So... no one tried to guess. I'm a bit disappointed about that, but at least I know people are reading this fic still, some even like it. So that'll have to be enough for me.
To Claire, who's asked for more Peter/Noah, that's actually in a side-story sort-of-prequel that will be posted after this fic. It's two parts and tells the story of what happens from the very beginning, when Claudia, Noah, Kit and Peter first meet in San Francisco, all the way to just before the start of 'The Stilinski Pack'.
Now, this chapter ends in a hell of a cliffhanger. I know some might not like it. So my offer is this: the chapter is already written, if I get a big response for this fic, I'll post the next chapter (the finale!) in a week instead of two. Otherwise it'll be up in two weeks.
Blood
It starts with a few innocuous-looking deaths in the preserve. One man crashes his trucks into a tree, which ends with him and his brother dead, it's ruled an accident, drunk-driving (though the alcohol level in the man's blood shouldn't have been enough to impair his driving); another apparently walks off the trails for whatever the reason and ends falling down a ravine, not a normal occurrence exactly, but not an entirely unknown happening either.
Noah has a saying: "Once is an accident, twice a coincidence… three times is a pattern." Number three ends up being Adrian Harris, former Chemistry teacher for Beacon Hills High School, being found dead in his backyard, throat slashed open. Deputy Haigh, who answers the call from a neighbor to the scene is all for declaring it a suicide when finding a knife close enough to Harris's dead body. It's no secret that the man was involved, if indirectly, with the Hale Fire. Even if he couldn't give them much, he admitted to the conversation he had with a 'gorgeous blonde' in a bar. It was part of the reason he was finally fired from the high-school (the other part being that he tried to take his anger at the Sheriff out on his son, that didn't work out so well for him). Noah though can tell that there's more to it than that, and not just because he can tell that the slashing across the man's throat was made with a claw rather than any knife.
His theories are all confirmed just a few days later when yet another dead body is found: Garrison Myers, the former bus driver, former insurance investigation. The man lost his latest job when Noah's reopening of the Hale-Fire case brought to light his fraud in the Hale Fire investigation. The man was becoming nothing more than the town drunk at the time of his death. Noah might have doubted him being really on the list (as the man was being self-destructive enough there's no doubt he'd have ended dead one way or another before the summer) if it weren't for the particularly vicious way in which he died, it was as if a wild-animal tore him apart.
"So, let me see if I understand, you think that the Omega we suspected was in town last year, is not only still in town, but on a killing spree?" Jackson asks in disbelief.
"Yes and no," Noah replies.
Stiles stares at him, mouth open to point out how little sense that makes.
"We think there's more than one werewolf involved now." Peter clarifies. "The first couple of deaths were incredibly well-planned, if we didn't already know they were involved in the fire there would have been no connection between the victims. Harris… even the thing with the knife could have been ignored, excused as a depressed man having second thoughts about killing himself; if he didn't fit the pattern. This last death though… there's none of the careful thought and execution to it, no finesse. That vicious disembowelment. It's not the work of a careful predator, but of a newly-bitten barely-in-control wolf."
"Newly bitten…" Cora repeats, a hint of horror in her voice. "You actually think that… what? The Omega from before is turning others?"
"If this Omega killed Laura… it's entirely possible." Stiles breaks off briefly to direct an apologetic look at Derek before finishing his statement.
Derek winces slightly at the reminder of his loss, but nods anyway. He knows Stiles is right.
"Why now?" Allison's question takes them all by surprise.
"Huh…?" No one was expecting that question.
"If the Omega's been around since last October, why wait until now to begin turning betas?" Allison elaborates.
That's a very good question. One no one has the slightest idea how to answer.
xXx
They do get confirmation that there is, in fact an Alpha around, and he or she is turning Betas while on school the following Monday. The confirmation takes the form of none other than Scott McCall going all around stating loudly how he's finally going to be first-line in lacrosse.
"He does know we're like two weeks away from the end of season, right?" Lydia asks in a fake low-voice (which means, of course, that everyone in the cafeteria for that lunch-hour hears her).
"Don't ask me to try and divine how McCall's brain works, I don't need the headache." Stiles states in a deadpan.
"Does he? Have a brain at all I mean?" Cora inquires coldly.
"With the way he keeps calling attention to himself, I doubt it." Stiles drawls.
"He's on the edge of shifting." Jackson points out. "Worse even than I when I was just bitten."
