Lydia found herself drawn to the forest for some inexplicable reason. Walking barefoot through the shadowy trees, she gazed around, remembering vividly the last time she'd wandered through the forest alone. It had been when Peter had been playing his mind games with her, leading her to the burnt out husk of a house where the Hale family had lived. That time, she'd felt uneasy and strange even as she found herself drawn to the house through the woods, but this time she felt different. Somehow, she knew she was safe and nothing would hurt her.

The birds chirped in the trees, and she heard rabbits and other small critters dart away from her through the leaves. Her hands ran over her belly, which was quite large and round now, and she felt the baby shift its weight, saw its little foot pass across her stomach. She smiled, wrinkling her nose with a giggle at the sensation. When she finally looked up, her heart leapt in her chest as she saw a figure materialize in the trees ahead of her.

"Derek..." she whispered incredulously. He'd been away for a week, and she must be dreaming. She dreamt of him often, so perhaps this was simply a very realistic dream. However, he'd heard her say his name, and he smiled, stepping toward her. She knew it was really him.

She ran toward him, leaping into his arms as he hugged her to him, spinning her around in a circle and kissing her lips. The joy she felt just to see him overwhelmed her, even more powerful thanks to her heightened hormones.

When he set her back on the ground, she looked up into his light eyes confusedly. "I thought you wouldn't be back for a while..." she stated questioningly, her ears perking at the sound of more footsteps through the leaves to her side.

"I didn't think I would be, but plans changed a bit," he admitted, his voice sounding tense. She could tell by the way he glared into the trees as the figures appeared from the shadows that he wasn't happy with how the plans had 'changed', but he didn't explain further.

His four betas appeared, clustered together as a pack, followed closely by the mysterious, confident vampire Eve. The woman had scared her at first, but now she knew she was merely a desperate female in need of help. Eve may be a supernatural creature thousands of years older than her, but Lydia knew she wasn't just a weak human. She was the mate to an alpha, and she was a succubus on top of that. Maybe she had no clue what that meant exactly, but it meant something and it gave her confidence.

A fifth figure arrived, crashing through the brush and almost falling on his face in the leaves before catching himself and looking wildly around at the ground. Lydia covered her mouth to stifle a giggle as Stiles straightened his clothes and peered around the group. She turned to glance up at Derek as she shifted to stand beside him, her hand cradled in his as she nestled into his side for comfort and just to feel him close to her.

"What's going on here?" Stiles asked before she could ask the same question. Derek shifted at her side, but he remained stoically silent as Eve stepped forward, her calculating eyes examining Stiles so brazenly it almost made Lydia blush.

"You are marvelous," the vampire crooned, circling Stiles who watched her in befuddlement as she ran a finger along his chest and trailed onto his back. "Exactly alike in every way..."

"What is she talking about?" Lydia asked, glancing up at Derek and wishing she had an idea what in the world was going on.

"Stiles in a doppelganger," Derek explained, confident in her intelligence and not feeling the need to explain to her the way he had to with his betas, "...for her husband, Adrian, the vampire who wants to take all werewolves into slavery to serve him."

Lydia's green eyes widened and she turned back to look at Stiles in a new light. She couldn't imagine an evil mastermind behind that sweet, innocent face and goofy exterior. She had known Stiles most of her life, and he'd always been a gentleman, the class clown, and an overall sweet person. To imagine Adrian looked identical to him, but was everything Stiles wasn't, disoriented her.

Eve took a moment from fawning over Stiles to glance Lydia's direction with a coy smile on her face. "I don't believe I was able to properly congratulate you before. I'm sure you'll make an adorable little puppy." Her tone was playful even as her words were derogatory, and Derek growled, glaring at her. Lydia patted him reassuringly on his arm, shaking her head so he knew the words didn't get beneath her skin.

"Can someone tell me what the hell is going on here?" Stiles asked again, his brown eyes widening in that goofy look of exasperation that was characteristic to him. Eve redirected her attention to him, her arm sliding around his shoulders as her lithe body melded to his side. Erica stepped forward jealously, but Boyd and Isaac held her back. Lydia knew the girl had a crush on Stiles, whether he was aware of it or not, and Eve's blatantly seductive flirting was embarrassing, making her feel she was intruding on something uninvited. Eve ignored them all as her finger traced down the length of Stiles's jaw and he looked at her with skeptical eyes.

"You, my dear, are an... exquisite," the vampire spoke the word like it was a lover, sliding off of her tongue like a draught of the finest wine, "...replica of my soon-to-be-dearly-departed husband."

Stiles fixed her with dark eyes and the werewolf pack shifted uncomfortably, almost in unison. "Just get to the point and stop drooling all over him, Eve," Derek chided, his eyes darkening with impatience. Eve rolled her eyes like a child having her game cut short, and she petted the side of Stiles's face as the teenager stood watching her without a fear in the world. Out of everyone she knew, Lydia considered Stiles the bravest of them all, and he didn't flinch as the vampire queen smiled hungrily at him.

