Chapter 33: Damnatio Memoriae part 2
Hayden was heatedly sitting on the bench across the Sheriff's office while her sister Valerie was at her desk, filling out an official report of what had happened to them last night. Unfortunately, Hayden's disappearance had been noticed by her sister, who had come out of the tech station to find that she was missing from the van. Hayden had said that she had heard noises and then saw something which made her run away but come back when she thought it was safe. Now it seemed her sister wanted her in eyes view at all times.
"Hayden," she suddenly heard echo in her ears. "Hayden." But Hayden just stayed sitting on the bench.
As for Valerie, she hadn't had a moment's rest since her encounter back at the station. That...animal, she had seen it before. It was the night that she and the Sheriff had seen the sign at the high school vandalized. She and the other deputies had been chasing after an animal, one she heard leapt up over a fellow deputy's car before she tried tailing it and it wrecked her police cruiser. She could swear, as she saw it in the dark, it looked the same, and now someone was dead.
One of her fellow deputies came over and looked down at the screen to read Valerie's official report. "Are you really going to turn this in?"
"I know what I saw."
"Deputy was attacked by an enormous animal of undetermined species," he read aloud. "Yeah, that makes things clear."
Valerie rolled her eyes as the deputy left with a skeptical chuckle. That was as professional as she could make it sound without the risk of anyone dismissing it. Valerie remembered hearing about the scrutiny that Agent McCall faced when he reported that dark clad figures with samurai swords had attacked him at his ex-wife's home. She moved to stand and her sister shot up from the bench as she did.
"Are we leaving?" Hayden asked, desperate to move as she heard her name called out again.
"Not yet. And don't move," she ordered.
Valerie then left to go and check on the progress of Sheriff Stilinski. She knew that he would actually take her report seriously. After all, he seemed to listen to her every word when she told him of chasing that…thing when he met her at the high school. For some reason, she couldn't help but feel that this would make more sense to him than it did to her.
Hayden's eyes followed her sister as she left the office. As soon as she was gone, she then got up and went off to see the owner of the voice calling out for her. She went off to the holding cells where Theo was leaning against some of the bars, waiting on her.
"You can't be here," she hissed at him.
"Why not? My record's spotless," he said, smugly trying to sound funny. But he dropped the humor and then became serious. "Are you going to tell me what you saw last night?"
Hayden deflated and she quickly moved to answer him. "It was exactly like the painting. Exactly what you said."
Theo lost a bit of his calm composure as Hayden's words hit him in a way that she couldn't read.
"Have you told anyone else?" he asked.
"I didn't think you'd want me to," she answered, ducking her head a bit.
"You're right."
"But I don't know why."
"And you don't have to," he said sternly to her. "Look, that thing out there is going to kill a lot of people. But, it's not going to kill us. Not if we're together."
He was cut off when Hayden got a text from her sister. Valerie had come back and found that she had left and from her use of capital letters, she wasn't happy. "I have to go."
"Anything else you want to tell me?' he asked before she could go.
Hayden blinked and shook her head. "No, not really." That made him nod to her.
Yet, before Hayden could get more than a foot away, Theo went off and grabbed her shoulder, somewhat tightly.
"Look," he said, dropping his tone more lower than before. "I definitely don't want this to come off as a threat. But you can't hide anything from me, Hayden. Remember that."
It was clear to Hayden that Theo was indeed threatening her. With that note, he then let her arm go and Hayden then moved to quickly walk out of the cells and back to her sister who was less than happy with her.
"Come on, let's go," Valerie said as she moved to throw on her police jacket.
"We going home?" Hayden asked.
But she shook her head. "No, the hospital. I just got the word. The Sheriff, he's awake."
"Thanks for bringing all this food over," huffed Zach before moving to angrily slurp in his soda through a straw.
Virgil just stared back, calmly finishing the bite he had taken of his burger. After Stiles had left him at the shop, he had laid in a bit more ground work on the jeep before closing up and picking up some food for him and Zach to have over at Zach's apartment.
Once Virgil swallowed, he then started to answer. "Sure, as long as you keep paying for both our shares."
"Seriously? Why do I have to keep paying for both yours and mine?"
"I'm not an Uber service. You don't like it, go out and start picking up food for yourself again. You haven't stepped one foot out of this apartment for a week."
"Yeah, because it seems like every time I try to leave, I come face to face with death. Those Dread Doctors have already tried to kill me twice and Stiles says that they killed another chimera just the other day. I'm not going to go and let them have a third shot." Zach then got up and started to pace off a bit.
"Okay Zach, calm down. You're starting to sound paranoid."
"Paranoid? You have seen the news, right?"
Zach then went and grabbed his television remote before switching on the television close by, which was showing the local news. A report was on about the dead tech found at the service station. The heading was saying that he was attacked by a wild, rabid animal.
"Yeah, but doesn't look like it was those mad doctor triplets," Virgil mumbled. "If I had to guess, it was that creature that attacked the shop and was a hair away from tearing me to shreds last week."
