INHERITANCE
chapter eighty-four; relics
[ season six - episode four ]

As owls hooted and crickets chirped throughout the preserve, the two hunters laid low, sneaking through the preserve as they searched for the creature that had been stealing the pineal gland of innocent people, from what Chris could tell, anyone they could get their hands on. Whoever was doing this was messy in what they were doing, unfortunately, not messy enough that they'd left a trail that told him who they were. As he took the lead, Isaac followed behind him, holding tight to the duffel bad that teetered off of his shoulder, prepared to aid the man against whatever they might run into.
From what Argent had told him, this creature wasn't like anything they had ever come across. He was almost worried. They had thought dangerous, evil things. People. None of them had jaws so powerful that they could do the things that he had seen in the morgue with Melissa. He couldn't even begin to describe it to Isaac, though the boy had willingly come, he had no idea what mess he might be getting himself into.

That's what Chris liked about Isaac. He was blindly loyal. He was a good, strong young man. The hunter almost saw himself in the boy, minus the werewolf part, of course. He commended Isaac for his strength. He was stronger than most, more than just physically. The werewolf was a part of his family now.
Because of that, he knew exactly when something was wrong with the werewolf who had taken up a large portion of his home with his surprising amount of memorabilia from his time in Paris.

"Who is she?" Chris asked with a low voice, glancing over his shoulder to look at the wallowing wolf who, as best as he tried, couldn't hide his mood.
"Huh?" Isaac hummed as he looked up from the floor. "Nobody." he shook his head, trying to be more focused as he cleared his throat, keeping his head high as he paid more attention to their surroundings, hoping that he could use it as a distraction from everything else going on.
"It's that girl, isn't it?" The hunter continued, failing to let it go. "That one that you came to see me about? The one that you think we've all forgotten," he asked, seeing the change in the boy's face when he mentioned it. "If I'm honest with you, Isaac, I've been thinking about it a lot too."
"You have?" Isaac asked, unable to hide his surprise. He knew how the Argents worked. They all compartmentalized feelings, it was what they were taught to do. He expected that with that, he would have forgotten all about the fact he might have forgotten someone. Someone that since their conversation, they both expected was an Argent.

"When someone tells you you might have forgotten someone important to you, it isn't easy to just go about your day," Chris admitted. "I don't know who she is, or who she was to either of us, but I feel it too."
"I found something," Isaac spoke up, causing the man to stop in his tracks. Isaac dug into one of his pockets until he pulled out a small, black, velvet box. "This was hidden in my drawer," he said as he opened up the box, revealing an engagement ring.
Chris chuckled slightly. "Talk about being proactive. Have you ever even had a girlfriend?" Chris joked, but Isaac's face remained flat. He handed the man the ring, telling him to look closer. The hunter did as he was told, turning the silver engagement ring around until he saw the marking on the inside. "The Argent family crest," he mumbled at the small marking. 

"I brought an engagement ring for her..." Isaac muttered lowly, confused as he said the words. "I was prepared to spend the rest of my life with this girl and now... now I don't even know who she is," he said as he ran his hands through his hair. "How the hell do I forget someone I loved? How do I remember her?"
"I wish I knew." Chris sighed, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. For a moment, the two stood quietly, unsure what to say or do about this missing girl who they both expected meant more to them than they could have ever imagined. Just then, in a moment of weakness, the two heard a sound. In a quick swoop, the two of them spun to face the person who made it, Chris' rifle ready to shoot them, only putting it down when he realized it was Melissa who had tried to sneak up on them. "You might wanna think twice before you sneak up on a man holding a loaded M24 and a werewolf." he warned the woman.

Melissa was bent over, hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath. She wasn't trying to sneak up on them, she was trying to catch up with them, which was much harder than what she had anticipated. Chris was used to keeping up with werewolf speed, she wasn't. Neither of them was surprised to see her here, they heard her a mile back, they just hadn't waited for her. It was easy to catch someone lurking around the woods when a low branch hit them in the face. Unlike them, she didn't have practice of seeing in the dark either.

While they had known she was here, they didn't know why. With her breath back, Melissa stood up straight again, admitting that she thought the two of them could use some back up. Without trying to get into an argument with them about it, she asked which way they were going, but of course, it didn't work.
Both Chris and Isaac looked at her guiltily, like they didn't want to put her life at risk by agreeing to let her help, but she didn't come out here to give them the choice. "You can leave me out here alone with a stun gun and a box of band-aids, or we can just keep going. It's up to you." she told the man, knowing which choice he would take. 

