The apartment Cora had been staying in looked as though a bomb had hit it and the scent trail was just about cold, signalling it had been days since she had been taken.
Peter and Malia worked their way around wordlessly, picking at everything to see what they could come up with.
Malia wouldn't lie, the raise in her father's heartbeat as their search continued to come up with nothing was sending her own heart into a flurry.
The scent of her cousin was familiar in the way Derek's was before she'd known they were related and Malia could tell it would have been comforting to be in her home if the stench of fear wasn't saturating every surface. Items carefully chosen littered the floor and Malia did her best to rescue what she could, finding a box in the closet to load the salvageable knick-knacks in.
"If I was going to hide a clue- where would I hide it?" Malia wondered, as she toed through the mess that was once Cora's bookshelves, mouthing the titles of a whole volume of books about Mexican folklore as she stacked them back onto the shelves.
"Maybe Cora was trying to work out what Kate did to Derek to evolve him?" She wondered, holding out a book on La Iglesia to Peter.
Peter took a long moment looking at the book, thinking about all he knew when it came to his nephews metamorphosis. Kate had kept the specifics close to her chest during their short alliance, and other than the location...
"Or what if someone else was trying to work it out?" Peter muttered, leaping up and grabbing his keys, suddenly so sure that there would be more evidence of his niece in the church rather than her trashed apartment.
"How far is La Iglesia from here?" Malia called as she followed him down the stairs, hot on his heels.
"About two hours." Peter said, throwing the keys over his shoulder at Malia, "You drive, I have some calls to make.
The evidence of their last battle in the old church was almost masked by the fresh wounds of a more recent one. The air still held the sting of gunpowder and the blood splashed on sand and stone still looked a bright, fresh red.
"This looks bad." Malia whispered, following Peter as they warily got out of the car. Peter closed his eyes, sniffing the air and searching for the beacon of Pack amongst the stench of death, decay and magic. "It's also very quiet."
Like a bad movie, a Berserker emerged slowly from the entrance to the church. Its joints creaking and bones clinking as it lurched at them, pulling out a bone dagger from its armour.
Peter groaned, shooting a heated glare at his daughter.
"You had to say it didn't you." he hissed, rolling his neck as he shifted. "Remember, daughter mine, you fight Berserkers to kill."
Malia followed her father, shifting and roaring as she moved forward to meet the beast in the ruin of the church's yard. This place had seen the death of one Hale, they would give it everything to make sure that it would see no more.
Before damage on either side could be done, a wall to the left crumbled, drawing the attention of the Berserker and allowing Peter to get it in a headlock.
"Malia! Finish this!" Peter grunted, straining as he fought to hold the beast. "Malia!"
"Hold on." Malia said, her blue eyes drawn to the two figures slowly being revealed by the settling dust. Both appeared slim, one needing to lean heavily on the other but despite the limited vision and all of the dust in the air, a familiar scent continued to draw Malia's attention.
Before she could make a decision one way or another, a shard of bone flew from the dust, missing the Berserkers armour and sinking into the monster's eye socket.
The creature howled, bringing its hands up to its face as it fell to its knees. Peter took the opportunity to plant his boot into the Berserker's shoulder and grip the mask, growling as he ripped the mask from the thing's head.
What was left of the Berserker crumbled to the ground, the magic animating it no longer sustaining it. Malia blinked slowly at the rotting flesh of what was left as Peter regained his balance, throwing the mask to the side and wiping his hands on his pants.
"Cora!" Peter yelled, rushing forward to take his niece, still leaning heavily on the stranger.
Was it a stranger? Malia thought, a familiar scent relaxing the coyote inside her as she took in this newcomer, currently bending down to take things from the armour of the Berserker.
She was little. Little but strong. Dressed in animal furs with bits of silver and bone braided into her long black hair.
The woman turned as she stood, and Malia gasped all at once her heart beating fast and her mouth going dry.
Because despite the rough, hardened look of a skinwalker, this was definitely not a stranger.
It was Kira.
Liam was close to giving up.
