the benefactor
Scott McCall and Stiles Stilinski walked into the McCall house with a mission; covering up one of the wolf's biggest mistakes yet. He had done stupid things in the past, that was for sure, but this was the pinnacle of the Alpha's stupidity, it was an impulse decision, one that could cost him his own life if a particular hunter caught wind of what he had done. He didn't know what else to do, so he called the only people he could. The first- Stiles. Scott's heart was still pounding with fear. He had never imagined doing something like this, he'd always thought of himself as fair, he had never thought he would be put in this position, but tonight had put him in it. He was trying to do what he always did- save people. And he had saved someone, two people actually, his mother, a woman attacked by a creature known as a wendigo, a kid named Sean, and Liam Dunbar, a boy he had put into hospital himself. But with saving Liam came a great consequence.
When he saw the fifteen-year-old clinging on for dear life, seconds away from falling from a roof, what else was he supposed to do? He saved him. Through the bite. Now, his head was reeling, he may have just claimed his first beta werewolf since becoming an Alpha. Something he had never had the intention of doing, especially not after Araya's threat in Mexico. Kinsey's words repeated in his head, how severely Araya followed the code, how she was someone to be scared of. Now, it was a reality, and he was petrified.
"What did you do with him anyway?" Stiles Stilinski asked as he followed his best friend through the house.
Scott stopped at the bottom of the stairs, biting his lip as he thought of an answer. "He's... lying down." He answered, Stiles retorting with a furrowed brow.
The wolf had led him to his bathroom, stopping at the door, that was his first sign that this would be bad, not as bad as when he'd seen the reality. Stiles pulled back the shower curtain to see the freshman tied up in Scott's bathtub with duct tape across his mouth, his wrists taped to his chest restricting most of his movement. Liam looked like a dear in headlights as he scrambled around the bathtub, looking between Scott and Stiles. A muffled plead for help. Stiles didn't say a word, he wasn't sure there were any words to say to his best friend when he had bitten a fifteen-year-old boy and was now holding him hostage in his bathtub. That kind of reassurance just wasn't in his vocabulary.
Shell-shocked, the two sat down on the end of Scott's bed. Stiles needed time to process it what he had just seen, and Scott to process what he had just done. He would need all of the details if they were going to get through this with as little trouble as possible, though Stiles wasn't sure if that was entirely possible. Neither of them had ever seen the bite from this perspective before, a perspective where one of them were the one who had given it, not received it.
Stiles started off by reiterating what Scott had told him, asking questions. Scott had bitten Liam. Scott had then kidnapped Liam. And then he had brought him here, to his home, where his mom lived, a nurse. He panicked, Scott told his best friend, trying to justify his actions, but he knew it was stupid to have done any of it. The bite. The kidnapping. Any of it. Stiles couldn't help but ask if this would end with the two of them burying pieces of the teenagers body in the desert, he had clearly asked a little too loudly based on the muffled cries from the bathroom.
The boy shook his head, trying to figure out their next move. "I'm the only one you called, right?" He asked his best friend whose face dropped. "Scott, I'm the only one you told about this, right?" He reiterated, the wolf's face remained straight, clearly, he wasn't. "Please tell me you didn't call her." Stiles pleaded as he stood up, beginning to pace the room. This was bad. Very bad. The two of them were dead if she found out. "Scott, tell me you didn't call Kinsey."
"Oh, he called me." A voice came from behind him. Scott's face contorted with guilt as he looked at his best friend, a slight shrug, a mouthing of an apology as Stiles's face straightened, a feeling of dread washing over him as he kept his back turned to the huntress leaning against the door, a set of folded arms as she waited for him to turn around.
Stiles pulled a smile across his face before he spun on his heel to face the girl. "Hey... you..."
"Don't even." The brunette deadpanned, Stiles quickly shut his mouth, nodding. This was all in the hands of a hunter now, frankly, she was probably the best person for the job. She had a way with people, able to calm them down. And she would know how to handle this. They hoped. He sat back down on the bed beside Scott, both awaiting her instructions, or a lecture, they weren't sure which would come first. "Where is he?"
Both boys pointed at the bathroom. Kinsey furrowed her brows as she approached it, expecting to see Liam sitting on the toilet with tears streaming down his face, in an overwhelmed state as he wondered what had just happened to him. But as she pushed the door open she saw that he wasn't sitting on the toilet. Kinsey looked at the drawn shower curtain, her brows furrowed once more as she looked at the two boys on the end of the bed, Stiles nodded while Scott remained in his own overwhelmed state. The huntress carefully pulled back the shower curtain, her face had dropped when she saw Liam, he immediately began fidgeting again, muffled begs for her to help him. Stiles buried his head in his hands. They were so dead.
With a sigh the huntress pulled Liam out of the bathtub, he stood there for a moment, patiently waiting for her to remove the duct tape, Scott and Stiles cringed as they waited for it, waiting to hear Liam's cry for help as soon as she removed it. But she didn't. She looked at the two boys in the bedroom, telling one of them to grab a chair, both had never moved so quickly to get one in the hopes that their cooperation may ease their punishment later on.
She plonked the boy down in the chair as the three of them stood in front of him, her arms had remained folded while Scott and Stiles waited to see what she would do next, they assumed it would be removing the tape from his mouth, to reason with him. The boys waited for her to do something, both growing anxious, even Liam seemed impatient as he stared at the girl, all three wondering when she was going to speak next. But the girl was waiting for Scott or Stiles to do a bit of talking.
