Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf, or sadly, any of the men inherent within it
Two-Pack II
Maggie frowned as she read the various reports that she had collated over the last few weeks. Deaths of werewolves weren't exactly uncommon, after all, there were hunters, and Britain was the headquarters of the Fivefold, so beasts like werewolves were targeted a lot more than they ordinarily would be had they lived anywhere else, but still, there was something not quite right about all this.
"Amanda, you there?" she called, trying to resist the urge to scratch her scarred face, and her companion entered, looking worried.
"Maggie, what is it, what's wrong?" she asked sharply, her voice betraying no emotion as usual, and Maggie smiled, her companion could be the ice queen all she liked, but she knew that she did occupy a special place in the younger woman's heart
"Nothing you need to worry yourself about. I've got a job for you." She told her, and Amanda raised a pencilled eyebrow.
"What sort of job? Are you sure you want me to go, there are others-" she said, and Maggie fixed her with a patient look out of her remaining eye.
"Amanda, I might have been mauled by the queen, but I have not lost all of my skills, I'll be fine for a few days without you, don't you worry about that." She assured her protégé, who allowed the barest flicker of a smile before she came around the other side of Maggie's desk to look at the various clippings and reports that she had laid all over it.
"What have we got?" Amanda asked, now looking at the reports with a professional interest, and Maggie frowned as she considered everything that she had accumulated.
"That's the thing, I don't know. All we've got are dead werewolves, over a dozen of them. But here's the curious part, the deaths are scattered all over the country, from Cardiff, to Scarborough, even up in Perth." She informed her protégé, who looked at her mentor sceptically.
"Well, we know that the two sides are getting antsy, and if the Fivefold is starting to rattle it's sabres, maybe this is their first stage, you know, cleaning house before they go to, you know, war." She suggested, and Maggie nodded slowly, still studying the various reports.
"Ordinarily I would agree. But, if it was the Fivefold, surely they would take out an entire pack? That's the odd thing, all of the victims are from different packs. And even stranger, none of them are the Alpha, they're all Betas." She informed her, and now Amanda turned and looked at her mentor, her eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"Wait, that doesn't make any sense. Surely if it was the Fivefold, they would at least-"
"Wipe out at least one entire pack? Yes, that was my thinking. Even if it was a lone wolf, they would surely have enough power to go after the Alpha. But no, all over the country, there has been one single beta, who, from the looks of it, always seems to be the prime beta, who has been killed. I want you to investigate. If it gets back to the Beasturo that British werewolf packs are under attack, it will escalate matters and make things worse than they already are. Both sides are clamouring for an excuse to start shooting at each other, and I'm damned if the thing that sets both sides into bloody war is going to happen in my backyard. Investigate, find out who is killing betas, and why. Something about this just…isn't right." She muttered, and Amanda nodded, giving her a predatory grin.
"And if I find whoever is doing it?" she asked, and Maggie grinned.
"Just because both sides are trying to kill one another, doesn't meant we need to change how we do things. You find them, put them down." She ordered, and Amanda smiled, turning to gather her things, while Maggie considered just what was going on, and what it meant for the future.
XX
"Melissa, do you need anything else?" Aiden asked, but she shook her head, touching his face affectionately.
"No thanks honey you boys have done more than enough. Thank you for letting us stay here." She said sweetly, and he shrugged his bare shoulders, looking embarrassed.
"It's no big deal, we've got enough room. It's nice having the penthouse full again. And besides, Scott's my Alpha and Isaac's Ethan's best friend, we could hardly leave you out on the street. And you, you're…" he mumbled, and she patted his cheek.
"You are sweet. How about I make you lot some breakfast?" she asked, heading into the kitchen leaving Aiden standing awkwardly in the hall before he headed back into the living room, where Isaac, who was sitting on the couch with a frown on his face as he surveyed his schoolbag, looked up at the slightly older twin who was scarlet as he sat down opposite Isaac.
"Have you ever considered what will happen if Scott discovers you have a major crush on his mother? You're not even subtle about it, you're nearly as bad as Stiles with Lydia…though I'll give you your due, you're less creepy than he was with her." He said fairly, and Aiden scowled, squirming uncomfortably, and decided to move on from this dangerous subject.
"You doing ok?" he asked, and Isaac shrugged.
"Yeah mostly. At least the fire didn't get all the way up the stairs so the upstairs is mostly fine, it just reeks of smoke. Melissa's going back today to find out the last of it." He told him, and Aiden nodded, skidding his feet on the carpet as he adjusted a cushion so that it was sitting in his lap.
Scott, Isaac, Melissa, Camden and Rakaisha had all moved into the twins penthouse temporarily while the house was investigated to see how much damage the fire had done. Like Isaac said, due to Rakaisha's magic, the fire hadn't gotten up the stairs, and while there was a little bit of damage, most of the stuff in the bedrooms was alright. The kitchen was also mostly unharmed, it too just reeked of smoke. The living room and the entry hall however were a lost cause, and the stairs to the upper level were incredibly unsafe and unstable, and they had only gotten their clothes and things because Rakaisha, determined to make up in some small way for the house being attacked as she blamed herself for what had happened, had went up and gotten their things for them. Ethan then caused a distraction by yawning as he entered the room, clad only in sleep trousers like his brother and sitting down beside Isaac.
"Where's Scott?" Ethan asked, patting Isaac's shoulder as he sat beside him.
"In the shower. He's not happy with me." Isaac said in slight amusement, and Aiden looked at him curiously, trying to ignore Ethan's grin as he spotted the cushion his brother was holding on his lap.
"How, does he blame you?" he asked, earning him a glare from Ethan, but Isaac shook his head.
"No, nothing like that. He's just annoyed because I won't have sex with him in your shower." He told them cheerfully as he went through to help Melissa with breakfast.
"Hey, we agreed we weren't going into the fault of all this, they're our friends, they need our help." Ethan snapped, and Aiden held up his hand, his cushion falling away and he was relieved to see that everything had gone back to normal down below.
"I'm not saying they didn't! But…" he mumbled, but went quiet as Rakaisha entered looking miserable.
"Hey, you doing any better?" Ethan asked tenderly as she flopped down at the table.
"Not really. It's my fault that we're here, and in your hair. It's my fault Melissa, Scott and Isaac are homeless now! It's my fault Stiles jeep was destroyed, all because I don't have the faintest idea of how to stop Ifrit!" she wailed, and Camden entered, glowering at the twins for setting her off again.
She had been a state in the two days since she had moved in, constantly blaming herself for what had happened to the house, and was constantly on the verge of tears, despite Melissa, Scott, Isaac and Camden insisting that it wasn't her fault what had happened.
"Kaisha, we don't mind that you're here, we like having you guys here, I've got my best friend staying with me!" Ethan said brightly, and Aiden sent him a reproachful look.
"I thought I was your best friend." He complained, and Ethan grinned.
"Nah, you're just my twin." He said cheerfully as Melissa came through with breakfast, Isaac bringing through some coffees.
"Now I know you guys are letting us stay here so I can't really nag, but you should get ready for school. Scott, breakfast!" Melissa yelled, and he appeared, flicking up his hair and sitting beside Isaac and opposite Aiden.
