A/N: First part beta-read by AWaywardHunter I hope I did an okay job with the rest ... but I wanted to give you a new chapter - since it has been almost three weeks.

But with Xmas, more health problems and my SS projects I've been very busy but I hope I can get back into the swing of things.

weregrrrl13 OMG - you watched Roswell, too - but yeah Scott's father is not using the best strategy if he wants his son to open the door. He's just continuing the trend in this fic.

Capt Meows It's not just you ;)

Finally released from police custody, they gathered outside and Scott looked at them, embarrassed. Even though nobody blamed him, he kept apologizing citing his reluctance to let his dad back into his life as the reason why he was such pain in their collective butts. It was a situation that was somewhat alien to all of them. Lydia's parents were always too occupied to be so annoying, the twins never even mentioned theirs and Stiles had only one parent left who clearly had been more supportive even before he found out than Scott's father had ever been.

"That was a perfect waste of a good morning," Aiden commented.

Ethan smiled knowingly. "There's no saying we can't go back to bed - maybe after catching a late brunch."

"Sure let's go to Vivian's - I'm paying," Lydia agreed with the last part of that sentiment.

"Really?" Stiles asked surprised. "You look more like food might come out and not in … not that the bereft vampire look doesn't suit you - but you still look pale."

That was something all of the guys seemed to agree upon, like her being a bit pale was all that surprising. Lydia knew she wasn't really sick but the night had been short, she had not eaten that much and after that episode at the cemetery she was just exhausted. Going back to bed, at least all by herself, sounded like a really good idea but she knew it was better to wait till tonight. There was no hurry on her side to fight off more dreams.

Right now she wished more than anything to have some time away from the twins, but since they were on alert she knew that was not going to happen. Adding Scott and Stiles even just for the duration of a late brunch or dinner would at least give her some space. Especially if Stiles started teasing them and he seemed to be in the mood for that.

In the past month Lydia had noted that whenever something was happening in relation to her and Aiden getting along, Stiles seemed to act stranger than usual. It was the main reason she had not opened the envelope he had given as a birthday present. Them being friends had felt like a good thing and Lydia had hoped that he was past his crushing on her phase. It was not that easy to figure out, asking him had only caused him to deny it. Joking that he was clearly not her type, given that he did not run around randomly killing people on the full moon, had not helped matters either.

He had sensed that she didn't appreciate his observation and he had not brought it up again until the whole thing with Peter was dragged into the light. Then suddenly her crazy werewolf sex life was back on the table and it pissed her off that he had an opinion on it in the first place. They all seemed to and she dreaded what would happen if her friends found out the whole truth.

As Aiden drove her and Ethan to Vivian's, a fancy bed and breakfast, with Scott and Stiles following in his Jeep, Lydia came to the conclusion that if Deucalion was indeed dead, she would not mention anything. Peter's intention seemed obvious to her: he would like to keep the nature of the ritual secret. She was all too happy to make that happen.

"Wow, looks fancy," Ethan stated as they pulled up in the parking lot.

"It's where my parents park relatives they don't like. Not that it means the food is bad, quite the opposite but it's far away and comfortable enough that they rarely bother us."

Aiden looked at her. "Your parents don't like to mingle much .. I mean, they're constantly travelling."

Lydia explained how her parents stuck to higher society and then morphed into quite the socialites, only in Beacon Hills there were not that many opportunities. That was the main reason they were gone so often: they mingled with her father's business associates. Beacon Hills used to be just the perfect environment to raise their little girl. Which ironically was not much of a selling point and made her wonder what they were telling their big city friends.

Sometimes it seemed to her that they were just waiting until she was old enough so they could resume their grand social life and just come by their home whenever Los Angeles got too hectic.

"Oh," something else occurred just to her.

"What is it?" Scott asked worried as he approached her when she pulled out her phone. Stiles was still locking the Jeep which looked completely out of place next to all the fancy cars.

Rolling her eyes at the reaction she calmly called Mrs. Allen. As she had hoped their housekeeper had come by on her round and was now heavily criticising her for not feeding Prada. Which was what she had been calling about given that she just realised that between the sex and going out to find the body, she had totally forgotten to take care of her. Because of that Mrs. Allen decided to pick her up till her parents were back from their trip.

