Tabula Rasa ~TW/TO~ Lahey

Chapter 8: Control

After five miles of chasing after Derek, I catch up to him in an abandoned part of town. This isn't a part of Beacon Hills I'm familiar with, so tonight I'll be learning more about Kanima's and what this town does have to offer. I'm sure Derek is also unaware of where Jackson is leading us, which means we need to be ready for anything. Our goal is to finish what we started this morning.

Thankfully this mission will be more easygoing with Derek not arguing about my presence. Deep down, he knows he is going to need me by his side. Scott had seen the Kanima run off of his roof with his own eyes and into the shadowy woods toward the east side of town. Not only is he going to try and be a hero to save another one of Jackson's victims, but also save his friend from us.

Flipping over a fence and dodging pillars, we follow the Kanima to the under part of a bridge that had more obstacles than expected. He's smart. He's trying to lose us and that's exactly what he did. Once he turned another sharp corner, we lost him.

Halting in the middle of the abandoned area, we carefully search for any sign of him and just when I thought he had escaped, a hissing sound comes from behind us. Turning around to face the Kanima, Derek roars back at it. The oversized lizard then leaps towards us, making the first move by throwing punches left and right at Derek. Derek dodges them swiftly, working to prevent himself from becoming paralyzed.

Trying to keep a distance from the claws myself, I jump onto the scaly back to keep him from attacking Derek long enough for him to get a move in. Almost immediately I'm forced off of him, but my actions had succeeded in giving Derek a chance to kick Jackson against the cement arch that supports the bridge. While he stumbles from the impact, Derek doesn't waste a second and goes for a punch. However, the Kanima dodges his throw causing him to punch straight through the concrete wall. With Derek recovering from his forceful punch, it gives Jackson a chance to retaliate by throwing Derek a good twenty feet back.

Derek better be grateful I came to help him.

Stepping in, I grab a hold of the creature's right wrist before his claws can connect to my waist and throw a punch with as much force as I can muster. He stumbles back against the wall and I take the opportunity to go in for another punch. He dodges it easily and with a swing of his arm, he has me thrown to the side. My back rams into a cement wall, knocking the wind out of me and it takes me longer than usual to stand back up. This thing is stronger than what I gave it credit for. I'm not going down without a fight, though.

Moving to take a stand and prepare myself to go up against this thing again to aid Derek, I find I am missing one valuable thing from my plan; Derek. To my left, lights flash into my sight of vision and the sound of tires squealing follow after. This has to be the Argent's crashing the party because no one else can make Derek flee like that.

Not knowing what else to do, I scurry behind the arch the Kanima had thrown me at seconds ago, which seems to be his go-to move, and I peek around the corner to watch what is about to unfold.

A man materializes out from the mist that surrounds us and begins unloading his clip into the Kanimas torso. The ringing sound of the shells hitting the ground echo in my ears and soon overpowers the wailing sound of the Kanima's screeching. Multiple bullets are all it took for this man to kill Jackson, while Derek and I struggled to even touch him. I can see why Derek is terrified of these people now. They have the material, and the means, to kill him on sight. They show no mercy for anyone and that is how you become a sufficient predator. And now that Jackson is out of the way, there is one less obstacle standing in our way.

Figuring that this is out of our hands and now in the Argents, I search for Derek with my enhanced hearing. I strain to listen for the scowling sour wolf and instead hear the familiar sound of hissing. What the hell?