Kinsey, that was almost as much as she knew. From now, she didn't know what the three of them were going to be doing, but at least he had had the decency to call and tell them rather than kidnapping them from a gas station again. That hadn't been a fun experience for two teenage girls.
Eventually, the three pulled up into the hospital parking lot. Of course, both Kinsey and Allison asked what they were doing here, but the man remained vague, telling them that they would know in a few minutes if they just waited. The girls followed behind him as he spoke to one of the EMTs quietly on the side of the corridor, making sure that nobody heard their conversation, not even the two girls he had arrived with. After a small chat the EMT had begun guiding the three Argent's to a private room, opening the door for them, he and Chris shared a small nod before he left them alone in the room where two bodies lay, covered in a white cloth so the two girls were unable to see their faces. Or injuries.
"This one." Chris deadpanned as he reached the furthest body, reading the tag attached to his dead body. "Sean. Sean was killed by this thing Gerard says is a kind of shapeshifter. It hasn't been around for centuries." He explained.
"The thing you shot outside the club the other night." Allison assumed.
"South American legend we know of calls it the Kanima." He added, but, of course, both of the girls already knew that they just hadn't told Chris or any other of the hunters they were related to that they were already aware of that information, as well as the fact it was Jackson behind the face of the Kanima. Instead, they nodded slightly at him, pretending it was new information to them. "This one. Jessica. She was smothered to death after giving birth. The police think that it was done by someone else. We think it's a person who's controlling this other shapeshifter. That means two killers, girls. One human, one not."
Both girls continued their silence, still nodding. They didn't want to risk talking in case something they knew slipped out, it was a risk they couldn't take right now.
"You know, the question I had after Gerard first told me about our family, "why us?" He quoted me Winston Churchill. The price of greatness is responsibility. Personally, I think it's more about knowledge." He continued, walking around the bodies to get closer to his niece and daughter who stood frozen, slightly turned away from the two rotting bodies he had brought them to see. "But we know the truth. We know about the world. That makes us responsible. For a young couple, their newborn daughter. Anyone that doesn't have the power to defend themselves. Are you starting to get it?"
"I get that this isn't a lecture," Kinsey spoke, for the first time. "It's an interrogation."
"That depends on what you know." Chris deadpanned. "Gerard showed me the library. Cameras didn't catch everything, but did you both think that a small little high school fight can explain that amount of damage?" He added, particularly looking at his niece. Clearly, the word that she had been involved in the fight had spread further than just the school but even her home. That was the problem with both her aunt and grandfather working there, nothing ever stayed at school, it always came home, always cooked into a lecture from at least one of them. "We know your both trying to protect your friends, but people are dying. A child was orphaned. What you know makes you responsible." He whipped the cloth off of the body of Jessica, revealing it to the two girls who squirmed, quickly taking their eyes away from the gruesome sight. "It makes you responsible for this."
With sickness in their stomach and the man's word in their mind, the two girls looked at one another using their skill of telepathy to decide whether they'd be telling the man anything tonight. Despite both of their worries both seemed to understand the need to tell him now, it was a risk, they knew that, but as he had said, people were dying. Maybe he had pulled on their heartstrings by mentioning an orphan, which Kinsey could pretty much consider herself as since her mother's death, who knew whether her father was alive, if she knew her mother, probably not. She probably had a psychotic break and killed him as she had done with the Hale family. With a shaky breath, Allison turned to her father asking him what he wanted to know from them, already regretting it as soon as it left her mouth.
"Anything you know. Anything that can lead us to answering the one question that might mean everything." Chris asked, his voice almost a bellow. "𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐊𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚?"
The following morning Scott and Stiles pulled into the parking lot discussing the same thing they had been discussing since he picked the wolf up half an hour ago, how on Earth they were going to get tickets for the secret rave that was happening tonight. One that it seemed the Kanima was next going to strike at after Scott had witnessed Jackson buying a ticket last night. So far, it seemed that Kinsey was going to be the only one able to fight against the Kanima since she was the only one with access thanks to her unwanted date with Matt, which she was dreading more than anything she had ever known. But late last night she'd had an idea while Allison slept soundly beside her, it was an idea that Allison would kill her for, but it would help both of them.
Kinsey could cancel the date with Matt, helping her out of it by simply not having to go, but instead of her going, Allison could go. That would help her after the camera footage from the library, her going on a date with someone else would help convince her parents that her being with Scott in the library was simply a coincidence, not because the two were still in a secret relationship with one another. Frankly, Kinsey couldn't see a fault in her idea, her only problem was getting Allison to agree to it, but she was sure the Scott point would help win her over. At least that was what she was hoping for.
As the two boys climbed out of the Jeep they were approached by Matt Daehler who none of them had spoken to since the incident in the library, not even his date to tonight's rave. Frankly, they'd been hoping to avoid him asking what had happened to him after Allison had refused to explain to him, and refused to sit with him for the six hours he spent in the ER. He gave her the courtesy of texting her that detail after thanking her for her help.
"Either of you guys know why no one's getting suspended after what happened the other day at school?" Matt asked as he looked between the two boys.
"Just forget about it. Nobody got hurt." Stiles shrugged.
"I had a concussion."
"Well, nobody got seriously hurt."
"I was in the ER for six hours."
"Hey, do you want to know the truth, Matt?" Stiles asked with growing frustration, not only was this kid annoying but he had a date with a girl who was supposed to be his fake girlfriend, a girl who was his crush, and the point still stood, he didn't like Matt. "Your little bump on the head is about this high on our list of problems right now." The boy spat out as he held his hand out, almost touching the floor beside his feet reiterating just how low Matt really was on their list of problems. And it was a severely long list.
Like, seriously wrong.
