x x
"The Japanese Mafia?"
"It's a long story," Elora defended as she stood from the back porch swing. "And I knew you would act like this so that's why I didn't tell you in the first place."
"You have a personal contact with the mafia and I'm the one acting funny?" Isaac questioned, following Elora into the house when she gave up on the fading sun.
"It's not as strange as it sounds, Isaac. It's not the 1940s, the mafia's not like it's known for. Not Yakusa, not under Katashi."
Isaac looked bewildered, wondering if they were really having this discussion. "How do you even know this guy?"
Elora leaned on the counter in the kitchen, shutting her address book without touching it. "While my parents were on the run from Deucalion, and I was still in high school, we stayed in Japan briefly. Katashi is well aware of the supernatural, and he was well aware of our arrival.
"I was in the market place about two weeks into our stay in Yokosuka and I was approached by two men who offered me burning sage to tell me they wanted to talk privately, as well as telling me they knew what I was without words."
Hesitating, Isaac's eyebrows drew together, "Sage? They didn't shoot you or anything? No weapons threat?"
"This isn't The Godfather. Focus." Elora could see the streets of the coastal city as if they were there and not in her kitchen, recalling only three years before. "I knew picking a fight would only expose us so I accepted the sage and went with them. They took me to a small building where Katashi was waiting. My father was already there, sage burning on Katashi's desk."
Isaac restrained himself from asking if Katashi was holding a fluffy cat, unable to shake the 'mafia' label as he listened.
"Katashi needed help that only two magic-users of the same bloodline could offer. He had sensed our arrival, amongst other confidants he had with atuned powers. There was a creature on the loose that couldn't be killed. It needed to be locked down or it would destroy the entire island."
"Please tell me you're talking about Godzilla."
Elora looked flatly at Isaac across the counter, "Don't you think that would've showed up on the news if she got free?"
Isaac's eyes widened, "You mean-"
"It's not important," El interrupted. "What Katashi was dealing with was beyond ancient. It derives from the initial creation of the world, but the catch was that it could cause devastation if killed. If you can't kill it, you have to lock it up. That's where my dad and I came in."
"There's a giant ass creature running around and you two had to lock it up?" asked Isaac, the picture not complete in his head.
"Actually, the kuchiku-kan is a little girl. She runs around Japan begging like a lost child asking for help to find her mother. If you help, she kills you by putting a hand on any exposed skin and drains the life out of you."
Isaac blinked for a moment, "Well that's terrifying. Wait, what if you don't help?"
"If you stop at all, or even make eye contact when she asks," Elora softly shook her head, "you're a goner. The only way to survive it is to ignore her and keep walking. Any hesitation in your step will get you killed. You can't run, either. She can always find you."
"So, if you're a kid lost in Japan..."
"Only ask for your dad, or don't get lost."
Isaac's eyebrows narrowed, "Why the mom?"
"Because," Elora said, "if you kill the girl, her mom shows up and destroys the country."
"That'll do it," agreed Isaac. "So what did you and your dad do?"
"I was bait, naturally," El gave a soft shrug, getting a laugh out of Isaac. "We tracked her down and I went in. On my way past her, she asked me the question;
"Anata wa watashinohaha o mitsukeru watashi o tasukeru koto wa dekimasu ka?"
Can you help me find my mother?
"What did you say to her?" Isaac questioned, able to see in her face that she was reliving the memory.
"I didn't answer," she replied. "I started the spell and it kept her in place while my father came out from the alley with her box. We were able to get her inside and seal it like a tomb."
"Where's the box now?" Isaac leaned on his elbows, engulfed by the story.
"On an oil rig in the pacific, sealed long enough to outlast us all." Elora opened her phone, pulling up a feed she could always access. Flipping the phone around, she offered it across the island. "That's her."
Isaac took the device, a corner shot of a small figure bearing long dark hair and a battered dress within four walls. "She is definitely innocent looking."
At the fridge, Elora glanced over her shoulder, "If she knows you're looking, she'll change her face to what she really looks like."
"I don't want to see that," Isaac quickly said as he turned off the phone.
Elora lightly laughed, pulling free a takeout container from the depths of the fridge. "Do you want anything? We could always order pizza if you're not feeling Chinese."
"I'm good for now," Isaac replied before flipping the subject back. "So, basically Katashi owes you."
"The Yakusa don't owe anyone anything," Elora said as she grabbed a bottle of soy sauce. "But they aren't opposed to to working with personal contacts upon request."
Isaac softly shook his head, undeniably grinning. "You really are something else. I didn't know you knew Japanese."
"Yeah, I was taught as a kid. Came in handy when we lived there." Elora hesitated, an odd look crossing her face.
"El?"
Elora's grip around the glass bottle loosened, it crashing onto the floor with a shatter.
"Holy-" Isaac jumped up as the bottle hit. He attempted to rush to her, only to feel a heavy pressure on his chest keeping him back.
The witch held out a hand towards Isaac, her eyes searing white with Jennifer's stolen power.
Isaac had first thought it had been someone else keeping him from Elora, but it was her.
The beta's eyes remained wide, unable to get any closer to her. "El, what's going on?"
"Shōki o ushinau," Elora whispered, pupils lost under a white fog. "Shōki o ushinau."
"Elora-"
"Shōki o ushinau," the brunette's eyes snapped up to Isaac as the Hale green resurfaced. She stood still in place, not quite sure where she was. "Isaac, I can't control it."
Isaac pushed against the pressure she was holding on him. "El, what's going on?"
"It's Scott," El said with a strain in her voice. She still held out a hand towards Isaac, unable to lower her arm. "Scott can't control it, either. He's shifting."
"What do I do? El," stressed Isaac, "what do I do?"
