To wayneximoff: :):)
To Arianna Le Fay: I love Scott and Loki too, but I thought Scott and Kira's relationship needed to run its course.
To Merrick Whitlock: Thank you!
Also I think I should put a trigger warning here because this chapter mentions suicide and panic attacks.
Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf
Loki stood warily outside the door to Jordan's house. She pulled out her phone, re-reading her outgoing text messages that he'd suddenly stopped responding to. Biting her lip, Loki debated briefly whether or not she was overreacting.
Considering the fact that he was worth five million dollars on a hit list that professional killers had access to, she didn't think she was. Loki knocked on Jordan's door, and to her surprise and worry, it pushed right open.
"Jordan?" she called, into the empty house. She bit the inside of her cheek again, realizing that this situation mirrored the one the night her aunt had attacked her at the penthouse. Loki inhaled slightly, and winced as the smell of blood hit her nose. It wasn't terribly potent, but it was present – and Jordan wasn't.
Swearing softly, Loki backed out of the room, heading for the Sherriff's station.
Loki parked her bike outside the station, glancing around the parking lot. She didn't see Jordan's car anywhere, nor did she see his cruiser. To her surprise, however, she did see Stiles's Jeep and Lydia's car. Heaving a sigh, Loki ran into the station, trying to convince herself nothing was wrong.
Loki spotted Stiles and Lydia in the Sherriff's office, probably updating Stiles's dad on Lydia's new theory about her grandmother. But Jordan was nowhere in sight.
"Hey," Loki leaned over the desk of Jordan's partner, Haigh. He jumped, pushing his computer screen down slightly. He blinked rapidly up at her, smiling awkwardly, and Loki frowned. Something was off. Shaking her head, she continued. "Have you seen Jordan – Deputy Parrish?" He shook his head, eyes wide, and the smell of guilt and anxiety hit Loki's nose.
Narrowing her eyes, Loki backed away. Haigh's lips twisted down as he noticed her expression, and his hand twitched towards his gun.
Before either of them could react, a familiar scent caught Loki's attention, and she whirled around. Sure enough, Jordan was at the door.
His clothes were almost completely burned off, and what was left of them hung in tatters on his bare skin. Soot covered Jordan's entire body, and a burnt smell hung around him. Despite looking like he'd just walked through an inferno, Jordan still had all of his hair, and he looked unharmed. His facial expression was blank and his pace was unnaturally quick.
Loki watched, eyes huge, as Jordan paused in front of Haigh. His partner looked up, and then did a double take; jaw dropping as he saw the other deputy in front of him. She watched as he went for his gun, and Jordan moved forward at the same supernatural speed. He gripped Haigh's wrist, shoving the gun to the side as Haigh pulled his finger down around the trigger. The ricochet bullets hit the glass window next to Loki, and she grimaced as the shards stung her face.
"You're dead," Haigh breathed out, disbelieving. Jordan grunted in an animalistic manner, slinging the other deputy to the ground. The Sherriff noticed the commotion and flung his office door opening, pointing his gun at the two brawling deputies, yelling from them to stop.
Jordan hit Haigh across the face, and another bullet fired from his gun, clipping the Sherriff in the shoulder. Loki heard Lydia scream – in a human way, not in a Banshee way – and Stiles yelled for his father, rushing to his side.
"Stop!" Loki screamed as Jordan brought his fist down across Haigh's face again. "Stop! Jordan – Jordan!" When she yelled his name, the deputy hesitated, looking at her. As he stared at Loki, he blinked, and odd expression covering his face. His hands slackened, and fell to his sides, harmless.
Jordan stepped out of his bedroom, a towel wrapped around his waist. Water still glistened on his shoulders as he stared across the room to Loki. She was sitting on his couch, reading something on her phone. He crossed over to her, and leaned down, wrapping his arms around her waist.
She had evidently been caught up enough in her reading that she hadn't noticed his approach. As his arms snaked around her, she jumped, quickly turning her phone off.
