Two Pack II: Teen Wolf Season Four

by lordtrayus

The Nogitsune is gone, Scott and Isaac are back together, and Stiles has gone back to normal. But, rather than deal with the grief of losing Allison, Scott's pack has to contend with Derek's imprisonment, former foes of the twins trying to settle scores, and taming Malia. But worst of all is a new enemy coming to town, bringing with them an old friend who could destroy them all...

41. Episode 10: Illusion Part 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf

Two-Pack II

"Chris, dinner's ready!" Victoria called from the kitchen, and Argent grinned, he loved his wife's cooking.

"Just coming!" he responded, just as he heard the front door open.

That would be Isaac, Allison's boyfriend, he did like that kid he had to say. Doesn't mean he wouldn't give him a hard time, his patented offering him a drink routine would be a good idea, he could see the exasperated look on Allison's face already.

"Dad, you coming?" Allison asked, sticking her head around the door, and he smiled and draped an arm around her shoulders.

"What, you think I would miss your mother's meat loaf?" he replied with a smile, and she grinned.

"You wouldn't dare, she'd kill you, especially after you pestered her for it. Now, remember, Isaac is still a bit nervous so be nice!" she insisted as they entered the kitchen, and Isaac, who had been edging away from Victoria as though scared of her, did venture a half-hearted smile at Argent as he entered the kitchen.

"Hello Mr Argent." He said bravely, looking terrified to even be here, and Victoria patted his shoulder kindly.

"Isaac, you need to relax, we don't bite. Besides, all the guns are locked away. Now sit, let's eat!" she insisted, and Argent headed to the fridge and opened it, looking inside musingly.

"Drink Isaac? Beer, wine, vodka?" he asked, grinning, and heard Allison groan in dismay behind him as Isaac spluttered in disbelief.

"Um…no, I don't drink!" he squeaked, and Argent chuckled, turning to face him.

"You passed the test. Come on, my wife is giving me the evil eye, so is my daughter, so let's tuck in." he said, sitting down and as a still very skittish Isaac sat beside Allison who winked at him and stroked her foot up his leg, Argent leaned over and kissed his wife as she passed him his plate.

Yeah, this was the life.

Natasha poured a substantial glass of whisky for both her and her sister as they sat in companionable silence, looking out over the sunset in the cabin their father had raised them in. He was finally put to rest, he could at last rest easy, it was over, they had done it. Never again would anyone be targeted the way they had been, suffer as they had, thanks to them there would be nothing else lurking in the dark to rip a family asunder.

"We did it, together." Natasha told her sister, toasting her with her glass, and her sister responded likewise.

"That we did. Dad would be proud of us don't you think?" she asked, letting the molten glorious honey slip down her throat, and Natasha nodded, grinning at her younger sister.

"Damn right he would."

Gareth had always loved Paris, and he had always entertained visions of retiring here. But even better, he was now here and retired without the associated scars and mutilations he had always feared, and he sighed with a contented feeling as he opened the door to his little bakery, to find his wife, Evangeline, already hard at work behind the counter, laying out their cakes, rolls and breads for the day.

"Bonjour mon amour." She purred in that lovely accent of hers, and he grinned as he slipped behind the counter (a feat that was much harder than it used to be due to his trade and his wife's excellent cooking), and kissed her passionately.

"Bonjour my love," he replied throatily, kissing her hand and then wrapping his arms around her waist, "and just what do we have in mind for today?" he asked rhetorically, and she winked.

"To follow ze wise words of your late uncle, raise ze the bloodstained banner high and help somebody to spend a few bob." She replied by rote, and he laughed, before heading over to open the door to begin dealing with the massive queue that had already formed.

Parrish woke up slowly, the beautiful girl beside him making a contended noise as she cuddled back into him, her head lying on his bare chest, her hair draping across him. He stroked his hand through it, luxuriating in it as he did so, musing happily that this was actually his life, his girl, and that they were together, and happy. And, he thought with a smile as he looked at her swollen belly, soon to be even happier when their first child was born.

"Sheriff? The FBI agent you requested to see is here." Parrish said with a grin, and John smiled, getting to his feet, realising that he was most likely about to get nagged for having put on a few pounds, but really, he was getting close to retirement, what did he expect?

"What the hell do you think you're playing at Stilinski? You cant just request to see a FBI officer!" the agent complained as he entered his office, and John grinned as he beheld the suited man.

"Well, you may outrank me in terms of law enforcement kid, but you're still my son. Come here!" he cried happily, and Stiles laughed as he and his father embraced fiercely, hugging each other after not seeing each other for months due to Stiles being out in the field.

John stood back and looked at his son, his fringe now spiked up, clad in a smart business suit with a red tie, and John felt the familiar upsurge of pride as he beheld his boy, he and Claudia had made this, made this smart young man, now one of the FBI's youngest and brightest officers.

"So, a joint case? I'm so psyched, Scott said you've been looking at this for a couple weeks now." Stiles asked, looking at the open case file on his father's desk, and John nodded.

"Well, I figured it would be best addressing your wheelhouse, just glad they sent you. Come on, let's get started, and we're meeting Melissa and Scott for dinner, and our lives won't be worth living if we're late." He warned, as he and his son sat down to put their heads together to solve their case.

"Melissa, they're here!" Allegra called from the living room, and she popped her head into the living room to find her mother sitting in a chair, glass of wine in hand.

"Oh, I'll get it, god forbid I distract you from your drinking." She teased, and Allegra stuck her tongue out petulantly, getting to her feet with a smile as she joined her daughter.

"Oh please, like you haven't downed half a bottle already cooking the dinner." She chided, and Melissa laughed as she opened the door to see her son throw himself at her, wrapping her in a hug.

"Welcome home honey, you look well. Hi Isaac, come on in, you're family too for god sake." She chided, as Scott hugged his grandmother in greeting, and Isaac hugged her fondly.

"Hi Melissa." He greeted warmly, just as Stiles' jeep came into view, divulging her last son and he grinned as he hugged her in greeting as well.

"Hey mama McCall, thanks for having us. Hey guys!" Stiles cried happily, and her three boys embraced, rather flattening Allegra against the wall, and Melissa closed the door happily, watching her family amble on through as her three boys started to catch her mother up on all of their various misadventures at university.

"I got offered a job mom." Scott told her proudly, barely able to contain his excitement, and she felt a surge of delight pass through her, and she looked at him excitedly.

"You did? Honey. That's great, so is this basically for your placement?" she asked, and Scott nodded excitedly.

"Yep, and once that's done, I'll be a fully qualified vet!" he told her proudly, happily accepting a glass of wine from Allegra.

"We're so proud of you sweetie, you've worked hard. Isaac, how did you get on with your commission?" Allegra asked, and he scuffed his feet awkwardly, avoiding their gazes.

"Um, ok…" he replied shyly, and Melissa rolled her eyes in amused exasperation and looked at Scott for a response, and her son leaned and kissed Isaac's cheek.

"He's being modest, he blew the competition out the water and is now the curator for the art gallery." He boasted proudly, and Isaac went scarlet, and Stiles wrapped an arm around Isaac proudly.

"That's great, knew they'd take you!" he crowed, while Isaac smiled, and Allegra toasted him with her glass as she passed one to him as well.

"Says the youngest and best qualified junior FBI agent in the program," she told him proudly, and both Scott and Isaac grinned wickedly as he went red due to the attention, and Melissa breathed a sigh of contentment, her three boys were all happy, doing well in their lives, and later on Camden and Rakaisha would be joining the rest of the family for dinner too, yeah, this was a damn good day.

"You did good huh?" his mother asked playfully as they gathered around the pool, the barbeque warming behind them, the sun high in the sky and Camden followed her gaze over to where Rakaisha was standing, chatting with Scott, who was being watched none too discreetly by Isaac, who was rather enjoying the sight of his swimming short clad boyfriend by the looks of it.

"Yeah I did. She's amazing mom." He told her truthfully, doing his own share of staring at his own significant other (clad in a rather revealing swimsuit) just like his little brother was, and his mother smiled, patting his cheek.

"Hey, you don't have to tell me, she helped keep you alive while you were on deployment, she brought my boy home, so she's good in my book." She assured him, as his father appeared, slugging an arm around the shoulders of his eldest son.

"Mine too, you did good son, I'm proud of you. Hey, Isaac, come and help your old man with the barbecue, I'm sure you can stop drooling over your boyfriend for a few minutes." He teased, and Isaac grinned, watching as Scott blushed and he hurried over to help his father.

"Sure dad!" he responded brightly, trotting over to help and Camden hurried to help his mother fill up the drinks, Melissa would be here soon and that required drink.

