"Hey there Little Red Riding Hood
You sure are looking good
You're everything a big bad wolf could want"
Golden Trio, The Three Musketeers, Terrific Trio, Three Stooges, there were many names that could be used to refer to Stiles, Scott, and Paige...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Erik walked into the clinic with Chris again, both of them were silent as they got inside. He told Odette to stay at the hotel rather than come with him because he was still mad that she enrolled Christine in school without informing him first. She was also being incredibly secretive right now and he didn't appreciate it with the current heat they were under.
"I'm starting to think I need to buy a more prominent 'closed' sign." Deaton turned around from where he was to look at the two when Gerard walked in as well.
"Hello, Alan." Gerard greeted, "It's been a while. The last I heard, you had retired."
Deaton didn't hesitate to shoot back at him, "Last I heard you followed a code of conduct."
Chris interrupted and pointed at the dead young man on the metal slab, "If you hadn't noticed, this body is one of ours."
"I did." Deaton answers calmly, "I also noticed the gunpowder residue on his fingertips. So don't assume I will be swayed by your philosophy just 'cause I'll answer a few questions."
"He was only twenty-four."
"Killers come in all ages."
"All ages, sizes, shapes." Gerard continued on, "It's the last one that concerns us."
Erik exhaled deeply and grunted, "How about you tell us what you found?"
Deaton locked eyes with Erik and shook his head before moving to the dead body, "See this cut? Precise. Almost surgical." He lifted the head to reveal the slice on the back of the neck, "Whatever made this cut, it's laced with a paralytic toxin, potent enough to disable all motor functions. These are the cause of death. Notice the patterns on each side."
Chris nodded his head, "Five for each finger."
"Each claw." Gerard corrected.
"As you can see, it dug in, slashed upward, eviscerating the lungs and slicing through the bone of the rib cage with ease."
Erik kept his eyes on the wounds while crossing his arms over his chest, "Have you ever seen anything like this before?"
"No."
Erik shook his head with a scowl, "Any idea at all what killed him?"
"No." Deaton answers again, "But I can tell you it's fast, remarkably strong, and has the capacity to render its victims essentially helpless within seconds."
Chris scoffed, "If you're saying we should be cautious? We get it."
"I'm saying you should be afraid. Be very afraid. Because in the natural world, predators with paralytic toxins use them to catch and eat their prey. This prey wasn't eaten. That means whatever killed him only wanted to kill him. In fact, killing may be it's only purpose."
"Which doesn't stray from the usual monster." Erik says slowly which made Gerard nod from where he stood. He looked over to Deaton and sent him a curt nod of acknowledgement, "Thank you, Alan. We'll be in touch."
