A Coward 'Till The End, Lies.

The pack follows Xander's scent to an abandoned warehouse right on the edge of town. The Sheriff had called them on the way and told them he'd been called into work due to shots fired in town and would meet them later, so now they were on their own.

The warehouse looks derelict and stinks of decay along with the sour smell of sweat and hunter. There's a huge rusted 'R' hitched on the wall towards the top of the building and empty bottles and cigarette ends littering the ground.

The pack stays in the shadows watching as two guards patrol the balcony that's wrapped around the second floor, with threatening looking shot guns strapped to their chests. Derek would bet his life that they weren't just loaded with normal bullets.

Shit, what were they getting into here?

“I can make out at least seven heart beats.” Scott whispers, his voice surprisingly steady considering the waves of fear rolling off of him.

Lydia nods her agreement, “Two patrolling outside, three on the second floor and two in the basement. I mean I'm guessing this place as a basement? There are definitely two separate beats coming from underground.”

“So the odds are in our favour then right?” Jackson murmurs sounding hopeful. “I mean, there's four of us, and one of those heartbeats is Xander and he's on our side!” The pack shrugs in unison, sharing questioning glances as Jackson continues, “Plus I'm betting Xander's dads the only proper Tannin hunter so the others should be pretty easy to take out?”

The pack nods before turning to look at their alpha.
Derek's face looks grim. His green eyes steely and his jaw clenched so hard it looks painful.
Scott, Jackson and Lydia raise a collected eyebrow in confusion.
“What? What is it?” Lydia asks, dragging a soothing hand across Derek's tense shoulders.

Derek's head is spinning. Images of the night his family burned flashing in his head. They'd only smelt one hunter but there had been six. Only one heartbeat but there had been six hunters.

What if they were masking themselves?

His blood ran cold.
“Do you remember, before Stiles left for College, when we all played that game of hide and seek as part of your training?”

The three betas nod looking confused.

“Yeah, of course.” Scott answers with a half smile shaping his lips, “We searched for Stiles for hours but there was no sign of her and eventually we had to give up and she'd been sat in a tree watching us the whole... Holy shit!” Chocolate brown eyes widened in understanding.

“They're masking themselves.” Lydia whispered sending a shiver though the pack.

Shit.

XXXXXX

Stiles clutches her coat tighter around herself as she climbs out of the cab of Xander's truck and into the silence of the night.
The warehouse looks even worse than she'd imagined, like a scene from Saw, or any of those cliché slasher flicks that she pretends don't bother her.

Its just started to drizzle and this is very quickly becoming her worse nightmare so she flexes her grip on her knives and heads towards the huge metallic garage looking door before she loses her nerve.
Its a couple of feet off of the ground, just enough space for her and Jarvis to squeeze though, and then she's inside and the silence from outside is shattered by the war like sounds echoing from across the warehouse floor.

Hold on Xan, We're almost there.

XXXXXXX

In the end the plan the pack came up with was, basically, 'don't die, and make sure we all get out, including Xander and kill everyone else.'

They hugged fleetingly before Scott and Jackson sprinted off to take down the first two hunters clearing the way for Lydia and Derek to follow.

“We're gonna survive this Der, you've got my best friend and my niece/nephew to get home to.” Lydia announced slapping her dainty hand complete with terrifying claws against her alpha's chest.

Derek smiled softly, the bond of his pack a ball of warmth in his chest before announcing; “I bet I can kill more hunters than you can.”

“Oh you're on Big Bad!”

XXXXXXXX

The hunters had, indeed, been masking their true numbers but luckily it wasn't as many as they'd thought. Once they were past the first two and got inside there were ten paired up and wandering around the warehouse completely unprepared for an ambush. It was like taking candy from a baby and the tense atmosphere from outside melted away as the pack almost began to enjoy themselves.

So, obviously that was when it all started to go wrong.

Once they'd cleared the first and second floor they headed for the basement. Their superficial wounds healing as they padded down the damp, twisting staircase.