"So are you going to the house today?" Scott asked, and she nodded, rubbing her eyes tiredly.
"Yeah, see if we're any further forward, and I'm going to have to call mom and tell her what's happened too. She'll burn a trail all the way up here, she'll freak when I tell her." She lamented, and Rakaisha looked worriedly at Melissa, looking tearful.
"Melissa, I'm-" she began, but Melissa cut her off with an expression of mingled exasperation and consolation.
"Sweetie, you saved the house if anything, it's not your fault that there's yet another insane evil monster out there trying to kill us all." She said tiredly, and Scott sent her a reproachful look, which she didn't spot, but Isaac did, his brows contracting in concern.
"What about Stiles? How's he doing without his jeep?" Ethan asked, tucking in to his breakfast, and Scott chewed his lip nervously.
"I don't know, we haven't seen much of him since the fire. There's something not right about him." He said worriedly, and Aiden shrugged, lounging back in his chair, filling up Melissa's coffee cup helpfully and she smiled at him thankfully.
"Well we're all under a lot of strain Scott." He pointed out, and something flickered on his boyfriend's face again, which made Isaac feel that it might soon be time to get Scott away from the others and have a word with him.
"Yeah I know, it's just…" he said nervously, and Camden looked at him curiously.
"You're afraid that it could be this notsune thing you told us about?" he asked, which, from what he had heard of it (thankfully for all concerned Scott and Isaac had left out the news that the Nogitsune had all but sexually attacked him), wasn't a thing any of them wanted to come back, which sadly seemed to be a recurring theme in this town.
"The Nogitsune. I don't know but something's not right." He muttered nervously as they all went about eating their breakfast.
As the twins quickly got ready and went with Scott and Isaac to school (Isaac was on the back of Scott's bike), and Melissa turned down an offer of company as she went to the house, leaving Camden and Rakaisha sitting at the table, Rakaisha looking miserable, and Camden decided that he'd had enough of her self-pity.
"Alright Kaisha, enough is enough! Yeah, that Ifrit guy could have gotten us, but he didn't! We all survived, everyone is alright, and the house isn't totally lost, you saved it if anything. So stop your moping, get back on your feet, stop feeling sorry for yourself, and be the girl that I fell in love with, you hear me?" he demanded in his best army voice and to his delight, she jumped up, the fire starting to kindle in her eyes again.
"Cam…" she began, but he shook his head.
"No honey. You aren't to blame for this. But if you still feel like you owe Melissa and Scott for what happened, there is something you could be doing. This Ifrit bloke will be back, and if we've learned anything so far about the life Scott and Isaac live here in Beacon Hills, they have supernatural creatures coming out the woodwork every five minutes. So, if we could do something, anything to take a little bit of pressure off them, then we should do it, I'm pretty sure Scott won't object to us dealing with this guy on our own. So what do you say, you with me? The two of us," he purred, wrapping his arms around her exposed belly and she grinned slightly, "against some unstoppable evil yet again," he kissed down the side of her neck, "kicking ass and taking names?"
Rakaisha smiled as she leaned into the kiss he was instigating, and she nodded, sniffing slightly as she did so.
"You're right, feeling sorry for myself isn't helping anyone, and you're right that it could have been worse. And besides, no one else is blaming me either. So I reckon you're right, so how about we grab a shower as the twins have an awesome one, and unlike your prudish baby brother, I'm not opposed to having sex in someone else's house," she said brightly, and he grinned, "and then we can put our heads together and consider our options of how to get rid of this damned djinn so I can get my life back?"
"There's the girl I want to marry." Camden purred, following her towards the twins bathroom, leaving the detritus of their breakfast on the table.
XX
"Like I said, there was new evidence, even before the judge intervened. It would have kept the case out of court for so long it probably never would have gone to court anyway. And now we know Derek's innocent." Parrish said, leaning back in his chair, drinking his coffee, secretly relishing the look of impotent rage on Haigh's face as he explained what had transpired the night before.
"But he is guilty!" Haigh spat, slamming his hand against the wall as his rage disturbed him from his pacing, and Parrish shook his head.
"No he isn't, and even though he killed those guys, which I'm still not convinced he did, something still doesn't sit right about it, it was self-defence. And then there's you." Parrish said mildly, silently enjoying the flush of colour in Haigh's cheeks as he turned to face his colleague.
"What about me?" Haigh challenged, his chin jutting out defiantly, and Parrish fixed him with a pitying glance.
"Oh you know, the fact that your sister dying in the Hale fire is why you were so keen to get Derek convicted. He didn't kill your sister you know, but you did the investigation as a way to get back at him for that, which would have landed us all in trouble anyway. So, now it's over, and we're saying no more about it, in case Scott's asshole father shows up and starts sticking his nose in again. But to try and offset that, we need to investigate these." He told Haigh, who was glowering darkly at the room, but stopped as Parrish put a rapidly growing pile of paperwork on his desk.
"What's that?" Haigh asked, and Parrish smiled humourlessly.
"The ever increasing case file from this maniac who's killing people walking their dogs, and the dogs too." He told him, passing the file to Haigh who began to read it curiously.
Parrish frowned as he considered the case that was now facing them, the Owlman. The town now had so many enemies coming out of every crevice that even if they did take out one enemy it wasn't going to matter much. But at the very least it would be a start.
XX
"Yes mom I promise you that we are all completely fine, we're staying with the twins, which is perfectly alright, their penthouse is quite nice…just Aiden seems a bit weird." Melissa assured her mother as she looked sadly at her fire ravaged door while trying to calm her mother from having a stroke at the other end of the phone.
She had known it was all a big mess, she had known that when she had come here, but now that she was here she was seriously regretting the fact that she didn't have anyone here with her, because now she was looking at the burnt out husk of her family home, with an empty sinking feeling filling her gut. Soot blackened the outside walls, and the smell of smoke was still permeating from the ruined downstairs of her home. Her furniture was either ash or blackened ruins of its former self, and the walls of her living room were all black as well. The stairs were taped off declaring them unsafe, but, she mused darkly, it all could have been much worse. And as she had been frequently telling Rakaisha since the fire, she had saved the majority of things in the upstairs, yes she had lost some photos and other trinkets and memories, but most could be replaced, the pictures she had, she could ask her mother, or if her pride would allow it, Rafe but that was a problem for later on. Musing sadly on the sad state of affairs she currently found herself in, she put the phone back to her ear to catch the tail end of her mother's rant.
"Melissa, you could have all been killed! Monsters are one thing, arsonist monsters are something totally different, god knows what could have happened!" her mother raged in impotent fury down in San Francisco, and Melissa rolled her eyes, praying for patience.
"Mom! Calm down ok? There's nothing more that can be done, Rakaisha saved the vast majority of the house but obviously everything is going to need to be checked to ensure that the structure's sound, I'm meeting with the insurance people this afternoon…" she assured her mother, who then gave her a start as she took a deep breath, and unless her ears deceived her, it was a deep breath of excitement.
"That's it!" she breathed down the phone, and Melissa looked at the phone, feeling rather bemused, fair enough she had assured her mother all was as well as it was going to be any time soon, but still, she sounded far too excited considering the mess her daughter and grandson were currently in.