"Yeah," Zach huffed before he switched the tv back off. "So, why aren't you so damn calm and not freaking out?"
Virgil went and narrowed his eyes into a mild glare. "Not freaking out? I had to watch as a dozen people, including my douchebag of a boss, were torn to pieces and their insides splattered all over the place. And no one really knows about the people who died there because all the bodies disappeared and I would be one of them if it wasn't for the werewolf who came to my rescue and has been shacking up in my couch for the last week. You really think I'm not freaking out?!" he finished ranting, breathing a little hard afterwards.
That made Zach settle and shrink a little bit in shame. "Sorry Virge."
"Virgil," he puffed out. But he shook his head and let himself lean back in the chair he was in. "I guess the reason I must seem so calm is because I've already been through my fair share of trauma and stress. I guess I've just gotten good at coping. It helps when I've got cars and engines to work on."
"Like Stiles' jeep?"
"Yeah, and let me just say that with the amount of work that thing will need, I'll have plenty to express my trauma and stress on."
Zach went and let his back lean up against his window, which showed a soon to be a sun getting close to setting. "It's just...seeing you, Stiles, his pack or that deputy and that Lydia girl, all of you seeming so together with all this, I just feel completely out of my league."
"Whoa, wait, pack? What pack? What are you talking about? And deputy and Lydia girl. Do you mean Lydia Martin, from high school?"
But before Zach could say anything, there was a hard and loud knock on his door.
"Who's there?" he called out.
"Zach?" they heard from the other side of the door. "Could you open the door. I think you and I should have a talk."
Virgil saw Zach narrow his eyes so he didn't seem to recognize the voice. Zach moved for the door but Virgil moved into the next room but kept his eye over at the door. Zach moved to open the door a bit and came face to face with a smiling Theo.
"Hey there Zach." he said as soon as he set eyes on him. "It's nice to meet you. My name-"
"Theo," Zach said, cutting him off. "Theo Raeken, yeah, I know who you are." He had immediately recognized Theo from the nightmares he had of his captivity and from the picture that he showed Stiles back at the station. "And I know what you are."
"You do?"
"Yeah, Stiles told me all about you."
"Stiles?" Theo smile tightened into a smirk. "I'm guessing he had quite a few choice words to say about me."
"Yeah, I think "psycho" and "homicidal" were two of them."
With that Zach tried to close the door but Theo moved his hand and pushed at the door, letting himself inside.
"Well, Stiles might be a bit of a bias source. After all, he's not like you. Like us."
"Us?"
"You, me and the others that were changed by the Dread Doctors."
"I thought the others were all dead. That I was the only one left, well, except for you."
"A lot of things have happened, I'm sure you've noticed. And that's why I'm here. To make you an offer."
As Theo and Zach were talking, Virgil was still hidden to the side. Something about this guy didn't feel right with him, and not just because he just went and forced his way inside like that. His hand brushed against his pouch and he went and reached in to pull out his grandmother's deck. He closed his eyes as he focused on Theo's voice while he shuffled. He then went and drew a card. He opened his eyes and saw that it was the Five of Swords, Upright.
"Offer? What, to go and let myself be a guinea pig for your Dread Doctor buddies? No thanks."
Theo's smirk faded and his face hardened. "Is that what Stiles has been telling you? Well, let me tell you right now, I don't work for anyone," he said, forceful and strongly. "And I want to keep it that way, and with your help, none of us have to deal with them ever again."
"Hey Zach!" Virgil said, opening and closing a nearby door before stepping out into plain view. "Is there a problem?"
"No, I just dropped by to have a chat with Zach here," said Theo. "And you are?"
"He's a friend," Zach said, before looking back over at Theo. "And I think you should go now."
Theo bit down his annoyance and just let out a courteous smile. "Yeah, I do have someone else to see. But, I'll be in touch Zach. And you should know, there is a lot that Stiles hasn't been telling you."
With that, he stepped out back into the hallway and Zach closed the door right behind him. He then looked over at Virgil who was staring tensely back at him.
"It would seem so," muttered Virgil.
Melissa McCall was making her usual rounds at the hospital when she decided to go and check up on Sheriff Stilinski. As she was rounding the hall leading to his room, she spotted that there were a pair of deputies standing outside his room. Fearing something was wrong, she quickened her pace to the room in time to see Deputy Clarke bidding the Sheriff farewell.
"Don't worry Clarke," he said to her. "I'll be out of here soon enough."
"Good, we miss you down at the station Sheriff," she said to him as she stepped around Melissa and headed out with the other deputies.
"Someone's popular today," she said, giving them a final look.
The Sheriff shrugged. "It can be a gift and a curse." Melissa smiled as she moved to inspect his claw wound. He noticed that her face seemed a bit concerned. "What? Is something wrong?"
She shook her head. "No," she quickly assured him. "It's fine. Actually, everything seems pretty good. It looks like there has barely been any bleeding at all."
"Okay, so why do you sound worried?"