Camden watched his family, Scott still chatting with Rakaisha, his father and Isaac laughing and joking at the barbeque, and his mother was humming to herself, waving happily at Melissa as she arrived into the garden, and figured that his life couldn't get any better than this.

Kaisha cursed as the purple haze swirled throughout the room, her companions eyes all glowing purple as Ifrit trapped them all in hallucinations, damn it, she knew he was powerful but she didn't think he would be able to get all of them so easily, and now she was alone against Ifrit as the elevator doors opened to find the heavily robed assassin grinning smugly as he beheld his prey.

"Please renegade, did you think I wouldn't be able to sense them? If its any consolation I thought I would get you too, you're stronger than I thought. Now, the chase is at an end, wouldn't you say gents?" he asked, and Kaisha backed away in alarm as the six Berserkers he had recruited to his cause were revealed by the now fully open doors of the elevator.

Kaisha hissed, and green energy swirled around her hands, her eyes glowing their bright acidic green as Ifrit chuckled.

"I will kill you if you touch them!" she spat furiously, and he sent her a terrible, mocking, pitying smile.

"Oh child…I'm only here for you. Kill them!" he ordered, and the Berserkers bore down on the cells, intending to wrench them open and kill the rest of her strike team.

"Camden, wake up, it's a hallucination!" Kaisha begged, eyeing her fiancé out of the side of her eye, but when she received no response, she gestured, sending him sprawling to the ground to get him out the way as Ifrit let loose his attack, a stream of black and purple fire blazed towards her.

Kaisha threw her hands up desperately, a green shield hastily appearing in front of her, allowing her to dance out of the way and disappear in a swirl of green smoke. Ifrit's taunting, mocking laugh echoed around the cells, reverberating off the cell doors as the Berserkers wrenched them open, their bone swords raised and prepared to kill the others, all still trapped within their hallucination.

"Come now renegade, this is your fight, your trial, your chance to prove that you and your filthy American dog deserve to live! Perhaps I should kill him first?" Ifrit mused, bearing down on Camden and she swirled back into existence, tackling the other Djinn and crashing him to the ground, away from her fiancé, though the evil Djinn skidded to a stop, purple smoke arcing around him as he got to his feet, blasting Kaisha across the room with a scream, which was cut short as she slammed into the wall.

"Little fool, I will carry out the Kaf's will, and…" he sneered, advancing upon her as she tried to get her breath back, but the evil Djinn then snarled in furious agony as electricity rippled across him, making him stumble away from her.

Kaisha turned her head to see a desperate and now very outnumbered Braeden had left the elevator and was firing her electric stun gun into the hulking masses of the Berserkers. The brutes were now distracted from their prey, leaving the cells and converging upon Braeden, who went a bit pale as she realised how outgunned she was.

"No!" Kaisha hissed, green energy swirling around her hands and with all her might she gestured, throwing two Berserkers hurtling away from the Druid Missionary with their guttural cries of alarm, slamming to the ground at the far side of the room.

Kaisha then turned her attention to the other Berserkers while Braeden pumped another blast into the one closest to her, but it barely slowed him down as he gave a roar, swinging his spiked bone sword towards her head. Kaisha sent a jet of green energy to help Braeden, but it was intercepted by a blaze of violet flame, and Kaisha barely got out the way in the time before Ifrit's fireball of white-hot purple fire blasted into the ground where her head had been barely a second before. She swirled into a cloud of green smoke, appearing as far away from him as she could without endangering Braeden or the others, and two wreaths of green flame lanced from her hands, dancing towards Ifrit. Ifrit laughed, taunting her, a single serpent of purple energy erupting and coiling around her attacks, crashing them into the ground where they left a smoking imprint on the cold floor. He blasted her into the air in that moment of distraction, and various daggers swirled out of purple smoke to appear around him in a swarm which he then flung at the younger Djinn. Kaisha raised her hands, desperate to stop them however while she did manage to achieve something, all she did was slow them down enough for her to teleport out of the way.

"Come girl, admit your defeat, and welcome death!" Ifrit ordered darkly, as Braeden flung herself to the floor to avoid being decapitated by a Berserker.

She was running low on ammo, and was outnumbered significantly, and what was more, there wasn't enough room for her to manoeuvre down here, especially with a magical duel going on down here as well, she needed a break…

And it then appeared from the most unlikely of places as the elevator opened once again, revealing a very frightened looking Garrett and Violet, who shared one look, nodded, and each threw an item they had in their hands.

Heat washed across the room as two of the Berserkers screamed in pain as the two cocktails slammed into them, bursting into flame and sending the Berserkers reeling backwards. As they staggered away, Garrett and Violet grabbed their newest cocktails, catching the other two Berserkers that were closest to them right in their skull masks. The Berserkers gave guttural shrieks of agony as they writhed in pain, trying to quench the flames consuming their bodies. The last two Berserkers had realised the danger and were now advancing menacingly upon the two teenagers, who threw their last two cocktails, but both Berserkers threw themselves out of the way, and the two kids paled in alarm, if they exploded in here the fire could kill them all.

Kaisha then gestured, grabbing the cocktails in green energy, and sent one cursing back to the way it had come, igniting the Berserker it smashed into the back of, flames erupting all over its body, and in that distracted moment, Garrett and Violet edged out, their guns firing at the remaining, unscathed Berserker, then reinforced by Braeden as she got to her feet, pumping a blast of electricity into him.

And with that done, Kaisha sent the other cocktail towards Ifrit, who had recovered from the stun blast, and merely ducked, allowing the cocktail to pass over his head, smashing against the wall, a self-satisfied smirk on his face as he did so.

However, he then saw the equally smug look on Kaisha's face, and turned in alarm, in time to be covered in a fiery waterfall as the contents of the cocktail thundered down on top of him, the Djinn screeching in furious, agonised pain as he did so, trying to quench the flames.

The purple mist then burned away, and the glowing eyes of Kaisha's companions then returned to normal, as her friends went on the offensive, broken out of the hallucination at last, their reality shattered by the pain the architect of their own little idyllic worlds was currently in.

"What the?" Melissa demanded, shaking her head blearily, in time to see five shrieking Berserkers trying to put out the flames they were currently drenched in while one tried its hardest to kill Braeden, Garrett and Violet.

"It must have been Ifrit! It was…just a hallucination." Argent said regretfully, his face forming into an impassive mask, and Melissa didn't need to be a rocket scientist to figure out what Argent had seen in his own hallucination.

There was no time to regain their footing though, as there were six lethal Berserkers and a very hacked off murderous Djinn who had just sent a blazing, roiling fireball of purple flame towards Rakaisha. Rakaisha snarled in annoyance, a green shield absorbing his attack though she went skidding along the floor from the force of it while the reinforcements finally entered the battle.

Gareth and Natasha laid down covering fire, distracting the already burning Berserkers. Bellowing in fury, they turned their attention to the gunmen as John, Parrish, Melissa and Argent opened up, pumping dozens of bullets into the hulking masses of muscle. Meanwhile Camden had gotten to his feet, shaking his own head to clear it, and had slipped the blade out of his holster, bound for Ifrit.

Ifrit snarled furiously, gesturing and wrenching one of the cell doors from the walls, sending it hurtling towards Kaisha. Kaisha used her own magic, green flames consuming the door as she struggled to contain the power of his attack, though the evil Djinn surged over to her, seizing her by the neck and throwing her against the wall. Kaisha gasped in pain as the wall crushed her back, Ifrit snarling as smoke continued to swirl off him, bearing down on her while the sounds of gunfire and the animalistic cries of the Berserkers filled the room.

"Kaisha!" Camden yelled in panic, jumping towards Ifrit, who turned and anticipated the attack, catching Camden's fist before it landed.

"I've humiliated you once already boy, though I'm happy to do so again!" he spat, and with a pulse of purple energy Camden was blown with a cry into the ceiling with a sickening thud, before a ball of glowing green power sent the evil Djinn stumbling away from the former soldier.

Braeden was now running severely low on ammo, and the kids weren't much better as the healthy Berserker bore down on them, its breath misting in front of its skull mask, its empty skull turned towards them, a death's head promising what was about to happen. The Berserker sliced down at them with it's bone sword, and Garrett pulled Braeden back a bit before she was cleaved in two.

"You wouldn't happen to have a grenade on you, would you?" she asked frantically, she had to try and get the kids away from here, they had only come here to help save the others, she had to save them.

"No, unfortunately!" Violet cried, diving to the floor as the Berserker's meat like fist slammed into the wall just where her head had been a second before.

The fires of the other Berserkers were dimming now, and one was barrelling right towards Parrish and Gareth as they tried to bring the creature down. It laughed in an empty, guttural sort of way as it advanced, their bullets doing little to phase it as it entered the cell, trapping them like fish in a barrel.

