Aurora's outfit:
Chapter Twenty-Two
⊚ The Overlooked ⊚
The steel door of the loft slides back with a clang and Jennifer rushes in. Voice tremulous with panic, she calls out to the darkened loft, "Aurora? Aurora, where are you?"
"I'm here." Someone said making her spin round to see Aurora and Derek step out of the shadows as if they had been waiting in the darkness for her. "Thank God." She sighed in relief before running over to them, "Something happened at the recital, at the school, okay?" Jennifer said and Aurora furrowed her brows. "What happened, I had to leave early." Aurora said and Jennifer nodded slightly, "I need to tell you before you hear it, before you hear it for any of them." Jennifer said and Aurora raised her eyebrows.
"From who?"
"Scott and Stiles. They're gonna tell you things- things you can't believe. You have to trust me, okay? You trust me." Jennifer pleaded and Aurora nodded, "Of course, what is it?" She asked. "Promise you'll listen to me." Aurora said almost desperately, "Yeah, promise." Aurora said making Jennifer sigh in relief.
Jennifer hugged Aurora but when Aurora didn't hug her back, Jennifer slowly pulled back to see the annoyed look on Aurora's face as she glanced at Derek. "They're already here, aren't they?" Jennifer said, stepping away from her as Scott and Stiles step out from behind the wall.
Jennifer backs away, obviously a bit nervous but tries to play it off, "So, they told you it was me? That I'm the one taking people?" She asked. "We told them you're the one killing people." Scott corrected making her scoff, "Oh, that's right. Committing human sacrifices? What, cutting their throats? Yeah, I probably do it on my lunch hour- that way, I can get back to teaching high school English the rest of the day. Makes perfect sense." Jennifer said.
"Where's my dad?" Stiles asked, eyes full of tears and Jennifer looked at him crazy, "How should I know? Aurora, tell me you don't believe this?" Jennifer asked looking back at Aurora and Derek. "Do you know what happened to Stiles' father?" Aurora asked and Jennifer scoffed, "No!" She said. Her innocent act was slowly crumbling more and more every second. "Why dont you ask her why she tried to kill Lydia." Scott said making Jennifer look at him.
"Lydia Martin? I don't know anything about that!" Jennifer asked and Derek looked at her with a slight glare, "What do you know?" He asked making her look back at him and Aurora. "I know that these kids, for whatever misguided reason, are filling your heads with an absurd story- And one they can't prove, by the way."
"What if we can?" Scott asked stepping forward and Aurora tossed him a jar with ground and crushed remains of green and brown leaves. "What is that?" Jennifer asked and he looked down at it as he opened it. "My boss and Aurora told me it's a poison and a cure. Which means you can use it. And it can be used against you." He said and Aurora stepped back.
With a flick of his arm, the powder flies out of the vial, pluming into a cloud of dust. Jennifer raises her hands, but in the cloud, her face changes to the Darach, slashed and shrieking in anger.
Aurora sucked in a deep breath watching as dust settling around her, Jennifer looks up with a mixture of rage and fear. She starts to back away, moving for an escape but Derek comes at her, wrapping his hand around her throat. "Derek, wait! Wait! You need me!"
"What are you?"
"The only person who can save Cora!" She said making Aurora's eyes widen, "Call Peter... Call him!" Jennifer said and Derek instantly pulls his phone out, keeping a hold in Jennifer.
"It's not good. She's in and out of consciousness, she's vomiting up black blood, along with one other alarming substance..."
"Mistletoe." Derek said, glaring at Jennifer, "How did you know that?" Peter asked but Derek didn't answer as he just hung up and his grip tightens around Jennifer's throat making her let out a few gasps of pain. "Derek... Derek, what are you doing?"
"Her life... it's in my hands!" Jennifer gasped and Aurora stepped forward, "Derek, stop." She said but he ignored her. "Stilinski... you'll never find him..." Jennifer struggled to say, "Derek!" Aurora yelled and almost instantly Derek dropped Jennifer to the ground. She draws in a breath, hand to her throat and glares up at them in defiance.
"That's right. You need me- all of you." Jennifer said and Aurora glared at her as her necklace started to glow, "Dolorem inferens somno." Aurora said. All of the sudden, Jennifer groaned in pain for a moment before passing out making all the guys look at Aurora, who just shrugged slightly.
"That's what happened when people annoy me. Let's go." Aurora said as she stepped over Jennifer's body, walking towards the door.
⊚
Derek and Aurora sat in Derek's car while Jennifer, who had woken up not long ago, as Derek drive to the hospital. "You should know, I'm not doing this because I have to- I want to. I could still run, and you wouldn't have an easy time stopping me. But I don't want Cora to die. I'm only doing what I had to do." Jennifer said making Aurora roll her eyes.