"Not worried, just confused. Your wounds look like they're much older than a week. Like they've been healing a little faster than normal."
"Like human fast or-"
"Just a little bit more faster than that."
"Well, I have been feeling a lot better, every time Stiles drops by. And right now, I don't even feel all that tired."
"You think he's been helping you heal somehow? I thought that they could only take pain, not actually heal."
Noah let himself lean back into his pillow. "No, but I wouldn't be surprised if my son found a way to try to go the extra mile. Especially for me."
"Has he been around today?"
He nodded. "Yeah, but he left about half an hour ago. Said he needed to check out where that new chimera appeared last night."
Neither of the parents realized that Hayden was eavesdropping from down the hall. She was so focused on listening in on them that she jumped when she felt someone tap her shoulders.
"C'mon," her sister Valerie said as she directed them to the elevator. "We're leaving."
"Back to the station?" she grumbled.
"No, home. My shift's done."
With that, Hayden moved to follow after her sister, but not before casting another concerned look back over at the direction of the Sheriff's room.
"How's Scott?" Noah asked her.
"He's still recovering. Though I think he's hurting more from being separated from everyone than he is from the wound Theo gave him.
He narrowed his eyes. "Theo...he's going to have more than a few wounds of his own if I ever get my hands on him." Melissa savagely nodded back to him. His face then softened. "I also want to say I'm sorry. About how I acted with Kira."
"It's okay. You were only doing what you thought was right."
"I see now I was out of line. I just saw the body of that girl and I didn't want to see or hear the whole story. I didn't think it mattered and it forced Kira and her family to go away. That wasn't right and nothing can excuse that."
Melissa sighed. "Are we still talking about you here?"
"Not just me. I know that Scott didn't mean for it to happen, but that doesn't change the fact that he hurt Stiles. In a way I haven't wanted my son to hurt again in the longest time. I don't know if I can understand exactly what's happening, but no matter what, I have to stand with my son."
"I understand," she said, nodding slowly. "Just like I'll always be standing with mine. No matter what's going to happen, I know that our boys are each going to need us more than ever now."
"I know."
With that, Melissa then moved to leave the Sheriff to his rest. When she got around the corner, she let herself lean back against the wall as she tried to fight back some tears.
Scott had started to feel some burning coming from his side and he decided that he should go home and change his bandages. Standing in front of the mirror of his bathroom, he was disheartened at seeing that his wound looked hardly healed at all. Over a week and it still looks as fresh as the night he had gotten it. He took an alcohol soaked wipe and lightly dabbed it across his wound to clean off the dried and crusted blood stuck to the surrounding sides of his wound. He hissed and winced every time he made contact. But still, this pain paled in comparison to the anxiety that Scott was drowning in. Malia didn't want to help him and he couldn't ask Liam, Lydia or Kira. Deaton was unreachable and he couldn't get a hold of Argent either. And, even if he did, Scott didn't know what to even do.
As he finished cleaning and pulled his shirt back on, he looked over at his nightstand to see the picture of him and Stiles that he had taken from the broken frame he found in his room. Stiles would know what to do, or at least where to start. It didn't matter what was going on between them right now, this was too important. But he didn't know how to find him. Stiles wasn't answering his phone and he didn't seem to be going home. Scott must've dropped by his house maybe three times a day, since they had last seen each other in the tunnels, but he never seemed to be home. His bed hadn't been slept in and his mother assured him that he wasn't sleeping at the hospital. So where has he been staying? He tried to track him a few times from the hospital but it always seemed to cut itself off as soon as he left the building. He then remembered that he and Liam had learned to disguise their scents over the summer from Satomi and her pack.
His phone started ringing and he went over to where it was lying on his bed and saw that it was his mother. "Mom?" he said, answering it.
"Scott, where are you right now?" she asked.
"I'm home, why? What's wrong?"
"It's about Stiles."
Liam was walking with Mason through the halls of the school as he was filling him in on everything that was happening. There were a few random people in the halls with some push brooms and dustbins. Classes were still cancelled due to the damage that the school sustained though they had called in for volunteers to help clean up the debris in the halls and fix the damage in the library.
"I went to the club looking for Hayden and there's Josh. Completely alive, just like Hayden, completely alive."
Liam was surprised when Mason nodded.
"And now they're both with Theo. Along with Tracy."
"What? How do you know that?"
"Stiles, he called me yesterday and told me everything. Apparently, Theo had come to his house and he had Josh get the drop on him and zap him. Scott was there and he was sure that he heard Tracy with him too."
"Stiles called you?"
"Yeah, a few times actually. He's been checking in with me about how you're doing."
"He is." Liam hadn't seen or talked with Stiles since the day before the Supermoon. To be honest, a small part of him felt a little scared to. But, it might not be as bad as he thought if Stiles was still talking with Mason and asked him to watch his back. "He's not mad at me?"
"Uh well, he's not exactly happy," he answered a little hesitantly. "I think he's just more disappointed than mad."
