Innocence In Being Human

“There is some kind of a sweet innocence in being human- in not having to be just happy or just sad- in the nature of being able to be both broken and whole, at the same time.” ― C. JoyBell C.

Contrary to what everyone thought Derek didn't like to make everything in his life difficult. For some reason it all just seemed to turn out that way no matter what he did. Case and point; Derek was standing in the middle of a hotel room glaring at Stiles and they were arguing over where they were going to go for their next case. Stiles looked like he was about to go insane at any moment and his eyes kept flashing to their demon black. If anyone had told Derek a few years ago that the one person in the world he trusted outside of Laura would be a demon he'd have laughed in their face yet here he was. Stiles was the crossroads demon Derek had almost made a deal with the night that the fire happened but Stiles turned him down. Years later they teamed up and took down the demon that had possessed Kate. Stiles got demoted and dragged back to the Pit for breaking their deal a second time. Every now and then Stiles would have what seemed like PTSD like flashbacks to his in the Pit. Derek wasn't sure he was ever going to truly know what happened to Stiles and what Stiles gave up for him.

A few months earlier a trickster got ahold of them. The world that he threw them into had them as sworn enemies and Derek even got his family back but it wasn't real. The only thing that kept Derek grounded in reality was Stiles. During the vision Stiles admitted that they were connected in a much deeper way. Derek was the reason that Stiles had been on the table in the Pit a second time, Derek was the last person Stiles thought about before they tortured him, and the first person that came to mind when he became coherent again. It connected them and Stiles was reluctant to tell Derek about it since he hadn't intended for the bond to happen. After they escaped and caught the trickster the only thing they were able to find out was that someone hired the trickster to put them into that vision to see if they were in love with each other. That someone ended up being Stiles former second in command and current King of the Crossroads Lydia.

Just two weeks prior Lydia had cornered the two of them with her boyfriend Jackson. Jackson was a kanima and his poison made Derek useless. Lydia tried to convince them to stop working together but they had refused. The thought of leaving Stiles made Derek feel nauseated these days and despite what the trickster said about his vision proving they weren't in love with each other Derek wasn't so sure.

He thought, as a young kid, that he was in love with Kate but it was merely infatuation. Besides that Stiles was the only other person he had slept with. The fierce feeling to protect Stiles from anything that wanted to hurt him, the intense need to chase away the nightmares from the Pit, Derek wondered if maybe he needed to reevaluate what he thought about love. Maybe there was something more between the two of them, something that didn't have a name yet, but maybe they were on their way to something like love. That, however, was not what they were arguing about. Now they were arguing about something Lydia had said before she vanished.

"No," Stiles said. He crossed his arms across his chest and glared at Derek.

"She pretty much spelled it out for us," Derek replied. "Something is going on with Beacon Hills and we need to go check it out."

"You want to trust the woman that poisoned and then threatened to kill us?" Stiles asked.

"I'm not saying we should trust her but why would she say something for no reason?" Derek asked.

"Why would she throw us into some fantasy land to prove a point? This is Lydia; I've known her for decades and I couldn't even begin to tell you her motivations for doing anything. She obviously has some sort of thing with watching us suffer so of course she's going to send you back to the place where your family died." Stiles sighed heavily and narrowed his eyes. "We're not going back there."

"She hinted that we had to, that something big was going on, how can you just sit by and let something terrible happen in the town where I was born?" Derek asked.

"That place is a hellmouth. I'd be surprised if there wasn't a literal door to the Pit," Stiles snapped. Stiles looked so tense that if he moved just the right way he was going to snap. After enough time Derek knew the signs of Stiles' flashbacks and when he was worried about going back to the Pit. Lydia had told them, in so many words, that if Stiles got caught again there wouldn't be any chance of escape. If he truly believed Beacon Hills had a door to the Pit it made sense that he wanted to avoid it at all costs. Derek walked forward and tried to ignore the flinch when he touched Stiles' arm.

"I won't let anyone hurt you," Derek whispered.

"You can't make that promise," Stiles scoffed he he didn't pull away from Derek. "And I don't need you to protect me. We need to have that discussion on your hero complex." Stiles fell silent but he leaned into Derek's presence just a little. "Promise me that if nothing is going on we can get the hell out of dodge."

"If nothing is going on we'll leave without stopping," Derek replied. Derek wasn't sure that was going to be enough to make Stiles feel better but Stiles seemed to accept that this wasn't a battle he was going to win. Instead Stiles nodded and captured Derek's lips into a searing kiss. If there was one aspect of their relationship that Derek really liked it was how physical they were. Touch was the thing that helped keep both of them grounded. If Stiles was having a flashback to the Pit Derek would move close enough that their legs were touching, brush his arm, made some sort of contact that would help ground Stiles in reality. If Derek had a nightmare about the fantasy world where the tricker forced him to watch his family get slaughtered he would wake up with Stiles wrapped around him. Despite what Lydia might think Derek knew they were good for each other.

Stiles walked them backwards to the bed and pushed Derek back. Derek didn't let Stiles get far, though, and pulled Stiles on top of him. They were both exhausted after wrapping up the case about the poltergeist that was haunting a young family so Derek was content to kiss Stiles until his lips were numb. The smell of sulfur that seemed to lurk on every inch of Stiles' clothing was almost comforting at this point in their relationship. It was like a constant reminder that Stiles was a demon and Derek didn't need to always protect him. They could protect each other because that was what partners did. Stiles broke the kiss and pressed his forehead to Derek's; this was oddly intimate even for them.

"Promise me again," Stiles whispered. Derek hated seeing Stiles this worried about something, this tense, but he couldn't sit by and let people get hurt if he could stop it. Derek took Stiles' hand and placed it over his heart so Stiles could feel his heartbeat.

"I promise." Derek knew that his heartbeat was steady because he wasn't lying. He had zero desire to hang around the town that made him think of what he had lost. Stiles nodded and sat up though he remained on Derek's hips. Derek could practically see Stiles pull himself together. As all of the layers that hid the scars were put back into place and Stiles grinned.

"You have blood in your hair. Something tells me you should probably take care of that before you go to bed," Stiles said. Derek rolled his eyes as he pushed Stiles off of his hips and onto the bed. Telling him to go shower was Stiles' way of telling Derek to go away so he could patrol the immediate area before they went to bed. If it made Stiles feel better to go and look around then Derek wasn't about to call him on it. Instead he got his things and went into the bathroom. They were in Iowa so they were still several days away from California. Derek had a feeling that Stiles was going to get grumpier the closer they got so it was probably best to just let Stiles indulge in his paranoia. Derek closed his eyes and let the hot water wash away any remnants of the case from his skin.

They left for California the next morning and less than an hour into the trip Derek knew that this was going to be exceptionally uncomfortable. Instead of taking his normal place in the passenger seat Stiles stretched out along the back seat of the car with a book. There were only a few times during their entire partnership that Derek could think of Stiles sitting away from him. It was pretty clear that, for whatever reason, Stiles was not happy they were going back to Beacon Hills. There was more to this than what he was saying too. Something about Beacon Hills made Stiles want to run the other direction and Derek was curious as to what it was. Stiles, however, didn't seem so keen on sharing with Derek about whatever made him so apprehensive.

Stiles hardly said three words as they made their way into the first town and waved Derek off when Derek asked if he wanted anything to eat. Stiles didn't normally eat but he would get up and sit with Derek in random cafes and diners to keep him company. Derek ate by himself and wondered if there was anything in Beacon Hills that was worth this degree of fighting. The waitress smiled when she brought him more coffee and batted her fake eyelashes. Now he wished Stiles was here more than anything because she was flirting with him. If Stiles was here he'd find some way of getting her to go away without being too mean about it.

"What brings you to town?" she asked. She was wearing so much makeup that Derek could almost taste it.

"Just passing through," he replied. The waitress actually pouted at that and walked away to go get his food presumably. The door to the diner opened and Stiles walked in. Derek was about to wave him over when Stiles made a beeline for the restroom without a second glance at Derek. The waitress saw Stiles passing through and noticed the way Derek was staring. She made a little 'oh I see' noise and gave Derek his food without another attempt at flirting. Stiles left the diner after a moment in the restroom and out the window Derek saw him climb into the backseat again. The food was terrible and everything smelled burnt; Derek just wanted to get out of there.

He was only about halfway through his meal when his phone pinged with a text message. Derek opened it up and saw that it was from Laura.

Just wanted to let you know I've settled into the new place, it said while leaving out where that place was exactly.

And where would that be? Derek typed back. Laura was usually quick to respond but this time it was a long time before she responded to him. Long enough that Derek was almost back in the car by the time she said anything.

I'll call you later, was the message and Derek frowned deeply.

"What's with the face?" Stiles asked from the back of the car. Derek looked in the rear view mirror and could see Stiles looking back at him.

"Laura," Derek replied. "She texted and said that she was settled into her new place but then wouldn't tell me where that was exactly." Stiles stopped twitching in a way that made Derek extremely nervous. "Stiles, what do you know that I don't?"

"Nothing," Stiles said quickly.

"Are you lying to me?" Derek asked.

"I'm insulted that you would even suggest such a thing, hurt even," Stiles said.

"Which wasn't an answer at all." Derek sighed and turned on the Camaro. "Stiles, she's my sister, if she's walking into some shit show that you know about but aren't telling me I'll be really hurt." It was a low blow since Stiles knew how close Derek and Laura were and Stiles knew the lengths that Derek was willing to go when it came to Laura. They were on the highway by the time Stiles said anything at all.

"I'll make a few phone calls." That was the end of the conversation apparently. Derek clenched the steering wheel hard enough that the leather creaked. First Laura wouldn't tell him where she was and now Stiles wasn't being totally honest. If Derek didn't already know that he was paranoid that would have done it. Now he was glad that Stiles stayed in the backseat of the car playing with the disposable cell phone they had picked up for him a few weeks prior. They didn't say another word to each other for nearly five hours. This was going to be a very long trip.

Derek was in the middle of putting chains on the Camaro so they could pass through the Rocky Mountains when the hairs on the back of his neck stood up on end. The feeling that settled into his gut was enough to nearly take Derek off of his feet and he had to put a hand out to steady himself. Despite the fact that they had hardly spoken in the last day and a half this was the thing that made Stiles jump out of the back of the car and help Derek to his feet. The local police, who were the ones insisting that Derek put chains on the car, stared at them.

“He slipped on some ice, no big deal,” Stiles said. He flashed a warm smile and nearly shoved Derek into the driver’s seat. “Don’t move; I’ll take care of this.” Stiles slammed the door shut before Derek could even open his mouth. It was probably a good thing because he was about two minutes away from having a full blown nervous breakdown right there in the car. He needed to get himself together; Stiles didn’t know how to drive and the motel they had passed earlier didn’t have any vacancies. Derek really wasn’t in any condition to drive because the last time he felt this he kicked down Laura’s door to see a hunter threatening to blow her head off.

“Are you going to drive us into a mountain?” Stiles asked and Derek hadn’t even noticed him getting into the car.

“Maybe,” Derek replied. “Stiles, something’s wrong with Laura and I don’t have any cell phone coverage until we’re out of the pass.” A beat of silence passed until one of the police officers waved them down. If they didn't get moving they were going to get a ticket and the last thing Derek needed was some sort of paper trail. The roads were terrible so it made sense that he had to drive slow and that was Derek's excuse. Not that he felt like he was going to crash into the mountain if he thought about this too much. Something was wrong with Laura and they had no idea where she was. Stiles couldn't move them somewhere if he didn't know where to go. Derek's hands trembled as he drove through the pass and he jumped when Stiles put a hand on his knee. Derek glanced at the hand and then at Stiles who was staring out the window like they could ignore what was going on. It just made Derek feel a little grounded in a way that Stiles' presence often did. That didn't mean they were going to acknowledge it though because that was something that they never did. Instead Derek let it smooth his frayed nerves enough that they made it through the pass.

Once they crossed into Colorado Derek pulled over at the first motel he could find and got a room for the night. He probably could have driven for a few more hours but Derek was so exhausted from the tense drive that it didn't look like an option. He tried to call Laura right away but it went straight to voicemail which did not make him feel any better. He sent her a text and fell back on the cheap motel bed and closed his eyes.

"We're a few days from California," Stiles said.

"Why would I go to Beacon Hills if Laura needs my help?" Derek asked.

"Just in case nothing's wrong," Stiles replied shrugging.

"You're probably happy," Derek said without thinking. Stiles raised an eyebrow and gestured for him to continue. "If something's going on with Laura then we won't go to Beacon Hills just like you wanted." Stiles' expression shut completely down and it was like looking into a blank slate. It was a look that Derek didn't like seeing on Stiles because it made how broken he was more obvious. The implications about what he had just said sunk in and Derek scrubbed his hands over his face. "I didn't mean it like that."

"No, you did," Stiles said flatly. "Maybe I should go somewhere else for the night." Derek sat up and looked at Stiles. Stiles was ready to get up and leave without another word and for some reason that made Derek feel even worse. "You're upset otherwise you'd know for a fact that I'd never relish in Laura getting hurt." It was true. If anything Stiles and Laura seemed to like each other to a certain degree now. Derek knew that if he was thinking clearly he would have known that but the knowledge that something could be wrong with his Alpha was overriding all of his other instincts. That wasn't really any excuse for accusing Stiles of being excited that Laura might be hurt.

"No, you're right," Derek said. He wasn't in any condition to spend the night alone until he heard back from Laura. "I know that and I'm just being stupid. You should stay." The phone dinged with a text message just as Derek finished talking. It was from Laura.

Sorry, I was in the car and couldn't answer, but I'm fine. I'm worried I was followed though so I'll send you my location in a few days, it said. Stiles walked over and looked over Derek's shoulder.

"So she's okay then," Stiles said.

"Yeah, I guess she is, maybe I'm just feeling some of her paranoia about being followed," Derek wondered as he plugged his phone in for the night. Somewhere in the back of his mind Derek knew that some paranoia shouldn't have caused that sort of reaction. However, he also knew that Laura was no doubt a little worried about being followed by hunters after the Walter incident. Derek didn't really feel any better but he didn't have any excuse for being an asshole either. Stiles fell back against the bed and began to read some more of what looked like The Divine Comedy which was hilarious on several different levels. Stiles didn't sleep but he would often stay in the same room while Derek slept to more or less keep watch. Derek hadn't really apologized for accusing Stiles of being glad that Laura was potentially hurt but the words got stuck in his throat.

"Get some sleep," Stiles said without looking up from his book. "I'll keep reading inaccurate depictions of hell from an author self insert that manages to rhyme and you get some shut eye."

"I'm not sure if you really understand the humor in you, of all people, reading The Inferno," Derek said. The atmosphere in the room felt a little better and Derek was glad when Stiles smiled to himself.

"Being hilarious is what I do best. Go to sleep," Stiles said. Derek climbed into bed but sleep would not find him. He kept thinking about the various times the world has conspired to make him watch his family die. The fire, finding Laura's body the first time and making his deal with Stiles to bring her back, and the slaughter of his entire family in the trickster's vision. Stiles wordlessly settled down into the bed and let Derek hold onto him. If Derek dug his nails into Stiles' skin as he forced himself to remember that Laura wasn't dead neither of them mentioned it.

