Song Recommendation ["Run This Town/Posthumus Zone" - JAY Z, Rihanna & E.S. Posthumus]
NOTE: For the full experience, I do personally suggest seeking out each song rec.
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The further you run from your past, the harder it hits when it catches you.
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Vaguely, Madeline wondered how she got here.
Well, not here per se – as in not the hospital they recently arrived at. Chris Argent had driven there with her and three very large, dopey men. Alas, they weren't there for their intellect.
It was more existential. What she was wondering was how exactly she got here, to this moment. She assumed most teenagers had this crisis at some point, but probably not because they're actually super-human-monster-hunters that sometimes align themselves with monsters. That'd be ridiculous.
Either way, it was a passing thought that slipped away from her as they made their way through the ER. Instead, she was plagued with several other thoughts:
1 – Where the hell is Scott?
2 – Where the hell is Stiles?
3 – I should've punched Jackson harder. Much harder.
4 – I should've kept an eye on Lydia to begin with.
5 – I hate this town.
The last thought that perturbed her was her vaguely wondering why the men she'd traveled with were now surrounding her. The only two explanations she could think of were that they were protecting her or keeping her under control – regardless of the reason, she felt like a caged animal. Maybe that's how they felt too. Were they trying to hold her captive? Was that part of the brilliant plan? The tiniest flicker of menace lit in her stare as it focused on the graying man ahead of her.
She knew why they were here though and she wasn't looking forward to it. If anything, she knew what she had to do if she didn't agree with them on the on their means of getting what they needed. Her fingers smoothed over the cool metal of her hand axe idly.
Of course there was also the passing thought of, Four of them and one of me. I can take them.
This line of thought didn't last long though – in fact, it came to a screeching halt at the mere sound of chatter in the distance. Not just any chatter...
"Alright, did you bring the Porsche?"
"Yeah."
"Good. I'll drive."
She shoved through the wall of men and found herself staring at the disheveled forms of Jackson and Stiles. Maddie stood next to Chris Argent, breathing to calm herself as the hunter's voice flooded the near-empty hall. "Boys." His tone was collected and suspiciously friendly, as was the pleasant smile on his face. His eyes told a different story entirely. "I was wondering if you could tell me where Scott McCall is."
This was a terrible plan. In fact, if anyone had answered her calls, this plan wouldn't exist. The two reactions to her presence there were expected. Jackson, with his purple and swollen jaw, conveyed an alarming amount of nerves surfacing. She couldn't say she wasn't satisfied with this reaction, to be fair. On the other hand, Stiles gave her a mildly shocked stare which withered into something almost accusatory. Chris snapped his fingers to regain the boys' attention.
Stone faced even through his obvious fear, Stiles answered, "Scott McCall...? Haven't seen him since the dance." The noise Chris made was nearly inaudible and held no inkling that the man believed the words her just heard. Stiles could even note that but didn't look away for an instant. "Jackson, you?"
Jackson's deer caught in the headlights expression was telling enough without his string of indiscernible sounds that would've formed words had he the courage to finish them.
Stiles sighed and muttered, "Oh, for the love of god..."
Chris gave a slight nod and the men behind him pushed past Maddie, grabbing the two teenage boys. Maddie's eyes widened and she marched in front of the eldest hunter. "What the hell are you doing?!"
"Getting information," Chris said. There wasn't the slightest bit of emotion in his voice and there was something dangerous about that.
"Not by beating up kids!"
"Huh. That bruise looks fresh on Jackson. How'd he get it?"
Maddie pursed her lips and glared.
"I'm guessing it wasn't for information either." Chris moved past her and into the abandoned room the boys had been thrown in. Maddie rushed in behind him, gripping her weapon so tightly that she could feel the grooves painfully indenting on her palm. As she entered, the graying Argent locked the door behind her and looked back at the boys. "Let's try this again. Where is Scott McCall?"
There was a thick silence that followed. Maddie turned her attention to the teenage boys. "Just tell them! I swear Scott will be okay."
