Teen Wolf Fic - Battered and Broken (R) 2/12

[luvsbitca]

Masterpost - contains all story information
Part 1

Battered And Broken
by Moonbeam (luvsbitca)
Part 2

/ / / Jackson \ \ \

Jackson looked at Lydia. She was covered in black standing next to him and staring at the disappearing ambulances. A car from the sheriff’s department was just arriving but Jackson could see that it wasn’t the Sheriff.

“Jackson,” Lydia said her voice quiet. “He shouldn’t have been there.”

“He’s going to be fine,” Jackson said tugging her closer and tucking her head into his shoulder. He didn’t want to see her cry; he never knew what to do when anyone cried. The explosion had been a shock. Derek’s yell moments before the only warning they had. He’d been knocked over on his arse with the blast but he wasn’t hurt, some cuts and scrapes and he’d bruised his backside but he was fine. He wasn’t sure about Lydia but she’d been even further away from the blast than Jackson.

“Are you hurt?” Jackson asked. Lydia didn’t pull away just shook her head against him.

She’d be lying on the ground near him when he’d been able to lift himself back onto his feet. The barn was on fire when he’d looked over. He’d walked towards it, remembered all the people inside. There had been five of them inside the half opening on the barn. There were only two sides of the barn left really, a third was half missing and the section that must have once held the door had been removed a long time ago. Derek said the building was at least two hundred years old. The hunter had stood in the shadows of the building and they’d been surprised that Derek was asking them why they were there. Then Stiles was in the building with a sixth man who let Stiles go when Derek demanded it. He’d been walking Stiles out, had just handed him over when Derek heard something. Jackson remembered it, a strange click followed by a hollow bang. Derek had yelled out to run and the hunters had scattered but it was too late. Derek had grabbed Stiles and started to move. It would only have been seconds before the entire world shook. They were all knocked off their feet.

Jackson had walked over towards Danny as soon as he could stand to find him half wrapped around a tree. Danny had been bleeding from his head and Jackson couldn’t find his balance well enough to run to his side. He fell and pulled himself over reaching out for Danny frantically. But Danny was breathing. Jackson had dropped his head down onto Danny’s chest listening to his heartbeat. Jackson pulled away when he was sure it was steady and he could see Scott moving around. He moved towards the still burning barn instead. He needed to see if the people who’d been in there were still alive. He’d opened his senses and changed until he could listen in. There was a heartbeat inside, fast and worried. Jackson felt more level now and he could hear more with the ringing slowly fading away. Jackson felt hotter the closer he got to the fire but the wood was old and dry and seemed to have burned quickly. He made his way inside, his shirt pulled up over his nose as he tried to make his way into the building. The open entry where a wall once stood was mostly free from fire and he was able to get in. The first body he made it to was dead, a section of the wall or something else that had been in the barn protruding from his neck. Jackson coughed at the smoke making its way into his mouth and nose before he made his way further in. He ignored the bodies around him and focussed on the heartbeat getting fainter with every step he took. Jackson rushed forward but when he dropped down next to the body she was no longer even conscious. Jackson reached out for her but with a shallow, hollow rattle she went completely silent and he knew she was gone. Jackson looked around the rest of the barn and could make out the five bodies, all burned, some still alight. He could do nothing for them so he turned and made his way out of the fire. It wasn’t until he got out of the barn that he felt the heat on his arm. He looked down and realised his shirt was on fire. Jackson smacked at the material until it went out. He looked at the skin beneath to find it was red but there were no blisters so he ignored it and started to check on the rest of his pack. They had all been clear of the actual explosion so he’d assumed they were fine but he spotted Lydia sobbing over Stiles and rushed over.

“What’s wrong?”

“He’s bleeding,” Lydia said next to him too loudly. “He’s not breathing properly. I called for an ambulance but Jackson I think he’s going to die.”

Jackson turned Lydia to face him. “He’s not going to die.”

