meeting at work

3 weeks later Scott is up early in the vet clinic when the phone rings

"Hello, animal helper here." Scott answers the phone.

"This is detective Babineaux from the Seattle Police department. There is a dead body we'd like you to take a look at and give your opinion if it was an animal who did this." He hears through the phone.

"I think that won't be a problem. Where do I need to go?" Scott asks and gets told the address.

After informing Deaton of the situation he drives his bike over to the woods he's been asked to come to.

"I'm sorry, you can't go through here." A policeman stops him from entering the crime scene after getting off his bike.

"A detective babineaux called me and asked for my expert opinion on an attack?" He asks.

"Wait here, I'll get him." The officer says and leaves, coming back with an fit afro american man wearing a leather jacket and his badge around his neck.

"Detective Babineaux, thanks for coing down here." Clive greets Scott with a handshake.

"Scott McCall. How can I help you?" He asks.

"Follow me please." Clive says and leads Scott to the crime scene, where a body is torn to pieces and scattered in multiple places around the woods.

"Hello. You are the vet that was called in I presume?" Ravi greets Scott while Liv is still staring at a part of the human remains, wondering if there's another Zombie out there afterall.

"I'm Scott. And yes, but I haven't been told much." Scott says.

"Well, this is all part of the same corpse of a young woman. Over there is a shallow grave dug and we assume she might've been dug up by animals and then over time, well... scattered." Ravi informs him.

"And this is my assistant." Ravi introduces the two.

"We met before. At that haunted huse thing, right?" Scott asks.

"Oh, Yes I remember. Scott right?" Liv says.

"Yes. Although I never got your name." Scott replies, shaking her hand.

"I'm Liv." She says.

"So, can anyone of you tell me if we're looking at a fresh murder or a corpse dug up by animals?" Clive asks.

"I can only confirm that 100% when I see the whole body at the morgue. But my first impression is, that this could've been animals, although your victim seems to have died only very recently, don't you agree?" Scott says, looking at Ravi.

"Yeah. Looks to be a fresh body. Dead less than a few days." Ravi informs Clive.

"Like I said if you want to know what animals would do such a thing, then I'd need to see the body in the morgue and see the wounds." Scott says.

"Alright. Thank you for your help so far, can you come by later today?" Clive asks.

"Of course." Scott answers and shakes Clive's hand goodbye.

"How do you know him? Because it could get real awkward in the morgue if you knpw what killed the girl." Ravi whispers to Liv.

"We ran into each other at a Halloween fundraiser. He seemed to have been interested in Peyton although I never saw him again."

Liv says.

"Alright." Ravi accepts this and they get to work.

|Half a day later|

"Hello? Anybody here?" Scott asks, knocking on a door while standing at the top of the stairs in the morgue, his supernatural senses picking up on a disgusting smell, like burned flesh.

"Oh, yes Sorry." Liv says, rushing out of an office while licking her fingers.

"What are you eating in there? Pig roast?" Scott asks jokingly.

"Ah you know, nothing special." Liv says nervously.

"So do we wait for your boss, or should I take a look already?" Scott asks.

"Sure we can look at the body, although we couldn't find any sign of animal presence." Liv says.

"I can already tell you that's not completely true." Scott says, smelling an animal scent from the corpse.

"Why's that?" Liv asks.

"You see that scratch there? That's from a ..." Scott tells her, pointing at the dead girl's arm.

"Warthog. Yes I noticed, but it's post mortem and so far the only evidence of an animal being present." Ravi says, arriving and walks over to the two.

"Seems that way on first glance, yes." Scott says, looking at the wounds.

"I'm sorry, could you excuse us for a moment? I need to talk to my boss." Liv says, dragging Ravi into his office and closes the door behind them.

"Liv? Are you down here?" Scott then hears a voice he thought he'll never get out of his head and turns around, seeing Peyton atop of the stairs looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Scott? Why are you here?" She asks wearily.

"The police asked for my input on a case regarding animal involvement." He says.

"Have you seen Liv?" Peyton asks.

"She and her boss just went into their office." Scott answers, nodding to the door.

