THE UNLIKELY TRIO HAD DRIVEN halfway across town to the abandoned warehouses, not far from the one the rave had been held at. Maggie was in the backseat secretly sending her location to Camellia and Stiles.
Derek turned to look between the two of them. "Stay here. Especially you." He looked at Peter knowingly.
"Where could we possibly go?" Peter looked at Maggie. She shrugged, playing along. She knew they'd both be following Derek as soon as he was out of hearing range.
He rolled his eyes and exited his Camaro, wolf-running around the corner and out of sight.
"Okay so what's the plan?" she asked him.
Peter chuckled. "You're still going to trust me after you just tried to kill me an hour ago?"
"Whatever you had to do with Lydia's disappearance and weird behavior is the least of our problems right now. Let's just go before Derek does anything stupid."
"I admire how you really believe that you can stop him."
"Maybe I can." Magnolia swung open the car door, shutting it as quietly as possible behind her. Her response had confused Peter for a second, but he quickly caught up to her.
"Let me go first," he whispered.
"So you can protect me?"
"No so I can hear what they're saying," he scoffed. Maggie rolled her eyes but tip-toed behind the ex-alpha. "Let's go around so they don't see us."
The night was still with no third party noises to drown out their footsteps, but thankfully Peter was sneaky and Maggie was light on her feet. They approached the scene and hid behind the heavy machinery nearby. First she saw Isaac, then Scott and weirdly enough, Mr. Argent.
"Where's Derek?" he asked. As if on queue, Derek came wolf-running down the road, stopping in front of the three men but not before performing a dramatic front flip and shifting to his ruby eyes.
Peter rolled his eyes. "Someone certainly enjoys making an entrance."
Maggie shrugged but looked back at the scene.
"I'm here for Jackson. Not you," announced Mr. Argent.
"Somehow, I don't find that very comforting. Get him inside." He nodded toward the bodybag. Scott and Isaac look unsure, but hauled it inside the warehouse with Derek and Mr. Argent behind them.
Maggie looked to Peter for instructions, and he pointed to a door around the back of the building. They snuck inside with no issues, once again hiding behind more machinery.
The warehouse was extraordinarily large, with Chris Argent's SUV in the middle of the room. The only light came from the dim lights above and the moonbeams coming in from the windows.
"Where are they?" Scott asked.
"Who?"
"Peter, Maggie, and Lydia."
She looked at Peter, who just shook his head and kept watching. Derek ignored Scott and began to unzip the bag.
"Whoa, hold on a second," Scott insisted. "You said you knew how to save him."
"We're past that."
"What about—"
"Think about it, Scott," Derek urged, tearing open the bag. Jackson's body was no longer in the clear cocoon they had mentioned, he only appeared asleep. "Gerard controls him now. He's turned Jackson into his own personal guard dog. And he set all of this in motion so that Jackson could get even bigger and more powerful."
Mr. Argent interjected. "No. No, he wouldn't do that. If Jackson's a dog, he's turning rabid and my father wouldn't let a rabid dog live."
"Of course not." Gerard entered the room from the furthest part of the warehouse. "Anything that dangerous, that out of control... is better off dead."
His voice alone sent fear down Magnolia's spine. Derek pulled his arm back, claws out. Realizing what he was about to do, she moved to stop him but Peter pulled her back by her shirt.
Jackson abruptly woke up, kanima eyes and fangs already on, and dug his claws into Derek's chest before he got the chance. Scott and Isaac stepped back and Mr. Argent pulled out his gun.
The kanima raised Derek off the ground, launching him across the room into the next.
"Well done to the last, Scott," Gerard commended. "Like the concerned friend you are, you brought Jackson to Derek to save him. You just didn't realize that you were also bringing Derek to me."
The sharp sound of a bow sliced the air, making Scott duck by habit. It stabbed Isaac, who was standing behind him, in the left shoulder. He groaned in pain and fell backward onto the concrete.
"Allison?" Scott asked just as Maggie wondered the same thing. Her figure disappeared back into the darkness, leaving them in disbelief.
Instinctually, he and Maggie ran to aid Isaac. They both looked surprised to see her come out of nowhere but shrugged it off as there were bigger fish to fry. Together, they carried Isaac into the other room.
"Close your eyes. I'm going to take out the arrow," Scott advised. Maggie rolled her eyes and yanked it out of Isaac's flesh, swiftly but carefully. He groaned again but they knew he'd heal in seconds. "Good job."
A gunshot echoed in the warehouse, presumably from Mr. Argent's. Several more followed, and his body soon flew into the room with them as well. Derek reappeared and launched himself at the kanima, buying them a little more time.
"Alright Isaac, let's go!" Maggie encouraged.
