Chapter 16: Required Reading part 2
Virgil Edelman was cruising down a center street on his motorcycle, just losing himself to the wind and the sunshine. It was his day off and he was just taking this time to enjoy the benefits of having restored this beauty that he was riding on. He went and stopped at a red light and absentmindedly watched as some cars passed by on the intersection when a car went and came to a stop right next to him. He looked over and noticed that it was a Porsche.
"Oh great," he muttered under his breath, turning away from the sight of it.
It wasn't that Virgil didn't like Porsches. They were actually a thing of beauty if he was being honest with himself. It was just that, in his experience, it was usually douchebags that had them. One of them he knew back in San Diego, and another that he encountered when he first came to Beacon Hills over two years ago. Now that he thought of it, it looked a lot like that one. He didn't think much of it as the light then changed and he zoomed right on out of there, letting himself get lost in the speed and open road.
Yet, the Porsche lingered for a bit.
"Over a year and things don't seemed to have changed much in this town. So, which way is it?" the driver asked. But the guy in the passenger seat didn't answer. He was just staring off after the bike. "What's wrong?"
"That bike…" he muttered off.
"Nice…what about it?" the driver asked as he watched it go off as soon as the light turned green.
"It's just…never mind. Forget it."
"No, what is it Ethan?"
"Well, for a moment, I swore it was my brother's."
"Aiden's? But, you said you trashed it before you left last year."
"Yeah, I did a pretty big number on it all right," he mumbled. The grief was evident in his voice. "But I could swear that was it. A little different but I could feel it was the same one."
A car behind them honked which broke them out of it.
"Damn, so, which way?"
"Right, go left. I think her house is that way," he said, pointing the way.
As the Porsche moved to make the turn, Ethan let his eyes linger out in the direction that the bike had gone off in. But he shook his head. Maybe he was just seeing things. Being back here was harder than he thought it would be. He just hoped that this visit was worth it.
The field was full of people from the school's different sports teams, all doing practice drills. Members of the girls soccer team were practicing field kicks while some guys from the lacrosse team were working on their shots. One guy made his shot and then moved down the line to let Liam have his turn. He scooped up a ball with his lacrosse stick as he moved to get ready to practice his shot.
His eyes went up to the stands where he spotted Mason sitting there with both Brett and Lori. When they learned that there might be some new chimeras out there, he and Stiles had called them and asked to keep a lookout at their school for anyone that might have been turned. They had come over to tell them what they had found.
Lori sent a wave his way when she caught him looking up at them. He hadn't seen Lori since that kiss they had at her front door. He found himself smiling lightly.
"Earth to Dunbar!" one of his teammates shouted at him.
"Sorry," he said, blinking his eyes rapidly.
"What's up Liam? You got a girl up in the stands or something?" asked one of the other guys next to him.
"Uh, yeah, maybe," he said lightly, dropping his gaze to try to keep himself from blushing.
The first guy looked up at the stands and spotted the three. "You mean that blonde sitting up there? Wow…she's cute," he mused.
"Yeah," Liam coughed up.
"Well, if you don't go and grab her Dunbar, I will," he smirked.
That made a small grumbling growl erupt from under Liam's throat as he lifted his head to give the guy a glare. He quickly held his hands up and quickly assure him that he was just joking. He looked back over to see that Lori looked like she was trying to stifle a laugh, making it clear that she heard them. Now Liam was feeling embarrassed but tried to smile it away on her.
Off to the side, Hayden was practicing her goal shots with some of the other girls and she looked over to where Liam was with some other guys, looking out into the stands. She then noticed he was looking over at stands and spotted the girl she had seen him with at Sinema. She took a moment to wonder who she was as she didn't remember seeing her around school before. Hayden found herself narrowing her eyes a bit as she saw her smiling down at Liam. And it looked like he was staring right back at her in kind of a daze.
Liam felt a twitch all of a sudden and he found himself turning to look over in Hayden's direction and she went and sent him a bit of a cold glare. His smile faltered a bit, along with his mood. He wondered why she was so upset and annoyed with him about now.
'What's her problem?' Lori thought, noticing the look Hayden seemed to be sending Liam out of nowhere.
Meanwhile, her brother and Mason were going over everything else going on. Brett was telling him of what their progress, all while having his eyes look out at all the girls and guys sweating and working out on the field. Mason was eager for more news about these 'chimeras' that were running around though his eyes were wandering too at some of the guys out there as they talked.
"Nothing?" said Mason. "None of them seemed strange or felt abnormal to you guys?"
Brett shrugged. "I don't know man. Everyone at Devenford pretty abnormal to me."
The born werewolf always felt that fellow werewolves and other shapeshifters were his normal, seeing as how he and his sister were raised and surrounded by other werewolves his whole life. Normal people were the ones that he always felt were strange.
"All right," Mason sighed. "Uh, what else is there to look for?" He thought about what he knew about his best friend and the others in his pack, as well as the chimeras they've come across so far. "There's, heightened strength, smell, hearing, speed-"
"Uh, able to see in the dark," Brett supplied.
"Glowing eyes."
"Eyes that reflect the light."
"Visible scorpion stingers protruding out of limbs," Mason said, fighting the urge to shiver at the memory of Lucas.
"Yeah, or three foot lizard tails."
"I think we get the point," Lori slurred out, staring at Liam moving to get ready to take a shot.
Mason let out a small chuckle before his face fell a bit. "Uh, has there any more news on Wilson yet?"
Lori dropped her gaze a bit as she thought about her pack's lost Second. Brett's face hardened a bit as he took a gaze at his crestfallen sister.
"Sorry," Mason quickly apologized. "I shouldn't have said-"
"No," Brett cut in. "It's…we get it.. Uh, Satomi was able to find out that Wilson had guard duty at the school that night but, he never clocked out."
Mason's eyes narrowed, in thought. "Then, that means that whatever happened to him, happened at the school."
"That's what Satomi thinks. But we searched Devenford top to bottom and we didn't find anything."
"Yeah," Lori mumbled. "The school is cleaned weekly and it was the day after he…, well, whatever happened, there would be no trace of it."
Mason wondered if that little piece of information was a coincidence, or not.
