Chapter Twenty Three

...

Everyone flinched, covering their ears as the banshees screamed. Stiles was knocked flat back onto the Nemeton's stump, his ears ringing and his head spinning. He stared up at the dark night sky, the stars swimming in his vision, unaware of anything else happening around him.

The Nemeton started to grow around Stiles' body, hundreds of green shoots springing out from the stump, curling up and over and around Stiles until no one could see him. The shoots continued until Stiles could no longer see the stars above, the world around him going dark. A wind picked up, pushing everyone away from both the Nemeton and the banshees. They only stopped screaming once Stiles was completely encased in the Nemeton, all three women falling to the ground as they came back to themselves, their power no longer controlling their actions.

"Fuck," Tomika groaned, standing slowly and looking around. "Where are we?"

"What is that?" Jade asked, looking at the green writhing thing on top of the Nemeton.

Lydia stood up, careful and cautious, and stepped towards the covered tree stump. "Stiles."

No one had a chance to ask questions because a bullet whistled through the air, embedding in Scott's right shoulder. He roared in pain, eyes glowing red, and turned in the direction the bullet had come from.

Gerard stepped out from the tree line, smiling broadly. There was movement beside him and Kate revealed herself, smirking with a flash of werejaguar eyes.

Teresa, Malia and Mohammed snarled at her presence. Sara was trying to get the bullet out of Scott's shoulder, but it was wolfsbane and was already working through his system, his veins turning purple. Sara switched her magic to the wolfsbane instead, drawing small amounts out of the wound as carefully and quickly as she possibly could. It wouldn't get all of it, but it would give them more time to get a bullet and the antidote.

"Which strain is it?" Chris asked, not taking his eyes off his sister or father, his gun pointed at them without a single tremble in his hand.

"Going to rescue the little 'wolf, are you?" Kate sneered.

"Give me the bullet, Dad!"

Gerard scoffed. "You've gone soft, Chris. You should have died long ago, but you were always stubborn."

"It runs in the family," Chris snapped.

Scott groaned, reaching up to try to dig the bullet out himself. Sara stopped him quickly. "You'll make it worse," she said, drawing out another line of ash from his blood.

The Sheriff turned his attention away from his son - stuck in the Nemeton, as far as he could tell - and drew his gun. Beside him, Rafe already had his finger on his trigger.
"Give us the bullet, Argent. Now!" Rafe demanded.

Gerard looked to Rafe, glanced him up and down, then smirked. "You're far from your neck of the woods, Agent McCall. Don't look so surprised; the Calaveras aren't the only ones who have their own people within the FBI. You're nothing special, especially out here in the real world," he spat.

Chris was surprised at his father's admission of having people in the FBI; he'd spent the last two years methodically removing everyone with ties to his family, and he thought he'd found them all.

Gerard held up a notebook. "Despite your affinity to kill the bad guys, you're not that great at cleaning up after them. Dear little Meredith wrote down every thought in her head, and by proxy, every thought in Peter's head too. The entire deadpool, written out as plain as day, no password required.

"What, you didn't think the Argent family would receive a tape? Peter's obviously shown that he's willing to work with one of us in the past," he sneered, looking over at Kate, who smirked in return. "Finding relatives of the people in Beacon Hills was easy enough, sending invitations with the FBI's official letter-head and application forms was even easier. But you know what was the real icing on the cake?" he asked, grinning at his rapt audience. "Framing that piece of scum werewolf for murders he didn't commit. All it took was one phone call and he's been on the FBI's wanted list for months!"

"That was you?" Tomika asked, her jaw dropping.

Gerard didn't even glance at her. "The people I have within the FBI have been keeping a very close eye on all of you. I cannot tell you how disappointing it is to know so many of you are nothing but human," he said, as though the word itself was a slur.

"Enough talking," Kate snarled, shifting as she darted forward, her claws elongating and her skin turning blue.

