The hospital was a madhouse. Everywhere you looked there were orderlies and nurses running around or someone seriously injured sitting about or leaning against a wall groaning. Melissa McCall was helping an orderly wheel in another patient on a gurney.
"Okay, keep pressure on it. The doctor is on her way," she gently told the woman on the gurney as she held the bloody wound above her waist. Melissa then began yelling. "And does anyone know where Dr. Hilyard is?!" She helped move the gurney for the elevator and then turned around to see Scott walking in with a bag of food in his hand. "Oh, thank God," she mumbled before going over to him. "I'm starving," she said taking the bag from him. Scott just stared at her before she realized what she did, or didn't do, and turned around to hug him. "I'm sorry. Thank you for bringing me dinner."
Scott smiled as he separated from her. "Is everything okay?" he said looking around at all the activity.
"Except for half the accident victims in a ten car pile-up being rerouted here from downtown and the E.R. attending not answering any of his pages, yeah, I'm okay," she said all in one breath.
Scott narrowed his eyes. "What does not answering pages mean?"
"It means that nobody can find him. So now we have to wait for the on-call to get here."
A woman started to walk up to them. "Miss?" she cringed.
"Yes?" Melissa asked her.
"Excuse me, can I kind of please have something for the pain?"
They looked at her to see that there were parts of her blouse that were dark with blood spots.
"Okay, I'm sorry. I know it must hurt but actually giving you something could complicate things. So," she then started to help her into a chair. "We really just need to wait for the doctors."
"Okay," the woman cried.
Scott could smell who much pain the woman was in. His mother asked the clerk how much longer they had to wait for the doctor and learned it was ten minutes. So Scott decided to sit with the woman and try to help her, just like Stiles always does for him.
"Uh, you know, I think that I read online that sometimes human contact can help with pain."
The woman nodded and Scott went to reach for the woman's arm. He checked to see that she wasn't looking before he began to siphon off pain from her and into himself. He saw the woman's shoulders settle and her face actually softened as she looked over at him gratefully. Scott was happy to actually make someone feel better for a change. The night at the Glen Capri had really gotten to him and seeing this woman look at him like this was starting to show him that what had been running through his mind about himself was starting to be quite wrong. Every one of them had been a little shaken from that night, though it helped when they saw that Derek really was alive and back at his loft, fully healed. Stiles for one both joked with and warned Derek that if he made them go through that a third time then he would make sure he actually stayed dead.
"Someone...someone help me!"
That made Scott snap free from his thoughts as he looked over at the entrance to see Ethan helping Danny into the hospital. Scott quickly got up and moved to help Danny.
His mother pointed to an empty chair for them to take him. "Okay, gentle, gentle, gentle!" she said as they tried to gently sit him down.
Scott then moved to grab at Ethan. "What did you do to him?!" he spat.
Ethan pushed his hand away. "Nothing. He said he was having chest pains and trouble breathing but it...just getting worse."
Melissa tried feeling at Danny's chest and throat but then started shaking her head. "This is not good," she mumbled before moving to yell at the desk clerk. "How much longer on Dr. Hilyard?" But the nurse was shaking her head. She then looked back at the boys. "His larynx has shifted to the side. I think it's a tension pneumothorax."
Just then, Danny threw himself forward and then started vomiting all over the floor. Scott's eyes went to it and noticed a certain flower that he was barfing up. It was the same one that Stiles had spewed out himself though it looked like it was actual petals and stems from it.
"Mistletoe," Ethan muttered out loud.
_________
A woman was driving in her car when she suddenly came up to heavy traffic.
"It's Dr. Hilyard again," she said to her car's speakerphone. "Can you let Melissa know that it might be more than 10 minutes? I think there's an accident up ahead."
"Yeah, a ten car pile-up," the clerk said. "Which is why we need you here."
"I'm going as fast as I can," Hilyard said to her.
She then moved to try and make a detour and circle around the accident. The traffic was a little lighter but she was more tenser as she tried to hurry to the hospital. As she drove, her eyes noticed something flying about at her windshield. It looked like a moth. She turned on the wipers to send it away and it did. However, another one then started to make its way in through the air conditioning vent. She kept driving until her eyes caught the moth flying just in front of her face.
"How did you get in?" She then tried to swat it away.
