[ t h i r t y s e v e n ]

t h i r t y  s e v e ng r o u n d e d

AMELIA IGNORED THE CALLS OF THE DEPUTIES AS SHE WALKED INSIDE THE STATION, BEING GUIDED BY SCOTT'S VOICE.

"Although a restraining order is a new low," she heard Melissa's voice from one of the hallways, "that I didn't think that you would reach quite this soon. It's everything on top of it. The completely bizarre behavior, the late nights coming home, having to beg Mr. Harris for you to make up that chemistry test that you missed."

She stood behind one of the walls, waiting for a right time to make her appearance.

"I missed a chemistry test?" Even Amelia wanted to punch the guy.

"Really, Scott? Really?" The woman asked her son. "I have to ground you. I'm grounding you. You are grounded."

"What about work?" Scott asked his mother, and Amelia really wanted to appear.

"Fine. Other than work. And no TV."

The TV's broken.

"The TV's broken," recalled Scott, and Amelia nodded. She lived in the same house after all.

"Then no computer," snapped Melissa quickly.

"I need the computer for school."

Scott was really making his way to miss this punishment, and he was succeeding.

"Then, no, uh... No Stiles."

Amelia raised her eyebrows. Low...

"What... no Stiles!?" She heard her boyfriend exclaim and she quickly let herself be visible.

"No Stiles!" Yelled Melissa. "And no more car privileges. Give me your keys." Scott proceeded to give Melissa his keys before the woman looked behind her son. "Oh, Amelia, did you just get out of work? This late?"

Scott and Stiles quickly turned around, looking at the girl. Her hair was a mess, her shirt was ripped off like her pants, her wrists were burned and she was wearing Derek's leather jacket, while her makeup was a complete disaster.

"Yeah, Mrs. McCall..." she whispered. "What happened here?"

"You can ask Scott as you'll be driving him to school from now on," told her Melissa before looking at her son. "What is going on with you? Is this about Allison?"

But she couldn't hear the end to that conversation as she got distracted by Stiles walking towards her, slowly, his hazel eyes looking directly into her as he approached his girlfriend, trying not to hyperventilate when, each time he got closer, he noticed the wounds in her body.

The guy gently placed his hands on top of her cheeks, caressing them with his thumb as he stared at the girl, no word leaving his mouth.

"I'm fine," she whispered, smiling a bit. "I just... I need to see if Lizzie's okay but... I'm just glad you are."

Stiles looked down to her wrists, noticing the burns in them. She was quick to hide them with the sleeves of Derek's jacket, trying not to scare him up.

"We'll talk about this at home. Let me get the car," she heard Melissa to Scott before she walked past Melissa. "Honey, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Melissa looked at her worried before walking away towards the outside of the station.

Stiles and Amelia approached Scott, and the werewolf quickly hugged the girl, surprising her.

"Woah, there, doggie, it hurts," she told him and Scot let her go, looking worried at her. "I'm okay... why don't you better tell me what's going on here and why are you grounded."

Scott exhaled before telling her. "Jackson put a restriction order of 50 feet against me and Stiles for locking him up in the prison van."

"And, he won't believe that he's the kanima," added Stiles from behind her as he held her hand, interlocking their fingers. "In the bestiary, it said that  the kanima seeks a master. So... someone is controlling him to kill those people. And not in random."

"We think the master deleted the video of Jackson turning himself into the kanima and that Jackson has no memory of him killing people."

"Like he's in a fugue state," explained Stiles and the girl nodded.

"Apparently, a lot of things can happen in just a few hours," mentioned Amelia softly, trying to ignore the staggering pain coming from her wrists.

"I'm the worst son ever," whispered Scott as he stared towards were his mother has just left, making Stiles scoff.

"Well, I'm not exactly winning any prizes either."

The three saw as, what Amelia assumed was Jackson's dad, yelled at the Sheriff.

This was not going to end well.

