Chapter 21: The Final Sacrifice:
"Dammit" Stiles growled when his father's phone went straight to voicemail. "What do we do? She could make her final sacrifice any minute now" Scott stressed. Stiles turned to Lydia and asked "When you had that vision, did it show a location or any kind of hint of where they might be?" Stiles asked her.
Lydia focused on the picture in her mind and said "It was like a cellar that had the roots of a tree growing down through it...". Derek cut over and said "Did you say a root cellar? Was it underground?". Lydia nodded. Derek's face hardened. "I know where they are, they're where I..." Derek trailed off.
"Where Paige died" Stiles finished. Derek looked at Stiles in shock at his knowledge of the situation. At his look Stiles said "Peter told me". Derek's face contorted in anger which Stiles guessed meant that Peter was going to be in deep trouble when Derek got a hold of him. Stiles placed a hand on Derek's arm reassuringly. "It's ok, I know it wasn't your fault" Stiles told him.
Derek looked at Stiles with uncertainty and sadness which said to Stiles that he should be thinking the opposite. "So what are we waiting for, we know where they're being kept, let's get them out before she has a chance to kill them" Allison suggested.
"Nuh uh sweetie, things aren't going to be that simple" said Jennifer from the doorway of the loft. Derek roared and both he and his beta's leapt towards the dark druidess, intent on finishing her off. Unforutnately they passed right through Jennifer's form as if they were passing through a ghost. They turned around and looked at the Jennifer's smirking figure in confusion and anger.
Jennifer smiled and said "Do you think that I would be foolish enough to come here without some assurance of my safety, give me a little credit Der". Derek's stomach turned at the sound of the nickname on her lips. "Where are our parents you bitch" Stiles growled, his amrs crackling with violet energy.
Jennifer turned to Stiles and said "They're safe and in a secure location, but how long they stay safe depends on you and Derek, Mr Stilinski". Stiles took a deep bretah before saying "What do you mean?". Jennifer casually took a seat on the step of the loft as if she were sitting down for a pleasant conversation.
"Do you want to know why I sacrifice people,why I enslaved your little Pack, why I focused Derek's love for you on me instead" Jennifer asked. Stiles looked at Derek in confusion and wonder. Jennifer caught this and said "Oh, you didn't know, Derek is in love with you, my little spell wouldn't have worked otherwise, everytime we kissed, everytime we screwed it was really all with you in his mind".
Stiles became incensed with the way the Jennifer was talking about Derek. As if he was just a tool to be used and discarded at will. He was even more angry at the thought of this she-demon touching any part of Derek. He struggled to restrain his powers as any slip-ups might just bring the entire building crashing down.
Eventually Stiles said "You killed these people for power, power to do what exactly?". Jennifer smiled maliciously "To kill the Alpha Pack of course, especially that traitorous skank Kali, but say maybe I didn't have to, I'm still low on power but I only need three more sacrifices, say like your parents, but and you should listen up now because this part concerns you Chaos, I am willing to make a deal" she told them.
"What sort of deal?" Derek asked. "Simple really, you kill the Alpha Pack and I will let your parents go, everybody wins and you will have the honor in knowing that you stopped a bunch of mass murderers from killing anymore packs" Jennifer stated as if it were the most obvious solution in the world.
Stiles looked stunned "I can't I..." he said. "Come on Stiles, you can't tell me that HYDRA didn't teach you how to put on your big boy pants, besides would you really chose the life of a soulless serial killer over your own father's, over Allison's father though from what I've heard a lot of people would be glad to see me slit that bastards throat but are you really gonna let Scott lose his mother like you did, could you look at your best friend in the face and let him know that you would rather let someone like Deaucalion live and let sweet caring Melissa die?" Jennifer asked.
She stood up and her form began to flicker. "I'll give you all an hour to think about it, if you haven't made up your minds by then, well I'll assume that you're tired of your mommy and daddies grounding you and I shall put them out of their misery, until then sweetie's" Jennifer said disappearing in a wisp of smoke.
Stiles looked down at the ground and contemplated what Jennifer had told him. "Stiles, your not thinking of going through with this are you?" Derek asked. Stiles lifted his head and looked at Derek solemnly. "I have to Derek, we don't even have time to call the other Avengers for help, I can't lose my Dad Derek" Stiles pleaded.