Back on the field, Liam moved to make his shot and the ball completely overshot the goal. The goalie turned his head to watch the ball fly past overhead. Liam let out a frustrated sigh as he looked embarrassingly up at Lori who just smiled reassuringly back at him. He let his head fall down a bit and then turned to look over at Hayden, who he could hear snickering at him. He watched her move into position and then made her own shot and it landed smack in the middle of the soccer net. After she did, she paced over at Liam's direction and sent a smug sneer his way, which he answered with a hard glare.
The Talbots widened their eyes at that exchange, while Mason shook his head.
"Oh man," he mumbled to himself. He knew what was coming.
A gauntlet had been thrown.
With his eyes full of ruthless determination, Liam took another ball and moved to charge towards the goal and take another shot. This time it ended up landing right in the net, dead center, just like Hayden's goal shot. Lori let out a small whoop and started to clap for him and he sent her an appreciative glance before moving to head back to position. As he did, he looked over at Hayden with a smug and self-pleasing smile, and she answered with a hard glare. Hayden then let her eyes look over at Lori's direction and they seemed to share a small narrowed look before the human girl grabbed the next ball, set it down and quickly moved to make her next goal shot, and landed it, hard. She turned to look at Liam and sent him a smug look which Liam glared back at before scooping up another ball. He moved and put some of his werewolf strength into his shot without meaning to and caused the goalie to fall back in fear to avoid getting gored by the ball as it hit the net behind him.
"Sorry!" Liam winced.
"Okay, what just happened down there?" asked Lori.
"Yeah," Brett breathed out. He had seen them bicker with each other back at Sinema before but Liam had told him that it was nothing. What he just saw was clearly something. "It's like every time I see those two in the same place, they want to tear each other's faces off."
"Not really, well, I don't think they would ever go that far. I hope."
They then looked over at Mason, who had a knowing smile on his face.
"Spill," Lori told him.
"It kind of all started back in sixth grade. That wasn't the best year for Liam's anger management issues," Mason said with a bit of a laugh in his tone.
Brett snorted. "What was a good year?" he sarcastically put out there.
"Brett," Lori chastised.
"What? It's a fair question," he defended.
She rolled her eyes. "Go on," she said to Mason.
"Well, one day, there was a fight, in the hallways." Mason pulled out his phone and started scrolling. "Liam and this other guy. Hayden, sort of, accidentally, walked into it. And this is her yearbook photo."
He then hit the right file and it brought out a photo of a younger Hayden with black eyes and a slightly swollen nose. That made the Talbots suck in some breath at the sight of it.
"Ah damn," Brett whistled.
"Okay," Lori nodded. "I think I can start to understand the hostility." She looked over at Hayden and saw she was still glaring a bit Liam's way. Though, now that she looked deeper into it, it seemed more indignant than hateful.
Mason scoffed. "That's only half of it."
A smile creeped up on Brett. "Why? What did she do to him?"
He then moved to go to a new file. "This is his sixth grade photo."
A new photo came up of a younger Liam, with his own black eyes and swollen nose.
"Whoa," Brett breathed, amused and a little impressed.
Lori shook her head, not sure whether to laugh or cringe. "Ouch," she hissed.
"Does anyone have asthma?!" Someone started shouting out. "Anyone got an inhaler?!"
That made a good many people look at the guy who was running down the field in a panic. Including Liam. His senses seem to fire up and his face fell when his instincts seemed to scream one thing to him.
"Scott," he mumbled in realization.
Scott was taking big heaving breaths as his lungs seemed to twist in his chest and his throat felt like it was closing up on him. This painful sensation, he had long forgotten it. He used to get these asthma attacks sometimes when he was younger, all before he had gotten bitten and turned into a werewolf. His feet gave out from under him and he fell to the floor. Ms. Ramsey was moving to try and help him sit up against his desk but Scott wasn't registering her presence at all.
His mind was in one of the halls of the hospital that he knew so well. He quickly saw his mother following a gurney with a boy on it, and she looked frantic. That was because the boy on the gurney was him. Him back when he was 12 years old.
"Mom," his young self said, pained and scared.
"You're okay sweetheart," his mom said, reassuring but scared herself. "You just need to breathe, okay?"
"Where's Roxy?" young him asked. His mom then reached for his hand, where there was a blood covered leash caught in a tight grip. She didn't answer him.
"It's okay sweetheart," she said, instead.
The gurney then went passed him and Scott looked down at the eyes of his younger self. The boy seemed to look right back at him as he went and asked their mom again, "Where's Roxy?"
"Try not to talk," she told him.
As the gurney passed, Scott felt a pain in his chest and he backed away into the wall and started to slide down to the floor. Images of dogs fighting and biting each other came back to him. Scott's breathing got heavier and he found his mind going back and forth from his memory to the classroom where Ms. Ramsey was trying to help him.
"Scott, you need to breathe," he was barely able to make out from her.
However, Scott soon became irresponsive and just kept staring out into space but his breathing was still deep yet losing strength.
"Scott, tell me, where is your inhaler?" Ms. Ramsey said, trying to shake him out of it. But he just kept staring out like a statue. She then looked over to the students that were watching this, freaked out and scared. "Someone's got to have an inhaler. One of you, find someone!"
At that, a few of them then ran off in different directions. Ms. Ramsey stayed with Scott, trying to get him through to him and help him keep breathing.
When Liam ran off into the school, he was being followed by Mason, Brett and Lori.
"How do you know it's Scott?" Mason called out after him.
"I just know," he said back, not faltering in his pace.
Mason looked over at Brett who was almost in step with him.
"It's his alpha. He must feel it on instinct." He then looked back over at Liam's back. "But, how could Scott be having an asthma attack?"
Both Lori and Mason were wondering the same thing. Werewolves don't get asthma attacks. Let alone alphas.
"I don't know, and I don't care. I have to help him."
Liam finally stopped in front of a locker and started to put in the combination.
"That's not your locker Liam," said Mason, confused about why he had come here.
"No," he said, shaking his head. "It's Stiles." He then got the lock to open and he opened the door and started to look around. He pulled out a small baggie with an inhaler. "Yes," he panted before he closed the locker and took off running again.
He ran off for the Biology room where there were a small group of kids crowding outside the door.
