(Take Away This) Ball and Chain

You can run all your life
But not go anywhere
Ball and Chain by Social Distortion

Derek Hale was sixteen when his entire world fell apart. If he was honest with himself it was not that his world ‘fell apart’ as it was 'burned down'. He was at school with Laura when he felt it. Something was wrong, Derek could feel it in his bones, and when he looked at Laura he knew that she felt the same thing. The sheer amount of speeding laws they broke getting to the house was disgusting and Laura was half transformed by the time they got home.

A home that was now engulfed in flames and through the roar of the fire Derek could hear his family screaming. They were werewolves, they could heal quickly, and it kept the wolf members of his family alive for much longer than they should have been. Laura kicked the door to the house in and managed to drag Uncle Peter out. Derek knelt beside him and watched in horror as the burns were too severe to heal. Laura turned to go back into the house, to do something, but quickly the roof caved in. Derek held her back. She was still screaming that she had to go in and save them when the fire trucks appeared.

Six hours later and the walls around him were closing in. He had to get out, get away from all of this or he was going to put a fist through the wall. Laura looked up when he picked up his jacket, grabbed his bag, and started for the door. She didn’t stop him. He was thankful for that.

In the back of his mind Derek replayed a conversation with his father and Uncle Peter. They were talking about hunters and Derek asked if werewolves were the only creatures that were hunted. His dad had smiled sadly and showed him a book of all the things they had encountered over the years. The book that Derek had taken to school that day and it was still in his bag. Derek slid down a tree and sat down, pulling out the book. It was all hand written and he could recognize his dad’s handwriting, his mom’s, Uncle Peter’s, he could see each one. It made his chest hurt as he flipped through the pages.

He was not sure what he was looking for but Derek remembered his dad mentioning something about wishes. There was something out there that could grant his wish and there was only one thing Derek wanted more than anything in the world right now. The moon was half full and his vision made it easy to read the pages. He knew what it was when he saw it, scribbled at the top in Uncle Peter’s writing, the words ‘crossroad demons.’ It listed what he needed to summon one. A picture, bone of a black cat, and some graveyard dirt. And what to do with them. It said that he would have to sell his soul, but Derek did not care about that. He needed his family back and he would do anything for them. He closed the book and began to look for what he needed.

Finding the bone or a crossroads was not easy. The crossroads ended up being in the middle of nowhere. Derek dropped his bag off to the side and dug a hole in the ground. He did not have a container to put them into so he hoped that this was going to work. He put the bone, dirt, and his student ID in the ground, buried them and waited.

Derek smelled the demon before he saw it. The stench of sulfur was strong to his sensitive nose. He turned to see that he was no longer alone. He was surprised to see a kid standing a few feet away. He looked like he was around Derek’s age. Bright amber eyes, an almost lanky body, and brown hair spiked in all directions. He was wearing a t-shirt with a blue flannel button down over it and his hands shoved into his jean’s pockets. To anyone passing by he would have looked like any normal teenager, but much like when Derek stood next to a human, he could see how things were just slightly off. The way he held himself, the tilt of his head, his entire essence just off enough to make someone uncomfortable.

“I know how this works,” Derek said his own voice sounded hoarse like he had been screaming for hours. The demon tilted his head to the side, but said nothing. “You can have my soul. I don’t care when. You can have whatever you want, just bring my family back. We have to seal this deal, right? With a kiss? So let’s do that and you can bring them back and you can decide when you want to drag me to hell.” Derek rolled his shoulders and walked toward the demon when a hand was on his chest, stopping him when they were inches apart.

“Whoa there, slow down turbo. I just got here,” the demon said smoothly. “Why don’t you back it up a quarter inch and then tell me, slowly, what happened before you go making deals you don’t understand.” Derek stared at the demon in front of him and took one large step back.

“My entire family--almost my entire family, died tonight,” Derek said clenching his fists tightly, nails biting into flesh. “There was a fire and they couldn’t get out for some reason. It was too much and they couldn’t--” Derek cut himself off because he had no idea if this demon knew he was a wolf. The demon studied him and then grinned.

“You’re a werewolf. That’s fascinating,” the demon said. “I haven’t seen one of you guys in a long time.” He paused and looked Derek over like he was a science experiment; it was a little unnerving. “What’s your name?”

“Derek,” Derek replied evenly. “I left my ID in there, shouldn’t you know that?”

“I like to hear it from the source,” the demon said waving him off. “How old are you, Derek?”

“I’m sixteen. Now can we do this? I need you to bring back my family. Let’s just make this deal and move on? Please.” Derek was not trying to sound impatient, but there had to be some sort of time limit to these things. The demon looked thoughtful.

“Let’s go for a walk,” he said turning and walking down the street.

“A walk? Don’t we need to do this here?” Derek asked. The demon turned around as he walked and grinned.

“Kid, I’m King of the Crossroads, pretty sure I can do whatever the hell I want. Now get your shit and let’s go.” Derek stared at the demon’s back for a moment before he grabbed his bag and started after the demon. They walked down the road in silence until the demon turned into the forest and began to pick through the woods.

“So, how do you like high school?” It was so inane that Derek was stunned for a moment.

“It’s okay,” he said slowly.

“Just okay? Do you play any sports or anything? Are werewolves allowed to do that?” the demon asked.

“We can as long as we don’t draw too much attention to ourselves.” Derek paused. “My town is weirdly obsessed with lacrosse for some reason, but I don’t play.”

“What are you interested in then?” the demon said. This entire thing was getting a little too bizarre, even for Derek.

“Not really anything specific, but why are you asking me all of this? How is this relevant?”

“It’s not really.” The demon shrugged and ducked under a tree branch. “I haven’t been human for a long time and I was curious.”

“You’re asking the wrong person because I’m not human either,” Derek mumbled and when he looked up the demon was looking at him almost fondly.

“No, I suppose you’re not. You said ‘almost your entire family’ died today, who survived?” the demon asked without missing a beat.

“My sister, Laura,” Derek said softly. “And my uncle, but they aren’t sure he’s going to make it. Even with our healing ability he was hurt too bad. If he wasn’t a wolf, he’d be dead already.”

“Are you close to your sister?”

“Yeah, I am.” The demon fell silent and they picked their way through the forest. The demon stumbled once and Derek steadied him without thinking. The demon raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. It was not until they reached the edge of the forest that Derek realized the demon had walked them back to the hotel where Laura was.

“What are we doing here?” Derek asked.

“Not what we’re doing Derek, but what you’re doing. What you’re going to do is walk away from here and go back to your sister,” the demon said. His expressive face was now completely blank. His features giving nothing away and his heartbeat steady.

“What about our deal? I need you to bring my family back,” Derek said, feeling a panic rise inside of him.

“You’re sixteen, Derek, and just lost everything. You’re not in the right frame of mind to be making a deal. You’re not thinking of the consequences. Suppose I do bring someone back, I could only bring one, but what about them? I could give you ten years maximum, but then they would have to watch you die.” the demon gestured to the door where Laura was. “Your sister already lost everything and now you want her to lose you too? You can’t put her through that.”

“What do you care about Laura and wha
.t she goes through?” Derek yelled. The door to the hotel opened and Laura looked outside. Her eyes were puffy and red from crying. She looked worried.

“Derek? Are you out there?” Laura called out. Derek could see how frail she was, in a way he never thought his sister could be. It broke his heart.

“Go back to your sister, take care of your Uncle, and take it one day at a time,” the demon said.

“Will it ever get better?” Derek asked.

“I don’t have the answer to that. It’s entirely up to you how you handle it and how you live your life from here on out. Now, go back to your sister, because I’m not making a deal with you.” The demon put his hands in his pockets and Derek felt like he was being stared down by someone much older than he was. Laura was still calling for him and it was like she could not see him in the distance for some reason. Derek looked at the demon one last time and turned to walk back to Laura. She threw her arms around him as soon as she saw him and when Derek looked back at the woods, the demon was gone.

He watched from nearby as the young werewolf held onto his sister, his new alpha, for dear life. He even saw Derek turn around and look for him, but he could not be seen now. He was standing far enough away that he could not hear them and he would not be seen unless he wanted them to. He heard someone coming up behind him, but he did not turn around to greet them.

“Stiles, your bleeding heart is going to get you killed one of these days,” a familiar voice said behind him.

“I’m a demon, Lydia, we both know I don’t have a heart,” Stiles replied, still watching as Derek and his sister walked back toward their hotel room.

“I think we both know that isn’t true,” Lydia said and Stiles could see her as she walked into his view. The body she was using was one she was quite fond of, a young girl with strawberry blond hair, bright eyes, and a killer smile. “As your second I can’t outright call you an idiot, but...”

“Like that’s ever stopped you,” Stiles said.

“But” Lydia continued. “I have a feeling that you saying ‘no’ is much more complicated than you’re letting on.”

“I said ‘no’ and that’s all that matters,” Stiles replied shrugging. “I don’t need to explain myself to you.”

“I would never ask such a thing,” Lydia replied and Stiles knew she was being as honest as she was capable of being.

“Good now let’s get out of here.” Stiles turned his back on the Hale’s and their tragedy. His part in this was done. Where Derek and Laura went from here did not concern him. He had other things to worry about.

Six Years Later...

It was nine o’clock in the morning and Derek was tempted to punch through the wall. He had been awake for maybe two hours and he was already fighting with Laura. It did not take much to get them riled up these days. It a had a little to do with the fact that they just had naturally clashing personalities and a lot to do with the fact that Laura wanted him to stay home. Derek was not as inclined because there were so many things out there that wanted to hurt people.

Derek had thrown himself into the bestiary that had been saved from the fire by sheer coincidence and went out looking for trouble three months after. Laura had even tried to get him to submit to her now that she was his alpha and Derek still stood his ground. After doing everything in his power to piss Laura off she eventually just accepted that he was going to do his own thing and told him not to get himself killed.

Six years later and Derek had a reputation among the hunters as someone not to be played with. While he was not nearly the best out there, he was someone that seemed to get out of situations that no one else could have. If anyone had any suspicions about what he was they kept their suspicions to themselves, for which Derek was eternally grateful. There were plenty of hunters that would have wanted him dead just for being a wolf even if he had complete control and had never killed anyone. Or at least never killed anyone who was human which was all that mattered according to most hunters. The fight he was having with Laura now was the same fight they had all the time since the fire.

“Derek, you can’t go out there and try to save the world,” Laura said her hands on her hips. “You’re going to get yourself killed and then what am I going to do?”

“Will you stop it? I’m not going to get myself killed. Do you really think some ghost is going to be the thing to take me down?” Derek asked angrily. “I’m a lot stronger than you give me credit for.”

“I don’t think you’re weak, Derek,” Laura snapped. “This has to do with the fact that you have no regard for your own life. You don’t care if you die, so you throw yourself into these horrible situations without thinking them through.” Derek scoffed and waved her off. That was not true. He knew what he was doing and it did not matter that Laura had no faith in him.

“There is some scary shit out there, Laura. Why shouldn’t it be me that goes after it? I can survive things that the humans can’t,” Derek said. Laura sighed and reached forward to pull him into a hug.

“Ever since Uncle Peter died you have to remember that you’re all I have left. I don’t know what I would do if something happened to you.” Laura held onto him a little tighter before she pulled away and flashed him a bright smile. “Keep in touch and don’t go after something unless you know what it is, okay?”

“Deal,” Derek said and he kissed her cheek. It took a good hour to get all of his things piled into the Camaro, but once he was ready to go he left without another word to Laura. She would probably ask him another question about whether or not he was going to be safe and he did not feel like lying to her. They never talked about it, though he often wondered why she let it go so easily.

After driving for hours, Derek pulled off the side of the street and stopped in a small coffee shop to look for any leads. He ordered coffee, but did not drink it because the caffeine did not affect him in any way. However, the last time he leeched off of wifi and did not order anything he got dirty looks from baristas that unnerved even him. Now he left the coffee, untouched, as he looked for something. Anything at all, that might point him in the direction of a hunt.

Half an hour later Derek found a news story about a comatose patient that had suddenly woken up. That was normally not something to cause the alarms to go off, but this was a man that had zero brain activity for three years. The family had been debating whether to take him off of life support and donate his organs when he suddenly woke up. Two pages after the story there was another reporting on how almost an entire flock of sheep were found killed in a pasture. It was a small town, google told him, so it was not surprising that the two stories would make the papers. The reports were two days old and the internet also showed him that there were electrical storms in the area. All signs were pointing to demon activity, so that meant that was where he was going.

Derek tossed his coffee in the garbage outside, typed the address of the town into his GPS, and drove. The quiet moments between jobs were the ones that he hated the most. It gave his mind time to wander and he hated that more than anything. His mind always wandered to fire. Three days after the fire, it had been ruled an accident. Derek had received the extremely surprising news that the older woman he had met at the pool, Kate Argent, was found amongst the bodies. This made very little sense to him. Kate had always seemed adamant about keeping their relationship a secret. Laura pushed for more information about how the fire happened and why no one could get out, but the police merely told her that there was no indication of foul play. The more she pushed, the more annoyed they got and eventually she just packed the two of them up and they left Beacon Hills behind. She never asked Derek about Kate and he never offered up any information. Though Kate being there never sat right with him.

Laura had taken up residence in Illinois at the moment and that meant that the drive to the small town was not only flat, but also boring. Derek was not a fan of this part of the country and he would have much rather gone back to New York or even California. Laura had just said something about not wanting to be in New York anymore and California was off the table because that meant going within a 100 miles of Beacon Hills. Derek tried to ignore the fact that they had not been back since Uncle Peter passed away three years ago and he did not miss his stupid hometown with all of those memories.

When he finally pulled into town it was already dark. Derek had the name of the demon so he did not see the point in trying to go after it during the night. Instead, he decided to go and check out the location where the sheep were killed to see if he could sniff anything else out of the ordinary. Going in blind was exactly what Laura told him not to do and Derek did not actually enjoy lying to her. He parked the Camaro, pulled out his shotgun loaded with rock salt, put a few vials of holy water in his pockets and walked out to the field. There did not seem to be any odd smells aside from the smell of dead flesh left behind from the sheep, but they were overwhelming and could be masking something.

“Oh well this is interesting,” a voice said behind him. Derek turned around and raised the gun at the man who had woken up from coma. The man who was currently brandishing pure black eyes. “You are the last ‘person’ I expected to see here.” and he did the finger quotes at ‘person.’

“You know who I am?” Derek asked.

“Everyone knows who you are wolf boy and not for the reason you think,” the demon said smirking. “I wanted a hunter to come around so I could take them for my body, but you wolves are such a pain in the ass to possess.”

“Why does everyone know who I am?” Derek asked because that was all he really cared about.

“Well it’s not because of your hunting abilities, which are subpar at best I might add, but for a much better reason.” The demon smiled wide with too much teeth. “You’re the puppy that got turned down.”

“How do you know about that?” Derek demanded cocking the shotgun. That was something he did not like to think about even if the face of the crossroads demon was already seared into his memory.

“Stiles is such an interesting fellow,” the demon said taking a few steps closer. “Crossroad demons don’t turn people down that often and it must have stung even more when he told you about the fire.” Derek felt the blood drain out of his face. The demon laughed. “He didn’t tell you, did he? Oh that’s rich.”

“What do you know about the fire?”Derek snapped but the demon rolled his eyes. “Tell me before I pump you full of rock salt.”

“All I know is that Stiles knows a hell of a lot more about that fire than he let on. He doesn’t know when to shut up and is a complete smart ass, but he never really says anything important. It’s kind of his thing. Besides, I wouldn’t worry about Stiles or that fire too much because I’m going to be the one to kill you.” The demon lunged for him but he must have forgotten that Derek had enhanced skills as well. Derek got a shot off. The demon jerked and tackled Derek to the ground. They rolled a few times, the demon trying to get his hands around Derek’s throat and Derek swiping at him with his claws. One of them hit the mark but the demon did not even flinch.

“This body is already dead, Scooby, so you can hurt it all you want and it won’t make a damn difference.”

“That just means I have to hurt you then,” Derek replied and he kicked the demon off of him. The demon did not go far and Derek smashed the vial of holy water in the demons face. He could feel the shards of glass bite into his hand, but they would heal as soon as he removed them. The demon screamed so loud that Derek instinctively covered his ears. That was all the time the demon needed to throw him to the ground hard enough that Derek saw stars. The demon had hands around his throat now and squeezing hard enough that Derek was sure his neck was going to snap.

“Go to sleep, pup. It’ll make this so much easier,” the demon hissed and the world began to go dark around the edges. Derek could not honestly believe that a low rate demon was going to be the thing that killed him after everything he had seen and gone through. Everything was going dark when the hands around his throat were suddenly gone. The stench of sulfur was more potent and he could hear someone talking in the background. The world faded away before he could hear any of the conversation.

Derek gasped for air like a dying man and blinked. It had not been long since the demon had attacked him, maybe ten minutes, but everything around him was silent. Whatever damage had been done to his throat had healed and all of the glass was out of his hand. Derek sat up and blinked when he saw the demon lying on the ground nearby. The demon appeared to be dead. There was a strange knife sticking out of the demon’s chest that had not been there before. The smell of sulfur was worse than before. Derek surveyed the area. There was no one nearby that his ears, nose nor eyes could detect. He was completely alone with the corpse of a demon. He reached forward and pulled the knife out.

It was unlike anything Derek had ever seen before with some sort of language on the side. He was not sure how he knew that the demon was dead and it was not just an empty corpse but he did. Someone had come along, saved his life, killed the demon and left him a weapon. Yet there was no one around and there were few things that could get out of his range that quickly. Derek looked around but could not find anything to indicate what had saved him. Whatever it was it was long gone.

He pushed himself to his feet and started to walk back to the car, knife in hand. The demon was dead so the hunt was over. There was really only one thing to do now even if Derek really, really did not want to.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Laura said as she turned the knife over in her hands. When he had shown up again and told her what happened she greeted him by punching him in the face. Derek still had the ice pack over his eye. She was the alpha and the black eye was not healing as quickly as it normally would. Derek was also pretty sure that Laura was completely aware of that fact and more than okay with it. She had called him an idiot and did not seem like she was going to apologize either. “Were you able to find anything in the book?”

“There’s nothing in here that mentions a weapon that can kill a demon,” Derek replied. “I’ve gone through it a dozen times and there is no time anyone has ever said they were able to actually kill a demon.”

“Well, it’s going to be useful then,” Laura said setting it back down on the table and staring him down. “What about the other thing?”

“What other thing?” Derek asked.

“This Stiles that the demon talked about and how he might know something about the fire. What are you going to do about it?” she pushed.

“I’m going to hunt the bastard down and make him tell me what he knows,” Derek snapped.

“Or you could let it go.” Laura put a hand on his and leaned forward. “Revenge isn’t going to bring any of them back. Revenge isn’t going to change any of this and it isn’t going to make it easier.”

“If you don’t care why, then that’s your business. I want to know why our family died, Laura. And if I can make someone pay for that, then I will. I want to know why he refused my--” Derek cut himself off. He had not mentioned the deal to Laura and she did not know.

“Refused your what, Derek?” Laura asked and she was using her alpha voice which she never did unless it was important.

“The night of the fire, when we were staying at the hotel, I summoned a crossroads demon. It was this Stiles and he turned me down. He wouldn’t make the deal to save our family. He sent me away,” Derek said through clenched teeth. “He wouldn’t help me save them.”

“No,” Laura snapped. “He saved the only family I had left because you’d be dead if it wasn’t for him.” She pushed herself to her feet and glared down at him, her eyes flashing red. “I can’t believe you would leave me like that or you would try and put that type of guilt on anyone we love.” Laura turned her back to him. “Do me a favor when you find this Stiles, thank him for me. He stopped you from being a fucking idiot.” Without another word she left the room and went upstairs. Derek took the ice pack away from his eye and sighed. This was not like their normal fights, this was different. Laura had never just walked away from him like this. She always got into his face, screamed at him, but never walked away. He put the ice pack back in the freezer, picked up the knife and left because Derek was sure he was not welcome in his sister’s home right now.

When they had met six years ago Stiles had called himself the King of the Crossroads. If Derek wanted to find him the logical thing to do was to put in a call on the crossroads again. However, if the lore was to be believed and the notebook had not steered him wrong, crossroad demons were cunning and powerful. Standing in front of one and brandishing a knife that could kill a demon was not going to be enough. He was going to need to find a way to render Stiles completely helpless.

Three days later Derek was sitting on the hood of his car flipping through the book. He had always exorcised demons, but trapping them was an entirely new thing. Fortunately there was an entire section on things called ‘Devil’s Traps’ and how they rendered a demon helpless. Hiding one was going to be the problem.

After some careful thought, Derek decided that laying down rope and covering it in dirt was going to be his best bet. He was not entirely sure if it would work, but aside from burying a tarp underground there was not much else he could do. After finding a crossroads off the main road, it took nearly three hours to get the devils trap in the dirt. Derek was not entirely sure it was going to work. He did not have anything to test it. He opened his wallet and pulled out a single photo of himself with no name written on it that he had stolen from Laura. He placed the graveyard dirt, the bone and the picture underground and waited.

He waited for almost an hour and was wondering if anyone was going to show up when he smelled that familiar stink of sulfur. Derek turned around slowly and saw a young woman with brilliant red hair standing there examining her nails. She was dressed in a short tan dress, plenty of jewelry, and heels. She acted like she did not have a care in the world.

“Sorry for the wait--” she looked up and her eyebrows disappeared in her hair when she saw him. “Oh. It’s you.”

“You know who I am then,” Derek said flashing an insincere smile.

“Of course I do. Stiles made the dumbest mistake of his career letting you walk away that night and I haven’t let him forget it,” she replied, returning the smile. “I guess I can rectify his mistake then.” She put her hands on both of her hips and tilted her head to the side. It reminded Derek far too much of Stiles. “So what can I do for you, puppy?”

“Who says I need anything?” Derek asked taking a step back. “Maybe I just needed someone to talk to?”

“Calling on a demon for a chat? Surely you must have friends for that,” she said taking a step forward. “Is there really nothing in this world you want? Within reason, of course, I can’t make miracles happen.”

“The only thing I wanted your boss wouldn’t give me,” Derek said taking another step backwards as if afraid. As he guessed, this only seemed to encourage her.

“I’m not Stiles so maybe I can be more easily persuaded.” She took another step forward and smiled brightly. Derek narrowed his eyes and took another step back. All she needed to do was walk forward and she was in the trap. His heartbeat gave away nothing and he kept his eyes on her. The woman stepped forward and the ground lit up beneath her. She gasped like someone had knocked the wind out her. Her eyes flashed red, they reminded him of Laura’s eyes. She glared. “Cute, Derek. Please tell me why you would do something this stupid?”

“Because your boss rejected me for kicks. He knows something about the fire that killed my family. I want those answers and he can give them to me,” Derek said pulling out the knife. For the first time she looked nervous.

“Where did you get that?” she whispered.

