APOV

Since I had woken up, Brooke and Derek had both been hovering. Brooke stopped taking midnight trips to check on Stiles. Derek was practically tending to my every whim. I liked being treated like a princess just as much as the next girl, but I didn't feel like a princess. I felt fragile.

I had Derek call Braeden to stock up on weapons. Kate had Scott and Kira, and a whole pack of Berserkers. We were going to need a lot more than your average bow and arrows. While we were waiting on her to arrive, I hit the books to look for anything I could find about Berserkers.

"You're throwing yourself into this and avoiding the real problem, typical Ava," Brooke mumbled.

"The real problem being?" I asked, as I picked up another book.

"Did you conveniently forget the part where an alpha bit you?"

"No, Brooke, I did not. However, there is nothing we can do about what I may or may be right now. So I am trying to focus on saving my friends. Unless you conveniently forgot the part where Scott and Kira went missing?"

Brooke rolled her eyes. "Braeden is here." Brooke flicked out of my room. Before heading down stairs, I finished reading the page I was on. It contained no new information, I wasn't surprised.

"Good, you brought the whole arsenal," I said, taking in the table she had covered in weapons.

"I still don't like relying on these things," Derek said.

"I get it, you miss your power," Braeden said.

"It's not about power, it's about wanting to help," he said. "I don't like feeling helpless."

I shook my head. "You're not getting any pity from me. For months I complained about feeling helpless, and what did I get from you? Nothing. So I picked up a bow and arrow, learned to defend myself, and look at me now." There was a moment of silence and I realized, too late, that I had died three days ago.

He tried to smile, but it didn't reach his eyes. "And you're a much better shot than me."

"I'll be right back with the rest," Braeden said. Quickly ducking out of the loft.

"You're not helpless, you can fight," I said.

"I can't fight a Berserker. Not like this."

I shook my head. "So what, this is a suicide mission? We go in, maybe we save Scott and Kira, probably we die in the process?"

"You're not going."

"Like hell I'm not."

"You don't know what's going to happen to you on the full moon."

"It's not my first time at the rodeo, I'll figure it out." I grabbed his hands. "I'm not letting you go in there to die, not without me."

"If anything happened to you-"

I cut him off. "We come out together, or we don't come out at all."

"This is all very touching," Peter said, coming down the stairs. "But what you've got there isn't even close to enough to kill a Berserker. You might as well stay home and save yourselves the trouble."

I turned to face him slowly, fighting an eye roll. "Do tell Peter, since you seem to be the expert here, how much firepower is enough?"

"It's not about the firepower, it's about breaking the animal's spirit from the human's."

"The one person we know with that kind of experience is Argent," Derek said, "and he's not getting back to me."

"Then we're going to need help, like Malia, maybe Liam, definitely me."

"Great," I mumbled, but I couldn't help but feel a little better that we weren't going in alone.

OoOoO

Before heading to Mexico, we stopped to get Malia, Stiles, and Liam. "We're really bringing Liam?" I asked. "He's been a werewolf for like, five minutes."

"Didn't you just die?" Liam asked. "Are you sure you're up for this?"

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not taking this from a freshman."

"No, he's right," Stiles said. "I'm not sure you should be coming with us."

"You shouldn't be," Brooke said.

"We need everyone we've got," Peter said. "Regardless of what Ava is, whether human, werewolf, succubus, or something entirely different. She's better than nothing. Considering Scott and Kira were taken before a full moon, we should probably get going."

"What's that mean?" Malia asked.

"If Kate took Scott to the same place she took Derek, what's to say she's not planning on doing the same thing to him?"

"Make him younger?" Liam asked.

"Or take him back to before he was a werewolf," Derek said.

"We can't leave without Lydia," Stiles said.

"Where is she?" I asked.

"She went back to school to get a jacket out of Kira's locker," Malia told me. "We need something with a stronger scent."

"She isn't texting back," Stiles said.

"If she has a car, she can catch up," Braeden said.

"Good idea, let's go," Peter said.

"What if she's in trouble?" Stiles asked.

"Then you stay, you find her. The rest of us are leaving."

"I can call Mason, he's at a study group at school," Liam suggested. "He can look for her."

"I won't be any help around the Berserkers," Brooke said. "I'll stay and see if I can find Lydia." I relayed the information to the others.

"Fine," Stiles said. Most of us fit in the prison transport van Braeden had brought, but Malia and Peter had to ride in Derek's SUV.

"Remember, it's not just Kate we're dealing with," Peter told us, before we parted ways. "It's Berserkers. You may see human eyes behind those skulls, but don't assume there is any humanity left."

OoOoO

Derek and Stiles handcuffed Liam and me to the seats. I shook my head at Liam. "He doesn't know how to control himself. He's going to get himself hurt, or worse, one of us."

"Brooke?" Derek asked tapping my head. I glared at him. "Just checking, you're not sounding your usual optimistic self."

"In case you haven't noticed, you're handcuffed to your seat too," Stiles pointed out.

