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.*･｡. AN ODE TO CLARK KENT .*･｡.
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038.
ADMIT IT, NOT.
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——

Derek Hale was no idiot.

   Sure, perhaps Lois would never tell him how smart she thought he was — nor how much she saw him as an older brother, most of these days — but he was. Rather smart, actually.

   And he trusted Lois, Scott, Stiles and Luna enough to know that they weren't lying to him about his new lover, their english teacher Jennifer Blake, having been the Darach all this time. That, and her jumping out of the window with Stiles' father, taking him as her next sacrifice. Even if they'd stitched Derek Hale for murders he'd never committed, nearly gotten him attested more times they could count on all eight of their hands, and audibly despised him, he still trusted them. He listened to them. And he always believed them.

   Despite not having to, Derek had chosen to take their words for fact. He hadn't questioned them.

   With his feelings towards Jennifer Blake, his sister being in the hospital in a bad state, and every crappy thing that had been thrust at him over the last few months, Lois would have understood if he hadn't of done.

It did sound insane.

But, to Lois, nothing sounded more insane than walking into the hospital to save Cora's life with Jennifer at claw, bat, and crossbow point. She had to admit, as she walked through the entrance with Luna Thomas' hand firmly in her right and the crossbow she had gotten from Argent in her left, this might have been one of the most insane things the McCall pack had yet to do.

   Maybe — it was definitely up there in the ranks, regardless.

   After packing Lydia into an ambulance to be taken to a different hospital upstate — due to Beacon Hills Memorial being evacuated due to the storm — for her injuries, Lois had wiped off her bloody nose and ears with some toilet roll from the girls bathroom, taken a crossbow from the trunk of Argent's car (of which she had used a hairpin and picked the lock), and then rushed out of the school with Scott, Stiles and Luna to tell Derek about his lover snatching the sheriff. It didn't take long for Jennifer Blake to show up and try her luck at spinning the story around, but when Scott had used the mistletoe Luna had gotten from Deaton, it had shown them all her true colours. Apparently mistletoe could be used for the Darach's favour, or against them, and Luna had disappeared that day to get it from Deaton for inevitably exposing the killer.

   They hadn't expected to use it so soon, or against one of their teachers... but at least Scott had sent Luna to go and get it, today.

   No one had spoken about what had happened to her and Lydia with Miss Blake, but Lois was glad — she wasn't used to normally having her powers yet, so an advancement in those powers was the last thing she wanted to speak about.

   Right now, Lois was going to save Cora and find Noah. Instead of killing her, contrary to Derek and Lois' own wishes, the others had decided to keep Jennifer.

   She was the only one who could save them, both. Without her, it was a guaranteed loss. Personally, Lois didn't trust her. After all, it was justified; she had said she would swap Lois into the alpha pack to try and save her own life. That meant Lois had even more of a grudge against her teacher than she already had, upon finding out she was Derek's girlfriend. Now, she was Derek's psycho girlfriend (the second one he'd dated, by the way!) and the killer.

Lois hated her.

In fact, Lois hated Jennifer Blake so much that she hadn't told her father, Argent, Allison or Isaac where she was headed when she'd made a mad dash to steal a crossbow and head to Derek's loft with Scott, Stiles and Luna — she hadn't even told them she had left in the recital to find Lydia. He was probably losing his mind, but she hadn't had the time. She would call him, later. They knew Lois; in turn, they knew she could look after herself. That was why she had taken the crossbow. Sure, Lois could suddenly mess with water and do whatever she had done when fighting Jennifer, but she wasn't a fighter with those powers yet — at least, not a good one. Maybe a bit of self-defence, but nothing like with a crossbow.

Lois didn't have the confidence, or the control over her powers; it scared her, too much.

   She'd left a little note on Chris' windscreen, anyway, so they'd all know she had at least made it out of the school safe. Perhaps not so sound, given her sore eardrums and bloody nose, but well enough.

    "Scott—? Scott!"

