6. Snake in the Garden

Now we're in the ring and we're coming for bloodYou could try and take usBut we're the gladiators Everyone a rager But secretly they're saviorsGlory and gore go hand in hand ~ Glory and Gore ~ Lorde

I'm a little dysfunctional, Don't you know?If you push me, It might be badGet a little emotional, Don't you know?You could fool around and make me mad ~ Dysfunctional ~ Tech N9ne Collabos

"I'm taking Lydia home," Allison called hurriedly over her shoulder as she raced towards the car, pulling Lydia with her.

"Guys, come on!" Scott called to Cody and Stiles as he ran towards the jeep.

Cody stayed right where she was standing. "Nuh uh," she refused. "I am done with this fight." She held her hands up in an 'I surrender' type way.

Stiles grabbed onto her arm, trying to get her to move. "Derek's going to kill him."

Cody shrugged. "Let him. It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world."

Scott was already in the jeep and he called from the window, "But Jackson doesn't know what he is or what he's doing."

"Yeah," Stiles agreed. "At least let him do something worthy of murder before we let him die."

Cody scowled, giving a Stiles an irritated "fine" before she climbed in to the back of the jeep.

It didn't take long to find them since Scott's head was hanging out the window catching the scents. Stiles pulled the jeep over and opened his mouth to ask Scott something, but the door was already falling closed as Scott raced towards the kanima and the werewolf.

Stiles turned to Cody. "Now what?" he asked.

Cody shrugged. The two turned to watch the chaos unfold in front of them. Jackson was going after Derek with a lot of force, scratching at the large chunk of iron Derek was using for protection. Derek got a hard kick in and Jackson went running in the opposite direction, only to stop dead in his tracks when a car pulled up on front of him. Shots rang out and a black liquid started spurting from Jackson's wounds.

"Oh shit!" Cody exclaimed. "It's my dad!"

Derek and Scott were long gone after seeing Chris Argent appear with his shotgun. But the fight wasn't over. Cody watched as the kanima stood, his form towering over her father from behind.

"Dad, look out!" she cried.

Jackson kicked Chris hard and he flew back into the brick wall, gasping for breath as the wind got knocked out of him. Cody pulled the door of the jeep open and broke into a run. Jackson was right in front of her and she put all her strength behind her blow. He flew back and stood, but didn't come any closer. All she could see were the headlight of the car and Gerard's shadow. Then they were gone.

***

Cody followed Stiles who was following Scott. They stopped when the got to him, making Scott jump.

"Did you see which way it went?" asked Stiles. Scott shook his. "What? You couldn't catch his scent?"

Scott shook his head again. "I don't think he has one."

"Any clue where he's going?" asked Cody.

Scott turned to her, an annoyed look on his face. "To kill someone."

"Ah," said Stiles sarcastically. "That explains the claws and the fangs. Good. Makes perfect sense now."

Scott glared again.

"What? I'm a hundred and forty seven pounds of pale skin and fragile bone, okay. Sarcasm is my only defense."

"Just help me find it," snapped Scott.

"Not 'it'," said Cody. "Jackson."

"Yeah but does he know that?" asked Stiles. "And did anyone see him back at the house?"

"Guys," said Cody. "We're ignoring one very crucial detail. Jackson passed Derek's test. But how?"

"I don't know," said Scott exasperatedly.

"Maybe it't an either or thing," said Stiles. Scott and Cody gave him questioning looks. "He said a snake can't be poisoned by its own venom. When is the kanima not the kanima?"

Realization dawned on Scott's face. "When it's Jackson."

There was a moment of silence while they all tried to wrap their brains around what was happening and how Jackson and the kanima fit together. Then Stiles caught their attention.

"Guys," he said, pointing up to the roof. "Do you see that?"

A long scaly tail was sticking out of the rafters. Then it disappeared inside the building.

"What the hell is he going to do in there?" asked Cody.

Scott thought for a moment, then said frantically, "I know who he's going to kill."

Stiles gaped at him. "What, did you smell something?"