"Why are you interested in news in Maryland?" he asked, amused, kissing her neck. "What are you reading?" She turned around, pressing herself against him.
"Something for school," she said smoothly. His eyes narrowed at her playfully, and he nipped her neck. "Jordan!" She scolded, laughing and leaning away from him. "Come on," she continued, pulling his arms from her waist and shoving him away from her pointedly. "Go get dressed. We're going to Derek's."
Derek listened quietly as Jordan explained what had happened. When the deputy was finished, Derek took his hands, flipping them over and over to examine the unmarked skin more closely. The werewolf frowned.
"He covered you in gasoline?" Derek repeated. Jordan nodded, and Derek stepped back, allowing Jordan to drop his hands back to his side. Derek surveyed Jordan's body on a whole.
"It's the hair and nails, isn't it?" Lydia asked. "The parts of the body that are essentially dead."
"They should be gone," Derek agreed.
"I was set on fire," Jordan said, touching the center of his chest carefully. "All of me should be gone."
"Not if you're like us," Scott responded ambiguously. Jordan frowned, turning towards the Alpha. He glanced at Loki, and then Derek, and lastly Lydia, eyebrows raised inquisitively.
"Like you?" He repeated, clearly confused.
"I don't think he's like us," Derek replied, still studying Jordan closely. The expression on Derek's face was clinically curious, similar to a doctor who'd been presented with an odd medical case.
"Then what is he?" Lydia asked. The elder werewolf shook his head.
"Sorry, but I have no idea," he admitted. "This is a little out of my experience. There might be something in the bestiary. Did you try Argent?" Scott shook his head, looking down at the ground.
"I don't know where he is," Scott murmured. Scott looked at Loki, but before he even asked, she was shaking her head.
"I don't know either," she said. "I already would have told him if I knew." Something occurred to her, and her shoulders lifted slightly. "But…Deucalion might know. He would know. I could try to – "
"No," Scott, Lydia and Derek all said simultaneously. Loki scowled, and Jordan looked around, shaking his head.
"Okay, hold on. What's a bestiary? Who the hell is Deucalion?" Loki opened her mouth to respond, but Jordan was already moving on, much to her relief. "Actually, that's not even my first question! Just…just tell me one thing. Are all of you like Lydia? Are you all psychic?" Derek snorted at this, shaking his head and turning away. Jordan sighed, clearly frustrated.
"Jordan," Loki said. He turned towards her, and she rolled her eyes, but she was smiling softly. "Lydia's not psychic. She just has…certain abilities. As for the rest of us in the room…" Loki turned to Scott, raising her eyebrows. He nodded, and closed his eyes.
When he opened them, they were the bright crimson red of an Alpha.
"What's a kanima?" Jordan asked, rubbing his temples. He was seated on Derek's couch while the others stood, struggling to make him understand the supernatural world. Their world. And now – his, too.
"We'll get back to that," Scott insisted. Even the True Alpha's never-ending patience was being tried. He was anxious to make Jordan understand what was important in the present moment, but understandably so, Jordan was getting sidetracked by the overwhelming details. Loki sat down next to Jordan and took his hand in hers. He shot her a look and then a nervous glance at the others in the room, but didn't pull away.
"The most important thing you need to know right now is that everyone with some kind of supernatural ability, everyone like us, is on the Dead Pool," Loki told him.
"But I don't even know what I am!" Jordan insisted.
"They probably don't either," Loki said.
"And I'm pretty sure that they don't care," Derek added. Loki shot him a look, and he scowled back.
"How many professional assassins are we talking about?" Jordan asked. Lydia shrugged, responding from where she was pacing back and forth in front of the coffee table.
"We're starting to lose count," the Banshee admitted.
"Is it still just professionals?" Scott asked, reminding them of the other attacks that seemed less...refined.
"I don't think Haigh's ever tried anything like this," Jordan responded. His eyes were far away as he considered his partner. "I think he was taking a chance." Loki sighed.
