Chapter 19: Strange Frequencies part 2
Cora opened her door and Ruben walked in, gladly though awkwardly. He had his hands stuffed in his pockets as he stepped in while Cora closed the door behind him. His eyes went about as he took their condo in. They slowly strolled into the living room where her books were still open on the table in front of the sofa. The baby and her carrier she had already moved off back to his room.
"Glad you decided to let me in," he said softly as he stopped in their kitchen.
"Yeah, well," she trailed off. Cora could sense that Ruben was a bit nervous. To be honest, she was a little nervous too. It wasn't like this was her first time alone with a boy, but it was the first time that she'd been in this…situation. As cliché as it was, having a boy over to help with homework, she had never done that before. "Uh, would you like something to drink?" she decided to ask.
"Yeah, just some water."
"Okay, just make yourself at home."
Ruben went and sat down and started to absentmindedly drum his fingers on his laps as his eyes wandered around. "You've got a nice place here," he said out to her.
"Thanks." She then came back with a bottle of water. I'm sure it's not as nice as yours. You live out by Flushing Meadows, right?"
Flushing Meadows was a small suburban house district. Most of the richest families in the area lived there
"Yeah," Ruben nodded. "But, I hope you don't hold that against me. To be honest, I can't stand most of my neighbors. Nothing but self-absorbed jackasses."
Cora let a small giggle escape. "Oh, I'll bet."
The two of them then settled in and Ruben began to help her get through the hard parts of the assignment. Cora found that she might just finish the paper by the end of the night. After about a half hour, Ruben was letting himself lean back into the sofa, getting more comfortable.
"So, you said you lived with your brother? Where is he?"
"Huh? Oh yeah, he's out with a friend tonight."
"A friend? Or a friend?" he asked pointedly.
"To be honest, I don't think even he knows." She let a small smile creep in. "But, I hope he ends up spending the night."
"Are you trying to play matchmaker for your brother?"
Cora rolled her eyes. "No, but I've seen him do worse. With this one, he honestly couldn't do better. And I really like her too. I would like to see her around more."
He straightened himself up a bit. "Yeah? And…is she the only one you'd like around more?"
She looked towards him and they just stared at each other. It could've been for a few seconds or a few minutes, neither were sure. All they knew is that one moment, they were staring at each other and then were starting to lean in closer. But before they could get too close, there was a sudden bout of crying coming from upstairs that made them jolt apart.
"What's that?" asked Ruben.
Scott, Malia, her father Henry, Liam and Hayden were standing in the school parking lot and watched as Lydia's car began to pull in and she along with Parrish got out and immediately went over to the trunk to pull out the jammers that they had spent a good part of the day working on. Malia and her dad moved to eye the jammers.
Henry picked one up and turned it around in his hands. "These will work?"
"We hope so," answered Lydia. "We know that the Dread Doctors are able to move about on their own frequency, so this might help keep them away."
"At the very least, make it hard for them to stick around if they do come," Jordan threw in.
"We're really betting our lives on these?" Malia said as she fumbled around with one of them.
"I think we're betting Hayden's life on them," Lydia said uncomfortably.
"Yeah, well, I'm glad I brought my gun," said Jordan.
"Me too," Henry said pulling on the strap to his shotgun.
Since Henry had told Malia about what he saw from reading the Dread Doctors book, and she telling him about what she saw on the road, the two had been keeping closer tabs on each other than ever. Malia had confided in him about the plan to protect Hayden at the school and he insisted on coming along, not wanting to leave his girl alone, and hopefully find some more answers.
As the four began to take the jammers out of the car, Scott stood out in wait with Liam and Hayden.
"What are we waiting for?" Hayden asked, feeling nervous by all of the silence.
Scott suddenly smiled as he poked his chin out into the distance. "For them."
Hayden turned to look over to where there were over a half dozen people walking out of the darkness towards them. Two of them were Brett and his sister Lori while at the center stood Satomi.
"Heard you needed some help," Satomi said to them softly.
Soon enough, after heading inside the school, everyone split off to secure it. Lydia and Parrish moved off to set up the jammers in key locations while Satomi's betas split off to patrol the halls and set up a perimeter alongside Malia and her father. In the boys locker room, Hayden was sitting down at a bench, staring at her folded hands, while Liam, Brett and Lori were there to watch her.
Lori looked over at Liam talking in a hushed tone with her brother. She could feel the anxiousness coming off him. And, every other second, he threw a worried and concerned look Hayden's way. And there seemed to be something…softer as he looked at her as well. It made Lori's stomach begin churning a bit and she found herself walking over to Hayden.
"Hey," she said, making Hayden look up at her. "Try to relax. Being so worked up is not going to help."
Hayden sighed deeply before clearing her throat. "So, you and your brother, your werewolves too?" she asked awkwardly.
"Uh huh," she said simply with a nod.
"And how long were you…turned?"
"Our whole lives. My brother and I were born this way."
Hayden's eyes widened. "What? You're joking."
"Do you hear me laughing?" Lori asked sarcastically.
Hayden rolled her eyes. "Give me a break. Just yesterday I didn't think werewolves were even real. Now, I'm in school, surrounded by them. I didn't ask for this."
That made Lori's deflate a bit. "Yeah…" she mumbled off. Her head dropped a bit. It wasn't fair to be angry with Hayden. She didn't ask for any of this. Lori then moved to sit down next to her. "I'm sorry."
