Love's Spiral

~309 ~ 4173

Derek’s pack, plus Scott, had led Chris Argent into the woods to show them the place where they had last seen Boyd and Cora. The hunter had grabbed a large duffelbag from his trunk and everyone was slightly nervous as to what was inside.

Spencer was just surprised that the man had agreed to help them. She didn’t even think that Scott’s plan to show him the boy at the pool would work, but it had and now they were being scrutinized for their own hunting tactics. Which, if Spencer really thought about it, was a little embarrassing. Hunting should be second nature to them, given the fact that they were predators, themselves.

Argent dropped the duffelbag into the dirt and crouched down, looking to the print that Scott had pointed out to him. “You’re tracking them by print?” He asked.

“Trying to.” Scott replied.

“Well, then, you’ve been wasting your time.”

Spencer tilted her head, narrowing her eyes at the older man. She scoffed.

Argent turned his head towards her. “There’s only one creature on Earth that can visually track footprints, and that’s man.” He stood, looking around to the others. “And if you’re not trained like me, you have no idea that this print is Boyd’s,” Argent pointed to the print in front of him and then moved his finger towards another, “And these - ”

“Are Cora’s.” Isaac said, knowing and pointing to them, hoping to impress the experienced hunter.

Argent shook his head. “Nope.” He said, with a smug look. “They’re yours. You trampled Cora’s as soon as you walked over here.”

Isaac looked at where he was standing, hoping he wasn’t mucking up more of the trail than he already had. He looked next to him at Spencer, showing that he hadn’t meant to mess up the prints.

Spencer shook her head at Isaac and reached for his arm. She could swear that he winced, just slightly, but when she carefully placed her hand on the crook of his elbow, Isaac relaxed. Spencer smiled up at him.

“Listen, I know the four of you are focusing half your energy on resisting your own urges under the full moon, but that puts you at a severe disadvantage to Boyd and Cora, who have fully given in.” Argent reasoned. “They’ve got the pedal to the floor where you guys are barely hitting the speed limit.”

Derek, who wasn’t extremely comfortable with Argent helping, crossed his arms over his chest and took a deep breath. “So, what do we do?”

“Focus on your sense of smell.” Argent insisted. “Actual wolves are known to track their prey by up to a hundred miles a day by scent. A trained hunter can use scent to track them.”

Spencer smirked, knowing this was where she was going to be of much use. Scent tracking was her specialty.

“If the wind is with them, wolves can track a scent by a distance of two miles, which means we can draw them to us, or into a trap.” Argent reached into his bag and pulled out a net, tossing it to Scott. “Full moon does give us one advantage. They’ll have a higher heat signature,” He reached for his bag again, taking out what looked like binoculars. “Which makes them easier to spot with infrared.” Argent tossed a paid to Isaac and then Derek.

Derek turned them in his hands for a moment, but decided against them. “Thanks, but I’ve got my own.” He said, blinking his eyes, channelling his wolf, and making his eyes flash red.

Argent shook his head, slightly. “Just remember, we’re not hunting wild animals. Underneath those impulses are two intelligent human beings.”

Spencer furrowed her brow, catching on. “So, even though their wolf is through the roof, they can still use what they know as a human?”

“Exactly.” Argent nodded. “They’ll mask their scent, cover their tracks, survive if they’re being threatened.” He gestured towards the lookout point nearby and the wolves followed him up the hill to look at the entire town. Argent turned his head in Derek’s direction, but didn’t look to him. “When’s the last time you saw your sister?”

“Years.” Derek said. “I thought she died in the fire.”

Spencer glanced sadly over at Derek. It was weird, to see him in this state. Spencer knew that he was feeling so much about tonight, and, while he was trying not to show his distress, it was written clearly on his face how messed up he was about it all.

“Do you feel like you have a lock on her scent?” Argent asked.

Derek shook his head, wordlessly.

Argent looked towards Scott. “Scott, how confident are you in your skills?”

“Honestly, most of the time, I’m trying not to think about all the things I can smell.” Scott answered. He turned towards his red-haired friend. “But Spencer’s even worse. She had super-smell before she was a wolf.” Scott recalled laughing. “I can’t imagine how bad you have it.”

Spencer smiled, blushing slightly and shook her head. She shrugged. “Prioritizing.” Spencer said. “And wearing a lot of perfume to block everything else out.” She joked.

