Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf
Two-Pack III
"My lady?" he asked from the floor, where he was kneeling as she entered, and she smiled indulgently at him.
"It's perfect my sweet boy." She purred in a lusty, seductive voice, and he smiled in delight, rising from the ground as she kissed his cheek.
The local Hilton of Beacon Hills was good enough, the only four-star hotel in town. She now had one of the most luxurious suites in the place, wide, spacious and more than enough room for her to spread out. She crossed over to the sofa and collapsed lazily onto it, sighing in pleasure as she stretched out her legs, making herself at home as she looked at her two companions.
Ash had come on ahead to get the room ready for her. Tall, muscular and handsome, he was the perfect servant for her. He was clad in a black v-neck tshirt and black leather jeans, and his blond hair was styled in a spiky quiff that was swept to the side. He had come across her when she had finally got out of her…enforced imprisonment. Starving, ravenous even, she had tried to consume him, but to her horror, it hadn't worked. He had fixed her with a cocky grin and informed her that that wouldn't work, as one, he could tell she was too weak, and two, he was an Incubus. Vexed, she had prepared to kill him the old-fashioned way, until he revealed he had captured a young ranger out patrolling the plains to keep an eye on the wildlife, and offered him to her instead. Ever since he had rescued her, he had been loyally at her side, helping her as she regained her strength, assisting her in her plans, and occasionally sharing her bed, acting in many different guises for his mistress. As a result, his power had increased immensely, and now, he had brought her here, where she most needed to be, and it was finally time for her to go about achieving her plan.
Her other companion was her retainer from her home. When she had inadvertently wound up here, he had stumbled through with her, and had also been imprisoned with her after her very rare miscalculation, and was even weaker than her after their escape. She had left him behind, looking for food as she so desperately needed to feed, and once she had been fed, she came back and gave him some of her power. The two of them united once again, and now with Ash with them, they had begun their quest, finishing the mission she had begun so many years before, which was why she was now here in Beacon Hills. Her retainer had no name, and like Ash, also occasionally shared her bed. Tall, muscular, he blended in well enough to the world, other than the two tomahawks hanging around his waist. He was an imposing, bald man. However, most bizarrely, he had no mouth, and as a result, she had always called him the Mute.
"You've done well Ash, this is most helpful. Now, now we can begin. We must find it, and our time is running out. We're on a tight schedule, but…" she purred, and Ash grinned, while the Mute's eyes widened in anticipation, "I daresay we can indulge in a little night off to acclimatise to our new surroundings. Oh, that reminds me, Ash, beloved, be a dear?" she purred, and he bowed to her before coming over, kissing her fiercely, running his hands through her long, gorgeous blonde hair, climbing onto the sofa beside her as they kissed, and as he ran his hand through her hair, two came off in his hands.
As she felt it, she smiled and laid a finger on his lips, she could feel him getting very excited as he straddled her, and kissed his cheek, making him smile a bit more as he got off the sofa, offering her the two hairs. She then kissed each hair, before casting them to the floor, and the three of them watched as the two hairs glowed on the floor.
The glowing hairs melted into a pool of molten gold, and it shimmered as two well-built muscular men were created out the gold, and the molten gold bodies then changed, becoming, for want of a better word, real. They were exactly identical, their eyes glowing as they turned into a gorgeous blue. Both men were exquisite specimens, muscular, defined, with long, flowing blond hair that fell down to their shoulders, complete with a goatee. They were perfect.
She got to her feet, prowling around the two specimens, taking in every inch of their gorgeous forms. And then, smiling, she took hold of their long hair and lifted it so she could see the back of their heads. And as always, she got a start as she saw the true form of the demons she had conjured, as the snarling, growling faces of hyenas stared out at her from under their hair, muzzles snapping, eyes glowing a sinister rust colour. Smiling in satisfaction, she allowed the hair to fall, covering up the hyena faces, so that only the attractive faces of their human side would be seen.
"We're on our way my loves. The Kishi have been conjured, and we shall conjure more. The time is approaching, and this town is ripe for the plucking. And now…I'm starving!" she complained, and Ash smiled, and gestured with his head to the Mute, who nodded, and headed through to the bathroom, and brought an attractive, naked man who had been bound and gagged through from the bathroom.
"You didn't think I'd forget dinner, did you?" he whispered into her ear, and she grinned, and approached the man who started quivering in fear as she did.
"Good boy Ash. Now, dinner time!" she hissed, and the man would have screamed as his life came to an end.
XX
Music was coming from the loft that belonged to Camden, Rakaisha and Isaac, and there were already a good number of people there. The snacks Rakaisha had made were going down nicely, and the drink was flowing freely, and it was already setting up to be a good night.
"Hey." Scott called as Isaac, already in his costume, was out handing some drinks out to a couple of friends that Camden had from school who still lived in town.
"Hey-wow!" Isaac gasped, and Scott smiled happily.
"You like it?" he asked hopefully, and Isaac, still lost for words, nodded weakly.
Scott was clad in a rather tight looking suit of black with a red bird stylised on the front which left little to the imagination, complete with a facemask, and two sticks stored on his back, and his hair was styled in a far messier style than usual.
"You make a very hot Nightwing." Isaac managed weakly, and was just wondering if he could nip away with Scott when he caught his brother's eye, who raised a finger warningly, though grinning while he did so, and Isaac scowled, but walked around to see if Nightwing's reputation as 'the best ass in DC Comics' was being justice, truthfully, he felt Scott had rather blown Nightwing out of the water.
"Thanks, you aren't so bad yourself, Green Arrow." He purred, bringing Isaac close to him and pressing his lips to his boyfriend's hungrily, and Isaac eagerly reciprocated, and ran his hands down Scott's now rather obvious body down to his rather apparent rear.
Scott pulled away, nuzzling Isaac a little before helping himself to a drink, and admiring his boyfriend's look. He was clad in a green costume, both the top, the bottoms and the hoody, the sleeves cut off, with green bands tied around his arms which helped show off his muscles, his blond hair spiked up and complete with green goggles.
"Thanks, this is fun. Have you tried one of Rakaisha's feta parcel things?" Isaac asked excitedly, dragging his boyfriend over to the table with the food on it.
The room was full of people dressed up in costume, and Camden was rather enjoying himself already, it was great seeing a bunch of people he hadn't seen in years, and the rest of the pack would be here soon too. Truthfully, he wanted to see what Derek was coming as, since he had encouraged the twins and Braeden to bully him into coming to begin with, just to torture him.
Camden himself was clad in the red suit of the Flash, and greeted another two friends, one dressed as Mr Freeze and the other as Harley Quinn, as they entered.
"Well beloved, I think Scott successfully pulled off his costume, as have you and Isaac. What do you think of mine?" Rakaisha asked, coming up behind him, and he turned, and spluttered a little, which seemed to be the result she was looking for.
She was clad in black, with a sort of purple hooded cloak over it, and had a small red jewel, actually part of a hairpiece, hanging down her forehead.
"Well," Camden said playfully, "let's just say, the Flash would be happy enough to go home with Raven tonight."
He kissed her, and she moaned in pleasure before turning to their guests. She had made a few friends recently since their arrival back in town, and a few were here tonight, but it was clear that she and Braeden were becoming quite the double act and she hadn't came down yet. A few were here already though, and she waved to them excitedly as they came in, dressed as Stargirl and Supergirl.
"This is really fun, I know we wanted a party and all, but I would never have thought to do something like this, it's great fun, and I liked dressing up!" she said excitedly, and Camden grinned.
"Yeah! I mean I always wanted to have a party like this, obviously dad would never have let me, thankfully, beloved, I've got you. And let's face it, your snacks are helping sell the deal, as are your decorations, you made the place look great!" he exclaimed, and she really had.
As soon as they had got up that morning, she had been in the kitchen, which she had thoroughly enjoyed doing, making all these snacks for people, and of course, being a Djinn she had less to contend with as she could use magic to help her along, and help with the clean up. Scott and Isaac had also been put to work, and when Camden had returned with all the booze he too had been put to work, the place decorated with various banners and streamers, which she had managed to make look quite tasteful, with various images celebrating their new home, engagement and of course, Camden's return from the dead.
