I stood in the middle of the old Mexican town between Lydia and Stiles having the dry hot air blow my white blonde hair around. My blue eyes scanned the town for any danger and I kept my ears perked for anything in the distant.
"This doesn't seem so bad." Stiles said.
"It's not the town, it's the plan." I snapped at him, still scanning feeling uneasy not only in a strange town but in a strange country.
"What's wrong with the plan?"
"Stiles." Lydia chirped. "This could be the stupidest plan that we've ever come up with. You're aware of that right?"
"I'm aware it's not our best."
"We are going to die."
"Are you saying that as a Banshee or you just being pessimistic?"
"I'm saying it as a person who doesn't want to die."
"Okay. Would you just mind restricting any talk of death to actual Banshee predictions?"
"This plan is stupid and we're all going to die." I said.
"Oh, thank you, Calla."
"Mmm." We walked to the edge of the other side of town to a night club as the sun began to drop behind the horizon. Indistinct conversations came from the shadows as we approached the two bouncers in front of the door. Lydia spoke fluent Spanish to them and one of them shook their head. We looked towards Stiles for an answer who pulled out a card from his back pocket with a skull on it. He held it up for the bouncer to see but he looked at the camera that was hiding in the dark corner above the door. Stiles held the card up to the camera and after a minute, the door clicked unlock and opened. The bouncers stepped aside to let us in and as soon as we entered the blood red hallways with lanterns on the walls, the door closed behind us leaving us the only choice to keep moving forward. There was a decorative steel door at the end of the hallway that had a deep bass music coming from the other side causing the lanterns to rattle. We approached the door and I swung it open to reveal a large crowd of dancing people with neon lights flickering over them. The smell of different scents filled my nostrils and I did my best to try to ignore them. "I'm heading out." I departed from Lydia and Stiles and made my to the back of the club where I saw the dark corner that I memorized from the blueprints. I looked around to make sure no one was watching me and I counted six stones from the corner and four stones up and pressed on it to reveal a secret passageway. I quickly entered it and closed the door behind me before anyone could realize what I was doing. It was dark and musty in the narrow passagway and the stone on the walls were wet from the water seeping between the cracks. I turned on my wolf vision and made my way down the passageway to the other door. I leaned against the wall and listened to the other side. I heard a woman's heartbeat plus two guards' heartbeats. Now, I just had to wait for my que. After awhile, Severo's voice sounded and so did Stiles and Lydia. I straightened up and perked my ears.
"Severo hates this music." Araya said as I heard Lydia and Stiles sit down in front of the desk. "Me? I've always loved the music of the youth. This kind, especially. It has a savage energy."
"We're here for Derek Hale." Lydia said.
"Is that so?"
"We know you have him. We've heard you can be bought."
"It's fifty thousand for Derek." Stiles said and I assumed that he set the money out on the desk.
"Now, where does a teenage boy get money like this?" Araya asked. "Japanese mafia?" Guns cocked from all around the room and I tensed and fought the urge to go out there and kicked some asses. I had to sit back and see how it played out. "Not smart to come alone."
"What makes you think we came alone?" I pushed open the stone door and immediately went after the two guards near me grabbing their guns and knocking them out with them. I growled, showing my canines and wolf eyes at Severo warning him to back off.
"You brought a wolf into my home?"
"We brought Alphas."
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"My friends. . ." Araya sighed as she got up out of her chair and turned to the window. "I don't think you're aware of your poor timing. Do you know what the dark moon is?"
"The part of the lunar phrase where the moon is the least visible in the sky." Lydia answered.
"But do you know its meaning?"
"Some people say it's a time of reflection. Or grief."
"Grief and loss, mija. I wonder why, when you and your friends have suffered so much loss, you would risk it again for someone like Derek Hale." I let a growl rumble deep in my chest and Araya turned back around and smirked at me. "He's not mate material." I snarled but Stiles held up his hand to silence me and I stood back.
"Cause we don't like to lose." Stiles stated as men spoke through the walkie talkie in Spanish. Severo answered back and it seemed like he was calling to someone and getting no answer because his voice became more and more urgent. Then, Scott's voice came through.
"Stiles." Scott said. "Take ten off the table." Without hesitation, Stiles took ten thousand dollars and stuffed it back into the inside pocket of his jacket.