Argent stared out towards the town, wanting to get back on task. “Alright. The problem is when they breach the woods and hit the residential area. Once they’re passed the high school they’re right in the middle of Beacon Hills.”

“So they’ll be running through the actual town and killing everything they see?” Isaac questioned, recalling what Derek had said earlier to Scott.

“No, not exactly, however, there’s something that you need to recognize.” Argent said, turning towards them. “Wolves hunt for food. At a certain point, they get full. But Boyd and Cora are hunting for the pleasure of the kill, for some primal apex predatory satisfaction that comes from the ripping of warm bodies to bloody shreds and who know when that need gets satiated?”

“They’re not gonna stop.” Spencer reworded, realizing that they had a tough job on their hands.

“We can’t kill them.” Scott stressed.

Spencer shook her head at her friend. “I’m not saying we do, but - ” She stopped herself.

“But what if we can’t catch them?” Derek finished, looking towards both of the betas.

Scott turned to Argent for the answer.

Argent thought for a moment, then looked up. “Then maybe we just need to contain them.” He looked towards the town, probably looking for somewhere that they could trap them. “There’s no one in the school at night, is there?”

“You want to trap them inside?” Derek asked.

“If there’s somewhere with a strong enough door, no windows or access to the outside.”

Spencer scoffed. “I’m not so sure about that. When Peter had us trapped in the school last year, there was nowhere for us to hide from him.”

“What about the boiler room?” Isaac asked, earning a look from Spencer that was a mix of shock and confusion. Isaac turned towards her and shrugged. “It’s just one big steel door.”

Spencer furrowed her brow. “How the hell do you know that?”

“There’s storage down there. During Harris’ detentions we needed to bring stock from there to the main floors.” Isaac shared. “I had detention a lot.”

“You’re sure the school’s empty?” Argent double checked.

“It has to be.” Scott insisted. “There can’t be anyone there this late, right?” He asked, looking to Spencer.

Spencer shrugged. “I don’t think even this highest of overachievers would be there now.” She looked towards Argent. “One thing though.” Spencer said, getting the man’s attention. “How exactly are we supposed to get them there? Hold out a raw steak and say ‘here come and get it’?”

Argent laughed once, but went back to his bag, pulling out a couple of stakes. He stuck one of them in the ground. “These are ultrasonic emitters. It’s one of the tools we use to corral werewolves, pushing them into a direction we want them to run.” Argent pushed the button on top of the emitter and a bright light flashed from inside.

Spencer’s ears nearly popped at the sound she heard. It was piercing, ten times worse than the dog whistle Dr. Deaton had. Spencer’s hands shot up to her ears, but still the sound echoed inside her head, nearly tearing her to pieces.

Argent had barely noticed the wolves’ distress and kept explaining. “It gives off a high-pitched frequency that only they can hear.” He said proudly.

“God, no kidding!” Isaac strained.

Spencer looked up at her friends, seeing their ears were covered as well. She couldn’t help but smile at the sight.

Finally, Argent turned off the emitter and took it out of the ground. He stood and retrieved more from his car, passing a couple to each wolf.

“These are gonna drive them to the school?” Derek asked.

“And then it’s up to you to get them into the basement.”

“Does anyone else want to rethink the plan where we just, uh, kill ‘em?” Isaac asked, quickly earning a slap to the back of the head from Spencer.

Scott shook his head. “It’s going to work.” He insisted.

Spencer studied the emitter in her hand. “So we just put them like a runway through the woods, towards the school?”

Argent nodded and closed his trunk.

“Sounds easy enough.” Spencer looked to Isaac. “Ready?”

Isaac smiled at her and nodded. “Let’s go.”

!@#$#@!

With the emitters in place, the group met at the school to prepare it for Boyd and Cora. The first step required them to break into the school, something they’ve done before, but not for these reasons.

Spencer stood behind Scott and Isaac as they pushed on the doors with all the strength they could muster to break them open. When they’d gotten it open, Spencer’s phone rung from her pocket. She gestured for the boys to go to their assigned spots while she took the call. “Hey, is Lydia okay?”

“Okay enough. But she’s finding dead bodies without realizing she’s finding dead bodies.” Stiles explained.

“Fantastic.” Spencer said with a frustrated tone. “What else you got?”

“Melissa just called me. I’m headed to the hospital to see what she found on the kid from the pool.”