"Well?" Stiles mumbled, looking at the girl.
"What?" Kinsey asked. "I'm here for clean up. You two made this mess."
"He made this mess." Stiles corrected, pointing at the wolf. Scott was clearly not in his right mind to take on something like this, he looked as though he didn't even know his own name, his skin a few shades lighter than it usually was, a clammy look to him. Stiles sighed as he turned back to Liam, it was his turn. "Liam, we're going to take the tape off now. But if you scream, it goes right back on. If you talk quietly, it stays off. Got it?" Liam nodded. "Okay." Stiles turned to Scott, both he and Kinsey expecting him to be the one to take the tape off, he had put it on.
When it became clear the wolf wasn't going to do it, Stiles ripped it from the boys mouth with no caution at all, there was no softness to his movements, no weariness that he may have ripped off one of the few signs of puberty the baby-faced boy had.
Stiles looked at the huntress again, hoping that he'd done his part and she would take over like he had expected when she had appeared at the door. But the girl simply nodded at Liam, once again, she was here for clean up. So far, they weren't doing as bad as she'd anticipated when the wolf told her that he'd accidentally bitten the freshman from the tryouts. The bathtub was worse than she expected, that she could admit, but at least he was conscious. "Okay, Liam, now you've seen a lot of confusing things tonight. And more confusing things are going to happen because of the confusing things that happened tonight. Do you understand?"
Scott and Kinsey looked at one another, repeating that sentence in their heads, unsure that they understood it either. "Not really," Liam admitted with a shake of his head. For that, the wolf nor the huntress could blame him.
"Okay. That's it, you two are terrible at this." Kinsey sighed, officially taking it into her own hands as she kneeled in front of the boy. Scott and Stiles had never been so relieved as they took a step back from them. Liam looked down at the girl with more fear in his eyes than ever, frankly, it felt like she should be more feared than either of the other two, and one of them had bitten his arm and kidnapped him. "Hi Liam." She said softly, trying to start gently. "I'm Kinsey. Look, I know all of this must be freaking out and dumb and dumber over there really aren't helping but trust me, I can keep you safe. Do you trust me?"
Liam hesitated to answer for a moment, but he nodded. "Good." She said with a smile, placing a hand on his arm to try and comfort him. As she did, an image passed through her mind, her face had dropped, making Liam rethink his answer as he began freaking out, looking between the girl whose face looked like she had seen a ghost and the two boys who seemed just as confused, the two of them just as unsure of what had just happened to the girl.
Kinsey quickly stood up, taking a few steps back from Liam, looking at him with wide eyes, now it seemed like she was the one most scared in the room. Her eyes didn't leave Liam, both Stiles and Scott asked her if she was okay, but the girl was speechless, opening her mouth, trying her best to gather up a sentence, but she couldn't. She had managed to signal towards the door, she clearly needed some air as her breaths became heavy, freaking out the three boys. Mainly Scott. He knew what Kinsey was capable of, predicting death, he also knew that when the bite failed to turn someone, they died. Of course his first thought was that she'd seen an image of Liam dying.
The brunette backed up into the hallway, her hands running through her hair, trying to be calm, but she wasn't succeeding. Scott looked at Stiles, signaling that he keep Liam occupied while he tried to figure out what was going on with Kinsey. The boy shook his head, refusing to be the one who stayed with Liam, he was the worst person for it. But with an argument shared through just a few exchanged looks, the boy agreed as he turned back to a very confused Liam.
Scott walked into the hallway to find Kinsey pacing up and down it, mumbling to herself. He was quick to stop her, placing both hands on her shoulders. "Hey, are you okay? What's going on? He isn't going to die because of me, is he?" The boy asked frantically.
"What?" Kinsey asked, spaced out. "No, no, no." She shook her head.
"Then what is it?" He asked. "What did you see?"
The girl's brows were knitted, confused by her own thoughts. "I-I saw Coach Lahey." She said, in denial of her own words. It wasn't possible. Scott repeated her words, rewording them, making sure she was referring to Isaac's dad. The brunette nodded. As anyone would ask, the wolf asked why she would see Isaac's dad when she touched Liam. Surprisingly, Kinsey knew the answer. "I think that Liam might be Isaac's brother. Half-brother." She corrected herself.
"What?"
"It was so clear, Scott." She told the wolf as she tried to recall it all for him in a way that he might be able to understand. "I saw Lahey with a woman. A blond woman. She- uh... She told him that was pregnant. He was freaking out, shouting at her, telling her that it couldn't be his. I think they were having an affair." The brunette explained as Scott listened, stunned. "And then it was like I saw Liam's entire life flash before my eyes. I saw him grow up. I saw that same woman, his mom. But I never saw Lahey in there again. I- I don't think Liam knows who his dad is."
"What- What do we do with this?" Scott asked.
"Nothing." Kinsey deadpanned, taking him by surprise. "Scott, you just bit this kid. His entire life is about to be turned upside down. His emotions are going to be all over the place, do you really think it's a good idea to tell him that a girl he had just met had seen that his biological father is a deadbeat who was murdered because of the horrible person he was? For now, this needs to stay quiet. He doesn't need any of this right now."
"Are you going to tell Isaac?"
