On My Own | Hale - TVD/TO/TW [4]

26 | Transaction, Not Sacrifice

"Shoot me. Come on. Shoot me."

"Nogitsune." Lexi's voice floats through Derek's loft. The thing inside of Stiles raises its gaze to the open door, away from the hunter holding a gun to his head and the father pointing his gun at the hunter.

It smirks when it sees Lexi standing in the threshold, her hands gently placed in the pockets of her long dark coat.

For a brief moment, Lexi looks down at Derek sprawled across the ground with his back bent at an awkward angle. She sees Allison standing off to the side with the setting sun hitting her innocent eyes.

"Alexis," the Nogitsune says. "I knew you'd come."

"Knew or hoped?" She steps down to their level. Gently moving the sheriff's gun to the side, Lexi walks up next to Argent. "I'll take it from here, hunter. This is a matter of history."

"Ah." It holds its hands behind its back. "Still mad I broke out of your little prison world?"

Lexi arches an eyebrow. "Do you know how hard it is to make a pocket reality? And keep it up for eight hundred years? Then some idiot kitsune frees you with a muttered prayer. It was utterly humiliating." It chuckles as Lexi sucks in a breath. "I am afraid I'll have to think of some other way to contain you this time."

"Oh, you still think you can do that?" It shakes Stiles' head. "I'm in a living vessel this time."

"And I'm right here." Lexi takes a step forward and runs her eyes down his face. "You're killing him."

It shrugs. "Downside of a human teenage boy."

"I'm prepared to make you a deal." She shifts her stance and looks back at the hunter. "No need for your primitive guns, Argent. They will not work." She glances down at her back leg. Argent follows her gaze as she looks back at the Nogitsune. "Why are you here? Why now, after months?"

It grins. "When I escaped, I wanted to settle right away. Feed again after all these years." It steps up to Lexi. "And then I heard about Kol."

She gulps as her nostrils flare. "Kol," she breathes. "Unfortunately, my brother is dead."

"Yes!" It throws Stiles' hands up in the air as he moves back, spreading his arms wide. "And I thought, let's wait. Because we all know how Lexi Mikaelson reacts to death. So, I waited. And soon enough I heard of your little adventures."

"I wasn't myself," Lexi replies. "but I do not need to justify myself to you. You are nothing."

"Nothing?" It arches an eyebrow. "Now, is that any way to greet me, cousin?"

Lexi purses her lips when she hears the collective inhale from behind her. "You were waiting to drop that bit of information, weren't you?" Her eye twitches. "No matter. You, Nogitsune, are a creature who has gone mad over the years. We are not the same, nor will we ever be the same. I do not work with foxes."

"But you're willing to make a deal with me." It tilts its head to the side. "I knew I chose the right place. The right vessel. You can't resist being the martyr."

"This is not a sacrifice," Lexi replies. "This is simply a transaction."

"And what do you want in return? For me to kill Mikael?"

"Mikael is dead," Lexi says with a smirk. "and he is not coming back. But it does not matter. If you leave this boy alone, and you leave this town alone, along with Mystic Falls and New Orleans, I will give you what you want."

"Not going to try to trick me?" It asks. "You'll just give me what I've been asking for since the fourteenth century? Without a fight?"

"Yes." Lexi nods. "As long as you uphold your word."