“Someone left it for me in the corpse of a demon that tried to kill me and judging from your reaction it does exactly what I think it does.” Derek turned the knife over in his hands “I think your kind are scum so I really don’t have any problems killing you where you stand or sending you back to hell where you belong. I don’t have to do either of those things if you tell me where I can find your boss.”

“Whoever told you that Stiles knows something was full of it,” she replied. “He was just the demon that didn’t feel like making a deal that day.” Derek narrowed his eyes and studied her.

“I think you’re lying,” he said after a moment of silence. “For some reason you’re loyal to him and that’s nice, but it doesn’t help me. Tell me where I can find him.”

“You can go straight to hell,” she snapped eyes flashing red again.

“I’m won’t, but you can.” Derek pulled out the bestiary and began to read an exorcism. The woman twitched and looked like she was fighting him, but still did not say anything. “Tell me where to find him and I won’t do this,” Derek said pausing, but she stared him down. He was about to continue when he felt someone at his back. Derek turned, holding the knife tight, to see all too familiar face standing a few feet away.

“That’s enough,” Stiles said. “I’m here, so you can stop.”

“Stiles you shouldn’t--” she began.

“I said that’s enough Lydia,” Stiles said taking a step forward. “Let her go and I’ll go into your trap willingly.”

“How do I know you won’t kill me?” Derek asked clutching the knife tighter.

“If I wanted to kill you I would have taken your soul six years ago,” Stiles replied shrugging. “Take her hand and let her out of the trap and you can feel free to do whatever the hell you want to do to me.” Derek stared the demon down. He did not appear to be lying. Stiles sighed, put his hands in the air and walked forward until he was right in front of Derek. He reached forward and touched Derek’s wrist almost gently and pulled the knife so it was at his throat.

“One cut and I’m dead. You could kill me before either of us has time to react. You’re a wolf. You’re fast enough, so no worries there. So let her go.” Stiles swallowed and he was close enough to the knife that it broke skin. A line of blood ran down his throat. Derek watched it. There was no way this was happening. Nothing was ever this easy for him but he could not deny that he could kill Stiles before he or the other demon, Lydia, could react. Derek turned the two of them so Stiles had to walk backwards toward the trap. Without taking the knife off of his neck, Derek pushed him back so he was in the trap with Lydia. Stiles rubbed the wound on his neck and looked at the blood grimacing.

“Have you completely lost your mind?” Lydia asked.

“We both know I lost it years ago,” Stiles replied, grinning. He turned to Derek. “Now take her hand and help her out of the trap. She won’t hurt you.” Lydia glared at him and Stiles glared back. His entire expression changing into something dark, something dangerous, that sent a chill down Derek’s spine. “She will not hurt you,” he repeated and Derek found himself believing the demon. Derek took her hand and stepped over the trap. He held the knife up as he released her hand, sealing Stiles in the trap.

“If you kill him, you’ll have me to deal with,” Lydia said and she vanished before his eyes. Derek blinked and he was alone with Stiles.

“I’d tell you her bark is worse than her bite, but A, that would be a lie and B, in bad taste considering what you are,” Stiles said with a grin. “So! A little birdie tells me you want to grill me for information.”

“I’ve heard you know more about the fire then you’re letting on,” Derek said slowly and Stiles looked thoughtful.

“I know plenty about lots of things. Knowing things is kind of an obsession of mine and it spilled over when I died. I guess there are some things you take to the grave. Or to hell in my case,” Stiles said.

“I want to know what you know about the fire. I want to know why you turned down the deal for my soul,” Derek said, growling a little which just made Stiles smile with all teeth. It was not an unpleasant smile.

“I haven’t heard a growl like that in forever. Do your eyes do the flashy thing or has that gone away through years of domestication?” Stiles asked and Derek clenched his jaw tightly. “Then again maybe the years haven’t been kind to your, well, kind.”

“Tell me what you know,” Derek repeated.

“That’s a loaded question since I have centuries of knowledge in my head.” Stiles tapped his skull and shoved his hands in his pockets.

“Don’t be a moron. You know exactly what I’m talking about, now talk before I get creative with this knife,” Derek threatened.

“You aren’t that kind of guy, Derek. I don’t think you’ve changed that much from the kid I saw six years ago,” Stiles replied. He reached into his pocket and pulled something out, tossing it to the edge of the trap. Derek looked down and saw his school ID sitting on the ground. It was the picture of a person that had ceased to exist the night his family died and he lost everything.

“Why did you deny me my chance of having my family back?” Derek asked quietly.

“You didn’t--”

“I knew exactly what I was asking for and what the price was.” Derek growled. “Tell me why you refused the deal that would have made me happy. My sister happy.”

“Because I was protecting you, you stupid wolf,” Stiles said. He ran his hand through his hair, pacing the trap. “You were a sixteen year old kid that had no idea what he was asking for. I don’t deal with kids and I let no one under my watch deal with kids. I wasn’t going to take the soul of a sad little boy when he could not possibly comprehend what he was asking for.” Stiles stopped pacing in the trap and sighed heavily looking at the sky. “Grief makes people into idiots and you were no exception.”

“Then why was I an exception? Why wouldn’t you let me make a deal?” Derek said and Stiles glared at him, his eyes flashing red.

“I’ve spent years taking advantage of people’s grief so believe me when I say they are all idiots blinded by the fact that something terrible, that they could not have possibly prevented, happened.” Stiles shoved his hands in his pockets again and stared at Derek. “I can tell you everything I know about the fire, but I won’t do it like this. If you want me to tell you about what happened to your family, you have to break the devil’s trap.”

“Demons are liars, how do I know you won’t kill me now that I’m not holding your subordinate hostage?” Derek asked.

“You don’t but if you want to know anything, you’ll let me go. I don’t age and I don’t need food so I can literally wait forever. Eventually someone will find me and I’ll flash these big brown eyes and they’ll break the trap, so it might as well be you,” Stiles said walking to the edge of the ropes. They were a foot apart at the most. Derek was reasonably sure that Stiles could not reach across the line, but he took a step back nevertheless. “You’re going to have to trust me, Derek, and that’s all there is to it.” Stiles took a step back and waited. Despite the fact that he looked patient Derek could see little twitches of movement the longer Stiles tried to stand still. Derek knelt down and picked up the rope that was the circle of the trap.

“This doesn’t mean I trust you,” he said. “This just means that I need to know.”

“It’s all the same to me, big guy,” Stiles replied grinning. Derek glared at the term of endearment and snapped the rope. He tensed and waited for Stiles to make a move, but he just walked forward and out of the trap, audibly cracking his neck. “Those things are such a buzzkill.”

“Sorry to ruin your fun, but you promised me something,” Derek deadpanned which made Stiles smile brightly.

“So there is a sense of humor in there. I had a feeling you’d have a nice, dry sense of humor and I’m thrilled to know I’m right,” Stiles said. Derek was about to disagree, to tell Stiles to tell him everything about the fire, when a terrible feeling settled into his stomach. It knocked the wind out of his lungs and he knew this feeling, he remembered this feeling, and it made him sick to his stomach.

“Laura,” Derek whispered.

“I’ll take you there,” Stiles said placing a hand on his shoulder and Derek was about to ask what that meant when the entire world tilted sideways and the smell of fire filled his senses. It only lasted a moment before he blinked and realized he was standing in front of Laura’s house.

There was an all too familiar scent in the air that had him racing up the stairs and bursting through the front door. He thought he heard Stiles following him. He skidded to a stop in Laura’s living room. The room was torn apart. There was blood everywhere. She was lying in the middle of the room, body bloody and broken. Derek did not need to listen to know that she was already gone. There was a smiley face, drawn in her blood, on the wall behind her. “Derek, I’m--” Stiles started, but Derek cut him off.

“You can bring her back, right?” he asked, a lump in his throat. Stiles looked from Laura to Derek slowly. “That’s what you do, bring people back, right?”

“Derek, do you remember what I said about grief?” Stiles asked. He grabbed Stiles by his shirt and slammed him into the nearest wall ignoring the fact that the demon could easily overpower him. For some reason that Derek was not willing to dwell on, Stiles let it happen.

“Make the deal. I’m an adult and I know exactly what I’m doing. Make the deal and bring her back to me,” Derek said calmly.

“There is still time to think--” Stiles began, but Derek slammed him against the wall out of instinct.

“Make the deal or I’ll find someone else who will,” he said. Stiles’ expression turned dark. His amber eyes had begun to turn red.

“The hell you will,” he said. “Ten years is the most I can give you. In ten years, to this day, the hellhounds will come and they will kill you. Then you’ll be condemned for the rest of eternity in hell where you’ll be mine. Do you understand the terms of this agreement?” said Stiles, sounding like he was reading from a script.

“Yes, I understand.”

“Then release me and let’s do this,” Stiles said flatly. Derek released his shirt and fixed the collar. It made the corner of Stiles’ mouth turn up and he fixed Derek’s jacket in return. “You remember how demon’s seal the deal?”

“Yes,” Derek replied. “Just bring her back, please.” He did not know if adding ‘please’ would appeal to any sort of humanity Stiles might have lurking beneath the surface, but he was not above begging, not for this, not for Laura.

“All right then.” Stiles stepped close to Derek and pulled him into a surprisingly soft kiss. Derek was not sure what he was expecting, blood and teeth and heat, but this was chaste. Stiles did not linger long. He pulled away and looked Derek up and down. Derek felt sick to his stomach that his first kiss since Kate had been from a demon.

Stiles said nothing as he walked over to Laura and knelt next to her. He placed a hand on her head and closed his eyes. The wounds on her body began to heal, her blood began to warm, her heart began to beat. She opened her eyes, gasping for breath. Derek was by her side, holding her hand. When he looked up, Stiles was gone.

Derek stayed with Laura. He told her that when he found her she was barely alive and he had to jump start her healing process. She did not seem like she believed him but did not push the matter. Despite the fact that Stiles had healed her, Laura was still exhausted from trying to save herself before. While she was sleeping, Derek cleaned the living room. The smell of bleach was an assault on his senses, but it was better than Laura's blood everywhere. He scrubbed the floor, threw away any pillows that could not be saved and was trying to figure out something to do with the smiley face.

He lined every entrance of the house in salt. There was the chance that Stiles or his minions were nearby and he was not taking any chances. Laura was sitting in the kitchen, ignoring him. She probably suspected something, but she did not say anything. The sudden appearance of a second heartbeat made Derek’s stomach clench. Derek snatched his gun, patted the knife at his hip, and opened the door making sure to stay behind the line of salt. It was Stiles. He was sitting on Laura’s front porch with his back to Derek like he had the right to be there.

“How long are you going to stand there staring?” Stiles asked without turning around.

“When the demon sitting on my sister’s porch decides to go away,” Derek replied.

"Maybe I want to keep an eye on my merchandise," Stiles said shrugging without turning around.

"I doubt you have to do that, so why are you here?” Derek asked.

"I'm pretty sure I know who killed Laura, but I’m not telling you anything unless you walk across that line of salt. If it’ll make you feel better you can keep that knife of yours pressed to my ribs or the gun to my head, but you have to come out here," Stiles said. Derek hesitated because there was no way he was going to trust a demon. However, it was Laura. Something had killed Laura and his skin itched with the need for revenge.

Derek put the gun down, but kept the knife in hand and walked forward slowly. Stiles did not move and he did not flinch when Derek put the knife to his side and sat down next to him. Stiles glanced at Derek briefly, but looked back out to the road. "It has to do with the fire too. The thing is, you’re not going to like the answer so you have to decide right now if it’s worth it.” Stiles still did not look at him. He was fidgeting in a way that would look like nerves to anyone else. Derek could hear his heartbeat though and it was steady, eerily so, like it would not change even if Stiles was lying to him.

“Tell me everything,” Derek said. Stiles finally turned and looked at him. He did not look surprised but resigned.

“The woman you knew as Kate Argent never existed. Well, she did exist, but she was dead by the time you met her. She was possessed by a demon named Saul. He’s a huge bastard, basically take everything you associate with demons, every horrible thing you think a demon is, and you’ve got him. He’s proud of it too. He likes to cause chaos. It makes him happy,” Stiles explained and he stared at his hands. “I was tracking him the day he killed your family. He used Kate’s body to get to you and then left her corpse to rot in the house as well. I don’t know why he went after you, there probably isn’t a reason, but that’s why I was the one who answered your call at the crossroads. I was nearby, but I wasn’t quick enough and it was too late by then. That smiley face is his signature. I don’t know why he went after Laura now, but I can feel it in my bones that he’s the one that killed her.”

Stiles fell silent as if to let all of it sink in.

Kate had never existed, she was just some dead woman with a demon walking around, and the demon had killed his family for no discernible reason. Derek wished that knowing made things easier, he wished that there had been some reason, even a terrible one, that his family needed to die and knowing there might not be one just made it hurt even more. He should have listened, he should not have asked for the answers. Somehow knowing why made things worse. Derek could feel his claws lengthening, so he grit his teeth to keep the knife steady and force himself to keep from shifting. Stiles was looking at him now, but he was unafraid.

“Why were you tracking him that day?” Derek asked slowly.

“Because I want to kill him,” Stiles replied and he turned so he was facing Derek fully, seemingly not caring that it made the knife bite into his skin. “To do that I’m going to need a little more muscle than I’ve got. I need to pack a bigger, faster, and harder punch to take out a demon of his age and power.”

“What are you asking me?” Derek asked. Stiles’ eyes flashed red for a moment and the corner of his mouth lifted into a smirk that made the hair on the back of Derek’s neck stand on end.

“I’m asking you if you want revenge. I’m asking you to help me rid the world of Saul. Not send him back to hell, but kill him using this fancy knife you have. So let’s do what I do best. Let’s make a deal.” Stiles smiled and Derek narrowed his eyes. “You help me kill Saul and I’ll end your contract. You won’t die in ten years, you won’t be condemned to hell, and you won’t belong to me.”

“You’d end my contract just like that,” Derek said.

“You’re acting like it’s going to be easy. Saul is ancient, there’s a chance you could die trying to kill him, but on the other hand you’re definitely going to die in ten years, so I think the odds are in your favor to help me. Plus, as a bonus, you’ll get revenge on the thing that killed your family. So, what do you say?”

Derek thought of Laura sitting in the kitchen, recovering from wounds that had killed her. He thought about the smell of burning wood and flesh and how it comes back every now and then like a punch to the gut. Derek thought about how that thing out there used him just because it felt like it.

“Sounds like we have a deal,” Derek replied. Stiles grinned brightly as if he had just heard the best thing in the world.

“Of course no deal with a demon is good unless it’s sealed.” Stiles did not give Derek time to reply or even agree he just leaned forward, thread his long fingers through Derek’s hair and pulled him into the kiss. Derek had to use his considerable speed to keep from stabbing Stiles in the gut. This kiss was different, there was nothing chaste about this, it was all teeth and anger and everything he thought kissing a crossroads demon for a deal would be. It felt like Stiles was trying to eat him alive and the thought paralyzed him with fear. He was unable to pull away.

“What the hell did you do?” Laura said from the doorway. Derek jerked away from Stiles. He looked at Laura who was staring at him, her eyes wide. “You made a deal to bring me back and now you’re going off on some revenge quest with the thing that holds your soul?” Stiles frowned deeply as if offended, but said nothing.

“Laura--” Derek started but Laura held up a hand, her eyes flashing red.

“Save it. No matter what I say, nothing will change. You’ve obviously already made your decision about going after this thing. Either way my little brother is going to die trying to hunt down some insanely powerful demon or he’s going to get torn to shreds in ten years. You’re making me lose the last of my family,” Laura said speaking over him. There was a crack in her voice that Derek had not heard since the night that Uncle Peter succumbed to his wounds and died. “Good luck with your revenge, Derek.” Laura turned and walked back into the house the sound of the lock sliding into place was deafening. She was crying.

“Are you ready to go now?” Derek asked after a beat of silence.

“Yup, we can go now,” Stiles replied standing up. If he was affected by Laura in any way, he did not seem to show it. He walked up to Derek’s car as if he did not have a care in the world. Derek followed Stiles and only paused for a moment to look back at Laura’s house. She was his alpha, she could have made him stay, but she didn’t. When he pulled away from the house, Derek did not look back.

They were fifty miles out from Laura’s house and Stiles had his feet on the dashboard. Derek cannot stop glancing over at him. His nerves were shot and a demon was lounging in his passenger seat as if he somehow belonged there. The third time he glanced over at Stiles, he was smirking at Derek.

“You keep looking at me,” Stiles said.

“I have a demon sitting in my car with his feet on my dashboard. I’m not exactly happy about this entire thing. And put your feet down,” Derek said.

“If I wanted you dead, I wouldn’t have bothered to make the deal about hunting Saul,” Stiles replied snickering, but he took his feet off of the dashboard. “Now, let’s stop and get our bearings, shall we? I’m in the mood for human food since I haven’t had any in a long time. I don’t need to eat, but it sounds like a good idea.”

“We are not stopping at some fast food place. The grease makes me sick to my stomach.” Derek relaxed his grip on the steering wheel just a little.

“Yeah special senses and what not, but I’m not gonna nibble on some bunny rabbit while you howl at the moon or something.”

“I don’t eat rabbits--” Derek looked at Stiles who was grinning from ear to ear. “Very funny. We’ll stop at a coffee shop and I’ll get you a danish.”

“I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that.” Stiles said sarcastically and he moved to put his feet back on the dashboard. Derek reached out and took his knee without looking away from the road.

“I said feet off of the dashboard,” he said and Stiles groaned.

“I lied about the devils traps; you’re a buzzkill.” Stiles put his feet flat on the ground and Derek released his knee. They were between towns so there was a ways before they found any sort of coffee shop. They passed the time mostly in silence, but Stiles would make comments randomly about the most inane things. There did not seem to be any line of reasoning to anything he said.

It was late afternoon by the time they pulled into a small town with a coffee shop. Derek grabbed his laptop and Stiles followed him in. The strong smell of coffee, while he was not fond of it, was one of the few smells he could tolerate. It was why he spent as much time in coffee shops and libraries when doing his research. The smell of books reminded him of the library in his old house and it eased some of the tension from his shoulders. Stiles took a seat by the window and proceeded to stare outside as if everything was fascinating. Derek purchased two danishes, a cup of green tea, and sat down at the table.

“What can you tell me about Saul?” Derek asked as he pushed the danish across the table. Stiles took a large bite.

“He’s very good at hiding,” Stiles replied his mouth full of danish, which was gross and distracting. “Tracking him isn’t going to be easy. He doesn’t give off the normal warning signs that my compatriots do.”

“So how do we track him?” Derek said taking a bite of the flavorless danish that he paid too much for. Stiles finished his danish, folded his hands on the table and stared at Derek.

“Saul is the demon equivalent of a serial killer. Like most serial killers, he has a plenty of signatures. The smiley face is just one of them. We look for his signatures and we find him. He won’t always leave a tell though” Stiles said shrugging. “Or I would’ve caught up with him a long time ago. Could be awhile before we get a lead.”

“How long are talking?” Derek was starting to feel like all he was doing was pushing Stiles to reveal more information, but unable to actually do anything.

“For your sake I hope it’s less than ten years,” Stiles replied waving him off. “I wouldn’t bother looking right now. He won’t show up after such a recent kill.” Stiles sat back in the chair and folded his hands behind his head. “You never did answer my question about the eyes. Do they still glow?”

“I really don’t see how that’s relevant or important,” Derek grumbled and drank his tea. Stiles stared at him like he was the most interesting thing in the world, like Derek was behind glass in a museum, his eyes wide in fascination.

Stiles avoided the question whenever Derek tried to get information on the signatures. He gave up and headed back to his car. “Can you go full wolf like an alpha or is that still limited?”

“Only alphas can do that,” Derek said as they drove down the highway.

“That form is a bit too ‘monster of the week’ don’t you think? The claws, the eyes, contorted face, and extra hair are much more subtle. Classy even.” Stiles was still staring at him like Derek could not be more interesting.

“You seem to know a lot about werewolves,” Derek pointed out.

“I know plenty of things about plenty of things,” Stiles said once again avoiding the question and it was starting to get on Derek’s nerves.

“You can’t expect me to trust you through this hunt if you don’t give me straight answers. And if this guy is as powerful as you say he is, then we’re going to have to trust each other.” He glanced over to see that Stiles had gone almost completely still and now he was staring out the window. He said nothing and Derek did nothing to push him despite the fact that he had a million questions and just drove until the sun was hanging low in the sky.

The motel that he found in the next town had only one room left. Derek was extremely annoyed by this fact because apparently the only room left was a single and the girl behind the counter had looked out at Stiles with a smirk. He could smell it on her what she thought the two of them were going to do and it turned his stomach. Derek took the key and gathered his things to spend the night in the room. When Stiles went to follow him into the room Derek held up the knife and stopped him. Stiles frowned deeply.

“You expect me to just stay out here?” Stiles asked.

“You expect me to trust you not to kill me while I sleep?” Derek asked.

“Oh my god, we’re still doing this? Come on if I wanted you dead you’d be dead,” Stiles said exasperated. Derek stared Stiles down, reached into his bag and found some salt. Stiles watched with distaste as he lined the door and then used his speed to line the window as well. When he went back to the open door Stiles was still standing there.

He looked so young, he was just a kid, and it set Derek’s teeth on edge. It made him want to pull Stiles out of some poor kid’s body who was probably screaming his head off for help. Derek slammed the door shut before he could do something stupid. Stiles sighed loudly and Derek heard him slide down the door and sit on the ground. Derek could hear him just fine but he sat with his down back to the door without moving a grain of salt.

“Something is bothering you, something that isn’t just you not trusting me because I’m a demon, I can tell, what is it?” Stiles asked through the door. It was a loaded question if there ever was one. There was plenty bothering Derek but the body was fairly high on the list.

“Tell me about that body,” Derek said confident that Stiles could hear him despite the barrier between them.

It was a while before Stiles said anything

“He was a sheriff’s kid with a single dad. His mom died when he was ten so it was just the two of them. He was on a ride along with his dad when a drunk driver hit their car. Dad was killed instantly and the kid was in a coma. No brain activity for two years and no extended family. They were just about to pull the plug when I jumped in. The kid was long gone by then. No one is screaming up here. There’s just me.” Stiles paused. “And you’re right, Saul is going to straight up murder both of us if we don’t have each others backs. I’ll tell you every single one of his signatures in the morning and we can see what we find.”

“Good,” Derek said. Stiles did not move from the door, Derek would have heard him, and his heartbeat was steady in his ears. He still did not want to open the door and let Stiles inside, but there was a chance someone would see him sitting outside, a human, and let him in. Taking the chance that none of that would happen, Derek climbed into bed and hoped he would live through the night.

Derek had not slept well since the night of the fire. There were nightmares that never got better and his heightened senses made him hyper aware of everything that was happening around him. It was irritating, but after six years he was used to the sleepless nights. That was why Derek was a little surprised when he woke up a full seven hours later and realized he had not had a nightmare. Nothing had woken him up during the course of the night despite the fact that Stiles was just outside the door. A demon nearby should have made it harder for him to sleep, but he had slept well. What had actually woken him up, however, was Stiles outside talking to someone.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Derek knew that voice. It was the demon Lydia that he had trapped the night he found Stiles, and she sounded angry.