   The group span around, heels squeaking on the laminate floor, to find Melissa McCall flagging her son down. She frowned at the strange group, which was made strange by the fact that Miss Blake and Derek Hale were present, "What are you doing, here? You all know the hospital's evacuating."

    "We're here for Cora," Scott told her.

    "What, all of you?" Melissa gave the group another skeptical look and sighed at Stiles. Nothing new. "Why does Stiles have my bat?"

    "Mom, just trust me on this..." her son begged with his eyes and glanced around at the rush of people. He turned back to her and made his stare more meaningful, warning. "You need to get out of here, right now."

   She seemed to debate it, for a moment.

    "The building is supposed to be clear in thirty minutes. We've got two ambulances that are coming back, one is ten minutes out, the other's twenty." Melissa explained, "Cora needs to be on one of those— alright? They'll be picking up in the basement garage."

    "Got it."

He nodded and the group continued their way to the elevator, and Lois gave Melissa a nod. Someone had to keep Scott alive.

Derek didn't hesitate to practically throw Jennifer into the metal confinement, and ignored the way she stumbled in the heels she'd been wearing all day. In turn, she shot him a dirty look as the rest followed and pressed the button to the third floor. Jennifer heaved a sigh and rolled her eyes, staring ahead and licking her top teeth in an attempt to hide a scowl, or a smirk. Lois couldn't quite tell, which one.

"You don't have to keep me on a leash, Derek."

He scoffed.

"I'm going to help," she said.

Feeling disbelieving eyes on her, Jeniffer looked at Scott, whom was growling lowly, and Stiles, who was holding his bat ready and high.

Then, she looked at Luna who was frowning with a sharp glare — that was actually very intimidating, for such a nice girl — and then at Lois. The latter of the teenagers was aiming her crossbow at Jennifer's head and peering through the looking glass, the cross right in the middle of the woman's eyes, and smirking smugly.

Lois mocked her, "Woof."

   Before the teacher could bark back an insult, the elevator dinged!

   They evacuated, Derek yanking Jennifer along up front, Stiles in the middle of their group with Luna, while Lois slipped in beside Scott at the back. She took his free hand and squeezed.

   Peering down at her, Scott gave her a fond smile. It was small, a fraction of his usual beams, but it was the same smile Scott always gave Lois. Caring, reassuring. They were good at knowing how to soothe one another. Scott and Lois often knew when the other was stressed, overthinking things, and they knew how to lessen it to a point where it wasn't too much. Lighten the load, a little. She gave him a nod and another squeeze, but as she was about to smile, his head shot around at the smell of mistletoe.

   As the group observed the black blood and mistletoe from where Cora had once been but now had seemingly disappeared from, the same question ran through all their minds: where the hell was she?

   To answer their question, Peter Hale appeared.

   And by appeared, Lois meant that his body was thrust between a set of double doors and he landed at their feet.

    "We got a problem."

    "Of course," Lois muttered, "Always a problem, aren't you?"

   Peter ignored the comment and pulled himself up, staring at the doors as he breathed heavily. He tilted his head, "...big problem."

   As if on cue, the doors burst open again and this time the twins came through as their massive, combined, creepy conjoined alpha that they meshed into in the worst of times. They growled loudly and bared their teeth, glowing red eyes to match. No matter how many times Lois saw Ethan and Aiden in their giant alpha form, she would always wonder how such attractive boys could combine to make such an ugly alpha.

    Like, seriously?

   Derek's eyes shone red to match their crimson, and he wasted no time to make for the alpha. He tackled them by their waist and it didn't take long for Scott to follow, amber and gold.

   From across the way, Stiles eyed Cora's body and smacked Peter on the arm; "Help me!"

   While Scott was pinned to the wall, a helpful distraction, Stiles and Peter pushed by to grab Cora. Luna followed, ducking out of the way when passing the twins and helping hoist Cora off of the ground.

    "Ethan, Aiden— stop! You don't know what you're doing!"

    "All we want is her!" They told Scott.

   That was why Jennifer wanted to exchange Lois for herself; she knew the alpha pack was onto her and would be after her. They'd wanted her dead, but she also knew they wanted Lois. This whole time. Deucalion wanted Jennifer dead, but he wanted Lois alive.