In no particular order. The Argent's. Matt. Kanima. Jackson. Murders. Kinsey and Matt. Some weirdo leaving notes in Kinsey's locker. Derek. Derek's betas. Derek. Gerard. Scott and Allison's secret relationship. Derek. Cameras all around the school. Tickets. Matt.
With a sigh Scott stepped forward to ask if Matt was okay, he wasn't particularly interested but he knew there were better ways to approach it than the route that his best friend had taken. Matt agreed that he was fine before changing the topic of conversation to the tickets for the rave tonight, he bragged about managing to find two tickets online, which didn't please Stiles, now Kinsey would definitely be going on a date with him. Matt encouraged the two boys to keep trying to look for tickets before walking off with a smug smirk across his face as Stiles narrowed his eyes at him. It was safe to stay Stiles's hatred was mutual.
Kinsey walked down the halls of the school daydreaming, at least that was how it looked to everyone who passed her or almost walked into her. In reality, she was strategizing about tonight. She had less than 12 hours to get out of the date she'd accidentally agreed to with Matt, which meant she had less than 12 hours to convince Allison to take her place. The girl had even had Stiles listening to her elaborate plan on how to convince Allison, she felt as though she had some good points. Allison taking her place just made sense. It would make Victoria and Chris believe that she had really moved on from Scott, enough to go on a date with someone else. Kinsey wouldn't have to act like things with her and Stiles had turned sour and that was why she was going on this date, she knew they'd ask questions about her fake relationship with Stiles if she told them she was going on a date. And it just wouldn't make sense, she was with the boy just last night. Those were her two biggest reasons so far as to why Allison should be on this date instead of her. The rest were still valid, but she felt as though those two points would be the things that convinced Allison when she finally got the girl alone.
The only negative to not going on this date with Matt was getting herself a ticket to the rave, Stiles had already told her in class this morning that he and Scott were struggling, she was the only one to have access to the rave at the moment, and by ditching her date she would lose that access. With all of the hype around tonight's rave she doubted she'd be able to charm her way into it as she had with the gay club she followed Danny into, somehow she needed to get a ticket that didn't come from a date with Matt Daehler, she just didn't know how she would do it.
On the off chance that Kinsey had looked up and looked into one of the classrooms, she walked past the saw Allison, stood in the middle of one, the rest of the room empty. She knew that she and Scott used to meet in empty classrooms before all of the cameras were installed but Scott was nowhere to be seen, not in the hallway surrounding the classroom or in the room itself. Curious, Kinsey walked into the classroom with a furrowed brow as she looked at Allison who had been startled when she saw the door open, clearly not expecting her cousin.
"Any reason why you're just standing here?" Kinsey asked with humor in her tone.
"I'm waiting for Scott." Allison sighed. "Actually, I'm glad your here. I need a favor."
"Funny you say that. I need one from you too."
Neither girl was sure what the other needed as a favor but both of them needing one at the same time seemed to work out well for them both. Whenever the two had both needed a favor at the same time the two had always agreed to say it on the count of three, it was a habit they'd made when they were much younger, and one that had stuck with them. A lot like all of their other habits that had been made during their childhood like the weekly sleepovers in the other's bed.
Kinsey and Allison counted down from three.
1. 2. 3.
"I need you to go on the date with Matt."
"I need your date with Matt."
Kinsey stopped for a moment, her jaw slacked. She felt as though this was a pinch-me moment, there was no way that Allison had just told her that she needed the date with Matt. There was no way that she was willing to go on the date with him tonight, and if she was, she needed to be pinched just as much as she did. Allison had a guilty look across her face, it was clear that she didn't actually want the date, but she needed it. She too had been thinking about the kind of things that Kinsey had. How she could cover up her secret relationship with Scott better than she had been so far, how it didn't make sense for Kinsey to go on this date with Matt when she'd made out to Chris and Victoria that the two of them were happy. And when the two adults had seen it for themselves. Like Kinsey had thought about, Stiles and Kinsey were together last night, it wouldn't make sense for her to now be going on a date with someone else.
"Are you serious?" Kinsey asked, to which Allison nodded, she was serious, but she wasn't sure that she actually wanted to go through with it. She felt as though she was betraying Scott. She'd hoped to talk to him first about asking Kinsey for her date, but things hadn't panned out that way. Instead, she'd be telling him rather than asking him. "Wait, why?"
"I'm worried that my mom's beginning to suspect something. I need to get her off my back and what better way to do that than have her see me with someone else? I just need to try and convince Scott that it's a good idea." Allison sighed as she stressfully ran her hands through her hair. "It is a good idea, right? I'm not going out of my mind because of this whole Kanima thing?"
"It is." Kinsey nodded in agreement. "And I'm not just saying that because I don't wanna go on this date with Matt. And I think Scott will be fine with it too, you both trust each other, right? So what can go wrong?"
"How are you going to get a ticket if I take Matt's?"
"I don't know yet." The younger girl shrugged. "Don't worry, I'll figure it out."
Both girls stood for a moment thinking about how exactly she would manage to get a ticket without using Matt, and it was a lot harder than they thought. The only suggestion Allison had managed to come up with was for Kinsey to charm her way into the club like she had before, but both agreed that it may not work as well tonight, not when it seemed to be such a big deal.
The sound of the classroom door opening again caught the attention of the two girls who quickly turned to look at it, hoping it wasn't a teacher prepared to give them detention for not going to the class they were supposed to be in. Thankfully, it was Scott. He seemed confused when he walked into the room to see both Argent's rather than just his girlfriend, he'd expected that this private meeting meant it would be just the two of them. Kinsey took his entrance as her cue to leave as she grabbed the bag she'd put on the table giving the two a parting smile before she made her swift, sneaky exit out of the classroom.
