(Take Away This) Ball and Chain 4/6
Part Three
Derek did not stop driving once they made it back to the car. Stiles whined until Derek explained what a headache pack negotiations were. Stiles nodded and they spent the next few days driving toward Ohio. Stiles asked about being a kid and when he manifested and Derek asked about Stiles life before werewolves and demons.
Stiles was from the early settlers in the America's and remembered in detail how sick he was on the boat ride over. Derek was hesitant to give up information about his family life, but Stiles answered every question Derek asked as if he had nothing to hide anymore. After that it got easier and Derek had never talked about any of this with anyone. It was cathartic in a way that was brand new to Derek and he noticed that Stiles seemed a little lighter as well. They were sitting in the parking lot of a grocery store just outside Cincinnati eating sandwiches and looking through the papers for any signs of activity.
"I have to say I kind of wish I had been born in this century," Stiles said as he finished his turkey and cheddar. "All of this technology and how global it all is? I would have kicked ass in this century."
"I'm sure you would have," Derek replied as patronizing as possible. Derek smiled when Stiles hit him on the arm. "There have been some electrical storms in the area. So not Saul but maybe someone we can get information from?" Stiles leaned across the console and he was suddenly very much in Derek's personal space.
"These signs are really obvious. We're either dealing with a baby or someone who wants to be noticed." Stiles sat back in his seat and grimaced. "Either way it's going to be annoying."
“Should we go investigate?” Derek asked.
“Well, according to my old friend, Saul knows that we’re looking for him and he knows about you. Drawing us into a trap would be something he would do. At the same time it could be a subordinate of his trying to draw us into a trap. Or it’s a stupid baby that has no idea how to hide their tells,” Stiles said as he tapped a finger against his lips which was really distracting for some reason. “We have to go poke around. If nothing else we can send a baby back into the pit so they don’t cause any problems.”
“It’s probably a trap,” Derek said as he finished his sandwich.
“Probably, but it could be fun,” Stiles replied. Derek sighed and started the car up again to head into Cincinnati. Stiles was looking out the window carefully looking for something that could give away the location of the demon they were looking for but nothing jumped out. Cincinnati was a big enough city that it was impossible to pick out one scent. Derek found a decent motel off the pain path and got a room that only had one bed, but Stiles never slept in the same room so it was fine. Stiles was leaning against the car frowning deeply when Derek returned with the keys.
“Do you see something?” Derek asked.
“No, and that bothers me. I don’t want to just go out there looking for trouble because it might be trap, but I don’t like sitting around waiting for trouble to find me either,” Stiles replied. “I have a feeling that this demon knows we’re here though.”
“I don’t think the element of surprise was ever in our favor,” Derek said as he pulled the bags out of the car. It took some extra time to gather some salt, holy water and the extra demon killing knife. Stiles still looked almost worried, but he followed Derek into the room nevertheless. Derek wanted to salt the doors and windows again, but he was not sure how Stiles would react to being trapped in the room instead of out. Stiles sat down on the edge of the bed and gripped it tight enough that his knuckles were turning white. “This is really bothering you,” Derek said leaning against the wall.
“Yes because I really think this is a trap and I don’t like not knowing what I’m up against,” Stiles replied. “Saul could be out there right now and there is nothing I can do, but wait because he’s hidden in a city of 300,000 people.”
“We could fortify this room. Salt the windows and doors, lock ourselves in, if they want us then they can come get us,” Derek suggested and Stiles tensed when Derek mentioned salting the doors and windows. While it would keep others out it would also trap Stiles in. Derek could understand not wanting that and decided not to mention it again. “Outside then, maybe near here so I don’t have to drag my arsenal around?”
“Too public. We need to go somewhere more secluded otherwise we might get some stupid human wandering into the crossfire. A park at night or something like that. There was one a few blocks away. If they want to come to us then let them come to us.” Stiles released his grip on the edge of the bed and he smirked to himself. “You ready to go down fighting, Derek?”
“Always,” Derek said without hesitation. Stiles smiled and it was hard to resist that smile. Derek worked on getting all of his things together while Stiles looked out the window of the motel chewing on his nails. The sun set but they waited until it was late. Derek managed to hide his shotgun in such a way that they could walk to the park and it would not be seen. Stiles had the other knife hidden in the sleeve of his plaid shirt, but even armed Derek did not feel safe. It felt like someone was watching them, but there were too many sounds and too many heartbeats to pick single one out.
“Something isn’t right,” Stiles said as they walked through the park. “There should be people around here even though it’s almost midnight but we’re alone.” Derek was about to agree when he heard another heartbeat coming at them quickly. He took Stiles’ arm and looked around. “What is it?”
“Your puppy heard me,” a voice said and they both turned to see a young woman walking toward them a shotgun in hand. Her hair was long and brown, her eyes completely black and she had a sinister smile. “Hello Stiles.”
“Nessa, I see Saul still has you doing his dirty work,” Stiles said and Nessa laughed.
“You know I enjoy this kind of work. I’ve been waiting for the day I get to go after you for years. This is the first time Saul actually thought you were threatening enough to send me,” Nessa explained. “Your wolf is adorable too, where did you find such a cute little thing? It’s a shame you got him involved.”
“Saul got me involved when he killed my family,” Derek said as he reached for his shotgun ready to pump this bitch full of rock salt, but Nessa was quick in pointing the gun at him.
“Bad idea Derek. If you take a step back I’ll let you walk away from this. Right now my dispute is with Stiles, not you, so you can go back to your sister and frolic in the moonlight all you want,” Nessa said. “You could watch this though because it’ll be a show.” Nessa moved the gun so it was pointing at Stiles and pulled the trigger. Several things happened at once and Derek moved without thinking. He shoved Stiles aside and took the buckshot. Only it was not buckshot, it was a mixture of salt and wolfbane that knocked the air from his lungs. It was potent, strong, and it made him fall over before he had a chance to react. Derek looked up and saw that Stiles was looking down at him with wide eyes like he could not believe what he was seeing. “Well, that works too, these rounds were going to hurt Stiles but kill you.”
“That was a mistake, Nessa,” Stiles said as he slowly looked back at her. She tensed under his glare and Stiles slid the knife from his sleeve and into his hand. The wolfsbane was traveling fast and it was going to reach his heart any minute now. “Now drop your gun and run.”
“Why would I do a stupid thing like that?” Nessa asked but she looked worried.
“Have it your way.” Stiles rushed forward so fast that even Derek’s werewolf eyes could not keep up with it. Nessa managed to block two hits before Stiles slashed her throat. She made a horrible gurgling sound as she collapsed to the ground. Derek could feel the wolfsbane rushing through his system and the world was beginning to haze over. Stiles was by his side in seconds trying to shake him awake. “Hey, stay with me, this is going to hurt like hell.” Derek did not get a chance to respond before Stiles was cutting a long cut into his chest and shoving ash and salt into it. It burned worse than before, but a hand clasped over his mouth to hide his screaming. “Now you know how it feels,” Stiles grumbled as the pain began to fade. “I think we got it all. Up we go.” Stiles hoisted his arm up and pulled Derek to his feet. The world began to slowly clear as Stiles walked the two of them back to the motel. By the time they got there Derek was feeling much better.
“I can walk on my own,” Derek said as Stiles closed the door.
“Great so let’s talk about what a fucking idiot you are,” Stiles replied angrier than Derek had ever seen him. “I told you I can take care of myself. That crap would have hurt like hell, but it wouldn’t have nearly killed me, unlike you.”
“Are you really yelling at me for protecting you?” Derek asked. He narrowed his eyes as he walked into Stiles’ space. “When people work together they look out for each other.”
“Maybe you should let me look out for myself instead of trying to be a martyr,” Stiles snapped his eyes flashing red. Derek growled and took Stiles by the shirt slamming him into the wall.
“You don’t get to be angry at me for trying to protect you,” Derek said low and dangerously. He was about to add more when an invisible fist punched him in the chest so hard that Derek stumbled back. He blinked and he was on his back on the bed, Stiles straddling his waist and steely hands holding his wrists down. He was pinned.
“How does it feel not to be the most powerful one in the room, wolf? Does it bother you?” Stiles asked bitterly. “You forget that I could kill you without even trying.”
“Then why don’t you?” Derek yelled not even caring about the neighbors. Stiles went so still that it was a surprise. They were both breathing hard as they stared at each other, inches apart, and the tension was so thick Derek felt like he could hardly breath. Derek was not sure what happened next, but one second Stiles was staring him down, holding his wrists tight enough that the bones were grinding together, and Stiles was not moving. The next his wrists were released and he was pulling Stiles down as Stiles was reaching to him and their mouths crashed into a violent kiss. It was completely unexpected while not a surprise at all. They were kissing hard enough to bruise and Stiles parted his lips willing as Derek licked into his mouth.
Derek began to sit up slowly, taking Stiles with him, until he was upright and Stiles was practically in his lap.
“This is such a bad idea,” Stiles said between kisses as he sunk his fingers into Derek’s hair and tugged on it gently..
“The worst possible idea,” Derek replied as he managed to get away from that sinful mouth and began to kiss along Stiles’ jawline. Stiles pulled Derek away from his neck and they kissed again, hard and dirty, and Derek rolled them over so they were lying side by side on the bed. Stiles’ lips were as soft as the night they made the deal and he tasted amazing. They kissed until Derek’s lips felt numb and only then did he finally pull away. They lay side by side and the silence in the motel room was deafening save for the sound of their heavy breathing and pounding heartbeats.
“That really shouldn’t have happened,” Stiles said after a long silence.
“No, it really shouldn’t have,” Derek said. It was a bad idea. A terrible idea. They should not have done that. Stiles sat up and looked down at him. He looked young and vulnerable in a way that Derek did not expect. While some apprehension on his part was to be expected he did not stop to consider that it might have been a long time since Stiles had touched someone too. For Derek it had been six years since Kate, but Stiles was older than he looked, much older, it could have been centuries and there were probably countless times Stiles could have been with someone, but here he was, lips red and swollen from kissing, with Derek.
“I’ll go outside so you can salt the room,” Stiles said, standing up.
“Wait, what if Nessa wasn’t alone?” Derek asked.
