Black Sun
Deceit is the game of petty spirits, and that is by nature a woman's quality.
- Pierre Corneille
Chapter Thirty-Four
Spellbreaker
Police sirens whirred in the distance while I freed Lydia from the last wires tying her arms to the chair. My Dad and Uncle Gaius stepped over the debris of broken glass and overthrown desks as I helped Lydia stand up, her knees shaking. She stared out the busted window like Stiles did, as if the Darach was about to manifest at any moment again. But now she had Mr. Stilinski. Was he going to be the next sacrifice? I peered over at Stiles, taking in his flushed cheeks and tears forming at the corner of his eyes. Scott had reverted back to his human face again, but blood was smudged along his lips and jaw.
Dad lowered to his haunches and swiped a finger over the tiny patch of mistletoe lingering on the floor. He rubbed it together with his thumb and met the hard gaze of Uncle Gaius, who stood over him with a grim expression. I couldn't tell what it meant, but I knew it wasn't good.
"Where did she take him?" Stiles said. "Is she gonna..." He trailed off at that, his voice growing thick with emotion. Scott laid a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Dark druids haven't been known to exceed the limit of their sacrifices," Dad said. "Although few have actually tried."
"Is it too late?" I asked as Lydia clutched my hand.
"There's still time," Uncle Gaius added. "What grants them life also serves as their means of end," Uncle Gaius explained while he strode to study the broken window. "It looks like this druid cheated death once, but death always comes to collect."
"So you're saying-"
"Find the source of her power. Destroy that and she'll die along with it."
"Mistletoe," Scott murmured all of a sudden. We all turned to look at him.
Dad rose to his full height and cocked an eyebrow. "You know how to use it, son?"
Scott nodded. The wounds on his body looked like they were healing fast. "My boss told me about it once. He said it can be used as a cure and like a poison."
"He wasn't wrong," Dad confirmed.
I walked with Lydia out to the drafty halls then. Three ambulance cars were parked in front of the auditorium so I led her over to an EMT. No one seemed to notice that the town's Sheriff had just been taken hostage and I wondered how long it would be until an announcement would be made. Hopefully by then it wouldn't be too late. I joined the others again as soon as Lydia was in safe hands and getting looked at for the marks on her neck and I noticed that Dad had collected the last remains of mistletoe on the floor. He handed it to Scott without a word and the young werewolf looked like he knew what to do with it.
The next part terrified me. We had to tell Derek.
Maybe he did already, but something in my gut told me that it wasn't the case. He wouldn't be with someone who was taking innocent lives. Unless the Darach was giving him no choice, creating a reason for him to stay with her. The thought of that made my stomach flip and I wasn't sure if me going along with Scott and Stiles was good idea but I followed them to the Jeep anyway. Derek probably wouldn't want to talk to me, much less see me again but I told myself it was for a good reason. Mr. Stilinski was just kidnapped. We had to get him back somehow.
Dad said he and Uncle Gaius would be right behind us, but as I hopped in the back seat, I saw them fiddling with something in the trunk of Dad's car. But we drove off before I could see what it was. I wrung my fingers together the whole ride there, feeling sick for so many reasons. Derek's apartment building loomed into view minutes later. My heartbeat, normally hammering with excitement around him, was racing for an entirely new reason. The lights were off in his floor, but footsteps echoed from the ceiling above when we came in.
His figure trudged down the spiral staircase and paused at the last step, taking each of us in. His eyes drifted to me a little longer before stalking closer.
"What's wrong?" His voice was dry.
"It's about the Darach," Scott said heatedly. "We know it's Jennifer."
Derek froze. A spark of indignation lit his eyes. "What?"
"She took my Dad," Stiles struggled to say. "She took him and now she's probably on her way over her to spin a little sob story on how we framed her."
"You're wrong."
"Derek-"
"It's not her."
Stiles voice rose in anger. "You weren't there-"
"It can't be her!" Derek interrupted, lifting a hand and turning away as if to ward us off.
I caught him by the forearm before he could move though and kept him there so he had to listen. My touch seemed to immobilize him. "She tried to kill Lydia," I said. "She tried to sacrifice her too and now she has Stiles' Dad. I know how you feel about her, but we need help. Please. He might die. Don't you care anymore?"
Derek didn't respond. He only gazed down at my fingers curled around his arm which made me quickly let go. His eyes, a deep unrecognizable shade of greyish hazel under the bask of moonlight, had reverted back to it's soft green. Like blood being washed off skin. The way he looked at me was as though he hadn't seen me since that first night he drive me home from the party. Shock and surprise. And something that looked like remorse.
It confused me. I didn't understand why.
"Alessandra?" He breathed, just barely realizing that it was me standing there.
It was like I was talking to an impostor and the real Derek had came back. I didn't know why he was acting this way and it was freaking me out. He reached for me with uncertain movements, slowly, like I was a mirage made of water but before he could touch me, I noticed Scott visibly stiffen out of the corner of my eye.
"She's here," he said.
I panicked. Scott and Stiles dashed to the room on the right while Derek pulled me behind the brick wall to his left. He set a hand to my arm and cornered me where the Darach couldn't see. His head was turned away from me, listening to the signs of her approach but he looked down at me when I shifted my footing. His eyes softened when they scanned my features, the way he used to when he sensed something was wrong. It was so weird to be that close to him again, but not really knowing him... as if he some other guy wearing a Derek mask, like those glasses with the built in nose.
But what confused me even more was that he wasn't expressing sadness or anger at Ms. Blake's real identity. He only seemed more mystified that I was there. What was going on in his head?
My heartbeat thudded as he brought a hand up to my cheek, fingers relaxed like he just wanted to touch my skin but I jerked away. I couldn't let him. I missed it too much but letting him get close again would make things worse. It still hurt when I thought about it.
I looked away when he wouldn't stop staring. The rumble of the loft door opening caught us off guard then.
We both went still and listened. "Derek?" Ms. Blake's voice beckoned. "Derek, where are you?"
