Chapter Text
Yeah, everything we broke and all the trouble that we made
But I say that I hate you with a smile on my face
Theo stared down the fresco, his newly acquired pack of chimeras making themselves at home in the abandoned operating theater. His arms were crossed, head tilted to the side as if either of these things would accomplish revealing the identity of the Beast to him sooner.
Hearing an irritated huff behind him, he turned to watch Josh and Tracy fight over a corner of the room. He raised an eyebrow in their direction and they snarled at him briefly.
As tempting as it was to snarl back, it wasn’t worth the energy, so Theo merely rolled his eyes and turned to where Corey and Hayden were wearily watching the other two from their designated space.
Grabbing a chair from across the room, Theo brought it over and slumped into it backward, letting his arms rest on the backpiece and his chin on top of his arms. He had all of their attention now.
“So, are we done acting like children?” The comment was pointed at Josh and Tracy, who both grumbled but settled in place. “Great, now we can actually do some work around here.”
“What kind of work are we talking about?” Corey asked, visibly shaking from head to toe.
Theo gave a sharp grin, “Well I’m going to have you murder the town, Corey.” He didn’t have to tune in his senses to notice the uptick in the heartbeats around him. “I’m kidding, obviously. I have jobs for all of you.”
And he explained the plan.
He’s summoned to the McCall house the next day, Stiles greeting him on the steps looking a bit worse for wear. He’s holding something, the chemosignals fluctuating around him but something’s off and Theo can’t pick out what it is.
“Did you kill my best friend?” Stiles tosses the thing he’s holding to Theo, Scott’s shirt, and Theo looks down at it with some amount of pride. Theo’s reaction must be enough because Stiles doesn’t wait for whatever snarky response Theo no doubt would have come up with. “Are you going to let my father die?”
He’s confused for a moment because sending Noah after the Sheriff should not mean he’s dying. Not since he told Stiles where to find him and got him help. Theo can’t let Stiles know he’s in the dark too, “I’m not the bad guy, Stiles. I’m just a realist. I’m a survivor. If you knew the things that I know—”
“What exactly do you know, Theo? What did all that time with the Dread Doctors actually accomplish?”
Theo scoffs, “I know what’s coming. I know what the Dread Doctors created and I know what Parrish is.” He lets the words hang heavy in the air for a moment before he turns to leave.
Stiles grabs his arm, swinging him around to face him again, Lydia’s name falling off his lips and Theo calls her collateral damage before throwing Stiles back into the stairs and walking away, Scott’s shirt still clutched in one hand.
Theo and Hayden walk through an abandoned warehouse, Theo looking to Hayden every time the girl seems to sense something. She stops, Theo follows suit as she looks around the place in slight confusion.
“He’s hurt.” She looks at Theo, a question brewing on her lips. “How do I know that?”
“You’re part jaguar, Noah is part-Berserker. You’re drawn to each other. So, Hayden, where is he?”
“Why am I here with you?” Her dismissal of his question irks something in him, but he can move past it and play nice for now.
“I saved your life if you remember. I’m sure you wouldn’t like to wind up dead for good, having someone tell your sister-dearest that she’ll be burying another family member?”
Hayden turns from him, looking back down into the empty warehouse. “He’s dying. That means they’re going to find him, aren’t they?”
“If they haven’t already.”
As they make their way out of the warehouse Theo stops, an odd reflection of light catching his eye and forcing his head to turn. The McCall Pack symbol lies carved into the wall, the two circles sitting there in all their glory, taunting Theo for another failed aspect of his life.
Theo is out by Tara’s Bridge, kneeling over a few feet from the water. He’s sure if someone wanted to, they could come by right now and knock him in, his story would come full circle as he would lay there dying in the freezing water.
He can see the leaves whipping around him, being picked off the forest floor by the force of Theo’s thoughts. But he’s been blocking it out all day, the pressure is too much to ignore.
He throws up as the weight of his magic comes crashing out, a tree nearly breaking in half a couple of yards from him. The blood is rushing to his head and his chest feels coiled too tight still, his—Tara’s—heart beating erratically in his chest.
He can feel the way his magic instinctually calls for claws and fangs, for golden glowing eyes to play an act and fool the masses. He throws his hands over his ears, wondering if Lydia has ever felt like this when a Banshee scream called out to her, but his magic doesn’t sound like screams, it sounds like a hurricane.
“—eo! Theo!” The awareness trickles back in slowly, the magic quelling inside him as his name is called from somewhere. His eyes flash gold, the remnant overload still coursing through him at a speed molasses could counter.
Liam Dunbar was definitely the last person he expected to see standing feet away from him when he turned. The boy looked at him with unfiltered rage but Theo could see there was fear in his eyes. Fear of Theo, or for him, he chose not to think about.
He stood with as much grace as he could muster, all though he swayed dangerously on his feet when he attempted to right himself and face Liam. The beta continued to stare, not offering Theo a hand but also not knocking Theo out immediately.