Chris sighed, nodding his head as he began leading the way again, leaving Melissa close beside Isaac as she held her stun gun close to her to defend herself. The hunter couldn't help but smile to himself, shaking his head slightly while Isaac looked between them with a furrowed brow. He wasn't imagining it. There was definitely something going on here.
The deeper the three of them got into the woods, the more worried Melissa became. It became clear to her that she underestimated how terrifying these dark woods could be late at night, or how the fear of what they might come across could kill a person as well as the thing itself. In an attempt to ease her own nerves, she did what she believed was one of her best skills. Talking.
"You're probably wondering why I'm here when I could be nestled in at home reading a book." she began, starting to wonder why she wasn't doing that too. "That's because I'm sick of seeing people that I care about wheeled past the nurse's station on a hammock. All of you are out here risking your lives... and it's about time for me to do something too."

The hunter turned around to the woman. "In my experience, tracking homicidal supernaturals... it's best to be quiet." he gently warned her.
Melissa nodded, agreeing to be quiet as Chris turned around again, calling Isaac to walk beside him as he raised his rifle. Partly for extra protection, partly to discourage Melissa's talking. As she sensed they wanted her to until she walked right into their backs. What is it? she asked, cautious as she looked around, then realized her voice was loud again. What is it? she repeated again, this time in a whisper.

Slowly, the three of them approached what the hunter had seen. The nurse held up her light as they found a bike beside a tree, another one a few feet away from the first. Isaac's eyes turned a shade of golden yellow as he looked further, spotting one of the cyclists on the floor. Isaac called for the nurse who rushed to the man, checking the body's pulse. Dead, she confirmed.

She swallowed thickly, taking a step back from the poor cyclist. There was nothing they could do to save him. This was the very reason she was out here, to try and stop things like this. That was what they all wanted. As they stood looking at him solemnly, Isaac felt a drip on his face, his first thought being rain until he wiped it, seeing the smeared blood on his hand. In unison, the three of them all looked into the tree above, finding the second cyclist hanging on the branches, badly wounded. They all gasped in shock at the sight of the body, and then again when he opened his eyes.

"It's okay. You're gonna be okay." Melissa shouted up to the boy.
The cyclist moved, dripping more and more blood on them before he fell from the tree, landing on the ground. Melissa moved closer to him, shining her light on him again, revealing the series of wounds on his neck. He was dead too. 
"How long can someone survive like that?"
"One or two minutes." the woman shrugged.
Argent quickly raised his rifle again, ready to shoot. It was still here. Melissa carefully hid behind Isaac who was on high alert again, questioning how much training the two of them had in these kinds of situations. Then, Chris reminded her of the part where they were supposed to be quiet.

In the distance, they could all hear something fast approaching. Their eyes narrowed between the trees, unable to see their face, or at first, make out who or what it was. It ran faster, at speed unimaginable to a human. A werewolf, Melissa presumed. A werecoyote, Isaac corrected. Malia was coming right for them, causing Chris to raise his rifle at the teenage girl. With some luck, the hunter managed to shoot her, causing her to fall to the ground. Not badly hurt, but enough that she wasn't going to rip their heads off now for standing by tonight's dinner.

As they approached the wounded coyote, she began to growl, revealing her blue eyes and fangs as she turned to them and roared. While Melissa and Chris seemed intimidated by it, Isaac felt it was a little deja vu from the time they all played hide and seek around these very woods, trying to save her. They all stood, waiting, watching her growl until the pain finally knocked her out. Isaac removed his jacket, wrapping it around the werecoyote as he picked her up from the floor, questioning where they were going to take her now.

Surely enough, Melissa took them to the place she knew best to hide a werecoyote. The morgue. Isaac placed the girl on a table while Melissa grabbed all of her tools, each of them hoping that Malia didn't wake up before Melissa began directing the bullet from out of her leg. Chris only felt somewhat guilty for shooting the girl, but he would have felt a lot guiltier if either Melissa or the teenage boy got mauled by her if he hadn't had the fast reactions he did. The nurse dug through the open wound of the coyote's leg, moving carefully, repeatedly checking whether she opened her eyes or not. Isaac was cautious too, holding down the girl's shoulders in case she suddenly woke up and lunged for them.