He stepped into view, features composed and calm. "Right here."
"Thank God." She sighed with relief. Her footsteps quickly padded to him. "Something happened at the recital. At the school. Okay, I need to tell you before you hear it, before you hear any of it from them."
"From who?"
"Scott, Stiles. They're gonna tell you things. Things you can't believe. You have to trust me, okay? You trust me."
"What is it?"
"Promise you'll listen to me."
"I promise."
I shut my eyes at the amount of affection in Derek's tone. He seemed to realize we weren't bluffing the second I touched him, told him whatever Ms. Blake said about her true identity was all a lie. But even if he did believe us that didn't mean he'd automatically stop caring for her... Wouldn't he? They appeared so close earlier in the tunnel, as if their affair had been going on for years. Sure, he'd be furious, betrayed. But the Darach was Ms. Blake and Ms. Blake was the Darach... it wouldn't be crazy for Derek to still want one half. The normal half.
"They're already here, aren't they?" Ms. Blake blurted, her voice cold and stoic. I slowly walked out into the open then, seeing Scott and Stiles do the same on the other side. "So they told you it was me? That I'm the one taking people?"
"We told him you're the one killing people," Scott hissed.
"Oh, that's right. Committing human sacrifices? What, cutting their throats?" Ms. Blake scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I probably do it on my lunch hour. That way, I can get back to teaching high school English the rest of the day. That makes perfect sense."
A lone tear escaped past Stiles' cheek. It was hard to look at him when he was like that. "Where's my Dad?"
But Ms. Blake feigned ignorance. "How should I know? Derek, tell me you don't believe this."
When she turned to look at him, Derek regarded her with a sort of empty sadness. His gaze flicked to Stiles for a moment, holding contact until the younger boy shifted anxiously. "Do you know what happened to Stiles's father?"
"No."
"Ask her why she almost killed Lydia," Scott pressed.
"Lydia Martin? I don't know anything about that," Ms. Blake denied again.
"Then what do you know?"
"I know that these kids, for whatever misguided reason, are filling your head with an absurd story. And one they can't prove, by the way."
A knowing look came over Scott's face then, and he stared deep into Ms. Blake's eyes, dissecting her every move. He held up a clear jar filled with a brownish gold substance; the mistletoe my Dad gave him. "What if we can?"
"What is that?"
"My boss told me it's a poison and a cure which means you can use it and it can be used against you." Scott began walking closer to her, unscrewing the jar lid with deadly purpose.
The fear in Ms. Blake's eyes was unmistakable. "Mistletoe?"
I covered my face when Scott sent the dust flying at her, thick and heavy grains that covered her entire body and I felt a couple fleck on my cheeks. The sounds that followed were made up of the most horrific nightmare. Animalistic screams, snarls and she writhed against the cloud of dust that enveloped her, fighting to break free. Her appearance, a pretty and healthy young woman was now transitioning to a hairless shade of her former self. Riddled with slashes and eyes as red as a lit match.
When the puffs of mistletoe evaporated, she phased back to her original self, breathing heavily. Her eyes narrowed at all of us but before we could say anything, she made a quick dash for the exit.
Derek seized her by the neck and dragged her back, fingers squeezing tight around her throat. His chest rose and fell with rapid intakes. Rage gleamed in his green irises and it made me gulp. I saw him angry plenty of times but never like this.
"Derek, wait, wait! You need me," Ms. Blake pleaded.
"What are you?" The Alpha wolf snarled.
"The only person who can save your sister. Call Peter. Call him!"
I shared an alarmed glance with Scott while Derek took out his cell with his free hand and dialed his Uncle's number. He pressed it up to his ear as Ms. Blake squirmed and gasped for air. A faint voice could be heard on the other end of the line but I couldn't make out what it was saying. Though whatever it was, it was clear it wasn't good. The shadow across Derek's face only fell darker as soon as the call ended. He glared absolute hatred at Ms. Blake and his fingers flexed with an audible snap.
"Derek..." Scott said cautiously. "Derek, what are you doing?"
But he paid no attention. "It was you," he growled. "You were the one who made me forget."
Ms. Blake gave a choked laugh. "Of course it was me. I had to. You wouldn't have looked twice at me if you were still with her." Her eyes darted to me then and I stood back, stunned.
It was her? She was the one who manipulated Derek to break up with me? Becoming involved with him herself in the process just to what, to keep tabs on him personally? To spite me for whatever reason? It was all so confusing and I didn't know where to sift back on my memories to search for clues and hints I was obviously colorblind to. It was all Ms. Blake's plan. A plan that had succeeded and knowing that still made me feel really uneasy.
"You're right," Derek confirmed, fingers clenched tighter. "I wouldn't have."
I shook my head at him. "If she dies, we won't know how to save Stiles' Dad and Cora. Think about them. Please."
"Her life... it's in my hands!" Ms. Blake wheezed.
What I said looked like it was sinking in Derek's head, but his hand remained tight around her throat. If it didn't break through fast enough, she would suffocate and another life would be gone.
"Stop!" Stiles held up a hand. "Derek, stop!"
"Stilinski, you'll never find him." Ms. Blake's legs kicked harder under the power of Derek's grip, but he wasn't listening. All his focus, all that mattered to him in that moment was ending her life. Putting a stop to her crimes and righting all her wrongs. But you couldn't bring the dead back. Not as their true selves. They'd only come back as just a physical mirror.
"Derek," Scott also murmured, but it fell on deaf ears.
Ms. Blake was growing paler by the second and I knew it wouldn't take much for him to close his fist and finish the job. That might have been what she deserved more than anything, but more lives were at stake. He couldn't afford to lose control right then. It would only lead to him losing his only sister.
"Derek!" Scott and I yelled at at same time.
That pulled him back to reality and he released Ms. Blake with a heavy thunk. She collapsed on her knees and gasped for air, hair falling around her like a sheer dark curtain. Her gaze was trained at the floor, void of emotion but then a smirk started forming on her lips.