Jackson looked around and spotted Danny moving, standing up and Jackson felt himself relax just a little. Scott was no longer under the hunter Jackson had seen before and Danny was helping him to stand. His leg was twisted and bent at a strange angle but he hopped over with Danny helping him. They were both grimacing but they kept moving.

“Has Derek been awake?” Jackson asked Lydia before getting up to help Scott. Danny shot him a relieved smile and Jackson was just pleased he was up and moving. His head was bleeding even worse now than when Jackson had checked on him earlier. He got Scott over to Lydia before he went over to Derek. He couldn’t turn Derek over, his back red, blistered and in a few places almost weeping. Jackson felt around Derek’s neck but tried not to move him. Derek’s heartbeat was still strong even though he wasn’t awake.

When he turned back around Lydia was touching Stiles’ cheek carefully. “He’s not waking up.”

“Neither is Derek,” Jackson said coming closer. “He’s out. We need to bite him.”

Lydia shook her head. “It’ll kill him.”

“Lydia,” Scott said.

“Can’t you hear that,” she said turning to Scott. “That rattle? Look at his head, look at all the blood. The bite could kill him. We’re not strong enough. Even if Derek was going to bite him,” Lydia paused and swallowed heavily. “That could kill him like this too,” she finished quietly as she looked up at them her eyes bright.

The sirens were far away but all of them turned to the sound. It wasn’t long after that the ambulance rolled in but they had just enough time to agree to a story. Out for a run, spotted people in the barn, came to check it out and there was an explosion or a fire and everyone was dead.

The ambulances rolled to a stop next to them and they rushed over to the group. Jackson moved to Danny’s side and helped him to stand and step out of the ambulance officers way. Lydia helped Scott up, he let out a cut off scream as he accidently put weight on his bad leg. He must have broken it Jackson thought as they started checking over Stiles and doing whatever they needed to him. They got him on the stretcher quickly and were heading back to the ambulance when Derek woke up. Jackson expected him to wake slowly but between one moment and the next Derek was up and moving. He was looking around him not seeing anything for a few seconds before he spotted Stiles on the stretcher slipping into the ambulance.

“Stiles.” Derek started lurching towards the ambulance.

Jackson left Danny’s side and moved towards Derek trying to stop Derek from getting to Stiles.

Derek fought against Jackson as the ambulance officers got Stiles into the back. “Let me go Jackson I need to get to Stiles.”

“He’s on his way to hospital Derek, he’ll be okay.”

“No, I have to, I promised. I can hear his breathing. I promised.”

Jackson could see the ambulance officers moving around to check on Scott while Jackson held Derek back.

“He’s going to the hospital Derek,” Jackson said again.

“He’s dying, I have to help him,” Derek said with a growl.

“You can’t help him now Derek,” Lydia said coming over and grabbing Derek’s elbow careful to avoid his burns. “He’s too injured.”

“I can’t lose him,” Derek said turning to her.

Jackson turned to look at Scott who was being helped up into the second ambulance.

“Wait,” Jackson called out. “You need to check on Derek.”

The ambulance officers left Scott and moved over quickly to check on Derek. One of them gasped when they saw Derek’s back.

“Get something for him, the pain must be bad.”

“No!” Derek said trying to twist out of Jackson’s grip. “I need to get to Stiles!”

The ambulance officer came over and Derek growled at her when he saw the needle.

“Derek, he’s going to be fine,” Jackson said holding him harder and letting the ambulance officer get close enough to inject Derek who growled and tried to break out of Jackson’s hold.

“I need to get to Stilessss,” Derek said stretching out the long, last sound as he slumped into Jackson.

The ambulance officers took Derek off him and laid him down on the stretcher face forward.

“Are you injured?” One of the ambulance officers asked Jackson who shook his head.

“No but Danny is,” Jackson said turning back to Danny who was holding his arm to the side of his body.

“We don’t have another ambulance,” the ambulance officer said going over to Danny. “We are going to have to put you up front.”