   Deucalion wanted Lois in his pack, and maybe they would have kept Jennifer alive if she gave them what he wanted. Maybe.

Lois furrowed her brows and looked to her left, barely catching a movement of black hair in the corner of her eye. She span quickly when she did, just spotting Jennifer Blake disappear back into the confines of the elevator. Without really thinking, Lois rushed over to try and catch it, her hands slamming into the metal doors just as they closed. She was going down.

Had they seriously been double-crossed, already?

A growl sounded from behind her, and she didn't check to find if it was the twins before she bolted for the staircase. Lois ignored all the shouts for her and threw herself down the staircase. If she was fast enough, then she could beat the alpha pack and catch Jennifer at the bottom before they had the chance.

Her boots hit the floor at a rapid speed. Lois nearly slipped four times, but managed to recover by clinging onto the banisters. She jumped the last three steps and landed on her feet with a thump!

   Emerging out of the stairwell and rushing into the hall, the girl skidded to a halt when the elevator doors opened, huffing in her breathless state. She wasn't sure how she had actually beaten Miss Blake but there wasn't much time to dwell on it at the sound of a distant clicking down the hall. Jennifer stepped out and froze, not at Lois — rather, at whoever had appeared behind further down the hall. An eery silence, and Lois slowly turned to see Deucalion and Kali, eyes red and set on both her and Jennifer. A small part of her wished she hadn't been so hasty in racing after the Darach on her own, and listened to the protests of her friends trying to make her stop. Perhaps then she wouldn't be in this sticky situation; with the sacrificial murderer, and the alpha pack that wanted both of them.

"I really shoulda thought this through..." Lois muttered.

Surprisingly, Jennifer nodded.

Deucalion lifted his walking stick and unscrewed the end, which in turn revealed the weapon it truly was.

Lois' felt her cheeks pale when he raised it. She barely had time to throw herself out of the way, narrowly missing out on a spike to the face as it lodged itself into the wall between them. She choked on a breath.

"Holy—!"

Not giving her time to finish, Jennifer grabbed her by the wrist and yanked her into the elevator. They pressed themselves against the wall as Kali started running, growling and spitting. Lois hardly noticed Jennifer press several of the buttons six times.

   A scream tore past her lips as Kali jumped and caught the doors with her hand, holding them open, her claws scraping the metal in a violent screech. Lois fumbled with her crossbow and pointed it at the alpha, and she mumbled a few words of encouragement under her breath — would it be a good idea to shoot Kali? If it didn't do much and she got in, then Lois was practically securing her ticket to death. But, nonetheless, it would be stupid to not shoot her. That would cement their murders, too.

   Lois really didn't want her throat ripped out.

   However, Lois didn't need to pull the trigger. Rather, Jennifer's eyes glowed a bright white and she sucked in a deep breath, before slamming her palms against the doors. It sent Kali flying back in a manner similar to Lois and Scott earlier that night, far enough for the doors to shut with a ding!

   Lois forgot how to breathe. She stared at Jennifer with wide eyes and gaping lips, blinking in shock. Had she been able to do that the whole time?

    "Don't look at me like that, Lois." Jennifer glared at her.

    "Like, what?" Lois countered sarcastically, "Oh— like, I've just found out that my teacher's a sacrificial murderer? Geez! My bad!"

    "No," she shook her head, "Like, we're different."

    "We are different," the girl said. "You're the one who's going all about her day murdering innocent people, and justifying that in a sick, twisted way that sane people will never understand. How the hell would we be remotely the same?"

   Jennifer smirked, "Because we are the same, Lois." She chuckled at the bemusement on Lois' face. "Don't you know where all your abilities came from? Do you realise what you are?" The silence was her answer and Jennifer stared at her in amazement, "You have no idea... do you?"

    "I wish everybody would stop asking me, that." Lois seethed, her teeth grit.

    "Have you ever heard of the Nemeton?"

    "Sounds boring."

