The Code

Chris was not trying to hide his discontent in the slightest. A grimace was constantly on his face the entire ride and he kept glancing between Gerard and me wordlessly. I refused to make eye contact, not wanting to start anything. Chris was going to have to get over this. I was going to be a hunter one day any way. I didn’t understand why he was being so difficult about me starting now.

Chris sped up to the old railroad bridge. Water puddles covered the messy gravel, reflecting the light off our headlights. The city of Beacon Hills had long since abandoned these tracks to build nicer, more efficient ones across town. Sometimes, trains came down here but it was rare.

Up ahead, sparks exploded under one of the cement arches holding up the tracks. The car lurched forward in acceleration. Something was thrown into view in the headlights. Something scaly and grotesque. It was like nothing I’d ever seen before.

I guessed it was the Kanima. Chris hopped out of the car before I could blink and unloaded an entire clip into the Kanima as it let out a horrid screech.

I winced at the loudness. Black liquid spurted out of the Kanima. With each bullet his body was thrown into backwards motion but it remained upright.

“Jesus,” Jeremy muttered from my right as we leaned over the front seats, trying to catch a better glimpse of what was going on. “What the hell is that?”

Chris shot the last bullet and the Kanima finally went down. He lowered his weapon as Jeremy and I fought to get the better view. Glancing around, Chris stayed very still, as if waiting for another threat.

As far as I could tell, there was no one else here but a bunch of hunters twiddling their thumbs. The Kanima didn’t seem so hard to kill. Why had they been so worried about this thing?

“That was fast.” I muttered disappointedly. “I was kind of hoping the backup’s backup would get to have a go at the thing.”

Chris walked forward, his weapon ready. I glanced around, feeling adrenaline soar through me, aching to be out there in the midst of it all.

Jeremy nudged me as he shifted to get more comfortable. When I peered back out the window, something was obstructing Chris. I gasped audibly when I realized the Kanima was standing upright like he hadn’t been shot down five seconds ago.

Jeremy grabbed my arm as I made to leave the SUV. He shook his head and raised his brows, reminding me that we had direct orders to stay put.

Chris whirled around to shoot but his clip was empty. He dropped it quickly, trying to reload when the Kanima attack him.

I bit my lip, finding my orders very hard at the moment.

Chris was flung at one of the brick pillars, breathing heavily as he slowly looked up. His eyes squinted at the blinding headlights.

Directly in front of us stood Gerard and a crouching Kanima. Jeremy and I watched in suspenseful silence. Gerard stood there with a serious look on his pale face, simply watching the Kanima. The Kanima crouched, not attacking for some reason unbeknownst to me.

Something in a blue shirt flashed by, knocking the Kanima down as Jeremy and I bonked heads to see what was happening. The person in the blue shirt stood up slowly, making eye contact with an angry Gerard.

Scott’s alert face appeared in the light. I didn’t move as I observed Scott. I hadn’t seen him in weeks. He looked different. He looked more mature and determined as he stared down Gerard. I had to give him props for not running away screaming under that glare.

No words were exchanged but I could have sworn that Gerard gave him a miniscule nod before Scott spun on his heels and ran off after the Kanima.

Gerard watched him as Scott skirted off. Chris watched Gerard. Jeremy watched Scott disappear. And I glanced at Gerard for a moment before peering back at an out of breath Chris, pursing my lips, trying to understand what had just happened.

I was supposed to be surveilling. I just wasn’t sure what I had just surveilled.



Nobody spoke about what had happened on the ride back. I was mostly a little annoyed we didn’t run after the Kanima but Chris was having none of it.

“Scott can handle it for now. You need to go home.”

I glared at the back of his head, flaring my nostrils in anger. Jeremy grabbed my shoulder, trying to calm me down.

We were dropped off unceremoniously and ditched on the porch as they sped off after the other car of hunters who had followed the Kanima. I huffed, having half a mind to run and latch myself on the back of the SUV before Jeremy called me to follow him.

We trudged up the walk way and back through the Argent household. The stairs creaked lightly as I walked through the familiar halls. It wasn’t too long ago when I had stayed in Allison’s room for a few nights before we moved into our place in Beacon Hills.

Allison’s door was sealed and no light flowed under it. At this hour, she was probably asleep, especially with school in the morning. She wouldn’t be out hunting werewolves and Kanimas with her pops and Gerard. Allison was so naïve, living in her own little, perfect world. It was so unbelievably aggravating.

Jeremy and I were sharing the other guest room. It had been a storage facility the last time I was here. Now the walls were painted a nice lavender, a queen-sized bed was in it, and there were no unpacked boxes cluttering the room. Our few possessions were already on the bed. Victoria must have brought them up while we were hunting.

Without uttering a word, Jeremy took up the small couch sitting opposite the bed and stretched out comfortably, giving me the bed. I didn’t thank him but that was the way we operated as a team. We didn’t have to verbally communicate. It was just in the air, on our faces. It was our partnership.

I hadn’t realized how tired I was until I pulled out clean articles of clothing for tomorrow and tossed my body onto the bed. I hadn’t slept in almost two days. Being dropped off early from the mission didn’t seem so terrible as my aching eyes clamped shut and Jeremy turned off the lights.

Before I could respond to Jeremy’s “goodnight”, I drifted off.

A scaly Kanima chased me throughout my dreams.