Danny nodded and followed them over to climb into the ambulance with Stiles in the back. As soon as he was seated they drove away followed moments later by Derek and Scott in the other one. Then they were alone and Lydia looked lost.

Jackson looked around them with Lydia still in his arms. The barn was still burning and he could hear the fire engines screaming into the woods.

“I told them they were all dead,” Lydia said into his chest. “They are all dead.”

“They are all dead,” Jackson said. “I checked.”

“Why would they blow themselves up?” Lydia asked pulling away her face a smudge of black and red. He wanted to wipe her face but suddenly there were fire fighters running past them and a deputy sheriff standing next to them.

Lydia span away from him, grabbed the policeman’s arm and gripped hard. “It was Stiles. He’s on his way to the hospital. Call the sheriff. He’s the sheriff’s son.”

“Ma’am,” the cop said looking at her closely. “Was he still alive?”

“Yes, please call the sheriff.”

“I will now ma’am,” he walked away to get on the radio. “Hey Beth, I need to speak to the sheriff. Where is he? Call him, get him back there now and tell him his son is in the hospital. Stiles was at the scene. Yes he was alive at the scene. Call me when you get a hold of him.” The deputy sheriff came back over to them after he’d finished on the radio. “He’s out of the station. We’re not sure where he is but as soon as he gets back they’ll inform him.”

“Do we need to be here?” Jackson asked.

“I need to get your statements,” the deputy said.

“We need to get to the hospital.” Lydia said next to him.

“Are you injured?” the deputy asked.

“My wrist hurts,” Lydia said.

“We should be checked out,” Jackson said wanting to get to Danny and his pack.

“Names?”

“Jackson Whittemore,” Jackson said while the deputy wrote his information down.

“Lydia Bradley,” Lydia added.

“You’ll be at the hospital?”

“Until we know what happened to our friends?”

The deputy nodded. “Then you can go, do you need me to have someone drive you to the hospital?”

“I can drive,” Jackson said.

“Okay,” the deputy said. “I’ll be down to speak to you all later.”

“Deputy Kendriks, there are five bodies in the barn and one outside.” A voice behind them called out.

“Bye,” Jackson said pulling Lydia away from the scene and back towards the house and his car. When they were far enough away to be out of sight they changed and ran making it back to his car quickly. They climbed in and Jackson broke a number of traffic laws on the way to the hospital. They walked in and the nurse refused to tell them anything about anyone once they had both confirmed they were uninjured.

They went to sit in chairs and wait.

Jackson closed his eyes but he saw the barn and the bodies. They were dead, they were all dead and the smell. Jackson bit down hard on his tongue trying to stop himself from doing something weak. He didn’t cry, there was no reason to cry, because only weak people let their emotions go like that. Jackson clenched his jaw and tried to shake the lingering smell of burnt flesh. He pulled Lydia closer to him holding her and pushing the memories away from his mind until he could be alone later.

Then the sheriff rushed in.

/ / / Scott \ \ \

Scott was on the ground, his ears were ringing and he couldn’t breathe properly. Something heavy was sitting on him and his hip and leg were thumping with pain. He closed his eyes and tried to catch his breath. Scott put his elbow behind himself and tried to lift his torso up but the weight on his elbow caused it to explode in pain and he fell back down. It took him a few long minutes to be able to try again. He propped himself on his other elbow until he was able to sit up. There was a body on top of him. His side was red and burned but it wasn’t as bad as he knew it could be. There was blood, a lot of blood, seeping out of three wounds on the hunter’s torso and one in his thigh. Scott turned him over grunting with the pain as it put pressure on his leg. Scott knew he’d broken his leg; nothing else could hurt this badly. The man on top of him was breathing and he was looking up at Scott terrified.

“Help me,” he said as he shivered.

“You’re going to be fine,” Scott said. “I just need to move you off my leg. It’s broken.”

Scott lifted the man as gently as he could but he couldn’t move his leg out of the way. Then suddenly Lydia was there and helped him lift the hunter off his body. Scott still couldn’t move his leg.