"Maybe you should just take the deal." Lydia said and Araya laughed.
"While I am keen to follow the warning of a Banshee, I'm going to have to decline." Araya smirked, leaning against her desk towards us.
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"All right." I said, putting my claws and canines away but kept my eyes red to let Araya know that I meant business. "Come on. Just give us Derek. You don't want him anyways. Haven't you noticed what a downer he is? No sense of humor, poor conversationalist. Just come on, take the money." Araya picked up the walkie talkie.
"Severo." She called into it. "Show them how the Calaveras negotiate." I shared a look with Lydia and Stiles and before any of us could say anything smoke filled the room clouding my vision. I inhaled deeply and immediately felt my chest tightened. I coughed and gagged as I dropped to the ground choking for air. I heard grunts and groans from Stiles and Lydia somewhere in the smoke and I assumed they were knocked out. Araya came around her desk and knelt down beside me, smirking at me as I struggled to breath. "Someone who has been an Alpha only a few months should be more careful when facing a hunter of forty years."
"All we want is Derek."
"My mija, you're a long way from home." Something came to mind as I struggled to stay conscience.
"You don't know where he is either." She ignored my statement and pulled out a cattle prod and stabbed me in the chest with it causing me to black out.
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My head pounded as I began to open my eyes only to squint them tightly closed again as I stared up into blinding florlucent lights. A shadow draped over my face and I slowly reopened my eyes to see Kira, Stiles, Malia and Scott standing over me.
"Calla, you okay?" Stiles questioned me as he helped me sit up.
"Yeah." I answered as I rubbed my temples. "They don't have him. They don't have Derek."
"We know." Kira said. "But right now they have Lydia."
"Lydia? What do they want with Lydia?"
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"We already looked for a way out." Kira stated as Scott tried to pry the rusted steel door open. I looked around the room and saw that it was coated in tile with blood stains and scratch marks on them. "I think a lot of people have."
"I saw when that door opens again, we take out whoever's standing in the way and run for it." Malia suggested as she leaned causally against a pillar.
"What about Lydia?" I asked.
"What about her?"
"We're not leaving without her." Scott said as he gave up on the door. Malia looked at us questioningly and confused.
"What not?" We all looked at Stiles and rubbed his face with his hands before turning to his girlfriend.
"Because we don't leave without people." Stiles explained to her. "Remember, we talked about this? Rules of the wild kingdom don't apply to friends." Malia sighed and closed her eyes as she hung her head, the words from Stiles finally sinking in.
"Is that what you would do as a coyote, leave her for dead?" Kira inquired.
"If she was weak and injured, yeah." Malia answered honestly like it was that obvious. "If hunting had been bad that season, I would eat her. Then I'd leave." Stiles scratched his chin thoughtfully and gave us a weak smile.
"Mmm." He hummed. "Believe it or not, that's progress."
"All right, guys, we're not dead yet." I snapped becoming irritated that I was locked in a cage like a rapid animal when my lover was somewhere out there and I didn't even know if he was dead or alive. And that means Araya wants something."
"But if the Calaveras don't know where Derek is, that means they didn't take him from the loft. Right?" Kira asked.
"Maybe he left on his own." Malia suggested. I ran my hands through my hair and bit back a growl of fustration.
"I am telling you guys." I growled. "Severo and his gang of misfits came busting and they were looking for some la lupa or something and that's when it all went down hill. The loft smoked up and I was knocked out. I woke up and Derek and the Calaveras were gone. I don't know if the Calaveras took him but they're are only lead right now."
"Maybe someone else got to him." Scott wondered and I sighed in relief that we were finally getting somewhere. The door to the cell opened and Severo and I group of men came in. A cattle prod touched my side and zapped me just as my canines began to sharpen. The jolt of electricity shocked me and made my eyes roll to the back of my head and made me black out before I could land one scratch.
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I woke up with a start at the sound of a creaking door opening. I looked around to see Severo holding Kira by the arm by a eletric dial as another hunter brought Lydia who was breathing heavily into the room and chained her to a chair as Araya followed in behind them. I raised my arms to get up out of the chair ready to fight but I found that my arms were chained to the floor. I looked to my right to see Scott the same way.
"Let her go." Scott pleaded. "Look. You've got us. You've got two Alphas. Just let the others go." Kira grunted as Severo forced her hand onto the dial.