Jackson was the first to rush out towards her, pushing Isaac away and safe behind him. They met with a clash of claws, snarling and eyes flashing. Kate smirked at Jackson, curling her fingers over so her claws caught on his hands, Jackson hissing in pain.

"You really think you're strong enough to handle me?" she sneered.

"You're seriously outnumbered," Jackson pointed out.

"You think we're that stupid, sweetheart?"

An arrow whistled through the air, hitting Liam with a dull thunk. He roared in pain, his eyes flashing gold. In the trees around them, hunters revealed themselves, each and every one armed to the teeth. High-pitched noises started sounding, the were-creatures in the clearing covering their ears in pain.

Scott recognised the high-pitched sound from the rods he'd seen the Argents using in the forest years ago. The knowledge didn't help the fact that he wanted to tear his ears off, the sound reverberating inside of his skull and making his vision double. Sara was still working on drawing out lines of ash from his blood, but he could feel it rushing through his body, his heart pounding faster in response to the loud noise and vibrations in the air, in his skull. Scott groaned in pain, almost doubling over, and Sara tried to keep him still as she continued to draw out more ash carefully.

The high-pitched noises only affected the creatures with heightened senses, and Rafe wasn't about to let his son die in front of him. He shot Gerard in the shoulder, hoping to make him drop his weapon at the very least. Gerard jolted back, but didn't let go of the gun. In fact, apart from the force of the bullet, he hardly seemed to notice being shot at all.

Rafe stared as Gerard's body shifted. It was completely different to Hale's transformation, which was smooth and almost elegant. Gerard's body, on the other hand, shifted as though his body was fighting him every step of the way, his body bulging in places. Rafe could swear that the noise of Gerard's bones crunching could be heard over the noise of gunfire and bullets and screaming around him. Eventually, Gerard had transformed, and the bullet pushed itself out of his shoulder harmlessly.

Gerard smiled at Rafe's shocked expression, his teeth sharp and eyes blue. "Blood transfusions replaced the mountain ash that your son infected me with," he spat, looking as though he wanted to shoot Scott all over again. "Luckily, the bite he generously provided - by betraying his Alpha, I might add - took hold."

Rafe mentally added that revelation to the list of questions he wanted to ask Scott later. For now, he needed to get that gun from Argent so he'd actually have the chance to ask Scott. Beside him, the Sheriff changed bullets to wolfsbane ones and shot at Gerard in the next instant. Gerard dodged the bullets and charged at them.

Isaac tensed his body, running forward and ducking down low to grab onto Kate's legs, lifting her and tearing her away from Jackson. They both fell to the ground with a thud, Kate hissing in pain when Isaac landed on top of her. Jackson was on her in a second, his hand around her throat and his eyes blue. Isaac had her legs and Jackson had her throat, but they'd left her arms free, and she gouged five lines into both of them with her claws, blood splattering as they both pulled away with pained roars.

Kate was up and away from them in a second, turning when she heard a footfall behind her. Coming face to face with herself made Kate stop short. She frowned, confused long enough to be caught by Other Kate's claws. She growled in pain, slashing out to get Other Kate back.

Li grinned and stepped into Kate's oncoming claws, changing their body at the last instant to become stronger and stiffer than mere flesh and blood. Kate roared in pain as her claws met with Li's new reinforced torso, and Li was pretty sure she'd lost at least one claw as a result. Now this was more like what Li had imagined for their first FBI job. Okay, maybe there were a few more monsters and more risk of, y'know, dying, but it was better than dealing with chickens.

Derek saw Gerard charging for Rafe and the Sheriff and ran to intercept the older Argent, slamming into him and knocking him away from the two humans. Gerard snarled, glaring at Derek and raising his gun to shoot him. Derek heard the gun go off but there was no impact. Rafe had run and jumped in front of Derek, the bullet slamming into his Kevlar vest. Derek was surprised the FBI agent had saved him, and frowned slightly when he saw Rafe take the vest off, pulling at the hole to retrieve the bullet. It was still intact, and Derek realised that he'd not only saved Derek, but his son as well.

