::Chapter 20::
Emily put the car in park, Lydia was in the passenger seat not saying anything and Allison was sitting silently in the back.
"Okay, are you guys going to say anything?" Lydia asked them in a snappish tone. She had no idea what was happening or rather what the hell had happened back at Scott's house.
Allison gulped nervously and was completely unsure of what to say. Emily on the other hand pursed her lips, knowing they had to tell Lydia eventually especially now that they knew that Jackson was the Kanima. And they needed to ease her into it at some point.
"I'm a vampire."
There. She ripped the band aid off. Or at least one of them.
Allison gaped at her while Lydia gave her a weird look. "What?" She asked and then sighed. "If you don't want to tell me what's going on then that's fine but don't start making things up."
"You think I'm making this up?" Emily asked in disbelief and when she saw the strawberry blonde nod, she let out a small breath. "Alright. I guess I have to show you."
The huntress gave her an unsure look."Em, I don't think---"
"Show me?" Lydia raised a brow. "How are you--" She shrieked when she saw Emily's fangs and her eyes change. She jumped back, whimpering in fear.
The vampire tried to not flinch at the scared look on Lydia's face and instead covered it up with a blank expression as her fangs went away and her face went back to normal. "I'm not going to hurt you."
"Y-Your face." Lydia cowered back as she stared at her wide eyed. She started getting flashes of the night of the Winter Formal when she was attacked by that maniac. "I-It-- you looked l-like a--"
"Lydia." Allison said abruptly, sitting up as she took notice of how Emily was just blankly staring at the cowering girl. She knew that Emily would never admit it but she could tell that she was hurt. "Emily wouldn't hurt you so you don't have to be--"
Lydia looked like she instantly regretted what she was about to say. She was just shocked and a little bit afraid of what her best friend had just turned into.
"Forget I said anything." Emily compelled Lydia. If Lydia wasn't going to accept her than she'd rather just pretend like this didn't happen. She was prepared to compel everything that happened tonight away.
The strawberry blonde gave her an incredulous look. "How am I supposed to forget that my best friend is a vampire?" She exclaimed in shock.
Emily furrowed her brows, frowning at the evident fear she could still smell on the girl. "It didn't work?" She muttered in surprise. "Why didn't it work?"
"What didn't work?" Lydia questioned her before looking back at the Argent girl. "Is this why you two have been so distant? Because you knew about her being a vampire? Do Scott and that Biles kid know? And what about Derek, Erica, Boyd, and Isaac? Why were they even there?" She felt betrayed that everyone else knew but her and now she was obviously the last one to know.
"Okay, first of all his name is Stiles." Emily sighed, correcting her. "And second, yes Allison and the others know about me. It's a really long and complicated story that we can't get into right but the moment we have time we'll explain everything."
"Why can't you tell me now?" She said stubbornly.
"Look you just freaked out because I told you I was a vampire." Emily snapped at her, getting tired of all the questions. "I'm not about to tell you everything knowing now that you'll just panic if I tell you."
Lydia flinched at her tone, she hadn't meant to freak and she wanted to apologize but the image of Emily's face kept coming up. Then a pang of betrayal and hurt hit her. "Fine. Then I guess I'm leaving." She muttered, getting out of the car and walking to her door.
Allison looked between the two, wondering if she should say anything to comfort them. When her dad had told her about Emily she didn't really freak out especially since she already known about Scott and was prepared to find out about her other friends being possible supernaturals. So in a way she could understand why Lydia freaked out, the strawberry blonde just found out that her best friend was a vampire. It was an obvious shock to her especially given how long they'd known each other.
"If I were you, I'd keep my mouth shut. I don't really want to talk about this." Emily muttered, putting the car in reverse before driving off. Allison pursed her lips and did as she asked.
-
The following day, Stiles continued to tap his fingers against the screen on the phone as he sent messages to Jackson's parents. He knew he would be in deep shit if and when his dad found out that he and Scott had practically kidnapped Jackson. But in his defense, they were basically keeping everyone else safe from Jackson who they found out was the kanima.
So right now, he did his best to focus on the messages he was sending and not the upcoming punishment he would be receiving for his actions.
He yelped loudly when he felt someone flick his ear. "AH!" He looked back to see Emily standing behind him with an amused smirk on her lips. He made a face. "Stop doing that!"
"Doing what?" She asked innocently.
"You know what." He muttered, a pout on his lips while she let out a laugh. Stiles then gave her a questioning look. "What are you doing here? How'd you even know I was here?"
"I didn't. I was just taking a stroll through the woods and caught your scent." She said bluntly, no shame in the fact that she had his scent memorized. Her eyes momentarily flickered to the van and decided to not ask how he managed to steal a transport van. She was impressed by his actions to kidnap Jackson though.
"My scent? You memorized my scent?" He repeated, looking at her in surprise before a curious look took place. "What do I smell like?"
She pursed her lips. "Why do you want to know?" And he shrugged. She sighed. "Well it really isn't your scent that I caught. It's mainly the chemosignals that you give off." He waited for her to finish. "You always smell anxious."
"I do?" He muttered, not finding it surprising since he was always anxious.
"Well at least it's better than the pure lust that the two forbidden lovers give off whenever they're near each other." She said bluntly, her eyes going to the side when she heart the leaves crunching in the distance.
