Protect || Stiles Stilinski DISCONTINUED

Protect || Chapter Sixteen

          Katarina marched into the animal clinic later that day, demanding that Deaton set aside time to speak to her.  Annie flanked her, ready to step up to her best friend's aid if Deaton tried to derail the conversation or keep information from her.  Kat had been thinking about what Annie told her that morning, how Deaton had found more journals and that he had the information she needed to know more about what she was.  She had realized that she was sick of being left in the dark about her kind and wanted answers.

          "Deaton, finish up with whatever dog or cat you're with and get out here," Kat called as soon as she opened the door.  She knew she had only a small amount of time before Scott and Stiles came to ask Deaton for help at the rave that night. "I'm giving you time to explain things."

          Deaton came out from the back room, wiping his hands clean with a cloth. "I've been wondering when you'd want answers."

          Kat stepped closer to him, "Then give them to me."

          "Follow me." Deaton nodded, turning and walking into the back room.  Kat looked back at Annie before going after Deaton.  She went back into the examination room, where Deaton was placing old and tattered journals on the silver table.  They glared at Kat under the harsh light, taunting her with the information they withheld.  She came up to the table, itching to reach out and snatch the journals for herself.

          Deaton picked up a journal, the oldest looking one of the collection. "This journal is the first of Bernadette Paulson's that I own.  It holds most of the information I know about eternimas.  The rest of these hold her time with the Reynolds pack.  Among these journals are a few more from her daughters, Seraphina and Reyna, her brother Emmett, as well as his daughter Eloise."

          "Great, now what did you need to explain to me?" Kat shortly asked, eyeing the journal in Deaton's hand.  It held everything she longed to know about herself.

          "Eternimas are the root of every supernatural being.  Your soul, Katarina, is thousands of years old.  I believe yours is the oldest.  The souls of eternimas are passed down chronologically, so if yours is the oldest, it doesn't quite add up." Deaton started, carefully choosing his words. "Bernadette Paulson was a very special eternima.  Usually, one eternima is born from another, rarely does one pass their powers to each of their kin."

          Kat didn't understand, "What does that have to do with my soul being the oldest?"

          Deaton took a deep breath, as if preparing for an explosion of anger after his next statement. "Bernadette Paulson was your mother, Katarina, making Seraphina and Reyna your sisters, Emmett your uncle, and Eloise your cousin."

          "My what?" Kat sputtered.  Her face had paled considerably, her hands started shaking, and suddenly her vision was turning red with anger.  She rounded on Annie, eyes wildly glowing their alternate mint green, "Did you know?" Annie was silent, and Kat's eyes only glowed brighter. "Did you know that she was my mother?  That I was related to any of them?"

          Annie opened and closed her mouth, trying to find a way to explain that she knew and didn't tell her.  Explanations started tumbling from her mouth, "Bernadette wasn't a good person towards the end, and I -- "

          When Annie didn't respond, Kat continued, trying her hardest to shift her eyes back to their normal brown and calm herself down, "What about Seraphina and Reyna?  Or Emmett and Eloise?  Where are they?  Were they in your pack with Bernadette?"

          Annie thickly swallowed, trying to find her voice. "I don't know where Seraphina, Reyna, or Eloise are, Emmett took them and fled before you moved to San Francisco.  Bernadette died a few months after they left."