“I don't know about you guys but, don't you think that was a bit-”

“Don't say too easy!” Scott cried as quietly as he could, covering Jackson mouth with his hand. “Bad things always happen when people say that in films!”

Jackson rolled his eyes but didn't move to disagree.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs the door's suspiciously unlocked.

“There's only two heartbeats.” Scott whispered, eyes wide.

“What are the chances of that actually happening and it not being a trick?” Lydia added, one hand flat against the door whilst she glanced at Derek for permission.

“Do it, we can handle it.”

Lydia nodded and gave the door a tiny shove.
It swung open without a creak.

XXXXXXX

The basement was a long, wide tunnel separated into four huge storage rooms each with an extremely heavy iron door perfect for keeping people in, or more likely, out.

A howl tore through the quiet making Xander jump. It sounded quite far away but still definitely in the building.

That meant the pack was here, brilliant! Maybe he would make it out of this.
Oh god they better not have brought Stiles.

Through the door he could hear three? No, four hunters.
Four against one, he could do that easily.

He moved towards the table his dad had been using, Amara a ghostly, and reassuring, presence on his left side.
The sight of the weapons slick with his own blood makes his stomach flip.

He goes for the cleanest ones; a CZ SP-01 Phantom slips into the waistline of his practically destroyed jeans and two curved hunting knives make a home through his belt loops.
He turns to leave but Amara points to his moonstone dagger with expectant eyes. The pearly white handle is stained pink and the blade is sticky with browning blood.

It's the only way to kill your father young one.

Xander sighs heavily but picks it up anyway, begrudgingly realizing that the weight in his hand is more than familiar. He feels strong; Ready.

“Lets go.”

XXXXXX

The pack, lead by Derek, storm into the basement, claws and fangs bared looking feral, growling low in their throats.
Surprisingly there are only two hunters in the room. Two average looking men in there mid twenties playing cards on a folding table.

Their eyes nearly pop out of their heads but they're fast, obviously trained, and the shorter of the two has his gun and has fired at Scott before the werewolf can even blink.
The bullet hits its target, straight into the right side of Scott's chest, throwing him back against the wall. Jackson lets out a feral snarl and the hunter's dead before his finger can uncurl on the trigger.

The second hunter takes a swipe at Lydia and tears through her top, slicing the soft flesh of her stomach open but its already healing as she rips out his throat.

Derek runs to Scott thinking the worst, but the beta is half way back onto his feet, shirt stained with a scary amount of blood but with a grin on his face.
Scott stretches out his hand to show Derek the bullet.
“Wolfsbane free, thank god!” he chuckles as Derek pulls him to his feet, checking the wound himself just in case.

“Come on, the soppiness can wait until we're home.”

XXXXXXX

The iron door bursts open after Xander throws his entire weight at in, causing the four hunters inside to jump out of their skins, scrambling for their weapons.

The first two come at Xander with hunters swords, 2ft long and slightly curved. They fight in unison, one jabbing whilst the other one slices. They're skilled and fast, but Xander's faster and he buries two bullets in their brains without breaking a sweat.

The third guys a beast. He's the size of a grizzly bear and just as hairy, in his right hand he has a bloody bat with nails in it, not your regular hunter's weapon, whilst the left is clenched in a fist, brass knuckle dusters decorating his fingers.

He doesn't go down easily but he does go down. Not many people can take two knives to the heart and survive.
Except maybe a werewolf.

“Or a Tannin,” Amara adds unhelpfully.

Xander clenches his jaw whilst wiping his bloody hands down his soiled shirt before facing the last guy, whose back is plastered against the iron door as if he's protecting it.

Xander tilts his head to one side with a sly smile.

“You don't have to die here man.”

The hunter grips his crossbow tighter aiming for Xander's heart.

“That's funny, I was about to say the same to you.” he spat, his face scrunched up in disgust.

Tick tock, tick tock.

“You know I'm a Tannin right? You know you cant kill me, right?”

The hunter scoffed his index finger twitching on the trigger.