"I see." Peyton says, waiting at the workstation of the morgue awkwardly.

"So, how've you been?" Scott asks.

"Well, I'm on a important case right now and pretty close to putting away the dirtbag." She says.

"Good. I bet that feels pretty fulfilling." Scott says.

"Only if he gets put away." Peyton replies.

"Look, I've been meaning to apologize, I was a bit judgmental when we met. But in my line of work I'm sure you understand that i can't be too careful." She tells him, walking over slowly, although stopping a good distance away from the dead body.

"It's fine and I mean you weren't wrong. I broke the law a lot a couple years ago. I bet that wouldn't sit so well with others in your job." Scott says understandingly.

"Thanks." She says softly, glad he understands her view.

"Peyton. Hey, what are you doing here?" Liv asks, reemerging from the office with Ravi.

"I'm here to talk to some cops and thought I'd check if you want to grab something to eat together." Peyton says, her roommate having been somewhat getting back to being a member of society with a bit of coaxing.

"Sorry, we're still busy here." Liv says.

"I see. Well, I'll see you later. And you should really do something against the smell down here." Peyton says, leaving the morgue.

"I'm sorry, where were we?" Ravi asks Scott, who notices that the man's heart is racing, while he hears no heartbeat at all from Liv, staring at he for a while confused, before he hears a single thump in her chest, repeating every 10 seconds or so.

'Ok, something's fishy here.' Scott thinks to himself.

"Sorry, I blanked out on you didn't I? Ahem we were going to look over the corpse for any kind of animal involvement." Scott says, inspecting the corpse, receiving gloves from the man across the slab from him and puts them on before turning the piece of corpse on its side.

"I mean there are a few more spots but it's so little. She can't be dead longer than a day, two max. See, this is from a bird pecking away some flesh." Scott tells them, showing them a spot on the skin.

"But as to what animals could've torn her up like this? Without leaving bite marks... I have no ideas here guys. I think you're dealing with one freaky killer." Scott tells them.

"Yes, we thought so too. Well, thanks for your help. Question, if we do come across an animal attack, would you be willing to take a look at it again?" Ravi asks.

"Sure, why do you ask?" Scott asks.

"There is an old case. You heard about the boat massacre?" Ravi asks.

"I'm afraid not. I only moved here recently." Scott answers.

"Well, there was a Max Rager party and people took drugs and it became a bloodbath. And Liv is the only known survivor. Well, the question is though, if the attack was animal related. Here, take a look at these marks." Ravi says, showing him multiple scratch wounds in a file.

"Hmm the spacing of the scratches, it doesn't look like the work of animals, although I guess if something like a wolf got to the bodies, maybe but the animals didn't cause the attack definitely. Animals like wolves would go for the kill and not wound the arms or torso." Scott tells him.

"Do you mind if I let my boss look it over? Maybe you can make some copies?" Scott asks the taller man.

"Sure, why not." Ravi says and goes into the office to print out copies.

"Hey, are you alright? You look kinda pale and your pulse is really slow." Scott asks Liv, putting a hand on her wrist while looking at her intensely, seeing her freaking out.

"I'm alright. Thanks. I guess I spend too much time down here and don't get enough sunlight." Liv says.

"If you say so." He says, still wondering what she is, because she certainly isn't human, maybe something in the bestiary can tell him what he's dealing with.

"Here, your copies. Get back to me with your boss's assessment alright?" Ravi says, handing Scott the folder. He takes it and leaves while telling them "will do, see you around."

After exiting the morgue he sticks around however, pretending to tie up his shoe while his eyes start glowing a deep red and he listens in on Liv and Ravi.

"That's a problem. Are you sure he noticed that you barely have a pulse at all?" He hears Ravi ask.

"Yes. What do we do? He could already be onto me being a Zombie." Liv says.

"I wouldn't be that hasty. Just tell him you have some kind of medical condition. Remember he's a vet not a doctor. Odds are he's not gonna look into it and jump to you being a Zombie." Ravi tells her.

"Yeah, you're probably right." She agrees.