When Kinsey had walked out of the classroom the halls were almost empty apart from the typical late people who took a long stroll to every one of their classes, everyone else was already in their classes like normal, civilized teenagers, which was more than she could call herself and the couple she'd just left in the classroom. Before she could head to her own English class she knew she had to grab her books, which she had planned on doing before having her small chat with Allison, but she knew that Stiles would cover for her lateness if he reached the class before her like he normally did. And since Scott wasn't there either, he'd be doing the same for the wolf too. As soon as Kinsey turned the corner that lead to her locker she jumped out of her skin at the sight of a tall wolf leaning against the wall, seemingly waiting for her as he stood with folded arms, a smile growing across his face after seeing how he'd startled the girl. She didn't know how long he'd been standing waiting for her to go to her locker, or if he'd been eavesdropping on her conversation with Allison to know that she wasn't in class yet, but maybe it was a question she would ask when her heart started beating again. For now, she'd do what she usually tried to do- ignore him. The girl mumbled a string of profanities as she continued walking to her locker, knowing that the tall brunette wolf was following her, waiting to start a conversation, or waiting for her to snap at him like she tended to do when he appeared out of nowhere.
The two had managed to reach Kinsey's locker without a word being spoken between them, still, she could feel Isaac's smirk in the back of her head as he followed behind her with his hands in his pockets waiting for her to crack. She always cracked. Isaac leaned against the closed locker beside hers as Kinsey swapped the books from this morning's classes with the ones she'd need for the last part of the day. In the process of pushing books in and pulling more out a note fell from her locker, dropping at her feet. Kinsey rushed to reach down and grab the note before the wolf but he had managed to reach it first. The girl already knew what kind of things she could expect to see on the note, the same things that had been written on the notes for weeks now, a new note every time she opened her locker without fail. Still, she tried to snatch the folded-up piece of paper from Isaac's hand hoping he wouldn't read it too, it was bad enough that Stiles had seen the thing that people had been leaving her let alone Isaac seeing it too. With the height and strength difference between Kinsey and Isaac, it wasn't much of a surprise that the girl's attempts to retrieve the note from his hands had failed.
No matter how many times she tried to jump up and reach it as he held it above her head or if she tried to trick him before making a quick movement, all of her attempts failed. Before she knew it she was watching Isaac unfold the note as his blue eyes scanned across it.
"Well, at least you know who's been leaving all of the creepy notes now." Isaac sniggered as he turned the note around to show it to her. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲. 𝐒𝐞𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐮𝐥. While Isaac kept his smug grin Kinsey's face had dropped, her stomach had turned. Matt had been the one to leave her all of the strange notes, Stiles had been right. Now she was glad that she didn't have to go on the date tonight, but Allison did. At least he hadn't been leaving notes in her locker, maybe the two of them would more so be "hanging out" rather than him trying to make a move like he was bound to do if Kinsey had gone. "You sure you still wanna go on that date?"
Kinsey shut her locker, shuddering at the thought of a date with Matt.
"Actually, Allison's taking my place." She deadpanned, taking the note from his hand and scrunching it up into a small ball, never to be seen again as she threw it in the nearest trashcan.
"So you need a ticket for tonight?" Isaac assumed as he began walking beside the girl again as she headed to the class she was already ten minutes late for.
"Obviously." The brunette rolled her eyes.
Isaac walked in front of the girl, stopping her as he placed a hand on the wall, blocking her from stepping any further, making her even later to her class. At this rate, she may as well have just skipped the entire class and done something much more worthwhile with her time, like finding a way to get into this rave tonight. Or how to cleanse herself of the thought of all of the notes that Matt had left for her. Kinsey complained as she told the boy to move, but with every step she took to try and get around him Isaac stepped in front of her, still blocking her from moving away from him. With an exasperated sigh, the brunette gave up, standing still in front of him as she asked him what he wanted, though it came out as less of a question and more of a snarl.
The wolf reached into his back pocket pulling out two tickets, waving them in front of the girl's face. Always such a tease. Kinsey folded her arms as she looked up at the wolf, she knew that to get those tickets he wanted something from her, he never did something just to be nice to someone, he was one of Derek's betas, after all, he'd learned from one of the best.
"What do you want Isaac?" Kinsey asked with a sigh.
"What makes you think I want something?" The wolf asked, trying to act offended but Kinsey simply stared at him with a tilt of the head, waiting for him to cave in and tell her what her conditions were to get one of those tickets out of his hands. "Well, since you aren't going on the date with Matt tonight, you can go with me." He said confidently, her stomach fluttering.
"A date... With you?" Kinsey reiterated he couldn't be serious. But he was.
"You want me to go on a date with you?" Kinsey reiterated, in complete disbelief that he was being serious. But he was. "Are you forgetting that just a few weeks ago you threw me across Scott's kitchen? And that you literally helped kidnap me? Or that-"
"Do you want the ticket or not?" Isaac asked with a raised brow, holding one of the tickets out to her. She stared at it for a moment, it was her easiest option of getting a ticket. Maybe even her only option. And maybe a date with Isaac wouldn't be that bad. She'd just have to act like she was going with Stiles to her aunt and uncle, at least she could count on Isaac not picking her up from the house. He wouldn't dare step in the perimeter of her house, Matt would have. After her moment of consideration, Kinsey sighed, taking the ticket from his hand as she agreed to go on the date with him. If Stiles wasn't pleased about Matt he really wasn't going to be pleased about Isaac, if not angrier than before. "See you there, Argent."
-☽○☾-
By the time the school day ended the entire pack had managed to score tickets to the rave tonight in one way or another, some with more force than others. Some much more subject to torture. But both of those were facts none of them chose to concentrate on too much. Kinsey wasn't the only one who'd gotten her hands on tickets thanks to Isaac, he'd helped Scott and Stiles too, maybe it was by beating up a kid called Jeremy up in the locker room to do it, but they tried to focus on the tickets, not on the bruise that Jeremy was bound to wake up with in the morning.
