DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING. Well that's not a true statement, I do own some things, like my laptop, but I don't own Teen Wolf so there is that. I'm just having fun with the characters.

Thank you to those that have selected the story as a favorite and to those following! For those that have reviewed:

RHatch89: Thanks for the feedback. Hope you enjoy the read!

Hannah: Thank you for the kind words. I'm glad you're enjoying reading the world I've created from the Teen Wolf characters, and I'm especially glad (as I've said before and will say again) that you are entertained and not annoyed by my OC!

laurenrulez1: Hope you enjoy!

Guest: Sorry it took me two weeks this time to update. I'll try to get the next installment out sooner, but I hope this was worth the wait.

Tarafina: muahaha! I have to admit I kind of like the cliffhangers. Though to be honest as we approach the end I'm finding it hard to not end the chapters without them. Actually it's sorta impossible. You know something's coming around the corner. I just hope everyone enjoys my take on the turn of events since they've had to be altered to fit the story I as writing. I'm with you for Boyd, but that would have been too much of a AU. I get the feeling I probably would have lost people there. But thanks for reading, and I'm glad you're enjoying the little touches of home that are being added! Oh and the in between.. yeah I find those easier to write because I don't have to remember word for word what was said in the show. Besides it gives people a chance to see how they got from A to B.

Phoebe Nixon: More to be revealed. I have to admit I probably made it obvious it was Anne when they casually ran into each other at the mall, but in fairness, for the longest of time even after writing that chapter I was flipping between Anne and the science teacher!

Laieanna: I loved writing the reunion... and then the fight direction after about him biting her. Poor conflicted Derek. I'm glad you (and it seems like the others) didn't think my tie in with Holly to the Darach and the sacrifices was too over the top. I was worried I'd get some eye rolls behind that with it being too contrived or something! But as you stated, I wanted a way to tie Holly into the story as something other than just Derek's love interest. Like now there is a reason she might have felt the need to stay in a town she doesn't like!

Klandgraf2007: Sorry it took so long to update! I hope you enjoy it!

A/N: Again guys, my apologies for the slow down in posting chapters. Between work and home life I don't have quite as much free time as I used to, but I do hope you will all hang in there and continue to enjoy and read and favorite and follow and most of all review! I also feel now is as good a time as any to say we are nearing the end of this story (though most of you probably figured that out). I figure there are about 4-6 more chapters left, depending on how they flesh out once I start writing them.

A/W: This chapter contains AU.

POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERT FOR EPISODE 10

TAKES PLACE DURING EP. 10

Chapter 20 – Landslide

Anne poisoned her.

She had no way to knowing what poison she used, but Holly bet her life, whatever powder she doused the blade with had been laced with a toxin. A paralytic agent that only partially paralyzed her, but unfortunately not laced with anything to deaden the nerves. The pain that ripped through her body when she tried to crawl reminded her of that.

Scott got to her first, carefully turning her onto her back. Stiles still seemed to be in shock, staring at the shattered window as if looking at it would somehow bring his father back.

"Stiles. Stiles! Check on Lydia." Scott's instructions finally dislodged the boy's feet from the ground. "Are you okay?"

"No," Holly panted, tried to move on her own, and screamed again. "Po… poisoned," she panted out, nearly in too much pain to form thoughts let alone words.

She heard the two of them talking, but the words were partial lost. What she first assumed to be them speaking in foreign language turned out to be her hearing and consciousness flowing in and out.

"Derek," she managed to breathe out.

"Derek's at the hospital." Scott confirmed. At least she thought it was Scott.

"No… hospital. Can't help… Derek."

Holly had no idea of they understood her ramblings or not. In another moment it didn't matter. Scott picked her up and her entire body exploded in pain. If only the unconsciousness lasted, but each episode became more fleeting than the last. Each jarring step Scott took made her beg for death.

"Call Derek," she heard him say as he carried her. "Tell him to meet us at his loft."

Holly thought she experienced the worse it had to offer

Throwing up proved her wrong.

Derek paced the parking garage of his building. Stiles phone call had been vague at best, cryptic at worse. Something about Holly and throwing up blood, the teen seemed desperate to meet a word minimum in the second frantic call he received from him today. Holly's name had been the only thing able to pry Derek from Cora's side. That and the arrival of Peter to take his place watching over his sister.

He heard her screaming before Stiles' jeep turned into the garage and sent the headlights bouncing off the wall.

"What the hell happened?" he barely waited for the jeep to stop before he flung the door opened and nearly yanked Scott out of the passenger seat so he could get to Holly.

She occupied the back seat. Sweating and curled in a fetal position in the corner.

"We don't know," Scott began downloading the information as Derek collected Holly from the back.

He tried to move slow but it seemed even the slightest movement caused her pain. Eventually he simply gathered her in his arms and pulled her from the back to the sound of muffled cries into his shirt.