Kinsey shook her head. "I don't know." She admitted. "I should but... It isn't like we exactly left off on the best of terms. I haven't heard from him since he left. What am I supposed to do? Text him that I think he has another brother? If finding out Parrish was Camden didn't make him stay it isn't like he is going to come back for Liam." The girl explained, Scott nodded, suggesting that she tell her uncle about it instead, perhaps it would be better coming from him instead. The girl agreed. "I- I think I need to go home and call him. Only if you can handle this without me." She insisted, nodding down the hall to his bedroom.
"Go. Me and Stiles have got this." Scott reassured her, she was still uncertain. "Trust me."
·❥·
The following morning Kinsey arrived at school with Scott, she agreed to pick him up after he'd texted her late last night admitting that he and Stiles had lost Liam, only ten minutes after she'd left his house. Stiles had given her a vague rundown, how the two of them were trying to clarify what had happened on the roof to Liam, and when it seemed like he was crying, they agreed to release him from the duct tape, only when they did he attacked them, hitting them with a chair. Then Stiles's explanation began getting a little confusing as he began to ramble, she'd managed to make out something about a foot, but other than that, she was clueless. Her best bet at a real explanation was from Scott. Besides, Stiles was with Malia this morning, testing some of Scott's old restraints he kept at his house for the full moon tonight, the pack had plans to go to Lydia's lakehouse, a place a few of their full moons has been held at now.
By the time Scott had recalled chasing Liam through his home and falling down the stairs, they'd reached the school, both of them walking towards it with the intention of finding Liam, perhaps school was a better place to talk to him, a more controlled environment. And Kinsey finally knew what Stiles meant when he was talking about a foot- his poor attempt at grabbing Liam. He had thought that he had Liam's foot, only to find that it was Scott's. That made more sense than her theory that they'd somehow managed to cut off Liam's foot.
The huntress and the werewolf stopped on the school grounds when they saw Liam over by the parking lot, he was sweaty, pale, his arm bandaged as he talked to one of his friends, struggling to breathe as he leaned over one of the railings. Scott listened in, listening to Liam lie to a friend about what was going on with him, blaming it on running three miles to school, that he'd fallen over and cut his arm too. Kinsey couldn't hear a word, but she insisted that the two of them had to talk to Liam today, the full moon was tonight, they needed him to be around when the moon rose over their heads. Scott nodded in agreement, the two of them continuing their walk.
Scott took the opportunity to ask about the whole Liam being Isaac's brother situation, whether there had been a development. He assumed that when she went home last night it had been to call her uncle, to update him. And she had, at least she'd tried to. For some reason, her uncle had failed to answer, marking over a week since she had last spoken to him. She had left voicemails and texts, but she'd heard nothing back from him. Frankly, she was getting worried. He'd said he might not be able to call her for a week with the gun deal he had planned, but she'd expected at least one text in that time. There was nothing but radio silence.
The wolf found it weird too, he knew how protective over Kinsey the man was, how he'd grown a little more protective in the days leading up to his departure and the first few weeks following it, and now that he knew about Kate, at least he did if he'd seen his text, it seemed weird that there hadn't been any word from him. But neither were going to worry just yet. They would give him a little more time before they freaked themselves out.
All of a sudden, Scott was pulled aside, hidden behind one of the exterior walls of the school, he looked at Kinsey in confusion as she pulled out her phone, quickly calling Stiles. He didn't say a word as he watched her peer around the corner, as soon as Stiles answered she gave him a very strict set of instructions, telling him to enter the school through the north door, to meet them in the corridor outside of the locker room. Scott peered around the corner to see Liam by the south door, their door. Then he realized her plan, they were going to trap Liam in the hallway. Without telling Stiles what her plan was, she ended the phone call, watching him in the far distance, he'd looked down at his phone with a furrowed brow before shrugging and walking into the school. A second later, Liam passed the two of them as they hid behind the wall again. Kinsey waited just a few seconds before she began dragging Scott into the school, ready to corner the young wolf in the corridor, hoping Stiles would be there.
Liam was walking hastily through the school halls, on the off chance he looked behind him he'd seen the two teenagers walking behind him with haste to their own walks, undoubtedly trying to catch up to him. He turned around, walking quicker, only for Stiles to appear from the other side of the corridor, shouting his name. Liam turned back to Kinsey and Scott, the wolf insisting they needed to talk to him.
"No, you need to back up, okay? All of you." Liam insisted, making sure that the girl knew that he meant her too, her hands were raised up in surrender, asking for just a minute of his time with as much politeness as she possibly had to offer. Once again, there was hesitation from the boy, he'd looked her up and down, remembering how freaked out she seemed last night. He sighed, giving up as he offered them that minute to talk.
Scott swallowed the lump in his throat. "Liam..." He began, struggling. "We're brothers now."
"What?" Liam's brow raised. Kinsey and Stiles mumbled a prayer for themselves, looking at each other with a shake of the head. They'd heard this speech before, a few times actually, though the two of them weren't there to witness the speech originally, Scott had told them all about it, they had mocked it a million times since. It was an inside joke for the pack, at least the wolf who said it wasn't around. After all of the times Scott had called this speech stupid and ineffective, he now stood plagiarizing it with a beta of his own. "What are you talking about? We just met and you bit me." The young boy spat out with a curl of his lip.