“You know exactly what I’m doing,” Stiles said.

“This is stupid and you know that too. I also know that we’re being vague because your guard dog is awake and eavesdropping. Very rude, Derek,” Lydia snapped.

“That’s enough,” Stiles said a little louder. “It’s in your hands and I’m trusting you with these responsibilities. Now run along and play with that lizard or whatever the hell you’re playing with these days.”

“He is not a lizard, Stiles, don’t be an ass,” Lydia replied annoyed. “Let me know when you teach the dog to play fetch. Maybe you’ll even get him house trained.” Even through the walls there was the sharp smell of sulfur and Derek opened the door to reveal Stiles. He looked a little annoyed. It seemed like he was vibrating with some unused energy that lingered beneath the surface of his skin. It was so faint that Derek was sure that a human could not have seen it.

“Right, dog jokes, don’t worry I’ll be much more original than that,” Stiles said crossing his arms. “You’re a screamer.”

“I’m a what?” Derek said blinking.

“You scream a lot in your sleep. What did you think I meant?” Stiles raised an eyebrow and smirked. “Never mind. So, how about those signs? Ready to start looking?”

“Will she be a problem?” Derek asked, gesturing toward where he could smell Lydia had been standing.

“Nope. She’s off taking care of my business while I’m working with you. So basically I have her pulling double duty, but it’s Lydia, she can pull it off.” Stiles shrugged. “You don’t have to worry about me being called away in the middle of something important. I made sure you could hear us so you knew. Lay the foundations for that whole ‘trust’ thing that we need to work on.” Derek nodded and gathered his things to get dressed, but kept the door open for Stiles. Derek changed in the bathroom, kept the knife close and stepped over the line of salt. Stiles joined him in the car and they drove off. Derek stopped at a small diner for breakfast and Stiles sat across from him.

“So you said Saul doesn’t give off the usually signs,” Derek said.

“No, he’s smart, and he’s found a way to hide them or make them so small they don’t show up at all. Instead of an electrical storm it would just be a small thunderstorm. He doesn’t kill animals anymore because he’s old, very old, and he knows what to hide because he knows people are looking,” Stiles said resting his chin on his hand.

“You said he’s like a serial killer.”

“He isn’t like a serial killer, Derek, he is a serial killer and in the worst ways only a killer can be. Demons don’t always put logic behind their kills, but Saul always finds some way of making them as unpleasant as possible. He likes to make it slow, painful, and he likes for someone to see the damage. You know this as much as I do.” Stiles was saying something other than referencing the fire, but Derek could not see exactly what it was yet. He was still hiding something, but asking did not seem like a good idea either. “The smiley face is one. We’re also looking for groups that are killed slowly somehow with one or two people left behind. He seems to like killing the supernatural more than just humans, but that doesn’t mean anything.”

“So, basically, we have to wait until he kills again,” Derek said after a long silence. The thought of another family going through what he and Laura did made him see red. “Is there anything else?”

“I’ll send word out to any allies I have around to keep an eye out. If someone sees him they will call me,” Stiles said but Derek was not so sure what kind of allies a demon would have and if they were trustworthy. Then he realized that technically he was an ally of a demon so his logic fell apart. Stiles had this knowing little smirk on his face like he knew that Derek was having a small revelation about his life choices.

“What do we do now?” Derek asked.

“ ‘We?’ Well, this is like any other hunt, so what would you do if you were on a hunt and hit a dead end?” Stiles put his hands on the table and grinned. “You’re a hunter Derek, so let’s go hunt.”

"You want to go hunting?" Derek asked and Stiles nodded. "All right let's find something. Maybe if Saul hears us through the grapevine he'll make himself known."

"I knew you weren't just a pretty face." Stiles grinned and looked pleased. Derek rolled his eyes and they made their way back to the Camaro.

It took Derek just under an hour to find something that looked like a hunt. There was a house about fifty miles away where people were getting hurt or sick unexpectedly. It had ghost or some other spirit written all over it. Stiles seemed far too excited at the idea that they were going to possibly have to do some grave digging. During the drive Stiles could not sit still and a few times Derek had to reach over to still Stiles' shaking leg. Stiles did not say anything when it happened, but Derek caught him staring the second time with big eyes. They arrived in town and Derek took them to a small motel. Derek set his things in the room and lined the door and window with salt. Stiles looked at the salt with disdain, but did not comment on it though Derek left the door open so they could still talk.

"Hunters aren't a dime a dozen," Stiles said as Derek got himself settled for the night.

"I suppose we're not, what about it?" Derek asked.

"What if another hunter gets to the monster of the week first?" Stiles smiled to himself a little. He was clearly a little proud of the 'monster of the week' joke, but Derek was not going to indulge him.

"Then we leave. It's not like we do this for a reward or anything." Derek shrugged and crossed his arms in front of Stiles.

"Your hero complex is adorable, is it just you or does it come with the hunter package?" It sounded like it was supposed to be teasing, but it was almost like Stiles' heart wasn't in it. Something was bothering him.

"Can't say I've met enough hunters to know for sure. Why, is something wrong?” Derek asked.

"Nope, just curious," Stiles said and if he was lying Derek was unable to tell. He was still unsure if it was a demon thing or a Stiles thing. "Let's go poke a ghost with a stick." Stiles was smiling and it was a bright smile. Derek shook his head and gathered his things. If he did not know what Stiles was, it might have been a smile that would have been infectious. With that knowledge it almost felt like Stiles was trying far too hard to set him at ease. It was starting to work, but no one else needed to know that.

Derek gathered his supplies from the hidden compartment in the back of the Camaro. Stiles looked fascinated and amused by his arsenal. The house was close enough that they could walk. His car would be too obvious. The house came into view and it was a simple ranch style house. There was a 'for sale or rent' sign in the yard The last family had left in a hurry. The house was supposed to be empty which is why Derek was surprised when he picked up an extra heartbeat. He put a hand out to stop Stiles as a man walked out the front door. Derek knew who it was instantly and he tensed. He could feel Stiles at his side. The energy stronger than before.

"Hale, what are you doing here?" the man asked. He was middle aged with graying hair and dark eyes. He was armed, Derek could smell the gunpowder, and even without his senses it would have been obvious. He was making no move to conceal it. He wanted Derek to know he was armed.

“Winston,” Derek replied.

“What are you doing here?” Winston asked, stopping a good six feet away from them. That feeling from Stiles intensified.

“I heard about the attacks and decided to come check it out, do you have it covered?” Derek asked.

“Absolutely, so why don’t you and that kid behind you run along.” Winston actually did the flicking motion with his wrist. It was extremely patronizing.

“We’ll leave town in the morning, good luck.” Derek was not entirely sure he was comfortable turning his back on Winston, but not doing so would look odd. It was daylight, so he was fairly sure the other hunter would not pull a gun on him. Without thinking about it Derek took Stiles by the arm and started to pull him away from Winston and the house. It was not until they were a block away that Derek realized he was manhandling a demon. “Sorry,” he muttered releasing Stiles’ arm.

“Well he seemed like an ass,” Stiles said brushing his sleeve off.

“He doesn’t like me,” Derek said.

“Clearly, so what’s the plan? Are we just going to bail? What if that other guy sucks at his job?” Stiles kicked a rock as they walked down the sidewalk.

“I don’t want to deal with him so let’s just leave in the morning.” Derek turned toward downtown, but stopped when he realized that Stiles wasn’t following him.

“Someone I know might be nearby so I’m going to check in and see if anyone has heard anything about Saul. Enjoy your evening,” Stiles said and he vanished from sight. Derek blinked and briefly wondered if this was some sort of hallucination. The smell of sulfur lingered like it always did, but a strong breeze swept it away. Derek turned and walked toward the downtown area. If he was going to continue to deal with all of this shit, he needed food.

Derek passed the time slowly.

He ate at a decent restaurant for once, stopped at the mega mart and picked up a few things to stash in the car, he tried not to think about the few pairs of jeans, shirts ,and plaid that he bought that would fit someone smaller than him because Derek did not know if Stiles would even change his clothes. By the time he was done, it was dark.

Derek purposely avoided the graveyard because if it was a ghost, Winston could be there salting and burning the grave. He was not in the mood to have a run in with the man. He was in the middle of pulling out his motel key when he heard something. It sounded like a struggle only it was far enough away that no human ears could have picked up on it. Maybe he did have some sort of hero complex. Derek dropped the bags on the ground and raced towards the sound.

The closer he got the more Derek became convinced that something was not right. The struggle had stopped, but he could smell something odd in the air. There was a heartbeat nearby, but he could not tell exactly where it was coming from. There was something else, something that set him on edge.

Derek smelled the shot from the rifle before it tore into his arm. Unlike the movies, the shot did not knock him straight on his ass, but he did stumble. The bullet burned, it hurt more than anything had in the past, but it was also a burn that he had seen described before. Derek rolled up his sleeve at the mess in his arm and the wound was almost glowing.

“Shame, I was aiming for your heart, it would have made things easier.” Derek looked up and saw Winston walking toward him. Only he was far enough away that normal human ears could not have heard that. Derek could feel his claws starting to come out, but the rifle was out and pointed at him before he could react. “I’ve had my suspicions about you, but I guess this is all the proof I need.”

“What proof? You shot me, of course I’m in pain,” Derek said through his thankfully still human teeth.

“I don’t think so.” Winston was in front of him now and the rifle was pointed directly between his eyes. “You’re one of the monsters, so it’s time to put you down.” Derek could smell it now, the wolfsbane in the bullets. That was not good. The poison of the bullet was racing through his veins, but that would not make much of a difference if he took a round to the head. Derek only had a brief moment to think about how being killed by this guy was a terrible way to go when the smell of sulfur hit his senses.

“You want to put that gun down,” Stiles said from behind Derek. Winston jumped and turned the gun on Stiles his eyes wide.

“You’re that kid that was with Hale. How did you get here?” Winston asked and Derek looked over his shoulder to see that Stiles was standing with his arms loosely at his side and a dangerous look in his eye.

“I said, you want to put that gun down,” Stiles repeated.

“I’m putting this animal out of its misery and unless you want to be caught in the crossfire, you’ll walk away.” Winston had no idea what Stiles was, but Derek could hear the fear in his rapid heartbeat. Something in Stiles changed at the word 'animal' and his eyes flashed red. It was a deeper, darker red than Laura’s alpha eyes, and the gun was halfway across the field before Winston could react. Stiles had the man by the throat and slammed him into the ground hard enough that Derek winced.

“The only animal I see here is you,” Stiles said dangerously his fingers tightening around Winston’s neck. There was no doubt in Derek’s mind that Stiles was about to snap this man’s neck with his bare hands.

“Don’t kill him Stiles,” Derek said.

“Why not?” Stiles asked though he stopped squeezing.

“Hunters have friends and the last thing we need are more of them with a revenge vendetta. Let him live,” Derek reasoned. Stiles looked over his shoulder at Derek, his eyes still glowing red, but they faded into their amber after a moment. Instead he stood up and punched Winston hard enough that he was going to be out for a while.

“Let me see your arm,” Stiles said kneeling down in front of Derek. When he took the injured arm in hand his touch was surprisingly gentle.

“Wolfsbane. No idea what kind or what I’ll need to do to fix it,” Derek said wincing. The wound was already beginning to look infected and the veins in his arm were turning black. Stiles narrowed his eyes and walked over to the ground where the rifle was. He took a few of the bullets out of the magazine and pocketed them in his jeans.

“Let’s get you cleaned up,” Stiles said casually. He put Derek’s uninjured arm around his shoulder and easily helped him to his feet. “I’m going to move us and if you think you’re going to be sick so help me god it better not be anywhere on me.”

“Got it.” Derek squeezed his eyes shut and felt the scenery around him change. When he opened his eyes again, he was outside his motel room and did indeed feel like he was going to be sick.

“Break the line of salt,” Stiles said.

“No,” Derek said through his teeth. He really felt like he was going to be sick.

“Break the line,” Stiles said forcefully. Derek wanted to say no, he did, but his entire body felt like it was shutting down. He kicked the salt to the side and the entire world shifted in a way that made bile rise in the back of his throat. Stiles seemed to realize that too and he dragged Derek to the bathroom where he threw up black in the toilet. His body was trying to heal, but it couldn’t around the wolfsbane.

“I’m going to die.”

“Don’t be so dramatic,” Stiles said, waving him off.

Derek was about to argue when he saw that Stiles was not even looking at him. Instead he was holding the bullet between his fingers and up to the light narrowing his eyes. He flipped it over in his hands a few times, checked the weight, and eventually opened the bullet dumping the contents on the counter. He leaned forward and took a deep sniff of the wolfsbane. Derek was about to ask what the hell Stiles was doing when he grinned.

“Ah ha! I know what we need to do.” He knelt down next to Derek and began to feel around his jacket and eventually his pants pockets before finding his lighter.

“What are you doing?” Derek asked. He knew about wolfsbane treatments, but they were all different depending on the type.

“Saving you from a slow and painful death by poisoning,” Stiles replied as he lit the wolfsbane on fire. It sparked as it burned and began to give off an almost blue smoke. “Give me your arm.” Derek hesitated and Stiles rolled his eyes taking Derek’s arm and holding it out. He brushed the smoking ash into his hand and stopped. “This is going to hurt, but I promise it will work.”

“I won’t attack,” Derek assured and Stiles looked almost amused.

“I’d love to watch you try,” Stiles replied before he shoved the ash into the bullet wound making sure most of it went into the actual hole. Derek tried to jerk away. It hurt too much, but Stiles had a vice like grip on his arm and it kept him still. When he looked at his arm the veins were fading and the wound was gone. “All better.”

“You knew,” Derek whispered as he stared at his arm. “You knew what kind of wolfsbane that was and how to treat it.” Stiles released his arm and walked out of the bathroom, but Derek reached for his arm to stop him.

Instead, he ended up being slammed against the wall hard enough that his teeth rattled and Stiles was holding him in place with one hand. Derek managed to pull the knife out and pressed it against Stiles’ stomach. They were in a stalemate that was going to end in one of them dying and it was not going to be him. Derek knew he had to diffuse the situation “You reacted when he called me an animal.”

“Yes, I did,” Stiles said releasing Derek and walking further into the room. He sat down on the chair at the desk while Derek sat across on the bed, but he kept the knife in hand. Neither of them moved for a long time and Derek was about to find some way of getting Stiles out of the room when Stiles sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “I might be a demon, but I was human a long, long time ago. Back when I was alive I had this really good friend. We would always go out and cause all sorts of trouble for the town. He was like my brother, I guess you could call him my best friend, and I would have done anything for him. One night he shows up at my door saying something had bit him and he felt weird. We didn’t know what it was at the time, but it was a rogue alpha. He turned into a werewolf. We never knew the proper name because we were kind of before the age of mass communication.

Anyway, we worked hard and he eventually had perfect control, even on the full moon. Things were good.” Stiles paused clenching his fists tightly. “Until a few people in our town figured out what he was and decided that he was too dangerous despite the fact that he had control and had never hurt anyone. He was fifteen. So, I guess I have a soft spot for you wolves about a mile wide and even after all of this” Stiles gestured to himself “I still wanted to know everything I could about wolves. That’s how I knew about the wolfsbane.” Stiles fell silent then and Derek did not know what to say. He was never very good at this sort of thing. Stiles did not look upset, but more resigned.

“Thank you for saving me,” Derek said. There was nothing else he really could add. Stiles did not say how long ago his friend had died so ‘sorry’ did not seem like it could cover it nor was pity the thing that Stiles was looking for.

“You’re welcome,” Stiles replied and he stood up. Derek was about to ask what he was doing when Stiles opened the door to the motel and walked out. “Go ahead and salt the door and lay your little head down and get some rest. I don’t sleep and you don’t need to worry about that hunter. I’ll keep watch.”

“Stiles, if he comes back after you attacked him like that, he’s clearly insane,” Derek said as he salted the door again. He tried not to think about the fact that Stiles let Derek lock him out. Derek closed the door and Stiles scoffed, but did not say anything else for the rest of the night.

Derek had woken up to a lot of strange things in his life, but nothing prepared him after opening the door to his motel room to see a demon sitting on the hood of his car reading a bible. Stiles looked up when Derek opened the door and grinned.

"This reading material leaves much to be desired," Stiles said idly tossing the bible into the car.

"I'd say I'm going straight to hell just for being around you, but I really am going to hell so I don't think it means much," Derek said. He was completely healed and felt 100% again. He was still not sure if letting Winston live was the best idea, but the man was probably hundreds of miles away by now.

"So I went snooping through your stuff, did you buy those clothes for me?" Stiles asked and for a brief moment Derek thought he had overstepped some line, but Stiles was still grinning.

"Sensitive nose. Driving would be torture if you kept wearing the same clothes," Derek said. It was kind of the truth.

"So you bought them for you so I don't smell bad. I feel like I should be insulted." Stiles hopped off the car and put his hands in his pockets.. “We taking off now?"

"Well, Winston probably didn't have time to take care of the ghost before he got the hell out of dodge. You still want to go poke a ghost with a stick? Or something with iron if we really want to annoy it," Derek said as he rubbed his eyes. When he glanced back at Stiles he was not grinning anymore, but had this small, soft smile on his lips and Derek felt his mouth go a little dry.

"Yeah, I think I do, let's go mess with a ghost." Stiles smiled. It was bright and felt real. Derek could have easily forgotten that this was a powerful demon that literally had his life in his hands.

"All right. Let's go."

The ghost turned out to be a former owner that was a shut in and did not like the idea of anyone else being in his house. Derek let Stiles antagonize the ghost a little before they both got physically thrown out the front door. Derek groaned and glanced at Stiles who was lying on his back smiling. They made eye contact and both started to laugh. They had just gotten thrown out of the house by a ghost. The entire situation was so unreal that Derek laughed harder than he had in years. He pushed himself to his feet and offered Stiles a hand. Stiles took it and Derek pulled him to his feet. Stiles put a hand on his arm and laughed.

"Is it always like that?" Stiles asked.

"No, usually making the monster angry results in bad things," Derek said. Stiles shook his head and looked down at their clasped hands as if he just realized they were still touching. He released Derek's hand and took a step back. "Let's go dig up a body," Derek said trying to ease how awkward he felt. Stiles nodded and they were off. By the evening they had salted and burned the body and Derek suggested that they leave town. There was about a week until the full moon and Stiles caught him eyeing it.

"You're a born wolf, how is your control on the full moon?" he asked.

"Pretty good. I have an anchor, something to keep me human, and that helps a lot." Derek replied shrugging. "It's anger since I know you're going to ask."

"Yup I was." Stiles paused and a minute or so of silence passed. "I've only seen bitten wolves so tell me about it."

"What do you want to know?"

"Whatever you're willing to tell me." There was something in the way Stiles said those words that made Derek frown. It was like he thought Derek would not tell him anything. So he began to talk, told Stiles the things he felt okay sharing, and Stiles only interrupted to ask for clarification or to ask a question. Otherwise he listened like Derek had the answers to the universe.

Three towns later, they were turning a corner when Stiles ran headlong into a witch. She took one look at him and yanked him into a small alleyway. She pulled him flush against her body and started ranting about how this was her time to shine and she wanted to make sure that everyone knew that she was the most powerful in the land.

Derek stared. He could not quite believe that this woman was going off on what could only be described as a villain rant. About halfway through her talk Stiles busted out laughing and could not stop. The witch looked offended. When she started threatening them Stiles was clutching his stomach, laughing. She shoved him and was about to stomp away when Stiles took her arm.

“Whatever you’re planning, you should stop,” he said. There was an edge to his voice that Derek had come to recognize. “Next time you shouldn’t grab one of us. They might not be in as good of a mood as I am.”

“I’m not afraid of you,” she said defiantly. “A demon wouldn’t kill a witch.”

“No, but a hunter would,” Stiles said, gesturing to Derek. She paled when she saw him as if she was just realizing Derek had been there the entire time. “So stop whatever you’re planning and he won’t become a problem.” The witch glanced at Stiles, his eyes flashing red, and then at Derek. He made his glow blue. The witch raced down the street like the world was ending.

“I’m not sure how I feel about you using me as a tool to threaten people with,” Derek said as he watched her run down the street.

“I’m sure you’ll find some way of getting over it. Should we stick around and make sure she stops whatever she was planning?” Stiles asked. Derek shrugged and they spent the next three days sniffing out hex bags and making sure the witch did not cause anymore problems. Stiles said that he had a feeling the demon she sold her soul to was low level, nothing to really worry about, but she probably had no idea what she was getting herself into. They were sitting in the car watching her and Derek felt a little bad for her. She was younger than him and he could practically smell how power hungry she was.

“I don’t think we need to worry about her anymore,” Derek said. Stiles nodded and they headed out of town. They were still in the midwest so before long they were going through an area where there was nothing but fields. The radio was on low. Derek reached over and turned it off. “You said Lydia is your second, right?”

“Yup, but she knows what she’s doing. I told you not to worry about that. I’m not going anywhere while we’re doing this,” Stiles replied looking out the window.

“Really. So, why is it so important?” Derek asked.

“I told you, he’s basically a serial killer. He should be put down just like anything else that’s out of control,” Stiles said.

“Yeah that sounds like a good answer, but if that was the case you wouldn’t have devoted everything to it. If you were just trying to stop a crazy demon you would have sent some low level demon out.” Derek glanced over at Stiles and saw that he had gone eerily still. “You were also tracking him the night of the fire and that was six years ago. What aren’t you telling me?”

“He’s a killer, isn’t that enough for your hero complex?” Stiles was clenching his fists tightly and Derek could smell the blood from nails biting into palms. It became too much suddenly. He pulled over. “What are you doing?”

“You told me I was too young to make a deal that day, that a sixteen year old can’t rationalize what they’re asking for, and that you don’t deal with kids. That doesn’t seem like a demon thing, but a personal thing. You need to tell me what’s going on here otherwise I’m going to kick you out of this car and sit back for the next ten years waiting for the hounds,” Derek firmly said.

“Your hero complex is seriously the size of a continent,” Stiles huffed. “I told you about my friend, when I was human, well that wasn’t the only shitty thing that happened. My mom died when I was young and it practically killed me. My dad and I, we barely got through it, and it hurt more than anything. I watched her slowly die and it felt like it was eating me up too. That was when I was eight. When I was sixteen I was buried deep in the occult after my friend had died, trying to find answers, anything, when my dad got sick too. This was before modern medicine, when they were still trying to bleed the disease out of you, but nothing helped. Then I remembered where I had read something about having my wish granted for a price. I’m sure you can see where this is going.