The feeling that something was wrong never really left Derek. It set every single one of his nerves on edge and made him snap at anyone that crossed him. He had the worst case of road rage by the time they pass through Utah and their terrible drivers. He cursed the very existence of the Nevada desert and how there is nothing out there. He almost got out of the car and walked through Donner's Pass when it was closed for a terrible blizzard. Stiles was a constant presence at his side but there is only so much help he could bring. Laura still wouldn't pick up her phone when he called but she would respond to texts. Derek just wanted to hear her voice, that didn't seem like it was asking a lot, and he was aching to have a conversation with his sister and his Alpha. They were in a motel waiting for the Pass to open so they could get into California and Derek was pacing back and forth in the room unable to sit still. Stiles sat on the bed, crossed legged, watching him with curious eyes.

"You're a wreck," Stiles said.

"Thanks," Derek snapped but Stiles didn't looked offended. If anything he looked a little amused and Derek wanted to punch that expression off of his face.

"Are you going to roll into Beacon Hills like a fuzzy thunder storm and scare everyone into giving you information with the power of your glare?" Stiles asked raising an eyebrow. Derek was a little surprised by the comment but Stiles held a hand up. "Somehow, I don't think small town folk are going to be okay with something like that. So how about we cut a deal? You get your shit together and we go into Beacon Hills like two relatively sane people. Once we either find out what's going on and stop it or we find out that nothing is going on we go sniff out Laura. This deal requires us to act like we're human."

"I've never been human," Derek replied reflectively. Stiles rolled his eyes and crossed his arms because he knew that Derek was going to agree with him one way or another. "Fine."

"You can admit I'm a genius; I promise I won't tell anyone," Stiles said grinning. "Now, you have to drive tomorrow so get some sleep. We'll be in Beacon Hills in the mid morning, we'll figure out nothing is wrong by lunch, and the hell out of dodge by dinner." Derek didn't comment that Stiles seemed far too confident that nothing was wrong in Beacon Hills. He knew better than to push for questions; if Stiles wanted to tell him something he would tell him in his own time and no sooner. Derek wanted to know why but he wasn't willing to risk Stiles closing up on him now. Not when he had worked so hard for whatever they had now.

Stiles watched the scenery roll by as they drove through the mountains. Derek wanted to leave as soon as the sun was up so Stiles spent the night watching the horizon line outside. He could practically feel Beacon Hills from here and it made his skin itch. Stiles hated that place and he could not for the life of him figure out why Derek was so keen to go back. It was that hero complex that they really needed to have a talk about. If someone was in trouble Derek would run toward the trouble at full speed without any regard for his own safety. It stressed Stiles out because there were times when they should have turned tail and run the hell away. There were hunts that they came out of relatively intact that Stiles was sure was going to kill them. They were lucky, so far, and going to Beacon Hills just seemed like pushing that luck.

There was also the chance that Derek would want to go to his old house. Stiles wasn't sure how he was going to handle that. Derek still felt like 'Kate as possessed by Saul the demon' was still his fault in some way. That guilt would come back full force if they went and looked at the Hale's ruined house. In a way Stiles hoped that the county had the thing demolished while Laura and Derek were away but he had a feeling that was something their luck wasn't going to cover. With the way the universe seemed to love piling on more terrible things into Derek's life there would be blood soaked into the dirt still.

Stiles had leaned back against the motel, just outside their door, and listened while he waited for the sun to rise the previous night. The roof kept the snow from falling on him and Stiles couldn't feel the cold. If anything he liked the cold because it helped him forget burning. He could feel the various different creatures of the night moving throughout the mountains. Nothing had recognized their presence yet but the area was prime hunting grounds for lots of things that weren't too keen with a werewolf and demon in their territory. They were walking a fine line and one day someone was going to take notice of them. Whether it was some other set of hunters or something much worse someone or something was going to notice them.

He thought about what Lydia said; how they shouldn't work together. How they should 'break up' complete with air quotes because Lydia had to be Lydia even when she was Queen of the Crossroads. Stiles touched his arm where her nails had broken his skin and put that asshole Jackson's poison into his system. It was too potent, even for him, to fight off, and he was helpless. Stiles clenched his fists; he hated feeling helpless.

His helplessness was what the main cause for pretty much everything terrible in their lives. He was helpless to keep villagers from killing Scott all those centuries ago when Scott wasn't a threat to anyone. He was helpless to keep his Dad from getting sick. He was helpless to stop Saul from manipulating him into selling his soul to save his Dad only to turn around kill them both. He was helpless in the Pit as Saul broke his soul and his body. He was helpless to protect Derek and his family from Saul years later. Stiles scoffed to himself; he was even helpless when he was King of the Crossroads. He was helpless to stop Saul from killing Laura years later. He let himself make a deal with Derek to bring her back when he knew it was a terrible idea because he was helpless against someone else losing everyone in their family. He was helpless against his own weakness when his broke his deal with Derek when he knew the consequences. He was helpless in the Pit the second time as they broke him even further and he made it worse for himself by protecting Derek yet again.

Lydia knew how much Stiles hated that feeling which was exactly why she did it. Lydia was smart, far too smart for her own good, and she knew every single one of his weaknesses. If she truly decided to turn against him Stiles had no doubt he would be back in the Pit within a day. Lydia knew exactly what word to say, what to do, that would make him reckless enough to get caught and thrown back down there. Everything from the second round in the Pit was still too fresh in his mind, like gaping wound he couldn't close, and Lydia knew exactly where that wound was.

"She's probably right," Stiles whispered to himself because he was sure Derek was asleep. "Maybe it would be better if we weren't together." Stiles had already painted a giant target on Derek's back. If something happened because he wasn't there to help Stiles would never forgive himself. Somehow, Derek had wormed his way into what remained of Stiles' soul. They were connected, which was a part of that, but there was more to it than that. Derek was something different.

Stiles hit his head against the wall; his feelings were something else he was always helpless against.

Stiles rested his head against the cool glass of the car hours later and tried not to think about it too much. They were almost out of the mountains and they would be in Beacon Hills in a few short hours. He kept denying it to Derek but Stiles knew something was wrong. Whatever it was Lydia was basically baiting both of them when she told them that. She knew they would go and for all Stiles knew they were walking into a trap. Whether that was true or not something was going on there. Stiles knew he was going to be once again helpless to stop Derek from throwing himself into whatever trouble was happening.

They didn't talk much as they drove the last few hours. Stiles put his feet on Derek's dashboard because he knew Derek hated it. Derek moved his legs away and glared at Stiles like he was the worst travel companion ever. Stiles just grinned and tried to ignore the terrible feeling his gut as they got closer to Beacon Hills.

Apparently, not much had changed since he stopped teenage Derek from making a deal at his crossroads all those years ago. As they drove along Main Street several people turned and watched the flashy car go by. Stiles wondered if he could convince Derek to get a more subtle car but there was something about the Camaro that Derek seemed to like despite all of the attention it drew.

"This place hasn't changed a bit," Derek said. He pulled into a small diner off of Main Street and they both got out. Stiles kept his eye out for anything lurking in the shadows that Derek couldn't see but there wasn't anything. That made Stiles even more uneasy; there was always something lurking in the shadows just out of reach.

"Small towns tend to do that. Take that from someone who's been around a lot longer than you," Stiles replied. They walked into the diner and took their seats. A supremely bored looking blonde waitress with bright red lipstick and name tag that read 'Erica' walked up to them.

"Good morning, can I get you some coffee?" Erica asked clearly disinterested in anything they had to say. Stiles wasn't even sure she made eye contact with either one of them. She made Stiles smile to himself.

"Two, thanks," Derek said. Erica nodded and walked back to the kitchen. She glanced over her shoulder at them once, then again, and Stiles wanted to groan. Stiles knew how to read people and he knew Erica had just recognized Derek. Instead of bringing them their coffee she ducked into the kitchen no doubt to gossip.

"What's she saying?" Stiles asked unwilling to do it himself. Derek tilted his way that was so incredibly dog like that Stiles had to bite his tongue from making about fifty different jokes.

"She's asking the cook if I'm who she thinks I am," Derek said and he raised an eyebrow. "Apparently, Laura and I are local legends. The boy and girl who lived."

"Didn't they write a book about that?" Derek glared at him and didn't dignify that comment with response. Instead, Erica came back out with their coffee and poured it.

"You're Derek Hale, aren't you?" Erica asked and Stiles gave her bonus points for not beating around the bush.

"Yeah, I am, why?" Derek asked even though he clearly already knew why she wanted to know.

"It's just surprising. The lost kids of Beacon Hills coming home or whatever," Erica replied. Derek's back straightened in a way that never meant good things and Stiles felt his blood run a little cold.

"What do you mean?" Stiles asked because Derek was clearly in no state to hold a conversation. Erica shrugged and poured the second cup of coffee.

"First Laura gets here two days ago and now Derek's here too. You guys must have something to sort out if you came back after all of these years," Erica said. "Now, are you ready to order?"

"Just coffee today, thanks," Stiles said quickly smiling. Erica frowned and walked away. Stiles waited until she was out of earshot before he turned to Derek. "We'll go look for her right now." Stiles knew Derek's priorities and Laura was right at the top of the list. There were a couple reasons Stiles could think of why Laura would keep her location a secret from them but they all tasted like lies. Derek drank his coffee in complete silence and they left without another word to Erica. Derek at least remembered to tip.

For the rest of the day Stiles wandered, drove, and ran around Beacon Hills with Derek as they searched for Laura. Derek said he couldn't smell or feel her which was strange if she was in town. Stiles was going to point out that she could have moved on until they found her car in a nearby motel parking lot. Laura was still checked in and would be for the rest of the week. Derek was getting more and more worried by the second. It was dark now and they were walking through the preserve. Derek was partially shifted and would dart ahead on all fours and circle back to Stiles.

"I can't find her, Stiles," Derek said breathlessly after nearly twelve hours of searching. "Stiles, I can't even find a trace of her." Derek was getting really worked up and Stiles wasn't entirely sure what to do. He wasn't very good with providing comfort but he knew that Derek found his presence grounding. Stiles put a hand on Derek's arm to stop him from pacing. Derek stilled and stared at him. Stiles didn't say anything; he just put both of Derek's clawed hands on his waist and stepped into Derek's personal space. He ignored the claws that were biting into his skin already and pulled Derek's head down so their foreheads were pressed together. Derek closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. Stiles just let Derek get himself together but remained entirely aware of everything that was in the forest around them. So far there weren't any threats but they couldn't stay out here vulnerable like this.

"We're going to find her," Stiles said once Derek relaxed a little. Stiles put confidence into his words that he really didn't feel. Derek nodded and closed the distance between them. It was a little strange, the way Derek kissed him, because Stiles could tell that Derek was trying to say 'thank you' without having to actually voice the words. Stiles knew though and he didn't need words. Instead they broke apart and started toward the car. They would look again in the morning and Stiles just hoped that they found Laura quickly and alive.

Derek wasn't entirely sure he remembered getting back to the motel but Stiles must have made sure he didn't kill them as he drove them home. Stiles would normally leave the room and sit outside, Derek wasn't supposed to know about that and he wasn't about to tell Stiles that he knew about it, but this time he stayed in the room. Derek focused on Stiles' steady heartbeat and the sound the pages in Stiles' book made when he turned them. Derek didn't sleep much but the little sleep he did get were plagued by nightmares. He remembered the feeling of Laura dying, he remembered how it was like someone tore a piece of his soul out, and his dreams were that feeling over and over again. The third time he woke up from the nightmare Stiles had wordlessly threaded his fingers through Derek's hair. Stiles was petting him and Derek felt like he should object to that but there was no denying it that it relaxed him a little. Or at least enough that he dozed off again.

The sun was up the next time he woke up to the motel room phone ringing. Stiles cursed and picked up the phone before Derek could move.

"Hello?" Stiles greeted though Derek could hear how angry he was. Derek wasn't nearly awake enough to eavesdrop on the conversation and didn't really care to though he could hear a female voice over the line. It wasn't until he felt Stiles tense up next to him that he realized he should pay attention. "He's right here." Stiles took the phone away from his ear and handed it to Derek. "It's for you." Derek took from Stiles and looked at him but couldn't get any impression about what he was about to hear.

"This is Derek," he said.

"Mr. Hale, my name is Doctor Hiyard at Beacon Hill Medical Center. Are you the brother of Laura Hale?" Doctor Hiyard.

"Yes, Laura's my sister, what happened?" Derek asked quickly.

"We should speak in person," Doctor Hiyard said.

"I'll be right there." Derek hung up the phone and nearly ripped the covers as he climbed off of the bed. Stiles must have been listening to the conversation because he was getting dressed just as fast. They were out the door and on their way to the hospital in mere minutes. Derek tried to reach out to Laura, to feel her, but he couldn't. It wasn't like when she died though; this was a different sort of emptiness.

Derek nearly crashed the Camaro in the parking lot and narrowly missed running into someone as he raced into the hospital. The nurse called Doctor Hiyard to the front desk and Derek felt like he was going to crawl out of his skin waiting. She joined them not long after and she didn't look happy.

"Come with me Mr. Hale," she said though she glanced over her shoulder at Stiles. "I'm sorry but I can only have family members come with me at this time." Stiles blinked, he was surprised that he was being denied something, and looked like he wanted to argue.

"We're together," Derek said. Doctor Hiyard looked a little surprised though not as surprised as Stiles did. "Please, him and Laura are all I have left, and I want him here. I need him here." Stiles' eyes got a little wider no doubt because he heard that Derek wasn't lying. Doctor Hiyard looked a little conflicted but she sighed.

"Very well. Come with me," she said. Stiles joined Derek as they walked through the hospital hallway. They were close enough that their shoulders were touching but Derek didn't want to give Doctor Hiyard an excuse to throw Stiles out. That was his reasoning anyway when he took Stiles' hand and threaded their fingers together. Derek held on a little too tight and it must have been hurting Stiles' hand but he didn't say a word. They stopped in front of a room with a window. Inside was Laura.

She looked horrible. Her skin was ashen pale and there was a breathing tube down her throat. There were various bandages all over her body and she wasn't stirring. Derek stared because this didn't make sense; Laura was an Alpha and she should be healing. No matter what happened there shouldn't be a need for those machines to keep her breathing.

"What happened?" Stiles asked as if he knew that Derek couldn't form proper words yet.

"We're not entirely sure Mister," she trailed off.

"Just Stiles is fine."

"Stiles, then. Some hikers found her last night out on the preserve. We think she's been out there for at least a day, maybe two, and judging from her wounds it's a miracle she's alive at all." Doctor Hiyard explained.

"What sort of wounds?" Derek asked and if his voice cracked no one acknowledged it. He was a little thankful for that.

"It looks like some sort of animal attack," Doctor Hiyard said sadly. "There is some sort of rabid mountain lion out there on the preserve. Your sister isn't the first person that's been attacked recently." Derek filed that away for later but right now Laura was the important thing. "We got her stabilized and an old attending recognized her from when your family still lived here. We were surprised to find you in town too though. She's in a coma and, I have to be honest with you Mr. Hale, I'm not entirely sure she's going to come out of it." Derek swallowed the lump in his throat and watched as a machine let his sister breath. At some point he released Stiles' hand because he saw Stiles digging around for a pen and paper.