"I just mean, he's a kid, he doesn't know how to fight." Neither of them said anything, they knew it was true. Liam looked terrified.

Derek reached into his pocket and took out the triskele disk and handed it to Liam. "This is a powerful talisman that has been in my family for generations. We use it to help new betas learn how to control their powers." Liam looked at it doubtfully.

"He's right," I played along. "It'll help."

"Then shouldn't you use it?" Liam asked, offering it to me.

I shook my head. "No, I have a feeling it'll be more useful to you, than to me."

As the sun set, Liam started to get more and more uncomfortable. By the time the sun was down, he was sweating. "Are you with me, Liam?" Derek asked. Liam nodded. "We have a mantra, look at the triskelion, each spiral has a meaning."

"Alpha, beta, omega," Stiles said.

"It's a reminder that we can rise to one or fall to another. Betas can become alpha, alphas can become betas." The spot on my arm, where my brand had once been, itched. I remembered our own circle of life: angel, human, demon. "Say the words and with each one tell yourself that you are more and more in control."

"Alpha, beta-"

"Slower," Derek instructed.

"Alpha, beta, omega," Liam said. "Alpha, beta, omega."

"Again, with each one you are getting calmer."

"Alpha, beta, omega," Liam said, but I could hear the growl behind his words.

"I don't think it's working," Stiles said.

Liam growled and pulled on his restraints, shaking the whole van. Braeden swerved off and back on the road. I pulled at my own handcuffs, wishing I wasn't locked down. Liam pulled hard and one of the handcuffs broke. Derek grabbed his arm.

"I think we're gonna need to go a little faster!" Stiles called.

"Uncuff me!" I shouted to Stiles. He fumbled with the key and got one of my hands free, before Liam shook the van again and the key went flying.

Liam lunged for Derek, breaking his other handcuff and I leaped after him. He clawed at me as I tried to pull him back to the seat. "I don't think alpha, beta, omega is resonating with him," Stiles said.

"Do you know any other mantras?" Derek asked.

"Liam, what three things can't long be hidden?" Stiles asked. Liam continued to struggle against me. Stiles repeated, "What three things can't long be hidden?"

Liam's breathing began to relax. "The sun, the moon, the truth." He took another breath and repeated himself. I let him go and he lay back, mumbling the words to himself.

"It's a good thing you found that key," Stiles said to me.

"What?" I asked confused. Then I looked at my hands, both of them were free, I must have been holding onto Liam with both arms. I looked at the handcuffs, one was open, and the other was still dangling there closed.

"We're here," Braeden called from the front.

"I can't believe I did it," Liam said.

"You think you can bring that same level of control inside La Iglesia?" Derek asked. Liam looked at his hand and popped out his claws.

"Okay," Stiles said, "we might actually be able to do this."

I looked at my hands again. "Yeah, maybe we can."

Stiles looked at me for a second as if he was going to say something, then he shook his head. Derek opened the door and came face to face with a Berserker. The Berserker grabbed him and threw him onto a concrete wall.

I leapt out of the back, grabbing a shotgun. Derek had been caught off guard and didn't have the chance to fight back. The Berserker sliced at him with his claws. I shot at the creature, until there weren't any bullets left in my gun. It finally fell to the ground. I rushed to Derek.

"No, no," I said. I pulled back his jacket to look at his wounds. My fingers came away covered in blood. I grimaced.

"How bad is it?" Peter asked.

"I'm fine," Derek said. "Just find Scott. I'll be right behind you." I didn't look, but I knew no one moved. "Go!" Derek shouted. I heard footsteps, slowly and then they were running away from us. I tried to stop the bleeding, but it was useless.

"Lydia was right."

"No," I shook my head. "There's still time to save you. It doesn't end like this." I ran back to the van and grabbed a pistol. "Can you still pull a trigger?" I asked. He nodded and I pressed the gun into his hand. "Okay, here. Stay with me. We're going to find Scott and Kira, and then we're going to get you help. Okay?"

I heard movement and we both looked around. "Promise me you'll save yourself." I didn't say anything. "It's my dying wish, you have to listen. Don't be stubborn now."

I let out a breath. "You aren't going to die." I grabbed more ammo out of the van and then ran inside. It wasn't until I was reloading my gun that I realized there wasn't any blood on my hands.

OoOoO

The church was dark and the only light I had was the flashlight on my phone. "Scott?" I called. "Kira?" There wasn't answer. I hadn't seen Stiles, Peter, or Malia either.

I searched the church as quickly as possible. It was like a maze, I wasn't sure if I'd ever find my way out. Then finally I heard a noise. I turned and saw Kira, she held her hand up over her eyes to block the light, and I lowered my flashlight from her face. I breathed a sigh of relief. "Where's Scott?"

She shook her head. "Kate made him into one of them," she said.

"One of what?" I asked.

"A berserker," she said. "If they don't know, they could kill him."

"Come on, we've got to find them!" I grabbed her arm and pulled her deeper into the church. We ran right into Stiles, we all screamed.

"My flashlight died," he said.