Stiles gave her a hard, guarded look. "I. Don't. Know."
This response seemed to send Chris flying off the handle because he grabbed Stiles roughly and slammed him against the locked door. "Let me ask you a question, Stiles. Have you ever seen a rabid dog?"
Maddie had made the slightest move to pull them apart but stopped herself.
"No, but I'll put it on my to-do list if you just let me go," the snide comment escaped Stiles.
Chris' eyes were ablaze but his demeanor didn't seem to reflect that anger. "Well, I have. And the only thing I've ever been able to compare it to is seeing a friend of mine turn on a full moon. Do you wanna know what happened?"
"Not really. No offense to your storytelling skills."
"He tried to kill me, and I was forced to put a bullet in his head." Allison's father had gotten louder gradually as the veins in his neck protruded. "The whole while that he lay there dying, he was still trying to claw his way toward me, still trying to kill me, like it was the most important thing he could do with his last breath. Can you imagine that?"
Stiles paused for only a moment. "...No. And it sounds like you need to be a little bit more select –"
Both of Chris' hands slammed against the wall on either side of Stiles' head. The hunter looked like he was about to throttle the boy before a hand yanked him away.
"Hey!" came Maddie's voice. She now stood between the two, her eyes appearing black in the darkness of the room as she glowered at Chris. "Back off."
"Thanks, Mads," Stiles breathed.
"Shut up, Stiles," Maddie said, as more of a knee-jerk reaction to anything he would say while she was busy.
Chris exhales a long, annoyed breath before his voice boom throughout the room. "Did Scott try to kill you on the full moon?! Did you have to lock him up?!"
"Yeah, I did. I had to handcuff him to a radiator. Why? Would you prefer I locked him in the basement and burned the whole house down around him?" There was still that damned air of defiance as Stiles spoke.
This seemed to get an entire different reaction from Chris. He seemed to actually try to calm himself down. "I hate to dispel a popular rumor, Stiles, but we never did that."
"Oh, right. Derek said you guys had a code. I guess no one ever breaks it."
"Never."
"What if someone does?" Stiles asked a bit ominously.
"Someone like who?"
"Your sister."
There was a pause but as Maddie turned to the Argent, she noticed the look on his face was concerned but not surprised. The slayer paled after another second.
"Kate and Allison are on the road already."
...Allison.
+
It had been precisely seventeen minutes.
In that time, Chris had left the hospital and Maddie had followed much to his chagrin. A deafening argument had followed this and continued in the car for the entire ride. Although nothing at all was resolved, Maddie insisted that she go with him to the Hale house as back up, an idea he hated but had no time to refute. They found themselves walking quickly through the woods now in silence as Chris went on attentively and the slayer gripped her ax tightly.
This was only her second time that deep into the woods around Beacon Hills. She hadn't been this way at all though but found it familiar.
She quickly glanced up at the sky. The moon was neither full nor close but the trees and the dead leaves made an almost identical backdrop compared to her dream weeks ago. It made her uneasy as she thought back to the clawed hand that tightened around her throat and the voice – the low voice that told her that time was up. Her time? Maybe. It didn't matter so long as the Alpha went down with her.
The trees became sparse and she spotted something ahead. Three figures – two on the ground and one standing – were outside of a charred, decrepit house and the one stand was holding a something. They got closer and Kate came into view, holding a gun at Scott. Kate, who had diminished Allison's trust in Maddie, who looked at her in disgust the night of the dinner – this woman was about to kill a teenage boy. Maddie tried to rush forward but was stopped by Chris' hand put out in front of her. Instead, he got closer and took out his own gun but kept it at his side.
"Kate!" Chris called out as they neared the group. Allison and Scott, turned to them in shock and relief but Kate's expression showed nothing but annoyance. There was definite pain on the older hunter's face, as if the scene was the proof he needed but never wanted. "I know what you did. Put the gun down."
There was something familiar about this.
"Oh god... what did you do?"