"So, did you have any visions from dead girl's brains yet? We better come up with some explanation for Clive and knowing if another Zombie did this, or just got to the remains before the cops could be vital." Ravi says.

"Guess the whole world is weird." Scott mumbles, standing up and heading to the visitors parking structure, which is mostly empty since it's getting late.

"Let go of me. Are you stupid, we're at a police station. There are cameras everywhere." He hears a familiar female voice shout.

"Shut up and get in the van. The camera's can't see anything at this angle." A rough voice replies from man.

Going around the corner Scott sees Peyton getting lead towards a black van by a bulky man wearing a baseball cap and a coat with one hand in his pocket.

"Just act normal." The man whispers, something Scott wouldn't have heard if he wasn't a werewolf and focused on the two.

"Have you seen a dirtbike parked somewhere? I've never been here before and got confused with the parking levels I think." Scott asks, slowly jogging over to the two, spotting another guy inside the van and concentrates, hearing yet another heartbeat inside the van, accompanied by a metallic sound, from what he assumes is the slide of a gun being cocked back.

"No sorry." The man says Peyton looking at him, panic written over her face.

"How about you miss?" Scott asks politely.

"She didn't see a bike anywhere either." The man grumpily replies.

"What are you some kind of macho man? I was talking to your girl there. Or is she mute or something?" Scott asks, playing frustrated.

"I neee to find my bike man. I'm already late for my job. Come on lady I bet you've seen it somewhere." Scott says.

The man whispers "just make something up." To Peyton.

"Yes, I think I saw it, it's a floor above us. Over there is a elevator." Peyton says, pointing to an elevator in the corner of the parking structure about 3 parking spots away from the van.

"Thanks cutie." Scott says and swerves over slight, already having been almost right behind them.

He quickly makes his way past the car next to the van and crouches down, going around it, to the driver side of the van out of view and knocks the smoking driver out with a werewolf strength powered punch, while the other two bring Peyton inside the van and tie her up with a gag and zip ties after using chloroform to knock her out.

Scott quickly pulls the driver out of the car and moves him behind the car parked on their right, slipping into the driver seat and waits, listening to which side the guy will come to the front of the car from and hears him approaching from the driver side.

Scott sees a baton in the car and smirks, taking the stick, before hitting the large man in his face once he's besides the opened driver side window.

The mountain of a man goes down from the powerful hit, but he got knocked against the van's side, the noise confusing the last guy inside the van and he leaves the back, stepping outside with his gun drawn, upon seeing his boss on the floor he looks around frantically, still aiming ahead of him while walking back slowly, until he walks right into Scott, who breaks the man's wrist and causes him to lose his gun, unfortunately the first guy Scott knocked out recovers from the blow and gets up, aiming st Scott who hold his companion in front of him. The assailant he uses as a shield goes down quickly when the other guy opens fire, the first bullet striking his companion right in the heart.

Scott lets the man drop with a curse and jumps behind the van's opened back doors which get riddled with bullets.

Upon hearing the shooter reload Scott leaves his cover and jumps over the roof of the car separating them, getting shot in the stomach by the other man however before he kicks him in his face and sends him crahing right into the window of the car behind him, knocking him out and cutting up his face.

"Crap." Scott groans, holding his wound and takes the man's gun away, doing the same for the other guy and the corpse before going into the back of the van.

He gets out hi claws and cuts through her zip ties before taking off her gags.

Hearing footsteps approaching he lifts up the still unconscious woman and exits the van, being met with 5 police officers with their guns aimed at him, one of whom is Clive himself.

"A bit late, aren't you?" Scott asks, setting down Peyton gently and raises his arms while saying "their guns are in my pocket."

"Hands behind your head and on your knees." Clive orders, going over to Scott while the other officers secure the scene.

"You're under arrest. Anything you say can and will be held against you." Clive says, telling him his rights.

"Listen, I only stopped her from getting kidnapped alright." Scott says while lying on the ground with Clive on top of him with one knee in his back.

"We need medical in the visitor parking area, 1st floor."

Clive says over his radio, shoving Scott over to one of his colleagues who leads him away.