He'd been acting alpha for what felt like two minutes and he felt about ready to give up and hide in his bedroom for the rest of his life.
But the acting Alpha can only spend so much time wrapped in a blanket burrito.
Which is why Liam was in his tree house.
He fiddled with his phone, bringing up Scott's contact before closing it, typing out messages on every social media app before deleting them.
And then for a long time he just looked at meme accounts on instagram.
Which is where Theo found him, Lying half on a bean bag and giggling away as he thumbed through a series of posts about dogs.
"Good to see you've come up with a plan for the coming evil." He chuckled, liking the way it sounded when Liam laughed and wishing they had a life where he was free to do it more.
"I'm taking a break." Liam said, switching off his phone and tucking it into his pocket, opening his arms for Theo to snuggle in with him. Theo jumped at the opportunity, pulling himself fully into the treehouse and settling into Liam side, nuzzling into his neck and letting Liam hold him tightly.
"You know, whatever you decide to do, call in the big guns or wait for more information. I'll stand by you."
"I'm just worried I'll fuck it up." Liam said, holding Theo as tight as he dared.
"Hey." Theo muttered against Liam's throat, pressing a kiss to his pulse point. "Follow your gut. You make good choices."
When Liam hummed his non committal, Theo pulled away slightly, his grin wide.
"I mean, you did pull me out of hell after all."
Liam looked down at the string that still connected them, thick and tightly braided, the visual evidence of the growing bond between them. "Yeah," he whispered, smiling softly. Best decision of his life.
A few days had passed with nothing of note happening. The Calavera hunter wasn't doing anything worth being concerned about (unless you counted being a jerk to students, which seemed like more of a Principal Martin problem than a supernatural one) and no other threats had raised their heads either despite Lydia's claim that evil was already here. Numerous patrols had found nothing, zip, nada.
So now they were pretending to be normal teengers, and Theo was bundled up in a jacket and sitting next to Mason in the stands, watching as Liam, Corey, Nolan and Brett warmed up with the rest of the lacrosse team. The awkward silence stretched between them, not helped by the unease and distrust wafting from Mason.
"So," Theo said conversationally when he couldn't take it any more, "cold weather we're having."
Mason levelled a glare at him. "Really? We're going there? The weather?"
Theo shrugged. "What else do you expect me to say?" He asked. "Just start talking about how life is going? We're not exactly friends, Mason."
He narrowed his eyes as Mason scoffed. "And whose fault is that, huh?"
A cleared throat made Theo look up, his eyes searching for and meeting Liam's, who looked annoyed.
"Can you two not do this right now?" He muttered, looking down so that it wasn't obvious he was talking. "We're trying to get pumped up for the game and this isn't helping."
"I'm sorry," Theo said.
"What? Really?" Mason said. Theo shot him an irritated look.
"Not you," he snapped.
"Be nice," Liam growled. "That's my best friend."
"And my boyfriend," Corey pointed out. Theo looked at him, finding him glaring at him. "I could take you Raeken."
"Oi," Liam objected.
"Can all of you shut the fuck up please?" Brett hissed. "For one thing, you all look fucking insane right now."
Liam had the grace to look sheepish. "Right," he muttered. He looked up at Theo, blue eyes entreating him. "Please try and get along," he whispered. "For me?"
Theo sighed. "I'll try." Liam smiled brilliantly at him, blowing him a kiss, and Theo blushed. "Good luck," he whispered.
When he turned to look at Mason, he had a funny look on his face. "Did I miss something?" He asked, looking between Theo and Liam.
"Sorry," Theo said with a grimace. It almost hurt, apologising to Mason, but he wanted to make Liam happy. "Liam was asking me to be nicer to you."
"Oh," Mason said. He swallowed, looking down at his hands. "I guess I could try a bit harder as well."
"That's my boy," he heard Corey say. Theo rolled his eyes at him, and Corey just smirked, turning his back to him.
"What?" Mason asked, following Theo's gaze.
"Corey's proud of you apparently," Theo said, and Mason beamed.
