Erik walked into the clinic with Chris again, both of them were silent as they got inside. He told Odette to stay at the hotel rather than come with him because he was still mad that she enrolled Christine in school without informing him first. She was also being incredibly secretive right now and he didn't appreciate it with the current heat they were under.
"I'm starting to think I need to buy a more prominent 'closed' sign." Deaton turned around from where he was to look at the two when Gerard walked in as well.
"Hello, Alan." Gerard greeted, "It's been a while. The last I heard, you had retired."
Deaton didn't hesitate to shoot back at him, "Last I heard you followed a code of conduct."
Chris interrupted and pointed at the dead young man on the metal slab, "If you hadn't noticed, this body is one of ours."
"I did." Deaton answers calmly, "I also noticed the gunpowder residue on his fingertips. So don't assume I will be swayed by your philosophy just 'cause I'll answer a few questions."
"He was only twenty-four."
"Killers come in all ages."
"All ages, sizes, shapes." Gerard continued on, "It's the last one that concerns us."
Erik exhaled deeply and grunted, "How about you tell us what you found?"
Deaton locked eyes with Erik and shook his head before moving to the dead body, "See this cut? Precise. Almost surgical." He lifted the head to reveal the slice on the back of the neck, "Whatever made this cut, it's laced with a paralytic toxin, potent enough to disable all motor functions. These are the cause of death. Notice the patterns on each side."
Chris nodded his head, "Five for each finger."
"Each claw." Gerard corrected.
"As you can see, it dug in, slashed upward, eviscerating the lungs and slicing through the bone of the rib cage with ease."
Erik kept his eyes on the wounds while crossing his arms over his chest, "Have you ever seen anything like this before?"
"No."
Erik shook his head with a scowl, "Any idea at all what killed him?"
"No." Deaton answers again, "But I can tell you it's fast, remarkably strong, and has the capacity to render its victims essentially helpless within seconds."
Chris scoffed, "If you're saying we should be cautious? We get it."
"I'm saying you should be afraid. Be very afraid. Because in the natural world, predators with paralytic toxins use them to catch and eat their prey. This prey wasn't eaten. That means whatever killed him only wanted to kill him. In fact, killing may be it's only purpose."
"Which doesn't stray from the usual monster." Erik says slowly which made Gerard nod from where he stood. He looked over to Deaton and sent him a curt nod of acknowledgement, "Thank you, Alan. We'll be in touch."
"Next time-" Alan says with a rather calm and stoic voice, "-make an appointment. I don't do night visits."
Paige woke up with a cry of pain and she tried to sit up but someone stopped her from doing that. She just realized she'd never broken a bone before so the fact that her first time was a superpowered werewolf broke it was far worse.
"That Regina George wolf reject sure did a number on you." Christine says while getting up from the seat beside her, "That girl has serious problems."
"What-" Paige looked at her arm to see a sling was on her now, she forced herself to sit up and ignored the fact that Chrisitne said not to, "What are you doing?"
"A thank you would be nice." Christine gets up from the seat beside her and walks to the kitchen, "Want some water?"
Paige's head was throbbing a little bit but not so much that she couldn't move. Honestly, Paige should have a concussion right now but she had a feeling she didn't. "Were you following me?"
"Good thing I was." Christine hums and moves over to her, setting the cup down on the coffee table, "Angry blondie dumped your friend in a dumpster, she just left you in the road."
"Did you happen to pick up my-"
"Blondie crushed it."
Paige shut her eyes and took the cup of water. She wasn't exactly thrilled with the stalking but she did help her... in a way. She flinched when trying to move her arm, "Oh, ow-"
"Yeah, she snapped it in a few places." Christine explains while sitting down on the lounge chair across from the couch, "I would have brought you to a hospital but then they would have called your emergency number. Which was your Aunt and from what I've heard, you wouldn't exactly be thrilled by that."
"Well, thanks-"
"I get you don't particularly like me." Christine cuts in with a pretty calm voice while she leaned back with her own cup of whatever she was drinking, "I don't blame you, I'm basically a bitch. But I'd like you to know I'm not exactly here to fucking ruin your life or anything. If I was, I would have already told my father that your friend Scott was a werewolf and that you're not exactly human. But I haven't."
"You-" Paige forced herself to stand up completely, she swayed a little bit but steadied herself without the need of help. "You know?"
"You guys talk loudly." Christine swished her cup around, revealing the beverage to actually be wine, "Like incredibly loud. I'm surprised the entire school doesn't already know. Also, you obviously want to leave. So go ahead."