"Here's Derek's cell phone number," Stiles said as he scribbled on a piece of paper. "Add that to her file. When do we need to get billing sorted out?" Derek kind of loved Stiles a lot for taking charge of this situation. Derek wasn't even thinking about billing or how the doctors could keep on contact with him.

"Can I go see her?" Derek asked.

"Yes," Doctor Hiyard replied. Derek tuned out the rest of the conversation that Stiles and Doctor Hiyard were having when he walked into the room. The hospital smelled overwhelmingly like blood, death, and antiseptic. It reminded him of when he and Laura went to visit Uncle Peter a few times before he sercomed to his injuries from the fire. There was a hint of Laura there though and when Derek touched her hand it was like their connection flared back to life. She was still there, they were still pack, and she was still his Alpha. Derek pulled a chair up next to the bed and sat down.The door closed and Derek looked up to see Stiles leaning against the door.

"The Doctor says all we can do it wait for now. If Laura's going to wake up she'll wake in her own time," Stiles said. "She said she'll be in contact with one of us as soon as something changes."

"She's not healing Stiles," Derek whispered. "No mountain lion could do this to Laura."

"I know. There is something out in that preserve that's attacking people." Stiles dragged another chair and sat down next to Derek. Derek began to feel a little awkward about telling that Doctor that he and Stiles were in a relationship and how he made it sound serious. That wasn't his place.

"I'm sorry about--"

"Don't be," Stiles interrupted. "Do you hear anything?" Derek was confused for only a moment when realized that Stiles was asking if there was anyone nearby that was listening to their conversation. He stretched his senses as far as they would go and no one was close enough that they could hear anything they were saying. Derek shook his head and Stiles sat up a little more. "What injuries are extremely hard for Alpha werewolves to heal?"

"Attacks from creatures more powerful than them," Derek replied instantly. It almost felt like Stiles was testing his knowledge or something. "Demons, some form of magic users, some forms of the Pagan gods, and other Alphas. One of those things is out there and it's killing people and it tried to kill Laura." Derek turned to Stiles who was glaring at the hospital wall like it personally offended him. "Stiles, if there is something that powerful out there we can't just walk away." Stiles closed his eyes and clenched his fists; for half a moment Derek thought they were going to argue over this. When Stiles opened his eyes again they were black though it faded almost instantly.

"Of course we'll find out what did this," Stiles said though he didn't sound entirely thrilled by the idea. Normally, Stiles was more than happy to go on hunts and the more dangerous they were the more excited he got. He loved to say that he wanted to 'go poke the bad thing with a stick' like they were something that was fun to taunt. This time Derek couldn't get a read on him. This time Stiles looked angry and apprehensive. Derek wanted to ask why but Stiles wouldn't tell him. He guessed he should be thankful that Stiles was agreeing to this hunt at all.

Derek took Laura's hand in his and drained some of her pain. When it got to be too much Stiles moved so they were touching. It helped and they didn't leave Laura's side for several hours.

It was not so much that the hospital staff kicked them out as they politely pushed him out the door. They reminded Derek that they had his number and the second something changed they would call him. They reminded him that he was a human being that needed to get sleep which made Stiles smirk. They left the hospital and got some food in a grill that served late. Everything smelled like yeast and beer but it was the only place they could really go to get some food nearby. Derek didn't really consider himself in any condition to do any driving. This was becoming a running theme that Derek wasn't okay with.

"I did some snooping," Stiles said. "I managed to find out where in the preserve they found Laura." Derek's fork hovered in mid air and he stared at Stiles.

"How long have you known?" Derek asked.

"A couple hours but before you yell at me saying I should have told you earlier I'd like to remind you that in that hospital room was where you wanted to be," Stiles said heeding Derek off at the pass. It annoyed and frightened Derek how well Stiles could read him at this point. Derek knew he wasn't an open book yet Stiles never seemed surprised by anything he did. "So you finish eating because I can't have my guard dog getting grumpy from hunger and we'll go take a look."

"I'm not your guard dog," Derek replied despite the fact that he knew Stiles was baiting him and he should keep his mouth shut. Stiles grinned, folded his arms on the table, and leaned forward.

"No, the guard dogs I used to have were much different from you," he said. Derek absolutely did not let Stiles see him shiver a little at the mention of Stiles' old guard dogs. He already knew all about hell hounds and what they did. Oh a whim he once asked Stiles what they looked like to which Stiles instantly with 'you don't want to know.' Sometimes, between the touches and the sex, Derek would forget that Stiles used to be King of the Crossroads. He took human souls and sent his hounds on them years later to drag the unfortunate person to hell for all eternity. The ten years number wasn't completely arbitrary, Stiles told him one night, apparently ten years was just long enough for someone to forget the price they had paid. It made Derek feel a little sick, if he thought about it too much, that he was partners with Stiles at all. Stiles was a demon and Derek should have driven the demon killing blade into his heart over a year ago. Yet here they were sitting in a grill as Stiles watched Derek eat a burger.

"You're the worst," Derek said and Stiles' grin widened. "The absolute worst."

Derek finished his food and followed Stiles' directions out to the preserve. Once they had locked the car Derek followed the fresh footprints into the woods. It didn't take long for him to smell Laura's blood soaked into the dirt and it made him angry. Something attacked his sister, his Alpha, and that was not something Derek could forgive. Derek forged ahead and Stiles kept up easily behind him. There was an upside to Stiles being a demon; Derek never had to worry about protecting him too much. Stiles could more than handle his own in a fight.

The yellow crime scene tape blocked off the area where the hikers found Laura. The smell of her blood was overwhelming but there was something else underneath it. Derek couldn't pinpoint what it was exactly and he let Stiles wander around the area as he tried to process it.

"I don't see anything of note," Stiles said as he looked around. "Too many footprints to see if there were any tracks. I don't think this is where she was attacked though."

"Neither do I," Derek said. He looked around; they were on Hale land now and if there was one place Laura would go it was the house. There was a faint blood trail that Derek followed through the woods until the blackened skeleton of his family's house came into view. Stiles touched the small of Derek's back in that way that helped keep him grounded. This was the first time he had seen the house since he and Laura packed up and never looked back. Stiles eased past Derek and began to poke around the outside of the house.

"I think these are Laura's footprints," Stiles said. He pointed to a section of dirt on the ground and Derek was inclined to agree; they did look like Laura's boots. There was something in the air, though, that made him feel strangely safe. Over the smell of rotting wood and ash there was something here besides Laura that he hadn't felt in a long time. It must have shown on his face because Stiles frowned. "What is it?"

"It smells like pack here," Derek said.

"Laura was here and this was your house; I'd assume it still smells a little like home," Stiles replied but Derek shook his head.

"No, it smells like there's someone from my pack, my family, here." Derek said and began to look around for some sort of evidence of another werewolf. If this was where Laura was attacked the attacker did an excellent job of covering any evidence of the fight. Derek wanted to go through the house but it was getting exceptionally late. The dust on the floorboards revealed no footprints going in or out of the house. Laura was here but she could just been paying her respects and was attacked nearby. It set his teeth on edge, this feeling of pack that wasn't from Laura, and he wanted to find it. Stiles, however, had his arms folded tightly across his chest and he was staring at the dead leaves on the ground like they could reveal the secrets of the universe. "Stiles."

"Maybe things will look better in the morning," Stiles said. "You've had a long day so I think it's sleep time." Derek wanted to argue but he did feel exhausted down to his bones.

"We're looking into those other animal attacks tomorrow," Derek said and Stiles nodded. "Sleep sounds good then." Out of the corner of his eye Derek thought Stiles look very relieved that they were leaving but he couldn't figure out why. It was his house, his family that died there, so he was the one that should have been affected by it. Yet the further they got away from the property the more relaxed Stiles got. He didn't offer up why and Derek didn't ask.

Stiles wanted to go out and have a look around town while Derek was sleeping but that didn't seem to be an option right now. Derek seemed to know the moment Stiles shifted and would wake up in some sort of panic. It didn't take much to get him to calm down but it was more than Stiles was willing to risk. The last thing he needed right now was for Derek to wake up and completely freak out. That meant Stiles was more or less stuck sitting in their hotel room for the entire night since he didn't need to sleep. It gave him too much time to think which was the last thing he needed to do when he was back in Beacon Hills.

If their interaction at the Hale House was an indicator then Derek was dealing with his family's death better than Stiles was. Stiles remembered standing in the woods as the house burned to the ground. He remembered the heat and the screams that were far too loud. He remembered watching smoke rise from the flame that had nothing to do with fire. He watched it rise into the sky and race away. He knew that black smoke, Stiles could smell who it was, but then the fire trucks appeared. He watched them battle to put the fire out and screaming about how they could get in there to see if anyone was trapped. There are people in there!, Stiles wanted to yell. They're right there, right there, can't you hear them? They're burning! But it was far too late. No one could save the Hale's and he left before they brought Laura and Derek home from school.

Stiles hated everything about that night. What he hated more was how less than twelve hours later he got called to a crossroads and there stood sixteen year old Derek Hale. Stiles didn't deal with children, he had rules for that, but that wasn't the only reason he turned down the deal that day. Derek felt responsible for his family dying somehow yet Stiles knew he was the one to blame. Despite everything he had done over the centuries, the gallons of blood he'd spilled and countless souls he'd taken without a second thought, this was one deal he just couldn't make. He was the one that was in area, he was the one that Saul was trying to draw out, and it worked. It always worked.

Derek stirred the moment the sun peeked over the horizon line. He stumbled out of bed and into the bathroom grumbling something about sleep being for the weak minded and how much he resented Stiles for not needing to sleep. I wish I could sleep, Stiles wanted to tell him. I wish I could sleep because then I wouldn't have to think so much.

"So let's look around town and see if anyone can tell us anything about these animal attacks," Derek said. Stiles looked up and absolutely did not get momentarily distracted by that towel hanging far too low on Derek's hips not at all.

"It shouldn't raise any red flags," Stiles said before Derek noticed him staring. "Laura was attacked so it would make sense that you would want to know more. It's just a matter of how long we can dig into this thing before someone notices that we're not looking to purchase a mountain lion hunting license."

That was how Stiles spent the entire day talking to the locals of Beacon Hills without a hint of irony. He never thought he'd have to sit through these types conversations again yet here he was listening to some old lady gossip. He wasn't entirely sure they were going to ever find anything. Whatever was out there was supernatural in some way so the little old lady on the corner wasn't going to know much. Maybe that's why Stiles was more or less tuning her out until he felt something come off of Derek.

"It was amazing," the old lady said. "One moment they said the tumor was terminal and the next day they're calling my husband and telling him that the tests were a false positive and it was benign. They were very apologetic about it; they said that all of the previous tests were positive but this most recent one was negative."

"That's really nice to hear," Derek said though he didn't exactly sound sincere. The old lady just smiled like Derek meant every word.

"I'm sure your sister will be just fine," she said and went back to watering her flowers. Stiles narrowed his eyes but she was just a human, nothing out of the ordinary, but the hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end.

"Something isn't right," Derek said as they walked further down the street. "We know of at least five animal attacks that have killed three people. Laura was the fifth and the second is also still in a coma so neither of them are telling us anything. That lady's story though; that's the third time I've heard something along those lines."

"False positive tests?" Stiles asked. He checked the shadows of the town, looking for something, anything, that he could talk to and see if they were willing to tell him anything. There was nothing though, still nothing, it was like everything was too afraid to lurk in the shadows in Beacon Hills. "Maybe the hospital labs need some work."

"Or we're not just dealing with animal attacks," Derek said. They sat down on a bench in the shade of a nearby tree as Derek checked his phone. No one seemed to pay them any mind but Stiles kept his senses on high alert anyway. "Not only are people dying but people are also living when they shouldn't be."

"So, we're looking for something that can heal people along with attacking them," Stiles said. "Whatever this thing is it's going to be a pain in the ass. I hate things that can heal other people. It just means they have power to spare and that's never good." Derek pulled the journal his Dad and Uncle Peter put together that he kept in his jacket pocket out. Stiles leaned in so he could read over Derek's shoulder as they began to look through the long list of various creatures that this could be. Derek seemed to be getting more and more frustrating that nothing seemed to fit the bill perfectly.

"Maybe this isn't an occam's razor situation," Stiles said.

"'The simplest answer is usually the right one,'" Derek said and Stiles wanted to give him a gold star. "With hunting the simplest answer is that there is usually only one thing running around causing trouble since two different creatures causing trouble at the same time in the same place isn't as likely."

"So maybe there's more than one thing running around out there," Stiles said glad that Derek was able to catch on so quickly. "And I don't know about you but I find the idea of something ripping someone apart a lot more worrisome than something that goes around making cancer tumors benign. We should focus on the attacks and come back to the healing afterwards."

"What are the odds though?" Derek asked. He closed the journal and tucked it back into his jacket.

"Statistically anything can happen. Did you know that once you're strike by lightning once you're actually more likely to get struck by it again? Someone with your luck should probably take some notes on that," Stiles said. Derek knocked their shoulders together hard enough that it threw Stiles a little off balance but Derek was smiling so it worked out. He smiled anyway until he checked his phone for the third time that hour. "Most of the attacks take place in the late evening and after dark so how about we go back to the hospital so you can stop checking your phone every five minutes and we'll go poking around in the woods at night again." Derek almost looked surprised that Stiles would suggest they go to the hospital again but he also looked very grateful.

"Sounds like a plan," Derek said. They got off the bench and began to walk toward the hospital. Stiles neglected to point out that they didn't have any sort of plan. In the back of his mind Stiles began to work on one while keeping an eye on the all too empty shadows.

Derek knew that going out looking for trouble at night probably wasn't one of his brighter ideas but if they were going to find out anything about these attacks they had to find out what was attacking. If that meant walking around what used to be his family's land then that's what he had to do. Derek didn't really like being back on the preserve. If he tried he could smell the burned out remains of his family home. The area didn't even belong to his family anymore. They didn't pay their property taxes so it was county land now. That set a few of his instincts on edge but they were easy enough to ignore. He wasn't the type of wolf that had a territory so this wasn't any different from any other hunt. That was what Derek kept telling himself anyway and he wondered if he repeated it enough times he would believe it.

"I know the answer to this question before I even ask it," Stiles said. "But I'm going to ask it anyway; any chance you're willing to pack up and leave this one behind? Transfer Laura to a different hospital?" Derek frowned and turned around to look at Stiles. Something was bothering Stiles and he was refusing to say what it was. This wasn't the first time he hinted that they just pack up and leave.

"Something attacked Laura. It tried to kill her," Derek said.

"Like I said; I already knew the answer," Stiles replied. Derek was about to ask why Stiles was so keen to leave but Stiles just brushed by him and kept walking. They were making their way toward the house without trying. Derek wasn't really paying attention where they were going but it was like the world wanted them to see the house at night. The corpse of the house appeared through the trees and Derek breathed through his mouth so he couldn't smell the ash. Stiles wandered ahead absentmindedly looking around. His demure was casual but Derek could see the tension in his shoulders. Everything in the forest around the house was too still and too quiet.