“Scott, are you okay?”

“My leg is broken,” Scott said leaning over to check on the man next to him. “Danny?”

“I don’t know,” Lydia said. “I came straight to you. Jackson checked on him and you know he wouldn’t have left Danny if he wasn’t okay.”

Scott smiled. “Stiles and Derek? Go and check on them. I’ll stay with this guy.”

Lydia nodded and left him.

Scott leaned over the man who was still bleeding heavily. He heard Lydia calling for an ambulance as he looked down at the hunter. “You’re going to be fine.” He looked over and saw Lydia and then he saw the fire, flames now floating on Derek’s back. Lydia was putting them out but Derek had been on fire. “How is he?”

“Not good,” Lydia called back. “I didn’t even see them until I was…oh God Scott.”

“He’ll be fine, remember Peter survived worse,” Scott wasn’t sure if Peter’s example was all that comforting at the moment but it was something. If Peter survived full body burns then Derek could too.

The man next to Scott’s breathing changed becoming heavier and Scott turned back to him. He pulled his jumper off and tore it tying one of the strips around the leg above the man’s wound. The man grunted at the pain but Scott couldn’t do anything for him.

“What’s your name?”

“Ben,” he gasped out.

“You’re losing a lot of blood but the ambulance is on its way.”

“Why did you do this?”

Scott shook his head. “What are you talking about?”

“You,” he said more weakly.

“No,” Scott said. “Keep talking to me, you’re going to be okay. You just need to keep talking to me.”

Scott knew he wouldn’t, the smell of blood was overwhelming and the ground around him was soaked red. Scott knew the leg wound was bad but one of his others must be even worse.

“Why did you blow up the barn?” Scott asked hoping for an answer before the man lost consciousness but he wasn’t expecting it. The man…Ben was fading fast and Scott couldn’t do anything. He felt along Ben’s sides but didn’t find anything until he got to the back of Ben’s neck which was slick and he could feel the jagged edge of a wound. There was something sharp there and Scott swore before pulling his hand back. It was covered in blood. He grabbed the rest of his jumper and pressed it firmly into the wound at the back of his neck. The sudden pain made Ben jerk and look up at Scott.

“Tell Jenny I love her” Ben said slowly his eyes distant.

“I will,” Scott said having no idea who Jenny was or where he could find her but he’d do it anyway. Minutes later Ben stopped breathing. He looked around and could see Jackson in the barn moving around trying to see if anyone was alive. Lydia was kneeling next to Stiles who didn’t seem to be moving. Scott swore and rolled. His leg was useless but he wolfed out and used the extra strength to get himself to a tree so he could try to pull himself up. Scott couldn’t get any leverage to get himself standing, his leg completely useless. Danny came over and helped him up but it was a slow process both of them sweating and swearing through the action of getting Scott to one of his feet. Scott could see Danny’s arm hanging awkwardly and he knew Danny wasn’t as strong as normal either.

“What’s wrong with you?” Danny panted out when they were standing.

Scott felt along his thigh and could feel bumps where they should not be. “Definitely broken,” Scott sighed. “Dislocated shoulder?”

“I think so,” Danny said looking pale. “Come on, I’ll help you over and we can check on Derek and Stiles.”

“And you can check on Jackson,” Scott said as he threw his arm over Danny’s good shoulder and they started moving towards Jackson and Lydia where they were watching over Stiles and Derek. He could smell the blood, a slightly different scent to the blood from Ben. Scott and Danny didn’t make it more than three steps before Jackson came over to them and pulled Scott over his shoulder supporting his weight while they moved towards the rest of the pack.

Scott knew before he was even standing above them.