"Go, give it to Sara. Scott knows what to do," Derek said, pulling a lighter out of his pocket and pressing it into Rafe's hand.

"Stiles will kill me if you're harmed, Hale. Try to stay alive for both our sakes, all right?" Rafe said over his shoulder, heading to where Scott and Sara were.

Kuhle and one of Gerard's hunters were fighting, both armed with daggers, a mere metre away from them and Rafe had to dodge the blades to get to his son.

"Hale said you know what to do with these?" Rafe asked Scott, holding the bullet and lighter out to him.

Scott nodded, looking far too weak for Rafe's liking, and took the bullet and lighter from him. Sara pulled one more line of ash from his arm, the purple-black lines still creeping closer towards Scott's heart. Tearing open the bullet with his teeth, Scott poured the ash onto his palm, lit it on fire and slammed his hand over his bullet wound. He roared in pain and Rafe watched as the lines retracted slowly, the infected mountain ash pouring out of Scott's wound with a black sludge-like substance.

There was a flash of light to his side, distracting him for a moment, and Rafe saw that Sara had stopped a dagger with a ball of magic hovering in front of her. Kuhle grabbed the dagger and blocked the hunter, pushing them back and away from Sara, Scott, and Rafe.

By the time Rafe turned around to his son, Scott was completely healed and looking like he hadn't even been shot in the first place. "You're okay?" Rafe asked, still concerned.

Scott nodded and smiled. "I'll be fine now. Thanks, Dad. Thank you too, Sara."

There was a scream of pain, louder than anything else in the clearing, and they turned to where Ari was fighting against a hunter. The hunter had hit her shoulder with the bullet wound and she was kneeling on the ground, gasping in pain. Before anyone could react, Ari started to sing. It was a wordless song, a melody that wrapped around each individual and reminded them of their dearest and most beloved things, drawing them towards Ari without any hint of fight or resistance. She continued to sing, waiting until the hunter was close enough so she could grab the gun. Ari turned it in an instant and shot the hunter, her song stopping as the hunter hit the ground.

Several people shook their heads, confused as to why they'd stopped fighting for that brief moment. Malia snarled and ran at a hunter, barrelling into them and knocking them down, the hunter kicking out at her. Beside her, Mohammed was fighting a hunter as well. Yelena had run out of bullets and was trying to best a hunter at hand-to-hand combat and distract them from the fact that they still had a gun with bullets.

Isaac felt waves of nausea rising in his throat, but he continued forward. The ringing noise was getting worse with every step he took, but he had to stop those damn rods so the others would have a better chance at fighting. Forcing himself the last few steps, Isaac grabbed the rod, snarling as he snapped it in half. He heard another snap and looked over to where the next rod was placed. Erica was holding the pieces in her hands, and she smiled at him, a little hesitantly after everything.

"Good to see you again, Catwoman," he called out, grinning back broadly and giving a wave.

Her smile became more genuine. "You too, Robin." Erica's eyes widened. "Look out, behind you!"

Isaac spun around, arms raised, just as a hunter swung their baton, the weapon landing on his forearm instead of his head. Isaac cried out in pain, his arm shattering, and he stumbled back, cradling his arm against his chest. He could feel the bone repairing and healing, but it wouldn't do it in time to deflect the hunter for a second time. There was a roar from the clearing, one he knew well, and Jackson tackled the hunter, smashing their head against a tree trunk.

Leaving the hunter crumpled on the ground, Jackson turned to check on Isaac. "Are you healing?" he asked, gentle with Isaac as he lifted his arm to inspect it himself.

"I'll be all right," Isaac said. "Erica saved me. He would've smashed my head in if she hadn't seen him."

Jackson looked from Isaac's arm to his face, and then over his shoulder to where Erica was standing, still holding two pieces of the rod in her hand. "Thank you."

She smiled and nodded. "Want to help me finish off these fucking things?" Erica asked, holding up the broken rod.

"I'll help," Boyd said.