Elsewhere Argent was trying to force off their Berserker enough to allow him and Melissa some breathing space, but the beast was having none of it, it's jagged shards of bone swiping through the air, clearly intending to make them both a head shorter. Outside, one of the Berserkers had knocked Natasha sprawling through the air with a shriek, leaving the sheriff as the last man standing as the other two ran towards Camden and Kaisha, eager to reinforce their new boss.

"Oh no…" Kaisha breathed anxiously, they were outnumbered, outgunned and overwhelmed, what the hell did she do, she had to make sure they survived, someone had to survive, but before she could even begin to formulate a plan Ifrit was on her again, a purple tongue of flame emerging from his mouth, jetting right towards her head.

Gareth was knocked off his feet, landing on the ground with a grunt as the Berserker pounced on Parrish, pinning him against the wall. Parrish felt his feet leave the ground, he was trying to pry the beast's rocklike hand from his neck. His gun was no use, it had gone sliding away when the Berserker had tackled him, not that he would be able to angle it properly to be of any help anyway. The Berserker brought him up to its eye level, and Parrish found himself looking into the empty eye sockets of the skull mask it wore, this thing wasn't human, it was simply a beast, but how the hell did he stop a beast?

He needed something, anything, anything that would help turn the tide. And it was then that he heard it, a small voice inside his head that he had never heard before. It wasnt exactly comforting, it was like, tempered steel for want of a better term, hot yet cold at the same time, reassuring but also dangerous. This voice, whatever the hell it was, was telling him to trust it, and faced with no choice, his face going scarlet as his legs kicked frantically in the air, he had no choice.

It was then that Parrish's eyes glowed orange for the first time. He reached across to the Berserker's skull mask, which made a noise of what he could only presume was alarm, and wedged his hands into the mask, one in each eye socket. Groaning with the exertion, he pulled, spurred on as he was by this strange voice, this voice telling him to do so, advising him, telling him he had the strength to do it, and he continued to pull. The Berserker gave a cold-blooded bellow of alarm, shaking its head to try and dislodge Parrish's attempt on it's person, but it was to no avail, and with a last burst of exertion, Parrish's eyes glowing with fury, with that last push he succeeded, and with a shattering noise filled the air as he ripped apart the Berserker's skull mask.

The Berserker's pressure on him was gone in an instant, Parrish's body dropping back to the ground as the beast reared backwards, and with a final roar, the beast exploded in a shower of bones. Parrish panted weakly as he watched the rain of bone fall onto the floor, and felt the power within him share with him its appreciation, and as quickly as it came, the power vanished again.

Outside, one of the two Berserkers flanking Ifrit suddenly roared in pain, grasping frantically at its skull mask as though trying to rip its own brain out. It gave a piteous whine and the Berserker then blew apart into a maelstrom of bone fragments, distracting Ifrit temporarily.

"What?" he demanded as one of his bodyguards was turned into nothing, but as he looked at the destroyed Berserker in shock, Parrish and Gareth both resurged from the cell they had been trapped in, gunfire puncturing the Djinn in several places, giving his prey a moment's breathing space as she regained the use of her faculties.

Camden leapt to his feet, throwing himself at the Berserker and springing onto its back as it turned in distraction to face the new threat, with both Parrish and Gareth focusing their fire on the Berserker trying its hardest to kill Braeden and the two kids. Camden was hanging onto the back of the Berserker for dear life as John and Natasha tried to help Argent and Melissa deal with their attacker, they may have taken down two of the Berserkers somehow, but there were still four to deal with, and Ifrit.

Kaisha twirled her hands and several geysers of green energy erupted from the floor, preventing Ifrit from closing in on her. A further gesture sent a fiery green rope coiling out of thin air, arcing right for the older Djinn, but he merely seized the rope and tore it apart, watching in satisfaction as Kaisha flinched when he did so. As she did so, he sent the desk hurtling through the air towards her, forcing her to teleport away in a green haze on the spot, the desk shattering against the wall before she returned, a green pulse of energy lancing from her eyes and arcing towards Ifrit. He merely raised a hand with a bored expression on his face before blasting a fireball at Camden and the Berserker he was trying to kill. Kaisha swept her hand through the air, the fragments of the desk absorbing the fireball before she sent them back at Ifrit inside a green vortex. Ifrit sneered angrily, and with a gesture, the bone piles of the two vanquished Berserkers leapt into the air, swirling around him like a shield and started glowing with lethal purple flame which he then directed towards Kaisha.

The kids and Braeden had used the demise of the other two Berserkers to escape their imminent death at the hands of their own Berserker, and make it slightly less imminent, but there was still their one, the two trying to kill Argent and Melissa and the other bodyguard one which was now being tackled by the sheriff, Parrish, Gareth and Natasha. They needed a break, if they could kill even one more…

The Berserker pounded its fist into the ground, narrowly missing where Argent's head had been a second ago. It stomped towards him, trying to crush his skull beneath its boot as Argent struggled to get far enough away from it to get some breathing room. Melissa was behind him, and for all he knew, she was frozen in fear, she hadn't fired her gun, though she was likely out of ammo, he should never have let her come along on this mission, he had gotten Scott's mother killed, just like Victoria, just like Allison, and now…

"Hey, ugly!" she spat from behind him just as the Berserker pinned Argent with its foot, exerting more and more pressure on his chest, clearly intending to shatter his sternum and kill him.

Argent tilted his head back to see Melissa standing on the cots the prisoners slept on, her gun levelled right at the Berserker's skull mask. It gave a guttural laugh, a bone like knife edging into its hand as it prepared to kill her and Argent in one fell swoop, it would throw the knife and catch her right in the neck…

And Melissa fired, her shotgun making a resounding bang as it did so.

The bullet lanced right into the skull mask, on the narrow bridge of nose between its' two eye sockets, and the bullet punched right through, shattering the skull. The Berserker gave a grating, animalistic scream as its bone knife dropped to the floor beside Argent, who seized it and stabbed it in the foot, the pain making it relieve the pressure as it flailed backwards, grabbing for its skull, and Argent's eyes went round as he realised exactly what Melissa had just done.

She had just killed two Berserkers with one bullet.

The Berserker grabbed at its shattered skull mask, as though trying to force it back together, but it gave a horrible, animal like howl as it dropped to its knees and with a bellow of impotent rage, the Berserker exploded into a storm cloud of bone and marrow.

Outside, Camden's Berserker suddenly reared unexpectedly, Camden toppling off in fright and as he landed with a jolt on the cold floor, he looked up to see his Berserker clawing at its mask, trying to get it off it looked like, but it was to no avail, as with an agonised scream, the monster blew apart, raining debris around Camden as it did so.

"Whoa!" Garrett breathed in shock as their Berserker and the other remaining one both turned in alarm to see the demise of another two of their comrades, and Ifrit blanched as he realised that despite his very best efforts, he was now the one outnumbered.

He snarled furiously, he had to fall back, rethink, there was no way he would lose to this little slip of a girl or her friends, no, he was the best the Kaf had to offer, he would…

Camden, who had been milling around on the floor, then struck like a viper, and Ifrit felt a sharp, burning pain in his gut. He looked down to see the grin on Camden's face, and following the soldier's line of sight, he saw the glinting blade of silver embedded in his gut. No, this couldn't be, he couldn't be, it was…

It was like acid suddenly replaced his blood as he gave a scream of agony, his blood catching fire as the lamb's blood-soaked knife ignited his bloodstream. He stumbled back, desperate to staunch the oozing black blood coming from the wound, but it seeped past his fingers, despite his efforts to keep it in, this wasn't how it was supposed to be!

"Kaisha!" Camden called, and Ifrit gave an inhuman scream that sent the defenders spiralling through the air, crashing them to the ground as the last two Berserkers stood as though awaiting orders, his control of them must have been disrupted, no, he wouldn't allow this to happen, the girl!

He screamed again, the sonic assault levelling the girl's friends, but the girl herself was nowhere to be seen. He looked around desperately, where was she, she had to be here somewhere, and his question was answered when a bolt of green power blasted him in the back, cartwheeling him through the air and slamming him into the elevator doors hard enough to dent them. He gargled, blood was filling his mouth, his glowing tattoos and runes now flickering like a dying candle, but no, he wasn't dead yet, he vowed, as he blasted a stream out of free hand, purple fire jetting through the air towards his prey. Kaisha calmly caught the attack and gestured it harmlessly away from her, then sent several flaming arrowheads through the air, peppering him and igniting his robes in different places, and some remained in place, pinning him to the door with her power. Blood was soaking through his fingers, his eyes were streaming as the blood poison filled him, he was done for, this was it, he couldn't let it end like this!