"Thanks! I've really enjoyed myself, it's fun being a hostess, and everyone looks amazing already. Hey Scott, you look amazing!" she said, hugging him as he came up with Isaac in tow, and Camden wrapped an arm around his brother's shoulders.
"Thanks, you too. This is great so far, Stiles says he's on his way, and I think the twins are on their way down, and Liam says he's coming too. By the way, your snacks are great, especially the feta thing."
"Aww thanks sweetie, you know, it's a pity your mom couldn't come, she is one of my best friends." She pouted, and Scott's mask did little to hide his raised eyebrow, or his grin.
"Well, after last time, she thought it best to swear off the booze for a while." He said tartly, and Kaisha went red as Camden and Isaac laughed.
A week or so after Agravaine's defeat, Melissa had asked Kaisha out to lunch, and Braeden had also joined them, so far so good. However, they had then bumped into Liam's mother on the way there, and she too had joined them, and by the time they were done, Melissa, Braeden, Kaisha, Jenna, Natalie and Noshiko had all been out. The original plan was to go out for lunch and perhaps an aperitif. Someone (they blamed Natalie, who they all insisted bought shots, despite Lydia frequently telling them that Limoncello was actually not a shot) had got shots, and as a result, things had developed, and all the women had been out on the town all night, it was only when Scott got a call, relayed through Violet who was contacted by Caitlin who was working that night at Lunar, that he had to go and collect his mother. Panicking after being called at half one in the morning, he, Lydia, Kira, Derek, Liam and Garrett (Garrett had driven since Liam couldn't) and Camden had all arrived at Lunar only to find all the aforementioned completely wasted, with Noshiko and Melissa standing on the stage murdering 'I Will Survive' together, while Natalie was passed out in a booth, Jenna and Braeden were having a friendly arm wrestle which to everyone's surprise Jenna won, and Kaisha had managed to get herself on the bar and was dancing to herself, to Caitlin's great bemusement.
After an abortive attempt by Lydia to bribe the highly amused sheriff who Stiles had informed of the shenanigans to lock them up for the night, the various pack members had then struggled to get their very drunk family members home, to everyone in the pack's great amusement. Camden had come home with Scott, with him and Kaisha taking the spare room while Scott had gotten his mother to bed. Melissa, along with all the others, had paid dearly for her day out on the town, suffering a three day hangover (Noshiko's, perhaps due to her age, had lasted a week, which Kira was simultaneously impressed and dismayed by), a fact made worse by Scott having Isaac cook a fry up to torture her for making him worry the first day, Kaisha had also suffered that day too. And some irresponsible individual had also let slip to Allegra about Melissa's delicate state (Scott swore it wasn't him, but no one was buying it), so she too had gleefully joined in the torturing of her hungover daughter.
They had all had a great time of it on the actual day, it was the killer hangover that took them all days to recover from that was the main issue, and Scott had thoroughly enjoyed lecturing his mother about letting him know where she was and not to be out so late, which Melissa had only been able to hiss in response to.
"It was a good night! Bad week." Kaisha admitted ruefully, the thought of the hangover and the horrid greasy smell Isaac had made while cooking breakfast (they had all conspired on that one to torture her and Melissa the evil little-) still made her shudder in terror, and Camden laughed, and waved to someone as they came into the loft, looking a bit out of place.
"Blaine, over here! Guys, this is Blaine Frost, he was on my squad in Afghanistan," he explained to everyone, and Blaine smiled at them, "and he just took a new job in town recently. Blaine, this is Rakaisha, my fiancé, Isaac my little brother, and Scott, his boyfriend." He said, and Blaine shook everyone's hands, avoiding skewering them with the claws that made up his Wolverine costume.
"Nice to meet you, Cam's mentioned you in a few of his stories." Isaac said as he shook his hands, taking the guy in.
About Scott's height, currently clad in a black suit like they wore in the X-Men movies, with six claws attached to his hands, he was still quite well built. He had thick, dark, curly hair that hung to his shoulders, and a small beard, and he grinned as he shook everyone's hands.
"I was just happy to see you back from the dead man, it's nice to meet you all. You all look great too, Kaisha, how you finding life here?" he asked, as Cam and Kaisha walked away with him to get him a drink.
"Pretty good turnout, how have they had time to make so many friends with the dogs, Ifrit and all?" Scott asked, as Isaac opened the cupboard door discreetly, to where the keg Satomi had given them was, and extracted a drink for Scott and passed him it.
"No idea, some are old friends, but Kaisha talks to anyone anyway, look," he said with amusement, watching his future sister-in-law steer Blaine towards some of her friends, "but it's good. Nice to actually relax…yeah, strong huh? I had one already." Isaac said cockily, as Scott drank some of Satomi's brew and wheezed a little, damn that was strong.
"Could have warned me! Hey guys!" he said, as Aiden and Lydia made their entrance.
Aiden was dressed in an outfit of green and gold, green pants and a yellow top, long green gloves, a trident in hand with his blond hair swept back. Lydia for her part was in a bodysuit of green with a large gold headband and she smiled as she entered.
"So that's why you needed a gold headband, you both look great!" Isaac said, hugging them both, and Aiden grinned.
"Thanks, it works pretty good huh? She wouldn't let me get a real trident." He complained, and Lydia rolled her eyes at Scott, who sniggered.
"Yeah, you make a pretty good Aquaman and Mera." He told them, and Lydia ran an appreciative eye over the others.
"Thank you, admittedly, I'm quite liking it to be honest. You look hot," she told Scott, who went a little red, and she turned to Isaac, grinning like the Cheshire cat, "as do you, out of interest, is Jackson here yet?" she asked innocently, and Isaac looked at her in confusion.
"No, why?" he asked, and she allowed herself an evil grin.
"Let me know when he arrives, I want to see the look on his face." She sniggered as she and Aiden walked off to greet Camden and Kaisha, leaving Scott and Isaac looking at each other in confusion.
"You know, when she does stuff like that, it really puts me off her, why do I think there's a Jackson class diva strop in the offing?" Scott asked tiredly, and Isaac grinned, kissing his cheek.
"Well, as I'm technically hosting, it's your job to be bouncer." He teased, and Scott opened his mouth in outrage.
"Hey, hell no, get back here!" he demanded, chasing after him as they milled through the party.
As the rest of the partygoers arrived, the pack dribbled in, all wearing their own costumes. Ethan and Danny came dressed as Thor and Loki respectively, and Ethan seemed a bit too fond of playing with his hammer, but then again, they could have predicted that. Naturally, that led to a duel between Ethan and Aiden, Ethan armed with his hammer and Aiden his trident, to the bemusement of their dates and the cries of encouragement from the other guests.
Kira then arrived with Liam and Garrett, all dressed as Zatanna, Red Robin and Captain America respectively.
"Kira, you look amazing!" Isaac told her as she entered, hugging her, and she smiled proudly.
"Yeah, it came together really well, but have you got a heater on or anything? The thundersnow's starting again and now my legs are freezing." She complained, and Isaac led her away, pressing a drink into her hand to help warm her up in the process.
"So, you two joined forces for costumes?" Garrett asked, reaching for a drink and Scott hastily stopped him, that one was from Satomi's and didn't think it was a good idea if it was distributed to the non wolves, so passed him a normal drink.
"Yeah, it was Liam's idea, but I think we pulled it off. Isaac certainly wants to pull it off." Scott admitted, sipping his own drink with a satisfied smirk, making the other two roll their eyes.
"Oh brother. Hey Vi!" Garrett called as Violet entered, and she grinned at them as she came over to them, just as Isaac returned.
"I've left Kira warming up next to the heater," he told Liam, and grinned as he saw Violet's costume.
"Huntress, very cool." He told her, and she grinned.
"Very apt too." Aiden said as he joined them, fresh from his duel with his brother, who was looking slightly put out that he'd lost (the mighty Thor wasn't so mighty after all it would seem).
"Yeah, it struck me as a good idea. Sorry Cam, Caitlin was going to come, but she got called into work the last minute, which sucks, she was coming as Emma Frost." Violet told Camden as he came over to join them, and he waved his hand.
