"They called him Der Soldat," Theo told them, looking up at the large, empty tank. "That's German for-"
"The soldier," Aspen deadpanned. Scott and Liam glanced at her, unaware that she even knew a little German, but she kept her eyes on Theo. Theo's eyes twinkled as he turned his head to her.
"Yeah. I'm pretty sure he fought in World War II. And he was a Nazi," he commented, "And an alpha werewolf."
He turned to them completely, and Liam was suddenly very subconscious as to how he was looking at Aspen. The blonde girl had her arms crossed over the army jacket she was wearing, her light hair falling into her face. She seemed closed off, no emotion on her face.
Yet there was plenty on Theo's. His green eyes were full of lust and Liam wanted to punch him in the face.
"The Dread Doctors were using him to prolong their lives. They've been doing it for decades," Theo continued, "Actually, probably longer."
Aspen looked around, along with Scott, who asked, "How old are these guys?"
Theo shrugged. "Who knows? But wherever they go, he goes too."
Aspen rolled her eyes, fed up with the story-telling. "So how do we find him?"
"Keeping him alive requires a pretty unique set of conditions," Theo replied, "There's got to be a power source, it has to be underground-"
"And on a telluric current," Aspen guessed, pulling the map out of her pocket. She handed in cautiously to Theo, who looked it over for a second.
"Looks like we're going for a hike."
-/-
The four of them, Aspen, Liam, Scott, and Theo, made their way onto the Beacon Hills Preserve, looking for the place where they would hopefully find Mason.
Scott caught up to Theo, leaving Aspen and Liam uncomfortably behind them.
"Where is he?" Scott asked. Theo held his arms out. "I thought we were looking for him."
Scott narrowed his eyes. "You know who I'm talking about."
"Deucalion?"
"You shouldn't trust him," Scott told him. Theo gave him a look. "And you're the ones that let him live..."
"We're not murderers," Scott spat.
"You sure about that?" Theo said, glancing behind him at the blonde girl. Scott's eyebrows furrowed and he followed his gaze to Aspen. Liam interrupted before he could say anything, however.
"We're close," he said. Scott turned to look at him. "Which way?" Liam's eyes locked on Theo, silently, not intending to let him follow.
"You think you're going to leave me behind?" Theo scoffed. Scott gave Liam a look. "Liam..."
"He wants to kill him."
"I want his power," Theo corrected, "If you want to fight someone who wants to kill Mason, go fight Parrish." Liam wasn't convinced.
"Who'd you see when you put on the mask?"
Theo sighed. "I already told you. It wasn't Mason."
"Then who was it?" Aspen asked suddenly, her blue eyes curious. "I saw a man, dying in the snow," Theo told her, "Impaled on a spear."
"It's called a pike," Aspen responded, "Lydia told us the story."
"Then you know what it means," Theo said, looking at all of them. Scott nodded with a sigh, looking at Liam. "Times running out."
"Where is he, Liam?" Aspen asked, a bit harsher than she intended, "What direction?" Liam sighed, his head jerking to the left.
"This way."
-/-
They found him in a shack, with something attached to the base of his neck, a tube. "What is this?" Liam asked, after a relief filled reunion with his friend. "I don't know," Theo said.
"Liam, I can feel it," Mason mustered out, gasping, "It's in my skull." Aspen kneeled on the concrete beside him, showing the first emotion she had shown in a while. She was worried, scared, terrified.
"You're gonna be okay, all right?" she assured him, "We're gonna help." She looked at Scott, who has gripped the tube, prepared to pull it out. "Is this gonna hurt?" Mason asked. Aspen gave him a weak smile. "Just a little."
"What are they doing to him?" Liam asked Theo. He shook his head. "I don't know." Scott gave Liam a sharp look, asking for help, and instructed Aspen, "Hold him still. Let me know if it hurts, Mason." Mason nodded slightly, and Aspen braced herself against his shoulders.
Just as Scott started to pull, Mason let out a tortured wail. "It hurts! It definitely hurts."
"I barely moved it," Scott frowned. He tried again, despite Mason's protests. Aspen grabbed Scott's wrist. "Stop it, you're killing him-"
There was a series of clicks, and the whole room started to shake. Whirs and buzzes filled Aspen's head and she stood shakily, gripping onto Theo's arm to help her up as a Dread Doctor stomped in. "Liam," Scott said quietly, "Get that thing out of Mason's neck."
He nodded, moving behind Mason to pull on the tube.
"Theo... Theo Raeken," the surgeon hissed in its metallic voice, "Failure, Theo Raeken."
"I-I'm not a failure," Theo blinked rapidly, stammering as the doctor waked closer. The doctor seemed to sneer and chortle.
"Not a complete failure. We learned from you."