Hayden looked over and caught her eye. "Thanks. And, I'm sorry too."
"For what?"
"I've noticed you, especially around..." She trailed off, moving her gaze over to where Liam was standing with Brett.
Lori followed her vision and let her gaze fall on Liam too. "Oh, yeah."
"Are you two-?"
Lori shook her head. "Honestly, I don't know. I'd like to think we could be."
"With that hothead?" Hayden said, trying to jest.
Lori let out a small chuckle. "Yeah well, there's a lot more to him you'd think."
Hayden let out a deep sigh. "Yeah, I've actually started to figure that out." Her face then lightened a bit. "Though, he still seems as clueless as ever."
"Yeah, well he is a guy. They are always clueless, werewolf or not," Lori smiled.
And as she smiled, Hayden seemed to let herself smile herself. They then began to giggle with each other.
Liam looked over at Hayden again and found that Lori was now with her, and the two of them were starting to laugh a little together. He was tempted to listen in on them but a finger snapped in front of his face, making him blink away.
"Hey, you still there Casanova?" Brett said, pulling his hand back.
"Huh," he said snapping out of it. "Yeah, of course. What are you talking about?"
"Hayden. I thought you told me at the club that there was nothing there."
"There isn't." That just made Brett raise an eyebrow at him. "Well, I thought there wasn't. Then, well, all this happened to her and...I don't know," he trailed off.
Brett rolled his eyes. "Ever the dashing hero swooping in to rescue the damsel in distress. Just don't hurt my sister."
"I would never hurt her," Liam quickly told him.
"Yeah, well, it's clear you're going to have to hurt someone," he told him as he looked over at his sister and Hayden.
Liam let his own eyes fall back on the girls. Who said anyone had to get hurt? It wasn't like he and Hayden were going to become a thing after this. After all, he didn't like her like he liked Lori...right? Brett then pulled him out of his thoughts as they moved to begin blocking some of the doors into the locker room.
Satomi were roaming the halls, checking to see if everyone was ready and where they should be, when she stopped as she spotted Scott standing in an empty classroom.
Scott had been standing in the AP Biology classroom, knowing that he wouldn't be taking the class anymore. As he stood there, his mind went off to what he heard at the hospital the other night. Stiles was getting a full ride to Georgetown University, complete with both an academic and lacrosse scholarship. Scott thought it was great that Stiles has such an opportunity under his belt, but he still couldn't help but feel...resentful. With all of this going on, Scott couldn't find the time to handle all of this extra work, and yet Stiles now has a real opportunity to go to one of the finest schools in the country. Ever since their sophomore year, how is it that this werewolf stuff always seems to get in the way of his life but not seem to hinder Stiles' at all? In spite of it all, Stiles is able to keep his grades high while he had to go to summer school to keep his own ones decent, twice. Scott couldn't help but think it all unfair.
"Scott?"
Scott was broken out of his stance to look at Satomi staring at him. "Uh, hey Satomi."
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah," he said, before clearing his throat. "Just thinking about some stuff."
"Well, I thought you should know that I have my betas spread out at all the major ways leading to the locker room. We'll have this school locked up tight."
"Great," he sighed out. Scott couldn't help but feel some of the weight from all this lessen a bit. This just might actually work tonight. "Thank you for helping us do this."
"Yes well, my pack and I have our own personal stake in this business with the Dread Doctors."
He nodded. "Do you know anything more about them?"
She shook her head. "I know about as much as you do, I'm afraid."
"Well, hopefully they won't be able to get in here."
"But if they do, my pack and I are ready for them. This is personal for us."
"Because of Wilson? I know how much he meant to you and your pack."
Satomi let herself take a calming breath as the image of his smiling face came to her. "You know, he was the first beta I made after I turned to Buddhism. It was just under nine years ago when I first met him. He was just a kid living out on the streets back then. As he grew into his powers and into the pack, I felt he was becoming the perfect one to become my Second." Her expression then started to get a little ugly. "And now one or more of those Doctors' monstrosities have taken him away from us. If they do manage to show up, I will find out what happened to him."
"And then what?" he asked her hesitantly.
She let her eyes lock on to Scott's. "Then I'll do my duty as Wilson's Alpha. Just as the others will do their duty as Wilson's packmate."
Scott could read what Satomi was saying just fine. Whichever chimera or chimeras had killed Wilson, Satomi would return the action in turn. Get revenge. But Scott wouldn't have that. These chimeras were all victims. What was happening to them wasn't their fault. "Well, I don't think we have to take it that far," said Scott. "I'm sure there's another way."
"I'm sorry Scott. You've have yet to be an Alpha for a full year. I've been one for almost ten years. You wouldn't understand and I pray that you never have to. But I will tell you right now, one Alpha to another, that being one doesn't mean that everything you do will make you feel good and clean. Sometimes you will have to do things that make you feel horrid and filthy. And you have to prepare yourself for that. Still, you do what you feel you have to and I'll do what I feel I have to."
Scott left Satomi to head into the locker room to see that the others had blocked all ways save for one door and secured the room. Lydia was setting up the jammer and placing it in one of the lockers nearby.
"It's ready?" he asked her.
"Yeah, it is," she sighed as she left it there. Lydia then moved to pull Scott off to the side. "Is it me or is Liam not aware of the second part of the plan?"
"I'm still not sure if there's going to be a second part," he told her quietly.
"Or if it's going to work."