But then more moths started to fly in through the vents and they were flying about at her. They were starting to block her field of vision and her car started to wobble about. As she kept trying to push the moths away, she looked up at the rear view mirror and screamed when the sight of a hideous scratched up face appeared and hissed at her.
_________
Melissa started to wheel Danny into the operating room with Scott and Ethan following right behind her.
"Can you two please go back to the waiting room?" she asked them but they just kept her following her until she moved Danny to his spot.
"Where are the nurses and the doctors? Where is everyone?" Ethan frantically asked her.
"It's a full house tonight. They're tending to other patients," she explained to him.
"Okay, well, mom how can we help?" Scott asked.
"Honey, you can't. His lung is collapsed. His heart is being pushed against his chest cavity, so-"
Scott's face fell. "He's gonna die, isn't he?"
She looked over at her son's face and her own's hardened. "No. No, he's not. Okay, Scott, you grab the tape," she said to him before turning to Ethan. "You grab those scissors and cut his shirt open." As they raced to do what she said, Melissa went over and grabbed a large syringe. "Okay," she muttered.
"Mom, he's not breathing," Scott said with a cracked voice.
"I know, I know."
She then moved to pierce his lung with the syringe and then started to run a small tube into him in order to gently let air out so that he would be able to breathe. Danny was starting to settle and they could hear the sound of him steadily breathing again as his face softened and he no longer looked like he was in pain. That got all of them to breathe lighter as well.
Danny opened his eyes and looked up at her. "Thank you."
"No problem," Melissa smiled down on him. She then noticed Scott and Ethan looking intensely at her. "What?"
"That was awesome," Scott said completely mystified. Ethan nodded.
"It was no problem, you know? It wasn't a big deal," she said dismissively.
_________
Scott was leaving the hospital and just made it to his bike when Ethan ran and caught up to him. He was holding his hands up to show that he came in peace.
"I know you're not going to believe me but I didn't do anything."
Scott actually did believe that, considering that something similar happened to his friend a short time ago thanks to mistletoe. But, that didn't mean he believed that Ethan was in the clear. "All I know is that the minute that you got here, you went for Danny. And your brother went for Lydia."
Ethan shook his head. "We're not gonna hurt them."
"Why should I believe you?" Scott shot back.
"Because we knew one of them was gonna be important to you, and now we know it's Lydia."
"Me? I thought that you came here for Stiles?"
"Deucalion came here for Stiles. We came here for you."
Scott wondered what that meant but didn't get much time when his eyes were drawn to a car's headlights that were darting left and right as the car wasn't moving straight. He narrowed his eyes at it just before it went and crashed into a parked car. Scott ran over to see if the driver was okay but opened the door to see that the car was empty. There didn't seem to be any sign of anyone but he froze when he noticed something.
"What is it?" Ethan asked when he noticed the look Scott had on.
Scott bent down and picked up a dead moth from the driver's seat.
_________
The parking lot was now filled with police and lit up with red and blue siren lights. The Sheriff had pulled Melissa, Scott and Stiles, who Scott had quickly called, off to the side.
"Hang on, hang on," the sheriff muttered. "They were both in the car?"
"No, dad they're trying to tell you that it was two separate kidnappings, okay? Two doctors, both of them gone."
"So, whose car is this?" he asked Stiles.
It was Melissa who answered. "Dr. Hilyard. The on-call doctor. The E.R. attending is the one that never made it in."
Stiles was nodding and Scott was sharing a look with his mother. All of this was noted by the Sheriff. It seemed like the three of them seemed to understand something that he couldn't see. With what he saw in Stiles room a few nights ago, and what he learned on his own, it looked like there was some kind of deranged serial killer that thought they were some kind of magician on the loose. The way the three of them were being with all of this, he had a feeling that these new disappearances were connected. But, he couldn't say anything yet, not until he knew exactly what to say and what to ask.
"Okay," the sheriff breathed. "Why don't I focus on your story first?" he asked Melissa before turning to their sons. "Boys, give us a second?"
Scott and Stiles nodded before moving off to the side to talk in private.
"These are definitely sacrifices, right?" Scott asked him.
Stiles nodded. "Yeah. It's a possible one that Deaton mentioned to me. Healers."
"What about Danny? He threw up mistletoe."
"Wait, you mean like me?"