“Good. We should be done here soon. We’re leading them to the school and trapping them in the boiler room.” Spencer sighed.

“Sounds good.”

“Hey, Stiles?” Spencer said before Stiles could hang up.

“Yeah.”

Spencer hesitated before speaking, but decided to just come out with it. “Thanks. For checking in with me. Even if I haven’t been incredibly deserving of it lately.”

Stiles let out a long breath. “You’re one of my best friends, Spence. No matter what. I feel like that’s more important.”

Spencer’s heart fluttered wildly in her chest. She shook her head, wishing she wasn’t feeling the way she was and could get her heart under control. “Me, too.” Spencer said, turning around at the sound of footsteps behind her.

Derek had gotten into his place, and was staring at her questioningly.

“I gotta go, okay? I’ll call you later.” She said, quickly hanging up the phone. Spencer continued to stare at Derek and shrugged, not wanting to get into it.

From close by, a howling started.

“Shit.” Spencer said, turning and rushing to her place beside Isaac. Before she could get to him, she skidded to a stop seeing Boyd and Cora behind him.

Isaac noticed her blank stare and hesitation and he sighed. “They’re behind me aren’t they?” Isaac didn’t even need Spencer to answer because the wolves behind him growled. “Oh, great.” Isaac turned around slowly, flashing his eyes gold.

Spencer feared moving, not wanting them to charge at her and Isaac. Further ahead, she saw a pair of headlights headed their way, and then the honking started.

Chris Argent drove up fast and stopped his car, tires squealing.

Boyd and Cora roughly turned, facing the car. They growled at the sound and then ran towards the building.

Spencer watched as Boyd and Cora ran towards the door Derek was standing on the other side of. She saw them stop at the door, and then they jumped. Spencer furrowed her brow and turned her head in Scott’s direction.

“They’re not going through the school.” Scott said. “They’re going over it.”

Chris left his car and jogged to Scott.

Spencer and Isaac joined Scott by his side. She noticed Derek came out from the building and approached them as well. “What the hell do we do now?” Spencer asked.

“The red doors.” Argent said, quickly. “Someone has to get them open.”

Derek nodded and took off quickly in that direction.

“Someone still has to drive them inside.” Scott pointed out.

Argent charged up his electric baton, making Spencer take a quick step back. “I’ll go.”

“No.” Isaac said, “I’m faster.” He looked to Spencer.

Spencer raised her brow and nodded, “And I’m not letting you go alone.” She said with a smile, before running off.

Isaac followed after her as they ran quickly around the building. He beat her to the back door and opened it quickly.

It was a matter of seconds when they saw that Boyd and Cora had jumped from the roof.

Spencer stepped towards them, eyes flashing gold and claws ready. She heard an odd sound and her eyes moved towards it. Spencer was insanely surprised to see Allison standing on top of a school bus with her bow in her hand. Her eyes narrowed at the tip of the arrow. Spencer gasped, running towards the second door to the school. “Isaac, shield your eyes.” She grabbed the handle and pulled the door open.

“What?” Isaac questioned.

“Now!” Spencer shouted, putting the crook of her elbow over her eyes. She hoped Isaac took her advice and waited until the arrows stopped flying. When Spencer heard Boyd and Cora rush into the building, she let out a small sigh of relief. “Close the doors!” She lowered her arm and pushed the door she was holding closed.

Isaac forced his own door closed and put a bike lock around the handles, making it so Boyd and Cora couldn’t open the doors. He leaned his head on the doors. “We did it.”

Spencer ignored Isaac’s comment and took a couple steps away from the building, meeting Allison’s gaze. The redhead wondered why Allison was there, and how she even knew what they had planned. At any rate, Spencer was sure if Scott or her father saw her, they wouldn’t be too happy about it. “Go.” She said aloud.

Allison looked away, taking a couple steps.

“What?” Isaac asked, turning around, finally seeing Allison.

Allison stopped again, and looked back at the wolves.

Spencer showed Allison a small nod of gratitude. “Go.” She stressed again, finally making Allison run off.

“What the hell was that?” Isaac asked.

“Something we’re never gonna talk about.” Spencer admitted, looking up at him. “Got it?” she asked.

Isaac stared after Allison, but then turned towards Spencer, catching her eye. He nodded, agreeing with her.