“Come to brag, Little Wolf? Tell me how your alpha is so strong he can come back to life after I gutted him.” Liam growled in warning but Theo scoffed and looked off in the direction of the bridge.
The rotting wood had somehow remained untouched through Theo’s storm. Perhaps Theo did it subconsciously, or maybe his unaffectionate naming of the place had true meaning to it.
“I came here to beat the crap out of you.”
“Tough words, puppy. I’d ask why not go for an empty threat like kill but—”
Theo didn’t get to finish, Liam rushing him and slamming him into the unforgiving ground. He felt a rib snap and hoped that his body had saved enough magic to heal that inconvenience. The rib-breaker currently stood over him, anger strung out in his features.
“You tried to make me kill Scott.” Theo hummed, tasting the iron sitting in his throat from where he must have bitten his tongue on the way down. “I nearly did… and then you did kill him.”
“Are we just recounting the past week’s events? Because if so we could also mention how I resurrected your girlfriend, so you’re welcome.”
“She was dead because of you!” That was rich, how many strings did he have to tangle to reach that conclusion?
“Right, I definitely did something as a child, before the Doctors, to screw up Hayden’s kidneys so she would be forced to become a genetic chimera and thus one of their experiments. You’ve found me out, congratulations.”
Liam reeled back an arm, claws out with seemingly the intention to strike. Theo looked at him with bored eyes. “I have things to do today, Liam. And I don’t feel like changing shirts.”
Taking Liam’s moment of hesitancy as an opportunity Theo flicked a hand up, sending a gust of air shooting up at Liam and knocking him away. Looking at the slumped-over form of Liam Dunbar as Theo left Tara’s Bridge he wondered what it would have been like if Scott had actually died.
If Liam were the Alpha.
Bonding with the chimeras wasn’t supposed to be on Theo’s ‘Top Priority List’ but building trust was the foundation for maintaining loyalty. Which is how Theo found himself in a hospital room, Tracy trailing behind him as she took in the bruised and battered form of the prison truck driver.
“Do you want me to kill him for you?” Theo whispers, watching the man’s eyes widen as he reaches for the call button. Theo moves it out of reach as Tracy takes a step closer to the IV bag at the man’s side.
“My father once defended a man on death row, I know how lethal injection works.” The flatline sounds loud in the room, Tracy’s shuddered breath the only other indication that life still exists in the room.
They leave the room before nurses can come spilling in, performing a fruitless task of trying to revive the man on the bed.
Josh is still wiping cocaine off his nose when he walks out of Sinema. Theo is waiting, unhurriedly for him, knowing the moment the boy does because there’s an audible grumble from Josh’s direction before he slumps over to Theo.
“How much did you take?” Because at the end of the day they weren’t supernatural, they were science experiments, and their bodies would only bend so far before breaking.
“A lot, but I didn’t feel anything.” Theo pops open the hood of the closest car hooking jumper cables around the battery.
“And you won’t. Our healing works too fast for drugs to work.” Josh turned, prepared to walk away and find someone to catch a ride with.
“You should have left me for dead.”
Theo barked out a laugh and Josh whirled around to face him. Handing the cables over he watches Josh take them with some apprehension. “Try those out.”
The electricity that curls up Josh’s arms from the cables lights his eyes purple, Theo’s eyes want to glow in response but he keeps them at bay. Instead, he turns to find Liam standing across the parking lot, glaring in Theo’s direction even as Theo turned to face Josh once more.
“Don’t move.” Hayden huffs out as she slumps into the chair at the station, Valerie walking off to wherever she said she was going. Hayden. She straightens in the chair, looking around as her knuckles tightened on the bottom of the chair.
When she turned the corner to where the cells were and found Theo standing there, she wasn’t sure whether the smart move was to be at ease or to stay tense. “What did you see?” He’s not even looking at her, staring out in the direction she came from as if listening for any possible intruders on their conversation.
“It looked just like the painting, just like you said.” That does make Theo look at her, at least she figured the side-eye he was sporting in her direction was directed at her.
“You tell anyone else?”
“I didn’t think you’d want me to.”
Theo hums, “You’re right.” He stands suddenly, abandoning the slumped posture he’d held until now, and looks straight at her. “We’re going to keep it that way.”
“Why, I mean, maybe we could tell Scott or Liam—someone could help us.”
“This thing is going to kill a lot of people, Hayden. As long as we stick together we don’t have to be one of the bodies.” Hayden’s phone buzzes in her pocket, a souring look covering her face as she reads Valerie’s message.
“Is there anything else you want to tell me?” They’ve both leveled each other with an unreadable look, but the uptick in Hayden’s heart gives her away as she says no. Theo grabs her arm, trying to make her understand secrets are the thing that will get them killed. “You can’t keep secrets from me, Hayden.” He drops her arm and walks out of the station, not a glance in his direction.
Perhaps loyalty isn’t something guaranteed.