"He's such a sweetheart," he sighed, waving down at his boyfriend, who gave him a wink over his shoulder.
"Sure," Theo agreed. Corey was a nice guy, now that he thought about it. When Theo had brought him back from the dead, he'd been annoyed at how cowardly Corey had been, refusing to get his hands dirty and disappearing for long stretches of time. Now, though, he was happy that Corey had managed to avoid most of the unpleasantness. "He's lucky, I think."
"What makes you say that?" Mason asked curiously.
"When everything was going down, Lydia, Eichen House, me being a psycho," Theo frowned at that, remembering that ugly red hot anger and powerlessness that had burned in his chest, that thirst to prove himself, to survive, eclipsing everything including his conscience, "he had you."
Mason nodded slowly, looking back down at Corey. "I'm the lucky one, really," he said quietly. "He's always tried to protect me, like when I was the Beast." He shuddered then, and Theo felt a sympathetic pang in his chest. "I wouldn't be here without him."
"I knew from the second he saw you that he liked you," Theo said after a minute. "He lit up."
"Did he ever talk about me?" Mason asked curiously.
Theo gave a bitter laugh. "Maybe he would have, if we were friends. I saw him as more of a tool. A means to an end."
Mason's face was troubled as he looked at him. "You know," he said slowly, "I know I act like I hate you, and maybe part of me always will, but even I can appreciate how much you've changed since then. You care now, and you're trying to fix the wrong you did."
Theo bit his lip, dropping his head to hide how deeply his words had affected him. "Yeah?" He asked hoarsely.
"I thought maybe it was an act," Mason admitted, "but then you took Gabe's pain, and I knew it was real. You can't fake that."
He nodded. It hadn't been the first time he'd taken pain, of course, but Mason had been unconscious when he'd taken Liam's. He still remembered how it had felt though, the pain burning through him like fire.
"Also," Mason continued, looking at him seriously, "I never thanked you."
Theo frowned in confusion. "For what?" He asked incredulously.
"Bringing Corey back," he said. "Thank you, Theo."
"I didn't do it for a good reason," Theo pointed out, feeling weary.
"No, I know," Mason said, nodding slowly, "but thank you anyway. And I'm sorry about what you had to endure afterwards."
"Don't be," Theo said. "I deserved it."
"I don't know," Mason admitted with a sigh. "I don't think you did. We've forgiven people who did far worse. We've worked with Gerard. We've worked with Deucalion. Peter is like a snarky uncle now." He shook his head, meeting Theo's eyes. "You deserve to be forgiven too."
He felt tears coming to his eyes and ducked his head, rubbing at them. Mason looked away, giving him a second to recover.
"Are you okay?" Liam asked, and Theo glanced up to where he was huddled with the team, eyes on him, and nodded, giving him a watery smile.
"You love him, don't you?" Mason asked.
"Yeah," Theo said. Liam grinned at him, ducking his head and turning his attention back to Coach Finstock. "I really do."
"Maybe a bit of advice then, if it's not too forward of me," Mason said.
Theo raised an eyebrow at him. "Advice?"
"Don't let Liam be your everything," Mason said. "You'll smother each other. At the moment you have him, school and supernatural bullshit. You don't really seem to have any hobbies, or spend time on your own."
Theo considered this. "You think we spend too much time together?" He asked, sounding worried. He didn't want Liam to get sick of him, to send him away. Just the thought of it made him feel sick to his stomach.
"No," Mason said firmly. "I can see you spiralling, and you need to stop." He grabbed Theo's shoulder and squeezed it. "I just meant that you need a hobby. Something that's just for you. It's not healthy to depend on another person completely."
"Oh," Theo said. "A hobby." He frowned. "I guess not trying to steal Scott's pack left a hole in my extracurriculars."
Mason snorted. "I figured. I can't imagine you had much time for them."
"Not really," Theo admitted.
"Didn't you skate sometimes when you were first in town?" Mason asked.
"Yeah, it was part of my cover," Theo replied, "but I sucked at it."