"I did what I was told to do," she spat back.
"...What I was called to do. What we were chosen for."
"They had souls, Marie! That is not what we do! This...this is murder!"
Maddie shook the memory away violently, forcing herself back into the present as Chris spoke. "No one asked you to murder innocent people. There were children in that house, ones who were human. Look what you're doing now. You're holding a gun at a sixteen year old boy with no proof he spilled human blood." His typically unfeeling blue eyes held concern as he watched his sister. "We go by the code - Nous chassons ceux qui nous chassent."
The slayer thought she heard Allison mutter something but didn't quite catch it. What she did catch, on the other hand, was Kate beginning to squeeze the trigger which caused Maddie to raise her axe in preparation for attack.
Chris seemed to note both actions and lifted his own gun, finger steady on the trigger. "Put the gun down..." He fired a shot, narrowly missing his sister and hitting the tree behind her. "...before I put you down."
Hesitantly, Kate lowered her gun and Scott let out a ragged breath in relief. It, unfortunately didn't last long as a creaking came from the old house. It was the type of sound you might hear in a horror film that would send chills up your spine – and even Madeline would honestly say that it did. The cracked open doorway was pitch black but she knew that feeling; if she focused hard enough, she could even hear its breathing.
Chris kept his gun level and still as he looked at the threshold. "Allison, get back."
Kate raised her gun to the door and Scott got up, facing it. Maddie pivoted to face the run down house and took a few steps forward. Both she and Scott didn't move back as the hunters and Allison did. The frightened, fair brunette kept backing up as she found her voice, although it was shaky and fragile. "What is it?"
Maddie and Scott threw each other sideways glances just as the boy's eyes began to glow a brilliant golden yellow. "It's the Alpha."
In that moment, without warning something came rushing out of the door in a blur, circling them. They admittedly tried to keep up but before they could, it knocked Chris roughly off his feet. Soon after, Allison fell as well. Next was Maddie, who stumbled back and hit something sharp and hard on the back of her head.
It seemed like mere seconds that she was out, but when the slayer stood again, the Alpha, Allison, and Kate were gone. It was then she heard a short but pained yelp coming from the house. Dazed still and unsteady, she got to her feet and ran as she heard Peter's voice.
"I don't know about you, Allison, but that apology... didn't sound very sincere."
In a flash, Maddie came bounding around the corner and spear tackled Peter. It wasn't like the first time at the school though – it was her full weight and power as she felt her feet leave the ground and her now-braced shoulder collided with his mid-section. Peter was taken off of his feet as well and, in no time at all, Maddie sprang to her feet again and took a defensive stance. Peter managed to shake it off, although he now looked like Maddie still felt.
He laughed, his voice boisterous and full of vigor. "There she is! I knew there was a Slayer in there somewhere."
"Allison, get out of here," Maddie said, her tone calm but urgent. "Now."
Allison backed away a few steps as two figures came out of the shadows of the room. Both Scott and Derek began to circle, their faces morphed and eyes glowing, as Scott added forcefully to a frightened Allison, "Run."
As Allison bolted, all three moved forward quickly to attack Peter. He tossed both Scott and Derek at once before ducking an attack and hitting Maddie so hard that she when flying into a wall.
Both wolves and the slayer got up still and delivered strike after strike, kick after kick. Peter's face began transforming – elongating into a long snout for only a moment before going back to normal. This happened several times in a row as the others landed their blows successfully. It didn't last for long though, and after a while Peter managed to systematically take out all three for more than a few seconds. Each, in their own respects, began to get up slowly as what hovered over them now was the beast Maddie remembered from the beginning – the monstrous Alpha with piercing red eyes. It roared thunderously before picking up Scott and throwing him through the front facing window. Maddie ran to attack, slashing up the creature's back with her axe mercilessly.
She ducked its backhand and suddenly drove her weapon into it's should, causing it to scream. It took force to dislodge the weapon but when she finally did, the Alpha grabbed her by the throat tightly.