"That means anyone with the Dead Pool could 'take a chance,'" Derek muttered, casting a look at the others in the room.
"So if Jordan's annoying partner had it, then who else does?" Loki pressed. "How easy is it to get access to this thing now?" Derek and Scott exchanged a look, and Loki shook her head. The answer was clear – too easy. "Alrighty then. Not to deviate from this cheerful topic," Loki added, looking to Lydia. "Want to expound on this theory about your grandmother?"
Lydia looked around, seeing that all the attention was now on her. She took a seat on Derek's sloppily made bed, and nodded once.
"Meredith was only at my grandmother's lakehouse once," she began. "But I think once was enough." Lydia pressed her lips together, her eyes glassy-looking.
"How did your grandmother know her?" Derek asked the teenager. Lydia shook her head.
"She didn't." Was the reply. "She found her. Because of another woman named Maddy. The woman she loved." Lydia studied the photograph in her hand, and then stood, walking over to Scott. She passed the picture to him.
"I never met her," she continued. "But I saw her name everywhere. She used to be part of a yacht-racing team. There were plaques and trophies in the lake house from all the regattas she'd won."
"How did she die?" Jordan asked.
"How's not the story," Lydia replied. "It's what happened right before. My grandmother, Lorraine, used to work in San Francisco for IBM. She was there on a weekend, catching up on work. She started hearing this sound, like rain. But when she looked out the windows…all she saw was blue sky." Lydia's eyes were teary, and Loki wondered what their Banshee was seeing in the moment, and if it was painful for her.
"She kept hearing rain?" Loki asked, as gently as possible. Lydia nodded.
"And it just kept getting louder. Rain, and thunder cracking like gunshots in her head. So loud…she finally just screamed." Lydia turned towards them, her face pale.
"Like a Banshee," Derek murmured. Lydia barely acknowledged the werewolf, instead continuing the story.
"She called Maddy, who was planning on taking one of the boats out on the lake. But Maddy said that the sun was shining there too. So Lorraine didn't say anything." Lydia pressed her lips together, wringing her hands.
"There was an accident?" Jordan whispered. Lydia dipped her head once.
"It took them four days to find Maddy's body. And then it took decades to find out how Lorraine knew." Lydia continued to explain how Lorraine had hired pseudo-scientists at first, then turned to mediums and psychics, and how they'd all failed. And then she'd found Meredith.
"They found her at Eichen," Lydia explained. "This fragile girl who didn't understand the things she heard. They brought her to the lakehouse…and they almost killed her. She was hospitalized for over a year…she never really recovered." Lydia was really crying now, her mascara smudged as the tears traced down her pale cheeks. "My grandmother drove her insane," Lydia whispered, voice edged with guilt and sorrow. "And I drove her to suicide. And all she ever wanted to do was help." Loki reached out to Lydia, placing a hand on her shoulder. Shaking her head, the strawberry blonde girl wiped her cheeks and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper.
"My grandmother created the code for the Dead Pool," she said, laying the sheet on the table for the others to see. "They think she's the Banshee who put the names out in the first place." Lydia tapped the piece of paper. "She left me this message in the same code."
"But no cipher key," Loki stated, looking at Lydia for clarification. The Banshee shook her head.
Jordan glanced over to the girl in the passenger seat of his car. Loki was silent, and the silver moonlight that cast over her face gave her features on ethereal glow. The strange beauty of it was ironic, considering what he'd just learned about her. He wondered if the silvery light hurt her at all.
"It doesn't," she said. She looked over at him and grinned. Jordan blinked.
"I didn't say anything," he protested.
"I know," she replied. She grinned again. "But you're processing this information like any other human – well, not a human – would. So I can guess what you're thinking." Jordan shook his head, rolling his eyes fondly.
"Loki," he said, re-capturing her attention. "Why are your eyes different colors?" She nodded, like she'd been expecting this question, and looked down at her lap.