This made Mason smirk. "Perfect Theo not so perfect after all."
Theo rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. I bet you're rubbish on a skateboard as well."
"Probably," Mason admitted with a grin. "So, what else are you interested in?"
He shrugged. "No idea, to be honest."
"You could play a sport," Mason offered. "Finstock would probably let you on the team. Corey told me that he thinks it's hilarious how many supes he already has."
"No," Theo said, shaking his head, "that's Liam's thing."
"A different sport?" Mason asked.
Theo considered. "I always wanted to try football when I was a kid," he admitted, "but I had asthma, so my parents wouldn't let me try out."
"Asthma isn't a problem anymore," Mason smiled.
He nodded slowly. "True. Maybe I'll give it a shot." He looked at Mason, sort of surprised that they'd just had a normal conversation. "Thanks Mason."
Mason looked surprised as well. "Yeah, no problem."
"They're adorable," Corey cooed. Theo's head shot around, finding Corey standing in the goals, beaming up at them.
"So cute," Liam agreed from the centre of the field.
"Guys, can we focus please?" Nolan said timidly.
"Don't worry about it," Brett said from down by the goals, smirking back at them over his shoulder as the crowd cheered. "I can win this game on my own."
"Jerk," Theo muttered.
Mason glanced at him. "Huh?"
"Just Brett being Brett," Theo sighed. "Just be glad you can't hear him."
He looked at Mason, who had a thoughtful frown on his face. "Maybe I can," he mused.
"What do you mean?" Theo asked, confused.
"I'm a chimera, remember? Just like you," Mason pointed out, closing his eyes.
"Mason," Corey said, the anxiety in his voice making Theo pay attention.
"What? What is it? What's he doing?" Liam asked.
"I think he's trying to access his chimera powers, which is a really, really bad idea," Corey said, running towards the stands.
Theo acknowledged this with a nod, grabbing Mason's shoulder. "Mason? Mason? Dude, come on. Don't do anything stupid."
Mason opened his eyes, and Theo studied him, breathing a sigh of relief after a moment when everything seemed normal.
But then his eyes flashed, one the golden amber of a wolf, the other a bright neon pink, and Theo was struck by a debilitating pain. It felt like his brain was melting and he let go of Mason with a gasp, relieved when the pain immediately disappeared.
Corey reached them then, reaching for Mason, but Theo knocked his hand away.
"Don't touch him," he hissed. "There's something wrong."
Mason opened his mouth in a silent scream, his body starting to convulse while they both watched him with horror. Around them, people started noticing, calling for help.
The first adult to the scene was the Calavera, who took one look at Mason's eyes and started urging everyone to get back. The game stopped as the crowd was ushered away, all of them whispering and looking back over their shoulders, craning to get a good look at what was happening.
Liam, Brett and Nolan sprinted over, and Theo held them back with an arm.
"You can't touch his skin," he said urgently.
Liam brought a hand up to the side of his face, eyes wide with panic, coming away sticky with blood.
"What happened?" He asked, his voice wavering.
"The wolf is right," the hunter said gruffly. "You can't touch the boy. He's too far gone."
Corey snarled at him, and the hunter lifted up the sleeve of his shirt, showing the gun tucked into his side.
"You don't scare me," he said, his face impassive. "Get out of the way."
"Leave him alone," Corey growled.
"Stand down, wolf, and let me deal with this," the hunter said, slowly pulling out his gun. Theo clutched Liam's arm, feeling dizzy as he stared at the gun. A hunter of that calibre wouldn't have ordinary bullets.
"Back off hunter," Liam snarled. "This is your only warning."
The two of them studied each other, both determined to have this end their way. Theo had his money on Liam and pulled away from him, giving him his hands free for the Mexican standoff, though he wavered, dizziness making the world fuzzy around the edges.
"Not this time, kid," the hunter said, cocking his gun.
Liam lurched forward, eyes widening, but Brett was already there, standing between the hunter and Mason, hands held up.
"It doesn't have to end like this," Brett said, eyes glowing a fierce gold.