"She's unconscious." Clive tells his men after checking Peyton's pulse.

"We found chloroform on this guy." Another cop says, holding a bottle in his hand while standing above the large man.

"What the hell happened here?" Clive asks, watching one officer lead away Scott who cooperates without resistance.

"Cuff them and book them once medical clears them." Clive says, going after the officer who arrested Scott once Peyton is getting checked out by medical staff.

"So explain to me what happened exactly?" Clive tells Scott a bit later, who is handcuffed to the table in the interrogation room with Liv sitting next to the black man.

"Like I said. I walked in on those guys trying to kidnap Peyton and stepped in." Scott says.

"Don't you have camera's?" Scott asks.

"We do, but the van is only partially viewable on it. So, what happened, in detail please." Clive says.

"Fine. I was going into the structure to get to my bike when I heard the big guy tell Peyton to get into the van. I pretended not to know her to see her reaction if she's being taken against her will and since she too pretended not to know me I was sure that something was wrong. So I went past the van ducked behind the silver car and went over to the driver side. I knocked out the driver and put him behind that green car, so the others won't see him, because I could hear them tie Peyton up in the back."

Scott explains.

"Anyways I waited inside the driver cabin and checked where the big guy was going to come from. Once I knew that I knocked him out with a baton from inside the car."

The last guy must've heard him go down and went out to check it, so I went around the other side and caught him by surprise.

Unluckily however the first guy came back to and started firing on me. I waited behind the van's door and waited until he had to reload. I then rushed him and kicked him in his head which crashed into the car window." Scott explains calmly.

"Quite a story you're telling there. What are you ex-military or something?" Clive asks suspiciously.

"No, but my dad is FBI and my best friend's father was sheriff in our hometown. You pick up some things." Scott half lies.

"Well, make yourself comfortable. Until we can check if you're telling the truth you're not going anywhere." Clive says.

"Fine with me. How's Peyton doing anyways?" Scott asks, looking at his white haired partner.

"Still unconscious." She says, not trusting him.

"Hope they didn't give her anything which will have aftereffects." Scott sighs.

"Hey, is it OK if I make my call and tell my boss what happened?" Scott asks.

"Fine. One call." Clive says, putting down Scott's phone.

"Thanks." Scott says while the two others leave the room, watching how he calls his boss relaxed.

Scott turns off his phone and sets it down across the table, leaning forwards until he's just above the table and scratches his cheek with his cuffed hands.

He then closes his eyes and leans back in the chair, trying to listen in on what's going on without shifting, but due to the nature of the room he can hear barely anything besides his breathing and the creaking of his chair.

"What do you think? You spend more time with him." Clive asks Liv.

"I don't know. We'll have to wait for Peyton to wake up." Liv replies, shrugging her shoulders.

"We have information on the dead guy." He's part of Johnson's crew an officer says, peeking into the room overlooking the interrogation room.

"Thank you." Clive says, accepting the offered folder with the dead man's record.

"Johnson? As in Roman Johnson, the guy Peyton is building a case against?" Liv asks.

"I'm afraid so." Clive replies, nodding.

"Which means this could be a blessing in disguise. If one of the assailants talk then Peyton will have her case basically served on a platter." Clive says.

"After being tossed into a van and knocked unconscious at gunpoint." Liv says upset.

"She's awake. She's in the medical station." The same officer who brought them the file says.

"Let's go." Liv tells Clive and the two head to the medical center of the police station, where they see Peyton sitting groggily on one of the beds in a room while the other big guy is in another room and the last guy had to be taken to the hospital due to the injuries to his face.

"Peyton." Liv says relieved, hurrying over and giving her best friend a hug.

"Liv. What happened? Where did you find me?" Peyton asks.

"You were knocked out in the back of a van with Scott, one dead guy and two knocked out men. Can you tell me what you remember?" Clive asks her.

"Ugh, yeah I think so. I was going to my car when some big guy came up behind me and told me to get in a van. I don't know if he was armed or not. He was wearing a coat and had one hand in his pocket." She says.