"Anne stabbed her but there seems to be more than that."

"She kept screaming about poison," Stiles added as the three engaged the elevator to his loft.

Her clothes and body were drenched in sweat. It looked more as if she'd taken a dip in the school pool and failed to dry herself off. Her body felt scalding to the touch. Too hot for her to remain at that temperature and not cause any damage. She threw up again, barely into the loft, blood mixed with…

Derek closed his eyes blocking out the rest he didn't want to imagine pieces of herself disintegrating. He didn't have to imagine it, he could smell death on her. But not just smell it, he felt it. the hollowness in his stomach.

He hushed her softly and stretched her out on the bed as gently as possible. Ashen skin, hair soaked and matted to her forehead, lips a darkened black as if they'd been burned. She clung to life, but only by a thread. If the bond hadn't existed between them she'd be dead. He knew it just as sure as he knew if he didn't do something soon she'd be past the point of any help.

"Holly! Holly can you hear me? Holly!"

"She can't hear you, Derek." Three sets of eyes turned to the figure standing in the doorway. "Well, maybe she can but she can't answer. You need an esophagus to talk and I'm pretty sure she threw that up back on the highway."

Too quick for any of them to track, Derek was at the bed one moment and held the woman suspended in the air by the throat the next. He didn't know who she was but he could smell Holly's blood on her and traces of the poison that coursed through her body.

"Who or what are you?" he demanded.

"You can't kill me, Derek."

"Why not?"

"You'll never be able to find Stiles' father or save your sister without me."

Derek squeezed tighter. Blood lust. It would be so easy, not to mention satisfying to crush her throat.

"Derek…"

He glanced over at the fragile teen and couldn't remember a time he'd seen Stiles look so utterly and completely devastated.

"…My dad," he concluded weakly almost defeated.

Snarling, he dropped Anne and let her collapse to the ground coughing as she sucked down air quickly.

"Whatever you did to Holly… fix it. Now."

"I can't."

Derek growled. He would have broken her neck if he touched her but Scott stopped him. Stepped into his path and kept his claws from sinking into her throat.

"We need her alive," the other wolf reminded him.

"You can save her," Anne all but goaded from the safety of being behind Scott. "You know how to save her, you're just too afraid to do it."

"Shut up."

"What's she talking about?" Scott questioned.

"She wants him to change, Holly," Stiles answered like he figured everything out twenty minutes ago. "She wants him to bite her."

"It's the only way you can save her," Anne added. "It's the only way you can save Cora."

"What did you do to Cora?" Derek practically growled the words and took another advancing step stopped by Scott and the phone ringing in his pocket.

"Insurance."

Derek curled his fingers into a tight fist. She goaded him like she already knew she'd pinned him into an impossible situation.

"How is she?" he spoke into the phone. The number on the front identifying the caller as his uncle.

"Not good. There evacuating the hospital and she's in and out of consciousness. Also she vomited up black blood and something else."

"Mistletoe?" Derek dreaded the answer before he even got the question out.

"How did you know?"

"I'm on my way," he ended the call and returned the phone to his back pocket.

"Without the bite, Holly dies. I can't save your sister without the help of a Cneasaí." Anne continued. "You know what you need to do, Derek. You don't have much time to decide. Pretty soon, even the bite's not going to save Holly."

Anne was right, but knowing what he needed to do didn't make the task any easier. He never wanted this life for Holly, didn't want her exposed to the same level of risk he endured most of his life. But Anne took away his choice and left him with two option. Bite Holly and pray she lived through it, or watch her die in front of him.

Decision made, Derek dropped his head as he let the idea fully take root. Everyone seemed to believe Holly would survive. He only prayed they were right. He looked in Holly's direction as a steel resolution settled into his mind, body and soul.

He crossed the loft and carefully took a position on the edge of the bed next to her. In five minutes she'd gotten much worse. Her skin held an ashen parlor of death, drenched in sweat and clammy. And yet she shivered as her body desperately tried to generate heat for itself. Her lips dried out to the point of cracking and turned a sickly blue.

Her eyes opened the moment his fingers touched her hairline and pushed damp hair away from her forehead, but they didn't seem to focus on him.

"Shh," he hushed her when she tried to speak.

"This is very touching but you're running out of time," Anne egged on.

"If she dies. You die."

Holly wouldn't go alone.

Derek let the power that made him an Alpha rush to the surface. His vision confirmed as it shifted from the normal ranges of the human eye to inferred of his wolf. He felt his jaw extend and shift to make room for the growth and expansion of his teeth.

She barely registered the impact of his teeth breaking through the flesh and muscles of her side. A barely audible groan. Her fingers clenching the comforter and twisting it in a weakened grip.

"Holly?"