"That's right," she stated confidently and raised her head to look at all of us in the eye. "You need me. All of you."
I swallowed the dry lump in my throat at her ominous smile and took another step back. It wasn't her power that made me nervous but how true her words really were. Dark but still real. We couldn't do much to get Mr. Stilinski back without her and if she died, maybe Cora would too. But I didn't know what was worse. The fact that we had to put our trust in an entity that wanted to take lives instead of save them or that even if she kept her word, the ones who died first wouldn't ever come back.
It was a horrible thought.
[O]
The rain came down in thunderous pelts as Derek led Ms. Blake by the arm and pushed her into the passenger seat. I trailed after Scott and Stiles to the Jeep, noticing Derek gazing at me from my peripheral vision. The hard unreadable stare he wore in the loft shifted to an almost beseeching glare. Like the impact of Ms. Blake's actions had hit him like a winning touchdown throw and he couldn't comprehend anything but the fact that things weren't the same. It took me back to the night where he had gashed Peter's throat and became Alpha. In my sudden trepidation of him back then, his eyes also looked pleading, as they did now. Asking me to stay, to go with him.
But I didn't.
And I still wasn't. I climbed into the backseat of Stiles' Jeep and turned to look out the window as we set out for Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital. Cora had been admitted there since her collapse after Aiden's attack and she wasn't recovering the way a werewolf should. It was strange to me that hospital staff didn't pick that she wasn't exactly human, but maybe they were too overrun with patients to notice. The storm was raging on pretty bad so that might have been a factor in housing a Lycan under a roof of humans.
"I don't know, something feels wrong about this," Stiles mused in the driver's seat. "You know, we proved it to Derek, but she still had this look like it didn't matter. You know, like it was all still going according to plan." He glanced over at his best friend then at me in the rear view mirror. "You guys saw it, didn't you?"
I paused, unsure of what to say but I knew none of this was right. "Do you think maybe she's lying?" I suggested. "I mean, she said she could save your Dad and Cora, but what happens if we give her what she wants and she runs? What are we supposed to do?"
The boys were silent and stared ahead at the road. Then Stiles took a deep breath. "Let's hope she's not lying for once."
We drove on for what seemed like hours. The windshield wipers squeaked back and forth as we navigated through the flood of pouring rain, Derek's car cruising on ahead. Once we pulled up within the hospital's parking lot, we wasted no time and jumped out. Stiles quickly leaped into the back compartment of the driver's side and grabbed something from under the seat before hurrying to catch up with us.
"What's that?" Scott asked him.
"Well, you got claws," Stiles explained then pointed to me. "She has knives and I got a bat."
I wasn't sure what supernatural force would fear a baseball bat. It wasn't even an aluminum one, but at least he wasn't going into the situation unarmed. Derek took the lead again and dragged Ms. Blake toward the elevators, brushing past hospital employees and patients alike who didn't stop to ask of we needed help or tell Stiles weapons weren't allowed in the building. We pressed through to the narrow corridor until a familiar voice called out.
"Scott! Scott!" Mrs. McCall rushed over to us. "What are you doing here? The hospital's evacuating."
"We're here for Cora."
"What, all of you?" She surveyed all of us in bewilderment, doing a double take when she landed on her son's best friend. "Why does Stiles have my bat?"
Stiles held his makeshift weapon closer at that with no explanation.
"You stole his mom's bat?" I whispered to him but be only shrugged with an innocent expression. Always the odd one.
"Mom, just trust me on this," Scott told her. "You need to get out of here. Right now."
Mrs. McCall believed him right away. "The building is supposed to be clear in thirty minutes. We've got two ambulances that are coming back. One's ten minutes out, the other's twenty. Cora needs to be on one of those. They'll be picking up in the basement garage.
Scott nodded. "Got it."
We turned and raced to the elevator, the stakes stacked higher now that there was a time frame. I slid in first and stood behind Ms. Blake when Derek roughly yanked her inside. His hand never loosened it's grip on her arm and she studied it with mild exasperation.
"You don't have to keep me on a leash, Derek. I'm going to help."
He didn't answer. He just kept his eyes on the ticking numbers above as they brought us to the next floor. The elevator felt awkwardly cramped with the five of us there and I couldn't help but press myself to the wall as Ms. Blake peeked over her shoulders at us. Scott glared daggers at her while Stiles readied his bat like it was King Arthur's sword itself. I met her gaze briefly before looking away to the ground, not wanting to open myself more to any of her mind games.
Truth be told, I wasn't sure what the chances were of us standing toe to toe with her and actually surviving. Werewolves were strong, but she was a Darach and possessed all kinds of abilities. Ones that could out trick a couple of lycans. Clearly not an Alpha pack. If she could, she wouldn't have resorted to murder.
The elevator door dinged open then, revealing a long eerie corridor ahead. Objects were scattered all over the floor, vents buzzing with a weird noise that sounded a lot like breathing. The lights started flashing on and off above, making us stop and look around. A room on the right was messy and had black stains over the tile, thick and gooey, like greying mold that had been scrapped off the wall. The smell was worse. I had to cover my nose with my arm.
The black fluid led a path toward the double doors at the end of the hall.
"Derek," Scott muttered, gaining the Alpha's attention and motioned to the trail.
Muffled voices grumbled from behind the doors. Then a sweaty, bruised and battered Peter Hale came barreling in from the other side. He laid flat on his back, staring up at us with an exhausted groan.
"We got a problem," he rasped, shifting his sights back to the doors. "Big problem."
That problem he was hinting at happened to be the morphed Alpha Twins, standing at the end of the hall. Their eyes burned cherry red as they held their arms out, like they were asking for a hug but it was obvious that there wasn't gonna be any friendly interactions. They were looking for a fight and that was what we had to give them. Derek flicked out his claws first and sprinted straight for the conjoined brothers. They ran headlong toward each other and clashed violently against the wall, but the shared strength of two Alpha males was too much for Derek to handle alone.