"Clear the way," he told them. They quickly parted and Liam ran inside and found Scott on the floor with Ms. Ramsey next to him. "I got the inhaler."
He then threw himself down and knelt over next to Scott. Liam took a moment to look at him. Scott didn't look so good. His breathing sounded weak and his eyes looked a bit glazed over. He'd never seen him like this before. Liam took the inhaler and moved to place it in his mouth and pumped it. Scott took a deep breath and started to cough and wheeze a bit. He looked over at Liam whose eyes let out their beta gold glow as he tried to silently will his Alpha to be okay again. Scott felt his chest get lighter and his breathing started to deepen and get stronger.
Ms. Ramsey let herself feel some relief as she looked out towards the students watching from the doorway. Among them, she noticed Brett and Lori Talbot looking on. The two of them had looks of concern as they looked on. Brett moved his gaze up at Ms. Ramsey and he gave a subtle curt nod her way as they caught each other's eyes.
Next to the three of them was Hayden and her gaze softened as she watched Liam helping out Scott. She suddenly felt some of the resentment and anger she felt at him slip away and a small smile made its way to her. Hayden then moved to leave but the only one that reacted to her doing so was Lori, who let her face drop a bit as she noticed the smile on her.
Stiles was in his jeep, heading off to meet with Lydia when his phone started ringing. He looked over to see that it was Mason. He went and turned on the speaker.
"Hey Mason, what's up?"
"Scott just had an asthma attack," he answered in a panicked voice.
Stiles quickly moved to pull the jeep over. "Is he okay?!" he panicked.
"Yeah, he's fine," Mason answered quickly. "Liam managed to get an inhaler to him. He's okay."
Stiles let himself breathe out a sigh of relief. "Thank god."
"Yeah, I remember you saying that you were going to head off to see Lydia after so you wouldn't have heard about what happened and thought you should know."
"Thanks, I appreciate that Mason." Btu there was then a beep from his phone. "Uh, I got another call. I'll talk to you later." He then cancelled the call and accepted the new one. "Hello?"
"Stiles, it's Satomi. I found him."
His eyes opened up. "You did? That's great. How can I reach him?"
"Just come over. He's waiting for you in my house."
His face fell a bit. "Wait, he's here? In Beacon Hills?"
"Yes. But apparently he's only here for today. If you want to talk to him, this is only chance."
Stiles bared his teeth. He wanted to check up on Lydia, but he couldn't pass this opportunity up.
Things at the station were relatively calm, which gave Jordan some time to let his mind think about the things that were going around in town. Most recently, the half a dozen holes that were found at the school. According to Lydia, that had to mean there were more Chimeras out there like Tracy. There was a sudden buzzing and he looked over to see that it was coming from his phone, that he had set on the table. It looked like Stiles was calling him. He went to pick up the phone.
"Stiles, what's up?"
Noah was pacing before the wall of pictures that were tacked on his wall. His eyes went to linger on the one of Donovan. "What are you waiting for?" he mumbled to himself.
He knew that Donovan wasn't the patient and idle type. The kid was impulsive, emotional, and had a clear grudge against him. If he had become a chimera and now had super strength, claws and fangs, then he would be out there, using them. On him. Donovan had been very clear about what he would do to him, if he was given the chance. So, if he was really out there, as a Chimera, what was he waiting for? Unless he couldn't, because he was really dead like Stiles and Malia seemed to think so. Because he was a 'failure' like Tracy and Lucas had been and was already killed by the Dread Doctors.
"Sheriff?"
Noah turned around and saw Jordan at the door. "Yeah, Parrish, come on in. What's up?" he asked as his deputy walked in and closed the door after him.
"Stiles, he just called me."
His face fell. "Did something happen to him?"
"He's fine," Jordan quickly said. "Yeah, he just wanted to tell me some news about Lydia. Apparently, she fainted today."
"Is she alright?"
"She's okay. She's resting at home and thought I should know."
Noah understood. "You want to check up on her."
Jordan nodded. "If that's alright."
"Well, things seem pretty quiet right now. I think I can spare one of my best deputies for an hour or two." That made Jordan crack a small smile. "Uh, did my son say how this happened? Was it a banshee thing?"
"Well, he thinks it has something to do with that Dread Doctors book."
"I thought they all tried to read it last night together and nothing happened."
"Something's happening now. Lydia had told everyone that she had seen a memory of her grandmother. Looks like the book worked, but is just working slowly."
"And not gently from the sounds of it," he muttered. Noah then looked over at his desk where there was a copy of the Dread Doctors book lying there.
Jordan noticed it too. "You have a copy?"
"Yeah, Stiles had come to see me early this morning and left it here."
"You know…if this book does really work to bring out repressed and lost memories, then, maybe I should try reading it."
"What? Why?"
"Well, maybe it might help me finally get some answers. About what I am."
But Noah shook his head and held his hand out to him. "No, you shouldn't go anywhere near this book."
"But Sheriff, what if everything I've been looking for is in my memories. This book could be my best chance to-"
"Parrish, no," Noah cut him off. "This book is too dangerous. It made Lydia collapse, and drove Malia to run out into a road and nearly get hit by a car. Who knows what else it might do? To my son, or the others."
"I can handle it," Jordan insisted. "You got to trust me on this."
"This isn't about trust Parrish. This is about your safety. I'll pull rank and order you to steer clear and not so much as touch this book if I have to. Now, promise me you won't try using the book."
Parrish gave the book a small look before he deflated and let out a deep breath. He nodded. "I promise."
"Okay. Now go. I'm sure Lydia could use some company right now."
Noah watched with a solemn look as Parrish left his office. He couldn't help but be more and more worried about that young man every passing day. Parrish was starting to get desperate for answers. Noah couldn't help but be scared that eventually Parrish would end up doing something reckless.
Theo was in the school's weight room, working out while letting his mind focus on everything that was happening so far. Scott, Stiles, Lydia, Malia and Kira all had read the book. Malia had already been feeling the effects but now Lydia and Scott have started to fall under its thrall. It would only be a matter of time before Stiles and Kira started feeling them too. This would only provide him more openings to exploit and give him room to squeeze his way into their confidences. Then there was Satomi's pack. Before, he was worried that they would ruin his plans but they were now no longer a concern. The Alpha and her betas were now grieving and preoccupied trying to find a trail leading them to the death of their Second. A trail that would soon be fully wiped clean with nothing left to tie back to him. They would be chasing their own tails and wouldn't have time to be a threat now. Everything was more or less going right.