    "Cute," the woman sent her a tight smile that mirrored Lois' own, then shook her head. "It's not boring, it's fascinating."

     "What's so great, about it?"

    "A Nemeton is a sacred space, stemming from Celtic religion. It mainly gets used by druids for ancient rituals," Jennifer explained in a way that unsettled Lois. Suddenly, she was her teacher again; not the Darach. "The power of the Nemeton is like a magnet. It draws in supernatural creatures — haven't you ever wondered why Beacon Hills is such a beacon for the supernatural?" Lois hadn't, in all honesty, but it was a good point. Jennifer said, "Druids picked a large, older tree in a grove to represent the center of the world. A lot of people believed that cutting or harming the world tree would bring problems like fires, plagues, strife; death and destruction of all kinds."

    "Wait—" Lois frowned, "A tree?"

    "A magnificent tree," she nodded. "Sound familiar?"

   It did sound familiar. The preserve was a grove, and Lois had an awful habit for drawing trees as of late. When she was zoned out, it seemed to be the picture she would doodle in the corner of the page. A large tree, in a sacred grove. For once, Lois stayed silent.

   She had an awful feeling, about this.

    "Beacon Hills' Nemeton stayed silent, for years. After it was cut down, it was totally dormant." Jennifer explained, "But, then that all changed."

    "Do you know what it takes to become apart of the alpha pack, Lois?" When she didn't respond, Jennifer answered for her. She could see it in Lois' eyes: she knew. "They have to kill their entire pack; their whole pack has to die. Betas, alphas..." her jaw set into a stiff position, "...emissaries."

   Lois finally spoke, "You were an emissary, weren't you?"

    "For Kali's pack," she confirmed.

    "No offence," all offence was meant, judging by Lois' fake smile as she asked the obvious. "But why aren't you dead?"

    Jennifer rolled her eyes.

    "She couldn't kill me," the teacher said. "So, she left me to die. Alone, bleeding. Kali left me to die in the woods, and I would have. I would have bled out, but I used every last ounce of energy in my body to crawl. She was stupid, really." Jennifer chuckled dryly, "It wasn't her fault, I suppose — she couldn't have known that all our graves were right next to the thing that saved my life."

    "The Nemeton," Lois assumed.

    "Exactly," Jennifer nodded her head, a dopey smile on her lips as she told Lois about it. "The Nemton was dormant; all it's power was virtually gone, like the dying ember of a burned out fire. But a few months earlier, something happened that caused that ember to glow a just little brighter. Something that gave it a spark of power, again: the sacrifice of a virgin. That sacrifice gave me power. Just enough to hold on to life, a little longer. Long enough to be found. It's been alive, since then. Slowly gaining power, with every single sacrifice I make."

    "What does this have to do with me?"

    "Don't you see?"

    Lois kept her lips sealed.

    "Their's an ancient myth, one that used to circle Beacon Hills in the nineteen hundreds." She told her, "It says every ten years, the Nemeton shows its true power."

    "Druids spoke of enchanted things. Of magical lakes that could heal, and bodies of water that would disappear the next day. The water was there one minute, and then completely gone, the next. Druids would travel to heal the sick, to find this lake that was said to vanish in a blink." Eyes moving to Lois, Jennifer kept a firm eye on her reaction. The girl was good at pretending, she had to give her that. Lois had kept her face stoic, but Jennifer had noticed the colour drain from her cheeks at the mention of water. "But when the Nemeton was cut down seventy years ago, hope of the magical lake returning disappeared. There was no water, no power, and no healing abilities to help the sick. It was gone."

    "Some druids believed it would never return, while others came back every ten years to try and find it. But no one ever did." The look on Jennifer's face morphed, "Until, a couple of months ago. It was the night of my first true sacrifice; the sacrifice of a virgin."

   Lois felt her bottom lip tremble, "Heather..."

    "That's right, Lois. On the night of Heather's party, the night she went missing and was found dead, two days later. A slash to the throat, a blow to the head, a garrotte around her neck. She was the first of many, it was the first spark of power the Nemeton had felt since my life was saved." Jennifer smiled, "And it was the night that lake should have appeared; ten years since I last looked for it."

