Amara's outfit:
Chapter Thirty-Two
â Visionary â
** A strange, rhythmic pulsing rises over a barren section of woods on the outskirts of Beacon Hills. Feet pounding across the arid ground, a teenage boy carrying a little girl runs blindly through the darkness, almost like he's trying to outrun the sound. But he stumbles on an exposed tree root and crashes to the ground, making sure he got most of the impact instead of the girl.
A cloud of dust settles to reveal the boy kneeling, hands held to his ears, fifteen year old Derek Hale peers up to focus on the source of his pain. A Hunter's ultrasonic emitter stuck in the ground. Gunshots ring out behind him making him tighten his old on his eight year old little cousin, Amara.
Rising up, Derek charges off again. But another emitter piercing the side of a tree pushes him in the opposite direction. Everywhere he turns, another emitter and its intolerable screeching propels him in a new direction, pushing him, corralling him. "Derek?" Amara asked, terrified as she stuffed her face in his chest. "It's okay, Mara. We'll be okay."
Racing into a clearing, Derek slams into another young man. They whirl about to face each other. The Young Man's eyes glow, causing Derek's eyes to brighten in response, surging a brilliant yellow. "You're a Hale. Aren't you?" The boy said, glanced down at Amara who had looked back at him.
Before Derek can respond, an arrow pierces the Young Man's throat causing Amara to scream and hide her face in Derek chest again. His mouth opens in shock, Derek stares in horror and holds Amara closer to him as the Young Man collapses. As he hits the ground, the glow recedes from his eyes.
Hearing a mechanic click, the sound of a weapon reloading, Derek spins around. A hunter steps out of the darkness, raising a massive crossbow and aiming it right at the fifteen year-old boy and his cousin. Derek hugged Amara closer to him and she whimpered in fear as the hunter fires.
But a hand snatches the arrow right out of the air. A young Peter Hale snarls in response, fangs bared, and snaps the arrow in half. The Hunter drops the crossbow and a gun appears almost instantly in his hand. "This is the last time you babysit my daughter." Peter said as he grabbed the still stunned Derek and drags his daughter and nephew into darkness as gunfire blasts through the night and down dirt-covered stairwell leads down to a root cellar, long overtaken by unchecked growth.
While the shouts and footsteps of Hunters echo down from above where Peter holds a terrified Derek and Amara in his arms, keeping them still.**
Gerard sat in a wheelchair inside a room at the nursing home, wiping some black liquid away from his nose and mouth when the door opened. "Did you bring her?" Gerard asked before turning around to look at Allison and Amara, "Oh, come in, Amara, and give an old man something for his pain." Gerard said as he pulled up his sleeve and held his arm out.
"You don't have to do this." Allison said in a slight whisper, "If you want me to talk, this is how it's going to happen." Gerard said and Amara raised her eyebrows in amusement, enjoying the knowledge of Gerard in pain. "If I do this, you have to tell us everything you know. Everything. No lies." Amara said and Gerard just gave her a look while holding his arm out.
Amara grabbed his hand and a second later black veins trailed from his arm to hers. Amara took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment before opening them to reveal their scarlet red glow. After a moment Amara pulled her hand away making Gerard sigh softly.
"I see all of you Hales are destined to have that eye color at some point." Gerard said and Amara stepped back, "Yeah, well I didnt exactly have a choice in that matter." Amara said while leaning up against the wall. "They found a third body?" Gerard asked and Allison nodded, "Another doctor. Right after Scott found Deaton." Allison said.
"Right after? Almost like it was expected he'd survive." He said making Amara cock an eyebrow, "What's that supposed to mean?" Amara asked. "How do you know your dark Druid isn't your wise veterinarian himself? Maybe he knew you'd find him. Maybe he planned it that way." Gerard said and Amara raised her eyebrows, "I'm gonna stop you there. Deaton would never let anyone innocent die." She said.
"Don't be so sure- you'd be surprised how far some people would go to get rid of someone like Deucalion." Gerard said and Allison raised her eyebrows from where she stood by the window, "Or someone like you?" She asked and Gerard chuckled.
"I don't go easily, though, do I?" Gerard said before spitting black liquid onto a tissue, "You know, Amara, you and Scott made me something of a celebrity here. I'm a medical mystery. The cancer is now virtually undetectable, but the doctors have no clue why my body keeps producing and ejecting this bizarre black fluid." Gerard said and Amara smiled and shrugged slightly.
