"Seriously?" Stiles asked aloud. "Two months? That's all you've got? Stupid jeep."

He got out of his vehicle, slamming the door as hard as possible. Cursing beneath his breath, Stiles made his way over to the front of the car and raised the hood.

Grey smoke blinded him for a moment. He drew a grimace. One thing he knew for sure, that smell meant nothing good. It was the smell of burning gasoline.

"One day I'll have enough money to buy a Porsche" he said to himself whilst examining the engine. Everything looked fine. Well, he wasn't an expert on these things so…

Never mind. It couldn't be that bad. He had managed to fix his jeep several times, why not now? He bent down, looking for anything unusual. Biting his lower lip, he tried to concentrate. Without results. It took him less than five minutes to realise that he had no clue how to make his jeep go again.

Stiles ran his hand through his hair. Of all the places he could have stranded, this was the worst of them. Giant trees surrounded the deserted road, which continued in front of him reaching the horizon. He was literally in the middle of nowhere. Looking up, he saw the orange sky above him. It would be completely dark in a couple of minutes. Great.

Why did this happen to him? Why was his jeep so damn old? He had paid quite a lot to get it fixed. Now he had to start saving money again and…

Stiles sighed. Complaining about the situation wouldn´t get him out of it. The only thing he could do was call Scott and ask him to pick him up.

Stiles tipped Scott´s number and held his mobile next to his left ear. He only had to wait seconds before he heard his best friend´s voice: "Hey, this is Scott…"

"Scott?" interrupted Stiles "Hey man, my jeep broke down and I…"

"I´m busy right now and can´t get to the phone. Just leave a message and I´ll call you as soon as I can." ended Scott´s voicemail.

Stiles was surprised for one moment, the words dying in his throat. This night just kept getting better. A high-pitched beep came from the line.

"Hey, buddy. Call me as soon as you can." He said. After a moment he spoke again "By the way, it´s me: Stiles"

He hung up and groaned in frustration. What could he do now? His dad was at work so he couldn´t call him. Malia was an option but things had been a little weird between them since they had broken up. He would rather not call her. He could just wait for Scott to call him back.

"I bet he´s with Kira" he thought annoyed "Probably doesn´t even know where his phone is."

A sudden flash of light deep in the forest caught his attention. It was rash, only lasting less than two seconds, but it was enough to awaken Stiles´ interest. With cautious steps he walked to the line of trees and spotted into the woods. The only thing he was able to see were trees. A lot of them.

He stayed there and watched but nothing happened. Maybe he had just imagined it. Just an optical illusion.

There it was again! Ha! He wasn´t going mad! This time the light was accompanied by a groan.

Wait. A groan? That meant that someone was in the forest. Someone might be lost, looking for help…

But Stiles was pretty sure that wasn´t the case. In this friggin´ town everything wasn´t as simple. In the back of his mind he knew that he should stay where he was and wait for Scott. Then he could go with his best friend and together they could look for the source of the light. Going into the forest alone was the most stupid thing he could do.

But then again, he was Stiles Stillinski. Besides, Scott wouldn´t probably call anytime soon and Stiles hated waiting. Only minutes had passed and it already felt like an eternity. His curiosity was also set on fire… Would he be able to go to sleep, without knowing what that light was? He had survived quite a lot by now. Going into the woods was a piece of cake compared to all the things he´d been through!

Without thinking one more moment, he stepped into the forest. He walked past trees and over roots for nearly ten minutes, turning his head left and right, looking for any sign of anything alive. Out of nowhere, he was hit by a sudden thought and made an abrupt halt. He didn´t know where he was heading. Suddenly he realised how dumb his behaviour was. What was his plan? To just keep going and look for the light? What if he got lost?

Stiles turned around. He would go back to the tree line, wait for Scott and then he´ll worry about the stupid light. It wasn´t like Flash himself was running through these woods…

Suddenly, something cold smashed into his right shoulder, throwing him off his feet. Before he knew what was happening, his back hit the dirty soil where he had been standing minutes ago. Black dots blurred his vision for a moment. After blinking several times, the trees in front of him became sharp again. Stiles looked around. Nothing odd to be seen. What the heck had just happened?

He glimpsed a moving shadow to his left. The moment he turned his head to take a better look, it disappeared. A high-pitched howl tore the night sky apart. Stiles frowned, hoping he had just imagined it.

