xx
Elora pushed the loft door open, only Peter sitting on the table with his eyes on the moon.
"Beautiful, isn't it?"
She narrowed her eyes, walking into the loft. "Where's Stiles?"
"Lydia."
"You're not going to help, are you?" Elora came through the loft, "Boyd and Cora - yes, Cora - are out on the loose and you're going to sit here on your ass."
"I'm weak, Elora. I'll get killed if I try."
Elora ignored him, going to Isaac's room. She knocked on his door twice before going in. "Isaac, get up. We need your help."
Isaac, suseptible to sleep due to Elora practically forcing him to, stirred in his bed. He blinked in his surroundings, momentarily confused by El's presence. "Huh?"
"Get up. We've got a problem," Elora said in a needing voice. "Something happened at the bank." She grabbed his coat from a desk chair, Isaac putting on his shoes in a rush.
"What happened?" He caught the coat when she threw it, putting it on. He grabbed a scarf on his way out, following Elora.
"Deucalion's plan was a little more advanced." She had her car keys in hand, her hair taken out of the braid she'd put it in due to the outbreak in the bank vault. "We've got two werewolves strung out on the power of multiple full moons."
"You make them sound like drug addicts."
"Goodbye, Uncle Peter," Elora bitterly said, leaving the loft with Isaac close behind.
"Where are we going?" Isaac got into the passenger's seat as Elora's car started by itself.
"To meet Derek and Scott in the preserve."
Both looked up at the same time, a howl echoing through the air.
"And they definitely need our help." Elora muttered, driving off at an illegal speed.
x x
Elora was sat in the back of her car, the seats folded down to give her room to work. After dropping Isaac off with Derek and Scott, she'd promised to get to work on a locator spell.
She held her hands out, her eyes shut as she focused. She'd been given a piece of Boyd's shirt in attempt to track him and the essence of it was in ashes in a bowl.
A map of the preserve was flattened out, Elora on her knees in the small space.
Elora slid a small blade alone the inside of her palm. Tiny drops of crimson fell into the remains of Boyd's shirt. With blood still on the tip of the knife, she picked up a small amount of ashes on the side of it. Tilting the blade over the map, the ashes laced with her blood fell onto it.
The map went up in flames, almost vanishing entirely.
Elora caught a scrap of paper between her thumb and middle finger. As she turned it over to look at the location, the paper dissolved in her fingers and reverted to ashes.
She swore under her breath, automatically going for her phone. As she called Derek, she waved a hand over the objects she used to track Boyd and they vanished.
Derek's voice met her on the other side, "Anything?"
"I had it, but they're too fast. My magic can't keep up for just a locator spell." Elora got out of the back of her car and went to open the driver's seat. "What's the plan?"
"Meet us at the entrance of the Preserve. My car is there."
Elora hung up as Derek did, her fingers on the door handle. She stilled, her body going rigid for a flash of a moment. When she regained her composure, she could feel it in the air.
There was dark magic here belonging to someone with a soul as black night.
And Elora knew somehow that Deucalion's pack wasn't their only problem.
xx
Elora leaned on the hood of her car, parked next to Derek's at the mouth of the woods. She glanced at her phone, replacing it in her pocket as she heard distant footsteps.
The three wolves emerged, all looking a little annoyed with themselves.
"Can you do another tracking spell for me?" Derek asked Elora, a new plan in mind.
"Who am I looking for?" she responded with another question, uncrossing her arms as she got off her car.
"Chris Argent." Scott, after witnessing her powers, had become a bit more used to her. "He's a hunter."
"Do you have anything of his?" she asked, absently waving two fingers by her car to bring the now empty bowl back. "If not, a phone number can work." She pulled a piece of paper from her pocket and a pen.
Scott brought out his phone, reading off the number for Chris' contact.
"Yeah, that'll do." Elora pocketed her pen and folded the slip of paper. She dropped it into the wooden bowl. Facing her car, she made her blade appear again and used it to prick her finger.
"Wh-"
Derek put a hand on Isaac's chest, stopping him. "Let her do it."
Elora dripped two freckles of blood onto Argent's phone number. Letting it settle, she waved her hand over the bowl. Fire broke out for a moment, going away just as quickly as it started.