In the hours leading up to their dates, Allison and Kinsey began getting ready for their dates, though neither were exactly thrilled to be attending with Isaac and Matt tonight, they still tried to make somewhat of an effort. Keeping up the facade that they'd created, mostly for the sake of Chris and Victoria, hoping that tonight would be the first step in getting the two of them off of their backs. Even if it was just for a few hours, they needed the space to breathe without worrying who was watching them. Allison hadn't spent near as much time in getting ready as she had in past dates, specifically her first date with Scott where she had forced Kinsey to sit for hours as she paced around the room in search of an outfit to impress him. There was none of that with Matt. She felt nervous, but none related to him, he seemed to be the easiest part of their night.
Allison had paired a yellow cardigan with some denim dungarees and a pair of brown combat boots while her hair was pulled up into a bun, she wasn't quite sure how to dress to a rave, she barely knew what one was. She hated parties, let alone whatever tonight would look like. Kinsey had paired a set of ripped black denim shorts with a white tank top and her white converse, a black and white flannel hanging off her arms. She refused to let Isaac think she'd made an effort for tonight, exaggerating that point by keeping her hair its natural straight self. Any incline that she was excited for this date tonight and she'd never hear the end of it, he'd spend the rest of his supernatural life bothering her about it. Plus, the two had convinced themselves that it wasn't worth wearing anything too nice, not when they were undoubtedly going to end up fighting a Kanima tonight.
It had been while the two girls were just finishing up in getting themselves ready that Chris had knocked on the door, thought Kinsey's bedroom door was open, he waited there until she gave him permission to come in. He didn't want to overstep any more boundaries after the last one he'd stepped over, she'd barely spoken a sentence to him since that. She didn't even speak to let him in, instead, the girl nodded at Allison, allowing him to tell her father to come instead. Maybe she wasn't as mad as she had been once before at her uncle, but she wasn't going to let what he said go so easily, she wanted him to realize just how much he had hurt her by comparing her to her mother. When it seemed as though he finally got that, maybe then she'd consider a physical conversation.
Chris took the two girls down to the basement, which until now had been off-limits to both of them and they could see why. A group of hunters stood arming themselves, one of the walls filled with weapons like the garage wall, but this one had much stronger weapons. Probably because of the access Kinsey and Allison had to the garage. Their grandfather was one of the many hunters who stood in their basement, all of them looked ready for a fight. Allison took a seat on the staircase dreading what they'd been called down here for while Kinsey stood at the bottom of them, leaning against the wall with folded arms and a scowl.
"All right," Chris spoke loudly, catching the attention of his hunters. "The party's in a warehouse just inside the industrial sector. The girls learned that Jackson Whittemore will be there seeking his next target out of the crowd. Since we still have little clue as to just how strong he is, we need to be extremely cautious. When the girls have Jackson's location and have determined him to be at an optimal point where we can take him down, they'll signal me." He continued as he began to gear himself up, he looked to the two girls ready to make sure they understood what that meant. "Optimal meaning as far away from the crowd as possible. There will be no collateral damage tonight."
Once he'd finished his announcement he looked at the two girls nodding at them to go ahead and leave for their dates, both girls nodded before silently leaving the room. When and only when it was clear the girls had left by the shutting of the basement door did Gerard speak to his son, clearing up a few things that seemed to be a misunderstanding for his two granddaughters.
"As willing as a participant, they seem, your young protégés there also appear to be under the impression that we are planning a trap."
"They don't need to know any more than that."
"For the rest of us then, let us be perfectly clear," Gerard announced, picking up a knife from the table in the middle of the room, extending it until the sharp silver blade was standing tall. "You don't trap a creature this dangerous. You kill it."
After a small temporary parting Allison got in her car to pick up Matt before their date while Kinsey got in her own car to head to the warehouse where she'd be meeting not only her date but Stiles and Scott. She hoped that before heading into the warehouse the two boys would at least be able to update her on the plan they'd created after visiting Deaton. All she knew was that the man had equipped them with something to help, but that had been the extent to Stiles's texts, it seemed as though both of them were withholding information. Him about the in-depth plan, her about who she was attending this rave with. So far she'd told him it had just been luck, but that excuse was bound to fail when he saw her beside Isaac tonight. If she was on a date with the wolf she couldn't exactly avoid him, and she'd have to blend in, which meant dancing with him, and acting as if, well, they were on a date. She'd never been so hopeful that Jackson would attack someone tonight. It would be her only excuse to escape Isaac at this rate.
When she arrived at the warehouse she had barely been able to find the wolf through the crowd of people dancing their way into the party, the music already blasting loudly in her ears as the party began to quickly fill. But when she had found the wolf it hadn't been much of a surprise when she found him leaning against a wall waiting for her, it seemed to be how she always found him. A surprise she wasn't expecting however was the presence of a little blonde werewolf friend of his, Erica stood beside him in a small leather skirt as the two talked, waiting for their huntress to arrive. Apparently "three's a crowd" wasn't something that applied to her tonight.
As she walked towards the pair of wolves Kinsey looked around hoping to see Scott and Stiles in the midst of the crowd to catch up with them before she headed blindly into the rave, hoping that they would be able to tell her about whatever Deaton had equipped them with. But neither of the boys or even Stiles's Jeep was anywhere to be seen. Erica had suggested that the three of them head into the rave before the dance floor became too crowded and they weren't able to find Jackson. Kinsey was shocked by how the blonde had suggested it rather than straight-up told the brunette that they weren't waiting for Stiles and Scott, in fact, she hadn't even insulted her yet. She'd been nicer than ever, she'd been like the Erica she'd originally met. When she thought about it the blonde had even thrown a compliment her way regarding her outfit, but she'd been too busy thinking about the two boys to notice it. She wasn't sure what switch had flipped in Erica, but honestly, she didn't mind it. It was nice not to have to constantly battle with her.
