VENUS MCCALL (ON HOLD)

Ch. 14

Deucalion circled the impaled Derek.

Deucalion: See, the reason I'm always invested in new talent is simple. We all know a pack is strongest due to its individual parts-- the stronger the individual parts, the stronger the whole. When I lost my sight, one of my Betas assumed I wasn't fit for my role anymore. He tried to take it from me. Killing him taught me something about Alphas I didn't know they could do. His power was added to mine. I became stronger, faster, more powerful than I'd ever been. I tested this new ability to subsume the power of your own by killing another one... [chuckling] In fact, Derek, I killed them all. I took the individual parts and became a greater individual whole.

...You're right, Kali. He looks like his mother. You'll get to know me, Derek... like she did.

"Wait a damn second! You guys are related to Talia Hale?" Aphrodite blurts out. She receives nods from Al the Hales, causing an awestruck expression to paint her face.

Derek: I know you. [grunting] I know what you are... You're a fanatic...

Deucalion: [scoffing] Know me? You've never seen anything like me! [loudly] I am the Alpha of Alphas! I am the apex of apex predators! I am Death, Destroyer of Worlds! I am the Demon-Wolf!

Kol whistles lowly, and Rebekah snickers. Elijah coughs trying to contain his chuckles.

Finn just outright says what half the room is thinking, "Niklaus and this boy resemble each other quite a lot."

Deucalions sunglasses pop. Making him remove them.
Deucalion: ...I hate when that happens.

Lydia is doodling in her notebook.

Danny: Wow. That's, like, really good.
Lydia: [distractedly] I know, right?
Danny: You should be in art class.
Lydia: [shrugging] Maybe...
Danny: ...Since you're not in music?

Lydia looks up realizing she's in the wrong classroom. But, she looks confused not remembering why she came here.

STUDENT: Fifteen minutes!

Lydia: What? What's that?
Danny: Fifteen minute rule. The teacher didn't show up.

The students start to leave.

Animal Clinic

Stiles: All these symbols and things-- the triskeles, the bank logo, the mountain ash-- all of it is from the Celtic Druids. And anyone who has ever looked up "human sacrifice" before knows that the Druids had a pretty big hard-on when it came to giving one up to the gods. [murmurs] possibly even witches. You ever hear of the Lindow man? Two-thousand-year-old body found in England? He was found strangled, head bashed in, throat cut-- three-fold death. They also found pollen grains in his stomach... Guess what favorite Druid plant that was?
Deaton: [sighing] Mistletoe.

Stiles: I'm just telling you everything you already know, aren't I?

He stays silent.

Stiles: Then why aren't you telling us???
Deaton: [hesitantly] Maybe because when you've spent every moment of the last ten years trying to push something away-- denying it, lying about it-- becomes a pretty powerful habit.

Stiles: All right, so this guy... is he a Druid?
Deaton: No. It's someone copying a centuries-old practice of a people who should have known better. Do you know what the word "Druid" means in Gaelic?

"Obviously who doesn't," Stiles sarcastically says.

Stiles: No.
Deaton: "Wise oak." The Celtic Druids were close to nature. They believed they kept it in balance. They were philosophers and scholars-- they weren't serial killers.