Theo is staring at the empty space in front of the lockers, questioning how he ever thought Corey could be more useful than Belasko when the boy’s heart gave him away so obviously. “I know you’re there.”
Corey looks anxious, Theo wonders if that’s the only emotion the boy can muster. Theo’s eyebrow raises as he pieces together why Corey must be at the school this late. “You didn’t have to help with the cleanup, Corey. You can stop with the whole normal act now, because you’re not normal, and you don’t have to be nice.”
“I’m not going to hurt them.” No, Corey probably wouldn’t hurt a fly, but he definitely wasn’t going to touch Mason and Liam even if that was what Theo wanted.
“I don’t want you to, we’re going to protect them. That’s going to be our job.” Theo fakes a smile in the boy’s direction, trying to pull some emotion out of him. When Corey stays where he is, anxiety wafting off him, Theo drops the act.
“Okay, fine. You’re going to come with me and do whatever I tell you to do. Because I’m sure you don’t want to wind up dead again, do you ?”
“So it’s true, the True Alpha lives again.” Theo watches from down the hall as the pack (minus Hayden because there was no way she was getting away from her sister) awaits his command. Stiles and Scott are talking about something, shining a light on the floor, and Theo is bored.
The two-fingered signal sends Tracy at Stiles, dropping the human to the ground with little finesse. Scott turns, confusion and surprise written clear on his face at the presence of Tracy, but matching her blows as she dishes them out.
Theo sends Josh out next, the boy sparking up behind the fighting duo, but Stiles yells out a word of warning and Scott grabs Tracy’s wrists, throwing her into Josh and immobilizing them both.
Corey, who was supposed to appear right after Josh is still invisible against the wall, but the frantic tempo of his heart has Scott growling, red-eyes at him until he appears.
“Alright, so maybe they aren’t ready to take on an Alpha,” Theo laughs before sending a pointed look in Corey’s direction. He ignores the boy’s pitiful excuse about Scott’s fangs and turns to face Scott head-on.
“They’re alive!” Wow, has Scott always been this slow?
“I found some new friends, I don’t take rejection well.” Behind him, Tracy and Corey are lifting a paralyzed Josh and carting him out of the tunnel. Theo stalks forward, ignoring the warning growl from Scott as he gets closer to Stiles and the words etched on the ground.
“We’re on the same side, Scott,” he says once the words have been smashed to pieces, “we both want this creature dead. We can be normal teenagers in the daytime but by night we’re fighting for our lives.”
“You want the creature dead, I want to save the kid.”
“That thing isn’t a chimera.”
“There’s still a kid inside there.”
Theo wonders how Scott’s big heart hadn’t killed him before Theo showed up. “Not anymore.”
“Eventually you’re going to have to face the beast, you can’t go and dance all your troubles away at Sinema!” Theo’s watching Josh walk out of the operating theater, jumper cables hooked to his pants like a belt, while the rest of the pack watches the one-sided fight with apprehension.
“If we’re going to go against this thing and probably die I’m going to dance and get high one last time.” Josh walks out and Theo feels the pull of magic slam the door close, he hopes the others will think it was just Josh.
“Well, you have to watch your sister, make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid like try and go on duty tonight and respond to possible calls.” Hayden is watching him pace the floor, the fresco at his back. Corey isn’t any better, he has dinner plans with his parents for the first time in literally ever and Theo thinks it’s just his luck.
“Okay, fine, Tracy and I can make this work. We’re not trying to catch it anyway, I just want to get a good look at it.” Tracy raises her hand from where she’s lounging, looking at Theo with what could only be akin to boredom.
“I’d like to not be gutted if that’s an option.”
Theo so desperately wants to growl at her, or throw her into a wall over and over and over… he blinks, reeling in the onslaught of anger her words invoke in him and instead levels her with a bored look of his own.
“I’m not really in a gutting mood, you’ll have to ask the beast when you see him if he takes your preference into consideration.”
“Of course it’s at the school, why does everything weird in this town happen at the school?” Tracy whispers as they silently walk the abandoned halls of the high school.
“Telluric currents,” is all Theo says back before he’s drawn to a set of lockers. His eyes flare up, trying to fill in the missing pieces and he finds Damnatio Memoriae scrawled over the lockers. He gives a once-over to Tracy, who’s looking at the words with her reptilian eyes and looks back to the lockers.
“They want it to remember itself.”
Tracy turns to him, vertical pupils falling away to normal, human eyes. “It’s just another chimera with a kid inside, though.”
Theo hums, eyebrows furrowing at the wispy letters. “The Doctors don’t care about that. They needed a body to resurrect the beast, it couldn’t just come out of thin air. I doubt the kid even knows it turns into a beast… or vice versa.”
“I read about the Beast of Gevaudan, you know? It said it killed 113 people.” Theo smirks, shaking his head as Tracy turns to him.