"How do we know that she won't just sacrifice our parents when she gets what she wants" Allison asked. Stiles turned to them and said "That's why you all have to go to the Nemeton while I meet with Jennifer, so we can at least buy time to keep her talking while you free our parents". Boyd said "What if she senses us approaching, we've seen what she can do with her powers".
"We have to try, I don't trust her not to go back on her word, besides I have a feeling that Jennifer or Julia in particular wants Kali dead more than anything, there'll be no way that she'll be able to resist the chance to finally kill her" Stiles told them. The rest of the Pack agreed and they all filtered out of the loft to go to the Nemeton leaving only Derek and Stiles there.
"Derek, you have to go" Stiles told him. Derek shook his head and said "You need someone to watch your back". Stiles huffed and said "Derek, if it comes down to it, I will have to kill Deaucalion and his Pack if Scott and the other sdon't get to my Dad in time, only one of us needs to have blood on our hands".
Derek stepped forwards and took Stiles face in his large hands. "I already have blood on my hands Stiles, I know what it feels like to kill, you don't and I won't let Jennifer corrupt you that way" he said to Stiles. Stiles looked up at Derek and said quietly "You're wrong, dead wrong" Stiles told him.
Derek wanted to question more but Jennifer appeared in the loft again. "Oh, I hope I'm not interrupting something" she said. Stiles grudgingly tore his eyes away from Derek to face Jennifer. "You were actually but that doesn't matter now" Stiles told her giving her a look of undistinguished hate. "So have you come up with an answer to my generous proposal" she asked.
Stiles sighed and said "I accept". Jennifer smiled creepily and replied "See that wasn't hard was it?". She stepped forward and said "Well now that we have that sorted, lets find Deaucalion". Before Stiles and Derek could react, Jennifer's form exploded into thousands of black flying insects. The swarm flew towards Stiles and Derek encompassing them completely. The swarm disappeared out of the loft taking Derek and Stiles with it.
Beacon Hills Forest
Stiles and Derek appeared in a clearing in the forest. Jennifer reformed before them. "What the hell are we doing here?" Derek asked. Jennifer cocked an ear to the other side of the clearing as if she where listening for something. She must have heard something she liked because she smiled and turned back towards the duo.
"I'm waiting for our other invited guests to arrive and it looks like they're right on time" she said. In that moment another duplicate of Jennifer ran out of the tree's being followed by Deaucalion, the monster Alpha and Kali. Jennifer smirked and the illusion that the Alpha Pack had been following vanished.
The Alpha pack stopped twenty feet from Derek and Stiles with confusion in their eyes. Jennifer's hand shot up into the air and a cloud of black dust flew into the air. It dispersed and shot around the whole clearing until a perfect circle surrounded the edges. "Mountain Ash" Deaucalion growled.
Jennifer disappeared and reappeared outside the circle.
Kali stepped forward menacingly. "Julia, I made a mistake by not making sure you were dead when I joined the Alpha Pack, I won't make it again" she growled. Jennifer gave Kali a look of pure loathing and disgust. "To believe that I actually fell in love with a self-centered little tramp like you, I hope Ennis was good to you Kali, because by the end of this night you and your Alpha pack will be joining him in Hell" she shot back.
Stiles was texting on his phone to Scott. "Did you guys get to the Nemeton yet?" he asked. Scott didn't text back so Stiles tried again but there was still no answer. "Ohhh Stiles" Jennifer called in a sing-song voice. Stiles looked up and saw that Jennifer was holding up her phone which was playing a video.
"When I took Mr Argent I happened to borrow a few camera's and tools becuase I thought, maybe my plan to kill The Alpha's might be compromised by my accomplices unwillingness to kill so I installed a few extra-security measures around the Nemeton" she told him raising the phone so Stiles could see the screen.
It showed the Nemeton and perched on top of it where fog generator's releasing wolfsbane infused smoke, beside the Nemeton, lying on the ground where Scott, Boyd, Erica, Cora and Isaac struggling to breathe and move as they inhaled the poisonous smoke. "Have to hand it to the Hunters, they really no how to make use of modern technology, I mean really what better way is there to make wolfsbane airborne? Oh and if you're looking for those two sweet girls, they're right here" she told him.
