Jules, Brett, Scott and Malia had all gone to a shipyard full of large steel shipping containers and illuminated by large overhead lights. Unbeknownst to any of them, Deucalion was standing on one of the tallest stacks of containers with his cane in hand. Just as the four look at each other, not knowing what to expect or why they are there, Deucalion slams the tip of his cane onto the roof of the container causing a ripple of sound waves in their direction.
Hearing the sound, they turn around to find Deucalion staring down at them. "Do any of you know the term for what I'm doing?" Deucalion asks them. "Echolocation." Jules and Scott answer at the same time reminding Deucalion of why he had wanted them in their pack so bad.
"You did your homework." He smiles at them.
"We looked a few things up." Deucalion's tone becomes serious as he continues.
"I know you think you can learn in just one day what took me years to master." He says to them.
"We were hoping for maybe a few highlights?" Malia says in a monotone voice. "Or anything that can help us fight the Anuk-ite without looking at it." Scott says. "Fighting blind is one thing—you haven't even learned to walk yet. An orientation in mobility training specialists has to practice blindfolded with a white cane for at least one hundred and twenty hours before becoming certified!"
They all look at each other with alarm and dismay. "I can't teach you to walk and fight in less than twenty-four." He says raising his eyebrows. "Look, we know the odds are bad, but Gerard's got an army. There's a creature that can scare ordinary people into becoming killers." Scott says with a slight desperation to his voice.
"A creature now capable of killing you with just a look. You saw them, didn't you?" Deucalion sighs.
"We saw people turned to stone." Jules tells him with wide eyes. Deucalion would never admit it upfront, but he felt quite fond towards her, she was so young and yet she stayed strong throughout all this. "So why aren't all of you running for your lives?" Scott looks at Deucalion as though he's offended by the insinuation "Because we don't run!" Deucalion smiles proudly.
"Now that sounds like an Alpha. Let's get started."
***
Deucalion stood on the pavement in front of the group, still resting on his cane as he prepares to teach them how to fight without their sense of sight. Unfortunately, there's one crucial difference to teaching you how to fight blind." Deucalion starts. "We're not really blind." Jules nods. Malia looks at Deucalion with confusion.
"Why does that matter?"
Jules turns to Malia looking confused as to why she would even ask that. Deucalion turns away from them and begins pacing back and forth.
"Unless you spend the next few days walking around with a blindfold, all the Anuk-ite has to do is get you to open your eyes." He answers her.
"So we keep our eyes shut." Jules rolls her eyes at Malia's forwardness. "You think it's that easy? What happens to your eyes when you're afraid?" He asks her.
"They open wide." Brett answers for her, finally speaking up. "To gather more light and send more data to the brain so you can better handle whatever threat lies in front of you."
Malia looks at Deucalion skeptically and scoffs.
"I can keep my eyes closed." She says confidently.
"Well, go ahead. Close them." Malia does as she's told with an expression that indicates she thinks she's going to prove Deucalion wrong. However, Deucalion bends over and picks up a large stone on the ground before lobbing it at the shipping container behind her. The stone makes a clanging noise when it hits the corrugated steel, startling Malia so much that she flinches and her eyes fly open. Deucalion looks at her in exasperation and sighs.
"You're dead." He tells her. "I get it! It's gonna be a lot harder than I thought." Malia says with frustration laced in her voice. "But not impossible. What's next?" Scott asks him. Deucalion reaches into his pocket and pulls out four pieces of long black material as he walks toward them.
"In schools for the blind, it's called sleep-shade training. We'll use regular blindfolds." Deucalion hands them each a blindfold. "And we'll start with echolocation." He tells them "Sound." Scott says, simplifying it for the rest of them. "Then I'll show you how to use thermoception." Malia, not wanting to be outdone, interjects before Scott can."Heat." Scott looks over at Malia and smiles as Deucalion continues.
"Equilibrioception." Malia opens her mouth to speak before she realizes she doesn't know what it means. "Balance." Brett answers making Jules smile. "And proprioception." Everyone stayed silent as Jules smirked looking at Deucalion. "Jules?" She questions her as she looks to her group of friends before turning back to him.
"Pressure." She answers making not only Deucalion smile but Brett too. "You're good." Brett compliments her making Deucalion look at the two for a moment as he realizes what kind of relationship they're in.
"Go ahead." Deucalion tells them as they all bring the blindfolds to their eyes and tie them tightly around their heads.
"I hope you're all ready, because you're all about to be in a world of pain and frustration."
***
All four supernaturals had been walking around blindly, having their hands out trying to feel for anything in front of them as Deucalion spoke. "Normal humans use echolocation by creating sounds, like clicking the tongue against the roof of the mouth. Since your hearing is a hundred times more powerful, you can pick up natural reflected sounds." He hits a nearby shipping container with his cane, causing a loud clang to echo towards them. The sound seems to hurt their ears and startle them, as they all flinch when they hear it. Afterward, Deucalion deliberately moves to another location.