They were outside of the house when Stiles froze.

"Derek," Stiles said.

"What is it?" Derek asked. He didn't hear or see anything.

"You need to leave right now." Stiles was using that tone of voice he used when things were about to go sideways.

"Why?" Derek asked as he took a few steps toward Stiles.

"Because I can't move." Stiles said and if Derek narrowed his eyes he could see someone had drawn a devil's trap in the ground with ash. Derek wasn't about to leave Stiles vulnerable though; something knew a demon was around and it knew how to trap it. There was movement behind Derek's back and suddenly he felt trapped. He knew there was a ring of mountain ash around him now. "It got you too."

"Yeah," Derek replied. He walked as far as he could see the line in the dirt now. It flared to life when he tried to cross it. He was still far enough away from Stiles that neither of them could affect the others circle. "What do you think did this?"

"Or who?" a voice said from the other side of the house. Derek turned and stared in the direction that voice came from because he knew who that was. The voice chuckled and moved in the shadows.

"Who are you?" Stiles called out.

"Derek knows," the voice said. A figure emerged from the darkness and Derek had to swallow the lump in his throat; it was Peter. There weren't any burns on his face or hands from the fire. He looked like he hadn't aged a day in six years. He was supposed to be dead and the mere presence of him made Derek want to bolt.

"Derek, who is that?" Stiles asked.

"That's my Uncle Peter," Derek whispered. "I helped bury your body after you died from your injuries. I was there only minutes after they called time of death. How are you here?"

"It's a very interesting story, nephew, but I'm afraid I don't have the time to tell it now," Peter said. He pulled out a small knife and cut deeply into his hand. The blood fell to the ground and something in the air changed. "Instead, I have to take care of you two before you cause anymore trouble for me."

Derek was about to ask what Peter was talking about when he felt something painful tug in his gut. Peter was mumbling under his breath as he looked at a small book. It felt like someone was trying to tear him in half. It knocked the wind from his lungs and Derek collapsed to his knees. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Stiles fall as well. Stiles was saying something and his hands were pressed against his ears but Derek couldn't hear what it was over the pain. His circle began to glow brighter and brighter until he was almost blinding. He was being torn in half and when Derek looked up he could see Peter's glowing blue eyes just beyond the light. The world began to grow dark around the edges and the last thing he remembered was the distinct feeling of separation.

Derek was barely awake and he already knew that something was wrong. His eyes wouldn't open and his entire body ached but he was alive. After all of the pain Derek thought for sure that this was the end. For some reason Peter was not only alive but had attacked him as well. None of it made sense. Derek opened his eyes and looked at the night sky through the trees. He couldn't smell or hear anything and he thought that was an effect of being unconscious but it was something else. This wasn't because his senses were overwhelmed; his senses were gone. Derek sat up and looked at his hands. He tried to make his claws come out, he tried to shift, and nothing happened. His wolf was gone; Derek was a human.

Peter was nowhere to be seen and Stiles was still on the ground nearby. Derek tried to stand but his knees buckled under the weight. Derek crawled on the ground to get to Stiles and tried to shake him awake. Stiles didn't wake up though and Derek had to press an ear to his chest to know his heart was beating because he couldn't just listen for it. Stiles wasn't breathing though and Derek had no idea what to do. No one ever bothered to teach his rescue breathing or CPR because he never needed to know them. Derek was just starting to panic when Stiles gasped and coughed violently. Derek rolled Stiles on his side so it was a little easier for him to breath.

"I can't do this, not again, I can't do this again," Stiles mumbled as he tried to suck more air into his lungs.

"Stiles, something's really wrong," Derek said. He helped Stiles sit up and looked into his eyes to try and get Stiles to focus. "Stiles, he took it. He took my wolf. I'm a human." Stiles blinked once, slowly, like he was trying to process what Derek had just said.

"This is bad," Stiles said. "This is impossible. No one should know that kind of spell. That's old magic, way older than me let alone someone that you've known. This isn't possible, this can't be happening, I can't do this." Stiles tangled his fingers in his hair and pulled. Derek had never seen him so unhinged before. Their bond was still there, Derek could feel the pull between them, but it was different.

"What are you talking about?" Derek asked. "Does it really matter how old the magic is? Stiles, I'm human, that seems like a more important issue."

"That spell is more important because it didn't just affect you," Stiles snapped. It took Derek a moment to understand what Stiles was saying but when it dawned on him it stole the breath from his lungs.

"You're human too," he whispered. They were vulnerable out here in the woods and they had to get to safety. Stiles didn't seem to be paying attention though; his eyes were darting around the forest and Derek could feel him trembling. He was shaking too but Stiles was much worse. Derek wrapped an arm around Stiles' waist and struggled to help them both stand. Stiles seemed to catch on that they were moving and supported Derek as well. They stumbled through the darkness leaning their weight on each other. Derek felt like he was missing a limb and every time he reached for his senses it was like running into a brick wall. There was just nothing there.

They were both sweating by the time they made their way back to the car. They were lucky that this happened near his house and the trail was nearby. Derek was sure they would have gotten lost if this had happened in the middle of the woods. Derek's hands shook as he put the keys in the ignition and if he swerved a few times while driving them back to the motel then Stiles didn't comment on it.

The sun was coming up by the time Derek pulled into the motel. He was exhausted in a way that he had never experienced. It felt like his eyes could slide shut and he could sleep right where he was sitting. The nagging sense of danger wouldn't leave him and Derek managed to drag himself to the motel room where he at least had some weapons.

"We need to protect ourselves," Stiles said as if he understood how weak Derek felt right now.

"I'll salt the doors and windows," Derek said. He dug through his bag and pulled out a large bag of salt. It would at least keep out any demon and maybe a few other things that were poking around Beacon Hills. The salt, however, wouldn't keep out Peter. Derek glanced over his shoulder and watched Stiles struggle to move their bed for only a moment before he gave up. Stiles tore off all of the bedding and made a pile on the floor that looked comfortable enough. Derek was about to ask why they were sleeping on the floor when Stiles took out some mountain ash. He tossed it into the air and it formed a perfect ring around their bedding.

"This should keep some of the baddies out," Stiles joked but he was so pale and scared looking that it fell flat. Derek stepped over the mountain ash line and sat down in the pile of blankets and sheets. "What are we going to do? I've only heard about suppression enchantments in passing. This is stuff before my time."

"There has to be a cure or something that can reverse the spell. I want to know how my uncle is alive and why he attacked us," Derek said. A long silence passed between the two of them as Stiles nervously picked at a loose thread on his pants. "What's it like?"

"What is what like?" Stiles replied.

"What's it like being human again?" Derek asked and Stiles tensed up considerably. "I've never been human but you have. What's it like?" Stiles didn't reply for a long time and when Derek finally looked up at him he saw that Stiles was considerably paler. His eyes were darting back and forth like he was seeing something that Derek couldn't. He was shaking and practically hyperventilating. Derek put his hands on Stiles shoulders and forced him to make eye contact. "What's happening to you?"

"Panic attack. I used to get them when I was alive," Stiles said. Derek didn't know much about panic attacks but he could see the way that Stiles couldn't get a breath. Derek turned Stiles around so they were back to front and held onto him tightly.

"Can you feel my chest?" Derek asked and Stiles nodded. "Okay, good, now match my breathing with yours." Derek began to take slow and deep breaths. He could feel Stiles shaking as he tried to breath in and out. It felt like ages for Stiles rigid muscles to finally loosen and his breathing to return to normal. Derek only vaguely remember lying down on the pillows and blankets but he kept his arms wrapped around Stiles. Despite how unsafe he felt Derek fell asleep with a trembling Stiles in his arms.

Stiles woke up slowly and the first thing he became aware of was that someone was wrapped around him like a octopus. He shifted and realized that he was on a pile of blankets and pillows with Derek wrapped around him hidden behind a circle of mountain ash and protected by salt. Stiles swallowed the lump in his throat and tried to calm himself down. It was bad enough that he had already had one panic attack in front of Derek he didn't need to have another. He thought that he would never have to experience a panic attack again yet here he was. It felt strange to be human again. Everything felt different in a way that Stiles couldn't quite put into words. It had been so long since he was alive that his beating heart and the actual need to breath threw him off.

"Stiles?" Derek said sleepily. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Stiles replied and he mentally gave himself a pat on the back with how steady his voice sounded. "Sorry about that."

"Don't apologize," Derek said as he sat up. Stiles wasn't sure if he was seeing things but all of Derek's edges were less sharp now that he was a human. Perhaps it was because he was used to seeing a wolf that anything else was odd. He and Derek never hid their true natures from each other and while logically Stiles knew this was the same Derek it was still like looking at a stranger. "I should have known this would be really weird for you."

"Weird is kind of an understatement," Stiles sadly. He picked at a loose thread on the blanket and tried to ignore the way Derek was staring at him. "We can't just hide in here. We have to find out what kind of magic could make us human."

"I'm more interested in finding out how the Uncle that I know for a fact was dead is alive again," Derek replied. "Either way you're right. We can't hide behind ash and salt because it won't fix anything. I just don't feel--" Derek cut himself off but Stiles knew exactly what he meant. He didn't feel safe. Stiles knew he could tangle with a werewolf and come out on top in the end but now he was just a human. A werewolf could kill him without breaking a sweat. He could trip and break his own neck. Everything about him was fragile and could be broken so easily. "He could have killed us but he didn't."

"That means that the attack wasn't just to incapacitate us so he could make a killing blow. There's a reason he changed us," Stiles said. "That doesn't mean he can't do some serious damage though. We should stick to main street and crowded areas. If we stay in crowds he can't attack us out right. It won't be safe but it'll be safer." Stiles looked up at Derek who was staring at him with an odd look on his face. Stiles was about to ask what was wrong when Derek pulled him into a light kiss. It felt like someone hit him with lightning. Kissing Derek the werewolf as Stiles the demon was very different from Stiles and Derek the humans kissing. For the first time in centuries Stiles felt like the air was being stolen from his lungs and when they pulled away from each other he was panting a little. Derek looked just as surprised as he did. "Wow."

"Yeah, wow is one of putting it. That was different," Derek replied. Stiles had to force himself to stand because he knew if they started touching each other they wouldn't be able to stop. He also damn near had another panic when he had to step out from the mountain ash circle. Stiles held his breath but nothing happened. He and Derek took turns showering and both got dressed. Now that they were out of the relative safety of the mountain ash circle Stiles wanted to get into town where there were people. He was also starving.

It was mid morning by the time they pulled into the same diner that had eaten in a few days prior. The second they walked in Erica waved them over to a table with a bright smile.

"Hello boys," she said but her smile faded when she looked at Derek. "I heard about your sister, Mr. Hale, I'm really sorry."

"Thank you," Derek said. Erica nodded and walked off to get them some coffee. Stiles was still trying to get his breathing under control. He didn't remember feeling this anxious and tense when he was still alive. Then again, he reminded himself, when he was alive he wasn't suffering from PTSD from two stints in the Pit. Derek pressed their legs together and it was enough to calm Stiles down a little. He felt like a wreck. He let Derek order for both of them and they decided it was time to get to work. "So, Peter is alive and he knows some seriously strong magic."

"Seriously strong might be an understatement," Stiles replied though he kept his eyes peeled for anyone that could be listening in on their conversation. Erica had placed them in a booth in a far corner and no one was nearby but that didn't mean anything. "That spell is older than me and older than most things that I know. We're talking ancient here. Whatever taught him that is damn near immortal to know that kind of magic."

"Not to mention it needs to be something that can raise the dead as well," Derek said. Derek pulled out the journal and Stiles sat next to him in the booth. They looked over the book together and Stiles chose to ignore the smirk from Erica when she arrived with their food. Food that turned out to be extremely distracting but that didn't stop them from going through almost the entire journal. Stiles asked Erica for a pen and piece of paper from the pad she took orders on. She looked at him strangely but handed them over. "We need to figure out what we're dealing with here." Derek frowned and watched Stiles draw a line down the middle of the piece of paper. On one side he wrote PETER and on the other he wrote OTHER.

"Figure out what events go with what," Derek said. "Well the attacks are obviously Peter." Stiles wrote that down. "The healing could be from the thing that raised him along with the magic." Stiles wrote the rest of it down. It took some time but they managed to separate every odd thing that was happening in Beacon Hills into two categories. It was just unfortunate that the OTHER category was much larger than the PETER category. Derek paid for their food and they walked down main street. Stiles kept his eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary but he couldn't see anything. No wonder humans are always so surprised by the supernatural, Stiles thought. They can't see anything.

Derek apparently couldn't see anything either. They turned a corner and someone yanked Derek into an alley and pinned him to a wall before either of them could react. Stiles felt his stomach drop when their attacker pressed a knife to Derek's throat. She was a young woman, late teens, with long dark hair and even darker eyes.

"This is laced with wolfsbane so you'd be wise not move," she said.

"Whoa, hold on, we need to have a talk about this," Stiles said. Derek wasn't a wolf; that knife could kill him.

"I'm not sure who you think I am," Derek said slowly but the young woman glared at him.

"Your name is Derek Hale and you're a werewolf. I'm a hunter and I'm here to hunt the wolf that's attacking people," she said.

"Can we please talk about this?" Stiles said slowly. "Why don't we put away any sharp weapons and talk about this like adults?" She glared at Stiles for a moment but eventually she took a step away from Derek though she didn't release her knife. "Okay, good, this is better. You obviously know Derek and I'm Stiles, who are you?"

"Names have power," she snapped.

"You're an Argent," Derek whispered. His eyes were wide with something that might have been fear. "You look like her."

"You mean Kate? The woman that you killed?" she snapped.

"There's been a misunderstanding here," Stiles said loudly. "This isn't the place to talk about it. Miss. Argent, will you accompany us to our car? You can keep the weapon if you want but I promise you the last thing we are right now is a threat to you." She narrowed her eyes as she looked between the two of them. For a moment Stiles thought she was going to slit both of their throat and call it a day.

"Allison. My name is Allison," she said.

"Allison. We have a lot to talk about," Stiles replied.

It took nearly three hours of sitting in the Camaro with Allison Argent to explain everything. When they got to the part about Saul Stiles thought she was going to tear a hole into hell herself and go looking for him. She didn't accuse either of them of lying which was surprising but worked in their favor. Stiles had a silent conversation with Derek about how much they wanted to tell this girl about their current situation but the Argent family was an old family of hunters. There was a chance they could know something that they didn't. So they both had to prove to Allison that they were human and tell her why they were in town.

"The attacks are why we're here too," Allison explained. "We had a few hunters stationed here to watch over the town because my dad and I don't want anything to do with this place after Kate. They stopped checking in and we came down here to see what was going on. One of them is missing and the other is in the morgue."

"That was probably Peter's handy work," Derek said bitterly.

"An out of control werewolf is dangerous," Stiles said. "But an out of control werewolf with the knowledge to turn other supernatural creatures is much worse." Stiles turned in the seat so he could look Allison in the eye. He really didn't want to do this but he and Derek were in so far over their heads right now they might as well be on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. "Neither of us can do this alone."