Jennifer raised her hands and chanted something in an old ancient language. The two tree's beside her opened their barks and out of them came the unconscious forms of Lydia and Allison. Allison looked beat up while Lydia's throat looked heavily bruised and swelled. "You will have to excuse me for the state of your friends but they did put up a good fight, Lydia especially, you thought her well Stiles" Jennifer complimented, smiling wickedly.
"I'm gonna kill you myself" Stiles growled angrily. Jennifer scoffed and said "Oh please stop with the posturing,The way I see it, you have two choices Stiles, in fifteen minutes your werewolf friends will have ingested so much wolfsbane that they will die, as well as that your father will be buried alive". With that Jennifer raised her arms and started chanting again. On the screen the earth around the Nemeton began to crumble and fall in on itself.
"NO DAD!" Stiles screamed. Jennifer looked at Stiles and said "Their lives are now in your hands Stiles, if you kill Deaucalion and his Pack I'll stop the spell and turn off the fog generators saving the lives of everyone that you care about if you don't I'll sacrifice the three guardians and let your friends die a slow painful death and then I will come and make you watch as rip out Derek's still beating heart, you have fifteen minutes Stiles, use it wisely".
Jennifer disappeared. Stiles turned around to face the Alpha Pack. Deaucalion smirked and said "Do you think that you can take all of us boy?". Stiles faced Deacalion as his eyes were replaced with glwoing violet energy. "I don't think I can, I know I can" Stiles stated. Derek roared and for the first time since he became Alpha, he morphed into his powerful Alpha form. Deacalion, Kali and the twins roared at the duo, their faces morphing too and with that the two groups rushed towards each other in a last battle to the death.
Stiles shot a blast straight at Deacalion's head but the head Alpha shot out of the way in the blink of an eye. With a whoosh of superspeed he appeared in front of Stiles and launched the teenager straight across the clearing. Before Stiles could hit the ground he stopped himself by flying into the air. Before Stiles could rise the Monster Alpha appeared behind him and wrapped his arms around Stiles and tried squeezing the teen to death. Stiles directed his power to his torso and stopped the teens from damaging his ribs.
Deaucalion stepped in front of the struggling pair and tried to slit Stiles's throat with a clawed hand. Stiles kicked out with his two feet which he charged with energy and kicked the Alpha straight across the clearing. Deaucalion roared in pain as he impacted the mystical barrier that was keeping all the werewolves entrapped. Getting an idea Stiles concentrated and with great difficulty, lifted himself and the Monster Alpha into the air. Stiles made the pair shoot back and crash into the mountain ash barrier. The Monster Alpha roared and relinquished his hold on Stiles, dropping down to the ground.
Meanwhile Derek and Kali were swiping at each other. Kali was desperate to avenge her beloved Ennis while Derek was desperate to try and assist Stiles. Kali lunged forwards and Derek grasped her arms holding her at bay. She snarled and snapped her teeth at Derek. "I didn't kill Ennis, Deaucalion did" Derek managed to growl out despite his warped vocal cords. "LIAR!" Kali screeched.
Her eyes glowed brighter as she called on her full power. She thrust her arms back and out of Derek's grip. She performed a jumping spin kick slashing her sharp toenails across Derek's chest causing the Alpha to howl in pain. Kali pressed forward and began ripping her claws into Derek, tearing his chest apart.
Stiles shot down and like before at the mall, tried to separate the twin Alpha's. However Deaucalion appeared a split second in front of the twins and grasped Stiles by the throat. Stiles broke the arm holding him making Deaucalion stagger back. Stiles thrust his hands forward and hit Deaucalion directly with two streams of violet energy. The air was filled with the sounds of multiple bones snapping and the smell of flesh burning.
Stiles stopped the flow and examined his handiwork. Deaucalion, despite his horrific injuries was still standing. He began to laugh which greatly alarmed Stiles. Before Stiles eyes, Deaucalion began to heal, bones snapped back into place, flesh was repaired and gaping holes where Stiles's energy directly impacted closed up. The whole process took three seconds. "But how?" Stiles questioned in wonder and horror.
Deaucalion looked directly at Stiles and said "I've been killing Alpha's for over a decade, everytime I do, their power gets added to mine, in short Mr Stilinski, I am invincible". Deaucalion shot forward and slashed Stiles chest with a clawed hand which created three deep long wounds in the teen and threw him back. Stiles gasped as he landed directly on his wounded chest.