Black blood boiled out of his mouth as he choked, the young Djinn advancing upon him, deflecting his onehanded attacks, throwing his purple flames into the last two Berserkers who reeled backwards away from her allies as they all recovered. He fired attack after attack, streams and wreaths of purple fire from his left hand, he had to keep the other hand where it was, he had to prevent her getting to him, he had to stay alive long enough to-

He fired a last purple fireball, but a hastily erected shield of green power bounced it back into him, igniting his robes. Ifrit started to writhe in pain, between the flames and the poison, this was unbearable, but most of all, it was the shame, how had he been defeated by this mere girl!?

"Goodbye Ifrit." She said simply, and with a savage look of predatory enjoyment, she ignited her two fingers into glowing torches of green fire, and then plunged them into his eyes.

Ifrit screamed as Kaisha poked her fingers into his eyes. Green fire immolated his insides, a fountain of emerald flame then vomited from his mouth and as she withdrew her fingers, glowing, tempestuous green fire blazed from his eyes, shining from his various runic tattoos like a signal flare. Her fire coursed through his body, his skin shining as he went nuclear from within, green energy incinerating his insides, his skeleton was glowing an acidic, ghostly green, and with a final blood curdling scream, the Djinn assassin exploded in a small atomic explosion of green wildfire, leaving nothing behind but a smouldering blast mark.

The Berserkers gave a guttural grunt as they realised their new master was no more and they bolted for the elevator, knocking Kaisha and Camden off their feet as they shouldered past them, making good their escape and leaving the much bruised and bewildered war party behind them.

"Um, did we win?" Violet asked, a little woozy, she had hit her head when leaping away from the Berserker at one point, and Braeden grinned at her as she helped her sit upright.

"Well, Ifrit's dead, and we took down four Berserkers, so I'd say so, yeah." She replied, and Kaisha shook her head, looking worried.

"Not yet we haven't." she replied anxiously, just as a cloud of royal blue smoke appeared before them all, expressing itself as a swirling, column of royal blue smoke, which seemed singularly unconcerned that Kaisha's friends had all levelled their guns at it.

"It is done renegade," the blue column said in a masculine voice, and it appeared as though glowing black eyes were also part of the column as its eyes bore into Kaisha, "you have killed our assassin. It is settled. A renegade you shall remain, but your powers are yours. Do not let us see you again." The voice warned, and Kaisha allowed herself a small smile as she bowed her head.

"Unless there's a change in the Kaf's membership?" she asked hopefully, looking at the blue smoke's black eyes, and the column of blue smoke chuckled.

"We will see. Farewell renegade." It told her, winking at her before vanishing as quickly as it had appeared.

"What the hell was that?" Camden asked his fiancé weakly, that, that was so beyond his pay grade.

"That was a more…enlightened member of the Kaf. And Ifrit is gone, and I'm finally free!" she shrieked in delight and leapt into Camden's arms, and he twirled her happily, kissing her hungrily, that was it, with the Djinn assassin dead, they could now move on with the rest of their lives.

"Wait, so that's it? No more evil arsonist genie?" Melissa asked, seeming a little put out, after all the trouble that Ifrit had caused he was just gone, and Kaisha smiled brightly at her.

"Correct we got him. And four of his friends too, what the hell were they doing here?" she asked, and Gareth brushed himself off, looking rather bemused at the scene of bony carnage that they had caused by killing four of the hulking brutes.

"Good question, I thought they were working for Agravaine?" he asked in confusion, as the sheriff clapped Parrish on the shoulder while shaking his head at the mess his lower level was in.

"We did think they were all swapping in and out with their minions I think. I don't get how we stopped them personally." John sighed wearily, and Melissa shot him a tired smile.

"Who cares, we got rid of four of them, four less chances of the kids being shish kebabbed by bone clad steroid monsters." She replied tiredly, and he nodded, yeah, that was a benefit he supposed.

"Well, I know how two of them went down, Melissa scored a bullseye, got the Berserker about to crush me right in between the eyes of its skull mask, so it went boom." Argent said proudly, clapping her on the shoulder, and Natasha flashed an appreciative glance at Melissa, who was trying and failing not to look too pleased with herself, as she went a little red.

"You took down the Berserker with a sweet shot like that? Way to go mama McCall!" she congratulated, and gave Melissa, who now looked extremely pleased with herself, a high five.

"I don't get why if you kill one, the other one blows up too?" Garrett asked, feeling a bit lost as he rubbed his shoulder, it had hurt like a bitch when he had landed roughly on it, and Argent gnawed on his lip thoughtfully.

"It's to do with where they come from, they're Azteca Berserkers, come from an abandoned town not far from where the Calaveras live. They emerged from a ritualistic, honour bound society, so if one goes, the other dies too as they're bound together. It does give us a bit of information though." He reasoned, with a slight smile, and Braeden cocked her head at him.

"What information?" she asked, at sea, and Gareth's eyes widened in realisation.

"Well, whoever brought them here can't know how they work, at least not entirely. You think about it, if you're bringing six big brutes to town as your bodyguard, you're effectively only bringing three as they're all bound together and if you lose one, you actually lose two. So whoever brought them here either didn't know about the duality thing, or just doesn't care." He reasoned, and Braeden sighed tiredly.

"And as we already think they've been replaced already, whoever is behind them is likely still out there, but that's a problem for later I reckon. What happened to the other two?" she asked, and Parrish raised a hand hesitantly, and Gareth whistled appreciatively.

"I think I killed it. The molotovs you kids threw must have damaged its skull, it was all cracked, got my fingers in and ripped it open, wasn't that hard, you must have damaged it." He explained, though didn't quite meet everyone's eyes as he gave his explanation, which prompted Natasha's dark, predatory eyes to fixate on the young deputy warily.

"Great job kid. Well, I'm bushed, who's for a pint?" Gareth asked, yawning widely, and John spluttered indignantly.

"Um, hell no, look at the mess of this place, we're not going anywhere until-" he ranted, and Kaisha smiled sweetly, laying a hand on his chest to calm him.

"Don't worry sheriff, now that I'm a bona fide empowered exile, allow me! Hmm…bibbity," she began, waving her hands and green energy surrounded her as she made graceful movements around her, "bobbity," she continued, clicking her fingers, "boo!"

With a final flourish, a green haze shone through the room and an instant later the place looked as though it had never been the battleground between two opposing forces, and instead looked as though it was just an ordinary prison.

"Told you she was my new best friend." Melissa said, thoroughly impressed as she smiled at Kaisha, who turned to Camden who kissed her softly, his hand wrapping in her curly hair.

"So…are we in trouble?" Violet asked innocently, and Braeden quirked an amused eyebrow.

"Well, technically you should be, as you did disobey us." She chided, and both younger kids' mouths opened in impotent rage.

"But, that being said, despite going up against some monsters you really weren't equipped to handle, hell, none of us were," Argent admitted lamely, to conceding nods from the other two hunters, and even from Braeden, "if you hadn't come along when you did, chances are we'd be very dead, you helped break Ifrit's illusion, so thank you." He told them, and Garrett and Violet both high fived each other, not even having the modesty to even pretend to look abashed by the praise, and Argent chuckled.

He hadn't liked the idea of teaching any of them, but they had proved tonight that they could handle it. And in a town as dangerous as Beacon Hills, with ever more nasty creatures coming out the woodwork every five minutes, perhaps them being aware and hence able to defend themselves against the supernatural wasn't that bad an idea. And he hadn't been kidding when he'd said they had helped save the day, if it hadn't been for their intervention, they'd have been slaughtered by the Berserkers, it had been near enough as it was, they were still feisty buggers.

They'd done him proud, and he felt the familiar stirrings of pride he felt when Allison had graduated, or when Isaac had been training to use his daggers under his remote supervision, and thought that just maybe, this could be a good thing.

"So what now? Agravaine?" Garrett asked eagerly, he would like nothing more than to help their Alpha put that damned dog down once for all, and Braeden clapped his shoulder.

"Tomorrow, tonight we've earned a break, it's not every day you get to hunt a Djinn in this country, let alone help take him out along with four Berserkers, savour your victory. We can deal with that blasted mongrel tomorrow." She advised, and Melissa, who was supporting herself on John's shoulder, looked worriedly over at Kaisha.

"Are we sure Ifrit is gone? He isn't going to do a Peter and come back and bite us in the ass is he?" she asked worriedly, and John did have to admit, that was a good point.