"Scott's an Alpha," Loki responded, picking at a loose thread on her jacket. She chose her words carefully. "All Alphas have red eyes. Most Betas' eyes are golden." Jordan nodded absent-mindedly, but it was clear that this answer had only fueled further questions.
"So – why most? Why are your eyes blue?" There was no answer, and when Jordan looked over at Loki, he saw that her lips were pressed together in a thin line. He backtracked quickly. "You don't have to tell me, if it's personal." Loki snorted.
"It's not personal," she muttered. She sounded disgusted, and Jordan's gut twisted. He had clearly crossed a line.
"Sorry – " he began, but Loki cut him off just as quickly.
"It's not you," she reassured him. "It's just…" Her voice trailed off, and she looked out the window. They had reached her apartment. Unbuckling her seatbelt, she half-turned towards him, one hand on the door handle. "I'm not a good person." Jordan shook his head.
"I don't believe that," he protested. Loki's eyes were shadowed, her lips turned down at the corners. Her slim shoulders were slumped with an invisible weight that Jordan had yet to understand. He realized, with a shock, that this was the first time that Loki hadn't seemed completely put together. Jordan leaned over and took her hand. "Hey. Whatever it is, it's okay. You don't have to tell me, but it doesn't matter." Loki's lip curled into a sneer, and she shook her head again.
"Yes, it does," she said. "I'll tell you one day, if I ever stop being a fucking coward." She laughed humorlessly, and then leaned over and kissed him gently. "I'm sorry," she said, more gently, more like the Loki he knew. "Your whole world just flipped upside down, and here I am being melodramatic." Jordan smiled, brushing her hair out of her face.
"It's okay."
"Skipping school again, I see?" Jordan greeted Loki as she stepped into the station. She smiled smugly at him.
"Just working on my independent study," she replied, waving a folder at him. Before he could respond to that, Lydia and Stiles entered the station. Stiles spotted her and waved her over. "Just a second," she murmured to Jordan, walking over to her friend. "What's up?" In response, he handed her two pieces of paper.
Loki frowned, studying both of them. They were Dead Pools, so why was Stiles – oh. One of the sheets was a list she'd seen before, but different – Derek's name was missing from it, and his bounty had been added to Liam's, making Liam the fourth most valuable creature on the Dead Pool. And the other list…
As Loki read the names, her blood ran cold. Inhaling sharply, she looked up, and Stile stared at her in concern.
"Loki? You alright?"
"I know – I know these people," she muttered, more to herself than to Stiles. Shaking her head, she snapped out of her reverie and looked him in the eye. "They were all in Eichen – or, I'm guessing. Out of the names I recognize, all of them are people – supernaturals – who committed suicide while in Eichen."
"Lydia, it's not a library," Stiles reminded his friend. "We need a warrant to get files from there." Lydia shook her head.
"My grandmother left me a list of ten suicides, including her own. There's got to be a reason why."
"You're not serious," Loki said, staring at her two friends. "You're not really planning on going to Eichen, right?"
"Yes!" Lydia insisted. "We need to go back." Loki shook her head slightly, biting her lip, but the Banshee had already moved on. "There has to be someone there who's willing to help us." Stiles's eyes narrowed thoughtfully and he tilted his head.
"Not someone who will help," he mused aloud. "But maybe someone who will be willing to take a bribe."
Loki stood slightly behind Stiles and Lydia as they negotiated with Brunski, and fervently wished for the twins. She hated being back in this place too much to put into words, but she hadn't wanted to let her friends go alone. It was too dangerous. Although she wasn't sure how much help she'd be in a dangerous situation, considering how frayed her nerves were.
"A thousand dollars," Brunski said, offering a price for the information the three teenagers needed. Stiles stared at the orderly, his mouth hanging open.
"A thou – to use one little key, to open up one little file room? A thousand dollars? Are you out of your mind?" Brunsku chuckled.
"When you get the keys, you make the price." Stiles shook his head.
"Alright," he muttered. The teenager sighed, shaking his head. "You actually think we have that kind of money?"