Erica knew exactly the reason behind her change in attitude, she'd seen a different side in Kinsey, the side she too had originally met of the girl. Back in the library when she was seizing Kinsey had been the first to run to her side, even before Isaac, she'd been the one to comfort her in her moment of need. And that brought back the memory of when she had seized in class after just a few days of knowing the brunette, how she had defended her while everyone else was laughing or videoing her Kinsey had been the only one not to. So tonight she didn't want to fight with the girl or bicker, they were on the same team.
Nervous as ever Kinsey agreed to head into the rave, even without Scott and Stiles. The three walked straight into the loud music, drunk people already in every corner even before they had reached the main part of the rave which was separated with PVC curtains. The three stopped before entering the main part of the rave, the entrance in almost complete darkness minus the strobe lights that allowed the three to see each other for a split second. Kinsey didn't think this was the best place for Erica to be with her epilepsy but she seemed fine, werewolves weren't supposed to have health problems, maybe it was just being hit by Jackson's venom that had caused her to seize in the library.
"Ready?" Isaac asked as he looked through the darkness at the two girls.
"As I'll ever be." Kinsey nodded.
The three walked through into the main part of the rave, music blasting even louder than before, people dancing in every possible space, glowsticks being held in the air as people danced with them. Before stepping into the crowd the three looked to see if they could see Jackson yet, but through all of the people it wasn't possible, they needed to get closer.
Isaac extended a hand out to Kinsey ready to help guide her through the crowd, that same charming look he always sported on his face, one that she struggled to resist. Kinsey gave him a faint smile before taking his hand and following him onto the dance floor with Erica following closely behind them, she couldn't help but think that the blonde was staying so close to protect Kinsey rather than just to stay with two of the people she was on a team with. Maybe Isaac had put her up to it, she wasn't sure, but she couldn't argue against someone having her back, especially not two werewolves who were stronger than her.
The three had been dancing for a while, Kinsey, and Isaac together while Erica stayed close, dancing with nearly everyone around them, making sure they all stayed in a small vicinity. Despite the underlying worry that a Kanima would attack at any minute, Kinsey felt as though she was actually having fun, it was certainly going a lot better than the date that Lydia had set up for her at the start of the year, at least she could remember Isaac's name. The two hadn't talked much through all of the loud music, but they hadn't needed to with all of the dancing and looks they had been sharing with one another, but Kinsey tried to ignore everything that came attached with them, she couldn't feel those things. Not for him. Not for Isaac. It was too complicated, her life was already complicated enough.
It had been while the two were dancing that they felt a hand on their shoulders, it had shaken the two up for a moment, they'd been so into the dancing with one another that they had forgotten other people were around them. Until they turned to see Scott, finally. He pulled the two aside momentarily, leaving Erica on the dancefloor while he took them somewhere they'd actually be able to hear him, more specifically Kinsey.
Whatever plan Scott and Stiles had originally come up with had changed. Partially because of Kinsey, but Allison too, that was something that they didn't go into too much detail with. What was important was that Argent and the rest of the hunters were here and Scott knew that now, and because of that things had to change. Scott's original plan had been for him to inject Jackson with a high dosage of ketamine while Stiles creates a barrier of mountain ash outside, he was the only one who could do it. Stiles's part of the plan had been the only one not to change. Instead of Scott taking the task of injecting ketamine into Jackson he'd given it to someone he knew was capable. Capable of getting close to Jackson, capable of knowing how to use it, and capable of having the skills it would take. A huntress who had the protection of two werewolves to her advantage tonight.
"Why me?" Kinsey asked as she held the large needle in her hand that both she and Isaac felt threatened by, it looked much too large for a human, maybe a Kanima, or a dinosaur.
"Because I got to make sure that your family doesn't completely ruin the plan." Scott deadpanned, a strike of guilt filling the girl, as well as nerves. "Okay, look, you better do it intravenously, which means in the vein. When you find him you pull back on this plunger right here. In the neck is probably going to be the easiest. So you find a vein, jam it in there, pull back on the trigger." He explained to the two of them, Isaac listened just as closely in case he was the one who ended up having to take over from the hunter, he hoped that that wouldn't be the case, but he listened closely anyway. "Be careful," Scott warned them.
Kinsey and Isaac let out the same stifled laugh as they looked at the needle.
"Oh, I doubt it'll even slightly hurt him." Kinsey shook her head.
"No, I mean you." Scott deadpanned. "I don't want you to get hurt."
Kinsey looked at the wolf as he walked away from her before she looked back at Isaac, she wasn't sure what he meant by his words, but she had a feeling he wasn't referring to the risk that Jackson imposed. She had a feeling it was something to do with the fact she was here with Isaac tonight, which imposed the risk of her getting hurt. Getting her heartbroken if she dared to listen to those fluttering butterflies she'd been feeling in her stomach all night and all of the other things she'd felt, things that probably gave off a certain smell to a werewolf like him, and Isaac.
The huntress tucked the oversized needle into the waistband of her black denim shorts before taking Isaac's hand to follow him back onto the dancefloor where they found Erica again. While the two explained the updated plan they danced, hoping that nobody around them would suspect anything if they looked like three typical partygoers. Once she was fully updated and understood what needed to be done the three danced their way around the dancefloor to find their Kanima, which was easier than any of them expected. It had only been a matter of minutes of twirling around people to get through the crowd before they found Jackson slowly making his way through it. Kinsey nudged Isaac's side, her one hand still interlocked with his and he guided her through the crowd, as soon as he caught sight of Jackson walking ahead he let go of the girl allowing her to try and fulfill the destiny that Scott had set for her. Still, he and Erica kept close by, watching as Kinsey worked her way into dancing with Jackson.