"Are you suggesting we work together?" Allison asked. She didn't sound completely repulsed by the idea which worked in their favor. "I'll have to discuss this with my family. I'll be in touch." Derek and Allison exchanged numbers and she left the car without a word. Stiles watched her go and hoped that he didn't make a huge mistake.

"The Argent family doesn't like werewolves," Derek said.

"So I gathered but they're also much better at hunting supernaturals as humans than we are. Something besides your Uncle is out there, Derek, and it's something very powerful. We can't handle this on our own and I don't have any contacts I want to call on while I'm this vulnerable," Stiles explained. The thought of even Lydia seeing him like this made Stiles shiver. Everything was too easily broken right now and he knew for a fact that it wasn't just his body that was fragile.

"I just hope they don't throw us under a bus when they get a chance," Derek said as he started the car.

"We'll cross that road if it happens," Stiles replied. Derek nodded and started down the street toward the hospital.

It was dark by the time they got back to the hotel room and Stiles was exhausted. This was a different type of exhausted than what he was used to. It almost felt like he could sleep for the next three days if he wanted. Derek looked just as tired as they both stumbled around the motel room. Derek salted the doors and windows while Stiles checked the mountain ash line around their bedding on the floor. The 'do not disturb' sign had kept the cleaning ladies out of their room for the time being.

"No one wonder humans are always so grouchy," Stiles said as he collapsed onto the bedding and closed his eyes. He kicked off his shoes and stretched out.

"What do you mean?" Derek asked. Stiles felt Derek join him on their pile of blankets and pillows behind the relative safety of the mountain ash circle. Stiles opened his eyes and grinned at Derek.

"Being human is exhausting," he said. Derek smiled and shook his head. Stiles was very distracted by that smile for a moment and his human body reacted strongly. This was different from when he was a demon in a host body. Everything was bright and sharp in a very strange way. Derek didn't fight him when Stiles pulled them together. They still fit despite the fact that neither of them were their normal selves. Derek interrupted Stiles introspection by proving that some things never changed and began to kiss along Stiles' neck.

"You smell different," Derek whispered into his skin. "You taste different." Stiles was about to ask if that was a good or bad thing when Derek captured his lips into a mind numbing kiss. Derek was right, it was different, but it was far from bad either. Stiles thread his fingers from one hand into Derek's hair and wrapped another around his waist to pull them closer together. Derek had the weight and strength advantage as a human so Stiles let Derek push him into the bedding as they kissed. He was sure that his lips were going to go numb and Derek's stubble burned in a very strange and new way that sent all of his blood south in seconds. Derek's hands slipped up Stiles' t-shirt and every touch felt like Derek was imprinting his fingerprints into Stiles' skin. Stiles moaned as Derek sucked on his tongue and arched his body so they were not so much close but trying to break the laws of physics.

Their motel room door being kicked open surprised Stiles enough that he jumped. Derek did too though and they frantically broke apart as they stared at their now broken door. The line of salt was broken and Stiles felt like his heart was going to beat straight out of his chest.

"My dear nephew," Peter cooed as he walked into their motel room like he belonged there. Stiles looked at the mountain ash line; it was unbroken. "I always knew you had questionable taste but this is so much worse than that hunter bitch." Stiles felt Derek tense up and he put a hand on his arm to keep Derek from lashing out.

"I saw you die," Derek said. "How are you alive again?"

"That's hardly important," Peter said. "You should be more interested in getting your wolf back. Isn't that what you want?"

"I want to know how you took it in the first place," Stiles said. Peter shifted his gaze to Stiles and flashed his eyes that bright blue. Stiles knew his heartbeat was probably off the charts but he refused to look away from that gaze.

"This is a family matter so keep your mouth shut before I rip your tongue hell spawn," Peter snapped and he turned his attention back to Derek. "All you need to do is pledge allegiance to me and you can have your wolf back."

"You're blackmailing me?" Derek snapped.

"That's such a dirty word," Peter dismissed. "It's more like I'm offering you a pack again. We'll be family again."

"You killed all of those innocent people, you nearly killed Laura, and now you're blackmailing me. I have a pack already and if you remembered what pack was when we were a family then you know this isn't how you do it," Derek spit out. Peter didn't look too broken up by this confession. If anything he looked even more amused.

"You can't hide behind mountain ash forever Derek. You will swear your allegiance to me and we'll send your little mistake there back where he belongs. If you're wise you'll agree to my terms now before I get angry." Peter met Stiles' eyes again and flashed his fangs. Stiles wasn't really paying attention because the words 'back where he belongs' had nearly paralyzed him in fear. Peter strolled out of their room like he didn't have a care in the world.

The motel owner found the two of them them sitting on the floor like that. Derek quickly explained that someone tried to rob them and the motel owner went about finding someone to put a new door up for them. Stiles just sat on the blankets, cross legged, and stared ahead. He didn't really hear any of the conversations around him or anything Derek said. There was something very important he needed to take care of the next day. Stiles closed his eyes and tried not to think about fire or tables or torture. It didn't work.

Derek knew that something was bothering Stiles but he didn't have a chance to ask him what it was. Between the motel manager and trying to keep the local police from paying too much attention to them by the time Derek had a spare second Stiles was curled up on the floor. Derek wanted to wake him up and ask Stiles why he spent the last few hours sitting in complete silence but Derek also knew that Stiles didn't sleep very often. Derek put the lines of salt and mountain ash back up and crawled into their makeshift bed. He tried to sleep and couldn't relax though. He eventually gave into temptation and eased Stiles into his arms. It shouldn't have made him feel better but it did. Derek closed his eyes and hoped he could get some sleep.

The next morning Stiles still wasn't saying much. They ate at a small restaurant on the far side of town that was busy enough that Derek felt relatively safe. He couldn't smell or hear anything and it made him nervous. He hated how weak he felt in this body. The man that kicked down his door the previous night wasn't his Uncle. Peter was a little odd but he would never do something like this. Derek was contemplating hiding out in the city library when Stiles took his arm.

"I have something I need to show you," he said.

"Okay," Derek replied. They climbed into the Camaro and Stiles gave Derek directions to a different entrance to the preserve than Derek was used to. There weren't any cars around and that made him nervous. "I thought we were sticking to crowded areas."

"This is important," Stiles replied. Derek loaded up wolfsbane ammunition but he had a feeling that it wouldn’t be enough to kill Peter. Stiles carried a jar of mountain ash and promised that he could protect them if they needed to. Stiles then turned into the woods and began to walk through the thick trees. Derek followed though he was worried about getting lost. Stiles was walking like he knew exactly where they were going though.

"I don't like being out here like this," Derek said. He had a shotgun in hand but Derek kept his finger off of the trigger. He didn't need to accidently shoot Stiles or himself by being reckless with his weapons.

"This is important," Stiles repeated. Derek wasn't sure how long they walked but the trees parted and revealed a small clearing. There were small pieces of stone sticking out of the ground in rows. Derek knelt down and brushed some of the leaves away from one of the stones. It wasn't just a rock though. There was a name and a date.

"This is a graveyard," Derek said. Stiles was standing in the middle of the graveyard and watching him carefully.

"How many ways are there to get rid of a demon?" Stiles asked.

"Two," Derek replied. "Exorcism doesn't kill them but it does get them out of the host body and our knife kills them."

"Wrong. There are three ways," Stiles replied. He knelt down and moved some leaves aside. When he didn't stand up Derek joined him on the ground. The gravestone was small and the first name was gone but the last remained. STILINSKI. "'Stiles' isn't my real name; it's a nickname."

"This is your grave?" Derek asked and Stiles nodded. "You grew up in this area?"

"Yes, a long time ago. This is where my original human body is buried because there is another way to kill a demon; you burn the bones of the demon's human body," Stiles explained. "If you take these bones and burn them I'll die." Derek felt like his chest was about to cave in. This was extremely important information and Stiles was just giving it to him. Stiles had just gave him a sure fire way to kill him.

"Why are you showing me this? Why are you telling me this?" Derek whispered. Stiles ran his fingers roughly through his hair and stood up.

"I wasn't the same person after I went to the Pit the first time. I didn't like who I was when I emerged from the fire and brimstone. I changed. I'm not the same person I was when I went down a second time. I'm different again. It's getting to the point where I don't even recognized myself anymore." Stiles paused and clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white. "If something manages to kill me when I'm vulnerable like this I'll get kicked back down to the Pit again and I don't want to know how I'd turn out after a third time. I don't know what kind of person I'd emerge as after a third trip." Derek stood up slowly and took a few steps closer to Stiles.

"I won't let anyone send you down there again. I'll protect you," Derek promised but Stiles laughed bitterly.

"You can't make that promise but I know one promise you can make." Stiles opened his eyes and stared at Derek intently. "If it looks like I'm going to get sent down there again I want you to come here and burn my bones." Derek felt like someone just punched the air out of his lungs. Not only was Stiles trusting him with the key to kill him but now he was making Derek promise to pull the trigger if the worst should happen. "Derek," Stiles said and it was like he could sense that Derek was about to argue. "You won't like the Stiles that crawls out of the Pit for the third time. I won't like that Stiles. I'm trusting you with this."

"You're trusting me to kill you," Derek said.

"Yes," Stiles replied without hesitation. "I'm trusting you to kill me. No one else knows about this place or where I'm buried. You're the only one who could help me if I'm down there again. I can already hardly remember what I was like when I was human. I don't want to forget entirely. Promise me that you'll do it if it comes to that."

"Stiles, I--"

"Promise," Stiles said harder. Derek looked Stiles over; he could see how tense he was. He could see the underlying twitches that were from nerves and how afraid Stiles truly was of going down there again. Derek tried to think of some excuse that could get him out of this kind of promise but he also hated the idea of Stiles suffering. Stiles had suffered enough.

"Only as an absolute last resort," Derek said.

"So you'll do it?" Stiles asked and Derek nodded slowly.

"I promise that if you're heading down to the Pit again I'll come here and burn your bones," Derek said. Stiles visibly relaxed and flashed a bright smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"Let's get out of here." Stiles turned and began to walk back toward the car. Derek knelt down and moved a few more leaves aside. There were two more stones near the right of Stiles' grave. One said JOHN and the other said CLAUDIA. Derek stood up and jogged to keep up with Stiles. That didn't stop him from looking over his shoulder at the old graveyard as they left it behind. Derek really and truly hoped that this was a promise he wouldn't have to keep.

Derek wasn't sure what he could possibly say to Stiles right now that could make this situation better. Stiles looked like he just bit into a lemon and was uncharacteristically quiet. Derek parked the Camaro on main street and they both began to walk down the road. He wasn't sure where they were heading but it seemed better than sitting around and doing nothing. That was how they ended up at Beacon Hills Library way in the back hunched over any book that looked remotely useful. Stiles skimmed book after book and muttered 'useless' under his breath.

If Peter was back from the dead and could make them human there was a very good chance that putting a wolfsbane bullet in his heart wouldn't do the trick. That didn't stop Derek from keeping wolfsbane loaded rounds in his gun but he just had a feeling that it wasn't going to be enough. Whatever was helping Peter knew magic older than Stiles so they probably prepared him for the worst. Derek sighed and walked through the stacks to find Stiles. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Peter and Derek froze. They were in a public place sure but that didn't mean anything.

Derek ran down the aisle until he found Stiles looking through a book. He didn't waste time to explain, it felt like he could feel Peter breathing down neck. Stiles stuttered in surprise but Derek was physically stronger than him as a human so Stiles didn't really have a choice when Derek pulled him to the back of the library and shoved him in a closet.

"What the fuck Dere--"

"Put the circle up," Derek said. There was just enough room around them for Stiles to make an extremely small circle of mountain ash.

"You saw him," Stiles said and Derek nodded. "We need to find some other way to defend ourselves. We can't risk a wolfsbane bullet not doing the trick or running out of mountain ash. There has to be something else we can do to protect ourselves."

"Agreed," Derek replied. They were nearly chest to chest inside the small circle in the closet and Derek could hardly see anything. He was stressed and Derek was halfway tempted to push Stiles into their motel room, lock it up, and hide in bed for the next day or so. There was no telling how long they were going to be stuck in here and Derek wasn't even sure how he was going to tell if it was safe or not without his hearing. Now seemed like a good time to talk to Stiles about his request and what it meant. Derek wasn't comfortable with the amount of responsibility Stiles was placing in him. Derek had just found the words to talk to Stiles about it all when the door suddenly opened. Derek put a hand on his gun, ready to fire, but it wasn't Peter.

"Aren't you two a little old to be playing seven minutes in Heaven?" Allison asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I wouldn't know anything about Heaven," Stiles replied. They got out of the closet and Allison was eyeing the ring of mountain ash.

"I'm going to guess you saw something," she said.

"Yeah, I think so," Derek replied. "We're not sure a wolfsbane bullet to the head will even kill Peter. We're not 100% sure what he is right now or what raised him from the dead."

"Besides shooting someone in a library seems like bad taste," Stiles said grinning.

"And hiding in a closet is obviously an alternative solution," Allison deadpanned. "Walk with me." Stiles and Derek gathered any information they found that might be useful and left the library with Allison. They walked down the street together like they didn't have a care in the world but Derek kept an eye out for Peter but made sure to watch Allison as well. Just one glance at her and Derek could tell that she was armed. "The Argent family is a matriarchal unit so I have the last say in whether or not we get involved with something. I've discussed it with my Father and we've made a decision."

"You're here talking to us so I'm guessing you're getting involved," Stiles said.

"Yes," Allison said. She turned a corner and knocked on a small door down an alleyway. Derek wanted to make a snarky comment about cliches when a slot opened and closed like this was some sort of mafia movie. The door opened and Allison gestured for them to follow her. The man inside was older with the bluest eyes Derek had ever seen on a human and a dangerous look in his eye. "This is my Father, Chris. Dad, this is Derek and Stiles, the two I told you about."

"Allison told me about the story you told her about my sister, Kate," Chris said. Derek tensed and hoped he wasn't going to get a gun pulled on him. "My sister wasn't herself before she vanished. We didn't think possession at the time but it makes sense." Chris offered a hand and Derek shook it. Chris' gaze lingered on Stiles a little longer but he still offered a hand out to shake.

"Now that the formal introductions are out of the way let's figure out what raised Peter Hale from the dead," Allison said and turned on a light. Derek raised both of his eyebrows in surprise. There were several stacks of old books on a table along with two open laptops.

"Are we going to have a research montage? Can I pick the music?" Stiles asked.

"I regret ever showing you television," Derek said. Allison and Chris looked at each and had a silent conversation that often came with close family units.

"Let's get to work," Chris said. Derek and Allison each took a laptop while Chris and Stiles began to look through the books. Chris and Allison would ask Stiles various questions about the magic and how old he thought it was but they didn't ask him about being a demon or the Pit. Derek was so grateful for that; Stiles was extremely on edge and they didn't need to have a panic attack in front of people they didn't entirely trust yet.

"We've decided that there is more than likely more than one thing running around right now," Stiles explained. "Normally that would be stupid but Peter can’t raise himself from the dead. We broke everything up into two categories. We need to find out what taught him the spell that changed us. If we find out the origin of that magic we find out what raised him from the dead."

"So we're going off the assumption that whatever raised Peter also taught him that spell," Allison said.