Derek saw this and went to try and help Stiles. Kali however used Derek's distraction to her advantage. She jumped onto Derek's back and knocked him to the ground. Before Derek could get up, Kali sunk her claws into Derek's back. Derek howled in agony. Stiles looked over and saw Kali ripping her claws out of Derek.
Stiles felt Deaucalion come up behind him. Stiles slammed a glowing fist to the ground and Deaucalion sank like a stone in the sea, into the ground. The Monster Alpha roared and attacked Stiles. Stiles flew into the air to avoid the Alpha's charge. The Alpha grasped Stiles ankle and tried to pull him out of the air. Stiles was pulled into the Alpha's grasp. Stiles reached up and with all is power and strength snapped the monster Alpha's neck.
The monster Alpha dropped Stiles immediately and fell to the ground, dead. Deaucalion roared and ripped his way out of the ground. Kali jumped off Derek's back and charged Stiles. In that moment Stiles had an idea. "If Deaucalion's abilities are enhanced by the Alpha's he's killed, then maybe I can do the same for Derek" Stiles thought.
Stiles ran towards Derek's direction which was straight at Kali. Kali jumped at Stiles but the superhero slid to his knees just about missing Kali's claws by inches. Stiles dropped beside Derek and poured as much energy as he could into Derek. Derek roared as his body was lit up with violet energy. Kali charged towards the pair but Derek shot to his feet, rejuvenated.
Kali tried to slice Derek with both her feet but Derek grasped the both of them and with a twist of both arms, broke the bones in each of them. In a move that was blindingly quick he raised Kali's body overhead and slammed her back down on his knee, breaking her spine in one go. He tossed her aside and charged Deaucalion with renewed strength.
Kali tried to get up but Stiles held her down by encompassing her body in violet energy. " No healing for you" Stiles said, suppressing the werewolf;s ability to heal. Kali snarled back up at Stiles in response. Deaucalion and Derek fought and tore at each other. Even with Stiles's power boost, Deaucalion was still stronger and more experienced than him. Eventually, Derek felt his newfound power begin to wane.
"Face it Derek, even with the extra power, you're no match for me, why do you think the lovely Ms Blake needed to sacrifice all those people? She needed the power but now that I've seen what Mr Stilinski can do, I'll kill you, take your power and then I'll track down Scott and force him to become a True Alpha, I'll take that power from him and then use Mr Stilinski as an infinite power source to make me truly immortal" Deaucalion explained as held Derek in a choke-hold.
"Scott" Stiles thought and that triggered a memory from before Stiles became an Avenger. Stiles walked towards the edge of the circle and looked at the mountain ash. Stiles let a small portion of it to fly into the air between his hands. The dust flew into a perfect sphere and Stiles began pouring energy into the dust ball causing it to glow bright.
Derek heard what Deaucalion said and he pictured Stiles standing beside the Demon Wolf for the rest of his life being forced to constantly serve the werewolf while he killed more Alpha's and their packs. Enraged at the thought and unwilling to let that happen Derek put the last of both his and Stiles energy into his arms and broke Deaucalion's hold on him. Derek then hit Deaucalion with as much force as he could muster.
His fist was stopped by Deaucalion. Deaucalion smiled and thrust his other arm into Derek's chest grasping the man's heart. Derek gasped in as he felt his life flash before his eye's. "Like I said before Derek, I am the Alpha of Alpha's" Deaucalion stated and prepared to rip Derek's heart out of his chest until he heard Stile's say "Maybe so, but you're still a werewolf and werewolves have to follow the rules".
Deaucalion turned as to face Stiles. Stiles held a swirling violet energy mass in his hands. Stiles held the mass up and let the contents rush towards Deaucalion. The mass flew into Deaucalion's body through his mouth. Deaucalion gasped as the energy infused Mountain Ash shot down his throat. Stiles eyes and hands glowed as he raised them in Deaucalion's direction.
"Let. Him. Go!" Stiles grunted and with all his willpower, forced the mountain ash through Deaucalion's body. Deaucalion couldn't move as the veins in his stomach were covered in violet energy which spread throughout his entire body until it looked like his body had been shattered into a million pieces and glued back together.