Scott shook his head. "No. Yours was watered down into some kind of dust. Danny actually threw up flower leaves and petals."
"You're saying that the Darach wanted Danny dead?"
"Yeah. And if he hadn't been with Ethan he probably would've died. But, Danny's not a healer."
Stiles didn't understand it either. He started to open his mouth when he felt a shift in his dad's scent. He narrowed his eyes in his direction which Scott noticed so he turned around to look back at the Sheriff who was on the phone.
"Stiles, you hear that?"
"Yeah," Stiles grunted. "They found a body."
_________
The body was that of the E.R. doctor. There was already a small crowd of people watching as police and forensics taped off the area. Among those people were Deucalion and Aiden. They were talking amongst themselves about this under the watch of Chris Argent who was also there, hidden at the side.
_________
At Derek's loft, he was resting when the alarm started blazing all of a sudden. He quickly got up and shut it off before he tried to listen for what set it off.
Cora calmly walked up to him. "What does it mean?" She wasn't looking at him, but over his shoulder.
Derek turned and saw that his patio window was now tagged with a familiar triangular triskele. He looked at it with a chill running up his spine. "It means they're coming," he grimly told his sister. "Tonight."
_________
Stiles took his evidence board and made some additions to it grimly. He then walked over to his desk and picked up the glass jar that he kept the moth that Scott had found in the doctor's car last night. He focused on recognizing the scent that it was giving off. It seemed that the Darach was getting more inventive. Probably to make up for not getting his three sacrifices at the Glen Capri.
He was leering down to get a better look at the moth when he caught the reflection in the glass jar of his face. Suddenly, what was reflected in the jar wasn't human eyes but a wolf's and there was dark hair around them. Stiles then dropped the jar in a panic as he rushed to feel at his face to find that it was still normal. He then went to pick up and then lay the jar down next to a list that he was composing of weird events and things that he had found himself able to do. It was titled, My Powers? Now that he knew that Deucalion wanted him, he was trying to divide his attention between the Darach and himself. What made him so special that the head of an Alpha Pack would go through so much trouble to find him?
_________
Melissa slowly woke up but gasped when she saw her son and Isaac sleeping off in a corner of her room. "Really boys?" she muttered her herself. She then straightened herself up and then shouted. "Boys!" That made them wake up and stand up. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Uh, we were watching over you," said Isaac.
"We wanted to make sure you weren't the third sacrifice," Scott added.
She narrowed her eyes. "But both of you were asleep."
Scott looked over at Isaac. "You were on watch last."
Now Isaac looked at him. "What are you talking about? You were on watch last."
"No," Scott shook his head. "You were on watch last."
"I might've been on watch last," Isaac admitted.
Melissa rolled her eyes. "My heroes. Wait, didn't you say that they were all doctors? I mean, I haven't had an M.D. recently attached to the end of my name, so I think I'm in the clear."
"Yeah, but it could just come under any kind of healer mom. And you were definitely a healer last night," he said with both worry and pride.
"Yeah? Well, I'm not gonna be anyone's human sacrifice today so both of you get your butts to school."
__________
Jennifer Blake walked into the Chemistry classroom and bared down on the students with a smile.
"Good morning. As you all know, Mr. Harris is still missing, I mean, sick," she quickly tried to correct herself. "Anyway, I'm filling in while we all hope and pray for a more qualified substitute to take my place. Okay, so let's get started, shall we?"
Ms. Blake was looking over at Scott and Stiles who were looking straight back at her. It was no secret now that she knew about them just as they knew about her helping Derek while they had been away. And they were also able to guess that there was more to it from how Derek tried to not talk too much of the issue but Ms. Blake's honey sweet scent had been all over him when they came back. It was plainly obvious on what else had happened. Something they found weird, to be honest. Derek and their English teacher?
As they sat there in class, Scott was trying not to think about it as he watched Ms. Blake, but Stiles narrowed his eyes at her. He didn't know why, but he was feeling something...off with how Ms. Blake seemed to be handling things especially with how she had been thrown into them. Not wrong, but off. But he shook it out of it. He had too much to think about without worrying about Derek's odd romantic dilemmas.
"Hey," Stiles whispered over to Scott. "My dad said that the E.R. attending wasn't strangled but did die from asphyxiation. They just don't know how."