Liam felt his insides shrivel up. "What else did he say?"
"Well he thinks that since Theo couldn't get Scott's power or the rest of you, he's now trying to make a pack from the dead chimeras. Well, the ones that he somehow brought back."
"They're back, yeah, but they're not the same. There's something about Hayden. Something's changed…I could feel something wrong about her."
"Well, maybe that's what dying does to you. What if it, like, darkens your soul? What if they're all evil now?"
They were shocked out of their conversation as the door opened in front of them and through them stepped Corey, alive and smiling at them.
"Hey guys," he said enthusiastically. "You here volunteering for the library clean up too?"
The two of them quickly shook themselves out of their shock as they stammered out that they had indeed come to help. Corey then went off and led the way to the library where there were already quite a few kids cleaning up some leftover debris and re-shelving the scattered books. Liam and Mason were on one side of the library, looking across the room to where Corey was, helping to clean like nothing had even happened to him.
"Talk to him," Liam whispered to Mason.
"And say what?"
"Anything that gets him to talk," he hissed. "Go."
Mason got a good nudge from Liam and he found himself walking over to Corey with an almost too happy grin on his face. He cleared his throat to get Corey's attention.
"So…you're alive," Mason breathed.
"Yeah," Corey nodded, looking just as awkward as Mason sounded.
"That, that must've been pretty difficult to explain to your parents."
Corey shrugged. "No, not really. They didn't notice me much before that. I think they're just glad because they think they can sue the hospital now."
Hearing that, Mason's face fell a bit. "They've got to be happy you're alive though, right?"
"Are you?"
Mason began to stutter. "Me? Uh, yeah. I mean, alive is definitely better than dead. You know, much better."
"You have no idea what to say to me, do you?"
"Not really," he said shaking his head. "No."
"Can I ask you a question though?"
"Yeah, sure."
"What are you doing Saturday night?"
Mason sighed as the awkwardness seemed to bleed out of him though Liam's jaw tightened up. This wasn't working out the way that he had hoped.
Soon enough, the library seemed to have gotten put back in pretty good order and faster than everyone was expecting. The sun was only starting to go into the process of setting when everybody began to leave. Corey was helping to put back the last of the chairs when Liam went and grabbed Mason.
"He's getting ready to leave, what's the plan?" he whispered desperately to him.
"What, I'm going on a date with him Saturday. I thought that was the plan."
Liam rolled his eyes. "You were supposed to ask about Theo. We can't wait till Saturday."
"Sorry, but Theo leading an evil Chimera pack wasn't exactly a natural progression to the conversation."
"Fine," Liam bit out. "I'll go talk to him."
Yet, when Liam moved to do just that, they turned and saw that everyone else was already gone, including Corey.
"You don't have to hide from me Corey," Theo muttered out.
A moment later, the air around a few lockers began to ripple and dim and Corey suddenly appeared leaned back in front of them. It seemed that his use and control of his cloaking ability had gotten better. Theo let himself feel happy about that, despite the circumstance.
"I was just trying to do something nice," Corey said, defensively.
Theo approached him calmly, and non-threateningly. "You were trying to do something normal, but you don't have to be normal anymore. And you definitely don't have to be nice."
"Well I'm not going to hurt them."
"Hey, look, I don't want you to. In fact, they don't know it yet, but we're going to protect them. Just like I'm going to protect you," he said, moving a reassuring hand to Corey's shoulder. Yet, Corey didn't look very reassured as he kept staring back at him with a deer in the headlights look. Theo then moved in closer and dropped his tone a bit and began to talk less assuredly. "So, you are going to come with me and you're gonna do everything that I tell you, because I know that you don't want to die again. Do you Corey?"
Corey tensed up as he felt the pressure from Theo's words, as well as the added pressure from Theo's hand that was now gripping his shoulder a touch more tightly.
He moved to quickly shake his head "No," Corey said, tensely and barely audible
"Okay."
Theo then smiled before he moving to lead him out towards the exit. As they went out the doors, Theo got a text alert and saw that it was from Hayden. The text read: Stiles gone from hospital. Went hunting for creature. While he may have suffered a slight setback with Zach he seems to have at least managed to get the rest of the chimeras in check. He couldn't help but wished that Scott could've seen how a real alpha kept their pack in line. And he will go and show how to reign in Beacon Hills as his territory.
Searching the halls, Mason whipped out his phone and kept sending texts out to Corey but there hadn't been any reply.
"Corey's not texting me back," Mason said to Liam, who was glaring at a spot in the floor.
"Because he left with Theo," he said. "They were both right here. Their scents are still fresh."
"You sure?" Mason asked, pocketing his phone. Liam just glared out in the distance and Mason took that for confirmation. "Well, then we should do something, right? Maybe you should go and tell someone."
"You mean Scott," Liam muttered out.
"Liam, you have to tell him."
"You think he'll even talk to me?"
"You're his beta. Doesn't he kind of have to?"
