A/N~ Our thoughts and prayers go out to those who are still recovering from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Juan and Maria as they continue to recover. As well as those recovering in Mexico from the recent earthquakes there. Please read, enjoy, and review. ~A

Chapter 25

The next day, the day of the lunar eclipse dawns: Jennifer Blake suspected the gig may be up when none of the kids she's identified as members of the Hale Pack showed up for school that day. Blake makes excuses at the school of being sick and heads back to her home. The teacher felt an impending sense of dread settle over her as she pulled into the parking lot of her apartment complex.

Jennifer almost slams on the brakes when she sees the cruiser sitting outside of her building but instead lets the car drift through the parking area. The Darach glances out of the corner of her eyes as she coasts past her apartment and sees the two deputies standing on the landing outside of her apartment.

Blake can feel her breathing getting short, her heart pounding in her ears as she exit's the apartment complex. She goes to a nearby parking lot of a grocery store. An honest to goodness grocery store as she has herself a mini meltdown. Feeling the edges of her vision going dark red, the teacher is convinced she's going to have some sort of a panic attack but manages to barely pull herself back together.

This close to the lunar eclipse she wasn't going to let a few hiccups stop her. She couldn't. She was too close. As often happens during these moments of near panic, a spark of ingenuity struck.

The Darach hoping to divide and conquer, sets Scott up by kidnapping Deaton. She then leaves a message for Scott on how to find the druid but also leaves another one in the vet's office implying that the young Beta may have harmed Deaton, because of an unseen altercation between the two.

In the message that Blake leaves for Scott however, she explains that his mentor had been left tied up in such a way that the bindings make it difficult for the older man to breath. It will also cause the blood to pool around his heart and lungs. A method that will ultimately kill him, if he's not found soon.

Unbeknownst to her however the vet has managed to cut himself in the hopes that it will help the Pack track him and locate him better. Blake takes him to a cave system in the Preserve but near the school. She traps him in a mountain ash circle while also setting a trap that will also cause the cave to collapse when triggered.

The dark druid thinks, "Maybe this will draw some of the attention away from me," she thinks as she tosses the shovel in the trunk of her car. "Who knows," Blake thinks as she slides behind the wheel, "Maybe they will blame young McCall for all of the kidnappings and murders."

Scott with the help of Kenzi, Bo and Dyson manages to finds his mentor and doesn't fall into the trap the Darach has left for them. As Dyson, who is used to being both the hunter and the hunted in the past, manages to see the trap for what it is before it is triggered by any of them.

"Hurry up, man, Deaton could be dying in there," The younger Beta said impatiently. Pacing as he obviously wants to move much faster to find his friend.

"Yeah because being impatient and not listening to older more experienced voices has worked so well for you in the past." Kenzi reminds him, "Which is to say, not at all, in any of your endeavors. Wny else do you think Stiles asked us to come with you?"

The trio of Bo, Dyson and Kenzi work together like a well oiled machine as they help the young Beta to get through the entrance of the cave. As well as several other little decoy traps that the Darach has set in the hopes of trapping or injuring the teen, some of them magical in nature. When they finally get to where the vet is tied up, Scott nearly knocks himself out trying to get to his mentor through the mountain ash barrier.

Scott also showed the strong potential to become an Alpha in the process. When he tries to break through the circle of mountain ash to reach the older man.

As he is using only his strength of will and his strength as a werewolf, his eyes flashed scarlet

Bo, while she is also fae is not a werewolf and is able to break the circle of mountain ash rather easily. The group manage to free the Druid and get him out before the final trap has a chance to be sprung.

As Dyson runs ahead to get the vehicle the Alpha loaned them. Bo helps the teen as they half carry the older man down the trail to the road. Kenzi finally insists that they set the vet down so she can treat him. Plus she reminds them he's already been strung up for a while, "He needs a breather, guys. Set him down." the Goth says authoritatively. Bo instinctively does as her bestie says. Next to her girlfriend, Kenzi knows more about triage and old wives medicine than Bo does. Scott doesn't want to wait but already smarting from the last dressing down the older Kenzi gave him he does as he's told.

Now that they are away from the booby trapped cave, the she wolf treats the wound the vet gave himself, as well as some scrapes and bruises he got along the way. Her movements were quick and efficient and her voice soothing as she spoke to the older man. Before they knew it Dyson was back and had knelt beside the older man.

"Ever run with the wolves doc?" he said before lifting the other man in his arms, bridal style and they were off. Bo would have had a hard time keeping up but her BFF kept pace with the succubus down the trail.

~O~

Blake thinks she has won. So while checking in on her prisoners, she tells the Sheriff and Mellissa that their children are both either dead or dying and then tells Chris she has special plans for Allison as well.

She was unprepared for the Mama Bear that is Melissa McCall though, and is caught off guard when Mellissa not only frees herself but manages to strike her in the face with her fingernails. Melissa is equally unprepared for the Darach to show her true face for a moment. The dark druid strikes back, hitting Mellissa and dragging her back over to chain her up in the root cellar along with the other two potential sacrifices.

The Darach struggles for a few minutes to try to regain her more attractive appearance. It is clear she is having to use more power and effort than she can afford to really to mask the claw marks that Melissa has left on her face in order to maintain the façade of normalcy.

She explains with her back turned as she pulls the vestiges of her glamer back together. While I have been enjoying the challenge that is the Hale Pack, they and you are all merely a means to an end. My real goal has always been the destruction of the Alpha Pack, especially Decaulion and the traitorous bitch Kali."

With her appearance back to its glamered self Blake then explains to the captive audience, "I was part of a Pack once. My mate and I were the Alpha Pair. The leaders of the Pack and we were thriving. Kali was a ruthless but fair leader. Until Decaulion came and convinced her that we were holding her back from her full potential. That was the day I made my deal with the Nemeton."

To which Chris Argent replies, "So we're supposed to feel sorry for you because you had a bad break up? And what be happy or honored perhaps that we're helping you exact your revenge by being strangled, having our throats cut and oh yeah have our heads bashed in for good measure. Don't hold your breath lady."

"I'm with him," Melissa said waspishly, "Bad break up? I'm divorced and raising my son on my own. Haven't you ever heard living well and having a happy life without the ex-is the best kind of revenge. In your case living at all was already spiting her best efforts."

Dropping her glamour the Darach responded indicating her ruined face said, "With this face? How exactly am I supposed to do that?"

"Plastic surgery," snapped the nurse. "They can do miracles these days."

"All of this trouble, violence and death," the Sheriff added as the dark druid was glaring around at the three of them incredulously, "When all you really needed was a little psychological therapy and some plastic surgery. What a waste."

The Darach screamed in frustration, before climbing back up the ladder and out of the root cellar. Once again she pulled the rope ladder up behind her. Furious, it took her another moment to focus her thoughts enough to pull her glamour back around her.