“She probably wasn’t but I know you’re not comfortable with me staying here so I’ll go outside,” Stiles replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Stiles had saved him, twice now, and they were beginning to trust each other more. It would have taken an idiot not to see that. Stiles nodded like his silence was confirmation, but Derek stood and took Stiles by the arm.
“It’s not safe out there,” Derek said.
“I know but I can take care of myself. I told you it’s not like I sleep so I can keep watch out there and you can salt the door and windows. No problem,” Stiles said confused.
“You can stay here if you’d like,” Derek said slowly like he did not trust the words coming out of his mouth. Stiles had offered a lot to him since they had met, willing staying outside all night and saving his life, not calling him out on how little Derek trusted him, and Derek figured it was his turn to extent the olive branch. Stiles blinked and stared like he could not believe that Derek had offered that.
“Okay.” Derek nodded and went into the bathroom to get ready for bed. When he emerged Stiles was sitting in the chair at the small desk watching the door carefully. When Derek walked back into the room Stiles watched him with wide eyes. Derek nodded, turned off the light and lay down to get some sleep but for some reason sleep could not find him. Stiles was right across the room and it was really quite unnerving. He used to people watch a lot when he was younger, Laura said that he ‘lurked,’ and he could understand why people would find it uncomfortable. “I can’t sleep with you staring at me.”
“I don’t sleep ,so what exactly would you like me to do? Lie down next to you?” Stiles scoffed, but Derek shrugged.
“I doubt anyone could tell you to do anything, Stiles,” he said closing his eyes. There was a beat of silence before Stiles grumbled something under his breath and flopped down on top of the covers next to Derek. He was fairly confident that Stiles was not going to kill him and Stiles had offered to leave the room twice so Derek could lock him out. Stiles had saved his life twice now and was angry when Derek had protected. To kill him now made no sense, not when Derek was going to die in less than ten years away, so he was able to relax a little. Stiles, however, would not sit still and kept moving every few minutes jerking Derek from sleep. “Stop fidgeting.”
“My apologies princess, not enough mattresses between you and the pea?”
“Shut up, Stiles.”
+++
They got the hell out of there a few hours later. It was an irresponsible thing to do considering they had been lured to Cincinnati by Saul with the intention of having someone else kill the two of them, but every time Derek would turn to leave Stiles would smirk and they were suddenly making out again. Or Derek would turn around and Stiles would push him against a wall and kiss the breath from his lungs. It took some time, but they did manage to get out of town eventually. As they sped away from the city and continued to head East Stiles seemed to calm down the further they got from the town. It was late evening by the time they got to Pittsburgh and they stopped just outside the main city.
Derek managed to find a small motel that would not ask too many questions. The receptionist was a teenage girl who looked bored as he booked the room and Derek had a brief moment of panic when she asked whether he wanted one or two beds. She missed him glancing out to his car where Stiles was sitting before Derek told her ‘one.’
Stiles raised an eyebrow when he walked into the hotel room and saw the one bed. Derek dropped his bag on the floor and said nothing. They had slept in the same room and the same bed now and if Stiles made a big deal Derek could always tell him to go outside so he could salt the door.
“Really, Hale, one bed? Aren’t you being a little presumptuous?” Stiles asked but he was smirking.
“I really don’t think I am,” Derek replied as he walked further into the room. “Problem?”
“Oh I don’t know. Maybe I don’t want to watch you sleep like a creeper,” Stiles replied, but they were walking toward each other. Derek felt like he was being drawn to Stiles like a magnet and it scared the hell out of him
“You absolutely want to watch me sleep like a creeper,” Derek said when they were inches apart.
“Yeah, you’re right, I do.” Stiles fisted Derek’s t-shirt and yanked him into a rough kiss. Aside from Kate Derek did not have a lot of experience kissing other people but even if he did he had a feeling it would be nothing like kissing Stiles. With everyone else in the world he needed to hold back, make sure no one got hurt, but with Stiles he could kiss as hard as he wanted. He could pull Stiles against his body hard enough to hurt and Stiles would not complain. Stiles did not complain when Derek shoved him back against the bed, he just smirked and dragged Derek down to kiss him some more.
They were flushed against each other, Stiles’ tongue in his mouth, Derek grinding down and hands aching to touch skin when Derek’s cell phone started to ring. No one ever called him and Derek groaned.
“Ignore it,” Stiles said as they kissed.
“It might be important,” Derek said and it probably was, but stopping this little make out session seemed like an impossible mission.
“Your hero complex is so irritating,” Stiles said against his mouth as he blindly reached for Derek’s cell phone. For half a second Derek thought he was going to ignore the call, but he just handed it to Derek and fell back against the pillows. Stiles’ lips were swollen red and there was a bite mark on his neck that was going to be gone soon and Derek briefly considered throwing his phone against the wall in favor of adding another to that tempting neck. Instead he rolled over and answered the phone.
“Hello?” Derek thought he did a fairly good job at hiding the rough edge to his voice but judging by the way Stiles snorted he did not do a very good job.
“Have you been gargling marbles or something?” Laura asked. Derek sat up frowning deeply because he had not heard a word from Laura since he had left.
“Laura? Are you okay?” he asked.
“I’m fine. It’s not like you have another soul to sell to save me anyway,” she said bitterly and Derek winced. Stiles had gone uncomfortably still beside him in the bed. “I got a call from the Reading pack that mom and dad knew really well back in the day. They’ve heard of you and there have been some strange happenings in their neck of the woods and they were wondering if you could come take a look.”
“You’re passing a case onto me?” Derek said surprised.
“I said I’d ask you to look into it so if you’re busy hunting some demon for some misguided revenge then you don’t have to go.” Laura really did not like him going after Saul but this was not a fight they could have on the phone.
“We’ll check it out,” he said and immediately regretted it because Derek was not sure Laura knew that Stiles was traveling with him. There was a long silence and it was deeply uncomfortable. If Derek did not know better he would have thought that Laura had hung up on him but that was something that she just did not do no matter how angry she was.
“I’ll let them know you’re on the way. Be careful,” Laura said finally and the line went dead. Derek stared at his phone and wanted to call her back, to explain everything, but Laura was as stubborn as he was. There was no way she was going to listen, not yet, and possibly not ever. The thought that she might not let him back into her life hurt worse than any stab wound, broken bone, or wolfsbane.
Derek put his phone back on the table and fell back against the pillows. When Stiles got up to leave the room Derek followed him. Stiles stopped just outside the door, shoved his hands in his pockets, and watched Derek as he lined the door and windows. Stiles said nothing as he was locked out of the room and the Derek closed the door. He was sitting against the wall next to the door, he was not making any effort to conceal himself, and Derek fell asleep to the sound of Stiles’ heartbeat through the wall.
+++
The drive to Reading took almost five hours and Derek exchanged maybe ten words with Stiles the entire time. Derek knew that he had overheard the entire conversation and that made things a little awkward between them. They had researched Reading to see that a few young children had died in odd ways recently. All of them were considered ‘accidents’, but the local pack seemed worried about it. They had some teenagers and they wanted to make sure that their young ones were not going to be targeted. They knew Derek was coming so he was not going to have to make contact with anyone which was good because he was not sure how he was going to explain Stiles’ presence.
Derek pulled into a local coffee shop and Stiles sat by the window as Derek ordered so he could use the wifi without getting dirty looks. Derek sat down with his laptop and was not surprised when Stiles moved his chair so they were sitting next to each other.
“What do we know so far?” Stiles asked. He was not quite in Derek’s personal space ,but they were still close.
“A bunch of kids are dying in what looks like a bunch of freak accidents,” Derek replied pointing to the list of obituaries. “At first it was just one school, but now it’s jumped to another.”
“So whatever we’re dealing with decided to jump ship,” Stiles said frowning deeply. “But why make it look like an accident? Supernaturals love showing off because it give them some sort of street credit. A vampire will show off the fang marks, most demons leave signs, you don’t get respected if no one knows you’re killing.”
“You’re saying that making all of these deaths look like accidents makes no sense,” Derek said and Stiles nodded. “It’s something that doesn’t want to be found then. Saul doesn’t want to be found so he’s not waving a red flag and showing off.”
“Saul is not the norm.” There was a dark edge to Stiles’ voice as he looked over the information on the computer.
“I don’t think looking at any of the bodies is going to help,” Derek said. “All of the causes of death were pretty obvious. I think at this point we should just do some poking around at the high school where the last kid died.”
“Better let me do most of the lurking since I could pass for a high schooler and you’ll just get accosted by Chris Hansen,” Stiles said and that familiar grin was there.
“I’m not even going to ask how you know that reference,” Derek said closing the computer unable to fight the smile tugging at his lips. Stiles knocked their shoulders together and just like that the tension from the night before faded. Derek was not so quick to say that everything was okay, but it felt better.
+++
Derek was experiencing some serious deja-vu. This high school reminded him far too much of his own and it was making the memories of the fire linger a bit too close to the surface. He wished he could say that they were being inconspicuous, but it was a little hard because he and Stiles looked shady as hell. There was a large lacrosse field on the side of the school and judging from the sounds Derek could hear it was the varsity team. Their coach was yelling out drills and it made something in Derek’s chest tighten. If Stiles noticed he was smart enough not to say anything which Derek was eternally grateful for.
“Number twenty-four is doing really well,” Derek said narrowing his eyes. “He’s the captain and he’s really, really good.”
“Suspiciously so?” Stiles asked.
“I swear during one of the drills the kid he was playing against got out of the way inside of trying to stop him.” Derek leaned back against his car as he pulled out the notebook. He flipped through the pages trying to find something on skill but nothing was standing out. “We need to talk to that kid.”
“More like I do. Like I said, I could pass as one of these kids or at least as a recent graduate,” Stiles said standing up a little straighter as Derek side eyed him. “What? Do you want to stay close and make sure the teenager doesn’t try to eat me or something?”
“I feel like I should make a joke about being the only one who is allowed to eat you but that seems in bad taste even for our sense of humor,” Derek said as he closed the book but Stiles grinned. Stiles slouched, made himself look unassuming, as he walked over to the practice that was just finishing up. Derek could hear the conversation from where he was sitting and it was almost unnerving how good Stiles was at making people open up to him. He chatted about inane things with the kid for a bit, asking about what schools he was looking into and if he wanted to play professionally, and eventually managed to lead into the death’s.
