"My dad's got an APB out," Stiles informed as we all stood around nervously. Mason was still missing and had been all night.

Kira frowned. "For a 5'8 16-year-old?"

"I recommended nine-foot tall rampaging werewolf."

"It still might not be him," Liam argued, causing all of us to give him a look. I didn't want it to be Mason just as much as Liam, but there was no point going about in denial. He noticed our looks and sighed. "Hayden's at the school looking." Hearing Hayden's name again still caused my heart to fall. I didn't know when I would finally get used to it, or if I ever would, but it still hurt.

"I can keep checking the woods," Malia suggested, taking me away from my thoughts. I had to focus on this.

"My mom can check all the hospitals in the county," I heard Scott say as he headed into the room. All of us turned around to face him. He looked a lot better after healing from the whole disaster last night, but I was still worried about him. "We can find him."

"What happens then?" I asked.

"We figure out a way to save him."

"Okay," Lydia said. "Where else could we look?"

"Let's ask Corey," Scott nodded his head behind him and then swung his arm out, pulling Corey out of thin air. My eyes widened and I stepped back, realising he had been listening to our conversation the whole time.

"Wait, wait, it's not my fault!" He defended. "They took him and I couldn't do anything. They took him-"

"Who?" Scott demanded. I already had an inclination to who it was.

Corey's face had a look of pure horror. "The Dread Doctors."

~

"Scott-" I started, placing my hand on his shoulder before we entered the room. "How stupid are we to be doing this?"

"We're not stupid," he replied, seeming to think about his next answer. "We're desperate."

Liam raised his eyebrows. "How desperate?"

"Incredibly desperate." He pushed open the door to reveal Theo and Tracy, staring in our direction.

Theo Raeken grinned. "I told you we'd end up on the same side."

"How about I punch you in the balls to remind you we're not?" Liam said, overconfidently. I closed my eyes with a sigh as Theo let out a chuckle.

"I love this kid."

"I don't," Tracy spoke up, causing me to roll my eyes.

Scott gave me a cautioning look before speaking. "We know you're not on our side, Theo. You said you wanted to help Lydia, but you left Eichen with something else, didn't you?"

"You mean the mask?" He asked, an amused smile creeping onto his face. "Are you worried about that?"

"Did you put it on?" My brother questioned. "Who did you see"

Theo shook his head. "Not Mason."

"What's that mean?" Liam asked, relief flooding from him. I immediately started to tense up, wondering what that could actually mean. "It's not him?"

"It probably means he's a lost cause," Tracy interjected, causing me to become even more irritated with her.

"We all want the same thing," Theo said. "We want Mason back."

"Okay, but the difference is that we want him back alive," I countered.

Theo tilted his head to the side, stepping towards us. "Well, I'm open to compromise. You still got the map with telluric currents on it? Bring it to the operating theatre in two hours."

After some hesitation, Scott agreed and the three of us left the boys locker room. "How desperate are we?" Liam mumbled again.

"Incredibly," Scott replied with a sigh.

~

"They called him Der Soldat," Theo said as we stepped into the operating theatre later that day. There was a tube with a figure inside, the liquid around it bubbling. "That's German for 'The Soldier.' I'm pretty sure he fought in World War II."

"He was a Nazi," Scott replied in realisation.

"And an Alpha werewolf," Theo added. "The Dread Doctors were using him to prolong their lives. They've been doing it for decades. Actually, probably longer."

"How old are these guys?" Liam questioned, eyebrows drawn together in confusion.

Theo shrugged. "Who knows. But wherever they go, he goes, too."

"So how do we find him?" I questioned.

"Keeping him alive requires a pretty unique set of conditions," he explained. "There's got to be a power source. It has to be underground-"

Scott cut him off, pulling the map out of his pocket. "And on a telluric current."

Theo took the map and opened it, the smirk returning back to his face. "Looks like we're going for a hike."

