"We cannot stay here. I gotta finish this elsewhere," Augustus says, leaning in closer, totally violating Molly's personal space, "Your boyfriend might find us." He laughs, "Wait he is your boyfriend now, right?"
Molly says nothing. She growls and tries to attack Augustus. She slashes out her claws only to let Augustus grab her hand and twist it behind her back. He pulls her hard across his chest and bringing his mouth close to her ears, he says, "You can't hurt me. I am an Alpha."
Molly turns her head a little. Sure enough his eyes were glowing red. "But," she says, "How could you have killed Igor then? Jackson said that only an Alpha can kill an Alpha."
He chuckles darkly, "Oh so they did not teach you about the other kind of Alpha, the ones who don't need to kill an Alpha to become one."
She gives him a confused expression and fights for her release from too strong grip. He says, "Now. Let's go. I promise I will finish this story later. You are dying to know, aren't you? Well, you will be dead soon, so I can fulfill your one wish. C'mon."
With that he drags her to the end of the house. The backdoor is open and she sees a car waiting. And a woman with red hair is sitting on the passenger side. She flashes a grin at Augustus.
He whispers again, "So easy to manipulate people when you know they love you," then he increases the volume and says, "Molly, that is Irina and Irina this is Molly. Help me will you darling? She is fidgeting too much."
Irina gets out from the car. She walks over to Augustus and swiftly punches Molly in her stomach. Molly keels over as the pain blinds her vision for awhile. She feels Irina's strong arms grasping her elbow and dragging her rest of the way to the car. She unceremoniously dumps Molly in the boot and shuts the hood down.
She gasps and opens her eyes. Darkness encloses her from all sides. She wonders if werewolves die of de-oxygenation when the car starts.
Sherlock, Jackson, Derek and Stiles hurry towards Haringey. They are enclosed in the subway. For Derek and Stiles it is a new experience but they squash their awe and listen closely to Sherlock joining dots.
"The only clue we have is this address and the fact that it belonged to a Katyusha Novik, most probably Augustus Lowndes's or Jakub Novik's, as he is listed, mother who died of an unidentified animal attack in 2009 in Hertfordshire. And "unidentified animal attack" could only mean one thing," Sherlock says.
"A werewolf attack," Jackson says. He pauses as he locks his gaze with Sherlock. Sherlock raises his eyebrow, he can tell Jackson is trying to remember something. Jackson says, "Hertfordshire? Gustav Akraka has an estate there!"
"But c'mon, Akraka did not kill his mother! Jablonski did! Why else would Augustus kill Igor?" Stiles reasons.
"Only one person can confirm," Derek says quietly. They all turn to look at him. He takes out his mobile phone and dials a number. When the call does not get connected, Jackson says, "No connection underground."
"Who?" Stiles asks.
"Vlad!" Sherlock says. Derek nods his head.
The car stops at Haringey station. They scramble out and follow Sherlock who has already broken into a run.
"The address is two minutes from the station!" Sherlock shouts.
After running for a little more than two minutes, the four of them find the empty house sandwiched between a sweet-shop and a laundry. They break the door, broken mostly thanks to the combined strength of Derek and Jackson. They barge in. They spread out. Stiles heads upstairs with Jackson while Derek and Sherlock take the ground floor.
When they do not find her anywhere, they congregate back at the hallway. "She ain't here," Stiles says.
Jackson sniffs the air, so does Derek. They look at each other and then dash towards the end of the house.
Sherlock and Stiles follow. The werewolf duo where standing on the empty backstreet. Sherlock joins them and follow their gazes to the ground. Tire marks.
Sherlock bends down and says, "A sedan most probably."
"He took Molly with her," Derek says.
"Can you follow her scent?"
"No," Jackson says very quietly, "We are too late."
Stiles says, "Maybe we should talk with Vlad now. Maybe he can give us some clue as to where he could possibly take her."
"Yes," Sherlock stands up, "Derek call him."
Derek calls him and puts him on speaker, "Vlad, this is Derek Hales. I need to ask you something."
"Oh you. Yeah sure. Did you find any proof?" Vlad says.
"Yes," Sherlock says, "And now he has my—Molly."
"Shit. Okay okay, tell me what you want to know."
"Do you know anything about a Katyusha Novik?" Stiles asks.
Vlad sighs. No time like the present then. He says, "So you know that Katyusha is Augustus's mother. Igor met her twenty-one years ago in Vitebsk, in Belarus. He was not a great pack leader then. He had just started forming a pack, I was the first of many. The Novik's were a powerful werewolf family—"
"Katyusha was a werewolf too?" Derek asks.
"Yes, but she was not that powerful a werewolf. Igor had his eyes on her. He flirted with her and charmed her. She was head over heels. But he was not. She was beautiful, yes, but Igor had no honest intentions towards her. There was four of us in the pack then. The three of us challenged Igor that he could not possibly take her to bed because she was the haughty kind. However Igor managed to. Except, she was not ready to. She was sixeen at that time. She wanted to get married first. Igor was not the marrying kind. So he…"
"Raped her," Sherlock says quietly.
