－－－－－－－－☾－－－－－－－－
－ᴀᴄᴛ 4－
－𝑤𝑜𝑜𝑑𝑠－
In a small clearing underneath the full moon, a group of unlikely werewolf hunters gathers.
Chris drops an equipment bag on the ground in front of Maya, Scott, Isaac, and Derek. Then kneels to examine the numerous prints in the dirt.
"You've been tracking them by print?" Chris asks the group.
"Trying to."
"Then you've been wasting your time. The only creature on earth that can visually track footprints is aman." "And if you're not trained like me you have no idea that this print is Boyd's and these--"
"Are Cora's?" Isaac answers and Maya just pats him on the back before Chris corrects him.
"No, they're yours. You trampled Cora's when you first walked over here." Isaac lifts his foot to back up. Then doesn't seem to know where to step.
"I know the four of you are probably focusing half your energy on resisting your own urges under the full moon. But that puts you at a severe disadvantage to Boyd and Cora who have fully given in. They've got the pedal to the floor, while you four are barely hitting the speed limit." Chris explains.
"What do we do?" Scott asked looking around at the others making sure they were paying attention.
"Focus on your sense of smell. Actual wolves, like Maya here, they're known to track their prey for up to a hundred miles a day by scent. The trained hunter can use scent to trap them..."
－𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑜𝑑𝑠－
Now in black and armed to the teeth, Allison appears out of the shadows with a hunting knife. She makes a small cut on her forearm and lets a drop of blood fall onto the leaf of a plant.
－𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑠－
"If the wind is with them, wolves can track a scent by a distance of two miles. Which means we can draw them to us. Or into a trap..." From the equipment bag, Chris pulls out a net and tosses it to Scott. He gathers it in his hands, pulling at it to test its strength.
"The full moon does give us one advantage. They'll have a higher heat signature..."
Chris pulls out a pair of night-vision goggles. "Which makes them easier to spot with infrared. He tosses the goggles up to Maya and drops the pair into Isaac's hands.
"Thanks, but I've got my own." She says, flashing her eyes to yellow.
"Just remember we're not hunting wild animals. Underneath those impulses are two intelligent human beings. Don't think they can't rely on that human side. It's suppressed but it's there. Reminding them how to mask their own scent. How to cover their tracks..." "How to survive."
Stepping toward the edge of the cliffside, Argent and the others look out to the brilliant lights of the town.
"When was the last time you saw your sister?" Chris asks Derek and Maya.
"Not in years. I thought she died in the fire." Derek answers.
"You feel like you have a lock on her scent?" Derek shakes his head.
"Maya, do you think you can control the moon in a full shift?"
Maya shakes her head as well.
"I can try to control but if lose control, kill me I'll come back" Maya smiled creepily.
"Anyways...Scott, how confident are you in your skills?"
"Honestly? Most of the time I'm trying not to think about all of the things I can smell."
"All right, our real problem is when they breach the woods and hit the residential areas. Once they're past the high school they're right in the middle of Beacon Hills."
"They're not going to kill everything they see, are they?"
"No. But there's an important difference to recognize. Wolves hunt for food. At a certain point, they get full. Boyd and Cora are hunting for the pleasure of the kill. For some primal, apex predatory satisfaction that comes from ripping a warm body to bloody shreds. And who knows when that need is satiated." The warning quiets them all.
"We can't kill them."
"What if we can't catch them?"
" Then maybe we just need to contain them." He turns back to the city below them, thinking. "There's no one in the school at night, is there?"
"I don't think so. I'm pretty sure they've had trouble hiring a new night janitor since Peter kind of killed the last one."
"You want to trap them inside?"
"If there's somewhere with a strong enough door. No windows or access to the outside."
"What about the boiler room? It's one big steel door."
"You're sure the school's empty?"
"It has to be. There can't be anyone there this late. Right?"
"Yeah who would be there this late?" Maya asks the boys.
-𝑚𝑎𝑦𝑎'𝑠 𝑝𝑜𝑣：
Kneeling, Chris drives a metal device shaped like a rail spike into the ground. At its tip, a soft light flashes on and off. Suddenly my ears ring in absolute pain.
The sound rang throughout my skull, it was a pain i had never felt before. I couldn't hear a single word Chris was saying.
He finally turns around, looking up at the boys and me, all pressing our hands to our ears.
"NO KIDDING," Isaac yelled as my hearing slowly came back. Chris hands out half a dozen of the Emitters from his trunk. Two for each of us.
"These will point them to the school?"
"And then it's up to you to get them into the basement."