But he hadn´t, for in seconds the howl returned. Louder. It wasn´t a wolf, Stiles was absolutely sure about that. It didn´t sound like an animal either. In fact, he had a feeling there wasn´t anything human in it at all.

He had to get out of here right now. That light could go to hell. He was going to get to his jeep and keep his life. With a weary feeling, Stiles stood up and walked with long steps back the way he had come. Theoretically, he could run, but he didn´t dare. There was something threatening in the air, assuring him that whatever creature was in here would find him faster if he did.

He only made it a few meters back before a… thing appeared in front of him. One moment his body paralysed, inhibiting any movement.

"Holy crap!" he said terrified "What the heck is that?"

Stiles had never seen anything like it before. Hadn´t even dreamed of something alike. In front of him stood a levitating skeleton. A black aura surrounded it, making it look like it was on fire. Black fire. With a medieval armour and a sword in its right hand, the creature stared viciously at Stiles. He could have sworn it looked at him as if Stiles´ was a delicious snack, his blood sweet wine. The armed skeleton roared with a definitely not human voice, showing its pointed fangs.

The teenage boy stumbled backwards, trying to bring as much distance between him and the dead knight. He was so going to die. Why hadn´t he stayed next to his stupid jeep? Stupid Stiles, stupid light, stupid forest, stupid…

His back slammed into something hard. He looked back. Stupid tree. There was no way out, the creature was only meters away. He was screwed. He would die alone in the woods. Hopefully Scott would…

The knight raised its arm. Ready to wield its sword. Stiles closed his eyes firmly and tried to protect his face with his arms. That was it. He waited for the fatal blow.

But it didn´t come.

Something glowed so bright that he could see it through his closed lids.

KLING! KLANG!

What the…!? Stiles opened his eyes to see something even more astonishing. A girl stood between him and the knight. Her black hair waved from left to right following her agile and fast movements. With a sword in her hands, she fought the skeleton, dodging blows and striking as fast as she could. Oh, and her sword glowed in a different colour each time the two swords met.

Who was that girl? Why was she in the woods? Why did she have a fucking sword?

The fight before Stiles seemed to be as swift as a dance. He noticed a certain rhythm, a precise force, a specific place for each blow. For one moment Stiles forgot he had nearly died two minutes ago and observed the fight in front of him.

Finally, the dead knight swung his sword too high, making it easy for the girl to dodge and step aside. Before the skeleton even new where the girl had gone, a green sword pierced its way through his stomach, the end of the blade reappearing on the knight's back.

The sword fell from the hands of the knight. It looked down at the girl who still held the hilt of her sword in the same position. "THEY'LL KILL YOU ALL!" it shouted. Its voice was hoarse and deep. "MY KIN; THEY'LL KILL YOU ALL!"

"But you won't be here to see it" replied the girl with clenched teeth "Have fun in hell!"

The dead knight opened its mouth but instead of words coming out of it, came a disgusting grey drool. Tears from the same liquid streamed down the knight´s cheeks, and then the skeleton just disappeared. No BUM, no melting. It just vanished.

Stiles stared at the spot where the skeleton had been. Werewolves? Sure, all right. Kanimas and Banshees? Why not? Werecoyotes and Quimeras? No problem. But this? Flying medieval skeletons and glowing swords? No. Just no.

The girl turned around and faced Stiles. She was beautiful. Long black hair, big green eyes, sun-kissed skin and completely dark purple clothes. She swung her sword back in its sheath and stepped towards Stiles. "Are you okay?"

Stiles raised incredulous his hands "Of course I am!" he said, putting as much sarcasm in his words as he could, "I mean, a skeleton nearly killed me, you´ve got a fucking glowing sword. Why should I not be okay? This happens to me every day, y´know?"

"Hey, calm down. I know this is… not very common, but you have to…"

"Not very common!? Seriously!?" asked Stiles "No kidding, I could have guessed that. The floating ghost and your Samurai sword were my first hint, though. Wasn´t very subtle. I mean, I almost died, but, hey, I wasn´t entirely sure there was something odd until…"

"Joyeuse isn´t a Samurai sword" said the girl quietly.

Stiles blinked surprised and frowned "What?"

"My sword, Joyeuse, it isn´t a Samurai sword"

"Of course it isn´t" replied Stiles "Why would I even think that? Everyone knows that!"

"Hey…listen…"

"No, you´re right. Every living person has to know that, right? Swords are so important in real life, don´t you think? My best friend´s girlfriend, she´s also got a…"

"Oh my god!" she shouted annoyed "Just shut up and let me explain!"