"Do you think the on-call doctor could still be alive?" Scott asked trying to have some hope.
"I don't know," Stiles breathed out. "But Scott, there's got to be at least 20 other doctors in that hospital, at least, you know? Any one of them could be next." Scott nodded to let him know that he understood their problem. They couldn't keep watch and protect them all.
But Scott felt his phone vibrate. He took it out and saw that it was Deaton and ducked down to the side to answer it. "Hey doc. Sorry, but I'm in class right now. Can I call you back later," he whispered into his phone.
"Unfortunately, no. I honestly thought I might never have to burden you like this, but I'm afraid at the moment, you're my only hope." Deaton was now looking down at the moth he had grasped in his hand. "I'm going to be taken and I need you to find me."
At that moment, the call cut off. Deaton then looked over at his windows which were now covered with moths. Gathering to block out the light.
"Doc, doc, doc? What's happening?" Scott tried to call after him but nothing was turning up. He looked over at Stiles to see that, from the grim look on his face, he had just heard everything.
_________
Isaac and Boyd stepped into the loft and spotted Derek by the stairs.
"Go back to school," he told them.
"Well, actually, we can't," Isaac said as they kept moving on in. "Boyd and I are incredibly and unbelievably sick."
"With what, brain damage?" Derek spat sarcastically at them.
"Well, I have a migraine and Boyd here has explosive diarrhea."
Boyd rolled his eyes. "We're here to protect you," he said getting to the point.
Derek then started to climb down the steps. "You're here to protect me? Well, I'm in trouble then."
"Actually, Boyd here came up with a plan." Isaac said.
Boyd nodded. "Yeah, I thought about the time Gerard had me and Erica locked up. Tied up with those electrical wires pushing current through us." He then started to unzip the bag he brought to reveal wires and cables. "I was wondering how we could do something like that, but a bigger scale." They quickly got to work on spreading water throughout the floor of the loft. "In a pool of electrified water it can take up to 50 milliamps to kill a normal human. Less than the power it takes to turn on a light bulb."
"That's comforting," Derek mumbled at them.
"If we disable the circuit interrupter in the building's electrical room, then the current will keep coming," Boyd continued. "And anyone that steps foot in here, they'll get a pretty shocking surprise."
Isaac smirked at that. "Especially someone who's barefoot."
__________
Scott practically jumped out of Stiles jeep before he had a chance to even put it in park and then ran into the clinic. Scott threw the front door open and saw that Stiles dad and a deputy were already inside.
"How did you know?"
"Stiles called me as soon as you left the school," he told him. "I'm sorry but your boss' car is still here and the back door was wide open." Scott then went to sit down on a nearby chair as the Sheriff moved closer to him. "Scott...I'm going to need you to tell me everything."
And then the door opened again and Stiles stepped inside to look upon the scene before him. "What I miss?" he asked the room.
They moved off for Deaton's office and Stiles nose immediately flared. The scent in the room, he recognized it. He had only marked it this morning. He shared a look with Scott and they quickly accepted that the Darach was behind this abduction, for sure. The sheriff asked them both questions but they couldn't really give him much.
"Alright," Stiles dad told them after they were done. "We're gonna do everything we can. Right now, the best thing you can do is go back to school."
Scott then pointed off for the kennel and they walked on in and Scott closed the door behind him.
"The scent in there," Stiles said immediately. "The same as the moth you found in the doctor's car. Deaton's the third sacrifice for the Healers."
Scott nodded. Deaton was a healer, no doubt about that. Given how much he had helped heal him from injuries and poison in the past, he couldn't believe that he didn't think that he would be a possible target. He then spared a look over in the sheriff's direction. "We have to tell him."
Stiles' eyes widened. "You mean, like, tell him tell him? Or tell him something else that isn't telling him what I think you want to tell him?"
"You know what I mean."
"Scott, do you remember how your mom reacted? She didn't look you in the eye for, like a week and flinched every time she did."
"And she got over it," Scott cut in. "And...and it actually made us closer."
Stiles was shaking his head. "I don't know dude. I mean, look at him. Come on, he's completely overwhelmed as it is."
"Yeah, he's overwhelmed because he has no clue what's happening. He's got people dying in his town, the town he's supposed to protect. And it's not his fault that he doesn't know what's happening. Stiles, he's gonna find out sooner or later."