Still, Scott continued. It didn't matter how confused Liam looked, or how many times Stiles tried to warn him off with a shake of the head from behind the confused freshman, he was desperate to get the message across. They didn't want to hurt, they wanted to help. The bite was a gift, the Alpha told him, a groan shared between Stiles and Kinsey who couldn't take anymore. They felt embarrassed just listening to him, not after all the times they'd mocked the speech. Both Kinsey and Stiles begged him to stop but the wolf seemed insistent on continuing until Stiles retreated to standing right in the middle of them, a barricade between Scott and utter embarrassment. It seemed like it had ended, for an entire second. Because as soon as Scott closed his mouth, Stiles opened his. He turned to Liam, the little runt, as he referred to him, insisting that they were just trying to help. Kinsey could see how the message got a little lost beneath the name-calling.
Liam asked how kidnapping him was classified as helping, Kinsey couldn't help but shrug, it was a fair question, but she clarified that it was Scott who kidnapped him, not her or Stiles. The wolf looked at her with wide eyes, wondering how this was helping. As Stiles added, the two of them had just aided and abetted. The story of their lives.
Scott tried again. "Liam, I've been through this before. Something's happening to you." He said, this time the boy seemed to be listening. "Something big."
Or maybe not. Liam insisted nothing was happening to him, Kinsey opened her mouth, ready to argue with him about that, but before she had the chance the boy had raised his arm, ripping off the bandage from his now completely healed arm. Nothing, he reiterated. The three of them had failed to say another word, all thinking the same thing as Liam walked away, rolling his eyes. The three of them looked at one another, all nodding in confirmation. He was a werewolf.
As they stood in the hall the bell rung in their ears, but none of them would be going to class, not with the new information they had on Liam. Each of them pulled out their phones, calling for an emergency pack meeting, arranging to gather by the buses outside where they could ensure that the conversation was free from prying eyes or ears. When they'd reached the spot the others had already been standing around waiting for them, guessing why the meeting had been called, they had all come to the same conclusion- the freshman. Kinsey had told Lydia as soon as she walked through the door last night, and from then, there was a domino effect. She had told Kira just this morning, Kira had told Malia, as well as Stiles telling Malia this morning while they were testing a set of handcuffs he kept at his house from the early days of Scott's transitions.
Malia didn't wait for them to step into her vicinity before explicitly stating that she wasn't going to share her basement with Liam tonight, or as Lydia corrected her basement. The coyote didn't care whose basement it was, as long as she didn't have to share it. Frankly, Lydia was weary for even Malia to use it after her mother had noticed how she tore it up last time. Stiles stuck up for the girl, insisting that she was still learning, Kinsey nodding beside him, they'd both been there to help Malia through her transitions, almost killed by her every full moon. Scott suggested that they use the boathouse for Liam, it had support beams to tie him to and was far away from Malia during her transition.
"How do we get him to the boathouse if he doesn't trust us?" Kira asked the pack.
"I say if it keeps him from murdering someone, we just chloroform the little bastard and throw him in the lake."
"I'm in." Malia raised her hand, Kinsey immediately. "No, you're not." She warned the coyote, the boy who suggested it too as she narrowed her eyes at him.
Scott agreed, they wouldn't be killing or kidnapping him. Lydia suggested a smart route, one she knew would appeal to any and all freshmen- telling him that there was a party. While most of the pack seemed to think it was a good idea, Stiles laughed at it, asking if she really intend on asking out a freshman, imagining how entertaining that would be to watch. But Lydia didn't plan on her being the one asking out a freshman. She was done with teenage boys, she suggested a girl with a charm that nobody understood. She had used it to get into clubs, out of parking tickets, into all of the places a teenage girl shouldn't be allowed and now, hopefully, to drag a freshman out to a lakehouse. They all turned to Kinsey, the girl who was staring at her chipped nail polish, thinking about her next color of choice. It wasn't until she felt all the stares on her that she looked up, the redhead who suggested it had a smirk across her face.
Kinsey asked what she had missed, Stiles interrupting with nothing, he wasn't a fan of the idea, a plan involving the girl he was dating flirting with a fifteen-year-old didn't appeal to him, it didn't matter if they needed Liam at the lakehouse. Kinsey ignored him, turning back to her best friend as she asked what her plan was again. Lydia had barely explained before Kinsey agreed to it, she knew too that she had some special kind of charm, one that she didn't understand either.
"Liam isn't going to go anywhere near you after this morning," Stiles argued with the plan.
Kinsey adjusted her tank top, revealing more cleavage than usual. "See these? They are like two mind shields. Teenage boys can't see past them." She insisted, but the boy had gotten lost in his thought, proving her point. "Stiles!"
"Huh? What? Oh." He brought himself back to Earth. "I still don't like it."
"Fine." Kinsey sighed, pulling up her shirt. "Well, if we're tricking someone, why don't we use the trickster?" She suggested, her head turning to Kira.
"Who? Me?" Kira asked in shock. "No way."
"Yes, you." Lydia nodded, liking the new plan. Stiles preferred this plan too, mainly because this plan involved Kinsey's cleavage staying inside of her top, he knew firsthand that it was an image that would stay inside of people's minds. It was a regular distraction for him.
"You know what they call female foxes? A vixen. Be a vixen, Kira."