"You're supposed to be looking after Allison," Erica said, then looked over to where Allison was fighting with two hunters, armed with a crossbow and daggers. "Oh. Never mind."

Boyd grinned. "Four more left," he said, nodding to the other rods around the clearing.

"One each?" Jackson asked.

"Aw, you've learnt to count while we've been away," Erica teased.

Jackson scowled. Isaac rolled his eyes and led Jackson around the clearing towards the other two rods. Boyd and Erica headed for the other two.

The high-pitched noises from around the clearing finally stopped and the were-creatures snarled at the hunters. Malia grinned wildly when she realised she didn't have to try to concentrate around the noise anymore and flicked out her claws, her eyes burning blue.

Despite the barrage of bullets and fighting happening around the clearing, nothing came close to the Nemeton. It was as though there was a barrier around the stump, protecting it from everything that happened.

Deaton watched the fight, curious to see what would happen and who would win. The Sheriff and Chris were fighting Gerard now; Allison was helping Li with Kate. Hunters were fighting either one-on-one or in pairs against the rest of the pack and FBI recruits: Sean was sheltering an unconscious Grant as Marcie ran around two hunters to distract them; Sara stopped Kuhle from being stabbed; Jade had only stopped screaming at hunters when she realised that they'd started to wear ear plugs, and was now shooting to maim; Tomika and Lydia were working together, Parrish somewhere between the two banshees and the hellhound; Derek fought off another hunter and moved across the clearing to help Allison and Li with Kate. Boyd and Erica reached Allison before him, so Derek continued on to help the Sheriff and Chris instead.

A gunshot and a howl of pain rang out as one of the hunters shot Caleb with wolfsbane bullets three times, Okami and Tasha bringing the hunter down a moment later. Malia and Yelena seemed to be playing tag with their hunters; Mohammed and Yukimi were working together with claws and electricity respectively, the hunters wounded or knocked unconscious neatly; Ari was given a wide berth and she was helping Mia and Teresa with Liam and Mason, who had both been wounded. Rafe and Scott were side by side, fighting together, and Deaton wanted to scoff at Scott's sudden and easy acceptance of Rafe in his life once more.

Deaton inhaled sharply when one of the hunter's arrows embedded into his shoulder, already knowing that there was no use in crying out loud. He looked at the arrow the best he could, seeing the blood starting to congeal around the wound. Sara's magic was strong, but blood magic was stronger. If anyone had been paying attention to him, they might have been concerned to see the usually-impassive Druid smiling.

In a matter of minutes, Sara's spell was broken and no one had noticed. Taking a moment to breathe, to make a sound and be heard again, Deaton watched the demise of three more hunters before he called out to Scott, his voice weaving around the werewolf until it was the only thing Scott could hear, the noise of the fighting dull in his mind. "Scott. Destroy the Nemeton. Destroy anyone who gets in your way."

Scott knocked out the hunter he'd been fighting and then turned to look at the Nemeton. The green shoots were still covering Stiles, but that didn't matter to Scott anymore. He snarled and ran across the clearing towards the Nemeton, his eyes red and his claws out. Before he could reach his target, Derek was in front of Scott. He snarled at the other werewolf, swiping at him with his claws. Derek blocked him and pushed him back with a flat palm, Scott moving back a few steps.

"Come on, Scott, you've got to fight this. You don't want to hurt Stiles," Derek said, almost pleading with him.

Scott didn't hear him over Deaton's voice in his head, telling him how disappointed he was in him, how he could be proud of Scott if he did this, how he just needed to do this one small thing for him. Even with Rafe beside him and Scott's acceptance of his father, there was still a niggling concern that he would leave, that he was disappointed in him, that Scott would take second-place to his job or anything else that mattered more to Rafe at that moment. It was far too easy for Deaton to manipulate and use him, especially as Scott was vulnerable and far too trusting.

"Scott!"