Kinsey traced her finger around his neck before moving in front of him, slowly pulling him in to dance closely with her, Erica worked her way into the movement as she danced alongside them, together they had Jackson surrounded. Isaac took it as his chance to get closer to Kinsey as he danced behind her, keeping her as well as Jackson as close as possible. The Kanima seemed to be sufficiently distracted by their movement around him, by the charm of the two girls dancing with him as they smiled, acting as casual as possible.
Isaac kept his hands on Kinsey's waist as they danced, her chest against Jackson's while Erica stood behind him, together the three had him surrounded. Through the dancing Kinsey rested her head on Isaac's chest, looking up at him as she did so, he looked at her with a raised brow, there was something about the way she was looking at him. With less hatred than usual. She gave him a sly signal, a quick glance down to her waist where his hands rested, right beside where the needle was kept in her waistband. Isaac looked up from the needle to the girl as he questioned what she wanted, she gave him the same signal again, looking down at her waist before she turned her attention back to dancing with Jackson. This time he understood, she was giving him the responsibility of stabbing Jackson in the neck, she knew it would work better, while she and Erica kept Jackson distracted he had the opportunity, and she wanted him to take that as his advantage.
He moved his hands around her waist, slowly slipping the needle from out of her shorts, gently moving it up her body as she danced gripping his fingers around the trigger ready to puncture it into one of Jackson's veins like Scott had told them to do. It had been a good job he was paying attention to his instructions after all. Isaac worked his way up the girl's body until he'd reached her chest, just as he was about to make the move both he and Erica wept out in pain as claws stabbed into them. In a distorted voice that definitely didn't belong to Jackson, he told Kinsey that "she belongs to me" as he began walking through the crowd again.
"Kinsey!" Isaac groaned from the ground reaching out for the needle he'd dropped.
Kinsey dropped down to the floor to find the needle, just as she reached out to grab it one of the dancers kicked it knocking it further. She scoured the floor for the needle until she'd finally managed to reach it while Isaac and Erica tried to pull themselves off of the floor. Kinsey left them there for a moment, turning back to the crowd to find Jackson as he walked through it hoping to get to his next victim. This time there had been no slow movements and dancing, she snatched the opportunity to stab the ketamine into his neck, pushing the trigger into his vein like Scott had instructed her to do. As he slowly fell back losing his control Erica and Isaac caught him as they appeared from behind the girl.
As discreetly as possible the huntress and two werewolves dragged Jackson off of the dancefloor and out of the party. Kinsey rushed ahead to search for an empty room that they could keep him in for now, where they could somewhat control his actions. Luckily, the first door she had opened had been an empty room perfect for storing a homicidal reptilian. She grabbed the chair from the far corner, shoving it in the middle of the room before Isaac and Erica dragged him in, shoving him carelessly in it. The three took a step back, taking a deep breath as they looked at the very person who had been terrorizing them and this town for months now, even if he did look almost dead right now, it brought them slight relief to know they didn't have to worry about being killed. At least for a little while.
The three almost kept their backs on the far wall putting plenty of distance between themselves and Jackson, none had quite gained the confidence to step close to him yet to check that the ketamine hadn't killed him. That could wait. After enjoying a second of peace Kinsey pulled out her phone to text the boy their location whenever he was ready to initiate the rest of the plan that Scott hadn't told them, maybe they hadn't planned that far ahead. Maybe they didn't think they'd get as far as to actually injecting Jackson with the ketamine.
Despite texting the boy all three of them jumped out of their skin when the door opened, all of them ready to hit whoever had opened it, they'd been too consumed in staring at Jackson while they waited for Stiles, so much so they forgot he was even coming. Stiles had quickly raised his hands in defense against the two wolves and the huntress almost freaking out just as much as they did.
"No, no, no! Just me, it's just me. Don't freak." He sighed, trying to lower his heart rate again after that shock. He moved to stand in between Kinsey and Erica, he wasn't quite brave enough to stand right in front of Jackson either yet. "He okay?"
"Well, let's find out," Isaac asked as he stood tall, being the first to step closer to Jackson. He extended his claws to which Jackson didn't flinch but as soon as he put them near his chest ready to leave a scratch the zombified boy had tightly grabbed his arm causing a sharp gasp to escape from the wolf. Jackson squeezed Isaac's wrist until he was dropping to the floor in pain and the sound of his bones cracking could be heard even for those without enhanced hearing.
When Jackson finally released Isaac's hand the boy was kneeling down in pain, but Jackson went back to his zombified state, as though it were nothing to him. Kinsey pulled the wolf away from Jackson, looking at his broken wrist as they both stood in the far corner, the furthest possible distance away from the Kanima while still being in the room.
"Okay, no one does anything like that again, okay?" Stiles insisted as he looked between the three of them, Erica nodded her head rapidly, she wasn't even willing to try anything, she hadn't been even before Isaac had his bones broken. He then looked to Kinsey who was trying to comfort Isaac while his wrist healed itself, slowly and painfully, she too nodded in agreement.
"I thought the ketamine was supposed to put him out." The brunette girl said in confusion.
"Yeah, well, apparently this is all we're gonna get." Stiles sighed hopelessly. "So let's just hope that whoever's controlling him just decided to show up tonight."
Though he wasn't the largest fan of Isaac, Stiles walked over to where the boy had sat on a random rusty toilet that was in the corner of the room to see just how badly the Kanima had broken his wrist while Kinsey moved to stand by Erica. Even if the blonde was just a few feet away when she was alone she didn't trust any of them not being beside someone right now, not after what Jackson had just done to Isaac when he decided to step forward alone. The two girls nodded at each other as their signal that they were okay before looking back to Jackson, both of their faces dropping with horror when they noticed his eyes were now open, but they were too speechless to talk. His stare was straight on them, it was as if there was nobody behind his eyes as he stared deadly at them, sending a cold chill up their spines.