"No he isn't, he's gone, as that was one of the more enlightened Kaf members who visited, I'm fairly certain Ifrit is now nothing more than a bad memory. I owe you all so much for helping me take him down, thank you." She said earnestly, as Camden wrapped his arms around her waist, nodding enthusiastically.

"Yeah, she's right, if it wasn't for you guys, I doubt we'd ever have been free of him, thank you." He told them, and Argent shook his hand.

"Hey, it was you guys plan, we just helped fine tune it and finish him off, you helped yourselves. And like Braeden said, it's not every day we get to vanquish a Djinn, we should be thanking you for helping to up our credentials. Let's call it even." He said, and Camden smiled and shook his hand, while Kaisha hugged Melissa.

"Does Scott know his mom is such a badass?" she asked, and Melissa laughed.

"He does think I'm awesome, he just isn't aware of the full extent of my awesomeness. Now, I have dozens of bruises that need some ice packs, what do you say we get out of here?" she asked John pointedly, and he smiled, gesturing towards the elevator.

"We certainly should, after you." He offered, and she flashed him a playful smile as she headed for the doors.

Gareth wrapped a comradely arm around the shoulders of both Argent and Parrish, and Natasha rolled her eyes (which lingered a second longer on Parrish) before following suit, and a tired looking Braeden hobbled towards the elevator, supported by Garrett and Violet.

"We did it, we're free. And once we help Scott deal with Agravaine," Camden purred, snaking his arms around Kaisha's hips, pulling her close to him, "we can get on with our lives."

Kaisha gently ensnared his face with her hands, and stood on her tiptoes, kissing him softly, smiling as she leaned her head against his.

"Indeed we can beloved. And it's all thanks to you, you poisoned him after all." She told him proudly, and he grinned.

"Yeah, that was fun, not going to lie, but you're the one who turned him into a wicker man. We're a good team, but we always were." He told her, kissing her and ran his hand down her thigh, and she was reciprocating hungrily, it had been a long time coming.

"Oi! Like hell are you doing that in my cells! Bad enough we had to fight the damned Djinn here, come on, let's go!" John scolded while the others laughed, and embarrassed, the two heroes of the hour headed for the elevator, all of them flush with their hard-fought victory.

And it was then that Lydia's scream echoed through the town.

XX

You know, for such a bad guy, Peter had good taste. His apartment was lush, well appointed, with some one-of-a-kind pieces of art and other such things dotted around, hell, there was even two sets of keys to two highly expensive and unique cars in a dish by the door. Kate was quite enjoying herself poking around his apartment, and there were worse places to recuperate. There was also quite good food in the fridge too, seemed he was something of a gourmet, and had begrudgingly cooked her a rather tasty steak for dinner the night before.

But now, he was away, conspiring with Agravaine to try and destroy Scott, and she was here, still recuperating. Surprisingly true to his word, Peter had been helping her with her transformation, teaching her to focus her anger and hatred, particularly that for Scott and what he had done to her family, in order to help control her transformation into a Nagual. He had also given her a small wooden talisman in the shape of triskelion, something that he described as a training wheel that his sister had used to teach her eldest daughter to control her own shift.

As he had predicted, Kate hadn't found the triskelion particularly helpful, however he then coaxed her into using her rage and fury, and with his help, she actually found some semblance of control over her shift rather than just doing it in response to certain stimuli. She was gaining more control over her shift, at long last, too many months had been spent clawing at herself in frustration as she became a full fledged Nagual against her will, the very same murderous machine that her family had sworn to eradicate.

She had neglected to tell Gerard of how much trouble she had controlling her shift, she knew full well that his fatherly and Machiavellian use for her would only last so long especially if he discovered how many people she had inadvertently killed due to being unable to master her shift.

But that was changing now.

And now, here she was, lounging in the plush apartment of her most hated enemy, of her killer, learning from him and conspiring with him to bring an end to the brown-eyed self-righteous little Alpha who had ruined her family. Funny how these things happened, how she had had to rely on her mortal enemy for sanctuary, hell, even for basic functionality, and all it took in return was an agreement to work with him to destroy Scott (she was factoring it into her and her father's plan and she believed regardless it could still be made to work) and the promise to act as Peter's insurance policy lest his grand plan fail and Scott get the better of him once again.

It was strange not knowing who she wanted to win. The arrogant, smug, self-obsessed narcissistic mass murderer who had killed her, or the mewling little brat who had virtually singlehandedly decimated her entire family and run her family into the ground. Decisions decisions.

Kate smiled as she looked out over Beacon Hills, she had to admit, despite the slight detour her plans had taken, they were now going rather well. She was controlling her transformation, and now she was perfectly positioned to deal with either Scott or Peter. And if Peter did indeed die, he was relying on her to help him out of that particular predicament, she would rather enjoy the role reversal when the time came, and Peter would learn the hard way that just because they were temporarily allies, forced together by the vagaries of fate, they would not necessarily remain so.

And speaking of allies…

Two of her Berserkers clambered up the side of the building, leaping onto the balcony and kneeling subserviently before her. Smiling in a satisfied way, she opened the door to the balcony, and raised an eyebrow as she beheld her minions.

"So, what happened to the Djinn?" she asked, unconcerned as she observed her nails, and one of them replied in the way that only really made sense to her, however by the time he had, she was no longer smiling.

"They killed four of you, and the Djinn? What the hell? What is it with the people in this pack, what makes Scott so special?" she demanded, but predictably, her Berserkers had no answers, not that she would have listened to them anyway.

The boy, what was it about him and everyone around him, how did they keep managing to overcome everything that was thrown at them? Everyone except Allison, what was it about that damned Alpha?

"So," she shot at them irritably, "I'm assuming with the Djinn dead that your little labour strike is over?" she spat, and to their credit, the Berserkers did sound quite contrite, though if she was being uncharitable that would be because four of their friends had just been turned into fossils.

They nodded dolefully, and she smiled. Two Berserkers, the pack and the dogs heading to the final confrontation, the remaining Calaveras marshalling for war, and Peter poised to exploit all of the chaos that he had helped create.

Kate beckoned the two Berserkers away, and they inclined their heads respectfully before springing over the balcony. So, she mused, everything was going exactly according to plan, but just who's plan was the one that was currently winning? And did she really want to remain in thrall to Peter? After all, if he won, he would have no more need for her. On the other hand, if Scott was somehow able to pull it out the bag and win the war, then the plan she and her father were cooking up could go ahead with impunity, hopefully free of the detriment that was otherwise known as Peter Hale.

So, it came down to who was going to win, and that was all dependent on one thing: which side did she want to win?

She looked over the balcony to see her Berserkers disappearing into the night, and allowed herself a small smile. The casting vote for who would win she would deal with later. For now, there was a rapidly deteriorating number of hunters to deal with, she would make them pay for double crossing her. What was more, she needed more Berserkers anyway, and the Calaveras would be perfect candidates for recruitment. And once her ranks were replenished, then she would see exactly what role she would take in the coming showdown.

And if she happened to be able to rid herself of Peter Hale at the same time, so much the better.

XX

"Yowtch!" Martagh shrieked as long, twisting snake lines vines sent her sprawling to the ground for the umpteenth time, and she sat back up grumpily, glaring at the Nemeton.

It was certainly not how a Nemeton should look Twisted, thorny black vines had wrapped all around it, essentially strangling the large neophyte tree. Its bark looked diseased, in fact it looked as though it was bleeding, the sap coming from cracks in the hastily grown bark looking as though it was blood. Weeds had grown around the base, black and coiling like ivy, and looked as though they were trying to pull the stump back into the earth. And the physical sight was nothing compared to the smell coming off the damn thing, it smelled like death, rot and a sickly sweet scent that could only be described as sour maple syrup, its small wonder Scott could hardly stand to be here, his connection to the damn thing notwithstanding.

Following the character assassination coup that Jackson had launched, she had come to the Nemeton, determined to help the beleaguered young Alpha because god he needed a win. She knew that the corrupted Nemeton was part of the problem, part of what was plaguing the entire pack, and figured that if she could figure out how to purge it, things would get so much better for the pack. However, despite all of her research that she had done since discovering what Agravaine had done to the tree, nothing she had done had worked. She had tried every ritual she could think of, every purification spell, enchantment, ritual that she could find and had had no success (unless one measures success in getting knocked on one's arse). The damn tree was totally and irrevocably corrupted and nothing she did was likely to change that any time soon.

Martagh prowled the edge of the Nemeton after she used her staff to pull herself back to her feet, sucking the inside of her cheek musingly. There had to be something she was missing, something that would explain how Agravaine's corruption was so unassailable. Or perhaps she just needed more power? However Scuffocks were a very rare breed, and there wasn't another one on the continent as far as she knew. Even if she tapped into the power of Lydia and the remaining druids in town, it was still going to be one hell of an uphill struggle, the power problem was part of the issue, but she also felt that the real issue was that her purification rituals just didn't have enough oomph to purify the deeply corrupted Nemeton.

