After Stiles spoke with Sheriff Noah, he got into his car. As Scott and Stiles buckled in, Sean caught Jackson's eye in the rearview mirror. After a brief moment of thought, he said, "You guys go ahead. I'm going to head straight home from here," and walked away.
After nightfall, Sean found himself sitting under the waterfall again. It was the only place that brought him peace. He lost track of time. As he toyed with a floral bracelet in his hand, his cold voice echoed through the woods "I don't like being disturbed during my quiet time."
A heavy barrage of footsteps approached from behind. Gerard led the way, with Chris by his side and over a hundred hunters trailing them, weapons at the ready.
With his signature chuckle, Gerard spoke. "The peace in these woods ended the moment my daughter died. Tell me, where can we find Derek? I know you know where he's hiding."
Sean tilted his head slightly, his eyes glowing in the darkness. "You're bothering the wrong person."
Chris took a step forward. "Sean, this isn't personal. Just tell us where he is. No one has to die."
The corner of Sean's mouth curled into a smirk. "You show up with over a hundred armed men and say 'no one has to die'?"
The wind shifted. Gerard struck his cane against the ground. "Begin," he commanded, and the world shifted.
The first gunshot tore through the roar of the waterfall.
Sean was no longer where he had been standing. Bullets splintered rock and hissed into the water. Shadows rippled. For a split second, Sean appeared against the trunk of a tree. A hunter took aim and fired, but a shadow rose from beneath his feet. The man's ankles were ensnared by darkness, pinning him to the spot. Before he could even scream, Sean was upon him. Claws sank into his chest; the sound of snapping bone rang clearly through the forest.
Not a drop of blood hit the ground.
As a second and third hunter fired simultaneously, Sean lunged forward. He began to shift—bones lengthening, eyes turning a piercing solid gold. He caught one by the shoulder and twisted his neck with a sickening crack. As the other tried to flee, Sean stepped into a shadow and reappeared instantly behind him, his claws ripping through the man's back and severing his spine.
Chris fired. A silver bullet grazed Sean's arm. Smoke rose as the flesh seared. Sean looked back, and their eyes locked. There was hesitation in Chris's gaze. In Gerard's, there was none.
"Formation!" Gerard barked.
The hunters split, flanking Sean in a crescent moon formation. They pressed in, guns in one hand and cattle prods in the other. A hunter threw a heavy iron chain. It snagged Sean, and the sudden surge of electricity made him recoil in agony.
"ARRGGHHH!!" he screamed.
His skin burned. Forcing his hand up, he shattered the links binding him and cast the chain aside. His killing intent flared uncontrollably. "I'll kill you... I'll kill you! I'll kill you all!" His voice started as a low growl and rose to a roar.
The shadows beneath his feet seemed to answer his call, expanding and bleeding outward. The mouth of the cave behind the waterfall turned pitch black. Tree trunks were swallowed by darkness. The hunters' flashlights began to flicker and fail.
A chain forged from shadows lashed out, snagging the hunter who had just bound him and dragging him across the dirt. The man looked up only to find himself staring into Sean's eyes. Sean grabbed his head and sank his teeth into his throat, tearing out the carotid artery.
The taste of hot, metallic blood filled Sean's mouth. The hunter's body convulsed for a moment, then went limp.
When Sean pulled away, blood sprayed into the cool mist of the waterfall. His eyes were no longer human. Wolf and shadow had merged; his irises were a swirling vortex of deep, blackened red.
"I'll kill you..." he hissed through bared teeth. "I'll kill you! I'll kill every last one of you!"
The hunters' formation wavered for a single second. That second meant death.
Gerard's voice cracked like a whip through the night. "FIRE!"
A volley of bullets exploded at once, but the target vanished before they could connect. Sean tore into the crowd. His collision with the first hunter wasn't just a hit; it was an impact. His claws raked through the ribcage to reach the heart. He caught the second man's rifle mid-air, bent the metal barrel double, and shoved it into the man's face. As a third tried to retreat, shadows coiled around his ankles. Sean stepped forward and launched the man upward; the body hit a tree trunk with enough force to snap his neck.
Chris fired twice. The bullets buried themselves in Sean's shoulder and ribs. Acrid smoke rose from the wounds. Sean stumbled, dropping to one knee.
Twelve men simultaneously threw electric chains. They wrapped around his arms, legs, and neck. The current discharged. His body racked with spasms.
"ARRRGHHH!"
The smell of burning flesh filled the air. The wolf inside him thrashed; the shadow surged with rage. Sean lifted his head. His eyes had gone completely black.
Suddenly, the chains turned pitch black. The electric glow died out. The links shattered all at once. Sean stood up with a roar. Before the two nearest hunters could back away, he was between them. He tore the head off one and grabbed the other by the waist, snapping his back in a way that drowned out the sound of the waterfall.
A five-man team coordinated an attack from the left. Sean appeared in the center of them in a blur his movement a total mystery. He shattered the first man's jaw with an elbow, ripped the arm off the second, and used it to club the third. As the fourth tried to stab him with an electric blade, Sean caught his wrist and redirected it through the hunter's own throat.
When the fifth attempted to run, he realized his legs were submerged in shadows up to his knees. Just as he was about to plead for his life, he met Sean's eyes voids stained with bottomless darkness. Sean reached out, and as his hand touched the man's face, the shadow reduced him to a mist of blood.
There were fewer than seventy left. Chris struggled to catch his breath, his eyes fixed on Sean. This wasn't a werewolf anymore. This was... something else entirely.
Gerard leaned on his cane, watching intently. "It's not over yet," he murmured.
Fifteen hunters rushed the left flank, fanning out like ghosts in the mist. Sean sensed them and let out a howl that shook the very foundation of the forest "RRRAAAGGHHHH!!" Miles away, Stiles, Scott, Allison, and Jackson all heard it.
He snatched the first attacker, threw him skyward, and disemboweled him in mid-air. Blood fell like rain. He tore the face off the second and broke the spine of the third over his knee. When the fourth and fifth lunged together, Sean bit into one, dragging him down, while kicking the other so hard he was embedded into a tree.
Sensing a new threat, Sean whipped his head around to see two grenades flying toward him. It was too late to dodge. He braced his face with his arms. The explosions rocked the clearing.
Sean was sent tumbling, slamming hard into a rock. As he lay motionless, the hunters closed in. The nearest one raised his handgun and aimed it at Sean's head.
He pulled the trigger, but nothing happened. He tried again and again misfire. A low chuckle escaped Sean. The pistol in the man's hand imploded. As Sean dissolved into the shadows, a spike of darkness erupted, piercing the hunter's skull.
Sean rose slowly, his body a map of gore and burns. He crushed the head of the man in front of him with a single hand. The sound of splintering bone was sickening.
Seeing Sean bloody, battered, and seemingly unkillable the remaining hunters had only one thought: Run.
Shadows reached down from the trees like nooses, snatching hunters and slamming them against the earth. Each strike ended a life.
Sean's entire body was a wreck of pain, but his eyes held a terrifying glint of madness. Chris was paralyzed by the expression. He had seen Sean many times, but never like this never this unrecognizable.
"Enough, Sean!" Chris shouted, his voice desperate. "This isn't the way!"
Sean simply looked at him, his voice cold and hollow. "You should have thought of that before you threatened me."
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