As Melissa got closer to the bullet, just about to wrap her pincers around it, the coyote jerked as she began lowly growling in pain. Chris quickly jumped to help the werewolf hold her down. The coyote began growling more viciously, fighting against them both as Melissa urged for them to keep her still, knowing that they were trying their best, but even their best wasn't quite enough to fight against the vicious coyote who had been out for blood. Malia looked around them, only then realizing where they had taken her. "The morgue?" she complained through a growl. "I'm not dead yet."
"You're a werecoyote." Melissa reminded her. "It's private down here and this is going to hurt. Try not to roar."
Malia nodded, gritting her teeth as she grabbed onto Chris' arm to help support her through the pain, instantly putting the man in pain himself as he groaned loudly. "Have you got anything for the pain?" he asked the nurse.
Malia shook her head. "No. I can take it." she insisted with a confident nod.
The hunter looked down at the girl with exasperation, he did not doubt that she could take it, on the other hand, he couldn't. Melissa shook her head, ignoring the man as she turned to the girl in front of her, using conversation to distract her instead. She asked what the girl was doing out in the woods at 2 a.m., Malia shrugged, telling them that she was running, but the answer didn't satisfy any of them as they all furrowed a brow at her.

"Coyotes are nocturnal. I heard screams-- like 'someone being murdered'-type screams." Malia elaborated, taking breaths through every word as Melissa continued to dig in her open wound. Argent began interrogating the girl, questioning whether she saw anything, whether she caught a scent. "Just blood. And that's all I remembered until someone shot me!" 
"You were about to tear us apart." Melissa deadpanned.
Chris continued to groan as the coyote's grip on him tightened, trying to explain that it wasn't her fault. While he couldn't speak, Isaac chimed in, explaining that when a coyote smelt a fresh kill, their senses are overcome. The blood drives them crazy. As the words left his mouth, Isaac stood in silence for a moment after, furrowing a brow at himself as he wondered how he knew so much about coyotes. Sure, he knew one, but he had never actively gone out of his way to learn the ins and outs of them, nor had he ever asked Malia out of curiosity.

Malia's tolerance for the pain became lower and lower as she cried out, holding Chris's arm until it had almost turned blue. Melissa apologized repeatedly, telling her it was pretty deep, that she was trying her best not to touch- Before she could finish her sentence, Malia cried out louder, her claws extending as she cut Chris' arm, causing him to yell out as he released the girl. Malia sat up in a fit of pain, pushing Isaac off of her as she grabbed the bullet from her own leg, placing it into Chris' hand as she took a heavy breath. Here's your bullet back. 

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Isaac and Malia raced through the school halls toward Lydia's locker after the redhead called for an urgent meeting at her locker during their last class. They shoved through everyone heading to their next classes, heading in the complete opposite direction of their own. Some things were more important, and being on time to their classes when they graduated in a few months wasn't one of them. As they reached the redhead's locker, Scott was already standing with her, looking frantically through the crowd hoping the two of them would hurry, he couldn't afford to miss yet another class, nor could he bear the lecture Lydia's mother would give him if he did.

Lydia wasted no time in jumping right into it as she pulled something out of her bag, holding it out to the three of them. A school ID. Jake Sullivan's, to be specific. She could see the immediate confusion on their faces, both unsure of what was so important about some boy's school ID, and why it would require an urgent meeting. "It's a relic," she told them. Malia's head raised as she asked the obvious question- what's a relic? "An object with a fix association to the past. Jake's ID was left behind after he was taken and Gwen found her sister's bracelet in her bathroom." Malia's puzzled expression remained as she continued to question the purpose of their conversation.
"How can someone be erased and still leave something behind?"
 "Conservation of mass. The total of mass of any isolated system remains constant." she told the coyote who didn't understand a word of it, but the other two boys seemed satisfied with Lydia's discovery.
"So the Ghost Riders have a weakness," Scott claimed.
"A relic would be the proof that Kinsey and Stiles existed," Isaac added.
"And we could bring them back."
Lydia nodded, believing that both of them were right. They just needed to find that proof. A relic of both Kinsey and Stiles. She didn't believe that it would be easy to find either of them. While it could be possible to get into the Stilinski house again, they still didn't know much about Kinsey, at least Lydia, Scott and Malia didn't feel like they did. However, as Lydia explained it, she saw a look on Isaac's face, he was deep in thought, as though he knew something they didn't like the werewolf was already one step ahead of them. "What are you thinking?" she asked the werewolf as both Malia and Scott turned to him too.