Scott nodded. "Armani."

***

Stiles pulled on the side door but it wouldn't budge.

"Okay," he said as he looked around. "Maybe there's a window we could-"

He didn't get a chance to finish because there was a loud bang as the door flew open. Cody stood in front of it, her arm outstretched. "-or the witch could just blow the door open. That's fine too."

Cody grabbed Stiles arm and pulled him inside with her. The room was buzzing with flashing colored lights. Cody cold feel the bat of the music buzzing in the floor and the adrenaline, among other things, hitting her skin. The room was packed with people. Upon closer examination Cody realized the room was filled with men, all hot, mostly shirtless, and completely uninterested in her.

"These are all dudes," Scott pointed out. Sometimes it took him a minute to catch on. "I think we're in a gay bar."

"Wow," said Stiles, his voice irritated. "Nothing gets past those teen werewolf senses of yours."

Scott, Stiles, and Cody watched as Danny talked to the bartender for a minute, then went back out onto the dancefloor. They sat down at the bar.

"Three beers, please," said Stiles.

The bartender barely glanced at them before saying, "I.D.s?"

The boys nodded and began rummaging in their pockets. Cody stopped them and turned her attention to the bartender. She titled her head just a little and gave him an enticing smile, focusing hard on his eyes.

"Please," she said softly, her lips pulling up into a small smile as she felt the compulsion power race through her veins. His eyes glazed over, becoming unfocused and he nodded.

"What? How did you do that? I thought this was a gay bar!" exclaimed Stiles.

"It is," said Cody. "But even gay guys aren't immune to compulsion."

Scott gave her a confused look and asked, "Compulsion?"

Cody gave a devious smile. "I've learned a few more new tricks."

The bartender was back and he set a drink down in front of Scott. "This one's paid for," he said, gesturing to a very attractive man at the other end of the bar who rose his drink to catch Scott's attention. Scott smiled and Stiles glared at him.

"Shut up," Stiles snapped.

Scott was still grinning. "I didn't say anything."

"Yeah," snapped Stiles. "But your face did."

Their eyes scanned the dancefloor until Stiles elbowed Scott in the side. "I found Danny," he said, pointing to the center of the crowd.

Cody's eyes were trained on the ceiling. "I found Jackson."

He was crawling along the ceiling but stopped just as he was right above Danny.

"Get Danny," Scott commanded.

"What are you going to do?" asked Stiles.

The two looked down at Scott as he bared his claws.

Cody shrugged. "Sounds like a plan."

She and Stiles pushed through the crowd trying to get to Danny. Cody pushed several people away from her. "I don't want to dance," she snapped. "You don't even like girls anyway."

Her eyes were frantically scanning the crowd for Jackson or Danny when they caught something glowing red.

"And it just keeps getting better," she grumbled.

She reached Scott's side just in time for the both of them to yell at Derek. "Don't!" But it was too late. Derek's claws rake across the kanima's throat and he fell to his knees. The screaming erupted everywhere, frantic shouts echoed in Cody's ears as the fear pulsed in her veins. Scott was gone and she was surrounded by the sea of horrified people.

Cody let out a cry as someone's hand wrapped around her forearm and spun her around.

"It's just me," said Derek, loud enough for her to hear over the music, but not loud enough so others could hear.

"What the hell did you do?" she asked, her voice a higher octave than usual. "You could have killed it."

"That's the point," Derek snapped.

"It doesn't understand what it is," said Cody. "It doesn't deserve to die."

Derek's grip on her arm tightened, his head getting closer to hers as the look in his eyes intensified. "You need to get out of here," he commanded.

"No" Cody protested. "I need to protect it."

"Cody-" Derek called over the music again. But he didn't get to finish because someone else had grabbed her and was pulling her away quickly.

"What the hell was that?" demanded Stiles as they ran.

"I don't know," said Cody.

"Well, what did he say?" asked Stiles.

"He told me I need to get out of here."

"Well, that's good to know," said Stiles, taking a dee breath as they sprinted. "At least throughout all this snake killing he's managed to let his feeling for you stay the same." He was mad.