He looked down at them and could see it. His entire body flushed hot as he looked down at Stiles pale and bleeding on the ground. He knew he was going to lose his best friend. Scott knew the bite wouldn’t work; it would be too much for Stiles’ body to handle. It would definitely kill Stiles but he wanted to try. He wanted to do anything he could to fix this. Lydia was right but he wanted to drop down to his knees and bite Stiles anyway. Stiles had always said he was just fine being human, that he didn’t mind being weaker and slower and less supernatural than the rest of them. He said he’d be fine and he’d never once fallen in any fight as badly as this. Stiles came out whenever anything threatened their pack and did everything he could to make sure they all walked away safe and whole and in return they protected him. But they hadn’t done their job this time. Scott hadn’t done his job this time.

When the ambulance arrived the pack was forced to step back as they rushed to Stiles. Scott heard Derek wake up and climb to his feet. He had assumed that Derek wouldn’t have been able to woke up given the state of his back and the blood everywhere but if he was up and moving it couldn’t have been as bad as they thought. Derek called out to Stiles and tried to get to him. Scott couldn’t do anything to help or stop him but he understood the desire to do something for Stiles and if any bite was strong enough to save Stiles it would be Derek’s. Scott wanted to push the ambulance officers out of the way, push Derek into the ambulance with Stiles and pray to any god, deity or pagan icon if it meant that Stiles would be okay and he wasn’t even in love with Stiles. Not that Derek would ever admit to being in love with Stiles either. Jackson held him back, stopped him from getting closer now that Stiles was inside of the ambulance with one of the ambulance officers climbing in after while the other came over to Scott and started checking on him.

The ambulance officer looked at his leg and helped him climb into the back of the second ambulance

“You need to check on Derek,” Scott said letting out a sigh now that he was relaxed back with his leg lying out with no pressure on it. Moments later he heard Jackson call out asking for the same thing. The man smiled at him and jumped back out of the ambulance making his way over to Derek and Jackson. They needed to knock Derek out before they could get him into the ambulance next to Scott. Just before the doors closed was Scott’s first glimpse of Derek’s back and he was hit with a sudden need to vomit. The door closed and the smell grew, it was one he recognised from out near the barn, burnt flesh, only this time the smell was coming from Derek and now Scott had to wonder which one of his friends was more likely to need his prayers to get through this.

They started moving and one of the medical officers cut away the shirt from around Derek’s back exposing the flesh that was still pale next to the red and blistered flesh of the majority of his back. Scott watched them check on Derek, perform different tests and things he didn’t understand as they drove through town. Derek didn’t respond to anything they did just laid on the bed silent. As soon as the doors opened Scott pulled himself out of the ambulance, he needed to get away from the smell of Derek’s burns, and he needed to get away from the heavy smell of fire, he hoped distance would make it easier to stop thinking about the explosion. When he made it down to the ground someone grabbed him but the second ambulance was driving in and he wanted to see Stiles. He tried to pull away when suddenly his mother was standing in front of him and pulling him out of all the bad memories and back to the hospital entrance with his leg throbbing, clean air and everyone about to get help.

Like a signal Derek could feel even unconscious as soon as Stiles’ ambulance arrived he popped up like a jack-in-the-box and staggered out of the vehicle going for Stiles again. Scott had no idea how he’d fought against his injuries and the drugs to find his way to consciousness again. His mother pulled away from him and Scott tried to hold onto her but she got away from him and he couldn’t do anything to chase after her with his leg as it was. He needed to get his mother away from Derek who wasn’t particularly aware of anything at the moment but Derek didn’t push her out of the way just looked at her and then over at the ambulance where they were pulling Stiles out.

“Derek, what happened?” His mother asked trying to keep his attention.

“He wasn’t supposed to be there.” Derek turned back to his mother and stared at her, Scott tried to steady himself to move if he needed to. If Derek tried to move her out of his way Scott’s mother wouldn’t be able to do anything to stop him, even injured Derek would be able to hurt her. “You have to help him. Please.”

Then Derek dropped suddenly and his mother tried to hold his weight. Scott moved to help but he couldn’t do anything with pain blooming out of his leg and then a giant man, almost as tall as Lydia’s husband, was standing next to his mother taking Derek’s weight. Scott could see the exact moment that his mother saw the wounds on Derek’s back.