"Um, what is?" she asked irritably.
"Insurance darling. They need to come out and inspect it yes, that's true, however the damage was done by something far beyond your control, it was a deliberate act of arson and you currently have no place to live. And as they're going to be investigating anyway, they'll discover everything else that's wrong with the house. And as it was a fire, at the very least the roof…" she said excitedly, and Melissa let out a small gasp as the full realisation dawned on her.
The house insurance, of course. The insurance would have to pay out, and even though they would undoubtedly be very reluctant to do so, she would ensure that they would, between her and her mother they would bully them into action. But because of the fire, they would have to do all sorts of surveys, check the roof, the wiring…and for the first time in quite some time with everything that had happened lately, she felt the faintest glimmer of hope. Obviously she wouldn't get all of it, but if she did it just right, then the insurance company could very well solve several of her problems.
"Wait, are we actually thinking that Ifrit did me a favour?" she spluttered and Allegra laughed at the other end of the phone.
"It would seem we are darling. How's Stiles, I know how fond he was of that jeep." She lamented, and Melissa wondered that herself.
All of them had gotten through the fire fairly unscathed, but like Scott, she was beginning to think there was something seriously wrong with her first surrogate son and she didn't know quite what it was, but she was certain that it had something to do with the Nogitsune. And what was more, what with the fire and all, she hadn't even had a chance to check in with John, who was now thankfully out of hospital, to share her concerns, though he had phoned her frantically once he had heard of the fire happening.
"I don't know mom, but I think he's taking it kind of hard. But there's something more going on, but with everything that's happened with the fire we've not had a chance to sit down with him and just talk to him, and then of course there was John's accident as well, I'm worried about him mom." She admitted, and Allegra seethed through her teeth.
"Do you want me to come up dear, I can stay in a hotel or something, or perhaps with the attractive young deputy…" she suggested hopefully, and despite the situation, Melissa rolled her eyes in amusement.
"No mother Parrish is quite alright living alone. Besides, the damn dogs killed the girl he was seeing. And I couldn't ask you to come up mom, it's too dangerous and you're more use to Scott and the rest of the kids at home translating the bestiary anyway." She told her, and Allegra sighed sadly.
"I know darling, I'm just worried about you all. You're more than welcome to all come down here, for god sake Scott can bring his whole pack if he needs to, I'd rather you lot were all safe and sound rather than risking any of the multitude of enemies you have out there." She told her, sounding weary, scared and concerned all at once.
"I know mom, and don't get me wrong, I do appreciate it. But what have you always told us?" she asked softly with a reminiscent smile, and she could visualise the same smile on her mother's face as well.
"That even when the chips are down, stand your ground, because at the end of the day, only you can take your pride away from you. Yes I know, and I get Scott's some sort of supernatural folk hero to the masses, but still, the offer stands, considering how dangerous it is up there at the moment. Be careful, and tell Scott to call me too tonight when he gets back from school, and I wouldn't object to hearing from Stiles and Isaac either, just to set an old woman's mind at rest. Be careful dear, be safe, and let me know how you get on with the insurance company, and I'm just a conference call away if you need me…they learned not to cross me after the time the kitchen flooded." Allegra hissed, and Melissa bit down a laugh as she remembered the poor bloke, fifteen years in the job, who had been reduced to a crying, nervous, gibbering wreck by her rather irate mother when they had failed to pay out on the water damage that had meant they had needed an entirely new kitchen.
"Will do mom. I love you."
"I love you too darling, be safe." She said and hung up the phone while Melissa surveyed her home, but for the first time feeling that something that wasn't going her way could actually in the long run wind up going her way.
Of course there were a whole load of details, and as it was an insurance claim they would drag their heels, but as they had nowhere else to live really, and with not just her but Scott, Isaac, Camden and Rakaisha all depending on the house for somewhere to live they would need to move faster than they ordinarily would. And like her mother said, they would need to check everything, wiring, roof, and the lower levels would be claimed on the house insurance regardless but if she could swing it and they offered it, damn right she was going to take it. So, smiling slightly, and feeling infinitely better now about her situation than she had this morning, she turned to leave, and then saw the burnt out husk that had once been Stiles ever faithful and present jeep. Lamenting sadly, and deciding there was no time like the present, she decided to go pay John a visit, after all if she was going to be on the phone to insurance companies all day, she might as well see what she could get for him too.
And what with one thing and another she and John had never had their romantic rendezvous, so why not kill two birds with one stone?
XX
"I don't really mind it, it's quite nice having the penthouse full again." Aiden said as the vast majority of the pack sat at their usual table outside school during their lunch break, Scott and Isaac had vanished (Isaac was refusing to do any sexy stuff with Scott till they were back in their own house) to get some alone time in the locker room, leaving the rest of the pack outside discussing recent events, which of course included the twins new lodgers.
Lydia looked darkly at her hands, and Kira fidgeted uncomfortably as she had a shrewd suspicion about what was about to come.
"So, this Ifrit attacked Scott's house, and could very well have killed him, Isaac, Melissa, Camden and Rakaisha. We had the Pombero dead to rights, and could have killed her but Scott didn't take the opportunity. The dogs are getting stronger, not weaker, there's still all the Callaveras out there too and there's the Owlman and the Berserkers as well." Lydia summed up, looking worried, and Jackson scowled darkly, looking sourer than he usually did.
"Not to mention the fact that I'm still dying! And Scott, well he isn't exactly doing a lot is he, even after a direct attack on his house!" he spat, and the entire pack looked nervously around at each other, none of them wanting to voice what they were all thinking, even Jackson looked like he didn't want to actually come out and say what he felt.
Malia looked worriedly around the pack, wondering if Scott realised just how restless the entire pack were. The worst part of it was, it wasn't actually really his fault, really the only misstep he had made was the fact that he hadn't ended the threat of the Pombero when he had had the chance. But all these enemies, all these people who had rather vested interests in killing Scott and everyone he cared about, well, the entire pack was concerned, and what was more, all of them were as strong now as ever they were, if not stronger and it was really quite alarming.
"Look, I get we're all frustrated. I get we're all scared. But, Scott's the Alpha, and…" Malia began, but Danny looked at her nervously.
"Yeah but he's not exactly acting like one though is he? I mean, Derek…" he began, but Stiles roused himself from the stony silence he had imposed on himself recently, and looked across at Danny, thoroughly nettled.
"Derek would have killed the Pombero, true. But we all knew when we signed on with Scott that he isn't a killer, in fact, that's why some of us signed on with him in the first place! Yeah, we have loads of bad guys, but how's the situation that different from when we were fighting the Alpha pack? Don't look away you two, we were fighting you!" Stiles snapped as the shamefaced twins urgently tried to avoid his gaze, "there were five of you guys, and the Darach was going around sacrificing people on top of it! And what you all seem to be forgetting is two things. One, Scott is the same age we are! It's not like Derek who was a little older and should have known better, which in case you've all forgotten he didn't by the way because he's a complete caveman, he's the same age we are, he's entitled to make mistakes and because he's Scott, he won't kill, it takes time for him to learn that sort of thing! And two, remember, all the other Alphas we've faced, Peter, Deucalion, even you two, you've all killed to become Alphas, Scott didn't, he didn't ask for this crappy job, hell he didn't even really want it, he just took it because Derek was completely incapable of leading his way out of a wet paper bag never mind a pack of teenagers, and because he needed to stop Deucalion! So, all of you, each and every one of us, all of you remember just how much Scott has done, sacrificed, to keep us alive today before you go badmouthing him behind his back again!" he raged, and the entire table went quiet.