Stiles and Cora almost wince. They can still remember that. Jackson's turning wasn't exactly smooth sailing. Even with him being aware of his past, knowing how much his birth-mother loved him, that her last conscious action was an attempt to protect him (by bending over and using the rest of her body as a shield for her unborn baby when her husband lost control of their car and they crashed); that her husband loved him even knowing the baby wasn't his, that the only reason his birth-father wasn't in his life was because he hadn't even known he had a son! It still took some time for Jackson to deal with all those pent-up feelings. But in the end he made it. Thanks to his father, and his dad, his siblings, and of course, his promised mate…
As if his whole boasting and posturing aren't bad enough, then there are Scott's constant attempts at 'wooing' Allison. He gets her flowers, chocolates, tries to sit beside her at lunch and the one class they happen to share. He practically stalks her whenever he's not at work, even while at school, and if it weren't for the wards Stiles placed on their Pack House she'd fear Scott being crazy enough to actually break into the house to try and get to her. It doesn't matter how many times she turns him down or walks away, he won't stop pressing, claiming that they're meant to be together…
"Is it possible?" Chris finally asks Peter and Noah. "For her to be his mate?"
Noah's expression of disgust says what he thinks about that.
"Possible?" Peter answers after pondering it over for a little while. "I suppose. Likely? Not really," at everyone's confused expressions he clarifies: "It's not impossible. We've talked about mates before. You know that no one but the wolf can tell for sure whether someone is their mate or not. But even if Ally were a potential mate for Scott, that doesn't justify his harassment of her. Nothing could ever do that. Above all we still have the capacity to make our own choices. She's still free to say no. And he should respect that." He waits for everyone to register that before continuing. "Even then, the reason why I find it unlikely is that, were she truly his mate, then her refusal, and more than that, her reactions to his insistence would be more than enough to make him desist. If there's one thing a wolf will never do it is want their mate to be upset because of them." He exhales. "I… if at any point Noah or Kit had given any indication to not reciprocating my feelings, to not being interested… I'm not saying it wouldn't have hurt, but I'd have walked away. It was my choice to offer my love to them, and theirs to take it… or not."
Just like Lydia chose to accept… like Danny chose to say no…
"We have more troubles here than just McCall not being able to take no for an answer." Stiles points out.
He has no doubt that if Scott keeps making a nuisance of himself his sister is perfectly capable of putting a stop to his advances. A wolf he might be, but she's a Huntress, and she's been one for much longer, there's no way that Scott can take her and win.
"That's true, he's calling attention, too much." Jackson agrees with a grim tone.
"I've no idea who thought he was the right person to turn, but clearly they must be nuts." Cora mutters angrily.
"True." Peter agrees. "People like McCall… they should never be turned."
"People like him…?" It's not that Noah disagrees, exactly, but he wonders what his husband's talking about exactly.
"People who've nothing to lose." Peter qualifies. "Like him… like Miss Reyes. They're not good candidates for the bite. There's a reason why I said no, when Cora suggested her."
He had. A couple of years prior, Stiles and Cora happened to witness the end of one of Erica's seizure's, it was Cora who thought that Peter could bite her. It would cure her and she'd be pack.
"She's dead now." Lydia points out. "The family finally pulled the plug a couple of weeks ago."
For a little while no one says nothing, just regretting the loss of someone so young.
"I know some of you still think I should have given her the bite." Peter speaks up eventually. "But there's a reason I didn't. It wasn't to be cruel, or because I had something against her. Truth is that people like Miss Reyes, like Mr McCall are the worst possible candidates for the bite."
"But why?" Cora still doesn't understand. "It could have healed her!"
"Exactly." Peter isn't offended by Cora's snapping, he knows she doesn't mean to challenge him or anything like that, she just regrets the loss of life, and he does as well, even if it might not seem like it. "People like Reyes and McCall, who have some terrible medical condition that limits their life, that puts them in danger, one that can be cured with the bite… they're the worst candidates for it because they'll never say no. They'll never truly think it through. No matter how much you try to make them understand the downsides of accepting the bite, try to make them see that it's not simple, that's it's not just about being stronger, faster, healthier… about the risks, of Hunters, and wolfsbane, of the whole wide world they'd be joining. They'll never listen because all they'll care about is that the bite means they'll be free of the constrains of that human sickness that has made their lives so hard… And that means that the first time things get tough, they'll bolt. They will never be able to handle the darker aspects of our world, and will forever claim ignorance, not because you didn't try to explain it, but because they didn't listen…"
They know he's right, much as some of them might have a hard time admitting it. Erica's case is quite clear there. The girl had epilepsy, yet instead of accepting her situation and dealing with it at best she could, she kept pushing at her own limits, wanting to do all the things other teenagers did even when knowing how risky it was for her. She kept playing Russian roulette with her own life… sooner or later, something was going to give. Which is exactly what happened when she climbed the rock-wall on a dare, without taking due precautions, refused to listen to Coach Finstock when he ordered her down… and then she got a seizure shortly before getting to the top. She fell. Jackson tried to catch her but couldn't get to her fast enough, she hit her head. Was in the hospital, connected to a ventilator for almost a month before her parents finally gave up and, following the doctor's recommendation, pulled the plug and let her go.