"What was that supposed to do?" Scott asked, highly confused.
"Its job." She reached into the bowl, pulling out the same piece of paper. "1511 Centre St."
"The grocery store," Isaac said, looking to Scott and Derek.
"That's where your hunter is," Elora said, zapping away the bowl yet again.
"Let's go. Scott go with El, Isaac, you're with me." Derek wasn't about to waste time.
Isaac nearly protested, but he took the wiser path and took shotgun next to Derek.
Scott got in the passenger's side of Elora's car, buckling his seatbelt. "How did you do that?"
Elora started her car, beginning to follow Derek. "Would it be too patronizing to say magic?"
Scott held back a smile, "Maybe a little."
"It was just a locator spell. There are different ways to do them. It depends on severity of the situation to choose which to do. Magic can block the spells too so you have to do more if you want to find something under protection."
"Like what?" Everything about magic made Scott curious.
"Okay, say that a person of magic is hiding themselves. To find them, the kinds of spells I used for Boyd and Argent wouldn't work. If I wasn't as powerful as them, there would be little hope in breaking through at all," El explained, behind Derek's car.
"Does it work like if you do a spell so many times over on just one thing that it eventually breaks?" Scott asked, the pair of cars getting closer to the store.
"It could, but it's dangerous. Magic works a little like a battery. The big spells take more and if you drain your power, it can kill you."
Scott lightly nodded, "That's like when wolves heal others - taking too much pain can kill us."
"See?" Elora was happy he wasn't prejudice like her uncle. "We're not all that different." They turned into the parking lot. "Where do you want me?"
"That's his car there." Scott pointed out the empty SUV. "He's still inside."
Elora went only one strip over, pulling into a spot with a view of the back of Argent's car.
Derek backed into a spot at the end of the row ahead, their view of Chris' car discrete as well.
"There, Scott." Isaac's voice travelled from car to car, "He's coming."
Scott unbuckled his seatbelt, "I hope this works." He got out when Chris went to get his keys, dropping one of his grocery bags.
Chris inwardly sighed, "It has to be the one with the eggs." He pulled open the trunk, setting his bags inside and picking up the broken one. Shutting the back, he whirled around with a gun pointed at a startled Scott.
"Uhh...hi."
Isaac was boredly slouched down in his seat in Derek's car. "Do you think this is gonna work?"
"Nope."
"Me neither." Isaac waited a moment, his thoughts lingering off of Scott. "So, your, uh...your cousin."
Derek moved his head, his expression flat and needless of words.
Isaac backed off, "Sorry yeah, it's..." He cleared his throat, looking away. "It's bad timing I'm sorry, I'll ask later, it's fine."
Elora was covering her mouth, trying to keep her shit together as Derek gave his beta another look. She leaned her head back, stifling her laughter.
"Or never," Isaac quickly said. "Yeah, yeah I'm good with never."
With the distraction, they'd missed Scott's request to Chris.
Chris was pointing the gun at the wolf, "First of all, why would I care about anyone related to Derek? And second, I don't know this kid Boyd. I don't even know his last name."
"Boyd is his last name."
"What's his first name?"
"Vernon."
Chris made a noise, sorry for the kid.
"Scott, you're in a public parking lot. You might want to get him to put the gun down," Elora said, the two out there lucky it was the middle of the night and few people were around.
He took her suggestion, "And serious, is there a reason the gun is still pointed at me?"
Chris thought for a moment, "There's probably still some part of me that wants to shoot you."
"I get that."
Argent finally gave, putting the gun away. "Scott, I watched my father brainwash my daughter, almost turn her into a killer. That world, your world decimated mine. My wife, sister, father, my entire family. Why would I ever step foot in it again?"
"Because people are going to die." Scott said, "And because you know how to catch Boyd and Cora without killing them."
Chris was torn, "I'm sorry, I can't help you."
Scott had one last idea, "Uh, do you think you could do me, like, one little, tiny favor?"
Elora smiled lightly, turning on her car as Scott got into Argent's SUV. "Attaboy, Scott. This might actually work."
-God damn I love this story and honestly I'm really excited to get further into the story - Melissa xx