So what did she do now?

However, she was distracted from her musings as Lydia's pain filled, panicked scream echoed across the town, foretelling the doom of someone else she cared about, and Martagh disappeared in a swirl of leaves, rushing to the side of her apprentice.

XX

The dogs were on them like a swarm of angry bees, forcing the pack onto the backfoot as they were suddenly forced onto the defensive. Their limited advantage was gone, and the dogs weren't wracked with indecision like the pack was. The twins were now a target for the two gytrashes, who had assumed their spectral forms and were pouncing and spitting their malevolent saliva at the twins, who were back-to-back as they tried to hold off their ghoulish attackers.

Kira had forced Liam (who was armed with a cattle prod) behind her as she wielded her katana as the two barghests bounded for her and Lydia, Lydia using her scream to send Eoghan sprawling allowing Kira to focus on Ciara, who was a bit more reserved than her husband as she circled them, ready to pounce.

Jackson and Danny were facing Bonnie, however with Jackson as weak as he was, the elder dog was more than a match for him, and she wasn't allowing Danny to get a clear shot, ducking and weaving, striking Jackson, then retreating and acting again.

Derek was locked in combat with the fully transformed Thane, who was barking madly, determined to rip Derek's throat out and Derek was hard pressed to stop the death omen like dog from ripping out his jugular.

Isaac had forced Scott backwards and had sprang towards Agravaine, however the arrival of the Owlman had distracted the Gwyllgi from the pack as he was swooping around, screeching madly and forcing a crazed looking Agravaine to tackle him instead. As such, Isaac's glowing golden eyes narrowed as he saw Stiles edging towards the battle between the Gwyllgi and the Owlman, and gave a furious, disgusted snarl, springing towards their former friend.

"Hollis, when are you going to give up this pointless charade? I won't go down with you!" Agravaine spat, ducking away from the Owlman's talons, it seems Hollis had brought his A game tonight.

The Owlman gave an enraged shriek as he surged above Agravaine, the Corrupter grunting in pain as his claws sliced into his shoulder. He reeled back, panting weakly, no, he was the Corrupter, he was not going to be overcome by this fool who couldn't let go of the past!

"You're dying Agravaine, and it's no more than you deserve! I'm going to end you, finally!" Hollis vowed, and reared to attack again but Agravaine blasted a jet of fire at him, forcing the birdman to twirl away, panting weakly.

Agravaine locked eyes with Hollis, his amber doleful eyes narrowed in hatred as he stared back at the sickly green and yellow eyes of the Corrupter. They'd been dancing this dance for years, and Agravaine remembered those days back when they first met when they had been close, and could have been much closer if it hadn't been for Hollis' stubborn refusal. No, he was the victim here, not Hollis, and he wasn't going to be plagued by this incessant vulture anymore!

"You have dogged me all these years, turning yourself into this monstrosity, all with the aim of eliminating me, and what have you managed to achieve? Perverting your body into this, in a tribute to your poor late wife and child, to try and bring me down! You've failed Hollis, your wife and son are long since decomposed, and we're still here, fighting endlessly. You know if you hadn't been so adamant back then, they'd still be alive!" he roared furiously, and Hollis screeched spinning into the air, his talons and beak aiming right for Agravaine's face.

Agravaine blasted two jets of poisoned fire at his nemesis, however Hollis corkscrewed in the air, allowing both attacks to just miss him before he plunged down, crashing his scaly feet into Agravaine's chest, sending the Gwyllgi sprawling into the ground. Hollis landed right above him, his claws slashing into Agravaine's chest as he landed, but Agravaine responded by biting him in the overgrown foot, Hollis screeching in pain and falling back, allowing the dog to get back to his feet.

"Your obsession has cost us both so much time Hollis, but yours is nearly up! And that my darling, means I have won, and above all, you failed them both!" he growled spitefully, and Hollis was breathing heavily, hunched over, and Agravaine could tell that thew birdman was reaching the end of his tether.

However, he too was weak, this fight was taking more out of him than it should be, and he too was panting, and his hands were shaking. He would not die, this damn besotted fool wouldn't be responsible for the end of the Corrupter, especially so…ignominiously.

"As long as I live, I'll fight you, beast! You're a murderer, you were a murderer when you were a wolf, you're worse now that you're a dog!" he bellowed, and catapulted himself through the air towards his nemesis.

Agravaine took a step back weakly, he was panting heavily, this was far more exhausting than it should be, but he wouldn't allow Hollis to have the last word! He roared and spewed a billowing, roiling cloud of poisonous, acrid smoke from his mouth, and Hollis, trapped by his momentum, pushed right into the cloud, spluttering and wheezing, dropping to the ground and trying to fight his way out of the smog on foot, hampered by the lack of visibility in the smoke as he couldn't risk charging Agravaine lest he crash into a wall.

And it was the lack of visibility that was his undoing, as Agravaine emerged right behind the Owlman, perfectly able to see inside his own smog, and with a malicious, wheezing cackle that turned into a cough as he did it, he unleashed two streams of acrid, poisonous fire from his hands right into the chest of the Owlman.

Hollis screamed in pain as he reverted to his human form from the pain of the attack and he was blasted high into the air by the torrent of fire, screaming as he went, Agravaine's attack blasting him high over the building and out of sight, his entire body aflame due to the attack. As Hollis' screams faded, Agravaine slouched, coughing and wheezing, though laughing maniacally as he did so. His eyes flickered, going back to their original colour before returning to their noxious yellow. He wiped his mouth irritably as he regained control of himself, his whole body still shaking, and winced as he saw that he had brought up black blood. That wasn't good.

And there was only one way to fix it, and that was to get Scott.

With a bellowing roar, he sprang at the young Alpha, and smiled in malicious delight as Scott's golden eyes turned onto him as he rose to challenge him.

Oh, this was going to be easy!

Stiles watched in awe as Hollis was blasted away. Agravaine used to be a wolf? Well that explained…well he didn't quite know what it explained, but it certainly explained something, he couldn't deny going undercover had actually been a good idea other than…

Well, that growl behind him was one of the things that could be classed as 'other than'.

Stiles turned and immediately backed away as a furious Isaac came at him, his eyes glowing and knives glinting in the light as he swung viciously for Stiles' head. Clearly, Isaac hadn't checked his pocket!

"Isaac, stop!" Stiles yelled, and Isaac snarled angrily, twirling and kicking at him, forcing Stiles back as he came at him.

Yeah, see, this is where this plan of his wasn't very well thought out, he forgot how loyal Isaac was to Scott, and that if he had his way, Isaac would never let anything hurt Scott, particularly if it was his so called treacherous best friend.

Stiles rolled his eyes as Isaac pounced at him, he really didn't want to fight him, and he was fairly sure that this time Isaac would be on the lookout for being electrocuted, which meant he had to get creative. Fortunately, he had come prepared, and he had snuck home and taken the sword leftover from the defeat of the Oni and withdrew it, catching Isaac's blades on his own, steel clanging in their ears as Stiles locked their blades.

"Isaac, you need to listen to me! Check your pocket!" Stiles hissed, and to his great relief, Isaac's face turned to one of confusion instead of rage.

"What?" he asked absently, his eyes fading back to blue, and Stiles grinned and winked at him.

"Check your pocket!" he urged, ecstatic that he seemed to be getting through to him, and Isaac stepped backwards, growling warily, while Stiles held his sword defensively in front of him in case he sprung again.

"What are you up to? You betray Scott and-" Isaac began, and Stiles shook his head frantically, aware of the battles that were going on all around them, exposure only seconds away.

Hell, Derek had just thrown Thane hurtling away from him and the Grim landed quite near them, near enough that he would be able to hear anything they said. Cursing his luck, Stiles charged at Isaac, who's eyes reverted back to gold and he span out of the way, avoiding Stiles attack.

"Like I thought, traitor!" Isaac spat, jumping towards Stiles while Thane indulged himself in a piteous moan before rushing back to confront Derek once again.

Isaac's temper was far more under control this time, and even though Stiles felt he was fairly good with his sword (there was a benefit from the Nogitsune being conjured from Noshiko), Isaac was stronger, faster and far angrier than him. Isaac pushed his advantage, his knives going for Stiles gut and Stiles was losing ground fast, using his sword and gauntlets to block his numerous attacks. Isaac roared angrily as he pushed Stiles away from the fight, and then twirled, swinging his blades back wide as if to take his friends' head off…which let Stiles bring his sword back into position to lock his blade against Isaac's, and he realised with a burst of elation that Isaac had planned it that way, he'd fought them away from the others so they could talk without the dogs listening in.