Cody didn't have time to snap back because they had finally found Scott who was leaning over Jackson's bleeding body.

"What do we do with him now?" he asked frantically.

***

Scott slammed the door of the jeep as he got in. They were parked outside the club watching as the ambulance took people to the hospital.

"I couldn't get anything out of Danny," said Scott.

"Okay," said Stiles. "Can we just get the hell out of here now, before one of my dad's deputies sees me?"

Stiles was just about to drive off when a cop car pulled up right in front of the jeep.

"Oh my god," he said, the panic clear in his voice. "Could this get any worse?"

Jackson, who was laying next to Cody in the backseat, let out a groan. Cody yelped and jumped away.

"That was rhetorical!" Stiles snapped at Jackson, who obviously couldn't hear because he was still unconscious.

"Get rid of him," said Scott.

"How?" asked Stiles, his arms flailing again. "He's a sheriff at the crime scene!"

"Do something!" Cody snapped, giving him a hard shove. Stiles rushed out the door and towards his dad.

Jackson sat up groggily and Cody shoved him back down. He groaned again and Cody told him to be quiet. After another minute he sat up again and asked, "What's happening?"

"Jackson, I'm really sorry," said Scott. Then he punched him the face. Jackson fell back onto the seat, fully unconscious again.

"You know," said Cody. "I could have just put him to sleep with magic."

Scott scoffed at her. "Now you tell me."

Sheriff Stilinski turned towards the jeep and Scott and Cody waved, pretending there was nothing wrong even though they were basically kidnapping Jackson.

***

"What about your house?" asked Stiles as they sped down the road.

"Not with my mom there!" exclaimed Scott. "We need to take him somewhere we can hold him long enough to figure out what to do with him. Or long enough to convince him he's dangerous."

"I still say we just kill him," said Stiles. Cody agreed.

"We're not killing him!" snapped Scott.

"Okay, fine," Cody snapped back. I have an idea."

"Is it illegal?" asked Scott.

Cody asked sarcastically, "Why do you even ask at this point?"

"I'm just trying to be optimistic."

Cody rolled her eyes. "Well, don't."

It wasn't easy getting Jackson into the armored van. It was even harder to get him chained up. But when he woke up, it was all worth it.

"Stiles! McCall! Cody!" he shouted. "I'm gonna kill you!"

Cody had to bite her lip to keep from laughing.

***

Stiles opened the door and the two of them had barely crawled in the back of the van when Jackson lunged at them.

"Let me out!" he yelled.

"Hey!" Stiles snapped. "You know, I put those pants on you. Alright, buddy. One leg at a time. Being all up close and personal with your junk wasn't exactly a highlight of my day. So don't think this is fun for me either. You know we're doing you a favor."

Jackson held out his bound wrists. "This is doing me a favor?"

"Yes," said Sties. "You're killing people. To death. And until we can figure out how to stop you, you're staying in here. Sorry." Stiles turned to rummage in his backpack. "Now, do you want the ham and cheese or the turkey club?"

Jackson glared. "You think my parents won't be looking for me?"

Stiles tossed him a sandwich to him while Cody pulled Jackson's phone out of her pocket.

"They don't think anything is wrong," she said, showing Jackson the text she had sent his parents.

Stiles smiled. "Yeah."

Explaining what was going to Jackson was a bit of a nightmare. It's a good thing he has a pretty face, because the boy isn't too bright.

"Scales?" he asked. "Like a fish?"

"No," Stiles shook his head. "More like a reptile. And your claws have this liquid that paralyzes people."

"And you have a tail," Cody helpful pointed out.

"Oh, I have a tail?" Cody nodded. "Does it do anything?"

Cody shrugged. "Not that I know of."

"Maybe I'll use it to strangle you," said Jackson, though the comment was more directed at Stiles.

"You still don't believe us?" Stiles asked in disbelief. "Okay, the night of the semifinals, what did you do right after?"

"I went home," said Jackson, his voice hard.