As he was doing some chin ups, he suddenly stopped when he picked up someone heading his way. He picked up the scent and he let a smile come over him when he realized who it was. A perfect opportunity. He let himself drop before he started to take off his shirt. As he pulled it completely off, he turned over just in time to see Malia walk into the room and spot him.
Malia froze as she came upon the sight of Theo, shirtless, and in the middle of a workout. As she looked at his bare upper body, she couldn't help but remember the dream she had the other night. As he threw his shirt off to the side, she couldn't help but think her dream was lacking in some parts. Theo moved to a weight bar and started to do some sets as he stared at the mirror on the wall.
"Why haven't you said anything?" she asked when she was able to final find her voice.
"About what?" he asked back before he started lifting the bar though kept his gaze on her reflection.
"The rest of my memory," she said coming closer as he kept lifting. "The Desert Wolf. Why didn't you tell Scott?" It was why she came to look for him. Theo hadn't said a word about what she had seen.
Theo caught her eye through the mirror while she stared at him. At his arms and his back. She was obviously trying not to focus on how his muscles flexed as he worked out. He deepened his breathing and made sure to exert himself a little harder with each raise of the weight bar to better show off the muscles at his chest and torso for her to watch from the mirror at the same time as ones on his back. He had a feeling that she didn't get to see much from Stiles and the lupine part felt a competitive need to show her that he was a better mate choice than the wolf she was with now.
"Why haven't you told Stiles?" he said back nonchalantly.
"What makes you think I haven't?" she muttered softly, trying not to let her eyes linger on Theo's sweaty back, or his front,
"I kind of heard you two talking last night. He asked if you had seen anything else but you didn't tell him about seeing The Desert Wolf. You don't anyone to know, don't you?"
Her face softened a bit. "No…." She hadn't told Stiles, and she still wasn't sure why. If she asked, she was sure that Stiles wouldn't say anything. Maybe. "Are you gonna want to know why?"
Theo then stopped and slowly set the weights to the floor. Even with his back to her, he could feel her gaze on him intensifying and the heat coming from her growing. It started to make his own heart pump even faster than his workout had. He then turned and took a moment to admire her curves as he approached her until he just stopped about two feet from her.
"Not really," he shrugged off before he headed off to the side.
Malia's face fell slightly at that while he went to the butterfly press and sat down on the seat. As Theo started to pull on the armrests, he took a moment to look over at Malia's exposed tanned legs. They were flawless and strong. As he pushed and pulled on the press, he let himself wonder how they would feel against his palms.
Malia just watched him but it wasn't with lust like before. It was with fury, and suspicion. Stiles had told her that he didn't trust the guy and she shouldn't either. As Theo kept working out, nonchalantly, she felt herself getting anxious, and a bit suspicious. After watching for a few more moments, she finally leapt forward and grabbed at the bars, halting him.
"You think you're doing me a favor?" she silently raged on him with a bit of a growl in her tone. "Like I'm going to owe you now?" Was that why he was doing this? To try and hold something over on her?
"I don't need any favors," he muttered, struggling from the building strain that was being placed on his arms.
"Then what do you want?" she asked him, pushing on the bars a bit more.
Theo ignored the growing discomfort and kept his gaze locked on her. "I want in the pack," he breathed.
That's what he wanted? How would keeping her secret help him with that? "That's not up to me," she said leaning closer and narrowing her eyes harder at him.
Theo didn't lose his composure. "If you want to tell Scott what you saw then tell him. If you've got something else in mind…I'm okay with that too," he said with a hint of a smile. That made her pull back a bit and he could start to feel a hint of animal lust returning slightly as she stared back at him. It made a certain part of him begin to heat up and rise a bit under his sweats.
Malia couldn't help but have a mental flash of her intense dream the other night as Theo stared at her. The look he had was exactly the same one that he had as he was hovering over her. Hungry and full of lust...for her. And her heart began to pound harder as she stared back. A…craving began to build in the pit of her stomach and she quickly let go of the bars. She then turned and moved to just leave the room. She tried to shake off the sudden heat and anxiousness she felt by letting her mind focus on a memory of Stiles' gentle face and his touch. But, Theo's face was trying to push its way through.
Theo cringed a bit as he felt some muscle pain hit him as the door slammed shut behind Malia. Despite that, he let himself smile and feel some predatorial satisfaction. As much as he could feel that Malia was trying to hide or deny it, she was feeling drawn to him. Soon, he would get her to trust him, and…want him.
Liam and Mason were walking off with the Talbots, seeing them off as they were heading out.
"Scott's really okay?" asked Brett.
Mason nodded. "Looks like it. I gave Stiles a call and told him what happened. How did this happen anyway?"
Liam narrowed his eyes. "It's a safe bet it was that book on the Dread Doctors."
"Must be one hell of a book," Brett slurred out. "Emphasis on hell."
Liam couldn't help but agree. First Malia had run into traffic, then Lydia fainted, and now Scott had an asthma attack. "I'm starting to feel grateful that I didn't try reading it."
"Still, you should be careful, even if you didn't read it," Lori said to them.
"Yeah, you too," Liam said gently to her. "Both of you," he quickly said, giving Brett a quick look.
Brett let a smirk loose. "Aww, didn't know you cared so much about me Liam," he teased. That made him give him a somewhat scathing look but Brett just kept smiling at him. He then turned to his sister. "We better go," he told her.
"Yeah," she nodded. "Don't be afraid to call if anything happens."
"Or for any other reason, she's probably hoping," Brett threw in, making Lori slap at his shoulder.
Hayden had been watching them from around the corner. She was starting to wonder who those two were and why she was seeing them hanging around Liam and Mason lately. It seemed that they all were friends but she'd never seen Liam really hang out with anyone other than Mason before. A small twist in her stomach formed from watching Liam get a hug and peck on the cheek from that pretty girl before she left with the other guy, who ducked to avoid a slap on the head as he threw her a teasing face. Hayden looked over and saw that Liam was ducking his head a bit as Mason smiled at him. She sighed before she moved to go to her locker and placed a textbook in there and took out a notebook before she moved to head out. But, as she walked, she heard a familiar voice calling out her name.