The hunter's eyes drifted down, spotting the tattoo on Brett's arm. "One of Satomi's," he noted.
"You know we don't want to hurt you," Brett continued, stepping closer, reaching his hand out for the gun. "We just want to help our friend."
"Look at him," the Calavera scoffed. "You can't help him. You can only end his suffering. Now move, kid."
Brett's eyes narrowed. "No."
"Suit yourself." The hunter's finger tightened on the release.
A second later, it went flying out of his hand as he was sent reeling backwards, Nolan standing over him, radiating power, his eyes a vibrant green, his face impassive.
"You will not harm these people," Nolan said in a monotone voice, brooking no argument. "You will get up, and you will leave."
The hunter stared at him like he'd seen a ghost. Nolan took a step forward and he scrambled back, reeking of fear. Turning tail, he sprinted away, leaving only the stink of his fear behind, and his gun.
Theo looked after him, even as Liam and Corey managed to get through to Mason and knock him out.
What had all that been about?
"I had a feeling something like this was going to happen," Deaton said, his face troubled as he leaned over Mason, lifting up each eyelid and shining the torch into his eyes. They were different colours, and Liam felt the panic in his chest rise up, choking him.
"Is he going to be okay?" Corey asked. He stood next to Mason, hands hovering like he wanted to touch him but felt like he wasn't allowed to.
"It's too early to tell," Deaton frowned. "I have some herbs I can try to rouse him, but until his eyes turn back, I feel it would be unwise."
"How do we turn them back?" Theo asked.
Liam felt a wave of gratitude for him voicing the words he couldn't get out.
"Wolfsbane should work," Deaton said reluctantly.
"But?" Theo prodded.
"But it will probably hurt him," he said quietly. Everyone turned to Corey.
"He's already in pain," Corey whispered. "If it helps, even a little, then do it."
Deaton nodded, pulling the vial from a drawer, drawing some into a needle and injecting it into his neck. Liam winced with remembered pain, watching the black lines spread through his veins.
Mason's brow smoothed out, his pained expression disappearing. When Deaton examined him again, both of his eyes were brown and Corey fell against him, sniffling into his neck. Liam turned away, relief flooding him.
He took a moment to breathe, to feel happy, and then he steeled himself, looking at Deaton, every inch the leader.
"How did this happen?" He asked, the tone of his voice demanding immediate answers.
"Mason accessed powers he wasn't ready for," Deaton said, squaring his shoulders as he turned to face Liam. "His mind shut down."
"What powers?" Liam asked.
"He told us that Mason's chimera is part Satori," Corey whispered.
"Enlightenment?" Brett asked. Liam whipped his head to stare at him.
"What?" He asked.
"It's a buddhist tradition," he frowned. "It means seeing into one's true nature, meditating and reaching enlightenment."
"Yes," Deaton said. "I believe that the creature is the origin of that tradition."
Theo shifted his feet, drawing Liam's attention. He looked thoughtful. "I think I remember something."
"From your time with the Dread Doctors?" Liam asked, staring at him.
Theo scratched at his neck, eyes distant as he tried to remember. "It was years ago," he said slowly. "The Dread Doctors took me with them to Japan and attacked a temple. They took something from there, but I never knew what. I just remembered seeing this statue in the temple. It was like an ape, but not, different, older somehow. I spent ages trying to find out what it was, but there's very little information about them."
Liam nodded, turning to look back at Deaton, who looked tense.
"They can read minds," Deaton admitted. "That's all I've been able to verify from the limited information available."
They all looked at Mason. "Telepathy?" Theo said with a frown. "It explains why the Dread Doctors wanted one so badly, I guess."
"I warned Mason about the dangers of testing his powers," Deaton sighed. "I wanted to find more information first, so that we weren't going in blind."
"And now?" Liam asked.
"Now he's woken them up," Deaton shrugged. "He's a chimera in truth now. As for how it will affect him? Well, only time will tell."
Liam stared down at his best friend, worry filling his chest. Mason had already been struggling. Who knew how much worse it would be now?