“Yeah, well, I can try.”

The bolt flew across the room lightening fast before embedding itself in Xander's shoulder sending him stumbling back a few feet.
It hurt like a bitch but he schooled his features.

“Gonna have to try harder than that buddy.”

The hunter smirked but before he could pull the trigger a second time, a curved knife plunged into his throat sending him to the ground like a lead weight.

Xander spun round in shock. He hadn't thrown the blade so who...

“STILES! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE!?”

Stiles stood defiantly in the door frame, her coat wrapped around her swollen belly and an identical blade in her left hand as the one in the hunter's throat.
“Err, we're here to rescue you?” she announced sheepishly.

“God if I wasn't so glad to see you I would murder you!” he growled grabbing her round the waist and cuddling her to his chest.

“Jarvis knew you were in trouble, and the pack wouldn't let me come. They left us at home with nothing to do and dad said they would text but he hasn't and I was worried and you know I can't sit at home-”

Xander covered her mouth with his hand cutting off her rambling with a smile.

“I'm safe okay, don't worry I'm not even hurt.”

Stiles eyed the arrow protruding from his chest warily.

“Okay, so I'm not that hurt, it will heal as soon as I take it out, I promise.” he reassured her, brushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear with his least bloody hand.

Stiles rolled her eyes but it didn't diminish her grin as she grabbed his arm and tried to drag him to the door behind her.

“Right, let's go, I drove your truck here and parked it around the back. There was this massive garage door thingy I came though and there was no one anywhere and then I found these creepy stairs down to the basement, and you know I've seen my fair share of horror films and the bad guys always keep their victims in the basement so yeah, I went down them and saw all the gore and then I saw you and Mr. Sarcasm over there and I just threw my knife but that's over now so come on, lets go!”

Xander's eyes softened as he cradled her face in his hands. She was so beautiful, so feisty, so strong. Her hair was a total disaster zone, sticking up in every direction, falling out of her pony tail as if she'd been running her fingers through it. Her bright amber eyes were ringed in smudge black mascara from three days ago.

Her warm, right hand settled over his, her thumb softly caressing his skin.

“Hey, what's wrong?”

“Time to go, times run out.” Amara whispered gently.

“Nothing, it's nothing, I swear, I just. Can you head back to the car? Get the engine running? I just need to go in that room and do something real quick and then I'll meet you, promise!”

Stiles looked suspicious but nodded anyway, sensing the desperation in his voice.

“Or, actually just drive straight home. The pack are here, just through this door or the next, I'll just grab them and we'll head back to yours, but you know Derek will be pissed if he finds you here.”

Stiles smiled, “Yeah okay, okay you're right, I'll see you in about half an hour okay?”

Xander nodded, swallowing the lump in his throat.

“Alexander...”

“Of course.” he promised, pulling her in for one last hug, burying his face in her neck and committing her scent to memory.

“Half an hour.” he promised.

XXXXXXXXX

Once Xander couldn't hear Stiles' footsteps any more he turned to face the door, stepping over the dead hunter and using his foot to shove it open.

Bright sterile light blinded him.

The room was the biggest so far and sparse, full of weapons and ammo and canned goods of some kind.

It also looked like a war zone. The werewolves; Derek, Scott, Lydia and Jackson were tearing their way through the 20 odd hunters that filled the room and were obviously winning even if they were all bleeding heavily. Xander joined into the fray, unloading the rest of his clip into five hunters with their backs to him before slashing out with his dagger.

With Xander and the pack working together they finished the remaining hunters off easily. Meeting in the middle of the room exhausted but grinning.

“We're here to save you oh damsel in a dress!” Scott announced with a flourish.

Jackson slapped him round the back of the head playfully, “Its damsel in distress idiot.”
Scott flushed bright red as they all laughed at him.

Derek clapped a hand down on Xander's shoulder with a wolfish grin. “You need a hand with that?” he asked motioning to the arrow still crudely sticking out of his chest.

“Yeah, please.”