"Okay, explain, Ninja Girl. But I hope you have a good explanation because…"

"I do have a perfectly understandable explanation!"

"Really?" replied Stiles "Because I´m pretty sure it isn´t legal to have a sword like that. In fact, I don´t think…"

She rolled her eyes, shrugged, turned around and walked away "I give up"

"Hey, don´t you dare!" yelled Stiles "I demand an explanation!"

The girl kept going, ignoring him. Her silhouette becoming smaller each second. Stiles doubted for a moment what he should do. He could forget the girl and go back to his jeep. But then he´d never know what had happened here. The ghost was dead anyway so…

"Hey, Ninja Girl!" he shouted, waving his arms to get her attention "Wait for me! I wannna know what that thing was"

Without knowing if Ninja Girl had heard him, he ran as fast as he could, trying to reach her side. When he finally got there, she crossed her arms and looked at him. Stiles wasn´t able to say anything at first, he was out of breath for a moment.

Finally, he recovered his composure, still breathing heavily, but being able to talk. "What the hell was that?"

"It was a medieval vampire"

Stiles glared at her for a moment. "Why not?" he finally said "Is Edward Cullen also here? And Dracula?"

"Dracula does not exist"

"But vampires do?" asked Stiles "And your sword! Kinda something like Excalibur?"

Ninja Girl rolled her eyes "I already told you; it´s Joyeuse"

Stiles stared at her. He didn´t understand what she was saying, didn´t know what that word meant. "Can you just please tell me what just happened?"

"I already told you, a vampire tried to drink your blood, I killed it. End. Finito."

"That was not a vampire" claimed Stiles "Vampires are good-looking, they don´t float and they definitely don´t howl"

"Obviously not that kind of…" she trailed off. Suddenly her eyes widened like she just realised something "You heard a howl?"

"Yes"

She shook her head "No, you didn´t"

"Yes, I did" he answered slowly "I think I am capable of knowing…"

Looking at her, he realised that she wasn´t listening to him. Her eyes were unfocused, staring into the forest. "That would mean… but I would know…" she whispered to herself.

"Hey! Lady Ninja!" he said "What would you know? Why shouldn´t I have heard the vampire?"

She looked up at him. "Why did you come into the forest?"

Stiles opened his mouth ready to reply, but a deep howl cut him off. It was just like the one he had heard before. A shiver ran down his spine. Ninja Girl turned her head from left to right, seeking the vampire that had caused the howl. Stiles followed her example, but he just saw the trees surrounding them. Another howl made its way through the forest and was soon joined by another. In seconds a whole choir echoed through the woods.

Ninja Girl´s hand gripped Stiles left upper-arm. She looked at him wide eyed. "There are too much of them. We have to get out of here"

"Completely agree" replied Stiles raising his palms "No interest in meeting another dead knight, here"

"It wasn´t a…" a howl interrupted her. It was louder; nearer. She looked at Stiles. Her eyes full of fear. "Do you know where you came from?"

"Yeah, my jeep´s next to…"

"Great, lead the way. I´ll come with you in case you should encounter one of them"

Stiles gave her a sceptical glare. "What will you do then?"

"Don´t worry" she said looking behind her shoulder "Just start going. The sooner we exit these woods, the better"

Stiles wanted to reply but just this one time he decided to shut up and do as he was told. He started going, his feet caring him back the way he had come. After all the adventures he had had in these woods, he was able to find his way around easily. Having a werewolf best friend had its benefits after all. Ninja Girl walked behind him with her sword drawn out of its sheath. It didn´t glow now, making it seem like it was a normal.

Together they made their way back to his jeep, taking cautious steps, trying not to make any noise. It was one of the scariest moments in Stiles´ life. They walked slowly, peeking around every corner, looking for something odd. Every time Stiles heard a noise, he winced, fearing that another skeleton would jump out of the shadows, ready to drink all his blood. The further they went; the lesser voices were to be heard.

Finally, Stiles was able to see his jeep behind the trees. Happy to have reached the end of the forest, he ran the rest of the way, hearing Ninja Girl´s footsteps behind him. He reached his jeep smiling. It was exactly like he had left it.

Stiles tuned around, expecting to see Ninja Girl behind him, but the air behind him was empty. He frowned and looked around him, seeking her. She was nowhere to be found.