"What if something belonged to them, but they didn't know it was theirs yet?" Isaac questioned, slightly confusing all of them, even the redhead who seemed to know everything couldn't quite grasp it. Isaac sighed, digging into his pocket as he pulled out the same ring he had shown Chris last night. He hadn't planned on showing it to anyone but Chris, but after what Lydia said, it felt necessary. They all scanned over the engagement ring, unsure where to begin. Should they ask themselves whether it would be a relic? Whether it was classed as Kinsey's if she didn't know it existed? Or should they question just how much this girl meant to Isaac and the rest of them if he was prepared to propose to her while they were 18 and still in high school?
"That seems like a bit of a grey area." Malia proposed as she handed him the ring back. "If Kinsey didn't know it existed, how could she be connected to it?"
Isaac nodded, putting the ring back into his pocket, agreeing that they should keep looking just in case, and perhaps they should start with Stiles instead. 

While Scott headed to find Liam and Mason who were trying to figure out how to stop the Ghost Riders, Isaac joined Lydia in heading to the Sheriff's station, hoping to convince the man to let them search his house for a boy he didn't remember. Malia, however, had been left to behave in school, the best she could given her recent behaviour, out of all of them, she was the one in the worst position for school. She had barely made it into her senior year. Natalie had made it clear she was still on probation. One strike and she was out. Luckily for her, transforming into a wild animal in the middle of the school day wasn't a strike. 

Nervously, the two teenagers knocked on the man's office door. Stilinski was sat at his desk, his head dug into a case file as he barely looked up at them. Even with his face somewhat hidden by the hand he rested his head on, the two could see that he wasn't entirely pleased by the two of them being here, perhaps their last interaction caused him to feel such a way. Despite believing he should turn them away, he waved his hand, ushering them in until they both reached the end of his desk, awkwardly standing on the other side of it as he sat up in his chair.

The redhead pulled the ID out of her bag again, handing it to the man as she explained again the idea of a relic and how Stiles might have one, as well as the other girl they believed themselves to be searching for. Throughout it all, Stilinski didn't speak a word, he just nodded along, neither of them able to tell what he was thinking as Lydia explained. They couldn't tell if he thought the two of them were insane, whether he thought it was a viable explanation, or if he was listening to them at all or thinking about what he was going to eat for lunch. 

Once she was finished, the redhead looked at Isaac for approval, he nodded, believing that she had explained it well. In fact, he understood it all better himself now. They both turned back to the Sheriff, still unable to read his face, or his senses, which the werewolf had tried. The man sat forward in his seat, clasping his hands together as he rested them on the desk. "You two wanna search my house?"
They both nodded uneasily. "People are leaving things behind. So if Stiles left anything..." Isaac shrugged.
It was clear now that the man was unconvinced of the story. "Why would it be there?" he asked.
"You can't just erase people. They leave things behind." Lydia explained to the man. Noah didn't say a word, but his face told them that he didn't believe it as he fiddled around with the ID card that she had given him. Lydia sighed with exasperation, beginning to give up. 
Sheriff Stilinski placed the card on the table. "I couldn't sleep last night so... I got up to do some paperwork." he began slowly, relaying his late-night antics. Neither of the teenagers sure where it would lead. "The files were in the back of the car so I got to the garage and something flew off the shelf and I stubbed my toe on a baseball bat. Without thinking I yelled a name."
The two teenagers' eyes widened, they didn't have to question whose name the man had yelled subconsciously. "Stiles." they both uttered.

Stilinski was torn on what to do with the two teenagers, part of him was curious about Stiles, of who this boy was and what he meant to him, the other half of him thought it was insane to try and explain any of what was going on, to try and believe in people being wiped from the face of the Earth. He sat back in his seat again, raising his hands, vaguely telling them to do what they needed to do. Neither telling them to go and search his house, but not telling them not to search his house either. Of course, they were going to go and search the house. 

After their interaction with the Sheriff, they didn't think it could get any more awkward. Until the two of them had to sit in front of his wife, then they knew the real meaning of awkward. The two of them sat in the Stilinski's living room while Claudia made the two of them a hot drink, giving the two of them a chance to scan the room, hoping that something would stand out to them. As Isaac looked around, he noticed that pictures of Noah and Claudia surrounded the TV, nothing about the images seemed particularly out of the ordinary, they were both happy and smiling. Yet something about it felt so unnatural. Unrealistic.

Claudia reentered the room with the two drinks, finally cutting to the chase. "Something I can do to help?" she asked, handing them their drinks. 
"No." Lydia shook her head with a smile. "Thanks, Mrs. Stilinski."
"Well, good luck. I'll leave you to it." Claudia smiled as she walked away from the two of them. She had taken the idea of them searching their house surprisingly well, it was a shock to both of the teenagers, but they weren't going to question it, they would make the most of her being this willing while they had the chance. They needed to be as friendly with the woman as possible as both she and her husband stood between them and their chances of finding Stiles.