"I haven't fed Prada since last night," Lydia explained to them. "Shall we go in?"

They managed to get a table in the corner and went over what they knew once more. As they had almost finished it was Stiles who finally asked about her screaming at the cemetery.

"I keep thinking it might be some feedback from my dreams about the thing in the crypt," Lydia shrugged. "It felt different. Maybe I'm just on the edge, maybe it is worth checking out."

"What crypt was it?" Scott wanted to know.

"The one with the two grimreapers, I didn't see the name."

Stiles coughed. "Two? Damn that is extra tacky, given that most of the others dead bodies were doing okay with just one."

As long as she did not have to go near that mausoleum again Lydia was fine with them checking it out and had Aiden and Ethan drive her to Deaton's. It was a conversation she needed to treat carefully to not give away too much but with some good solid food in her stomach she felt ready for it. It was time to get a few answers.

Splitting up again, Lydia found herself annoyed with the twins insisting on driving. Not that she argued, there were certainly more important things to complain about. She even appreciated their concern to a certain level, it was just that they were grating on the end of the scale. Then as if her tolerance levels were not already stretched to the limits, her cell phone rang..

It was the call she was dreading all day long: Allison.

"Heh, Allison," Lydia said with faked cheerfulness.

The twins eyed her and she realised that she had not really thought about how important that call was for them, too. They never talked about how they actually felt about Deucalion. He had violated their trust by murdering Ennis for his agenda, but he also had freed them from a very abusive situation. Maybe if they each had their own screwed up, inadequate parent, Deucalion was theirs.

"Lydia - I …" Allison reluctantly began then broke off.

There was a certain dread to her voice and Lydia felt the tension rising in the car. Even without putting the phone on speaker, they could hear every word.

"You found him?"

It was better to know than for it to remain unclear. Luckily they had arrived at the Beacon Hill's animal clinic and Aiden had stopped the car before Allison was replied.

"No, no sign of Deucalion at the cabin - although Isaac found his scent and traced it a few miles out to the river," Allison said with her voice as flat and cold as before.

At that point Lydia knew that somehow her friend knew or at least had a solid idea what went down in that cabin. "So that means - Deucalion is still alive. Great, thanks for finding out."

Then she hung up. "Well, it's better than finding another body, isn't?"

Her attempt to get out of the car was cut short when Aiden took a hold of her arm. "Lydia - what is going on?"

"Nothing, it's just I want to talk to Deaton and go home."

Then her phone rang again. Lydia wanted to turn it off but it slipped through her fingers when she grabbed it too fast. Ethan took a hold of it and after looking at it for a second answered it.

"That's my phone."

Protest was obviously useless so she slipped out of the car, the moment Aiden let go of her arm. With fast strides she headed toward the entrance of the clinic almost bumping into an old lady who had a monstrous doberman on a leash. Deaton's eyes widened with surprise after she burst in and was followed not two minutes later by the Aiden.

Deaton opened the door and invited her inside. "Why don't you come in and we talk?"

Lydia quickly rushed into the treatment room. A quick glance behind her told her that she could not deal with Aiden right now. He was not even angry, Aiden just looked lost and that made this even worse.

"Would you like to sit down?" Deaton pulled out a chair for Lydia.

"No, I'm good. I just need a moment," Lydia shook her head.

"Of course."
Going back outside, she heard him suggesting that they might want to go around the block or come back later. Lydia heard Ethan say something about her phone after he came in and then the door bells chimed and she had the impression they walked outside. It was a few moments before Deaton came back to join her. He was not pressuring her and instead asked Lydia if she would help him holding a cat whose stitches he needed to pull.

Once the furry patient was taken care of, Lydia finally found the words to begin.

"Scott told you about the body I found - before I actually got there …"

He nodded. "Yes, he mentioned that."

"I have no idea what to make of those dreams and …" Lydia stopped. "It was like a week ago, I didn't even remember what I dreamt and now I feel like I'm pulled in all directions."