Aspen gripped onto his shirt tighter. "Theo, he's just trying to get to you. It's what they want. Don't give it to them." His eyes snapped to hers, then back to the doctor. "Theo," she pleaded, "We can't beat them."
"The mark of a true failure," the surgeon said, "Repeating the same mistake again and again."
Theo looked at Aspen again, this time mumbling something to her. "We're taking Mason.." His eyes closed, then opened again as a vibrant yellow.
"Then I'm taking what's mine."
Theo roared, his fangs poking into his lip, and Aspen let go of him. There was no stopping him now.
"Let him go," Theo growled at the doctor. "You have the entitlement and narcissism typical of your generation. In that, you are a profound success."
Scott and Aspen shared a worried look. Liam reached for the thing in Mason's neck, and began to pull until he couldn't take his friend's screams anymore. "S-Scott, I can't get it out. I don't know what to do."
Aspen and Scott kneeled again beside Mason, checking to make sure he was okay. Liam tried to meet her eyes, but she was too focused on Mason.
"But your failure taught us one thing. The finality of evil. That you were and would always be an ordinary evil."
Theo's anger was almost palpable. "You think I'm ordinary?"
"We believed that to resurrect the perfect killer, we had to start with the perfect evil," the Dread Doctor concluded, "But from you, we learned that true evil only comes from corrupting something truly good."
"Not something," Scott said in a low voice, looking at Mason. Aspen let out a shaky breath, letting her hand fall into Liam's. "Someone."
Just then, Theo started to shove and punch the Dread Doctor, furious grunts leaving his mouth every time he pushed him back farther. With a decided, clenched jaw, Liam stood, racing towards the new Dread Doctor entering through the side of the room.
"Wait!" Aspen called after him, pushing off of the concrete to grab the boy she loved. Liam's fist connected with the metal of its helmet, sending in back a little. Scott lunged for her arm, to pull her back, but she was already too far. He raced after her.
Suddenly, Mason began to cry out. "Liam!" He grunted, panting heavily, as he watched his friends get punched to the ground and beaten. He reached a hand for the back of his neck to pull off the contraption.
Scott collided with Liam, being sent to the ground again, and they watched in horror as Mason stood, pulling it from his flesh. It fell to the ground, thick with blood. The whole world and time itself seemed to stop, even the Dread Doctors, who seemed to beat eternity, stood and stared.
A black cloud engulfed him in a swirling wind, and the Surgeon cried out, "Transformation.. Transformation without frequency."
Aspen stood and called out to her friend. "Mason!" The shadowy smoke grew to his shoulders and he seemed to sneer. "Stupid witch..."
His eyes were a bright, glowing purple, and he heaved out a short response. "That's not my name."
Liam gripped Aspen's wrist to protect her, and she couldn't seem to find the courage to resist. Mason transformed, growing to ten feet in height, his skin contorting into a dark gray, slick as a shadow.
The Beast, fully transformed, roared,
Slowly, one by one, the beast destroyed the Dread Doctors, decapitating two and slicing up the other. Aspen gasped as a mask landed at her feet, blood pooling from the inside. She pulled her knees to her chest and leaned as close to Liam as possible, as the Beast dragged away a Dread Doctor, swatting Theo aside like a fly.
It stomped away, and Liam pulled her up to follow Scott outside, where it promptly dropped the Doctor at its feet, as Parrish, The Hellhound, flew at it in a fiery attack.
Aspen left Liam's hand in hers, jumping when Chris Argent started to fire his gun at the Beast, Gerard closely behind. It turned and ran, falling to its knees, more black smoke engulfing it as it morphed into a man again. But this wasn't Mason.
"La Betê du Gévaudan," Gerard called. The man's head turned. "I know your name! Do you remember mine?"
His brown eyes narrowed at Gerard. He hissed one, quiet word. "Argent." The man- The Beast- turned and ran through the woods, Parrish chasing after him. Scott and Liam tried to follow, but he was too fast.
"What was that?" Aspen exclaimed, her accusing tone pointed to Gerard. His eyes stayed somber as he replied. "You've seen the Beast of Gévaudan..." The eldest Argent paused, meeting their eyes.
"And that, was the man."
A/N:
*singing* that's not my name, that's not my name
So hi. Plz go check out my new Stiles Stilinski fic (which I vvvvv excited for I love the name Sabrina) Castle. It's dope.
I'm not entirely sure how I want to end season 5, but I'm SO FRICKIN READY FOR SEASON SIX.
Silently counting down the seconds until Nov 15, which is like a week before my birthday. Less than a week actually.
Also, check out my Scott McCall fic, not so new, Argent, and my Bellamy Blake fic, Alive.
LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH THIS BOOK HAS A RIDICULOUS AMOUNT OF READS AND I LOVE YOU SO SO SO SO SO MUCH <3 <3
Only 1-2 more chapters
:(((