Act 2: Epic Dreams

PART SIXTEEN

Stiles woke up to a loud rustling in his bedroom. He sat up to see Scott sitting at the foot of his bed.

"What are you doing here?" Stiles asked. He picked up his cell phone to check the time. He turned the screen towards Scott. "Dude, it's like one in the morning."

"I couldn't sleep." Scott said, sitting with his hands on his lap.

"So you thought you should wake me up?" Stiles threw his phone down at his side. He hadn't noticed it when he first checked, but he had an unread text.

"I just can't shake the feeling that you're mad at me." Scott gave Stiles one of his classic puppy dog face. "You're not, are you?"

Stiles controlled the urge to roll his eyes at Scott. "I just don't get why you'd swear your loyalty to Derek. It doesn't make sense."

"I know it's weird, but I feel great." Scott grew a smile over his face. "I mean it Stiles. I'm even getting along with Jackson, and he's really not that bad. It's like he and Derek are my family or something. It's this epic, serene feeling, like I understand what it means to be a part of a pack."

"But we said we wouldn't." Stiles bit the inside of his lip in anger.

"I know," Scott said, his grin dropping.

Stiles sighed. "I'm not mad at you Scott." Stiles wasn't sure if he necessarily meant that, but he didn't know what else to say and the last thing he wanted was to start a fight.. I didn't matter, it was enough for Scott.

"Awesome." He jumped up and quickly hugged Stiles. "Thanks buddy." Scott walked over to Stiles' window.

Stiles checked his phone again. He had received a text from an unknown number, but he presumed it was from Jackson based on the content alone.

Hey asshole where are you? Derek's waiting for you.

Stiles ignored the messages and looked up at Scott, it was in that moment he realized how he'd gotten into his room. It reminded him of the night Derek snuck in. "Did you crawl through my window?"

Scott shrugged, "It was open."

He was about to leave when he noticed Stiles father getting into the police cruiser parked in the driveway. "Hey Stiles, where's your dad going?"

Stiles walked over to his window and stood beside Scott. He watched his father quickly drive off. "I don't know. He usually wakes me up and tells me if he has to leave. It must have been an emergency or something."

·

"You're Sheriff Stilinski from Beacon Hills, right?" The nervous deputy shook his hand as he closed his car door. Her hair was pulled up in a messy bun and her eyes watery. She had quickly thrown her uniform over her civilian clothes.

"That's correct." He examined the area of woods sealed off with bright yellow tape. The only other deputy in sight was a young man, early twenties, talking to a rather rough looking homeless man. He pulled a flashlight out of his glove compartment before continuing his conversation with the deputy.

"I'm so sorry to call you out this late at night, I know this is still out of your city's limit, but I didn't know who else to call." She held her hand over her chest.

"What about Carmelita Mendez? She's still the sheriff in Mission Fault, correct?" He could hear ambulance sirens in the distance as he spoke.

The girl's condition worsened. "That's the problem, she's the," the deputy covered her mouth as she started crying. She pointed towards the opening in the tape.

Stiles' father quickly walked past her and around the yellow tape in the direction she had pointed to. He turned on his flashlight once he was out of the head lights. He saw a bright patch of blood pooled on the ground. A few yards past that, a trail began. He followed the traces of blood and manmade notches along the trees. The further into the forest he went, the more the scratches seemed to resemble claw marks.

He found her body a good 30 yards from the road, and Stilinski could smell her a few feet away. Sheriff Mendez's body looked like she had been thrown on the ground. He kneeled down beside Carmelita to examine her corpse. Her clothes had been torn, though that could have been from the dragging, and her neck had bruise marks about the size of an average adult males' hand. But what really struck the sheriff as peculiar were the punctures on her torso. There were five large holes in her clothes indicating five stab wounds, but they seemed perfectly proportional to that of a human's hand.

The last thing that caught the sheriff's attention was Carmelita's choice in clothing. He had known Carmen quite well for a long time and he'd never he seen her so dolled up. Her hair was down from her usual bun, she had make up on her face, and she was wearing a bright blue strapless dress. She even wore the silly orange spider pendant he'd bought her for her 30th birthday. He was sure she looked beautiful before the whole incident.