Liam sighed and shook his head. "Where would I even start? Hey, sorry for trying to kill you? Sorry for leaving you for dead so Theo could kill you?"
"Well...if you start with sorry, maybe the rest won't matter."
With that, the two of them started to go down the hall and make their own leave of the school.
Stiles parked his van up in front of the ruined station's entrance where there was crime scene tape already covering the entrance of the fence. He moved and ducked underneath it before going inside. The door was inside, ripped off its hinges and thrown aside, no doubt by the creature. His eyes were then drawn to the deep claw markings that were cut into it. The claws that made them were a bit farther apart then the distance of his claws would be so the paws were quite larger than a human hand. There was no doubt this was the same creature that he had fought with the night of the Supermoon. Stiles went over and ran his hand over the markings and he momentarily caught a flash of a monstrous giant, ripping the door off as it caught sight of two pieces of prey running. He snapped out of it feeling excitement at the chance to give chase.
He couldn't help but feel that this thing was a true monster. He was no stranger to them, what with Gerard, the Alpha Pack, Darach and Nogitsune under his belt. Yet, whatever this thing was seemed to have them all beat. There didn't seem to be any real touch of humanity at all. There was no feeling of consciousness or reason to be felt, just pure primal...ferocity.
When he climbed down to the foot of the stairs, Stiles' nose quickly detected the heavy scent of blood, most likely from the murdered tech. He made his way to the scene where he saw more police tape surrounding an area where there was a deep and big spot of red staining the floor, where the body had laid before it had been carried out. He took in the room, there was thrown over metal cabinets and ripped apart fencing everywhere.
Yet, his nostrils flared up when he picked up on another familiar scent.
"Parrish?" he mumbled as he found his scent. He then took another big sniff and he sighed tiredly as he picked up another familiar one. "Scott." Their scents were somewhat fresh. He guessed that they must've been here earlier to check out the crime scene.
"Stiles?"
He looked back and immediately flinched as he felt a stabbing sensation as he laid eyes on Scott. As for Scott himself, as soon as he caught sight of Stiles, he felt complete blankness. It barely lasted more than a second before it passed for the two of them and they shrugged it off.
"Scott, what are you doing here? How did you find me?"
"My mom," he answered. "She spoke to your dad and said that you were heading here. Where have you been? I haven't seen you ever since the tunnels with Noah." He decided to leave out stumbling upon him and his dad at the hospital morgue.
"I've been busy," Stiles said, going back to surveying the area for more clues.
"Too busy to answer your phone or even to go to your own house? I know you haven't been going home when you aren't at the hospital. Where have you been staying? What have you been doing?"
"If you're worried that I've been going around maiming and killing someone else without you there, then you can relax," he said dismissively.
Scott barely contained his urge to wince. "Stiles," he tried.
But Stiles held his hand out but still kept his back to him. "Scott, can we just...I'm really trying to focus right now."
"On what? Parrish and I were here earlier and there wasn't much left to find, besides the body."
"I'm looking for how that thing got in here."
"What are you talking about?" Scott asked confused.
Stiles stopped and then turned to look back at Scott. "I studied the security footage. The whole night, the only ones who came down here by the main entrance were the tech and Hayden's sister. And no one left until that thing did. Two came in but three were here. So, how did that thing get in here?"
Scott realized what Stiles was saying. "There's another way in."
"Yeah," Stiles nodded before he resumed his search. He went off and stumbled upon a knocked down server where some of the tech's blood was splattered. Yet, he noticed something strange about how it looked. "Do you see that?" he asked, pointing it out.
Scott narrowed his eyes. "Uh, I see only blood."
"It's leading somewhere."
Scott moved in closer and saw that the blood seemed to have run down to the same place before drying. But the server seemed to be blocking it. Scott quickly bent down and moved to try and lift it out of the way but he couldn't get it to budge an inch. He winced as he felt the pain from his wound burn him up and sap his strength.
Stiles noticed. "Hey, you okay?"
"Yeah," Scott puffed out.
"Here, let me."
Stiles moved up and began to lift up the heavy slab of metal up from the ground. When he got it over a foot from the floor, Scott quickly moved and helped Stiles balance up and they then pushed it out of the way. Stiles seemed okay but Scott was panting as if he was short of breath. Stiles saw Scott move his hand to his chest and he noticed a small dark stain behind his hand. Scott noticed his stare and quickly moved to direct his attention to what they had just uncovered.
"Hey, look," he said moving over to it.
Scott was now standing over what seemed to be a giant hole made in the metal vent built into the floor. Stiles stepped in beside him as he gazed down and saw that it seemed like something had ripped its way through. It seems like they found their mystery entrance. There was a bolted metal ladder to the side and they both went and climbed down to find themselves in a system of tunnels that seemed all too familiar.
"The town's water irrigation tunnels," muttered Scott.
"Yeah literally run all through town."
