"What the hell are you talking about?" Katherine frowned, tilting her head up to look at him.

"I don't know how to explain it, but..." Liam trailed off with a shaky exhale. "Do you see that guy over there?" Following his gaze, Katherine eye's locked onto a boy their age with darker skin and cropped brown hair.

He looked normal enough at first glance, but as she looked closer, she couldn't help but feel unnerved. The way he was moving, and the crowd subconsciously parted for him, it was almost...predatory.

"Shit," Katherine mumbled, gripping tightly to the sleeve of Liams shirt.

"Yeah, that's right," Liam breathed. He slid his sleeve from her fingers and replaced it with his hand. Katherine felt her breath hitch. "Come on, let's go see if Brett noticed anything."

Moving slowly through the crowd, Katherine did her best to keep from panicking. Crowded places filled with innocent civilians and a possibly homicidal supernatural creature were not her favourite places.

She looked around the room uneasily as Liam talked to Brett, chewing nervously on the skin around her thumbnail. Her stomach felt queasy, and as she closed her eyes and tried to convince herself she was somewhere else, she couldn't help but silently ask for Stiles.

"No, I didn't catch anything," Brett shook his head with a small frown.

Liam sighed. "No one else in here is like us?"

"I don't know, dude, maybe," Brett huffed, unconsciously setting a hand down on Katherine's shoulder. She leaned into it. "It's Beacon Hills, what's the difference?"

"It felt different," Liam huffed, glaring at Brett's hand.

Brett glance between the two before raising a brow. "What do you mean?" He asked carefully.

"It felt off," Liam answered vaguely.

"It felt wrong," Katherine agreed, biting down harshly on her bottom lip. "It still does. I don't like it. Not at all."

Both Katherine and Liam looked around anxiously, trying to find the boy they'd seen earlier. Noticing this — or more than likely smelling Katherine's anxiety — Brett patted Liam on the shoulder and gave Katherine's a light squeeze.

Then Liam dragged Katherine off towards the side of the room, where they would have more space. Before they could reach the wall, Liam stopped. Again. But as she looked up at him, she couldn't hide the surprise on his face when she noticed his eyes glow their brilliant yellow. "What is it now," Katherine mumbled, her brown eyes scanning the area around her.

"I don't know," Liam huffed, reaching out to grab Katherine's hand and squeeze it for comfort. "I just got this waft of...I don't know...follow me, okay?"

"It's not like I could turn around if I wanted to," Katherine grumbled, ignoring the way her heart skipped a beat at the sight of her hand in his.

He turned to look at her with furrowed brows. "You okay? Your heart kind of stopped for a second there."

Trying to mask the look of pure terror that washed over her face, Katherine made a face and rapidly shook her head. "I'm all good, nothing's wrong, nope — I just — I'm just a little, uh — I'm a little scared right now, that's it, yeah," she stumbled over her words with wide brown eyes, inhaling sharply at the end. Jesus Christ, she silently cursed. You're just as smooth as chunky peanut butter today, aren't you Katherine?

"You'll be fine," Liam promised, looking down at her with a soft smile etched on his face. "I won't let anything happen to you, you know that; remember my Superman moment last year?"

Katherine couldn't help but laugh. She lifted the front of her cropped shirt slightly, revealing the three semi-faded slash marks that would forever be visible on her abdomen. "How could I forget your Superman moment?" She snickered quietly, rolling her eyes and the proud look that appeared on his face. "And I know I'm safe with you."

Satisfied with her answer, Liam turned around and took another step, only to slam into someone's shoulder with his own. Katherine was jarred back at the action and stumbled slightly in her heels, but easily caught herself before she fell. When she heard the sound of glass shattering, her eyes drifted over to a pile of test tube shaped shot glasses smashed on the floor at her feet, along with whatever alcohol had been in them.

"Are you kidding me?" Katherine immediately looked up at Hayden, who was thoroughly pissed off at the pair of them. "Those were ten dollars each!"

"I'm sorry," Liam groaned, staring down at the floor with a startled look.

"The bartender isn't going to just refill them for me," Hayden huffed miserably.

"Oh...uh...okay, okay, I've got money on me," Liam stammered, patting his pockets for cash. "So I've got...twelve dollars and...change." He holds it all out to Hayden, and receives a scoff.

Katherine turned around and reached into her bra for the ten dollars she'd stashed in there in case of an emergency. Hayden took it with a small sigh. "You still owe me $200," she snapped at Liam, her brown eyes narrowed. She tossed the coins at Liam as she turned around, and Katherine snickered while she watched him try to catch them all.

With a small grumble, Liam tucked what he'd managed to catch back into the pocket of his jacket, then reached for Katherine's hand. "Come on, we have to find the guy," he sighed.