“C’mon. We have to make sure Scott and Derek got them in the boiler room.” Spencer said, taking a step to go back towards where they left Argent and Scott.

“Wait, just one second.” Isaac begged, grabbing her arm.

Spencer stopped, turning her body back towards Isaac. She furrowed her brow at him, wondering what was wrong. “Isaac, we don’t really have a second.”

“I know, but there’s one thing you need to know.” Isaac insisted. He looked at every inch of Spencer’s face, taking it all in. Isaac pushed her winded hair behind her ears.

The small touches were making Spencer nervous. What she couldn’t tell, though, was whether what she felt was good nervous or bad nervous. Was it the good nervous, with butterflies flittering around in her stomach at high speeds? Or was it the bad nervous, with a heavy ball in the pit of her stomach for her recent wavering in feelings for the boy standing in front of her?

Isaac took a deep breath. “I know you’re with me.” He said, finally. “I’m just - ” Isaac let out a frustrated sigh, not being able to find the right words. “With your past relationships with Derek and Stiles…”

Spencer swallowed a mouthful of nerves at the mention of her best friend’s name.

“You told me not to compare myself to them, and I won’t, but I still can’t help but feel like there might be something between you and - ”

“Isaac.” Spencer said, interrupting him. She shook her head. “There’s nothing.” Spencer admitting, trying to convince, both, herself and Isaac. Her voice was strong, but her heart might have been whispering something completely different. “I-I’m sorry that you feel that way, but I don’t know how else I can say it.” Spencer told him, taking a step away from him. “Either you believe me or you don’t. To save both of our feelings, you should probably decide which one it is.” Finally, she turned away from Isaac and raced towards the open door around the front of the school. Spencer shook her head as she ran, not sure how she was feeling. It didn’t matter though because she needed to make sure Boyd and Cora had been taken care of.

Spencer burst through the doors of the school, running towards the stairs leading to the boiler room. At the bottom of the steps, she saw Scott with one palm on the door and the other on the handle. “Is everything okay?” Spencer asked, stepping quickly down the stairs. “We got them, right?”

Scott looked to Spencer like she was the last person he wanted to see at the moment. He nodded, though.

Spencer sighed. “Good.” She nodded, looking to the door. “Where’s Derek?”

“Uh…” Scott said, looking from her to the big door and back. “He, uh…”

“Scott?” Spencer asked, slowly putting what might be going on together. “I’m gonna ask one more time, and I’d really like you to be honest with me.” She told him, her chest becoming heavy with worry. “Where’s Derek?”

Scott couldn’t answer, verbally, so he just looked to the large door next to him and lowered his eyes.

“No.” Spencer insisted. “No, Scott, you did not let him stay in there.” She pressed, trying to push Scott out of the way so she could open the door to let Derek out.

Scott held her back, wrapping his arm around her waist and picking her up away from the door. “Pence - ”

“Scott, put me down!” Spencer said, struggling against Scott’s stronger hold. “You need to get him out of there! They’ll kill him!” She tried to push herself away from her friend, but he only held tighter. “He needs help!”

“Spencer, stop!”

“Derek!” Spencer shouted. “Get your ass back out here!”

Loud snarls and growls started, making Spencer stop her fight.

Spencer just froze, still in Scott’s grasp. She stared at the door, hating the fact that she didn’t know what was happening on the other side of it.

A loud thud on the door made both Scott and Spencer jump.

Scott studied his best friend’s face. “I’m gonna put you down now. Please, don’t make me regret it.”

Spencer could feel a lump build in her throat and water pool up in her eyes. She nodded though, and Scott let her go. Spencer slid down the wall behind her and sat on the ground. All she could do was listen to the growls and snarls. Spencer closed her eyes, focusing her hearing on the inside of the boiler room. She found Derek’s heartbeat. The sound was slow in Spencer’s ears; loud, but still slightly weak-sounding. Spencer squeezed her eyes shut, tieing her fingers in a knot behind her neck, her forehead against her raised knees.

“Scott!” Isaac shouted, pulling Spencer from Derek’s heart. “The sun’s coming up!”

Spencer’s head shot up and looked to Scott.

Scott looked down at her, holding out a hand to help pull her to her feet. He put his hand on the latch and pulled the door open.

Spencer didn’t even pay Isaac any attention when he came to the stairwell. The second the door was open even a sliver, she pushed herself through it, searching for Derek. Spencer stopped when he saw him, sitting on his knees. She gasped, shaking her head.

