Hello! Sorry for the late update. Normally I would update every two days, but for some reason I felt really lazy. This chapter was much of chore for me, but maybe it was the episode. Again: sorry for the late update, but hopefully you guys enjoy this chapter. Tomorrow's episode seems exciting though :D! Enjoy :)
Disclaimer: I own nothing, but my OCs…
The old, wooden door squeaked opened by Chris as it cut through the silence.
Gerard and his son both carefully walked down the dusty staircase, their flashlights scanning the dark area. Everything was worn out, old or abandon for many years. There was an unusual odor, something that wasn't man-made, but more from the earth.
From nature.
Their footsteps echoed down until they reached the ground. As Chris eyed every square inch, his blue eyes taking in everything, Gerard was more interested by something else.
"What is that?" He asked his son with a finger pointed towards the thick tree. Chris turned around, his flashlight landed at the tree and the younger man held a straight line. There was a symbol, a symbol he had recognized, plastered on the tree. As the two Argents grew closer for a better look, Gerard let's his gloved fingers push the cobwebs away.
"A celtic five fold knot," Chris answered his father quietly. "It's a druid symbol. The air's different in here. Do you feel it?" He circled his flashlight around slowly. "I think I know what this place is."
Gerard tilted his head to the side as he observed something. "Is that blood?"
"Sacrificial blood," he specified clearly before looking up to his dad. "We're in a nemeton. It's a sacred meeting place. Ancient celtic druids would usually choose a large, older tree in a grove. It would represent the center of the world. There was a belief that cutting or harming the tree in any way would cause serious problems for the surrounding villages."
"What sort of problems?"
Chris sighed while pointing the flashlight back on the symbol and staring at his dad. "Fires, plagues, strife. Death and destruction of all kinds."
Of every kind, Chris added to himself.
Allison decided to poke into her grandfather's story.
"How does he know all about celtic symbols and druids?" She asked, or almost challenging him to come up with a logical reason. Allison had an eyebrow risen as she carefully eyed the old man. Lucy and Scott waited for an answer from him.
Gerard stared straight at her with a knowing grin. "Know thy enemy, Allison."
Of course, she thought.
How could she forget about that?
Know thy enemy.
"The older wolves had a relationship with the druids," Gerard told them. "They called them emissaries."
Lucy furrowed her eyebrows as she turned to her brother. "Like Deaton?"
"Just like my boss," Scott agreed and the twins stared as Gerard slowly lift up from his seat. His legs wobbled weakly, his wrinkly fingers gripped tightly on the handles as he shuffled towards the drawer beside him.
"Do you know the myth of Lycaon?" Gerard asked over his shoulders.
"A little," Lucy admitted as she walked towards the old man. She crossed her arms over her chest while eying the book he opened. "I remembered he had something to do with Zeus."
"I know it's where we get the word 'Lycanthropy'," her brother added and Gerard smirked at him while turning the pages.
"According to myth," he began, "some Greek citizens believed they owed their lives more to Prometheus than the gods of Olympus," he kept glancing at Scott while the girls remained silent. "And some followers even took names to honor the Titans instead of the gods."
Gerard stopped at a picture.
Scott furrowed his eyebrows together. "Like Deucalion."
Allison's grandfather nodded. "The son of Prometheus. Lycaon didn't just refuse to honor the gods, he challenged them," he flipped the book around horizontally while turning to the next page. "He invited Zeus to a banquet and then tried to serve him the flesh of a human being. Angered, Zeus blew the place apart with lightning bolts and then punished Lycaon and his sons by turning them into wolves."
Lucy's eyes took in the pictures that Gerard showed them. "The part that's lesser known is how Lycaon sought out the druids to help turn him back to human."
"Why druids?" Scott asked him, his brown eyes stared at him.
"The belief was that the ancient druids knew how to shape-shift," he answered with a faint smile. "They couldn't make Lycaon and his sons human again, but they did teach them how to shift back and forth and so," he took in a deep breath, "the druids became important advisors to the packs."
Lucy tapped her chin. "So these druids help werewolves maintain their human side?"
"In a way," Gerard glanced at the young girl. "They do. Now come along," he gestured them to sit back down. His body struggled to land on the wheelchair, his arms shook with each passing minute. Lucy wasn't too surprise to not see Allison help him out.
He did use her for his own plan and benefit.
"I remembered that Deaton came to talk to me," Gerard told them while wiping away some more black fluid from his nose. "I wasn't really surprised when Deaton came to arrange a meeting with Deucalion."
"Why not?" Lucy piped up with her question and Gerard chuckled as if she said a joke.