Lydia's eyes followed the woman while Isaac stood up, beginning to get a closer look at all of the pictures of Noah and Claudia. The redhead's brows furrowed as she looked at the hallway, then began to have a flashback of the old woman she had seen the last time they visited the Stilinski home. She stood up from her chair, slowly walking into the hallway until she found the same old woman standing in the same spot she had last time. Lydia froze, a few inches behind the lady in the hallway, about to try and talk to her until she heard a hiss of air. Her eyes turned to the wall beside her, hearing the air escape through the wallpaper. Confused, her hands reached to touch it, but a man appeared out of nowhere, scaring her.

"You didn't see it, did you?" he asked her, his words echoing.
"See what?" she asked him.
"It's right in front of your face." 
His words echoed again, the redhead turned back to the wall, touching it this time. She turned to look at the man, only to find that he had disappeared from behind her, just like the old lady did last time, and again, this time. She was alone in the hallway. Just her and the hissing air. In confusion, she looked at the patterned wallpaper that decorated the Stilinski's hallway. Without hesitation, the redhead followed her instincts as she pulled at the wallpaper, grabbing a piece of it as she started to peel it back.

As she did, a hand grabbed her, startling her. "What are you doing?" Claudia shouted.
"You're hurting me." Lydia gasped as she looked at the woman's hand around her wrist. Isaac came rushing around the corner at the sound of all the commotion, watching as Claudia finally released Lydia's wrist, causing the girl to replace the woman's hand with her own as she looked at the woman with wide eyes. "I'm sorry." the young girl apologized. "I shouldn't have done that. We should go." she said, looking beyond the woman to Isaac.
"I think that's something we can agree on." Claudia nodded, gesturing for them to leave as Lydia shamefully walked toward Isaac who wearily put an arm around her.

Outside of the Stilinski home, the two of them sat in the redhead's car for a moment as the girl continued to look at her wrist that the woman had slightly bruised. She wasn't too concerned, it was nothing compared to some of the things she had experienced, but she felt ashamed. Insane even. She didn't know what had come over her lately. She had never quite been all the ticket, at least not since being a Banshee, it had that effect on someone, but ever since the Ghost Riders, something had snapped in her. "I can't believe I did that." she muttered, still looking at her wrist while the werewolf stared at her solemnly. "I just- I need to find them. We have to find them." she said pleadingly, turning to the werewolf with tears in her eyes. 
"We'll find them," Isaac reassured her, placing his hand in hers. "You're scared. You're stressed. Anything you do right now is completely understandable. You're not insane." he told her. The girl smiled, she didn't even have to admit she felt a little insane for the boy to know exactly what she was thinking. "If any of us is insane, it's me. I mean, I found an engagement ring in my pocket. I went from being ready to spend my life with someone, to not even remembering them. Between the two of us, I'm definitely the insane one."
"Do you feel like you loved her?" Lydia asked him. "I know we don't remember her, but... Do you remember loving her? Do you still love her? Even though you know nothing about her."
"Would it be more insane of me if I said yes?"

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Deep in the tunnels beneath Beacon Hills, Argent walked through them, holding his rifle close to him as he headed toward his family's bunker. He could think of nothing worse than babysitting all of the teenagers that Scott and Liam had decided to hide in there to protect against the Ghost Riders. He appreciated the idea, and the need to protect all of these teenagers, but the part of it where he was the one who had to watch over all of them was where he began to lose interest. At that point, a few less teenagers in town didn't seem like such a bad idea. He knew he couldn't be the only person to keep an eye on these teenagers, jocks of all people. He had never been great at it. He had Victoria to watch Allison for most of his life, and well, the part where he didn't have his wife, he had managed to lose his daughter. So he didn't feel that his track record was great. He certainly didn't deserve an award for being a good father figure. He didn't have much to try and compare himself to, his own father was awful, much worse than he was, and Kate, well she was just Kate, she was too busy running around setting fires to stop and think about starting her own family, to being a good person and a good mother to someone someday. If she would even be capable of such a thing. There wasn't anything good about that woman.