So I was sixteen and young and stupid with grief of losing my mom, my best friend and now my dad that I went to the crossroads to make a deal. I didn’t have to wait long before this guy showed up. He told me that he could cure my dad and have ten, long years with him. He was my dad, the only family I had left, so of course I said yes. It was creepy having him kiss me, but he took me back to my dad and I watched him make it all better. It was great, perfect even, and my dad smiled at me because everything was going to be okay. Then the guy who had given me my life back reached over and snapped my dad’s neck. He said ‘I never said how long I was going to make him better for.’ Then he fucking laughed at me and his eyes turned black. He said ‘I think I’m also going to collect early’ and that was the end of my human life.” Stiles took a deep breath and released it slowly his eyes glowing red. He did not look sad, he looked angry, a deep seeded anger that Derek had often seen when he looked in the mirror after the fire.

“Saul was the demon,” Derek said.

“He sure was and he made sure hell was a grand old time for me. I promised myself I would become powerful. King of the Crossroads. That no stupid kid would get taken advantage of again, that no demon would go back on a deal. I got all of that and it wasn’t enough. I couldn’t stand the idea that he was still out there. So, I guess we’re on the same wave length.” Stiles finished and he turned so they were looking at each other. “Will you help me get revenge against Saul?” This was different from when Stiles had asked Derek this back at Laura’s, it felt different, and it was a loaded question. Their revenge was the same thing. Saul had taken both of their families, taken Stiles’ life, and ruined Derek’s.

“I’ll help you,” Derek promised. Stiles’ eyes went back to amber and the corner of his mouth turned up into not quite a smile. He looked back out the window and Derek started the car making his way down the highway. They said nothing until Derek yelled at Stiles to take his feet off the dashboard.

For two days there was nothing that resembled demon activity. The full moon was getting closer and Derek could feel it like an itch under his skin. Stiles seemed anxious too but in a way that was different. He was checking over his shoulder like there was something following them. Derek asked him about it but Stiles just shook his head without a word. The break came they passed Indiana. There was a murder where there was some sort of symbolism left behind. The police had not released what the symbol was so it was off to the next town. There was a small motel a few miles from the sight and Derek was able to hide his car. He turned to ask Stiles if he was okay with walking when he noticed that Stiles had not gotten out of the car.

"Something on your mind?" Derek asked and Stiles actually jumped.

"Yeah I need to go look into something. Go see if you can find anything on our murder and I'll see you in a few hours," Stiles said and he vanished from sight without waiting for a reply. Derek frowned and walked toward the murder sight. He kept his ears open to see if anyone was gossiping, but it was just small town crap. Derek sat down just in range of the house and listened to the people inside the house.

"Some sick fuck we're dealing with," a man said. "I mean who does shit like this."

"Nothing surprises me anymore," a woman replied. People were walking in front of him and Derek winced as he tried to stay focused, but the moon was turning everything up to eleven.

"What does it mean?" the man asked.

"It's a game of tic tak toe. It means our killer is a nut job." That was all Derek needed to hear. The family was a couple with no kids shot execution style. None of it matches Saul so it was just another dead end. Derek rubbed his temples and decided that a run was the best thing he could do to clear his head. There was a forest on the edge of town and as soon as he was out of sight Derek took off into the wood. His blood was pumping through his veins and it took some effort, but eventually he was a little breathless. He thought about going on a hunt, find something to diminish any blood lust, but he was not in the mood to explain any lingering stains.

After two hours Derek made his way back to town and meandered back to his motel. The closer he got Derek realized he could smell blood in the air. He walked faster and the closer he was to the motel the stronger it got. It took all of his self control to not run as fast as he could. He had not salted the doors and window because he was not there, but Derek was regretting it now. Derek opened the door and the smell of blood was stifling. He closed the door and stalked toward the heartbeat in the bathroom.

Stiles was leaning over the counter holding his plaid shirt over his stomach. There was a pool of blood on the ground. He was pale. Stiles looked up when he walked in and Derek could see his lip was split and there was dried blood under his nose.

"Turns out those friends I have weren't so friendly," Stiles said through his teeth

"Clearly," Derek said as he took a step into the bathroom. "How can I help?" Stiles took a large step back and he had to clench the counter to keep from falling over. He looked spooked.

"I'm fine," Stiles spit out. "So back off." Derek stopped his advance and held his hands up in a surrender.

"I'm not your enemy Stiles. We're working together, remember?" Derek replied carefully.

"Don't patronize me, wolf boy. I know who you are. This guy wasn't my enemy either and look how that turned out. Now back off." Stiles' voice was low, dangerous, and Derek knew that tone from when Winston had attacked them.

"Stiles--" Derek took another step forward.

"I said back off!" Stiles yelled and it felt like someone had punched him in the chest. The next thing Derek knew he nearly through the opposite wall. Stiles was sneering at him and breathing hard like he had just run a marathon. His eyes were a brilliant red that reminded him of Laura. He realized what this reminded him of. He had seen a wounded alpha shove everyone away because he was afraid that someone was going to kill him and take his title.

"I'm not going to take advantage of your weakness. Only a coward would do that. I can't kill Saul without you so you need to let me help." Derek winced as he sat up, Stiles packed quite a punch, and stood. Stiles was still staring at him, eyes red like fire, like he was a threat. A beat passed and the red slowly faded.

"Fine," Stiles said. Derek nodded and walked outside to get a rather extensive first aid kit. When he walked into the bathroom Stiles was sitting on the toilet still holding the shirt to his side.

"What happened?" Derek asked kneeling down mindful of the pool of blood on the floor.

"Someone decided a demon trying to kill another demon is in bad taste," Stiles muttered. Derek reached forward and pulled the ruined shirt away from Stiles' side. There was a deep stab wound that would have probably killed a weaker demon. Derek pushed the t-shirt up and Stiles slapped his hand. "Should have figured your bedside manner would suck. Do you even know what to do with stab wounds?"

"I'm rethinking my previous decision of just letting you bleed out," Derek said as he ripped the section of the shirt off. Stiles muttered something about 'being raised by wolves’. Derek did not rise to the taunt. "Can you even get infections?"

"Yes they are annoying, but they won't kill me," Stiles replied. "Wounds inflicted by one of our weapons take forever to heal too." Derek nodded as he placed a large bandage over the cut. The bleeding looked like it was mostly stopping on its own and he briefly wondered what Stiles' definition of 'forever' was.

"Should we move on or do you think they are going to try again?" Derek asked sitting back on his hunches. Stiles frowned deeply and seemed to think it over.

"We should probably move on," Stiles said after a moment of silence.

"You're going to bleed all over my seats," Derek said. Stiles did not disagree. He just smiled brightly. “We could leave or we could go after the guy that did this to you.”

“You want to take on a demon that did this to me?” Stiles asked surprised. Derek shrugged.

“If we can’t kill this low level guy, how do you expect us to kill something like Saul?” he pointed out. Stiles seemed to think on the matter for a moment.

“Good point. Plus I wouldn’t mind getting back at him for attacking me,” Stiles replied a slow grin forming. “I need a little time to heal though. Give me until tomorrow and I’ll be good to go.” Stiles moved to stand but winced painfully. Without thinking Derek stood up and took his arm to steady him. He should have kicked Stiles out of the room and salted it, but Stiles was pale and unsteady on his feet and Derek could not find it in himself to kick someone who looked half dead out.

“Can I try something?” he asked without releasing Stiles’ arm. Stiles nodded, slowly, like he was not sure where this was going. Derek tugged on Stiles’ arm and lead him out of the bathroom until they were standing near the bed. Stiles was wound up so tight that Derek was sure that if he touched him the wrong way he was going to snap. When he went to touch the wound Stiles hissed, tried to draw back but Derek held on tight. “Trust me for a minute, that’s all I ask.”

“If you hurt me I swear I will hurt you back and it is going to be painful even with your super healing,” Stiles grumbled.

“I’m not even sure if it’s going to work so just stand still before I make you stand still.” Derek reached for the wound again as Stiles glared and pulled the bandage off a little. The wound was still ugly looking with blood oozing around the edges, but Derek did not hesitate as he placed his hand on it. Stiles hissed and jerked. He did not pull away though. Derek closed his eyes and pulled some of the pain from the wound. It was harder than it was with humans or wolves, but he could still feel it being absorbed into his veins. Vaguely, Derek heard Stiles release a breath and sigh in relief. Stiles looked down as the black faded and Derek put the bandage back on.

“You took my pain,” Stiles said softly sounding a little sedated.

“I wasn’t sure it would work on you,” Derek replied releasing Stiles’ arm and taking a step back only to sway on his feet. This time Stiles took his arm and they both stumbled. Gravity took over and Stiles grunted when his back hit the bed and Derek barely felt anything as he fell forward. The room was spinning and maybe it took too much out of him to take away Stiles’ pain. Either way Derek did not care that he was fully dressed, that there was blood all over the bathroom, or that Stiles was inches away from him. The mere thought of trying to move was too much to handle and he closed his eyes welcoming sleep.

Before he even opened his eyes, Derek realized he had turned on his side at some point during the night. He still had his leather jacket, jeans, and shoes still on. That was annoying, but not unexpected considering how bad he felt after taking away Stiles’ pain. Derek opened his eyes slowly and realized that Stiles was on the bed with him and he too had turned on his side during the night. The bandage from his stab wound was still visible from the torn t-shirt he wore and he was facing Derek so he was not lying on his bad side. He appeared to be asleep.

It was strange to see Stiles sleeping. Stiles was always awake in the car and he stayed outside the salted doors at night. He must have been hurt much more severely than Derek had originally thought because he had not woken up when Derek did. Stiles looked weirdly innocent while he was sleeping, like he really was the kid he said he was when he died, and at the same time seeing him was completely terrifying. There were no injuries, but he could feel the power from the attack the night before. Derek realized that he often forgot what a powerful demon Stiles was.

"Do you make it a habit of watching others sleep?" Stiles asked and Derek would deny to his dying day that he jumped. "Then again I guess they would have to actually be asleep for it to count."

"You’ve been awake this entire time,” Derek said.

“Not the entire time,” Stiles replied opening his eyes. “But I’ve been awake longer than you. Just decided to relax, get my strength back, things like that.” For some reason that confused Derek even more. That meant Stiles had woke up, saw they were facing each other and opted not to move. This felt strange, lying on the same bed with Stiles and just talking. It felt intimate in a way that made Derek very nervous. He sat up and stretched cracking his back loudly.

“Are you healed?” Derek asked. The smell of blood from the bathroom was too strong to tell otherwise. Stiles sat up and removed the bandage. There was new skin where there was once an ugly wound.

“All better and you seem good too,” Stiles said. “So, are we going to go after my not-ally now? The lack of searing pain is making me a lot angrier.” He said lightly.

“I have the knife and he’s a demon. Seems pretty easy to me,” Derek pulled the knife out of the case attached to his belt. Since he had acquired it the knife had barely left his sight.

“Our weapons are dangerous,” Stiles said softly. “And rare. The fact that you have one is impressive. You never told me where you got it.”

“There was a fight and I managed to get it off of the demon,” Derek lied before he could think twice about it. For some reason his instincts screamed at him to keep the fact that the knife was in a body when he woke up a secret. Stiles tilted his head to the side and looked a little puzzled.

“Must have been a hell of a fight,” he said. Stiles stood and began to dig through the bag of clothing that Derek had bought. They needed to clean the bathroom and get rid of any evidence that they were ever there.

“Let’s get this place cleaned up and get out of here,” Derek said. Stiles nodded and they began the slow clean up to cover their tracks.

It took nearly four hours, but the motel room was finally clean enough that they could justify leaving. Derek left the fan in the bathroom on to hopefully cover the smell of the bleach that they used to get rid of the bloodstains Stiles left behind. Stiles had complained loudly about the smell and waved off any concerns about evidence left behind. He said that the kids blood was not in any database and they really did not need to worry about it. Derek may have stood in the shower a little longer than he normally did trying to clear his head. Something did not feel right and he could not shake it off. It was irritating because the full moon was two days away and his head needed to be clear. After Stiles showered and changed they checked out of the motel room and headed into town.

“Where did you meet your not-friend?” Derek asked.

“Back alley because he enjoys being a cliche,” Stiles replied. “He won’t come out during the day though so we’re going to have to kill time until then.” Derek thought the matter over for a moment.

“What do you know about the Internet?” he asked and that was how Derek found himself using public wifi on his laptop while Stiles used a library computer to search for any sightings. The hours were indeed ticking by, but nothing was coming up in any of the searches. There were plenty of murders and thunderstorms, but there was no way of knowing whether they were even on the right track. “Do you think your not-friend knows anything?” Derek asked.

“Sure do,” Stiles replied and Derek looked at him only to realize that Stiles was looking through pictures of cats on the internet. “What is with this obsession with cats? I’m much more a dog person myself.”

“Hilarious. Now why do you think he knows something?” Derek said reaching over and closing Stiles’ browser.

“Rude, I was looking at those,” Stiles said swinging around in the chair so they were facing each other. “He seemed plenty eager to help me find Saul until I mentioned that I was going to kill him. Then he got all righteous, like he has any reason to act better than me seriously, and decided trying to cut out my kidney was an excellent problem solving method.”

“I’ve found that threatening to do that tends to work better than actually doing it,” Derek replied. “The sun is almost down, what should we do?” Stiles swung the chair back and forth a few times, deep in thought, and he kept brushing up against Derek’s leg. It was annoying and eventually he stopped the chair with his foot. Stiles smirked but did not say anything about it.

“It’s not like we can sneak up on him so we’re just going to have to go in. I’ll try to draw his attention and you go for him. We’ll just have to hope doesn’t hit anything vital before that,” Stiles said shrugging.

“Seems like a bad plan,” Derek said.

“Oh it’s a terrible plan, not even really a plan if you want to get technical, but this guy knows that I’m nearby and he probably knows that I’m not dead. What he won’t be expecting is you so I’m hedging my bets on that.” Stiles turned around and shut down the computer. “Basically if you screw up we’re both dead.” Stiles turned around grinning. “So no pressure, right?” Derek rolled his eyes and packed his things as they walked out of the library. The sun was indeed down and the streetlights were turning on. The full moon was the day after tomorrow and he could see it starting to rise. He had control, he had total control, but being in control was not the same thing as not affected. Stiles paused when he noticed Derek eyeing the moon, but did not say anything. They walked toward the alley where the demon had attacked Stiles. Derek had the knife in a sheath attached to his belt and he was itching to have it in hand. It was their ace though and not something to wave around. They turned the corner and Derek immediately smelled old blood. He must have made a face because Stiles tilted his head.

"Your blood is still on the ground," Derek explained.

"I see. Well I did say he is a cliche," Stiles replied. They walked further down the alley and turned a corner to see a middle age man waiting for them. Derek could smell the sulfur on him and he was smiling to himself like he had just heard a good joke.

"I should have figured you were hard to kill Stiles," the demon said.

"I'm not King because of my pretty face, though it does help," Stiles replied shrugging. Derek could see the knife in the demon's hand and it still had blood on it.

"You should always clean your blades," Derek commented and Stiles grinned. The demon looked annoyed, however, and he tightened his grip on the knife.

"I see the rumors are true about your guard dog. I feel like I should break into a version of Peter and the Wolf," the demon said. "Run along wolf. This isn't any of your business anyway. Saul wanted me to make sure Stiles here died and I intend to follow through with that." Maybe it was the moon, but Derek was struck with a desire to protect that he had not felt for anyone besides Laura after the fire. He stepped in front of Stiles without thinking twice his eyes flashing blue.

"I don't think so," he said.

"Your dog needs a tighter leash," the demon chuckled.

"Does anyone have any originality? These canine jokes are getting old," Stiles groaned. "Derek do me a favor and duck." Derek ducked immediately and the demon was sent back several feet slamming into some garbage cans. Derek shifted, fingernails growing into claws and sharp fangs appearing in his mouth, and he charged before the demon could recover. He swiped and his claws sliced through the demon's torso. That familiar feeling of being punched in the chest followed and Derek hit the wall hard. He blinked and the demon had charged Stiles. He was swiping at Stiles with quick and precise movements. Stiles dodged each one but they were too close for comfort. Stiles managed to get some distance and shoved the demon back. The demon twirled the knife in hand and threw it. Stiles held up a hand and stopped the knife mid air but the demon was trying to push it as well. Derek tried to move forward to attack the demon but he kept getting thrown back. He joined Stiles who looked like it was taking a fair amount of effort to keep the knife from flying forward and imbedding itself in his heart.

"So I have an idea but it has one major flaw," Stiles said.

"Yeah?" Derek asked.

"Yup. You're going to have to trust me quite a bit," Stiles replied. "Can you do that?"

“Do I really have a choice?” Derek asked.

“Unless you want to see if I can survive a knife through the heart? Then no, you really don’t.”

"Fine." Derek was not sure this was the best idea to trust Stiles, but they were at a stalemate. Stiles nodded and he gestured to the knife. Derek pulled it out and watched the demon pale. Derek realized that he could not ask Stiles what he had planned and he braced himself. Within seconds he was airborne and moving toward the demon with impressive speed. He had half a second to think before he embedded the knife in the demon's thigh. He let out an inhuman scream and Derek pinned him with a hand on the blade, an arm over his throat and hand angled so his claws were at his throat. He glanced over his shoulder to see Stiles picking the knife off the ground. "So, here's how this is going to go down. You are going to tell me what you know about Saul or Derek is going to twist that knife and get creative with his claws."

"You can go straight back to hell," the demon said and he spit something out in Latin. Judging by the way Stiles grimaced it was not very nice. Derek twisted the blade. The demon screamed in pain and Stiles knelt next to him to slap a hand across his mouth.

"You will tell me what you know," Stiles said that dangerous edge to his tone returning. Derek dug his claws into flesh just enough to draw blood.

"Fine, fine! Saul told me that he knows you're tracking him again and he knows about the wolf. He said he was going back East, but he didn't tell me where. I swear that's all I know!" The demon was breathing hard but Derek heard no lie in his heartbeat. Derek glanced up at Stiles and he looked thoughtful. He stood up and walked a few feet away. He began to draw something in the dirt and after a moment he nodded to Derek. Derek was fairly sure where this was going and he pulled the demon to his feet. There was a brief struggle but Derek ripped the knife free and shoved the demon into the devil's trap. "What are you going to do with me? I told you what I know."

"You still tried to kill me and ruined a perfectly good shirt," Stiles said and he placed a hand on Derek's shoulder. "I'll let Derek take care of you." Stiles took a few large steps back and crossed his arms. Derek pulled out book and began to read out the Latin for the exorcism. The demon's body twitched and eventually he threw his head back and screamed black smoke pouring from his mouth. The body fell to the ground and there was no heartbeat.

"He'll climb out eventually, won't he want revenge?" Derek asked as put his book in his jacket pocket.

"He might, but killing him would be mercy compared to the pit," Stiles said joining Derek. "We have a lead though." Stiles grinned his amber eyes shining mischievously.

"That we do," Derek replied and he did not fight the grin pulling at his lips.

They got rid of the trap and the body before leaving town. Derek put the extra knife in the back of the car. They drove for a day and a half and by the night of the full moon Derek was restless. He did not say anything though. The sooner they got to the coast the better. The sun was beginning to set when Stiles heaved a frustrated sigh.

"Oh my god if your twitchiness is bugging me, we have a serious problem. What do you need?" Stiles asked.

"I have control," Derek replied.

"Yeah, that's just wonderful, gold star, but your twitching is driving me insane so I'll ask you again; what do you need?" Stiles said. Derek glanced over and saw that Stiles looked a little eager.

"You just want to see a born werewolf shift," Derek deadpanned and Stiles grinned.

"That too so what's the plan?" Stiles asked.

"There is a preserve a few miles up. If I can go on a run I'll be fine," Derek said after a moment of silence.

"Running it is," Stiles said. They lapsed into a semi comfortable silence and Derek felt better just knowing he was going on a run. The moon was rising when they pulled into the parking lot of the preserve. There were a few picnic tables, but the lot was empty. "Nope," Stiles said all of a sudden.

"'Nope' what?" Derek asked.

"You were going to ask me to wait in the car and the answers 'nope'." Stiles replied looking a little smug.

"Actually I was going to ask you to hold my wallet and keys," Derek said. Stiles frowned deeply but caught the keys easily when Derek tossed them. Derek handed off his wallet but kept the demon knife on his hip. Derek felt he could trust Stiles enough not to kill him when he turned his back, there had been too many opportunities that Stiles had not taken advantage of for him not to, and they had two now so Derek felt comfortable holding onto it. "So you’re going to follow me?"

"That's the plan man. Have fun howling at the moonlight and killing bunnies." Stiles smiled but Derek did not indulge him. Instead he let the moon guide his transformation. The world glowed red, claws formed and he could feel his fangs. Derek glanced at Stiles whose eyes were wide and took off into the woods.

This run was a good idea. Days of running around like he had been with Stiles had set him on edge and it felt amazing to release some of that tension. Derek could smell Stiles nearby, the lingering smell of sulfur that seemed like it was being replaced by something else. A little bit of his own scent and that made him happy on a very primal level. Derek was not going to kill anything simply because he knew that was what Stiles wanted. He ran and ran feeling all of that energy burning out of him.

The smell of gunpowder and two extra heartbeats were a surprise. Derek could hear two voices talking, a man and a young woman, and they were talking about hunting. There was a edge to the man's voice that Derek did not like and the girl did not have a gun, but a bow and arrow. No one used a bow and arrow to hunt normal game except for a werewolf they were perfect. A wolf could not heal unless the arrow was removed. There was a howl and Derek knew he had stumbled into another packs territory. The man and girl took off toward the sound, but they were also heading right toward Stiles.

That sense to protect hit him like a freight train again and before Derek could second guess himself he was sprinting toward Stiles. The man and girl were closing in when he caught sight of Stiles. Stiles turned when Derek approached his eyes wide, but Derek did not give him a chance to say anything before he he yanked Stiles to the ground. Derek covered Stiles with his body and wanted to growl to keep these hunters away.

"Derek what the hell--" Stiles began, but Derek slapped his hand over Stiles mouth, mindful of his claws. Derek forced himself into his human form and put a finger to his lips to keep Stiles from trying to talk. They stayed like that for a moment until Derek was sure the man and girl were gone. Derek relaxed and took his hand off of Stiles' mouth. "Derek, what the hell is this?"

"Hunters," Derek explained.

"Yeah, I got that. You do realize I can look after myself and how lucky you are I didn't take your head off for shoving me into the dirt," Stiles snapped. Derek blinked and realized that he was still on top of Stiles despite the fact that the danger had passed. He did not quite scramble back, but it was a close. Stiles sat up on his elbows and glared, deeply irritated.

"Sorry. Instinct," Derek grumbled and he offered a hand to help Stiles to his feet which Stiles did not take. "I appreciate you resisting the urge to decapitating me?”

"Damn right you do,” Stiles grumbled, but he took Derek's hand. "Did you get it all out of your system? Eat any woodland critters?" Stiles asked as he brushed himself off.

"Yeah, you missed out on a free meal," Derek replied as sincerely as he could.

"Your sense of humor leaves something to be desired," Stiles said but he was smiling again. They began to walk back toward the car taking the long way despite the fact that both had faster ways of getting back. Stiles began to ask a million question and Derek knew he was forgiven for the tackling incident. Derek was not sure why he was overcome with the desire to protect Stiles, but decided that it was more than likely because of the full moon and would go away soon.