"It's ok, she did say there was a chance the other day. So, are you two dating or what?" he wheedled, and she went red, and Garrett nodded.
"That means they are." He confirmed, and Violet shook her head stubbornly.
"We're not dating!" she insisted, and Liam grinned at her, poking her to wind her up.
"No, but you want to be." He said in a sing-song voice, and she scowled, raising her little crossbow on her arm warningly, and Liam desisted, as it suddenly occurred to him that it might be an actual crossbow.
"Hope you've got a license for that." Deadpool said as he joined them, and then pulled back his mask to reveal Parrish underneath it.
"Kyle, you came, good, I've got some people I want you to meet, don't worry, I'm not trying to set you up, that's Kaisha's job," Camden assured him cheerfully, taking his shoulder and pushing him away, but Parrish, keeping it discreet, slipped Isaac back his knife on the way past.
"I'll catch you up on it later." He whispered, as Camden led him away and Isaac secreted his knife about himself as he always did (Scott still didn't know where he kept them when he wasn't using them).
"Want to dance?" Scott asked, and (perhaps foolishly) delegating hosting temporarily to Garrett, Isaac went to dance with his boyfriend as the others all congratulated each other on their costumes, and Kira, now with some feeling back in her legs, had also returned and was chatting with the others as well.
Malia entered not long after, with Nathan, a guy from the year below who had asked her out when he heard she and Stiles had broken up, who was dressed as Iron Man. Malia however had done herself proud with her Rogue costume, though the wig was slightly squint, but it looked as though she had given up fighting with it.
The two of them headed for a drink, and Scott vowed to keep an eye on her and Stiles tonight, just to be on the safe side, he knew they both said they were ok with seeing other people, but well, one of them was Malia, who didn't understand many human things despite her incredible progress, and the other was Stiles, who got very insecure and jealous at times.
"Um, Scott…" Liam called, trying not to laugh, as there was a commotion at the door, and the entire room seemed to turn to see the rather bizarre sight of Storm, of the X-Men, shoving Superman, into the loft, while Superman scowled pettily.
"Brilliant!" Lydia wheezed, doubled over with giggles, as the twins zoomed to help Storm with her predicament, and to Superman's disgust, and over the sounds of his protests, they slung their arms under his and carried him over to where the rest of the pack were, all of them now laughing, and Camden and Kaisha also joined the, their faces the picture of delight as they beheld the newcomers.
"I can't believe you made me dress up!" Derek complained, fixing his red cape as the twins deposited him beside the others, and Kira got him and Braeden a drink.
"Not only did they get you to dress up, but they also got you to come to a party too, that's like a year's worth of socialising for you. For what it's worth, you look pretty good." Scott told him, shaking with suppressed mirth as he beheld Derek in his Superman costume, which he actually did suit, he also even managed to make the beard work for him.
"I do look fetching I must admit." Derek mused as he caught sight of himself in the window, adjusting his costume slightly, and Aiden grinned.
"We all do, come on, we need photos." He insisted, and Derek looked horrified.
"Photos?" he demanded weakly, and Lydia grinned.
"Yes, Derek, photos. Come along." She told him sternly, shoving him towards better lighting, and Derek shot Scott a pleading look, while he and Isaac watched and laughed.
"Scott, help!" he begged, but the twins weren't having it, and Malia excused herself from Nathan and went to get her photo taken with her cousin.
"You know, he wasn't actually that bad, I think on some level he's actually enjoying himself, don't think he got much in the way of socialising after the fire, and I don't think he was entirely keen on socialising even before that." Braeden mused as Kaisha offered her some snacks.
"You did good to get him here, and by the way, you look amazing." Isaac told her, and she winked at him.
"Thanks, everyone looks amazing, now, I better go save him, I think the twins rather like having a big brother figure to torture. Hang on, my wig's falling down," she grumbled, adjusting her white wig, before taking her snacks from Kaisha and heading to rescue her boyfriend from the twins, their other halves, and his cousin.
"Here's Jackson." Kira commented, and Isaac turned to look at him just as he entered the door, and the two of them stared at each other before pointing at each other in recognition.
Jackson was clad in a red version of Isaac's costume, and while the two of them pointed at each other, the two sized each other up before Jackson shrugged. Lydia, who had come back over, deflated, looking disappointed.
"No diva strop? I'm very unfulfilled." She complained, and went to go and speak to Nathan and Malia, and the two of them seemed to be trying to edge away from her as she approached, clearly set on getting better acquainted.
With Jackson in his Arsenal costume (he had sprayed his hair red for the occasion, which worked even better now he was a blond), a lot of eyes were turned towards Melody, as she had come dressed as Scarlet Witch, complete with the headdress and she actually suited it, somehow.
"Melody, your costume is great." Scott told her, as he passed her and Jackson a drink, and she smiled at him.
"Thanks Scott, you look amazing, not to mention hot." She told him, and he blushed, as Isaac wrapped his arm around his boyfriend's waist.
"Yeah, he does." He purred into Scott's ear, and Scott suddenly wondered if Camden was suitably distracted enough to allow him and Isaac to slip away, but Camden chose that moment to start a loud drinking game with Derek, Parrish and his friend Blaine, and Kaisha hurried over to supervise to make sure things didn't get too out of hand.
"Where's Stiles? And the new guy?" Isaac asked, and Scott surveyed the room, risking his Alpha eyes for the job as well.
He could make out all his pack members, Derek, Parrish and Camden all playing beer pong with Kaisha keeping an eye; Aiden and Lydia were chatting with Violet and Garrett; Danny and Ethan were dancing as were Liam and Kira; Malia and Nathan were getting better acquainted; Jackson and Melody were at the snack table helping themselves; but there was still no sign of Stiles, or indeed of Neo.
"Good question." Scott mused, heading to the drawer he was keeping his phone in (his costume didn't really afford any place to properly store it, how the Bat family worked with only their utility belts he didn't know) and sent Stiles a text.
As Scott tried to find Stiles, Liam and Kira were dancing on the floor, and she looked at him uncertainly.
"Are you ok? You seem a bit off." She said in concern, cupping his face in her hand, and he shrugged, smiling ruefully.
"Yeah, just…missing Mason I guess. He would have loved this party, and not just because of Kaisha's food. He'd have loved to dress as a superhero, Green Lantern all the way." He explained, smiling reminiscently, and she smiled, and hugged herself closer to him as they danced, rocking him a little as she did so.
"I'm sure he would have, and the three of you would be getting up to all sorts of trouble, Red Robin, Captain America and Green Lantern." She told him, and he grinned.
"He would have been a nightmare to you too, helping you get you ready. Might also have indulged in your fishnets too, he wore some once, said they were quite comfortable." He told her, grinning, and she pulled away from him, looking shocked.
"What?" she demanded, and he began to explain the story as they continued to dance.
Outside, the music pumping through the floor of the building, several people were passing Stiles and Neo as they came up the stairs.
"Sorry I made you late." Neo said shyly as they heard the sounds of music coming from inside the loft, and Stiles waved it off.
"Not your fault, your grandma got really excited that you'd already made friends." Stiles teased.
He had gone up to pick Neo up, not wanting to just meet him here as that would be rather like throwing him in at the deep end if he threw him to the waiting pack without so much as a life vest. Neo's grandmother was a stately looking woman and had been delighted to meet someone who could be considered Neo's friend already, and it had been her speaking to Stiles that had delayed them leaving.
"Yeah, sorry about that, she's a bit embarrassing." Neo complained, going red, and Stiles grinned.
"Nah, it's cool, interesting to see the house in that state too, looks good already, besides, it's better to be fashionably late…until your mother hen of a best friend starts panicking and texting you." Stiles lamented with a slight sigh, as he now had three texts from Scott in the space of five minutes, so he fired back a text telling his best friend he was lying dead in a ditch.
Predictably, that provoked a rather rude response, of which the second word was 'off' and a warning that if he truly was dead in a ditch, he wouldn't cry at his funeral, would take all his games, and paint Roscoe pink, which in turn necessitated a rude text in response, which also included the second word being 'off'.