The sheriff walked out from the woods and returned to the deputy. She'd managed to calm herself down quite a bit with help from the other deputy. He had his arms wrapped around her.

She looked at him as he returned. "I'm sorry, that was so unprofessional of me." The other deputy patted her arms as he released her.

"It's okay." Stiles' father said. He understood how she felt. "You must have known her very well." The female deputy nodded, while the other stood forward.

"Sheriff, I'm deputy Reynolds and this is deputy Polt," he pointed towards the female. "I was on duty when Adam Lang," he pointed to the civilian standing beside the two Mission Fault police issued vehicles, "Walked into the station and told me what he'd found. I've already recorded his statement as well."

"Are you two the only active deputies in town?"

Reynolds nodded. "Yes sir. This is a pretty small community, there hasn't been much need for more than three of us until now."

"I know, I was here a week and a half ago with Mendez. I was working with her on the last case. She told me she planned on expanding the force here."

"She did." Deputy Polt said, coming into the conversation. "She was going to speak at the town meeting this Friday." Reynolds ran his hand over her arm again.

The sheriff ran a hand over his face. He was trying to keep as objective as possible, but he still couldn't believe this had happened to Carmen, she was such a great woman. Deep down, Stiles' father couldn't help but feel the slightest bit responsible for her. He'd been the one who got her interested in law enforcement in the first place. He'd also directed her Mission Fault so she could run for the sheriff's position.

"Sheriff, if you don't mind me asking, could you tell how it happened?" Reynolds asked, a painful look on his face. Polt covered her mouth, but listened in for his response.

"It's difficult to be sure, were gonna have to wait for the coroner's report for any kind of conformation, but it looks like an animal attack."

"But is it like the last attack? Does the body show signs of human involvement?" Reynolds asked, his voice almost cracking when he referred to Carmelita as 'the body'.

"It does, but there's no way a human could have dragged her ninety feet into the woods, and the speed he would have had to have gone. There were only small traces of blood the entire way down to the site. No human could have dragged her out there without leaving a trail with significantly larger amounts."

"I just don't understand how any of this is happening." Polt said, wiping at her eyes again. "That attack last week, and now Carmen.."

"Do you know where Carmen was going last night? She was very dressed up."

Both Reynolds and Polt shook their heads no.

"She never said anything about a special occasion or going out for the night." Polt said, trying to regain a steady breath.

"Was there anything strange about her behavior the day before?"

"Not at all. She was perfectly normal." Reynolds said, wrapping an arm back around Polt.

Stiles' father sighed. He had a long day ahead of him.

·

Once news had hit Beacon Hills about a second animal attack in Mission Fault, Allison was in a panic. After school she immediately went home to discus it with her father.

"Dad, we have to do something, these two deaths are too similar they can't both be animal attacks." Allison paced up and down her kitchen, her hands playing with a small arrowhead, scratching it along the palms of her hands.

"They might be." Chris said, sitting at the kitchen table. One side of the table had silverware that needed to be wiped down, while the other side had Allison's schoolwork. She had been studying, but got distracted when she started having the discussion with her father.

"Aren't you always saying that werewolves try to cover their tracks, by making it look like a hiking accident?"

"No, your aunt Kate always says that. And for all I know, there might be a werewolf in Mission Fault, and he could be innocent. We can't jump to conclusions that might make us break the code." Chris gave Allison a pointed look. "There are telltale signs of a werewolf attack, usually they leave a calling card, something insignificant that the police might over look, but it'll always make the papers. When it does, we'll go in."

Allison crossed her arms. "Well, as of right now Mission Fault is completely unguarded, I think we should send a few guys to patrol the woods out in there for a while. Even if it is just an animal attacking people, we should do whatever we can to help. And it'll look good for the association."