"Yeah, but is now really the right time?"
"Stiles, what if not telling him now gets someone else killed?" Scott argued.
"And what if telling him get him killed, huh?" Stiles argued back. "Look, I get it. Deaton has been like a father to you but this is my actual father, okay. I can't...lose both of my parents, alright? Not both of them."
"Yeah, but Stiles, Deucalion is after you. He used Derek to try and make you bring out, whatever power he thinks you have inside you. What if he tries to go after your dad next? He's going to find out, it's only a matter of time. Take it from me, you don't want your dad to find out the truth by you being shifted in front of him, fighting a monster."
Stiles huffed. "Your mom said the same thing." He then rubbed at his eyes and went to stare down at his feet. Scott's mom had been trying to encourage him to tell his dad when all the sacrifices started but he had been trying to block it all out. Now, Scott had reminded Stiles that there was something else for him to think about, Deucalion's threat on him. The Alpha wanted him dead and they still didn't really understand why. Stiles began to wonder...if something happened to him, and his dad didn't understand why, would he regret not telling him?
Scott noticed the pain that his friend now seemed to be in and he loosened up. Stiles was worrying enough as it was. He probably shouldn't have brought up Deucalion wanting to kill him. "I'm sorry," he said softly to him. "Maybe you're right. We shouldn't say anything right now."
"No," he said finally. "I'm not." He then looked up to see his father through the window of the door. "I'll tell him."
The sheriff bid his deputy goodbye before he caught sight of Scott and Stiles in the cage room from the corner of his eye. It looked like the two of them were having a tense conversation. He was starting to wonder if he should just take a direct approach to finding out just what it was that was going on with those two. That is until there was another visitor at the door.
Scott could feel the anguish Stiles was giving off like it was a runaway hose. "Stiles, it's going to be okay. I'll help you."
Stiles looked up at Scott's soft gaze and he slowly nodded. They then moved for the door and stepped out to find that Stiles' dad was now talking with Ms. Morrell.
"Please, whatever you need, however you can help find my brother." At that, the two werewolves shared a shocked look. Brother? Morrell noticed them. "Will you excuse us for a moment?" she asked the sheriff.
"Of course."
When the two officers stepped out of the clinic, Morrell moved over to them. "Listen closely, both of you. No sheriff, deputy or detective is going to be able to find him."
"You don't have to ask us for help," Scott told her.
"Actually, I'm trying to help you, because if you're going to find my brother, then you need to use the one person who might actually have an ability to seek out the supernatural."
Stiles knew who she was talking about. "Lydia."
_________
Lydia was in Coach's office with Aiden, making out on his desk. It had become their own personal 'place' to go in between classes and free periods. They were getting really into it when the fire alarm sounded off.
Aiden had to hold his ears to block off the sudden rush of unexpected sound. "Aw, man," he groaned. Lydia sighed as she then started to gather up her stuff. "Where are you going?" he quickly asked her.
Lydia looked from him to the blinking alert light over the door. "It's a fire alarm," she said as if he wasn't realizing what was going on.
"When, in high school, has a fire alarm actually been a real fire?" he asked her incredulously.
Lydia went to caress his cheek. "That's exactly the kind of thing you'd expect two dumbass students to say, just before getting burned alive." Aiden leaned in for a goodbye kiss but Lydia looked over at the door. "You first."
Aiden quickly stole a kiss on her neck before he put his sweater shirt on and made his way out the door. Lydia waited for ten seconds before she grabbed her bag and made her way for the door herself. But, before she could step out, her way was blocked, by Cora.
"You don't have very good taste in guys, do you?" she asked her with a flat voice.
Cora stepped inside and closed the door behind her. Lydia tried to move around her but Cora blocked her way.
"Is there a problem?" she asked the young Hale.
"Yeah," Cora nodded. "Derek would like to kindly ask you to stop seeing Aiden. Which means that if I catch you with him again, I'm not going to pull the fire alarm. I'm going to pull your tongue out of your head."
Lydia smirked at her. First, she couldn't believe that she went to all the trouble of pulling the fire alarm just to stop her making out with a guy. Second, that Cora was actually trying to intimidate her about who she dated. "Sweetheart, my last boyfriend was a homicidal lizard, so, I think I can handle a werewolf." She then moved to leave again but Cora grabbed her wrist. Lydia just glared at her. "Let go." But Cora kept her firm grip and glare on her. "I said-"
"Let go." Cora let go of her and the two girls looked over to see Stiles standing off to the side. He was staring intensely at them. "I said, let go."
