Chapter Eighteen – Beautiful Mess

~ A Teen Wolf fanfiction collaboration between Miss E Charlotte and Sage Londyn.~

Allison parked her car outside what looked like an abandoned power plant. Teagan looked out the windshield at the huge stone building. She swallowed hard, feeling nervous, then glanced over at her friend, who was beside her behind the wheel, then suggested, "Maybe we should call, Scott."

"No." Allison said, as she shook her head, then added, "There isn't enough time."

"You really don't think we should call Scott?" Isaac questioned, as he leaned forward from the back seat.

Allison glanced over at Isaac, knowing his question was aimed at her, then said, "It's just us. So if one of you want to back out-"

"No, we're going." Teagan interrupted.

Allison looked at them, then pulled out a dagger, as she said, "You two stay behind me and stay quiet."

As Allison stepped out of the car, Isaac mumbled, "Oh, this is so not gonna end well."

Teagan glanced over her shoulder to look at him for a moment, a short chuckle escaped her lips, turning back around toward the front of the car and opened the door. As she stepped out into the night, Isaac stepped out with her.

She quietly shut the door, then went to take a step, but before she could, Isaac reached out, laying a hand on her arm to stop her, as he whispered out, "Hey."

Teagan turned her head to look at him, wondering what he wanted. He laid his hands on her hips, turning her to face him, as he opened his mouth and said, "I need you to be-"

"I know." Teagan whispered, interrupting him. Knowing he was going to tell her to be careful, not to take any risks. "You too." She added, wanting him to do the same.

Isaac nodded his head, and licked his bottom lip nervously, he had no idea what was waiting for them on the inside, and if something were to happened, he needed her to know exactly how he felt. He cleared his throat, then began to say, "Teagan, I-"

"Shh." Teagan interrupted, as she laid a finger against his lips. She knew what he was going to say, she knew how he felt cause she was feeling the same thing. "I know." She whispered, then added, "And I love you too."

He softly smiled at her words, then leaned forward to brush his lips against hers for a moment, before pulling back and looking at her. Everything they were both feeling was shining through their eyes. They were both scared and nervous, but would fight side by side until their last breath if that's what it takes.

Teagan released a breath she didn't even realize she had been holding, then turned away from Isaac and began to walk toward Allison, who had stopped and was waiting on the couple. She heard Isaac's foot steps coming from behind, then glanced over beside her, seeing that he was now walking in step with her, as they followed Allison inside the building.

"FYI, if your dad tries to kill either one of us..." Isaac began to say, referring to himself and Teagan. They all walked further inside, as he added, "I will defend her and myself."

"Dad would never hurt Teagan." Allison softly said. She cut her eyes at Isaac, as she added, "But if he tries to kill you, you'll be dead."

Isaac came to a stop, as he snapped his head to the side to look at her, he opened his mouth to say something, until Teagan spoke up, telling them both now was not the time to argue.

The two looked at Teagan, realizing she was right, and began to walk again.

They had only taken a few steps, when Isaac stopped again, holding out his arm to stop Teagan in her tracks, as he whispered, "Whoa. I smell blood."

"You do? Where?" Teagan asked him.

"Yeah, what direction?" Allison added, as she stood beside Teagan, both girls looking at him, waiting for him to answer.

"I don't know. I'm not that good at this yet." Isaac confessed, as he glanced around. He pointed down a hall in front of them, where a door was wide open, then said, "But I think it's..."

Before he could finish his sentence, the three looked through the door, seeing their teacher suspended on a chain link fence, struggling against the restraints. Teagan gasp when a dark hooded figure popped up behind the teacher, seeing the three of them.

Teagan saw movement from the corner of her, then looked to see Allison heading for the door.

"Allison... no." Teagan screamed out, as she ran after her friend.

She heard Isaac yell out her name as he ran after her. Teagan didn't know what was happening, when she heard someone yell 'get down' then felt Isaac pulled her toward the ground with him.

He laid his body over hers, shielding her, as Chris stepped out from behind a large pillar and began to shoot at the masked darach. Teagan turned her head to the side, seeing Allison, unharmed and laying beside her. She thankfully hit the ground when her father started shooting.

As the darach ran off, Chris yelled over to the teens to help the latest victim. Isaac stood up and grabbed Teagan's arm, pulling her up, before the two racing off with Allison, unfortunately they were too late. He was dead.

"That's Mr. Westover." Allison breathed out, letting them know it was their teacher like they had feared.