When Derek was gone, and the flurry of people passed by with Stiles between them hooked up to things and bleeding and still just lying there unconscious, Scott’s mum pushed him into a wheelchair and then moved him into the hospital, into a bed and asked him what happened.

Scott remembered the moment that Stiles stumbled into the barn on the arm of one of the hunters. He’d looked apologetic but not particularly worried even though his arm already looked red and bruised. Derek had been annoyed, demanded he be released and Stiles had grinned at him. The hunter agreed and they moved towards Derek who’d gone in to collect him. It put him closer to the barn than anyone else. There was a hollow click and Derek ran forward to pull Stiles to him. Stiles looked confused but he’d run anyway and then there was the explosion and Scott was able to see Derek’s body collide with Stiles throwing them both onto the ground. The fire flicked out and towards them all and Scott was thrown back the hunter who’d been with Stiles landing on him. He described it to his mother but it was too much, the smell still in his nose and the sight of Stiles still and deathlike on the ground. Stiles was always moving but he’d been so very still. His mother pulled him close like she always had when he was upset and held him while he sobbed into her neck terrified at the idea of losing Stiles.

/ / / Lydia \ \ \

-Get to the house now! HUNTERS!-

Lydia’s phone buzzed and she read the text message and swore. She turned the stove in front of her off and grabbed her coat before running from her apartment. She sent a quick message to Tom as she climbed into her car and headed towards Derek’s house.

Lydia drove to Derek’s house as quickly as she could. Jackson’s car was in her rear-view mirror from the moment she turned off the main road and drove through the woods, Danny in the car next to him. Lydia allowed herself a moment to wonder if the message had interrupted their fun times before she saw Derek’s house in front of her. She parked next to the house beside Stiles’ jeep and made it to the door just behind Danny. They all walked into the house together finding Stiles and Derek sitting in the study watching the monitors to track the hunters.

“What sensors did they trip?” Danny asked moving over immediately.

“The ones we placed past the lake at the edge of the Derek’s property,” Stiles said pointing at the map on the wall.

When the whole pack had come home Stiles had come to Derek, Danny trailing behind him looking like he wasn’t entirely sure why he was there or how Stiles had convinced him to come. Stiles told Derek of his plan, sensors planted in trees around Derek’s land. Stiles said it would be protection from hunters and other wolf packs. Then he’d pulled out the map, marked out with all the positions where they should put each one and the height to minimize conflicting information from branches, animals and general objects. Stiles poked Danny in the back until he stepped forward and Stiles prompted him into explaining how the whole thing would work as a security system and a couple of places to put cameras for early warnings. Stiles had a plan, he had a map and he had a level of determination that swept Danny up and Derek didn’t seem like he had a choice but to agree. A few months later Stiles and Danny were finished and they had a security perimeter. Lydia and the rest of the pack had spent a warm afternoon testing the sensors out and they had worked for them twice now. Once when the Morgans came to town and when a wolf had come from another pack to spy on them.

The sensor triggered was too far away from the house to be sighted with the cameras positioned around the perimeter but Derek had run out there already and it was definitely the Morgans. The family of hunters had moved into town a couple of weeks ago hearing about Derek and the pack. Chris Argent was still in town to keep an eye on them and to protect the town even after Allison ran away to Juneau in Alaska to find herself. The Morgans assumed there were no other hunters around since Derek’s pack was the size it was. Not that anyone had joined since most of them had been in high school. Chris had been quite helpful in explaining Derek’s pack to the Morgans. Chris still didn’t trust Derek or the rest of the pack but he’d grudgingly agreed years ago not to kill them if they didn’t hurt people. Stiles, human and uninjured, had been incredibly helpful in convincing Chris, especially after they had fought more supernatural beasts and saved the town again and again. Chris had told them yesterday that the Morgans were leaving; they’d agreed to go when Chris said he wasn’t going anywhere and that he’d be keeping an eye on the werewolves until they were dead or he was. It wasn’t the most positive message Lydia had ever heard but they at least knew he wasn’t going to kill them in their sleep.