"I think it's fine now."
She and Scott helped him to his feet.
"Thanks. Now stay here and don't get hurt," Isaac instructed. The boys wolfed out and she hid behind a pile of wooden pallets.
Magnolia looked on as the three werewolves tried to fight off the kanima.
'Where are Stiles and Cami?' she wondered. One by one, the kanima sent them all flying. Maggie looked to where Peter was still hiding and they shared the same look: they're losing.
With one loud slicing sound, she knew Jackson had shred his claws into Derek again, but this time it'd gone deeper than the ones before. He fell to the ground and growled in pain.
Isaac's eyes glowed golden. He stood back up ready to fight, when Allison reappeared in front of him.
"No, Allison!" Maggie exclaimed, running toward her at full speed. Allison slashed at his abdomen, ducked his fist, then dug both knives into his back. Before she got the chance to stab him again, Maggie grabbed one arm and twisted, making Allison drop one of her knives. A vine pushed through the concrete on the ground and wrapped itself around her ankle and Allison fell to the ground beside Isaac. The plant instantly retreated back into the hole it created.
Magnolia looked around to see if anyone had noticed and her eyes locked with Peter's. He looked confused but he motioned for her to turn her attention back to Allison.
She still had the knife in her hand, and it was about to pierce Isaac in the chest. Before Maggie could kick it out of her hand, the kanima grabbed Allison by the wrist and raised her off the floor. The knife fell off to the side.
"Not yet, sweetheart," said Gerard, emerging from the shadows once more. The kanima wrapped its hand around Allison's neck.
"What are you doing?" she asked fearfully. He glanced at Scott.
"He's doing what he came here to do."
"Then you know." Gerard looked impressed but not surprised.
"What's he talking about?" Allison asked again. Maggie knelt down next to Isaac to try to help him back on his feet.
"It was the night outside the hospital, wasn't it? When I threatened your mother. I knew I saw something in your eyes. You could just smell it, couldn't you?"
Isaac made it to his knees and answered the question for him. "He's dying."
"I am. I have been for a while now. Unfortunately, science doesn't have a cure for cancer yet. But the supernatural does."
A single tear fell from Allison's eyes. With just one look, the kanima tightened his grip around her neck.
Mr. Argent looked at him with pure disgust.
"You monster."
"Not yet," Gerard grinned.
In disbelief as to what he was about to do Allison exclaimed, "What are you doing?"
"You'll kill her too?" Chris questioned.
Gerard made it very clear. "When it comes to survival, I'd kill my own son!"
In that moment, Maggie's heart broke for them. Gerard had let his wife, and Allison's mother, die for a code that not even Gerard would honor.
"Scott."
At Gerard's call, Scott un-wolfed. With his face back to normal, he looked around to everyone's stunned faces. It was impossible that he had joined Gerard's side.
He slowly walked over to Derek. With his claws out, he took him by the neck and lifted him up.
"Scott, don't." His words were breathy and pleading. "You know that he's gonna kill me right after. He'll be an Alpha."
"That's true," Gerard interjected. "But I think he already knows that, don't you, Scott? He knows that the ultimate prize is Allison. Do this small task for me, and they can be together. You are the only piece that doesn't fit, Derek. And in case you haven't learned yet, there is just no competing with young love." He began to remove his jacket and roll up his sleeve.
"Scott, don't. Don't!" Derek yelled.
"I'm sorry," Scott said softly. "But I have to."
He pulled Derek's head back and let Gerard sink his arm into Derek's fangs with a haunting cry. When he lifted his arm in victory, the marks were a bright red that began to slowly bleed.
As it started to drip down his arm, it turned tar black. That's when it clicked. The mountain ash Maggie had seen when she went to Deaton's office. It wasn't just for protecting the clinic, but to help Scott after he figured out Gerard was sick.
Noticing everyone going wide-eyed, he asked why then glanced at his arm. "What is this? What did you do?" He asked Scott.
Scott looked at Derek. "Everyone said Gerard always had a plan. I had a plan too."
Realizing what had happened, Gerard pulled out his pill case. "No." He surveyed them, letting a few fall to the ground. "No."
He crushed them in his hands, confirming his suspicions. "Mountain ash!"
The black blood began to ooze from his nose and the corners of his eyes. He looked at Allison one more time before throwing up a profuse amount and falling to the floor.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Derek questioned.
"Because you might be an Alpha," Scott explained, "but you're not mine."
Derek looked at who was left of the pack, just Isaac and Maggie, and realized they were both more loyal to Scott than they were to him. And he understood.
Gerard began to crawl on the floor, sputtering black blood angrily.
"Kill them," he shouted at the kanima. "Kill them all!"