“The book was wrong,” he looks back at her, feeling the fear trickling off of her, “it was closer to 500.”
A loud roar interrupts their little chat, both of them swinging around to look down the halls of the school where moments before nothing had been. Theo can hear the click of Tracy’s claws unsheathing and before he can even protest she’s down the hall facing off with the Pathologist.
Theo barely flinches as her body slams into the lockers, hearing something in the general area of her ribs snap before she goes down hard. He keeps his eyes on the Doctors, their masks covering whatever expression their ancient selves could have conjured up for the occasion.
“Theo Raekan, leave. You have your pack.” The Surgeon’s robotic voice grates Theo’s nerves as he glares in the direction of the man.
“It wasn’t enough! Do these look red to you?” He flashes his eyes, the gold burning his retinas the longer he holds the form before blinking back to his normal green. “It didn’t make me an Alpha! I’m not even a real werewolf!”
There’s no time for the Doctors to respond, thundering footsteps coming from around the corner where the Doctors had appeared moments prior. The Beast of Gevaudan is massive, all-encompassing in its size and power. And the severed head in its giant fist is also a large indicator that it means business.
The Beast rears its ugly head at Theo and Tracy—who had stumbled over to where Theo stood as her ribs mended themselves—and let out a loud roar. Tracy had all but collapsed to the ground already and she threw her hands over her ears in a desperate attempt to block out the noise. Theo threw his hands over his ears also, feeling the familiar stirring of magic respond to such a strong force.
The lockers are shaking and the lights are flickering above them, and Theo is losing control of himself. There’s a moment where he looks up and swears he makes eye contact with the Geneticist, standing passively off to the side of the other Doctors and the Beast. The moment is over when the roar fades and the lights stop flickering, and Theo and Tracy are alone in the hallway once more.
But the danger isn’t gone.
“Tracy, you need to run.” Theo feels something wet slipping between his fingers and he can only assume his ears are bleeding. The girl is looking at him in confusion but he’s lost the ability to provide her with answers.
He feels her shoes skidding away on the floor, so in tune with the world around him that he can tell the moment she reaches the door without even seeing her.
And the hallway explodes around him.
Theo is still sort of out of it the next day, listening half-heartedly to the PA announce Mr. O’Quinn’s classes are canceled because the teacher is missing. The lockers still have dents in them, the floor where Theo had collapsed is cracked like a bomb went off, or a werewolf punched the floor. He’s not even listening as Hayden tries to tell him her sister was eavesdropping on the police radio last night and they got called out after Tracy and Theo left because they thought a bomb went off.
Tracy had stared at Theo as he emerged from the wrecked hallway, magic still clinging to his clothes and having no control over any aspect of his shift. His claws had stayed firmly out to the world even as his eyes flickered like a signal beam. She’d slung his arm over her shoulder, a million questions on her mind no doubt, but staying resolutely silent all the way from the school back to the operating theater.
She’d watched him shake in the aftermath of the outburst like he was having a withdrawal or something, and stayed silent as the last of the magic coursed through him and threw various abandoned papers and such around in a whirlwind.
She didn’t say anything when Josh came back a few hours later, or when Hayden and Corey met them at the front of the school that morning, Theo debriefing them on how the Doctors had resurrected someone to reclaim the role of the Beast.
“Theo, are you even listening to me?” Pulled from his memories he turned to find Hayden looking at him with a slightly concerned expression. He did not need any sympathy from the once-dead girl.
“Yes, Hayden. Valerie is just as nosy as Stiles, and Beacon Hills has weird shit that goes down every minute of every day.” The girl huffed and leaned against her locker, annoyed.
Theo looked over her shoulder, catching the eyes of Liam and Mason, the latter containing the slightly seething former, and Theo smirked.
“I think you need to reassure your boyfriend that even though you’re my beta it doesn’t make you a chimera of death too.” She looked over to where he was looking, turning back to Theo with her arms crossed.
“Liam’s not my—you know what, we need to get to class, Theo.” Theo could have called her out on the topic change, the way she had tried to say Liam wasn’t her boyfriend and her heart didn’t tick up, either she didn’t want to give Theo any more leverage over her, or they really weren’t together anymore.
Malia always smelled like frustration. Theo thought part of it could have been from having to adjust to human life after spending so long as a coyote, but also life was just frustrating in general when you and your mother are battling it out to see who can kill the other first.
“You won’t find Deaton on your own. I mean, he’s probably already dead and you’ll have to explain to Scott how his poor boss is dead because of you.” He expects it when she lunges at him, but he doesn’t jump away. He goes down hard, taking each hit with a smile and relishing in the way this pain was nothing compared to what he’s been put through.
“You know, I let Stiles kick my ass too,” he says as he pops his arm back into place, the healing kicking in slowly but surely. “I can help you find Deaton and the Desert Wolf.”
“Why should I trust you?”
“Oh, you shouldn’t, but I might be the only way you get Deaton back alive.”