Derek did not stop driving once they made it back to the car. Stiles whined until Derek explained what a headache pack negotiations were. Stiles nodded and they spent the next few days driving toward Ohio. Stiles asked about being a kid and when he manifested and Derek asked about Stiles life before werewolves and demons.

Stiles was from the early settlers in the America's and remembered in detail how sick he was on the boat ride over. Derek was hesitant to give up information about his family life, but Stiles answered every question Derek asked as if he had nothing to hide anymore. After that it got easier and Derek had never talked about any of this with anyone. It was cathartic in a way that was brand new to Derek and he noticed that Stiles seemed a little lighter as well. They were sitting in the parking lot of a grocery store just outside Cincinnati eating sandwiches and looking through the papers for any signs of activity.

"I have to say I kind of wish I had been born in this century," Stiles said as he finished his turkey and cheddar. "All of this technology and how global it all is? I would have kicked ass in this century."

"I'm sure you would have," Derek replied as patronizing as possible. Derek smiled when Stiles hit him on the arm. "There have been some electrical storms in the area. So not Saul but maybe someone we can get information from?" Stiles leaned across the console and he was suddenly very much in Derek's personal space.

"These signs are really obvious. We're either dealing with a baby or someone who wants to be noticed." Stiles sat back in his seat and grimaced. "Either way it's going to be annoying."

“Should we go investigate?” Derek asked.

“Well, according to my old friend, Saul knows that we’re looking for him and he knows about you. Drawing us into a trap would be something he would do. At the same time it could be a subordinate of his trying to draw us into a trap. Or it’s a stupid baby that has no idea how to hide their tells,” Stiles said as he tapped a finger against his lips which was really distracting for some reason. “We have to go poke around. If nothing else we can send a baby back into the pit so they don’t cause any problems.”

“It’s probably a trap,” Derek said as he finished his sandwich.

“Probably, but it could be fun,” Stiles replied. Derek sighed and started the car up again to head into Cincinnati. Stiles was looking out the window carefully looking for something that could give away the location of the demon they were looking for but nothing jumped out. Cincinnati was a big enough city that it was impossible to pick out one scent. Derek found a decent motel off the pain path and got a room that only had one bed, but Stiles never slept in the same room so it was fine. Stiles was leaning against the car frowning deeply when Derek returned with the keys.

“Do you see something?” Derek asked.

“No, and that bothers me. I don’t want to just go out there looking for trouble because it might be trap, but I don’t like sitting around waiting for trouble to find me either,” Stiles replied. “I have a feeling that this demon knows we’re here though.”

“I don’t think the element of surprise was ever in our favor,” Derek said as he pulled the bags out of the car. It took some extra time to gather some salt, holy water and the extra demon killing knife. Stiles still looked almost worried, but he followed Derek into the room nevertheless. Derek wanted to salt the doors and windows again, but he was not sure how Stiles would react to being trapped in the room instead of out. Stiles sat down on the edge of the bed and gripped it tight enough that his knuckles were turning white. “This is really bothering you,” Derek said leaning against the wall.

“Yes because I really think this is a trap and I don’t like not knowing what I’m up against,” Stiles replied. “Saul could be out there right now and there is nothing I can do, but wait because he’s hidden in a city of 300,000 people.”

“We could fortify this room. Salt the windows and doors, lock ourselves in, if they want us then they can come get us,” Derek suggested and Stiles tensed when Derek mentioned salting the doors and windows. While it would keep others out it would also trap Stiles in. Derek could understand not wanting that and decided not to mention it again. “Outside then, maybe near here so I don’t have to drag my arsenal around?”

“Too public. We need to go somewhere more secluded otherwise we might get some stupid human wandering into the crossfire. A park at night or something like that. There was one a few blocks away. If they want to come to us then let them come to us.” Stiles released his grip on the edge of the bed and he smirked to himself. “You ready to go down fighting, Derek?”

“Always,” Derek said without hesitation. Stiles smiled and it was hard to resist that smile. Derek worked on getting all of his things together while Stiles looked out the window of the motel chewing on his nails. The sun set but they waited until it was late. Derek managed to hide his shotgun in such a way that they could walk to the park and it would not be seen. Stiles had the other knife hidden in the sleeve of his plaid shirt, but even armed Derek did not feel safe. It felt like someone was watching them, but there were too many sounds and too many heartbeats to pick single one out.

“Something isn’t right,” Stiles said as they walked through the park. “There should be people around here even though it’s almost midnight but we’re alone.” Derek was about to agree when he heard another heartbeat coming at them quickly. He took Stiles’ arm and looked around. “What is it?”

“Your puppy heard me,” a voice said and they both turned to see a young woman walking toward them a shotgun in hand. Her hair was long and brown, her eyes completely black and she had a sinister smile. “Hello Stiles.”

“Nessa, I see Saul still has you doing his dirty work,” Stiles said and Nessa laughed.

“You know I enjoy this kind of work. I’ve been waiting for the day I get to go after you for years. This is the first time Saul actually thought you were threatening enough to send me,” Nessa explained. “Your wolf is adorable too, where did you find such a cute little thing? It’s a shame you got him involved.”

“Saul got me involved when he killed my family,” Derek said as he reached for his shotgun ready to pump this bitch full of rock salt, but Nessa was quick in pointing the gun at him.

“Bad idea Derek. If you take a step back I’ll let you walk away from this. Right now my dispute is with Stiles, not you, so you can go back to your sister and frolic in the moonlight all you want,” Nessa said. “You could watch this though because it’ll be a show.” Nessa moved the gun so it was pointing at Stiles and pulled the trigger. Several things happened at once and Derek moved without thinking. He shoved Stiles aside and took the buckshot. Only it was not buckshot, it was a mixture of salt and wolfbane that knocked the air from his lungs. It was potent, strong, and it made him fall over before he had a chance to react. Derek looked up and saw that Stiles was looking down at him with wide eyes like he could not believe what he was seeing. “Well, that works too, these rounds were going to hurt Stiles but kill you.”

“That was a mistake, Nessa,” Stiles said as he slowly looked back at her. She tensed under his glare and Stiles slid the knife from his sleeve and into his hand. The wolfsbane was traveling fast and it was going to reach his heart any minute now. “Now drop your gun and run.”

“Why would I do a stupid thing like that?” Nessa asked but she looked worried.

“Have it your way.” Stiles rushed forward so fast that even Derek’s werewolf eyes could not keep up with it. Nessa managed to block two hits before Stiles slashed her throat. She made a horrible gurgling sound as she collapsed to the ground. Derek could feel the wolfsbane rushing through his system and the world was beginning to haze over. Stiles was by his side in seconds trying to shake him awake. “Hey, stay with me, this is going to hurt like hell.” Derek did not get a chance to respond before Stiles was cutting a long cut into his chest and shoving ash and salt into it. It burned worse than before, but a hand clasped over his mouth to hide his screaming. “Now you know how it feels,” Stiles grumbled as the pain began to fade. “I think we got it all. Up we go.” Stiles hoisted his arm up and pulled Derek to his feet. The world began to slowly clear as Stiles walked the two of them back to the motel. By the time they got there Derek was feeling much better.

“I can walk on my own,” Derek said as Stiles closed the door.

“Great so let’s talk about what a fucking idiot you are,” Stiles replied angrier than Derek had ever seen him. “I told you I can take care of myself. That crap would have hurt like hell, but it wouldn’t have nearly killed me, unlike you.”

“Are you really yelling at me for protecting you?” Derek asked. He narrowed his eyes as he walked into Stiles’ space. “When people work together they look out for each other.”

“Maybe you should let me look out for myself instead of trying to be a martyr,” Stiles snapped his eyes flashing red. Derek growled and took Stiles by the shirt slamming him into the wall.

“You don’t get to be angry at me for trying to protect you,” Derek said low and dangerously. He was about to add more when an invisible fist punched him in the chest so hard that Derek stumbled back. He blinked and he was on his back on the bed, Stiles straddling his waist and steely hands holding his wrists down. He was pinned.

“How does it feel not to be the most powerful one in the room, wolf? Does it bother you?” Stiles asked bitterly. “You forget that I could kill you without even trying.”

“Then why don’t you?” Derek yelled not even caring about the neighbors. Stiles went so still that it was a surprise. They were both breathing hard as they stared at each other, inches apart, and the tension was so thick Derek felt like he could hardly breath. Derek was not sure what happened next, but one second Stiles was staring him down, holding his wrists tight enough that the bones were grinding together, and Stiles was not moving. The next his wrists were released and he was pulling Stiles down as Stiles was reaching to him and their mouths crashed into a violent kiss. It was completely unexpected while not a surprise at all. They were kissing hard enough to bruise and Stiles parted his lips willing as Derek licked into his mouth.

Derek began to sit up slowly, taking Stiles with him, until he was upright and Stiles was practically in his lap.

“This is such a bad idea,” Stiles said between kisses as he sunk his fingers into Derek’s hair and tugged on it gently..

“The worst possible idea,” Derek replied as he managed to get away from that sinful mouth and began to kiss along Stiles’ jawline. Stiles pulled Derek away from his neck and they kissed again, hard and dirty, and Derek rolled them over so they were lying side by side on the bed. Stiles’ lips were as soft as the night they made the deal and he tasted amazing. They kissed until Derek’s lips felt numb and only then did he finally pull away. They lay side by side and the silence in the motel room was deafening save for the sound of their heavy breathing and pounding heartbeats.

“That really shouldn’t have happened,” Stiles said after a long silence.

“No, it really shouldn’t have,” Derek said. It was a bad idea. A terrible idea. They should not have done that. Stiles sat up and looked down at him. He looked young and vulnerable in a way that Derek did not expect. While some apprehension on his part was to be expected he did not stop to consider that it might have been a long time since Stiles had touched someone too. For Derek it had been six years since Kate, but Stiles was older than he looked, much older, it could have been centuries and there were probably countless times Stiles could have been with someone, but here he was, lips red and swollen from kissing, with Derek.

“I’ll go outside so you can salt the room,” Stiles said, standing up.

“Wait, what if Nessa wasn’t alone?” Derek asked.

“She probably wasn’t but I know you’re not comfortable with me staying here so I’ll go outside,” Stiles replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Stiles had saved him, twice now, and they were beginning to trust each other more. It would have taken an idiot not to see that. Stiles nodded like his silence was confirmation, but Derek stood and took Stiles by the arm.

“It’s not safe out there,” Derek said.

“I know but I can take care of myself. I told you it’s not like I sleep so I can keep watch out there and you can salt the door and windows. No problem,” Stiles said confused.

“You can stay here if you’d like,” Derek said slowly like he did not trust the words coming out of his mouth. Stiles had offered a lot to him since they had met, willing staying outside all night and saving his life, not calling him out on how little Derek trusted him, and Derek figured it was his turn to extent the olive branch. Stiles blinked and stared like he could not believe that Derek had offered that.

“Okay.” Derek nodded and went into the bathroom to get ready for bed. When he emerged Stiles was sitting in the chair at the small desk watching the door carefully. When Derek walked back into the room Stiles watched him with wide eyes. Derek nodded, turned off the light and lay down to get some sleep but for some reason sleep could not find him. Stiles was right across the room and it was really quite unnerving. He used to people watch a lot when he was younger, Laura said that he ‘lurked,’ and he could understand why people would find it uncomfortable. “I can’t sleep with you staring at me.”

“I don’t sleep ,so what exactly would you like me to do? Lie down next to you?” Stiles scoffed, but Derek shrugged.

“I doubt anyone could tell you to do anything, Stiles,” he said closing his eyes. There was a beat of silence before Stiles grumbled something under his breath and flopped down on top of the covers next to Derek. He was fairly confident that Stiles was not going to kill him and Stiles had offered to leave the room twice so Derek could lock him out. Stiles had saved his life twice now and was angry when Derek had protected. To kill him now made no sense, not when Derek was going to die in less than ten years away, so he was able to relax a little. Stiles, however, would not sit still and kept moving every few minutes jerking Derek from sleep. “Stop fidgeting.”

“My apologies princess, not enough mattresses between you and the pea?”

“Shut up, Stiles.”

They got the hell out of there a few hours later. It was an irresponsible thing to do considering they had been lured to Cincinnati by Saul with the intention of having someone else kill the two of them, but every time Derek would turn to leave Stiles would smirk and they were suddenly making out again. Or Derek would turn around and Stiles would push him against a wall and kiss the breath from his lungs. It took some time, but they did manage to get out of town eventually. As they sped away from the city and continued to head East Stiles seemed to calm down the further they got from the town. It was late evening by the time they got to Pittsburgh and they stopped just outside the main city.

Derek managed to find a small motel that would not ask too many questions. The receptionist was a teenage girl who looked bored as he booked the room and Derek had a brief moment of panic when she asked whether he wanted one or two beds. She missed him glancing out to his car where Stiles was sitting before Derek told her ‘one.’

Stiles raised an eyebrow when he walked into the hotel room and saw the one bed. Derek dropped his bag on the floor and said nothing. They had slept in the same room and the same bed now and if Stiles made a big deal Derek could always tell him to go outside so he could salt the door.

“Really, Hale, one bed? Aren’t you being a little presumptuous?” Stiles asked but he was smirking.

“I really don’t think I am,” Derek replied as he walked further into the room. “Problem?”

“Oh I don’t know. Maybe I don’t want to watch you sleep like a creeper,” Stiles replied, but they were walking toward each other. Derek felt like he was being drawn to Stiles like a magnet and it scared the hell out of him

“You absolutely want to watch me sleep like a creeper,” Derek said when they were inches apart.

“Yeah, you’re right, I do.” Stiles fisted Derek’s t-shirt and yanked him into a rough kiss. Aside from Kate Derek did not have a lot of experience kissing other people but even if he did he had a feeling it would be nothing like kissing Stiles. With everyone else in the world he needed to hold back, make sure no one got hurt, but with Stiles he could kiss as hard as he wanted. He could pull Stiles against his body hard enough to hurt and Stiles would not complain. Stiles did not complain when Derek shoved him back against the bed, he just smirked and dragged Derek down to kiss him some more.

They were flushed against each other, Stiles’ tongue in his mouth, Derek grinding down and hands aching to touch skin when Derek’s cell phone started to ring. No one ever called him and Derek groaned.

“Ignore it,” Stiles said as they kissed.

“It might be important,” Derek said and it probably was, but stopping this little make out session seemed like an impossible mission.

“Your hero complex is so irritating,” Stiles said against his mouth as he blindly reached for Derek’s cell phone. For half a second Derek thought he was going to ignore the call, but he just handed it to Derek and fell back against the pillows. Stiles’ lips were swollen red and there was a bite mark on his neck that was going to be gone soon and Derek briefly considered throwing his phone against the wall in favor of adding another to that tempting neck. Instead he rolled over and answered the phone.

“Hello?” Derek thought he did a fairly good job at hiding the rough edge to his voice but judging by the way Stiles snorted he did not do a very good job.

“Have you been gargling marbles or something?” Laura asked. Derek sat up frowning deeply because he had not heard a word from Laura since he had left.

“Laura? Are you okay?” he asked.

“I’m fine. It’s not like you have another soul to sell to save me anyway,” she said bitterly and Derek winced. Stiles had gone uncomfortably still beside him in the bed. “I got a call from the Reading pack that mom and dad knew really well back in the day. They’ve heard of you and there have been some strange happenings in their neck of the woods and they were wondering if you could come take a look.”

“You’re passing a case onto me?” Derek said surprised.

“I said I’d ask you to look into it so if you’re busy hunting some demon for some misguided revenge then you don’t have to go.” Laura really did not like him going after Saul but this was not a fight they could have on the phone.

“We’ll check it out,” he said and immediately regretted it because Derek was not sure Laura knew that Stiles was traveling with him. There was a long silence and it was deeply uncomfortable. If Derek did not know better he would have thought that Laura had hung up on him but that was something that she just did not do no matter how angry she was.

“I’ll let them know you’re on the way. Be careful,” Laura said finally and the line went dead. Derek stared at his phone and wanted to call her back, to explain everything, but Laura was as stubborn as he was. There was no way she was going to listen, not yet, and possibly not ever. The thought that she might not let him back into her life hurt worse than any stab wound, broken bone, or wolfsbane.

Derek put his phone back on the table and fell back against the pillows. When Stiles got up to leave the room Derek followed him. Stiles stopped just outside the door, shoved his hands in his pockets, and watched Derek as he lined the door and windows. Stiles said nothing as he was locked out of the room and the Derek closed the door. He was sitting against the wall next to the door, he was not making any effort to conceal himself, and Derek fell asleep to the sound of Stiles’ heartbeat through the wall.

The drive to Reading took almost five hours and Derek exchanged maybe ten words with Stiles the entire time. Derek knew that he had overheard the entire conversation and that made things a little awkward between them. They had researched Reading to see that a few young children had died in odd ways recently. All of them were considered ‘accidents’, but the local pack seemed worried about it. They had some teenagers and they wanted to make sure that their young ones were not going to be targeted. They knew Derek was coming so he was not going to have to make contact with anyone which was good because he was not sure how he was going to explain Stiles’ presence.

Derek pulled into a local coffee shop and Stiles sat by the window as Derek ordered so he could use the wifi without getting dirty looks. Derek sat down with his laptop and was not surprised when Stiles moved his chair so they were sitting next to each other.

“What do we know so far?” Stiles asked. He was not quite in Derek’s personal space ,but they were still close.

“A bunch of kids are dying in what looks like a bunch of freak accidents,” Derek replied pointing to the list of obituaries. “At first it was just one school, but now it’s jumped to another.”

“So whatever we’re dealing with decided to jump ship,” Stiles said frowning deeply. “But why make it look like an accident? Supernaturals love showing off because it give them some sort of street credit. A vampire will show off the fang marks, most demons leave signs, you don’t get respected if no one knows you’re killing.”

“You’re saying that making all of these deaths look like accidents makes no sense,” Derek said and Stiles nodded. “It’s something that doesn’t want to be found then. Saul doesn’t want to be found so he’s not waving a red flag and showing off.”

“Saul is not the norm.” There was a dark edge to Stiles’ voice as he looked over the information on the computer.

“I don’t think looking at any of the bodies is going to help,” Derek said. “All of the causes of death were pretty obvious. I think at this point we should just do some poking around at the high school where the last kid died.”

“Better let me do most of the lurking since I could pass for a high schooler and you’ll just get accosted by Chris Hansen,” Stiles said and that familiar grin was there.

“I’m not even going to ask how you know that reference,” Derek said closing the computer unable to fight the smile tugging at his lips. Stiles knocked their shoulders together and just like that the tension from the night before faded. Derek was not so quick to say that everything was okay, but it felt better.

Derek was experiencing some serious deja-vu. This high school reminded him far too much of his own and it was making the memories of the fire linger a bit too close to the surface. He wished he could say that they were being inconspicuous, but it was a little hard because he and Stiles looked shady as hell. There was a large lacrosse field on the side of the school and judging from the sounds Derek could hear it was the varsity team. Their coach was yelling out drills and it made something in Derek’s chest tighten. If Stiles noticed he was smart enough not to say anything which Derek was eternally grateful for.

“Number twenty-four is doing really well,” Derek said narrowing his eyes. “He’s the captain and he’s really, really good.”

“Suspiciously so?” Stiles asked.

“I swear during one of the drills the kid he was playing against got out of the way inside of trying to stop him.” Derek leaned back against his car as he pulled out the notebook. He flipped through the pages trying to find something on skill but nothing was standing out. “We need to talk to that kid.”

“More like I do. Like I said, I could pass as one of these kids or at least as a recent graduate,” Stiles said standing up a little straighter as Derek side eyed him. “What? Do you want to stay close and make sure the teenager doesn’t try to eat me or something?”

“I feel like I should make a joke about being the only one who is allowed to eat you but that seems in bad taste even for our sense of humor,” Derek said as he closed the book but Stiles grinned. Stiles slouched, made himself look unassuming, as he walked over to the practice that was just finishing up. Derek could hear the conversation from where he was sitting and it was almost unnerving how good Stiles was at making people open up to him. He chatted about inane things with the kid for a bit, asking about what schools he was looking into and if he wanted to play professionally, and eventually managed to lead into the death’s.

“It was an accident, you know?” the kid said twirling his lacrosse stick in hand. “I didn’t want to be captain but was passed down to me after Bill died.”

“Passed down? I thought captain was based on merit. I mean, I only graduated last year, are you young kids changing it up so much already?” Stiles asked with a grin and the kid laughed.

“Nah, we passed this stick down from captain to captain. It’s a tradition,” the kid said looking at the stick in his hands. “Just having it makes me feel like a better player.” Derek sat up straighter because that was strange. Fortunately Stiles seemed to catch on as well.

“Yeah? The kid that died used to have this stick too?” Stiles asked with an odd edge to his voice. “Maybe you should give it to me.”

“Why would I do that?” the kid snapped, but Stiles smiled easily.

“You should really give that stick to me,” Stiles repeated. Sometimes Derek forgot that Stiles was a crossroads demon, the King of the Crossroads, and that meant he was a professional at manipulating people. That lacrosse stick was drawing whatever was killing these kids and they needed to get it away. If they had the stick they could draw whatever it was out and kill it. The kid stared at Stiles for a long time until he slowly gave up the lacrosse stick and walked back toward the school. Stiles turned and walked across the street twirling the stick in hand as if he knew exactly what he was doing.

“I’m thinking it draws whatever it killing these kids out,” Derek said when Stiles joined him but Stiles did not look convinced.

“Maybe,” he said slowly. “There really is only way for me to know for sure.”

“Know what for sure?” Derek asked but before he could react Stiles had shoved the lacrosse stick in his hand. Derek frowned deeply but Stiles was just grinning like something amusing had just happened. “What are you doing?”

“Just hang onto that. I’m testing something,” Stiles said. “Let’s go find a motel, shall we?” Derek had more questions but at this point he knew when Stiles was not going share additional information. He went to throw the stick in the back seat but a hand clenched his wrist and stopped him. “I said hang onto it and I meant that literally.”

“What’s going on, Stiles?” Derek asked as they climbed into the car.

“I said that I’m testing something. Don’t worry; this won’t take long if I’m right.” Stiles climbed into the passenger seat and made sure he was not touching the lacrosse stick at any moment in time. They drove around town until they found a motel. The receptionist gave Derek a weird look for the lacrosse stick, but Derek was used to getting looks for stranger things in life his. Stiles followed him into the room and flopped down on the bed staring at the ceiling. “Turn on that police scanner app you have on your phone.”

“You need to clue me in on this,” Derek said turning on the application just as the frequency started to go crazy about an accident at the school. Derek frowned deeply as they talked about the lacrosse captain and how he fell down a flight of stairs. Stiles look resigned as they listened but said nothing. “Did you know that would happen? That a kid was going to die?”

“I had a feeling but he was going to die no matter what,” Stiles replied sitting up on his elbows and nodding at the lacrosse stick. “That lacrosse stick is cursed.”

“A cursed lacrosse stick,” Derek said slowly.