"What are you two talking about?" Liam suddenly asked, making him and Lydia look over at him. He had heard what the two of them just whispered. Liam then let his eyes fall on Scott's bag and he moved over for it.
"Liam, wait," Scott said after him.
But Liam didn't stop. He reached the bag and opened it to find it full with chains.
"What were you going to do with these?" he asked them.
Scott sighed. "I brought them just in case."
"In case of what?"
"In case we had a chance to catch one of them," Lydia answered for him.
"What?"
"If we can't make the school a fortress then maybe we can make it a trap," Scott moved to explain.
Liam then narrowed his eyes a bit. "They're coming for her," he said, nodding over at Hayden. "Does that mean that she's the bait?"
At that, Scott looked over to see Hayden staring horrified at him.
"Liam, we brought her here to protect her," Lydia tried to say calmly to him.
But it didn't calm him in the slightest. "And now she's bait," he all but spat out.
"Am I?" Hayden sputtered out.
"No one's bait," Scott quickly said to her before turning to Liam. "But we can't be bodyguards to everyone every night."
"Then why aren't we talking to Stiles' dad?" asked Liam. "Why aren't we doing something better than hiding in a school?"
Brett and Lori hung in the background, awkwardly watching Liam arguing with his Alpha.
"Because we still don't know anything about them or what they want, okay?" They're winning and we don't even know what the game is."
"And what if they come in here and those things don't work?" Liam asked, pointing off at the jammer set up in the room. "What if you have an asthma attack? What are we going to do?"
Scott's jaw tightened up a bit. "I don't know," he admitted.
Liam stiffened. "This plan sucks!"
Scott then narrowed his eyes at him. "You got a better one? Kids are dying and she's next! So, somebody has to do something. Somebody has to save everyone, so somebody has got to be the bait!" he roared at him.
Lydia, Brett and Lori looked at Scott in shock while Liam glared at him. Scott let himself deflate a bit. This was starting to weigh on him. He just didn't want any more death. Why couldn't anyone around him seem to understand that?
Liam let himself settle a bit though he was still a little heated. He told Hayden that she would be safe with him and his pack watching her. He needed her safe. He needed to keep his promise. "Scott," he finally said. "Promise me, you'll do everything you can to save her." Scott seemed hesitant for a moment. "Scott," he said more gently and desperately. "Promise."
Scott nodded. "I'll do everything I can. I promise."
It had almost been an hour since either Stiles or Theo said anything. Stiles was just staring at the camera, absentmindedly making circular patterns on the dash. Theo noticed and saw that Stiles seemed to be spinning his left index finger one way for a few rotations before he went and spun his finger in the opposite direction. His eyes narrowed. It looked like Stiles was making the same kind of pattern. A pattern he'd could've sworn he'd seen before. Theo pulled out his phone and started to cycle through his photos before he came to the one he took at the library. Of the desk that had spirals. An inverted double spiral getting scratched into it…by claws.
"Hey Stiles," he tried calling out. He looked over and saw him just looking straight on ahead at the clinic. Stiles acted like Theo hadn't just spoken. "What, are you just going to stare off and just try ignore me all night?"
"That was the hope," he muttered, still staring off ahead.
"You wanted to try talking earlier."
"Change of heart."
Theo shrugged it off and put the screen out in front of him. "Does this mean anything to you?"
Stiles let his eyes move to the screen. As soon as he saw what seemed to be some kind of double spiral, his finger froze as he blinked at it. He then cleared his throat. "No, why?"
"Because you've been scratching it on your dash for the last ten minutes."
Stiles leaned over and saw that there were faint scratches on the dash that seemed to be in the shape of that spiral. Stiles had seen this mark before. He had scratched it into a card that he left for the Calaveras early in the year.
"What does it mean?" Theo asked him.
"Where did you find that?" Stiles asked him.
"It had been scratched into one of the tables in the library. Did you do that?"
"Uh…I don't know."
"How long has this been going on?" Stiles didn't answer him. He just let his focus go back to the screen showing the clinic. After a few moments, Theo tried to talk to him again. "Are you still wondering why I haven't said anything to Scott?"
"Maybe," Stiles stiffly said.
"You think I have some kind of ulterior motive?"
"The thought crossed my mind."
Theo turned to look at him. "Would you believe me if I said that all I want, all I've ever wanted, is for you guys to trust me?"
"Nope," he answered, not bothering to look at him. He would never believe that about Theo. The guy was blackmailing him. People who want trust don't do that.
"So you're here because you're never going to trust me?"
"Yeah. Glad we cleared that up," he said, briefly looking over to smile at him before looking back at the surveillance screen.
Theo let himself just smile and deflate. "You know who you remind me of?"
"Don't know, and Theo, I really don't care," said Stiles as he rolled his eyes but kept them on the footage.
"My sister," he said as if Stiles hadn't said anything.
Stiles let himself look over at Theo to see the smile on his face as his mind went to his sister.
Theo continued. "Just like you, she was smarter than everyone. And she knew it, which made her a pain in the ass like you." That made Stiles roll his eyes, turning further away from him. "But, she always looked out for me. The same way you look out for Scott." That made Stiles give him a side glance before he looked back away. "You know, I was the one that found her body. She'd fallen into a creek, broken her leg. They told us she would've been okay if it wasn't one of the coldest nights of the year. If it wasn't for the hypothermia…and when I found her all I could think was that I should've known. That…I should've been looking for her."
Stiles couldn't resist the big heated and annoyed sigh at the end of all that. "Why are you telling me this?"