"My family knew quite a bit," Derek said. "We go back generations but there's no way Peter knew that spell before the fire. If my parents knew about something that could take our wolves away the first thing they would have done is give us a way to counter it. Something like that is too dangerous to keep from us." A long silence passed as Chris and Stiles looked through various books and Allison and Derek looked through an extremely impressive digital bestiary. Derek was halfway tempted to ask for a copy.

"Stiles," Allison said. "What can you tell us about angels?" Derek was about to open his mouth to tell her that angels aren't real when he noticed the way Stiles had tensed up considerably. Stiles wouldn't have reacted like that unless there was a good reason.

"They don't usually get involved," Stiles said lowly. "If you asked one why they would tell you it's because of free will but the reality is they think they're above the rest of us. They can bring people back from the dead, heal the sick, and if anyone knew magic that old it would be an angel."

"What kind of angel raises someone from the dead and then let's them go around killing people?" Derek asked but Stiles shook his head.

"How do you deal with angels?" Chris asked.

"You mean 'how do you kill them?'" Stiles said. "You don't. The only thing that can kill an angel is another angel. I've been told about banishing wards and an extremely powerful demon might be able to kick them back to Heaven but there's no way for us to kill them." Stiles looked up from his book and Derek had never seen him look so grim. "If Peter has an angel on his side there's nothing we can do to stop it."

For two days Derek, Stiles, Allison, and Chris poured everything they had into finding out something about the angels. The more they looked into it the more evidence piled up that this was what they were dealing with. Stiles looked more and more angry. When Allison or Chris took breaks they would walk off another room and do some target practice. Derek watched Allison use a bow and arrow to hit target after target while Chris was quick on his feet with a firearm. They were both very impressive considering they were human.

"We have a contact a few towns over that might have something," Allison said. Derek blinked and realized that it was nearly one in the morning. He was exhausted and he hadn't even noticed. "We'll go check it out and you two keep looking around here, sound good?"

"You have my number," Derek said. Chris and Allison walked with Derek and Stiles back to the Camaro and even followed them back to the motel. Derek wasn't entirely surprised that he wasn't allowed to take any of the books or the bestiary with him. The Argents didn't trust them yet which made sense. Derek didn't entirely trust them either but they needed help. As Stiles salted the doors and windows Derek made a quick phone call to see if Laura had improved at all. She hadn't and Derek felt helpless. If it was an angel that was helping Peter then they needed more help than just the Argents. "Have you thought about trying to get in contact with Lydia?"

"Lydia? You mean the Lydia that poisoned us and threatened us? That Lydia?" Stiles asked dubiously.

"Four humans against an angel and a werewolf? I don't like those odds," Derek said.

"There aren't any odds that could make this even for us. Even if we did pull in Lydia she'd find some way to take advantage of how weak we are right now. She was loyal to me when I was her boss but she's still a demon. We can't be trusted," Stiles said. Derek wanted to correct Stiles and tell him that Derek trusted him but the words died on his tongue. Stiles was an exception and Derek needed to remember that. Lydia could find some way of buying their souls without either of them even realizing it. Derek had seen Stiles having nightmares over the past few days, how he woke up screaming about the Pit, and Derek wasn't exactly keen on the idea of experiencing what caused those nightmares.

"Good point," Derek said. He collapsed into their pile of blankets and pillows on the floor as Stiles moved around the room. They were going to run out of mountain ash eventually but Derek didn't know any providers in the area. Derek flipped through his Dad's journal to see if he mentioned anything about someone that could sell them some ash. Near the back he found a single name that he didn't recognize; Alan Deaton. The name sounded vaguely familiar but he couldn't place it. Stiles had just collapsed into their makeshift bed when it dawned on him; Alan Deaton was his families emissary. "Stiles? What do you know about emissaries?"

"They're the humans that bind and protect a wolfs pack. They're knowledgeable and can be extremely powerful. Usually they're druids, why?" Stiles replied.

"I think I just found reference to the one that helped my family," Derek said. Stiles moved and looked at the book as Derek scrolled through his phone and found an Alan Deaton that still lived in Beacon Hills. “He’s a veterinarian.”

“I feel like that joke is too easy even for me to make,” Stiles said.

“I’m so glad you have some self control,” Derek said as he nudged Stiles with his elbow. He was too tired to stay awake and while Derek still wanted to have a longer conversation with Stiles about his promise now wasn’t the time. Stiles was almost asleep anyway. Derek closed his eyes and hoped for no more nightmares.

Alan Deaton was not what Stiles expected. Truth be told he wasn’t entirely sure what he expected but an unassuming man who smiled when they walked in was not it. His gaze lingered a bit too long on Derek though. Stiles hadn’t survived this long without learning how to read people. Deaton knew exactly who Derek was. Stiles hoped they weren’t going to have to pressure him to tell them anything.

“Alan Deaton?” Derek said. Stiles lingered near the exit; druids always made him nervous and they never liked him very much. They were too keen to sell their souls at the end of the day and would make it extremely irritating for him to collect.

“Yes and you’re Derek Hale,” Deaton said. “You’re not right though.”

“That’s what I came to talk to you about,” Derek said. “Can we talk in private?” Deaton eyed Stiles again and Stiles wanted to tell the man to either say whatever he was thinking or stop looking at him like that. Deaton nodded and turned the sign on the door to 'closed.' They walked into the back room of the clinic and the animals didn't react to his presence which was odd. Usually they got very on edge when he was around. That was just another reminder to Stiles that he was a human now. Deaton crossed his arms as he regarded them both.

"You've grown quite a bit Derek," Deaton said confirming what they both already knew. "I don't know who you are though."

"This is Stiles," Derek said without expanding the introduction to include what Stiles used to be. Deaton, however, looked less an impressed.

"Laura mentioned a demon that you were traveling with, is this him?" Deaton asked Derek.

"Yes, that's me," Stiles said because he hated when people acted like he wasn't there. "Though you should make that 'demon' part as a past tense."

"That's why we're here," Derek said no doubt to direct the conversation away from a confrontation. "We're in trouble." Deaton looked between the two of them and nodded.

"You should start from the beginning," he said. It took a long time for Derek to go through their entire history together all the way back to the original deal that brought Laura back. Stiles didn't really want to share all of this information with a stranger but if they really were going up against an angel they needed all the help they could get. Stiles just hated the looks that he got from Allison and Chris and now Deaton. He knew what he was and Stiles knew his reputation but that didn't make him any less annoyed when they all acted like he was about to backstab them. He got plenty of those looks from Derek in the beginning and after he saved Laura's life she seemed to like him more. By the time Derek was done explaining everything Stiles was sitting on an exam table, his legs swinging back and forth, bored out of his skull. He should have brought a book.

"I see," Deaton said. "That's quite a story you have there. The fact that Chris Argent is willing to trust you says a lot."

"Considering what happened with Kate it really is," Derek said nodding.

"And I trust you Derek. Your family was a very large part of my life for a long time," Deaton continued.

"There's a 'but' in this conversation somewhere, isn't there?" Stiles deadpanned after he remained silent throughout most of Derek's explanation.

"However," Deaton said which was basically the same thing and it was like he said it just to prove that Stiles wasn't right. "I don't trust him."

"I do though, isn't that enough?" Derek asked but Deaton shook his head.

"The information you want me to find could be extremely dangerous in the hands of demons. The last thing we want is a literal war between good and evil after the demons step on the toes of an angel because they know a secret." Deaton fixated his gaze on Stiles and Stiles stared right back at him. This was annoying and if there was anything Stiles hated more than it was when he had to prove himself to someone.

"Test me then," Stiles said. "I'll prove you can trust me with information on the angels, Peter, and how to get us back to normal. Then Derek, Laura, and I get the fuck out of here." Deaton still didn't look convinced.

"My Uncle tried to kill my sister and took my wolf from me," Derek said softly. "He's killing people and he's going to kill again. He's my uncle and I have to stop him." If the moment wasn't so serious Stiles would have made a comment about Derek's hero complex but he bit his tongue. Deaton regarded them both with much trepidation but eventually pulled a photo out of a desk and set it on the desk. It looked like an extremely old jewelry box but Stiles could tell from the engraved markings that it was more than that.

"There is a sharmen a few towns over who took this from me. If you can get it back and bring it to me I'll help you," Deaton said. "It'll be dangerous and it's likely that someone will try to stop you from taking it."

"If we get this for you you'll help us?" Derek asked and Deaton nodded. "Then we'll do it." Deaton wrote down an address on a piece of paper and never once let Stiles out of his sight. Stiles was all too happy when they left.

"This is a bad idea," Stiles said when they got into the Camaro.

"I know it is," Derek replied. He started the car and drove away from the clinic. They swung by the motel room for some supplies. Stiles didn't know what this shamen was capable of so he took a little bit of everything. He really didn't want to fight as a human though. When he got back out to the car Derek was on the phone. "So we're going on a quest to prove our worth." Stiles closed the door and Derek switched the phone to speaker.

"One of you have to pull a sword from a stone first?" Allison asked.

"This is a terrible idea," Stiles grumbled. "We're humans going against something supernatural. We're practically useless."

"I'm not useless," Allison snapped. "Neither is my Dad and neither are any humans for that matter. You can't forget what we're capable of when we're determined enough."

"That determination is what has me worried," Derek said. "We don't know what this shamen has sacrificed for their power. We're pretty defenseless."

"Then find someone else who can tell you about how to deal with a werewolf with a guardian angel," Allison said and hung up on them.

"We probably deserved that," Stiles said. Derek started the car and they drove out of town. It was the late afternoon by the time they got to the right town. Derek parked the car in a busy parking lot in the back corner away from any cameras. Stiles really wasn't comfortable with any of this but the box must be important if Deaton was willing to send them to go get it. The shaman's store was a little knick knack shop called Sage that sold piles of useless junk to people who believed in the supernatural. There were a few legitimate looking things judging from the website but they were few and far between. The owner was a frighteningly beautiful woman known only as Morrell. The box was in a picture of the shop behind a glass case with a sign that said 'not for sale' Stiles took the picture that Deaton gave them and began to look at the markings again.

"What are you looking at?" Derek asked.

"These markings," Stiles said without really paying attention to Derek. "I sort of recognize them. They're protection seals."

"Protection from what? Not that it really matters since we're human anyway," Derek said.

"From a lot of things," Stiles mumbled. He wasn't about to tell Derek that he recognized the markings as thing specifically drawn to keep demons out. Deaton really was testing him. There was something in that box that was either extremely dangerous or extremely tempting to demons. Stiles looked up and watched the lights in the shop go out. A moment later the lights in the apartment above the shop turned on. They were going to have to break in with a shamen two floors above them. Stiles didn't like those odds.

"Let's go," Derek said. They crossed the street and crept around to the backdoor of the building. Derek swore to himself when the door wouldn't open. "I usually just kick them down."

"Do you have a lock pick?" Stiles asked and Derek nodded. "Well then you're in luck that I liked to look in locked places when I was alive," Stiles replied. He pressed an ear to the door, took the lock pick from their bag, and began to work on the lock. It took too long for him to get the door opened but it clicked open eventually. No alarms went off but Stiles was pretty sure that if there was any security it wasn't meant for humans. Stiles had a knife on his hip but he really didn't want to use it. Derek had a shotgun but he brought his rock salt bullets. Getting shot with rock salt would hurt anyone was the logic.

They opened the back door into the main shop and Stiles was immediately overwhelmed with the smell of cheap incense. He almost sneezed it was so potent.

"Get the box; I'll keep watch," Derek said. Stiles nodded and began to look for the glass case that had the box. There was a good chance it had to be him that had to take the box since he was the one Deaton didn't trust. The case was along the far wall and even as a human Stiles could sense that there was something otherworldly about it. He looked around the case for something that could indicate a warning system when it opened but if there was one it wasn't anything Stiles could see. He braced himself for something terrible to happen when he opened the door anyway.

Stiles' fingers tingled when he touched the box. It felt sturdy when he picked it up and there was something in it, something heavy, too heavy for a box this small. Whatever was in there was dangerous to him or could help him in ways he couldn't imagine. Is this the test? Stiles thought. You wanted to see if I'd look and see what you have in here? Stiles narrowed his eyes and placed the box in the bag.

"Stiles, someone is--" Derek said just as the door that lead upstairs was nearly thrown off its hinges. Derek turned his gun on Morrell who stood in doorway and glared at them.

"Normally, when someone steals from me, they try to take my money," she said calmly.

"Put your hands up and I won't have to shoot," Derek said but Morrell didn't look worried at all. If anything she looked a little amused.

"You're not ordinary robbers though," she said. Stiles immediately knew that this was about to go sideways in very painful ways. He opened his mouth to warn Derek but Morrell was too fast. She knocked Derek's gun from his hand and kicked him into the counter, hard. It was enough to knock the wind out of him momentarily and long enough for Morrell punch Derek in the face and chest then turn her attention to Stiles. He pulled the knife from his hip and held it in hand. He hoped that fighting was a muscle memory that he retained. "There's only one person who knows about that box and what it is. Why did he send you two to get it?"

"I'm sorry but that's classified. You can file an appeal if you want but I wouldn't hold your breath for approval," Stiles replied. Morrell smiled as she slowly advanced on him. She picked a knife off of the shelf and shook her head sadly.

"We'll see how biting that sense of humor is in a moment or two." Morrell moved much faster than Stiles was anticipating but he still managed to block her from gutting him. This body Stiles was using these days wasn't very strong but it was young so he was fast enough to keep up with her. Their knives clashed for a few blows until Stiles wasn't fast enough anymore. Morrell nicked his forearm and knocked Stiles to the ground. The cut wasn't terrible but it hurt more than he was used to on Earth. It made Stiles think of hell and now was not the fucking time for a flashback. "No, you're not normal robbers or least you weren't normal. I can see what you both used to be."

"You don't know anything about us," Derek said. Derek's nose was bleeding and Stiles was relatively sure it was broken. He lunged at Morrell and managed to get the knife out of her hands. As Derek tried to subdue her Stiles pushed through the memories of the Pit and picked up Derek's gun. Stiles wasn't a huge fan of guns but sometimes they served their purpose. The blood from the wound on his arm made his hand feel slick. There were a few extra shells in the bag, real shotgun shells, and Stiles decided that he didn't want to deal with this anymore. He popped the two rock salt shells out and replaced them with tradition buckshot shells. Morrell and Derek broke apart and Stiles pointed the gun at her.

"I have no qualms about shooting you," he warned.

"You wear the scars of hell on you like a tattoo," Morrell spit out. "Of course you'd have no qualms about shooting me though I am curious why you and a werewolf are walking around as mortals."

"Be curious all you want," Derek said with a hand to his nose. If Stiles wasn't threatening to shoot someone he would have found the plugged up tone to Derek's voice funny. "We're leaving now."

"You don't want to let that hellspawn have what's in that box," Morrell said. "He'll use it against all of us. That's what they do." For half a moment Stiles contemplating shooting her to keep her quiet but that would just prove her point. Instead Stiles held her gaze and handed the gun to Derek. She raised an eyebrow and looked genuinely surprised. Stiles picked up the bag with the box and got his knife back into the sheath on his belt.