Stiles focused on moving Deaucalion's arms. With great effort, Stiles made Deaucalion relinquish his hold on Derek's heart. Derek fell to the ground. He was in great pain but he began to heal. Stiles looked at Deaucalion and forced the still glowing Alpha to be levitated into the air spread-eagle.
Deaucalion looked at Stiles in fear. He knew what was going to happen now. Stiles closed his eyes as he tried to find an alternative to this solution. He remembered what Natasha had told him and his siblings during training once. That everyone had a defining moment when a person had to take the shot or curl into a ball and run.
Stiles realized now the validity of Natasha's words. This was his defining moment. To save everyone, he had to make the hard call. Stiles opened his eyes and Deaucalion knew that Stiles had made his decision. He resigned himself to his fate and closed his eyes. Stiles said only one thing "God forgive me" before thrusting his arms out in a wide arc.
The result was instantaneous. Deaucalion exploded in a shower of violet orbs and black dust, the mountain ash in his body disintegrating every trace of the once thought invincible and godly Demon Wolf. Stiles collapsed as his energy drained. Derek caught him, now fully healed. Stiles simply said "It's over".
"Not quite" came Jennifer's voice. Jennifer walked into the clearing and over to Kali. The once powerful Alpha tried to back away from her former lover but wasn't having much luck due to her still suppressed abilities. Jennifer turned to Stiles and Derek "It's ok boys, I can take it from here, well done by the way Stilinski, didn't know you had it in you" she said before turning back to Kali.
Jennifer and Kali stared at each other. "We were so happy until you met him, you let him into your head and you let him destroy us, your Pack, your brothers and sisters" Jennifer screeched. "I had no choice" Kali shot back. "Do you know what you did to me, have a look" Jennifer said shifting to her true Darach visage.
Kali forced herself to look at the terrifying monster that she had a direct hand in creating. "I let you live that day you know, I could hear our heart still beating as I walked away from you for the last time, I thought that despite all the agony and injuries I had inflicted on you, you were strong enough to survive, out of lingering feelings and respect I decided to let you die in peace" she told her honestly.
"Do you know what it takes to look like this" Jennifer said shifting back to her human appearance. "To cover up what you did to me, it takes power like this" Jennifer said before telekinetically raising every stone off the ground in the clearing and sharpening them into sharp points. The sharp points pointed themselves towards Kali.
"I should've,... I SHOULD HAVE RIPPED YOUR HEAD OFF" Kali howled. Jennifer screamed in rage and thrust her arms forward. The stones flew at Kali. They pierced her body and impaled her to the ground. Kali was dead and with her the last remaining trace of the Alpha Pack. Stiles and Derek both let out sighs of relief.
Jennifer looked at Kali's dead body with contempt and satisfaction. Stiles got to his feet warily. "We did what you asked now let my father and friends go" Stiles told her. Jennifer looked around at the dead Alpha and said "Yes, I suppose I did promise". She raised her arms and chanted something. A swarm of insects rose up out of the ground and when they cleared the whole Pack was lying there unconscious along with Chris, Melissa and John.
Jennifer chanted another spell and everyone including Lydia and Allison jerked awake fully conscious and healed. "Dad" Stiles and Allison shouted as they ran over to embrace their fathers. "Mom" Scott said wrapping his mother in a big hug. Lydia surveyed the scene with wide eyes the bodies. "Stiles what have you done?" she said.
Stiles looked down at the ground "She was going to kill everyone if I didn't help her" Stiles told her.
Lydia shook her head and said "Stiles you've killed three Alpha's, three and in the right area". Stiles insides froze as he heard the familiar sound of drums and multiple chanting voices. Everyone turned to face Jennifer who had disappeared. Stiles took off into the sky as they chanting got louder and louder.
He eventually managed to locate the Nemeton but was forced to cover his ears as the noise became unbearable. On top of the Nemeton Jennifer stood in her full Darach form. The chanting reached unbearable levels and Stiles was forced down to his knees as his ears began to bleed. All of a sudden it stopped. Stiles groggily looked up and took in what he saw with horror filled eyes.
The Darach hovered above him with ease. She spoke in a voice laced with ancient power. "Like Deaucalion said "All the Alpha's he's killed, all the Beta's they've killed, all that energy is now MINE!" she screamed. At her words lightning flashed across the sky and she took of into the air like a speeding bullet. Stiles looked at the spot she had recently vacated and thought "What have I done?"