Scott's situation isn't that different, someone with asthma as bad as his should have never been playing lacrosse. And yet the boy kept pushing and pushing, no matter how many asthma attacks he got, how many times Coach tried to get him to stop, suggested he tried something else, anything else. It was a miracle Scott hadn't gotten himself killed already by his stubbornness alone! Being a wolf wasn't making things any better.
Things come to a head at the end of the week. Finstock warns them from the start of practice that he'll be choosing who'll be first-line for the next game (the championship game) at the end, so things are especially charged. Jackson, being the team captain, cannot really keep watch over Scott to try and make sure he doesn't do something stupid, but that's what his siblings are there for. With the excuse of cheering their brother they're all on the bleachers.
It's Greenberg's turn to go through the exercises (and he's as awful as always), when something completely unexpected happens. Someone steps out from behind a nearby building, grabbing Scott and absconding with him, running through the shadows of the closest buildings before slipping into the preserve. It happens so suddenly and so quickly that if they weren't all keeping an eye on McCall they'd have never seen it happening. The worst part is that, because of the excuse they used to justify being there, they can't just take-off. So they wait.
Finstock, surprisingly enough, doesn't make much of a deal out of Scott not being there, when his name is called, probably assuming his asthma got the better of him yet again (wouldn't be the first time). The moment the team heads for the showers the rest of them are running across the field, keeping strictly to human speeds until they hit the treeline and then letting loose.
They lose the trail five miles in, and they only manage to keep on it that long, with all the turnarounds, circles and fake trails set because Jackson's a hell of a tracker. In the end though they do lose it and there's nothing they can do about it.
"Well, we know one thing for sure now," Peter points out when he hears all about it that evening. "Our Rogue Alpha has two Betas now… at the very least."
xXx
Had, as it turns out. A week later, the day after the championship game in fact, Matt Daehler's body is found deep in the preserve. It's different from all the other murders because not only has he nothing to do with the Hale Fire, but whoever's responsible didn't even try to make it look like an accident, suicide, or an animal attack… his body's been cut in two.
Gerard is first seen around Beacon Hills on Sunday. He first shows up at both the school and the Sheriff's Office on Monday. Starts making noise about 'troublesome individuals' and 'hunters' and 'making sure the monsters pay' on Tuesday. By Thursday afternoon he's behind bars. Derek actually blinks in the aftermath of it all, at the speed with which it all happened. His surprise only grows when he realizes he's the only one truly surprised.
"One thing you need to realize Derek, is that my dad is the law in this town, not some two-bit hunter with delusions of adequacy." Stiles states in a deadpan tone.
"He didn't know Kate was dead, did he?" Allison realizes a moment later.
"No." Noah admits. "All of Kate's accomplices were arrested that night, two of them: Reddick and Unger, are actually known arsonists, they were involved in the Hale Fire. They all ended in jail, if not for the fire, then for illegal possession of regulated weapons, hunting out of season, possession of controlled substances… anything and everything we could think of. Tara made sure to throw the book at them all. Kate on the other hand… well, to put it simply, there was nothing left of her to bring in."
Nothing more than ashes for the wind to scatter.
Silence is the only response to that statement as everyone takes a moment to process the fact that not only Stiles pulled down lightning from the sky, but it was strong enough to turn a human into nothing more than ash in the wind. Surprisingly enough, even those who were there that day didn't really pay attention to that detail. Or at least, didn't stop to consider the whole implications when Cora stood, dusting herself off, no trace of Kate where she'd been just a moment earlier. After that, the revelations from the Argents, and the Samhain rituals pulled their attention, and they all moved on.
