Chapter 4:
Unease
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"The spell didn't work and he isn't answering any of our texts or calls." Allison complained, while grateful that her friends hadn't mentioned the bullet to the sheriff, she was annoyed that her dad decided to disappear again. Omar and Imogen had tried using different tracking spells but her dad was always a step ahead and obviously knew how to avoid being tracked by magic.
Imogen gave her a sympathetic look, "We'll find him." She assured her, they just needed to figure out where he went. While her, Allison, and Scott searched for Chris, Lydia went to Parrish to talk to him about what she had heard with Isaac and Malia joining her. At least this way they would all be in groups together since they didn't know who the person who shot the hellhound was.
Scott was looking around the crates and Allison's eyes brightened when she found her fathers laptop, "He might have his calendar here." She said gleefully and opened the laptop, her expression dropped when she saw that she had to put in the password, "Only if I can figure out his password."
"I don't think that Argent took off from Beacon Hills. I think he's back in business." Scott said as he stared at the guns in the crates.
Imogen joined him while Allison was trying different words and dates that might be the password. "Are we going to talk about what happened in the woods?" She asked curiously. While she could find out just by looking through his mind, they promised they wouldn't invade each other's privacy like that.
Allison bit her thumb, staring at the screen nervously. She tried her mom's birthday, and her parents anniversary but neither worked. Her eyes flickered to the bracelet she wore, it had been a birthday present her dad got her. Could her dad.... She typed the date in and the screen changed. She was logged in. Her dad really used her birthday.
"Do we have to?" He asked, looking flustered by her question. He really didn't want to think about how he had confused the deputies with hunters. He didn't even know why he thought that a bunch of hunters could be out there waiting for them.
"Uh, I got it!" Allison said, cutting into their conversation. The couple shared a look, knowing they would have to talk later as they walked over to their friends' side. They stared at the screen as Allison pulled up her dad's calendar.
"I know where that is." Scott said, seeing the location and the two girls followed him as they headed to Argents location.
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They caught sight of Chris surrounded by men from the military, they managed to sneak up behind one and Scott knocked the guy out. Chris looked at them in disbelief, "What the hell are you guys doing here?"
"We're your backup." Imogen said, repeating what he said before they revealed themselves.
"I had a guy on the inside."
"Who?"
"Him." Chris pointed to the guy they had knocked out and they looked flustered. He pushed a button, "Get down!"
Imogen hid behind a pillar while Allison ducked behind the crates and Scott had dropped to the nearest crate, crouching behind it. The men began shooting at them and Chris gestured to Imogen to grab the guy who had been helping him. She nodded, using her magic to pull the guy towards her and she propped him against the pillar she was hiding behind.
Allison, who brought her bow, began shooting arrows. Scott began fighting them and Chris shot at them. Imogen used her magic to knock out the rest but didn't notice when one got behind her. She stilled, hearing the gun cock behind her. Luckily, Chris got behind the man, cocking his own gun. "Who are the guns for?" He demanded.
They didn't notice the guy had an explosive only til he dropped it, they all jumped away. This gave the man a chance to flee to his car and drive off. Chris started to put the guns in his car before shutting the trunk, "For the record, I had everything under control."
Allison scoffed, "Clearly."
He gave her a look before asking, "How did you find me?"
"You left your computer in the bunker." She muttered.
"Ah." He glanced at his daughter with a small smile when he realized that she had obviously figured out the password he had been using, "I guess I need a new password."
"So, why are you avoiding us?" Imogen asked him curiously, they still needed to ask him about the bullet.
He cleared his throat, "I haven't been avoiding you, I've been busy. Business is booming, and I'd like to know why."
Scott pursed his lips, "Have you made any unusual sales recently? Like a bullet with a fleur-de-lis?"
Chris glanced at his daughter, "I haven't stamped a bullet since Allison almost died." His daughter looked down at the mention that she had almost died a couple years ago.
Imogen frowned, "Someone just killed a Hellhound with one."
"Can I see the casing?" He glanced at Scott who was searching through his pockets.
The alpha looked alarmed, "It must've fallen out." He looked over to where they had been fighting and they followed his gaze. There were a lot of shell casings on the ground.
Chris shook his head, "You don't need the casing, you need the slug. Find that, and you'll find your killer."
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They had gone to find the place where the hellhound's body was found so Argent could figure out who shot it. Imogen and Scott had gone ahead of the father and daughter who needed to catch up.
Imogen glanced around, "So..."
"I freaked out." He confessed after a moment. "I probably freaked you out too, right?"
"Not really. I'm just worried about you." She said softly as she grabbed his hand.
He squeezed her hand, giving her a smile, "I'm okay."
"I was hunted by my aunt." She offered as consolation.
He blinked, "I was hunted by our friend's dad." They shared a look and chuckled. He looked down, "Do you think that fear ever goes away?"
She furrowed her brows, "I don't know. I try to not think about it, I guess." She thought about her own situation and the fear she had of her aunt back then. While her nightmares weren't frequent anymore, she did still get them every once and awhile. "I think I'm starting to see things..." She trailed as she pointed over his shoulder.
He turned around and saw the red light as well. "You're not seeing things cuz I see it too."
"Relax, it's just us." Chris said as he and Allison got closer.
Imogen eyed the gun warily, "Do you have to use that thing?" She noticed her boyfriend looking more on edge than her.
He gave them an apologetic look, "To determine the trajectory of the bullet, yes. Show me where you found the body." They pointed to the ground near him and lifted his gun and saw the pair flinch back, "Take it easy, safety's on. Got it. Scott, do me a favor. Glow your eyes, tell me if you can see it, too."
Scott did as he asked, "I see it."
Allison took upon herself to dig out the slug from the tree. "That's because it's made from an element with a higher heat signature than regular metal. It shines infrared, like your eyes, because it's silver." Her father explained.
With the slug now in their possession, they all decided to leave. The hybrid noticed that they were walking in a tense silence. Did they know something she didn't? "How come no one's saying anything? Does it really matter what the bullet is made of?" Imogen questioned curiously, "Don't they all do the same thing?"
Scott's brown eyes flickered to his girlfriend who walked beside him, "Well, there's a myth that a silver bullet can kill a werewolf."
"But a real hunter would know it's just a myth." Chris said.
"Silver's too soft for bullets, they don't fly straight." Allison further explained.
"If you didn't fire it, then who did?"
"Someone who doesn't know what they're doing. Someone dangerous." Allison looked just as unsettled as her father, "A new hunter."
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"He killed every supernatural in the Closed Unit?" Scott asked his friends in disbelief. He, Imogen, and Allison had found Lydia, Isaac, and Malia waiting for them in his house so they could talk. "All of them?"
Lydia pursed her lips, recalling what they had seen. "He said he couldn't see it any other way."
"He didn't have to kill them." Allison pointed out.
Imogen looked down as Isaac spoke up, "I think he was afraid."
Lydia nodded as Scott spoke, "The wolves, the rats. It keeps coming back to the same thing, fear."
"But what is everyone afraid of?" Malia asked.
Imogen answered her cousin, "Us." Allison set the slug on the counter from the bullet that had killed that hellhound.
Scott exhaled, "We don't know what fear would do to somebody. I mean, it can change them. They'll look at us differently. They'll do things that they've never done before."
"People can be so stupid." Malia spit out.
Imogen shook her head, "They're not stupid, they're scared." She glanced at her friends, knowing that things were just going to get worse. "And scared people will do things that you wouldn't believe."