They followed the tunnel until they came upon a small junction. Stiles then whipped out his mini blacklight and started to shine it around until he found traces of mercury on the ground. He saw that it seemed to be heading somewhere so he lead the way until they came upon a spot where there seemed to be words actually written in mercury. But it wasn't English.
"What is that?" asked Scott.
"It looks like Latin." Stiles moved the light around the spot and inaudibly mouthed what it seemed to say. Damnatio Memoriae.
"Hold the light," Scott said, whipping out his phone. "I want to get a picture."
"Yeah sure-"
But Stiles quickly tensed up as he felt everything around him start to slow down and go mute. He felt a rush of air to his left and it caused him to spontaneously jump over to the right and bump right into Scott, just avoiding a swipe from a pair of claws. The impact was so sudden that Scott lost his grip and dropped his phone and fumbled two steps but managed to stay on his feet.
"Stiles, what-"
But he stopped there as they both were now staring down Tracy as she had both her clawed hands out and sporting a mouth full of fangs. She was annoyed that her sneak attack was avoided and she went and growled at the two of them before she pounced. Stiles quickly went and chucked his flashlight at her, hitting the bridge of her nose and making her flinch back, allowing Stiles to move and grab her right wrist. Scott quickly pounced and grabbed her left wrist and the two of them moved to restrain her. But some flashes of light drew Stiles' attention and he saw Josh approaching them, emitting small zaps of electricity from his own claws.
"Scott, behind you!" he cried out.
Scott let go of Tracy's wrist and moved to intercept Josh. The chimera tried to close in and make a swipe at him with his sparking claws but Scott darted and avoided the strike before shoving Josh hard into the wall. When Scott had let go of her other wrist, Tracy tried to use it to swipe at Stiles' face but he ducked his head back and then tightened his grip on Tracy's other wrist so hard that the bones started to break. She let out a pained cry before he went and tossed her right into Josh. The sparks he was letting out started to flow into her, shocking her and making her venom soaked claws stab into his leg, paralyzing him and they fell to the ground in an ungraceful heap. Josh was motionless as his eyes darted about nervously while Tracy was face down and flinching as her muscles were stunned by the shocks.
"Yeah, it hurts like a bitch, doesn't it?" Stiles panted down at them. He was still bitter towards Josh for his little zap the other day and felt Tracy got some of what she deserved for killing the transport driver this morning.
As Stiles stared down at the fallen chimeras, Scott detected something. It seemed like...anxiety, a lot of it. It wasn't coming from Stiles, Tracy or Josh though. It seemed to be coming off to the side but there was no one there. Scott's red eyes came out and he started to see a bit of a warping in the air and he went and snarled out in that direction. Suddenly, Corey appeared, freaked out and paralyzed in fear. His eyes were on Scott's fangs while Stiles moved to raise his hand and let his claws slowly grow out from his fingertips to good effect, making Corey back harder into the wall.
"Okay, enough!" They all looked over to see Theo stepping out from the shadows. He cast disappointed looks over at Corey, Tracy and Josh and sighed. "Maybe they're not ready to take on an Alpha and a Beast. Especially one that can smell fear and another whose instincts only get sharper," he said, making Scott and Stiles glare at him.
"They have fangs and claws!" Corey desperately cried out pathetically.
"Get them out of here," Theo huffed at him.
Corey quickly moved and grabbed onto Josh and Traci's arms and then began to drag them out of the way, leaving Theo facing down Scott and Stiles.
"What did you do?" Scott panted.
"Found some new friends," he answered. "I don't take rejection well."
"A fake pack with an even faker alpha. How adorable," scoffed Stiles.
Yet Theo, and his smirk, didn't waiver. He went forward and stomped down on the ground, where the beams of Stiles' fallen black light was still illuminating some of the smoke from the mercury made words. It then made it unreadable and made the two wolves tense back up. Scott eyes widened at losing the message while Stiles readied to pounce at the next move Theo made. Corey had helped Tracy get back to her feet and had recovered enough to be able to help steady Josh whose arms were around both her and Corey. The three of them were watching the exchange tensely.
"You two think that you need to worry about me but you should know, we're actually back on the same side."
"Oh, we are," Stiles growled.
"Forget it," Scott barked.
"You two might want to re-think that, because that thing," he said looking up towards where the station was. "That's what we really need to worry about. Your pack and mine. Now, we're all going to go back to school and pretend like we're all normal teenagers but at night, we'll all be fighting for our lives."
Stiles narrowed his eyes. Theo wasn't trying to be intimidating or getting under their skin. He could sense that Theo was serious...and scared. Of the new chimera. "What is it?" he asked.
"It's not a chimera. I'll tell you that much."
"But it's still a kid underneath," said Scott. "Someone like us."
Theo let his eyes shift into their golden yellow hue. "Not anymore," he said, before letting his eyes go back to normal.
With that, Theo moved to take his leave and Corey, Tracy and Josh limped off after his heels, with Corey casting a nervous look back at the glaring teen wolves. Once they were out of sight, Scott went and leaned up against wall and slid down, putting his hand protectively over his chest wound. Stiles was still standing, still glaring at where the chimeras had gone.