Cora caught the hard look in his eyes as well as the stance he was standing in. It was like he was ready to pounce any moment at her if he had to. Cora felt her blood run cold and then quickly let Lydia's hand go. She looked back at Stiles who settled down immediately. She didn't understand why she felt compelled to not do anything that displeased Stiles. It wasn't like the pull to submit that one would get from an Alpha, this was something different.
_________
The sheriff was leading in his deputies through the hospital as they escorted a new body that they found. Melissa came over to the sheriff as she eyed the covered gurney.
"It's Dr. Hilyard, isn't it?" she asked him.
"Yeah," he mumbled.
"Oh God," she huffed. "Okay, did she have ligature marks around her throat?"
"No. And how exactly do you know about that?" he asked a little harder than necessary.
Melissa swallowed his spite and just gave him a look. "I need you to take a look at the other body with me. I think it's gonna help you find Scott's boss."
The sheriff then stopped. "They told you, didn't they?" He didn't have to say who he was talking about.
"Yeah," she nodded.
"Before I got the call," he said making her gaze drop down. "Didn't they?"
She narrowed her eyes at him. "Come with me," she said before moving off for the morgue.
The sheriff let out a stressed breath out before he walked on after her. They moved into the morgue and she moved to where the body of the E.R. he had found the previous night was.
"The last body we found didn't have any ligature marks on his throat either," he pointed out to her.
"I'm aware of that." She then opened it and rolled it out for them. "The problem with no ligature marks around the neck, is that both doctors were still asphyxiated. So, the question is-"
"How did they suffocate if they weren't strangled?" he finished for her.
"Right." She then moved the sheet off. "Now, take a look at these wrist marks. What do they tell you?" She lifted the doctor's wrist to show that it looked something had dug into them, deeply.
"His hands were tied," said the Sheriff.
"Not just tied. Look how deep they go. I don't think that's just from struggling to get out. I think he was suspended. Hanging like that, that means they would have to keep lifting their bodies up in order to breathe. Eventually, they would lose strength. And they wouldn't be able to lift themselves up. It's how people used to die from crucifixion."
From the way that this person was killed the Sheriff was again reminded about what he read online about druids and sacrificial offerings. "So...you think Deaton is somewhere right now hanging by his wrists?"
"Yeah."
"And when he no longer has the strength to pull himself up to catch a breath, how long before he dies?" he grimly asked.
"Minutes."
Melissa tried to move away but the Sheriff moved off to put his hand to her shoulder. "Melissa, what's happening?"
"I don't know," she said softly.
"Really? I think you know quite a bit. You, and your son, and my son. You three know something about these killings you aren't telling me. I overheard you and Stiles talking at the hospital a week ago. I'm not sure I understood even half of what you two were talking about, but I think it's clear that this has something to do with all the trouble that's been happening in Beacon Hills since the start of this year."
"Putting it lightly," Melissa mumbled as she looked away from him as she went to push the body back into its container and closed the door.
The Sheriff narrowed his eyes at her. "Melissa, please...just tell me what's going on."
She looked down at her feet for a moment. "I can't. At least, not until after you talk to your son."
"Melissa," he tried but she held her hand to him.
She then looked back up at him. "Believe me, I understand what you're feeling right now. Because I went through the same thing with Scott. But if you're going to understand or even believe it, you have to talk to Stiles first. But...let him come to you. Don't try to force it from him. I've tried to talk to him about going to you with everything, and Scott has too. Deep down, I think he wants to tell you...he's just scared."
"Scared? Of what?"
"Of how you'll react," she said a little sadly. "And I think that it might be my fault. When I found out, well, let's just say it won't make any mother highlight moments. Just, wait for him to come to you when he's ready. Right now, I will tell you that when Stiles does tell you, remember that he's still your son; he's a good kid that always tries to do the right thing. And, trust that our sons are the best chance we have of stopping this maniac."
Melissa then left the morgue and the sheriff watched her leave staying where he stood. He looked over at the morgue's containers, some already filled with bodies from whoever was doing this. He didn't understand. How could his son and Scott possibly be their best chance of stopping this? He was only more baffled and nervous than before.