"Anybody else want to rethink the plan where we just kill them?" Isaac asks around.
"This is going to work."
Scott glances at us, none of whom seem to share his confidence besides myself.
"It'll work." Scott said trying to keep his confidence up.
"Yeah, it'll work" I smile folding my arms in complete confidence.
Chris slams the hatchback closed with a sound like a starting gun.
A moment later, it was just one hunter and four werewolves off running, I knew our plan would work i just needed Derek and Isaac to have a bit of confidence in the plan as well.
Whipping an emitter around, Derek launches it out of his hand like a throwing knife. The device lands in the side of a tree, pulsing to life.
"Show off!" I yell running past Derek.
-𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒： 𝑙𝑦𝑑𝑖𝑎'𝑠 𝑟𝑜𝑜𝑚-
The light clicks on and Lydia enters her room with Stiles following behind her.
"You didn't have to follow me home."
"I wanted to make sure you got in okay."
"I had a police escort."
"Hey, I know the inner workings of that force and they're not nearly as reliable as people think."
"You also didn't have to follow me into my room." Lydia points out, and Stiles face completely drops.
"That is just--I mean--I have no answer for that. I'll leave."
"You really want to go without asking me the question you're dying to ask me?"
"What? I don't have a question. No questions here." Stiles said stupidly.
"I can see it on your face."
"Maybe my face just gives off a naturally interrogatory expression."
"Well, you're interrogatory expression is getting on my nerves. So the answer is I have no clue how I ended up finding that body. I didn't even realize where I was until I was out of the car."
"So you literally just showed up there?
"Yes, literally."
"But the last time something like this happened--"
"I know. Derek and Maya's uncle."
"Peter."
-𝑤𝑜𝑜𝑑𝑠-
-𝑚𝑎𝑦𝑎'𝑠 𝑝𝑜𝑣：
Derek drops the final Emitter into the ground. Placing his thumb on the button to activate it, when suddenly he pauses, spotting a figure out of the corner of his eye.
"And the hunted become the hunters." Peter approaches us to examine the device.
"You really think a few high-tech dog whistles are going to help?"
"I don't see you offering a hand." Derek snaps.
I fold my arms and stare at Peter as he begins to start his sentence.
"Personally, I'm trying to cut down on futile endeavors."
"No one asked for your two senses" I mutter under my breath, I could tell he heard me because he rolled his as he shook his head.
"Cora's alive."
"I heard. Let's throw the reunion party when she's not an unstoppable killing machine."
"We can stop them."
"Sure you can. By killing them. Which happens to be the point of this little exercise. Deucalion wants you to kill them. He wants you to get rid of the baggage, making it easier for you to join his pack. The fact that it was supposed to happen in a bank vault and not out in the open doesn't change the plan. It just means Boyd and Cora are going to kill a few innocent people first."
He was right, I hated to admit it but Peter was right. Deucalion wanted a pack of unstoppable monsters, monsters he'd control. And by killing one of his betas would make him thrive for the kill of another.
"So I should let them? I should be okay with innocent people dying?"
"Unless you're okay with killing your own."
Those words scarred me, as they left Peters mouth. Killing your own. He said it like it was nothing. And it was nothing, at least to him, he felt no remorse because he did the same with Laura. Killed his own.
"We can catch them without killing them." Derek implied,
"Come on, how much damage can they do?" "Maybe they off a few homeless people? A drunk stumbling out of the bar too late. Let Scott take care of it. Let him play the hero in his morally black and white world. The real survivors--you and I--we live in shades of gray."
Peter kneels at the Ultrasonic Emitter. "Then again, even if you did kill them, you're still an Alpha..." He presses the button, activating the pulsing light. "You can always make more werewolves. Just be sure to keep quiet when you kill Maya's boy-toy, or she might just kill you."
Tears filled my eyes as I stare at Peter in disbelief, I was so hurt. He was one of my favorite people as a child now but now he's one of five people that I now hated more than anything in this world.
"Go fuck yourself" I spat as I storm off, away from him and Derek.
-ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑙-
Stiles rushes into the hospital. Before he can even speak, Melissa hurries out from behind reception to grab him.
"Over here. And if you tell anyone I showed you this I swear to God I'll kill you slowly and painfully."
"Why do you want me to see a body I've already seen?"
"Because you didn't see everything."
The sheet covering the Young Man from the Public Pool slowly pulls back. Melissa motions for Stiles to take a closer look.
"See this around his neck? That's a ligature mark. That means he was strangled with something like rope or cord."