"You sure?" asked Cody, remembering the night of the swimming pool fiasco vividly.

"Yes!" snapped Jackson. "What else would I have done?"

"You attacked me and Cody and Derek at the school and trapped us in the pool. You also killed a mechanic right in front of me, that was lovely by the way. And one of Argent's hunters."

"Jackson," said Cody, her voice a little softer. "Last night you tried to kill Danny."

"Why would I want to kill my best friend?"

"That's what Scott's trying to figure out."

"Well what he should be figuring out is how to pay for a lawyer when I prosecute your asses all the way to jail!"

"What about the night of the full moon?" asked Cody. "What happened?"

Jackson scowled. "Nothing. Nothing happened."

Stiles and Cody were standing outside the van when a shuffling sound made them jump. They turned, only to be relieved to see Allison standing there.

"They know," she said. "They know Jackson is missing."

"They can't," said Stiles, holding up Jackson's phone. "We've ben texting his parents since last night."

Allison shook her head. "My grandfather told me they went to the police. They know."

Stiles dropped the phone and rushed into the front seat of the van and listened to the radio, which was playing a message telling all available units to go to the Beacon Hills reserve. Stiles climbed into te driver's seat and Cody and Allison got in the front.

"Where are we going?" asked Cody.

Stiles tossed the phone out the window. "Somewhere far away from this." He started the van and drove.

***

Scott met up with them to explain that Danny had been helping Jackson record a video. It was on Danny's tablet, but when Scott went to get it it was gone.

"If Jackson doesn't even remember being the kanima he's definitely not going to remember stealing the tablet," said Scott.

"Why would he steal it if he doesn't even know what's on it?" asked Cody.

"What if someone else took it?" asked Allison.

"Then someone knows what he is," said Stiles.

Scott's eyes lit up with realization. "Maybe someone is protecting it."

"Yeah," said Allison. "The bestiary says the kanima seeks a friend, right?"

"So what?" asked Cody. "Someone erased part of the video of Jackson turning into the kanima so he wouldn't know?"

"To protect him?" asked Allison.

"There's something else," said Scott. "You said the only thing you found online about the kanima is that it only goes after murders. What is that's actually true?"

"It can't be," said Stiles. "It tried to kill all of us. And I don't know about you but I haven't murdered anyone lately."

"I don't think it was trying to kill us." Scott turned to Allison. "Remember when we were at Isaac's the first time? It went right by us, didn't it?" He turned to Stiles. "And it went right by you, in the mechanic's garage."

"Yeah," said Stiles. "But it tried to kill me, Cody, and Derek in the pool."

"Did it?"

"It would've. It was waiting for us to come out and trying to get to Cody."

"What if it wasn't trying to kill you?" asked Scott. "What if it was trying to keep you in?"

A horrified look crossed Stiles's face. "Why do I feel so violated all of a sudden?"

"Because there's something else going on," said Scott. "And we don't know anything about it, what it is, why someone's protecting it."

"Know thy enemy," said Allison, a hard look on her face. She shook her head distractedly. "It's just something my grandfather said."

"Okay," said Stiles. "I've got it. Kill Jackson. Problem solved."

Scott and Allison gave Stiles an appalled look, then the same one to Cody who agreed.

"He risked his life for us against Peter. Remember that?" Scott demanded.

"Yeah," said Cody. "But he got the bite from Derek. He got what he wanted by supposedly risking his life for us."

"It doesn't mean he's not worth saving." Cody rolled her eyes at Scott. "He doesn't know what he's doing!"

"So what?" Cody demanded.

"So, I didn't either," said Scott. "Remember when I almost killed you and Jackson?" he asked Allison. He turned to Stiles. "Remember when I almost killed you and Cody?"

"Which time?" Cody snapped. Scott ignored her.

"I had someone to stop me," he went on. "He has nobody."

"That's his own fault," said Stiles.

Scott continued. "It doesn't matter. If we can save him we should try."