"Well said." Malia said proudly, fixing him with a swift smile while the others all looked ashamed.
As the blood coursed through his ears, he wondered if this was what Agravaine had meant. He had said to strengthen Scott's position as much as he could, but he couldn't help but wonder what that really meant. Agravaine wanted to get his hands on Scott (what exactly that entailed he wasn't certain, he was beginning to think the only one who actually did know was Agravaine himself) but if that was the case, surely the infighting and doubts about Scott's leadership would be the best course of action, it would weaken Scott. So why would he want him strengthened?
But even so, he couldn't help but feel righteously angry at the rest of the pack. Yeah fair enough, they'd all had their doubts recently, him more than most what with the whole possession aftermath thing, but still, Scott had always gone above and beyond for all of them, sometimes at the risk of his own life or expense of his own happiness. It was blatant disloyalty on all their parts to be badmouthing him like this, and, he mused with dark amusement, if Scott was the sort of Alpha who they all seemed to be wanting at the moment, well he'd probably do a Deucalion and murder them all for their treason.
Funny how these things worked out wasn't it.
And then, to everyone's great surprise Liam then stood up, looking at them all as though they'd done him a great personal wrong.
"And here's a thought: Scott's facing the same bad guys everyone else is. Now, the four of us," he snapped, gesturing to the four newcomers to the pack, "might be new to this, but surely if you're all facing the same bad guys, and think Scott isn't doing a good enough job, why don't you get off your lazy backside and hunt down the bad guys yourselves instead of sitting here badmouthing Scott while waiting for him to solve all your problems!" he raged, and stormed off, and Garrett, Mason and Violet excluded themselves as one and followed him, while Stiles smirked a little and followed with Malia and Kira in tow, leaving Jackson, Danny, Lydia and the twins sitting at the table feeling very ashamed of themselves.
XX
"Thanks guys, really." Scott said after school that day as he sat with the twins in their living room while Melissa was trying to sort out the insurance, but to his consternation both twins were rather quiet, like they were suddenly afraid to talk to him and neither of them wanted to meet his eyes.
"No big deal, with any luck we can put off having to move out for a little bit longer." Ethan reasoned, just as there was a knock at the door.
"Guys, I keep telling you you're living here too you don't need to knock!" Aiden called getting to his feet and heading to the door, while Scott shot a probing look at Ethan, who hastily tried to avoid his gaze.
"What's up?" Scott asked, and Ethan opened his mouth when Aiden gave a yell of pain as he was sent hurtling through the flat, his chest smoking.
Scott and Ethan leapt to their feet snarling, but a jet of poisoned looking fire blasted Ethan in the chest as well, sending him crashing over the room to land in a heap on top of his brother.
"Agravaine." Scott hissed, eyes glowing red as Agravaine entered the penthouse, smirking smugly as he did so, sneering down his nose at the defeated twins as they stirred feebly.
"Hello Scott. We need to have a little chat. I must say, this place is rather an improvement on your own home, I heard of that, my condolences by the way."
Scott eyed the twins who were still trying to get back to their feet, and to give them time, realising that if it came down to a fight he was going to need their help, he had to keep Agravaine talking. Though he had come alone, which was a slight bonus, there was still the most powerful member of the dog pack right in front of them.
"What do you want?" he snarled, and Agravaine allowed himself a small smile before he sat down on the couch, looking quite at ease.
"You have rather a problem here Scott. After all, you have now been forced out of your own home by yet another enemy, and this one is one who isn't even chasing after you or your pack, they're just collateral damage." He mused, inspecting his fingernails, and Scott suddenly paused.
How did Agravaine know about Ifrit, and the fact that he was here for Camden and Rakaisha rather than any of the pack? Ifrit had only just gotten to town, and he seemed more than capable of dealing with his mandate alone, so unless there was some bad guy pub where they all met and talked about their various plans to murder the pack, there was no reason that Agravaine should know about Ifrit or their conflict with him. Or for that matter, where Scott and the others had moved with their own house currently out of commission due to Ifrit's attack.
"What's your point?" Scott asked, glaring resentfully at the leader of the dog pack, and he chuckled.
"My point my dear Scott is that you have rather a large problem. You have a vast swath of enemies, and you have neither the desire nor the power to actually end any of their threats. The Pombero, the Owlman, the Berserkers, even the Callaveras, all plague your existence."
"Not to mention your pack of murderous ghostly hounds." Scott sneered, and Agravaine smiled.
"Ah, but that is why I am here. When I first arrived,"
"You kidnapped and fatally poisoned Jackson, raised the dead to attack me and my pack, burst open the prison and freed hundreds of dangerous people on my town, and that's probably just the start." Scott interjected, and Agravaine's eyes flashed a little at the interruption, but he continued.
"When I first arrived, I gave you a taste of my power, and then offered you an alliance. You rebuffed me. But Scott, I offer you the chance once again. You and I, we can be great together. You don't yet realise your importance, if you join me I will rid your town of these problems, I will help you to realise your full potential. And working together, there is so much more that we can accomplish together, together we can change the world!" he insisted, his power exuding from him.
Scott could feel the power emanating off of him, the effect of his grandiose plans, the effect of his soft hypnotic voice and even the twins seemed to be wavering, both of them having untangled themselves from each other and now looking sleepy under the influence of his power. But there was something about him, he was offering much (and yeah, it would be handy if he would fight their battles for them), but while he was offering a lot, what he was offering was also incredibly vague. And there was something, what Agravaine was getting out of it was incredibly vague, he wanted something, something else that he wasn't willing to divulge yet, and whatever it was, it couldn't be good.
"I don't think so." Scott growled, and with that, the hypnotic spell was once again broken, and Agravaine took a step back, his face the picture of fury.
"You have no idea of who you are refusing. You need me." Agravaine hissed, and Scott, confident the twins were now back to normal, stood protectively in front of them, his eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Really? Because I'm beginning to get the feeling that it's you who need me. You've been here for weeks, terrorising me and my pack to try and get me to submit to you. I've not done it, so all you've done is up your game. You want me to join you, you want to break me down and force me to join you, and then you will win. If I let you do that, let you corrupt me, you win, and only then do you get what you really want. What is that I wonder?" he asked coldly, and Agravaine, for the first time since his arrival, suddenly looked uncertain, and perhaps afraid, it was a minute slip, but it was there.
"You will regret this boy." He vowed in a deadly whisper before turning and storming from the penthouse, leaving the stunned wolves in his wake.
"What was all that about?" Ethan asked worriedly as Scott looked worriedly at where Agravaine had vanished, leaving the door wide open he might add.
"I don't know, but he wants me, needs me for something and whatever that is, it cant be good. But I'm more worried about how he knows about Ifrit, and how he knew we were here." He said darkly, and Aiden chewed on his lip nervously.