"Then I think Scott showed up. I thought he didn't recognize me at first but I figured he wanted to know if I was alright without the guy knowing, so I played like I didn't know him either. The big guy shoved me into the van and that's the last thing I remember I think." Peyton tells them, holding her head.

"Seems like Scott was telling the truth." Only question will be who killed that guy. Him or one of the other two." Clive says.

"I don't understand. How come I didn't get taken away?" Peyton asks confused.

"Scott claims to have overwhelmed your kidnappers." Liv says.

"He did?" Peyton asks surprised.

"We don't know." Clive answers honestly.

"But the tapes should be pulled by now, let's see what we can get from them." Clive says. And the three head to the room overlooking the interrogation, where they play the tape while Peyton looks at Scott who is sitting relaxed on the chair almost seeming asleep.

"Let's see. This is around the time it happened." Clive says, stopping fast forwarding and plays the recording.

"There's Peyton walking into the parking structure." Liv comments.

"We can all see that." Clive says a bit annoyed by her commentary.

"Alright, so far everything matches." Clive says, when Peyton's feet disappear from the camera, which only captures the lower part of the van.

"The guy gets in. And then, there's the guy in the hospital." Clive says, seeing an arm dropping down the man who now has wounds covering his face.

"There, big guy is moving to the front of the car." Liv says, pointing at the large man's feet which leave the camera's view, only for him to enter view lying on his back.

"And there's our last guy stepping out of the car." Clive says. The three then see Scott's legs goup behind the now dead man and flashes of light come from the car to the left.

"Alright. I'm content in saying that he was telling the truth." Clive says, seeing the body of the last man drop.

"Isn't that one of Johnson's men?" Peyton asks wide eyed at seeing the dead man's face.

"Yes." Clive answers.

The three then see Scott slide over the roof of the car the shooter is hiding behind and kick his head through the window, before collecting the guns and then Clive and the officers enter the view already.

"Alright. Looks like he can go. He only injured the two guys while preventing a kidnapping. The dead guy is on the head of the guy in the hospital." Clive says.

"Can I go in and thank him?" Peyton asks, already waiting at the door to the interrogation room.

"Sure, I need to uncuff him and let him go anyways." Clive says, the three then stepping into the interrogation room.

"Ah Peyton, you're OK right?" Scott asks, receiving a rushed "yes" as response before she hugs him, whispering "thank you" gratefully while keeping her embrace around him during which Scott is assaulted by her enticing smell and doesn't even notice Clive unlocking his cuffs.

"You're free to go now. But you need to come in and give a written statement as well." Clive tells Scott.

"Alright. Thanks." Scott says, getting up after Peyton releases him from th hug.

"Good to see you're doing alright." He tells Peyton before nodding to Clive and Liv, saying "See you soon."

With that he leaves the room, grabbing his backpack on the way out, but forgets his phone.

"He forgot his phone." Clive says.

"I'll give it to him." Peyton volunteers, going after him, but she can only see him already speeding home on his bike when she reaches the parking structure.

"Any idea where he lives? He's already gone." Peyton asks.

Clive writes the address down for her and she leaves to follow him.

"Ah damn. I forgot my phone in the interrogation room." Scott says when he enters his home, putting his keys and wallet on a table next to the door and notices he's missing the device.

"Well I can just get it tomorrow, for now I should get out of these clothes and be glad they didn't ask because of the blood on them." Scott says, taking off his shirt and tosses them onto the same table, before taking off the rest of his clothing and takes a shower.

As he's drying himself off, he hears someone park in front of his apartment and approach his door. He quickly puts on underpants and a pair of jogging pants before going to the door, a towel around his neck.

"Come on in Deaton." Scott says, opening the door and steps back into his living room while he's drying off his hair.

"Ahem." He then hears a female voice and notices the sweet scent assaulting his senses.

"Oh, hah. Sorry I thought you were my boss." Scott apologizes for his state of undress, quickly putting on a shirt and combs through his ruffled hair with his hands.

"You forgot this at the station." Peyton says, showing him his phone.

"Thanks. I totally forgot about it." Scott thanks her awkwardly.

"Ahem, would you like to sit down?" Scott asks, sweeping the few papers lying on his couch to one edge, freeing the other half for her.