And so we headed into the woods. It was dark by the time we'd found the area we wanted to be in. The trees were like thin, black shadowy lines on the ground and the moonlight was barely peaking through the leaves. It was ominous and only added to the tense atmosphere. I'd been paranoid the whole way about Theo, who could probably turn at any moment and try and kill us. I didn't trust him at all.

"Where is he?" Scott asked after a while.

"I thought we were looking for him," Theo replied, not even looking behind to address my brother properly.

"You know who I'm talking about."

"Deucalion?" Theo asked.

"You shouldn't trust him," Scott stated.

"And you're the one who let him live," Theo countered.

"I'm not a murderer," my brother replied firmly.

"You still think you're gonna get through all this without killing anyone?" Theo asked, a hint of disbelief in his voice.

"I didn't say that."

Theo and my brother started to slow down, as did I. I stopped, turning around to see that Liam had paused. "We're close."

"Can get his scent?" Scott asked, receiving a nod from Liam.

"Which way?" Theo questioned, causing the three of us to look between each other. "You think you're going to leave me behind?"

"Liam-" Scott started.

"Look, he wants to kill him-"
Liam started.

"I just want his power," Theo argued, his voice raising. "You want to fight someone that actually wants to kill Mason? Go fight Parrish."

"Who did you see when you put on the mask?" Liam queried.

"I already told you it wasn't Mason."

"Who was it?" Liam snapped.

"I saw a man dying in the snow," Theo finally said, exasperation clear in his voice. "He was impaled on a spear."

"It's called a pike," I corrected, causing him too look at me with a bemused expression. I'd remembered the story Lydia had told us after she returned from speaking with Chris and Gerard. "Lydia told us the story."

"Then the three of you know what it means. Time's running out," Theo glanced back at Liam again. "Where is he, Liam? What direction?"

Liam was reluctant at first as the four of us stood in silence for a while. "This way," he harshly walked between the three of us, leading the way.

We hadn't been walking for before my brother grabbed Liam, tugging him back.  "Listen."

Instinctively, I also listened. I could hear a heart beating inside. "It's him." I blurted. It was Mason.

Without hesitation, Liam pulled open the door, heading inside. I followed him, climbing down the steps. The room was illuminated by a light that gave the impression that it was green.

"Mason?" Liam whispered. The three of us turned the corner and Liam immediately bent down upon seeing his best friend unconscious and slumped on the floor. There was a tank behind him with a green liquid and bubbles pulsing from the bottom. I looked up, noticing a long line attached from Mason to the top of the tube.

"It's connected to him," Scott realised. The two of us bent down next to Mason, me grabbing his shoulder to try and shake him awake.

I whipped around, facing Theo. "What the hell is this thing?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?" I snapped frantically, shaking my head, nerves immediately settling in.

"Liam, I can feel it," Mason suddenly said, short gasps of breath escaping him. "It's in my skull."

"Don't move," Liam instructed his best friend.

"I don't quite think he can," I said, causing Liam to glare at me briefly before shifting into a crouching position.

"Careful," Scott warned.

Liam turned around to look at Theo. "What are they doing to him?"

"I don't know," he repeated. And he genuinely did seem serious, which made me feel bad, for a fraction of a second, for snapping at him earlier.

"Guys, let's focus," Scott said, before softening his voice. "Mason, we're gonna get you out of here," he turned to Liam and I. "Hold him still." I placed my other hand on Mason's arm, giving him a reassuring smile. "Okay. All right. I'm going to try to pull it out," Scott said. "Let me know if it hurts."

I watched as he touched the smaller tube, causing Mason to scream out in pain. "It hurts!" He breathed out. "It definitely hurts."

"I barely moved it," Scott said in confusion. Before I could reply, I heard a familiar clicking noise. Dread filled me and I glanced up, noticing the shadowy black figures of the dread doctors.

"Oh god," I breathed out.

"They wanted us here," Theo stated, his face hardening.