"Wait a second. What kind of werewolf strangles someone? That's not very werewolfy."
"Exactly what I thought. And then there's this..." She gently lifts the Young Man's head.
"Oh my God, what is that? Is that brain matter? Oh God, it is."
"See the indentation?"
"In a second I'm going to see my dinner all over the floor."
"Stiles, look. This kid was hit in the back of the head. Hard enough to kill him. In fact, any one of these things could've killed him. Somebody seriously wanted this poor kid dead."
"Then this can't be Boyd or Cora. They wouldn't do all that. Maybe it's just one murder. Like random coincidence."
"I don't think it's just one."
"How come?"
"Because that girl over there..." Melissa nods to the next table on which a second covered body lies.
"She has the same exact injuries."
－ᴀᴄᴛ 5－
-𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑐𝑜𝑛 ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑠 ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ 𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑙-
Gripping the handlebar to the school's front doors, Scott takes a breath and pulls back. The lock breaks with a metal wrenching and the doors swing free.
Isaac and Maya step in to help prop them open. Trap set, they back off, hurrying to take positions about the school.
By the edge of the parking lot, Chris places his last ultrasonic emitter in the ground. Scott approaches, noticing Chris focused on something.
"Look."
Scott follows his eyes to a soft glow moving about the shadows.
"You see that?" Chris continued,
"It's a firefly."
"I know." He keeps a curious eye on the glowing bug.
"What?"
"It's just really unusual. California fireflies aren't bioluminescent." (off his look) "They don't glow."
"Does that mean something?"
Before Chris can respond, they hear a wolf's howl. A signal.
"They're coming." Scott backs up, both of them moving for cover.
The howl echoes its way inside, sending Derek into his position just beyond the lobby of the school where the corridors intersect.
Trying to hold his nervous breath, Isaac glances about the shadows, as him and Maya tense at the sounds of rapid movement come closer and closer.
Two bodies hurtle into the lot. Boyd and Cora, racing at each other's side, eyes darting about for something , anything to kill.
They're eyes set on Isaac. Then to Maya.
"Oh, great..." Isaac sighs.
"Shhh... They can smell your fear" Maya whispered to him as she grabbed his hand in comfort.
As the two get ready to attack Chris's SUV roars past them, lights blazing. He pushes down on the horn, pressing them back, driving Cora and Boyd like cattle toward the front of the school.
Hands opening to reveal his claws unsheathed, Derek stands ready, poised to defend his ground.
Through the open doors, he sees the two werewolves turning away from Chris's SUV. Coming fast and right for him. But just as they reach the steps--
Both Cora and Boyd veer off to the sides, disappearing out of his sight.
Scott rushes past Chris to look up.
"They're not going through the school..."
Derek's eyes snap up to the walls and the ceiling where he hears a furious scraping and clawing. "They're going over it."
"Shit..." Maya mumbled under her breathe.
-ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑙-
Stiles hesitantly follows Melissa to the second body and watches her gently lift the sheet from the girl's face.
"The M-E said this one wasn't just strangled. Whoever did it used a garrote. Like a stick you put through the rope and twist around and... Stiles?"
She notices the look of shock on him. He takes a faltering step back.
"Oh my God, did you know her?"
He nods and she quickly covers the body again.
"I'm sorry--I didn't know."
Even covered, he can't take his eyes off the body. He speaks softly, each word an effort.
"I was--I was at her party. It was a birthday party. Her name's Heather."
"We should call your father. You're a witness."
But Stiles doesn't respond as the shock falls away to realization. He turns back to the body of the Young Man.
－𝑓𝑙𝑎𝑠ℎ𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘：The ring on the Young Man's finger. One word inscribed on it... PURITY.
"Stiles?" She watches his gaze drift, as if trying to pull invisible clues from the air. Connections between the two bodies.
"Stiles—"
－𝑓𝑙𝑎𝑠ℎ𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘：Arms wrapped around him, Heather looks Stiles in the eyes.
"I just turned seventeen and you know what I want for my birthday? To not be a seventeen year-old virgin."
Snapping back to the present, Stiles looks to Melissa.
"Was there anyone else tonight? I mean--any other bodies come in? Or even someone missing?"
"No. I mean no bodies but--"
"What?"
"Two girls. They brought the first one in--Caitlin--to do a tox screen. From what I overheard, it sounds like her girlfriend, Emily, just disappeared. They were in the woods and--"
"Nobody's found her yet?"
"I don't know."
"The first one--"
"Caitlin."
"Is she still here? Is she here now?"
"I think so."