"I'm telling you this because even if you don't trust me, and even if you don't like me, I'm still going to be looking out for you…the way I should've been looking out for her."
Stiles let himself look away as he felt the showers of grief run off from Theo but it only made him narrow his eyes further in suspicion.
The hospital was quiet, at least quieter than it had been last night. Melissa was thankful for that as she didn't get too much sleep after that. For a while, her son had been going on about these so called 'Dread Doctors' but last night had been the first time she had seen one of them with her own eyes. You would think that after seeing a scaled Kanima hanging on a roof, a pack of mad Alphas, and Oni brandishing ninja swords, that she would feel ready to deal with anything by now. But, when she saw that…thing choking the life of her son in front of her, Melissa couldn't help but feel that these were the most frightening things yet. For what they looked like and what they were doing to so many people.
"Hey," a voice said, dragging her out of her deep thoughts.
She looked up and saw the Sheriff leaning on the other side of her desk. "Hey," she said back at him.
Noah gave her a knowing smile. "Deep in thought there huh?"
Melissa sighed. "Yeah, well…" She then blinked and shook herself out of it. "What brings you here?"
"A lead, hopefully. We still have some more chimeras out there."
"Yeah, Scott told me about Hayden."
"And about Josh too?"
Her face fell a bit. "Who?"
Noah quickly went and explained about how their boys had found another body of a chimera, the boy that currently was reported missing and was being watched by Stiles and Theo at this very moment.
"So, that's what happened to Stiles last night," she said when he was done. "You okay?"
"Hardly," he muttered a bit darkly. "This is getting out of control. Already, there have been at least seven of these chimeras, maybe eight if the kids are right about Donovan. And with the number of holes we found, there's still a handful of them left. And who knows if the Dread Doctors will have more on the way."
"But how can we find out who they are? It seems like their victims are being chosen at random."
"One thing I've learned in the last year, nothing's random." He then took out the Dread Doctors book to show to her. "This book, this is what I keep coming back to."
"But still no leads."
"Right, which started to make me wonder if I've been coming at it from the wrong direction."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, the whole time I've been looking at this, I've just been thinking "science fiction". But these guys, they're not Dread Scientists. They're Dread Doctors."
Melissa started to see where the Sheriff was trying to go with this. "So, now you've looking for a medical connection."
"Or medical condition. Something that Tracy, Lucas, Donovan, Hayden, all of the chimeras could've had in common."
"You're not asking me to hand over medical files without a court order, are you?"
Noah's face fell back a bit. "Uh, I would never ask you to do that."
Melissa felt that if anybody had just seen him just now, they would've perfectly seen the resemblance between him and his son Stiles.
"Good," she said with a nod. "Because then they just might go and take away this key card, which allows me access to medical records." She then pulled the card out for him to see.
Noah barely was able to conceal the smile from breaking out of him and just nodded. "That is good."
"Do you want to see how the key card works?"
Now the smile broke its way free from him. "I would love to see how the key card works."
Melissa moved to see that no one was watching before she smiled back at him. "Follow me."
As they walked off to the Records room, the two of them couldn't help but humorously wonder. Is this where their sons got this sneaking around from, or had their sons started to rub off on them?
They got to the room and started to go through the file cabinets until they found the files for each one of the chimeras. Noah decided that the best place to look at each one of these would be at the station so they decided to pack them up and head straight there. Once they were in his office, they started to pour through the files, trying to match up anything that was the same for all of them. After over an hour, Melissa moved away to give her eyes a break. She found that the Sheriff had a poster tacked to his wall of the lunar cycle.
"You know there is a full moon coming."
"Yeah," he sighed. "I know." He turned to stand by her. "I keep track of them now. I went and put that there after I realized just how big the job has gotten."
The two took a moment to share a look of understanding. Full moons seem to hit them now on both in their work lives and in their family lives.
Melissa then turned back to see the photos that were hanging underneath it. One of those photos was of Donovan Donati. "You don't think he's still alive, do you?"
"I wish I could say yes."
"You wish?" she asked incredibly as she went to sit down. "Isn't this the kid that threatened to stab you?"
"Yeah, but he was just a kid." He then looked at the other photos. They were all just kids. "More than anything else, a victim of circumstance."
"Matt was a kid too," Melissa said, looking at him with a far off look. "And a victim of circumstance. Didn't stop him from killing all those people. Or shooting Scott right in front of us."
"No, it didn't," Noah sighed as he moved to sit on his desk. He wasn't trying to excuse Donovan, he just couldn't help but sympathize for the kid. For what he was going through now, or what happened to him in the past. "You know, the day his father was shot. Donovan, he jumped right on his motorcycle to get to him. He was hit by a car two blocks from the hospital. So, while his father was finding out that a bullet had severed his spine, Donovan was being wheeled into surgery for internal bleeding."
"Wait," she said suddenly. Melissa then opened up Donovan's file. "Didn't you say something about a skin graft?"
"Yeah, that…that was Tracy," he said as he moved to grab her file. "Deaton said that there was a graft on her shoulder."
"Donovan had one too," she pointed out.
A connection.
"And the others?" asked Noah.
They then moved to quickly check on the others. But Melissa started shaking her head when she got to Lucas' file.
"No, there's nothing. No skin grafts for Lucas."
"It can't be a coincidence." They were on to something. He could feel it. "What else is there?"
"Well, the only other thing I noticed was that he was born with congenital glaucoma. But that's nothing like a skin graft."