He wiped the back of his hand across his mouth. He could taste her blood mixed with whatever toxin Anne used against her on his tongue. The hollowness in the pit of his stomach grew and twisted until he almost vocalized the pain.

He was losing her. He felt it. He felt her heartbeat slipping away. He had no way of knowing if he waited too late or was her body rejected the bite.

Taking one of her hands into his, he held it tightly and lowered his face close to hers, brushing his lips against her lips as he whispered, "Fight, Holly. Stay with me please."

Her breath hitched and stopped. Derek felt an invisible fist tighten around his heart until he cried out from the pain. The release felt just as painful. Like a rubber band snapped inside his chest. Holly bolted up, barely turning in time for her body to reject black blood onto the floor by the bed. Her fingers tightened around his hand as she gasped for air, eyes wide opened but focused on nothing.

"Don't fight it," he encouraged pushing her hair away from her face again.

He could feel the bite taking root in her muscles in every fiber of her being. It cooled her body as it worked to take control and merge with her.

"That's it," he murmured in her ear. "Relax, just relax. You're going to be okay."

Finally her gaze focused on him. The recognition in her eyes nearly collapsed him into tears as he brought her hand to his lips and pressed kisses to her fingers. From the corner of his eyes he noticed during the process, Stiles edged closer. Curiosity driving him to get a better view. Scott remained near Anne. Guarding her. Making sure she didn't bolt and take with her the knowledge of Sheriff Stilinski's location.

"Beacon Hills General Hospital is evacuating due to the storm," Derek finally informed that. "We need to go get Cora before they move her to another hospital."

"You can't move her," Anne stated.

"I'm not going to," Derek began and stood though he maintained his hold on Holly's hand. "Holly stays here. We bring Cora back, and you," Derek glared at Anne as he jabbed a finger in her direction. "Do whatever you need to help my sister."

"And my dad," Stiles asked urgently.

"I'll tell you where your father is," Anne began. "But only after Derek helps me."

"Helps you with what?"

"Destroy the Alphas. Kali tried to kill me once at Deucalion's request. Now that she knows I'm alive she will try again until she succeeds. You help me stop them, I'll tell you where Stiles' father is."

He felt the energy of his wolf filling his body, leaking into his muscles to make him quicker, ready to pounce into action. He didn't like being bullied and he definitely didn't like ultimatums, but one glance at Stiles he knew he had little recourse.

Derek knew better than any of them what it was like to live through the loss of not one parent but both of them. He damned his only family, he couldn't sit idly by and let Stiles lose the only family member he had left.

"Fine," he let the word slip out through his teeth.

He probably would have said more, added a threat if she dared to double cross them but a whimpering noise from Holly captured his attention and returned him to his seated position next to her.

"Shh," he hushed her with a press of his lips to her forehead.

She felt cooler and the hollow pit that resided in his stomach dissipated. Anne had been right. Not only was the bite taking, it was running the poison out of her system.

"Stay here and rest. We'll be back. I'll be back."

He recognized the defiant look in Holly's eyes. She didn't want him to leave her behind but she had no throat yet to voice her objections. He kissed her again, this time his lip pressed against hers, and after mouthing the words, 'I love you,' stood and faced the others.

Something woke her. She wasn't exactly sure what other than being positive it had been some external noise. With both hands placed on the bed, Holly winced and groaned as she pushed herself into an upright position.

Everything hurt. Muscles felt atrophied and ready to snap from connecting bones when flexed and moved. Her skin felt thin and stretched too tightly across her body. Like the slightest movement might cause it to tear and split open.

Neither ever did. Still as she sat up her movements came measured and slow. The loft smelled like death and rot, and it wasn't until she swung her legs over the side of the bed that she saw the black substance her body rejected dried on the floor. Outside the angry sky continued to rage in a storm. Inside she tried to pin point exactly what woke her.

Gingerly, Holly edged off the bed, gradually adding weight to her legs and testing their response. Encouraged when they supported half her weight she continued to add more until she stood upright. In the darkness she pulled her shirt up and examined the bite on her right side. She couldn't decide if it hurt more or less than it should, but she didn't have long to inspect it when a sound on the other side of the broken out wall captured her attention.

"Derek?"

Holly's memory fought against her. The last clear recollection she had was of entering the room and seeing Lydia crying in a chair. After that it became snapshots. Like a camera's shutter opening and closing rapidly as it fast forward through the scenes. She remembered Anne standing behind Lydia, then the knife, then Sheriff Stilinski. She remembered being in a car and her body feeling like it was melting from the inside out. She remembered Derek whispering to her but she couldn't remember the words.

Her hand touched her side, gently pressing the bite. He'd bitten her. He'd bitten her to save her life, but where was he?

"Derek?"

Holly managed a few steps towards the literal hole in the wall before she had to brace herself on the chair to keep from dropping to the floor. Her equilibrium shifted her world onto a momentarily slanted axis.