"Why are you doing all of this?"
"Well, one, I'm bored." She says which only made Paige scowl since it was a stupid reason, "And two, I'm proving that I'm not the bad guy here. I may act like a raging bitch, that's just my personality, but my morals are pretty set. And three, I'm pissed because you were kept from my family. My aunt was honestly a lot more devastated than she appeared because she was closest with your dad. So I'm also doing this for her."
Paige wasn't really sure how to respond to that so she just hobbled outside. She shut the door with her good arm and stared down the long hall. This was a pretty expensive place, she headed towards the elevator since it seemed she was not on the first floor. Paige was going to have to go to the hospital for sure but she also had to call Stiles or Scott.
"Uh-" She approached the front desk with a nervous smile, "Could I please borrow your phone? I need to make a call."
"Sure thing."
"Thank you." Paige mumbles with the same small smile as she grabbed the phone. She looked at her single hand before setting the phone on the table and then dialing the number. She wanted to call Stiles first but his phone just kept ringing until it went to voicemail. Meaning he might not have heard it. So she decided to call Scott, this time someone picked up, "Oh, thank God, Scott-"
"Paige, are you okay? I could literally smell you all over Erica."
"Uh... She kind of broke my arm like it was a dry spaghetti noodle. Snap crackle and popped the crap out of it." Paige made a joke of it but it sure did hurt like hell, "And she knocked me out using Stiles' jeep. I'm also assuming Derek got to Boyd. I've got no clue where I am but I am going to the hospital to get my arm checked out. Do you think you could find Stiles?"
"Yeah, sure, definitely. I was... I was going to meet Allison-"
"You don't have to do it this second. I was just told that Erica threw him in a dumpster so."
"Wait, who told you?"
"My cousin, Christine."
Scott was silent for a moment on the other end, "Are you sure you're okay?"
Paige couldn't stop the smile from appearing on her face at how worried he sounded for her, "I'm okay. I... I don't think Christine is as bad as she seems. I'm going to hang up now and start walking."
"Alright, be safe."
"Thank you again for letting me use the phone." Paige says with her usual bright attitude which made the receptionist smile back to her.
She walked right out of the hotel, or maybe apartment complex. She couldn't particularly tell the difference other than this place looked fancy. Paige read the name on the street and at least figured out where she was in town. And the hospital was the exact opposite side of town. With a long sigh, Paige ran a hand over her face, after all, she only had one to really use. Even moving her arm an inch hurt like a mother-trucker.
Clicking her tongue, Paige shut her eyes and exhaled softly. Without thinking about it, Paige started to walk. She was trying to manifest the hospital since she didn't know the exact directions so hopefully her powers would help her this time. Rather than just leaving her confused and concerned for her own mental health. And she kind of wanted something sweet. Maybe a soda.
She began to whistle a happy tune. Ironically, she was whistling the I Whistle a Happy Tune from the musical King and I. Paige always liked that musical, she watched it with her Aunt when she was a kid. Which was why she liked music so much. She was never prone to singing but instruments were sure what she liked. Whistling was close enough to an instrument because she didn't really need to try.
Paige then recognized where she was when she officially started to pay attention. As slowly as possible, Paige walked into the old train yard. Her footsteps were practically non-existent and she stood maybe a few feet away from Boyd. Who hadn't even noticed her. Which felt like a miracle to Paige since their senses were supposed to have heightened senses. She flinched when she watched Isaac get thrown to the ground.
"Does anyone wanna try not being completely predictable?"
With furrowed brows, Paige took another step down the stairs but Boyd had gotten up, not because he noticed her though. Wrinkling her nose, Paige felt a little disgusted as she watched the very person that practically abused her jump into Derek and began to make out with him.
It lasted maybe a few seconds before Derek threw her to the ground and wiped his mouth, "That's the last time you do that."
"Why?" Erica huffed back in a low hiss, "Because I'm a beta?"
"No, because I have someone else in mind for you."
Paige took another step and the fact that they still hadn't noticed her was beyond crazy.
"Are we done?" Isaac groans while sitting up, "I got about a hundred bones that need a few hours to heal."
"Come here." Derek reached for Isaac and then broke his arm, which made Paige flinch and almost fall, "A hundred and one. You think I'm teaching you how to fight? Huh? Look at me!"
Paige felt the wave of fear, and it was from the three betas looking at their Alpha. Derek was scaring them, and he was honestly scaring her too.