"It's our history teacher." Isaac said, informing Chris on who the man was.

"Was our history teacher." Teagan softly added, correcting him.

Teagan folded her arms across her chest, then looked down at the ground for a moment before willing herself to look over at him.

She didn't think she could ever get use to looking at a dead body. She couldn't help but wonder about the ones he was leaving behind. The pain and hurt they were going through, like the pain she went through on a daily basis after losing her mother.

With those thoughts in mind, she softly sighed, and quickly looked away with watery eyes.

Isaac glanced over at her, seeing the look on her face before she turned, then laid his hand on her arm, pulling her with him as he took a few steps back, giving them a moment to talk alone while Chris was searching for clues and Allison was on the phone, updating Scott on their findings.

"Hey... you ok?" Isaac softly asked, as raised her chin, forcing her to look at him.

"Yeah." Teagan whispered, as she nodded her head. "It's just... it's just another person who couldn't be saved. Another family losing someone they loved, and we're right back to square one, we have no idea who is doing this."

"I know." Isaac mumbled. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her toward her to hold her, as he added, "Wut we'll find them, we'll stop whoever is doing this."

Teagan nodded her head, agreeing with him, as she buried her face in his shirt. She felt him tighten his grip around her, and then whispered in her ear, "You were a total badass by the way."

Teagan sniffled, softly chuckling at his comment, as she mumbled out against his shirt, "Yeah, right." She pulled her back to look up at him, as she added, "I didn't do anything, I am far from being a badass." She wiped the tears from her cheeks, as she continued, "I'm a mess, is what I am."

"Yeah, but, you're a beautiful mess." Isaac added with a smile, causing her to laugh. He laid a hand on the side of her face, his smile widen as she leaned into his touch, as he continued, "You're my beautiful mess."

Teagan smiled at his words, and then mouthed,"I love you." She raised on her tip toes, planning to kiss him, until she heard Allison and her father arguing. Both were upset at the other for keeping their recent activities a secret from each other.

Isaac ran his hand down Teagan's arm until he reached her hand, intertwining their fingers, then began to walk over to the father/daughter duo. "Hey, just a thought…" He began to say, as he and Teagan came to a stop beside Allison. "Maybe right now isn't the best time for a little family meeting." He added.

"He's right." Teagan said, agreeing with him. She looked at Allison and Chris as she added, "There's still one more."

"A teacher." Allison pointed out.

"The recital." Chris stated, coming to the conclusion at the same time as the others.

"Guess we're going after all." Allison mumbled, as she glanced down at the floor. It was the last place any of them wanted to go, but it's where they needed to go, if they wanted to stop the darach from killing again.

~()~

"Hey… I'm glad you're here." Lydia said as she found Avery walking towards the auditorium where the recital in remembrance of the fallen students was being held.

"Hmm, well then, that makes one of us." Avery numbly responded, trying to not let the hurt look on her best friends face bother her.

Lydia looked down to where there was a small scuff on her leather shoes and let out the breath she'd been holding as she apologized, "I'm so sorry for everything I said earlier. I had no right to be like towards you, especially when you're right."

With raised eyebrows Avery questioned, "It took you the rest of the school day to realize and admit that?"

"No." Lydia accidently snapped then sighed, "I followed you out earlier but you were Derek…"

Avery's eyes widened.

"You looked pretty busy so I didn't think it was the best time to come talk to you."

"You could have came and apologized, I was not busy." Avery said as her anger faded away.

"I wasn't sure what you guys were talking about, I didn't want to interrupt." Lydia said, then added, "Besides… aren't you supposed to be making up your mind about Derek and Stiles anyways?"

With a sigh Avery ran her hands through her hair and shrugged, "Stiles is such a great guy, and I don't think anyone could have gotten me through the stuff he did. But…" She paused, "I guess maybe that's the problem, he's too good. I'd just drag him down."

"And Derek?" Lydia questioned stepping closer to her friend.

"I'll always love him… but I just don't know, I don't know how to most past everything that's happened." She admitted with a defeated look.

Swallowing hard Lydia nodded, "Sometime you just can't start over… either way I think you need to talk to him… you owe him an answer, even if it's not the one he's wanting." Avery looked over to see Stiles who'd just walked into the school and was looking around for someone he reconigzed.

Quickly turning Avery headed into the auditorium before Stiles could see her, and Lydia followed.

"I thought you were going home." Scott said to Lydia, then nodded a greeting to Avery.