Chris nodded at that. "We should help. Maybe we can—"

"Allison, don't worry about that small little town." Kate said walking into the room. She'd only caught the last bit of the conversation. "We need to focus on here. Derek Hale is still running loose. If we're going to send guys patrolling anywhere, it should be in our own backyard. We've got to cover our asses."

"But my mom is in Mission Fault, and I don't want werewolves anywhere near her." Allison said, pausing her pace. "If there's a chance we can help people it should take priority over—"

"Allison, all the time we wait is only helping Derek," Kate hit her hand down on the kitchen table, silencing both Allison and Chris. "We need to act now, we've waited long enough. I've been talking to a few of the guys from the association and they agree."

"You're going behind my back?" Allison asked, almost dropping the arrowhead from her hand.

"I'm trying to help you Allison, but you refuse to do anything. If you had listened to me back in the parking lot, things would have already been handled." Kate stood up straight, raising her voice.

"Kate, that's enough." Chris said, standing from his seat. "Allison gets to make the calls here and whatever she says goes."

"Stop babying her Chris! She needs to learn to make the tough decisions, and we've waited long enough."

"Fine." Allison said, she'd stopped pacing and looked at her aunt and father. "Tonight you, dad, and a few other guys can go patrolling, but if you don't find anything we'll focus our energy on helping Mission Fault.

"You'll focus on the northern section, where Derek's house was." Allison said, uncrossing her arms.

"Won't you be joining us Allison?" Chris asked.

"I'm studying with a friend tonight."

"All right," Chris said getting up from the table. "I go inform James and Densen, they've been begging to go patrolling for a long time.

Kate turned to Allison and smiled at her. "That's my girl. We need to take a stand against the werewolves in Beacon Hills."

"Isn't Derek the only werewolf?"

"Sweetie, werewolf rule number one: always build the pack. By now he's probably reeled in some poor unsuspecting kid." Kate crossed her arms, she gave Allison an almost accusatory look. "So what's the real reason you don't want to go?"

"I really have to study." Allison said, shrugging her shoulders.

·

Allison wasn't studying with a friend. She and Scott had met up at his house. Then he drove her to a surprise location.

He'd driven them to the edge of town at a clearing in the woods. Allison was sure they were far from her dad and Kate.

Scott smiled at Allison when he parked the car. Allison smiled back. The moment was perfect, they were completely alone and Allison was ready to lose her virginity.

Scott ran a hand threw his hair. "I'm sorry were so far out of town, but I wanted to go somewhere we'd be alone."

Allison thought he was reaching for her when pulled his backpack from the back seat. "I brought sandwiches and water." Scott pulled out the paper bag and a thermos. "My mom made them for us, and I brought hot chocolate, in case it gets cold." Scott smiled at Allison again, almost laughing. "I'm really bad at this."

Allison took the sandwiches from Scott and pushed away the thermos. "Scott, I love the effort put into this, but are we going to have sex?"

Scott's expression turned nervous. "I brought condoms just in case."

Allison gave a sigh of relief. "Good, I didn't bring anything. I was worried you didn't and that we'd have to go back into town."

"You are literally the best girlfriend ever." Scott said smiling.

Allison smiled back, until she saw her aunt waving to her from outside the driver's window.

"Oh God." Allison said, getting out of the car. "Stay here Scott."

Scott looked out the window and saw Allison's aunt smiling at him.

Allison quickly walked over to her aunt. "Kate, what are you doing here? I said to patrol the north side."

Scott listened in from inside the car. He was surprised to hear Allison so angry. She was never angry.

Kate ignored her and put all her attention on Scott. "Is that your boyfriend? And here I thought you were actually studying." Allison tried to stand in her way, but she still got a good glimpse of Scott. "Oh he is cute."

Scott smiled to himself.

"Kate, where's my dad? Is he around here or not?"

Kate scoffed. "Sweetie do you really think he could keep up with me?"

Chris jogged over to the pair. "Keeping up wasn't that hard." He looked at Allison. "Why are you here, I thought you were studying?"

Allison ran her hand over her forehead. She didn't think this night could possibly get any worse, until Chris noticed Scott sitting in the driver's seat.