Scott soon joined in on the fight, landing in a few good hits. Their thrashing figures prevented me from seeing what lied beyond the corridor, but in the gap of their legs, strands of dark hair and bits of clothing peeked through the jumble of limbs. Cora. She was unconscious.
I tapped Stiles on the arm and gestured down the hall when he looked at me. His eyes widened when he saw Cora sprawled out, then touched Peter on the shoulder.
"Help me," he murmured to the former Alpha.
The linked Alpha twins shoved Scott against the wall then, giving them the perfect opportunity to sneak by and pick up Cora's lifeless body.
"Ethan, Aiden, stop!" Scott exclaimed. "You don't know what you're doing."
"All we want is her."
The conjoined twin's hands were tight around the collar of Scott's shirt and it didn't look like they was gonna let go anytime soon, so I took the swiss army knife in my jean pocket and threw it at their back. It lodged in their shoulder blade, making them wince and drop Scott. They whipped their head around to glower at me but then their eyes focused on something over my shoulder. Their expression confused me so I looked around too and saw Ms. Blake walking slyly into the elevator. The doors slid shut before we could stop her. She's really running? I thought to myself. So Stiles was right. She was planning to pull one over us the whole time.
I almost felt stupid but then I remembered Mr. Stilinski and Cora. They still needed help.
The Alpha twins yanked the knife from their shoulder then, dazed and bleeding from the wound and that gave us time to run to another part of the hospital. Peter had his niece slung over his shoulder and led the way past another pair of double doors to some kind of operation room, the vigorous pounding of the twin's footsteps chasing after us. I barely realized Derek grabbed my hand and pulled me along with him, pausing once to nudge me ahead of him. Peter ran past the swinging doors and I was about to follow behind, but Derek's sudden call for Stiles stopped me.
I turned around in time to see Stiles cold-cock the Alpha twins on the back of the head with his bat. The wood smashed to bits and flew everywhere, but the effect was virtually slim to none against the twin's shared power. If anything, it just seemed to annoy them more. They growled at the wide-eyed teen until he scurried off toward the doors, behind the protection of Scott and Derek.
Scott studied the ceiling as the Alpha hulk slowly advanced on us, ready for round two, but then he jump up at a malfunctioning light. His claws swiped at the edge of the tile where the fixture protruded and it crumbled directly on top of the twins. They toppled over like pieces of cardboard, knocked out cold. I pushed my way past the doors and followed Peter's figure to a medical bed where he carefully laid down Cora.
I stood at her side and pressed my hand to her forehead, the clammy skin feeling weirdly hot and cold in different parts. Was this all from Ms. Blake's doing? Or was Ethan's blow with the weight so severe that it put her in some kind of werewolf coma?
"Where's the big guy?" Peter inquired.
"He's close."
"What about Ms. Blake?" Stiles said, looking at all of us, noticing we were down one person.
I met Scott's unsure gaze from across the room and we both shrugged our shoulders sheepishly, looking away after. It wasn't like we were lying about it. We had no idea what Ms. Blake was planning to do next. She could have been long gone by then, joy riding in Stiles' Jeep. I didn't tell him that though. He was stressed enough as it was.
Our silence ticked Stiles off. "What do you mean? What does that mean? Like, she's gone? Scott, are you kidding me?"
"Shh, quiet," Derek hissed at him.
"Me be quiet? Me, huh? Are you telling me what to do now?" Stiles got close to the Alpha's face, contempt blazing in his eyes. "When your new psychotic, mass murdering girlfriend - the second one you've dated, by the way, has got my dad somewhere, tied up, waiting to be ritually sacrificed?"
"Stiles, they're still out there," Scott whispered.
"And- and they want her, right?" His best friend concluded. "Which means now we don't have her either, so my Dad and Cora are both dead!"
"Not yet." Scott moved to peer over Peter's shoulder at Cora. She stirred lightly on the table, but her eyes didn't open. "Is she really dying?"
"She's definitely not getting any better," Peter replied dismally.
"There has to be something that we can do. We have to help her."
"You can't." A new voice entered the room then. Ms. Blake stood grimly in front of the doors. "Only I can. I can save her, and I can tell you where Sheriff Stilinski is. But there is a pack of Alphas in this hospital who want me dead. So I'll help you, but only when I'm out of here and safe. Only then."
Her tone left no room for debate. Cora's physical shape was a clear sign that we couldn't wait that long to escape with Ms. Blake in order to find Mr. Stilinski and save Cora. There was just no time at all and that was the worst part. Derek must have felt this too because his patience grew thin and he charged furiously toward Ms. Blake, knocking over a metal table in the process.
Scott held him back. "Derek, wait!"
"She was trying to get out."
"I was trying to keep from getting killed," Ms. Blake spoke up. "You can't blame me for that."
I guess we really couldn't. "Why didn't you run?" I asked her. The main floor of the hospital had to have been deserted by then. It would have been easy for her to leave through the automatic doors. Unless the ones she was running from were already down there...
"I have no chance of beating them on my own. That's why I agreed to help you."
"If you want to show you're one of the good guys, then heal her," Stiles retorted from the back and pointed toward Cora's body.
But Ms. Blake refused again. "Not until I'm safe."
"I'd like to volunteer a different method of persuasion," Peter suddenly proclaimed with his usual smarm. "Let's torture her."
"Works for me." Derek jerked forward as if to jump at Ms. Blake again, but Scott blocked his way.
The intercom crackled on. "Um, can I have your attention?" A shaky voice announced and I realized that it belonged to Mrs. McCall. "Mr. Deucalion - excuse me, just Deucalion - requests you bring the woman calling herself Jennifer Blake to the E. R. reception. Do this and everyone else can leave. You have ten minutes."