"I don't know, but I don't like it one little bit. What do we do now?" he asked, and Scott glowered darkly at the open door.
"Alert the pack, and hope to hell that Agravaine doesn't try to force my hand by joining forces with Ifrit or any of the other remaining bad guys that we have in town." He said darkly, as a deep sense of unease settled in his stomach as he mused on what Agravaine had tried to do.
XX
"Are you sure this is going to work?" Gareth asked, feeling rather stupid as he walked a Chihuahua that they had borrowed from Deaton (the owner was usually late with his bills, and the damn little dog kept yapping and had bitten Deaton, Scott, Dexio and Isaac in the time it had been in the vet's care).
"No, but just stay where Natasha and I can see you on the off chance that it actually does." Argent intoned over their radio as they kerbcrawled up the next street over, still able to see their companion in the gaps in the fences as he walked the little dog, who kept growling at him every time he tried to cajole it to move a bit faster.
"So, say we actually draw out the Owlman, what's the plan? Avians are a bitch to kill." Natasha muttered as her sharp eyes scoured the sky for any sign of their prey, and
Argent cast a glance to the tazer gun on the back seat.
"Avians are more susceptible to electricity than the rest, we blast it, bring it down then put it down, the things already killed enough people whatever we can do to end it quicker we need to do." He said, and Natasha chewed her lip, contemplating the situation.
"Yeah, but from, what the pack has told you, and from the local reports, this thing is tougher than your average creature. Avians are tough, and hard to kill, but this thing, it seems different." She said, and Argent nodded.
"Well according to the information that Maggie found us, the Owlman seems to be the mortal enemy of the Ghost Pack, and Agravaine in particular. Nothing in the lore suggests why this would be, which is making me wonder." He mused, and she arced an eyebrow at him.
"Making you wonder what?" she asked, and he considered his response before he replied.
"Making me wonder if he's a proper werebird." He said, but before she could reply to his theory there was a screech from outside.
Bringing the car to a stop, the two hunters streaked out, Argent grabbing the tazer gun as he and Natasha sprinted up the alleyway to find the Owlman swooping down at Gareth, who opened fire with several shotgun rounds, the little dog barking madly as the bird monster swooped down, his talons and claws flashing.
Emerging from the alleyway, Natasha whipped out her two pistols, firing the bullets in a wide spread, keeping the creature away from Gareth as he backed away with the dog in tow, still spreading covering fire. Argent then brought up the tazer gun as the hideous bird creature turned to face its attackers, giving a high pitched animalistic shriek as it swept towards them, but Argent, having amassed decades of experience as a seasoned hunter, raised the tazer gun calmly and fired. The Owlman, having expected a bullet, shrieked out in pain as the electric blast crackled over him, the creature falling from the air and slamming to the ground, grinding into the gravel, allowing the three hunters to aim their conventional weapons at the werebird as it struggled to get back to its feet, cawing madly, electricity crackling over it in impotent fury as it tried to recover from the wound that they had inflicted upon it.
"Isn't that a bit better then? Why don't you keep still while we ask you a couple of questions?" Natasha hissed, pressing her two pistols to its head as he tried to bite her, but Gareth and Argent cocking their weapons at him dissuaded him from trying in earnest.
"You'll pay for this!" the Owlman spat, trying to get to his feet, but Natasha fired a round into the air, which brought the creature to a stop, glowering at them resentfully.
"That may be, but not anytime soon. What are you after?" Argent asked darkly, his eyes narrowed, and the Owlman glowered up at him, the electricity still weakening him considerably.
"You don't understand, we're on the same side!" he raged, and Argent snorted derisively, pointing his gun right between the eyes of the murdering bird creature.
"On the same side? You've murdered countless innocent people and dogs, and that's just for starters, never mind having attacked the pack." He reminded, and the Owlman let out a low snarl.
"Innocents? Nothing about dogs, about canines of any sort, is innocent." He hissed, and the three hunters looked at each other, rather thrown by this strange pronouncement.
"Wait, so you actually are just attacking people to kill their dogs?" Gareth asked, as the little Chihuahua barked nippily behind them, which drew the dog a furious look from the Owlman, and he nodded bitterly.
"You have no idea what they are capable of. What they did to me, what he did to me!" he spat, and for the first time, Argent noticed something odd about the hand of the Owlman.
His left hand, his ring finger to be exact, bore a large, ornate ring, set against old fashioned black metal. In the centre of the ring, nestled within a recess, was a glowing red stone, which seemed to be pulsing with a shining red light that came from within the stone itself. It seemed to glow and reverberate with a silent energy, and it seemed to be pulsing brightly, as if it was drawing or exuding extra power.
"What did they do to you?" Gareth asked, and the Owlman looked at the very same ring that Argent was now looking at in interest.
"Agravaine, he took everything from me. My wife, my child. Ever since, I've been out to end him, to destroy everything he is and everything he stands for, and that includes all dogs, all wolves, every single creature he could use to get what he wants! Do you know what he is, what he does to them? He corrupts them, twists them, warps them like he has his own pack, so the fewer dogs there are, the less capable he is of using them against others, of them doing to them like what he did to me!" he raged, and Natasha looked at him sceptically.
"But by killing dogs, you're actively supplying him with soldiers, he uses their corpses to make whists." She pointed out, and the Owlman shook his head, his large orange eyes glowering darkly.
"You don't understand, you never will. He's stronger here, more powerful than he's ever been before, I don't understand it, don't understand why. But I can't help it, I need to kill dogs, I must kill them, it's the only way I've been able to fight him all these years, and now I'm running out of time! I don't have long left, and I need to kill him, but if he gets the boy, the Alpha, there's no telling what will happen, he might survive, he might become even more powerful, and that I can't allow. I can't allow that to happen, so either he needs to die, or the boy, and as the boy and his pack are what he's here for, if I can kill him, weaken him, then I can maybe end the Corrupter before it's too late. And you aren't going to stop me!" he hissed, and his taloned feet then swept out, taking the legs out from under the three hunters before spinning up to his feet, giving a defiant caw as he did so, and before the hunters could bring their weapons to bear, he swept away, his taloned feet ripping the little dog they had used asunder as he flapped off into the night, cawing defiantly as the feathered monster vanished into the night sky, leaving the three hunters lying, gasping for breath on the cold ground.
"Ok, so despite me risking my life, and getting that damn dog killed, what have we discovered, other than his one man genocide aimed at all dogs?" Gareth asked as the torn apart skeleton of the Chihuahua dripped with blood, and Argent lay there contemplating everything the Owlman had, and above all, hadn't said.
"That there's a time limit to their feud, and that he has a ring on his finger. He was married, and Agravaine did something to his wife and child." He said, and Natasha propped herself up on one elbow, looking thoughtful.
"Did you notice it was sort of glowing, pulsing?" she asked, and Argent nodded, sitting up himself, his mind awhirl with the various possibilities, and all of which seemed to point back to one thing: the ring was connected to the Owlman and its power.