"Let's go," he said. Derek nodded and kept the gun pointed at Morrell until the door to the back room slammed shut. Then they ran as fast as they could back to the Camaro. No one followed them but Stiles could feel that woman watching their every move from the window of the shop. There weren't any sirens so she hadn't called the police. Stiles tossed the bag at his feet and they peeled out of the parking lot. Stiles wanted to tell Derek to go faster but the last thing they needed was to get pulled over. It took nearly ten minutes for Derek to ask about it.

"What did she mean? What's in there?" he asked.

"I don't know," Stiles replied without looking at Derek. "The markings are designed to keep almost everything out but mostly my kind. That kind of protection wouldn't go into something that isn't dangerous or powerful to us."

"Are you going to look and see what it is?" Derek said after a beat of silence.

"No," Stiles said without hesitation. Stiles didn't know if that was the answer Derek was looking for and they passed the rest of the drive back to Beacon Hills in silence.

Deaton was waiting for them when Derek pulled up to the veterinarians office. It was fairly obvious that Deaton didn't trust Stiles and this little scavenger hunt was a waste of time but it looked like Deaton might be the only one that could help them. Deaton smiled pleasantly and led them back into the back room of the office. Stiles pulled the box out of his bag and set it on the table. Deaton picked it up and looked the box over. Derek wasn't sure what Deaton was looking for but when Deaton smiled Derek figured he must have found it.

"Will you help us now?" Stiles asked.

"Why don't we tend to those injuries first," Deaton said. Deaton offered to put stitches in Stiles' arm but Stiles told him not to bother. Derek didn't bother to try and hide his pain when Deaton set his broken nose. It throbbed horribly and Derek idly wondered if his nose was going to look a little off for the rest of his life now. He wondered if the cut on Stiles' arm was going to scar. "Morrell was fairly impressed by you two."

"You know her?" Stiles asked.

"She's my sister. She wouldn't give me that box back but we still talk. She called me as soon as you two left because she knew I was the only one who would send someone to steal the box from her," Deaton explained as he looked up to meet Stiles' gaze. "She was worried you would look."

"Well, I didn't, so I passed your little test. If we're done wasting time I'd love to know how to deal with the werewolf running around with an angel as backup," Stiles said shortly. Deaton nodded and opened a book.

"Peter is just a normal werewolf. While an angel might have raised him he's still alive. Raising people from the dead isn't an easy task. You can kill him just like you'd kill any other wolf," Deaton said.

"Why would an angel raise him in the first place?" Derek asked.

"Your angel is probably using Peter as a weapon for their own divine purpose. Peter needs to be powerful to be a decent weapon. The angel is probably letting Peter get away with killing people by picking someone who has sinned in the past. That way the killing is justified. Peter attacked Laura because he wants her Alpha status but at the same time he needs a pack. You are family so there's already a bond there. I believe Peter intends to wound Laura just bad enough that the Alpha title will pass to him and then revive her as a member of his pack. That's the same reason why he took away your wolf, Derek," Deaton said.

"How can I be a member of anyone's pack as a human?" Derek asked.

"Peter told you he'd give it back if you submitted to him," Stiles said. "Blackmail?"

"Essentially. If Derek is human he's more likely to say 'yes' to submission since he's weaker. That's what I believe Peter's reasoning is. As for you, Stiles, he made you human to keep you from getting involved." Deaton pulled out a jar of mountain ash and placed it on the table. "He's not going to stop coming after you, Derek. He needs a pack."

"Why is an angel helping Peter though? Why give him access to such a powerful spell?" Stiles asked. "They've always said they're above human beings, why help a werewolf?"

"What better weapon against the forces of hell than a werewolf whose family was killed by a demon?" Deaton said. "Your angel is a bigger problem I have to look into more for you. Killing an angel is no easy task but you can help keep them at bay." Deaton pulled out a piece of paper with what looked like a seal on it. "Draw this with blood and put your hand on it. That'll banish your angel."

"But not kill them," Derek said and Deaton nodded. "What about Peter? Is that really my Uncle?"

"Peter lived for quite some time with those injuries from the fire no doubt in a great amount of pain," Stiles said softly. "When you go through something as traumatic as that you don't come out as the same person." Derek knew that Stiles wasn't just talking about Peter which broke his heart a little. Derek wanted to reach over and take Stiles' hand, touch his shoulder, but managed to stop himself. Deaton didn't need to know about that aspect of their partnership though judging from the way he was looking at them Deaton already knew.

"I'll keep looking into your angel problem," Deaton said. Derek nodded and they took the mountain ash and the picture of the banishing seal from the table. Derek exchanged numbers with Deaton and they headed back to the motel. He was at a red light when the phone rang; it was Allison.

"How did it go?" she asked.

"Meet us at our motel and we'll tell you," Derek said.

"See you in five," Allison said and hung up. Stiles turned the mountain ash jar over in his hands and said nothing. The aches from the fight with Morrell were settling into Derek's bones and he really wanted to sleep. He had to fill in Allison and Chris about the seal and what they learned. Stiles glared when Derek got out of the Camaro stiffly.

"You're hurting," Stiles said.

"I'll be fine," Derek replied.

"I can handle this." Stiles pushed Derek toward their motel room. "Take a nap and we'll meet up later. You don't need to worry about me; I can take care of myself. Get some sleep." Derek hesitated but getting thrown into the counter really did a number on his lower back. He wasn't used to pain lingering like this for so long and it threw him off.

"Fine, but call me if you need me," Derek replied. Stiles walked over to the SUV that Allison and Chris were waiting in and Derek watched him just to be sure. It had been a long day so maybe Stiles was right and sleep was the way to go. Derek opened their motel room and salted the door behind him. He nearly collapsed into the pile of blankets on the floor. He barely had his shoes off before Derek was drifting off. Derek was behind the mountain ash line and he salted the room; he could sleep and not worry about it too much.

"God damn it ow?" Stiles said as Allison began to probe as the cut on his arm. He probably should have let Deaton stitch it up but there were more important things to worry about. Allison took one look at the bandage that he had nearly bled through and sat him down in the back seat of the SUV.

"Stop complaining," Allison said.

"Have better bedside manner then," Stiles replied briskly.

"So this banishing seal is our best line of defense," Chris said because apparently he was the one who was playing adult in this group.

"More like only," Stiles said. He tried to get his arm back but the glare Allison shot at him was soul melting. "Deaton is looking into it."

"Is there anything to protect yourself from angels? Like mountain ash or salt?" Allison asked as she finished bandaging Stiles' arm.

"Not really, why?" Stiles replied.

"If Peter needs Derek and this angel is already willing to help, what's to stop the angel from breaking the mountain ash circle?" Allison asked. Stiles was about to say there wasn't when he felt something over his bond with Derek. It wasn't as strong now that they were human but there was still enough there that Stiles knew when something was wrong. Stiles jumped out of the SUV and raced across the parking lot to his motel room. He could hear Allison and Chris behind him but he didn't pay them much attention. Stiles threw open the door to the room and found it empty. There was no sign of Derek anywhere. The line of salt against the door was gone and when Stiles knelt down next to the mountain ash circle he could see where it was barely broken.

"Peter has Derek," Stiles whispered. "We need to get to the hospital, now. If Peter has Derek that means he's going to go after Laura now."

"I'll drive," Chris said. They ran back to the car and sped off. Chris was breaking several speeding laws but no one pulled them over. Allison had a crossbow in hand and she offered Stiles a gun. He assumed it was loaded with wolfsbane bullets. It took some careful maneuvering to keep the guns and crossbow hidden from the hospital staff as they made their way down the hallway toward Laura's room. There wasn't anyone nearby, it was like this section was deserted, but Stiles didn't consider himself that lucky. Laura was hurt and there wasn't any guarantee that she would survive getting taken out of the hospital. Stiles turned the corner and saw Peter rolling Laura around a corner on a bed. Peter looked up, grinned at Stiles, and ran off.

Stiles didn't bother to wait for Allison or Chris to catch up he took off running after Peter. Peter was a werewolf and much faster than him though and they were in the parking garage by the time Stiles managed to catch up. The door to the garage slammed behind him him and locked Allison and Chris out. Stiles could only assume that was Peter's guardian angel out to help. At the very end of the parking lot Stiles saw Peter loading an unconscious Laura into his car. Stiles only had one shot to make this. He raised the gun to put a bullet in Peter's head.

He never even saw Peter move but before Stiles could fire a shot Peter knocked the gun from his hand and picked Stiles up off the ground by his shirt.

"I thought as a human you'd be less of a nuisance to me," Peter said. Stiles struggled to keep free but he was a human trying to escape a werewolf on pure strength alone. He didn't stand a chance. "You're not going stay out of my family's business, are you?"

"I'm not very good at walking away from things," Stiles sneered.

"I'm on a divine mission to make sure what happened to my family never happens again. I have an angel on my side now I just need the power and a pack which I will have soon. I'm one of the good guys, Stiles, unlike you," Peter said smirking.

"You don't know anything about me," Stiles said.

"But you didn't deny that you aren't a protagonist in this story. You're not even the antagonist anymore. You're just a henchmen that needs to be dealt with. So this is me dealing with it." Peter threw Stiles aside like he weighed nothing at all. Stiles knew that this was going to hurt, he prepared himself for it, but hitting the concrete wall of the parking garage knocked the wind out of his lungs. The world cut to black just as a door opened and a car sped away.

Derek woke up slowly. The last thing he remembered was the door to the motel room opening and everything going dark. He blinked a few times to clear his blurred vision and wasn't surprised that he wasn't in his motel room anymore. Derek sat up and realized that he was in the basement of the old Hale house, locked in one of the rooms that were set aside for the full moon's, and he wasn't alone. Laura was on the ground nearby, unconscious, and Derek scrambled over to her. She was breathing on her own and it didn't look like she was hurt but Laura wasn't awake either.

"She'll be fine," Peter said from behind the closed door. There was a small window on the top of the door and the glass was broken. It wasn't large enough to help Derek in any way though.

"You're going to kill her to take her title," Derek snapped.

"I'm going to mostly kill her," Peter replied chuckling. "After I'm the Alpha and you both submit we'll be a pack again, Derek. Not only that but we'll be a pack with a purpose."

"And what purpose is that?"

"I've been given the task to protect the world from evil. I've been given the divine right to do whatever I need to prevent what happened to our family from happening to anyone else. That is the right that was bestowed upon me from the one that raised me from the dead and healed my wounds." Peter's voice sounded dazed, in awe, as if he couldn't believe that he was alive either. "She's my guide, Derek, and I'll be yours. The three of us with Her help can save so many lives."

"I already save lives," Derek said.

"Yes, She told me. You're a hunter now. The hunters didn't help protect our family from those hellspawns and you aren't enough to protect others as well. The three of us though, with her help, we can get our revenge," Peter said as he looked through the small broken window at Derek. There weren't many moments in his life when Derek truly felt like prey but this one was one of them. He didn't move toward the door but he did keep himself between Peter and Laura.

"Did your angel friend tell you I already got revenge? I killed the demon that killed our family," Derek said.

"It's not about specifics, Derek. It's about what those creatures think they can get away with. I heard all about your little adventure with that partner of yours. I wouldn't put too much faith in him coming to help you." Those words made Derek's blood run cold. If Peter killed Stiles then Stiles was in the Pit at this very moment. Peter grinned like he knew what Derek was thinking. "Once I give you your wolf back you will submit to me. Then you'll see just what good we're going to be doing in this world." Peter turned and left his footsteps echoing throughout the ruined house. Derek touched Laura's hair and wished he could feel the comfort that she always brought him, the comfort of pack. His bond with Stiles wasn't strong enough now that they were both human and Derek had no idea if this crushing sensation of loneliness was from his situation or if Stiles was really dead.

"This is for the best," a voice whispered. Derek looked around but didn't see anyone. He could only assume that this was Peter's angel.

"Why don't you stop hiding in the shadows so we can meet face to face," Derek said. He heard the distinct sound of someone laughing at him softly.

"We will meet soon, Derek." Derek wanted to try and find some way out but he knew there wasn't one. Maybe if he was a werewolf he'd have the strength to break down a door but as a human there was nothing he could do right now. Derek moved Laura's head into his lap and told himself over and over again that Stiles was fine and help was on the way.

Someone was yelling his name and Stiles wanted to tell them to shut up. Everything hurt in a way that felt very real which was a strange comfort. It was the reassurance that he wasn't dead and back in the Pit he guessed. That didn't mean that Stiles wasn't in an insane amount of pain. Peter had thrown him into a wall. He had every right to be in pain but there wasn't any time to dwell on that. Derek and Laura were both gone and Stiles knew them both well enough that neither of them would submit to an Alpha that killed people who were hiking through the woods. If they wouldn't submit they weren't of any use to Peter and he would kill them. Stiles wasn't sure what he would do if either Derek or Laura were dead. Probably something incredibly stupid like give himself up to Lydia in exchange for their lives.

"Stiles, Stiles you have to wake up," Allison yelled at him. Chris said something in the background but Stiles couldn't understand what it was. He slowly opened his eyes and it took a moment for Allison's face to come into focus. "I thought he had killed you for a second there."

"There aren't enough words in the English language to depict how bad that would be," Stiles replied. Allison helped him sit up and Stiles didn't bother to hide his wince in pain. "They got away?"

"Something blocked the door so we couldn't follow you out here," Chris said. "If I had to wager a guess it'd be Peter's angel."

"He was too fast for me," Stiles said softly. Allison helped Stiles to his feet and he didn't feel bad when he let her carry some of his weight. "We need to find them before he hurts them."

"This began at the Hale house. I think assuming that he took them there is a good one to make," Allison said. She helped Stiles walk through the garage and out to the street where the car was waiting. "We have weapons but there's only so much we can do against an angel."

"Go to the vets office," Stiles said. Chris and Allison exchanged a glance but drove him to Deaton's office anyway. The parking lot was empty save for one car and when Allison helped Stiles walk in the door Deaton looked like he was expecting them.

"Chris, good to see you again. I heard you were in town. This must be Allison. I've heard so much about you through the grapevine," Deaton said and he turned his attention to Stiles. "You look like you've seen better days."

"Nothing I haven't dealt with before. Since I can't heal though I could use a serious painkiller and anymore information that you have on angel's." Deaton looked a little apprehensive but he gave Stiles a shot anyway. It dulled the pain enough that he could focus but sharp enough that Stiles wasn't too dazed.

"I'm afraid I haven't been able to find anything," Deaton said. "I've seen an angelic blade mentioned a few times in the lore but, from what I can gather, these are weapons angel's carry. Unless you can find an angel willing to give up their weapon we don't have any other way of killing them. The banishing sigil is the best option you have."

"I don't suppose you have any Holy Oil lying around that we can have?" Stiles asked and Deaton shook his head. Stiles turned to Allison and Chris. They both looked determined and unafraid. Stiles wasn't sure when he forgot how strong and dangerous humans could be but he wasn't going to forget it anytime soon. "Will you help me?"

"Yes," Allison said without hesitation. "Peter is killing people and needs to be put down."