"I'm here." A distorted voice came from the boy. "I'm right here with you."
All four teenagers shared a look of concern, it was obvious who was talking to them, especially after what Stiles had just said. Whoever was controlling Jackson could see straight through him, using him as a messenger to talk to them so he didn't have to show them who he really was. Or maybe even she. Whoever it was, they were able to hide behind Jackson. Stiles raised his foot prepared to step forward, prepared to volunteer himself in being the one to talk through Jackson to the person who was controlling him. But before he managed to take a step an arm stretched across his chest stopping him. He looked at the girl who had stopped him with a furrowed brow as she simply shook her head. Kinsey reached into the back of her shorts where she'd tucked one of her knives in the waistband of her shorts, there was no way she would have come here without some form of protection on her at all times. As soon as she held it up Stiles took a step back, he didn't want to be on the other end of that knife anytime soon.
She could see by the looks of the two boys that neither wanted her to step forward and be the one to handle Jackson, even if she did have the self-defense skills of a hunter and a sharp knife the idea of her being so close and so at risk didn't sit well with them. But she didn't listen to their worries, instead, she tightened her grip around the knife's handle before kneeling in front of the zombified lacrosse co-captain looking straight into its beady eyes.
"Jackson, is that you?" Kinsey asked softly. The three behind her stood watching wearily.
"Us." The Kanima corrected. "We're all here."
Kinsey turned to look at the three behind her, all sharing a confused look, one that was also riddled with fear, this couldn't have been in Scott and Stiles's plan. This was insanity. Nobody could have planned for using Jackson as a human freaking walkie-talkie.
"Are you the one killing people?" She asked, turning back to Jackson.
"We are the ones killing murderers."
"So all the people you've killed so far..."
"Deserved it." The distorted voice snapped at her, startling her slightly.
Kinsey composed herself before she tried to ask her next question while the two wolves and Stiles stood with more fear growing inside of them, only worsened when they'd seen how easily the girl had been startled by Jackson. She was a huntress in training and was scared of the creature, that didn't give them, who had had no training whatsoever, much confidence.
"We have a little rule book that says you only go after murderers."
"Anything can break if enough pressure is applied."
"So the people you're killing are all murderers then?"
"All. Each. Every one."
"Well, who did they murder?" Kinsey asked, her voice shakier than ever, her hand latched tighter around her knife than it had ever been before. Something was telling her that they were getting closer to impending doom, something that may just require her to use the knife she had brought and the skills she had been taught so far in her training with her uncle and grandfather.
"Me." The distorted voice retorted, sounding stronger and angrier than ever.
"Wait, what?" Stiles asked from behind the girl, he couldn't help himself.
"They murdered me."
With a horrified look, Kinsey turned around, Isaac had pulled himself off the dirty old toilet while Erica had taken another step back, Stiles however had gotten a little closer, ready to quickly pull the girl away when it seemed necessary. Kinsey turned back around to see that the human blue eyes of Jackson had quickly changed. They'd turned to the reptilian ones of the Kanima that she had seen before, bright yellow and bloodshot as he cracked his neck to look straight at her. He no longer looked zombified with his head weakly tilting to the side and his eyes staring blankly at the corner of the room where she and Erica had once been standing. Now his head was lifted and straight allowing him to look into the chocolate brown eyes of Kinsey as she stared at him in horror, unable to move at her own free will as he repeated his last sentence. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐦𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞.
Isaac and Stiles quickly reached forward pulling Kinsey back onto her feet, all four of them right against the wall as they panicked wondering what they were supposed to do now. The ketamine had clearly worn off, Jackson had regained most of his movement and control, enough to be able to slowly transform into his other state. As they all shook with fear they watched as the boy began turning more and more into the Kanima, his venomous claws growing, his arm gaining its dull scales until they were stretching across an entire half of his body. In a panic, Stiles instructed that they needed to get him more ketamine, but when Isaac pulled the small container out of his pocket it was empty, they didn't have any more left. A frustrated Stiles took a deep breath as he asked if they'd used the entire bottle, the three of them nodded, they didn't know they weren't supposed to, Scott hadn't specified that. It wasn't as if they had experience with all of this, and they hadn't been there to hear Deaton's instructions for themselves.
While Stiles, Kinsey, and Isaac bickered as the small container was thrown around the brunette girl felt a rapid tapping on her back that could have only come from one person. She looked at a shaking Erica whose eyes were on Jackson when she turned to the boy himself he'd raised from his seat looking at them with those reptilian eyes as though he was ready to kill them. Half of his body covered in scales but even with just one set of claws, it was enough to paralyze them all.
They all stood frozen in silence. The bickering came to a quick halt.
As soon as the half-human half-Kanima beast snarled at them revealing its rows of razor-sharp teeth was when the true panic settled in. Jackson's head began spinning, presumably getting himself ready to turn into his full potential. With no other options, Stiles quickly urged for all of them to get out. They practically fought to get out of the door, almost trampling each other to get out of the room, and when they had all four pressed their bodies against the door hoping that it couldn't get through the weight of a steel door and all of their weights combined. All of them holding onto one another as if their lives depended on it, which it just might have. Stiles and Erica had grabbed tightly onto one another while Isaac found his arm around Kinsey as they pressed themselves against the door. This time she didn't try to fight him off of her. Still, Stiles suggested that they find something to move in front of the door too so they could all, or at least one of them could run and find help from Scott or even one of the other Argent hunters.
Nobody had gotten that chance. A now fully transformed Kanima broke through the steel walls rushing back towards the main part of the rave ready to fulfill its destiny of killing someone tonight. The four teenagers split up, despite how stupid it sounded, they hoped to cover more area in finding Jackson, if all of them found themselves unsuccessful in the area they'd been given by Stiles then they'd meet back outside.