Ten minutes, I repeated in my head. How the hell could we get anything done in ten minutes? We could barely have a conversation without overturning furniture. Poor Mrs. McCall. Deucalion wasn't an easy person to be around and his almost Victorian style of speech and charm made it difficult to figure out if he was gonna give ballet lessons with his cane or stab you with it. I hadn't seen him since he made himself comfortable in my house, shuffling through items in my Dad's office. The mere memory of him made shivers go down my spine.
We were definitely screwed. Scott's mom being under Deucalion's control, paired with the even shorter time limit, it wasn't looking up for our situation.
"He's not gonna hurt her," Ms. Blake tried consoling Scott, noticing his fear.
"Shut up," Derek snapped.
"He won't!" Ms. Blake insisted. "Scott, you know why. Tell them it's true."
All eyes drifted to the brown eyed beta then, but he self consciously avoided our stares. "What does she mean?" Derek demanded.
Scott had nothing to say. His brown puppy eyes skirted around the room nervously and he shied away from the attention. What could an honest person like him hide?
Ms. Blake rolled her eyes at the lack of communication. "You're not the only one he wants in his pack," she told Derek.
"But... Scott's only a beta," I mused aloud, peering over at the respective werewolf with a quizzical look, as if to ask 'aren't you?'
"Deucalion doesn't just want an Alpha pack. He wants perfection," Ms. Blake added mysteriously. "That means adding the rarest of Alphas to his ranks."
"A true Alpha," Peter blurted incredulously. It was weird to see a know-it-all like him appearing mystified.
"What's that?"
"The kind that doesn't have to steal his power from another." The ex-Alpha threw his nephew a bitter side-eye glare. Of course he still held a grudge over that. "One that can rise by the force of his own will. Our little Scott." He almost sounded proud at the last part, gazing at the teen boy with a hint of a smirk.
Scott didn't seem to want to talk much about it, though. "It doesn't matter. We still need to get her out of here."
"Scott, your Mom-" Stiles began, but his best friend cut him off.
"My Mom said there's one more ambulance coming in twenty minutes. And I don't think we've been here that long, so if we can get down to the garage, get to the last ambulance, we can get out of here."
"The twins aren't gonna let us just walk out."
"Not alive anyways," I added.
"I'll distract them."
Derek gazed pointedly at the younger beta. "You mean fight them."
"Whatever I have to do."
"I'll help you."
"Um, sorry," Ms. Blake piped in, but her tone sounded like she felt anything beside remorse. "But I'm not going anywhere without you, Derek."
Peter volunteered himself as his nephew glared daggers at Ms. Blake. "I'll do it. But I'd prefer to be out there with an advantage."
"An advantage like what?" Stiles said. "You mean like a weapon?"
"Something better than a baseball bat."
Peter's smile raised goosebumps on my skin and for all the wrong reasons. His plans were never thought up for the greater good of anyone around him, unless all he wanted was a good fight. Or power. To him, those probably came hand in hand, especially when it involved Alphas.
We all went in different directions of the room then and started searching through the cabinets and whatever else that had drawers. Most of them stored surgical equipment, syringes, gauze, and other objects I didn't know the use for. They all had a funny odor to them. Like a doctor had just used it to splice open a patient's chest or something.
The mental image of that immediately made me pale and turn away. There was some more metal tables along the bed Cora lied on, so I knelt down and leafed through the assortment of tools. None of them looked like they'd be helpful.
"Hey, wait," Stiles chimed in and he help up a pair of defibrilators. "What about these?"
"Do you know how to use those?" Derek raised his eyebrows.
The younger boy hesitated. "Well, no."
"Put'em down."
Stiles seemed crestfallen as he shoved the defibrillators back wherever he found them and pawed through the rest of the contents. The search resumed for a few more minutes, with no one finding anything valuable until Scott's curious voice broke out.
He held up a disturbingly large needle. "Epinephrine?"
"That's only gonna make him stronger," Derek told him.
Peter appeared intrigued, popping out from a set of cabinets he was shuffling through. He cocked his head. "How strong?"
Derek must have caught on since he narrowed his eyes at his Uncle. "What are you thinking?"
"That if I don't want to dig myself out a second grave, this might do the trick and get us out of here," he said and took the syringe from Scott's fingers. "Anyone care to be the nurse?"
Dead silence met his inquiry. He rolled his eyes then and tapped the plastic tube a few times with his fingers, leveling it at his broad chest plate.
"Won't that hurt you?" I asked him, staring at the long thin needle before looking up at his face.
Peter gave a humorless smile. "We're about to find out." I cringe when the needle point pierced his skin and bone underneath with a soft pop. He jammed the plunger down and barely winced while he did it. I felt like covering my eyes the whole time, expecting blood to spurt everywhere like a zombie outbreak movie, but surprisingly there wasn't. The only other thing that unsettled me was the way the syringe stayed upright in his chest, even while he features began to wolf out.
Scott and Peter stormed determinedly through the double doors then, eyes glowing bright blue and gold. I heard both their growls erupt through the halls seconds later, followed by the returning snarl of the Alpha twins, so I knew we had only seconds to take Cora and transfer her somewhere safe. Derek slung her over his shoulder and filed after Stiles when the younger teen held open the double doors Peter and Scott just bravely exited out of. The opposite corridor to where they were confronting the twins connected to the garage. It was a long and narrow stretch, the ceiling lights fading in and out. The ambulance was empty.
"It's still here!" Stiles exclaimed with relief and I hurried to help him open the doors so Derek could lay Cora down on the gurney.
Stiles hopped in afterward while Ms. Blake spent the whole time hovering behind us, glancing over her shoulders like she was scared something was going to appear. I was kind of surprised she didn't try to desert us again. I guess she really didn't want to face the Alphas alone. I was about to climb in next to Stiles when a strange sound entered the garage. It was like tiny screws were being dropped from somebody's pocket. A quiet and gentle tick tick tick...
I peered around the bend of the ambulance when Ms. Blake called out for Derek and gasped when I saw the body of a police officer lying face down in a pool of his own blood in front of the driver's door. Somebody killed him from behind.