"Then let's get going." Stiles nodded to Deaton and walked out of the office with Allison and Chris. They gathered various wolfsbane weapons and loaded them onto their persons. Stiles turned a knife over in his hand and remembered the banishing sigil. There was no telling when this angel was going to make their presence known during this fight. He had to be ready to draw this at a moments notice. Stiles just hoped that he wasn't too late.

Derek wasn't sure when he dozed off but the sound of someone moving around made him jerk awake. Judging from the pain in his neck and how his legs were asleep it had been several hours since Peter left. The sun was up and casted shadows of light through the broken floorboards of his family house. Perhaps Stiles really was dead and that's why no one had come to help him yet. Derek tried to tell himself that it wasn't true, that even as a human he would have felt Stiles die through their bond, and he wondered if he repeated it enough times it would be true. There was more movement outside the door and Derek tried to shield Laura.

"It's quite odd I think," Peter said as he opened the door. "You'd think with an angel on my side She could just make me an Alpha but it seems I have to do this the old fashion way."

"I'm not going to let you hurt her," Derek warned but Peter laughed.

"Don't worry. I'm only going to hurt her a little," Peter replied. Derek got to his feet and clenched his fists, ready to beat Peter back with nothing but his human strength if he had to, when something lifted Derek off of his feet and slammed him into one of the walls. It was like fighting a demon, some form of telekinesis, and no matter how hard he struggled he couldn't get away. "Thank you, Jennifer." Derek blinked and suddenly there was a woman in the room with them. For a second he thought he heard the sound of wings flapping in the breeze but there was nothing there. She had long, dark hair, and dark eyes. She was stunningly beautiful and terrifying in a way that Derek couldn't put into words. This was the angel.

"It's no problem, Peter," Jennifer said smoothly. Peter knelt down next to Laura and Jennifer joined him. Derek struggled to get away, he couldn't just sit here and let this happen, but Jennifer's hold on him was absolute. Peter flicked his claws out and looked down at Laura like she wasn’t his niece.

“She’s weak. You’re going to kill her,” Derek said frantically.

“I will heal her,” Jennifer replied. Peter smirked and plunged his claws into Laura’s chest. Her eyes snapped open and glowed a bright red. Derek struggled to get away, to try and help, but he was hurting himself in the process. Peter’s eyes glowed a bright blue then transitioned into Alpha red. Peter removed his claws and looked at the blood thoughtfully. Jennifer placed a hand on Laura’s shoulder and Derek watched as the wounds on Laura’s chest healed. Laura gasped for breath and coughed violently. Jennifer stood up and walked toward Derek. “Do you wish to be a wolf again?”

“I will not submit to him,” Derek spat out. Jennifer walked into Derek’s personal space and looked at him like she didn’t understand him.

“We’re going to do so much good in this world,” she said. “This body that I’m in, she begged for this. She begged for salvation and for revenge when a werewolf nearly ripped her apart. I healed her flesh and I’m giving her the opportunity to right so many wrongs. The pack with my help can help so many people. Don’t you see that?”

“I guess I’m having a hard time seeing past the fact that he nearly killed my sister and slaughtered a bunch of humans that just happened to be in the woods,” Derek snapped.

“They were bad people,” Peter said like that justified his actions. “We’re on a divine mission to eradicate all the evil from the world. All you need to do is submit.” Jennifer placed a hand on Derek’s cheek, she was cold to touch, and it was like she opened a door inside of him. His wolf was suddenly present again and the rush of his heightened senses knocked the air out of Derek’s lungs. Jennifer took several steps back and let Derek fall to his hands and knees. Derek dug his claws into the floorboards and tried to control his anger. “Submit,” Peter said darkly. Derek looked up and into Peter’s red Alpha eyes. He could feel their connection because they were still family at the end of the day. Derek felt like he should submit to an Alpha despite how much he didn’t want to.

Derek heard a car quickly approaching the house, he heard three heartbeats get out of that car, but Peter did nothing. He just smirked like this was all part of his plan. Jennifer stepped back into the shadows and faded from sight.

“Looks like we have company,” Peter said. Peter took Derek by the shirt and threw him up through the ceiling to the ground floor of the house. Derek grunted from the pain of going through the floorboards but rolled his shoulders. Chris, Allison, and Stiles all burst in through the front door with weapons raised.

“Get down!” Allison shouted. Derek dropped to his knees just as Peter emerged. Allison had a long bow and quickly fired several arrows into Peter’s chest. Chris and Stiles nearly emptied their clips and Derek could smell the wolfsbane. Peter, however, barely flinched. He pulled the arrows out and tossed them aside. Black blood leaked from the wounds but it was like Peter couldn’t feel the poison rushing through his system.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to do better than that,” Peter said. Derek charged forward despite how much more powerful he knew Peter was then him. Stiles was still a human and while Chris and Allison were talented humans there was only so much damage they could do to an Alpha werewolf. Peter avoided Derek’s attacks easily and when Peter managed to land a punch Derek thought he nearly lost his head. Derek tasted blood but it was Peter’s powerful roar that made him wince. He wanted to cower to that, submit, but Derek couldn’t let himself do that. Peter hit Derek hard enough that Derek felt several of his ribs crack and he fell to his knees in pain.

Peter turned to Allison, Chris, and Stiles. He was so fast that he must have been a blur to normal human eyes. He backhanded Stiles hard enough that Stiles hit a wall and swiped his leg out to knock Chris off of his feet. Derek could feel his ribs healing but not quickly enough. Allison fired another arrow into Peter’s shoulder and he turned on her growling. Peter knocked the bow from her hand and pinned Allison down by her neck.

“Do you really think you have a chance against me, human? I’m going to rip your pretty little throat out,” Peter said. Derek struggled to get to his feet but someone beat him to it. They threw Peter off of Allison and away several feet. It was Laura and she looked furious.

“How about we even this fight up a bit, little brother,” she said without looking at Derek. Derek got his feet and stood next to his sister. Their bond was much stronger than anything he had with Peter even if she wasn’t his Alpha. Laura’s eyes glowed bright yellow and she flashed her fangs. Peter chuckled as he got to his feet. Derek didn’t let Peter get in another snarky remark; he charged his uncle with Laura at his side.

This was the second time Peter had thrown him into a wall and Stiles was pretty over it. The painkillers only did so much for his battered and bruised body. Allison and Chris were trying to attack Peter while Laura and Derek tried to tear him apart. Stiles winced as he reached into his pocket to load another round into his gun when he heard the movement of wings in the air. Stiles froze because he knew that sound. He looked up slowly at the woman that was standing in front of him. Stiles knew that this was the angel the moment he laid eyes on her. He could see it in the way she used the body she was possessing, the way she looked at him like he was curious thing that she didn’t understand, and how she was a terrifying thing to behold.

“You must be Stiles,” she said as if there wasn’t a battle going on nearby. Everyone else was too focused on Peter to see that she was here.

“And you must be our friendly werewolf guardian angel,” Stiles replied. He didn’t bother to finish loading his gun; it wouldn’t do him any good against an angel. There was a knife on his hip but there wasn’t enough time to draw a sigil. Stiles stood up so he was eye to eye with her.

“I don’t know if ‘guardian’ is the right word,” she said. “You can call me Jennifer.”

“I wasn’t aware we were going to exchange pleasantries,” Stiles said carefully. She could snap his neck in seconds so mouthing off probably wasn’t in his best interests. Jennifer was right there though and there was nothing he could do. “This amount of interference isn’t really your guys’ style; what changed?”

“Interference is what your kind loves to do,” Jennifer said easily. “I decided that the good people of the world are at the mercy of evil far too long. So I decided to do something about it.”

“By resurrecting a werewolf and turning him into your personal weapon?” Stiles asked raising both of his eyebrows.

“That’s exactly what I did.” Jennifer narrowed her and Stiles felt like he was staring down a giant. He crossed his arms and stood his ground. There was a loud growl and Jennifer turned his gaze to the fight. Stiles glanced over his shoulder. Laura kicked Peter in the head hard enough to snap a bone and raised her claws to slash his throat. “Though I suppose this isn’t going according to plan. I can take one victory from this though.” Stiles turned back to her and was about to ask what she was talking about when a vice like hand snatched his throat. Jennifer lifted Stiles clear off of his feet just as Stiles heard claw slash across flesh. Laura must have taken her title back. That was a good thing but now he was going to get his neck broken by an angel.

“Got to kill the nasty little hellspawn don’t you,” Stiles struggled to say. He tried to pry her fingers off of his throat but she was far too strong for him. Stiles couldn’t breath and his lungs felt like they were on fire. Jennifer smiled and nodded.

Derek had cuts and bruises all over his body that were taking far too long to heal. Peter was an apha and his wounds were much harder to heal. The bond he felt from Laura flared to life the moment she raked her claws across his throat. Peter wasn’t the uncle he knew anymore. He was a man warped by revenge and believing that he was doing the right thing. Derek heard a heartbeat jump and he turned to see Jennifer holding Stiles up by his neck. Stiles could barely breath and was struggling to get free. Derek knew he couldn’t attack her because she would snap Stiles’ neck but he refused to sit by and do nothing while someone he cared about was hurt again.

“Don’t kill him,” Derek said. Jennifer glanced at Derek and raised an eyebrow.

“He might be human now but that won’t last long. Now that Peter is dead the spell he cast will fade soon. Now is the time for me to do this. Now is the perfect time for me to get rid of one more demon,” Jennifer replied.

“I know you’re trying to help us mortals,” Derek said as he carefully took a few steps toward Jennifer and Stiles. “And I know that Stiles is a demon and has done some really terrible things in the past but no creature is sin free. We’ve all done terrible things but you can’t condemn all of us.”

“He’s a former king of the crossroads. The path to get to that position is soaked in blood. He’s stolen countless souls and sent them all to hell. Why shouldn’t he die? What is the world going to lose without him?” Jennifer asked. Stiles’ heartbeat was beginning to slow down and his lips were turning blue.

“Okay, yes, he’s done all of that, but he’s also saved my life. He’s helped me hunt things that were hurting other people. Every life that I’ve saved from a hunt that he’s helped me with is a life he’s helped save. He sacrificed himself so get me put on a blacklist so no demon can ever take my soul in a deal. He suffered the Pit a second time for me. He’s done bad things in the past but he’s here now doing good,” Derek said.

“He saved my life too,” Laura said suddenly. “He took a bullet that would have killed me and he stopped Derek from committing a murder.”

“None of that means anything, who is he to you? Why do you care?” Jennifer snapped. Stiles’ eyes were rolling into the back of his head; they were out of time.

“I care because I love him and he loves me as much as he’s capable of,” Derek said. The words were out of his mouth before he could think twice. They hadn’t said it to each other since the trickster’s world and Derek thought it was because it wasn’t true in the real world. Yet here he was bargaining with an angel for the life of the demon that he was in love with. Jennifer stared at Derek with wide eyes like she couldn’t believe he just said that. “You could hear my heartbeat; I’m not lying.” Jennifer looked back at Stiles and narrowed her eyes like she was trying to see something. Just as Stiles’ heart slowed to a stop she dropped him. Stiles fell to the ground in a heap. Jennifer looked like she was about to say something when a bright light made her vanish. Derek looked over and saw Chris with a bloody hand over a banishing sigil.

“Couldn’t risk him going with her,” he said breathlessly. Derek rushed over to Stiles and knelt down next to him. He wasn’t breathing. Allison moved Derek out of the way and started CPR. A heartbeat echoed in his ear, the smell of sulfur filled the air, and when Derek looked down at Stiles his eyes were open and demon black. Stiles blinked and they were back to the honey brown. Derek didn’t know what to say so he said nothing. He just looked down at Stiles and smiled.

Allison and Chris said they were going to send more hunters down to watch Beacon Hills but if they ever had problems they couldn’t handle they would call Derek for help. Stiles wasn’t sure how he felt about that but at least they didn’t have to wait around Beacon Hills anymore. Jennifer hadn’t returned after Chris banished her and Stiles wasn’t convinced she wouldn’t show up again. He needed to find a way to get a hold of one of the angel swords or at least some holy oil. Stiles wasn’t looking forward to calling in those favors.

Laura was tired and asleep in the motel room while Chris, Allison, and Derek talked quietly in the parking lot. Stiles wasn’t really listening since it was all formal hunter crap and he was still getting used to being himself again. Derek shook Chris and Allison’s hands and they went their separate ways. Derek walked over and joined Stiles on the hood of the Camaro. They hadn’t talked about Derek had said and how he managed to convince Jennifer not kill him. Stiles felt like he was going to be sick when he thought about.

“I figure we’ll head out in the morning,” Derek said like he hadn’t confessed to being in love with Stiles a few hours ago.

“I didn’t deserve that,” Stiles said. Derek frowned and looked at him but Stiles refused to meet Derek’s gaze. “All of that stuff you said about me being good and doing good. It’s not right and you shouldn’t have said it.”

“I didn’t lie though,” Derek said.

“It’s all my fault,” Stiles blurted. “All of this, every single terrible thing that has happened to you has been my fault. I was the one who was helpless to stop my Dad from getting sick and made the deal with Saul. The only reason Saul was even Beacon Hills was because I was born here. That’s why he came here and I was helpless to stop him from killing your family. He went after Laura because he heard about how you were looking for me and him. I was the one that bonded us in the Pit and painted this giant targets on our backs for it. This all goes back to me, all of it, you should hate me for everything I’ve done to you not--” Stiles cut himself off because he couldn’t even say the word. He was fairly sure he wasn’t capable of speaking it let alone feeling it.

“You can’t make yourself responsible for the actions of others. You’re not guilty of anything Saul did than I’m guilty of anything Peter did just because we’re related. It’s not your fault that Saul decided to kill my family. He didn’t need to do that. I don’t blame you and I never will,” Derek said softly after a long silence. “I know you can’t feel the same way I do, I get that and I’m not asking you to, but I know you care. You know how I know you care?”

“How?” Stiles whispered.

“If you didn’t care you wouldn’t feel guilty.” Derek moved closer so their shoulders were touching. Stiles felt like he was going to have a panic attack despite the fact that he wasn’t human anymore and he never used to get them when he was a demon. “Just say you’ll continue to work with me. We make a good team and there are still plenty of other things out there that you need to poke with sticks.” Stiles huffed a laugh and nodded slowly.

“Yeah, I’ll keep working with you,” he said. Stiles glanced up at Derek and met his gaze for the first time. Derek looked so calm and maybe even a little relieved like finding out that Stiles wasn’t planning on leaving was the best news he got all day. Maybe there was something fundamentally broken in him. Something that kept Stiles from being able to love Derek entirely yet as Stiles pulled him into a kiss he couldn’t deny that something was there. Perhaps Derek was right and Stiles just loved him as much as he was capable of. When Derek kissed him back Stiles felt like he was saying ‘I know and what you’re capable of is enough.’

Stiles broke their kiss and pressed his forehead to Derek’s. He would let Derek and Laura get some sleep and in the morning they would all leave Beacon Hills behind them. Stiles wasn’t sure if admitting their feelings for each other was a good idea, they had so many enemies that could use it against them, but the bond between them felt stronger than ever. Their bond had great potential that they hadn’t even begun to tap into. Stiles was surprised how excited it made him to see what they could accomplish together.

The creatures of the world have no idea what they’re in for, Stiles thought and he grinned.