"I couldn't… I had to find Avery." She admitted, then continued as Cora's words played back in her head she explained, "And for some reason, I am the one who keeps finding the bodies. But maybe, if I just stopped trying to fight it, I could find them with enough time for someone like you to do something about it."

Scott's eyes widened as he nodded, "You get me enough time and I'll do something about it, I swear to god I will."

~()~

As the performance started Avery took a seat directly behind Ethan and Aiden, her eyes narrowed at the back of their heads.

Feeling someone staring them down, in unison they both slowly turned their heads and looked at her.

Crossing her arms over her chest, she stared back at them in hatred. Wishing they weren't in a room full of people because then she could make them pay for what they'd done, or at least try too.

Seeing Aiden's eyes drift past her, she saw him smile and nod to someone before smirking at Avery then looking back to where the band was on stage.

Looking over her shoulder, Avery saw Lydia looking down at her phone and then back up to where Aiden was sitting.

As Avery scanned the crowd standing at the back of the room her eyebrows lowered in confusion, when she saw Teagan and Isaac standing next to Allison and her father.

Just as she started to stand up to go over to them, she saw Lydia look at her phone again, then slip out of the nearest exit.

Letting out a heavy sigh that verged on a growl she focused all of her hate on the back of Aiden's head, waiting for him to get up and also slip away to meet up with her friend.

"Something is wrong…" Allison said looking to her friend beside her.

Teagan nodded the sick feeling in her stomach rising as the tempo of the music sped up.

Fitting she thought, the music was just as eerie as the idea that someone was sacrificing humans.

"Are you okay?" Isaac asked, as his grip tightened on Teagan's hand at the sound of her heart starting to race. Turning sideways to get a better look at her he repeated his question.

"I'm fine." She assured, him offering a small smile, but he could tell she was nervous.

Of course, he couldn't blame her. He was too, they had no idea who was doing the killings or who was the next target was going to be.

"Philosophers…" She heard Chris Argent say under his breath as he surveyed the room.

Nodding Teagan commanded herself to focus on her surroundings, trying to see where all the teachers were seated instead of the growing pit of anxiety in her stomach.

The music started to get even faster, an ominous undertone pouring from each one of the instruments.

Avery looked to where Aiden was scooting around in his seat, feeling all of his pockets and scanning the floor in his immediate area.

"What?" Ethan asked him.

With a shrug Aiden replied, "I think I lost my phone…"

Straightening her posture and extending her neck, Avery looked around her heart sinking when she saw Lydia hadn't returned. With the rest of their friends in the room with her, there wasn't anyone else she would have left to meet with.

Leaning forward she hit Aiden on his shoulder and whisper yelled in his ear, "Can you find your phone or not?"

Moving away from her touch he turned around looking at her confused, then looked down to the floor to see if it had fallen under his seat and slid back behind him.

Seeing he was still looking she stood up, but before she could make a move, both twins doubled over in pain clutching onto their heads. Looking to the back of the room she saw Isaac doing the same thing, with Teagan holding onto him saying something she couldn't make out.

"Isaac!" Teagan yelled, as he finally was able to stand back up.

"What happened?" She asked, but he wasn't even able to find his words as he looked around the room with a stunned expression on his face.

Her eyes scanned the room was well, trying to figure out what had happened. But her sight stopped on the back of a blonde in a short back dress, as she briskly walked away from where the twins were sitting.

She started towards them, knowing the girl had to be Avery and obviously the twins had managed to upset her. But before she even moved 3 steps away, she stopped dead in her tracks, staring at the stage in shock.

The teacher who'd been playing piano to accompany the school band was now dead on the floor, a still growing puddle of blood spreading on the polished wood floor.

There was a split second of utter deafening silence before several screams rang out and everyone started pushing past people, and knocking chairs over in a desperate attempt to flee the room.

Isaac managed to grab Teagan and pull out of the way just in time, before a man would have ran her over.

"You okay?" He asked, holding her tightly against him, his eyes moving rapidly as he scanned her over.

She nodded, her lips still parted. It had all happened so fast that her mind was struggling to keep up.

"Allison!" She heard Chris yell, after seeing his teenager daughter rushing towards the stage to get a better look at the now deceased teacher.

Teagan and Isaac quickly followed him, knowing they're best plan for the moment was to stick together.

"Is that…" Teagan gasped, seeing a white substance had poured out of the teacher's mouth and onto the crimson puddle beneath her.

"Mistletoe." Allison nodded as she exchanged looks with her father.