"What do you mean about the house?" Neo asked curiously as they lingered outside, Neo grinning as Stiles and Scott had their texting war, the sound and smells of the party being very helpful in hiding the fact from Scott that he was in fact right outside.
"Oh, Isaac and his brother used to live there, um…yeah, much better now you have it." He told him, not sure how much he wanted to go into about what went on in the house under it's previous owner, and also not sure how much he should divulge about Isaac and Camden's past to a virtual stranger (the fact that he still had nightmares about Isaac cornering him in Eichen was completely beside the point, as was the fact that Isaac had been back a day and had already chased him).
"Oh, I see, cool. So, shall we go in then? Or do you need another round?" he asked with a smirk, and Stiles winked at him, sending off his last text.
"Now we enter, and hurry, otherwise he'll send me another one, and that means he'll win and I can't have that." He told him, entering the party.
The costume party was in full swing, with dozens of people all dressed as comic book characters. He spotted a Catwoman doing something with a Black Widow that neither character would do, he spotted Danny and Ethan in their respective costumes dancing, Garrett was currently trying his Captain America charm on a friend of Kaisha's who was dressed as Batgirl, Melody and Kira were chatting and drinking while watching Lydia and Braeden have an arm wrestling competition with their respective boyfriends looking on and leading the cries of encouragement, Liam was being slipped a drink by Jackson, who began to whistle not at all innocently as Camden looked over however he was thwarted in approaching them by Kaisha asking him to help her with another tray of snacks (though Camden did point at his eyes and at Jackson to let him know he was watching him), Deadpool (who Stiles knew was
Parrish) seemed to have found another friend of Cam's who was dressed as Supergirl and was getting acquainted, and Malia was standing out on the balcony with Nathan, where Violet also was though she seemed rather preoccupied trying to make sure a rather drunk looking Wasp didn't go over the edge of the balcony.
Stiles felt his stomach knot a little. They had both agreed that it was best to split up and remain friends, and as Violet had said (repeatedly) they hadn't quite mastered the friends with benefits part of it yet either. It was…weird he supposed. He knew Malia owed him nothing after what he had done to her, helping tip her over the edge and become a coyote and helped further aid Peter in ripping apart the pack, however inadvertently. He didn't know what he wanted really, and they had both agreed to try something new at the party, and they both were, it was just…weird, but not unpleasantly so.
He was here with a cute guy, and despite the very short notice and kind of being roped into the deep end of pack life, Neo had done quite well. He was clad in a blue outfit with a silver lightning bolt on it (Neo, blushing furiously, had informed him that he had done that himself, as he and his grandmother used to alter a lot of clothes before coming to America), and his blond hair was styled into sort of wavy spikes, and Stiles had to admit, he suited being Quicksilver.
Stiles himself was in a Spider-Man costume (Aiden had been very persuasive in convincing him not to go as Hush or the Joker, for obvious reasons), and had to say, he thought he actually preferred being Spider-Man to being either of the two villains who had been his other choices. He had spent too long feeling sorry for himself, wracked with guilt after being possessed by the Nogitsune, and he was coming to terms with it a lot better now, especially after he had weaponised the aftereffects of the possession to help stop Agravaine. The fact that he could have handled the whole thing better in the first place was neither here nor there. Smoothing back his hair, which he had slicked back for the occasion since it would get squashed by his mask, he pulled his mask on and headed over to where Scott and Isaac were standing, watching, as to Braeden's great horror, Lydia beat her at arm wrestling, throwing her arms in the air in victory to cheers from everyone except Derek, who booed her rather loudly, before they all watched as Braeden, groaning, downed a dirty pint (a drink that had been topped up with everyone else's drinks, making a bizarre and quite frankly, hideous cocktail) and promptly made good her escape, looking a bit green, while Derek, clearly feeling rather chivalrous, wrapped his cloak around her as he led her to the bathroom just in case.
"She isn't going to live that one down, especially with Aiden staying with Derek." Scott laughed, and he felt a hand on his shoulder, and turned, jumping a little.
"Ah, we meet again Nightwing." Stiles said affecting a deeper voice than usual, and Scott grinned, nodding at him.
"Spider-Man. You look great dude." He said, wrapping his best friend in a hug, and Isaac smiled before also hugging him.
"Yeah, you do."
"Back at you, you're rocking the Green Arrow look. Scott, Isaac, this is Neo." He said, introducing his (his what, his date? His friend?), and Neo smiled shyly and shook both their hands.
"Hi, I'm Isaac, this is my boyfriend, Scott." Isaac said cheerfully, and Scott looked a little nonplussed, which made Stiles snigger, after all, Scott usually took the lead in social situations, hell, in most situations, he supposed as Isaac was technically a host he had to be a bit more assertive and less shy than usual.
"Nice to meet you both. Cool party!" he said, and Scott grinned.
"Yeah, it's nice to have a party, unwind before we head back to school, how you finding America so far?" he asked, and he blushed a little.
"It's been pretty good so far, despite the weirdo accosting me and basically forcing me to come to a party to get to know people," he said, his eyes flicking to Stiles, who shrugged, though was quite glad his mask covered his face as he was blushing slightly, "but yeah, it's good. Stiles said we've moved into your old house." Neo said to Isaac, who's eyes widened in realisation.
"Oh, cool…Cam!" he bellowed, and his brother ambled over, cursing as he had picked up one of the fresh snacks and had proceeded to burn his mouth.
"Son of a…hi!" he said, his mouth having cooled down sufficiently to allow him to talk, and offered his hand to Neo, who shook it, "by the way Scott, I think Jackson is either just supplying Liam, or is genuinely trying to get him drunk." He informed him, and Scott scowled, looking over the room towards Jackson.
"Damn it, Jackson, no! Excuse me." He grumbled to Neo, excusing himself as he went to berate Jackson, who's affected look of innocence fooled nobody, while the others laughed behind him.
"Neo here is new to town, and he just moved into your old house." Stiles explained, and Camden's eyes widened.
"Oh! Well nice to meet you, like the house? By the way, don't keep the cleaning lady, she likes to grow pot in the cupboards." He said, and Neo smiled, nodding.
"Yeah, we met her and Rasputin the raccoon this morning." He told them, laughing, and Isaac shook his head, he couldn't believe she had actually named, and also managed to put a leash on, the raccoon that had used to plague them when they lived there, she spent too much time sampling her own product.
"Hey, what did we miss, why's Scott yelling at Jackson?" Malia asked as she beheld the scene (Jackson didn't look particularly bothered that Scott was telling him off and doing a lot of gesturing), as she and Nathan came back inside, and Lydia, still flush with her victory, sniggered.
"He's been supplying Liam with the good stuff all night, which is why the adorable little lightweight is now propping himself up against the wall." She said in amusement, pointing.
Liam was indeed propped up against a wall, however, other than his balance seeming a bit awry, he still seemed mostly fine.
"Really? Come on, we all know Dunbar's a lightweight." Nathan chuckled, and headed over to check on Liam, and Lydia shook her head.
"Don't worry, he's been drinking mostly blue WKDs, I think Jackson slipped him a beer or two, but they were from Satomi's stash." Lydia explained ruefully, and Malia laughed.
"I only had a couple of those and went to the normal ones, damn they're strong. What's up with Braeden, she's giving you a dirty look?" she asked curiously, and Lydia smirked.
"Ask her who won our arm-wrestling match." She told her, giving Braeden a cheerful wave as she skipped off to rescue Jackson from Scott.
Stiles was now taking Neo round to meet the others, and he'd somehow been roped into Danny and Ethan's game of beer pong with him, so he and Neo against Danny and Ethan. Needless to say, Thor and Loki, as they were, were rather shocked when Spider-Man and Quicksilver beat them. Malia was laughing at Braeden's defeat by Lydia (Braeden and Derek both attributed the victory to Martagh's training rather than anything else). Jackson had been rescued from Scott by Lydia, and was using the most of the distraction to press his advantage with Scarlet Witch, Melody having pulled him outside to give Scott a bit of a berth after he had been telling Jackson off in a rant for ten minutes. Lydia and Scott were now playing darts, and is transpired that without using his werewolf abilities, Scott was really quite shocking at it, and had barely avoided impaling Parrish, who was watching, and Lydia was taking the lead, making Scott all the more determined to beat her.
