(Take Away This) Ball and Chain 2/6
Part One
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.
<-- back forward -->
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.
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