“And just how do you plan on finding them?” Malia’s arms are crossed, she’s on the defense, but she’s open to the idea, Theo just has to convince her.
“Same way the Doctors find everyone.”
Malia’s chemosignals give her away long before she answers him back.
“Do you want to explain to me what I saw last night, or am I just going to have to guess?” Tracy slumped down next to Theo in the operating theater, the fresco feet away from them on the same wall. She’d whispered the words but seeing as the room was filled with supernaturals it didn’t do any good, the others subtly trying to eavesdrop.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he dismissed, picking at his nails instead.
She scoffed, looking at the others with a really-this-guy-is-our-leader look. “I didn’t say anything last night to them, I could tell you didn’t want to talk about it.”
“I don’t want to talk about it now,” he growled, eyes glowing briefly in annoyance.
“I just want to know if you’re going to accidentally blow us all up one day.” He whirled around to face her, Tracy’s face passive as she faced forward to the rest of the room. He could hear the uptick in the other’s hearts, the confusion seeping through their chemosignals.
“I have more control than you give me credit for.”
“Didn’t seem that way last night,” Tracy said as she turned to him with an eyebrow raised.
“Last night was a fluke. I know I didn’t really debrief you in the basics of being supernatural, but powerful weres can compel others to turn, like an alpha to their beta.”
“But you didn’t just turn last night, you—”
“I know, okay! I don’t know why and I don’t know if it’s going to happen again. Is that the answer you wanted?”
The silence between them was loud, the others sitting in silence watching as Tracy and Theo stared each other down.
“You should tell them.” Tracy tipped her head in the direction of the others, who didn’t even bother to try hiding the fact they were listening. Theo looked over at the three chimeras spread out across the room, each in their own designated spot.
Feeling the pull of magic rise up in him felt different because this time he was doing it completely of his own volition. It left the taste of sour apples in his mouth as it bubbled inside him.
The table, the lone piece of furniture they’d acquired down here, shook in place before floating into the air and staying there as if suspended by a string. A strong string .
He didn’t look at the others to gauge their reactions, the fluctuations in their hearts gave it away.
Fascination. Wonder. Confusion. Fear.
The table fell with a thump and all eyes turned to him at once, a synchronized movement. Theo raised an eyebrow at them all, “So now you know my secret.”
“Dude, you have magic,” Josh said, glee spilling into his voice. Hadn’t he mentioned something about his younger brother being a big Harry Potter fan?
“Unhinged magic, there’s a difference.” Theo slumped against the wall with a faux sense of security, it’s not like they jumped him immediately. “Sorcerers and druids are connected to the world, they act as a bridge between the mortal and supernatural.”
“Wouldn’t banshees too?” Corey asked. Theo had to stop letting him spend so much time with Mason.
“Yes, but banshees aren’t really connected to the world, they’re connected to the dead.”
“So why is your magic ‘unhinged?’” Hayden asked, air quotes around the word unhinged.
“The Doctors screwed up with me. Other supernatural things don’t affect banshees, like… Lydia was bitten by Peter Hale, the same guy that bit Scott, but it only activated her banshee abilities, it didn’t turn her into a werewolf. Druids and sorcerers aren’t supposed to interfere in the supernatural either, druids maintain balance and sorcerers are pure magic. When the Doctors turned me into—well this, they corrupted something. I don’t know all the details, something to do with what makes certain people like druids and sorcerers have control over their magical abilities.”
“Damn, the Dread Doctors have really done a number on us, haven’t they?” Josh sighed, slumped down on his makeshift cot, and glanced over at Theo. “You may be an ass, but you brought us back to life, so we’re on your side for this, Theo.”
He ignored the way his wolf preened at the thought of pack .
“I don’t really get why you want to help me,” Malia says as she and Theo face each other in the locker room of Beacon Hills High. “What do you gain from this?”
“Think of it as a gesture of goodwill, Malia. I’ll help you find Deaton and the Desert Wolf and in return, you don’t go feral on me for trying to kill your alpha.”
“I should just gut you and be done with it. But fine, tell me how we’re going to do this.”
“Well, the Doctors have some things in their lair we can use… but the location is classified.” He pulls a long wolf and injector from his backpack and raises an eyebrow at her.
Sensing her hesitation he steadies his heart and loosens his composure. “Look, they used it on me whenever they took me there, I’m not going to get much satisfaction out of this.”
Malia takes a deep breath before she nods, “Okay, just get it over with.”
He’ll never say it, but he does get a little satisfaction sticking the needle in her neck and watching her figure slump over unconscious.
Maneuvering Malia over his shoulder he began the walk to his truck, thankful that they had met after school on a day when there was no lacrosse practice. Theo did not want to explain why he was carrying an unconscious girl to his car and driving off with her.
He would probably never feel comfortable in the tunnels, the smell of chemicals permanently burned into his nose and his overall scent, marking Theo as something not quite supernatural.
