Most of the eyes in the room were on Stiles after he spoke. He ignored all of them except Chris Argent. Holding out a hand to quell any questions, he stormed back across the room and into Chris's space. He sniffed once delicately before really looking at Chris again. "Hello Mrs. Argent, can Chris come out to play?"

He heard gasps behind him, and both Scott and Peter growled softly.

"I fear Gerard completely underestimated you, Mr. Stilinski." Came out of the body in front of him before the whole stance shifted and Chris was back in the driver's seat. "Victoria... she was apparently already inside me. I think your visit led her to realize she might just as well speak up."

"How? There isn't a tattoo over your heart." Stiles stated, mind whirring to figure it out.

And then a shift as she answered. "Okay, perhaps not quite so underestimated. There are two sides to the human body where one might access the heart, Mr. Stilinski." She replied, arching an eyebrow in judgement.

And Stiles wanted to judge himself in that moment, because of course the tattoo would work just as well from the back, as long as you transposed the runes. Turning his back on her, he rechecked the hunters; this time on their backs. This turned up a few more pieces of body art, but none of the rune clusters needed to create a proper vessel for Gerard.

"I could try to argue my lack of malice with you all night, but perhaps I should simply show you." Victoria said, carefully, as she turned her back to the group and then raised her shirt. The original runic circle was placed on Chris's back, with the left and right runes reversed from what Stiles remembered, but there was a distinct lack of binding runes. "Do you understand what the difference is?" She asked over Chris's shoulder.

"You're sharing the body, not locked into control." He replied, stepping back a moment or two, thinking before speaking again. "Why didn't Gerard lock you into control, Victoria?"

"Because he gave Chris this tattoo the night after I died. I was the first test. You were the second."

"And Chris hadn't betrayed him yet." Stiles stated, watching her warily.

"Just so, Mr. Stilinski. I have to believe on some level, Gerard thought he was doing Christopher a favor."

"If we were talking about any other father, I might agree, but didn't the bastard manipulate the pair of you into that little suicide of yours?" When Victoria nodded, sullenly, he continued. "Even if he hadn't set up a perfect storm of death, which gave him a loyal little guinea pig, even if your death was some cosmically timed joke of an accident, why push you into his son? The Shadow of the Wolf gives powerful healing capabilities, why not find some poor brain dead body in a hospital somewhere and slip the rune on the body. You move in, set up shop, and after a bit of healing time, both for you and for the grieving husband, Chris courts and woos a new love."

For the first time, Victoria looked completely stunned, as if the idea hadn't ever occurred to her, and then she looked disgusted. "I could never steal someone's life like that."

"Well that would put you one up on Kate, if you weren't a liar and a hypocrite. You were perfectly okay stealing Scott's life, and Derek's too when he tried to stop you." Stiles sneered at her. "Besides, I'm not suggesting you jump in any old body and just take over. There are people who's bodies and minds have been far too damaged to recover. I believe, and I could be wrong here, that their essence, their soul has left the body once that happens, they're simply an empty vessel waiting for death. I can't promise anything, but I would be willing to see if I can find someone like that, maybe I can help you find the right fit. Even if I'm wrong, if they're still inside, they may just be willing to share for the opportunity to be healthy and alive."

She started to glare back at him before her stance shifted again and Chris slipped back into the driver seat. "You're more than just a wolf, are you Stiles?"

"Why do you ask, Chris?" Stiles said, coyly.

"You knew Victoria was here, just by looking at me. You bound these men to an oath, and I know there's been more. Plus, you said earlier you kept Kate out of your body long enough to be turned. That takes power, more than I'd expect a normal human to have. Now you're suggesting you can see the presence of a soul."

"What can I say, I'm talented." Stiles smirked. "One of those many talents means I might be able help. I'm not promising anything, and I won't let her lock someone else away and simply take over. Besides, maybe being helped by a wolf will help get her to get over her bigotry."

Victoria slammed back into control. "Bigotry! How dare you-"

Stiles cut her off quickly, getting in her face, eyes blazing green. "You tried to kill Scott. Not because he was a threat, not because he was hurting anyone. No, you tried to kill him because you found out he was sleeping with Allison. You don't find that a tad too extreme. We're not talking crimes of passion here; you didn't find them screwing and shoot him. No, you felt he was tainting her because of what he is, so you hunted him down, hit him with a car and then sat back and taunted him while you slowly suffocated him to death. You were fucking enjoying it."

Victoria was cringing back from him, which was odd to see, since she was in Chris's body, and also not quite right. Victoria was a bad-ass, even Stiles knew that, so why...

The knife missed him by fractions of an inch. Honestly if the right combination of both Stiles AND Chris realizing what she was planning hadn't happened, nearly simultaneously, she would have scored a direct, and quite possibly fatal hit, since the knife was clearly doctored with wolfsbane. As it was, Chris jerked back into control of his body, just as Stiles pulled away, and both got to live another day.

Chris dropped the knife and screamed at his wife. "Victoria, what the Hell were you thinking?"

"He was threatening us." She replied coldly. "He couldn't control his anger and he was going to attack us just like the vicious animal he is."

"Lady, you are a whole bag full of crazy. There is a pack of wolves behind me, one of whom is my mate who was shot by one of those hunters and the trigger happy bastard is still alive and relatively unharmed. You just tried to kill the mate of an Alpha, and none of the so called vicious animals has so much as growled at you. I was going to try and help you; I probably still will to be honest, just because I can't see sentencing Chris, who's finally started trying to do the right thing, with your crazy ass for the rest of his life."

