The Huntress {Stiles Stilinski}

Abomination - Kanima

  Raelynn's P.O.V.

Eric's hold on my jaw tightens as Derek narrows his eyes, and Stiles looks at me and I nod at him. My forehead is still bleeding, but it's healing.

"All right," he sighs, and Erica lets go of me. I stand up and Stiles takes my hand as I glare over at her. "The thing was pretty slick looking. Um, skin was dark. Kind of patterned. I actually think I saw scales. Is that enough? Okay, because I've got somebody I really need to talk to-" Derek looks up through his lashes, his mouth in a hard line. Stiles makes an angry sound from the back of his throat, almost like he'd tried to growl but it hadn't worked. "All right, fine, eyes. Eyes are, um, yellowish. And slitted. Uh, has a lot of teeth. Oh. And it's got a tail, too. Are we good?"

Derek and Erica look up, just above Stiles's head, where there's a small watching balcony. Erica looks terrified, her breathing quickening.

"What?" I ask, looking to Stiles and then them.

"Wait, have you seen it?" he asks. "You have this look on your faces like you know exactly what I'm talking about." There's a small noise, and a weird scent, and I turn with Stiles to see the thing above us. It growls, even though it sounds like a scream, and we back away beside Derek.

Derek crouches and growls, while the thing swipes at Erica's legs, throwing her effortlessly into the far wall. She lands unconscious on the floor, and I throw my claws out and step in front of Stiles.

I turn and push on his chest. "Run!"

"Derek, your neck," Stiles says as Derek looks around, confused. I grab him as his legs give way, and Stiles holds the other arm. "Come on." We start to move towards the exit, Derek's feet dragging along the floor. "Where is it? Can you see it?"

"I can smell it," Derek says.

"Please hurry," I say, slightly out of breath. "Call Scott." Stiles pulls out his phone, but he drops it on the floor. We're dangerously close to the pool, and he lets go of Derek's arm without thinking.

"Stiles!" Derek and I shout as I overbalance, sending us both toppling into the cold water. Derek sinks straight to the bottom with me, and I'm trapped beneath him so I can't get us to the surface.

I take a welcome gulp of air as we break the surface, Stiles holding Derek, and I'm holding onto Derek's neck. I move so I'm helping Stiles hold him up, and we're treading water to keep us up. "Where did it go?"

"Do you see it?" Stiles asks as we crane our necks. Derek seems to be paralyzed from the neck down, only able to move his head a little

"No," Derek replies, spitting out water as his head dips slightly below the surface.

"Maybe it took off," I suggest, spitting out my own water. The same roar that the thing screamed at us before it paralyzed Derek sounds throughout the building, almost as if it's on cue.

"Maybe not," Derek says, glaring at Stiles.

Stiles tries to see something, probably where his phone is, and I growl in frustration. "Stiles!" I shout, and he stills. "Stop moving. I can't keep this up for much longer."

"We've been in here barely thirty minutes," Derek says, looking down at me.

"Um, hi, excuse me, but I am a very unfit person, only doing exercise when absolutely necessary, so this, right now, is not fun," I snap.

"You had to be fit on the hunts, right?" Derek asks.

"Yes, but then I had my bow and my arrows and my legs to support me, not just my little arms trying to keep myself and a paralyzed person above the water level!"

"Can you get me out of here before I drown," Derek hisses at Stiles, who moves again.

"You're worried about drowning?" he chuckles. "Did you notice the thing out there with multiple rows of razor sharp teeth."

"Did you notice I'm paralyzed from the neck down in eight feet of water?" Derek's voice gets louder towards the end.

"Okay," Stiles says, attempting to calm the situation. He turns his neck, sounding very out of breath, like me. "I don't see it." He splashes about with his left hand, pulling us over to the side. "Rae, little help?" I paddle with my right hand, and we start to float over to the side of the pool where his phone is resting.

"Wait, wait, wait, stop, stop," Derek says quickly, and we look up to see the thing prowling around the pool, hissing as it watches us.

"What's it waiting for?" Stiles asks as we look on.

It doesn't make any move to get into the water, but it is registering it with what looks like curiosity. It walks forward, placing it's - I guess you could call it a hand - into the water, but backing away and hissing immediately.

"Wait, did you see that?" I ask, and Stiles looks around Derek to look at me. "I don't think it can swim."

It keeps prowling around the perimeter of our pool, blocking our way out. Either we're going to drown, or we need to get out and fight, or get help. I'm starting to get exhausted from keeping Derek up, as well as part of Stiles, and my arms feel like lead.

"Okay," I sigh. "I don't know how much longer I can do this."

Stiles groans. "Me either."

"No, no, no," Derek says quickly as Stiles starts swimming over to the side of the pool where his phone is. "Don't even think about it. Either of you."

"Would you just trust us this once?" Stiles asks.

"No."

"We're the ones keeping you alive, okay, have you noticed that?" I ask snappily.