"I definitely heard that." Scott tells him as they try turning their heads to find where the sound came from. "But does it tell you where I am?" He asks them. Jules' head turns back and forth in an attempt to track Deucalion's voice. Malia seems to be struggling more with the effects of the blindfold and holds her hands out flat in front of her out of fear of an unseen attack. Brett and Scott seemed to be the only ones staying calm.
"Don't listen for me. Listen for the echo, the sound reflections. Use it to find me." Deucalion once again slams the end of his cane against the shipping container behind him. This time they're are prepared for the sound and they listen carefully to the sound waves echoing back and forth against all the different shipping containers as Deucalion circles around them.
"You all have superior hearing." He says as Jules accidentally backs up into Bretts back. "You need to focus it, like a weapon!" Deucalion spins and hits the shipping container with his cane again before turning the corner, leading them into the maze of the shipyard. Jules breathes to calm herself down as she successfully rounds the corner herself with Brett unknowingly behind her as he too was successful. Scott had also done a good job finding his way around. Malia seemed to be the only one struggling as she runs directly into the end of the shipping container.
"I'm not feeling so superior right now!" She says discouraged. Deucalion slowly makes his way through the maze as the others attempt to find him. He hits the nearby shipping container with his cane, and Jules and Brett spin in an effort to keep up with him.
"Find me." He says as his voice echos. Deucalion's cat and mouse game continued on.
"Come at me!" He tells. Deucalion then begins to drag the tip of his cane along the corrugated metal shipping containers. Jules manages to more or less keep up with him by feeling the walls, with Brett a short distance behind her.
Deucalion soon lead them out into the parking lot
"Come find me!" He says again as Jules and Brett make their way it with Scott and Malia following closely behind. Deucalion appears out of the shadows and hits all of them in the shins with his cane using so much force they are all knocked flat on their backs. Confused, they all pull off their blindfolds and look up at Deucalion, who sighs in exasperation.
"I feel like I just died." Jules says with a weak voice. Brett helps her up but keeps his hand intertwined with hers. "Again." Deucalion tells them. Brett grabs her blindfold and places it over her head, tightening it but not to the point where it would hurt her. He kissed her forehead reassuring her that they would be able to do this as he could sense her worry.
The four stand back to back as Deucalion continues to give his lesson. "In humans, thermoception is done mainly through the skin. You have temperature receptors that pick up the change in heat and cold. The eyes of Werewolves are particularly effective in picking up heat. Jules in particular may have it easier as her whole aura revolves around fire." He says making her smile slightly.
Deucalion closes his eyes for a short moment before then opening them to reveal bright red glowing irises. His vision takes on a reddish-orange hue as he looks at the group.
"What do we do without our eyes?" Scott asks him. "Focus on your skin—the minute temperature changes." Malia curiously holds her hands out in front of her as though searching for a change in how her skin feels.
"Now, turn and face each other." He says as they turn forming a diamond shape. Jules tells her as chance as her vision takes in a purple and red tint as she senses the heat around her. "Malia? Try to hit Scott." Malia turns as though she's trying to look at him in disbelief through her blindfold. "Seriously?" It was clear that Deucalion's patience was wearing thin.
"Yes, seriously. You came here to learn to fight—kick his ass!" Malia turns back to face Scott, who looked very unsure about this plan but efore Scott can protest further, Malia rears back her fist and throws a punch at Scott, who she can also see through her newly-developing thermoception sense, and who she hits in the gut. When Scott doubles over in pain, Malia, proud of herself, giggles happily
"Now Jules, let's see how much mercy you really have. I'd like you to attack your little boyfriend." She gulps slightly as the heat coming off of Brett gets into her line of vision. "It's okay, I'll be okay." He reassured her as she grabs him by the shoulder and knees him in the stomach. He immediately groans in pain and falls on the floor.
Brett stands despite being in pain and Scott asks. "What are we supposed to do now?" Scott asks referring to himself and Brett. "Defend yourselves." Deucalion answers with a smirk.
Scott stands up straight just in time for Malia to throw another punch, which he barely blocks with the back of his arm. However, when Scott throws a punch of his own, Malia is able to duck to avoid it before suckerpunching him in the face. Scott staggers backward and leans against the nearby support column, groaning in pain as Deucalion sighs and looks down at the ground. Malia looks guilty and tries to comfort him.
"Sorry."
"Don't be sorry! Hit him again!" He says impatiently. Brett finally getting the idea punches Jules knocking her down in her knees, but she knew she couldn't blame him. They all had to show no mercy.