"I'm teaching you how to survive!"
"If they wanted us dead why aren't they coming for us now?" Isaac demanded while he stood up from the ground, "What are they waiting for?"
"I don't know." Derek tells him truthfully, "But they're planning something. And you, especially, know that's not our only problem. Whatever that thing is that killed Isaac's father, I think it killed someone else last night. Until I find out what it is, you all need to learn everything that I know. As fast as I can teach you."
Paige went to go walk back up the stairs but slipped, she moved with her broken arm to grab the railing, "Oh, mother-" She stopped herself from cursing and steadied herself with her other hand.
"Paige?" It was Isaac that called out to her and even rushed to the end of the steps, "What happened to your arm?"
Without saying a word, Paige's eyes fell on Erica and then looked right back to Isaac while Derek took slow steps towards them. "I... fell. Uh... I should-"
"Bullshit, you looked right at Erica when I asked-" Isaac whipped his attention to the rather smug blonde who seemed to be refraining a smirk, "You broke Paige's arm, you-"
"Isaac." Derek cut in curtly which made him stop talking completely but he seemed to not care about withholding his current anger. "I'll deal with you later, Erica. Paige-"
"Deal with her?" Paige blinks her eyes a couple of times, "I just watched you break Isaac's arm because he talked back to you. No, I don't want you to deal with Erica for what she did."
Derek didn't say anything but he grabbed Paige's good arm and pulled her with him up the stairs.
"Ah-" Paige whimpered a bit because the dragging was still somehow hurting her broken arm. She felt Derek release her and let her walk on her own. Paige kept walking with him until they were outside, "I'm being serious-"
"How bad is it?"
"Uh..." She glanced down to her sling, "Supposedly a few breaks in different spots, I still need to go to the hospital to make sure that it'll heal properly." Paige looked away from the sling and at him with a small frown on her face, "You're scaring them."
Derek rolled his eyes, "They should be scared-"
"They're scared because you placed them in a situation to be." She instantly points out when she realized that Derek was guiding her to where his camaro was parked, "I get your all... spooky scary big alpha now, but you're also supposed to be their leader. And most leaders who reign with a totalitarian fist tend to get kicked to the curb."
"If I don't teach them how to-"
"Survive." She finishes with a slight hint of sarcasm, "I get it. You're also teaching them to be scared of you. Which you shouldn't. Not the best way to get people to want to follow you."
"You're telling me how I should lead my own pack-"
Paige rolled her eyes at his dominant nature, "Oh, cool it, Prickly-Pants. Technically, I didn't give you a command or anything. I am simply pointing out possible flaws in your leadership."
"You think I should be more kind? Like you? Or Scott?" Derek demanded from her when he reached his car, "Kindness doesn't keep people safe."
"Well, I can also make the argument that neither does violence." She tells him, not even reacting to how harsh and mean his voice had gotten, "Either way, whether you're kind or harsh, you have different results. But I can tell you that people liked MLK more than Hitler in history and you should know what each of them stood for in the categories of good or bad."
Derek didn't say anything to that, he was just silent for a couple of minutes. Even though it was completely silent and getting relatively awkward, Paige refused to say anything to him.
"I'll drive you to the hospital." He says while unlocking his car, "And I'll talk to Erica."
"No need." Paige shook her head and got into his car, "She can sit and feel guilty for what she did or not. My arm is broken and you... dealing with it won't change that fact. Erica was bullied for being different and she's taking it out on me because she views me as someone who is in your same social circle that didn't get the same treatment as her. If I'm the surrogate for her anger, that's fine, it's better than her hurting someone else. At least she lashed out on someone who knows what she is and won't call her in because hunters would one hundred percent kill her."
Derek only shook his head after shutting his door, "Maybe you should rethink your own motto. You're far too kind and forgiving."
"I'm not... forgiving." Paige looked at her open door and twisted her body to close it with her good arm, struggling a little bit, "If I was, I would be living at home with my aunt and not with Stiles."
Derek reached over and closed her door for her, "I got it." She turned to look at him and her breath hitched in her throat since he was incredibly close to her face. Paige's eyes locked with his own and she sunk a little further back in the seat.
"Uh-" Paige cleared her throat, "Are you not going to drive?"
"Not unless your seat belt is on." Derek breathed out before pulling her seat belt on for her since he knew she'd struggle with it.
Releasing a laugh to diffuse whatever just entered the air, Paige shifted in her seat, "Isn't this you being kind?"