Her body felt heavy and she wasn't sure how much of it was from the bite or how much came from the venom.

"You're awake. I didn't expect you to be awake yet."

Holly turned at the sound of Anne's voice and found her standing just inside one of the doorways.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I can feel the strength in your body. I felt it even before he bit you. You have no idea how much power you have, do you?"

All of this is in your honor. Anne's words from earlier echoed in Holly's head.

"Where's Derek?"

"He'll be along with the others. Probably sooner instead of later which means we don't have much time."

"Time for?"

"It's almost complete. Everything is almost ready. It's come together more complete and perfect than I could have hoped. Just a couple more pieces."

"What pieces?"

Holly's goal became to keep her talking. She figured if she could keep her monologuing, maybe revealing her plan, it would give Derek a chance to get back.

"To complete the sacrifice," she stated nonchalantly. "I'm going to need you to come with me."

"I don't see that happening."

Anne exhaled and shook her head. "You don't understand, Holly. It's not a request, you are coming with me. Now you can come quietly or I can force you, but either way the result will be the same."

"I guess we're going to have to go with option b."

"Have it your way."

Anne moved faster than Holly expected, almost with the speed of her werewolf. One moment she stood in front of the door, the next she'd cross the room to Holly. Still Holly had enough time to step back avoiding the closed fist. Still holding onto the back of the chair she'd used to brace herself, Holly slid it forward and crashed it against Anne's legs.

Her muscles responded quicker and more brutal breaking the chair apart upon impact and sending Anne skittering across the floor. In that instance Holly realized she could beat this woman. Or at least she thought she could.

The face Holly associated with Anne altered and contorted until it became replaced by a hideous mask of ruined flesh and scars. All traces of the beautiful woman gone. She should have run, or fought. Instead she stood there, her feet glued to the floor staring at the mutilated visage in front of her.

"Oh my god," she muttered.

Anne closed the distance between them, and as she moved she flung her hand in Holly's direction. A purple powdery substance scattered in the air. It coated Holly's skin, burned her nose, and left her with no time to react before the darkness closed around her.

She was gone.

Derek knew it before he entered the building. Whatever bond they shared, the way he felt a pull in his mind when Holly was close was gone. With Cora in his arms and Peter and Isaac following him inside the empty loft confirmed what he already knew.

"Where's Holly?" Isaac questioned and pushed forward.

"Maybe she left?" Peter suggested.

Derek scoffed at the idea. "She knew we needed her. She wouldn't have just taken off."

Carefully, he positioned Cora on the same bed Holly should have still been occupying and felt the last shred of hope fading away.

Anne was gone. She'd gotten the jump on him in the elevator, taken off, and taken Scott's mother. With her departure went most of the hope of saving Cora but Derek clung to the possibility that Holly would be able to tap into her blood. That her being a Cneasaí would be enough to save his sister.

"I don't think she left on her own," Peter offered.

Both Isaac and Derek turned to see Peter standing near the kitchen area staring at the floor. The other wolves converged on the spot. Derek from the bed, Isaac from the stairs.

"Wolf's bane," he muttered and stared at remnants of purple powder dusting the floor.

"Anne?" Peter questioned and looked up.

"Who else could it be?"

"Why would she want Holly?" Isaac questioned. "She's not a guardian, she can't use her in the ritual."

"Holly is… different," Derek spoke softly and walked back to sit next to Cora.

He took her hand, and as he pulled some of her pain into his body her subconscious muscle spasms ceased. He felt it. Somewhere in the back of his head as he pulled the pain from Cora he felt the bond between him and Holly surge through him. Behind him he heard Peter speaking but his concentration returned to Cora.

He used his will again pulling more of his sister's pain and with it that bond sparked again, though slightly dimmer this time.

"Too much, Derek." Peter warned. "You're taking too much."

"It's not me, at least it's not all me. I can feel Holly pulling the pain from her body through me."

"How is Holly taking her pain?" Isaac questioned confused.

"Because she's a Cneasaí," Peter informed. "And because she's bonded to Derek. Apparently, a bonded Cneasaí can heal her pack even over distances."

"Then maybe we can still save Cora. If Holly can pull the sickness from her through me—"

"—You don't know what damage that will have on you or on Holly," Peter pointed out. "Healing a member… you're taking more than just Cora's pain you're taking her sickness and Holly's not even fully transformed from the bite. You keep this up, you're going to kill her."

He didn't want to believe him. He wanted Peter to not know what he was talking about but he could feel the change. The second pull had diminished the bond. He felt the strength in it ebbing out slightly.

Derek looked from his uncle to his sister. Only twice before had he ever felt so ultimately helpless.

Once when he held Paige dying in his arms.

Twice when he stared at the smoldering remains of his family's home.