“I know, right? What is with this world?” Stiles said laughing, but it did not reach his eyes. Something was wrong.

“What aren’t you telling me?” Derek said and Stiles sighed.

“You don’t get hit with the after effects of the curse until the object is passed onto another person,” Stiles explained.

“And you gave the stick to me. Why the hell did you do that, Stiles?” Derek snapped. “Are you going to die now?”

“Maybe,” Stiles said shrugging. “But I have a better chance of surviving it than you. All we need to do is break the curse and we’re fine. No more teenagers or Stiles’ have to die.” Derek stared at Stiles. He had the distinct feeling that he was being protected. Calling Stiles on it would probably just lead to a fight that Derek was really not in the mood to have. Instead he sat down on the bed next to Stiles and opened up the notebook to see if there was anything on cursed objects. There was precious little to go on and nothing that was actually helpful. Derek groaned and tossed the notebook back in his bag.

“Do you know anything?” Derek asked.

“Oh I know plenty, you know that, but without knowing how the stick was cursed all of my knowledge is pretty useless. We’re going to have to try to find the original kid.” Stiles sat up and stretched. “Time for a research montage.”

Said research montage including going to the library and digging through news articles trying to connect each kid to the stick. No one else seemed to see anything resembling a pattern and all of the deaths really were just freak accidents even if they were caused by a curse. They were in the back of the large library when Derek heard a crash and a grunt from the back of the building. He smelled blood and immediately raced through the stacks to find Stiles half buried by a pile of large hardcover books with a deep gash on the top of his head. Derek had tied the stick to his back and he knelt down placing a hand over the wound.

“If you were human that would have killed you,” Derek said slowly.

“Probably,” Stiles replied dazed.

“The more you out live it the worse this is going to get,” Derek said pulling his hand away because the wound was nearly gone. People were running toward them and Derek wiped his hand on his black t-shirt to hide the blood.

“I’m fine, I’m fine!” Stiles cried out. “Head wounds, they like to bleed, but it’s totally fine and I’m not going to sue!” The librarian did not look convinced and she dragged Stiles to the front to put a bandaid on the cut that would be gone soon. They walked out of the library and Derek managed to stop Stiles from tumbling to what should have been his death down the stone stairs. He was still the owner of the stick though so he should have been able to touch Stiles and not transfer the curse or something.

Their research montage eventually lead them to a school halfway across town. The captain of the lacrosse team died in a terrible car accident and they needed to know what he was into. Stiles, the devious little thing he was, managed to find a way to get the still grieving parents to go out on a free dinner so they could break into the house. It seemed like a great plan until Stiles got hit by a car and rolled onto the street in a mess of broken limbs. The driver was a drunk that had passed out at the wheel and had no idea he had just hit someone which Derek was oddly grateful for. He dragged Stiles across the street and hid him behind a bunch of bushes. It looked like almost every bone in his body was broken and when Stiles coughed there was blood on his lips.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Stiles said through his clenched jaw. “Get in there and try to find out what the kid was into. Bring anything useful with you.”

“You look terrible,” Derek said his hands skirting along the wounds, but Stiles batted his hands away.

“Get in there before the universe figures out I’m not a human and does something that will actually kill me.” Stiles fell back against the dirt, breathing slowly, but he still managed a rather impressive glare. Derek pushed himself to his feet and easily broke into the small house.

The kids room was exactly how he had left it, Derek could tell by the thin layer of dust, as if the parents could not bare the thought of even going inside. There were a few strange books that he stuffed in his bag and he booted up the kids computer and copied the entirety of his internet history onto a flash drive. Derek could hear the parents’ car heading back home and he barely took the extra time to put everything back where it was. They were only a few blocks away when Derek got back outside and hefted Stiles’ arm over his shoulder. The drunk driver was thankfully gone and Derek hoped he had thought he’d hit a dog or something.

“Oh my god, is he okay?” the mom asked as he jumped out of the car.

“Yeah, just had too much drink,” Derek replied heading toward his car parked a few blocks away. Stiles dug his nails into Derek’s shoulders because they did not want the parents to notice that someone had broken into their house.

“Are you sure you’re all right, son?” the dad asked.

“I’m fine!” Stiles slurred as if he was drunk. The parents looked a little less worried and Derek continued to walk them away from the house. “Faster, faster.”

“Fine.” Derek did not wait for Stiles to argue before he scooped him up bridal style and ran the two of them back to the car.

“That was humiliating,” Stiles grumbled as he collapsed into the passenger seat.

“You said you wanted to get out of there fast so I got you out fast. Stop complaining it’s not like anyone saw,” Derek replied driving away from the neighborhood and back toward the other side of town. Stiles spent the time looking through the books and wincing in pain every time they hit a bump in the road.

“It’s like a lucky rabbits foot only without the rabbit,” Stiles said as they got closer to the motel. “We need to burn it in a cemetery with bone ash and cayenne pepper.” Derek turned off at a small grocery store and bought the pepper and when he got back Stiles had a small baggie in his hand.

“Is that bone ash?” Derek asked climbing back into the car.

“I still have friends,” Stiles replied shrugging which was a great non-answer. Derek rolled his eyes and drove the two of them to a graveyard. They had just parked for all of two minutes before someone shot Stiles straight in the stomach with no provocation whatsoever. The man was dressed like a mugger but had decided to skip the mugging part and get straight to the murder. Stiles looked surprised by the small hole in his stomach and Derek had to once again drag his bleeding body across the dirt until they were at a spot where no one would see a small fire burning. “This murder thing is irritating.” Stiles had a hand to his stomach and his face was ashen gray.

“What happens if this doesn’t work?” Derek asked as he pulled the lacrosse stick off of his back and set it on the ground.

“Well if you don’t own it anymore then the curse hits you and you die,” Stiles replied sounding far too nonchalant to be talking about their inevitable, painful deaths. Derek stared before dropping the bone ash and pepper on the ground and lighting them on fire. The flame reflected in Stiles’ eyes and for a second Derek was sure they flashed red for a moment. Derek sat down on the ground next to Stiles and waited for Stiles heal. The silence was almost peaceful as they watched the stick slowly burn away.

“So, a cursed lacrosse stick,” Derek said.

“A curse fucking lacrosse stick,” Stiles repeated and they looked each other. Derek was able to remain serious for all of ten second before bursting into laughter. Stiles joined him and the two of them laughed and laughed together watching the smoke rise high into the night.

They hung around town for two days before leaving. Nothing tried to kill either of them so Derek assumed that the curse was taken care of it and they could leave. Stiles was a mess of unreleased energy and even after they spent most of the second day in the motel room he was still practically vibrating. Derek started to head east again and was going to hit New Jersey eventually. When they got to the coast he was not sure where to go from there. They knew that Saul was somewhere in New England but besides that they had almost nothing to go on. Derek really did not want to start driving up and down the eastern seaboard until they heard something that looked like it was going to be the only option.

“Oh my god will you stop moving for the love of god,” Derek said the third time he had to reach over and stop Stiles’ leg from shaking.

“Something has me on edge, what would you like me to do about it?” Stiles asked as he chewed on his thumb. Derek sighed heavily and pulled the car off to the side of the road. “What, do you need to go eat some sort of wild life or something? I’ll wait, don’t worry.”

“You need to burn off some of that energy,” Derek said taking the keys out of the ignition. Stiles did a rather impressive eyebrow waggle thing that was really hard to even classify.

“I can think of a few ways,” Stiles said his voice an octave lower than normal.

“Stiles, I’m not fucking you in the Camaro.” Derek opened the door and got out of the car ignoring Stiles’ pout. “I am going to work off your energy though.”

“Oh yeah? How are you going to do that?” Stiles asked. Derek smirked, took Stiles by the arm and pulled him off the road and into a small field. There was enough of an decline that anyone passing by would not see them because the last thing they needed was someone walking in on this. “What, are we going to fuck in a field then? I had no idea you were such a romantic, Derek.”

“No, we’re not fucking anywhere, you are going to keep me from breaking your nose.” Derek did not give Stiles a chance to reply before he punched him. Stiles was so taken back that he did not have time to react and he stumbled back holding a hand to his nose. A little bit of blood trickled out and Derek might have been a little too proud of the fact that Stiles was so unguarded with him that he was actually able to draw blood. It was also something a normal person would have read into but whatever he and Stiles were to each other ‘normal’ was not it.

“So, you want to spar then,” Stiles said wiping the blood from his nose. He rolled his shoulders and something in his entire posture changed. If Derek had better survival instincts, at least when it came to Stiles, he would have turned tail and ran for his life. As it was Derek just raised his fists and smirked. He said nothing and Stiles must have taken that for a confirmation because he rushed forward.

Before the fire Derek has sparred with almost everyone in his family, but his mom was the fastest out of all of them. She sometimes moved so fast that her movements were blurred even to his eyes. His dad was the alpha but his mom had the natural agility of being a woman gave her the speed advantage. She drilled it into him that being strong was important but if he could not evade there was no point. Laura had done her best to keep up on his training with speed but she was not nearly as fast as their mother. Derek was well versed in fighting those with extreme speed and up until this moment he thought he was prepared.

Derek thought he was prepared until Stiles came after him. The night Nessa tried to kill them was the only time they had really fought It took a considerable amount of effort to avoid Stiles’ first two punches. He ducked and tried to punch Stiles in the kidneys but Stiles jumped back effortlessly. There was some space between them and Stiles was grinning. His eyes were rimmed red and Derek knew that his own were starting to turn blue. Derek said nothing as he charged Stiles again and every time his knuckles touched fabric Stiles would wrench out of the way. Derek managed to avoid most of Stiles’ hits but he nearly had the wind knocked out of him once or twice.

Stiles laughed and Derek decided that it was time for him to end this. He ducked against one of the punches, swept one of his feet around to knock Stiles off of his feet and hand a hard jab to Stiles’ solar plexus. Somewhere around stage two of his plan Stiles managed to get a hold on his arm and flipped Derek onto his back hard enough that he saw stars. He tried to blink his vision clear but Stiles was over him in a second, his forearm to Derek’s throat, smiling brighter than Derek had ever seen.

“Ha, I win,” Stiles said. There was not enough pressure to his throat that it was cutting off his airways but it was there enough that was not going anywhere anytime soon.

“That you did. Did you get all of that extra energy burned off?” Derek asked. Stiles’ smiled melted into something much more mischievous.

“Not quite.” The arm was removed from Derek’s neck as Stiles proceeded to once again kiss the breath from his lungs. This was different from the first time they kissed. While Stiles was still hard and demanding they were not kissing hard enough to bruise. They were slow, dirty kisses with lots of tongue lined with promises of what would be happening when they got to the next town and into a motel room. Or right now judging by the way that Stiles began to grind down on him. Derek sucked on Stiles’ tongue and enjoyed the moan he made. “I thought you said we weren’t going to fuck in a field.”

“You’re the one who kissed me,” Derek argued, but that did not stop him from slipping his hands under Stiles’ shirt to get to skin. His instincts screamed at him to mark Stiles, to show the rest of the world that he was taken, and that feeling hit Derek so hard it made him gasp. Stiles took advantage of that to bite down on Derek’s lower lip nearly hard enough to draw blood. Derek was lost in the scent of Stiles, his long fingers threading through his hair, the smooth skin of his back as Derek’s hands slipped further up his t-shirt, that by the time he noticed another heartbeat approaching them at alarming speed it was far too late to do anything.

Stiles was thrown off of Derek before he even had a chance to react and landed several feet away hard. There was a woman standing in front of him, as if protecting, but she was not a human. Derek could see the glow of her yellow eyes, her claws, fangs as she snarled, she was a wolf like him. Stiles groaned and cracked his neck loudly.

"Okay, ow," he said.

"Stay away from him you hell spawn," the she-wolf growled and that was enough.

"Okay there has been a misunderstanding," Derek said pushing himself to his feet. "He wasn't hurting me, he won't hurt me, so everyone let's just calm down." Stiles raised an eyebrow, but appeared to make himself look smaller, less like a threat, and it threw Derek for a loop because five minutes earlier he had kicked Derek's ass. The she-wolf stared Stiles down for a moment until the gold faded from her eyes and her claws vanished. She squared her shoulders and made herself look taller.

"I thought he was going to kill you," she said by way of explanation with no apology. Now that he was not worried about someone getting torn apart, he got a good look at her. Her hair was brown and long falling to the middle of her back. Her eyes were amber and reminded him of Stiles' and she was not that shorter than either of them. Derek spread his senses, but felt no one else nearby. She was alone. No wolf would confront something without a pack for a stranger. She looked at Derek and did not hide the fact that she liked what she saw. It was awkward for someone to stare at him so openly. "I'm Jess."

"Derek and this is Stiles," he replied as Stiles joined the two of them. Normally Stiles was like a billboard for whatever he was feeling, nut now he was strangely blank right now.

"You're a hunter," Jess said. "There have been some interesting rumors about the two of you." Derek exchanged a glance with Stiles because Derek was not sure how he felt about those in the supernatural knowing about him.

"Yes, he is a hunter, is that a problem?" Stiles asked after an uncomfortable silence had passed. Jess smiled without acknowledging Stiles.

"Not at all. I'm actually in need of someone with your skill set." Jess cocked a hip and her smile didn't falter. "I'm an omega, but I'm quite attached to my town. I've been protecting it for years and it looks like something has slipped through the cracks." She touched Derek's arm and looked at him through hooded eyes. "Interested?" Derek glanced down at her hand on his arm. This was supposed to be a calming gesture but one that was only done by pack members. For an omega, a total stranger to do it, was not okay. Jess looked at his arm and removed her hand slowly fingertips dragging across the leather.

“We’ll take a look into it,” Derek said because he could not walk away if people were getting killed. It was the hero complex that Stiles was always so quick to remind him of. Jess smiled brightly and Stiles narrowed his eyes at her. The tension was thick in the air as they walked back to the car.

The town turned out to be a full hour away and that hour was horrible and seemed to last forever. Stiles sat in the front seat looking extremely annoyed while Jess did her best to bother Derek with lots of questions. She was extremely interested in finding out how he managed to be a beta away from his alpha and how the two of them worked as a pack. She was not chatty in the same way that Stiles sometimes went off on tangents but she still talked more than Derek was really comfortable with. There was also the alarming part that Stiles barely said ten words the entire way into the town.

The town was so small there was no shady motels for them to check into, just a bed and breakfast, which was not exactly ideal since places like that tended to remember people. Jess did not say anything when Derek got a one bedroom but he did catch her glaring at Stiles a little. He wanted to ask her what her problem was but the more he thought about it the more he realized that most people would be uncomfortable with the idea of walking around with a demon. He might have been a bit biased.

Derek tossed their bags into the room and they settle outside on the curb in front of the bed and breakfast. Derek could feel Jess’ hip touching his and he really wanted to tell her to back off. Stiles was on the other side, further away, and looking bored. Stiles looked like he was taking in all of the details around them while completely ignoring the presence of the two werewolves right next to him.

“What can you tell me?” Derek asked when it became clear that Stiles was checked out of this conversation.

“Three people have died in the last two months,” Jess said angrily.

“That hardly sounds like a pattern, how do you know it’s not just some crazy human?” Stiles asked idly. “I’ve seen the shit those people are capable of.”

“They were torn apart,” Jess spat out. “It was like something out of a horror movie. Something got passed my defenses and I want it dead.” Stiles hummed, but Derek was interested now. If there was something capable of doing that much damage running around he had to take care of it. Jess sighed heavily and pulled out her cellphone. In a few minutes she handed it to Derek and he could look through the pictures. Stiles was looking over his shoulder and out of the corner of his eye Derek saw Stiles grimace. To say that these people were torn apart would be an understatement. Were it not for certain distinguishing features Derek would not have been able to tell if they were male or female.

“Well that is horrifying,” Stiles said.

“I want it gone, will you help me?” Jess asked as Derek handed her the phone back. Her fingers brushed against his. Derek glanced at Stiles but he looked checked out again.

“Yeah, we’ll help you,” he said.

“Not a fan,” Stiles said from where he was lying on their bed taking up the entire thing and delegating Derek to the small desk in the corner.

“Not a fan of what?” Derek asked.

“Our employer. Aren’t omegas supposed to be submissive when it comes to running into wolves with a pack?” Stiles asked.

“They can be, but that doesn’t mean anything really.” Derek turned in his chair so he could look at Stiles. “There is something here, why should it matter if someone came to us instead of the other way around?”

“She’s creeping around me like I’m going to drag her into the depths of hell. It’s annoying,” Stiles replied shrugging. He sat up and walked over to Derek. Derek watched Stiles carefully as he climbed into Derek’s lap and wrapped his arms around his neck. “This is boring, we can’t do anything until the morning, and I still have energy to burn off.”

“God forbid you get bored,” Derek said but he was smiling and wrapping his arms around Stiles.

“Ugh, let’s not bring god into this, I don’t think it’ll end well for either of us.” Stiles kissed Derek and this really was not getting old anytime soon. It felt like it was in bad taste to say that Stiles had a sinful mouth but he could do things with his tongue that made Derek see stars. Aside from Kate no one had been this eager to touch him and it was nice to be the center of someone’s attention again. Stiles eased off of Derek’s lap and pulled him toward the bed without breaking their kiss. Derek was about to push Stiles when he did this little twist and Derek was on his back with Stiles sitting on his hips before he could react. “Trying to get the jump on me, wolf boy?”

“Can’t blame me for trying.” Derek rolled his hips in a way that made Stiles’ pupil dilate and a smirk form on his lips.

“Let me know how that works for you.”

Jess met them outside the bed and breakfast around nine. Once again she did not look at Stiles and focused all of her attention on Derek. Derek wanted to say something but she knew this town and where the victims had died. The tension was getting annoying because Stiles was watching Jess like she was going to turn on them at any given time. Derek figured that Stiles had trust issues when it came to other supernatural beings after it became apparent that Saul was actively trying to kill both of them. Derek was not exactly comfortable around Jess either but he was a beta and he could beat an omega in a fight.

The three of them spent the entirety of the day looking over the locations where the victims had been found. Stiles decided that it was more than likely not the work of a demon because there were no signs and no other evidence pointing in that direction. Even with the the most recent kill happening a week ago there was a curious smell at the scene. It was familiar and something that was completely foreign at the same time. If pressed Derek could not have placed words to the smell. A full eight hours later and they had nothing to go on.

“We need to look at those police records,” Stiles said as the three of them ate dinner in a small diner.

“The local papers kept most of the details under wraps because they think it’s an animal and they don’t want people going out into the woods looking for it,” Jess said drinking her coffee. It was one the few times it looked like the two of them were actually having a conversation.

“I can pass as many things, but no cop is going to let a stranger walk in and look at their records,” Derek said. Stiles hummed in agreement again but said nothing. Jess glared at him like she knew that Stiles was hiding something, but Derek was not about to tell a stranger what Stiles was capable of. “I’ll try to figure out a way to get in though.” Jess did not look convinced but paid for their dinners nevertheless. It was dark by the time they made their way to the bed and breakfast. Stiles was already wandering through the door when Jess took Derek’s arm to stop him.

“Can I ask you something, in private?” she said. Derek glanced at Stiles who shrugged and sat down on the front porch.

“Sure,” Derek replied and let Jess lead him away from the bed and breakfast and Stiles’ hard stare. “Do you know something about this case?”

“This thing has me really nervous,” Jess explained softly. “I don’t feel safe here alone anymore. I need a pack.”

“I can put a good word into the Reading pack if you want,” Derek replied and Jess smiled at him.

“I’m thinking of a smaller pack, something where I’m free to roam a little and still feel safe, do you understand what I mean?” Jess did not give Derek time to reply before she leaned in and kissed him. It took him completely by surprise and then reminded him far too much of the first time Kate had kissed him. She had not waited for his permission, for him to reach for her, she simply took, and Jess was doing the exact same thing. It took a lot more self control than Derek realized to ease her gently away and not shove.

“I think there has been a misunderstanding,” he said. “My sister and I aren’t looking for a pack right now and I’m not looking for anyone.”

“I smell it though,” Jess said. “I smell your arousal every time I’ve seen you. You can’t tell me that it’s for--” She cut herself off and looked back where Stiles was sitting. He was staring directly at them with a dangerous look in his eyes that Derek really did not like. The last thing he needed was for there to be some sort of supernatural showdown. “I see. I was wondering what I had interrupted the other day. I thought I was seeing things. Are you insane? Do you understand what you’re getting involved in?”

“I’d appreciate if you didn’t judge me until you know the entire story. We’ll continue this tomorrow.” Derek snapped. He turned on heel and walked away from her ignoring the anger that was hitting his back. Stiles had that strangely blank expression on his face when Derek joined him and said nothing as they walked back to their room. Derek did not spare a second glance to Jess.

“I can get into the police station no problem,” Stiles said once the door to their room was closed. “Though I appreciate you not mentioning that fact to our employer.” Derek wondered if he had to tell Stiles that it meant nothing, that she kissed him, but the words got lost on his tongue. If he looked carefully the edges of Stiles’ eyes were rimmed red and Derek had enough survival instinct to know when not to push something.

“The sooner the better,” Derek replied. Apparently ‘sooner’ meant ‘right now’ because Stiles vanished from sight. Derek sighed and began to compile what they knew so far and waited patiently for Stiles to join him. Less than an hour later Stiles reappeared with several folders in hand. His eyes were the familiar amber and he looked significantly calmer than he did earlier. They spread the files out onto the bed and began to look over every gruesome picture. They were shoulder to shoulder looking over every detail of each file. “There doesn’t seem to be any link between these people. It really just looks like they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“Jogging at night, alone in a parking lot and camping,” Stiles said pointing to each of the victims. “If they are just opportunity killings than we’re dealing with something that’s either getting off on the killing or acting on instinct.”

“I want to say instinct,” Derek said holding up a picture of the most recent victim. “Someone getting off on the killing would take their time, make it slow, these people were just torn apart.”

“Our employer has no idea what she’s let into her town,” Stiles grumbled.

“You really don’t like her, do you.” Derek said making it a statement and not a question as it slotted into place. “Ah, I get it, okay.”

“What do you get?” Stiles asked without looking up from the files.

“I think you’re jealous.” Derek smiled to himself when he saw the way Stiles froze. “You’re allowed to admit it.” Stiles had Derek’s shirt fisted in his hand and yanked him forward without wasting a second. To anyone else his glare would have been terrifying but Derek was fairly confident that Stiles was not going to kill him. Stiles did not deny or confirm what Derek said, he just stared for a moment, until Derek closed the distance between them. If he needed to tell Stiles that he was not going anywhere until Saul was dead to prevent Stiles from killing anyone that looked at Derek funny then that was what he was going to do.

The smell of another wolf was enough that Derek pulled away from the kiss and looked out the window. Jess was standing on the sidewalk and making no move to hide her golden eyes. She ran off after baring her fangs to him.

“Derek, we have a problem,” Stiles said as he picked up a piece of paper. “There is a reason they think these are animal attacks besides the obvious.” Derek frowned deeply as he sat down next to Stiles and picked up the paper. There were animal hairs on all of the bodies and the animal made his stomach drop.