We weren't alone down there.
"Julia," Kali sang, striding in front of us. She swung the keys on her forefinger, then stopped to stare straight at Ms. Blake. "It is you."
Ms. Blake eyes were wide and watery with panic. She slowly backed away. "You can't beat her on your own."
"That's why we're gonna run," Derek told her.
Ms. Blake booked it first while Derek entwined his hand around my own and pulled me with him before sprinting back to the safety of the hospital. I glanced over my shoulder at the ambulance where Stiles had barricaded himself inside. I was scared that Kali might turn her attention on him and rip the doors open, but the thud of her bare feet gave a relentless chase after us, ignoring him completely. At least he and Cora would be okay.
Derek planted himself in front of me when we reached the hall, making sure the coast was clear before taking me by the hand again and tugged me toward an entryway where it delved further into the building.
Ms. Blake stopped him. "Wait, wait! The elevator!" She waved us over, the doors sliding open behind her.
Kali was already approaching from the adjacent corridor, irises flashing blood red as she moved with startling velocity. An empty gurney was shoved carelessly against the left wall and Derek knocked it over so it blocked the female Alpha's path. It delayed her attack for a few seconds, enough for me to push at Derek's back and make him go inside the elevator first. He whirled around, extending a hand to me and I reached out to meet him until I felt a sharp sting at my shoulder blade. The harsh pain made me stagger, dropping my arm as another cut inflicted on my back.
Kali had her claws in me now and held me back as the elevator doors started closing in on Derek and Ms. Blake. He fought to keep them open but Ms. Blake yanked him away, saying something to him that I didn't hear. Then the doors slammed shut.
And I was left alone to fend off Kali.
Blood soaked the back of my shirt as the female Alpha ripped her claws out and smirked down at me. I sucked in a breath, feeling pain tingle my nerves and run hotly all the way up to my neck, but I tried to stand on my feet despite it all. I watched as small drops of blood trickled rapidly to the floor, staining my vans and everything else around it. Kali chuckled lightly.
"I told Deucalion he shouldn't have wasted his time trying to recruit a little girl," she sneered. "Look at you. You make it too easy." She walked in front of me slowly, tilting her head a bit like the sight of me bleeding concerned her. "But don't worry. I'll tell Derek you took it like a champ."
She steadied her claws in the air, ready to swing them down at me but I caught her by the wrist before they could meet my neck. Her expression shifted from smug victory to astonishment, realizing I still had some strength to stop her. I twisted her wrist to the right then, snapping it toward her body until the bones crackers and she hissed in pain. The sudden action left her open and distracted so I punched her in the jaw, my fist stinging afterwards.
Kali snarled, almost falling backwards but she caught herself and just froze there for a moment, face turned away. The upturned gurney had knocked over a shelf of supplies and I picked up a scalpel off the ground while Kali looked at me slowly, eyes redder than a stoplight and twice as furious. She stormed over to me like an acidic rain cloud, strong, overwhelming and toxic and I had nothing to protect me except the tiny knife. When she swiped at me with her claws, one after another, I concentrated on what my Dad told me and about bare knuckled fights. Block with your forearms, never with your hands. It was hard given that she had mini razor blades for fingers. She scratched, tore, and cut my skin and clothes all the way I kept preventing her from doing serious damage.
She kicked the scalpel from my hand with her foot, but I caught it in mid air by the handle and drove it toward her neck. She blocked it, so I pulled it back and aimed again for her chest, stomach and everywhere else, but she blocked those too. The distance between her skin and the scalpel point was shortening and I thought that if I tried hard enough, eventually I could hurt her and gain some time to escape but Kali apparently had other plans. She spun and kicked me with her right foot, hitting me in the shoulder and I fell onto my back. The floor was cold and slippery with my blood and some of hers.
Dazed, I leaned up slowly and saw her casually waltzing over to me. Her eyes weren't crimson anymore and I realized that she probably figured that she had won. If I wasn't still holding the scalpel, I'd really be dead.
But I was. I threw it straight at her.
The tiny knife caught the back of her denim vest, pinning her to the wall and giving me enough time to pick myself up and run. I tried to stay upright despite the agonizing slashes and cuts over my back and most of my arms. I was still bleeding from some of them, but it wasn't severe and I was able to keep going. I ran until I couldn't hear her struggling growls, then pressed myself against a wall to catch my breathe. The hospital had been long evacuated and the lights were off, making me wary to continue on without knowing where I was going. I had to find the others. Were Stiles and Cora still safe in the back of the ambulance?
Rubbing my eyes, I peeled myself off the wall and crept toward a corner that looked devoid of bloodthirsty wolves. A door closed somewhere behind me and I quickly glanced down the hall to check if the coast was clear but when I turned back around, my cheek smacked into a hard chest. Dark colored jackets flooded my vision, followed by warm hands holding me steady.
"Dad?"
"What in the hell..." He muttered when he saw my bloody clothes. "Come one, we're getting you out of here."
"Wait," I stopped him before he could pull me away. "What about the others? They're still here and the Alpha pack-"
"We know." Uncle Gaius stepped up behind Dad then. "They've really turned this place upside down." He paused to examine the disastrous surroundings. "I don't think they expected this Darach to be difficult or they would have left by now."
"Were you here this whole time?"
Dad shook his head. "We only just arrived. Gaius insisted on stopping at the house to pick up a few things." He glared a bit over at his brother, who wasn't paying attention and inspected the ceiling.
"I'm glad you came when you did," I told him, feeling safer now that they were here and I wasn't alone anymore. "I don't know where everyone else is. But I think the Alphas are closer. I just ran from one a few minutes ago."
Uncle Gaius suddenly cocked his gun. The sound was eerie and it made me wonder if all they came here for was to make swiss cheese out of the Alphas. Or the Argents.
Or both.