"So no, he didn't know Kate was dead." Noah goes on. "And apparently there was some sort of plan that involved her getting a job as substitute teacher at the High-School, again. That's why he went there on Monday. She was even using the same name she used the first time! So when he introduced himself as her father… that's when we got called in. The man didn't even realized that we saw Kate as a criminal rather than a victim, not until a day or two later. When he stopped huffing and puffing and actually started with the threats, that's when we arrested him."
"You couldn't have done it before." Lydia nods in understanding. "He hadn't done anything, not legally at least. And even if one or more of your deputies know the truth, that wouldn't have been enough to actually keep him behind bars."
"No, it wouldn't have." Noah agrees. "Only Tara and Parrish know the truth. Well, apparently Haigh knew as well, he was the one taking bribes to keep things buried. Idiot shot at me when he realized the house of cards was falling all around him."
"He did what?!" Several of those present screeched at the same time.
"Oh it was nothing!" Noah says dismissively. "It was more a bother than anything. Barely a scratch, but I couldn't let it heal too fast, least it call the wrong kind of attention. He's in prison now as well. Several of my deputies are going through all the cases he was involved in, see if there's any further tampering… and to make sure some actual criminal won't one day use that as en excuse to get out of their just punishment."
That was always the risk when it came to dirty cops. Even if they only did it once, that was enough to put all their work in doubt, and some people had no mercy in using it to their advantage. Good thing Noah and his department were ahead of them all.
"It was actually Tara's idea to not just get the warrants for Gerard's car and hotel-room, but she also used the GPS of the car to find all the places he'd been to and investigated those. It's how we found the sword used to kill Matt Daehler and connected him to it." Noah adds. "So he's going away, for life."
"However long it might be…" Peter mutters under his breath (which makes little difference when in a room full of people with enhanced senses).
"Peter!" Noah snaps in a warning tone.
"No, I'm not going to kill the bastard." Peter says in a drawl. "I won't have to." At the obvious surprise, he clarifies. "He's already sick. Terminal. Probably cancer. Chances are he'll be dead before the end of the year. Probably sooner."
"Couldn't his lawyer try and get him out under compassionate grounds or something?" Cora suggests, hating the mere idea.
"After he killed a child? And in such a barbaric manner? No way!" Stiles snorts.
"If they do, he won't live long anyway." Chris offers. "Aunt Cécile sent one of her best Enforcers to make sure nothing goes wrong."
Noah's eyes narrow briefly, then he shakes his head, turning his attention back to the cup of coffee in his hands. Some things he'd rather not know.
"So the danger is over?" Jackson asks.
"Where Kate and Gerard are concerned, yes." Noah qualifies.
Jackson nods, understanding. They are a pack of supernaturals, living in a town with a half-rotten Nemeton acting as an actual beacon… danger is just part of life for them. Also, there's still the matter of the Rogue Alpha and their Beta… or Betas, whichever. Still, after so long being on guard for the hunters responsible for the loss of the Hale Pack, them being no longer a danger feels almost… anti-climactic.
xXx
Of course, all those thoughts are completely forgotten a little over a week later when Lydia sends the whole pack into a panic by unexpectedly letting out a wail, loud enough all the windows in the house rattle. It's about half past ten at night, most of them aren't even asleep yet. Though with it being two days from the end of the school-year, the teens are already in their rooms and either in bed or getting ready for it. All that's forgotten as the banshee scream echoes around them. In seconds most of them are at the door of Jackson and Lydia's bedroom in various states of dress (or undress).
"I… I don't know…" Lydia murmurs in between sipping a glass of cool water her mate gets her, knowing already what she needs to sooth her throat. "Something's wrong but I don't know what is… I…" her eyes snap open wide as her subconscious mind manages to catch something. "The Nemeton! Paige!" Derek, the last to get to the room, not having experience with it all and not having been sure how to react, almost trips over his own feet at the name. "Stiles! You have to hurry! Paige says we don't have long!"
It's right then that everyone notices Stiles isn't in the room, right as he bursts out of his own room, half-tripping as he puts on his dark-soled combat-boots, dark-jeans still unbuttoned, he's not wearing a belt, and only an old, almost threadbare dark-red wife-beater he usually wears to sleep because it's worn-thin and very, very soft. He has to deviate from the straight route to the door so he can head to the armory and get his pack of weapons and herbs. He also gets his sister's pack and throws it at her as she storms down the stairs wearing dark jeans, combat boots, a gray tank-top and red and black plaid-shirt on top.