“That makes no sense,” Derek said slowly.

“I know, I agree, but they ran tests and the results were conclusive; there were wolf hairs on the body.” Stiles began to chew on the tip of his thumb and fidgeting the way that he did when there was something he wanted to say.

“What I smelled at the scene, I know what it was. It’s a wolf that’s gone feral.” Derek clenched his fists tightly. “There’s a wolf out there that is completely out of control.”

“Derek,” Stiles said after a moment of silence. “Don’t you think if there was another wolf in this very small town you would have noticed?” It took a minute for the implications of that statement to sink in but when it did it felt like someone had punched Derek in the throat.

“We just spent the day with her, if she was feral we would have noticed.” The words felt like a lie on his tongue and he was about to argue more when he heard a very faint scream. If Stiles was right and Jess was feral then he had just made her very angry. Derek glanced at Stiles, who did not seem to have heard the scream, as he continued to look over the papers. “We need to move, now.”

“What’s going on?” Stiles asked but he was on his feet. Derek took Stiles’ arm and pulled him out of the room not even bothering to lock the door behind them. It took a moment for him to find wolfsbane shells in his car and Stiles was staring as he loaded them. He took a bag full of rope laced with wolfsbane sealed in plastic bags and threw it over his shoulder. Derek did not wait for another moment because there was another scream. This time Stiles seemed to hear it and he took Derek by the arm. The entire world tilted and Derek found himself standing on the edge of the woods with a massacre in front of him.

The person, whoever they were, was in pieces on the ground torn up with blood and gore sinking into the dirt. The smell of blood was overwhelming but not enough that Derek was able to ignore the wolf standing in front of him. Jess was transformed, her eyes glowing, and salivating in a way that he only saw in house pets.

“Jess, can you hear me?” Stiles asked taking a step forward slowly. “You need to let us know if you’re in there somewhere.” Jess did not hesitate as she lunged forward at Stiles. He managed to dodge the attack but she still managed to sink her teeth deep into his arm. Stiles crying out in pain shook Derek from the trance he had been in and he hit Jess hard enough with the butt of his gun that she fell to the ground.

“Are you okay?” Derek asked looking at the wound on Stiles’ arm.

“We need to tie her up before she wakes up,” Stiles said through his teeth. Derek helped Stiles move her to a small tree but Stiles had to do with work with the actual rope. The wolfsbane would keep her from breaking the rope and she was just waking up when Stiles finished.

“What happened?” she asked clearly disoriented as her eyes seemed to focus on the torn up body before her. “Oh my god what did you do?”

“What do you mean ‘what did he do?’” Stiles asked.

“I mean there’s a fucking body over there, what did you do to it? Are you the ones killing people?” Jess began to struggle against the rope and hissed when she touched it.

“You don’t remember anything?” Derek asked but he knew exactly where this conversation was going.

“Of course not, why would I?” There was no skip to her heartbeat, no extra sweat on her brow, flush on her cheeks, Jess was not lying. The wolfsbane seemed to be effecting her as she slowly passed out again. Derek took Stiles by his uninjured arm and pulled him away from the scene.

“Stiles, she isn’t lying, she has no idea what she’s been doing,” he said quietly. “Her wolf is feral but her human side is still in control.”

“Is there anyway we can ‘fix’ the wolf?” Stiles asked.

“Even if there was I’m not an alpha.” Derek clenched the gun in his hand a little tighter. It was filled with potent wolfsbane rounds, ones that could and would kill, and the thought of using them on someone who had no idea they were killing made him sick. “I don’t know if I can kill her, Stiles.” It was probably the most honest thing he had ever said to Stiles and he hated himself for this weakness. Jess was dangerous, she would kill again, but it felt a lot like the execution of an innocent. He was not a mindless killer because it would have made him no different from a feral wolf. Stiles touched his hand so gently that Derek was not sure it even happened and pulled the gun away.

“Go back to the room. Get some sleep and in the morning we’ll leave.” Stiles did not need to say ‘I will kill her’ because Derek knew that he would. He also knew that he was being saved from a terrible burden. Jess was beginning to wake up again and Derek could not bare the sight of seeing her. He said nothing, he turned and ran as fast as he could, but Derek could hear the sound of the gunshot and it was deafening.

He would not sleep tonight.

Derek must have fallen asleep at some point because the next thing he knew the sun was shining bright through the windows and he was lying on his back. His jacket and boots were still on and his stomach twisted. Right now there was a girl lying dead somewhere, that died not knowing she had lost her grip on her sanity, and all he could feel was this sense of responsibility. It was not his fault, Jess was feral before he even got there, but that did not stop the fact that she was dead now. Derek knew that Stiles was next to him and their hands were close enough that Derek could feel the heat coming off of his skin. Their pinky fingers were barely touching and it felt grounding in a way that he had not experienced since Laura clenched his hands hard enough that bones creaked in protest.

“Did you do something to make me fall asleep?” Derek asked instinctively knowing that Stiles was awake next to him.

“No, you were asleep when I got in,” Stiles replied leaving out the fact that he was probably out burying a body. Derek moved his hand and clenched his fists until his knuckles were white.

“I’ve killed monsters, I kill them all the time, why was she so different? Why did I choke?” he asked.

“She didn’t know. In the barest sense she was innocent and that should bother you.” Stiles moved so he was hovering over Derek. “Do you think I’m going to think less of you or something because you couldn’t pull the trigger?”

“I don’t know, do you?” Derek asked not sure if he wanted to hear the answer. “You hired me as muscle and if I can’t do my job what use am I?”

“Please I could have gotten something much stronger if I actually wanted you just for your body,” Stiles said scoffing. “What I need is someone who will pull the trigger against someone that deserves it. When we catch Saul you’ll pull the trigger.” Stiles moved back to he was sitting next to Derek. “Besides if I wanted something that killed blindly I would have made you kill her.” There was more to what Stiles was saying, something about how he would have forced Derek to kill Jess because that was what demons did, but Derek did not say anything. He was not even sure if he was supposed to thank Stiles for that.

“Thank you,” he said taking a risk. There was more to say, so much more, but Stiles glanced over his shoulder and smiled brightly. Derek knew that everything he wanted to say came across in those two words. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Derek drove without direction for three days. He needed to make sure his head was clear before he went looking for more jobs and ‘clear’ was the last way he would describe himself. So he drove and drove, not really going anywhere, and not looking for anything. Stiles did not seem to mind because he was still looking at the majority of the world like it was brand new. They talked, because Stiles seemed to know that the silence let Derek’s mind wander, but there was almost no substance behind any of it. They crossed state borders and slept in shady motel rooms. They ate terrible fast food, Derek did, Stiles mostly just made faces, and did small things like go on hikes deep in the woods. Stiles made fun of him when Derek took off into the woods to kill a wild wolf.

Derek was not sure where they were, but it was the late evening on the third day when he pulled off at a gas station in the middle of some unnamed town. He was tired and he had hardly slept in the last three days. Saul was on the coast somewhere and they needed to start looking for him again even if Stiles did not seem to be pushing the issue.

“I need to close my eyes for a second, why don’t you go look in the papers and see if there have been any signs?” Derek said. Stiles tilted his head and looked out at the gas station.

“Of course. I’m sure electrical storms will be in the New York Times,” Stiles said flatly.

“Just give me thirty minutes,” Derek said. Stiles rolled his eyes and climbed out of the car. Derek turned off the engine, switched to the passenger seat, put the seat back and closed his eyes. There was no way to drown out the sounds of the rest stop, the people around him talking and moving, but if he let his mind wander enough it dulled into a hum. Minutes rolled by and while he did not sleep it felt a lot like rest. He was still aware enough of his surroundings to hear Stiles walking toward him, the faint smell of sulfur that never really went away, and how much he smelled like Derek now. What he was not expecting was the passenger door to open and Stiles to climb into his lap. He cracked his eye open and raised an eyebrow. “Hi to you too.”

“You’ve been moping,” Stiles said like they were not having this conversation in the car with Stiles on his lap.

“Obviously, are you here to talk me out of it?” Derek asked and Stiles rolled his eyes shifting on his lap that was anything but innocent.

“God no. The only person more emotionally stunted than you is probably me. I was thinking of something else to yank you out of your head.” Stiles got that gleam in his eye that either meant very good things or very bad things were going to happen.

“In my car? Really? You’re such a cliche. Do you want to take me to prom first?” Derek said but he was wrapping his arms around Stiles’ waist.

“I’m a cheap date.” Stiles grinned and slotted their mouths together. It was still hard and demanding but Stiles was also compliant in a way he was not usually. He was letting Derek lead their kisses, responding to the way Derek touched him, as if he knew that this was something that Derek needed. It was also incredibly hilarious that they were making out in his car like a couple of horny teenagers and that made him smile against Stiles’ lips. He pulled Stiles so he flushed against him and Derek’s hands slipped beneath Stiles’ shirt to get to skin. Derek bit at Stiles’ jawline and moved to suck a bruise into his neck. It would fade and Derek really did not care. “I swear to god you’re going to give me a neck kink, is this a werewolf thing or a Derek thing?”

“You make it sound like a bad thing,” Derek replied biting a little harder than necessary causing Stiles to gasp. “It’s not like anyone is going to see anything.” Stiles laughed and Derek pulled away so they were looking at each other. He was smiling and did not even realize it. Derek pulled Stiles down into another kiss and was about to slip his hands beneath Stiles’ waistband when a knock on the window scared the shit out of him. There were very few people that could sneak up on Derek and the thought that he was so wrapped up in Stiles that he did not notice a cop walking up to his door was terrifying.

“Gentlemen,” the cop said behind aviator sunglasses like a giant cliche and this entire situation made Derek want to pinch himself to see if he was dreaming in the form of some romantic comedy movie or some teen television show.

“Officer, how can I help you?” Stiles asked the first to recover.

"Are you aware that you are in public where anyone could see you?" the cop asked. Stiles was tense to the point that it felt like his back would snap like a wire. He was staring at the cop like something was wrong. There was a smell in the air that did not feel right. He dug his nails into Stiles' side to tell him that he felt it too.

"We're very sorry officer. It won't happen again." Stiles was speaking slowly as if he was thinking of every word he was saying before he said them. In all of the time that Derek had known Stiles it always seemed like his brain to mouth filter was almost zero and the fact that he was being so careful worried him. The cop was staring them down and Derek could not see his eyes through his sunglasses. He was carrying himself oddly and every instinct he had said run run run. There was no way he could run from a cop though because being wanted by the state was not something he could exactly deal with.

“I’ll need both of you to get out of the car,” the cop said and Derek wished he was surprised that this was happening. Stiles could have the two of them out of here in a second, but the cop had his license plate. There was no escaping this without causing more problems. Stiles opened the door and climbed out of the car. Derek followed and did his best to keep his hands where the cop could see them. “Do you realize what you were doing in there could constitute as public indecency?” Derek glanced at Stiles who raised an eyebrow.

“I suppose it could,” Stiles said narrowing his eyes.

“And that is illegal.” The cop looked a little too smug like he knew something that the two of them didn’t. It made the hairs on the back of Derek’s neck stand on end and the desire to put himself between this cop and Stiles was overwhelming. Stiles must have noticed because he took Derek’s wrist and held on tight. It was grounding but it kept Derek from the instinct to shove or push. The cop looked at their hands and raised an eyebrow.

“We’re just passing through on our way to New York,” Stiles said because that was kind of true. It was one of the places Derek had suggested because he still had a few friends that would help them look for Saul. It was apparently the wrong thing to say because the cop’s face changed so dramatically it was like they had just confessed to a murder.

“I ran your plates and it looks like you might be under suspicion of a few things that are a little shady. I’m afraid I’m going to have to take you both in.” The cop reached into belt and pulled out two sets of handcuffs. “And considering I just caught both of you in compromising positions I don’t think you want to make things worse for yourselves by resisting arrest.” The name on the badge said Officer Smith. Derek wanted to flee from this man, but he was right. So he did not fight when Smith put the cuffs on a little too tight and shoved him into the car. Fortunately Smith did not check the entire car and find his weapons stash but he did take the demon killing knife from Derek’s hip. Judging by the way Stiles was staring Smith down Derek was sure he was going to do something completely stupid and try to fight. Instead he turned and let Smith handcuff him. Smith left them alone as he called something in on a radio.

“Those plates are clean,” Derek said.

“I know they are,” Stiles replied.

“And he feels wrong. He smells wrong.” Derek shifted and ignored the way the cuffs bit into his wrists.

“Correct though I can’t tell what is wrong yet. We need to get out of here as soon as possible. I’ll work on it as soon as we get to the station. I got this.” Stiles glanced at Derek and nodded. “I know you trust me so you don’t need to say it. I know it physically pains you to say it.”

“You’re hysterical,” Derek replied knocking his shoulder against Stiles’. Smith got into the cruiser and they both fell silent because there was no way they were going to talk to this man. The station was small and practically empty when they got there and something about it did not feel right. Another deputy came in and lead Derek to a small holding cell. It was not the first time he had been in a cell but it still made him feel trapped in a way that was purely animal. He rubbed his wrists and blinked in confusion when they lead Stiles to a different cell. Smith took the cuffs off and shoved Stiles into the cell. Stiles jerked and it was like all of the air was sucked from his lungs.

“What the fuck is this?” Stiles sounded winded and furious. His eyes were locked on the ceiling and Derek followed his gaze to a devil’s trap that was spray painted above him. Smith was the only person in the room and he smiled.

“Don’t like my artwork? I think I’ve got real talent,” Smith said. He reached into his pocket and walked over to Derek’s cell. The jar was black ash and Derek noticed the ring of ash that lined his entire cell save for the entrance. Smith pulled out his gun and pointed it at Derek’s head. “Wolfsbane bullets and if you take one step toward me I’ll put one in your head.” Derek clenched his jaw and backed away from the entrance to the cell. Smith opened the door and dumped a bit of the ash closing the circle. Derek could feel it and it was worse than being in a cell. In a cell he could rip the door off and escape. This was different. “Mountain ash. It’ll keep you right where I need you Derek.”

“How do you know who I am?” Derek demanded and Smith laughed.

“Oh everyone knows about you and Stiles. They’re calling you two Peter and the Wolf. You’re becoming infamous in most circles and with reputation comes the problem of making enemies. There are a lot of people out there not happy that both of you are hunting your own kind.” Smith picked up the knife from the table. “This is quite a nice piece. I imagine I’ll get quite the reputation for taking care of you two. We can’t do this with others in the building so if you’ll excuse me.” Smith turned and within minutes the smell of blood filled the station.

“Dead,” Derek said as he tried to touch the ring of ash around his cell. “I realized what he smells like and he smells like death.”

“He’s a ghoul. Officer Smith is long dead because he was eaten.” Stiles said and he was shaking he looked so angry. “They love blood and fresh meat because they usually eat the dead. The two of us would be so delicious he probably can hardly wait to sink his teeth in.”

“How do we kill it?” Derek walked over to the edge of the circle. Their cells were next to each other but Stiles was completely out of reach. The devil’s trap was small, meant to keep him enclosed, and he could not get close enough to break the circle.

“We don’t do anything Derek because I don’t know how we’re getting out of this one.” Stiles laughed and it sounded bitter. “That thing is going to eat us and there isn’t anything I can do to stop it.” Stiles crossed his arms across his chest and stared straight ahead. He looked resigned like he knew this was the moment he was going to die. It bothered Derek because that was a look that he never wanted to see on Stiles again.

“Tell me how to kill it,” Derek repeated because he was not giving in. There is no he was going to roll over for something like a ghoul. If he was going to die Derek wanted to go down fighting against Saul or something worthy of killing the two of them. Stiles glanced at him and sighed.

“Cut off the head,” he said finally. The smell of blood in the station was stifling and it made Derek want to gag. Judging by the smell the ghoul had killed at least three people in horrifying ways. Derek was not looking forward to going out and seeing those bodies. They would not be dead if he and Stiles had not gotten careless in the car like that. The familiar smell of wolfsbane followed Smith as he walked through the door. There was a syringe of it that made Derek want to vomit. He was also licking blood from his hands and making these disgustingly pleased sounds.

“See, boys, when I said you have a reputation I wasn’t lying, but there’s more to it than that. See, word is that you two pissed off someone really scary and they want you dead. In exchange for your heads on a platter this scary person will issue protection to who or whatever does the two of you in,” Smith said turning the syringe in hand. Stiles froze and Derek felt his blood turn to ice. It was one thing for Saul to send out his minions but now there was a full bounty on both of their heads. “I had a feeling you would know exactly what I’m talking about. So I want that protection, you’d be surprised how safety is such a rare thing for us monsters these days, so I think I’m going to take that bounty. I kill you and keep you from getting to New York and I’m safe.” Smith turned his focus toward Derek and the needle looked terrifying when something in the air changed so suddenly that Smith stopped dead in his tracks.

“You don’t touch him,” Stiles warned that dangerous edge to his voice again. For the first time Smith looked nervous as he stared at Stiles.

“You’re in a devil’s trap. You can’t stop me,” Smith said but he did not sound so sure. Stiles’ eyes were a burning red and the smell of his anger was enough to knock the air out of Derek’s lungs.

“He is mine and you will not touch him,” Stiles said walking to the edge of the trap. “If you think this will hold me forever then you are wrong. You touch him, you hurt him, and I will rain torment down like you have never known. I’ve been to hell you vile creature, I thrived there, and if you think I don’t know how to make it hurt then you’re wrong. He is mine. Do not touch him.” The only one’s who had ever said that Derek’s was theirs were his parents and Laura. It was an alpha thing, something that was deeper than family, it was pack, and it was something that no one but wolves understood. But Stiles understood wolves, he had lived with one as a human, studied them as a demon, and Derek knew that without a doubt that Stiles knew the implications of what he was saying. Smith stared at Stiles like he was seeing him for the first time.

“So the rumors are true,” Smith said setting the syringe down and picking up the knife. “I wonder, Stiles, are the rumors about demon blood true too?” Stiles looked disgusted and like he was about to issue another threat but Smith pointed the gun with wolfsbane bullets at Derek. “Give me your arm or I’m going to shoot him in the foot and let him die slowly.”

“Stiles, don’t do it,” Derek said because he saw the way that Smith was licking up the blood earlier. He knows bloodlust when he sees it and that was bloodlust.

“Shut up Derek,” Stiles snapped. He rolled up the sleeve of his over-shirt and bared his arm for Smith to see. Smith unlocked the door to Stiles’ cell and tossed the knife into the trap while keeping the gun on Derek. There was a metal bowl on the table that he threw as well.

“Cut your arm and give me your blood. I can’t wait to see how it tastes.” There was a leer that made Derek see red and he hated the way Smith was looking at Stiles. Like he was something to eat, something insignificant, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Stiles picked up the knife and hissed in pain as he dragged it along his forearm. Blood oozed from the wound and began to drip to the ground. “Give the knife back to me.” Stiles did as he was told, tossed the knife to Smith’s feet, and knelt down so the blood flowed freely into the bowel. There was so much of it and Stiles looked like he was starting to pale. When the wound closed and healed Smith tossed the blade back and made him do it again. The entire bowel was filled with blood and Stiles looked ill.

“I’m going to tear your head off myself,” Stiles said conversationally and Smith grinned as took the bowl from the circle.

“Not before I bleed you dry,” Smith replied. “But you’re too dangerous to keep around. I think I’ll be fine if I tell him I sent you back and turn in the wolf.”

“Don’t you dare,” Derek warned as Smith looked at the bowl greedily.

“I’ll take care of you too wolf don’t worry. For now I’m just going to kick this guy back to hell for awhile. He won’t bother anyone there for a good long time.” Stiles was on his knees and he glanced at Derek. Hie eyes were no longer red and his clothes were splattered with blood. Derek tried to pass the line of mountain ash again but there was nothing he could do. It hurt every time he tried and he pushed through the pain.

Smith picked up Derek’s book and began to flip through the pages. Derek fought against the line, straining muscles and feeling bones crack, and Stiles was staring at him as if seeing him for the first time. “Ah, here we go, just what I need.” Smith began to read the Latin from the book and Stiles fell onto his back twitching. It hurt more than trying to cross the line the first time Stiles screamed in pain. Smith was grinning and he stopped for a moment to laugh. “So you have been in this body a while. I’ve heard it hurts more the longer you’re in the meat suit.” Stiles screamed again as Smith began to read more of the Latin and Derek was truly starting to panic when he heard another heartbeat in the station. He looked around and saw Stiles’ second, Lydia, standing in the shadows and she looked worried.

“Please, break the circle, let me help him,” Derek said soft enough that only she could hear. “I know you give a shit and you don’t want to be involved but just break the circle.” Derek barely recognized the sound of his own voice. It almost sounded he was begging and he never begged for anything besides family.

“Don’t tell him it was me or Saul will be the least of your worries,” Lydia whispered as she knelt in front of the circle.

“I won’t, I promise, just let me help him.” Derek clenched his fists as Stiles screamed again and it was terrible, it sounded like it hurt so much, and Lydia flinched as she broke the circle of mountain ash. She was gone in seconds but Derek wasted no time. Smith looked shocked to see Derek kicking the cell door open and charging toward him and if he was more violent than he needed to be when he ripped the ghouls head off. There was blood on his claws, on his clothes, and Derek did not care as he dragged Stiles from the devil’s trap. His face was ashen pale and he was not breathing. There was a panic that settled in Derek’s stomach that physically hurt as he shook Stiles to try and wake him up. He did not care that he was yelling and he sounded desperate, there was no one here to judge him for it, and there was no one else to see his relief when Stiles gasped for air.

“Oh my holy shit that hurt,” Stiles said as he gasped for breath and Derek had to laugh before he put a fist through the wall. “You got out, how?”

“I don’t know. I guess it just failed,” Derek said. “You scared the shit out of me you idiot. I thought I was going to have go kill Saul by myself.”

“No, you can’t get rid of me,” Stiles replied. He was smiling and it only confirmed how he trusted Stiles that he would not let Derek face Saul by himself. He trusted Stiles as much as he trusted his parents, Laura, and it was a terrifying realization. As Derek stared down at him he could have sworn he saw something similar pass through Stiles expression. Derek knew, instinctively, that Stiles was coming to the same conclusion. After all this time and everything they had been through they really and truly trusted each other. Yet Derek did not voice any of these epiphanies nor did he pressure Stiles to do the same. Derek helped Stiles to his feet and squeezed his arm. They gathered their things, Stiles disposed of his blood saying it was too dangerous to keep around, and they left the death and blood back at the station.

The Camaro was still in the same parking lot when they got back and they drove without hesitation. Derek drove until he was sure he was going to fall asleep at the wheel and stopped at a motel off of the New Jersey turnpike. Derek managed to not look too shady as he got a room and they leaned heavily on each other as they stumbled into the room. Derek was exhausted and all he wanted to do was sleep but he was covered in dirt, sweat and blood.

“Take the first shower,” Stiles said after Derek had stared longingly at the bathroom for a bit too long.