"Shut up." Derek said making Jennifer look at him, "You guys need to hear the whole story. You need to know just how connected we are." Jennifer said. "Silentium." Aurora said as her necklace glowed and Jennifer went to say something but no sounds came out making Jennifer quietly sigh and sit back.
Derek and Aurora glanced at each other for a moment before Derek grabbed Aurora's hand while she pulled out her phone
⊚
Siren lights flashing, an ambulance full of evacuees veers away from the hospital's entrance. Derek's car and Stiles's Jeep soar in past and screech to a halt. Derek gets out and makes no attempt to be gentle when pulling Jennifer out. Shutting the door of the Jeep, Scott pauses and looks at Stiles weird when he sees Stiles pull a baseball bat out of the back.
"You got claws, I got a bat." Stiles said and Scott shrugged slightly then walking towards the doors.
Derek, Aurora, Jennifer, Scott and Stiles enter through the side door and they pass the reception desk the moment Melissa comes rushing back in through the ER entrance. "Scott?" Melissa said making Scott turn back, the others pausing ahead of him, "What are you doing here? The hospital's evacuating." Melissa asked
"We're here for Cora." Scott said and Melissa looked at all if them, "All of you? And why does Stiles have a bat?" Melissa asked pointing at the bat making Scott sigh. "Mom, trust me on this. You need to get out of here. Right now." Melissa notices the way Derek gripped Jennifer's arm, sees the tension on their faces.
"The building is supposed to be clear in thirty minutes. We've got two more ambulances coming back. One's ten minutes out. The other's twenty. Cora needs to be on one of those. They'll be picking up in the basement garage." She said and Scott nodded.
"Got it."
Still gripping Jennifer by the arm, Derek presses the button for the second floor. "You don't need to keep me on a leash, Derek. I'm going to help." Jennifer said but Derek just ignored her. She glances back to Scott who does not seem convinced. Next to him, Stiles raises the bat, fully ready to bash her across the skull with it. And Aurora?
Aurora looks ready to commit a homicide.
The bell rings and the elevator doors open. Derek pulls Jennifer out with Scott and Stiles close behind. Derek let Jennifer go as he moved past the group to the double doors of the Patient Holding Area. All he sees inside is an empty bed and black blood mixed with mistletoe all over the floor.
"Der..." Aurora said making Derek follow her train of sight at the ground. Drops of black blood on the floor, leading into the corridor and toward two double doors which bust open.
A body soars through, tumbling across the floor and sliding to their feet and with a groan of pain, Peter looks up. "We got a problem." He said and they all looked down the hall where a monstrous werewolf steps into the light. Past it's feet lies Cora's unconscious body, "Big problem." Peter said before The Twin Alpha roared and charges toward them.
A brilliant red fills Derek's eyes, his face transformed into a werewolf. He rushes to meet the Twin Alpha in the middle of the corridor, their bodies colliding brutally. Eyes glowing and transformed as well, Scott races in to help. Stiles and Aurora grabbed Peter, pulling him to his feet before pulling him down the hall.
"Help us." Aurora said before dodging blows and bodies smashing against walls, they slip past the fighting werewolves to reach Cora and made sure she was still alive. Derek slams to the floor just as Scott's feet lift off it. The Twin Alpha grips him by the neck, raising him up, "Ethan, Aiden- stop. You don't know what you're doing." Scott said and the Twin Alpha speaks with a voice combining both Ethan and Aiden's, "All we want is her."
Aurora looked over to see Jennifer slipping inside the elevator again with a smirk on her face. Aurora sighed in annoyance before standing up and walking forward a bit as her necklace glowed. "Cruciatus." Aurora mumbled before the Twin Alpha dropped Scott while groaning in pain. Aurora flicked her wrist to the side making the Alpha Twins fly back into the wall, "Posuit manere." Aurora said making them not be able to move away from the wall.
"Come on, that spell doesn't last very long." Aurora said as she pulled Derek and Scott up before they all ran down the hall. Racing through double doors and into the morgue, Stiles looks past Peter carrying an unconscious Cora over his shoulder to find Scott, Aurora and Derek catching up. "Don't stop!" Derek yelled as the Twin Alpha, barrels through the doors after them. Brandishing the baseball bat, Stiles turns back, ignoring Scott's warning, "Stiles-"
He swings, smashing the Twin Alpha across the back of the head. But instead of hurting the twins, the bat bursts into tiny pieces. Hands trembling, Stiles drops the handle and runs over to the other.