Elsewhere, Kira was performing a magic trick, such as it was. She rapped her cane on her top hat, said a couple of funny words, and then to several awws from the girls she was entertaining, pulled a cuddly white rabbit toy from her top hat before putting her top hat back.
"Ok, where did you get the rabbit?" Aiden asked in confusion, as he too had been watching the trick, and she smiled, pointing to her boyfriend, who now seemed to be at least standing of his own volition.
"Liam got me it as a present to go along with my top hat." She said sweetly, and Aiden grinned and rolled his eyes as she put the rabbit toy back in her hat and put it back on her head.
Camden and Blaine were speaking with Derek about some of the fun times they had had in Afghanistan, to which Derek was listening with interest, and Kaisha was talking with some of her friends. Isaac was currently doing the rounds as host, ably assisted by Parrish, who seemed to have struck out with Supergirl (though admittedly she had last been seen heading to the toilet and had looked a tad green), the two of them chatting animatedly as they did so.
"You ok bro?" Garrett asked as he joined Liam, who nodded, and Garrett was relieved to see he only seemed a little tipsy now.
"Yeah, Jackson passed me a couple of beers, thankfully only one was from Satomi's batch, but still." He admitted, and Garrett leaned against the wall with his brother.
"Mason would have loved this." He admitted, and Liam nodded, smiling reminiscently.
"Yeah, he would have, Green Lantern all the way, never saw why he loved him so much. Though I think he'd have been proud of us for getting dressed up all by ourselves." He said cheerfully, and Garrett laughed.
"Yeah, I think he would be actually. You sure you're ok? I don't want to take you home if you're wasted, can't help but feel I'll get the blame somehow." He said worriedly, and Liam shook his head.
"Dude, you're my brother now, officially, they're not going to blame you if I'm wasted! Besides, I've been to the loo loads, so I should be fine. But are you ok? What happened to Batgirl?" he asked in concern, and Garrett sighed.
"I don't know, I'm having a dry spell, I'm off my game, have been for a while. Don't know what's wrong with me." He complained, and Liam frowned at his brother, it was odd, Garrett had always been a huge player, but recently…
"Mason?" he asked softly, and Garrett shrugged.
"Maybe," he admitted sadly, with a bit of a sigh, "or maybe I should just give up with women."
Liam suddenly burst out laughing, and Garrett looked at him, feeling a little confused.
"What's so funny?" he asked, perplexed, and Liam sniggered.
"Just thinking about what Mason would say if he found out you were going to go off women. He would be furious, the amount of guy's numbers you got when we went out." He told him, slightly breathless, and Garrett started to laugh as he imagined the bitchy look on their friend's face as they remembered exactly how furious he would be at that turn of events.
"You ok?" Stiles asked Neo, offering him a drink, and Neo grinned as he took it.
"Yeah, all your friends are nice actually, well, maybe not Jackson, he is trying to get a minor drunk." He admitted with a smirk, and Stiles shrugged.
"Yeah well, you'll learn to love Jackson, we're all still learning. Look, I'm sorry if I sprung this on you before but…" he said nervously, and Neo grinned.
"Are you kidding? I've had great fun! And yeah, it is nice to meet everyone I'll be at school with, I was a little nervous have to admit, new country, new school, new people. So, thank you. I don't think I'd have been quite so willing to face the day without you asking me here." He told him, and Stiles grinned under his mask.
"Well, you're welcome. I'm glad you came." He said, and Neo turned to face him, looking very shy and nervous, blushing a little as he did so.
"Me too. Thanks for inviting me. Now, I don't normally do this, since I'm new here, and don't usually go on dates," he said, and Stiles went scarlet under his mask, "or go out all the much, as back home we were quite small, but…" he said softly, and gently slid Stiles' mask up and kissed Stiles on the cheek, and Stiles blushed madly, stuttering a little.
"T-thanks. You know, it wasn't just intended to be a date, I mean, I did ask you just as a friend." He pointed out, and Neo grinned.
"Yeah I know, and that was sweet, so thank you. Want to get some food?" he asked, and Stiles grinned, pulled his mask back into place and followed him to the snack table.
"It's ok, Blaine, Isaac didn't mean it!" Camden assured his old friend, who had a dart sticking out of his back after letting out a cry of pain.
Isaac turned and glowered furiously at his brother, who was the one who was the one who was actually responsible for the dart going off course and Camden shrugged, trying not to look guilty as they helped Blaine, and Isaac was fairly sure he saw Scott sniggering at the two brothers as they helped Blaine.
"This was actually a good idea," Jackson admitted into Melody's ear, and she grinned, reaching behind her to pet his cheek.
"Yes, it was actually, it's been a good night, and exactly what we all needed before we head back to school. And I have to say, I was impressed with the lack of diva strop when you saw Isaac was Green Arrow." She purred, and he leaned his chin on her shoulder, grinning into her ear.
"Well, it's also partly his party since he lives here, and he is quite good with a bow and arrow so I should have figured, besides, he didn't coordinate with his other half whereas I did, we have the same colour scheme." He told her, and she nodded, yeah, she had thought Scarlet Witch would be rather a good fit for her since she was one as well, and did look amazing in red, and it did coordinate with Jackson's red costume as well.
"Yeah but got to say, Scott makes rather a fine Nightwing." She whispered to wind him up, smirking as she did so, and he gave an indeterminate grunt before he dragged her off to dance.
The party was starting to wind down hours later as various people started to drift off home. Blaine took his leave, promising Camden he would meet up with him later on in the week. Kaisha had made some new friends (as she always did) and was making plans to meet up with them as she and Camden started to see their guests off. Garrett offered to go home with Violet (not that she needed an escort, as some punk had learned a few weeks before when he had pestered her outside Lunar and had received her brass knuckles where it would do most good for his trouble) and the two of them headed home first, bidding goodbye to their hosts and thanking them for the night. Jackson even thanked them for the night, and he headed home with Melody, who approved of her boyfriend's improving manners, and told him as such, making the two host's snigger. Derek then led his cohort of himself, Braeden, the twins and their respective partners up the stairs as they were all spending the night in the loft.
"Did you have fun Derek?" Kaisha asked hopefully as she hugged him, and his face contorting painfully, he did eventually grin, and nodded.
"Actually, yeah, it was a great party. Thanks for inviting me…and I suppose for making sure I got dressed up." He said reluctantly, and she grinned and hugged him tightly as the others traipsed towards the door.
"Sure you don't want help clearing up? We're just upstairs." Aiden offered, and Camden grinned.
"You forget, my fiancé is a Djinn, once everyone's gone, she only has to click her fingers and the place will be good as new." He told him, clapping his shoulder as he offered his girlfriend his hand and with a last goodbye they all headed upstairs.
"How was Nathan?" Scott asked Malia quietly as Nathan stoated about (there had been a mix up and he had had a few drinks out of Satomi's brew unfortunately, though he had spent the night telling Malia how much she suited being Rogue), and she shrugged.
"He's alright, don't know if I want any more than friends though." She whispered back, and he hugged her to him with one arm, as Nathan tried to leave the flat (which wouldn't work as it was a closet he had gone into, only to be rescued by Isaac, who was coming back from the toilet).
"Hey, it's your first date since you and Stiles broke up, you have to give it time." He told her, and she smiled.
"Yeah I know. See you tomorrow. You know what, I have had it with this!" she cried suddenly, and removed her Rogue wig, and breathed a sigh of relief as she shook her own hair out.
"Better?" Scott asked, laughing, and she sighed in ecstasy.
"Yeah, you have no idea how itchy it was! Nathan, our cab's outside…do I have to take him to his house?" she muttered in an undertone, and Scott snorted in amusement and whispered back.
"Well, as he keeps trying to get back into the closet thinking it's the way downstairs, I'd say it would be a good idea."
Malia rolled her eyes.
"Ugh, typical. Men, can't hold their drink." She complained, smiling a little as she did so, and took Nathan's arm and led him out of the loft, bidding goodbye to the hosts as she did so.