The Morgans shouldn’t be on Derek’s land, they should have been gone by now but since they were the pack would have to go out there and find out why.

“Stiles,” Derek said turning to him. “You are going to stay here.”

“I can help,” Stiles said.

“We’re not going to fight them,” Derek said. “I’ve called Chris and he’s going to come out and help sort everything. So you’re going to stay here,” Derek had walked over to a cupboard flicked a hidden panel and come back with a rifle. “You’re going to stay here with this and protect the house.”

Stiles laughed at him. “I know what you’re doing but this once I’ll let you get away with it.”

Lydia was surprised; Stiles never let things go that easily. She frowned at him but Stiles just grinned at her and winked. She would have to corner him when everything was sorted out and get the truth out of him. From the grin, Lydia knew it was going to be a good story.

“You’re giving up that easy?” Jackson asked. “You feeling okay?”

“I’m feeling fine,” Stiles said. “I’ll stay here and you people go out and defend the castle.”

Scott laughed at Stiles, ruffled his head and then turned to walk out of the room. “We’ll be back Stiles, have beer.”

Stiles laughed at him and turned back to the monitors. Lydia smiled and turned to leave the room, Jackson and Danny following her out. They were outside the house, standing on the porch when Derek finally made it out to them looking a little off balance. He ignored Lydia’s look and bounded off the porch changing partway and running expecting the rest of the pack to follow. They ran out to the closest sensor that hadn’t been tripped and Derek signalled them all out to scent a trail.

They met back up and Scott said he’d spotted them. He turned and led them, Jackson and Danny spreading out and around to their flanks making sure no one was waiting to ambush them. The hunters were all in the old barn. Lydia had found it years ago when she was running from the rest of the pack during a training exercise and they’d been using it for training on and off ever since. Inside were five of them.

Derek stepped out of the tree line first, Lydia to his right and Scott to his left. She could hear Danny and Jackson arrive behind them, a series of almost silent clicks from Danny telling her they hadn’t seen anyone when they’d been coming. Derek didn’t do anything for a while simply staring at the man at the front of the group of hunters. They conducted a silent staring session for a long while, so long that Lydia found her battle readiness slipping wanting to just get this over with.

“What are you doing here?” Derek finally demanded stepping closer.

One of the hunters stepped out. “What do you mean?” Lydia could see the confusion on his face and she could see Derek about to question it when they were interrupted.

“John,” someone called out before walking into the barn.

Lydia was able to put a face to the voice a few seconds later when a man, probably her age or younger, stepped out with Stiles at his side. Stiles didn’t look annoyed but Lydia could see his jaw and elbow were both red; the skin looking like it was going to bruise. He’d obviously been in a fight and the man dragging him in looked like he’d taken a punch or two as well. Stiles’ wiggled his fingers at her and she shook her head at his complete lack of fear, he was waving at her, surrounded by a pack of hunters.

“I demand you let Stiles go, he isn’t even a werewolf,” Derek said walking forward leaving the pack behind.

“You shouldn’t have sent him out spying then,” the hunter said after he dropped his hold on Stiles. Stiles dropped down to the ground without the hands holding him up, he huffed and pulled himself back up rolling his eyes at Scott.

“I didn’t send him out anywhere,” Derek said.

Stiles jumped in before he’d finished. “I was not spying; I was just watching their backs.”

“With a rifle?” Ben asked.

“I was hunting jackrabbits?” Stiles said with a shrug.

John, who was the leader of the hunters laughed. “You can go.”

Stiles started walking away and John signalled to Ben to go with him. Ben walked a step behind Stiles out of the barn. Lydia could see Scott take a step closer when the hunter started trailing Stiles walking away from the hand Danny had had on his elbow.

“What do you want Hale?” John called out as he watched them walking.