The man was snapped out of his reeling thoughts as he heard an echo in the tunnels, stopping him in his tracks as he spun on his hell, holding up his rifle to someone who turned out to be the coyote who seemed to be much better than she had been in the middle of the night. He sighed in relief, lowering his rifle as he thanked her for coming. Malia smiled, asking why he needed her help, she was glad to offer it, at least until he told her why he needed her. Babysitting. Instantly, she shook her head, admitting that it didn't seem like a great idea, she wasn't a babysitter type of person. Coyotes eat their young. Immediately, she spun on her heel, walking away, ready to head straight back out of the tunnels. 

With no other option at hand, the man settled for guilt tripping the girl into helping him. As she continued to walk away from him, he reminded her that he could have killed him last night, or worse, Isaac or Melissa. Malia stopped. Chris suggested that he could help her. Interested, Malia turned to the man with a confused look, wondering how he could help her to gain control. She gladly reminded him that he shot her. He couldn't deny that, he came from a family of hunters, it was their job to deal with situations that an ordinary person- Before he could finish, the coyote interrupted him. Job stress?

"You know that bloodlust you felt? I've seen that look before," he told her, approaching the girl as he spoke with conviction. Malia didn't move, interested to hear what the man had to say, if he really could help her, she wasn't going to ignore the offer. "When I was your age, I saw someone control and slaughter an innocent. And I did nothing."
"I'm not that werewolf."
"It wasn't a werewolf." he shook his head. "It was a hunter. She made excuses. And invented a convincing case... that lethal force was necessary, but it wasn't. If I had done something that night... maybe my sister wouldn't be the monster she is today."
Easily, the coyote recognized who the hunter was talking about as she uttered her name. Kate. The name made her shudder. She didn't know what about that woman gave her the creeps, of course, other than the obvious. But the name alone angered her, as though she had a personal vendetta against Kate Argent. "Animals lose control. You're not just an animal, Malia. You're also human. You stay like that when you get involved."

Before the two could talk any further, a sound came from inside the bunker, interrupting them. Nathan Pierce, better known as one of Malia's most recent hookups, who she tended to avoid in the moments she wasn't on top of him, accidentally triggered one of Chris' sonic spikes. Malia's hand snatched the spike from his, turning it off while the boy stared at her in confusion. Why is she here? The boy asked, unable to hide his disdain. 

Argent told him that he had asked her to come, as well as asking him and the rest of his friends not to touch anything. Clearly, that had gone out of the window the moment he had turned his back. The teenage boy was clearly bored, he hadn't anticipated that hiding in some top-secret underground bunker would be so boring, he wanted out. How much longer do we have to be down here? Nathan groaned like a toddler shopping with his mother. Argent rolled his eyes at the boy, somewhat relieved that he didn't have to deal with teenagers like this more often. As long as it takes, he told the boy, preparing his rifle, and making Malia change her mind. He had shot enough people for one day.

On a field illuminated by floodlights, five boys stood around, prepared to gather the rest of the lacrosse players before the Ghost Riders could erase them. Liam, Mason and Corey had spent all of their time reading about the mysterious creatures, trying to learn everything about them and figure out a way to keep people safe. Last night, at the party, they had managed to evade them, they hoped that they could continue to do that. They just didn't know how they did it last night to continue to do it. So until then, they just had to hide the players that the Ghost Riders saw at the party. On game night.

"So, what's the plan?" Liam asked, looking between Scott and his older brother.
"Convince the three players that playing tonight is a bad idea." Scott proposed. In unison, all of them turned to Mason with hope. "You ready everything about the Ghost Riders." Mason nodded in agreement. "And you're the only one of us that figured anything out," he stated, a hint of slight surprise in his tone. "Have you come across anything that can stop them?"
"Not yet." Mason shook his head. "But I can try."
Scott nodded, encouraging him to do that while the rest of them headed into the locker. Both he and Isaac tried to ignore that they could hear Mason giving himself a pep talk the moment they turned their back on him, it was slightly discouraging, but they couldn't blame him. He had a lot of pressure put on him, all of this was still fairly new to him too. 

The four boys arrived in the locker room, coming across what remained of the lacrosse players. Those that Liam hadn't previously reached to be able to hide them in the Argent's secure bunker with everyone else. Coach Finstock was waiting for them to, shoving lacrosse helmets into Scott and Isaac's chest as he seethed with anger.
"You're late! Why aren't you people dressed? Get your asses moving. Everyone, on the field!" the man's voice balled. "Hustle! Hustle! Hustle!"
As the man stormed out of the locker room, Liam turned back to his brother and Scott, no longer convinced that they would be able to get everyone else down to the bunker. Scott and Isaac took a single look at each other, a devious glimmer in their eyes as they turned back to Liam, insisting that he get dressed. There was only one way to keep them safe now. To play the game.