It didn't take long for that to happen. On the way out Kinsey, Isaac and Erica reunited as they walked outside, only then noticing and remembering the barrier that Stiles had spread around the entire building of mountain ash, trapping all of the supernatural creatures inside. Stiles himself alongside Derek stood on the other side of the mountain ash, Derek had been here too, with a plan of his own, though his plan was bound to not interfere as much as the one her uncle and grandfather had created to tame Jackson. Isaac and Erica looked at it wearily knowing that it mean they were stuck here for now, at risk of getting killed by the Kanima who was also stuck in here. The only person who wasn't was Kinsey.
Kinsey looked at the barrier stood at her feet, stood in between her, and got out of the warehouse and away from the Kanima unlike Isaac and Erica were able to do. She wasn't sure why something inside of her was telling her that she wouldn't be able to cross it, it was as if it was instinct, for some reason she believed the mountain ash would have an effect on her. Stiles, Derek, and his two beta's looked at the girl in confusion, wondering why she'd stopped on the edge of the barrier rather than stepping over it and getting the hell out of the way while she had the chance too, they would have if they could have gotten over it.
The huntress reached her hand out to place it over the line of mountain ash but it was as if there was a wall in front of her, bouncing her back so she couldn't get over it.
"Oh, my God! It's working. Oh, this is... Yes. I did something." Stiles cheered for himself, he hadn't thought about what the three werewolves had thought, or even Kinsey herself. He was too filled with pride to think about that for a moment. "Wait, why can't you get through it?".
The attention from Kinsey being unable to cross the barrier had quickly been turned to the three wolves when their ears had practically perked up, all of them turning their heads towards the warehouse that they'd just left. They'd obviously heard something. Kinsey and Stiles looked at Derek expecting an answer, all he muttered was Scott's name. The two didn't quite understand what Scott had to do with it but Derek wasn't willing to have a chat about it, he barked an order at Stiles for him to break the barrier, of course, a Stiles who was extremely proud of his mountain ash barrier disagreed that he would be breaking it so soon into the night. Not his masterpiece.
But as soon as the words "Scott's dying." were spat out of Derek's mouth followed by a few more yelled words from the wolf insisting that he knew that the wolf was dying Stiles was much more inclined to break his barrier to save his best friend. He knelt down, parting the joint area of the ash with his hands allowing Derek to rush through it and into the warehouse where Erica and Isaac had walked into to search for the Kanima again. They hoped that now more people had left they'd be able to find him better while Kinsey waited outside with Derek and Stiles.
Left alone outside Stiles and Kinsey looked at one another with a worried look, he could see it in her eyes that she wanted to go and chase after Derek to help Scott, but he warned her not to, he warned her to stay out here where it was safe for her to be. That Derek could handle it. He could get Scott out of there, he was confident in that, which was surprising considering how much he seemed to hate the Alpha. Kinsey looked back down at the barrier that had now been broken at her feet, wondering if she was able to get through it like Derek had just been able to.
She wearily reached her hand out again as she had before, ready for it to bounce back again, but this time it went straight through, over the broken barrier. Kinsey stepped over the line, standing beside Stiles who looked at her with curiosity, the same she felt. When the two met eyes the girl shook her head, this wasn't something to be spoken about, this wouldn't be mentioned to anyone. Even if Derek, Isaac, and Erica had seen it too, this would be between the five of them.
Kinsey and Derek sat in the animal clinic with their backs against the wall, the Alpha holding a cotton bandage onto his bloody arm while they watched Deaton check over an unconscious Scott who lay on the surgical table in the middle of the room. Derek hadn't told the girl what had happened when he ran into the warehouse to save Scott's life, not even who he was saving it from, all he'd asked from the girl was that she helped to take him to the animal clinic, which, of course, she didn't say no to. Stiles had wanted to join them, but instead, he'd ended up taking Isaac and Erica home, which he wasn't too thrilled about over caring for his best friend. But Derek hadn't given him much of a choice.
The entire time Kinsey had been sat in the animal clinic all she could think about was that barrier of mountain ash and the effect it had had on her, why it would have an effect on her at all. She knew there was probably only one person who was in this town that could answer that question, or at least have a rough estimate, and that was the man in front of her. Deaton. Kinsey knew that she couldn't ask until the last moment, when Scott and Derek were out of hearing vicinity, if he told her something she didn't want to hear she knew she wanted to keep it to herself and only to herself. Four people already knew too much by seeing that she was unable to cross the barrier back at the rave, that was the extent their knowledge would reach.
Once Deaton had finished fixing up the wolf he lightly tapped on his face, waking him from his short deep sleep, it was understandable that the boy was slightly disorientated when he'd woken up in the animal clinic rather than where he'd last known himself to be. The man didn't speak as he began to walk towards the exit of the room, but Derek did as he muttered a small thank you, a strange phrase to hear from the Alpha, he didn't usually do manners.
"Deaton." Kinsey blurted out as she jumped up from her seat, stopping the man at the door once again like Derek had. "Could I speak to you for a minute? In private."
The man nodded as he gestured for the girl to follow him to another one of the rooms in his clinic, he seemed to understand that she wanted a good unhearable distance between herself and the two wolves with the room he had chosen. It was as if he knew what she was going to say, or at least the severity of it.
"What can I help you with, Kinsey?" Deaton asked as he began messing around in his drawers.
"Something happened at the warehouse tonight." Kinsey began. "Something strange. When I tried to get past the barrier Stiles made, I couldn't. My understanding was that it only stopped the supernatural from getting through. But I'm not supernatural." She explained, her words had caused the man to stop and turn to her as he raised an eyebrow at the girl. "Am I?"
"There's a reason you couldn't get past the barrier," Deaton confirmed. "But don't pressure it, when it's ready to show itself it will." The man continued vaguely, not clearly much up for her.