"Your hand goes here." He ordered in a low whisper. "So, let me explain what's about to happen. This one, the fox, has the immunity for electricity. So she's going to turn the dial on the Alphas. If she doesn't, I turn the dial on the Banshee."
"No." Kira protested. "I'm not doing this."
"Are you sure? Two of your friends haver the power to heal. The other? Not so much."
"What are you doing?" I snapped. "Is this a game to you?"
"This is a test, lobita." Araya spoke up. "Let's see if you pass. We're going to ask some questions. You answer them, nobody gets hurt. You don't answer, we turn on the dial." Scott looked over at his terrified girlfriend.
"Do what they say." He said gently to her. "Okay? Whatever they want. We can take it." Kira slowly nodded.
"So. . . we don't know where Derek is. We want to find him as well. You know who took him." I looked at her like she was insane.
"What?" I snarled. "You guys are the one who broke into our home and attacked us? And you expect us to know where he is? How would we know that?"
"That doesn't sound like an answer to me."
"We don't know." Lydia said. "Why do you think we came here?" Araya sighed.
"Kira, turn the dial." Kira shook her head. "Should we turn the dial on Lydia instead?"
"No, no!" Scott yelled. "Do it, Kira. Do it."
"Let's start at one." Electricity surged through my body and I clenched my fists together and grinded my teeth so hard they could have shattered. My muscles seized throughout my entire body as the pain grew and grew.
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Electricity crackled as my nails dug into my palms and my roars turned into whimpers.
"Tell me." Araya ordered. "Who took him? Who had a reason, a vendetta particular to the Hales?"
"I said I don't know, you crazy bitch." I panted, my head barely able to lift up to look at her.
"Oh, you don't know because you haven't figured it out yet. So think. Who could've taken him?"
"Tres." Severo ordered Kira and Scott looked over at her.
"It's okay." He panted. "It's okay." More electricity surged through me and my heart pounded so hard, it could have broken my rib cage. I roared and let my teeth clink together. So much energy was racing through my limbs I couldn't even move them.
"Who had the power?" Araya questioned us. "The power of a shapeshifter?"
"I don't know." I grunted, eyes rolling to the back of my head.
"Oh. Someone who could have turned without you knowing. Turned, but not by a bite!"
"I don't know!"
"Diez! Diez!" The surge continued to grow stronger and I felt my inner wolf cowering in a dark corner trying to get away from the pain, trying to protect itself but there was no escaping this torture. I roared again with Scott and our combined roars made the windows shuddered in the room. Flashbacks ran through my mind and I pulled enough energy together to break out of the bonds that held me down. I panted and my muscles drooped with exhuastion as the electricity left my body. "Say the name, Callana."
"Kate."
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"So you're just going to let us go?" Scott asked as Aray led us out of the building and back out to the town where the blistering sun was now visible again.
"I sen four men out to where Kate was rumored to have been seen." Araya explained. "None of them came back. Let's see if you can do better."
"You could've just told us she was alive." I snapped.
"You wouldn't have believed me. Now I know what kind of alphas you are. And where your next step lies."
"What next step?" Scott inquired.
"When you take the bite of an innocent, when you make a wolf of your own, when you do that, then, I will cross your border and come knocking at your door." Araya turned away from us and went back to the building while we went to the edge of town where Stiles, Malia and Kira was waiting for us by the jeep.
"So what now?" Stiles questioned us.
"She thinks she knows where we can find Derek." I answered.
"She gonna tell us where?" Kira asked.
"Uh, actually, she's giving us a guide." Scott said. A motorcycle pulled up next to the jeep almost knocking Stiles over as he jumped out of the way. The rider shut the engine off and took of her helmet exposing a toffee colored skin girl with raven black hair and chocolate eyes. She had three long scars on her neck where a previous attack almost killed her.
"You know her?" Malia asked us.
"Braeden." Scott and I answered in unison.
"She's a mercenary." Lydia explained.
"Right now, I'm the only one who's gonna take you to la iglesia." Braeden said.
"The church?"
"What's the church?" Malia inquired.
"It's not a place you'll find God." Braeden clarified.