Meanwhile, Lydia sat in her mother's office, sitting at the computer as her mother stormed in. It was clear by her face that she had spoken to someone, Lydia had a feeling that it would come, it was bound to in this small town where everyone knew everyone. Natalie stopped on the other side of her own desk, folding her arms as she looked down at her daughter. "Were you tearing at Claudia Stilinski's wallpaper?" the woman asked, shocked that the words had even come out of her mouth. Lydia shook her head, lying to her mouth as she told her no. Natalie gave the girl her infamous look that Lydia knew she couldn't escape, she had been caught red-handed. 
"Maybe. Yes." The redhead sighed.
"She's worried about your mental health."
"I saw someone in the hallway," Lydia told her, completely ignoring Claudia's comment on her mental health, and certainly not helping herself to sound sane. "Someone that Mrs. Stilinski didn't see."
 "If Claudia doesn't see ghosts. That's because she's not a Banshee."
"I think she he was trying to help me find something Stiles left behind. A relic."
"Did you?"

"No. She sent us away before I could find anything." the teenage girl mumbled in defeat. Natalie laughed sarcastically, suggesting that it could have been because she was tearing at her hallway wallpaper. Natalie peeked over at the computer, seeing what her daughter was looking for. Lydia had managed to find Claudia's student information. Her birth date, phone number, address. The woman then realized that her daughter had some doubts about the woman.
"Oh, honey. I've known Claudia since high school. I trust her." Natalie tried to level with the girl, but she wasn't convinced. "Do you know what s confirmation bias is?"
"The tendency to interpret information in a way to confirm it is really an interception." she said plainly, as though she had read it straight from Google.
"Yes! It's a biased perspective. You're looking for proof to support what you believe is the truth. Because you want it to be true".
Lydia looked up at her mother through long eyelashes, a serious look on her face to tell Natalie that she was telling the truth about it, about all of it. "They're real. Kinsey and Stiles are real. I know it." she said passionately.
"Do you believe there's a possibility he's not?" Natalie asked, becoming slightly concerned for her child. Lydia had a look that told her mother that she didn't believe there wasn't one. The girl didn't have a single doubt in her mind that the two of them weren't real. Natalie sighed, taking off her glasses. "Okay. Tell me everything you know. I'll be your unbiased perspective."

At the game, the boys devised a plan. Scott proposed that he and Isaac will protect Steinbach and Wallace, Liam to protect Gwen, perhaps the Ghost Rider's biggest target yet, and for Corey to protect Okafur. Understandably, Corey was nervous about seeing a Ghost Rider himself, not quite sure what he should do if he did see one. Isaac proposed that he should yell and prepare to fight, an idea that Scott agreed to. On the field, the four of them repeatedly got in the way of the players, allowing the other team, the Bulldogs to keep scoring against their disorganized team. Mason sat on the bleachers alongside Sydney and Lori, all cringing at the game in front of them.

The poor boy was on edge, chewing on his fingernails as he watched the game in anticipation. His heart was thudding heavily inside of his chest, his eyes constantly darting between the four players trying to protect those who remained on the team. Then, Mason saw two players jump toward each other, causing his mind to flash to a painting he had seen of the hellhound and the beast in the lair. He remembered how the Ghost Rider backed down when Parrish confronted it at the party. Parrish might just have some control over the riders. 

As the game continued, it only got worse, and the players began to fight each other. Tensions had begun running high and the four boys trying to protect them couldn't help but wonder if it was the Ghost Riders messing with people's heads. Suddenly, lightning began flashing above, the wind began to pick up, out of nowhere. Mason turned to Hayden, urging her to call her sister and get Parrish to the school as fast as possible.

Soon, it began to rain. Three riders appeared on the field. The referee blew his whistle, calling off the game because of the storm, seemingly unable to see the three riders and their horses in the middle of the field. One of them had already gotten ahold of one of the students, dragging him behind his horse until he disappeared. Scott, Isaac, Liam and Corey looked around frantically as they tried to figure out how to protect them, as well as themselves.

Breathless, Parrish arrived on the field, immediately grabbed by Mason who frantically tried to explain that the hellhound could stop the riders. As he tried to explain it, people in the crowd of the game began to see the Ghost Riders, immediately beginning to run and scream as they tried to get away from them. Scott, Isaac, Liam, and Corey circled up with the marked players in the center of the field, and within moments, they were all surrounded.