"Yeah," Derek answers, his head resting on my shoulder from how Stiles was swimming. "And when the paralysis wears off, who is gonna be able to fight that thing, you or me?" Our heads dip, and we struggle to get back above the water.

"Okay, so that's why we've been holding you up for the past two hours?" Stiles says loudly.

"You don't trust me I don't trust you. You need me to survive, which is why you are not letting me go." There's a pause, where a lot of glances are exchanged, but without warning, Stiles lets go of Derek's arm. "Stiles!"

"Woah, no!" I shout, gripping onto Derek's arm as he falls down into the water, fully submerged. I haven't got the strength to haul him back up, so I focus on keeping me up and trying to bob him so he gets a little bit of air. "Stiles!" I shout, alerting him that the thing is following him as he swims over to his phone. "No!" He makes for the phone as the thing comes charging, but Stiles gets away.

Keeping his phone in the air and out of the water, he swims back over to me and dials Scott's number. "Scott!" His voice echoes, but he doesn't say anything else. He holds the phone away from his ear and makes a confused and annoyed face at it, scoffing slightly.

"Stiles!" I growl, trying to lift Derek up but falling under myself. He makes a grunting sound as I resurface, and I see him swimming down to grab Derek's other arm and lift him back out. Derek coughs out a load of water, and Stiles and I heave his arms over our shoulders again.

"Tell me you got him," Derek snaps. Stiles makes a defeated sound and I roll my eyes, looking around. The thing is still walking around the sides of the pool, not showing any signs of giving in.

"It's trying to drown us," I sigh.

"It almost worked," Derek hisses, glaring at me and Stiles.

"Hey, woah, no, I tried to keep you up, but you sank," I say defensively. "If I can only just keep myself above water, how the hell am I supposed to keep you up, too."

"She makes a fair point," Stiles adds.

"Shut up," Derek growls.

Another scream-growl sounds, and I close my eyes as I bob under and then back up.

"I can't stay up any longer," Stiles groans. "I need something to hold onto." He turns, and I see what he's spotted. The machine thing they use to help disabled people into the pool so they can swim. At least I think that's what it is. Either way, it's a bar, and something for me and Stiles to hold onto while also holding Derek.

I help him swim over, and we reach for it at the same time, but our hands are too wet. "No!" We slip, heading back under the water, and we're both too tired to try and get back up. I keep hold of Derek's arm, until something lifts us out of the pool, dropping us on the poolside. I exhale and cough up a little water, and watch as Scott roars at the thing.

It comes running and leaps, hitting Scott in the side. It grabs Scott's ankle, lifting him and throwing him into the air and into the mirror on the other wall. I roll to my front so I can see what's happening, watching as Scott picks up a long, sharp shard of glass. The thing slows down as it walks over, placing each foot deliberately on the ground.

Scott snarls, but it stops when it sees it's reflection in the mirror. It hisses and jumps, and I think it's going to lunge at Scott, but it scales the walls and jumps out of the skylight. Scott looks over, confused, as we sit up, and Derek's paralysis wears off.


"Is that even a language?" Stiles asks as we look through the bestiary which was being held on an USB stick the entire time.

"How are we supposed to figure out what this thing is?" Scott asks, stepping back from the laptop resting on the hood of his car.

"It's called a kanima," Derek says as he and Erica walk over to us.

"You knew the whole time," Stiles says angrily.

"No, only when it was -"

"Confused by it's own reflection," I finish, and all eyes are on me as I hold my left elbow with my right hand. "What? I read."

"It doesn't know what it is," Scott clarifies.

"Or who," Derek adds.

"What else do you know?" Stiles asks.

"Just stories, rumors," Derek answers. Stiles turns round to look at me, and I nod.

"But it's like us?" Scott says.

"Well, it's a shapeshifter, yes, but it's not right," I say. "It's like - like a-"

"An abomination," Stiles finishes for me. Derek looks up at us and nods, and Erica's eyes flick between us all. She clearly had no idea what she signed up for. Derek turns to go, but Scott stops him.

"We need to work together on this," he says quickly. "Maybe even tell the Argents." My eyebrows furrow as I look at Scott, confusion etched all over my face.

"You trust them?" Derek asks accusingly.

"Nobody trusts anyone," Scott says slowly. "That's the problem. While we're here, arguing about who's on what side, there's something scarier, stronger and faster than any of us, and it's killing people and we still don't even know anything about it."

"I know one thing," Derek says. "When I find it? I'm gonna kill it." And with that, he turns and walks away, Erica following behind him.

I clap my hands together and turn to the boys. "Well, I don't know about you two, but I am beyond tired. Scott, you good?"

"Yeah, I gotta go pick my mom up from work anyway," he says, smiling down at me as I walk past Stiles and take his arm, dragging him to the Impala with me.

I sit in the driver's seat, leaning back against the cool leather. "Ah, feels good to drive something different, huh?"

Stiles chuckles and nods, leaning over and planting a swift kiss on my mouth before I start the engine and reverse out of the parking space, ready to go home and get a decent night's sleep.