Deaton let her talk. Crossing his arms and leaning back he looked at her if he knew exactly that she was leaving out the main problem. He had to know about it given that Scott was basically hovering around his boss for advice since he had turned Alpha.

"You opened yourself to powers that you can't control," he finally said.

No matter how neutral his voice sounded, Lydia felt that some criticism lay within those words. It was not what he had said, but that hinted at something she feared: that there was no way she would ever be able to control any of it. Even Peter had just mentioned her being able to manage them better.

"It's not that different from what it was last autumn," she defended herself. "But if ignoring it is your advice, nevermind …" It was pure frustration talking when she turned to leave, despite not being ready to.

"Lydia," his calm voice called her. "Why don't you sit down and tell me - what exactly is going on with you." After she had taken the first few steps towards the chair Deaton added: "And what happened between you and Peter Hale since the new moon."

Even though it was little use to deny what had happened in that cabin, she started off by telling Deaton how Peter got her talking about her dreams and that it sounded like someone was blocking them. That Peter said he could help her with controlling them so she might even be able to predict death before they happened instead of stumbling over the dead bodies afterwards. How she wanted to be able to do that.

"Peter told me to just focus on what I remembered after I woke up and somehow I ended up remembering a whole lot more …" she paused. "But I didn't just want to rely on what Peter told me, so I went out for more information."
Without mentioning Yoon or the store by name she described her experience with finding the book and using that information to literally bring light into her dreams. When she showed Deaton her bruised wrist, his reaction was more subtle than Peter's but Lydia could tell that it concerned him as well.

"The others are convinced it is all Peter - the killings, the dreams …" she sighed. "But what I felt in that dream that was something else."

Deaton asked her to describe the dreams in greater detail and she did, but when Lydia wanted to know if that meant anything to him, he put her off by stating that he was not sure. It might be that Deaton wasn't certain but he was thinking of something and keeping that part to himself. It made her even less enthusiastic about asking him more about her dreams, but something else was on her mind and maybe he would be more open to talk about that.

"Do you think Peter is behind all this?" Lydia asked, hoping to get a more rational answer from him. Deaton was clearly no fan of Peter either but at least he seemed to be willing to view the situation without emotional bias. Something neither of her friends were capable of doing.

"Power can poison the mind. Peter craves power. Killing has never been a big deterrent for him."

"Yet, he didn't kill Deucalion," Lydia pointed out.

"If he hasn't - then him staying alive will benefit Peter in some way."

A revelation that was not all that breathtaking since Lydia had long since figured out that nearly everything Peter did was going to help him more than anyone else. Was it that naive to hope that maybe he was just not killing someone to not have to kill? Given that this was Deucalion Deaton was of course right. The former leader of the alpha pack was a potential danger, he was not the person Peter was going to spare out of some newfound kindness. That touched on the other thing that she needed to ask. Though convinced there would be nothing resembling a real answer, she gave it a try.

"Why go through the trouble of a ritual in the first place? Wouldn't it have been far simpler to just take Deucalion's life and thus his powers? I mean that's how they do it, isn't it?"

"Under normal circumstances," Deaton picked up one of his glasses with herbs. "I told Derek that what Peter did last year came with a price. I knew he would be physically weak - there might have been more to it."

Lydia nodded, she had expected such a reason. It was either that Peter was only able to take the power back through a ritual or the even more despicable version: he did it this way to gain more than just the alpha power from Deucalion. There was no need to put out the thought when Deaton clearly did not knew anything concrete about the nature of the ritual either. It would just be one more person sharing the details of that night.

"Last time, you knew what the killings were about - how about this time?"

Deaton smiled evasively as he looked at her. "I assure you, if I could tell you anything, I would."

Groaning in frustration Lydia got out of the chair. "In other words we got no idea what the killings are about, how many killers are active, whether Peter is one of them or not. I dream of some creepy thing in a crypt that I've gotten a lot closer to since I listened to Peter's advice about dreaming more pro-actively. Then suddenly I find bodies and have awful daymares … and you can't point out anything at all?"

Softly sighing he kept fiddling with his specimen glasses. "What do you expect me to say, Lydia?"