"Stay there, don't try to cross," Elora warned with startled eyes. "When Scott can control himself, I'll be able to."
"What if he can't?" asked the wolf haughtily with worry in his voice. "What if Scott can't control it?"
"I have no idea," El admitted as she flinched against trying to keep her power under control. "Let's hope he can." She closed her eyes, "Move, go into the living room."
"Why? What's going on?"
"There's too much to keep down, I don't want you to get hurt. The ceiling's about to come down."
"What?"
"No, literally. The ceiling is about to come down."
"Oh, holy-"
"Go!" Elora shouted as the molding started to crack above them. She strained against the weight, something that would've happened only when hell broke loose.
She'd never lost control before.
Isaac, however, wouldn't leave. "Come on, El. You can control yourself, too. What keeps you tied to you? What makes you whole?"
Elora couldn't answer, barely able to hear him over her stress.
"Elora!" Isaac shouted past the rumbling of the vaulted ceiling. "Find your anchor!"
"You!" Elora cried out with crippling pressure on her. "It's you, Isaac."
The room grew quiet, only the sound of Elora's heart thundering.
Elora breathed in, everything suddenly calm. A warm hand wrapped around her waist, causing her to fall against the familiar scent of Isaac.
Isaac held Elora, arms around her protectively. "You're okay," he softly said as he kissed the top of her head. "You're okay, El."
Still pressed against him, Elora's eyes opened as she kept her head rested on him. Panic laced through her veins, only travelling outward through dialated pupils.
No, she thought to herself, no I'm not.
She wouldn't be for awhile, not when there were more tricks to be played.
x x
It was the line that had started it all that had landed Scott McCall and Stiles Stilinski in the Beacon Hills Preserve in the clutches of the night.
We're gonna go out and find a body. A dead body.
The boys treked out, away from the blaring headlights of the Jeep, armed with a flashlight. The only tool missing was the trusty inhaler that led to meeting Derek Hale, its necessity long gone.
"You know," began Stiles, "if my dad's right, that means there's another werewolf in town that we haven't met yet."
Scott sighed as they walked deeper into the woods, "I know."
"If it turns out to be something like triplets that form into, like, a three headed hound of hell, I'm seriously not up for that."
Scott followed the map on his phone, softly laughing at he idea. "Yeah, me either. Especially if I can't even control my own transformations anymore."
"Did Isaac tell you about Elora?" questioned Stiles. "About losing control?"
"Yeah," Scott replied in a struggled voice. "She's getting all three of our leads at once just because she's the one who let us save our parents."
"She won't get better until we do," Stiles told him in thought. "So we have to do this not only for ourselves, but her, before she loses her sanity."
"Isaac also said that she started speaking Japanese and her eyes were completely white. She snapped out of it, but it really freaked him out."
"It would be a little creepier if she didn't know Japanese," Stiles offered in hopes of lightening a dismal situation.
"Thing is," countered the alpha, "she doesn't remember it happening, or what she said. I think this is a lot bigger than we think it it. I-"
A howl broke out distantly, echoing distantly through the dimly lit trees.
Stiles jumped, grabbing onto Scott's shoulders for protection.
Scott's grip on his phone slipped, it tumbling down an earthy ledge and landing in a puddle. He looked back to Stiles, already planning his funeral.
"Sorry, buddy," Stiles apologized, letting go of his friend. "I hate coyotes so much. They always sound like they're mauling some tiny, helpless animal."
Scott jumped down into the open depression of earth, picking up his phone out of the water as Stiles slipped down into the space. "Still works," he noted as their location blinked red.
Stiles' focus had been pulled, "Let me see the flashlight." He took the light source from the wolf, aiming it out into the distance. "I think we found it," he said as he headed towards a flipped vehicle.
"Uh..." Scott looked confused as they came across the car belonging to the Tate family, "why wouldn't they move it? Isn't it evidence?"
"Probably too much of a pain in the ass to tow out," said Stiles as he crouched down with the flashlight to look into the carcass of a car. "Look at this," he said a moment later as he got on his knees. He traced the light across the door, "See those?"
Scott held out his fingers, lines carved into the metal lining up to that of his.
"Animal claws would be closer together, right? A lot closer."
"Then it was a werewolf," Scott said.
Stiles' heartbeaat picked up, "So my dad was right." After a hesitation, he looked deeper into the vehicle long the edges.
Scott's eye narrowed, a tiny hand poking out. "What is that?"
Quickly following Scott's finger, Stiles found the tan plastic peeking out from the upside down floor board. He reached up, yanking a doll down form its place. Putting the light on it, they examined it cautiously.
"I'm hungry."
Stiles' heart nearly jumped out of his chest, screaming as he threw the talking doll to the ground. He nearly toppled over, sitting on the arching forest floor, "I think I just had a minor heart attack."
Scott held his own hand to his heart, startled by the disturbing voice of the doll.
However, growling interrupted their time to think about the children's toy.
"Hey, Stiles," Scott lowly said to pull his attention, able to see a distant pair of eyes nearing. "Please tell me you see that."
Stiles picked himself up, looking over the flipped car. His eyebrows lifted, a low shadowy figure drawing closer. "I see it."
But when the animal ran, so did Scott.
"Hey, wait, Scott! Wait!"
Scott darted off after the creature, eyes searing red in pursuit. He pushed against his power struggle, bounding over the Lookout Point with utter force.
The werewolf landed on all fours, finding himself face to face with a snowy gray coyote snarling at him defensively.
Scott remained calm and determined, a crimson halo ringing his eyes.
The coyotes eyes sparked an icy blue, as if in recognition of the likeness.
Scott's eyes widened in disbelief, realizing who it - she - was.
"Malia?"