"I know you don't," he responded. "If you did, Daddy Sherriff would have paid the bill by now." Stiles clenched his jaw, and Brunski jutted his chin at Lydia. "That's why I'm talking to her." Lydia rolled her eyes and dug into her wallet.
"I have five hundred," she muttered, pulling out the cash and tossing it on the table. Brunski surveyed the pile of bills and shook his head stubbornly.
"One thousand," he repeated. Lydia and Stiles exchanged an exasperated look, but before either one of them could argue, Loki stepped forward and tossed another bundle of cash onto the desk.
"There's five hundred more," she muttered, forcing herself to look him in the eye. She tightened her jaw as a shudder of fear went down her spine as he made eye contact with her. "Now give us the damn key."
Brunski raised his eyebrows, smiling in satisfaction as he shuffled the bills. He lifted them to his nose, inhaling deeply and smiling again. He grabbed a ring of keys and shook them up and down so that they jangled together.
"Follow me," he said, standing up. As Loki followed Brunski down the hallway, unwelcome memories began to swirl through her mind, and she closed her eyes as her breath started to come faster, catching in her chest.
Stiles stared at the werewolf next to him in surprise. She was wringing her hands through her thick, curly hair and her shoulders were heaving. A light sheen of sweat covered her face, which was very, very pale.
"Are you okay?" he asked, before recognizing the symptoms. His eyes widened. "Are you having a panic attack?" Loki slammed her fist into her palm and took a deep breath. Her shoulders shuddered as she fought to remain in control.
"I don't know. Maybe. I hate this place." Stiles nodded slowly, and reached out to Loki carefully. Lydia glanced back at her two friends, her brow drawn together in concern.
"Hey. Okay. It's okay. I know, I was here, and it's awful, but – " Loki was shaking her head back and forth rapidly, and when she looked up at him, there was a feverish light in her eyes, and they were glowing with wetness.
"No, you weren't," she whispered. "You weren't at the real Eichen." Stiles stepped back in shock. It was the first time he'd ever seen Loki cry.
"Hey!" Brunski yelled to the teenagers following him. Stiles snapped to attention, and Loki shrunk in on herself farther. The orderly shoved the door open. "Good?" he asked. Stiles cast a nervous look at Loki. She was following him with her arms wrapped around herself carefully.
"Yeah," he said quickly. Upon entering the room, she pressed her back against one of the filing cabinets. Stiles was quickly realizing that her hesitation to coming to Eichen wasn't just nervousness, and he cursed inwardly. "We can help ourselves. Uh, Lydia, you got the list?" The strawberry blonde handed the piece of paper to Stiles and he unfolded it. He frowned as he surveyed the paper, suddenly distracted from what they came to do. "Lydia, why did you write another name here?" Lydia raised an eyebrow.
"I didn't."
"This is your handwriting," Stiles persisted. Lydia shook her head and frowned.
"Why would I write another name?" Stiles shoved the list at his friend, throwing another nervous glance at the werewolf on his right. She made no sign that she was hearing Stiles and Lydia's conversation.
"Why would you write mine?" Lydia's eyes widened at the human's question, and she studied the list again. Sure enough, underneath the ten typed names, she had scrawled 'Stiles.' Brunski chuckled darkly from behind them.
"It was the tapes, wasn't it?" he asked, coldly. The teenagers whipped towards the orderly, and Loki hissed under her breath as fear coiled in her stomach.
She watched as Stiles fell to the ground, body twitching from the electricity from the Taser that Brunski held in his hands. Lydia backed away, screaming, her hands pressed over her mouth in horror. Loki watched as Brunski turned towards her other friend, repeated the same shock to the teenage girl.
When Brunski turned on Loki, the werewolf's eyes were glowing blue, and her canines were already elongated. He reached for her, and she lunged at him, scraping her claws down his wrist as she fled the room.
The receptionist at Eichen House was reading the newspaper when something caught his attention. He blinked, and leaned over the counter to get a better look. His jaw dropped.