'Please, no,' she thought as she kept walking.
But she soon felt a hand tap her shoulder and saw her sister come right up to her, dressed in her deputy uniform. "Hey there."
"Come on, you were supposed to go wait in the parking lot."
"And you're supposed to be embarrassed by your parents, not your sister," she countered. She then pulled out a small prescription container. "By the way, guess where I found this. In your jeans about to go into the laundry. Do I have to remind you that one bottle costs $200?"
As Hayden took the bottle from her, Liam was passing by. He couldn't help but overhear the two of them. His ears perked up when he heard about the money and his eyebrows rose a bit as he eyed the bottle that Hayden was hastily trying to hide away. He guessed that this was the reason that Hayden needed the money. For her prescription.
"Sorry," she said before she turned and noticed Liam looking. "What?" she snapped at him.
He shook his head. "Nothing," he said, walking off, away from them.
As he got away, his lycan ears kept listening in on them.
"Was that Liam Dunbar?" her sister asked. "He got cute."
Hayden rolled her eyes, but her face cracked a bit as she couldn't help but agree, begrudgingly.
Liam found a smile creep his way onto him as he kept walking off.
Stiles may have heard that he had come back to town but he was still shocked when he walked into Satomi's home and found Ethan Steiner standing off in the Alpha's study.
"Ethan…what are you doing here?"
He rose his eyebrows at that one. "What am I doing here? Weren't you the one looking for me? You went to Satomi and asked for her to send feelers out to try and find me."
Stiles rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, I didn't know where you were after…" A small bit of discomfort, and guilt started to build at the sight of him.
"Aiden," Ethan muttered, feeling a fresh wave of grief as he thought of his twin brother.
Stiles' jaw tightened a bit. "You just left without a word to anybody."
"Yeah, there wasn't a reason to stay anymore," he said gruffly.
"Right…but I thought you would, I don't know, give me a call or send me an e-mail or something. Not come all the way back to town."
"Believe me, we didn't want to come back here."
"I didn't ask you t-" Stiles stopped and then narrowed his eyes. "Wait, did you say we?"
"What?"
"We. You said, 'we didn't want to come back here'. Are you here with somebody?"
"What did you need to find me for Stiles?" Ethan said, impatiently. He had forgotten how annoying this guy could get.
Stiles let his face grow serious. "I wanted to ask for your help."
"Do you? You know, I've been hearing some crazy stories and rumors about what's been happening after I left. If you were trying to ask if I could help you fight against these mix and match freaks showing up-"
Stiles cut him off. "That's not it. I needed to ask you some stuff."
"About what?"
"About your pack. Your old one, before you and your brother joined up with Deucalion. And the alpha you two killed to get your power."
Ethan rose his eyebrows up. That was honestly the last thing he expected. "Why?"
Stiles' face hardened. "Because, there is a werewolf here who claims to have been turned by him. And you're the only one who could prove for me once and for all that he's lying."
Lydia was sitting in her room, staring at her reflection in her vanity mirror, which was decorated with different photos of all her friends, when she saw Jordan slowly stepping inside holding two mugs of coffee. He moved over and held one out for her.
"Thanks," she said, accepting it. "I'm glad you decided to come over."
"I'm glad I did too." Jordan moved to sit in the chair beside as he set his coffee down and gently look at her. "So, you saw a repressed memory?"
"It was my grandmother. At Eichen House. She was…lying in a tub, with a hole in her head. It looked like, a drill had done it."
"Trepanation," Jordan muttered lightly.
She nodded. "And my mother was there. When she noticed me, she started yelling and moved to take me away. I guess…seeing my grandmother like that. With that dazed look on her face, I must've tried very hard to forget it. And I did."
"Until the book brought it back," he finished.
"Yeah…not exactly what I was hoping to remember though."
"I know. You wanted to find out what the Dread Doctors did to you during your surgery."
Lydia took a look over at her mirror and her eyes flew to a picture of Stiles. The image was of him smiling and waving at the camera, but she then blinked and the image changed to have him covered in blood. Lydia's widened her eyes before she blinked again, and the photo went back to normal.
"Unless that wasn't a memory," she said.
"What wasn't?" Jordan asked her.
"The surgery. What if that wasn't a memory I was seeing, but a vision."
"You mean, a banshee's vision?"
"Yeah. A vision of someone else's memory."
He nodded. "A chimera…one that might be about to die."
She nodded back.
At that moment, out on the streets in front of the house, sat Jackson in his Porsche. He was watching the house and happened to be listening in. A mixture of sadness and happiness was displayed on his face. Sadness that he never talked or was there for Lydia. Appreciated her for the smart and caring person she really was, underneath the ditzy, ice queen facade she used to play up. Though the two of them hadn't been together for a while, he still cared about her. And a part of him will always love her. But, he understood that he didn't deserve her. That's why he was also a little happy. Because it sounded like she now had someone that talked to her like the smart person she really was and treated her well. Lydia deserved to have someone good in her life and he accepted that it was never going to be him. He then started the Porsche up and drove off. It was time to pick Ethan up and leave.
Scott was sitting in the locker room, staring at the inhaler in his hands. He had an asthma attack. A real asthma attack. He hadn't had one for almost two years now. It was one thing that he actually didn't miss since he had turned into a werewolf. Scott had long stopped carrying one around. He never thought he would ever have to use one again. And there was only one thing he could think of to explain how it could've happened.
There was some movement at the corner of his eye and he saw that it was just Theo, with an uneasy sort of look on his face. After his little encounter with Malia he had come to shower and change and was happy that Scott was there, alone, and from the looks of things, depressed. No doubt from the asthma attack he heard he suffered no doubt due to the effects of the book. Perfect opening.
"You gonna be okay?" he asked in concern as he stopped a few paces from him.
"Yeah," Scott muttered. "I just think it was the memory hitting me. Psychosomatic thing."
Theo went into his locker to get some of his stuff. "You sure you're alright?"
He nodded quickly. "Yeah, I'm okay. It's over now. Probably just freak thing."