   Jennifer looked at Lois pointedly, taking a step forward.

    "And I think someone found it."

   As she advanced, Lois slowly shuffled back. She kept going until her back hit the wall.

    "I think someone finally stumbled upon that lake, and they took it's power. I think they found something that they weren't looking for..." Jennifer tilted her head, "...don't you, Lois?"

You found it, didn't you? You found it, didn't you?

You found it.

You have no idea, do you?

Running her tongue over her bottom lip, Lois' nostrils flared as she sucked in a shaky breath. Her stomach twisted and it stirred.

"I don't know," she spoke through clenched teeth.

It was honest. She didn't know.

Honestly, Lois had no idea what happened that night. Only now did she realise that she couldn't recall half of it — leaving, getting home, why her clothes were soaking wet.

Lois could only remember waking up late.

She knew that she had been having weird dreams about Beacon Hills Preserve, and drawing trees, and hallucinating glowing blue lights and water, but that didn't mean they were connected. They didn't have to be.

After a tense moment between them, Jennifer nodded; "I believe you."

Was that where Lois said thank you? Because she wasn't sure she was in the gracious mood. She had been knocked out and tied up, ambushed by the alpha pack, cornered in an elevator, and given a thorough interrogation by the Darch herself. Plus, the elevator was taking ages to get to the top floor — longer than it should've been taking. Wasn't that just convenient? Real convenient.

"But I think we both have our suspicions," letting out a soft sigh, Jennifer looked her in the eyes. Lois avoided all eye contact, but the woman shook her head. "Look at me, Lois. Really look at me."

She did.

"Your eyes... that night at the loft, they were blue." The teacher noted, "Do you know what colour they were earlier, Lois?"

Slowly, Lois shook her head.

"They were white..." she breathed, "A bright, glowing white."

Brows cinched together, Lois tried to find an answer for it. Her eyes had never been white, before. Given they had only been blue for a limited amount of time, but they had never been white. Lois had never seen a creature with white eyes. Alpha's were red, Derek and Peter Hale had always adorned blue, and betas like Scott and Isaac were amber. She had never heard of eyes being white before, and she had never seen it. At least, not until five minutes ago. Not until Jennifer Blake.

"We're the same, Lois. You and me," a breathy laugh, and Miss Blake suddenly seemed... normal. She seemed relieved. "Admit it, not— we're two of the same; the Nemeton saved me, and I think that it saved you, too. It made us who we are."

She continued, "I was always an emissary, but the Nemeton has made me stronger. It'd made me powerful. And, you?" Another of her light laughs.

"You are the Nemeton."

"No—" Lois shook her head.

"Yes, Lois. It made you into this," Jennifer said, "Just like me."

The words made Lois' eyes harden, her face set. It seemed to be a trigger for her confidence. She didn't like those words, not at all.

"I am nothing like you."

Her tone made Jennifer's smile drop into a frown and harsh eyes a glare, "Deucalion knows what you are, and he knows that you're going to be like me. He wants you in on his little pack because he's scared of you. If you get too much power, he knows he'll have twice the trouble. He wants you because you're a threat."

"I'm not gonna join him," Lois spat, "And I'm not gonna join you, either. I already have a pack."

"I wanted you to see your potential, Lois. I wanted you to help me..." feigning sadness, Jennifer sighed. "But, I also had a feeling you were gonna say that."

Before Lois could shove her away, Jennifer's brown eyes turned to a shade of white and her head started to shake, morphing into a canvas of scarred skin and sunken lips. She hissed, and Lois let out a loud scream at the sight of the serpent beneath the flower. Heart in her throat, the girl tried to focus on anything but the face — the face that would undoubtedly haunt her dreams, the face of a once innocent woman savaged by her friend, the face that had killed so many innocent people. The face that would kill more. Lois reached for her crossbow, struggling to lift it to meet the face, arrow against the mutilated nose. Her fingers clung to the cool metal, brushing against the trigger.

Then, Lois' body hit the ground.

——

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