_________
Scott was searching the halls for Lydia when his phone vibrated. He saw that it was text from Stiles that told him that he had found her. He was about to go and join them when he heard a strange pounding sound. It was going in a rhythm. Scott followed after it and found that it seemed to be coming from the direction of the music room, but it wasn't the sound of any musical instrument that he had heard before. He gently let himself inside to see that the sound was that of a cane slapping against the piano. Deucalion's cane.
"Do you know what a metronome is Scott?" he asked as the young man stepped in and closed the door behind him. "It's a tool to help you maintain a steady rhythm once you've set the tempo. Something tells me the tempo of your life has sped up considerably in the last few hours." The Alpha shrugged. "If you'd like, I could help slow it down to a more manageable pace."
"How?" he asked him.
"By helping you find Deaton," Deucalion answered. He then stood up. "Your heart's pounding. But, it's not fear. It's anger," he said as he slowly approached Scott. "I bet I know what you're thinking. Does he have something to do with Deaton's disappearance?"
"Then you'd lose that bet," Scott mumbled back.
"Oh? And pray tell, what is running through your mind then Scott that has your heart pounding so rigorously?'
"The fact that you want to kill my best friend," Scott said in a near growl.
Deucalion smiled and then nodded. "Hmm...it sounds like dear sweet Ethan has gone on and gotten himself a case of Loose Lips. I'll definitely have to have some words with him about that."
"Why? Stiles never did anything to you."
"Oh Scott, rest assured, it's not personal. Truth be told, I actually have come to admire the young man. Gained a great deal of respect as well, seeing how he's been quick on the trail of the rising rival power in this homey little town."
"Then just leave him alone. Leave us all alone."
Deucalion smirked over at him. "I'm sorry Scott, but, that's just not an option. Not when it comes to him, or you."
"Why?!" Scott said even harder and fiercer than before.
"Tell you what." Deucalion then raised his cane up to hold it across his two raised palms. "If you can take the cane away from me, I'll tell you exactly 'why'. What do you think?"
Scott didn't spare another second. He went to grab for the cane but Deucalion stepped off to the side causing Scott to grab at air. Scott ended up huddled at the floor and Deucalion whacked for his head with his cane but Scott ducked. He flipped himself up and went for it again but the Alpha spun Scott around and pushed him against the piano. Scott then made a jump to try and land behind Deucalion but the man moved forward out of his range. The Alpha whacked again at Scott with his cane but Scott dodged each blow making him only hit air. Deucalion then took off the end piece of his cane to reveal the silver arrow head Scott had seen once before. Scott tried to jump to the side but as soon as he hit the ground, Deucalion went and stabbed him right at his shoulder.
"Impressive," Deucalion said as he started to circle him. "But, you know that you don't have time to waste on trying to gain some juicy gossip. Your main concern, at the moment, should be with the one slashing up innocent people. Praying to ancient gods or gathering herbs or whatever the hell it is that druids are supposed to do. Though, I am part of a pack that wants your friend Derek dead though. Kali is, coming for him. So, there's a difficult choice you're about to face Scott. Someone is going to die tonight. Rest assured, it won't be your best friend. It's not his time just yet. But whether the time is for either Derek or Deaton, that's up to you."
Scott was glaring at Deucalion as he was smugly looking down at him. He could tell that the only thing he would be getting out of him now is what he needed to know to save the one that Deucalion wanted him to save. "Just tell me where he is."
Deucalion shook his head in amusement. "I'll give you a very important clue. Let the current guide you." He then started to walk out of the room but paused just before the door. "Oh, and do give your friend Stiles a message for me. Tell him that I look forward to him realizing his full potential soon. All of your potential."
He then walked off leaving Scott there to try and settle his breathing down.
_________
Deaton was hanging by his wrists above the floor by a thick rope. The pain was starting to get to him as he tried to keep pulling on the ropes to keep breathing. Though, he was starting to get tired. As he hung suspended there, he was starting to wonder if he made the right call in only telling both Scott and Stiles so little about what was happening. He began to think that if he had laid everything out at the beginning of all of this, would it have made a difference. Not for himself, but for them. Deucalion was after the both of them and they had no idea of why.