"Maybe give some advice? Isn't that Emissaries are supposed to be good at? Should I try and work on the dreams, even if that means listening to Peter? Should I just lie back see what dreams roll in? Maybe I should go skiing in Aspen," Lydia snapped in frustration. "Given that I hate skiing and being cold I'm surprised how nice that sounds."

"Sooner or later the true foe will reveal itself. If you force him out, I'm afraid you'll get hurt. Peter might promise you control but that doesn't mean that no harm will come from your attempts."

Looking at her wrist Lydia wondered if he realised that she had already been hurt by this or if he was hinting at something worse. Either way, she had the feeling Deaton simply did not know what was going on. Given that his suggestion had powered the Nemeton and gotten themselves in this mess, Lydia wondered what was going on with him. But if there was some piece of useful information to be revealed, she would dig for it.

"Peter said he sensed the involvement of something undead," Lydia tried giving Deaton more info. "That from what I've told him about my latest dreams, whatever it was, it's very powerful. Does that ring any bell?"

If she sounded more agressive it, Lydia knew it was because she could not believe that Peter was actually more helpful with solving this, than the most knowledgeable person involved in causing it. Deaton unscrewed the lid of a jar filled with some dried herbs that ranged from dark red over brown to black and spread them over the table and then drew them into a circle. With his fingers he drew in rings, leaving a big one on the outside, a few smaller ones on the inside and a handful of them in the middle.

"Each of these," Deaton held up one of them, "represents one thing outside the natural realm. Some of these are alive, some are dark and dead. The outer circle is the mass of things that are powerful but harmless compared those on the inside. Our goal is to keep balance, if we can limit the impact these have on the natural world we will. What we do not do or know is each and every one of these by name and intention."

Lydia stared at the weird made up illustration. "So these things, they all try to destroy balance? What exactly does that mean?"

"Not all of them, but if one individual masses up too much power, they tend to disrupt the natural order. Those who are already dead, literally need to feed on the powers of others and for those there is never enough."

"So if there is a powerful undead entity running around Beacon Hills, it is feeding and things will only get worse. It won't stop," Lydia said to make sure she had understood correctly. "Unless something more powerful stops it."

"I've every confidence that Scott will be able to stop it, once it will reveal itself," Deaton said very sure of himself.

"So werewolves can be that powerful?" she looked at the herb circles and realised something. "That is why the druids helped them in the first place. You need them to help you go against other supernatural threats."

Deaton gave one single nod, then just kept looking at her. "Normally, a healthy pack is in balance with their surrounding. They keep their territory clean from other predators, they achieve an inner balance under each other and they usually don't run around murdering people. At least that's how it used to be."

"You are not just referring to Peter's attempts to gain power …"

"No, things have changed with modern times. However, even if Peter intends to help, he's doing it for his own reasons. If he believes you can do something for him, he will use any method from force to cunning to get it."

"Tell me something I don't know …"

"The things Peter knows, that are beyond my area of expertise, are mostly rooted in witchcraft. I can't tell you what to expect but that's a great concern. While witches have their own methods of keeping balance, they are more about their inner balance. They can get incredibly powerful."

He put down another herb in the second innermost circle. Given his tone, Lydia had the feeling that it might not always be the worst thing if a witch gained power. As with everything else there was not enough information to get any idea what it was that worried the druid. She had not forgotten that Peter had told her about his friendship with two witches that ended in so far unmentioned terms.

"How come that Peter knows about witchcraft?"

"How, does he find out a lot of things?" Deaton shrugged. "He was always curious, listening. But that is of course not all. As you probably noticed, while Peter is Derek's uncle he is not that much older than him. The reason for that: Peter and Talia have different mothers."

"So Peter's mother was a witch?" Lydia concluded and wondered if this was the reason why him associating with the other witches had been discouraged. It had to be, even if she did not fully understand why that was a problem for Derek's mother or the mother of the other witches.

"While witchcraft is something that needs to be honed and trained, there is no denying that Peter certainly had the capabilities to do so," Deaton sighed.

"On top of being a werewolf?" Lydia said without really needing answer to that question either. "That was also why they didn't want Derek or Peter near the Nemeton, out of fear what he might do with his untrained witch powers."

