chapter seventy-two
❝ cause i've broken bones for you
and for you only ❞
damnatio memoriae
━━━━༺❀༻━━━━
"Honestly, maybe it's best I'm not in Beacon Hills,"
Isaac Lahey made this statement as he took another bite of his sandwich. He sat at his computer, seeing Kennedy on the other side. She was in the Hale apartment. The same one she and Peter had lived in before Peter was sent away. Chris had been staying there with Kennedy, oddly enough. Catching up on old times, helping her clean out the place, and more.
"Trust me, as soon as Christmas break comes I am taking Noah and Stiles on vacation. Because I am in desperate need of a break," Kennedy waved her pointer fingers around in circles about her head.
The Lahey laughed as he shifted in his seat. "How are you and Stiles, by the way? You never talk about him anymore," He leaned towards the left side of his chair, taking another bite of his meal.
Kennedy shrugged. " We haven't talked about the fight we had but I think we'll work on that when we're not fighting for our lives." She explained as she titled her head.
"Fights are healthy, you know. Sometimes it's necessary,"
"I know. He and I just don't fight over serious stuff regarding the pack because we're always so good at communicating." Kennedy explained as she slouched her shoulders. She was in her bedroom. The same luxurious bedroom with pale purple and grey walls and dark purple bedding. She wrapped herself in her yellow blanket from Ben Stallards house as she talked to Isaac. "I don't know, I just feel like everything's changing and I have a feeling it'll only get worse,"
Isaac tilted his head in thought. "Well, it sounds like you have a lot to deal with. Theo, your mom, Dread Doctors, and some big monster killing people,"
Kennedy nods, "Yeah, I don't know what's up with the monster thing. Scott told me he'd tell me more soon, but I'm meeting up with Malia today," She sighed as she ran her fingers through her auburn hair.
"Why?"
The Hale girl sighed, "It's hard to explain," She confessed. "Honestly, Malia and I are even considering bringing my mom into the plan,"
Isaac shook his head. "Kennedy, you are one of the smartest people I know, and that's the dumbest thing I've heard. And I spent a week and a half with you and Ethan in France." He pointed out with wide eyes. "Why would you ever let Sloane get involved with anything?" The Lahey asked.
"If the Desert Wolf is as strong and crazy as I think she is, my mom is perhaps one of the only people who can actually stand a chance. Especially now that she stole my Alpha title."
༺❀༻
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Kennedy walked into Malia's house, tilting her head to the side. "He looks like he hasn't showered." She said as she looked at the hostage Braeden brought in. She tilted her head in distaste as she circle the chair he was in. "Have we gotten anything out of him yet?"
"No, but did you call her?"
Kennedy stayed silent as the front door slowly opened. Braeden, Malia, and Kennedy slowly looked at the door as they watched Sloane standing in all of her deadly glory. Wearing a black top and leather jacket, Sloane slowly stepped into the Tate house. Malia stayed right next to Kennedy, waiting for the Valet's next move.
Sloane looked at the man tied in the chair, and back at the two teenage girls. "Malia, it's so nice to formally meet you," She said with a small smile. Malia looked down at Sloane's hand but didn't shake it. Sloane tilted her head as she lowered her hand, narrowing her eyes in distaste. "Right,"
"We just want your help with the Desert Wolf. Nothing more, nothing less." Kennedy deadpanned to her mother. Sloane looked at Kennedy, and for a moment the daughter wondered if she saw a look of sincerity and care in her mother's eyes.
"Of course. Anything I can do," Sloane turned towards the man in the chair again. She looked him up and down, before bringing his face towards her knee. He screamed out in pain as his head fell backward. "I can get this asshole to talk,"
Kennedy and Malia both asked questions while Braeden and Sloane used violence to try and get something out of the hostage. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Every now and again Kennedy wondered if bringing her mother into this without telling Scott or Stiles was a mistake. Her mom was working with the Dread Doctors and Theo Raeken. However, something in Kennedy's gut told her Sloane never wanted Kennedy dead. It also told her Sloane was hiding something. Something Kennedy had yet to figure out.