"We gave you what you wanted, we just hand delivered you the karma. Now tell us how to beat him." Amara said and Gerard shook his head, "You can't. I've tried." He said. "Then this is a complete waste of time. He doesn't know anything. Sorry you did this. Let's go." Allison said while grabbing Amara's hand and Amara shrugged slightly, "My mom might know something." Amara said as they started to walk towards the door.
"Wait!" Gerard said making the two girls stop, 'I can tell you one thing- Deucalion may have lost his eyes, but he's not always blind."
** "What are we doing?" Eight year old Amara whispered as her father held onto her hand, pulling her behind some boxes outside of a distillery. "Shhh... Remember, we're hiding." Peter whispered as they watched Ennis lead a group of Werewolf into the distillery.
"There. You see it?" Ennis asked, pointing up at a rope that dangles from above, blood staining the lower end. A crowd of werewolves gather underneath, powerful men and women grouped with their respective packs. "They dragged him here, an arrow in his throat, and they hung him and cut him in half! They killed one of ours." Ennis says, turning to look at Kali, Deucalion and their packs, along with a few people from the Hale pack and Makena.
"One of yours. Why should I care about one of your pack?" Kali said making Laura roll her eyes. "Because the Hunters don't discern packs." Laura Hale said and Makena nodded in agreement, "Especially the Argents." Makena said.
"But, they do discern motive. Ennis, why did they kill him?" Deucalion asked and Ennis doesn't answer, standing firm with his pack. One of Deucalion's Betas, Marco, steps forward. "Because your young, naive Beta killed one of them!" Marco said making Deucalion say in name in sort of a warning. "He killed a Hunter, didn't he?" Marco asked.
"Accidentally."**
"They were all there... Ennis, Kali, Deucalion... Each with their own packs... before they'd killed them all and decided to form their little all-star team." Gerard said as Allison and Amara sat in.front of him, "But they didn't all live here, did they?" Allison asked and Gerard shook his head.
"No. But there was an exceptionally powerful Alpha who did live here- she had a capacity to shapeshift that was rare among her kind, that made her something of a leader. The kind of person that they would go to for advice and guidance..." Gerard said as he looked over at Amara who nodded slightly, "Auntie Talia..."
**A howl pierces the night, immediately quieting the gathered werewolves. Deucalion steps away from them, looking past the open doors of the distillery where out of the pitch black, two glowing eyes approach.
Surging toward them, the shape of the creature catches the moonlight. A wolf. Magnificent in its size and power, it lopes toward them with an elegant grace. When it crosses the threshold, it transforms with startling speed into a beautiful, dark- haired, naked woman.
Talia Hale.
Stepping out from the group, Makena drapes a long, gray coat over her friend's shoulders as the brilliant red fades from Talia's eyes as she turns to face the werewolves surrounding her. "It is his right. We're not the only people to adhere to rituals thousands of years old." She said.
"Which is no excuse for not evolving." Deucalion says making Ennis step up, "They ripped his claws right out of his fingers! How is that evolving? Useless debate! I'm done with it!" Ennis says before approaching the far wall of the distillery. He places the tips of his claws against the corrugated steel.
"Ennis, don't! Don't make us part of a historical cliché. With two such powers, it never ends at an eye for an eye- a skirmish becomes a war, a murder becomes a massacre, and we end up no better than our enemies!" Deucalion says trying to talk Ennis out of doing what he was thinking.
Ennis holds a moment longer. But then he tears through the steel with his claws, hand racing around, sending sparks flying. Finally, he steps back, walking away to reveal the image carved into the wall, a spiral.**
** "Why does she eat alone?" Peter said as he sat down across from Derek at a lunch table. A couple seconds later, Amara climbed up onto to the seat next to her father, looking at him with a big smile. "What are you doing here? And why is Mara not in school? You know Makena will kill you if she finds out." Derek asked and Peter smirked at him.
"I'm looking out for my favorite nephew! Making sure no one has a crossbow aimed at your throat. And for Amara not being in school, did you know she sits next to a boy? My impressionable little daughter is not allowed around boys." Peter said and Amara scrunched her nose slightly, "Boys are gross." Amara said making Peter smile. "Exactly." Peter said as he sifts through Derek's food before finding a package of candy.