Dumping Malia onto the exam table he fastened the restraints around her wrists and ankles. He did not need an angry, drugged coyote to rip his face off when she woke up. He busied himself around the room as the wolfsbane worked itself out of Malia’s system.
When the girl’s heart lost its steady rhythm and Malia began to move around Theo came back to the table to wait for Malia’s inevitable outburst at being tied down.
“What the hell is this?” She growled out, eyes making a valiant effort to flare up at Theo while the wolfsbane still permeated her system.
“It’s for your protection and mine.” Theo reached over to the side table and grabbed a pair of goggles, holding them up for Malia to see. “You’ll need to wear these to find what we’re looking for.” He clicked the spikes out.
“Not happening.”
“Oh come on, Malia. We’ve come this far. Look, the Doctors tracked everyone by frequencies. All supernatural creatures vibrate at a certain frequency. You just have to find your mother’s frequency.”
Malia is breathing deep, slightly lost in thought as she debates her options. Theo is ready to just put the goggles over her eyes himself, and if she screws up then it’s on her.
“Okay, okay, what do I have to do?”
Theo slips the goggles over Malia’s eyes looking at the bulky torture device on her face and briefly thinking of the Geneticist. “Focus on your mother, focus on finding her.” He flips the switch.
She screams as blood flows down her face and Theo is firmly telling her not to close her eyes. He knows it must suck, must actually be torture. The Doctors have holes in their faces where the goggles slide into now, but Malia’s healing is trying to kick in and repair the damage.
“I see them! I see them! I know where they are!” Before she’s even done with the words Theo is flipping the switch and uncuffing her wrists, allowing her some mobility. Her bloodied face turns to him, but she’s grinning all things considered like this was an accomplishment.
“My mother is in Beacon Hills.”
“Fort Jewett? I didn’t even know there was a Fort Jewett in Beacon Hills. I’m going in practically blind, no thanks to these blueprints, but I still don’t like this.” Braeden is looking at the layout of Fort Jewett, mapping out exit points as Malia and Theo lounge around the room. The bounty hunter’s gaze turns to Theo then, eyes narrowing into a glare. “I’m less thrilled he’s part of the plan.”
“Theo’s going. He helped me find her.”
“You really trust the guy that tried to kill Scott?” Braeden turns to Malia, Theo taking his cue to let the girls have their moment. But he can’t pass up the opportunity.
“ Technically , I did kill Scott.”
“Let’s kill him,” the hunter’s shotgun is pointed in his direction, but this isn’t the first time Theo has been on the receiving end of a gun.
His mouth drops into a straight line, eyes narrowing to match the steady glare Braeden hadn’t let up on. “I did what I had to do to survive. The Dread Doctors wanted everybody dead, I convinced them it just had to be Scott.”
Braeden turns back to Malia, gun still pointed in Theo’s direction. “We should tell Scott.”
“We can’t. He’ll try to stop me from killing her and I can’t risk that.” Malia’s arms are crossed, resolute in her standing. Theo chips in that he’s planning to help on that front.
Braeden gives a heavy sigh but she lowers her gun after sending one last glare Theo’s way. “Well, if we’re really going to do this then we need to be prepared. The Desert Wolf carries pretty heavy firepower.”
“Why doesn’t she just use her were abilities?” Theo asks, perplexed as to why a supernatural creature would use a gun over their claws and fangs.
“Apparently something happened and she lost part of her powers, so she’s not as strong as she once was. She started using guns to make up for it, and… she’s a perfect shot.”
As they pull up to Fort Jewett Theo feels the first bit of apprehension creep in. He shouldn’t go through with this, he could still figure something else out. No , it’s too late to back out now. He’s already tipped off the Desert Wolf, it wouldn’t make difference in the end.
“Malia, this place looks abandoned. What if she’s moved on?”
“And what if Deaton is in there waiting to be rescued? I’m not walking away on a maybe.” She begins the journey towards the base, Braeden, and Theo sharing a brief look before they fall in line behind her.
This was a bad idea . The thought creeps into his head without his permission as they creep through the base. A lone chemosignal of guilt slipping through the iron-clad wall he has built.
Malia stops in her tracks, Theo and Braeden stop behind her, and Theo wrangles in any remaining emotions he has and strangles them. “Something’s wrong.”
“What is it?” Braeden asks, Theo holding his breath behind the both of them.
“I don’t know, it wasn’t a scent or anything, it just felt off. It’s gone now, let’s go.”
Turning the corner they find Deaton strapped to a chair with duct tape over his mouth. He’s bleeding from the temple, his eyes slightly glazed over as they focus on the group in front of him.
His eyes widen as they lock on Theo, eyes flipping between Malia and Theo rapidly. Of course, the good doctor couldn’t actually be unconscious during Theo’s visit to the Desert Wolf.
Braeden, standing behind Theo, seems to pick up on the same thing Malia does, her shotgun coming up to point at Theo. Without thinking he turned and shot a gust of air at Braeden, the magic coming to him easily as he sent the bounty hunter flying back unconscious.