The kitsune looked around the group, all nodding in agreement, dependent on her to get Liam to the lakehouse tonight. But she wasn't so sure she was capable, she preferred the route of the huntress seducing the freshman, she had what it took- the charm, the looks, the cleavage. She didn't have any of that, she certainly wasn't a smooth talker who could work their way into just about anywhere like she'd seen Kinsey do. With a sigh, Kinsey agreed that she would come with the kitsune, that she would share a few of her best tips on the way, while the brunette dragged a particularly coyote with her, Stiles had refused to be left behind. The three of them being left to their own devices came with the risk of Kira backing out and Kinsey taking over, he couldn't just let his girl flirt with Liam. Scott's girl he was fine with- but not his.
As they walked through the school on their search for the freshman Kinsey gave Kira a rundown on how to charm her way through just about anything. Her main tips being; showing some skin, hairography, and confidence, confidence went a long way as she told the Kitsune. Kira was lost after the first point, she had no idea what hairography was, frankly, she thought the girl made it up on the spot, Stiles and Malia did too. The confusion across their faces had caused a delay in their plan, Kinsey had stopped them all in the middle of the hall, pulling them aside as she gave Kira an assessment. She fluffed up the girl's hair, demonstrating just what she meant when she said hairography, after seeing it for themselves it made more sense. Next, she looked at the girl's shoes, a pair of trainers, then, she looked at her own shoes, a pair of black heeled boots. Kinsey smirked as she asked what size shoe the other brunette was, just as she hoped- the same size. A perfect fit. Kinsey pulled off her boots in the middle of the hall, making Kira swap with her as the people passing them in the hall furrowed their brows at them. Kira wasn't sure she could walk in the boots, she'd never worn heels as high as these, and she had always questioned how she and Lydia did it on a daily basis, but Kinsey emphasized her point again- confidence.
Kira walked back and forth a few laps in the new shoes, stumbling slightly, Stiles and Malia both cringing as they watched her attempts at walking while Kinsey tried to help with some repeated "Heel. Toe." sentences. With a few more demonstrations, the huntress declared Kira ready to get their freshman to the lakehouse, turning to Stiles and Malia for their approval. Malia had nodded with approval, two thumbs up to the kitsune, whereas Stiles was still stunned from the girl's last demonstration as he realized just how many times she'd used all of these tricks on him. Now the boy understood how she always managed to get her own way with him.
Eventually, the four of them found Liam sitting in one of the chemistry classrooms, his class due to end any moment. Kinsey told Kira to wait on the upper floor, that she would text her with the signal when to come down and make an entrance down the stairs. A dramatic entrance was just what they needed to catch a teenage boy's eye. Meanwhile, Kinsey, Stiles and Malia hung around the hallways, keeping a lookout for Liam, waiting for that perfect moment.
That moment soon came as the classroom door opened, freshman clamoring out of it as Kinsey quickly pulled out her phone, giving Kira the signal. Just as Liam walked out of the class with his friend, Kira came down the stairs, with all of Kinsey's tips, she managed to catch Liam's eye in an instant. The three teenagers watching got giddy with excitement as they watched it work out for them, a flawless plan. Kira was an image. And then, her uneasiness wearing the huntress' shoes caught up to her, they all watched in horror as Kira tripped over her own feet, falling down what few steps remained of the staircase. None of them could help, they were all frozen, gobsmacked with their hands to their mouths, over their eyes, anywhere that could stop the horror that they felt for Kira as she lay on the floor with a groan.
"I think she can handle it from here," Malia suggested, Stiles and Kinsey nodding in agreement as they all scurried in the opposite direction, hoping that Kira wouldn't be too mad at them for fleeing the scene. They would just tell her that they couldn't risk getting caught by Liam.
·❥·
At nightfall, Scott pulled up to Lydia's lakehouse, finding the four who weren't as involved in the transportation of Liam Dunbar standing outside, waiting for him. Each of them wearing a similar expression of uneasiness as he stepped off of his dirtbike, he couldn't understand that they were all a little nervous for tonight, hell he hadn't stopped thinking about it. But they'd all been a part of full moon transformations before. His. Jackson's. Malia's. It wasn't exactly a new scenario that they needed to wrap their heads around. As soon as he stepped off of his bike he reassured them that Kira and Liam were on their way, that everything was going fine. But whether Kira managed to pick up the freshman wasn't what was troubling them. Kinsey sighed as she stepped forward, telling the wolf that she had asked around school about Liam, and in doing so, she found out the reason why he had moved to their school.
Immediately, Scott knew it was going to be bad as he sighed, the huntress nodding. She told him exactly what she had been told, that Liam had gotten into it with one of his teachers, and that he may have some serious anger issues. Scott asked how serious she meant, so Stiles pulled up the image on his phone, showing Scott just how serious. An image of one of his teacher's cars, after a crowbar had been taken to it by the freshman in question. He'd engraved a message into it, that it was all their fault. The windows smashed, the exterior dented. He hadn't been gentle.
As Kira escorted Liam into the house, trying to convince him that the "everyone" that she'd told him was coming was just late, that they were early. Her nerves were clear in her voice, but Kira's latch on Liam's arm meant that he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. He walked into Lydia's dark lakehouse, seeing five people lined up waiting for him, some speechless, others that were warned beforehand to stay quiet. In particular, Malia. Stiles gave the boy an awkward wave, the three girls a feigned smile, Scott was simply struggling to process what they'd told him about his new beta werewolf.
Liam turned back to Kira, about to walk straight back out, but she shut the door, blocking it, she wore a nervous smile as she apologized to him. Feeling guilty for manipulating him into coming out here, and being pounced on by six juniors.
"What the hell is this?" The boy asked.