The wolves are already out the house and running, while the twins, Lydia and Chris climb on the dirt-bikes Derek built just for them (he's an excellent mechanic) and get on their way. Soon Stiles is at the front of the pack, leading the way to the Nemeton.
"Stiles!" Allison yells a few minutes later. "There's mountain-ash ahead!"
Truth is Allison doesn't have the kind of spark for magic her brother possesses, cannot do more than lay or break mountain-ash circles, and even then, she needs to actually touch the ash to do that much. But she's just fine with that. In the end, she's a Huntress. And yet, despite her lack of ability wielding the magic, she's one of the best at detecting it.
Stiles makes a simple, almost violent slashing gesture in the air with his hand right before his dirt-bike reaches the mountain-ash line. There's a sound in the air, like crystal breaking, that only those with a magical affinity can really hear. Then a second, and a third…
"Now that's what I call being through," Lydia, knowing what all the 'crashing' means, comments.
"I just call it being obsessed." Allison drawls.
They stop talking as they cross into the clearing with the Nemeton. The place, which would have usually been empty, in that moment isn't. They can all smell blood, even those without enhanced senses, which goes to show how much blood there must be. There's also incense, candles… on top of the Nemeton stump is Paige, screaming at the top of her lungs, though none of them can really hear her. Stiles can only vaguely get a sense of urgency from her, near desperation. Whatever ritual the three individuals there are working on… it's big… and it's bad. Stiles can tell one of them is a magic-user, either a witch or a druid, judging by the power, there's a long-haired woman in sturdy, dirty clothes, and on the other side of the clearing, half-hidden in the shadows, none other than Scott McCall. Which means the woman must be the Rogue Alpha who turned both him and Daehler, and who's been killing those implicated in the Hale Fire.
"They're here!" McCall eeps, clearly trying and failing at pretending he's perfectly in control.
"Go!" The magic-user snaps, throwing a fistful of… something, probably mistletoe, in their direction. "You're not welcome here."
Stiles doesn't even need to think about it, a wave of his hand is enough to render the mistletoe inert. Which manages to call the attention of the magic-user like nothing else could have. He stops his mutterings to turn to face them, clearly shocked.
"Alan Deaton…" Peter mutters, distastefully. "Why am I not surprised?"
"Peter Hale, you're not welcome here." The pseudo-druid keeps with his posturing.
"The name is Piers Stilinski, Alpha of the Stilinski Pack, and this is my territory." Peter states, voice full of power and authority. "You're the one not welcome… darach."
Deaton flinches back as if he's been struck.
"This isn't your territory… it's mine." A female voice, the Alpha, states as she rises from her crouched pose and steps forth, coming face to face with the Stilinski pack.
For the longest time none of them say a thing, as if trying to size their opponent up… or perhaps trying to believe what their eyes are seeing. In the end it's Derek who breaks the silence. His voice low, shocked and full of so much pain, yet still perfectly audible as a single word breaks the heavy night-air…
"Laura…?!"
So... Like it? Hate it? How badly do you want to know how this ends?
For those wondering about what I did with Gerard... I thought long and hard about what I was going to do with him. I considered making him the big villain in this fic. I also contemplated splitting this fic in two parts (with the first one ending in the night of Samhain) and making him one of the villains of the second. But well... once I made up my mind on what I was gonna do with the whole 'Rogue Alpha'... I didn't want Gerard to steal the spotlight, or to have the fic end up being too heavy on the villains. Also, once I actually stopped and thought about it: what does Gerard have going for him really? I mean, what makes him so formidable in canon? I'm not trying to make less of him as a man, or a hunter, but what really makes him a hell of an enemy is his name. The Argent names carries money, status, but most importantly of all: it carries Influence. Gerard gets away with pretty much anything by blackmailing, bribing or killing whoever gets in his way, and he can do that because he has the money, he has allies, and power. And all that can be traced to his name. However, in this verse, Gerard doesn't have that. His Matriarch didn't just disavow him, she named him Intolerable. Leaving him unable to use that name. Hence no money, no power, no influence. What's Gerard without all of that? Nothing more than human, and the Sheriff is no slouch when dealing with human criminals.
So that's that on the Gerard. On Laura... who saw that coming? Anyone wanna try guessing what's in store for the finale? Remember what I said in the starting notes, if I get a big response to this I'll update and post the finale in a week instead of two!
See ya around!