“It was an accident, you know?” the kid said twirling his lacrosse stick in hand. “I didn’t want to be captain but was passed down to me after Bill died.”
“Passed down? I thought captain was based on merit. I mean, I only graduated last year, are you young kids changing it up so much already?” Stiles asked with a grin and the kid laughed.
“Nah, we passed this stick down from captain to captain. It’s a tradition,” the kid said looking at the stick in his hands. “Just having it makes me feel like a better player.” Derek sat up straighter because that was strange. Fortunately Stiles seemed to catch on as well.
“Yeah? The kid that died used to have this stick too?” Stiles asked with an odd edge to his voice. “Maybe you should give it to me.”
“Why would I do that?” the kid snapped, but Stiles smiled easily.
“You should really give that stick to me,” Stiles repeated. Sometimes Derek forgot that Stiles was a crossroads demon, the King of the Crossroads, and that meant he was a professional at manipulating people. That lacrosse stick was drawing whatever was killing these kids and they needed to get it away. If they had the stick they could draw whatever it was out and kill it. The kid stared at Stiles for a long time until he slowly gave up the lacrosse stick and walked back toward the school. Stiles turned and walked across the street twirling the stick in hand as if he knew exactly what he was doing.
“I’m thinking it draws whatever it killing these kids out,” Derek said when Stiles joined him but Stiles did not look convinced.
“Maybe,” he said slowly. “There really is only way for me to know for sure.”
“Know what for sure?” Derek asked but before he could react Stiles had shoved the lacrosse stick in his hand. Derek frowned deeply but Stiles was just grinning like something amusing had just happened. “What are you doing?”
“Just hang onto that. I’m testing something,” Stiles said. “Let’s go find a motel, shall we?” Derek had more questions but at this point he knew when Stiles was not going share additional information. He went to throw the stick in the back seat but a hand clenched his wrist and stopped him. “I said hang onto it and I meant that literally.”
“What’s going on, Stiles?” Derek asked as they climbed into the car.
“I said that I’m testing something. Don’t worry; this won’t take long if I’m right.” Stiles climbed into the passenger seat and made sure he was not touching the lacrosse stick at any moment in time. They drove around town until they found a motel. The receptionist gave Derek a weird look for the lacrosse stick, but Derek was used to getting looks for stranger things in life his. Stiles followed him into the room and flopped down on the bed staring at the ceiling. “Turn on that police scanner app you have on your phone.”
“You need to clue me in on this,” Derek said turning on the application just as the frequency started to go crazy about an accident at the school. Derek frowned deeply as they talked about the lacrosse captain and how he fell down a flight of stairs. Stiles look resigned as they listened but said nothing. “Did you know that would happen? That a kid was going to die?”
“I had a feeling but he was going to die no matter what,” Stiles replied sitting up on his elbows and nodding at the lacrosse stick. “That lacrosse stick is cursed.”
“A cursed lacrosse stick,” Derek said slowly.
“I know, right? What is with this world?” Stiles said laughing, but it did not reach his eyes. Something was wrong.
“What aren’t you telling me?” Derek said and Stiles sighed.
“You don’t get hit with the after effects of the curse until the object is passed onto another person,” Stiles explained.
“And you gave the stick to me. Why the hell did you do that, Stiles?” Derek snapped. “Are you going to die now?”
“Maybe,” Stiles said shrugging. “But I have a better chance of surviving it than you. All we need to do is break the curse and we’re fine. No more teenagers or Stiles’ have to die.” Derek stared at Stiles. He had the distinct feeling that he was being protected. Calling Stiles on it would probably just lead to a fight that Derek was really not in the mood to have. Instead he sat down on the bed next to Stiles and opened up the notebook to see if there was anything on cursed objects. There was precious little to go on and nothing that was actually helpful. Derek groaned and tossed the notebook back in his bag.
“Do you know anything?” Derek asked.
“Oh I know plenty, you know that, but without knowing how the stick was cursed all of my knowledge is pretty useless. We’re going to have to try to find the original kid.” Stiles sat up and stretched. “Time for a research montage.”
Said research montage including going to the library and digging through news articles trying to connect each kid to the stick. No one else seemed to see anything resembling a pattern and all of the deaths really were just freak accidents even if they were caused by a curse. They were in the back of the large library when Derek heard a crash and a grunt from the back of the building. He smelled blood and immediately raced through the stacks to find Stiles half buried by a pile of large hardcover books with a deep gash on the top of his head. Derek had tied the stick to his back and he knelt down placing a hand over the wound.
“If you were human that would have killed you,” Derek said slowly.
“Probably,” Stiles replied dazed.
“The more you out live it the worse this is going to get,” Derek said pulling his hand away because the wound was nearly gone. People were running toward them and Derek wiped his hand on his black t-shirt to hide the blood.
“I’m fine, I’m fine!” Stiles cried out. “Head wounds, they like to bleed, but it’s totally fine and I’m not going to sue!” The librarian did not look convinced and she dragged Stiles to the front to put a bandaid on the cut that would be gone soon. They walked out of the library and Derek managed to stop Stiles from tumbling to what should have been his death down the stone stairs. He was still the owner of the stick though so he should have been able to touch Stiles and not transfer the curse or something.
Their research montage eventually lead them to a school halfway across town. The captain of the lacrosse team died in a terrible car accident and they needed to know what he was into. Stiles, the devious little thing he was, managed to find a way to get the still grieving parents to go out on a free dinner so they could break into the house. It seemed like a great plan until Stiles got hit by a car and rolled onto the street in a mess of broken limbs. The driver was a drunk that had passed out at the wheel and had no idea he had just hit someone which Derek was oddly grateful for. He dragged Stiles across the street and hid him behind a bunch of bushes. It looked like almost every bone in his body was broken and when Stiles coughed there was blood on his lips.
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Stiles said through his clenched jaw. “Get in there and try to find out what the kid was into. Bring anything useful with you.”
“You look terrible,” Derek said his hands skirting along the wounds, but Stiles batted his hands away.
“Get in there before the universe figures out I’m not a human and does something that will actually kill me.” Stiles fell back against the dirt, breathing slowly, but he still managed a rather impressive glare. Derek pushed himself to his feet and easily broke into the small house.
The kids room was exactly how he had left it, Derek could tell by the thin layer of dust, as if the parents could not bare the thought of even going inside. There were a few strange books that he stuffed in his bag and he booted up the kids computer and copied the entirety of his internet history onto a flash drive. Derek could hear the parents’ car heading back home and he barely took the extra time to put everything back where it was. They were only a few blocks away when Derek got back outside and hefted Stiles’ arm over his shoulder. The drunk driver was thankfully gone and Derek hoped he had thought he’d hit a dog or something.
“Oh my god, is he okay?” the mom asked as he jumped out of the car.
“Yeah, just had too much drink,” Derek replied heading toward his car parked a few blocks away. Stiles dug his nails into Derek’s shoulders because they did not want the parents to notice that someone had broken into their house.
“Are you sure you’re all right, son?” the dad asked.
“I’m fine!” Stiles slurred as if he was drunk. The parents looked a little less worried and Derek continued to walk them away from the house. “Faster, faster.”
“Fine.” Derek did not wait for Stiles to argue before he scooped him up bridal style and ran the two of them back to the car.
“That was humiliating,” Stiles grumbled as he collapsed into the passenger seat.
“You said you wanted to get out of there fast so I got you out fast. Stop complaining it’s not like anyone saw,” Derek replied driving away from the neighborhood and back toward the other side of town. Stiles spent the time looking through the books and wincing in pain every time they hit a bump in the road.
“It’s like a lucky rabbits foot only without the rabbit,” Stiles said as they got closer to the motel. “We need to burn it in a cemetery with bone ash and cayenne pepper.” Derek turned off at a small grocery store and bought the pepper and when he got back Stiles had a small baggie in his hand.
“Is that bone ash?” Derek asked climbing back into the car.
“I still have friends,” Stiles replied shrugging which was a great non-answer. Derek rolled his eyes and drove the two of them to a graveyard. They had just parked for all of two minutes before someone shot Stiles straight in the stomach with no provocation whatsoever. The man was dressed like a mugger but had decided to skip the mugging part and get straight to the murder. Stiles looked surprised by the small hole in his stomach and Derek had to once again drag his bleeding body across the dirt until they were at a spot where no one would see a small fire burning. “This murder thing is irritating.” Stiles had a hand to his stomach and his face was ashen gray.
“What happens if this doesn’t work?” Derek asked as he pulled the lacrosse stick off of his back and set it on the ground.
“Well if you don’t own it anymore then the curse hits you and you die,” Stiles replied sounding far too nonchalant to be talking about their inevitable, painful deaths. Derek stared before dropping the bone ash and pepper on the ground and lighting them on fire. The flame reflected in Stiles’ eyes and for a second Derek was sure they flashed red for a moment. Derek sat down on the ground next to Stiles and waited for Stiles heal. The silence was almost peaceful as they watched the stick slowly burn away.
“So, a cursed lacrosse stick,” Derek said.
“A curse fucking lacrosse stick,” Stiles repeated and they looked each other. Derek was able to remain serious for all of ten second before bursting into laughter. Stiles joined him and the two of them laughed and laughed together watching the smoke rise high into the night.
+++
They hung around town for two days before leaving. Nothing tried to kill either of them so Derek assumed that the curse was taken care of it and they could leave. Stiles was a mess of unreleased energy and even after they spent most of the second day in the motel room he was still practically vibrating. Derek started to head east again and was going to hit New Jersey eventually. When they got to the coast he was not sure where to go from there. They knew that Saul was somewhere in New England but besides that they had almost nothing to go on. Derek really did not want to start driving up and down the eastern seaboard until they heard something that looked like it was going to be the only option.
“Oh my god will you stop moving for the love of god,” Derek said the third time he had to reach over and stop Stiles’ leg from shaking.
“Something has me on edge, what would you like me to do about it?” Stiles asked as he chewed on his thumb. Derek sighed heavily and pulled the car off to the side of the road. “What, do you need to go eat some sort of wild life or something? I’ll wait, don’t worry.”
“You need to burn off some of that energy,” Derek said taking the keys out of the ignition. Stiles did a rather impressive eyebrow waggle thing that was really hard to even classify.
“I can think of a few ways,” Stiles said his voice an octave lower than normal.