"Because, my dear, as William Blake said: 'Any sinister person who meanest to be your enemy always start by trying to become your friend.'"
Scott leaned forward, his hands clasped together. "How do you know he wasn't going there to make peace?"
Gerard cocked his head, his eyebrow rose. "Because I'm not an idiot. Do you know the sanskrit fable of the scorpion and the turtle?"
"Yeah. The scorpion asks the turtle for a ride across the river."
"And when the scorpion stings the turtle, dooming them both, what does he say to explain his behavior?"
Scott finally sat back without taking his eyes off Gerard. "'It's my nature.'"
Gerard nodded. "I know a werewolf's nature. I knew exactly what was coming: a trap."
Deucalion stood in the center, his eyes held a gleam of determination.
He was confident about this arrangement, but he was weary on how easily Gerard agreed to come. Deucalion trusted Deaton as Talia trusted the veterinarian. Anyone would have been considered foolish on not trusting Talia's words of wisdom.
"I think it's quite fitting," Gerard commented with a smirk, "that we are meeting in a distillery. You know, the process of distillation is the separating of two substances by pushing them into their different volatile states."
Deucalion frowned a bit. "Volatile is exactly the state I was hoping to avoid."
"Ohh," Gerard grinned as he made his way towards the small wheel. As his hands grasped the item, his turned back to the alpha. "Then this is going to come as quite a big disappointment!"
Gas blasted towards Deucalion and his pack mates. The werewolves all stumbled to the ground, their hands struggled to hold their weight up. The white gas caused them to cough, and Deucalion tried to lift his head up, his eyes filled with betrayal.
"What have you done?" Deucalion yelled over the chaos that was happening. His eyes were squinted as he tried to keep himself on two feet, but it was getting to him. The muscles and his body were feeling weak.
He went down.
"They attacked you?" Allison quickly asked her grandfather, her voice filled with shock. Gerard merely gazed at her, his expression unreadable. Lucy glanced at Scott, her face was surprised as well as her brother.
"It was an ambush," he clarified to her teen granddaughter before continuing on.
Gerard grabbed something behind the valve and held the weapon in his hands. It had sharp spikes around the wooden club. The Argent hunter then walked forward, a evil smile plastered on his face as he eyed his prey.
"One of the earliest weapons used by man," Gerard boasted towards the fallen werewolves, "was the spiked mace. I've made one of my own. I'd love to get your opinion on it."
The older Argent slowly turned his gaze down to a werewolf, his hands over his face. Gerard didn't hold any sympathy for these animals, these wild creatures that his family hunted down. They didn't deserve to live in this world, hurting the innocent of the people.
They were scum to him.
Scum to everyone.
Scum to the world.
And with that, he struck the werewolf.
The blood had splattered around the floor and Gerard walked around. The white gas was like a fog as it prevented the werewolves from seeing where the hunter was heading. He had struck another one, his body falling down and his blood dripped from the spikes. Deucalion watched helplessly as his pack mates were being hit in the face with this weapon.
Being hit by this psychopath.
"Your own people…" Deucalion wailed from the ground, his head struggled to be kept up.
"They wanted peace too," Gerard yelled out at him, the club at his side. "Look what you did to them."
Deucalion shook his head before dragging himself outside for safety. He needed to leave, but he wasn't sure if he was going to make it out alive. Gerard was much more powerful than him right now, and Deucalion could barely walk as his insides weren't functioning right.
Deucalion panted.
He coughed.
The dust flew around him as his hands grasped the dirt and small weeds. He pulled himself further away, his shirt became dirty and he felt a tear from somewhere. The alpha couldn't handle it anymore, but he pushed more.
He had to do it for his pack.
He had to do it for him.
But he couldn't and he crashed down.
Deucalion turned onto his back as the sun blazed down at his helpless state. The alpha noticed Gerard looming over him, a wicked smirk on the old man's face.
"Don't!" The werewolf implored at him. "Don't do this! I had a vision, a vision of peace!"
Gerard chuckled. "A little shortsighted…" he now showed Deucalion two arrows at him. "Wouldn't you say?"
Deucalion's piercing screams echoed into the sky, his body twisted like a fish out of water even he was held down by Gerard. The electricity had sent pain throughout his body, the feeling too much for him. Gerard harshly pulled out the arrows, the blood dripping from the front as Deucalion continued to wail and scream.
Gerard had sent him a warning.
And Deucalion had received the message.
The intensity in the air was heavy.
Deaton's hands slowly unwrapped the bandages that were tightly around Deucalion's eyes. The veterinarian wasn't sure how the alpha werewolf was going to react about the sudden news. Talia Hale was in the room, her composure straight as she quietly looked on. Marco, on the other hand, stood to the side as he waited for his alpha.