I stood up beside Scott, eyeing the dread doctors with uncertainty. "Liam, try to get that thing out of Mason's neck," Scott ordered.

There was a hissing sound before footsteps pounded on the floor, along with the sound of a cane scraping along the floor too. "Theo... Theo Raeken."

"He's coming with us," Theo said firmly.

"Failure... Theo Raeken."

"I'm not- not a failure." That was the first time I'd ever heard Theo Raeken stumble on his words. The first time I'd ever seen him mildly terrified. Scott glanced at me and I grabbed his arm for comfort. The dread doctors made me really on edge - so on edge that I could even feel my stomach twisting in fear.

"Liam. Get out of here," I heard Mason whispering. "Just go."

"Not a complete failure. We learned from you."

"Theo, he's trying to get to you," Scott said. "This is what they want, don't give it to them. We can't beat them."

"The mark of a true failure. Repeating the same mistake again and again."

"We're taking Mason," Theo said, his voice low as he looked to the ground. When he lifted his head up, I noticed his eyes glowing. "Then I'm taking what's mine." He let out a roar, stepping forwards. "Let him go!"

"You have the entitlement and narcissism typical of your generation. In that, you are a profound success."

Mason suddenly let out a cry of pain. "God!"

"Scott! Scott, I... I can't get it out," Liam said frantically. "I don't know what to do." Scott headed over, bending down next to Mason again.

"But your failure taught us one thing. The banality of evil. That you were and would always be an ordinary evil."

"You think I'm ordinary?" Theo asked.

"We believed that to resurrect the perfect killer we had to start with the perfect evil. From you we learned true evil only comes by corrupting something truly good."

"Not something," Scott spoke up.

"Someone," Liam finished.

Theo growled, pushing the dread doctor back and hitting his fist against it, making a clanging sound. I groaned, stepping forwards and grabbing another one, throwing a punch and causing it to stumble back.

"Becca, Liam, wait!" I heard Scott call out, but I ignored him, pushing my hands against the doctor as hard as I could.

It hardly did anything and the dread doctor only retaliated by grabbing my arms and throwing me harshly to the floor. "Son of a bitch."

Liam and Scott soon fell down beside me, both groaning in pain. I heard Mason crying out in agony again and glanced over, watching as he tried to pull out the tube behind his neck. He slowly started to stand up, almost growling now.

"Transformation...Transformation without frequency."

"Mason!" Liam called out.

My friend looked up, eyes glowing bright blue, his voice sounding affected as he spoke. "That is not...my name." He suddenly started to growl again and I watched as black smoke surrounded him before he transformed into the huge monster - The Beast.

The beast grabbed one of the dread doctors, launching it towards us. I was aware of both Scott and Liam grabbing me as we all dived out the way. One of the doctor's masks fell to the floor, blood splattering with it. I gasped, moving backwards slightly and instinctively grabbing on to Liam in fear. His worried blue eyes met mine for a moment before his hand curled around my arm gently.

"Success," I heard the last dread doctor say before being dragged away. Liam let go of my arm and I shared a look with him and my brother before pulling myself up and following. The dread doctor had dropped onto the ground outside. A sudden ball of fire raged through the air before colliding with the beast. And then a gunshot rang through the air, followed by a dozen more. There was another puff of black smoke before the beast transformed into another man.

"La Bete Du Gevaudan!" Gerard Argent shouted as he stepped out of the shadows, his voice bouncing around. "I know your name! Do you remember mine?"

The man turned around, his lip curling. "Argent," he said in a heavy French accent. He took off running and Parrish roared, following him.

Scott, Liam and I ran forwards, watching after them. "Who the hell was that?" My brother asked.

"You've seen the Beast of Gevaudan," Gerard said. "That was the Man."

Chris glanced at his father. "Sebastien Valet."

~

A/N

This was such a bad chapter I'm sorry omfg and my bad for the lack of updates :(