"Yeah. Like I said, I'm beginning to think he's not a true werebird. That ring, that ring is connected to him somehow, and to Agravaine in addition to that. Whatever's going on here, that ring is much more important than we could possibly imagine. There's magic of some sort involved, but what sort I can't say. But that means that the Owlman is way more dangerous than we thought." He concluded grimly, pulling himself up to his feet, and Gareth, following suit, scowled as he got up.
"And we just lost our shot at him, he won't let himself be lured into a trap like this again. So what do we do now?" he asked, and Natasha smirked dangerously as she got to her feet.
"Well, we up our game. The Owlman wants Agravaine dead, and it seems to be his entire reason for being. So if we take him out, then the Owlman dies too. Problem solved." She smirked darkly, and the two other hunters nodded in agreement as somewhere in the distance the Owlman gave out a furious cry of defiance.
XX
"What?" Peter asked in disbelief as a rather irate Agravaine stewed in rage in the warehouse that the Ghost Pack had made their home.
"I told you, Stiles is now informing us of everything that is transpiring within the pack." He told him curtly as he swept down back to the throne he had fashioned for himself out of melted metal, still furious about Scott once more refusing his offer.
"Well that can't be right, Stiles is ridiculously loyal to Scott, he would never betray him, he's his best friend." Peter objected, and Agravaine sent him a supremely smug look as he made himself at home on the throne that he had made for himself.
"I have always found that threatening a person's loved ones brings rather excellent results. In exchange for selling out his pack, I called Thane off of Stiles father, everyone wins, well everyone except for Scott and his pack anyway." He purred coldly, and Peter mused on this rather unexpected bit of news.
He knew there was a great deal of simmering resentment towards Scott, and he also knew that because of his own actions and due to the influence of the Nogitsune and the damage it had done to him while it possessed him, Stiles wasn't exactly firing on all cylinders at the moment. And there was the fact that he had been aiming for this, to turn the pack against Scott, to leave him vulnerable to his plan, but something about this just didn't ring quite right with him. Stiles wouldn't readily turn on Scott, not so easily, out of all his unknowing minions, Stiles was the one he expected to be the one to break faith with Scott last, certainly not first.
"Perhaps you are just that good my friend." Agravaine offered, still looking supremely smug, and Peter allowed himself a small smile, before shaking his head.
"Yes, I am, but that's rather beside the point as Stiles hasn't been my main target, the other three have. Perhaps his possession did more damage to him than I thought, which could be useful. But there is one thing you don't seem to have considered, the fact that Stiles could very well be lying, the little runt is quite sneaky, and if he is indeed selling out his pack, he is rather treacherous. Which means, even if he is telling the truth about his so called defection, then he isn't to be trusted." He warned, and Agravaine scoffed dismissively.
"Oh I realise that. However whether or not he is telling the truth about his so called defection, I have given him some tasks to ensure that whether it is a ruse or not, he will wind up betraying his pack. And when that happens, it will rip apart the pack, isolate their little defiant Alpha, and Stiles will be ripped from the pack. And even if he is lying, the threat of Thane once more using his powers to destroy his father will ensure his tacit compliance until such a time that his lie becomes truth." He purred, and Peter smiled, nodding as he looked out over the warehouse that the dogs were making their home, and watched as the two Berserkers who were now currently working with Agravaine stomped off back to the Callaveras.
"Speaking of not being trusted, you can't trust the Berserkers either. They work for Kate Argent, who is a treacherous shrew at the best of times, and will gladly betray you." He warned, and Agravaine nodded.
"Of course she will, but she is currently keeping those moronic hunters out of our hair, and is most likely only using the Berserkers to keep an eye on us, so provided she doesn't actually try and act against us she can continue as long as she likes. Now, I trust that now that things are going the way we wish them to be we are past the doubting phase of our relationship?" he hissed, his eyes flashing darkly and Peter smiled.
"Of course my friend, your work is exemplary. I wonder though, how do you plan to pay Scott back for refusing you, you seem a tad miffed about it." He pointed out, and Agravaine gave him a cold, sinister smile that even froze the blood of Peter himself.
"Oh don't worry my friend, the boy will soon learn the folly of refusing my generous offer, the price will be high, and paid in blood. And when it is paid, you would do well to be in a position to exploit it, because I believe my actions will spell the beginning of the end for our young pack." He said in a deadly, murderous sounding whisper and Peter nodded, thoroughly rattled before turning and leaving, looking forward to the rapidly approaching time when Scott would finally be isolated enough to bring an end to his pack, and when he would once more be the Alpha.
Agravaine watched as Peter left, a dark, calculating smile on his face as he watched his so-called ally leave, the time when he would soon be free of that smug wannabe rapidly approaching.
XX
Stiles arrived at the old warehouse that Agravaine had made his home. Formerly a working steel mill, the large vats and construction systems had long since gone silent, and as no one cared about the fate of the place, Agravaine was perfectly able to use it as his base of operations, his entire pack assuming offices for their rooms while Agravaine had used his bizarre powers to meld himself a throne out of slag metal that had been left behind when the company that owned the mill had gone under. Now the entire dog pack resided here, awaiting their next move, which he was going to allow them to make when he reported on the tensions currently threatening to tear the pack apart.
"Have you thought of what you are doing?" a cold voice asked from behind him, and Stiles leapt a little in fright as Bonnie materialised from her dog form behind him, looking at him darkly, a disapproving glare upon her face.
"I'm saving my father and my girlfriend." He told her stubbornly, and she shot him a questioning look, looking angry yet sad at the same time.
"Stiles, doing this will not help you. You might save your father, however temporarily, but Agravaine…he isn't a good man. He isn't even a halfway decent man, and working with him, betraying your friends, your best friend, your brother, you are giving him the keys to your destruction!" she insisted, and Stiles stopped walking towards the mill warehouse, and for the first time focused his complete attention on the weredog.
Ever since they had arrived in town, the weredogs had made it quite plain that they were here to cause trouble only, indeed many of them seemed to relish it. However, Bonnie, and Eoghan and Ciara to a lesser extent, there seemed to be more to their story than they had originally let on. Was it possible that there were divisions in the dog pack as well, that Agravaine's word was not law?
"The keys to my destruction? I thought you were a loyal part of his pack, so why aren't you taking his line in me being here?" he asked, and the older woman gave him a haunted look, looking at him in slight despair.
"You don't realise what is at stake here Stiles. Yes, Agravaine leads my pack, and he did save me. But while that is true, serving him, it changes you. He will corrupt you, twist you, warp you until when you look in the mirror in the morning, you no longer recognise the person staring back at you. I'm trying to help you Stiles, you aren't in so far that you can't get out. Listen to me, turn around, go back to Scott, and save yourself." She whispered, and he stood in silence for a minute, considering her words.
He stood silently for a while, saying nothing, wondering if she would say anything else. Beneath her careworn gaze however, he could see a shred of humanity, something inside her was urging him to heed her warning, some part of her that wanted him to avoid the same fate she had doomed herself too. However as he stood silently, not answering, she glowered at him furiously.
"Very well then, don't heed my advice. But remember what I said, there will come a time when you no longer recognise who you are, and when you do, when you are left with nothing but the reminder of the choices, the bad decisions that you made, I hope you will remember that I tried to spare you the same pain that I went through, that we all went through." She told him sternly before entering the steel mill behind her, storming off and leaving him musing on just what really happened within the dog pack.