Sloane paused in the middle of punching the hostage in the face. She looked over, her eyes scanning the area as she looked at Malia and Kennedy. "Did you tell anyone else about this?"
"No." Malia deadpanned.
"Someone's here."
Malia and her sister both rushed towards the window. A familiar motorcycle came into view. "Scott," The sisters said at the same time. Suddenly, the hostage broke his chai, swinging a piece of broken wood towards Braeden. Braeden and Sloane began to wrestle the hostage.
Kennedy looked over, "Guys, be quiet or we are all severely screwed!" She hissed. Sloane growled as she pinned the hostage to the ground, holding both of his wrists with one hand while the other covered his mouth. Braeden helped, the two of them hoisting the hostage out of sight from the front door.
The Tate pursed her lips as she slipped out the front door on to her porch. "You didn't have to come all the way out here." She called out to Scott as he climbed off his bike. Kennedy stayed hidden, listening to the conversation.
"You weren't answering your phone."
Scott jogged up the steps, and Malia stepped back. "I can't help you. Not right now." She told him.
"What if I told you that you're the only one that I have left?" Scott asked. Kennedy pursed her lips, looking down.
"You're not going to want my help."
"Anything that happened between us-"
Malia cut the True Alpha off, "I'm talking about something that's going to happen. Something I'm going to do. And you're not going to like me much after I do it." She told him with a stern face. Scott didn't like killers. After all, look what he did to Kennedy without even knowing the full story. Imagine what he'd think of the Hale sisters when he realizes they've teamed up with Sloane Valet to defeat Malia's mom. No, not defeat, kill.
Scott tilted his head to the side in worry. "Is that why I hear four other heartbeats in there? And why yours is beating so fast?" He asked with concern.
The Tate's eyes were glossy, but she shook her head instead of answering. "Scott, go home. I can't help." She said defeatedly. Scott looked at the Tate, knowing he couldn't persuade her. With shared sad and sullen looks, Scott turned away, climbing back onto his bike. Malia stepped into her home. She watched through the window in the door as Scott sped away. She turned around, looking at Sloane and Braeden. "Did you get anything out of him?"
"Not yet." Braeden grunted out. Sloane huffed as she punched the man in the face, picking him up with one hand and shoving him into the fireplace mantle.
He grunted out as he looked at the girls that surrounded him. "You think you can make me talk? I am Spetsnaz. Soviet Special Forces. In battle, we k*ll our own wounded." Sloane narrowed her eyes in distaste, tightening her grip around his throat. "You could tear out my fingernails, cut my lips with razors. I'll still say nothing."
"Correct me if I'm wrong," Braeden began, "But your section is out of work and broke, right?"
"You won't get a word out of me."
"What if we paid you $10,000?"
He paused.
Minutes later, the man counted the money now in his hands as he spoke. "The Desert Wolf was last seen close to the Canadian border. She won't travel by plane. She will stay away from surveillance cameras when she can." He explained to them.
"Then we still have some time." Braeden said as she looked at Malia.
"There's another reason she won't fly." Kennedy looked at the man in confusion. "She's not traveling alone."
Sloane rose a brow at this statement. "What do you mean?" She asked as she crossed her arms.
The man looked over at the Alpha. "She has a hostage. An animal doctor."
Malia's shoulders fell as she looked at Kennedy in realization. "Deaton."
When Kennedy went trailing out of the Tate house, Sloane wasn't too far behind. "Kennedy," She called out. The youngest Hale turned her head, looking at her mother with an annoyed glance. "I want to tell you none of what I do is to hurt you. I do it because I want to protect you,"
"From what?" Kennedy asked with a bitter tone. "You are ruining peoples lives! The Dread Doctors are killing people!"
"If I could take it all back, Kennedy, I would!" Sloane stomped down the porch steps, Kennedy stood there in shock. "I wish I had burned in the fire that ruined our family, but I let the Dread Doctors save me so one day I could see my little girl again. I didn't know what I got myself into all those years ago, and I wish I did. My biggest regret is bringing you into this, my sweet sweet angel,"
Kennedy was shocked as she stared at Sloane. Tears escaped Sloane's eyes as she looked away. "Mom, what are you talking about?"