"Think of it as an intervention," Stiles suggested. "You have a problem, Liam."
"And we're the only ones that can help," Scott told him.
Confused, Liam looked across the five faces in front of him, the people that claimed they could help him. Scott took a deep sigh, preparing to delve into a long explanation of the thing that the six of them called their everyday lives- the supernatural. The four girls kept quiet while Scott and Stiles tried to explain everything, surprised at how calm Liam was as he took it all in, nodding at what they said. They'd told him about almost everything, every single thing that had happened to them dating back to the night Scott received his own bite. It was understandable that it took a while to explain it all. A lot had happened to them over a span of a year. Frankly, they might have told him a little too much. Werewolves, Hunters, Kanimas, Druids, Angels, Banshees, Kitsunes of a few variations, Werecoyotes, and Berserkers. And all of the people that they'd fought off under those lists.
Once the explanation was over, a long time after it had begun, Liam believed he had taken most, if not all of it in, a lot of new knowledge under his belt. He'd learned more in this lakehouse than he had at school. With all of this new information, he wanted to make sure he understood it, the boy began going through it again, a condensed version, beginning with Scott, listing what each of the people in front of him was. Scott, the werewolf. Malia, the werecoyote. Both nodding that he was right. Lydia, the banshee. Kinsey, the angel. And huntress, she added. Fox, he called Kira, Kitsune, she corrected him, but fox worked for her.
He then turned to Stiles, the only person that Scott hadn't pointed out while listing all the kinds of supernatural creatures in Beacon Hills. "What are you?"
"Uh, for a little while, I was possessed by an evil spirit. It was very evil." He emphasized.
"What are you now?"
"Better?" Stiles mumbled, turning to Kinsey. "Um..."
Human, she answered the boy. He nodded, looking around again, this time he noticed the set of handcuffs laid out on the table, asking if they were for him. Malia finally spoke, they were for her, she told him as she illuminated her eyes their steel blue. Liam was taken aback, asking how she did it. Scott insisted that he would learn, but first, he needed to get through his first full moon. A moon that was already out and beaming over their heads, and based on the heavy breathing he was doing and the golden sweat lining his forehead, he was beginning to feel something.
Scott asked him if he felt it, but he didn't get the response he anticipated. All Liam claimed that he felt was that he was surrounded by a bunch of psychotic nutjobs, Kinsey scoffed, if they were psychotic this poor kid wasn't going to last very long in this town. He told them they were all out of their freaking minds, which she shrugged at, she couldn't argue that this town had driven her a little insane over the past year of living here. The boy began raising his voice, showing all of the anger he'd used on his teacher's car, yelling that he didn't know how Malia did the eye thing and he didn't care either, though they begged to differ. He insisted that he was going to walk out the door, about to threaten them, but before he could, the boy began screaming in pain, pressing on his temples.
The room was spinning around him, he had never felt pain like it as he tried to push it out of his head, especially conscious of the six people who stared at him, unphased by what they saw him doing. This was normal, better than anticipated actually. Scott and Malia had both tried killing a few of their friends during their transition, so far, Liam was doing well. Eventually, the screaming became concerning as Scott asked him what was wrong, he could hear something, Scott listened in, he heard something. Something bad. Just then, a set of headlights shined through the blinds, across their faces as they all looked towards the window with concern. Someone else was here.
Lydia immediately asked the beta if he'd told anyone about this, and he had, his friend Mason. It was more than just one kid outside of the house, they could hear them all hooting and cheering as they climbed out of their cars, ready to party, that was what they had told Liam it was after all and he had told his friend Mason the same thing.
Stiles nodded, asking who Liam told. Kira looked out the window. Everyone. Mason had invited everyone. Liam had extended a set of claws, beginning to scrape them against the wooden floor as Lydia panicked, yelling at Scott to get him off of them, she stepped forward about to drag the boy out herself before he looked up at her, his eyes a bright yellow as he roared at her. Lydia was quickly pulled back by Kinsey, telling Scott to get him to the boathouse before someone saw him like this. They couldn't explain the past year of their lives to everyone.
While Scott and Kira rushed to the boathouse Malia began leaning on the table with a groan, she could feel it too as she called for Kinsey, the brunette turned to see a pair of bright blue eyes on her, a low growl coming from the coyote. The huntress began freaking out, as did Lydia, both too overwhelmed by everything going on around them. Stiles grabbed Malia ready to lead her down to the basement before she turned too, Kinsey about to go with them.
"What am I supposed to do with the hordes gathering outside my door?" Lydia questioned them.
"Kins, stay with Lydia." Stiles insisted. "I've got Malia."
"And what am I supposed to with them? Kinsey questioned him this time.
"Who throws the best parties in Beacon Hills?"
Lydia and Kinsey looked at one another with wide eyes, in disbelief that he was suggesting what they thought he was suggesting. Both of them knew the answer to his question. It was them. The two of them had earned that title through blood, sweat, tears and an entire summer of parties at this very lakehouse, or when occupied by Natalie, the Martin home. It didn't matter where they'd thrown their parties, everyone knew to be there. Each one better than the last. Stiles nodded, he knew all that, which was exactly why he was telling them to throw one of those parties right now at the drop of a hat. Before they could argue further, Stiles and Malia disappeared, leaving them standing in the middle of the living room, jaws on the floor.