Even though none of this really gave her any concrete answers as to whether Peter had anything to do with the killings or whether she should let him help her in the first place, the picture became a little clearer around the edges.

"I always thought, Peter wasn't aware of this hidden set of talents, but given that he obviously found a way to transfer power from another werewolf to himself, I think you need to be aware of the danger he might pose to you for that reason alone."

It sounded almost like Deaton was warning her that Peter was going to do the same to her, but if she could get rid of her powers, then Peter was more than welcome to wake up screaming in the night with a need to go out and look for torn up bodies.

"In that case, I'm glad that you decided to tell me." Or more likely that she was able to drag it out of him, as if this particular information might not have been useful or at least worth mentioning before. Lydia still allowed herself to smile briefly. She had discovered more than she had expected and she felt less crazy for thinking that Peter might not be involved in the killings. Right now, she decided that there were three things she needed to focus on.

First, she needed to figure out some protection or hope that Peter actually came through for her on that one. That way she would be able to see the thing in the crypt. Secondly, she needed to convince the others to give the sex ritual business some rest and that they should work together: Lydia did not like the thought of another killing occurring but if Peter was with them, her friends would know it was not him and they could finally move on. Lastly, she needed to figure out why she had a vision on the cemetery and how her dead body locating dream fit into all of this.

The only reason she hesitated to leave was now that she didn't want to deal with the twins right now. Unfortunately, they had the keys to her cars and it was an unavoidable conversation. With a final look from the herb diagram to Scott's boss, she shouldered her handbag. "Thanks .."

As she was not sure what for, Lydia just turned and headed towards the door, when she pulled it open, Deaton left her with a final piece of advice. "Don't let Peter convince you he's the only one who can help you. You have friends and there are better options than him out there."

Looking back for a moment, she shrugged. That was not the most enlightening piece of advice she had ever heard. It was not like she intended to only listen to Peter, but she was more convinced than before that hearing what Peter had to say could not hurt. Not with something out there and Deaton obviously hoping that somehow Scott will just manage the problem. The last time they had let things just happen without even trying to cover all the bases had ended up with giving power to the Nemeton. Which was obviously the thing that Talia Hale had feared her brother would do. It was certainly ironic that it had been them who ended up doing it, because of her attempts to stop this from happening.

The moment Lydia stepped out to the parking lot, she saw the twins who were waiting at her car. They seemed pretty uneasy but she did her best to just walk up and act as if nothing had been going on. "I'm pretty sure I've learned something. So if you don't want to ask him anything - maybe you can give me the keys so I can drive us home."

"Lydia … maybe we should talk about this," Aiden began sounding like some personal tragedy had hit him. Maybe her having wild crazy sex with two other men could count as that, maybe he would feel better if she was all torn up about it. Lydia had no idea but she didn't like his reaction to this at all.

"Maybe, but not here," Lydia decided firmly. "And since I'm clearly not the one looking all pale and queasy now, I'm driving."

They nodded at each other and handed her the keys. They clearly wanted to say something more but as their gaze went over the parking lot the twins obviously realised that this was not the location to discuss such matters. Lydia was not sure what there was to talk about anyway. She had been the one actually forced into the ritual and if she was able to deal, why were they not able to?

As Lydia started the car, she could not help but wonder if they maybe just were freaked out by the idea that she had slept with their sort-of-father figure. If she was honest that part was the one that got to her the most . This was the reason why she had smacked a bottle onto Peter's head. It wasn't the most satisfying comeback but she didn't feel the need for more. There was already enough violence in her life lately, adding more made her feel more uncomfortable than anything else.

On the way in the car, the twins didn't said anything, but out of the blue Aiden pointed out that even if Peter had Deucalion's power now, that they still could find a way to kill him. Ethan added that Peter certainly had it coming.

"Can we just quit the killing talk?" Lydia replied after they had said their piece. "I don't want you to get hurt, I don't want you to kill anyone - not for me and not out of some misguided sense of justice."

It was obvious that this did not sit well with them. Even with her eyes on the road she saw the shifting movements, heard the tapping against the door.