"Where is she?"
"Okay, hold on just a second--"
"I have to talk to her."
"Why?" Melissa questioned, knowing whatever Stiles was up to was either going to get her or him untroubled.
"Because I think I know what's happening."
-𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑐𝑜𝑛 ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑠 ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ 𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑙-
Argent and Scott race up the steps to join Derek as he rushes out from the lobby, all of them glancing about the roof for Boyd and Cora.
"The rear doors--we need to get them open."
With a nod, Derek disappears back into the school.
"Someone has to drive them inside."
Chris pulls a stun baton from his jacket.
"I'll go."
"I'm faster." Isaac says quickly and slightly confident.
He turns to Maya who's face had become uneasy. Forehead suddenly touch Maya whispers to Isaac as the only words that left her mouth were, "Be safe, okay?"
"I promise"
He kisses her on the cheek before whirling around, Isaac tears off for the other side of the building as feet hit the pavement, Cora and Boyd land on the rear of the high school. They start forward, intent on breaching the residential area of Beacon Hills. Both of them rising up to race forward when an arrow soars past Cora's head. It explodes in a blinding flash against the side of the school.
Cora blinks in confusion as Boyd spins trying to find their attacker.
But another arrow hits the ground near him and burst into blinding rings of light and smoke.
Hands shielding their eyes, Cora and Boyd fall back toward the school. Flash bolts burst all around them, sending them right through the open doors and into the school.
Bow hooked over her shoulder, Allison kicks the doors closed. Moving fast, she wraps the chains back over the handlebars and engages the lock.
Breathless and trying not to let a triumphant smile spread too wide on her face, she turns to see Isaac. Standing nearby and having witnessed the whole thing. They stare at each other for one nerve-wracked moment.
But then Allison simply raises a finger to her lips. A silent plea for him not to say anything. When Isaac nods, she turns and runs for it, disappearing into the night.
Still blinking furiously, Boyd and Cora stagger into the darkened corridor where Maya grabs Cora. She shoves her back with brutal force, sending the snarling werewolf tumbling across the tile floor.
"I've waited my whole life to do that" Maya smirks as She goes to pick Cora off the ground.
Boyd whirls to attack but Chris moves in, brandishing the stun baton. Bolts of electricity ripple up the side with a threatening crackle.
Boyd lashes out, but Chris whips the baton around like a trained swordsman. He presses forward, turning the furious werewolf around to face Scott who surges out of the darkness with fangs bared.
"Come on! This way."
Derek holds his hands out, gesturing for Boyd and Cora to approach. Scott inches over to Derek to help.
Back on his feet and almost shaking with rage, Boyd steps to Cora's side. Fangs bared, the two of them slowly approach.
"Come and get us."
Cora and Boyd charge forward as Scott and Derek turn to run, leading them through the corridor and racing down the stairwell into darkness. Glowing eyes appear in the pitch black. Hulking figures in the shadows, Boyd and Cora move slowly, heads snapping about in search of prey when--
Two fire extinguishers blast white fumes at them.
Hands rising to shield their faces, Boyd and Cora howl in response. But Derek and Scott use the extinguishers to force them back, pushing them all the way into the Boiler Room.
Dropping the extinguisher, Scott slams the door shut as Derek shoves a steel desk in front of it. They turn to each other, breathless.
"Did that actually just work?"
Derek nodded, "It worked."
A frenetic pounding jolts them back. From the other side, Boyd and Cora hammer on the door uselessly.
Breathless Maya finally catches to Scott and Derek. "Barrier spell now?"
Scott and Derek precisely.
After a moment, the pounding ceases.
Under the ominous silence, Derek, Maya and Scott lean closer to listen. They glance to each other, both of them noticing the odd quiet. Cautiously, Scott presses his ear to the surface of the door.
"What do you hear?"
Heartbeats."
"Both of them."
"Actually... three of them."
－ᴀᴄᴛ 6－
-𝑏𝑜𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑜𝑜𝑚-
Further inside the dimly lit boiler room, a door marked teacher supplies stands slightly ajar. Just past it, Ms. Blake stands utterly still, clutching several reams of paper in her arms.
"Hello? Is someone there?"
-ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑙-
Melissa nervously glances out through the crack in the door to the corridor while Stiles talks to Caitlin.
"We weren't doing anything that bad. I've camped out there plenty of times."
"But why tonight?
"We wanted to be alone for one night. Emily lives with her Mom and I have three roommates. Not exactly romantic settings, you know?"
"How long have you two been together?"
"Three months."
"You wanted to make it romantic?"