The two girls looked at one another again, throwing their arms up, what other choice were they left with? They nodded at each other, they could do this, they had done it before, they could do it all again. With a deep breath, the two girls walked over to the front door, another nod shared before Lydia swung the door open. The entire driveway was filled with teenagers, more people than they had anticipated a few seconds ago.
"Hey." One of the boys at the front of the crowd spoke. "Are we, uh, in the right place?"
"For the party?" Another one added.
Kinsey looked at Lydia. "Absolutely." The Banshee smiled through her pain. With cheers all of the teenagers began piling into the house, holding up their bottles of booze as they walked in, Lydia and Kinsey gave everyone feigned smiles, trying not to cry. Lydia leaned closer to her best friend as she gave her a fair warning. "Make the most of Stiles because after tonight, he's dead."
"Mmm." Kinsey smiled. "I thought my angel senses were tingling." She joked, the redhead still as unimpressed by the situation. "Fine, okay. We won't party. We will sit around and I promise that we will look at all those weird codes we've been writing until we figure it out, okay?"
Lydia agreed with a thank you, since figuring out they had both been writing all of the suspicious codes she had been the only one trying to decipher them, partly because she had been declared as the only one smart enough to do it, but also because Kinsey was wrapped in trying to help her sister who she didn't know was her sister. Lydia couldn't argue with that, Malia needed the help, with studying, school, her lycanthropy, and with Kinsey as her anchor, it meant that it was a job for her. Before the conversation ended there, the brunette added on more condition.
Lydia eventually agreed to it, at least after Kinsey had promised that she would pay for anything that got broken tonight and that she would personally scrub the floors after the party was done, Natalie would never know what happened here tonight. Her promise started sooner than Kinsey had anticipated, both of the girls cringing at the sound of shattering glass from the kitchen, both praying that it wasn't one of Natalie's favorite wine glasses. As the last few stragglers walked into the lakehouse Lydia looked at the brunette with a look that reminded her of the words she'd just said a few moments ago. Kinsey needed no further warning as she sighed, moping to go and find who had broke the glass and how bad the damage was. It was a good job that she had wealth of both the Argents and the Hales behind her because a party filled with freshman was just begging for trouble.
In between cleaning up, Lydia and Kinsey sat at the redhead's computer with a glass of wine, the two decided it was necessary to have some alcohol in their system if they were going to survive a night like this. The code's continued appearing on the screen, Lydia had told her best friend that it looked like a variation of the Vigenère cipher but to her it looked like nothing more than some scrambled up letters and numbers in the midst of their study notes. What they had noticed in the midst of searching through them tonight was one thing- they were identical. It didn't matter just how absurd the numbers and letters were, when the girls compared their notes side by side, the two of them were the same. If they had learned anything from their tree drawings it was that this wasn't a coincidence, it meant something. They hoped that this time they'd be able to figure out what it meant sooner rather than later, perhaps even stop it before it truly started.
After a series of shattering glass had came from the living room both of the girls had jumped up to find out where it had come from- one of Natalie's vases. Another thing added to the list of the things Kinsey would be replacing after tonight, a list growing by the second. In just the small few minutes that the two girls had left the laptop in the kitchen they come back to find Lydia's wine glass had been placed on top of it rather than beside it where she had left it. The redhead began freaking out immediately, only worsened when someone walked into the kitchen with an entire keg filled with beer, while neither of the girls had ordered it, he insisted someone had. Lydia had told him that if she was going to order a keg, it wouldn't be domestic, but that was all she said to the man before being distracted by a freshman holding a four-hundred dollar bottle of wine. The huntress sighed, turning back to the delivery man, holding out her hand as she asked how much it was going to be.
Her eyes scanned the charges until she pointed out an extra hundred dollars on the end, asking what it was four. As he told her, it was a charge for selling to people who were ever so clearly not twenty-one. Kinsey looked up at him, a roll of her eyes as she turned to Lydia, the redhead was beside her again for only a millisecond, managing to catch what that extra charge meant, but her mind was immediately taken off of it when she saw someone heading upstairs, a place she made Kinsey declare as off limits, her voice had echoed through the entire lakehouse, they knew that everyone in here had heard it. Even Scott and Kira heard it from the boathouse.
Kinsey urged her to go, that she would handle the keg, but when she had turned around to do so it seemed things had already been taken care of. One of the freshman, Garrett, as he introduced himself, had taken care of it considering he had opened the four-hundred dollar bottle of wine. It was a nice gesture for someone who looked like just another asshole freshman in this place. The huntress smiled before rushing off upstairs, passing the kid that they'd seen walk upstairs on her way. She immediately asked where Lydia was, he told her upstairs, that she'd spilled some wine, he was just going to find something to clean it up with. Kinsey pointed the boy towards where it was all kept, in the meantime, she continued upstairs to find Lydia.
When she did, she found her best friend in one of the rooms at the end of the hallway, Lydia had failed to notice her at first, she was too busy staring at the door she opened and closed over and over again, a furrowed brow as she did so. A confused Kinsey walked closer to the room, when it had opened again, her presence startled the redhead.
"Lyds, you doing okay?" Kinsey asked softly.
The redhead pulled her into the room, telling her to watch as she closed the door again, with the door closed the two of them were left in silence, the music from downstairs completely blocked out, not even a hum of it. There was nothing. Lydia kept opening and closing the door again, still confused by it, hoping Kinsey heard it too.