Jules backs up a couple steps and holds up her fists in a fighting stance as Scott recovers from the blow to get ready to attack Malia. This time, Brett anticipates Jules' attack and ducks, causing her to punch the support column hard enough to crack the stone.
Jules cry of pain shocks Brett so much that he reflexively pulls off his blindfold to check on her, and Jules does the same before the two turn to Deucalion, who groans in secondhand embarrassment.
"Yeah, I didn't think it was possible, but I'm actually starting to wish I was blind again."
Jules and Brett look at Deucalion with sheepish expressions, clearly overwhelmed by the task at hand.
***
Moving onto the next lesson Scott slowly walked under the catwalk as Deucalion circled around them. "Stop looking for me. Listen. Sense the rise and fall of temperature. Feel the pressure beneath your feet." Scott digs the balls of his feet into the cement floor as Deucalion moves around to face him.
"Know with absolute certainty my location. My speed. Even my method of attack." Before Scott can process, Deucalion kicks him in the stomach, knocking him backward onto his bottom. The trio who had been watching from the sidelines sigh empathetically.
As Scott recovers, Deucalion walks over and kneels in front of him. "And...you're dead."
Scott sighs as he lifts the blindfold from his eyes.
"Next."
As Malia helps pull Scott to his feet, Jules walks to the center putting her blindfold on, eager to prove herself. She was getting herself ready until Malia sighed turning to Scott.
"Scott... I think we should try something else." She tells him. "No, there is nothing else. I can't beat Gerard when he's got an entire army behind him." He says frustrated with the situation. "They're still afraid of us." She reminds him as Jules takes her blindfold off, looking at him with a guilty expression.
Scott looks exhausted as he tries to make his point. "That's the problem! They don't know us. They don't want us here. They don't even want to look at us. But I still don't think that that fear is real." Deucalion seems taken aback by this argument.
"What if it's not just the Anuk-ite? What if this is what people are really like? I mean, could it be that all this creature really does is give people permission to act one whatever awful truth lies within them?" Deucalion argues. "I can't believe that. I don't want to." Scott told him as Jules gives him a smile. "Neither do I." She says supporting him.
Deucalion seems to have gotten an idea and is looking at Scott with a stern expression. "Lose the blindfold, Scott." Scott looked at Deucalion with confusion, and when Deucalion nodded at him, Scott reluctantly reached up and removed the blindfold that had been resting on his forehead. Deucalion then took a step back away from Scott.
"Close your eyes. We're going to try this again, but this time, I'm not going to hold back."
Scott tosses his blindfold onto the floor as Jules walked back to the sidelines and he walked to the center.
"I'm gonna come at you for real. You asked me here because you think I know how to fight? I don't." When Deucalion turned around to face him, his eyes were blazing red, and his voice had taken on a demonic undertone.
"I know how to kill people." He said making Jules hold Bretts hand tightly as they watched the ordeal. Deucalion glared at Scott, who closed his eyes just as he's told and cracks his neck in preparation for a battle. After a moment, Deucalion roared at him with his fangs out before lunging toward Scott.
Deucalion had gotten the upper-hand and had gotten quite a few lashes in on Scott with his cane, causing Scott to groan in pain, particularly after the third blow, which hit him behind the knees and knocked him onto the ground.
"Cmon Scott. Hit him!" Jules whispers under her breath. Scott's palms flattened against the concrete ground beneath him, and the vibrations he felt of Deucalion moving toward him allowed him to identify where he was standing and dodged the next cane strike, barely missing getting hit in the face with it. In one fluid motion, Scott reached out, grabbed the cane in his hands, using it to pull himself to his feet as well as pulling Deucalion to him so he can flip him onto his back on the ground.
Rain starts to fall as Scott stands over Deucalion, who chuckles, clearly impressed by his student's quick work. "You might just survive this."
Scott opens his eyes and reaches down to help Deucalion to his feet when suddenly, Lydia and Peter frantically run toward them.
"Scott! Scott!" Scott frowns in concern as Peter and Lydia join them under the catwalk. "None of us are going to survive this!" She says as Brett holds onto Jules's hand even tighter than before.
"What? Why? What are you guys doing here?" Scott asks them. "They're coming! Monroe and more—and they have heavy firepower." Petter explains.
Suddenly Jules felt chills run down her back, and before she could even process a hail of gunfire was shot towards them.
It all seemed to move in slow motion as Brett grabbed Jules and pushed her behind a pillar to protect her. At least a half dozen bullets hit Deucalion in the chest and abdomen from behind.
Jules's eyes widen as Deucalion's body falls face-first to the ground, and the others look over to find a wall of Hunters in front of them, many of which move to reveal that Monroe was standing behind them as she opens her mouth to speak.
"The war is about to begin!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
A/N: prepare yourselves for a very long series finale. I honestly don't know how I'm gonna let this book go.