Scott's eyes filtered to brown at his father's voice, but Deaton's voice was stronger, more familiar, and one that he had trusted longer than his Rafe's voice, so his eyes flicked back to red almost immediately. Rafe was beside Derek in a moment, shirt torn and bloody, and he could see Scott assessing the damage that had already been done, where to hurt to cause the most injury to - as Deaton had said - destroy him.

"Scott, stop this, please. Don't listen to him," Rafe said, encouraged when he saw Scott's eyes flickering between brown and red.

"Your father's going to do what he always does, Scott: break his promises and leave you behind."

There was a shriek of pain and a blood-filled gurgle that had most people looking to the source. Derek was surprised to see Allison standing over her aunt, Kate dying on the ground and bleeding out. No one had a chance to react before Allison shot Kate in the head twice, her eyes bursting in bloody geysers. The three banshees stopped screaming her name and the fighting resumed.

"Were the eyes really necessary, Allison?" Lydia asked, frowning.

"The forehead is one of the thicker parts of a person's skull, so a bullet doesn't always go through the forehead, whereas the eye goes directly to the brain. I'm not risking her coming back to life again," Allison added. "Erica, Boyd, would you mind decapitating her?"

The two werewolves smirked and flicked out their claws.

There was a loud roar of pain from Gerard as he heard his granddaughter's words and realised that his daughter was truly dead. Chris knew how his father's mind worked far too well, and he knew that Allison would now be considered as a monster that needed to be killed, despite the fact that Gerard himself was more of a monster than most people in that clearing. Gerard was faster and stronger, and Chris knew that he couldn't stop him, but he refused to let Allison be killed again.

Chris ran across the clearing as fast as he could, ploughing straight into Allison, shoving her out of the way of Gerard's claws only to have them embed in his own stomach instead. Chris stared at his father, blood gurgling up his throat and between his lips, and Gerard sneered as he twisted his hand and dug his claws in deeper. Chris heard Allison screaming out for him, the sound dull and distant. He tried to look to his daughter, to see her face one last time, but he couldn't.

Gerard clutched his face, his claws pricking at his cheek to hold him still, his blue eyes burning with hatred. "You are truly your mother's son: just as weak and pathetic as she was. Once you're dead, I'm killing everyone in this clearing - starting with your daughter - and there's nothing you can do to stop me!"

There was another scream from Lydia, but this time it wasn't a name. Chris didn't even have time to feel relief before two more screams joined in - Tomika and Jade - at different frequencies. The scream built up around them, the sound intense and drilling straight into his brain. It built up, pounding and thrumming against his skull, until it was broken by a wet gasp. Chris opened his eyes in confusion and saw Gerard's pale face.

Gerard's hand had fallen away from his face so Chris was able to look down between them. The gaping wound that was on his stomach was mirrored in Gerard's body, blood pouring out without a hand to stop it. Gerard wrenched his hand out of and away from Chris' body and tried to hold his own body together instead. Chris moved back and almost immediately, his ears stopped ringing as the sound lessened.

However, for Gerard, the screaming noise from the banshees increased. His eardrums ruptured, blood leaking from his ears. His body tried to heal, but the noise caused too much vibration within his body, and Gerard couldn't block his ears and his stomach at the same time. As the sound increased his internal organs began to vibrate and rupture as well. He collapsed to the ground before long, dead and no longer recognisable as a human being, let alone the once-feared Gerard Argent.

"Ally, I love you, but I'm not decapitating that."

Allison snorted and pressed a kiss to Erica's cheek. "Don't worry, you won't need to. I don't think there's a way to come back from melted brain."

Boyd didn't look convinced and stepped forward to decapitate Gerard anyway. Chris stopped him with an arm across the chest. Boyd's jaw clenched and Chris figured the only reason he was still standing was because Allison was his daughter.

"I've got a wolfsbane-coated axe in my bag," Chris explained.

Boyd nodded and went to where Chris' supplies were sitting on the edge of the clearing. He handled the axe carefully, but his face shone with grim determination as he decapitated Gerard.