“Stiles, I’m not fucking you in the Camaro.” Derek opened the door and got out of the car ignoring Stiles’ pout. “I am going to work off your energy though.”
“Oh yeah? How are you going to do that?” Stiles asked. Derek smirked, took Stiles by the arm and pulled him off the road and into a small field. There was enough of an decline that anyone passing by would not see them because the last thing they needed was someone walking in on this. “What, are we going to fuck in a field then? I had no idea you were such a romantic, Derek.”
“No, we’re not fucking anywhere, you are going to keep me from breaking your nose.” Derek did not give Stiles a chance to reply before he punched him. Stiles was so taken back that he did not have time to react and he stumbled back holding a hand to his nose. A little bit of blood trickled out and Derek might have been a little too proud of the fact that Stiles was so unguarded with him that he was actually able to draw blood. It was also something a normal person would have read into but whatever he and Stiles were to each other ‘normal’ was not it.
“So, you want to spar then,” Stiles said wiping the blood from his nose. He rolled his shoulders and something in his entire posture changed. If Derek had better survival instincts, at least when it came to Stiles, he would have turned tail and ran for his life. As it was Derek just raised his fists and smirked. He said nothing and Stiles must have taken that for a confirmation because he rushed forward.
Before the fire Derek has sparred with almost everyone in his family, but his mom was the fastest out of all of them. She sometimes moved so fast that her movements were blurred even to his eyes. His dad was the alpha but his mom had the natural agility of being a woman gave her the speed advantage. She drilled it into him that being strong was important but if he could not evade there was no point. Laura had done her best to keep up on his training with speed but she was not nearly as fast as their mother. Derek was well versed in fighting those with extreme speed and up until this moment he thought he was prepared.
Derek thought he was prepared until Stiles came after him. The night Nessa tried to kill them was the only time they had really fought It took a considerable amount of effort to avoid Stiles’ first two punches. He ducked and tried to punch Stiles in the kidneys but Stiles jumped back effortlessly. There was some space between them and Stiles was grinning. His eyes were rimmed red and Derek knew that his own were starting to turn blue. Derek said nothing as he charged Stiles again and every time his knuckles touched fabric Stiles would wrench out of the way. Derek managed to avoid most of Stiles’ hits but he nearly had the wind knocked out of him once or twice.
Stiles laughed and Derek decided that it was time for him to end this. He ducked against one of the punches, swept one of his feet around to knock Stiles off of his feet and hand a hard jab to Stiles’ solar plexus. Somewhere around stage two of his plan Stiles managed to get a hold on his arm and flipped Derek onto his back hard enough that he saw stars. He tried to blink his vision clear but Stiles was over him in a second, his forearm to Derek’s throat, smiling brighter than Derek had ever seen.
“Ha, I win,” Stiles said. There was not enough pressure to his throat that it was cutting off his airways but it was there enough that was not going anywhere anytime soon.
“That you did. Did you get all of that extra energy burned off?” Derek asked. Stiles’ smiled melted into something much more mischievous.
“Not quite.” The arm was removed from Derek’s neck as Stiles proceeded to once again kiss the breath from his lungs. This was different from the first time they kissed. While Stiles was still hard and demanding they were not kissing hard enough to bruise. They were slow, dirty kisses with lots of tongue lined with promises of what would be happening when they got to the next town and into a motel room. Or right now judging by the way that Stiles began to grind down on him. Derek sucked on Stiles’ tongue and enjoyed the moan he made. “I thought you said we weren’t going to fuck in a field.”
“You’re the one who kissed me,” Derek argued, but that did not stop him from slipping his hands under Stiles’ shirt to get to skin. His instincts screamed at him to mark Stiles, to show the rest of the world that he was taken, and that feeling hit Derek so hard it made him gasp. Stiles took advantage of that to bite down on Derek’s lower lip nearly hard enough to draw blood. Derek was lost in the scent of Stiles, his long fingers threading through his hair, the smooth skin of his back as Derek’s hands slipped further up his t-shirt, that by the time he noticed another heartbeat approaching them at alarming speed it was far too late to do anything.
Stiles was thrown off of Derek before he even had a chance to react and landed several feet away hard. There was a woman standing in front of him, as if protecting, but she was not a human. Derek could see the glow of her yellow eyes, her claws, fangs as she snarled, she was a wolf like him. Stiles groaned and cracked his neck loudly.
"Okay, ow," he said.
"Stay away from him you hell spawn," the she-wolf growled and that was enough.
"Okay there has been a misunderstanding," Derek said pushing himself to his feet. "He wasn't hurting me, he won't hurt me, so everyone let's just calm down." Stiles raised an eyebrow, but appeared to make himself look smaller, less like a threat, and it threw Derek for a loop because five minutes earlier he had kicked Derek's ass. The she-wolf stared Stiles down for a moment until the gold faded from her eyes and her claws vanished. She squared her shoulders and made herself look taller.
"I thought he was going to kill you," she said by way of explanation with no apology. Now that he was not worried about someone getting torn apart, he got a good look at her. Her hair was brown and long falling to the middle of her back. Her eyes were amber and reminded him of Stiles' and she was not that shorter than either of them. Derek spread his senses, but felt no one else nearby. She was alone. No wolf would confront something without a pack for a stranger. She looked at Derek and did not hide the fact that she liked what she saw. It was awkward for someone to stare at him so openly. "I'm Jess."
"Derek and this is Stiles," he replied as Stiles joined the two of them. Normally Stiles was like a billboard for whatever he was feeling, nut now he was strangely blank right now.
"You're a hunter," Jess said. "There have been some interesting rumors about the two of you." Derek exchanged a glance with Stiles because Derek was not sure how he felt about those in the supernatural knowing about him.
"Yes, he is a hunter, is that a problem?" Stiles asked after an uncomfortable silence had passed. Jess smiled without acknowledging Stiles.
"Not at all. I'm actually in need of someone with your skill set." Jess cocked a hip and her smile didn't falter. "I'm an omega, but I'm quite attached to my town. I've been protecting it for years and it looks like something has slipped through the cracks." She touched Derek's arm and looked at him through hooded eyes. "Interested?" Derek glanced down at her hand on his arm. This was supposed to be a calming gesture but one that was only done by pack members. For an omega, a total stranger to do it, was not okay. Jess looked at his arm and removed her hand slowly fingertips dragging across the leather.
“We’ll take a look into it,” Derek said because he could not walk away if people were getting killed. It was the hero complex that Stiles was always so quick to remind him of. Jess smiled brightly and Stiles narrowed his eyes at her. The tension was thick in the air as they walked back to the car.
+++
The town turned out to be a full hour away and that hour was horrible and seemed to last forever. Stiles sat in the front seat looking extremely annoyed while Jess did her best to bother Derek with lots of questions. She was extremely interested in finding out how he managed to be a beta away from his alpha and how the two of them worked as a pack. She was not chatty in the same way that Stiles sometimes went off on tangents but she still talked more than Derek was really comfortable with. There was also the alarming part that Stiles barely said ten words the entire way into the town.
The town was so small there was no shady motels for them to check into, just a bed and breakfast, which was not exactly ideal since places like that tended to remember people. Jess did not say anything when Derek got a one bedroom but he did catch her glaring at Stiles a little. He wanted to ask her what her problem was but the more he thought about it the more he realized that most people would be uncomfortable with the idea of walking around with a demon. He might have been a bit biased.
Derek tossed their bags into the room and they settle outside on the curb in front of the bed and breakfast. Derek could feel Jess’ hip touching his and he really wanted to tell her to back off. Stiles was on the other side, further away, and looking bored. Stiles looked like he was taking in all of the details around them while completely ignoring the presence of the two werewolves right next to him.
“What can you tell me?” Derek asked when it became clear that Stiles was checked out of this conversation.
“Three people have died in the last two months,” Jess said angrily.
“That hardly sounds like a pattern, how do you know it’s not just some crazy human?” Stiles asked idly. “I’ve seen the shit those people are capable of.”
“They were torn apart,” Jess spat out. “It was like something out of a horror movie. Something got passed my defenses and I want it dead.” Stiles hummed, but Derek was interested now. If there was something capable of doing that much damage running around he had to take care of it. Jess sighed heavily and pulled out her cellphone. In a few minutes she handed it to Derek and he could look through the pictures. Stiles was looking over his shoulder and out of the corner of his eye Derek saw Stiles grimace. To say that these people were torn apart would be an understatement. Were it not for certain distinguishing features Derek would not have been able to tell if they were male or female.
“Well that is horrifying,” Stiles said.
“I want it gone, will you help me?” Jess asked as Derek handed her the phone back. Her fingers brushed against his. Derek glanced at Stiles but he looked checked out again.
“Yeah, we’ll help you,” he said.
+++
“Not a fan,” Stiles said from where he was lying on their bed taking up the entire thing and delegating Derek to the small desk in the corner.
“Not a fan of what?” Derek asked.
“Our employer. Aren’t omegas supposed to be submissive when it comes to running into wolves with a pack?” Stiles asked.
“They can be, but that doesn’t mean anything really.” Derek turned in his chair so he could look at Stiles. “There is something here, why should it matter if someone came to us instead of the other way around?”
“She’s creeping around me like I’m going to drag her into the depths of hell. It’s annoying,” Stiles replied shrugging. He sat up and walked over to Derek. Derek watched Stiles carefully as he climbed into Derek’s lap and wrapped his arms around his neck. “This is boring, we can’t do anything until the morning, and I still have energy to burn off.”
“God forbid you get bored,” Derek said but he was smiling and wrapping his arms around Stiles.
“Ugh, let’s not bring god into this, I don’t think it’ll end well for either of us.” Stiles kissed Derek and this really was not getting old anytime soon. It felt like it was in bad taste to say that Stiles had a sinful mouth but he could do things with his tongue that made Derek see stars. Aside from Kate no one had been this eager to touch him and it was nice to be the center of someone’s attention again. Stiles eased off of Derek’s lap and pulled him toward the bed without breaking their kiss. Derek was about to push Stiles when he did this little twist and Derek was on his back with Stiles sitting on his hips before he could react. “Trying to get the jump on me, wolf boy?”
“Can’t blame me for trying.” Derek rolled his hips in a way that made Stiles’ pupil dilate and a smirk form on his lips.