Lacing her fingers through his, Katherine continued following him through the crowded room, watching her heels to ensure she didn't trip on anyone's feet or the cords connected to the DJ table. She opened her mouth to ask him a question, only to walk straight into his back. He'd stopped; again.

"What is it?" Katherine frowned, shuffling so she was standing in front of him. "Why'd you stop, what's wrong?"

"Brett...he's..." Liam mumbled trailing off as his brows pulled together in confusion. He seemed to hear something she couldn't — it was moments like this Katherine truly hated being an ordinary human — and his eyes widened. "We need to go. Now."

Before she even had time to answer, he was dragging her through the crowd until they reached a back room hidden behind a wall of hanging beads. Liam's hand left her own as he charged in, fangs and golden eyes completely visible, and Katherine watched in horror as Brett crumpled to the ground, blood flowing from slash marks in his abdomen.

Katherine let out a shriek as someone grabbed her arm and pulled her backwards. She swung around and prepared herself to punch them, but dropped her arm at the familiar sound of Mason's yelp. "What the actual shit happened?" She hissed, her shoulders slouching slightly.

"I don't know," Mason exhaled shakily, watching as Liam tackled the boy they'd seen earlier to the ground. "I was just kissing him — Lucas, I mean — and then Brett told me to run and—"

"Take a deep breath before you start hyperventilating," Katherine ordered gently. She pulled her hair back into a quick messy bun to keep it out of her face, and squared her shoulders. "I'm going to help Brett, stay out of the way."

She pushed past Liam and Lucas as they fought, and knelt down at Brett's side. "What did he get you with?" She asked, eyes trailing over the wounds.

"Spines," Brett answered through gritted teeth, wincing in pain. "They just...grew out of his arms."

"That's a little bit gross I'm not going to lie," Katherine murmured as she carefully pulled his shirt away from the slashes, upper lip curling in disgust. She glanced behind her and watched as Lucas tackled Liam to the ground, and bit down harshly on her bottom lip before returning her attention to Brett. "Do I have to put pressure on this or are you going to heal before you bleed out?" She asked worriedly.

"No idea," Brett grunted, hands clenching into fists at his sides. "I don't know, this feels weird."

"You're a little late!" Liam yelled from behind her, and Katherine turned around quickly. She exhaled in relief as Scott and Kira pushed past the beaded curtains and immediately zeroed in on Lucas.

She immediately relaxed and swatted Brett's hands away from his stomach, her fingertips lightly trailing across the skin for any signs of pieces of the spines left behind in the wound before pursing her lips and carefully applying pressure, grimacing as blood spilled through her fingers. Mason stumbled over to her, seeming to have regained his composure and calmed himself down, and helped her hold pressure on the wounds.

"What the hell is that thing," Brett grunted, his eyes meeting Katherine.

She smiled in what she hoped was a reassuring manor. "Satan, knowing our luck," she murmured, rolling her eyes when he let out a weak chuckle. She stumbled slightly as the ground trembled beneath them, and turned to look at Liam, who had thrown Lucas flat onto his back. She glanced back down at Brett's stomach, which hadn't stopped bleeding, and pursed her lips. "We'll have to take you to Momma McCall," she murmured. He just nodded and pulled one of her hands off his stomach, and held onto it tightly.

"Is everyone okay?" Scott asked worriedly, his eyes flitting over everyone before landing on Katherine. She offered him a small smile and nodded, inhaling shakily. "We need to get him out of here, Liam give me a hand." Liam pursed as he looked at her, briefly looking at her hand that was holding Brett's with an unreadable expression, before sighing.

The two gripped Luca's limbs and lifted his unconscious body off the ground, only to drop it when a metal spike with a wire attached to the back end flew through the air pierced his chest. Katherine watched in confusion as it slid back out and was pulled by a string up to the catwalk above them. She followed it, her eyes widening in momentary terror as they focused on the owner.

There were three figures standing above them in long trench coats, seemingly made out of patchwork metal. Each had a different mask covering their face, tubes and wired beginning at the mouth and connecting to other parts of their bodies. They stared down at each of the teenagers, the empty eyes of their masks sending chills down Katherine's spine.

"Why did you do that?" Scott asked, his voice surprisingly steady for the situation.

"His condition was terminal," the figure standing in the middle spoke robotically, nothing change in it's blank features.

"What does that mean?" Scott breathed. Katherine tried to push down the panic that was spreading through her chest at the sight of the weapon the one on the left still held, and gripped Brett's hand tightly. When the creatures turned and began leaving, Scott repeated his question.

"Failure," the same one said bluntly.

The power sparked around them and Katherine flinched at the buzzing sound it made, but stayed silent. When she looked back up at the catwalk, the creatures were gone. There was no sign that they'd even been there in the first place.

So hopefully I'm getting back in the groove of things now, but I was motivated to update so we'll see if I can keep on schedule :))