"I could get you banned from school grounds and get you in trouble with your fiance for taking Mara out of school. You know that, right?" Derek asks and Peter smirked at him, "No one would ban me from anywhere- I'm too good-looking. And my little Firecracker will deny anything you tell Makena, after all, I am her favorite person." Peter said and Amara shook her head.
"Derek's my favorite." Amara said making Derek give Peter a smug look while Peter playfully glared at his daughter, "Well, then I guess I won't be sharing these with you." Peter said holding up the thing of reese's from Derek's lunch making Amara's eyes widen. "Love you, dad!" She said with a big smile making him chuckle and hand her one of the reese's before kissing the top of her head.
Amara looked over at that table that Paige sat before tilting her head slightly. "She's pretty." She said and Derek nodded, "I know." He said, staring at Paige for a moment. "Doesn't she have any friends?" Peter asked making Derek sigh, "A few, but she likes to study during lunch, and I kind of just don't think she likes my friends." Derek said and Peter chuckled.
"No one should like your friends- they're a bunch of hormonal half-wits! But that one over there? She's perfect for you, and perfect combinations are rare in an imperfect world." Peter said before taking a bite of the chocolate. Derek looked at him for a moment before sighing and standing up, "It would worry me, too, though. I'd probably be thinking about it all the time." Peter said making Derek stop.
"Thinking about what?"
"Her finding out. You've thought that through, right? You know it always happens- one minute, you're in this blissful teen romance, and next, she sees fangs, glowing eyes, claws." Peter says and by Derek's look makes it clear he hasn't ever considered it. "She doesn't have to find out." Derek said defensively.
"But they always do... Especially when they're perfect for you. There's really only one way to make sure you'll always be together. Turn her." Peter says and Derek scoffs, "That's not happening. Now I'm going to take Mara and call Makena to come get her and tell her that you keep pulling her out of school." Derek says and turns to look at his cousin only to discover that she wasn't there anymore.
"Where did she go?" Derek asked and Peter pointed over to Paige's table where Amara sat across from Paige, talking.
"So you're Derek's cousin?" Paige asked and Amara smiled and nodded, "Yep! Derek told me that you're Pretty Paige." Amara said making Paige smile softly. "What are you doing here?" Paige asked and Amara shrugged slightly, "Visiting Derek." Amara said before leaning against the table slightly. "My dad said that when Derek gets a girlfriend I have to tell her all of Derek's embarrassing stories." Amara said making Paige smile and raise her eyebrows.
"What stories?" She asked and Amara smiled, "One time me and my cousin Cora were playing princesses and Derek dressed up in-" Amara started to explain but got cut off by Derek covering her mouth.
"Okay! It's time to get you home." Derek said before picking her up and looking at Paige, "Sorry about her." He said awkwardly and Paige just smiled. "It's no problem." Paige said and Derek smiled at her then gave Amara a look before gently throwing her over his shoulder, holding her by her legs.
"Bye Pretty Paige!" Amara yelled, waving to Paige making the teen girl laugh and wave back. **
"How does he know all about Celtic symbols and Druids?" Allison asked after Gerard told more of the story of him and Argent, "Know thy enemy, Allison. The older wolves had a relationship with the Druids. They called them Emissaries." Gerard said and Amara nodded slightly..
"Like Deaton and my mom." Amara said before glancing over at Allison for a moment, "She was Deucalion's emissary before Morrell." She said and Gerard stood up and walked over to a book on his nightstand. "Do you know the myth of Lycaon?" Gerard asked and Amara shrugged slightly, "I know it's where we get the word lycanthropy." She said as she and Allison walked over..
'According to myth, some Greek citizens believed they owed their lives more to Prometheus than to the gods of Olympus, and some followers even took names to honor the Titans instead of the gods." Gerard explained and Amara nodded slowly, "Like Deucalion." She said and Gerard nodded.
"The son of Prometheus. Lycaon didn't just refuse to honor the gods- he challenged them. He invited Zeus to a banquet and then tried to serve him the flesh of a human being. Angered, Zeus blew the place apart with lightning bolts and then punished Lycaon and his sons by turning them into wolves. The part that's lesser known is how Lycaon sought out the Druids to help turn him back to human." Gerard said and Amara furrowed her brows slightly.