"The hell?" he muttered in shock, rubbing his eyes. He watched as a fully-grown wolf loped through the hallways, busting out the door of the facility. Gaping, the orderly stared after the animal, hesitantly reaching for the phone.
After a brief inner struggle, he decided against calling Animal Control. As long as it was gone.
Loki's feet pounded against the pavement as she ran through the pouring rain. The cold water soaked her pelt, weighing it down around her as she ran. Shaking her pelt fruitlessly, Loki slowed to a stop outside the animal clinic, but in her frenzied state of mind, she couldn't remember why she was there.
Someone was crouching in front of her – two people. Loki assumed it was Ethan and Aiden, and the coil of abject terror in her stomach loosened. As she relaxed, the voice of one of the people in front of her flowed over her. It was convincing her that she was fine, that it was all right for her to shift back – but something about it was off.
As Loki's muscles relaxed and she returned to her human form, she realized dazedly that the people weren't the twins at all. It was Scott and Kira. Loki knelt on the ground, shivering from the cold rain, as the water hit her face and rolled down her cheeks. Not for the first time, the fierce solitude of a wolf that had lost her pack crashed down on her.
Scott went into the back room to check on Loki. She was wearing some of Kira's extra clothes – Scott's girlfriend had just returned from seeing her mother, so she still had all of her things – but no shoes. Her still-wet hair was tangled, and it dripped onto the thin material of her borrowed shirt.
Scott noticed that on the bottom of Loki's right foot she had a tiny tattoo. He was surprised he'd never noticed it while they were dating, and once he realized what it was, kind of wished he hadn't realized it now. It was the mark of the Alpha Pack, burned onto the arch of her foot. She noticed him staring, and quickly shifted so that the bottom of her foot was facing away from him.
"Guess I'm channeling my inner Kali tonight," she murmured, a poor attempt at a joke. It was something that the twins would have found humor in, but Scott just smiled weakly back at her.
"How are you?" he asked, bypassing her remark. She shrugged.
"I'll be fine once I get a distraction," she muttered, standing up. She brushed her hair from her face, grimacing as her fingers snagged on a knot almost immediately. "Sorry," she whispered, sounding ashamed. Scott shook his head, reaching out to take her hand. He gave it a comforting squeeze.
"Don't worry about it." Loki pulled her hand back from Scott, self-coconsciously aware that his girlfriend was just in the next room. Loki rolled her shoulders back and steeled herself.
"Okay," she said. "Let's go."
Loki raised her hand, a sound catching her attention. Before she could stop the ancient werewolf, Satomi had whipped out one of her spikes and thrown it. Loki heard the unmistakable voice of Argent shouting in pain as the spike hit him. Brett burst out from behind the curtain, snarling.
"Wait!" Scott yelled, throwing the sheet aside and stepping out into the open after the other werewolf. "Wait. Brett, this is his place, it's his!" The young werewolf backed away, looking a strange mix of mutinous and embarrassed. Argent heaved a sigh, stepping forward as he observed the rest of the pack behind the curtains.
"Scott," he said, sounding slightly irritated. "If you were bringing guests, you could have called." Scott lifted his shoulders, looking chagrined.
"I didn't know where else to take them," he explained. Satomi stepped forward, her eyes locked on Argent's face. She narrowed them slightly, tilting her head as she observed him.
"I know this man," she announced, sounding defensive as she eyed the hunter with suspicion. "He may not remember, but we've met before."
"You can trust him," Loki reassured Satomi. The other werewolf didn't relax.
"How do we know he's not like the others?" She demanded, referring to the ones who she'd been evading just the night before. Argent raised his eyebrows.
"What others?" he asked.
"Last night," Kira explained. "There was a whole team after them. And they used crossbows." Kira pulled an arrow out of her pocket, handing it to Argent for him to examine. The seasoned hunter took it in his hand, studying it.
"They're hunters, aren't they?" Scott asked. Argent shook his head, eyes dark.
"Not if they're killing for profit," he said. "Not anymore." Brett stepped forward from the crowd of werewolves.