"You ok?" Isaac asked Stiles, who admitted defeat and took his mask off, sighing since he could finally breathe a bit better now there wasn't that many people left, smoothing back his slick hair.
"Yeah, actually, it was a great night." He replied cheerfully, and Isaac grinned as his friend watch his ex leave with her date.
"I meant with that." He told him, and Stiles looked at Malia as she left, and she smiled and waved at him before realising with some alarm that Nathan was accelerating towards the stairs and rushed to save him.
"I don't know. I mean, yeah, I enjoyed being with Neo tonight, but I don't know are we just friends? Are we dates? Is he even interested? I don't know, but…I don't care. If Malia and I get back together, we get back together. If not, then fair enough, after what I did to her, I'm lucky she didn't emasculate me…which you had a good try at too I might add," he pointed out, and Isaac grinned, "but yeah, it's ok. We're still friends, and that's cool. And Neo is cool too." He said, watching as Neo shyly thanked Camden and Kaisha for allowing him to come, which the two of them were waving off.
"He does seem cool, and hasn't tried to kill us so far, which is a bonus." He admitted fairly, and Stiles raised a finger, indicating that he had a point before he hugged his friend and bid him goodbye.
Stiles then hugged Scott, who was staying with Isaac tonight, and bid him goodbye as he thanked Camden and Kaisha and walked with Neo downstairs.
Camden looked around at the detritus of the night, the place was a mess, one streamer seemed to have developed a mind of its own and there were empty bottles, cups and glasses everywhere, and sighed tiredly, but grinning contentedly. He had enjoyed himself, and the fact that his father would never have let this sort of thing happen made it all the sweeter.
"The place is empty, everyone's gone aside from this two." Isaac said, gesturing to Kira and Liam, who were the only ones left, and Scott grinned as he looked at the youngest pack member.
"Isn't it past your bedtime?" he teased, and Liam scowled.
"No! I'm not a little kid!" he insisted, but then looked a bit hesitant, "but I did get a late pass since it's still the holidays." He admitted lamely, and Scott grinned and ruffled his spiky hair.
"By the way, you two do make quite a good double act as two Robins." Camden told them proudly, and Liam grinned.
"Thanks! It was my idea." He boasted, to which Scott nodded, he had come to him asking him if he'd had a costume idea yet and had been delighted when Scott had said no, and now both he and Kira seemed to be dawdling for some reason.
"You guys don't have to say, Kaisha's got the clean up." Isaac yawned tiredly, as Scott wrapped his arm around his waist, and Kira nodded, smiling at Liam, who blushed.
"I know, but we were waiting one for the thundersnow to ease off," she explained, and to her great relief it had, "and two, well, because he wants to watch." She told them, rolling her eyes in amusement, and he blushed more furiously than before.
"I think it's cool!" he protested, and Kaisha laughed, before twirling her fingers in the air.
Magic soared around the room, with the glasses all heading to the sink and beginning to wash themselves and load themselves into the dishwasher, the plastic cups and plates and bottles all zoomed through the air into black bags and the bags then marched themselves outside down to the buckets, the streamers and things came down and neatly folded themselves, the remaining food not that there was much, all zoomed onto a plate and wrapped itself in plastic before going into the fridge, the mop zoomed out and cleaned the floor, the air freshener sprayed itself in the bathroom and then all through the loft and just like that, everything was back to normal.
"So cool. Thanks guys, night!" Liam said excitedly, Kira shaking with mirth as she took his hand and the two of them headed home.
"Text me when you get home!" Scott called to the two of them anxiously, and Isaac kissed his cheek, he was so sweet, and had already phoned Jackson to tell him off for not calling when they got home.
"You know, I will say, you being able to do that makes parties so much better." Isaac said with relief as Scott closed the door and locked it, and Kaisha grinned.
"Yeah, it's really handy. Anyway, I think it went well, I've got loads of people asking me for my recipes now!" she told them cheerfully, and Camden extended his hand towards her, which she took.
"And so they should. Anyway, I'm exhausted, and," he said, pulling off his mask, revealing his now very messy hair beneath it, "much though I like being a superhero, the suit kind of has to come off." He said, smirking as Scott and Isaac wrinkled their noses.
"Well, I can help with that beloved, provided you help me with mine." She purred, and the two of them headed to their bedroom, waving goodbye to the two werewolves as they did so.
"Well, Green Arrow, want to team up?" Scott purred, pressing his body against Isaac's, and the sheer nature of his costume left very little to Isaac's suddenly very active imagination.
"Damn right I do Nightwing," he purred, turning and pressing his lips against Scott's, who moaned in pleasure, "let's go do something Batman certainly wouldn't approve of!" he said excitedly, as they headed through to Isaac's room, both their costumes now becoming extremely tight in a certain area as they did so.
XX
"Sorry I couldn't do anything about your legs." Liam told her as they climbed out of the taxi, and she waved him off.
"It's ok, occupational hazard from being Zatanna. And thank you again for my rabbit, he's very cute." She told him, and he grinned.
"Well I couldn't resist, especially since you're a magician. And he is cute." He said fairly, as she took her rabbit out of her hat and cuddled it as he walked her to her door.
"Not the only thing that's cute around here." She said, and kissed him.
Liam moaned in pleasure, wrapping his cloak around her as he did so, his hand snaring in her hair as they kissed as snow started to gently fall around them. He pressed her against the door as they kissed, and he felt his costume become a bit tighter as they kissed before Kira gently broke off.
"Oh, hello." She teased, feeling what was going on with Liam against her fishnet clad leg, and he blushed, which showed up all the more in the snow.
"Sorry." He mumbled, and she shook her head, patting his cheek softly.
"Don't be." She said sweetly, and kissed him again, just as the door opened behind her, and they both jumped in shock as Noshiko stood in the doorway, a patiently amused look on her face.
"I thought I heard voices. Hello Liam. Good party?" she asked, smirking a little as Liam went scarlet, and Kira glowered at her mother furiously.
"Yeah, it was great, thank you Mrs Yukimura." He told her, recovering his faculties slightly, and she winked at him as he continued to blush scarlet.
"I'm glad, you both look very good, your mother sent me the pictures. Kira, come on inside, you must be freezing." Noshiko chided, and while she was still glowering at her mother she did step inside the house, as her legs were rather cold.
"I tried to cover her legs but my cloak isn't much use for it, it lets in a lot of cold." Liam explained, and Noshiko smiled.
"You're very sweet Liam. Do you want me to give you a lift home? It's no trouble!" she offered, but he shook his head shyly, he didn't want to put her out.
"No, it's ok, it's only a couple of streets away, it'll take you longer to get the car out with the snow anyway," he said, gesturing to the weather which had piled up considerably, and Noshiko looked at him worriedly.
"Are you sure Liam?" she asked, and he nodded.
"Yeah, it's no trouble. It's only a couple of streets, I'll be fine." He said, and Noshiko, still looking worried, nodded reluctantly.
"Ok, if you're sure, but you text Kira when you get home alright?" she told him, and he nodded, before grinning at Kira.
"I will. Goodnight Kira!" he said brightly, and kissed her cheek before they both bid him goodbye as she closed the door.
Smiling happily, he headed home, pulling his cloak around him. The snow was only light for the moment, and he was hoping he would be in the house before it really plummeted down with it. Noshiko's interruption had been annoying yeah, as he hadn't been able to say goodbye properly to Kira, but on the other hand…he wasn't sure if he wanted to go any further yet. His body clearly did, but he was a teenager damn it, his body wanted to do all sorts it shouldn't. He wasn't like Garrett, who had done it numerous times before with numerous different girls. It might make him sound girly, but he wanted it to be special when he finally…you know, did it with someone.
So far Kira hadn't pushed the matter, and she seemed to be enjoying herself with him, just being as they were at the moment. But what if she did want more? He really liked Kira, maybe even loved her, but did he really want to force the issue with her? He wasn't sure really. He knew Kira would never push him to do something that he wasn't comfortable with, and he loved that about her. She seemed content just being herself with him, just the two of them being a sweet couple, but what if she did want it to be…more? Was he ready? Did he really want that, or was it hormones talking?