"But why Druids? Weren't witches a thing?" She asked, "The belief was that the ancient Druids knew how to shapeshift. They couldn't make Lycaon and his sons human again, but they did teach them how to shift back and forth. And so, the Druids became important advisors to the packs."
**"While I admire your willingness to extend an olive branch, I have to tell you... it might not be welcome." Deaton said as he, Deucalion, Makena and Talia stood around the animal clinic while Amara sat on the metal table in front of Makena, reading a book.
"And I'm not sure that Gerard is the one to accept it." Talia said as she walked over to stand next to Deucalion and Deaton nodded, "It's true- the Argents have a matriarchal leadership." He said. "Actually, I was speaking about the fact that he's a complete psychopath." Talia said and Makena nodded, "That man literally cuts people in half with a broadsword." Makena said and Deucalion raised his eyebrows.
"Do the three of you really have so little faith in people? You think Gerard isn't worried about the deaths on his own side?" Deucalion asked and Deaton squinted slightly, "Do you know the story of the Scorpion and the Frog?" He asked and Deucalion raised his eyebrows.
"I have a feeling I'm about to hear it..." He said and Deaton went to talk but someone else did before him. "When the Scorpion asked the Frog to carry him across the river, the Frog said, "How do I know you won't sting me?" And the Scorpion said, "Why would I do that? Then, we'd both drown." So, the Frog agreed." Amara said making them all look at her.
"But halfway across the river, the Scorpion stung the Frog. When the Frog asked him why he did it, since now they would both die, the Scorpion replied... "It's my nature"." Amara said as she looked up at all of them to see them all smiling at her. "Where did you learn that?" Makena asked as she moved some hair out of her face, "It was one of my library books."
"Your faith in humanity may not matter if you underestimate Gerard's nature." Deaton said and Talia nodded, "Make sure you meet him on neutral ground... And do not walk in there alone." She said ans Deucalion cocked and eyebrows and smiled.
"I'm an Alpha. I never walk alone." **
"I wasn't really surprised when Deaton came to arrange a meeting with Deucalion. As William Blake said, 'Any sinister person who means to be your enemy always starts by trying to become your friend'." Gerard said and Amara raised her eyebrows, "How do you know he wasn't there to make peace?" She asked making him look at her.
"Because I'm not an idiot!" He said and she hummed and nodded slightly, "Do you know the Sanskrit fable of the Scorpion and the Turtle?" He asked and Amara nodded. "The Scorpion asks the Turtle for a ride across the river." Amara said and Gerard nodded, "And when the Scorpion stings the Turtle, dooming them both, what does he say to explain his behavior?"
"It's my nature." Amara said before shrugging slightly, "Although it was a frog, not a turtle." Amara said and Gerard hummed slightly. "I know a Werewolf's nature. I knew exactly what was coming... A trap." Gerard said, not noticing Amara's glare as Allison raised her eyebrows, "They attacked you?" She asked.
"It was an ambush."
**Sunlight streams through the broken windows, falling on Deucalion and three other betas and Makena who was standing next to Deucalion. A mere few feet away, stands Gerard and three hunters. "I think it's quite fitting that we are meeting in a distillery. You know, the process of distillation is the separating of two substances by pushing them into their different volatile states..." Gerard said and Deucalion smiled.
"Volatile is exactly the state I was hoping to avoid." He said and Gerard tilted his head, "Ooh.. Then this is going to come as quite a big disappointment." He said as he walked over to a large vat. Almost casually, Gerard twists one of the valves on a large vat which surprises everyone from both parties.
A violet steam pours from the vat. It rushes into the air, sending them all into a panic, coughing, turning about in terror while Gerard pulls an injection pen from his coat pocket and calmly plunges the needle into his arm.
One of the Hunters falls, hands grasping at his throat as he chokes on a mouthful of gas. Betas dropping beside him while Deucalion whirls back toward Gerard. "What have you done?" Deucalion asked and with the violet gas pluming about him, Gerard pulls out a large weapon that almost resembles a baseball bat. He raises the club, revealing the spikes on the end are actually the claws of fallen werewolves.
"One of the earliest weapons used by man was the spiked mace. I've made one of my own. I'd love to get your opinion on it." Gerard said before moving toward one of the Betas. But instead, he brings the head of it down right onto one of his own, killing the Hunter instantly.