"Who's that and why was he driving your car?"

"It's not important dad."

"So long as I'm paying the car insurance, whatever I ask is important."

Kate laughed. "Jesus, Chris, lighten up. It's just her boyfriend."

Chris looked at Allison again, "Since when do you have a boyfriend?"

"I think we should meet him." Kate said, starting towards the car.

Allison stopped her. "I'll introduce you later, I promise." She looked both at Kate and her father. "But how's the patrol going? No sign of Derek or any other werewolves?"

"No, not yet." Her father said, his eyes glancing at Scott then at Allison. "We're going to have a long talk about this at home." Allison rolled her eyes.

Kate stifled a laugh. "It's alright Chris." She smiled at Allison and waved at Scott. "We should go back out there. We'll see you at the house." Chris looked like he wanted to put up a fight, but he ultimately went along with his sister.

Allison sighed in relief when they left her sight and went back to her car. She turned towards Scott, an apologetic look on her face. "I am so sorry about that."

Scott half smiled at her, a horrible wrenching feeling in his gut. He wasn't sure what was going on, but Allison and her family knew about werewolves and it terrified him. He had to tell Derek, immediately. "Don't worry about it." He said, composing himself enough to form words.

"I should probably head home. My dad is probably pretty mad, I didn't tell him I was out with you, and he thought I was studying."

"Ok." Scott said, putting the car in reverse. The car ride back to Allison's house was awkwardly quiet and uncomfortable.

·

Stiles had gotten an emergency text from Scott to go to his house as soon as possible. He arrived at about the same time as Jackson. They awkwardly walked into Scott's house at the same time while refusing to speak to each other.

Scott let them in and moments later Derek showed up. Scott gathered everybody in his empty house and sat them in the living room. His mother was still at the hospital working.

"Why did you call us here Scott?" Stiles asked, sitting on the sofa. He sat on the edge, next to Derek then Jackson. He looked around the room and realized the only person he could stand in the room was Derek.

Scott fidgetted with his fingers before looking at Derek. He took a moment to think over his question. "I want to know more about the hunters. How would I know if I found a group of them?"

"You'd know if you did." Derek said, trying to gage how serious Scott was being. "It'd be pretty obvious."

"Did you see some?" Stiles asked.

"Well I was out with Allison when her aunt Kate and her dad showed up. They had some hunting equipment and they were talking about werewolves and you, Derek."

Derek felt a quick realization when Scott said Kate's name. "You saw Kate Argent out there?"

Scott nodded, "Yeah, I guess."

"Allison's last name is Argent, right?" Stiles asked.

Jackson jumped into the conversation. "A.A. Like the initials you found on the arrow."

"What arrow?" Stiles asked, looking from Jackson to Derek.

"Derek has this arrow with the initials A.A. in his apartment." Jackson said, looking at Stiles, an air of arrogance in his voice.

Stiles turned his attention to Derek. He wasn't sure if he was more curious about the arrow or the fact that Derek had some apartment that Jackson had been to. Derek looked back at Stiles. "A while ago I was chased in broad daylight by Kate Argent and some brown haired girl. I was hit by an arrow doused in wolfsbane and it had the initials A.A. I know Kate isn't a very good shot with anything that requires any actual manual labor. It had to have been the girl."

"No," Scott started, his voice slightly shaky. He didn't want to believe Allison could be out to kill them. "It couldn't have been Allison. She'd never do something like that."

Stiles looked at Scott. "It makes sense Scott. You told me she had some kind of mercenary in her garage, for all we know they have werewolf specific weapons in there too."

"You're not going to make me break up with her, are you?" Scott asked looking back at Derek, part of him hoped he'd say yes.

Derek shook his head no. "We can use this. You need to get closer to her family incase if they let something slip."

Scott nodded. He didn't think this was a good idea, but he would go along with.

A/N:: Sorry for any and all spelling/grammatical errors, this is not beta'd..

Act two commences! There's no doubt that the story's been pretty slow in act one, but I hope to pick things up from here on out.