Stiles didn't find that surprising either.
"They know." Allison exclaimed, when she caught sight of the two.
"What?" Stiles looked at her in confusion.
"They know Jackson's missing."
"No, they can't. I've been texting his parents since last night." He said, holding up the phone. "They don't have a clue."
"My grandfather told me his parents went to the police. They know."
Stiles eyes widened, holding up the phone in horror."Oh -" He handed Emily the phone before quickly stumbling towards the van and opened the passenger door to pick up the radio.
"All available units proceed to Beacon Hills Preserve as instructed. Proceed with caution until Sheriff Stilinski's arrival. Proceed with caution."
He felt like he was going to pass out. His father was going to find out what he did and he was dead.
"I think I know why his parents found out." Emily muttered, getting their attention. She held up the phone with the message on it. "You wrote the words Love, Jackson. I was told that he hasn't said the words I love you in over eleven years to his parents."
He took the phone from her hands. "Who told you that?" Stiles asked her, through his internal panic and now understood why his plan had failed. "Wait was it Lydia?"
"It doesn't matter." She muttered, suddenly looking more on edge than before which surprised him.
He furrowed his brows. "Are you--"
"We should probably go guys before the police show up." Allison interrupted him.
Stiles glanced at her, frowning. "Right." He looked at Emily for a moment before going to the passenger's door. "Alright, we should get going." He opened it for Emily who got in, followed by Allison as he rushed over to the driver's door and got in.
The huntress glanced at him. "Where are we going?"
"Somewhere very far from this." He said in rush as he dialed a number before throwing the phone out the window and driving off.
-
"If Jackson doesn't remember being the kanima, he's definitely not gonna remember stealing Danny's tablet." Scott said, after telling them that the tablet that Danny had was now missing. He tried to not question why Emily was there but if she was here then it meant more help.
"Why would he steal the thing if he doesn't even know what's on it?" Stiles asked.
"What if someone else took it?" Allison questioned.
Emily questioned herself on why she was still here. She had only stuck around yesterday because Derek was going to kill Lydia but now that they knew it was Jackson who was the kanima, there was no real reason for her to stick around. It wasn't like she actually cared about Jackson even if he was Lydia's ex and it wasn't like she was going to personally kill him. The hunters would take care of that.
She tried to not think about the scared expression on Lydia's face. She shouldn't be surprised especially since she knew that at some point she was going to tell the strawberry blonde the truth. And she knew that her reaction wasn't going to be the best. But after she showed Stiles her vampire face, she thought that maybe Lydia wouldn't freak out. But it seemed like she had been wrong.
Wiping away those thoughts, she listened back in on the conversation as Stiles spoke up.
"I don't know about you two, but I haven't murdered anybody lately." Stiles said.
The forbidden lovers glanced at her and she raised a brow. "I haven't murdered anybody.... Recently." She added, after a moment.
Scott shook his head. "But I - I don't think that it was actually trying to kill us. Remember when we were at Isaac's the first time, it just went right by us, didn't it?"
Allison nodded. "You're right, it just ran off."
"And it didn't kill you in the mechanic's garage." The young beta said to his best friend and Emily gave the human a questioning look.
Stiles pursed his lips. "Well, yeah, but it tried to kill me and Derek in the pool." He reminded them.
Scott raised a brow. "Did it?"
"It would've. It was waiting for us to come out." Stiles added, looking at Emily. "And if Emily hadn't shown up it probably would have killed us."
"What if it was trying to keep you in?"
Stiles made a face. "Why do I feel so violated all of a sudden?"
"Because there's something else going on." Scott said. "We don't know what it is. We don't know anything about what's going on with Jackson, or why someone is protecting him."
"Know thy enemy." Allison muttered, she looked up to see the questioning looks they all had.
"Why are you quoting Sun Tzu?" Emily asked with a furrowed brow.
"Just something my grandfather said." She replied, thinking back on the conversation she had with her grandfather in his office.
"All right, I got it. Kill Jackson. Problem solved." Stiles said easily.
"Stiles is right. You know what, I'll make it easier for you. I'll just rip his heart out. It'll be quick and painless." Emily offered as she suddenly didn't care anymore if she was the one to kill Jackson. It wasn't like it would matter since Jackson was already tied up and away from everyone's sight.
"See, Emily can do it." Stiles said before a small frown tugged at his lips. "Although maybe someone else should do it. I don't want you to do it."
Scott gave them a chiding look as he cut in. "He risked his life for us. Against Peter, you remember that?"
"Yes, but what did we just find out?" Stiles retorted. "He got the bite from Derek. It's funny how he just got exactly what he wanted by supposedly risking his life for us, it's funny."
"Yeah, it doesn't mean he's not still worth saving."
"It's always something with him, though."
"He doesn't know what he's doing."
"So what?" Stiles crossed his arms over his chest.
Scott sighed. "So, I didn't either." He looked at his girlfriend. "You remember when I almost killed you and Jackson?" She nodded and he looked at Stiles. "I had someone to stop me. He has nobody."
"That's his own fault." Stiles and Emily pointed out in unison. The two shared a surprised look.
"Doesn't matter." Scott stated. "If we can save him, we should try."
The two begrudgingly nodded while Allison kept her mouth shut. They were unaware that Jackson was currently beginning to shift into the kanima.