The damage was unbearable, even for Deaton.
"I'm sorry," he breathed out softly to the werewolf. "The eyes will heal physically, but…your sight…"
Deucalion slowly opened his eyes and saw darkness.
The bandages were off as he didn't feel the fabric of it around his head.
He roared loudly as he lunged harshly against the steel table. The roar shook everything in the room and caused Deaton to jump for a brief moment. Deucalion panted heavily, his fingers curled as he was no longer the same as before.
"Leave me alone," he grunted out the order. Talia and Deaton knew it was best to just do what Deucalion said. The alpha needed some time to himself to process what was going on. To calm down and the two adults would try to talk to him then. Marco simply stayed put, his feet firmly on the ground as his eyes gazed upon Deucalion.
It was his time now.
It had finally arrived.
"Marco, I said: 'Leave me alone.'"
The beta's jawline twitched. "You are alone."
And he punched Deucalion in the stomach. The blew was unexpected for Deucalion as the alpha stumbled back. Marco was confident that he was weak, that Deucalion needed to die and he, Marco, would be the new alpha. The taste of power was just so close to him and Marco wanted it all.
He wanted to be in control.
With his claw out, high in the air, he waited for the perfect moment to strike again. Deucalion lifted his head slowly, and was surprised that he could see Marco. His beta, the one werewolf he trusted, was preparing to kill him.
Deucalion felt betrayed.
Just like how he felt betrayed by Gerard.
And the injured alpha snapped. He was like a rabid dog as he shoved Marco down onto the steel table and slashed him. Deucalion couldn't stop, the feeling was different for him as it tickled his mind and senses. He continued to slash until the screams of Marco were no longer heard. The alpha panted as he snapped his head up.
His eyes were wild and bloodthirsty.
The new powers Deucalion now held was exciting and he wondered if his other pack mates would give him this feeling again.
What if they betrayed him like Marco did?
After the events he had been through: he wasn't sure anymore.
The loyalty and trust was no longer there for him.
It was gone.
"He sees as a wolf?" Scott was astonished by this new fact. He had thought that Deucalion was actually blind, but from what Gerard had said: he could see. Not normal human sight, but wolf sight? Would that mean that Deucalion was seeing Scott all this time?
"How is that even possible?" Lucy was beyond confused, and scared at the same time. Gerard merely gave them a crooked smile.
"He's not always blind," Gerard glanced at his granddaughter as she pipped up from her seat.
"Maybe we can use it against him."
"It could work," Lucy agreed and the three teens finally stood up from their seats. As Lucy reached for her bag, she heard Gerard call out her brother's name. The brunette teen stopped what she was doing as she watched Gerard roll up his sleeve. Lucy stared at Scott, the werewolf sighed inwardly before reluctantly walking towards the man.
As they held each other's hand, Lucy and Allison heard the soft groans. Scott was scrunched together as the pain was swimming through his veins. It was part of the deal and Scott always kept his part. His brown eyes stared down at him, the pleasure was completely written across Gerard's face. Scott soon lets go and cradled his hand against his chest.
"I think about you sometimes, Scott," Gerard grunted from his mouth. "I do. I wonder, what if I'd done things differently? Getting the bite to cure my cancer and I wonder when it became my nature to believe most things couldn't be asked for but had to be taken."
Scott eyed him critically as he took in the words. "I don't believe you. The whole time that you were telling your story, I was listening to your heartbeat. It never went up. It never went down. It was steady the whole time."
"Because I was telling the truth," Gerard confidently told the werewolf.
"Or because you're a really good liar," Scott suggested the more logical reason and Gerard rose his eyebrows. Lucy wasn't sure where her brother was taking this, but she decided to continue watching. She was caught off guard as Scott's hand harshly grabbed Gerard's. The old man's face was completely drained as he didn't expect this from Scott. Scott was too nice, he never resorted to any threats or violence, no matter how awful the person.
As Gerard breathed out in pain, his hand continued to be crushed and Scott's face neared his.
"If you lied and it gets people hurt," Scott's hot breath had hit Gerard's face and the man shook in fear and gritted his teeth. "I'll be back to take away more than your pain."
Gerard didn't say a word as the three exited the room with the door shut closed.
Chapter twenty-one! Again: sorry for the long wait. This episode really was a challenge and sorry for not much Isaac/Lucy interaction. I don't like fillers that much and I try to steer clear from them as much as a possible. Can't wait for tomorrow's new episode! Here's the question of today:
If you held a sleepover, what four characters (games/movies/TV etc.) would you invite?
Have fun! Until next time…
-WhatTheCensoredXD