He mused on the situation miserably as he walked home, treacherous thoughts running round his head questioning why Kira was even with him in the first place if he wasn't ready for a relationship or anything. Would she break up with him? Would he have to break up with her if they weren't going anywhere? He didn't know, this was confusing, this was his first relationship, and well, he didn't feel comfortable about all of this, talking about it to anyone.
There wasn't much point talking to Garrett, he was a player through and through, despite his recent dry spell. He didn't particularly want to talk to his parents about it, while they both would give advice, he didn't like talking about that sort of thing with his mother as it brought them back to his birth father, who had died not long after he was born, and he didn't like dwelling on it, it felt dishonest to his dad, well, his stepdad, who had raised him. He knew it wasn't his birth dad's fault, he had been killed in an accident, but he felt disloyal thinking about it. But if he talked to his dad, all he would hear about is how he met his mother, and he didn't want that either.
So that left the rest of the pack. The twins were out, much of their formative years had been spent doing Deucalion's bidding, as was Malia due to her time as a coyote. Jackson, quite frankly, was an ass and not very in touch with his feelings, though admittedly he had become more endearing to his friends recently. Danny, well it wasn't really his wheelhouse since it was a girl problem, though he did wonder if he might actually be some help. Lydia he had ruled out, she was the biggest gossip in the pack, if he asked her for advice his questions would be dissected at some girl's slumber party or pampering session and Kira would find out, and he didn't want that. Derek had as much approachability as a lion with a thorn in its paw, and he didn't know Braeden that well, same applied for Melody really. Stiles was also a big gossip as well (so was Isaac, but Isaac kept it quiet and only really told Scott stuff (that was where the trouble started though, because he would then tell Stiles, who would tell everyone)) so he'd ruled him out, and Camden and Kaisha were both hardly traditional fairy tale romances.
So that left Scott and Isaac he supposed. Scott could help, he was sure of it, but he had been reluctant to approach him about it, mainly because Scott had some past history with Kira himself. Isaac would help as much as he could, but he would defer to Scott anyway, and his only real relationship to Liam's knowledge was with Scott, though he knew for a fact the majority of the pack were quite jealous of how their relationship worked.
Liam sighed, feeling a little despondent. He knew who would be able to help, despite it being a girl problem: Mason. He had always been the smartest, and wisest out the three of them, and would use his numerous experiences being dicked around (and not in the fun way) by guys, or any one of the numerous soap opera storylines he watched with his mother to advise him, but obviously that was no longer an option, all due to Agravaine, who had taken one of his best friends away from him.
He trudged through the snow, kicking at it absently as he felt a morose wave of grief come over him again. He knew Mason wouldn't want him dwelling on his death, but he had been powerless to help, powerless to stop it, and his best friend was gone as a result, and it sucked. Garrett was his brother, literally now, but Mason had always been his best friend and it wasn't fair that he was gone.
He shivered as he headed into the alleyway that was a shortcut to his house, he was completely freezing, maybe he should have taken Noshiko up on her offer of a lift. The alleyway took him out only a house away from his own one, but with the weird weather recently, it had been quite dark under it, and even the limited light bouncing off the white snow didn't help much. He headed down the darkened alley, and it was then that he heard it as he trudged down the alley: footsteps, following him.
Liam stopped, and to his sudden horror, the footsteps stopped too. Liam shook with something other than cold now. Sure, it could also be someone else heading home, their neighbour across the street worked weird hours at the sewage plant, but why would he stop too? Liam started walking again, faster this time, and he heard the other footsteps pick up their pace as well. Frightened now, his heart hammering, he started running down the alley, and heard the other person doing the exact same thing, he just had to get to the house, just had to get to the house!
And it was then that he heard something even more frightening than being followed: the thing following him let out a low, rumbling, menacing growl, and finally, shaking with fear, he chanced a look back, and saw the guy following him.
The guy was tall and well built, double the size both ways that Liam was. He was a hulking brute, with wet hair plastered about his face due to the snow, but most frightening of all, his eyes were glowing a shining blue. Liam frantically started backing away in terror, the blue eyes of the creature illuminating the dark alley and Liam's heart was pounding in his chest as he saw the man move into the light, revealing himself to be a werewolf. Or at least, that was what he thought as he beheld the ears, the eyes and the fangs. But then, to his great horror, the man then raised his right hand and didn't have the normal claws of a werewolf. Instead he had five thick, long talons, glowing an eerie, electric blue. The man smiled, a bone chilling smirk that froze Liam to the core and he span on his heel and tried to run.
Liam gasped in shock as his foot slid on some ice, and unable to keep his footing, he landed in the piled snow with a crash, gasping in pain as he did so as the compacted cold pressed in against him. Liam, panting in a frenzy, tried to scramble back to his feet, as the beast advanced upon him, he could hear the snow crunching under his feet as he came up behind him.
Liam tried to scramble away, and supernatural creature or not, he was about to scream, surely someone would hear, but then the beast grabbed Liam by the neck, hoisting him into the air and slamming him against the wall that made up the alley, the air wheezing out of Liam as he did so.
Liam tried to pry loose the monster's left hand, but he was far too strong, he was choking, gasping for air, his legs kicking frantically, tears in his eyes as he wheezed, he needed help, needed someone, anyone, Garrett, Kira…Scott!
"This will hurt." The beast promised in a guttural voice, the talons crackling with blue electricity, which he reared back, and then agony ripped through Liam as the beast started to slash into him, tearing his body asunder, Liam trying to scream in pain, please let it stop, please let it end, but his prayers went unanswered as the beast tore into him, blood spraying onto the snow as he was ripped apart, the beast laughing mockingly as he tortured his victim, now white as the snow beneath them had been, and very soon Liam passed out and knew no more.
XX
Valack smiled as he sat in his office, his third eye glowing as he observed what was happening on his orders as Belasko tore into Liam. Now they would see what the True Alpha was truly made of. Fascinating.
It had begun, he thought with dark satisfaction, smirking darkly as he leaned back in his chair, as the future of Project Typhon started to materialise in front of his very eyes.
XX
Garrett shivered as he trudged home in the snow. He had dropped Violet off at her family's, and he was glad to see that she had truly bonded with this foster family, she'd had a hard time of it before now, it was nice to see her finally fitting in somewhere, much like he was. He was so grateful to the Dunbars, actually adopting him into their family, he finally had a family after his family had been ripped from him as a child, and his best friend was his brother to boot. He smiled, wondering if Liam had gotten over his shyness and hesitancy to push things with Kira yet, bless him, he was kind of adorable. Garrett did wonder though, and not for the first time, if Liam was hesitating for other reasons, was he just shy and a gentleman (much more so than his adopted brother), or was there something else at play there?
He was nearly home, and frozen nearly to the bone, he'd have to ask if he could warm himself up with a shower before he went to bed, he was frozen. He wondered if Liam was home yet, he kind of hoped not in some ways, because if he wasn't, then Garrett could get the hot water himself, and Liam could move to the back of the queue. Perks of being the older brother, he mused with a grin, adopted though he may be.
He was about to pass the alleyway a couple of houses down from their own when he caught a whiff of something, and he stopped, wrinkling his nose. After the attacks of the dogs, he had become all too accustomed to that smell, the smell of blood on the air, and the cold weather was making it far worse than it should be. He hesitated as he considered the alley, he'd lived in Beacon Hills, and knew enough about the supernatural, to know that going down the alley was likely a very bad idea, especially unarmed. Thankfully, he hadn't gone out unarmed, and embedded in the handle for the shield as part of his costume was a dagger, a gift from Argent before he had left on his trip. Extracting it carefully, he drew the blade and edged down the alley, heart pumping in his mouth as he moved down the dark alley, his breath rising in front of him as he anxiously edged along the alley. Yeah, something definitely wasn't right here, and the smell was getting worse as he went along the alley, and he realised with a sinking, nauseous feeling that the smell was too strong to be the work of an animal of some sort. Steadying himself, just like Argent had taught him as part of his training, he edged that bit further down, and then slid on a patch of black ice. Barely throwing his arm against the wall in time to save himself, he cursed, and reached into his pocket, using his phone's torch, deciding it was worth the risk if he didn't fall on his face and become easy prey for whatever had caused the smell in the first place.