"Well, just know that if you need to talk or, anything-"
Theo let his eyes emit their golden glow and Scott found himself staring at them, letting himself become calm. The glow then dimmed but Theo kept his gaze locked on Scott who started to nod.
"Yeah, thanks Theo," Scott said roughly before he cleared his throat. "Did you want to talk about something?"
Theo shook his head. "No, it can wait."
"No, no, it's okay," Scott insisted. He needed something to distract him right now. "What's up?"
Theo moved to pull out his phone. "Uh, last night, you guys all fell asleep. And I went upstairs to check on Kira. She was sleeping, but-"
"You heard her speaking Japanese," Scott finished.
A few times, when Kira stayed over with him and they would sleep together, Scott would awaken and hear Kira mumbling in her sleep. Mumbling in Japanese. Not only that, Kira also had spoken Japanese at Sinema when she tried to attack Lucas.
"I didn't just hear it. I recorded it."
He then played the file of her speaking. She was repeating the same phrase over and over.
Scott nodded. "That's what she said at the club."
"I found a website that could translate it. It means, roughly: I am the messenger of Death." That made Scott gasp and look away. "Does it get worse?"
"Uh, yeah. She's got this aura around her. It's hard to explain, but, it's supposed to be part of her. But now it looks different. It looks like its taking control of her. I don't know…something's happening. And to be honest…"
"What?" Theo pressed.
"I don't know if I can trust her anymore," he sighed out.
Scott couldn't help but feel that it was easier to talk to Theo about this than it had been with Stiles. Stiles had gotten angry with him when he tried talking with him about what was going on with Kira. And he still didn't understand why. The reaction from Theo however, it was worry. Theo was as worried as he was about Kira.
His thoughts were interrupted when the lights began flickering. Just like it had been before in the hallway. But, Kira wasn't around this time. Suddenly, Scott began to hear a distant sound. It sounded like electrical buzzing and water dripping.
"I hear it too," Theo told him.
"It's coming from the basement."
They moved to run off to the basement and came upon some wires and fuses shredded and shorting out. Sparks were being shot out and the places were the wiring was cut and torn out.
"This definitely isn't Kira," he said over the sounds of electricity shorting out.
"It's a Chimera," Theo gasped.
Scott knew that the others would still be around so he went to go and find them yet the only person he and Theo found was Malia.
"Where's Kira?" he asked her when they found her.
"She's with her dad," she told him.
"And Stiles?" Theo asked.
"He went to the hospital to meet with Lydia," she said, not looking at him. She still was feeling a bit awkward and uneasy from their little meeting earlier.
"What are they doing there?"
"Lydia went there to try and figure out what happened during her surgery. Stiles said that he just got there but it looks like the hospital is having power problems. He's looking into it."
At that, Scott and Theo shared a look before they started to pick up the pace in leaving the school. Malia was taken a little aback but moved to follow after them.
At the hospital roof, by the generator, a teen named Josh Diaz was ripping through the wires. With his teeth. Razor sharp teeth that he was using to chew through them, sucking up and feeding on the electricity. Sparks flew out from the generator and the lights on the roof flickered furiously.
Lydia opened the door to the operating room where she had been taken to during her surgery with an uneasy look on her face. The room was empty and quiet, not to mention dark. There was barely any light so she moved to turn on the lights, but nothing happened when she flipped the switch. She toggled it a bit before she realized that the power in the room must be out.
"Great," she sighed. It looked like she would have to do this in the dark, as if her nerves weren't heightened enough.
She eyed the operating table and swallowed before she started to approach it, slowly. The heart monitor nearby was on and it seemed to be letting out steady beeps, even though there was no one there. Lydia moved closer to it, until her face was practically in front of it. Her ears began to hear something that sounded like…whispering. It seemed to sound out in sync with the beeps. Lydia let her ear press flat against the screen, trying to hear and make sense of what it was she was hearing.
It was a boy's voice. It sounded distant but she then heard some deep breathing from behind her. Lydia turned over and saw the Dread Doctors over the operating table, where there was a teenager strapped to it. Josh Diaz. He was staring at the tongs the Surgeon held in his hand.
"Please, don't hurt me," Josh pleaded.
The Surgeon didn't heed it and moved to place it at Josh's side where he began to peel his skin back, revealing a faint blue, reptilian looking skin underneath.
"Your condition worsens," he said, as he and the Geneticist and Pathologist bared down on him.
Lydia stared at the scene, too horrified to move.
Liam had gone off to Sinema to try and give some more money to Hayden but she was trying her hardest to try and shake him off. He was more determined than ever, after overhearing hers and her sister's conversation back at school.
"Just take it, it's $25," he said, holding it up to her.
She let out a frustrated breath at him. "Liam, please stop."
Hayden then moved to try and get back to trying to help get the club ready but Liam kept shadowing after her.
"I promised that I would pay you back."
"It doesn't matter now." She then cast a look over at her boss who was in the middle of interviewing a guy that wanted to be a new stripper for the club. "Phil takes half of it anyway."
She headed out for the back but Liam followed after her.
"Look, I know it's for your medication. So please, just take the money."
She stopped and looked back at him. "No. It wasn't your fault."
Her tone was not hostile, but gentle and Liam felt guilty at the sound of it.
"I punched you in the face," he argued.
Hayden let out a small laugh. "I meant the shots."
He blinked. "Oh."
Hayden couldn't help but think that he really did look cute, being all flustered and awkward like that. And she started to understand what that blonde girl must've been feeling before she hugged and kissed him. "It's for mycophenolate. It's for a kidney transplant I had a few years ago. I work here so my sister doesn't have to pay for all of it. Now, could you just forget about it?"
Liam froze. He had no idea about any of that. "Does Phil really take half?" he asked as she moved to get back to work.
She scoffed. "And never stops bragging about it. Just listen to him," she said, pointing her chin at him as he was still talking to the new stripper.
Liam let himself hear what Phil was talking about and he heard that he was indeed bragging. Bragging about how his employees wouldn't say anything about him stiffing them because they were all too young to be selling alcohol. But then Liam realized that Hayden was a teenager. Making her a potential candidate for one of the Dread Doctors' chimeras.
"Hey, can I ask you to do something for me?"