“Let me know how that works for you.”
<-- back forward -->
Derek did not stop driving once they made it back to the car. Stiles whined until Derek explained what a headache pack negotiations were. Stiles nodded and they spent the next few days driving toward Ohio. Stiles asked about being a kid and when he manifested and Derek asked about Stiles life before werewolves and demons.
Stiles was from the early settlers in the America's and remembered in detail how sick he was on the boat ride over. Derek was hesitant to give up information about his family life, but Stiles answered every question Derek asked as if he had nothing to hide anymore. After that it got easier and Derek had never talked about any of this with anyone. It was cathartic in a way that was brand new to Derek and he noticed that Stiles seemed a little lighter as well. They were sitting in the parking lot of a grocery store just outside Cincinnati eating sandwiches and looking through the papers for any signs of activity.
"I have to say I kind of wish I had been born in this century," Stiles said as he finished his turkey and cheddar. "All of this technology and how global it all is? I would have kicked ass in this century."
"I'm sure you would have," Derek replied as patronizing as possible. Derek smiled when Stiles hit him on the arm. "There have been some electrical storms in the area. So not Saul but maybe someone we can get information from?" Stiles leaned across the console and he was suddenly very much in Derek's personal space.
"These signs are really obvious. We're either dealing with a baby or someone who wants to be noticed." Stiles sat back in his seat and grimaced. "Either way it's going to be annoying."
“Should we go investigate?” Derek asked.
“Well, according to my old friend, Saul knows that we’re looking for him and he knows about you. Drawing us into a trap would be something he would do. At the same time it could be a subordinate of his trying to draw us into a trap. Or it’s a stupid baby that has no idea how to hide their tells,” Stiles said as he tapped a finger against his lips which was really distracting for some reason. “We have to go poke around. If nothing else we can send a baby back into the pit so they don’t cause any problems.”
“It’s probably a trap,” Derek said as he finished his sandwich.
“Probably, but it could be fun,” Stiles replied. Derek sighed and started the car up again to head into Cincinnati. Stiles was looking out the window carefully looking for something that could give away the location of the demon they were looking for but nothing jumped out. Cincinnati was a big enough city that it was impossible to pick out one scent. Derek found a decent motel off the pain path and got a room that only had one bed, but Stiles never slept in the same room so it was fine. Stiles was leaning against the car frowning deeply when Derek returned with the keys.
“Do you see something?” Derek asked.
“No, and that bothers me. I don’t want to just go out there looking for trouble because it might be trap, but I don’t like sitting around waiting for trouble to find me either,” Stiles replied. “I have a feeling that this demon knows we’re here though.”
“I don’t think the element of surprise was ever in our favor,” Derek said as he pulled the bags out of the car. It took some extra time to gather some salt, holy water and the extra demon killing knife. Stiles still looked almost worried, but he followed Derek into the room nevertheless. Derek wanted to salt the doors and windows again, but he was not sure how Stiles would react to being trapped in the room instead of out. Stiles sat down on the edge of the bed and gripped it tight enough that his knuckles were turning white. “This is really bothering you,” Derek said leaning against the wall.
“Yes because I really think this is a trap and I don’t like not knowing what I’m up against,” Stiles replied. “Saul could be out there right now and there is nothing I can do, but wait because he’s hidden in a city of 300,000 people.”
“We could fortify this room. Salt the windows and doors, lock ourselves in, if they want us then they can come get us,” Derek suggested and Stiles tensed when Derek mentioned salting the doors and windows. While it would keep others out it would also trap Stiles in. Derek could understand not wanting that and decided not to mention it again. “Outside then, maybe near here so I don’t have to drag my arsenal around?”
“Too public. We need to go somewhere more secluded otherwise we might get some stupid human wandering into the crossfire. A park at night or something like that. There was one a few blocks away. If they want to come to us then let them come to us.” Stiles released his grip on the edge of the bed and he smirked to himself. “You ready to go down fighting, Derek?”
“Always,” Derek said without hesitation. Stiles smiled and it was hard to resist that smile. Derek worked on getting all of his things together while Stiles looked out the window of the motel chewing on his nails. The sun set but they waited until it was late. Derek managed to hide his shotgun in such a way that they could walk to the park and it would not be seen. Stiles had the other knife hidden in the sleeve of his plaid shirt, but even armed Derek did not feel safe. It felt like someone was watching them, but there were too many sounds and too many heartbeats to pick single one out.
“Something isn’t right,” Stiles said as they walked through the park. “There should be people around here even though it’s almost midnight but we’re alone.” Derek was about to agree when he heard another heartbeat coming at them quickly. He took Stiles’ arm and looked around. “What is it?”
“Your puppy heard me,” a voice said and they both turned to see a young woman walking toward them a shotgun in hand. Her hair was long and brown, her eyes completely black and she had a sinister smile. “Hello Stiles.”
“Nessa, I see Saul still has you doing his dirty work,” Stiles said and Nessa laughed.
“You know I enjoy this kind of work. I’ve been waiting for the day I get to go after you for years. This is the first time Saul actually thought you were threatening enough to send me,” Nessa explained. “Your wolf is adorable too, where did you find such a cute little thing? It’s a shame you got him involved.”
“Saul got me involved when he killed my family,” Derek said as he reached for his shotgun ready to pump this bitch full of rock salt, but Nessa was quick in pointing the gun at him.
“Bad idea Derek. If you take a step back I’ll let you walk away from this. Right now my dispute is with Stiles, not you, so you can go back to your sister and frolic in the moonlight all you want,” Nessa said. “You could watch this though because it’ll be a show.” Nessa moved the gun so it was pointing at Stiles and pulled the trigger. Several things happened at once and Derek moved without thinking. He shoved Stiles aside and took the buckshot. Only it was not buckshot, it was a mixture of salt and wolfbane that knocked the air from his lungs. It was potent, strong, and it made him fall over before he had a chance to react. Derek looked up and saw that Stiles was looking down at him with wide eyes like he could not believe what he was seeing. “Well, that works too, these rounds were going to hurt Stiles but kill you.”
“That was a mistake, Nessa,” Stiles said as he slowly looked back at her. She tensed under his glare and Stiles slid the knife from his sleeve and into his hand. The wolfsbane was traveling fast and it was going to reach his heart any minute now. “Now drop your gun and run.”
“Why would I do a stupid thing like that?” Nessa asked but she looked worried.
“Have it your way.” Stiles rushed forward so fast that even Derek’s werewolf eyes could not keep up with it. Nessa managed to block two hits before Stiles slashed her throat. She made a horrible gurgling sound as she collapsed to the ground. Derek could feel the wolfsbane rushing through his system and the world was beginning to haze over. Stiles was by his side in seconds trying to shake him awake. “Hey, stay with me, this is going to hurt like hell.” Derek did not get a chance to respond before Stiles was cutting a long cut into his chest and shoving ash and salt into it. It burned worse than before, but a hand clasped over his mouth to hide his screaming. “Now you know how it feels,” Stiles grumbled as the pain began to fade. “I think we got it all. Up we go.” Stiles hoisted his arm up and pulled Derek to his feet. The world began to slowly clear as Stiles walked the two of them back to the motel. By the time they got there Derek was feeling much better.
“I can walk on my own,” Derek said as Stiles closed the door.
“Great so let’s talk about what a fucking idiot you are,” Stiles replied angrier than Derek had ever seen him. “I told you I can take care of myself. That crap would have hurt like hell, but it wouldn’t have nearly killed me, unlike you.”
“Are you really yelling at me for protecting you?” Derek asked. He narrowed his eyes as he walked into Stiles’ space. “When people work together they look out for each other.”
“Maybe you should let me look out for myself instead of trying to be a martyr,” Stiles snapped his eyes flashing red. Derek growled and took Stiles by the shirt slamming him into the wall.
“You don’t get to be angry at me for trying to protect you,” Derek said low and dangerously. He was about to add more when an invisible fist punched him in the chest so hard that Derek stumbled back. He blinked and he was on his back on the bed, Stiles straddling his waist and steely hands holding his wrists down. He was pinned.
“How does it feel not to be the most powerful one in the room, wolf? Does it bother you?” Stiles asked bitterly. “You forget that I could kill you without even trying.”
“Then why don’t you?” Derek yelled not even caring about the neighbors. Stiles went so still that it was a surprise. They were both breathing hard as they stared at each other, inches apart, and the tension was so thick Derek felt like he could hardly breath. Derek was not sure what happened next, but one second Stiles was staring him down, holding his wrists tight enough that the bones were grinding together, and Stiles was not moving. The next his wrists were released and he was pulling Stiles down as Stiles was reaching to him and their mouths crashed into a violent kiss. It was completely unexpected while not a surprise at all. They were kissing hard enough to bruise and Stiles parted his lips willing as Derek licked into his mouth.
Derek began to sit up slowly, taking Stiles with him, until he was upright and Stiles was practically in his lap.
“This is such a bad idea,” Stiles said between kisses as he sunk his fingers into Derek’s hair and tugged on it gently..
“The worst possible idea,” Derek replied as he managed to get away from that sinful mouth and began to kiss along Stiles’ jawline. Stiles pulled Derek away from his neck and they kissed again, hard and dirty, and Derek rolled them over so they were lying side by side on the bed. Stiles’ lips were as soft as the night they made the deal and he tasted amazing. They kissed until Derek’s lips felt numb and only then did he finally pull away. They lay side by side and the silence in the motel room was deafening save for the sound of their heavy breathing and pounding heartbeats.
“That really shouldn’t have happened,” Stiles said after a long silence.
“No, it really shouldn’t have,” Derek said. It was a bad idea. A terrible idea. They should not have done that. Stiles sat up and looked down at him. He looked young and vulnerable in a way that Derek did not expect. While some apprehension on his part was to be expected he did not stop to consider that it might have been a long time since Stiles had touched someone too. For Derek it had been six years since Kate, but Stiles was older than he looked, much older, it could have been centuries and there were probably countless times Stiles could have been with someone, but here he was, lips red and swollen from kissing, with Derek.
“I’ll go outside so you can salt the room,” Stiles said, standing up.
“Wait, what if Nessa wasn’t alone?” Derek asked.