Teagan swallowed hard and looked to Isaac who's eyes were busy scanning the room again. For the sacrifice to have happened right there, in front of everyone he was sure the darach had to be close. Possibly even in the same room, that thought was on his mind as he slid an arm around her waist and held her tight against him.

Avery rushed through the halls, her mind was reeling from everything that was happening. She'd saw one of the chords from the piano snap and exactly the right angle to efficiently kill the teacher, by slitting her throat.

But at the moment, her first concern was for Lydia.

Hearing loud crashing and thudding she broke into a run to turn down the next hallway, where she then saw Stiles frantically trying to break into a classroom.

Rushing to his side she didn't even have time to ask what he was doing as he blurted out, in broken English, "Scott… and –my dad!"

Nodding she used all her strength to help him push open the door enough that they could both crawl over the desk someone had pushed against it.

Once inside of the room, Avery's sight landed on Lydia who was unconscious in the desk chair.

"Lydia!" She shouted, dropping to the floor and immediately starting to undo the duct tape binding her friends wrists to the arm rests.

"Call 911!" She shrieked, before calling out her friends name several more times.

A few moments later Scott returned to the room with paramedics who were trying to check on him due to the blood on his shirt from the fight with the darach, but he assured them he was fine.

Walking over to the windows she tried to take a deep breath and remind herself of what Allison taught her. Even in times of extreme emotional crisis, she had to remain calm and in control.

Making a decision or even one move from a purely emotional reaction could be catastrophic.

Taking in a deep breath and slowly releasing it, she saw Scott and Stiles talking beside a broken window farther down the wall

"What's going on?"

Turning and looking at her Stiles' eyes were watery as he admitted, "My dad is gone… whoever –whatever that thing is, it took my dad."

Her heart sank as she stared back at him, but before she could really respond Lydia gasped for air and the three teens rushed over to her.

Clutching onto her badly bruised throat she thrashed in the seat, gasping for air and trying desperately to reach out to Avery with her other hand.

"Shh, it's okay. You're gonna be okay." Avery said as she stepped forward and took her hand, expecting to give her some comfort while they worked to get her onto the stretcher.

But her friend grabbed on and squeezed her hand so tight it made her legs buckle underneath her and it took both paramedics to pry her fingers off of Avery.

"What is it?" Avery asked, her eyes searching Lydia's face for a sign of what had her so agitated, while she rubbed her now sore hand.

Her mouth moved like she was trying to say something, but no words would come out.

Stepping out in the hallway with Scott and Stiles, she listened as they came up with a plan of going to go to Derek's to see if he'd help them find Stiles' dad.

Avery said she'd come with them, and just wanted to tell Lydia bye first, but as soon as she came into sight, Lydia started frantically coughing and pointing trying to talk though the temporary oxygen mask they'd put on her.

But once she ripped that off of herself, the paramedics talked about having to sedate the teenager, and asked Avery to leave since her presence was upsetting to her friend.

~()~

Looking in his rearview mirror, Stiles saw Avery nervously fidgeting in the backseat of his jeep.

"You could have stayed with Lydia." He said, his eyes quickly snapping back to the road as he tried to focus on driving through the storm that had seemed to come out of nowhere.

"She's okay, thank god. The paramedics are with her, there isn't anything I could do. Your dad on the other hand, maybe I can help find him." She reasoned, thinking in her head that maybe her new set of skills could come in handy.

"What was she trying to say to you?" Scott asked, looking back to Avery.

"I don't know." She shrugged with a frown, "I think she was just a nervous wreck over what happened." But she wasn't sure, the attack had temporarily taken Lydia's voice and she kept frantically pointing to Avery and trying to say something. But before they could get an answer out of her, the paramedics had to sedate her.

Stiles had barely pulled the car to a stop when Avery climbed between the seats and over Scott to get out of the car first. She'd been texting Derek for hours and the last she'd heard from him was that he was going to his loft and Peter was going to stay with Cora for a while.

"Avery wait!" She heard Stiles yelling after her before the door of the building shut behind her, but she didn't have time to wait. Every second counted, which was precisely why she didn't hold the elevator when she heard their approaching footsteps.

Darting out of the elevator doors she raced down the hallway and pulled open the door to Derek's loft, where he looked up from where he'd been standing in front of the large window, watching the storm rage outside.

"Why don't you ever text or call me back anymore? How is Cora, I was waiting for an update, not to mention some really bad stuff happened at school…" Her voice trailed off when she saw the look on his face.