"Bonnie…I don't have a choice. It's the only way I can save the people I love." He called to her, and she stopped short as she went into the doorway and turned to look at him with a pitying look.
"And believe me Stiles, I understand that…but when all is said and done, will they still love you?" she asked sadly and disappeared into the building, prompting him to follow her in, his heart hammering in his throat as he was, after all, entering the lion's den, well dog's in this case.
"Stiles dear fellow, come on in." Agravaine called from up on the throne he had made himself from the walkway overlooking the main floor of the mill, and Stiles, more bravely than he felt, crossed the room, feeling the glares of the rest of the dogs as he climbed the stairs towards their master.
"Thanks. Is my dad safe?" Stiles shot at him, the Gwyllgi allowed himself an amused smile and nodded.
"Yes I am a man of my word Stiles, your father is safe, and should things deteriorate between my pack and your former friends, Malia will also be safe. Come, let me show you around." He whispered in his soft, melodic voice, and took Stiles by the shoulder, while the two Gytrashes glared at him murderously.
"Your friends don't look happy about me being here." Stiles pointed out, and Agravaine chuckled.
"Oh don't mind them they will do as they are told. Now my dear boy, perhaps you can help me. I had another encounter with Scott, and sadly, it did not go the way I wanted it to." He lamented, and Stiles frowned slightly in confusion.
How could he have found Scott? The rest of the pack had only found out at lunch time that Scott had moved the inhabitants of his house in with the twins, but he hadn't told Agravaine that, so who had? Was there perhaps another traitor within the pack? Did Agravaine maybe have some sort of back door into Jackson's mind that they didn't know about, that he could gleam information from? No, he would have used that by now if he had, no, this pointed to there being something else at work here, someone else had to have told Agravaine that Scott had moved in with the twins! Filled with that alarming thought, he realised that Agravaine was swigging from his private hip flask, and he cocked his head curiously.
"Why do you do that?" he asked, and Agravaine looked at him in slight incomprehension before realising what he was looking at, and pocketed the flask.
"Oh this? Think nothing of it, just an old habit, the flask was given to me by an old friend of mine, he was very dear to me," he reminisced, a sort of longing quality to his soft voice, "and it's just a habit I've been stuck with all this time. Now my boy, if I am to get what I want, I will need your help. As I said, Scott remains, stubborn, shall we say, and quite frankly, my patience is wearing rather thin. I would rather not have to escalate things further, but he is tipping my hand. So, what I need from you is information, of the sort that will truly rip Scott's support in the pack apart."
Stiles looked at him in shock, just this morning, he had wanted him to build up Scott's flagging loyalty, but now he wanted to rip it from him? But what did he stand to gain from doing that? And as Stiles thought more about it, the more a dark part of him understood it, Agravaine knew how to play this game, that much was readily apparent.
"Well that's obvious, he had the Pombero dead to rights, and he didn't finish her. And despite what you might think, we had your lot on the ropes at the lacrosse game, and he still couldn't finish you off. Scott is a lot of things, but at the end of the day, he's a hero. Vanquishing his enemy is where he struggles." Stiles explained, hating himself and praying that this wouldn't backfire.
Agravaine nodded slowly as he listened to Stiles, and the more he thought about it, the more obvious it seemed. And as he was more than justified should he up his own game, and Scott still failed…yes, that was actually perfect.
"You have been a great help my dear boy. Now, isn't the winter formal coming up? Run along, enjoy yourself, and make the most of it, because I have a feeling things are about to get very dirty." Agravaine purred, clapping Stiles on the shoulder, and Stiles sent him a worried glance before turning, his mind abuzz.
Someone else within the pack was informing Agravaine as to Scott's movements. True, he might have just had one of his pack follow him, but no, this seemed much more sinister, someone else was behind this, which meant there was a second double agent in the pack. And if that was the case, Stiles needed to find them and stop them, before they exposed him and ruined his plans to boot. Scowling darkly, and hating the djinn who had torched his faithful jeep, he stomped away while Agravaine watched him with malevolent yellow eyes behind him.
And up in the ether, high above them Peter had watched their interaction with interest, Stiles was cagey, and he was smart, there had never been any doubt of that, and his interaction with Agravaine had given nothing away. Either way, whether he was truly betraying Scott or not, between them, Peter and Agravaine would ensure that his possible lie would become his truth, and when he realised his best friend had stabbed him in the back, it would be that much easier to take Scott's head.
XX
Kate was watching from the building opposite as Ricard passed out arms for the various Callaveras. United under a reasonably competent leader, and now armed with the knowledge that had leaked out from the sheriff's office that Araya truly was dead, the entire clan was now out for blood, and as a result, the remnants of the clan had been training hard, under her tepid supervision, to make them much more of a task force than they had previously been. Once again baffled as to what reason her father could possibly want the Callaveras left alive for (admittedly under Ricard they were more of a force to be reckoned with but they were still the Dick Dastardly's of the hunter world), she watched with slight interest as they practiced with the new weapons now available to them. However, she couldn't deny, with all the monsters causing havoc in town, and with a new player nearly having torched Scott which would have ruined the Argents plans, she was in some ways quite glad that they would be going out in the field and with any luck, rapidly pruning the rather overactive enemy beastie population and making sure that things stayed on track.
As she watched, feeling rather envious as one hunter unveiled a brand new rocket launcher, her two Berserkers appeared from the early night haze behind her, stooping slightly as it chittered into her ear in it's strange language.
"Wait, are you sure?" she demanded, in total shock, and the Berserker nodded, making Kate ponder.
Admittedly the Nogitsune possession might have caused much more significant, lasting damage to Stiles than any of them had even imagined, but even then, for Stiles to have been driven to the point where he would willingly betray Scott…
This bore watching.
"Ok, anything else?" she asked, and they chittered at her, their hot breaths billowing around her in the cool night air, and she nodded, figuring, as they had told her, that Agravaine and his pack were indeed up to something and that the Gwyllgi was preparing to reach new levels of viciousness. But for now, he remained controllable, particularly when her Berserkers were keeping an eye on him for her.
But this news with Stiles…what exactly did that mean for her plan? Did Stiles now hate Scott, would he turn on him and ruin her plans? If he was truly on the level, would Agravaine be able to control Stiles? Or if he was indeed lying, would Scott's pack split, which seemed to be in the offing anyway, and ruin the Argents plans for the future? This situation had to be closely monitored, because if not, everything would fall apart.
And besides, she thought, allowing herself a predatory smile, Stiles was the real reason Allison was dead, and so if she needed to put him down for the good of their plan, then so much the better.
XX
"The corruption is getting worse, it's already escalated significantly from the last time I saw it when I was here a couple of days ago," Martagh bemoaned, as she stood surveying the nemeton in all of it's corrupted glory, her nose wrinkled at the fetid stench coming from it as a result of Agravaine's power.