“She probably wasn’t but I know you’re not comfortable with me staying here so I’ll go outside,” Stiles replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Stiles had saved him, twice now, and they were beginning to trust each other more. It would have taken an idiot not to see that. Stiles nodded like his silence was confirmation, but Derek stood and took Stiles by the arm.
“It’s not safe out there,” Derek said.
“I know but I can take care of myself. I told you it’s not like I sleep so I can keep watch out there and you can salt the door and windows. No problem,” Stiles said confused.
“You can stay here if you’d like,” Derek said slowly like he did not trust the words coming out of his mouth. Stiles had offered a lot to him since they had met, willing staying outside all night and saving his life, not calling him out on how little Derek trusted him, and Derek figured it was his turn to extent the olive branch. Stiles blinked and stared like he could not believe that Derek had offered that.
“Okay.” Derek nodded and went into the bathroom to get ready for bed. When he emerged Stiles was sitting in the chair at the small desk watching the door carefully. When Derek walked back into the room Stiles watched him with wide eyes. Derek nodded, turned off the light and lay down to get some sleep but for some reason sleep could not find him. Stiles was right across the room and it was really quite unnerving. He used to people watch a lot when he was younger, Laura said that he ‘lurked,’ and he could understand why people would find it uncomfortable. “I can’t sleep with you staring at me.”
“I don’t sleep ,so what exactly would you like me to do? Lie down next to you?” Stiles scoffed, but Derek shrugged.
“I doubt anyone could tell you to do anything, Stiles,” he said closing his eyes. There was a beat of silence before Stiles grumbled something under his breath and flopped down on top of the covers next to Derek. He was fairly confident that Stiles was not going to kill him and Stiles had offered to leave the room twice so Derek could lock him out. Stiles had saved his life twice now and was angry when Derek had protected. To kill him now made no sense, not when Derek was going to die in less than ten years away, so he was able to relax a little. Stiles, however, would not sit still and kept moving every few minutes jerking Derek from sleep. “Stop fidgeting.”
“My apologies princess, not enough mattresses between you and the pea?”
“Shut up, Stiles.”
+++
They got the hell out of there a few hours later. It was an irresponsible thing to do considering they had been lured to Cincinnati by Saul with the intention of having someone else kill the two of them, but every time Derek would turn to leave Stiles would smirk and they were suddenly making out again. Or Derek would turn around and Stiles would push him against a wall and kiss the breath from his lungs. It took some time, but they did manage to get out of town eventually. As they sped away from the city and continued to head East Stiles seemed to calm down the further they got from the town. It was late evening by the time they got to Pittsburgh and they stopped just outside the main city.
Derek managed to find a small motel that would not ask too many questions. The receptionist was a teenage girl who looked bored as he booked the room and Derek had a brief moment of panic when she asked whether he wanted one or two beds. She missed him glancing out to his car where Stiles was sitting before Derek told her ‘one.’
Stiles raised an eyebrow when he walked into the hotel room and saw the one bed. Derek dropped his bag on the floor and said nothing. They had slept in the same room and the same bed now and if Stiles made a big deal Derek could always tell him to go outside so he could salt the door.
“Really, Hale, one bed? Aren’t you being a little presumptuous?” Stiles asked but he was smirking.
“I really don’t think I am,” Derek replied as he walked further into the room. “Problem?”
“Oh I don’t know. Maybe I don’t want to watch you sleep like a creeper,” Stiles replied, but they were walking toward each other. Derek felt like he was being drawn to Stiles like a magnet and it scared the hell out of him
“You absolutely want to watch me sleep like a creeper,” Derek said when they were inches apart.
“Yeah, you’re right, I do.” Stiles fisted Derek’s t-shirt and yanked him into a rough kiss. Aside from Kate Derek did not have a lot of experience kissing other people but even if he did he had a feeling it would be nothing like kissing Stiles. With everyone else in the world he needed to hold back, make sure no one got hurt, but with Stiles he could kiss as hard as he wanted. He could pull Stiles against his body hard enough to hurt and Stiles would not complain. Stiles did not complain when Derek shoved him back against the bed, he just smirked and dragged Derek down to kiss him some more.
They were flushed against each other, Stiles’ tongue in his mouth, Derek grinding down and hands aching to touch skin when Derek’s cell phone started to ring. No one ever called him and Derek groaned.
“Ignore it,” Stiles said as they kissed.
“It might be important,” Derek said and it probably was, but stopping this little make out session seemed like an impossible mission.
“Your hero complex is so irritating,” Stiles said against his mouth as he blindly reached for Derek’s cell phone. For half a second Derek thought he was going to ignore the call, but he just handed it to Derek and fell back against the pillows. Stiles’ lips were swollen red and there was a bite mark on his neck that was going to be gone soon and Derek briefly considered throwing his phone against the wall in favor of adding another to that tempting neck. Instead he rolled over and answered the phone.
“Hello?” Derek thought he did a fairly good job at hiding the rough edge to his voice but judging by the way Stiles snorted he did not do a very good job.
“Have you been gargling marbles or something?” Laura asked. Derek sat up frowning deeply because he had not heard a word from Laura since he had left.
“Laura? Are you okay?” he asked.
“I’m fine. It’s not like you have another soul to sell to save me anyway,” she said bitterly and Derek winced. Stiles had gone uncomfortably still beside him in the bed. “I got a call from the Reading pack that mom and dad knew really well back in the day. They’ve heard of you and there have been some strange happenings in their neck of the woods and they were wondering if you could come take a look.”
“You’re passing a case onto me?” Derek said surprised.
“I said I’d ask you to look into it so if you’re busy hunting some demon for some misguided revenge then you don’t have to go.” Laura really did not like him going after Saul but this was not a fight they could have on the phone.
“We’ll check it out,” he said and immediately regretted it because Derek was not sure Laura knew that Stiles was traveling with him. There was a long silence and it was deeply uncomfortable. If Derek did not know better he would have thought that Laura had hung up on him but that was something that she just did not do no matter how angry she was.
“I’ll let them know you’re on the way. Be careful,” Laura said finally and the line went dead. Derek stared at his phone and wanted to call her back, to explain everything, but Laura was as stubborn as he was. There was no way she was going to listen, not yet, and possibly not ever. The thought that she might not let him back into her life hurt worse than any stab wound, broken bone, or wolfsbane.
Derek put his phone back on the table and fell back against the pillows. When Stiles got up to leave the room Derek followed him. Stiles stopped just outside the door, shoved his hands in his pockets, and watched Derek as he lined the door and windows. Stiles said nothing as he was locked out of the room and the Derek closed the door. He was sitting against the wall next to the door, he was not making any effort to conceal himself, and Derek fell asleep to the sound of Stiles’ heartbeat through the wall.
+++
The drive to Reading took almost five hours and Derek exchanged maybe ten words with Stiles the entire time. Derek knew that he had overheard the entire conversation and that made things a little awkward between them. They had researched Reading to see that a few young children had died in odd ways recently. All of them were considered ‘accidents’, but the local pack seemed worried about it. They had some teenagers and they wanted to make sure that their young ones were not going to be targeted. They knew Derek was coming so he was not going to have to make contact with anyone which was good because he was not sure how he was going to explain Stiles’ presence.
Derek pulled into a local coffee shop and Stiles sat by the window as Derek ordered so he could use the wifi without getting dirty looks. Derek sat down with his laptop and was not surprised when Stiles moved his chair so they were sitting next to each other.
“What do we know so far?” Stiles asked. He was not quite in Derek’s personal space ,but they were still close.
“A bunch of kids are dying in what looks like a bunch of freak accidents,” Derek replied pointing to the list of obituaries. “At first it was just one school, but now it’s jumped to another.”
“So whatever we’re dealing with decided to jump ship,” Stiles said frowning deeply. “But why make it look like an accident? Supernaturals love showing off because it give them some sort of street credit. A vampire will show off the fang marks, most demons leave signs, you don’t get respected if no one knows you’re killing.”
“You’re saying that making all of these deaths look like accidents makes no sense,” Derek said and Stiles nodded. “It’s something that doesn’t want to be found then. Saul doesn’t want to be found so he’s not waving a red flag and showing off.”
“Saul is not the norm.” There was a dark edge to Stiles’ voice as he looked over the information on the computer.
“I don’t think looking at any of the bodies is going to help,” Derek said. “All of the causes of death were pretty obvious. I think at this point we should just do some poking around at the high school where the last kid died.”
“Better let me do most of the lurking since I could pass for a high schooler and you’ll just get accosted by Chris Hansen,” Stiles said and that familiar grin was there.
“I’m not even going to ask how you know that reference,” Derek said closing the computer unable to fight the smile tugging at his lips. Stiles knocked their shoulders together and just like that the tension from the night before faded. Derek was not so quick to say that everything was okay, but it felt better.
+++
Derek was experiencing some serious deja-vu. This high school reminded him far too much of his own and it was making the memories of the fire linger a bit too close to the surface. He wished he could say that they were being inconspicuous, but it was a little hard because he and Stiles looked shady as hell. There was a large lacrosse field on the side of the school and judging from the sounds Derek could hear it was the varsity team. Their coach was yelling out drills and it made something in Derek’s chest tighten. If Stiles noticed he was smart enough not to say anything which Derek was eternally grateful for.
“Number twenty-four is doing really well,” Derek said narrowing his eyes. “He’s the captain and he’s really, really good.”
“Suspiciously so?” Stiles asked.
“I swear during one of the drills the kid he was playing against got out of the way inside of trying to stop him.” Derek leaned back against his car as he pulled out the notebook. He flipped through the pages trying to find something on skill but nothing was standing out. “We need to talk to that kid.”
“More like I do. Like I said, I could pass as one of these kids or at least as a recent graduate,” Stiles said standing up a little straighter as Derek side eyed him. “What? Do you want to stay close and make sure the teenager doesn’t try to eat me or something?”
“I feel like I should make a joke about being the only one who is allowed to eat you but that seems in bad taste even for our sense of humor,” Derek said as he closed the book but Stiles grinned. Stiles slouched, made himself look unassuming, as he walked over to the practice that was just finishing up. Derek could hear the conversation from where he was sitting and it was almost unnerving how good Stiles was at making people open up to him. He chatted about inane things with the kid for a bit, asking about what schools he was looking into and if he wanted to play professionally, and eventually managed to lead into the death’s.
