Stiles, Lydia, Erica and Isaac stepped out of Stiles's beloved blue jeep once they reached the looming, rusty gates of Eichen House.

"This brings back great memories," Isaac sarcastically muttered as he wrapped his red scarf tighter around his neck. He's gotten more sassy in the past year and Stiles was happy to see him grow out of his shell, if albeit jealous that another person was adding a tinge of flare to the pack.

Stiles inched towards the gate and hesitantly trailed his gaze up to spot a black crow twitching its wings atop the gate's iron points. He swore that its beady black eyes were fixed on him before it cawed and flew away. Turning his attention to something else, he squinted his eyes minutely at the cloudy sky that permeated a bright, white glow as if the sun was trying to force its way through the clouds. It wasn't like the blinding rays that the sun usually emits nor was it like the gloomy, gray expanse of a typical overcast day. Yet driving past the town boundaries, the sky would melt into a totally different scene. Thinking about it more in depth, the weather suited Beacon Hills: two forces, the natural and the supernatural, on the same scene but unable to intermingle with each other fluidly.

Snapped away from his musings by a voice calling his name, Stiles faced his friends and cleared his throat to regain composure. He should get his head in the game considering that they were about to talk to a man rumored to be able to claw his way into one's mind and scramble everything within.

The thrumming sound of a motor marked the arrival of Scott, along with Kira pressed against him, on his bike as they cruised to a stop beside Roscoe. Following close behind was a navy blue truck that Stiles didn't recognize. He took a few apprehensive steps forward when the door opened to reveal the one person who's been popping up in places where he's not welcomed. He stared open-mouthed at Theo, eyes narrowed in suspicion, before holding out an arm to Scott incredulously.

"Did you have to invite the guy I trust the least in this world?" There was accusation in his tone, which Scott definitely picked up on, but Stiles didn't care. He knew that his best friend thought he was crazy for not assuming every person had a heart of gold but this was a plain stab in the back to see how much trust Scott had put into Theo, the one guy Stiles has been extremely wary of.

"We need all the help we can get," Scott placated. Stiles just scoffed at his words and glanced around at their ensemble. But he noticed that one very important person was missing.

"Where's Derek?" Stiles couldn't keep the disappointment and slight whine out of his voice, eliciting looks of confusion from his friends at the sudden change in attitude. And he didn't blame them; less than thirty seconds ago, tension was high between him and Scott.

"He's staying back with Malia and Liam to dig more into the Dread Doctors," Scott informed.

"Oh." But who's going to be there to protect me if things go south? Stiles finished in his mind. On the ride to Eichen House, he had let his mind wander to different scenarios that could go down during their visit with Valack. He imagined bumping shoulders with Derek constantly as they walked through the creepy hallways together, every touch of contact making him feel a smidge safer. Or how they'd be face-to-face with the man of interest and Derek would growl protectively if he sensed anything remotely threatening, standing guard in front of Stiles. Or how Derek's eyes would bleed Alpha red in the asylum's dark interior and flicker towards him every so often. But now all that wistful daydreaming has gone to waste because Derek wasn't even coming.

Stiles's friends were already making their way past the gates and he was about to follow suit when he caught sight of Theo merely standing there, feet spread apart, with his hands clasped behind his back.

"I know you're upset Derek isn't here," Theo started, an infuriating smirk growing on his face, "but I meant it when I said that I'd always look out for you. I made it a promise." He paused, looking at Stiles to let his words sink in—to see if that made any impact on him. But Stiles remained stoic, not buying anything that he uttered, and when that message was clear to him, he continued on. "And I keep my promises." His voice dropped and Stiles's brain was instantly telling him there was a double meaning to that sentence. Something just didn't sit well with this whole situation.

"Is that it?" In a manner much like before, Stiles flipped Theo off and turned on his heel to join his friends.

When he caught up with them and was in step with Isaac, he mumbled, "God, I hate him."

Isaac turned the other way while fastening his cashmere scarf more securely around his neck. "Here we go again," he muttered exasperatedly.

But Stiles surprisingly didn't say a single word after that. He kept his thoughts to himself because it was obvious that nobody else gave a shit and he'd be wasting his breath in trying to convince them to see his way. He continued his silent stewing as the group was guided by an orderly through the dank and rotting halls of Eichen. He had his hands stuffed in his pockets, refrained from latching onto a werewolf in pursuit of safety whenever there were spouts of screeches or bloodthirsty hands bursting through the doors' bars hungry to grasp flesh. Stiles focused on the unclenching and clenching of his fists as a distraction from the block of panic that was pushing down on his chest. It sort of worked.