As Stiles begins to retreat, Scott looks to Derek and nods to a light fixture above them. Derek grabs him by the jacket and tosses him right into the air. Latching onto the lighting fixture, Scott yanks it free and the fixture smashes down on the head of the already disoriented Twin Alpha. Sparks fly as the monster crumbles underneath the steel fixture amid bursts of electricity as the group ran off.
The low hum of electricity rises to a crackle and the backup generators kick in. Dim emergency lights click on in the operating room. The door swings open and Stiles comes through with Peter carrying Cora. He sets her down on the operating table as Derek, Aurora and Scott rush inside right behind them.
"Where's the big guy?"
"Close."
"What about Ms. Blake?" Stiles asks and Scott shakes his head, "What do you mean? Like gone? Are you kidding me?" Stiles says, his voice rising. "Quiet." Derek said making Stiles walk over to him
"Me be quiet? You're telling me what to do? When a psychotic mass murdering bitch- the second one we've delt with by the way- has my dad tied up somewhere waiting to be ritually sacrificed?" Stiles said and Scott sighed softly. "Stiles, they're still out there." He said making Stiles look at him, "And they want her, right? Which means now that we don't have her either, my Dad and Cora are dead."
"Not yet." Aurora said, giving Stiles a look making him back off before looking at Cora, Derek and Peter hovering over her. "Is she really dying?" Scott asked and Peter shook his head slightly, "She's definitely not getting any better." He said and Scott looked at Cora. "Can you heal her?" Scott asked and Aurora sighed, "I'm not sure. I've never healed someone without knowing what's wrong with them first." She said.
"You can't save her. Only I can." Jennifer said as she walked into the room making them all spin around to look at her, "I can save her, and I can tell you where Sheriff Stilinski is. But, there's a pack of Alphas in this hospital who want me dead. So, I'll help you- but only when I'm out of here and safe. Only then."
A look of rage in her eyes, Aurora started walking toward Jennifer but Scott quickly steps in between them. "Aurora, wait-" He said as he stopped her making her glance at him, "That bitch tried to run away." She said. "I was trying to keep from getting killed. You can't blame me for that." Jennifer said and Stiles glared at her, "If you want to show you're one of the good guys, then heal her." He said and Jennifer shook her head.
"Not until I'm safe."
"I'd like to volunteer a different method of persuasion... Let's torture her." Peter said and both Derek shrugged, "Works for me." He said and Aurora nodded in agreement. "I'm in." She said but all of the sudden the PA system crackled to life.
"Um, can I have your attention...? Mr. Deucalion... Excuse me, just Deucalion... requests you bring the woman calling herself Jennifer Blake to the ER reception. Do this, and everyone else can leave. You have ten minutes."
The PA clicks off, leaving Scott breathless and terrified. "He's not gonna hurt her." Jennifer said and Aurora gave her a look, "Shut up." She said.
"He won't! Scott, you know why. Tell them it's true." Jennifer said making everyone look at Scott confused, "What does she mean?" Derek asked and Scott didn't answer. "You're not the only ones Deucalion wants in his pack. Deucalion doesn't just want an Alpha Pack- he wants perfection. That means adding the rarest of Alphas to his ranks." Jennifer said and realization crossed over Aurora's face.
"A True Alpha." Aurora said and Stiles looked around at all of them confused, "What's that?" He asked. "The kind that doesn't have to steal his power from another. One that can rise by the force of his own will. Our little Scott." Peter said and Scott sighed and shook his head, "It doesn't matter. We still need to get her out of here." Scott said.
"Scott, your mom-" Aurora started to say but he cut her off, "My mom said there's one more ambulance coming in twenty minutes. And I don't think we've been here that long, so, if we can get down to the garage, get to the last ambulance, we can get out of here."
"The twins aren't gonna let us just walk out." Stiles said and Scott sighed for a moment, "I'll distract them." He said making Aurora raise her eyebrows. "You mean fight them." She said and he shrugged, "Whatever I have to do." He said and Aurora nodded.
"I'm in." She said and Derek nodded in agreement, "I'll help you." Derek said and Jennifer scoffed slightly. "Um, sorry, but I'm not going anywhere without Aurora or Derek." She said making both Aurora and Derek sigh and roll their eyes. "I'll do it. But, I'd prefer to be out there with an advantage." Peter said making them look at him, "An advantage? Like what? You mean, like, a weapon?" Stiles asked.
"Something better than a baseball bat."
Seconds later, they yank drawers open across the room and spill their contents onto counters. Scott picks up scalpels of various sizes. Peter shakes his head. Stiles raises a set of defibrillator paddles, "Hey, wait, what about these?" He asked making everyone look at him.