“It was an accident, you know?” the kid said twirling his lacrosse stick in hand. “I didn’t want to be captain but was passed down to me after Bill died.”
“Passed down? I thought captain was based on merit. I mean, I only graduated last year, are you young kids changing it up so much already?” Stiles asked with a grin and the kid laughed.
“Nah, we passed this stick down from captain to captain. It’s a tradition,” the kid said looking at the stick in his hands. “Just having it makes me feel like a better player.” Derek sat up straighter because that was strange. Fortunately Stiles seemed to catch on as well.
“Yeah? The kid that died used to have this stick too?” Stiles asked with an odd edge to his voice. “Maybe you should give it to me.”
“Why would I do that?” the kid snapped, but Stiles smiled easily.
“You should really give that stick to me,” Stiles repeated. Sometimes Derek forgot that Stiles was a crossroads demon, the King of the Crossroads, and that meant he was a professional at manipulating people. That lacrosse stick was drawing whatever was killing these kids and they needed to get it away. If they had the stick they could draw whatever it was out and kill it. The kid stared at Stiles for a long time until he slowly gave up the lacrosse stick and walked back toward the school. Stiles turned and walked across the street twirling the stick in hand as if he knew exactly what he was doing.
“I’m thinking it draws whatever it killing these kids out,” Derek said when Stiles joined him but Stiles did not look convinced.
“Maybe,” he said slowly. “There really is only way for me to know for sure.”
“Know what for sure?” Derek asked but before he could react Stiles had shoved the lacrosse stick in his hand. Derek frowned deeply but Stiles was just grinning like something amusing had just happened. “What are you doing?”
“Just hang onto that. I’m testing something,” Stiles said. “Let’s go find a motel, shall we?” Derek had more questions but at this point he knew when Stiles was not going share additional information. He went to throw the stick in the back seat but a hand clenched his wrist and stopped him. “I said hang onto it and I meant that literally.”
“What’s going on, Stiles?” Derek asked as they climbed into the car.
“I said that I’m testing something. Don’t worry; this won’t take long if I’m right.” Stiles climbed into the passenger seat and made sure he was not touching the lacrosse stick at any moment in time. They drove around town until they found a motel. The receptionist gave Derek a weird look for the lacrosse stick, but Derek was used to getting looks for stranger things in life his. Stiles followed him into the room and flopped down on the bed staring at the ceiling. “Turn on that police scanner app you have on your phone.”
“You need to clue me in on this,” Derek said turning on the application just as the frequency started to go crazy about an accident at the school. Derek frowned deeply as they talked about the lacrosse captain and how he fell down a flight of stairs. Stiles look resigned as they listened but said nothing. “Did you know that would happen? That a kid was going to die?”
“I had a feeling but he was going to die no matter what,” Stiles replied sitting up on his elbows and nodding at the lacrosse stick. “That lacrosse stick is cursed.”
“A cursed lacrosse stick,” Derek said slowly.
“I know, right? What is with this world?” Stiles said laughing, but it did not reach his eyes. Something was wrong.
“What aren’t you telling me?” Derek said and Stiles sighed.
“You don’t get hit with the after effects of the curse until the object is passed onto another person,” Stiles explained.
“And you gave the stick to me. Why the hell did you do that, Stiles?” Derek snapped. “Are you going to die now?”
“Maybe,” Stiles said shrugging. “But I have a better chance of surviving it than you. All we need to do is break the curse and we’re fine. No more teenagers or Stiles’ have to die.” Derek stared at Stiles. He had the distinct feeling that he was being protected. Calling Stiles on it would probably just lead to a fight that Derek was really not in the mood to have. Instead he sat down on the bed next to Stiles and opened up the notebook to see if there was anything on cursed objects. There was precious little to go on and nothing that was actually helpful. Derek groaned and tossed the notebook back in his bag.
“Do you know anything?” Derek asked.
“Oh I know plenty, you know that, but without knowing how the stick was cursed all of my knowledge is pretty useless. We’re going to have to try to find the original kid.” Stiles sat up and stretched. “Time for a research montage.”
Said research montage including going to the library and digging through news articles trying to connect each kid to the stick. No one else seemed to see anything resembling a pattern and all of the deaths really were just freak accidents even if they were caused by a curse. They were in the back of the large library when Derek heard a crash and a grunt from the back of the building. He smelled blood and immediately raced through the stacks to find Stiles half buried by a pile of large hardcover books with a deep gash on the top of his head. Derek had tied the stick to his back and he knelt down placing a hand over the wound.
“If you were human that would have killed you,” Derek said slowly.
“Probably,” Stiles replied dazed.
“The more you out live it the worse this is going to get,” Derek said pulling his hand away because the wound was nearly gone. People were running toward them and Derek wiped his hand on his black t-shirt to hide the blood.
“I’m fine, I’m fine!” Stiles cried out. “Head wounds, they like to bleed, but it’s totally fine and I’m not going to sue!” The librarian did not look convinced and she dragged Stiles to the front to put a bandaid on the cut that would be gone soon. They walked out of the library and Derek managed to stop Stiles from tumbling to what should have been his death down the stone stairs. He was still the owner of the stick though so he should have been able to touch Stiles and not transfer the curse or something.
Their research montage eventually lead them to a school halfway across town. The captain of the lacrosse team died in a terrible car accident and they needed to know what he was into. Stiles, the devious little thing he was, managed to find a way to get the still grieving parents to go out on a free dinner so they could break into the house. It seemed like a great plan until Stiles got hit by a car and rolled onto the street in a mess of broken limbs. The driver was a drunk that had passed out at the wheel and had no idea he had just hit someone which Derek was oddly grateful for. He dragged Stiles across the street and hid him behind a bunch of bushes. It looked like almost every bone in his body was broken and when Stiles coughed there was blood on his lips.
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Stiles said through his clenched jaw. “Get in there and try to find out what the kid was into. Bring anything useful with you.”
“You look terrible,” Derek said his hands skirting along the wounds, but Stiles batted his hands away.
“Get in there before the universe figures out I’m not a human and does something that will actually kill me.” Stiles fell back against the dirt, breathing slowly, but he still managed a rather impressive glare. Derek pushed himself to his feet and easily broke into the small house.
The kids room was exactly how he had left it, Derek could tell by the thin layer of dust, as if the parents could not bare the thought of even going inside. There were a few strange books that he stuffed in his bag and he booted up the kids computer and copied the entirety of his internet history onto a flash drive. Derek could hear the parents’ car heading back home and he barely took the extra time to put everything back where it was. They were only a few blocks away when Derek got back outside and hefted Stiles’ arm over his shoulder. The drunk driver was thankfully gone and Derek hoped he had thought he’d hit a dog or something.
“Oh my god, is he okay?” the mom asked as he jumped out of the car.
“Yeah, just had too much drink,” Derek replied heading toward his car parked a few blocks away. Stiles dug his nails into Derek’s shoulders because they did not want the parents to notice that someone had broken into their house.
“Are you sure you’re all right, son?” the dad asked.
“I’m fine!” Stiles slurred as if he was drunk. The parents looked a little less worried and Derek continued to walk them away from the house. “Faster, faster.”
“Fine.” Derek did not wait for Stiles to argue before he scooped him up bridal style and ran the two of them back to the car.
“That was humiliating,” Stiles grumbled as he collapsed into the passenger seat.
“You said you wanted to get out of there fast so I got you out fast. Stop complaining it’s not like anyone saw,” Derek replied driving away from the neighborhood and back toward the other side of town. Stiles spent the time looking through the books and wincing in pain every time they hit a bump in the road.
“It’s like a lucky rabbits foot only without the rabbit,” Stiles said as they got closer to the motel. “We need to burn it in a cemetery with bone ash and cayenne pepper.” Derek turned off at a small grocery store and bought the pepper and when he got back Stiles had a small baggie in his hand.
“Is that bone ash?” Derek asked climbing back into the car.
“I still have friends,” Stiles replied shrugging which was a great non-answer. Derek rolled his eyes and drove the two of them to a graveyard. They had just parked for all of two minutes before someone shot Stiles straight in the stomach with no provocation whatsoever. The man was dressed like a mugger but had decided to skip the mugging part and get straight to the murder. Stiles looked surprised by the small hole in his stomach and Derek had to once again drag his bleeding body across the dirt until they were at a spot where no one would see a small fire burning. “This murder thing is irritating.” Stiles had a hand to his stomach and his face was ashen gray.
“What happens if this doesn’t work?” Derek asked as he pulled the lacrosse stick off of his back and set it on the ground.
“Well if you don’t own it anymore then the curse hits you and you die,” Stiles replied sounding far too nonchalant to be talking about their inevitable, painful deaths. Derek stared before dropping the bone ash and pepper on the ground and lighting them on fire. The flame reflected in Stiles’ eyes and for a second Derek was sure they flashed red for a moment. Derek sat down on the ground next to Stiles and waited for Stiles heal. The silence was almost peaceful as they watched the stick slowly burn away.
“So, a cursed lacrosse stick,” Derek said.
“A curse fucking lacrosse stick,” Stiles repeated and they looked each other. Derek was able to remain serious for all of ten second before bursting into laughter. Stiles joined him and the two of them laughed and laughed together watching the smoke rise high into the night.
+++
They hung around town for two days before leaving. Nothing tried to kill either of them so Derek assumed that the curse was taken care of it and they could leave. Stiles was a mess of unreleased energy and even after they spent most of the second day in the motel room he was still practically vibrating. Derek started to head east again and was going to hit New Jersey eventually. When they got to the coast he was not sure where to go from there. They knew that Saul was somewhere in New England but besides that they had almost nothing to go on. Derek really did not want to start driving up and down the eastern seaboard until they heard something that looked like it was going to be the only option.
“Oh my god will you stop moving for the love of god,” Derek said the third time he had to reach over and stop Stiles’ leg from shaking.
“Something has me on edge, what would you like me to do about it?” Stiles asked as he chewed on his thumb. Derek sighed heavily and pulled the car off to the side of the road. “What, do you need to go eat some sort of wild life or something? I’ll wait, don’t worry.”
“You need to burn off some of that energy,” Derek said taking the keys out of the ignition. Stiles did a rather impressive eyebrow waggle thing that was really hard to even classify.
“I can think of a few ways,” Stiles said his voice an octave lower than normal.