And as his torch lit up, he saw that the white snow was no longer white, rather it was stained pink with blood, that had sprayed everywhere, whatever had happened, it looked savage, and Garrett fought down a wave of revulsion as he used his torch to follow the trail of blood, until…
"LIAM!" Garrett screamed, throwing caution to the wind as he ran to his brother's side, skidding to the ground beside him.
Liam was a mess, his costume was barely hanging on him, having been savagely ripped into in numerous places. Blood was pooling from his brother's body, his skin almost bone white due to the amount of blood he had lost. His torso, legs, arms and even his face had all been savagely torn into, ragged, deep cuts covering his body. Garrett fought down a wave of terror, no, he couldn't be, he couldn't be dead, they'd already lost Mason, he was damned if he was going to lose Liam too!
"Come on Li, wake up, or at least breathe, please, don't make me lose you too!" Garrett pleaded, tears falling from his eyes as he held his freezing bloodied brother to him, and was relieved to see the tiniest puff of breath coming from his brother's mouth, rising into the air, he was still alive, at least for now.
He was still alive, he had to get help, he needed help, their dad, yes, their dad, he could help!
As Garrett groped for his phone in the snow, he held Liam's ruined body close to him, holding him close, crying desperately, begging his brother to hang in there.
"Don't you dare die on me Liam, come on!" he begged, finally finding his phone, and then proceeded to start shouting bloody murder, desperate for help, any help, that would help save his brother and make sure he didn't lose someone else he loved.
XX
"Do you have to do that now babe?" Aiden whined, smoothing his hair back from his face as she sat at his desk in the room he had in Derek's loft, and she sent him a pitying glance.
"Sorry stud, it won't take long," she assured him, but she had to admit, when he was standing there, wearing nothing but close-fitting red boxers, his hair swept back, she was having a very hard time remembering why she had to do this now, "but I've had a…feeling for days, and I want to try and identify it, it's starting to drive me crazy."
Aiden tensed up at once, the entire pack knew what happened when she got a feeling, people died, and recently, every time she had gotten a feeling, it had resulted in the earthshattering loss of one of their own, like Allison, like Mason, and very nearly, like him.
"Why didn't you say?" he hissed, coming over and hovering anxiously behind her, and she fixed him with a sad look, petting his cheek kindly.
"Because I was hoping it would go away, I know, I should know better now, but I just wanted us to enjoy one night without my supernatural alarm bell hovering over us. I know Martagh would disapprove before you tell me that," she chided, correctly guessing what he was about to say, "but as she hasn't answered any of my messages recently, she can't lecture me. Now, hush, I need to concentrate." She ordered, and he went quiet, though stood protectively behind her, as if he could protect her from whatever the cards were about to predict.
Tarot was an odd but interesting art that Martagh had taught her, to help Lydia divine the bizarre energies that she had been connected to upon becoming a Banshee. Being a Banshee, she could divine things quite accurately, all as part of the bizarre energy web she was part of. Her first tarot reading had been quite accurate, she had reflected later, and since then, she had been experimenting with different card spreads, honing her skill, and she'd even done a few for her fellow pack members, and even her mother had had one done. They had all been suitably impressed, while Lydia had just been content with the fact that she hadn't drawn the lightning struck tower, the only card she had known what it meant before Martagh's lesson, thanks to Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, it foretold calamity, disaster, and the pack had had more than enough of that to last a lifetime.
But now, this was different, this was a more general reading, to divine this…feeling she had, this feeling that had been developing for quite some time now, that something big and horrible was coming. Lydia desperately hoped she was wrong, but with their luck, she wasn't leaving it to chance. Forewarned was forearmed after all.
She extracted her tarot cards from the pouch, their glossy purple colour shining in the light of Aiden's room, and she laid the seventy-eight cards face down on the table, before she became distracted by the proud, glowing look Aiden (still rather hard to ignore standing behind her, virtually naked) was giving her as she saw his reflection in the mirror she was sitting in front of.
"What?" she asked, smiling a little, and he smiled.
"It's just…it's good to see you, so confident about this stuff, it's also kind of hot, having a kind of mystical girlfriend." He teased, and she went a little pink.
"Thanks, I think. Now, hush, let me concentrate." She told him, and he stood dutifully behind her, looking on with interest and pride, so much so she could virtually feel it off him, it gave her a warming feeling inside her.
She sorted the cards into suits, rising from the minor to the major arcana, before putting them back into a pile, clearing her mind, and knocking upon them three times, to cleanse them of the energies that they picked up when they weren't in use. Taking a deep breath, she then began to shuffle them, the question she desired an answer to from the cards developing in her mind. Laying the cards down on the table, she then used her left hand to extract three cards from the deck, laying them down on the table in front of her, following the eddies of the voices she heard to help divine which card she ought to pick.
She turned over the first card, which represented the past. She smiled, as she saw it was one of the same cards that she had predicted in her first tarot reading, the Star, which had been in the place of the future at the time. It was in it's usual, upright position, and as such represented hope and rejuvenation. The pack had certainly been rejuvenated following the defeat of Peter and Agravaine, and as such this card made perfect sense.
She could faintly see Aiden's smile in the mirror, and turned her attention to the next card. The middle card of a three-card spread represented the present, and it was usually about now that her stomach started working itself into anxious knots. Aiden laid a hand on her shoulder and gave it an encouraging squeeze, and taking a deep breath, she turned over the card that represented the present.
"No…" she gasped, and Aiden accidentally dug his claws into her shoulder in alarm as they looked at the card that was to be in their present.
No, not again. It was the Lightning-Struck Tower, in it's upright position, foretelling, death, calamity, disaster. No, not again, it couldn't be, not again!
"Lydia…breathe…" Aiden whispered into her ear as she shook, he was right, she had to finish the reading, there was no good in stopping now, but her mind was abuzz with the implications, this couldn't be happening again.
Disaster was in their present, what did it mean? Was it to do with the disappearances? Was it something to do with the pack, was it in regards to a member of the pack? Last time, it had been drawn due to Mason's death, and Scott's near death at the hands of Agravaine, were they truly about to lose someone else, they couldn't do that again!
"Lydia!" Aiden urged, and shaking, she took a deep breath, forcing down the wave of nausea that threatened to overtake her, and hesitantly turned over the final card, which represented the future, and Lydia's heart dropped like a stone.
The final card was the Hanged Man, and even worse, it was in it's upright position. In this position, it represented sacrifice, or martyrdom, and it was filling their future.
So, rejuvenation in their past, disaster in their present, and sacrifice or martyrdom in their future. Why did she never predict any good news?
"Lydia…" Aiden fretted as she staggered to her feet, no, she couldn't let this happen, she had to warn Scott that something was coming, something awful, disaster and sacrifice, the two words sounding like a drumbeat in her head, god she suddenly had a splitting headache, it was like vertigo, her whole body was shaking, she was, she was…
Oh no. No, not now, it couldn't be, not so soon!
"Lydia?" Aiden asked frantically, cupping her face in his hands, looking at her in terror while trying to steady her, he knew what was coming and he was trying to stop it, and he went white as she opened her mouth.
And then, a Banshee scream echoed across the town, as death came for one of the pack once again.
So, that's the first episode, and I'm already back torturing my characters, is anyone really surprised?
Who is this mysterious lady in the hotel, and what is her insidious plan?
I hope everyone liked the party, I enjoyed deciding what everyone should be wearing and who they would go as, and I thought I should give them something good before I proceed to ruin their lives for the rest of the season
What do you all make of Neo so far?
Poor little Liam, though I'm sure you can all guess what's coming next for him...
Hope you all liked the tarot scene as well, I enjoy writing those parts.
Anyway, hopefully episode two wont be too far off, but all being well provided regulations dont change, and the volcano stops in the Canaries, I'll be on holiday in a few weeks time, and I cant see me getting a new episode written before then, but hopefully, it wont take too long
If youre on Instagram, remember and give my friends Mccallsnight, Thiamheart and Lydspalace a follow!
Regardless, I hope you enjoyed the first episode, and until next time, please read and review!