"Do you know how to use those?" Derek asked, raising his eyebrows making Stiles purse his lips, "Well, no." He said. "Put them down." Aurora said making Stiles pout slightly before setting them down. Scott holds up a huge syringe filled with a clear liquid, "Epinephrine?" Scott asked. "That's only gonna make them stronger." Aurora said making Peter look up, "How strong?" He asked and Aurora realized what he was thinking. "Strong enough." She said, grabbing the syringe before walking over to Peter.
"Do you even have any medical experience to know how to do this?" Peter asked and Aurora raised her eyebrows while uncapping the syringe and stabbing it into his chest. "Nope." Aurora said before pushing down the plunger.
The doors of the operating room slam open into the corridor. Syringe jammed into his chest, Peter steps through with a look of wild-eyed, adrenaline-induced ferocity. At the end of the hall, the Twins watch him yank the needle out of his chest and toss it to the floor. Peter flares his eyes an ice-cold blue, "All right, boys! Let's rumble!"
Ethan and Aiden charge forward. In one fluid motion, their bodies surge together to form the Twin Alpha. With a lunatic war cry, Peter runs right at them. Soaring in behind him, Scott leaps up to help with claws unsheathed.
While he and Peter grapple with the Twin Alpha, Derek carries Cora through the OR's doors, Aurora, Jennifer and Stiles behind him and the group races down the opposite corridor.
⊚
A door bangs open into the garage and Stiles leads the others through, "It's still here!" He said in relief. An ambulance sits before them, lights blazing across the darkened garage. Rushing to it, Stiles yanks the back doors open and climbed in to help Derek get Cora on a gurney.
"Aurora, Derek...? Over here..." Jennifer said making Aurora and Derek glance at each other before walking over to her. On the ground was the driver, laying in a puddle of his own blood. "Julia...." Someone said in a slightly singing tone before Kali walked around the ambulance, her feet covered in blood as she spun the set of keys around her finger.
"It is you." Kali said as Stiles quickly and quietly closed the doors to the ambulance. "You guys can't beat her on your own." Jennifer said and Aurora scoffed, "You can't, but I can." She said making Kali smirk and raise her eyebrows challengingly. Kali started to step forward when Aurora raised her hand and her necklace glowed
"Caeco." Aurora said and Kali stumbled back slightly, looking around in alarm as all she could see was darkness. "Now we run." Aurora said, grabbing Derek's hand and Jennifer's arm before pulling them back. They ran back into the hospital making Kali growl lowly before running after them.
They ran down the hallway and Derek and Aurora were about to turn the corner when Jennifer stopped them. "Wait! Wait! The elevator!" She said and Derek glanced down the hall as Kali ran in before he grabbed a gurney, pushing it in the middle of the hall, blocking Kali as they ran into the elevator. Kali pushed the gurney away before running over to the elevator right as the doors closed.
All of the sudden the lights flashed for a moment til they completely turned off and the elevator stopped moving before the back up lights turned on. Derek pulled open the door only to find out that they were right between floors making Aurora sigh. Derek glanced around before looking up at the service hatch and walking over to it.
"If you're thinking the service hatch, they bolt from the outside, so you'd have to break it. All that will do is make a lot of noise, and tell them where we are." Aurora said making Derek look at her, "Kali already knows." He said and Aurora shook her head. "She saw that we got in, she doesn't know that we didn't get out." Aurora said and Derek shrugged slightly, "Yeah, well, if I get through, then we can go to another floor." He said.
"Or you'd end up fighting them alone in an elevator shaft. They'll rip my head off before either of you could even have the chance to land a punch or say a spell." Jennifer said and Derek sighed, "Then someone needs to get the backup generator working again." He said as he pulled out his phone. A moment later his phone buzzed making Aurora look over his shoulder, "Don't move. We're on our way." He read.
A little while Aurora was slowly walking back and forth in boredom before glancing at Derek. "Anything?" She asked and Derek shook his head making her close her eyes and sigh in frustration while Jennifer watched Aurora walk back and forth. "Aurora, I know what you're thinking. That I'm using you. That friendship between us was a lie. Or, that I'm evil... a bitch." Jennifer said making Aurora scoff.
"Do you think of me as a saint? The term I'd use for you is a lot worse than evil bitch." Aurora said before walking over to stand next to Derek.
"But, I hope you're not thinking the most superficial thought- Is that her real face? The slashed, mutilated face revealed by the mistletoe... Is that what she really looks like?" Jennifer said making Aurora suck in a deep breath of annoyance while her and Derek glanced at each other.