"Are we really just going to let them all go?"
"They're not important right now." He then looked over to where the destroyed words had been. Scott flashed the black light on the spot but the mercury was completely ruined. There was no readable trace of a single letter left. "He destroyed the message and we don't know what it means or says.
"Damnatio Memoriae," said Stiles, making Scott widen his eyes at him. "Lydia taught me some Latin. It's means the condemnation of memory. It also means that whatever the Dread Doctors created, whatever this last chimera is, it's not something new. It's something old. Really old and forgotten."
"So...they didn't create a new creature," Scott followed along.
"They resurrected one," nodded Stiles. "A powerful one."
Scott nodded. He then moved to draw in a circle on the dirt next to him. "We need help. If Theo has his own pack now. We're going to need ours."
"Ours?" Stiles muttered to him. "You mean yours. Kira, who is battling a wild and homicidal fox spirit in her. Malia, who isn't speaking to either of us. Lydia, who is Eichen House. And Liam, who tried to kill you. That pack? The one that you kicked me out of and told me never to go near ever again?"
Scott lowered his gaze. "That was a mistake. Okay, I made a lot of mistakes lately and that was my biggest one. You saw it, right? We're unbeatable when we're together." Scott then moved to draw a circle in the dirt close by. "I'm sorry."
Stiles stared from Scott to the circle drawn in the dirt. Half of the full symbol that he had tattooed on his arm. The one he chose for his pack. "You really want me to finish that?"
"Yeah," Scott nodded. "Come back Stiles. Come back to us. Back to the pack. We need you. I need you."
Gazing at the circle, Stiles felt a sudden pit stretch within himself. A hole where all his friends used to be and more than anything, he wanted them to be back with them. Back with Malia, Lydia, Liam, Kira and with Scott. Just thinking of them all now made his heart beat harder and faster and he found his eyes shifting into their sapphire like hue. He looked up at Scott and he saw him dart his eyes to the side, averting a direct look into them.
Next thing either of them knew, Stiles huffed as he shot up and had his foot kick some dirt over at the circle, vandalizing it.
"Stiles?" Scott said, surprised at what he had just done.
"I can't," Stiles said, starting to walk off. "I'm sorry Scott, but I just can't. I promise I'll help but, no. I can't."
"Stiles," he called after him, getting back to his feet.
But Stiles kept walking off, not turning to look back. "And by the way, I still hate that tattoo," he said as he round the corner, out of sight.
Stiles let out a huff as he had gotten out of the service station entrance and made for the van. He saw there at the driver's seat, just contemplating everything for a moment before he moved and started up the engine. Despite what just happened, Stiles knew Scott was right about one thing. They needed help but he wasn't going to count on Theo and his chimera pack for it. He brought out his phone and scrolled through his contacts until he found the right one and put it on speaker. After a moment of waiting, he heard the click of it being answered on the other end.
"Hey, it's me. I've got some, well, a whole lot of news. None of which you and the others are going to like."
Scott didn't know just how long he stood there. His mind seemed trapped on what had just happened. What did happen? He could feel that Stiles coming around. Sense that he really wanted to come back. So, why had he just done that? He finally snapped himself out of it before he went and headed out for the entrance of the tunnel but found that Stiles seemed long gone. Scott then remembered what he had heard Stiles say to his dad back at the hospital. About how all he did was forgive him but didn't think he could do it again. The words seemed to echo in his head and Scott felt a hard pressure start building up at his temples. It forced his fangs and claws to start pushing their way free and Scott grunted before he turned over to the nearby metallic wall. He thrust his claws out at it and began carving into it. As he did, moonlight shined through the mark and his fanged mouth tilted with a determined growl.
He only settled after he had finished and looked over in full at the two bands he had cut into wall, illuminated by the moonlight behind it. As Scott gazed on, he silently chanted that he would get him back. He would get them all back. Stiles, Liam, Kira, Malia, Lydia. His friends, his pack. He didn't know how, but he would. That he promised.
Liam was banging hard on the door of the animal clinic, calling out for Scott. He had tried going to Scott's house first but no one was home so he had come here next.
"Scott! I need to talk to you!"
He kept knocking but there was still no answer. It was starting to look like he wasn't here either. He was wondering if Scott might be at the hospital when he saw a light shining down on him from an approaching car. He looked over and saw that it was Hayden.
"What are you doing here?" he asked her.
"Looking for you."
Hayden had waited until her sister had finally crashed after the long night and day she had before she sneaked away with the car.
"You sure that's okay with Theo?" he asked a little condescendingly.
"Probably not," she breathed.
"Then why are you here?"
"Because you are," she said. With that, the two of them walked until they were both in arms reach of each other. "Did you really almost kill Scott to save me?"
"It was a Supermoon...but, yeah. I guess I almost did."
"That's really screwed up Liam. He's one of your best friends."