"Okay, well what do they do for that? The glaucoma? He take medication?"
"It says here they did a corneal transplant a few years ago. It's a fairly routine outpatient procedure. It was an allogenic transplant taken from a recently deceased donor." But then Melissa's eyes narrowed as she froze in thought.
"What?"
"Tracy's skin graft was allogenic. That means taken from individuals of the same species."
"So was Donovan's," he said, looking down at his file.
"Both skin grafts and the cornea were taken from outside donors," Melissa realized. "Donovan, Tracy and Lucas had two sets of DNA."
"Chimeras," Noah said, now seeing the connection.
"They were all genetic chimeras to begin with."
That was it. That was why the Dread Doctors took these people. They were after those who already had more than one set of DNA in their systems to use in their experiments. That meant anyone who had transplants, genetic infusions of any kind, were all in danger.
Lydia was heading for Hayden's locker. Hayden realized that she had left her pills so she volunteered to go and get them. It should be safe enough with Satomi's pack still out there so she headed off to retrieve them for her. She was nearly there when she spotted movement at the corner of her eye. As she moved to get a better look, her eyes widened when she saw who it was.
"Tracy?"
The chimera was standing there, alive and well. Standing on the top of some stairs.
"Lydia, thank god," she gasped. "I need your help."
Lydia moved up the stairs for her. "What do you need? What can I do?"
Tracy then smiled sinisterly at her. "I need you to scream."
She then grabbed at Lydia and moved to rip out her tongue. Lydia began spitting up blood but found herself incapable of screaming or making any kind of sound at all. She then found her legs giving out and she fell down the stairs. She was holding her mouth as blood kept pouring out from where her tongue was torn out. Yet, Lydia was really just laying on the ground, with seemingly nothing wrong, as three familiar figures stepped into the school and began to walk off, passed her.
Kira was laying in bed as her mother was softly injecting acupuncture needles one by one. As the needles went in, Kira found that she could barely feel it when the needles punctured her skin. Yet, she still felt an uneasy feeling fill her as she laid there.
"Is this really going to work?" Kira asked her mom.
"The balance of power inside you is in conflict, the struggle between the fox and the human.," Noshiko softly said after she injected the latest needle. "Perhaps this will shift the power back into your hands." Noshiko noticed that her daughter still looked troubled. "Are you in pain?"
"No," she quickly told her. "I'm fine."
Noshiko could easily tell that she wasn't. While it didn't look like Kira was in pain, it was clear that she was still bothered.
"Your friends will be okay Kira. Satomi contacted me and assured me that she and her pack will do whatever they can to help."
Kira let out a small sigh. "I know…I just-"
"Want to help," her mother finished for her. Kira went silent and Noshiko went and softly ran her hand affectionately over the back of her head. Her daughter was hiding her face but Noshiko could see the guilt weighing on her shoulders. "I know it's hard Kira, but, you can't help your friends if you don't help yourself first."
Kira then nodded before she let herself sink further into her bed so that her mother could continue. Yet, she still felt that unease bubbling inside of her.
Outside of the house, hiding in the brush, was Courtney. Theo was angry with her, and he wasn't responding to any of her calls since last night. She was afraid that he was about to just cut her loose and she couldn't have that. He was the only one who got her, and who could keep those three freaks in masks from coming near her again. She had to do something to get back in his good graces. Courtney knew that Theo was trying to get in this pack's good books. Well, what better way to do that than to be a comfort when their Alpha's girlfriend suddenly dies. As she glared at the window, she was unable to feel that her nose had started to leak out a silvery drop of mercury.
Jordan Parrish had once told Lydia that he only knew one magic trick that involved a playing card. It was with a Queen of Diamonds card. The face had a burnt smudge on it and Jordan flipped the card to reveal the smudge was gone and the face was back to normal. A face that looked a lot like Lydia's.
As he sat in his car watching the school, he noticed something on the floor and picked it up to reveal that it was the Queen of Diamonds card. He then looked over to see Lydia was sitting next to him. They stared at each other as Lydia began to move her hand across his arm affectionately. As she raised her hand to cup his cheek, the two of them found themselves moving closer. Soon enough, their lips meant into a kiss that deepened with every passing second. Lydia then moved to pull up Jordan's shirt and Jordan moved to take off Lydia's top. They kept making out until Jordan started to smell something burning. It took a moment before he realized that it was burnt flesh and he pulled away to see that Lydia's face was scorched. He was horrified by what was happening but Lydia had a crazed look on her face as she tried to pull him closer for more. Jordan tried to resist but she was proving to be too strong.
Noshiko went to check on Kira but found that her bed was empty. When she called for her husband, they looked to see that Kira had taken the needles and stabbed them into her bed frame. They made the numbers 115.
Two of Satomi's betas charged right in for where the three Dread Doctors were slowly waltzing down the hall. One of them was caught by the throat by the Geneticist while the other was backhanded by the Pathologist and sent flying back into the wall of lockers. The Geneticist held the other wolf for a while before he threw him off and slid down the floor until he hit the fall at the end of the hall. The Dread Doctors continued on slowly meeting up with more resistance from Satomi's pack. But it all did next to nothing in stopping their advance.
In another part of the school, Malia was patrolling the halls with her dad when her ears perked up as she heard the distant sound of a car revving up and leaving.
"What is it sweetie?" her dad asked, noticing the look on her face.
"It's Parrish. He's leaving."