"Yeah, you know. Because..."
"Because it was her first time."
Eyes tearing up, Caitlin nods. Melissa looks to Stiles, surprised by his intuitive response.
"They're going to find her, right? Aren't they?"
She glances to both of them. But neither Stiles or Melissa have an answer.
-𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑐𝑜𝑛 ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑠 ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ 𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑙-
"Maya take the spell down" Derek demanded.
"You're not going in there alone", Maya takes down the barrier and opens the the steel door quickly and violently.
As She yanks the door open Derek tries to slide in but she sends him to the wall, "motus" She said calmly,
"What are you doing?" Derek groaned, "You're gonna get yourself killed."
"Okay, that's fine" Maya shrugged, She shut the door and put the barrier spell back up. "The spell will break at sunrise!" She shouted through the door.
Ms. Blake slowly pushes the storage room door open to look out. Past an array of pipes, air handlers and water pumps, she sees something that takes the breath out of her...
Two feral looking teenagers with glowing eyes and shockingly large teeth, approaching her with murder in their eyes.
As Blake draws in a breath for a terrified scream Maya drags Boyd and Cora to the ground. Bodies rolling across the floor, the attack is sudden and vicious.
Ms. Blake yanks the door closed and stumbles back in the closet.
（𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑜𝑜𝑚）
Scott and Derek lean against the boiler room door, listening to the crashing, the cries of pain, a veritable symphony of destruction happening inside.
Because that's all the could, listen. Listen to Maya, cry and growl in pain.
Down a corridor, Chris steps out of the shadows as the growls and snarls echo up from the basement.
The sounds of the battle even reach outside, turning Isaac around, fear spreading across his face while--
Inside, Maya desperately tried to fight off Cora and Boyd without actually fighting them.
And then, finally, she stops fighting.
Arms outstretched, Maya hands wrapped around their necks, holds off Boyd and Cora even as they slash at her body, forcing her to her knees while she struggles to outlast, trying simply to endure...
Blood flying from every claw slash, their savage attack only intensifies. Gritting his teeth, Maya closes his eyes.
And endures.
Now inside the school, Isaac spots the tiniest sliver of dawn beginning to spill through the windows.
"Scott! Derek! MAYA"
Isaac races down the stairs to find Scott and Derek already pulling the boiler room door open. They both stop in shock when they see the bloody mess inside.
Breathing hard--but still breathing--a brutally beaten Maya slowly raises her eyes.
Cora and Boyd lie before her. Both alive and transformed back to their human selves.
"There's... a teacher... Ms. Blake... back there. Someone take care of her."
Rising, she falters. Isaac starts forward to catch her, but Maya steadies on her own.
"Get these two out of here."
(off their hesitation) "Go."
Suddenly Maya faints, her breathing was slow and thin.
Scott and Isaac hurry over,
"Maya!" Isaac shouted shaking her, but she didn't wake. They all listen for her heartbeat but there was nothing there to listen to.
Isaac begins to cry. More and more tears flow through. "She's gonna comeback" Derek said patting him on the back as Isaac carefully picked Mayas body off the ground.
"Take her home, we'll talk more later"
Isaac carrie's Maya out as Scott and Chris pick Cora and Boyd up while Derek turns to the closed door of the storage closet.
Cowering in the corner, an utterly terrified Ms. Blake tenses as the door clicks open. She grabs for something to defend herself. Finds a stapler.
Derek steps inside. With the light streaming in about him, he looks like a Greek God come down from Olympus to save her.
The stapler slips from Blake's grasp as he gently extends a hand to help her up.
-ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑙-
In the dimly lit morgue, an exhausted Scott and Stiles over the body of Heather in front of them.
"So Boyd and Cora might not have killed anyone?"
"You're going to wish they did."
"Why?"
"I'm not totally sure yet, but that other girl who was out in the woods, Emily? They're eventually going to find her..."
"She's one of them. Emily, Heather, the guy Lydia found at the pool. All three were virgins."
"And all of them are going to have the same three injuries. look"
"Strangled. Throat slashed. Head bashed in."
Stiles covers Heather's body and looks up to Scott. "It's called the Threefold Death."
"So if they're not random killings, what are they?
"Sacrifices. Human sacrifices."
－－－－－－－－☾－－－－－－－－
𝐻𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑠，
𝐼𝑚 𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑦 𝑖 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑎 𝑓𝑒𝑤 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑎𝑔𝑜 𝐼 '𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑏𝑢𝑠𝑦， 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔，𝐼 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑡 6 𝑜'𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑘 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔．．．