"Soundproof?" The brunette questioned, looking around the white room, ignoring the splashes of wine on the white carpet, both of their heads had been turned to this now. Both girls walked around it, looking over everything, trying to figure out why anyone would make this room so the sound from anywhere else could be blocked out. Their brows furrowed, looking over the chairs, the desk, the bookcase, until both turned around at the same time, their eyes landing across the room to the record player. Something told them to turn it on as they stepped closer to it.
Both harbingers of death were in a trance as Lydia flicked the switch. The needle rose, finding its way to the record before dropping. A peculiar kind of white noise came through the speakers, an unsusal, distorted beeping of sorts. The two girls looked up at the white wall in front of them, an image in both of their minds. Faces pushing through the white wall, speaking. Both of them were transfixed for a moment. Lydia a lot longer than Kinsey, her transfixion was cut off by her phone vibrating in her pocket, breaking her out of the trance long enough for her to read Stiles's text, it was time for Kinsey to use her condition. She told the redhead where she was going, but the girl remained staring at the wall, now, to Kinsey, it just looked like a white wall again.
Kinsey rushed down the basement stairs, calling for Stiles and Malia as she did so. Stiles called back for the girl, telling her to be quick as her heels clicked against the wooden basement floor. Her feet came to a sharp halt in front of Malia who's eyes glowed their bright blue, she snarled at the two of them, but that wasn't what was concerning. Kinsey immediately noticed that Malia's restraints were wearing thin, seconds from snapping. Her arm stretched across Stiles's chest as she warned him to get back, far back. He didn't want to leave her side, but she insisted he had to with the reminder of who was the trained huntress between them.
Reluctantly, Stiles stepped back, just in time for one of Malia's restraints to snap, allowing her to lunge towards the brunette girl, only the restraint on her other arm holding her back from killing the other girl who stepped back.
"Malia, I know you can hear me. Just listen to my voice."
"Listen to mine," Malia growled back as she tried breaking her restraint. "Run!"
Kinsey turned back to a worried Stiles in the corner, unsure if they were going to take the advice Malia was giving them, it made sense to, as soon as she broke free of that chain she would have the chance to kill both of them, and under the influence of the full moon, she wouldn't pass that chance up. But Kinsey knew when she looked at Stiles that she had made a promise, maybe the promise had been made for him, but it applied to so much more now.
"I'm not leaving you." Kinsey insisted as she turned back to Malia. "I'm not going to run. Because I don't think you're going to hurt me." She spoke calmly, confidently as she slowly edged closer to Malia while Stiles leaned forward with anxiety that he was about to see her get torn to shreds. But he chose to believe she knew what she was doing. "You know, hunters have this saying. That we should do things clinically and unemotionally. Because we think that it gives us control over what we do. But do you know what I've learned? Control is overrated."
The huntress looked back at Stiles, holding her hand out for the key, his eyes were wide, asking if she was really going to let Malia out of the restraints, Kinsey reassured him she knew what she was doing. For some stupid reason, he trusted her. Even though some of her plans had been the most stupid plans he had ever heard of, he trusted that she knew what she was doing. Stiles had never seen her more sure of anything. So as she asked, he gave her the key, backing further into the basement, far away from Malia when Kinsey released her.
As Kinsey expected, as soon as she had unlocked the handcuffs and they'd fallen to the floor, the coyote lunged for her, swinging her claws at the huntress who had quickly grabbed her wrists to stop her, fighting against Malia as she growled, Stiles kept stepping back and forth, he wanted to help, but he knew that he shouldn't. After just a few seconds of trying to attack Kinsey, Malia had given up, her head dropping as she panted heavily, leaning on the girl for strength.
When the coyote looked back down her claws had disappeared, all that remained were a pair of clammy hands, she was back in a human state. Both Kinsey and Malia looked at one another, the two sharing a wide-eyed look. It had worked. It actually worked. Stiles stepped forward, he was just as surprised as them that Kinsey's simple method had worked for Malia.
"You did it." Kinsey smiled at the coyote, proud. Malia wrapped up the girl in a hug, allowing the huntress to breathe a breath of relief. Frankly, she had no idea what she was doing, she had just tried the first thing that had come to mind. But as she told Kira this morning, confidence, it was everything. She had to believe that she knew what she was doing, she had to have confidence in herself. Wrapped in their hug Malia looked over Kinsey's shoulder at Stiles as he stood alone, he waited patiently for them to finish their hug, part of him considering telling them now, knowing that it would be best coming from him. But when Malia had opened up an arm to invite him into the hug, that thought was pushed aside from his mind as he accepted the offer.
"So on a scale of one to ten, just how pissed off is Lydia?" Stiles asked the huntress with a laugh.
Kinsey quickly broke out of the hug, her face dropping. "Lydia." She mumbled.
"What?" Malia questioned.
"I- I know the key," Kinsey mumbled under her breath, confusing the two who looked at her. "I- I was upstairs and there were... There were these voices. They kept saying it to me but I ignored it. I didn't want to hear it. I couldn't listen to it." The brunette shook her head. "But it was the key."
"What were they saying?" Stiles asked. "Kinsey, what was the key?"
"Allison."
Kira looked at the computer as Lydia typed in the key that she had heard. Her stomach in knots as all of the codes began turning into something, their eyes flickering with the flashing images as the scrambled letters and numbers turned into something more. A list. A series of names began to appear in front of them. Kira turned to Lydia, asking what it was. And the Banshee was sure of it. It was a Deadpool.
And they were all on it.