Scott looked at the formerly stunted tree stump, trying to fight off the urge to vomit as he approached it. The nemeton was now slightly over the height of his waist, however, the growth of the damn tree was the least of his worries. The bark was now all black, with crimson, blood like sap streaming from various jagged cracks in the wood. Spiky thorns were growing from the cracks, glinting maliciously and digging into the wood. The rings that were marked into the bark were becoming warped, forming bizarre shapes instead of the usual rings. Weeds were choking their way around the roots of the tree, and other poisonous or malicious plants were growing up around it, forming an insidious barrier preventing anyone touching it. Vines and ivy were also now creeping around the tree as well, making the trunk look diseased and woebegone.
However, it was the power that was now pulsing from it that was the real problem. The diseases state of the tree and the power it was now malevolently spreading into the town was making Scott nauseous to say the least, and the closer he had gotten to it, the worst he had felt, he had even struggled to hold onto his bike as he had gotten closer. Upon his arrival, Martagh had asked him to hold her staff, and he had wound up supporting himself on it, his proximity to the evil tree taking virtually all his strength from him, which Martagh had noted with some alarm.
"Agravaine is doing this?" Scott asked tiredly, trying to focus as his entire body shook with the malevolent shockwaves running through him, and the Scuffock nodded grimly, glaring darkly at the tree.
"Yes, I'm beginning to think this was his first strike, by tainting the tree it has given him a power boost, while obviously denying it to you, that is part of the reason your enemies are giving you so much trouble. As you, Allison and Stiles committed the sacrifice that led to it becoming a beacon once again, it is tied to you, and as you are the most powerful supernatural being in town, and the only supernatural member of the trio who activated it, it is tied to you more than the others. This is serious Scott." She informed him, looking most grave, and he arced a tired eyebrow at her.
"Really, I'd never have guessed. How do we fix it?" he asked, and Martagh chewed her lip as she mulled the thought over.
"That little Alpha, is a good question, I don't have the power alone to purify it, and even with Lydia and the druids in town, purifying it of his taint will still be an uphill struggle, especially as the longer we leave it, the stronger he becomes, it leaves us in rather a predicament." She mused, and Scott retched a little, the nemeton was this bad already because of Agravaine's power, if it was only going to get worse the entire pack was in severe trouble, well more so than they were already.
"So you're clueless?" Parrish asked, and Scott jumped, and turned, shaking and glowering at the young deputy as he struggled to stay on his feet.
However, between the baleful influence of the nemeton, and due to having turned and hence knocked himself off balance, Scott started to sway towards the ground, and only Parrish's hands kept him from collapsing to the ground in a heap.
"Hey, easy dude, you look like…"
"Shit I believe is the apt word here, come young one, let's get you away from here." Martagh chided, helping Parrish escort Scott away from the nemeton, her brow furrowed as they did so.
As they got him a bit further away from the nemeton, Scott leaned shakily against another tree, wiping beads of sweat off his brow and he looked up at the Scuffock, who looked most concerned and kept throwing glances back at the nemeton, while Parrish fussed a little over Scott.
"Why are you here?" Scott asked, feeling horribly clammy and Parrish scowled, looking back at the tree, mirroring the look on Martagh's face.
"I came to check up on the nemeton, it's grown so much over the last week though!" he protested, hardly daring to believe it, and Scott was beginning to wonder just how much damage Agravaine was doing to the nemeton by having corrupted it, and worse, how much damage he was doing to the pack by extension.
"Why come and check, what's happened now?" Scott asked worriedly, and to his credit Parrish looked genuinely sorry to have to give him more bad news.
"In the space of four hours, I've had seven suicides, ten assaults, one arson, two riots and six murders, and all of it is stemming from this tree, sorry Scott, I know it's not your fault that we're in this mess." He said, and Scott groaned wearily, rubbing his temples, and also fighting off another wave of nausea.
Taking a deep breath to try and settle his stomach, he looked pleadingly up at Martagh.
"How do we fix this, because between the nemeton and all of the bad guys we have running around town, we're getting our asses handed to us, we need help!" he begged, and Martagh nodded softly, clapping his shoulder.
"I will assist you in whatever way I can young Alpha, and I will endeavour to purify the tree. The most obvious solution would be to defeat Agravaine," she mused, and Scott mustered up a weak glare, but her kind smile showed she didn't mean that as a dig at him, "however, how one would go about doing that when he has the blasted nemeton acting as a battery, I'm afraid I'm rather at a wit's end."
Scott fought down another wave of nausea. More enemies than they could count, Stiles acting weird, forced from his own home, his pack fraying at the edges, and now the blasted evil tree was poisoned against the entire pack that had nearly died to resurrect the damn thing. There were times that he really hated his job.
"Yeah…join the club." He snarled, joining the other two in glaring angrily at the nemeton while it pulsed with dark, violent energy, tainting the town further with every passing minute.
XX
Screams ripped through the bottom level of Eichen House as the few staff who were allowed into the secret basement level ran away in terror, the sound of a cracking whip splitting the shrill, blaring alarms. Within their cells, various creatures, imprisoned for either insanity or for reasons justified by those with much more power than themselves looked on as the Pombero, a furious force of nature, ripped through the defences of the supernatural wing of Eichen, leaving several nurses dead in her wake as she stormed through the facility.
"What is that thing?" Brunski screamed as she savagely slit the throat of another orderly, sucking in her power to speak, and stuck in a sort of transition between being old and young, she smiled at him sweetly.
"I'm the Pombero. Something is coming, and I need power. And for that, I need the banshee. And once I have taken over this building and put it's inhabitants at risk, she will come running, and this time, she won't get away." She vowed, and raised her whip to cleave off Brunski's head, but he gestured wildly.
"Wait, hang on! You came here for Meredith?" he demanded, and she hesitated, looking at him suspiciously.
"Meredith?" she asked, her curiosity getting the better of her, and Brunski grinned a little.
"Yeah, Meredith. She's a banshee, and she's here. If you don't kill me, I can take you to her, your own banshee." He promised, his heart pounding, and she narrowed her eyes at him.
"Very well, but cross me…" she threatened, and he eagerly nodded before leading her through the cells, the alarms still blaring through the facility, and walked her towards Meredith's cell.
Eager to escape this hideous monster, Brunski quickly opened the cell, and the Pombero smiled malevolently as she beheld her prey. And before her, cowering on the bed, tugging at her wispy hair, a terrified Meredith looked up at the horrific visage of her kind's one true predator, and let out her final scream as the Pombero made her move.
Well look who's back at long last! Say what you will about corona, it is helpful for catching up on stories you've not updated in years and getting excited about writing them all again. I hope everyone is well and staying safe, following government guidelines etc, and will continue to do so, especially as more and more places start to come back out of lockdown
Anyways, im back, and hopefully will be able to finish this story at long last, and hope you're all still excited to read it. The Pombero is up to no good, evil alliances are being forged left and right, Scott, Isaac, Melissa, Camden and Rakaisha have moved in with the twins, its all go. And naturally, Peter is still plotting in the shadows, and Agravaine is about to demonstrate just how evil he is
Hope youre glad to see me back, Im uploading the whole episode in one fell swoop, and this chapter and the next will have notes, but the last one wont, for reasons that will become clear when you read it
So, hope you all stay safe, are all doing well, and are glad to see me back, and if it isnt too cheeky, please leave a review!