Gerard slashes the mace across another, killing him instantly. "Your own people..." Deucalion said weakly and Gerard glanced back at him, "They wanted peace, too. Look what you did to them." He said before hitting a third hunter while the wolfsbane gas sends Deucalion and his Betas lurching to the floor.
Makena covered her mouth with her shirt before grabbing Deucalion's arm. "Go, get out of here." Makena said as she pushed Deucalion toward the doorway before she turned to Gerard as he looked at her. "Makena Adisa... or is it Hale yet? Shouldn't you be with your daughter?" He asked and she raised her eyebrows, "Shouldn't you have more sanity?" She asked and he chuckled.
"I do hope Peter Hale can be a good single father." He said and before she could even register what be said he pulled out a gun and shot her shoulder. Makena cried out in pain, falling to the ground as Gerard walked past her.
Deucalion used every bit of strength he has to crawl his way to safety but Gerard calmly walks out, two flashbolt arrows in his hands. Deucalion twists about to face him, "Don't! Don't do this! I have a vision... A vision of peace!" Deucalion pleaded and Gerard chuckled. "A little short-sighted, wouldn't you say?" He said before stabbing the arrows into Deucalion's eyes and they flare upon impact
Deucalion shrieks in agony, Gerard steps away to watch the flash bolt flames consume his eyes. Makena ripped the end of her shirt, groaning slightly when she tied it around her shoulder before getting up. Her eyes went completely white as she walked out of the distillery before throwing her hand out to the side making Gerard fly back into the metal wall.
"Come on." Makena said as she helped Deucalion up before carrying him away.
Bloodied bandages fall to the floor as Deaton unwrapped them around Deucalion's head. With Makena, Talia and Marco at his sides and Amara holding onto her mother's leg, Deaton looks over Deucalion. His quick breath of shock says everything, "I'm sorry... The eyes will heal physically, but your sight..."
Deucalion replies with a scream of anger and betrayal, almost shaking the room around them making Amara flinched slightly and Makena pulled her back.
Deucalion slumps against the steel table in front of him, beaten, as he breaths heavily. "Leave me alone." He said and Makena sighed softly before grabbing her daughter's hand and pulling her out of the room with Talia following but Marco stayed behind.
"Marco, I said leave me alone." Deucalion said slowly Marco holds still as Deucalion rises from the table, movements slow and steady. "You are alone." Marco said before focus punching Deucalion in the stomach which sends him staggering back.
Still standing, however, he slowly raises
his head again to reveal the burnt remains of his eyes are now somehow glowing a furious red. And within a scarlet haze, he sees Marco raising his claws to attack again. But with a vicious snarl, it's Deucalion who attacks first, pushing Marco onto the table and slashing his claws down on him repeatedly.**
"So he can see as a wolf." Amara said and Gerard nodded, "He's not always blind." He said. "Maybe we can use it against him." Allison said, glancing over at Amara who nodded. The two girls went to get up and walk away but Gerard spoke up, "Amara." He said making them look at him as he held his arm up.
Amara walked up and grabbed his arm, taking his pain away for a moment before pulling away. "Oh, I think about you sometimes, Amara. I do! I wonder, what if I'd done things differently? Getting the bite to cure my cancer? And I wonder when it became my nature to believe most things couldn't be asked for, but had to be taken." Gerard said and Amara stared at him for a moment before nodding slightly.
"Wanna know what I find funny? The whole time that you were telling your story, I was listening to your heartbeat. It never went up. It never went down. It was steady the whole time." Amara said and Gerard nodded. "Because I was telling the truth!" He said and Amara raised her eyebrows, "Were you now?" She asked before grabbing his hand again.
Her eyes flashed a bright mix of red and blue as Gerard gasped slightly. "You feel that? That's your blood flow stopping and if it stays like that for nine more minutes, you'll be brain dead." Amara said as Gerard groaned slightly while she squeezed his hand.
"Why didn't talk about the part where you gassed Deucalion, his pack, your men and my mother?" Amara asked, "Why didn't you tell the part where you shot her and bashed your men's heads in with a bat that had claws nailed into it?" Amara said before letting his hand go making him suck in a deep breath while her eyes went back to normal.
"Be advised, Gerard. My choice of becoming an Alpha was taken from me, so I'm done taking people's shit and lies. So the next time you try to lie when people's lives are on the line, I won't hesitate to kill you myself." Amara said before Allison grabbed her hand and they walked away.