"Julia Baccari. That was my name." Jennifer said and Aurora rolled her eyes, "No one asked for your life story and we don't care about it." She said. "I guess I should have changed it to something with different first letters. I think I read somewhere that people always pick aliases that are subconsciously derivative of their original name. It's a way of not completely letting go of your identity, since your name is so tied to your sense of self." Jennifer said.
"Do you know what else is? Your face. The one that's supposed to be staring back at you in the mirror- not some hacked-up atrocity you can't even recognize." Jennifer said and Aurora sighed, "We still don't care." She said.
"But, I bet you're both curious. I bet you wonder exactly what happened." Jennifer said and Derek sighed in annoyance, "You were an Emissary. They tried killing you along with the rest of the pack. Mystery solved." He said.
"I was Kali's Emissary... And I was the one she couldn't kill. For years, the Nemeton's power was virtually gone, like the dying ember of a burned-out fire. But, a few months earlier, something happened that caused that ember to glow a little brighter. Something that gave it a spark of power again- the sacrifice of a virgin."
"You didn't know what you were doing back then, but killing Paige in the root cellar- sacrificing her there-" Jennifer said making Aurora suck in a deep breath as she and Derek grabbed each other's hand. "Gave power to the Nemeton. You gave it power again. You gave me power. Just enough to hold onto life a little longer. Long enough to be found. And Aurora, that necklace doesn't just give you magic. It connects you to the Nemeton and supernatural." Jennifer said making Aurora glance at her.
"You know mistletoe is important to Druids... But, do you know the myth of why people kiss under mistletoe?" Jennifer said and Aurora was quiet for a moment before sighing softly, "It's a Norse myth." Aurora said and Jennifer nodded.
"Baldr, the son of Odin, was the most beloved of the other gods- so much so that they wanted to protect him from all of the dangers in the world. His mother, Frigg, took an oath from fire and water, metal, stone, and every living thing, that they would never hurt Baldr. At a gathering, they tested him- stones, arrows, and flame were all hurled at him. Nothing worked. But, there was one god who wasn't so enamored of Baldr- the god of mischief, Loki."
"Loki discovered that Frigg had forgotten to ask mistletoe, a tiny, seemingly harmless plant, and completely overlooked. Loki fashioned a dart out of mistletoe, and it killed Baldr. Frigg was heartbroken. She decreed that mistletoe would never again be used as a weapon and that she would place a kiss on anyone who passed under it. So, now we hang mistletoe underneath our door during the holidays... so that we will never overlook it again." Jennifer said and Derek and Aurora glanced at each other.
"We were the overlooked- the Emissaries. It was a mistake Deucalion and the Alphas should never have made, because I made an oath of my own. From virgins and warriors, from healers, philosophers, and guardians, to loan me their power so that I could teach these monsters that their monstrous actions would never be overlooked." Jennifer said making Aurora look at her.
"You killed innocent people. You nearly killed the man hat taught me everything." Aurora said as she turned to look at Jennifer, "So has your boyfriend. I know what blue eyes mean. And I did you a favor." Jennifer said making Aurora raise her eyebrows.
"Oh, you did me a favor? Please, tell me what favor that was." Aurora said, "You fit in four of the categories. Philosopher, Warrior, Healer, Guardian... I could have chosen you and gotten more power than ever, but I chose not to." Jennifer said and Aurora scoff. "Wow, I wasnt aware that not murdering someone was a favor." Aurora said, seeming like she was a second away from either punching or hazing Jennifer making Derek grab her hand and pull her towards him.
"I'm not asking the two of you to save just my life- I'm asking you to save everyone they'll ever hurt again." Jennifer said and Derek shook his head, "You can't beat them." He said and Jennifer raised her eyebrows. "Are you sure about that? There's a Lunar Eclipse in a few days and you both know what happens during one, dont you? What happen? During the total lunar eclipse?" Jennifer asked.
"We lose all our power." Derek said in a slight mumble and Jennifer nodded, "And Aurora will be the only one of you with power." Jennifer said making Aurora and Derek glance at each other.
Derek's phone buzzed making him pull it out to see a text from Scott saying they had a plan. It buzzed again before Derek put his phone away and started to open the doors to the elevator while Jennifer took her shoes off.
⊚
The lights in the elevator flicker for s moment before turning on making Derek and Aurora glance at each other. Derek pressed one of the buttons and the elevator started moving making Aurora close her eyes and sigh in relief. All of the sudden a small mistletoe filled syringe went into Aurora neck making her gasp slightly. Derek turned around as Aurora fell to the floor to find Jennifer standing over her but her face was different now.
It was the face of the Darach.