"I've seen what your kind can do to innocent people, don't pretend like you're a bunch of playful puppies." She spat.

"And I've seen what a hunter can do to innocents. How many human children did Kate murder? There were more than wolves in the Hale house when she trapped them inside and burned it to the ground. Gerard murdered my mother's entire family and laughed about killing children; was proud of it. Should I hate and kill all hunters because of the actions of a feral few? There are assholes everywhere, Victoria, and you don't need claws and fangs to be a monster. Grow up. Life isn't made of absolutes."

Stiles turned and walked away. "Chris knows how to get ahold of me if you decide to lower yourself to the point of accepting help from a 'vicious animal'. We're leaving now." He turned to storm away and then stopped and faced her again. "Oh, and just a little fair warning, Vicky dear. You think of harming my pack, try to hurt Allison and Chris, or help Gerard in any way, and I'll exorcize your ass right into the cutest, fluffiest kitten, and then I'll give you to the stickiest, most crumb covered kid I can find." He smirked before turning around and strolled away whistling.

As the pack was walking away Scott sidled up to him. "You know, Deaton has this long haired white kitten someone had de-clawed and then dumped." He whispered hopefully.

The sound of Stiles laughter followed them all the way to the cars.

TDItD*TDItD*TDItD

They split up into a few different groups and headed in different directions. Scott fought down the urge to check on Allison, and instead went home with the Sheriff, to check on his mom and let her know what happened. They took Boyd and Erica with them. They would stay at the Stilinksi house overnight, and once they'd hammered out a cover story the Sheriff would get them back to their homes in the morning.

Jackson, Danny and Lydia were all tired, despite the influx of energy from Stiles. They slipped into the Porsche and quickly headed back to Jackson's house, where they managed to crawl into bed and sleep. They held onto each other tightly, even in sleep, and slowly relaxed as the presence of their mates and the slow influx of energy from the pack renewed them.

Isaac, Derek, Stiles and Peter all returned to the depot. Derek still hadn't spoken, and Isaac was asleep. Stiles made sure the pair of them was settled in Derek's bed before he went to check on Peter. Peter had cleaned the remaining blood off himself and was just putting a shirt on when Stiles walked in.

"How are you doing." Stiles asked, looking at Peter's now non-wounded side.

"As unpleasant as a bullet can be, especially when it remains inside, we both know it could have been much worse. I'm fine, Stiles; within a few hours, any damage will be perfectly healed. However, I doubt very much that I'm the reason you're here right now." He said with a gentle smile.

"Isaac will be okay." Stiles said, not looking Peter in the eye.

"You and Scott were quick to apply the appropriate treatment, so yes, Isaac will be fine, but again, not really the reason for our little chat. You're concerned about Derek, yes?" Stiles nodded. "He's been under far too much stress for far, far too long, Stiles. What Kate did and what I did, not to mention all the stress of being an Alpha..." Stiles growled lightly at this. "I just mean anyone would be close to a breaking point. We both know Derek blames himself for everything that has ever gone wrong. Hell, he still blames himself for everything I did, because of his relationship with Kate."

Stiles jerked his head up at that, looking Peter in the face. "You knew?"

"It was easy enough to put two and two together. Batshit crazy apparently has a particularly pungent scent, and Derek used to come home practically bathed in it. Once I knew what to look for it wasn't hard to figure out. Hell, now that I have, I'm fairly certain his parents knew. The Argents and the Hales weren't the best of friends back then, but we weren't exactly the Montagues and the Capulets Scott's relationship would have you believe, either. I walked in on them debating something one night. Derek's mother was concerned, something about their ages, I think, but my brother was talking about how he hoped it would lead to better relations with the hunters. Talk about irony, right?"

"He blames himself for what she did, and for what Isaac did tonight. Like somehow, because of that bitch, he is unworthy of love... no, more like the fact that he loves us means bad things are going to happen to us, and it's going to be his fault." Stiles said, wrapping his arms around himself.

Peter shook his head. "You're the only person who can get through to him, Stiles."

"At least the only one who isn't unconscious." He said, before patting Peter on the arm and heading back to his mates.

Derek was curled around Isaac's still form. He was shivering lightly in his sleep; eyes closed and nose buried in the nape of Isaac's neck. Stiles slid into the bed behind him and wrapped one arm around Derek with a hand resting on Isaac. He slid his other hand under and around Derek's chest, to rest palm over the suffering Alpha's heart, and buried his own nose along the side of his neck, near his ear. He stayed that way, pushing love and energy at his two mates for a long time, just holding them and being thankful they were alive. Eventually he followed them into sleep.

Stiles was in agony. This wasn't what he wanted, but the thing inside was only going to be his problem for another few minutes, and then he'd be free. The idiot woman wouldn't shut up; ordering him to breath and to hold on. His father said this was a good thing, at least he did until he found out three of them were still alive. Now, well Daddy never was one to give up on a plan, and this was always going to be a long game.

Besides, it would be fun to see his face now that he knew what Stiles had done. Maybe he'd skin that bitch sister of his in front of him. It was fun ideas like that that got him through this whole charade. Still, he wanted this thing gone, and out of him. He pushed and screamed and finally the whole thing was over.

One glance before they took the thing away showed it had the animal's odd colored eyes. He had to fight down the urge to drowned it. At least his part was over for now. They could give him the good drugs and then he was going to forget this whole thing happened, at least for now.

Stiles jerked awake and looked into his mate's now hauntingly familiar eyes.

Notes: The Devil In the Details is now done, but there will be a third story in the Devils series, tentatively titled The Devil in Disguise.