Derek’s shirt was shredded and bloodied, with Boyd and Cora on either side of him, completely knocked out. He’d held them and let them swipe their claws at him, tiring them out.

Spencer took in a deep breath and rushed to Derek, kneeling in front of him. She picked up his head in her hands. “Hey…” Spencer said, not realizing how shaky her voice was. “You’re okay.” She said, gratefully.

Derek nodded, just slightly, meeting her eyes. He was panting trying to catch his breath, but he saw Spencer clearly. Derek was blown away by the girl who was always there for him, always worried about him and fighting for him. He kept his eyes on hers. “There’s a teacher.”

“We’ll take care of it.”

Derek shook his head. “I’ll take care of her.”

Spencer scoffed. “You can barely hold yourself up.”

“Red, I got it.” Derek looked around her towards the betas that Spencer hadn’t even known came in. “Get them out of here.” He said, talking about Boyd and Cora.

Scott and Isaac paused a minute, but then each went towards one of the passed out werewolves, picking them up and heading towards the door.

Derek turned his attention back to Spencer. “You go with them.”

Spencer shook her head and got to her feet. She put Derek’s arm over her shoulder’s and pulled him to his feet. “I can’t do that.”

“You need to get them to the loft.” Derek ordered. “Take the car, drive them home.”

Spencer made sure that he could hold himself up and took a step away from him. “Derek - ” She tried to argue.

Derek’s eyes flashed red for just a second. “Do it. Red, I’m serious.”

“I can’t believe you’re pulling the alpha card with me.” Spencer scoffed.

“I don’t want to, but please. They both need you more than I do. I’m gonna take care of the teacher, make sure she’s okay.”

Spencer’s head turned towards where she heard heavy breathing and a fast heartbeat. “She.” Spencer said quietly, not really meaning to say it at all.

“Go help them, Red.”

Spencer bit her lip and nodded, finally leaving Derek alone in the boiler room. She pulled her phone from her pocket as she walked towards the Cruiser and pressed on Stiles’ name.

The phone only rang once before Stiles answered. “Spence, thank God. Everything okay?”

“We got them.”

“Do you think you and Scott could stop by the hospital?” Stiles asked. “I’ve got some news of my own to share.”

Spencer could tell there was something wrong, so she agreed. She got Isaac to take Boyd and Cora back to the loft while she and Scott made a quick pit stop at Beacon Hills Memorial.

When they arrived, Stiles was waiting for them. He led them to the morgue, carefully going through the hallways, making sure no one saw them.

“Stiles, what’s going on?” Spencer asked as Stiles closed the door softly once they were all inside.

“I’d like to know that, too.” Scott added.

“There’s something else happening. Something more than Boyd and Cora wolfing out.” Stiles explained. “Actually, I don’t think it has to do with a wolf at all.” He turned towards the first table where a cloth-covered body was laid. Stiles looked to Spencer quickly. “Spence, this may be hard to see.”

Spencer swallowed her fear and nodded, standing closely by Stiles. “Just do it.”

Stiles removed the cloth down the girl’s body, revealing her face.

Spencer took in a deep breath and covered her mouth with her hand. She took a closer step towards Stiles. “It’s Heather.” Spencer realized.

Stiles nodded. He reached and grabbed her free hand, holding it tightly.

“Oh, my God.” Spencer said, her voice shaking.

Scott reached for the cloth and covered up the body, sensing distress from both Stiles and Spencer. When he dropped the covering, he spoke. “So, Boyd and Cora might not have killed anyone?”

Stiles couldn’t meet Scott’s eyes. “You’re gonna wish they did.”

“Why?”

“I’m not exactly sure yet.” Stiles warned. “But, there’s another girl who’s missing out in the woods. Emily. Eventually they’re gonna find her. She’s one of them.”

“‘One of them’?” Spencer questioned.

“Yeah. Emily, Heather… The guy Lydia found at the pool. All three were virgins.” Stiles explained. “And they’re all gonna have the same three injuries: strangled, throat slashed, head bashed in. It’s called a threefold death.”

“So, if these aren’t random killings, what are they?” Scott asked, honestly afraid of knowing the answer.

Stiles took a deep breath and let it out. “Sacrifices. Human sacrifices.”

Spencer bit her lip and looked up at Scott. “This is definitely not good.”