"Thanks." She says, sitting down while looking around his place.

"So, how are you doing? It must be scary to know you blacked out while all this stuff went on around you huh?" Scott asks her comfortingly, sitting down on the coffee, facing her.

"Yes. I guess I'm still in shock." Peyton says.

"I get it. But question, are you sure it's wise to be walking around alone at the moment? It didn't look like those guys were just taking anyone. They were told to get you right?" Scott asks her worried.

"I hadn't thought about that. I thought that with them in custody I'd be fine, but you may be right." She says, shaking slightly.

"Do you want a drink?" Scott asks, grabbing her shaking hand gently.

"Yes. Please." She says and Scott returns with some whiskey and two glasses, pouring them just a small amount.

The two wordlessly clink their glasses against each other before downing the drink.

When he sets down his glass Peyton pours herself half a glass full, at which Scott chuckled lightly.

"It's OK to be afraid you know." He tells her, collecting the papers from besides her and dumps them on his kitchen table before sitting down next to her.

"It's weird. I know I should be freaking out but I'm just not for some reason. Maybe it's because I feel so guilty for judging you so badly and then you go and save my life." Peyton says, looking at him wonderingly.

"You didn't judge me badly. You were going with the facts which is what anyone would do." Scott tells her, leaning back into his couch seat while she's holding onto the alcohol bottle and her glass.

"Then why do I feel so bad?" She asks.

"I honestly don't know." He chuckles, patting her shoulder.

"Anyways, do you have any idea who went after you?" Scott asks.

"Pretty sure it's the same guy I'm building a case against. Johnson." Peyton answers.

"So, what are you going to do against that?" Scott asks.

"I don't know. Besides getting him behind bars, what can I do?" Peyton asks.

"Well, there are many options. Take him out before he tries to get you again. Drop the case. Or get yourself some protection." Scott says, counting off the possibilities.

"Take him out really? What am I? A hitman hiring scumbag like him?" Peyton asks.

"And I'm also not dropping the case." Peyton says decisively.

"But maybe you're right about the protection until I have him behind bars." Peyton says, setting down the bottle and her glass.

"Something's still troubling you." Scott says knowingly.

"What is it?" He questions, looking at her.

"Why did you do it?" She asks.

"Save you?" Scott asks, receiving a nod as reply.

"I don't think someone needs a reason to do something good." Scott tells her.

"But you could've died. They were armed." Peyton says.

"Sure it didn't go as smoothly as I hoped but what can you do? It's life and life is messy." Scott tells her.

"I really don't get how you can be so calm about this." Peyton says, shaking her head amused.

"I've been through worse." He tells her solemnly, patting her hand comfortingly.

"So, how about I get a blanket for myself and you can crash in my bed. Because there's no way I'll let you drive home after half a bottle of whiskey and with possible hitmen out there." Scott says, going into the bedroom and returns with a blanket and pillow.

"Wouldn't you rather decide on another sleeping arrangement?" She asks seductively, while sliding her soft hands up his toned arms, her scent invading his nose again intensely.

"Not that I'm not tempted, but no. You need the rest and I don't want to ruin the good impression I left on you by giving in to my urges despite knowing better." Scott tells her with a smile, pulling her to her feet and picking her up bridal style, carrying her to the bed.

"Make yourself at home. If you want to shower, it's across the hall and feel free to choose anything to wear." Scott tells her after lying her down on the mattress.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay close by?" Peyton asks, fluttering her eyes at him, making him gulp and freeze for a moment.

"N-no. Just get some rest alright?" Scott tells her and leaves the room, flopping face first down on the couch, only hearing Peyton enter his bathroom a minute later, not daring to look at her, instead burying his head in his pillow, only peeking against his better will when she steps out of his bathroom, wearing nothing but a towel of his and comes over to him.

"I forgot my purse. I should call Liv and tell her I'm staying over.". Peyton says, leaning above him, taking the purse she lied down on the couch's arm.

"Thank you Scott." She says softly and gives him a peck on his cheek before disappearing behind his bedroom door.