“Stiles, I’m not fucking you in the Camaro.” Derek opened the door and got out of the car ignoring Stiles’ pout. “I am going to work off your energy though.”
“Oh yeah? How are you going to do that?” Stiles asked. Derek smirked, took Stiles by the arm and pulled him off the road and into a small field. There was enough of an decline that anyone passing by would not see them because the last thing they needed was someone walking in on this. “What, are we going to fuck in a field then? I had no idea you were such a romantic, Derek.”
“No, we’re not fucking anywhere, you are going to keep me from breaking your nose.” Derek did not give Stiles a chance to reply before he punched him. Stiles was so taken back that he did not have time to react and he stumbled back holding a hand to his nose. A little bit of blood trickled out and Derek might have been a little too proud of the fact that Stiles was so unguarded with him that he was actually able to draw blood. It was also something a normal person would have read into but whatever he and Stiles were to each other ‘normal’ was not it.
“So, you want to spar then,” Stiles said wiping the blood from his nose. He rolled his shoulders and something in his entire posture changed. If Derek had better survival instincts, at least when it came to Stiles, he would have turned tail and ran for his life. As it was Derek just raised his fists and smirked. He said nothing and Stiles must have taken that for a confirmation because he rushed forward.
Before the fire Derek has sparred with almost everyone in his family, but his mom was the fastest out of all of them. She sometimes moved so fast that her movements were blurred even to his eyes. His dad was the alpha but his mom had the natural agility of being a woman gave her the speed advantage. She drilled it into him that being strong was important but if he could not evade there was no point. Laura had done her best to keep up on his training with speed but she was not nearly as fast as their mother. Derek was well versed in fighting those with extreme speed and up until this moment he thought he was prepared.
Derek thought he was prepared until Stiles came after him. The night Nessa tried to kill them was the only time they had really fought It took a considerable amount of effort to avoid Stiles’ first two punches. He ducked and tried to punch Stiles in the kidneys but Stiles jumped back effortlessly. There was some space between them and Stiles was grinning. His eyes were rimmed red and Derek knew that his own were starting to turn blue. Derek said nothing as he charged Stiles again and every time his knuckles touched fabric Stiles would wrench out of the way. Derek managed to avoid most of Stiles’ hits but he nearly had the wind knocked out of him once or twice.
Stiles laughed and Derek decided that it was time for him to end this. He ducked against one of the punches, swept one of his feet around to knock Stiles off of his feet and hand a hard jab to Stiles’ solar plexus. Somewhere around stage two of his plan Stiles managed to get a hold on his arm and flipped Derek onto his back hard enough that he saw stars. He tried to blink his vision clear but Stiles was over him in a second, his forearm to Derek’s throat, smiling brighter than Derek had ever seen.
“Ha, I win,” Stiles said. There was not enough pressure to his throat that it was cutting off his airways but it was there enough that was not going anywhere anytime soon.
“That you did. Did you get all of that extra energy burned off?” Derek asked. Stiles’ smiled melted into something much more mischievous.
“Not quite.” The arm was removed from Derek’s neck as Stiles proceeded to once again kiss the breath from his lungs. This was different from the first time they kissed. While Stiles was still hard and demanding they were not kissing hard enough to bruise. They were slow, dirty kisses with lots of tongue lined with promises of what would be happening when they got to the next town and into a motel room. Or right now judging by the way that Stiles began to grind down on him. Derek sucked on Stiles’ tongue and enjoyed the moan he made. “I thought you said we weren’t going to fuck in a field.”
“You’re the one who kissed me,” Derek argued, but that did not stop him from slipping his hands under Stiles’ shirt to get to skin. His instincts screamed at him to mark Stiles, to show the rest of the world that he was taken, and that feeling hit Derek so hard it made him gasp. Stiles took advantage of that to bite down on Derek’s lower lip nearly hard enough to draw blood. Derek was lost in the scent of Stiles, his long fingers threading through his hair, the smooth skin of his back as Derek’s hands slipped further up his t-shirt, that by the time he noticed another heartbeat approaching them at alarming speed it was far too late to do anything.
Stiles was thrown off of Derek before he even had a chance to react and landed several feet away hard. There was a woman standing in front of him, as if protecting, but she was not a human. Derek could see the glow of her yellow eyes, her claws, fangs as she snarled, she was a wolf like him. Stiles groaned and cracked his neck loudly.
"Okay, ow," he said.
"Stay away from him you hell spawn," the she-wolf growled and that was enough.
"Okay there has been a misunderstanding," Derek said pushing himself to his feet. "He wasn't hurting me, he won't hurt me, so everyone let's just calm down." Stiles raised an eyebrow, but appeared to make himself look smaller, less like a threat, and it threw Derek for a loop because five minutes earlier he had kicked Derek's ass. The she-wolf stared Stiles down for a moment until the gold faded from her eyes and her claws vanished. She squared her shoulders and made herself look taller.
"I thought he was going to kill you," she said by way of explanation with no apology. Now that he was not worried about someone getting torn apart, he got a good look at her. Her hair was brown and long falling to the middle of her back. Her eyes were amber and reminded him of Stiles' and she was not that shorter than either of them. Derek spread his senses, but felt no one else nearby. She was alone. No wolf would confront something without a pack for a stranger. She looked at Derek and did not hide the fact that she liked what she saw. It was awkward for someone to stare at him so openly. "I'm Jess."
"Derek and this is Stiles," he replied as Stiles joined the two of them. Normally Stiles was like a billboard for whatever he was feeling, nut now he was strangely blank right now.
"You're a hunter," Jess said. "There have been some interesting rumors about the two of you." Derek exchanged a glance with Stiles because Derek was not sure how he felt about those in the supernatural knowing about him.
"Yes, he is a hunter, is that a problem?" Stiles asked after an uncomfortable silence had passed. Jess smiled without acknowledging Stiles.
"Not at all. I'm actually in need of someone with your skill set." Jess cocked a hip and her smile didn't falter. "I'm an omega, but I'm quite attached to my town. I've been protecting it for years and it looks like something has slipped through the cracks." She touched Derek's arm and looked at him through hooded eyes. "Interested?" Derek glanced down at her hand on his arm. This was supposed to be a calming gesture but one that was only done by pack members. For an omega, a total stranger to do it, was not okay. Jess looked at his arm and removed her hand slowly fingertips dragging across the leather.
“We’ll take a look into it,” Derek said because he could not walk away if people were getting killed. It was the hero complex that Stiles was always so quick to remind him of. Jess smiled brightly and Stiles narrowed his eyes at her. The tension was thick in the air as they walked back to the car.
+++
The town turned out to be a full hour away and that hour was horrible and seemed to last forever. Stiles sat in the front seat looking extremely annoyed while Jess did her best to bother Derek with lots of questions. She was extremely interested in finding out how he managed to be a beta away from his alpha and how the two of them worked as a pack. She was not chatty in the same way that Stiles sometimes went off on tangents but she still talked more than Derek was really comfortable with. There was also the alarming part that Stiles barely said ten words the entire way into the town.
The town was so small there was no shady motels for them to check into, just a bed and breakfast, which was not exactly ideal since places like that tended to remember people. Jess did not say anything when Derek got a one bedroom but he did catch her glaring at Stiles a little. He wanted to ask her what her problem was but the more he thought about it the more he realized that most people would be uncomfortable with the idea of walking around with a demon. He might have been a bit biased.
Derek tossed their bags into the room and they settle outside on the curb in front of the bed and breakfast. Derek could feel Jess’ hip touching his and he really wanted to tell her to back off. Stiles was on the other side, further away, and looking bored. Stiles looked like he was taking in all of the details around them while completely ignoring the presence of the two werewolves right next to him.
“What can you tell me?” Derek asked when it became clear that Stiles was checked out of this conversation.
“Three people have died in the last two months,” Jess said angrily.
“That hardly sounds like a pattern, how do you know it’s not just some crazy human?” Stiles asked idly. “I’ve seen the shit those people are capable of.”
“They were torn apart,” Jess spat out. “It was like something out of a horror movie. Something got passed my defenses and I want it dead.” Stiles hummed, but Derek was interested now. If there was something capable of doing that much damage running around he had to take care of it. Jess sighed heavily and pulled out her cellphone. In a few minutes she handed it to Derek and he could look through the pictures. Stiles was looking over his shoulder and out of the corner of his eye Derek saw Stiles grimace. To say that these people were torn apart would be an understatement. Were it not for certain distinguishing features Derek would not have been able to tell if they were male or female.
“Well that is horrifying,” Stiles said.
“I want it gone, will you help me?” Jess asked as Derek handed her the phone back. Her fingers brushed against his. Derek glanced at Stiles but he looked checked out again.
“Yeah, we’ll help you,” he said.
+++
“Not a fan,” Stiles said from where he was lying on their bed taking up the entire thing and delegating Derek to the small desk in the corner.
“Not a fan of what?” Derek asked.
“Our employer. Aren’t omegas supposed to be submissive when it comes to running into wolves with a pack?” Stiles asked.
“They can be, but that doesn’t mean anything really.” Derek turned in his chair so he could look at Stiles. “There is something here, why should it matter if someone came to us instead of the other way around?”
“She’s creeping around me like I’m going to drag her into the depths of hell. It’s annoying,” Stiles replied shrugging. He sat up and walked over to Derek. Derek watched Stiles carefully as he climbed into Derek’s lap and wrapped his arms around his neck. “This is boring, we can’t do anything until the morning, and I still have energy to burn off.”
“God forbid you get bored,” Derek said but he was smiling and wrapping his arms around Stiles.
“Ugh, let’s not bring god into this, I don’t think it’ll end well for either of us.” Stiles kissed Derek and this really was not getting old anytime soon. It felt like it was in bad taste to say that Stiles had a sinful mouth but he could do things with his tongue that made Derek see stars. Aside from Kate no one had been this eager to touch him and it was nice to be the center of someone’s attention again. Stiles eased off of Derek’s lap and pulled him toward the bed without breaking their kiss. Derek was about to push Stiles when he did this little twist and Derek was on his back with Stiles sitting on his hips before he could react. “Trying to get the jump on me, wolf boy?”
“Can’t blame me for trying.” Derek rolled his hips in a way that made Stiles’ pupil dilate and a smirk form on his lips.
“Let me know how that works for you.”
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