xx
In an effort of full force, Elora's fist slammed across Jennifer's face as she grabbed the collar of the dark druid's jacket and spun her to face her.
"Do you really think a half breed like you can go against real magic?" Elora asked Jennifer in a vicious tone she'd never uttered before. "Emissaries and druids are pathetic excuses for witchcraft, but you, Julia, you're the worst of them all."
Jennifer growled under Elora's hold, not fighting to get away. "I've told you this before, Elora." Blood dripped at the side of her mouth as she said her name in disgust. "Light magic never wins."
"How do you think I found the Nematon?" she asked darkly, half a smirk arising on her lips. "There's your mistake, Julia. You underestimate me."
Jennifer's eyes locked onto Elora's, a fearful scream leaving her mouth. She clutched her head, falling to her knees. "Stop!" she yelled through the pain. "Please! Stop!"
"What is she doing?" Scott asked Derek quietly.
"Bursting and healing the blood vessels in Jennifer's brain," Deucalion answered when neither knew. "Repeated brain aneurysm."
Jennifer wailed in pain, curled on the ground as Elora didn't lay a hand on her.
"El," Derek's eyes flamed to blue as he took his cousin's attention. "Her fifteen minutes are up."
"Don't expect me to walk around in a bikini with a 'round 2' sign over my head," Elora said as she let up on Jennifer.
Jennifer scooted away, jumping us as she tossed a handful of mountain ash into the air.
Scott skidded to a stop, a black ring encircling Jennifer.
"That is such an emissary thing to do," Elora muttered as she stood to the side.
Jennifer sharply looked to the new beta, fierceness in her eyes. "Like I told you, Derek, either you or the parents. Well, I guess I'll just have to take them now. In a few minutes they'll be dead and I won't need a lunar eclipse even to kill a demon wolf."
Scott kept his eyes on Jennifer, putting a hand up against the barrier followed by the other.
"You've tried this before, Scott," Jenifer said patronizingly. "I don't remember you having much success."
But still, Scott pushed against the magic barrier. His eyes took on their yellow, using every bit of his power.
Elora watched his aura, the last flecks of gold divulging into a searing red.
Scott's eyes matched his aura, them burning crimson as he stepped a foot across the mountain ash.
Jennifer's eyes were wide, not believing what she as seeing.
The barrier shattered as Scott crossed, Jennifer shooting back.
A smile broke out on Elora, the only one not concerned.
Jennifer moved back, eyes wide with fear. "How did you do that?"
"I'm an alpha now," Scott said. "Whatever you're doing to cause the storm, make it stop or i'll kill you myself. I don't care what it does to the color of my eyes."
"It won't change the colour of mine, so allow me." Without hesitation, Deucalion slashed Jennifer's throat ear to ear.
Jennifer gasped, reaching for her neck as death began to taint her. She reverted to her true form, struggling for breath. Slowly she keeled over, her movements ceasing.
"Finally," Elora said.
x x
In the collapsed ruins of the Nematon's root cellar being held up only by a baseball bat, the heavy winds suddenly ceased.
The six occupants looked up, all disheveled and thankful for life.
"Is it over?" Allison asked, next to her father with his arm around her.
A wave of relief washed over them all, Stiles and the Sheriff hugging.
"We're not dead," Isaac breathily said as Melissa pulled him in for a hug.
Stiles quickly pulled out his phone, "Scott?"
"Hey," Scott said with relief, "you okay?"
"Yeah, we're okay," he replied. "We're all okay. How about you? You okay?"
Scott hesitated, "Sort of."
"Well, you think you can come get us?"
"Yeah, of course," Scott immediately said.
"Great, okay, um, bring a ladder."
Chris laughed against Allison's hair, everything amusing in the face of survival.
Because that's what they did; they survived.
x x
Derek stood in front of Deucalion, his arms crossed over his chest. "My mother told me you were a man of vision once. We're letting you go because we hope you can be that man again."
Next to Derek and Elora, Scott stood with a warning. "But if you're not, having your eyesight back won't matter. Because you'll never see us coming."
Scott and Derek both parted, leaving Elora alone with Deucalion.
"Where does this leave us?" Elora asked him, her arms crossed. "My parents?"
"They don't have to hide," he said, "not from me. Not only that but I'm grateful to you, Elora. I really am. You showed me mercy when I didn't deserve it. It's what makes you different."
"I guess I'm the witch with Hale blood, dormant wolf genes with compassion," Elora said with a light smile.
Deucalion returned it before it faded. "I'm sorry for that night and for the pain it's brought you and your family. I truly mean that."
She nodded, "Thank you, Deucalion." Backing away, she joined Scott and Derek to make their way to the resting place of the Nematon. "Hey, Der?"
Walking between Scott and Elora, he looked over to her. "Yeah, El?"
"Please run your next girlfriend by me first, and listen when I tell you I don't like her."
The three laughed, Derek slinging an arm around his cousin.
"Hey, what's the ladder situation?" Scott asked as they moved through the woods.
"I've got it covered," Elora assured, prepared to produce one when they got to the collapsed root cellar.
"This way," Scott sniffed out, recalling where it was when he'd been put under the water. "There it is!"
Elora and Scott took off in a jog after Scott, coming to the mess of earth with six people trapped inside.
"We're here!" Scott called as he found the torn open doors of the root cellar. "Everyone okay?"
A ring a relieved agreements came, all in a small space that once held so much magic.
Elora stood in front of the entrance, able to see the ruins of the stairs that had once led down. She cleared the space, swirling a ladder from her fingertips that touched the ground below. "Come on out," she said with a smile.