Chris' stomach was still bleeding, but the damage didn't seem as bad now that Gerard was dead. He looked to Lydia, intent on asking her just what the hell had happened, but her attention was focused on the Nemeton.

Their small group turned to look at the Nemeton as well, Allison following her father's confused gaze, and Erica and Boyd looking to see why she had gasped in surprise. While they had been busy fighting, the Nemeton had started to move. No, it wasn't just moving, it was growing.

"Scott, now!" Deaton yelled, no longer trying to mask his voice from the others in the clearing.

Scott's eyes burned red as he tackled his father and Derek, knocking them both to the ground. He ran forward over them, roaring loudly as he tried to slice at the green shoots that were writhing and growing upwards from the Nemeton's stump.

On realising that her spell had worn off, Sara didn't bother trying to redo it when she saw the blood running down the Druid's arm. Instead, she grabbed one of the hunter's batons and smacked Deaton out with it, the Druid's head falling to rest on his chest, his body going limp.

Scott's eyes filtered back to brown immediately and he looked at the Nemeton in front of him to the clearing behind him, both Rafe and Derek groaning and getting up. Scott's heart beat a frantic rhythm as he realised that his hands were wet and sticky. Standing and taking a proper look at his hands, Scott blanched when he saw that they were covered in blood.

Green shoots writhed and everyone stared as rivulets of blood oozed out from between the gaps. The Nemeton continued to grow, blood and green shoots combining as the tree grew taller and wider, until the tree was covered in dark layers of bark and wood instead.

There was a long moment of silence that was only broken when Derek howled, realising that he could no longer hear Stiles' heartbeat.

...

End of the twenty-third chapter.

Author's note: Jade and Sara's backstories

Jade found out she was a banshee when she screamed her grandfather's name as a baby. Of course, as she was a baby, she had no idea what a banshee was or what it meant. For several years, her parents were worried that any name she spoke would result in that person's death, though they eventually discovered they were wrong. Jade has a big family (three brothers and two sisters) and because her parents were a little terrified of what they thought she could do, most of the love and attention went to her brothers and sisters. She didn't mind too much, preferring to be by herself anyway. At school, Jade was labelled a freak for no reason other than she was quiet; it was around this time that her parents realised they were wrong (Jade came home talking about her teachers and classmates, and no one died) and tried to make up for their earlier neglect by paying more attention to her. Jade was confused by this and spent more time outside, wanting her peace and quiet back again. She screamed five people's names in the following year, the build-up too much for her to control, and others realised that she predicted their deaths. Rumours started circulating about Jade predicting death, and while some people sought her out to predict their deaths, most either avoided her completely or took offence and decided to hurt her for something beyond her control. Jade was eventually sent to live with an Aunt on the other side of the country who was the "odd one" on her father's side of the family. Her Aunt took her to every spiritual leader she could find and eventually it was discovered that she was a banshee. As soon as Jade heard the word, she knew that's what she was, and felt as though she finally belonged somewhere. She joined the FBI mostly out of a curiosity to see if she could even get in in the first place; Jade stayed there because she enjoyed the job and helping people like her Aunt helped her.

Sara comes from a long line of witches. Her great-great-grandmother escaped Salem but lost her best friend in the process and because of this she became bitter towards nearly everyone. The only time she was happy was when she found out her daughter and grand-daughter had both acquired her spark of magic. Her lessons were harsh and strict, with no room for error. As this was the only way they had learnt, Sara was taught by her grandmother and mother in the same way and as a result, she hated being a witch for several years. She learnt the hard way (even harder than her original lessons) just what happens to a witch who doesn't use their powers. Sara moved out of home and found a coven in NYC. The witches in the coven taught her the beauty of being a witch and she learned to love what she was again. Her best friend was killed, the police put it down to a Satanic cult, but Sara knew that her friend had been discovered as a witch. Two other witches in the coven were killed before anyone believed her theory, and the coven disbanded as they fled. Sara joined the FBI and specialised in cult killings; she still hasn't found the killer of her best friend, and she still hasn't decided what to do when she does.