"Leaving? Why?"
Yet, the next thing they knew, loud roars were echoing through the halls. The cries and howls of the other werewolves.
"It's them," she growled out before she started running.
"Malia, wait!" Henry cried out after her.
But Malia didn't slow or stop. She kept running until she entered the corridor where the noise had come from. She stopped and her eyes widened. The hall had the bodies of Satomi's pack scattered about. Some unconscious, others bleeding where they laid. Malia's blue eyes looked up and saw that the three Dread Doctors were up ahead and they were steadily heading right for her. She bared her teeth and brought out her claws as she made herself ready to go at them.
Yet, before she could make more than two steps, Malia felt a sharp pain in her leg. A metal jawed trap seemed to pop out from the floor and latch right onto Malia's left leg, making her cry out in agony and fall to the ground. When she fell, another trap popped up and closed its jaws on her right wrist. She began to scream louder until a blade went and pierced its way through her neck, silencing her. Malia was fidgeting on the ground as the Dread Doctors just moved right passed her.
Henry made it to the hall to see his daughter on the floor, writhing about as if she was having a seizure. His eyes then fell on the Dread Doctors. They looked just like the images on the cover of the book, only worse. It was if he was staring at three Steampunks, from Hell. He brought his shotgun out and pointed it towards the Dread Doctors and quickly let out a shot. It went for the Surgeon but simply ricocheted right off the front of his suit as if they were mere dust particles. It didn't slow them down. He moved and let out two more shots at the other two but it had just as much effect of them as with the Surgeon. They just kept walking forward.
Suddenly a hand went and grabbed his shoulder. It was Satomi.
"Stop, that won't work. I'll take them. You go to your daughter," she told him.
At that, Satomi moved to bring out her blade as she stomped forward at them. The three finally stopped moving and regarded her while Henry slipped around them and threw himself down to his daughter.
"Malia, are you okay?" he urgently said to her.
Her voice seemed caught in her throat and it looked like she could barely move, as if she was pinned down by something. Also, her eyes were filled with pain but Henry couldn't see any place where she had been injured. She wasn't even bleeding. To him, she seemed fine.
Satomi bared her teeth at them. "Was it you?" she growled. "Did you kill Wilson? Or was it one of your experiments? Did you let someone use them to do it? Which is it? Answer me!"
The three of them didn't answer her. They just stared and tilted their heads a bit, as if they were regarding her with some interest. Satomi could see that they weren't going to talk. She then took her blade and flung it for the one in the middle. The Surgeon quickly took his cane and deflected the blade away and made it harmlessly stab itself into the wall. The Pathologist then stepped forward and Satomi could read that he was choosing to be her opponent. She brought out her claws and roared as she charged for him. She quickly moved and clawed for him but the Pathologist ducked and darted away from every one of her strikes. Every claw and kick she threw, the Dread Doctor moved and avoided. Satomi then thrust herself right down his center and managed to get a solid hit in. The Pathologist fell back a step in recoil and looked down to see that there was a claw mark in one of its mechanisms.
Satomi took that moment to realize that the Dread Doctors weren't as invincible as they seem to think themselves to be. Yet, that was all the time the Surgeon needed to take his cane and throw it for Satomi. The bladed end jammed itself into her shoulder and stick out from the back. She moved to try and yank it out but the Pathologist stomped forward and grabbed her by the throat. The Geneticist then went to where Satomi's blade was jammed into the wall and yanked it out. He walked forward and the Pathologist lifted Satomi up, still holding her by the throat and thrust her into the wall. As her back hit it, the Geneticist then went and thrust the blade right into her other arm, pinning her into the wall. She let out a hard roar of pain as the two doctors stepped away to leave her hovering there. The Surgeon then stepped forward to face her.
"You show promise," he said to her, making her red eyes glare at him. "But fall short." With that, he pulls out his cane, making her scream out in more pain, before they move on and leave her there.
Back in the locker room, the others had heard the howls from the other werewolves and then the shots from Henry's gun.
"It's them," Liam growled. "They got in."
"Our pack, Satomi," Brett gasped. "They're out there."
"Let's go," Lori told him.
But before the two could leave, Scott held his hand out to stop them. "No, I'll go. You three stay here and protect Hayden."
With that, Scott left the locker room and started to move the halls to try and find them. The halls had gotten quiet and he couldn't see any sign of anyone, Satomi's pack, Lydia, Malia and her dad, or the Dread Doctors. That is until he began to faintly hear the sound of something around the corner. He stomped over and readied himself. He made the turn but didn't see anyone or anything except for what looked like a leather leash on the floor. And it was moving. Getting pulled into one of the classrooms, leaving a thin trail of blood behind. He quickly but carefully made his way inside and saw that it was the Biology lab again. The room seemed empty though. There was no one in there and the trail of blood seemed to disappear. As Scott took a better look inside he suddenly felt his chest tighten up as a sword went and came out through it. He looked down at the blade and quickly recognized it.
"Kira?" he gasped out.
As soon as he said that, the blade was pulled out from behind him and Scott felt his knees giving out. He fell to his knees and Kira revealed herself right before taking the leather leash and wrapping it around his neck, chocking him.
Kira's eyes glowed bright orange and she began speaking in a deep and distorted voice. "You know who I am."
"Kira," he tried speaking through the choking. "Kira…stop."
"I am the messenger of Death!" she said, in the same voice. Then she growled before tightening the hold on his throat.