He didn’t notice the way Deaton’s gaze grew from worried to fascinated back to worried as he turned his attention to Malia. Braeden’s shotgun lays at his feet where she dropped it, he hesitates for a moment before choosing to not pick it up. He doesn’t really want Malia to die today, and not shooting her will give her an advantage.
He does let the magic curl through his body, rippling the ground and knocking Malia off her feet as he stalks a little closer. “It was me, wasn’t it? You picked up on a chemosignal of mine—regret, maybe guilt, because I don’t actually want to do this.” He does kick Braeden’s gun over to the waiting Desert Wolf, catching the glowing blue claws she tosses in return.
Perhaps he can make something out of this betrayal.
The operating theater reeks of fear when he gets back, Belasko’s talons clutched loosely in his hand. Hayden is absent, which isn’t surprising given that it’s night and her sister keeps her under lock-and-key at night time. But the remaining pack members are scattered to one side of the operating theater, Corey’s head down between his knees as the other two gripe and grumble over their slow-healing wounds.
“All this to take down one blind werewolf?” He tries to keep the disgust in his voice to a minimum, giving his pack the benefit of the doubt. It’s not like they could take down Scott either, and that had barely been a week ago.
The chimeras say nothing, Theo rolling his eyes and turning his attention to the blind wolf in question. Deucalion is hooked up to a wolfsbane drip, a gnarly contraption Theo’s been on the receiving end of more than once thanks to the Doctors.
“It seems the restoration of my sight by a certain Dark Druid was only temporary. A parting gift from my time with Scott McCall.” Venom drips through the man’s words and Theo smirks.
He informs Deucalion of his plans to steal the power from the Beast of Gevaudan, letting the wolf stir over them for a moment. “I’m sure you’re open to negotiation.”
It’s Deucalion’s turn to smirk, flicking out claws that could only belong to an Alpha and bringing the hand up as if admiring them blindly. “The only thing I want in return is the eyes of Scott McCall on the tips of my claws.”
“I’m sure that can be arranged.”
“I’m surprised to see you out here again,” Theo said as he turned to the trespasser. Liam stood off to the side, not quite imposing on Theo’s space, but still close enough for Theo to pick up on his movements.
Tara’s Bridge stayed feet away from Theo where he had been observing it, the rotting wood dying an agonizingly slow death in comparison to the girl Theo had murdered under it.
“I didn’t tell them, you know,” Liam started as he came closer to Theo, stopping a few feet away. “About what happened the last time we were here.”
“Oh yeah?” Theo tilted his head back, throwing a coy smirk Liam’s way as the boy swayed in place. “And what exactly happened when we were last here?” They held eye contact for a moment before Liam turned away, eyes going to a broken tree in the distance.
“You know…”
“Enlighten me, Liam. Pretend I’ve lost my memory, I want to hear it in your words.”
“You have magic!” His words were frustrated, like having Theo get to him was the worst thing. “And something is up with your magic if the state of this place is any indication.”
Theo’s expression hardened, lost the bit of playfulness he had been wearing. He stood from where he had been sitting, brushing the dirt off his pants in a futile effort. Stalking over to Liam he watched as the boy tried not to step back.
“ This place was ruined long before me, long before Tara even.” His tongue clicked and he looked off to the side. “But you’re right, my magic is fucked.”
Liam looked at him, startled at the admission. “Malia and Deaton told the pack about what you did at Fort Jewett. Deaton says he could teach you—”
“I don’t need the good doctor impeding on my life. I can handle it just like I’ve been handling it for the last decade!” Theo’s eyes glowed, baiting Liam to rise to the challenge.
He didn’t, eyes flaring in response but scoffing at Theo nonetheless. It took Theo back a little bit, it had been so easy to twist his way into Liam’s thoughts and bait him to kill Scott. Why, when confronted when an actual enemy, did he not go for the throat?
“I don’t buy that, if you really wanted to mope about this and handle it alone you wouldn’t have told me it was messed up. You would have deflected and changed the subject but you told me, you just can’t accept that you want help.”
Theo turned away, gaze icy as it turned from Liam to Tara’s Bridge. He didn’t need help, didn’t share information because he wanted it. “And what if it’s just another ruse to get you to do my bidding?”
Liam scoffed, “You should know by now I’m not falling for that again, I learn from my mistakes.” He heard Liam take another step closer to him and he instinctively tensed, bracing for the literal backstabbing that was to surely come.
But it never did, Liam instead stepped up beside him to look at the bridge too. From the corner of his eye, Theo could see Liam peering back at him, neither one trusting the other to completely let down their guard.
“I know others in the pack don’t hold the same sentiments I do, but I don’t think you’re a monster, Theo. I think you’re a kid that’s been dealt a really bad hand in life.” Theo exhaled, a small gust of wind swirling around them as Theo’s magic kicked in.