Liam couldn't help but think that Hayden was sounding a little too judgy with him. "Yeah, and now you're with Theo who went and told me to kill him."
She sighed. "Something's different now. I don't know why but ever since I came back...nothing feels the same. Nothing feels right."
"Nothing?"
"Except for you. You're the one that feels the same." With that, she went and reached over for him, touching his shoulder. "The only thing that feels right. I guess I just wanted to know how you feel about me."
Liam let himself look over at Hayden's hand as it rubbed down his shoulder. "I...I don't know. You were right. Something is different." Touching Hayden, being close to her, it just didn't feel the same to him as it did last week. Before the Supermoon. He had been confused enough about how he felt about her then, now even less certain. About how he felt about her, and the lingering thoughts and feelings he had about Lori.
She sighed. "Okay."
Hayden then turned to leave and head back to her car but Liam went and latched on to her arm before she could gain a step. It was almost like...instinct. He couldn't have her leave, not yet. Liam slowly moved himself closer, until he and Hayden were gently kissing.
Gerard Argent's room was cleaned every day and every day the janitor left with a full trash bin filled with black soiled tissues. That's because Gerard's nose kept leaking out black goo leftover from his attempts to cure himself of cancer by using an Alpha's bite but had been poisoned with mountain ash saturated through his blood. Even though the cleaning was over an hour ago, his room was again littered with over two dozen soiled tissues as he sat in his wheelchair, looking out the window. He hardly reacted when the door opened and someone stepped inside. He didn't need to turn around to know that it was his son, Christopher.
Chris Argent went and brought the case he was carrying over to Gerard's serving table and laid it down. "Do you know why I'm here?" he calmly asked.
"Oh, I've heard rumors," he muttered grumpily as he wiped off a fresh dripping of black goo from his nose. "Bits of gossip do manage to reach even this dark corner of Beacon Hills. Tall tales revolving a bunch of feckless youths, and even my son." With that he turned to gaze over at his son. "I dread to even think about them."
Chris narrowed his eyes as that was the confirmation he needed. He moved to open the case and he brought out the yellow pedaled plant he had inside. At the sight of it, Gerard seemed to brim with new life.
"How long have you had that?" he growled.
Chris didn't answer him. He just gave it a small look before he went and threw it down onto the floor. Quickly, Gerard moved out of his chair and threw himself down at it. Biting and eating it right off of the floor, lying a man dying of thirst. As soon as he swallowed it, the palette of his skin seemed a bit fuller and his nose was no longer leaking any more black goo. He then moved to stand up, feeling his strength return to him.
"All this to help Scott," he said, with renewed vigor and energy.
"The Dread Doctors," Chris cut in. "What do you know about them?"
"Ahh, so they did succeed."
"Tell me what it is."
Gerard shook his head. "No, not what it is. What it was. A monster whose only purpose was to kill. Not for sustenance, not for revenge. not for any rational impulse other than the drive to end life wherever it was to be found. It also has a rather personal connection to our family."
With that, Chris narrowed his eyes before he reached into his pocket and pulled out the crumpled up remnant of Allison's pendant. The one that had been reforged from the original pendant that carried the image of the origin of the Argent family legacy. "Le Bete."
"The Beast of Gevaudan." Gerard was smiling as their legacy had now seemed to have resurrected into flesh again. "It's returned and its come to make Beacon Hills its new hunting ground. Though, its safe to say that its found some unexpected competition."
Both he and his son moved their eyes to the ruined pendant that Chris was still holding.
"More than one," Chris muttered with resolve.
Gerard narrowed his eyes. "My thoughts exactly."
Stiles made it back over to Virgil's apartment where he knocked and Virgil let him in. He was surprised to find that Zach was also there.
"What's going on?" he asked as he looked between them.
The two of them looked like they had been waiting for him.
"Theo came to visit me at my apartment today," said Zach.
"What? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Virgil was there to make sure nothing happened," he said as Virgil went and closed the door behind him.
"But he did have some things to say," Virgil said as he moved to stand just a few feet from him. "Things that made both me and Zach realize that you've been going out of your way to keep things from us. And seeing as how the both of us have nearly been killed in the last week by whatever is really going on, asking us to trust you and keep quiet, not to mention letting you crash here at my place, don't you think you at least owe us the full story?"
Stiles stared off at Virgil for a moment before he let out a tired sigh.
A/N: Yeah, Scott shouldn't have gotten his hopes up. A moment of helping each other out was not just going to erase everything that had happened between him and Stiles. Stiles probably might've succumbed to it, if it hadn't been for Scott's seeming instinctual flinch at his eyes, reminding him why they're even in this mess to begin with. And Theo is feeling pretty sure of himself as the new "Alpha" of the Chimera Pack but it might not be lasting for too long.
The next chapter will be an original and will feature those oh so cuddly Hale siblings Cora and Derek. We'll also see some of Lydia and her mom, which I didn't put in this 'episode' as that seems a plot point of its own. Also, there will be a tense and private reunion between a formerly adorable couple.