"I've seen it, Kennedy. Every ending of what's to come." Sloane said as she smiled sadly. Her hand reached towards Kennedy's face. She sniffled, her thumb grazing the girls cheekbone. "Protect your friends. I'll do what I can to help Malia. And I'll do what I can to help you."
The youngest Hale stood still as her mother walked around her. Kennedy felt a heavy feeling in her chest as she slowly turned to watch her mom walking down the street. Kennedy couldn't understand. What was Sloane talking about? What did Sloane see? What did it mean?
And why did Kennedy have a feeling this wasn't going to end well?
༺❀༻
Kennedy sat next to Stiles in the car. "Okay, so this is the big scary monster you told me about?" She asked as she pointed at his phone. Stiles nodded.
To be clear, the two hadn't talked about anything. Her dying, their fight, her realization she killed more people. Kennedy had been so busy with Malia, and Stiles had been so busy with his dad, they had her to have the chance to talk about their pending issues. Even if it was eating then both alive.
"Yes, and now we're going to talk to Scott because-"
"Because you feel like an asshole for blaming him when everything Theo's fault and Theo's entire plan was to make you blame Scott for everything?" Kennedy listed off with a smile.
Stiles stuttered as he blinked a few times. "You know me too well, clearly," He deadpanned, opening his car door.
Kennedy slid out of the car, following Stiles towards the house. "I lived with you for months, I'd be worried if I didn't know you by now." She joked as she followed Stiles up the stairs. Stiles smiled at her comment, shaking his head in thought.
Scott stood in his bedroom, observing his bloodied bandage. He attempted to clean his wound, but the sound of footsteps causes him to look up. Kennedy stood there with her usual friendly-look, Stiles coming into view shortly after. Scott gave an awkward nod. Kennedy glanced at Stiles, who rubbed his hands together. "Hey." Stiles's stomach churned at the sight of Scott's wound. "Still not healing?"
"Sometimes it just takes a little longer." Scott excused. Kennedy bit her tongue, saying nothing. "What are you doing here?" Scott questioned as he reached for his shirt.
"Ah, you heard about the guy who got killed out at the communication towers, right?" Scott nodded at Stiles's question. "I think I may have figured something out."
Kennedy tried to hide her smile as she watched Stiles nervously fiddle with his fingers. Scott's eyes lit up as he stared at the human. "What, you want my help?"
Of course, boys will be boys, and Stiles plays it off. "Yeah, well you said you can find the clues that I can't." Scott looked at Kennedy, who shrugged in reply. Stiles pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Here, take a look." Both werewolves look over Stiles's shoulder at the phone screen. "This is when the technician first arrived. You see him going in?" The video cuts to a later part of the night. "Then Deputy Clark goes in. Then something really big and really fast comes charging out. And now comes Clark. Eventually, the technician's body is carried out by paramedics." Stiles recited as the video played. He put his phone back in his pocket, looking back at his girlfriend and Scott.
"Okay, what am I missing?" Asked the McCall.
Kennedy frowned, "Two people went in. The technician and Clark. But then three came out." She said in thought, glancing at Stiles. The human boy nodded.
"I checked all the footage. Not a single person enters that building before the technician the entire day." Stiles told both of them. Scott looked at his bedroom floor in thought. "So where does that something really big and really fast come from?" Asked the Stilinski. Kennedy shrugged her shoulders, watching Scott glance up.
"There's another way in."
༺❀༻
The reunited trio, now on less awkward terms (only slightly less), were now in the communication towers, investigating the scene from the night before. "You know, it only took me a year and a half of us being werewolves to finally catch onto not wearing a dress as much," Kennedy commented, stepping over police tape. She followed Scott and Stiles towards fallen down metal equipment, as well as the large puddle of blood. "Oh, that is disgusting,"
"You see that?"