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My motorcycle roared underneath as I kept up with Braeden on her bike with the jeep behind us. There was nothing but brown dust everywhere with a few cactus here and there along with some sand dunes. The roaring wind was louder than my own roar as it rang in my ears. I sneezed once or twice as the dust from my tires filled my nostrils. I looked over my shoulder to to make sure that the jeep was still behind us but I saw that they had stopped. I turned around and went back to them with Braeden behind me.
"What happened?" Braeden asked as we got off our bikes and walked over to them.
"I don't know." Stiles said. "It felt like we hit something."
"Calla, Scott, we need to get there by night. It's too dangerous otherwise." Stiles looked at me to Scott and back again. I already knew my decision. I was just waiting on Scott's answer. I whimpered to him.
"Go."
"Not without you." Scott said.
"Dude, someone needs to be there where Calla finds Derek. Not be there for her but for the person who took him. We'll figure something out. We always do. Just go."
"Okay."
"I'm leaving my bike here just in case." I said.
"How you going to get there then?" I shifted and sat back on my haunches, my white fur tugging in the wind. Scott went to go get on the back of Braeden's bike but Kira stopped him.
"Scott. . ." Kira called to him and he turned to her. "I can't think of anything else to say except for be careful. And I know be careful sounds kind of lame and I'm totally sure that the second you're gone I'm gonna think of something much better, but I. . ."
"No, be careful works for me." Kira wrapped her arms around Scott's neck and I whimpered looking away to the setting sun. My heart stung as I missed the way that Derek would hug me like that.
"Scott, the sun's going down." Braeden called to him, getting impatient. Scott finally let go of Kira and got on behind Braeden and I followed after them as she took off.
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After about a half hour of running, we stopped on top of a ravine and Braeden shut down her bike as Scott and her got off. I shifted and walked with them to the edge that over looked mexican ruins of a church that once stood proud on the grounds.
"La igelsias." Braeden announced as the hot winde tugged at both of our hair.
"What happened here?" Scott asked.
"An earthquake. It leveled the town."
"Then why is the church still standing?" I inquired.
"The locals think it's because of what's underneath."
"Do we wanna know?" Scott questioned her.
"The church was built over the ruins of an Aztec temple. It belonged to a people called the nagual."
"Shapeshifters." I translated.
"Were-jaguars."
"So Derek and Kate are somewhere in there?" Scott asked. My nails sharpened and my canines grew with a growl in my chest as he mentioned her name.
"I am going to tear her limb to limb when I find her." I growled.
"I don't know." Braeden answered Scott's question. "Never gotten this far before."
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Dark had descended across the abanonded town as we entered it. My claws were ready for a fight as adrenaline coursed through my veins. Braeden cocked her shotgun as we approached the entrance to the church.
"If you find Kate in here, what are you gonna do with her?" Scott asked. I clicked my nails together as I let out a growl.
"Rip her guts out with my claws." I snapped.
"I'm going to bring her back to the Calaveras before Callana get her hands on her." Braeden said. "That's what they paid me for."
"What happens after that?" Scott inquired.
"Not my problem."
"You don't care?"
"Do you?" I snapped at him. "She's a mass murderer. She kidnapped Derek. And you know how I take to people messing with my pack, especially my alpha male."
"And you're a mercenary." Scott said.
"Girl's gotta eat." Braeden said.
"If you were paid enough, would you kill her?"
"If the money was good, I'd kill both of you." We pushed aside some fallen boards as we entered the church. Rumble coated the ground and dust fell from the holes in the ceiling. "Can you catch Derek's scent?" I inhaled deeply and immediately got a whiff of pine. I inhaled again, living in the scent that I so much missed.
"Already on it." I said. A distant roar sounded through the church and Scott and I both stopped in our tracks and held out our arms to stop Braeden.
"What?"
"There's something else in here." Scott said.
"Something like what?"
"Something not human." I answered.
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I kept my claws extended as we slowly made our way down the steps to the underground part of the church. My nose caught the scent of dust and mold but it kept up with the pine scent of Derek. My ears were perked for any more roars or noise from the unhuman creature somewhere inside the church.
"So how come you didn't kiss her?" Braeden questioned Scott.
"What?" Scott looked at her questioningly.
"How come you didn't kiss your girlfriend?"
"You mean Kira?"
"Whatever her name is."
"Well, she's not really, um. . . I mean, we've never actually. . . She's not my girlfriend."