Allison crawled up first, latching onto Elora in a tight hug. "I'm so glad you're okay."
"I was more worried about you," she replied, squeezing Allison.
"Mom!" Scott expressed, a smile breaking out on his face as Melissa climbed out.
Chris came next, hugging Allison and Elora together.
Derek slightly furrowed his eyebrows, able to sense the emotions between the three.
Stiles got to Scott first, laughing into the hug after Scott told him he looked like hell. "Elora," he said before giving her a hug. "That map really helped, thank you."
"Any time, Stilinski." Elora hugged him back, "What happened to the baseball bat?"
"It saved our lives," Sheriff Stilinski said as he dusted himself off before helping Isaac out.
Elora ducked around Stilinski, practically jumping onto Isaac. With no care that Derek was present, she pressed her lips to his while being held in the air.
Isaac kissed her back, filled with relief that she was okay.
Scott, Stiles and Allison's eyes widened, glancing over to the passive look on Derek's face.
After everything, it was the last thing Derek was worried about.
"God, I need a girlfriend," Stiles mumbled as Isaac set El back on the ground.
Isaac hesitated to look to Derek, keeping an arm around Elora. But instead of getting punched in the face, he recieved a light smile.
"So," Scott finally said, "we made it."
Though recalling all of those who'd lost their lives, it was a weight off their chests to know it was done.
Well, until another issue came to light.
x x
Scott knocked on the doorframe of the exam room in the vet clinic, it only a couple days after the end of the disaster. "Have a second?"
Deaton looked up from sorting the medicines, offering Scott inside. "Always."
"I, uh, I felt like you were the best person to talk to," he said, leaning back on the counter as Deaton stood across from him. "If I tried talking to a therapist I'd probably end up in the nut house a few miles from here."
Deaton lightly laughed, "No, Eichen House isn't exactly a place you want to be." He nodded, "So, what did you want to talk about?"
"Just what's been going on, I guess." Scott rubbed the back of his neck. "Derek left, and Cora went with him. I honestly don't know if he's ever coming back. Part of me hopes so, but another part hopes that maybe he'll be okay, somewhere else. Elora, well, she left too. She's going to see her parents and let them know they don't have to hide from Deucalion anymore. Thankfully for Isaac, she promised to come back soon.
"My dad doesn't look like he's gonna be leaving for a while. But just because he's staying doesn't mean he's welcome. Stiles and I both feel it, every day. Just like Elora said we would. And it makes me think about that quote Jennifer used to start our first class. Because when I feel it, it's like I'm looking into the heart of an immense darkness."
"So what do you do instead?" Deaton asked him.
"I look for my friends," Scott replied with a smile.
"And what about Ms. Blake?"
He hesitated, "I don't know. When we went back inside the distillery, her body was gone."
Silence coveted the clearing in the Preserve, the Nematon sitting patiently to release its prize that had been hidden within since WWII.
"Please!" Julia Baccari's voice infiltrated the sheet of quiet, "Please, you saved me once before." She crawled to the visible roots, breathing heavily as she tried to pull herself to a new chance. Raising a hand, another tightly grabbed her wrist to stop her. Shoved over, Jennifer laughed angrily with bloodstained teeth as she looked up. "Of course it's you."
Above her, Elora stood with a half smirk. "Should I take that as a compliment?"
Jennifer spat blood at Elora, "You don't have it in you to kill me."
Elora crouched down next to the once mighty darach, "What is it with you doubting me? See, first it was that you underestimated my morals to use dark magic, now you think I won't kill you. You've really got a surprise coming, but I thought I would share something with you first."
"Just kill me," Jennifer growled.
El cooed, brushing a piece of hair from the druids face. "In time. Here's the thing, Jen, or should I call you Julia like I used to?" She moved on after a charismatic smirk. "After out fight on the roof, and I was unconscious, something off happened to me. See, it seemed like you won that battle but it's really the opposite. When I woke, my eyes were completely white. If I'm not mistaken, yours do that too."
Jennifer looked livid, "No."
Elora laughed, "A power transfer is what it's called. You actually made me stronger. I love irony, don't you?"
"Do you like the sound of your own voice?" she lowly asked in reply as the blood of her chest glimmered under the moonlight.
Clearly amused, Elora kept her eyes on Jennifer. "What were your plans if you could get help from the Nematon? Would you become a Jessica, cause some sort of issue and have yet another wolf nearly kill you?"
"I was thinking more of a Jane," Jennifer sarcastically replied.
Elora nodded, "Well, you're lucky I'm here. See, both times a wolf - an alpha more specifically - thought they killed you, didn't actually. Nothing against Kali and Deucalion, but maybe it just leaves too much room for survival when you put your trust in bleeding to death."
"How is that lucky?"
"I'm not a werewolf," she said as she motioned to herself, "which means when I kill you, you'll stay dead."
Jennifer's eyes widened, Elora's hand raising. "You wouldn't."
"Oh, I would. Have a nice time in hell." Rotating her wrist, Jennifer's head snapped to the side as her neck broke. Elora stood, dusting off her jeans as she looked down on the lifeless body.
"You should never underestimate a witch. It never ends well."
-GUYS THAT'S ALL OF 3A DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS???? 3B TIME - I'M SO EXCITED YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW. So, you'll meet El's parents, her previous coven and you'll figure out how Elora and Allison know each other from France. I'm really really excited gahh I'll catch you guys soon with 3b chapters! - Mel xx