"I see blood," Scott answers Stiles, shrugging his shoulders.
Kennedy rolled her eyes. "I think my dad can see it from Eichen House, thank you, Scott for the amazing observation." She said sarcastically, tossing her hands to the side.
"Look where it leads to."
Kennedy pursed her lips together in confusion, watching Scott move towards the fallen metal lockers. She frowned as he tried to move it, but he couldn't. Her mouth parted in realization, and quickly she moved to the other side of the locker to pull it towards her. Stiles jumped over to Scott's side to help him. Scott looked over in surprise. On cue, the three teens (mostly thanks to Kennedy) moved the metal container back to its standing position. Scott and Stiles panted as Kennedy wiped her hands on her jeans in disgust. She turned around, eyes widening at what they discovered.
Both boys stepped closer as they looked at a hole in the floor. It was probably a vent, but whatever came out of it had come out breaking the bars. The three of them looked down, seeing a ladder leading them down below.
"Maybe it's because I'm a seer or maybe it's because I'm the smartest person here, but why do I have a bad feeling about whatever's down there?" Kennedy warily said as she looked back at the boys.
Scott and Stiles looked at each other, then the teenage girl. "There's only one way to find out," Stiles said before moving towards the ladder. Kennedy looked at Scott in exasperation as he followed closely behind.
"I am so quitting this friendship."
They were back in the tunnels, a new commonplace for the group nowadays. Kennedy followed the boys, watching Stiles switch his flashlight to a UV light. They could see the remnants of mercury on the ground. Stiles leads the way, Kennedy and Scott close behind.
It's always unique, seeing a group of three. The origin of a story filled with chaos, and love, and pain, and violence. To see where they began to only see them get torn apart by a man named Theo Raeken. Was he enough? No. Sloane Valet knew that far before Theo or the Dread Doctors did. After all, she had seen visions of how the story ended. And only a few of them Theo survived.
It was just a matter of if the original three would as well.
The trio stop as the flashlight shines on something obscure in the cement. "What is that?"
"It looks like Latin." Said Stiles.
Kennedy holds up a finger, "Hold up that light. I'm gonna get a picture of it." She said slowly as she pulls her phone out. As she aims her camera, she frowns as the UV light shakes. "Stiles, hold the light still, please." She and Scott both turned to see Stiles falling to the ground, groaning out as he held the back of his neck. "God, not you again!" Kennedy groaned. The two of them step back, seeing Tracy Stewart snarling at them. "You know, considering I tried to save your life, you're extremely ungrateful." Tracy hissed in reply, charging at the werewolf girl. Kennedy slapped the girls claws out of harms way, falling back. "Rude!"
Scott and Kennedy stumble back as Tracy charges them. Scott's eyes turn red as he snarls, blocking the chimera's hits. Kennedy swings under, kicking Tracy's leg. The Stewart does a flip, landing on her feet as she snarls at Kennedy again. "Behind you!" Scott spins around, seeing Josh coming right at him. Electricity. That's the abilities Josh had, Scott learned. Kennedy slides under Tracy's legs, swiftly standing up. Scott ducks Josh's hit as Kennedy kicks Tracy in the back. The Alpha grabs Tracy's wrist, shoving her claws into Josh's chest and twisting. Tracy flew back as Josh landed on the ground, paralyzed. "Sucks, doesn't it?" Stiles asked the chimera sarcastically.
Kennedy's eyes turned blue as she and Scott looked back, sensing something. Scott growled out, and suddenly Corey appeared. A chameleon, of sorts. Kennedy snarled, stepping closer with an evil glint in her eye.
"Okay!"
The pair froze. Theo Raeken came into view, and Kennedy snarled. "Maybe they're not ready to take on an Alpha." Tracy took a spot next to Corey, both Scott and Kennedy looking between them. "Especially one that can smell fear."
"They got fangs," Corey said defensively. Theo gestured toward them. Kennedy watched as Corey and Tracy went to grab Josh.
Scott looked over. "What did you do?"
"I found some new friends. I don't take rejection well." Theo shrugged as he stepped down.