"Yes," Vlad's voice trembles, " We were kids then, we thought no more of it. We left Belarus soon after this. None of us went back there in ages. Then I did, a month ago when I started investigating about Augustus. When I learnt his real name, I made the connection between him and Katyusha. So I went to Vitebsk, thinking I might meet her. And I learnt that she got pregnant and her family, no matter how much they supported her initially, disowned her. She apparently left Vitebsk and settled in London after her son was born. So I came back here. She had changed her name to Katherine Lowndes and then I learnt she was dead."
"Why did you not tell us any of this that day?" Derek growls.
"I was not sure. I had no idea then that Katyusha was dead."
"Do you know what killed her? Or rather who?" Sherlock asks, his voice dropping to glacial levels.
"Yes," Vlads says, his tone defeated, "I have a good idea who did."
"Why did Igor kill her in Hertfordshire? Near Akraka's estate?" Stiles asks.
"I don't know that. I don't even know why he would kill her in the first place!"
"Don't play stupid," Sherlock says, "Igor Jablonski's depended on brute force and charisma and he knew his repuatation would get blown to bits if this came out. You knew, but would the others be as forgiving as you?"
"No," Vlad's voice gets smaller still.
Derek disconnects the phone. He shakes his head and takes a deep breath. He looks at Sherlock and asks, "Where to now Sherlock?"
"How long ago do you think they left?"
"Maybe an hour ago. Why?"
"They are an hour ahead of us then. Guess I need to call my brother again." Sherlock whips out his phone.
Jackson asks as Sherlock puts the phone to his ears, "But where are we going?"
"How do you feel about helicopters?" Sherlock counter questions.
"What?"
"We are going to Hertfordshire by air."
Molly does not know how long she has been in that car. She had felt every bump on the road. She had heard their voices. But she could not leave the car. She felt weak. She could also smell something new in that enclosed air in the boot. Except it was not exactly new, she has smelled it before. Wolfsbane. It is getting in through her nostrils, mixing with her blood, slowly poisoning her and making her weak. The bastard must have placed a bunch of flowers in here.
Finally, after who knows how long, the car stops. She hears footsteps and then someone wrenches the hood. The fresh air hits her hard and she tries to stand up but falls sideways. Great she cannot even stand up straight, killing her would be terribly easy now. Then someone pulls her up to her feet and drags her out of the car. She blinks hard and realises it is Augustus. The woman follows behind her as he pulls Molly along a gravelly path.
Mollly opens her eyes properly and takes a look around. They are on a driveway and now making their way into a wooded area. A huge house looms behind them. It looks empty. She turns her head around some more to understand her location.
"This is Gustav Akraka's place. He is not here now. You must know him. He was the one who spread the false rumours about your friend Jackson. Yes do not look so surprised, I know everything about you. I looked you up as I really liked you. If this was some other lifetime, I would have asked you out."
Molly hears a grunt behind her. She bets it is Irina, who loves this psychopath. A giggle almost erupts when she thinks to herself that they are not so different really—she is in love with a sociopath. Then she feels like crying. Sherlock does not even know where she is. How will he ever find her? She is going to die now and she did not even get to say goodbye to him. Or tell him she loves him.
"You wanted to know how I became an Alpha. Well it was a little more than four months ago. We, I and my dear late father, were engaged in a fierce battle with two other werewolves. Igor managed to kill one but the one I was engaged with managed to get hold of a taser and he eletrocuted me. You must know how sensitive we are to electricity. So back to my exceptional story. Anyway, I fell totally near to blacking out when the wolf attacks Igor. I was still very attached and loyal to him, so I managed to push myself, to force myself to stand up and I remember feeling so odd. I was fighting the electricity frying my body with a new power of my own. I pushed on and I stood up. And then I growled. Both of them stopped fighting and stared open mouthed at me. I was an Alpha now. The rare variety that comes to power due to their sheer unwavering pure virtue. To cut a long, bloody story short, I killed the other wolf in one swipe. Then Igor hugged me. You should have seen my face. Then he whispered "Moy syn" or 'my son' in Russian. He though I have not heard him. In fact when he was dying he still did not know that I knew I was his son! I never told him anything you see. I was just too mad when I learnt the truth."
"Truth?" Molly manages to croak out.
"Yes. Igor killed my mother so she would not stop me from going to him. Or him getting hold of me. She feared he would turn me into him. Brutal, heartless but oh-so charismatic. Poor mom though, she thought that would stop my father. I come from a powerful lupine line on my mother's side. Igor needed me as a weapon, he knew I was grossly under-utilized. So he killed her. Fed me fables of how Akraka killed her and that I needed to come to him if I wanted to survive and get revenge."
"Huh," Molly grunts.
"I know, so tragic. So yeah I killed Igor then. And he thought he died because I wanted the pack and power. Alas, I was never interested in politics."
They make it to a clearing in the woods. Augustus stops in the middle and releases Molly. She sways a bit but manages not to fall. Irina stands a bit away from them.
Augustus says, "You know this is the place Igor killed my mother. Now I will kill you here as well my dear eyewitness. Everybody will think it is that same mysterious creature that killed a woman here five years ago. Maybe it will give birth to a new legend. Won't that be cool?" He grins.
He turns and his claws lengthen. He is about to drive his hand in Molly's heart when bright light fills the clearing and someone shouts from a megaphone, "GET AWAY FROM HER YOU SON OF A BITCH!"