"Are we safe here?" He questioned. "Can they find us?" Argent looked up at the young wolf.
"They might already know you're here," he replied. "They might be waiting for dark." Satomi's pack shifted uncomfortably. None of them were fighters, and all of them were afraid.
"So we're not safe here," Kira murmured, looking at Scott.
"We're not safe anywhere," Satomi stated. "We've been trying to get out for days. Everywhere we turn, we find someone new trying to kill us." Argent ignored her, instead looking at the other Alpha in the room.
"If they're coming, Scott, they're coming for you too," he reminded the True Alpha. "You and Loki are still one and two on the Dead Pool."
"Trust me, it hasn't slipped my mind," Loki muttered sarcastically.
"I know," Scott said, more diplomatically. "I know Lydia can get the answer from Meredith, she just needs more time." Argent nodded, his resolve steeling as he observed the pack before him once more.
"Then that's what she'll get."
Loki watched Satomi's pack from where she stood, next to Derek. Braeden was checking her gun across the room, and Argent was setting motion sensors so that they'd be alerted at the first sign of trouble. Scott walked over to the other two werewolves.
"They'll be okay," he reassured them, referring to the other pack. Derek and Loki exchanged a dubious look.
"They have claws and fangs," Derek responded. "But they're not fighters." He walked over to Braeden, and Scott trailed him.
"That's why I called you."
"Well, try to remember that I don't have claws and fangs either anymore," Derek said. Braeden glanced at him and hefted her gun over her shoulder.
"That's why he called me," she quipped. Kira shook her head, glancing between her friends. Her eyes were still wide with a naive hope.
"Am I the only one still hoping that this is a false alarm?" She asked. "I mean, we could wait here all night and nothing happens. Right?" No one responded to her - no one else believed that.
"Have you heard anything from Stiles or Lydia yet?" Braeden asked. Scott glanced at Loki.
"Lydia's still talking to Meredith," Loki replied. "Stiles and Malia are headed to the lakehouse – they think they know how to stop the Dead Pool."
"What if there is no stopping it?" Brett called. Everyone turned towards him. "What if it doesn't stop until we're all dead?" There was a moment of quiet, before Derek broke the silence.
"Then let's send a message," he said. "Let's make it perfectly clear to anyone with a copy of that list. It doesn't matter if they're professional assassins, hunters, or an amateur who just picked up a gun." Derek motioned to his own sidearm he held in his hand, his eyes steely with determination. "Anyone who thinks they can hunt and kill us for money is going to be put on another list – our list. They get to be a name on our Dead Pool."
A loud beep caught Loki's attention – the motion sensors. Something hit the ground at her feet and rolled forward – smoke grenade.
"Get back!" Braeden ordered Satomi's pack, just as the sound of gunfire broke through the room. Loki slid behind a wall, wincing as the loud barrage of fire it her sensitive ears. As the attackers moved forward, Loki waited until one of them was close enough for her to grab.
Slinging his gun to the ground, Loki hit the man back behind her wall of cover and slammed his head into the ground, effectively knocking him out.
As another assailant moved towards her, pointing his gun at her head, she dove for his legs. Knocking them out from underneath him, Loki flipped him on the ground and shoved his gun out of reach. He scrambled up again, and she kicked him back, her bare foot stinging as it made contact with the hard metal of his bulletproof vest.
For every person Loki or one of her allies knocked to the ground and incapacitated, another fresh attacker took their place.
"There's too many of them!" Loki heard Braeden yell, and she silently agreed. This was an uphill battle, and they could only hold the attackers off for a matter of time. They could only hope that one of their friends would come through.
Suddenly another sound pierced her ears – a scream of terror. Running towards the source of the noise, Loki found the young girl in Satomi's pack facing off against a hunter. Her eyes were closed, tears tracing down her cheeks as the attacker pointed his gun at her, the red dot shining on the center of her forehead.