There were less than ten steps between Stiles and Derek but three steps in Derek cocked his head to the side. Lydia looked around but her brain half caught up with her and she realised he’d heard a metallic click just as Derek screamed out to run and started forward. Lydia had no idea what was happening but if Derek was worried she needed to do something as well, she hadn’t decided which way to run when she saw Derek grab Stiles’ elbow and pull him over. Stiles looked confused but his legs were moving and Derek turned them around seconds before, with a whooshing boom, the barn exploded. She smelled it before she saw it, the faint tint of burning metal before the barn blew apart, stakes of wood flying out with the flames and the sudden heat of fire in front of her. Lydia felt a rush of wind pushing at her back as the explosion in front of her knocked her over. She caught herself on her arm and felt her wrist spike in pain before she was on the ground her ears ringing as she stared up at the blue sky through the trees. She needed to go and check on Derek and Stiles but she couldn’t seem to find her breath.

Lydia heard someone moving and lifted herself until she could see Jackson hugging Danny. She smiled at them; Jackson refused to admit to being in love with Danny or even involved with him as though he could hide anything from his pack. They’d known about it since not long after the two of them started something but Jackson had never said anything. Danny wouldn’t have been hiding them from the world, it wasn’t his way but Jackson was still stuck in the idea he had to please people, he had to do what was expected of him. He was sure that his parents expected him to find a nice girl to marry and give them grandkids but she knew his parents and they’d be happy if he was happy and Danny made him very happy. Lydia wanted to shake it out of him; she’d been wanting to shake it out of him since back in high school when she had gone along with it because it suited her plans at the time. She was worried he was going to miss out on something really important if he didn’t work out his issues. Something like the love of his life walking away because he couldn’t wait forever. Lydia turned to Derek, she couldn’t see him properly but he was still lying on Stiles. She needed to find Scott, eventually she spotted him pinned under someone else. She pulled herself up feeling a little rattled and her wrist was tender as she made her way over to him. She helped him lift the man up and off before leaving him to check on Derek and Stiles who still hadn’t moved. As she stood she pulled her phone from her pocket and called the explosion in, asking for the ambulance.

Steps away from them she looked back up and could see it, she ran the rest of the way. Lydia had her coat off before she made it to Derek’s side dripping down to her knees hard next to him and tried to smother the fire. She could smell the flames and the skin burning as she tried to put him out. Her eyes on Stiles who wasn’t moving under Derek, he was bleeding, she could see it on his temple, down one side of his neck as she put out the last of the flames. She was too late. Derek’s back was burned, very badly burned. She could feel the heat coming off his skin where it was red and blistered but the part that made her want to vomit were the parts of his back that had turned a sickly pale white. She didn’t know what to do for him, he was unconscious but breathing and she could feel a heartbeat. She stared at him for a moment but she couldn’t do anything for Derek, he was bleeding but there wasn’t enough blood to worry her.

Lydia lifted Derek gently from Stiles and laid him out next to the younger man. She frowned at Derek for a moment before turning and focussing on Stiles. She didn’t want to touch him, she was worried that she would hurt him, she could hear the rattle of his breath and knew it was bad. She could see that he was struggling and there was nothing she could do. Lydia knew that the sheriff had asked Derek to protect Stiles since he was the head of their little pack. Stiles had bitched about it until the sheriff had reminded Derek that Stiles was all the family he had left. Derek had agreed readily, at least that was what Stiles said when he told her about it. She’d known what ‘protect’ really meant; Derek was going to bite Stiles if it would mean saving his life. Lydia knew that Stiles had already had a conversation with Derek about that before the sheriff even knew about werewolves but the sheriff had wanted Derek’s word. Derek was in no position now to do anything for Stiles. Lydia looked down at Stiles and knew that there was nothing she could do. She felt along his sides for wounds but couldn’t find anything. He was bleeding from the head, his ears bloody and from nothing but the sound of his breathing she knew that nothing she could do would save him, the stress the bite would place on his body would be too much while he was struggling to stay alive. There was nothing that any of them could do that would save him without Derek awake and transformed. She was utterly useless.

TBC...

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