They walked ahead of me down the pitch black hallways, their tall figures preventing me from seeing anything. Not like there was anything to really see since it was so dark. Uncle Gaius kept his gun drawn at all times, while Dad had his holstered, but I could see the handle of it through his unbuttoned coat. Noises echoed from every corner. I kept glancing behind me every now and then to make sure we weren't being followed, but it was hard to tell for certain. Calling out for Scott or Peter didn't seem smart and I couldn't help but wonder what floor Derek and Ms. Blake ended up on. Maybe they went back for Stiles and Cora.
Dad held up a hand then, pausing at a corner that bent into another corridor. Slowly, he retrieved his gun and cocked the barrel. Uncle Gaius appeared to prick up at this and my heart started hammering at the notion of the Alpha pack waiting for us around the curve. We would have been slaughtered for sure.
I braced myself for the terrifying sight, wishing I had something to protect myself but I lost my knife on the twins. Not that they'd do any good against four Alphas. Unless I could somehow pin them all by their coat tails to the wall, but I doubt I could be that lucky. Fear churned in my gut at the idea. I'd never be ready to face them.
My Dad and Uncle aimed their guns and walked past the corner then, fingers steady on the trigger. A greeting cock of another pistol followed seconds later and I gasped when I saw the familiar shape stride closer through the shadows.
"Mr. Argent?" I whispered.
He lowered the gun at the sound of my voice, Allison and Isaac at his sides. The curly haired teen looked a little more than caught off guard by the sudden welcome party of guns shoved in his face.
Dad let out a gust of air and I could have swore I saw Uncle Gaius roll his eyes beside him. "What are you doing, Chris?" Dad inquired like the other man had no business being there. In fact, it had been a while since I had seen him creeping around a supernatural crime scene. Maybe he wanted to do things discreetly now.
"Same as you," Mr. Argent responded tersely. His arm was hanging back at his side but he was still gripping the gun firmly.
I slipped past the bulk of male bodies and hugged Allison, happy that nothing happened to her either. She pulled away after a second and gave me a small but comforting smile. Worry saturated her eyes and I guessed it had been some time since she talked to Scott.
"Did you just get here?"
Allison nodded. "We left as soon as the ambulances at school cleared. Where's Scott?"
"One of them found us earlier and we had to split up. They could be on any floor," I said.
"We have to move quick then," Dad answered. "Deucalion isn't going to want to hang around for too long with little action being done."
Mr. Argent and Uncle Gaius nodded in agreement and the civil action surprised me. It would have almost been touching if not for the threatening circumstances, but I guess under one roof with so many common enemies inside they had no choice but to shake hands, even if they were secretly wielding a hammer behind their back with the other. They walked ahead of us toward the only other hallway neither of us had ventured into yet. Like the rest of the wing, it was pitch black. I thought about using the flashlight feature on my phone as guidance but then I figured if I saw cherry red eyes lurking at me through the shadows, I'd just want to cut it the other way. So I kept it off and followed the lead of our parents.
The deeper we trudged through the barren hospital halls, the more it looked like we were distancing ourselves from the main levels. Each side of the hall had different rooms, one after another but none of them were for patients or surgeries. Some were random stairwells, closets and plain doors that I was too weirded out to open. When we got close to the end, Dad held up his hand again, his shoulders going stiff. Mr. Argent and Uncle Gaius held their guns with both hands then, ready to shoot if need be. I felt Allison touch my arm and I instinctively grabbed onto hers too. At least we had more people with us now. If it was one of the Alphas, there'd be a better chance of hurting them.
Dad stepped out of the corner, raising his gun also at a very startled Scott. Mrs. McCall jumped behind him.
My heart nearly exploded in my chest. The whole scene was a perfect outtake from a horror movie, to the unsuspecting survivor group to the creepy abandonded hospital and I tried not to think too much about the fact that most of those movies ended with everybody dead. But I felt reassured now that Scott was okay and with us, although it did make me wonder what happened to Peter. Maybe that drug he took to the chest was too much for him and the nut passed out somewhere. At least we didn't have to deal with him now.
Scott appeared taken aback that all of us had congregated together like this, but he didn't hesitant to rehash what happened since the group separated.
"The elevator doors won't open since the power's been cut."
"So then they're essentially trapped?" Mr. Argent asked as we headed into an operation room.
"Yeah, right," Scott confirmed.
"There's no way of getting them out without turning the power back on."
"But wait, wait, wait, if the power's back on, they're gonna hear the elevator moving, right?" Mrs. McCall said.
Scott nodded in response. "And they'll be on Jennifer and Derek as soon as it stops. We can't get in a fight with them."
Mr. Argent inclined his head around at our enlarged group. "You've got us now." Allison shot her father a strange glance, then peered over at me with a quizzical expression. I knew what she meant. Were our Dads seriously accepting one another now? Evil really did bring good people together.
"I'm afraid that won't be enough," Dad revealed somberly. "Deucalion has perfected this opportunity for some time. There won't be coming out of this with them dead unless you plan to lose some of your own too."
"It's too much to risk," Scott agreed. "They want her dead, and if she dies, there's nothing that we can do for Stiles's Dad or Cora."
"I don't even think I know which teacher this is."
"She's- she's the one with the brown hair," Isaac pointed out. "She's kinda hot." Everyone gawked at him then, making him glance around awkwardly. "No, it's just... just an observation."
Mr. Argent sighed audibly while my Dad shot the curly haired teen a pointed look as if to say 'son, just don't talk.'
Silence fell upon us. It felt like were gonna be stuck in that hospital forever, trying to fight our way out and failing. Always failing.
"I've got an idea," Allison announced all of a sudden. Heads snapped up to her while she gazed confidently at her reflection.
Scott hurried and fished out his cell as Allison explained the details of her plan. He sent a text message to Derek, informing him to open the elevator doors while Allison acted as a decoy in Ms. Blake's place. She would lead the Alpha twins to the front entrance of the hospital where she'd meet up with our Dads so Mrs. McCall could safely pull the power lever back on. Derek and Ms. Blake would be free to exit the elevator shaft and maybe, just maybe we could get out of there in once piece. It sounded like a solid plan, but I was worried if the Alpha twins would be able to pick up Allison's scent and realize that it actually wasn't our English teacher.