Kennedy rose a brow, "Why? Did your mommy decide she didn't want you anymore? Oh, that's right! She's my mom, my mistake." The Hale girl scoffed in dismay.
The Raeken ignored Kennedy, looking at the still paralyzed human on the ground. "Hey, Theo,"
"Stiles." He chimed blandly. Theo looked down at the ground, seeing the UV light highlighting the word on the cement. Scrunching his face, he stomped down hard, the cement splitting and making the word unreadable. He glanced back at the Alpha and the former Alpha. "You're going to leave here thinking that you need to worry about me. But you're wrong." Kennedy and Scott turned as Theo walked by. "We're actually back on the same side. Because that thing? That's what we need to worry about. Your pack and mine. We're gonna go back to school and pretend like we're normal teenagers, but at night, we're going to be fighting for our lives."
Kennedy shrugged, "Sounds pretty normal to me," She mumbled under her breath.
"What is it?" Asked Stiles.
"It's not a Chimera," Theo answered.
Scott shook his head. "But it's just a kid underneath. Someone like us." He reasoned.
Theo looked at the McCall, "Not anymore." He said simply. Kennedy and Scott looked at each other, watching the new pack of chimeras walking away.
༺❀༻
Kennedy and Scott help Stiles sit up, "He knew what it meant and I can't remember the words," Said Scott.
"Damnatio Memoriae." Kennedy recited as she crouched down next to Stiles. Both boys looked at her. "Lydia took Archaic Latin," She shrugged.
"Thank you, my genius girlfriend, but can you tell us what it means?" Stiles asked sarcastically.
Kennedy nodded, "It means the condemnation of memory." She replied, fiddling with her hands. "But I think it also means that whatever the Dread Doctors created, whatever this last Chimera really is, it's not something new."
"It's something old," Stiles added.
"Really old." Kennedy nods.
Scott seems to pause in thought, "So they didn't create a new creature." He said as he and Stiles both looked at Kennedy.
The Hale girl let out a shakey breath. "They resurrected one." Her auburn hair spilled over her shoulders as she shook her head. "My mom might know what it is, but I can't promise you that," The two boys looked at their friend. Their brown eyes were wide.
"You've spoken to her?" Stiles asked in disbelief.
Kennedy nods. "She's different ever since I died. I think she knows parts, but I don't know how big of parts." She looked back at the boys with worried eyes. "I..I don't think she's as evil as I thought."
"She was working with Theo,"
"And yet look at what Theo has done compared to my mom." Kennedy blurted. "Sloane has not killed anyone. She has not even stepped near any of you. Only me, and even then my dad did worse than she has." Scott and Stiles shared unsure looks. "When I am telling you, Sloane is not evil, I am telling you because I know it for a fact."
Scott looked at the ground, using his fingers to make a small circle. Stiles exhaled as he looked at the McCall. "We need help. If Theo's got his own pack now then we need ours. We have to get the others back."
"The others?" Stiles questioned as he leaned his head on the wall. "You mean Kira who's currently battling a homicidal fox spirit inside of her, Malia who's barely speaking to us, Lydia who's stuck in Eichen House, and Liam who almost killed you?"
"Also known as our best friends," Scott replied.
Stiles sighed, looking over at Kennedy who had a smile on her face. The human boy nodded, "Okay, how?"
Kennedy smirked, "One by one, baby." She said with a wink. Scott and Kennedy look down at the small circle in the dirt, glancing over at Stiles expectantly.
"You're not seriously going to make me do it?"
"You're part of the pack, right?"
"Okay."
A sigh escaping Stiles's lips, Kennedy helped him lean forwards. Stiles presses his fingers to the dirt, drawing a bigger circle around the small one. Kennedy looked down at it. The McCall pack, soon to be back in action. Scott and Kennedy move to help Stiles to his feet. "Next top, finding Kira," Kennedy said loudly as she and Scott hauled their human best friend down the tunnels.
"I still hate that tattoo," Stiles mumbled, looking at Scott. The McCall chuckled lowly.
"I know."