"Stiles here is a doppelganger," Eve continued, glancing over at Lydia pointedly. "Your friend Lydia is a succubus." Stiles turned and looked at her, his eyes showing more of his surprise than anything else about him. Lydia watched him, judging if he thought differently of her for knowing what she was, but she saw that same care and compassion in his eyes that she'd always seen. Stiles would always love her for her no matter what, and she appreciated that more than she could explain.

"The two of you together are a very powerful mixture," the vampire divulged further, circling Stiles and facing Lydia, her arm still draped over the teenage boy and sending Erica into a fuming rage as she stood with her arms crossed between Boyd and Isaac who sufficiently held her at bay.

"So you basically want to use us as bait to kill your husband?" Lydia asked, feeling Derek's hand tighten around hers as the words left her lips. She knew he didn't want this, knew he didn't want her in the crossfire of this looming war, but she had to help. She couldn't leave him to protect her all the time, especially if she could help. She simply wasn't that type of woman.

"You do catch on quickly," Eve stated, impressed. Stiles shifted his weight so her arm fell off of his shoulders, and he turned to face her, fixing her with his caramel brown eyes.

"Your husband? Doppelganger? What the hell-"

"Her husband is the king of the vampires," Derek explained carefully, "He wants to enslave all werewolves to protect him while he goes on a campaign to wipe humanity off the face of the earth."

"Which would greatly diminish the vampire food supply and make me rather unhappy," Eve added, pouting.

Derek ignored her and dredged on, "You are the king's doppelganger. You're descended from his human lineage. There are many myths and legends about a doppelganger's power over the person they're descended from. We're hoping your existence will lure Adrian here, away from the protection of the other vampires, and we can kill him."

"Where do I come in?" Lydia asked.

Eve smiled and placed her hands on her hips as Stiles put some distance between them, moving toward the group of betas. "A succubus is very influential over other supernatural creatures, and humans as well, as I'm sure you already know."

Lydia bit her bottom lip on the inside of her mouth and felt Derek shift his weight uncomfortably beside her, his arm encircling her instinctively, always protecting her. She drew herself up, refusing to feel weak in front of this ancient vampire.

"Fine," she stated firmly, causing Eve's eyebrows to raise as she glanced ever so quickly toward Derek before looking back at Lydia with a triumphant gleam in her eyes. Derek cleared his throat and looked away from them both, unhappy that she was getting into the middle of the battle but refusing to renege on his promise to allow her to contribute if he needed her.

"What do we need to do?"

Stiles nodded, deciding he was in if Lydia was in. He would do whatever he could to keep his town safe, almost as if he was the sheriff-in-training. Perhaps he would be sheriff one day... if they survived this.

No, she couldn't think like that, Lydia chided herself. She had a child to think about, a child who she refused to allow to live without parents. She would do everything in her power - natural and supernatural - to protect that child for her sake and Derek's.

"I know a way to get Adrian here, and you just have to act yourself when he arrives," Eve chimed, glancing toward Stiles and back at Lydia.

"How will we know which one is him?" Lydia asked, looking at her dear friend who shifted uncomfortably and swallowed, his adam's apple leaping up and down in his throat.

"I'm sure you will be able to tell," Eve commented, skirting around the answer. "The presence of his doppelganger will disorient him, and then you merely have to swoop in with your charm and we'll finish him off. Easy as that."

"You basically have no plan," Derek barked, irritatedly, "You just want to dangle them in front of him and hope we can kill him while he's preoccupied."

Eve gave him a hurt look, pouting with her bottom lip out. "Now, now Derek, I wouldn't be so careless, but I can't give away all of my secrets, can I?" She smiled, her eyes glinting with mystery that put Lydia on edge. Looking over at Stiles once more, she placed the slender point of her index finger beneath his chin and pushed his head up as she examined his bone structure.

"I will have to keep this one though," Eve commented off-handedly. When Derek moved to react, she spun like a blur of motion, scooping Stiles up with her and disappearing into the trees so fast Lydia barely comprehended what had happened.

Erica cried out and leapt toward the empty space where Eve and Stiles had just stood. Derek's arm fell to his side as he realized he'd been too late.

"Where did she take him?" Lydia asked worriedly, following Derek as he walked the direction Eve had disappeared. He shook his head as the betas congregated around them, staring off into the shadows where the two had disappeared.

"With Eve, no one can know, but she can't go far. She needs Stiles to lure Adrian here," he commented, feeling unsure of his words but forcing himself to sound confident. He turned to look at them, his eyes moving over the five of them before resting on Lydia, the one face who comforted him.

"We'll find him, but until then, let's get ready for whatever plan this is the vampire bitch has in mind," he stated, his tone harsh. He hated not being in on Eve's plan, and it irritated him that the vampire queen refused to let him in on the details. "We'll be ready for Adrian when he gets here."