Everyone who tried to flee the game had already been caught by a rider behind the buses, with a single shot fired each of them disappeared into a puff of green smoke, slowly taking the entirety of the game's population. On the field, one of the marked players was shot, disappearing in their own puff of green smoke. Scott released Corey, still seeing the Ghost Riders without having the boy act as a divider between their world and his. He was marked too now. Isaac noticed the wolf release Corey's arm, encouraging him to do it too, immediately wishing he hadn't when he could still see the Ghost Riders. 

As one of the riders took aim at Gwen, Liam tackled him, managing to knock the rider off of their horse. The Ghost Rider threw Liam off of him, raising his gun to shoot another player, leaving yet another puff of green smoke in the middle of the field. Liam shouted over to the others, telling them that they couldn't stop them. Scott yelled for the boy to protect Gwen, his eyes flashing a bright shade of red as he began growling at the others, preparing to put the theory to the test. A confident Isaac followed, his eyes bright yellow as he too lunged for the riders.

One of the spectators of the game ran through the school halls, followed closely by one of the Ghost Riders. Mason, Hayden and Parrish were running in her direction, following the sound of her frantic screaming, hoping to test the theory of the hellhound before the Ghost Rider took someone else. Just as they were about to turn the corner, the sound of the bullet being fired sounded, the last traces of green smoke perishing as they turned the corner. 
Parrish didn't hesitate to begin burning bright as his eyes began to glow their fiery orange, his hellhound side quickly emerging as he looked at the Ghost Rider with his fangs sharpened and at the ready. The rider raised its gun again, shooting the hellhound. 

As the bullet hit him, Parrish glowed a shade of green, reverting back to a human. While Mason stood frozen, staring at the former hellhound with wide eyes, Hayden made a run for the rider, a loud growl escaping her, about to hit him before a bolt of lightning hit, and the rider completely disappeared from the hallway.

Gwen stepped forward, beginning to taunt the riders. She raised her hands, shouting at them as the rider raised its gun at her. Scott shouted at her, warning her not to as he ran for the girl in the hopes he could protect her. For a moment, time felt like it slowed. He watched the rider wrap a finger around the trigger, pulling at it as the bullet flew through the air. Just as he reached Gwen, it hit her, causing her to ricochet as she fell into the Alpha's arms, then, just like everyone they'd hit tonight, she disappeared.

With his phone pressed to his ear, Scott paced the locker room as everyone else entered, all of them looking defeated after losing everyone they had tried to protect, and even those that they didn't know they needed to. If it couldn't get any worse, Scott broke the news that everyone who was in the bunker had been taken too, and Argent was in the hospital, injured.
 Liam couldn't help but blame himself for it all, wishing he had done more to try and protect all of them. Scott shook his head, reassuring the boy that he wasn't the one to blame, if anyone was to blame, it was him. He should have defended the bunker himself, he should have tried Liam's other suggestion of the lightning rod, perhaps that would have given them a better chance. All of that was too late now.

Exasperated, Melissa walked out of one of the rooms, carefully shutting the door behind her as the four teenagers waiting for her news jumped out of their seats to find out about Argent and his condition. Chris wasn't in good shape, he had blunt force trauma to his temporal bone, three broken ribs, and multiple surface lacerations that seemed to be from whip marks. While she was relieved to say he didn't need surgery, the man would need plenty of rest.

"What happened?" Lydia asked, appearing out of nowhere. The three of them hadn't heard from the girl all day, they didn't even know how she knew Argent was in the hospital, until it occurred to them that she didn't, and that she was here for something else.
"The Ghost Riders took everyone. We barely slowed them down. Tell us you found something."
"I found out Claudia never had children. So, Stiles can't be her son." she shrugged in defeat.
"What about a relic?" she asked, to which the redhead shook her head guiltily. "There never was a Stiles, was there? It doesn't even sound like a real name." Malia sighed, beginning to spiral the more she thought about it. "And Kinsey? We've found nothing on her too. Neither of them were ever real."
"We have to keep looking." Lydia insisted, refusing to allow the girl to give up. "Check the school records again, or call Scott's dad..."
"We're fighting the wrong battle." Malia interrupted her.
"We're trying to bring Kinsey and Stiles back."
"The Ghost Riders came back. We still have no way of stopping them." Malia continued, growing more frustrated about it all, no longer sure what to believe. "And whatever they are, they're real. We can't keep chasing someone who isn't."
"They didn't leave anything behind... Just us."