***

It was several hours later when Cody and Stiles went back to the van, but what they saw was something they had no idea how to handle. Stiles ran off to get Allison and Scott.

The four of them stood there for a moment, staring at the wrecked van that had no Jackson in it.

"I have to tell my father," said Allison. "He's going to kill someone, Scott."

Scott nodded. "Okay, tell him."

"I have to tell mine too," said Stiles.

Scott shook his head. "This is all my fault."

"No, it's not," Cody protested.

"But we're just a bunch of teenagers, we can't handle this," said Allison. We have to tell them. Stiles, how are you going to make your dad believe all this?"

"I don't know," said Stiles.

Scott turned, his eyes shining bright yellow. "He'll believe me."

***

Allison and Cody were three steps through their front door when they ran into their dad and Gerard. 

"Hi, girls," Gerard greeted, his creepy smile huge.

"Dad we really need-"

"Allison," their dad cut her off. "Go upstairs please."

"But dad-"

"Now!" Chris demanded. Cody took a few steps towards the stairs but her father stopped her. "We need to talk to you."

Cody looked at him, her face unwavering. "What about?"

"How much do you know about Isaac Lahey?" asked Gerard, getting directly to the point.

Cody shrugged. "I go to school with him."

"What else?" her father prompted.

Cody's stomach did a flip. "That's about it."

Gerard scoffed. "Well, you know he's part of Derek Hale's pack." Cody's eyes got wide. "When was the last time you saw him?"

Cody took a breath to steady herself. "I haven't seen him since the night Kate died."

"Come on, Cody," said Gerard, his voice smooth and fake. "Where is Derek and his pack hiding?"

"I don't know," said Cody forcefully. "I don't know anything about him or his pack."

"Cody," her dad snapped. "I don't think you understand how important this is."

Cody gave her father a disbelieving look. "Of course I understand! There's a monster out there killing people. I just don't understand what Derek Hale has to do with this."

"Cody don't be such a child!" Chris snapped.

Cody's anger was rising quickly. "I'm not being a child!"

"Well if you weren't acting like a child you wouldn't be keeping things from us!"

Cody let out a loud shout and the bottle of Jack Daniels sitting on the bar top exploded, shards of glass flew everywhere as the liquid sprayed across the room. The room was quiet, Cody gasping for breath as she tried to wrap her mind around what she had just done. Chris and Gerard were staring at her, mouths open in shock.

"So," said Gerard as the shock wore off. "She does know who she is." He stalked towards her, a menacing look in his eyes.

"Don't touch me!" Cody shouted as every candle in the room caught fire and burned harshly, the flames stretching towards the ceiling. She didn't wait for their reaction. She turned and ran, sprinting through the front door and down the porch steps.

Her boots hit the ground hard as she ran, the cold night air stinging her lungs. She didn't know where she was going, just that she had to get away. Her mind was whirling. So Gerard did know about her and her coven. That had to mean he was in on it. She kept running, hoping the movement would clear her head.

Her feet began to slow as her head cleared. She looked around nervously, realizing she had made her way into a part of town she didn't recognize. She finally slowed to stop and looked around, examining the intricate graffiti on the brick walls of the alley she was standing in.

She heard a noise and then whipped around to see what it was, but saw nothing. She took a deep breath and focused, ready to attack if she needed to.

"Hey, Cody." She jumped, only to turn and find Isaac in front of her, Derek a few steps behind him. She gave Isaac a hard push to the chest.

"What the hell, Isaac?" she snapped. "You scared the crap out of me!"

Isaac laughed.

"What are you doing out this late in this part of town?" asked Derek.

Cody shrugged. "I can't go home right now."

"Why not?" asked Isaac.

Cody sighed, running her hand through her hair. "I got made and accidentally broke some stuff. Gerard and my dad saw everything."

Isaac moved towards her, gently taking her hand in his. "Come on," he said, pulling her down the alleyway. Derek followed, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion and irritation.

Sorry it took me so long to update! I'm in college and my schedule is kinda crazy. I'll update whenever I can. Thank you guys so much for the great comments and for voting!