When they arrived in the basement level in front of the room where Dr. Valack was kept, the orderly turned around to face the group and looked them over in earnest. "I suggest that the weres stay back. Past this point, the walls are laced with wolfsbane." Isaac, Scott and Erica immediately stepped back while Theo took a moment to steal a glance at Stiles before hesitantly taking a spot next to the True Alpha.

Lydia, Kira and Stiles were the only ones left standing in front of the orderly and with that, they entered through the filmsy doors. The room was only illuminated by a bare light bulb hanging from the ceiling by a string, its rays passing through the large glass divider in the middle of the room.

"What an intriguing set of young people. Tell me, what brings you here," a man, with a bandage wrapped around his forehead, smiled knowingly.

"What do you know about the Dread Doctors?" Lydia dove in firmly, confidence exuding from her entire demeanor. Her eyes were hard and her body stiff with burning demand for answers; she, along with everyone else in the pack, was wary and drained in their efforts to stop the murders.

"Well, I would be delighted to provide you the knowledge but answer me this, what are you willing to offer in exchange?" He tapped his fingers playfully along the glass wall and that made Stiles's skin crawl as the creepiness levels with this man skyrocketed.

"What do you want?" Lydia asked.

"I want you to scream." The creep factor with Valack just tipped the scale.

"What?"

"It's what I want in return for the information you seek. So, what do you say?" He slid over a voice recorder through a small slit in the glass that Stiles hadn't noticed before. Red alarms were blaring in Stiles's head and he was sure that Valack was planning something that'd come to bite them in the ass sometime ahead. He faced Lydia and shook his head. "Lydia, you shouldn't go through with this."

Lydia kept her eyes focused on Valack. "We need to know about the book," she said monotonously.

"Deal," she affirmed, louder so that Valack and everyone else in the room could hear her voice laced with determination.

"Perfect," the creepy man smiled. And so, Valack told them what he knew about the Dread Doctors. He told them about the Dread Doctors' previous visit to Beacon Hills that left the town in shambles as the residents tried to gather themselves from the hellfire wrought by the demonic three figures. He told them the Doctors were on the hunt for the perfect specimen that's part of two worlds: the natural and the supernatural. He told them that this time around, they're close to their experimental success—that more carnage was inevitable until that point came. And that was it.

The three of them stared wide-eyed at Valack. Kira piped up for the first time since they came in. "Do you know how to stop them?"

Valack laughed. He straight up laughed. "You'll just have to figure that out on your own. They're quite relentless, as you could tell."

Lydia was angry now. "Is that really all there is to it? Only blood and ashes? You wrote the book for a reason. You wanted to seek out people who could separate truth from fiction. It was meant as a trigger—a guide. So guide us." She was practically yelling at the end, her face a mere inch from the glass wall and Stiles had to place a steadying hand on her shoulder as a precaution. He couldn't blame her for feeling angry though, because Valack was their only lead in finding a solution.

"I cannot release information that I don't have, dear. Some things are far beyond my reach as well and the most I can give you is glimpses of what they've done up to this point. How they've taken possession of their subjects, their actions in Beacon Hills decades before, those will gradually come to you if you delve deeper into the book."

He focused on Lydia as he said this and a glint of appraisal flashed in his eyes before he trailed his gaze to Stiles, freezing him in his place. Stiles fidgeted, uncomfortable under direct laser focus, and shifted to stand closer to Lydia in faux protectiveness.

Valack chuckled lowly, the air about him transforming from grave to intrigue. "My, oh my. Fate has much in store for you, young man."

Stiles narrowed his eyes and leaned closer to the glass separating them. "What are you talking about?"

Valack tutted, folding his hands together and nodding at the ground as if enjoying Stiles's ignorance. "The Dread Doctors aren't the only ones at work here." He paused and stiffened. "Speak of the devil."

Just then, the air was buzzing with a static sensation. It felt like having a charged balloon near your skin. Off in the distance, there was a crashing sound of metal against metal.

Valack glanced at Kira. "You should have reconsidered bringing her here."

"Why?"

Valack was pacing across the length of his little enclosure in worry. "The Dread Doctors can manipulate electromagnetic fields and Eichen House so happens to run on the same type of fields, which prevents the Doctors from coming here uninvited. Your friend's mere presence here has disrupted the institution's protective system."

Everyone in the room was now more distraught than ever. Kira shakily looked around their surroundings. "So the Doctors. . ."

". . .are here." Stiles finished in a whisper.