The tighter grip made it even harder for Scott to breathe. And outside the room, the Dread Doctors walked right by. The Surgeon moved to give it a glance, where he saw Scott was actually just writhing on the ground, holding his throat, with no one else there.
Hayden was hiding off in a corner with Liam while Brett and Lori were watching the door intensively. Brett then turned over to the other and made a shushing sound.
"Someone's coming," whispered Lori.
"It's them, isn't it?" Hayden whispered out frightfully.
Liam looked at her before he moved to look over at Lori. He then stepped over and headed for the door. Brett moved to go with him but held his hand out for his sister to remain back with Hayden. The boys slowly made their way to the door where they could see the lights flickering from the other side of the window. The door then suddenly creaked open and the Geneticist was standing on the other side. Quickly Brett charged in first but the Dread Doctor intercepted and grabbed his wrist, squeezing it hard making the young werewolf howl in pain. Liam found himself stepping back in fear as the Pathologist and the Surgeon began stepping in the room after him. The Geneticist then went and took his other hand to grab at Brett's throat and lift him into the air. As Liam freaked, he then felt something brush passed him.
"Lori!" he cried out.
She had moved to try and help her brother but the Pathologist intercepted her. She tried throwing a punch at him but he effortlessly blocked three of them before he went and gave her a hard back hand across her face that sent her flying off into some lockers. Liam wanted to run for her but the Surgeon stepped forward and blocked his way. The Geneticist then went and threw Brett and he landed off next to his sister and seemed to have been knocked out. The Surgeon then took his cane and knocked off the cell jammer that was set up close by. It fell to the ground and he set his cane on top of it. Liam quickly moved to pull Hayden behind him.
"We are on a frequency you can't possibly imagine," the Surgeon told them in his distorted voice. He then raised his cane and thrust it down, smashing the jammer.
Hayden cried out as she held Liam who just glared at the three of them.
The jeep had been silent for about two hours after Stiles and Theo's initial talk. Stiles just kept his focus on the monitor while Theo let his mind wander off. Eventually he got tired and bored so he decided to try and strike up another conversation.
"You know…I saw his teeth. Donovan," Theo further explained when Stiles looked over at him. "He was a…Wendigo, wasn't he?"
"Yeah," Stiles nodded.
"That's the cannibal one, right?"
"Native American. The myth says that if you ate human flesh, your punishment was to turn into a creature that constantly craves it."
"That's a pretty judgmental myth."
"Well I didn't make it up. And besides, from what I saw, Donovan didn't just crave flesh, he was rabid for it. He seemed to live for the taste of it."
Theo nodded. "Okay, well, Donovan might've been an extreme case but what if there was no other choice. And eating human flesh was the only way to survive? I mean, you've heard of the Donner Party right? I'm pretty sure they didn't turn into Wendigos."
Yes, Stiles had heard of the Donner Party. Snow bound Pioneers that resorted to cannibalism to live. "Well they didn't live in Beacon Hills."
"Good point. So, what's the punishment for killing a chimera?"
"You spend five hours in a car with Theo Raeken." That made Theo chuckle a bit but Stiles rolled his eyes. "Look, I already know what my punishment is. I'm going to lose my best friend. I lose Scott." Though, if Stiles was honest with himself, he's felt like he was losing him for a while now. This would just be the straw that finally broke the camel's back.
Theo just shook his head. "Look, if Scott really gave up on you for some piece of crap like Donovan, then he wouldn't be a True Alpha, would he?"
"Or maybe that's the definition of one, someone who doesn't put up with murder."
"Really? Then how do you explain him putting up with the Argents? Or Peter Hale?"
"How do you know about that?" Stiles demanded. He was feeling like another gear was fitting out of place with this guy.
"I told you, these last two years, I've heard stories. And I've heard quite a lot of things about them. None of them good. The murder sprees they all went on, especially in this town. And yet Scott was still willing to give them all a chance, right? If he's willing to do that for them, why wouldn't he do that for you? His Second. His best friend."
Stiles tightened his jaw a bit. He found himself not saying anything about that.
Theo continued on. " Have you ever heard of justifiable homicide?"
"Did you seriously just say that to the son of a cop?" he spat at him.
"Look, a werewolf's eyes are supposed to change color when you take an innocent life, right?" Theo then flashed his golden yellow eyes. "These look blue to you?"
Stiles eyes narrowed at the sight of them. Theo's eyes weren't blue.
"It was self-defense," he continued. "For me and for you."
"Or maybe you just don't feel all that bad about it. You can't say that one life is objectively less innocent than another one. What if they turn blue because you feel guilty?"
"Speaking from personal experience? Is that what made yours go blue? Because you felt guilty? That would mean its up to interpretation."
"Interpretation?" Stiles eyebrows rose up at him.
"Yeah, and here's my interpretation of what happened with you and Donovan. Not guilty." Theo then looked away which made Stiles look back up to the camera. "Did you feel bad about it?" That made Stiles narrow his eyes at him. "Not now. I mean, right then. Right when it happened. What were you thinking the moment you knew he was dead and there was no saving him?"
Stiles let himself take a moment to think back to that night, when he looked upon Donovan's impaled body. After everything that had happened, from his threats to his promise to kill his father after he had been done with him. He remembered the feeling he had when he saw Donovan was gone. "One word…good."
As Stiles looked off, Theo couldn't help but let a small smirk plant itself on his face. But it was only for a moment as it quickly wiped itself away when he detected a strange scent permeating the air.