"How can you let him get away with it?" Aiden wanted to know. "It's horrible enough to think that he did … but to have you …"

Lydia felt that his reaction was somewhat justified, even though the way he was not even able to say it made her more angry than anything. It was like she should feel horrified, unable to even put into words what happened, when it was actually very easy for her.

"You act like having a threesome is the worst thing in the world."

"Wait, you mean he didn't just made you have sex with … he, too", Ethan seemed to have taken to his brother's method of omitting key words. It gave this whole thing a too horrible to mention tone that Lydia did not appreciate at all.

Pursing her lips she gave a little shrug. She wasn't going to put on an act just because they clearly needed her to be aghast beyond reason. "Yes, they both had their dicks in me at the same time. Get over it." Lydia sighed when she glanced sideways. The expression on Aiden's face was positively dark and hurt. "I did," she added quietly but not overly confident.

She was not sure about how well she had gotten over it, given the fact that she still could not comprehend why she kept getting aroused every time she recalled the whole experience. That was another reason she had no interest in going over it with the Twins.

"Well, we're glad you were not hurt, we won't let him near you again." Ethan clearly handled it better than his brother.

"In order to solve this problem, we might need to work together," Lydia pointed out.

"If he's anything to say, he can phone it in. Besides I've the feeling, even if we don't - your friend might feel differently about it," Aiden replied coldly.

Of course, there was Allison, Lydia had almost forgotten the tone of her voice. Now, she wished she hadn't mentioned the threesome part, given that they clearly had not known about that. If Allison found out that detail, she was probably going to freak out completely. Somehow Lydia knew it was not going to be Peter who would get hurt in that confrontation.

Back home, she noticed that Mrs. Allen had cleaned up everything. The bedding was gone to be cleaned, new fresh linens were on her bed and there was not a trace of blood or chaos in her room. Lydia had left the twins downstairs, they needed to make some calls, Ethan to Danny and Aiden wanted to see what Scott and Stiles had found out. Sitting on her bed, she removed the heavy hiking boots and rubbed her sore feet.

"Why don't you let me?" Aiden offered suddenly.

Standing in the door with his cell phone he walked over to her side.

"I thought you'd a call to make."

She pulled her feet onto the bed and sat on them. The next best thing to telling Aiden that she was not in the mood for a massage. Lydia had hoped for some time alone, to close her eyes for a moment and maybe think about something to calm Allison down with before her friend did something they all might regret.

"I've spoken to Scott, they will come over later on." Hesitating a bit, he sat down next to her. "I get the feeling I did something wrong, if so, tell me - I can't imagine what you are going through but I can't help you unless you tell me what you want me to do."

"How about giving me some space?" Lydia said as nicely as she could.

At one point she thought that one could never have too much attention but on this day she realised that this was very much the case. It was touching that they immediately shifted into full bodyguard mode but there seemed to be an demand on her to give them directions that she was not quite sure how to fulfill.

Furthermore, she was hoping for a chance to talk to Peter, if only to ask him more might even have found a solution to the thing attacking her in her dreams. With the twins in the house and even worse with Scott coming over as well, he might not show up anytime soon. If Peter did show up, then she still needed to convince him and the others to work together.

"If that's what you want …," he said with clear disappointment in his voice. "But you should know that we want to be there for you. We might not be a real pack but we can give each other comfort. For that we need to be close."

Lydia shook her head, it was all good the night before, right now there was little comfort be had with them looking at her like that. They acted like somehow they could magically make everything better just by being close but that was not the case. It had been extremely nice to fall asleep next to them but it was not exactly a magic band aid for her current state of mind.

Even more troubling was the fact that as far as being made comfortable went, the night she had spend with Peter had actually come much closer to that. Lydia rubbed the bridge of her nose; it was too bizarre. She hoped that it was just this whole dream channel power lines mix up.

"I'm really glad you're there for me, but I'm not actually pack. I never will be," Lydia tried to explain. "Right now, I need a bit of time to myself."

A/N: Sorry for the lack of updates, real life was busy with xmas and got other health problems, too but I hope I can get back into the swing of things.