It was there that she knew it had been him – this whole time it was been Peter in the dream. Her eyes widened as she felt her head start to get cloudy and her vision started to darken. There was a hesitation from him though and suddenly, he threw her through the now glass-less window. She hit the ground and rolled onto the leaves to break some of the impact.
Watching, dizzy and weakened from where she laid on the ground, Maddie felt utterly helpless as she failed to get up immediately. The Alpha had grabbed Scott by his jacket but Scott managed to kick himself away from it. The monstrous wolf shook it off and got up, ready to attack when in that instant, he became illuminated and a horn went off.
In the distance stood Stiles and Jackson and before anyone could possibly react, Stiles threw something at the beast. The Alpha caught it, revealing a glass beaker, and let out a roar in the boy's direction.
Stiles looked not only disappointed but utterly horrified. "Oh, damn."
"Allison!" Scott had crawled over to the discarded bow on the ground and threw it to the youngest Argent hastily. In seconds, she girl had an arrow pointed at the monster walking towards her. The Alpha went to throw the beaker but Allison had already released the arrow, which went directly through the glass container.
Instantly, its arm was engulfed entirely in flames. Another second passed as it flailed and a second container hit the creature, coming this time from Jackson. The rest of the wolf's body ignited and it cried out in pain before turning and charging at Allison. Scott kicked Peter sharply in the other direction and the flames began to die out as they consumed him.
Maddie struggled to regain her footing, shaking her head harshly as she stumbled into a tree to lean on. She breathed in again and noticed Scott and Allison on the ground. She sighed and limped towards the car, sitting on the hood as Jackson and Stiles stood on either side. A shocked Jackson turned a bit indignant as he saw this. "Hey! Get your ass off my car!"
Still watching the world spin far too fast and tilt in too many directions, she mustered up a rather menacing glare and waved her axe at him slightly. "Make me, rich boy." Jackson's face twisted up in a mixture of horror and annoyance but Maddie was far too out of it to care. She squinted at the charred body in the distance. "So that's what a Molotov cocktail does?"
Stiles threw her a sideways glance, eyeing the matted blood in her hair and the weakness in her voice, and seemed to make up his mind about something. Finally, he nodded. "Yup."
She tilted her head, which turned out to not be such a great idea. "Huh. Thought it'd be cooler."
His brow creased and he gestured to the flames still licking the sides of the trees and shrinking on the ground. "What? That was pretty cool."
"...You need higher standards." She waved him off, wishing she could go back to her crappy motel room already and make the call to go back to headquarters. The job was done, after all. In fact, she was going to ask if he was dead yet – clearly an effect of her injury, as usually she'd simply go up and do it herself.
Then something strange caught her eye. A dark figure slowly moved towards the remains of Peter and Maddie squinted to see who or what it was. She slowly stood again, leaning heavily against the silver Porsche for support. She took careful, measured steps toward them, mumbling, "...wait...no...no, you..."
The word can't became ashes on her tongue before it left her mouth. People were talking. Scott, maybe? It sounded like him and her seemed most assuredly distressed. Someone else was talking. It was quiet and frail – but full of rage.
"I can smell it on you."
Scott was crying out and the world wouldn't stop spinning. Maddie fell against a tree and, in the moonlight, saw a clawed hand raised up. She wanted to yell, to stop them, to something – but she heard a slash. Soon after there was a gurgling and choking sound and, with a moment of full clarity, the slayer saw Derek Hale turn around. He eyes glowed blood red as he stared at Scott.
"I'm the Alpha now," he bellowed, his voice much lower and almost unearthly. Demonic.
Her heart pounded furiously in her chest and, with the pain in her head too demanding, she gave into to the darkness.
+
Author's Note: Hm...why did Peter hesitate? All will be explained as the series continues! Thanks for the support for Act One! Stay tuned right here for Act Two! ALSO -- on the side is the Buffy-inspired opening credits to act two! Lemme know whatcha think!