"Hey, do you smell that?" Theo asked, sniffing deeply.
Stiles narrowed his eyes as he took a hard whiff. "Yeah…smells like smoke."
Theo nodded. "Like something's burning."
Theo looked out the window and his eyes widened when a bright light came upon him just before a hard fiery fist collided with his face. Stiles looked just in time to get splattered by Theo's blood. Theo was then pulled out of the car and Stiles then found that his jeep was getting picked up and then tossed on its roof with him still inside.
Stiles was thrown somewhat out of the car as a pair of footsteps made their way over. Stiles was trying to blink himself to consciousness as his blue eyes glowed through his dimly opened eyes. There was a surge of intense heat all around him that was starting to effect him. Everything was blurred but Stiles could just make out two bright fiery orange eyes glowing and looking down at him. Stiles then blacked out and the figure stared at the motionless boy for another moment before he moved off to the animal clinic. As he moved, a fire started up in front of the jeep with Stiles still inside of it.
It kept going until Stiles was pulled free from it. As he felt himself getting yanked, he gave a start and grabbed at Theo's throat. Stiles blinked for a moment and then let go of him and Theo moved to cough and rub at his throat. The guy was still bleeding from his head from whatever had just attacked them.
Stiles looked over and saw the state of his jeep. "What the hell just happened?"
"The…the body," Theo coughed out.
"What?"
Theo then moved to clear his throat. "Josh's body. It's gone."
Over at Sinema, Cory was there trying to drown out all the things he was feeling with the lights and music from the club. Yet, he was huddled up in a corner with a drink, not feeling any better. He went and downed the rest of it as Mason slowly approached him.
"You okay?" he gently asked him.
He smiled at him and let the cup fall out of his hand. "Better than ever."
Cory then moved to go and give Mason a kiss but he stood back to stop him. Mason could see this was the last thing Cory needed right now.
"Hey man, it healed, didn't it? Your arms."
Mason then grabbed Cory's sleeves and pulled them up to show that the slashes from Lucas' stingers were all gone and the skin was smooth as if nothing had even happened. Cory's face then started to tremble.
"What's happening to me?" he asked Mason, almost desperately.
Mason sighed. "I think there's someone you need to talk to."
Kira moved off for the front door of the house, where the numbers 821 were etched into it to show the address. She went to get the spare key and she opened the door and casually walked in. As she got into the living room, she froze. Her eyes glowed a bright orange and she turned her head to look upon the Chimera Courtney. She smiled predatorily at her as some quicksilver was smudged at the edges of her lips. Courtney extended her hands to shift her nails into her foot long claws and clicked them menacingly. Kira moved to grab her belt and quickly extended it to become her sword. They stared at one another for a moment before they ran for each other.
Ruben sighed as he stepped inside his room and for once was appreciative that his parents weren't home. He went over to his mini fridge and pulled out a small soda and moved to start chugging it down.
Back at Cora's place, when he had heard the sound of crying, Cora quickly left and asked for him to wait for her to come back. But Ruben knew that he couldn't do that so he waited for a moment before slowly following after her. He then peeked into what seemed to be a nicely decorated nursery. There was wrapping paper that was decorated with stars and moons with a framed picture of what looked like a kids drawing of a ship at sea. At the end of the room he had found her there with the baby by the crib. Cora had nearly jumped when she noticed him standing in the doorway. She quickly explained that it looked like the boy just needed a change and quickly started to remove his diaper and replace it with a fresh one. As she did, the baby's crying started to settle and then turn to gurgling laughter as Cora tickled him a bit before she fastened the new one. Ruben couldn't help but smile at how cute the baby was being. Cora turned and noticed his smile and she seemed to settle down a bit.
"You can come closer if you want?" she had offered, in a small voice.
Ruben had found himself moving for the baby but the kid started fidgeting a bit when he laid eyes on him. It looked like he would start crying so he quickly backed off. The baby then started to settle when he was far enough and Cora moved to settle him back in his crib. Ruben waited for her back in the living room and she soon came over, looking a little awkward. Ruben then went and asked if he was her nephew or something but Cora shook her head and slowly admitted that Jason was her son. Ruben then nodded and told her that it was late and he had to get going. He then left without another word.
As the memory finished playing back for him, Ruben finished guzzling down his soda. While he knew that the baby was Cora's already, because Dean had told him, it was another thing to hear it from Cora herself. That baby was really Cora's son. He was there to help a girl with homework and she already had a kid. That's why he had freaked and just left her place like he did. Though, now that he was here in his room, he felt it was a good thing he reacted the way he had. After all, if he just brushed off something like that, after it had supposedly been "dropped" on him, then it might look suspicious. Maybe he could work from that? For now, he needed time to lay low and think of what he'll do next. But not too much time. The full moon was not too far away and he only had until then.
Hayden was helplessly laid out on the floor, surrounded by arcane tools and canisters filled with bubbling liquids. Over to the side was Liam. He appeared to be just as helpless as she was.
"Hayden."
She turned her head slightly and looked upon the three Dread Doctors, who were staring down at her.
Melissa had left the station and headed off for home. She wondered if she would see Scott later tonight or perhaps tomorrow if their plan to keep Hayden safe went okay. As she unlocked the door, she stumbled inside and her eyes widened at the scene. On the dinner table was a body, one of the chimeras with foot long claws, with Kira's sword jammed right into her heart.
Melissa then let out a hard scream.