“I guess that’s my cue to leave unless you want to throw me into another tree?” Liam was smiling and Theo responded with a small smirk of his own. “Don’t be afraid to ask for help, Theo.”
“Argent did say it would be unlike anything we’ve seen before. ” Theo stepped around the corner of the bookshelf, Scott, and Stiles looking up at the new presence. Stiles shares a frustrated look with Scott as the two make no attempts to attack each other, drawing a standstill.
“I still want to kick your ass,” Stiles says, Theo’s eyebrow climbing up at the hostility behind the human’s words. Fair enough .
“Mistakes were made—”
“ Murders were made!” Stiles corrects and Theo can’t help the way his head draws back as he rolls his eyes hard. Focusing back on Scott instead of the seething human he doesn’t find nearly as much open disgust on the True Alpha’s face.
“I can get you guys past the mountain ash at Eichen,” he flicks his eyes over to Stiles and matches his glare, “so you can save Lydia.”
“What do you gain from helping us? We both know this isn’t you deciding to join the ‘good guys’ now.” Scott asks, crossing his arms and giving off Alpha vibes he’s probably not even aware of.
“That fresco, in the Dread Doctors lab? I know you’ve seen the whole thing. I don’t want to be one of those bodies when two seriously pissed-off creatures end up fighting.”
“Can you get past the mountain ash because you’re a chimera or because you have magic?” Stiles interrupts. Theo shouldn’t be surprised this is being brought up, Liam told him they all know now because of Malia and Deaton.
“Who’s to say, I don’t make the laws of the supernatural.” He pauses for a moment, the chemosignals from his former friends indicating he’s not going to get that alliance how he wants it.
“Well, either I get you to Lydia or we can see who can get to her first. I’m up for a race if you are.”
The lights are flickering throughout the building as Theo and his motley crew walk in. The attendant at the front desk looks up at Tracy, a question brewing on his lips as she requests to see Lydia Martin.
“Sorry, visiting hours are up.” There’s a hint of satisfaction on the man’s face as if he truly is naive enough to believe they’ll take that answer and go on their way. Too bad he doesn’t know about the guards Tracy and Josh handled outside. Tracy’s skin ripples as the kanima scales are brought to the surface and exposed to the man’s eyes.
“We’re not taking no for an answer,” Tracy whispers before swiping out a venomous claw and rendering the man useless. Theo looks at the man’s wide, fearful eyes for a moment before he heads around the desk to find out where Lydia is being kept.
“Josh, they’re armed with tasers, think you can handle those?” Theo asks as he finds the file marked with Lydia’s name. The boy in question nods with no hesitation and shares a slightly manic grin with Corey, who looks about as uncomfortable as he did when he walked in.
“The air reeks of electricity like someone blew a breaker. You think they brought the fox girl back here?” Josh asks as they’re walking down the hall towards Lydia.
“Considering she’s the only way they could have enacted a brownout I would say it’s a very good possibility that the McCall pack are all running around the halls with us.”
“You kids should go,” an orderly says, nametag reading ‘Schrader’ from what Theo can see. “Wouldn’t want things to get messy if you know what I mean.” Theo gives the man a deadpan look and continues forward, avoiding the scalpel coming straight for his head as he twists out of the way.
As Theo ducks under Schrader’s arm, he concentrates a small amount of magic into the palm of his hand and pushes it towards the man’s side. The air fizzes with magic, rippling through the man’s ribs and muscles and organs as he’s knocked into the wall adjacent to him.
Schrader is trying to catch his breath and rise to his feet, Theo clenching his fist to return some feeling back to the numb appendages before he swings his fist out, pushing more magic in the orderly’s direction. The wall cracks behind the man as he’s pushed back into the brick, head making contact and knocking him out.
“That is badass, man. Why weren’t you doing that the whole time?” Josh asks, bouncing a little in place like a kid on Halloween with a bag full of candy. Theo doesn’t give him an answer beyond a scoff, instead turning back down the hall and hoping they at least had enough sense to keep following him.
“ Someone is coming, but it’s not Scott .” Lydia’s voice rings out down the hall as Theo and the others step into the hall Lydia’s file had listed. Dr. Valack steps out of the room on the end, presumably from where Lydia was and observes Theo with a blank look. Tracy, wasting no time, rushes forward and pins the man to the wall, claws at his throat to keep him in place.
“Why would a pack of chimeras want a banshee?” Valack’s words are sightly strained around Tracy’s hand, but they’re clear enough to Theo. He turns from where he was looking at Lydia, laying on the dodgy bed, sweating profusely, blood pouring from her head— she’s a mess —and smirks at Valack.
“I was actually looking for a Hellhound.”
An echoing roar accompanies Theo’s statement, the occupants of the hall turning to where Jordan Parrish stands, burning and glowing, claws melting away the gate as he stalks forward.
“You wanted a Hellhound? I think you’ve got one!”