“Thanks,” he replied. Derek let the hot water ease the stress from his shoulders as he thought about what Smith had said. They were not supposed to go to New York which meant that was where Saul was. The state was big but it was still more than they had to go on before. They were finally getting somewhere and it made Derek ache with relief. After twenty minutes he decided that he should probably let Stiles have a shower as well since he was covered in blood. They hardly said anything to each other as Stiles vanished into the bathroom and Derek changed for bed. He collapsed onto the bed listening to Stiles move around in the bathroom and decided to just rest his eyes for just a moment.

Just a moment turned out to be several hours because Derek blinked and realized he had fallen asleep. It was early morning but the drapes were pulled tightly to keep the sun out. He had not slept much and he did not feel rested, but Derek sat up and rubbed his eyes nevertheless.

“Go back to sleep,” Stiles said. He was sitting next to Derek in bed looking much better than he had a few hours earlier. His hair was a mess of spikes where it had air dried and he had changed into comfortable clothes. To anyone he would have looked tired but Derek knew him well enough that he was not physically tired like most people got. “Or are you going to tell me how you really got out of the circle?”

“I already did,” Derek replied. He did not like lying and judging by the way Stiles sighed he did not like it either. “I can’t tell you now, but I will after all of this is done.”

“Fine,” Stiles replied smiling softly. It was a smile Derek liked seeing on him and before he could really think it over he was pulling Stiles down into a kiss. They were both tired in one way or another so the kiss was soft, almost lazy, as Stiles settled next to him. Derek was really too tired to do anything else but kiss Stiles breathless but it was still nice. His lips were still impossibly soft and it made Derek shiver whenever Stiles would run those long fingers through his hair. He was not sure how long they kissed until Derek pulled away and felt tired enough to sleep again.

“He wanted to keep us out of New York,” Derek said his lips brushing against Stiles’. “There is only one reason they would be trying to keep us out of New York.”

“We have a solid lead,” Stiles said.

“We have a solid lead.” Derek replied and they grinned at each other.

Derek slept for a few more hours before they decided that it was time to head for New York. There was no telling where Saul could be and if he would even still be there when they arrived but it was the first solid lead that had had in weeks. Stiles kept a running commentary on New Jersey and they did not stop driving until they hit the state line. Derek pulled over at a gas station and they both sat out on the hood of the car. Derek was leeching off of the free wifi in the gas station trying to find some sort of hint about where they were going. Stiles was looking around the station like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

“How are we supposed to find one demon a state that has one city with 8 million people in it?” Derek asked when there were exactly zero signs. “Small storms roll through New York City all the time because it’s on the water and the same thing for upstate because it’s near the mountains. If animals are dying no one is saying anything and people die in the city all the time. “

“You seem to know a lot about the city, have you been there?” Stiles asked frowning. He was thinking something but was trying to connect all of the dots before he said anything.

“Laura and I lived there for a few months before she realized that it was really hard to be a wolf in a major city. What are you thinking?” Derek closed the laptop and watched Stiles carefully.

“I’m going to assume your apartment was not in uptown.” Stiles leaned back on his hands and looked at the sky. “I know Saul and I know how much he loves being dramatic. Like most serial killers, he’s obsessed with being the center of attention and he has a fucked up sense of humor. He’s drawing us out. He’s been doing this since the beginning. As much as people are saying that he’s trying to have others kill us he wants to do the deed himself. The ‘bounty’ against us is crap. There’s no way he would offer protection to anyone.”

“You think you know where he is,” Derek said carefully.

“Yeah, I do, and therein lies the problem, Derek. He’s in your old apartment. If I can figure it out, it’s not because I’m clever despite the fact that I am indeed clever.” Stiles looked at Derek his face solemn. “If I can figure it out it’s because he made it obvious enough for me to figure it out.”

“So a trap then,” Derek said after a moment of silence.

“Oh my yes, without a doubt, I would put money on it.” Stiles waved his hand in the air as if he could flick all of this knowledge away. There was something deeply off about the way he was sitting even if they did just realize that they were going to walk into a trap. There was a rough line to his shoulders that Derek only saw when Stiles was trying not to say something.

“You’re going to tell me that I don’t have to come.” Derek said and he smirked when Stiles glared at him. “I want him dead too and you might not want to admit it, but you need me. So let’s go and walk into a trap.” Stiles raised an eyebrow and stared as if he could not believe what he was saying. Then he laughed, a big and loud belly laugh, to the point where Derek could have sworn he saw tears in Stiles’ eyes.

“Your hero complex is really something else,” Stiles said gasping for breath.

“There is nothing heroic about revenge.” Derek said.

“Then let’s go get revenge,” Stiles said and he grinned wickedly.

The drive into the city was horrible. They ran into traffic. There was an accident and when they passed the wreckage, Derek saw a body bag being lifted into an ambulance. Idly he wondered if anyone would find his body. If someone would deliver it to Laura so she could mourn him. He wondered what they would think when they found Stiles’ body. He wondered if he would be labeled as a John Doe and no one would ever claim him. He would be cremated and the ashes spread where no one could find him. Perhaps their bodies would not be found at all, perhaps Saul would make it like they never existed, and no one would remember them. It should have bothered him much more that he was more than likely going to die. Derek should have wanted to talk to Laura one last time but as he drove through the familiar streets he did not want to talk to her again. He would lose his conviction.

It was dark by the time Derek pulled up to the old apartment building. They had lived in almost poverty to make sure that they would not be found by anyone else. Laura was paranoid since the fire and she wanted to make sure that Derek was safe above all else. The building was abandoned now and Derek knew that was going to be the case. Stiles was right; Saul seemed to love the drama. They both sat in the car for what felt like a long time. The streetlights turned on and still neither of them moved. There was something in the air, the smell of sulfur and ash, much stronger than normal.

Derek took a deep breath, released it and was the first one to finally get out of the car. He opened the trunk and filled the shotgun full of rock salt. He put a flask of holy water in his back pocket. The other knife they had acquired sat in the middle of his trunk. Derek had one at his hip already and he needed to give the other to Stiles. He stared at it for a moment because that and the one on his hip were the things that could kill Saul. One of them was going to have to stab him through the heart. Derek felt more than he saw Stiles move next to him and take the knife. He twirled in his hand with ease and smiled to himself.

“Let’s go,” Stiles said. Derek slammed the trunk to his car and they walked slowly up the stairs into the building. Derek could hear a single heartbeat in the building and it was in his old apartment. He raised the gun and kept his finger on the trigger. The rock salt would slow him down enough to make a killing strike, that was his plan, but it meant he would somehow be able to get a shot off in time. Stiles did not seem to care much about creeping up the stairs or taking it quietly. He walked up as if he was going up to have a cup of coffee with someone. Saul must have known they were there and was waiting. Derek nodded to the door and Stiles pointed to himself raising a finger. He wanted to go first and that made sense. Stiles pushed the door open and rushed in. Derek followed ready to fire at the first sign of movement.

The sheer degree to how fast everything went to hell was almost mind boggling. Derek saw Stiles move toward a person in the shadows, but he was thrown across the room and into a wall faster than Derek could react. Derek raised his gun and fired but the body was gone in seconds. An older gentlemen with light black hair and red eyes was in front of Derek and grinning.

“Hello Derek,” he said. Saul knocked the gun out of Derek’s hand so hard that several of his fingers snapped and that invisible punch to the chest that Stiles had done a few times pinned him to the wall hard enough that it was hard to breath. “I’m assuming you know who I am so I’m not going to bother with introductions.” Stiles was struggling to get back to his feet but Saul flicked his wrist and slammed Stiles’ head back down to the floor hard enough that Derek heard a crack. “Now let’s see what you’ve got here.” Derek struggled to move his arms as Saul approached. He tsked at him as he removed the holy water flask and tossed it over his shoulder. “Ah, I see you have one of these.” Saul removed the knife and looked it over.

“Get away from him,” Stiles said struggling to get to his feet. There was a considerable amount of blood on the side of his head but he looked unharmed.

“That’s adorable that you’re protecting your pet Stiles. We all know how much you love the wolves,” Saul replied and he flicked his wrist again. Stiles was forced upright and against the wall and seemed to be pinned just like Derek. Saul knelt down and picked up the other knife looking them both over. “So, Derek, how much has Stiles actually told you?”

“The only thing I need to know is that you murdered my family,” Derek growled and he made sure his eyes flashed blue.

“Yeah, sorry about that, I was bored, but when I heard you were out looking for Stiles I just had to draw you out. How is Laura by the way?” Saul asked grinning as he snapped the second knife in half. Derek struggled against the force that was holding him back. “Ah, that’s right, she’s okay because you made a deal with Stiles here.” Saul strolled over to Stiles and looked at him fondly. “I’m sure he told you all about how I tricked him but I’m sure he didn’t tell you about what happened after.”

“You son of a bitch that’s not important,” Stiles said. “This is between me and you so just let Derek go and we’ll finish this.”

“You dragged him back into this, Stiles, you could have let him just walk around with the ticking clock, but you wanted a pet.”

“Yeah, I dragged him, so just do what you want to me and let him go. He’s another stupid kid who gave into grief. Let him walk away.” Stiles said and he grunted when Saul punched him hard in the stomach.

“All of it is important, so why don’t you keep that smart mouth of yours shut before I cut out your tongue, again. You see, Derek, when you make a deal with a demon and you die you’re tied to that demon. So when little Stiles got sent down to hell he ended up on my table.” Saul touched Stiles’ face gently stroking the fragile bones of his cheek. “Has he told you how long he lasted on that table before he decided to start torturing people on his own? Not even five years. There are good people in hell who go centuries without touching another soul and he barely lasted five.”

“He was a kid,” Derek snapped. Stiles was flinching every time Saul got near him.

“Has he told you all of the gory details yet? What about the things he did to become ‘King of the Crossroads’? His road to power was not just paved with blood, it’s soaked with it.” Saul sneered and pressed one of the knives to Stiles’ neck. “And then he comes after me like he’s some righteous man. The irony is the funniest thing I’ve seen in centuries.”

“Don’t kill him,” Derek said when he saw a little blood on Stiles’ neck. Saul narrowed his eyes but surprised Derek by taking a step back.

“No, I don’t think I will.” Saul put his hand out and Stiles crashed to the floor again. “I think you should, Derek.”

“You’re the one I want to kill, not him,” Derek said. He kept his gaze on Stiles. He was breathing hard and beads of sweat were appearing on his brow. Saul had done something and it was beginning to take effect. Stiles flinched and clenched his fists tightly as his hands began to shake.

“You have a deal with him though, right?” Saul patted Stiles on the head and began to walk toward Derek. “See, here’s the thing, if you kill him your deal is off the table. In ten years you won’t get torn apart by hell hounds and you won’t go to hell. Maybe if you keep helping people you might even stand a chance of going to heaven.” The compressions on his chest seemed to lessen as Saul walked closer to him but a pain was beginning to spread in his chest. Derek coughed and there was some blood in his mouth. “Don’t worry I’m just hurting you a little. I’m hurting him a lot though.” Derek collapsed to his knees and Saul knelt in front of him. His claws emerged but he was not able to move forward to attack.

“Here’s the thing Derek,” Saul said as he played with the knife. “One of you is going to die so you can either kill Stiles and walk away from this with your life or I’ll just kill both of you. You get to keep your life and hell you can even come after me again if you want.”

“Then why don’t you kill him?” Derek asked. The blood in his lungs felt like it was choking him and when he glanced over at Stiles he saw blood running out of his mouth. It looked like he was going to drown.

“Because he has this weird attachment to you and it’ll be poetic.” Saul held the knife, Derek’s original knife, in front of him. “Do you know how this ended up in that body the night you almost died? Stiles here left it for you. He knew that I was going to go after Laura the second you went looking for him and he didn’t do anything. He wanted you to be his because he has a thing for wolves.” Saul held the knife hilt out for Derek to take. “Did he make you think he cares about you? He doesn’t. He’s a demon, Derek, and we don’t care about anyone. He used you so you would kill me. Kill him and walk away. Kill him and you can even avenge the family he was too weak to raise.”

Derek’s hand shook as he reached forward and took the knife. Saul was barely letting him walk but Derek was able to stand and walk toward Stiles. He was still on his back, coughing up blood, and his eyes were glowing red. Derek knelt down next to him and stared. He did not look afraid, he looked resigned, like he expected this. For some reason that was like a punch to the gut. Derek was willing to do so much to protect Stiles and he knew that Stiles was willing to do the same. He had suffered more here than him because he had directed Saul’s fury at him and away from Derek. He knew Stiles’ reasons for not raising his family that night and he understood them. Derek’s eyes flicked over to Saul who was standing behind Derek with a hand on his shoulder. He tried to ask if Stiles trusted him without words and he was not sure if it worked because Stiles relaxed the moment the knife hit his skin.

Derek threw his elbow back as hard as he could and knocked Saul off of his feet. He felt organs crush beneath the force of his elbow and all of the pressure was released. Stiles moved faster than Derek could see and he was holding Saul down as he thrashed.

“I can’t hold him long,” Stiles said as he struggled. “Kill him.” That stunned Derek because this was Stiles’ vendetta, this was the most important thing to him, and he was giving it to Derek. Stiles must have read the indecision on his face because he glanced at Derek. “Get your closure.” Derek nodded and did not hesitate as he slit Saul’s throat. Any lingering sense of power in the air faded and Stiles fell back against the floor. Derek eased away from the growing pool of blood and fell back against the wall. “Shit.”

“What happens now?” Derek asked.

“I’m going to pass out now and that just isn’t going to end well for me,” Stiles replied. Derek was about to ask why, but Stiles was already unconscious. Derek closed his eyes, rested his head against the wall and tried to will his hands to stop shaking.

Derek found them a motel room and proceeded to watch Stiles sleep for almost twelve hours straight. He was not exactly comfortable with the idea of leaving him alone even more so after he coughed a few times in his sleep and something that looked like a piece of an internal organ ended up on the bed.

Derek called in for pizza, used the free wifi and kept an eye out for anything in the news mentioning the body in the apartment complex. So far they seemed to be in the clear, but he wanted to get away from the area sooner than later. He was in the middle of surfing the internet with Stiles asleep next to him on the bed when Stiles finally stirred. He blinked lazily as he stared up at Derek like he could not believe something.

“Holy shit I’m still alive,” he said.

“You looked like you were going to cough up a lung for a little while but you heal fast. Why wouldn’t you be?” Derek asked raising an eyebrow.

“Saul told you that if you killed me you would break our deal so I figured that you would, you know,” Stiles trailed off.

“You thought I was going to kill you in your sleep, really, after all of that.” Derek sighed and shut his computer. “You’re an idiot.”

“You’re right; he is,” Lydia said from where she appeared in the middle of the room. Stiles groaned and ran his fingers roughly through his hair.

“Hi Lydia, great to see you again, so glad you came running when I actually needed help,” Stiles said with mock enthusiasm as he sat up.

“Please, I was just waiting for this little social experiment to end,” Lydia replied rolling her eyes. “I’m ready to stop doing two jobs at once so let’s go,” Stiles sighed and got to his feet stretching like he was about to just up and leave which made no sense.

“Stiles, I helped you kill Saul, you said you would end my deal if I did that,” Derek said slowly. Stiles did that thing where he went eerily still while Lydia burst out laughing.

“Oh, honey, you didn’t really think that was true, did you? Demon’s lie, it’s what we do, so let’s get going Stiles,” Lydia said.

“You promised to me. We made a deal. You told me that no demon under you backs out from a deal,” Derek said standing slowly. Stiles still had his back to him but Lydia’s smile was starting to fade.

“Stiles, we need to go, come on.” Lydia offered out a hand but Stiles did not take. Instead he clenched his fist tight enough that Derek could smell blood.

“We had a deal.” Derek wanted to take a step toward Stiles but it felt like that would be a bad idea. Lydia was starting to look a little pale. She looked like she was about to say something when Stiles suddenly turned around. He pulled Derek into a hard, but passionate kiss. Derek barely had time to react before Stiles broke away.

“Deal is off,” he whispered, but Stiles stayed close.

“We really need to go,” Lydia said resigned.

“See ya,” Stiles against his lips and they both vanished.

Derek went back to Illinois to see Laura. She hugged him tight enough that she literally bruised a few of his ribs. She then proceeded to yell at him for a full half hour about everything that had happened in the last few weeks. Apparently the rumors were flying about him and Stiles and people were calling her looking for him. There was literally no one else in the world he trusted as much as Laura so he told her everything. He told her about Stiles and about everything the two of them did over the last few weeks. Derek kept some of the more graphic details to himself. She seemed a little sad for him.

“You said you trusted him, right?” Laura asked as they sat on the front porch.

“Yeah, I did,” he replied.

“And he just left like that. You feel a little betrayed by that and you should but he let you go so I can’t hate him.” Laura rested her head on his shoulder and they sat side by side without saying a word to each other for a long time.

Derek ignored most of the calls on his phone and he heard Laura directing others away. They were people that were probably calling for his help. Laura seemed to know that he was waiting for something and just watched him very carefully. The first two times Derek tried to leave alone she insisted on going with him. It was irritating, but he went along with it. By the third time Derek was convinced that Laura was trying to keep him from leaving again. So he slipped out of the house while she was asleep and walked to the nearest crossroads. It had been a month since they had killed Saul and Derek had not seen or heard from Stiles since. He was not sure if he had been expecting anything but he at least wanted to even things out between them.

Derek idly wondered how many times he was going to bury something at the crossroads in his life. This was the third. The first hour that passed he thought that maybe it was just a busy night, but after two he was unsure someone would come at all.

“Sorry we appear to have a backlog thank you for--oh it’s you.” Derek spun around and saw Lydia standing a few feet away. She was not who he was expecting but she was looking at him like she had seen this coming a mile away. “What do you want now, Derek?”

“I need to talk to Stiles, can you tell him to come here?” Derek asked.

“Sorry, I can’t, and I don’t take messages either. If that’s all, I have people who actually need me,” Lydia said twirling a lock of red hair around her finger.

“Why won’t you? I helped him kill Saul and I didn’t hurt him while he was vulnerable. You know I’m not going to hurt kill him or anything like that.” Derek narrowed his eyes; she was hiding something from him. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“Pretty sure I don’t answer to you, wolf boy.” Lydia narrowed her eyes and put her hands on her hips.

“Lydia, why won’t you just go get him for me? Why are you making this difficult for no reason?” Derek asked his voice getting a little louder.

“Because I can’t get to him you moron!” Lydia practically screamed. Derek stared as she took a few breaths and swallowed.

“What happened to him?” Derek asked gently taking a few steps toward her.

“You happened, you, this is all your fault.” She clenched her fists so tightly they were knuckle white. “As you might expect supernaturals don’t often make deals. The few that do have souls don’t usually get sick or get hurt so the Higher Ups were thrilled when they found out that Stiles had made a deal with you. A werewolf soul would make a furious demon, they make legends, and all I heard was how excited they were to get you in ten years. Then Stiles turns around and breaks your deal. They did not take it well.” Lydia looked upset and it made Derek very nervous but he got close enough to touch her arm despite every instinct telling him it was a bad idea. “You can’t see him, Derek, because he’s being taught a lesson in the pit. You know, I’ve wanted this job for years, I’ve always wanted to be ‘King’, but I didn’t want it this way.”

“Is there--”

“There’s nothing you can do,” Lydia snapped cutting him off completely. “The best part is that you somehow made it worse and you weren’t even there. Since he was such a high rank they basically told Stiles he could have a last request but to think of that request carefully because it would affect his punishment. And like the idiot that he is Stiles asked for your soul to basically get put on the blacklist. No demon can ever make a deal with you and the degree to which he made things worse for himself is so horrible I don’t even want to think about it.”

“Lydia, I didn’t know, I never asked,” Derek cut himself off as she took a step back from him.

“Don’t call on us again, Derek, and try not to get yourself killed. Otherwise his suffering will be all in vain.” Lydia vanished before him and Derek had to close his eyes to smell of the sulfur.

Two months later Derek was in a motel room in the middle of Kansas. There had been some sightings of what people thought was a monster but it turned out to be a rather large wild dog that had rabies. Derek put the dog down anyway because it was still attacking people but the entire enterprise left him feeling a little bit empty. A few days after his conversation with Lydia he had left Laura behind again. She once again yelled at him for thirty minutes but in the end she understood that he really did like making a difference with hunting. The chaos of hunting kept his mind from wandering too much. Derek was no stranger to guilt but the idea that Stiles was being tortured in hell for him made his stomach turn.

Someone was walking toward his door, Derek could hear their heartbeat and their footsteps, so he was not surprised when there was a knock on his door. Checkout was not for another hour and there was a ‘do not disturb’ sign on the door. Derek sighed and opened the door ready to chew out whomever was on the other side but his jaw dropped when he saw Stiles standing in front of him. He was wearing a grey t-shirt with a grey plaid over-shirt and loose jeans. His hair was a little longer and his hands were in his pockets just like when they had first met each other.

“Holy shit. Are you going to rip my throat out?” Stiles asked with wide eyes. Derek did not think before he grabbed Stiles by the shirt, yanked him into the building and slammed him into the door.

“When we first met you had something of mine that you gave back, what was it?” Derek asked because he had to make sure this was Stiles and not some shapeshifter messing with his head.

“Your high school ID,” Stiles replied without hesitation. Derek stared for a moment breathing deep because it felt like Stiles and it smelled like him but that made absolutely no sense. “And judging from the way you’re looking at me you must have spoken to Lydia at some point.”

“Yeah, I did, about two months ago.” Derek released Stiles shirt and took a step back. Stiles wandered into the room and it was like three months ago, where it looked like he was taking in all of the details, but to Derek it looked more like he was trying to confirm it was all real. “She made it sound like you were going to be there for a long time.”

“Yeah, well, turns out I do still have some friends who gave me a few hundred boosties to get out of the pit. Lydia held onto the body for me because she knows that I’m really attached.” Stiles replied.

“So you’re just a normal demon now?” Derek took a step forward as Stiles turned around. His eyes bled black and then returned to their normal amber. Derek wanted to thank Stiles for everything he had done for him, but it did not feel right. Stiles did not want to hear those words and bringing up hell seemed in bad taste.

“So I just wanted to swing by and tell you not to kill me while you’re hunting,” Stiles said shrugging.

“I wasn’t planning on it.” Derek paused because there were about fifty ways this could backfire on him and this was probably the worst idea he was ever going to have. “I go on hunts and people ask me where my Peter is.”

“Peter and the Wolf,” Stiles said smiling.

“We actually made a pretty good team too,” Derek said walking into Stiles’ personal space. “And a hunter should always have someone they can trust at their back.”

“You trust me? Still?” Stiles asked but he was not moving away from Derek.

“Yes and I know you still trust me otherwise you wouldn’t have let me get this close.” Derek placed his hands on Stiles’ hips and pulled them so they were pressed against each other. “What do you say?”

“Two monsters hunting monsters?” Stiles asked, but he was wrapping his arms around Derek’s neck their mouths inches apart.

“Please, we’re way scarier than monsters.”