"What…"

"We need to talk." Derek said walking towards her and nodding towards the door.

When Avery didn't budge, he took hold of her arm and started to pull her with him.

"What is happening?" She whisper-yelled, looking around his loft trying to see what he was getting her away from.

"Actually…" A blonde woman said as she stepped out of the shadows, her eyes focused on Avery as she continued, "We all need to talk."

Derek sighed at his failed attempt to get Avery out of there in time.

"What the hell?" Stiles complained as he ran into the loft, gripping on the doorway for support as he breathed heavily after running up the stairs to Derek's floor.

He looked at Avery, her now unnaturally pale skin glowing in the moonlight and lightning flashes from the window.

"Are you okay?" Scott questioned stepping closer to her; he could hear her heart racing and feel her emotions in the air.

They all watched as the other woman took a step closer, watching as Derek protectively stepped halfway in front of Avery ready to strike at a moment's notice to protect her.

"Really, Derek?" she asked coming to a stop and crossing her arms over her chest.

Scott's attention turned back to Avery as she let out a small gasp and swayed as if her legs were giving out from beneath her.

For Avery the entire room and everyone in it had faded away, everyone except the blonde who was staring back at her.

It felt like the walls were closing in and the floor was about to drop from beneath her designer shoes at any moment.

A lot had changed over the last year, werewolves and kanima's were real and even though it seemed like nothing could be impossible now, she was sure what she was seeing was the epitome of impossible.

There was no way she was really seeing this.

Her trembling legs moved as she took a step closer to the woman, but Derek extended an arm, keeping her back.

"You really think I'd hurt my own daughter?"

Scott's mouth hung open and they heard Stiles mumble an, "oh my god…"

But for Avery the room was still filled with a heavy, deafening silence. An uncomfortable feeling as it seeped into every corner, like the early morning fog. There was no escaping it, or its effect on her.

"Mom…" She was finally able to speak, and slowly became aware of her surroundings again as she walked into Derek's arm.

Looking down she saw he was keeping her back, his gaze fixated on her mother, Aleine.

"Look at you… so grown up, just gorgeous."

Every breath felt like it was tearing her lungs, like all the oxygen had been pulled from the air, "This is… impossible."

With a smile her mother responded, "You're standing in a room with two werewolves… nothing is impossible."

Avery tried to ask any one of the hundreds of questions racing through her mind, but no sound would come out.

"What is going on?" Stiles finally asked, taking a few steps forward to stand next to everyone else, still fighting for this breath.

"Isn't it obvious, I came back to help all of you." She reasoned, offering them all a friendly, seemingly innocent smile.

Scott stared back at her, knowing there was something more to her being there.

"Help us? I thought you were dead!" Avery finally shouted, anger touching every syllable.

"I will get to that, but for right now… I need you to come with me." She pleaded holding a hand out for her daughter to take.

Avery looked around to her group of friends before she started to walk around Derek. She needed answers, answers to why her mom had faked her own death, to why she'd left her and why now she finally came back.

"Avery, don't." Derek warned.

"She's my mother." She argued back, still in astonishment from the entire situation.

"She's not the person you remember." He asserted, shaking his head back and forth, as he moved closer making it known to Avery that he wasn't letting her near her mom.

"You… you were at the school. You're the one who tried to strangle Lydia." Scott finally realized.

"What?" Stiles gasped then demanded an answer, "Where is my dad?"

"How would I know?" she played it off.

"You tried to kill Lydia? Mom… Lydia Martin? You've known her since we were in kindergarten!"

"Exactly, so why would I try to kill her? It makes no sense. This is why we need to go talk, away from your friends." She urged, hoping to keep her daughters attention.

"I know what I saw… your face was…" Scott's voice trailed off, he wasn't sure how to describe it, but the youthful appearance of the pretty older woman wasn't at all what he'd seen at the school. "So messed up, you looked like a monster."

Aleine raised her eyebrows in amusement, "I might have skipped my foundation, but monster seems a little harsh."

Scott sighed in frustration, he was sure it was the same woman he'd seen at the school.

"Avery, I heard you… at the cemetery. And you're right, I should have been there to show and teach you everything. You have every right in the world to be angry with me, but you need to give me a chance to explain."

She looked around before continuing, "I know what Deucalion wants from you, but I also know how to stop him. You just need to trust me, let me help you. It's a start to making up for all of the years I missed."

"Trust you?" Avery forced a whisper out as tears burnt her eyes.