• • •

"So, she's like what? A trained assassin?" Stiles asked his girlfriend.

They were waiting for Allison in the library. Gerard had put security cameras all around school and now, it was impossible to talk to her without them knowing. And it wasn't like Amelia could be the messenger, they'd know.

Now, she was telling them about her kidnapping, about the look in her cousin's eyes when she was about to die in front of her.

"Assassins kill for money," corrected Amelia. "Dahlia... kills for the pleasure of it. That's why she doesn't serve anyone, not literally. If we can convince her, we can turn her against the Sealgairs."

"Or, she stabs you in the back with her sword," mentioned Stiles raising his eyebrows. "Literally."

"She could have killed me. She spent hours with me. Yet, she didn't. She likes the hunt, to watch her prey suffer. She doesn't care who's her prey."

"Sounds like a nice little fella," said her boyfriend mockingly before Scott noticed that Allison arrived.

Allison left the tablet on the shelf and Scott grabbed it, beginning to read what it said.

"It's everything Lydia can translate," Allison whispered. "And trust me, she was very confused."

"Yeah, what'd you tell her?" Asked her Scott, looking up from the tablet.

"That we were part of an online gaming community that battles mythical creatures." Amelia was about to burst out laughing if it wasn't for her boyfriend starting to talk.

"I am part of an online gaming community that battles mythical creatures," he replied, looking at the hunter.

Amelia looked away before placing her hand on top of her mouth, trying to held her laughter.

"Oh," Allison said. "Great."

"Okay, does it say how to find out who's controlling him?" Scott asked as Stiles stared at Allison very seriously.

"Not really. But Stiles was right about the murderers."

She saw as her boyfriend celebrated, gaining everyone's attention.

"Do you think he can kill my cousin?" Questioned Amelia, making Allison look at her confused. "Just asking."

Allison kept talking. "It calls the Kanima a weapon of vengeance. There's a story in there about this South American priest who uses the Kanima to execute murderers in his village."

"So it can kill my cousin," muttered Amelia, laying her back on the shelves before continuing to listen to the conversation.

"So maybe it's not all that bad," opined Stiles, making everyone look at him again before Allison kept telling the story.

"Until the bond grew strong enough that it killed whoever he wanted it to."

She looked up to his boyfriend, who was in panic. "All bad, all very, very bad."

"Here's the thing, though. The Kanima's actually supposed to be a werewolf. But it can't be..."

She couldn't imagine that reptile creature to be a werewolf. She couldn't imagine Jackson being a werewolf either. She could only picture Jackson as the snake he was.

Maybe what you shape shift to does really show your soul, huh?

"'Until it resolves that in its past which manifested it.'," read out loud Scott from the tablet.

"Okay, if that means that Jackson could use a few thousand hours of therapy, and I could've told you that myself," snapped Stiles as he caressed the back of Amelia's hand with his thumb.

Amelia decided to speak. "What if it has something to do with his parents?" She asked. "His real parents."

"Yeah, does anybody actually know what happened to them?" Questioned Scott before looking towards Stiles.

"Lydia might."

"And she might tell Lizzie," pointed out Allison and Amelia nodded.

"What if she doesn't know anything?" Asked Scott.

"Look who decided to drop the optimism in the worst time possible," mocked Amelia before looking away,

"Well, he doesn't have a restraining order against me," interrupted Allison, "so I'll talk to him myself."

Scott looked at her. "Okay, what do I do?" He asked, making Amelia look at him.

"You have a make-up exam, remember?"

She didn't help Scott study the previous night over nothing. He was doing that exam even if she had to drag him towards the classroom.

Scott exhaled, and they watched as Allison grabbed the werewolf's hand, looking at him.

"Promise me..." Allison whispered.

"If he does anything, you run the other way. Do you want Amelia to go with you?"

The protector raised her eyebrows as Stiles quickly interrupting, shaking his head abruptly.

"Uhm, no? She was just kidnapped by her evil cousin, she's not going anywhere."