Before Loki could react, Scott had lunged forward and knocked the attacker aside, pinning him down and dragging him away. Scott's growls filled the small enclosure, and Loki ran to the girl's side, pulling her up and pushing her in front. Loki stayed behind the girl, knowing that her senses were less attuned than Loki's, and she'd likely forget to check behind her as they moved through the battle zone.
"Go," she ordered, prompting her through the fray and back towards the rest of her pack. Brett saw the girl and called out to her, pulling her into a fierce hug. Loki watched the two embrace, and her eyes widened as a red dot appeared on Brett's back.
"Get down!" she shouted, tackling them as a deluge of bullets sprayed over their heads. Springing to her feet, Loki ducked the punch thrown by the attacker, this time a woman. Loki slung her back, shoving her into a wall and held her their, one hand wrapped around her neck.
As Loki pinned the woman to the wall by her throat, a silence fell over the room, broken only by the buzzing of cell phones. Loki watched as the other attackers lowered their guns and backed away, and she snarled at the woman in front of her.
Stepping back, Loki allowed her to fall to the ground, gasping as she massaged her throat. Loki's shoulders were heaving as she breathed heavily, her heart rate slowly decreasing as the adrenaline drained from her veins. The hunter blinked up at her, eyes wide with fear.
"Get lost," Loki muttered, turning back towards Brett and his sister.
Scott drove Loki home. As the two whipped along the empty roads, Loki was glad that he had a dirt bike and not a car. It was hard to talk while riding on a noisy machine back to front instead of side by side. But when they got to Loki's apartment, Scott didn't let her leave without talking.
"Loki," he said as she turned to leave. She looked back at him, carefully pressing one barefoot on top of another to warm them up. "Are you sure you're okay?" Loki nodded. "Why…what happened tonight?" Loki blinked, looking up at the sky. It was clearing, and she could see some of the stars and the moon through the thin, vaporous cover.
"The huntress who attacked me a few days ago was my aunt," she said. Scott's eyes widened, but he didn't interrupt. "She blames me for my parents deaths – she thinks that if I'd just gotten out of their lives and gone with the Alpha right away, they'd still be alive. And she's probably right."
"Loki, it wasn't your fault." The werewolf shrugged, sitting next to Scott as she spoke.
"Maybe not. I've tried to stop blaming myself. But that's not the point here. The point is, when I was bitten, my mom made her side of the family promise not to hurt me. I was still her daughter, she said. When she died, most of them were content enough to quietly hate me. But Jay tracked me down. She didn't want to hurt me herself, she loved my mom too much to break a promise to her, but she had Eichen lock me up."
"How did they contain you?" Scott asked, confused.
"Eichen's true purpose is to house out of control supernatural creatures," Loki responded. "At the time I fit the bill, and to some people in there, I still do." She looked down at her hands. "It's terrifying in there. I thought I'd be able to handle it if I went back, but I couldn't."
"It's okay," he told her. He hesitated, wondering if now was the appropriate time to ask the other question he wanted to hear the answer to. As usual, Loki knew what he was thinking.
"Spit it out, Scott," she said. He laughed.
"Why did you want to ask Deucalion about Parrish?" he asked. "Last time you saw him you wanted nothing to do with him." Loki nodded.
"Yeah," she agreed. "I didn't. Still don't, really, but…" she stood from her seat, standing with her back to Scott. "I never killed for Deucalion," she reminded Scott. He waited patiently for her to continue. When she turned towards him, her eyes were far away. "But I think he may have killed for me."
um yeah. so i hope it's not too unclear in this chapter but loki isn't like unhappy in scott's pack. she just misses her old friends...and in my mind the twins are her anchor(s) so that's why she got so sad right after she lost control cuz they weren't actually there.
anyways, i kind of struggled with this chapter (lol what else is new) because i had two storylines i was choosing from to follow, and i chose this one even tho i like the other one better for reasons i can't explain bc spoilers for my plans for the next season but i hope this is okay.
please leave a review and let me know what you think!
thanks :)