I stayed in the hospital wing with Scott, waiting nervously while his Lycan ears picked up different sounds. Allison footsteps jogging down the corridor, the growls of Ethan and Aiden in pursuit, a car starting up down below and a pair of lighter feet running up to the roof. Gunshots blasted off outside, making me jump and I prayed that my Dad and Uncle wouldn't get hurt. With those three middle aged men together, they had a bigger chance of injuring each other than the werewolves in front of them.
Electricity hummed on after a moment and I exchanged incredulous glances with Scott. It worked. The plan actually worked and now all we had to do was meet Derek and Ms. Blake at their floor level. Scott raced through the doors first and I rushed to catch up with his long stride. The shaft where they got stuck on led to the stairwell, so I knew we didn't have much time to get them and find a way out. What if Allison's trick made the Alphas run back inside?
Scott skidded to a halt in front of the open elevator doors then, making me nearly crash into his back. He was staring down at something on the floor and when I went around to his side to see, I gasped and covered my mouth. Derek.
He was sprawled on his back, eyes closed peacefully as though he smacked his head against the wall and conked out but it didn't look like that way. Ms. Blake was missing, the ceiling hatch left open. Scott and I gazed at each other for a moment. I had a feeling his mind was racing the same way mine did because all I could think about was how Ms. Blake pulled a fast one again and where she could have gone. I knelt down at Derek's side and shook his shoulders. His skin was warm and when I touched a hand to his forehead he breathed a little heavier. But he still didn't wake up and I didn't know what to do.
"Mom," Scott murmured behind me. His footsteps sprinted up the stairs.
I watched until his shoes disappeared from sight before turning back to Derek, shaking his big arm in hopes that he'd open his eyes. If Ms. Blake was so adamant on being with him, why would she knock him out and leave him-
Then it hit me.
She wanted more. She wanted to take more sacrifices.
And Mrs. McCall was still on the roof.
"Scott!? Alessandra, wait!" I heard Stiles exclaim just as I stood and raced to the stairs after Scott. He also stopped and gaped at Derek's lifeless form, but I couldn't stay to fill him in. There wasn't any time.
The air was icy against my cheeks when I burst through the door. The roof was damp and foggy, making it difficult to see through, but between the banks of mist I could clearly make out Scott's body standing in the center. Deucalion was just inches away. There was no sign of Mrs. McCall.
He knew. He had to have known this was going to happen. Or else he wouldn't have been up there waiting.
"I see you've been thinking about my offer," Deucalion noted, hands calmly clasping his cane. "Now you understand that I'm not a man without motive. I could have helped you out of this, if you had followed me. You know she won't stop. You know I'm the only one who can save your friends."
"I just want this to end," I mumbled sullenly.
"Can you be so sure that your own mother won't be next? Or what about that beloved father of yours?" His sunglasses, although placed perfectly over his eyes, still made it feel like he was staring straight into me. Peeling back the layers of my deepest fears, making them float in the pool of my own thoughts until I had no choice but to save it from drowning instead of holding it underwater like I'd been trying to do. It didn't work. Nothing worked.
I was sick of it.
I took a step toward him.
Deucalion didn't say a word when I came forward, but I paused and looked back at Scott. He was gazing hollowly at the wet concrete, blood smeared along his face. It looked like he was battling internally with himself and it was the first time I'd seen him look lost. Slowly, he began walking toward the Alpha too.
Stiles ran up then, stopping short when he saw the scene ahead of him. "Scott!" He called, gaining his best friend's attention. "Scott, don't do this. Don't go with him."
"I don't know what else to do."
"We'll think of something else, okay? We always do. Scott, we can do this okay, we can- Alessandra, tell him."
I shrugged lamely beside Deucalion, feeling confused and equally powerless. "I don't know what to say either, Stiles." I sniffed and rubbed my wet cheek. "It has to stop. We tried everything and... and it didn't work."
"This is the only way," Scott added dejectedly and walked closer to the brooding Alpha leader.
"No, there's got- Scott, there's got to be something else, okay? We always- we always have a plan B."
"Not this time."
Tears pooled at the corners of Stiles' eyes. "Scott-"
"I'm gonna find your Dad. I promise."
Deucalion turned away, extending his cane to mark his trail and I waited for Scott before following after the Alpha's lead. Stiles' voice, calling for his best friend to come back, grew fainter the more we walked until it lost itself under the riptide of wind. It felt we were pallbearers carrying a casket of someone we didn't know. Deucalion knew, though. And we were forced to trust him.
If making things right again meant having to distance ourselves from from rationality, the one thing that I thought would stay the same even when reality became too tangled, too toxic... then I was okay with that. I had to be. For everyone I cared about, it was a willing sacrifice. A necessary evil. Maybe that was what Deucalion was trying to teach us all along.
I wiped the wetness under my eyes with the back of my hand, then got out my cell from my pocket. The little white notification box indicated that there were three missed calls from Dad and he left one voicemail but I couldn't bring myself to listen to it. Not now. Not in the presence of the man I swore I promised myself I'd protect my family from, who my Dad wanted me to stay away from. But there I was, on his side.
I tapped on his name and typed him a message.
'I'm sorry'
A/N: I know there wasn't any explanation on how Derek broke out of Ms. Blake's spell and that they didn't talk about what exactly happened, but I couldn't find a scene where it seemed appropriate to bring that up, so I'll include that in the next chapter instead. :D
Regardless, I hope everyone enjoyed! I had tons of fun writing this and I can't wait to start on the next one. Thank you again for sticking with me for so long. I can't believe I'm almost through three whole seasons of the show and it's all thanks to you guys. You're the best readers any author could ask for.
Take care!