"I can protect myself," said Amelia before nodding towards Scott, who turned around to look at Allison.

"I can take care of myself too," said the hunter.

"Allison, if you get hurt while I'm busy with some stupid test, someone's going to need to take care of me."

Amelia was about to raise her hand as a volunteer but Stiles stopped it mid-air before nodding his head towards the couple, letting out a chuckle. Scott stared at her before looking at Allison again.

"If he does anything..."

"Like?"

"Anything weird or bizarre... anything..."

Stiles moved his best friend aside before peeking out his head through the books in the shelf, looking at Allison.

"Anything evil!" He exclaimed in a whisper before the girl pushed him behind, making him almost trip and Amelia catching him.

• • •

Allison had the brilliant idea of following Jackson to see if he did anything. They both took out their high heels so he wouldn't listen to them walking behind him.

They just wanted to talk. Well, Allison wanted to talk.

Amelia was feeling more like stabbing Jackson with her dagger but she knew that that was something Scott would not approve, and the last thing she needed was to Scott to stop trusting her.

As they followed Jackson towards the boys' locker room, they were about to keep going when someone opened the door, making Allison and Amelia jump.

"You just scared the hell out of me," said the guy that Amelia recognized as the one in her French class.

"Sorry, I... We were just uhm..." Allison chuckled. "Nothing."

The guy looked down towards the shoes that the girls' were holding, and Amelia knew he would find that strange.

"Huh. That's a... nice heels," was the thing he mentioned, making Allison chuckle and Amelia smile a bit before realizing she had to come up with an explanation.

"Oh. Yeah, uh, our feet were hurting... at the same time so... yeah."

"Same reason I never wear mine." Amelia figured that was a joke, while Allison looked at him strangely.

"Huh?" The Argent asked as she and Amelia put their heels back on.

"Forget it," whispered the guy, looking towards Amelia.

"Uhm, I should go..." Said Allison, making Amelia stare at the girl as she walked away towards where they saw Jackson walking. Amelia exhaled before looking at the guy.

Oh crap.

"Matt, right?" He nodded. "Amelia."

"I know. Uhm, hey, did you hear about the underground show? Apparently they've got some big name spinning."

"Oh, you mean like a rave?" Was the thing Amelia asked, looking at the guy frowning.

"Well, is it still a rave if you don't roll? I just call it a party. But hey, I got a friend who can hook us up with tickets if you're down."

A party. Filled with people. A place where her cousin won't think of touching her since Sealgairs attack to alone preys, in silent. A party.

"Want me to get you one?"

"Yeah. Yeah, great," she said nervously, before looking towards where Allison went. She didn't want anything bad to happen to her since, well, Scott counted on it.

She didn't realize what she was signing up for it until she had agreed.

"Yeah? Alright, cool. Uhm..." Matt started walking away, making Amelia turn around to look at him. "It's Friday, so... looking forward to it."

Amelia dry swallowed nervously before nodding. "Yeah. Although... it's not a date."

The guy nodded. "Not a date." He smiled before walking away.

Now, where was she going to find Allison?

"Miss Sealgair!" Someone exclaimed at her, it was the vice principal. Amelia turned around to look at the teacher as she raised her eyebrows. "I've been looking for you for the past two days. After what happened at the mechanic's garage I thought I wouldn't see you till next week."

The girl squeezed the strap of her bag before smiling a bit. Can anyone just leave her alone so she can find Allison?

"Here I am. What's up?"

"Well, there's a new student in school and she picked you as her guide."

Why would anyone pick her?

But that question was answered when the girl appeared from behind the wall.

Amelia watched as Dahlia Martinez Sealgair walked towards them. Her high boots arrived to her knee, she has black jeans, a leather jacket and a purple shirt, while a pendant hung from her neck as the girl with brunette curly hair and brown eyes with an astonishing similarity to her smiled.

"Hi cousin. Ready to show me the school?"