"So if you die down here, are you gonna regret not kissing her?" We walked into a dark corridor as Scott turned to look at her confused about her question. "You should have kissed your girlfriend." We continued down another tunnel, roots growing out of the dirt wall and poking us in the face and sides as we manuvered around them. My pace slowed down as my gut twisted with a negative energy. Something didn't feel right down here. I looked over my shoulder past Braeden and Scott back down the tunnel but saw nothing but that didn't stop me from feeling like we were being watched.
"I feel it too." Scott whispered to me feeling my uneasiness. Something rattled behind us and Scott and I quickly pivoted on our heels looking for the source of the noise but didn't find it.
"What?" Braeden whispered to us.
"Just had a feeling like something was behind us." I said, still looking back down the tunnel. We turned back around and kept moving forward. It wasn't a minute into walking again that something exhaled loudly and we stopped again.
"You hear that?" A growl answered her questioned but the growl wasn't from me or Scott.
"Is this why you never get that far?" Scott asked her. Footsteps began to running towards us but they were to heavy to be human as the growling got louder and louder.
"Get ready!" I braced myself, my canines growing and my eyes flashing red. A figure rounded the bend of the tunnel and Braeden raised her gun and fired.
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Braeden fired shot after shot, the shells clicking on the ground as they bounced out of the gun as we backed up down the hallway.
"Where is it?" Braeden questioned us. "Do you see it?" I stared through my red vision searching frantically down the hallway for it but nothing jumped out.
"No, I don't know!" I snapped at her. "I can't see anything!" Braden quickly reloaded her gun and held it back up, ready to fire again.
"Where is this thing?" The growl sounded again from the end of the tunnel.
"It's coming back!" Scott said. "It's coming back!" Footsteps sounded again along with another roar.
"Calla, Scott, get behind me." Braeden whispered to us. We ignored her as we looked at each other.
"On three." I said, reading his mind. "One. . . two. . . three!" We stepped in front of Braeden and inhaled deeply, letting out a deepest and loudest roar we could muster up. The vibrations of both our roars shook against the walls of the tunnel and the ceiling. Dirt and dust fell from over top of us as the tunnel caved in, blocking whatever was on the other side from getting to us. A indistinct roar sounded as it grew fainter into the darkness.
"I think we scared it." Scott said.
"I think you scared everything." Braeden retorted, uncovering her ears. A crashing noise sounded behind us and we turned to see an opening leading into another corridor with a wall with markings on it.
"What is that?" I inquired, walking inquistively towards it. As I got closer, I made out a picture of a cat on it.
"Tezcatlipoca. The nagual jaguar God. I think we found Derek." My heart lifted with hope and if I was in wolf form, my tail would be wagging a hundred miles an hour. My heart stopped racing as something pounded in my ears. I leaned down and pressed my ear to the cold stone slab, straning to listen to the other side. Thump, thump. Thump, thump. Thump, thump. A steady heartbeat sounded in the darkness and my heart lifted higher.
"There's someone in there." I stood back up and turned to Braeden and Scott. "Stand back, Braeden. Scott, help me out." I turned back to the wall and balled my hand up in a fist and slammed it with all my wolf strength into the cold slab. I didn't even feel pain as my knuckles contacted the wall. My heart and mind was set on saving my mate. A satisfying cracking noise filled the room as a cracked appeared in the stone. Scott took his turn, the crack growing bigger. Punch after punch, Scott and I took turns hitting the wall until the stone came crumbling down revealing a hole behind it. I hastily kicked the rumble aside and leaned into the hole as Braeden shined the flashlight into it. I gasped and my breath hitched in my throat as I stared at the content of the hole. "Oh, my God."
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I stormed outside the church to see the jeep with Kira, Lydia, Malia and Stiles inside pull up. Braeden and Scott lagged behind me. I stopped and crossed my arms over my chest as they got out and rushed over to us.
"Cal, what's wrong?" Stiles asked me as I glared into the distance. Fury coursed through my veins and an image of Kate's violent death that I was going to give her kept going through my mind over and over again. Stiles looked behind me. "Oh, my God."
"Is that him?" Malia asked. "Is that Derek?" I looked back at Braeden and Scott.
"Sort of." I snapped as seventeen year old Derek Hale looked up at all of us.