XXXXXXX

The pack were startled out of their victory by a slow clap and heavy footsteps down a metal staircase.

The wolves growled as one whilst Xander's blood ran ice cold.

“Well, well, well, seems my own baby boy is working with monsters. I'd be disappointed if I wasn't so impressed. Luring all the wolves in a 10 mile radius straight to me, I should be awarding you Alexander, especially since you brought the Pièce de résistance.”

Nathaniel snapped his fingers and on cue a hulking mass of man strolled into the room dragging Stiles with him by a rope tied around her wrists. The man mountain stopped a few feet from Nathaniel and shoved Stiles onto her knees at his feet.

“Hey, hey, hey watch the merchandise!” Stiles complained angrily, before facing the pack and Xander. “Guys I'm sorry, I was heading home I promised and Mr. T over here just comes out of nowhere!”

A fierce growl rips out of Derek's throat as he falls forward on all fours, his alpha form doubling his size and kick starting his beta's shift until all four werewolves were fully transformed and terrifying.

“Hold it!” Nathaniel shouted sounding bored motioning to where the huge hunter had a jagged knife pressed to the fragile skin of Stiles' neck, one beefy hand wrapped in her hair exposing her throat.

“Don't make another move.”

All four wolves hesitated.
But Stiles took the moment to escape, slamming her elbow into Mr. Gigantor's junk before tugging the curved blade out of the back of her jeans and shoving it into hit throat just like she had the other hunter.

Derek and Xander pounced at the same time, Derek for Stiles and Xander heading for his dad.

Now Xander, NOW!

The blade of Xander's dagger pointed straight at his dad's heart as he knelt over him.
His father looked crazed, jade eyes glowing eerily, a gruesome smile twisting his features like something out of a Tim Burton movie.

“Go on Alexander, do it! Kill me! You know what happens! You haven't got the guts! Come on, KILL ME!”

Nathaniel Tannin's down fall was always that he was too cocky.

The knife sunk into his father's chest easier than Xander would of thought, puncturing his heart.
Nathaniel was dead before his head even hit the floor, a look of shock forever frozen on his face.

Xander grinned triumphantly before crumbling to his knees. Warm , metallic tasting blood filling his mouth.
He spat it next to him before collapsing on to his back.

Oh shit. I'm so sorry mom, I love you, please forgive me.

Stiles watched Xander crumple in disbelief, saw the dark crimson soaking into his shirt in a crude mockery of his father.
She was out of Derek's arms and across the room cradling Xander's head on her lap in a heartbeat.

“Xan? Holy crap Xan! What did you do? Why are you dying!? Xan!?”
She was hysterical, but Xander just smiled softly entwining their fingers.

“Do you remember when I said Tannin hunter were hard to kill?” he asked before turning his face to cough bright red onto the stone floor.

“Of course I do but don't talk okay, we'll get you to a hospital just save your strength.”

Xander ignored her and continued talking.

“We're so hard to kill because only a hunter of Tannin cursed blood can kill another Tannin. The only problem though is, to kill one of your own kills you.”

Stiles chocked on a sob, clutching Xander's body to hers.

“No. Nonononono. You can't die Xander, you can't!”

“Don't worry, there are no more Tannins left now, you're safe, all of you are safe. Stiles, Stiles promise me you'll be happy, promise me you'll live for the both of us and, if you want, will you please tell Jarvis I love her/him. That I really wanted to be Uncle Xan, I mean I would have rather been Daddy, but he/she has Derek and that's good enough.”

Stiles giggled through her tears and held on tighter.

“I love you Xander, so much, of course I'll tell Jarvis about you, he'll know everything, how he/she's safe because of my best friend.”

Xander tensed up, his soft glowing green eyes met Stiles' before they faded to his normal chocolate brown.

Amara grinned down at him gently from over Stiles' shoulder.

Sleep young one, the clock has stopped.

“I love you.” he whispered with a smile.

His eyes fluttered closed.

Four howls echoed through the night.