"What?" she asked.
"Close your eyes."
"Are you kidding?" she snorted.
"Please," he said gently to her.
"No," she told him.
"Just for two seconds. I swear, I'm not gonna do anything."
"Why?"
"All you have to do is close your eyes for three seconds."
"You said two."
He rolled his eyes. "Okay, well, three. Three at most."
"This is stupid," she said to him, but closed her eyes regardless.
Liam moved to grab one of the glow sticks from her tray. "Just one second," he said, as he turned it on. He just hoped that he was just being paranoid. He held the stick up to her face. "Okay, open them," he told her.
Hayden then opened her eyes, and Liam saw that there was a faint reflective glow to them. His face fell as he stared at them.
Hayden was a chimera.
Making his way to the hospital, Stiles quickly went to find Scott's mom.
"You're looking for Lydia?" she asked as they walked down a corridor together.
"Yeah," he sighed out heavily. "She left me a message. Said she was heading here. Something about it not being a repressed memory she had seen during her surgery. I came to see if I could help."
Melissa tilted her head a bit. "Hey Stiles, are you okay?" The kid seemed a bit lackluster to how he usually was.
"What? Yeah, yeah, I'm just a little tired. It's been a long day." He felt a little wiped after his meeting with Ethan. A lot had been said and heard during their talk, and his mind was still half dwelling on it all.
"Maybe you should go home and get some sleep," she lightly suggested to him.
"I will, yeah, after I'm done helping Lydia here."
"Well, I did see her about a half hour ago. She was looking for the room where she was taken for her surgery." The lights above them started to flicker furiously and some of them went out. Some of the nearby nurses looked nervous. "Don't worry, we'll still have auxiliary power."
Stiles sighed as he rested his hands on his hips. "Did Lydia bring Kira with her?" he asked in a light, teasing tone.
She shook her head. "No, she came alone."
Stiles then narrowed his eyes as his mind went back to earlier today. When the lights flickered over them at school and Kira had told him and Scott that it wasn't her. And how she said it wasn't her again at the library. At the time, he thought she was just embarrassed or anxious about it. But, with it happening here too, when she wasn't there, what if it really hadn't been her fault?
He then pointed up to the still flickering lights. "How long have the lights been doing that?"
"Uh, a little over an hour," she answered. Her face fell and she started to grow concerned when she saw a very familiar look on his face. One that always was focused on trouble. "Why?"
"I think I better call Malia. And you should probably call Scott."
After he called his girlfriend and told her what was happening, Stiles decided to head up to the roof and check out the generator himself. He hoped he was just getting paranoid, but before when there are power troubles in this hospital, it usually has a supernatural reason. One that almost always leads to pain and death.
As he got into the elevator and the doors closed behind him, he got a sudden chill and felt that he wasn't alone. He turned around and saw a woman in a hospital gown. The woman was…strange. Her long brown hair was covering her face, and she didn't seem to react to Stiles in front of her. When the elevator stopped, she slowly began to step out of it. There was something about this woman. He began to slowly move to keep her in his sight. As she moved through the halls, no one seemed to be moving or reacting but Stiles hardly noticed. His attention was on this woman and where she seemed to be leading him. He didn't know why, but Stiles felt a sinking feeling building in his gut that seemed to grow deeper every moment he watched her. When she turned a corner, the hair on her face brushed away and Stiles caught the full glimpse of her face, and he gasped.
"Mom," he muttered.
He then picked up his pace as he went after her. His mom disappeared down a door and Stiles followed after her and found himself on the roof, where she was standing on the ledge.
"Mom, what are you doing?" he asked, horrified.
"Claudia!"
Stiles looked over and his eyes widened as he saw his dad moving over for her. "Dad?" he mumbled as he saw his dad slowly approaching her.
"What are you doing up here?" he asked her.
His mom turned around to look down at his dad with a tired but scared look on her face. "I couldn't stand to be in that room anymore. Not with him looking at me like that."
His dad helped her move away from the ledge and take hold of her. "Claudia," he tried.
"He's trying to hurt me," she gasped as she broke away from him. "I don't care if you don't believe me, but he is. He's trying to kill me."
Stiles stared at the scene, with his face paling and his throat seizing up.
His dad moved to take her hand. "No, that's not true," he told her gently. "Now, come on down." She looked down at him before she finally let him help her get down. They then moved to embrace. "You have to remind yourself it's the disease," he gently told her, holding her in his arms. "Remember what the dementia does? It gives you delusions. It makes you think people are out to get you."
"No," she said shaking her head. "You don't see the way he looks at me."
At that, Stiles began to blink rapidly, as some tears began to swell in his eyes.
"Claudia, he's 10 years old," his dad tried to reason with her.
"He's trying to kill me," she cried at him.
She suddenly looked over, at him. Seeing the look of fear and pain in her face, Stiles felt the tears begin to drop and he moved to try and wipe them away. As he ducked his head, he caught the sight of his shadow, but it seemed smaller. The kind of shadow one would find on a small child. He then realized what this was. This was a memory. A lost memory.
"Stop!' her mother shouted, making him look back up at her. "Stop looking at me like that. Stop it!" she screamed at him. She struggled against his dad's grip but she broke free from him and ran at him. "Stop looking at me!"
"Mom, what are do-" Stiles cried as his mom started to slap and push at him.
Stiles tried to hold his ground but he lost his footing and fell to the ground. He kept crying at his mom to stop attacking him but the image of her started to blur and was replaced by a teen with razor sharp teeth and fangs. He then roared at him, making Stiles snap back to reality. It was a chimera. He brought his feet back and pushed them at the chimera, making him tumble back, away from him. Stiles quickly moved to get back to his feet, at the same time the chimera did. Stiles slowly lifted his head to reveal his teary face with now glowing blue eyes and his own set of fangs. A small, pained growl sounded from his throat.
Scott, Malia and Theo walked into the hospital and they could see that the lights inside were dimmed and there was some flickering in a few of them.
Scott turned to look at the two of them. "Okay, you guys find Stiles and Lydia. I'm gonna find my mom." He then went off to find her.
Malia and Theo went off in another direction until they came upon a fork.
"Hey," Theo told her. "We should split up. You keep looking around here, I'll check upstairs."
