Ding Ding Ding
Sean pulled his phone out of his pocket. It was Stiles.
"Yeah, Stiles?"
Stiles was speaking in a whisper. "Dude, you need to get here right now. I think this new variant of yours might actually kill me."
"Where are you?" Sean asked.
"I'm at the mechanic's, on the road near your house."
Sean hung up. He had just brought Scott to the vet's door.
"Scott, I assume you heard that," Sean said, his voice uneasy. "Heal your wounds. Deaton should know how. I'm going to Stiles."
Though Scott wanted to go with him, he finally nodded and entered the clinic. Inside, the body of a dead man lay on the table. Deaton was examining it; when he saw Scott enter, his voice was heavy with concern. "Scott... I think we need to talk."
After leaving Scott at the vet, Sean shifted and ran toward the location Stiles had given at full speed. He was so fast it was as if he were passing through the shadows themselves.
As he reached the mechanic's shop, a strange scent hit his nose. He threw a powerful punch at the garage door. The door tore off its hinges and went flying inward. At that moment, the sound of a reptile scurrying away echoed from within. Just as Sean was about to give chase, he noticed someone pinned under a car. When he saw the hair of the person trapped beneath the vehicle, Stiles flashed through his mind. His vision blurred. A profound sense of darkness and sorrow consumed his entire body.
*Flashback*
A little girl spoke. "Hey Sean. You'll protect me forever, won't you? You'll never leave me alone."
The young boy, looking at her as he hugged her, smiled. "Don't worry, I'll protect you. No matter what." As the boy spoke, the shadow behind him entered the little girl's shadow like a shield, as if following a command.
*End of Flashback*
"AARRGGGHHHH!!! FUCK! FUCK!!"
Sean screamed with all his might. Unable to accept Stiles's death yet, he clutched his head as a flood of memories rushed in, letting out a roar of pure rage. As his eyes glowed a piercing golden-yellow, the roar erupted. For the first time, a deafening cry filled with infinite bloodlust echoed through every corner of Beacon Hills.
"RRRRWWWWAAARRRRGGGHHHH-HAAAAA'RRRRKKKK!!!"
All the shadows Sean controlled began to tear the garage apart as if their chains had been shattered. He destroyed everything. Only Stiles's car remained untouched, without even a scratch.
Meanwhile, at the vet clinic, Scott was hiding as the Argents suddenly arrived. When he heard that ear-piercing, terrifying roar, his eyes flashed golden. "Sean?!" he whispered internally.
Inside the clinic, the eyes of Deaton, Chris, and Gerard widened in shock. "I wasn't the only one who heard that, was I?" Deaton asked, his eyes instinctively darting toward Scott's hiding spot. A faint golden glow caught his attention.
Gerard was looking at his trembling hand with a strange expression. The horrific killing intent sent shivers through his body. Chris was in the same state. Deaton noticed the shadow cast by the ceiling light flickering, as if it were in pain.
Elsewhere, Derek was training his pack. Just as Isaac and the others reached the end of their session, Derek's red eyes ignited involuntarily upon hearing the roar. Likewise, the golden eyes of Isaac, Erica, and Boyd surfaced.
"Sean?!" Derek muttered. "You guys stay here. I'm going to check it out." He sped away. What exactly was it that had enraged Sean enough to spread such murderous intent across all of Beacon Hills?
Dark clouds gathered over the town. The epicenter of it all was where Sean stood.
When Sean's roar finally ceased, his throat felt as if it had been torn open. His breathing was ragged the growl of a wild werewolf. His claws had gouged the stone floor. He looked in the direction the beast had fled moments ago. A sound like a chain snapping a 'CLICK' echoed in his mind. He raised his hand and pointed. "You won't escape." The scattered shadows around him trembled. They rapidly swarmed the entire workshop. The monster, having narrowly escaped the shadow-drenched garage, had a look of pure terror on its face as it distanced itself.
Sean knew through the pulses of his shadows that it had slipped away. His chest heaved. His bloodlust surged once more. A dense, red mist surrounded him, slowly spreading. His facial expression was ghastly. More than half of his lengthened hair was now snow-white. Just as he was about to move, a familiar voice called out from the distance.
"Sean? Is that you?"
Sean's entire aura vanished instantly. He turned his head and saw someone unable to move in a far corner. His eyes returned to their human state. As the stone floor beneath his feet cracked, Sean appeared beside the figure.
He placed a hand on his shoulder. "You... You're okay," he said, his voice thick with emotion.
Stiles smiled. "Yeah, I'm fine, man. Did I ever mention you're terrifying when you're actually pissed off?" he joked.
Sean chuckled. "Yeah, yeah, you did." His voice was full of relief. He picked up the paralyzed Stiles and moved away from the scene. When he stepped outside, he saw a familiar face. Derek!
Beads of sweat had gathered on Derek's forehead; he had clearly run with everything he had to get there. Sean looked at him. "Derek, we track that monster together. But when the time comes, I'm the one who rips its head off. I'm going to kill it in such a way that its entire existence becomes poison. I'll rip out its entire spine while it's still alive! I'll tear every single organ from its body, one by one, slowly, in agony!" An unparalleled bloodlust radiated from his voice. The whites of his eyes looked like a crimson mist from the intensity of his rage.
Derek felt a cold sweat run down his back. What kind of savage killing intent was this?! What exactly was Sean?
Derek nodded silently. It served his purposes as well, so he accepted. As he distanced himself, Stiles's father arrived with the police.
When Sheriff Noah arrived, he checked on Stiles first. Then he looked at Sean. Sean smiled and assured him everything was fine.
The Sheriff focused on his work. Once his father was out of earshot, Stiles spoke up. "That monster... it doesn't look like you guys, just like Scott said. It's a total reptile. And... it felt like it knew me."
Sean's eyes widened. "It knew you? How did you figure that out?" he asked curiously.
"After it did its thing, it looked at me, ignored me, and just left," Stiles explained. "I mean, how do I put this... it was like it recognized me and didn't want to get me involved."
Sean looked at the sky for a moment and said nothing.
The next day, the trio met at school again. Sean, Scott, and Stiles were helping Scott draft an apology text to Allison.
"So," Stiles asked, "did you manage to learn anything?"
"Yeah," Scott replied. "There must be a book or a note in the Argents' house. That's what Deaton said. A book about monsters."
"Hmm... A Bestiary," Stiles mused. "Like an encyclopedia where they log the monsters they hunt?"
"Wait... am I the only one who doesn't know anything?" Scott looked at Sean and Stiles suspiciously.
"Honestly... yeah," Sean said. "I mean, you know I've been to the Argents' house. So I know more or less what they have. I didn't look too closely, but I assume such a thing exists."
Stiles sighed. "Alright, since neither of you can talk to Allison, I guess I'm the one who has to do it, right?"
Sean and Scott both nodded.
By the end of the day, Stiles was drenched in sweat from acting as the messenger. Finally, they knew there was a leather-bound book and they needed a key to get to it. As luck would have it, there was a Lacrosse match that evening, and Gerard would be there to watch.
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Thanks for reading!!