"Wait, you believe me?" he asked in an elated whisper as the two of them struggled against each other, and Isaac, who's eyes went back to blue, looked at him mistrustingly.

"I want to, and I know Scott would want to, now what the hell are you talking about?" he hissed, they didn't have long to talk, and Stiles jerked his head towards the pocket of Isaac's leather jacket.

"Check your pocket, then call me!" he begged, as a roar echoed across the battlefield, and they shoved off against each other, and Isaac turned to look at the battle between Scott and Agravaine worriedly, and Stiles, catching his breath, heart pounding quickly with both exertion and elation that Isaac had calmed down enough to listen to him.

"Scott…" Isaac whispered worriedly, and Stiles looked to see that Agravaine was clearly taking the upper hand, and Stiles looked at him frantically.

"What the hell is happening to Scott, why are his eyes gold?" he asked, and Isaac shot him a filthy look, so full of acid that it made Stiles recoil.

"You want to know what happened to him? Take a look in a mirror!" he spat and rushed to help Scott, leaving Stiles feeling even sicker with himself than he had ever been before.

"Oh Scott…I asked you time and again to join me, and you refused every time, and now, here we are." Agravaine mocked, and Scott growled, rolling away from his latest attack, panting tiredly, he was so tired.

"I'm not joining you Agravaine." He vowed, and leapt at the Gwyllgi, who laughed mockingly, his claws swiping across Scott's chest as Scott fell back, staggering in pain, the burning sensation hurting a lot more than usual.

What was going on with him, why did he feel so weak? Why had Isaac pushed him back when he was the one usually doing that to Isaac? Why had Danny and the others looked horrified as they had looked at him, what had happened, what had changed?

"Oh Scott, poor little Scott, the packless Alpha," Agravaine sneered, advancing towards him and Scott backed away, this wasn't good, he was feeling so weak, and Agravaine had clearly sensed it, "do you know what an Alpha without a pack is? An Alpha who's pack have turned on him? They're cannon fodder my dear boy. And you know it, don't you? You know that they've turned on you, all thanks to your pathetic attempts at leadership, your attempts to stop me that have only failed. Your pack has turned on you hasn't it Scott? And turned your shining red eyes into a lovely, weak, shining gold!" Agravaine roared and then bounded towards Scott, who's brain barely had the chance to react.

His eyes had gone back to gold, he wasn't the Alpha anymore, his pack had turned on him. Turned on him because he was such a crap Alpha, because he couldn't protect them, because all he did was endanger them and put them all at risk, because he had gotten so many of his friends hurt or killed. This was all on him, no wonder they had turned on him, all of them, he deserved it, he'd been right before, he would have been better just dying when Peter had attacked him instead of all this…

"SCOTT!" Isaac screamed as Agravaine landed right in front of him, and Agravaine plunged his blazing claws into Scott's stomach, Scott gasping in pain as he bent double over Agravaine's hand.

No, that wasn't true, he'd messed up, but he was right, he knew he was, there was something else behind all this, and even though so many of them had turned on him, there were still ones steadfastly by his side, Isaac, Kira, Liam…

Scott roared, and a surprised Agravaine's eyes bulged as Scott slashed across his face, the dog spitting in fury as Scott slashed his face asunder. Scott growled, panting, the pain in his stomach threatening to overwhelm him but he pushed through it, his eyes flickering between gold and red as he did so. No, this wasn't all on him, that was Agravaine's corruption talking, this wasn't him, he was better, stronger than this…

Agravaine spat blood, at least now it's red colour, from his mouth before launching himself back at Scott, his claws glowing with toxic flame as the two pack leaders went at it. Scott, his eyes flickering between red and gold, was slashing, kicking, snarling, desperate for any advantage. Agravaine however had the advantage as it stood, his glowing claws and noxious breath spilling from his mouth as he battled Scott, while Isaac rushed to his side. Agravaine saw the approach of the Prime Beta and emitted a jet of fire from his claws, catching Isaac right in the chest and sending him spiralling away from their fight, crashing to the ground in a heap, his body smoking.

"No!" Scott cried, watching what had happened to Isaac, and Agravaine then saw the path to victory.

He swung at Scott, the Alpha barely blocking the blow as he looked over at Isaac's barely stirring form. Scott was desperate to get to Isaac, but Agravaine forced him back, his blows coming thick and fast, and Scott was struggling to match him blow for blow as the Gwyllgi pushed him towards the wall of the building the pack had been marshalling outside before the dogs had discovered them.

"Poor Isaac, to have such a feeble Alpha, a feeble boyfriend, death would be better for him, away from you…" Agravaine purred, his melodic voice trying to get into Scott's head as he went for Scott's neck, but Scott twirled out of the way, shaking his head adamantly, his eyes still flickering between their two colours.

"No, he's not." He replied, but his conviction was shaking, and with the right pushes in the right place, Agravaine would break him.

"Oh but he is Scott," Agravaine hissed, taking Scott off his feet with a vicious uppercut, slamming the Alpha to the ground in a heap, and Scott barely rolled out the way before he crushed his skull, "as would Allison be. After all, it's your fault she's dead, isn't it?" he asked softly, and Scott growled, swiping at Agravaine with his claws, and the dog didn't quite dodge in time and Scott drew blood.

"Allison…" he tried to reply, but a sinister Agravaine allowed himself a victorious smirk and pushed his advantage.

"Just like Mason, both of them killed by your inability to lead," he taunted, and Scott, eyes still flickering, roared in anguish, trying to fight Agravaine, going for the Gwyllgi's stomach, but Agravaine caught his wrist and squeezed, grinding his bones together, "just like Erica and Boyd, if you'd been better, stronger, perhaps they'd still be alive too!"

"No, no…" Scott protested, lashing out, wrenching his wrist from Agravaine's grip, and the Gwyllgi laughed, the very sound chilling Scott to the bone.

"And how long before the others join them? Before Liam and Garrett join their dearly departed friend Mason?" he spat, and Scott reeled back, trying to edge away from Agravaine, but his voice was like a sledgehammer inside his head, no, he couldn't listen, its what he wanted to happen, but then he was right…

"Before Violet goes down so bravely, just like Allison? Before Ethan and Aiden are forever separated when your endless failures gets one of them killed?" Agravaine pressed, and Scott roared in denial, trying to cut Agravaine, but the dog, sensing victory was near, backhanded Scott, crashing him into the wall, punching him into it further, drowning the boy in a cascade of rubble.

"Before Kira gives her life for the pathetic Alpha she so foolishly believed in? Before Malia realises that the wolf who turned her back into a human is even weaker than she is as a coyote? Before Lydia goes mad with all the screams that you have caused due to your complete and utter failure to lead?"

Scott extracted himself from the rubble weakly, only for Agravaine to kick him in the chest, Scott crying out in pain as he was driven into the wall, Agravaine pummelling him with his fists as he was trapped in the ruined wall.

"How long before Jackson dies, let down by the Alpha who tried and as always, failed to save him?" he continued, Scott groaning in pain, tears in his eyes, blood in his mouth as Agravaine stuck his flaming claws into Scott's side, hoisting him up from the ground, "before Danny gets killed simply because you failed to protect him from the supernatural?" he whispered sadistically, his voice alight with sadistic enjoyment as he flung Scott off his claws, crashing into the ground inside the building as Agravaine heaved him through the remains of the wall, "before Derek realises that another of his packs is doomed simply because of your leadership?" he spoke softly into Scott's ear, then grabbed Scott's neck, Scott gurgling in terror as the Gwyllgi heaved him into the air, his poisonous yellow eyes boring into Scott's eyes, which went gold with a final flicker, and Agravaine allowed himself a victorious smile.

"How long Scott, before Stiles, Isaac, Lydia, Kira, the twins, the kids, Jackson, Danny and Derek, even your mother, are all dead, all because of you?" he roared, and Scott let out a sob as he tried to pry Agravaine's claws from his neck.

"No, I-no-" Scott struggled, trying to swipe at Agravaine as the sounds of his battling pack filled his ears as Agravaine took him back outside, his body beaten and broken, the Gwyllgi seeming to get stronger with every passing moment while Scott's own power depleted, and Agravaine hoisted the choking Scott high above him, laughing maniacally as the various sounds of Scott's pack being defeated filled their defeated Alpha's ears.

"No, let them go, just take me, let them go!" Scott pleaded tearfully, he had done this, he had caused it, and the entire pack turned in horror, hearing Scott beg for them, his eyes glowing gold but even their light was fading, Agravaine had him right where he wanted him, and the dog knew it.