She nodded. "Okay."
As Malia went off, Theo let a small smirk fall on his face as his eyes went up.
As Scott headed for his mom's station, he turned a corner and came across the Geneticist. Before he had a chance to react, the Dread Doctor went and grabbed him, slamming him into the wall. As he was held there by his throat, the Geneticist moved his other hand, which started generating sparks, and brought it right into his chest. Scott gasped as he felt electricity flooding into his body, shocking his heart and lungs. His eyes widened as he realized that he couldn't breathe. He tried to get to his inhaler but it fumbled in his fingers and fell to the ground. The Geneticist then threw down to the floor. Scott grabbed at his chest and he rolled over to look over at his dropped inhaler. He reached for it desperately but the Geneticist went and stomped on it, breaking it into pieces. Scott grew more afraid as he felt it even harder to breathe and his gasps were getting more louder and desperate. The Geneticist stomped over and grabbed at Scott's throat and lifted him up into the air. Scott was trying to kick and pull himself away but he felt his strength leaving him as he dangled helplessly in the Dread Doctor's grip.
The elevator nearby opened and Malia stepped out of them, letting out a roar. Next to her, Melissa McCall gasped as she saw her son getting chocked to death before her eyes. Malia ran for the doctor, making him let Scott go so that he could avoid the assault from the werecoyote. As soon as Scott hit the ground, Melissa ran over and move to pull her son to safety.
"Scott, c'mon let's go," she said as they ran off to the side. Her heart grew heavy as she heard the way he was breathing.
Scott collapsed after a few feet and he saw his mom pull out some kind of syringe. "Wait, what is that?"
"A bronchodilator, trust me, it'll work." She then moved to inject it into his leg.
Scott felt the stab from it before his insides began to deflate from the injection. After a few seconds, his breathing began to ease up.
Malia was trying to land a blow but nothing seemed to connect as the Geneticist either avoided or blocked every strike. Then, the doctor went and grabbed at her throat. He moved to send a blow at her head but Malia managed to slip out of his grip just in time. As Melissa yelled at her to run, she began to back away and head off for the elevator. The Dread Doctor stomped after her as Scott watched fearfully as he got closer. Malia threw herself into the elevator and Melissa moved to close the doors as soon as she got through. The three of them grew scared as the doors began to close but the Geneticist grew closer. He was reaching for them but the doors managed to shut barely a second before he could get to them. They heard a deep clang from where the Geneticist impacted against the door but the elevator had already begun to move.
The three of them let out deep sighs of relief at the fact that they somehow managed to get away.
"We never should have read that book," Scott gasped out.
Malia let herself lean back into the wall in response.
On the roof, Stiles and Josh were tumbling around as they fought each other. Stiles threw a punch at Josh's head that made him stumble back a bit and the chimera got frustrated and let out a growl. He ran for Stiles but he moved and threw Josh off to the side, flipping him onto his back. He couldn't be more thankful for all that sparring practice he had gotten during the summer with Satomi. She had used that move on him more times than one. Stiles moved to try and grab Josh but the guy grabbed at Stiles' leg. Before Stiles could move to try and shake him off, he felt jolts of electricity flood into it and he seized up. Stiles let out a pained scream as he felt himself begin to burn up from the inside out. Josh then threw a kick at Stiles' chest and sent him flying off to a corner of the roof. His body began to smoke a bit as he felt all the nerves of his body firing off like firecrackers. Stiles' fangs and claws disappeared as he felt like his body was made of lead and couldn't move. As Josh got up and stomped for him, Stiles helplessly watched as the chimera moved to grab at his sweater. His eyes widened as he saw Josh bring out his claws, ready to rip him apart.
But before he could, his hand was grabbed. They looked over and saw Theo, fully shifted, and he roared. Theo then moved and threw Josh off, into the opposite end of the roof. Theo then ran and started striking at him. Josh began to fight back and managed to knock Theo off his feet, before slamming his foot down on his wrist.
From where Stiles laid, he couldn't help but appreciate that move, as it was one he had used on hunters before, and wondered if he should've done that at the start.
Theo snapped out of it and used his other hand to push Josh away before getting back to his feet. Josh moved to try and stab Theo with his claws but he moved to catch his wrist before he used his other hand to send some hard and quick punches into the chimera's gut. Theo felt this had gone on long enough and quickly grabbed at Josh's neck. His gold eyes glared at him for a moment before he moved and tore his jugular out, sending blood everywhere. Theo's hand was dripping in blood as he watched Josh's feet give out and he fell to the ground, choking on his own blood.
Stiles felt himself getting feeling back in his body and he moved to try and get back to his feet, but stopped to look down at the sight of Josh on the ground, jerking as his eyes dimmed before he just stopped moving. He couldn't help but remember the night with Donovan. How he stared back at him with a pole impaled in his chest before his life left him. Suddenly, the numbness that Stiles had felt seemed to burn away and he found himself firmly back on his feet as he kept staring at Josh's body.
"Stiles," he heard Theo saying. The guy was still shifted, with his gold eyes looking pleadingly at him. "Please, don't say anything. You can't say anything."
"Why not?" he asked suspiciously.
"Because, I never said anything about Donovan."
A/N: Things are heating up now. Theo's slowly getting deeper and deeper into everyone's heads, especially Malia's. I hope you liked the return of Ethan and Jackson. With Stiles' new lupine connections, it made sense that he would try to use them in any way he could. And, I thought a meeting between Ethan and Stiles would be overdue as the last time they were together was when Aiden was killed fighting the Nogitsune wearing Stiles' face. In the finale, all we had was some brief awkwardness with Stiles and Jackson when they met again.
I would also like to take this time to point out how easily judgmental Scott was during all of this. The book revealed dark and deep seated issues that had been repressed and forgotten for each of them but Scott's was pretty tame in comparison to the others. It's like he was spoiled that the memories he blocked out and forgot involved an accident with his pet compared to lobotomies, murder attempts by a mother, getting dosed by the Dread Doctors, and a mother in dementia blaming her young son for trying to kill her. Though, I plan for the book to reveal something else to Scott that, if he's smart enough, he'll be able to connect back to…well everything that's happened to him and Stiles in this town.
