єṅċһѧṅṭяєṡṡ - ṡ.ṡṭıʟıṅṡҡı

149

"We have to slow your mind first. There's too much activity in your brain. We have to get from a gamma wave to a theta"

Faline's suddenly overwhelmed by a wave of screams in her head, and the twitching turns to spasm as she suppresses a moan and shakes her head frantically.

"Mmm-mmm... It's too loud. I can't"

"If I try the mask now, it will kill you. You have to calm your mind. You understand what they've created?"

Faline closes her eyes and takes a deep breath to steady herself before she replies.

"The Beast"

"The Beast of Gévaudan-- an engineered version of it. But, it's not yet fully grown. It's still bound to its host, the teenage Chimera inside... And it still requires the Dread Doctors' protection"

Faline twitches, becoming more exhausted by all the energy it's taking her to resist the urge to scream and blast her magic through the walls of Eichen.

"Damnatio memoriae"

"That's right. The Beast was a man first, a human killer in the late 1700s. The Dread Doctors are trying to get it to remember itself. To remember the man. When that happens, the teenager is gone. This teenager, Faline, is the last genetic chimera. A young man or a young woman, maybe even someone you know. A success where Theo and the others were failures"

"But we went through the list of genetic chimeras... There's no one else"

"There must be one you missed. Another way they could have two sets of DNA. If you could see the face of this teenager, discover its identity? Then, you and your friends would have a fighting chance"

"The mask can help you see Valack says.

Faline suddenly gets a determined look on her face, as though she's decided to take one for the team and risk her life to help her friends find and stop the Beast.

"Don't Faline" Jennifer calls, standing in the corner of the room.

"Faline!" She can hear Stiles.

Faline makes a high-pitched noise as she tries to suppress her shriek as the machine blows, squeezing her eyes closed as hard as she can.

Valack realizes that Faline is close to losing it and the boys are close to breaching the doors, leading him to grab the Dread Doctor mask before walking back toward her with it.

"Sorry Faline, but time's up"

"Scream Faline," Jennifer says. "SCREAM!"

However, when he lifts the mask to put it on her Faline leans forward and lets out one of the most powerful wails she's ever produced, unable to resist the temptation any longer, pink magic exuding from her as her hair streaks with pink. Her scream has so much force that the entire building starts to shake, and Theo and Stiles, still out in the hallway, both instantly cover their ears with their hands and duck down.

Valack looks up, revealing that Faline's scream has shattered his skull. The upper left corner of his head has been completely blown off, his left eyeball dangling out of its socket as Valack's knees buckle and cause him to collapse dead onto her lap.

Faline screams as she tries to get him off.

Stiles wastes no time shoving past Theo and running headlong into the room to find Faline still sitting exhaustedly in the chair. When she sees him, she falls back in relief, though she's still anxious about him being there at all. Theo drags Valack's body away, kicking it to the side.

"You came back-" Faline whispers to her boyfriend.

Stiles starts to take the electrodes off of her head and releases her from her restraints.