They had done this, they had destroyed Scott's belief in himself, they had annihilated whatever hope of victory he had had against Agravaine, it was their fault. The dogs held back, and Scott's pack rushed towards him, trying to save him, Isaac was screaming for him, so was Lydia, and Kira, and Aiden, they were all screaming, he had failed them all, he deserved this, they were all going to die because of him, just like Allison…

"How long before they're all dead, just…like…Allison?" Agravaine taunted, and Scott let out a final, piteous howl, and tried to use his last strength to pry Agravaine off his neck, but a cackling Agravaine slammed him into the ground with enough force to cause a crater, rubble digging into him.

Blood was filling his mouth, he was so tired and bloodied and broken, he just wanted it to be over, let him kill me, he begged, as Agravaine straddled punched him time and time again, Scott crying out as he did so, the Gwyllgi laughing maniacally as his pack intercepted Scott's, preventing them running to their Alpha's aid. Scott cried out with each successive punch, yelling in pain as Agravaine punched him again and again, and just when he thought the evil dog was done, Agravaine seized Scott's neck, his claws burning into Scott's skin, while Scott tried feebly to force him off.

"SCOTT!" Isaac screamed, sticking his claws into Thane's face and sending the Grim hurtling away, rushing towards Scott.

"NO!" Stiles screamed, running towards them his sword shaking in his hand as he rushed towards the Gwyllgi, cover be damned, he couldn't let this happen to his best friend, he had to stop Agravaine, his brother was about to die…

"Let him go!" Liam bellowed, looking worse for wear as he stuck his cattle prod into Ciara, making her scream as he sprinted towards his fallen Alpha.

"Scott!" Kira screamed, foxfire blasting Eoghan away from her as she rushed to his side.

"Let him go!" Aiden stormed, backhanding Malakai into a heap as he and Ethan extracted themselves from their opponents, rushing to Scott's side.

"Scott, this is all our fault, we need to help!" Danny cried, shoving away from Bonnie, but Jackson said nothing, instead he was in front, determined to get to Scott.

"Scott, fight back!" Derek begged as he rushed towards them.

Agravaine laughed softly, then used his free hand to send a blaze of fire at Scott's pack, halting their progress, that was all he needed, just a little bit longer.

"Now Scott, listen close. After this, you have only two choices: join me, or die!" he growled, and lifted the broken Alpha into the air, Scott gasping and struggling weakly, and then to everyone's alarm, he locked his lips with Scott's.

Acrid, poisoned smoke billowed from Scott's mouth, surrounding them in a cloud of poison gas as Agravaine poured his Baleful Breath down Scott's fault. Despite Agravaine's so-called kiss, Scott let out an agonised scream as molten, acidic fire poured down his throat, burning up his insides. Scott's body lit up with internal fire, Scott howling in a sort of agony none of them had heard before as fire coursed through his insides, the scream of utter anguish and torture echoing through the night air as Agravaine parted lips from Scott's.

Scott gave a weak gasp as smoke billowed out his mouth, his neck and chest glowing with internal fire, and he looked at Agravaine in incomprehension as his eyes rolled back in his head and he went limp and lifeless in Agravaine's hand. Agravaine then threw Scott to the ground, slamming him into the earth and was about to do who knew what when Lydia's agonised, death predicting scream ripped across the pack and the town, staggering Agravaine and his pack.

Isaac was there an instant later and his knife slashed across Agravaine's face, the Gwyllgi screaming in pain as his blade tore through his face, the leader of the Ghost pack stumbling away from his victim, as Isaac skidded to a stop in the rubble beside Scott, taking his boyfriend into his arms, panting, tears streaming from his eyes.

"Scott, no, wake up, Scott!" he begged, his screams almost inhuman with the fear and the pain.

Lydia staggered, no, that couldn't have been a scream like that, that was a death scream, she hadn't, she couldn't…she had predicted Scott's death, this couldn't be happening, no, she couldn't believe it, not Scott!

The pack rushed to their side, Isaac trying to shield Scott as the pack surrounded them all, the dogs resurging and pushing towards them, they had to get out of here, they had to leave, if not they were all dead.

A cloud of green smoke and a swirl of autumnal leaves then appeared beside the pack as both Rakaisha and Martagh, their faces the definition of outrage, combined their powers, the dogs whining as the power of a Djinn and a Scuffock were brought to bear.

"Move, now!" Martagh ordered angrily, blasting the two Barghests into the night air as Agravaine, his face slashed open, got to his feet, his eyes glowing their malignant yellow, and he started to chuckle in that guttural way he did as he started to transform into his dog form.

Lydia turned and rushed to her mentor's side while Kira ran with her, the twins running interference and holding the Gytrashes off while Isaac, scooped Scott into his arms, whispering to his boyfriend that he would be alright, trying to ignore the scorching hot feeling of his boyfriend or the breaths coming from him in short, ragged gasps.

"Kira, use your foxfire!" Lydia yelled, and using her katana, Kira directed a jet of lightning towards the dogs.

Lydia then let loose with an almighty scream, using sound waves to amplify Kira's attack, and the transforming dogs were caught with the jagged strikes of lightning, their bodies crackling as the momentum of the sonic and electric attack scattered them into the night air. Stiles, who had been running to try and join the pack, he had to find out if Scott was alright, he had to know that he hadn't doomed his best friend, he had to go with them, but then lightning caught him too and he cried out in pain as he was blown away from his friends as they made a break for it.

The dogs knocked back, they all made good their escape. Liam reached the cars first, helping Isaac gently lower Scott into the backseat of Kira's car, Isaac holding his boyfriend frantically, rocking him, trying to get him to wake up. Liam leapt into the driver's seat, starting the car up as the twins, Jackson and Danny got to the other car, Derek bringing up the rear, but Derek outstripped them, heading into Lydia's car and gunning the engine. The twins took to their bikes and once Kira, Lydia and their two rescuers were inside, the pack fled, both Rakaisha and Martagh firing parting shots to hold the dogs off and ensure they didn't follow them as they blazed away, Isaac's screams for Scott to respond to him hanging ominously in the air as the pack fled.

Agravaine chuckled in triumph, game, set and match he believed, and wincing as he pulled himself to his feet, and waving off a fussing Thane, he beckoned his pack back into the mill.

Stiles watched where his friends had disappeared, dropping to his knees and throwing up, emptying his stomach of all its contents, shaking as he held himself. Oh fuck, Scott, Scott was dying, if not dead already, and it was all his fault, this was all his fault, if he had never done this Scott wouldn't be dying, he was shaking, he had to know, nothing was worth this, he had to find out if Scott was alright, he had to do something, but if he did, the dogs would kill him, he didn't care, Scott needed him, he had done this to him, he had to make sure Scott was alright, but what the hell did he do, how did he do it? What could he do, could he help Scott, could he save him, could he help anyone? Would his friends, who believing him a traitor, let him anywhere close to him, to one of the person he loved most? Scott, his best friend, his brother, his lifelong partner in crime, he had destroyed him, this was all down to him!

As Stiles sobbed and shook, he was surprised to find a comforting hand on his shoulder, and he looked up through his tear-filled gaze to see Bonnie staring into the distance where the pack had escaped with a calculating expression on her face.

"Don't pursue them," she whispered, not even looking at him as she did so, but squeezing his shoulder, "your Alpha is far stronger than he seems. Hold your course, don't let on. It's not over yet." She whispered to him reassuringly, and Stiles looked at her, uncomprehending as she stared into the distance.

Scott, what happened to him seemed so familiar…as it had happened all those years ago, when she had first joined Agravaine. And as the memory of that fateful day reared its ugly head inside her mind once again, her eyes glowed blue as she started to shake with fury.

Agravaine had lied.

And she was going to make sure that that was his undoing.

Poor Scott, he really has put through the ringer this time round hasnt he. It isnt entirely the pack's fault, there's been a lot of stress going on, what with one thing and another, and Agravaine's corruption of the Nemeton certainly doesnt help.

But now, Isaac is aware that there's more to Stiles defection than meets the eye, but will this news come too late to help Scott? And will Scott, if he survives, figure out who his true enemy is?

And just what has Bonnie realised?

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it, I would like to promise that the next installment wont be so long to wait, but sadly, life has a habit of getting in the way (gin also does that, as its rather hard to write when ones been sampling one's different gins) and if you did enjoy, please read and review if you feel so inclined.

And lastly, if you're on Instagram, if you're on Instagram and enjoy Teen Wolf, visit the pages of mccallsnight and thiamheart, for some top quality edits, great debates and just two lovely friendly people, who I've been speaking to a lot recently and really enjoy talking with, so give them both a look if you're on instagram!