Aleine nodded, a small smile toying at the corners of her lips, thinking Avery was just where she wanted her.

But instead of approaching her, or siding with her, Avery turned her attention to Derek as she somberly questioned, "What was she doing here?"

"Asking for his help, to protect you from the alpha pack."

"Don't trust her." Derek warned, but it sounded more like a threat. Causing Avery to push past him and stand a few feet in front of the other blonde.

"I don't." Avery admitted, looking back to Derek and nodding.

"What is that?" Aleine questioned as Avery pulled a glass bottle from her pocket.

"A poison and a cure." She spoke as her shaky fingers unscrewed the metal lid from the bottle, "Which means you can use it and… I can use it against you."

Before anyone could respond she threw the contents of the bottle at her mom.

As if Avery was controlling every single individual particle of the dark powdery substance it all swirled around her mom, seeming to hold onto her with invisible hands as she coughed and tried to smack it away. But not before it served it's purpose and revealed her true badly, burnt and scarred face.

Avery took a staggering step back, looking over to Scott as he gave her an empathetic look. He'd hoped he was wrong, but that face, the one the herb revealed was the same monstrous face he'd seen in the room with Lydia and Sheriff Stilinski before he'd gone missing.

With an infuriated sigh, Aleine guessed, "Mistletoe?"

Avery's full, long blonde hair moved around her face as she nodded her head.

"You've been doing your homework…"

Knowing now without a doubt who'd taken his father Stiles walked over next to Avery and asked, "Where is my dad?"

Ignoring him she focused on Avery, "I know what you must be thinking of me, but if you just give me a chance to explain…"

Avery cut her off, "Yeah, sure, mom. We can talk. As soon as you tell us where Stiles' dad is."

Seeing that despite her efforts to appear innocent and get Avery on her side, it wasn't happening. Her daughter was clearly too loyal to her friends to turn her back on them.

With everyone in the room now knowing she was the darach, the one killing all those people, she started to dart towards the door but Derek quickly brought her to a stop, with a hand at her throat.

"Wait, wait!" Aleine pleaded, grasping onto his arm and trying to pull it away.

"What are you?" He growled, Avery gasped seeing his claws start to extend.

"The only one who can save your sister, you need me." She gasped for air.

"What are you talking about?" he growled.

"Call Peter, call him!" she demanded.

Seeing Derek start to lift her mother off the floor by her throat, Avery yelled, "Stop… I'm calling Peter!"

Everyone waited as she walked over and pulled Derek's phone from his pocket to call his uncle.

After finding out that Cora had somehow been poisoned with mistletoe, Derek was even angrier than before.

A growl erupted from between his teeth as his grip tightened on her throat.

"Derek, what are you doing!" Scott asked, at the time Avery pleaded, "Stop it!"

"Her life, it's in my hands." Aleine managed to choke out.

In a rage he continued to lift her body higher and higher into the air, cutting off her air supply as he did.

"Derek!" Avery shrieked, her hand going to her own throat. It was only days before that Aiden had choked her in the same way, she still had a bruise on her neck to prove it and she'd never forget what that felt like.

"Stilinski… you'll never find him."

Stiles' eyes were watery in response to her words and even more so at the thought of actually losing his dad, the only parent he had left.

"Derek!" Scott yelled, but he wasn't listening.

Stepping forward Avery looked down to the arm he still had down at his side, claws at the ready to end Aleine's life permanently. Her eyes moved from her mother's pained expression to Stiles' red rimmed eyes.

"Derek." She said, her voice strong but soft.

When he didn't respond, she reached down carefully avoiding his sharp claws as she intertwined her fingers with his, bringing him back to his senses as he looked over at her.

Shaking her head back and forth she said, "You can't kill her… at least not yet."

What she really wanted to say was that he couldn't kill her, that was her mother and even if she'd been killing people for human sacrifices, she must have a good reason.

But Avery was also painfully aware that something was deeply broken and wrong with the woman she once knew as her mother. Everyone always said Aleine was full of light, but as Avery looked at her mother now all she could see was darkness.

Even so, there was still hope for her. Hope that she could be brought back, saved from the darkness; even though, that hope belonged to Avery alone.

As Derek roughly dropped her mother to the floor, Aleine looked around with a smirk as she reminded them, "That's right, you need me. All of you."

A/N – I hope you guys all liked the chapter! So Avery's mom is alive, did anyone see that coming?

We have so much in store for the rest of this first half of season 3! We can't wait to share it with you all! ^_^

Don't forget to leave us a review!