"Where is everyone else? Scott's a Berserker."

Stiles didn't even ask questions. "This way!" As he led us down the hall he had an epiphany. "That's why Lydia isn't here, so she couldn't warn us we were killing Scott."

We found Peter, Liam, and Malia fighting a Berserker. "That's him, that's Scott!" Kira said. Malia was holding one of the Berserker's claws, ready to go in for the kill. Kira swung her sword and chopped the claw in half. Everyone looked at her. "That's Scott!" There was a moment of complete silence, as the others looked at the Berserker. The quiet was broken when he attacked, throwing Malia across the room.

Peter and Liam jumped to help her. Stiles grabbed my arm. "Go."

"What?" I asked.

"We both know Derek isn't going to make it," he said. "Go. We can handle this." I stared at him for a moment before sprinting out of the room. Somehow I remembered the way to the exit; I was almost there when another Berserker appeared in my path.

I reached for my gun and got off two shots before the creature was on top of me. It threw me to the ground and I lost my gun. I struggled to get away and searched frantically in the dark for my gun.

Finally I gave up, and decided that if I was going to go out now, I was going to go out fighting. I flung myself at the Berserker and started trying to tear the bone armor off. Surprisingly enough, I ripped a rib off. It threw me off balance just long enough for the creature to pin me down, but I stabbed it. I felt the bone connect with flesh and the Berserker howled.

The Berserker rose up its claws to strike and I flung up my hands to shield myself, but the blow never came. I opened my eyes and saw the Berserker had been crushed under a falling beam from the ceiling. The beam was less than a centimeter from me, if it had been any closer, I would have been dead too.

I leapt up and ran out of the church. There were bullets flying every which way, I made a dash to the wall where I'd left Derek. "Hey," I said. He looked at me, but his eyes didn't quite focus. I reached up and touched his face. "Stay with me, okay? We found Scott and Kira, we're almost done here. Just hold on a little bit longer."

He looked at my arm. "Your tattoo." His voice was so fait it took me a second to register what he said. I looked at my wrist. The triskele was back, dark and bold as if it had never disappeared.

"If I'm a succubus, you can take my energy. It'll help, it'll get you through this."

"Won't work." His eyes started to close.

I let out a sob and pressed my forehead to his. "Please, don't leave me," I whispered.

"Ava!" Braeden shouted. I turned; a Berserker was stomping towards her. She was shooting, but it wasn't slowing down. I reached for my own gun, and then remembered I'd lost it inside. So instead, I leapt at it. I had the advantage of surprise, and the new knowledge that I could tear this thing apart piece by piece. I ripped bones from its armor and stabbed the creature with them. The Berserker staggered and I went for a claw, and then drove it right through its skull.

Braeden watched as the creature fell to the ground. "That's impossible." I was just as shocked as she was.

A howl distracted us and I turned in time to see a black wolf attack Kate, she screamed as she was knocked to the ground. The wolf backed away, and Kate tried to escape. The wolf changed into Derek and I blinked hard, half expecting it to be my imagination. "You were dead," Kate said.

"No, I was evolving. Something you'll never do," he said. A Berserker approached and Derek turned and grabbed its skull and crushed it. Kate pushed herself to her feet and I started to run after her, but Argent beat me to it. He shot her. Kate stumbled but kept going, Argent went after her, clutching his side in pain.

Derek walked up to me. "I told you that you weren't going to die," I said.

"You didn't know that."

I smiled and repeated something Brooke had said to me. "Miracles happen every day, you should know that better than anyone."

OoOoO

The sun came up soon and it was time for everyone to go their separate ways. Scott had proved Peter was actually insane, something we'd all suspected for a while. He'd been sedated and thrown in the back of the prison van. Argent had made a deal with the Calaveras. He would help them catch Kate, and they would leave the rest of us alone.

"I think it's time for me to get out of town for a while," Derek said.

"You get out of town a lot," I said. "I'm starting to think "Cora" is actually code for some other girlfriend you're hiding in South America. Your sister is probably actually off in Romania or something."

He smiled. "You could always come with me and find out."

"You know I can't." I shook my head. "My life is in Beacon Hills. But I'll still be here when you find yourself, or whatever."

He reached for my hand and flipped it over to look at the triskele on my wrist. "Do you know what it means?"

I shrugged. "Honestly, no. I'm hoping Deaton can shed some light on things. Another reason I can't just up and leave." He ran his finger over the tattoo. "I don't think I'm a succubus anymore."

"There's one way to test that." He pulled me towards him and kissed me.

"Get a room!" Malia called. I held out a hand towards her and flipped her off.

I pulled back and looked up at Derek. He held on to me, ready to catch me if I collapsed. "Nothing?" He asked.

I shook my head. "Nothing."

"Have fun searching the books, you might be a fifth of the way though one by the time I get back."

I laughed and gave him a playful shove. "Don't disappear on me again, promise? I'm tired of saving your sorry ass."

"No ass saving will be necessary this time, I promise."

I kissed him again. "Good."