✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 3.11*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

'don't worry papa s, i plan on hitting her twice as hard when i stop seeing two of you'

✧༺♥༻✧

Lottie found herself kneeling next to Derek's unconscious body with Stiles who was slapping the older Alpha, trying to rouse him from his slumber, the crack of his palm hitting Derek's cheek filling the elevator. Repeatedly. Until Derek caught Stiles' fist in his hand.

Derek sat up slowly, Lottie guiding him, a hand on his back as his blinked back into consciousness. He felt dazed as he took in the barren corridors. "Where is she?"

"Jennifer? Gone. With Scott's mum." Stiles replied tiredly. "Yeah, she took Melissa. And if that wasn't enough of a kick to the balls, Scott also left with Deucalion. So get up. The police are coming and we need to get you the hell out of here." Stiles explained, putting one of Derek's arms over his shoulder as Lottie did the same on the other side, helping the man to his feet.

"What about Cora?" Derek asked, panic seeping into his tone.

"Safe. With Isaac and Peter." Lottie replied kindly as she pulled out her phone. "They're apparently in the rear parking lot if Isaac's location is anything to go by." And Derek was gone in a flash. Stiles looked at Lottie as if she were going to follow Derek. Shaking her head, she smiled.

"Like I'm gonna leave you to deal with all the po-po. There's gonna be even more than usual since the attack was on a hospital. Come on, let's go to the waiting area." Lottie took his hand as he trailed after her, making their way to the uncomfortable plastic chairs.

The two sat for a while, answering questions from the multiple officers, before being told to wait for the FBI - apparently they'd finally deemed this case important enough to call in the big guns. 

The ER was filled with deputies and plainclothes officers. So many people it was making Lottie's head spin. So close to the full moon, her senses were going into overdrive. It took everything in her to focus on the gentle shapes Stiles was drawing onto her thigh.

They saw the badge first. Blue letters in a white laminate around the mans neck - FBI. Then they saw the face. One which had both teenagers groaning, recognising him instantly. Rafael McCall.

"Perfect." Lottie mumbled.

"A Stilinski at the centre of all this mess. What a shocker. Bailey, I am surprised though. Your father around?"

"Nope. He transferred hospitals as soon as news of the storm hit, ready to take on the patients that moved. Also, watch your tone. You literally just showed up." Lottie smiled sarcastically at the man towering over them. She wasn't lying about her dad. He'd text her a few moments ago asking for an update and telling her he was run off his feet. She'd almost cried in relief.

"Lovely. Well Stiles, think you can give me some answers without the usual level of sarcasm?"

"If you can ask them without the usual level of stupid." Stiles replied as Lottie hid a laugh behind her hand.

"Where's your Dad and why's no one been able to contact him?"

"I don't know. Haven't seen him in hours." Stiles replied tiredly as Rafael turned an inquisitorial brow at Lottie who shrugged.

"He's not my dad. Why would I know where he is?"

"Is he drinking again?" He asked Stiles harshly.

"What do you mean again?" Stiles spat harshly. "He never had to stop."

Rafael sighed, "But he did have to slow down. Is he drinking like he used to?"

"How about next time I see him I give him a field sobriety test? We'll do the alphabet starting with F and ending with U."

"Nice one." Lottie whispered, nudging him gently, a smirk on her face.

"Okay well how about one of you tell me what the hell happened here?" He asked, gesturing to the mess of a hospital.

"We were stuck in the elevator the entire time. We don't know." Stiles replied, taking Lottie's hand in his own.

"You're not the one who put the name on the doors, are you?" Rafael asked, sensing he was getting nowhere with the teens.

"What name?" Lottie asked. The Agent led them down a corridor to the elevator. They stopped in their tracks when they saw, in big red letters, ARGENT.

✧༺♥༻✧

Chris Argent led Lottie, Stiles and Allison down the hallway of his apartment towards his office, his shoulders hunched in tiredness as the weight of the supernatural world weighed heavy on the man's shoulders.

"She's taken Scott's mum and Stiles's father. That's not a coincidence." Allison argued. She'd been trying to convince her dad that he was in danger for at least twenty minutes now but it was falling on deaf ears.

The group paused at the desk in the office to look at the map and the symbols etched onto it, specifically the five fold symbol. Lottie's brows furrowed, not entirely sure what she was looking at but going along with it - she'd catch up, if not Stiles would tell her eventually.

"I'd also consider the fact that someone put your name up in large block letters on the elevator doors. That kind of felt like a pretty big warning to me." Stiles added, trying to help Allison but also speed up the process, arguing wasn't saving his dad.

"Does scream, 'you're next' if you ask me." Lottie shrugged.

"I think it might be Morrell. I think she knows a lot more than she lets on. I think she might be trying to help us." Allison suggested as Lottie pondered the thought. In some weird way it made sense to her dismay.

"Again with the Guidance Counsellor? Well, she needs to get on that a lot faster since the lunar eclipse is less than two fucking nights away." Stiles fumed, once again feeling that anxious dread creep up his spine. He fell back into a chair, pulling Lottie onto his lap as he tried to ground himself. "They could already be dead." He sighed as he once again, drew small circles onto his girlfriend's thigh.

Argent shook his head, "I don't think so. There's something about Jennifer's tactics. Methodical even. It's like she's still positioning. Still moving pieces into place."

Allison sighed deeply, "And you're one of them, Dad."

"Okay. Then let's not wait around to see her next move." Argent replied as he pulled the map back over the desk, covering the symbols. "Everything she's done has been on a Telluric Current. So Melissa and the Sheriff have to be somewhere on one of the Currents, right?"

At this point, Stiles was barely paying attention to anyone in the room, his thoughts screeching so loudly he couldn't hear himself think. Argent tried calling out to him with no response as the young boy's leg bounced. Lottie looked up at Argent, gesturing for him to give her a minute to which he nodded glumly.

"Hey," She whispered, nudging Stiles' cheek with her nose gently, "you with me Batman? Come back to the room for me." She smiled gently when his eyes met hers. "We're going to find them. Alive. But we can't do it without you and that beautiful brain of yours okay?

"Should we even be going after her? Look what she did to Scott." Stiles started, before making eye contact with everyone in the room. "She tossed him across the room like it was nothing. Then Lottie. She's more powerful than anything we've ever seen."

"That's why we all need to work together, Stiles. We need you. I need you." Lottie told him, turning his face to meet her eyes. "We're doing this and we're bringing them back okay?"

"Okay." Stiles nodded after a moment of hesitation, before pressing a chaste kiss to her lips, not caring about the other occupants in the room. He turned back to Argent, "What if she just takes you like the others? I mean, no offence, but what's the difference between you and them?"

Argent pulled out a gun with a smirk, "I'm carrying a .45." He replied, clicking a new round into the clip. "Maybe she can heal from a shot to the leg and a few slashes to the face. But, personally, I'd like to see how she holds up with half her skull blown off."

"Me too!" Lottie grinned manically.

"We've got one priority right now. Find Melissa and your Dad. We've got a map and every clue we need to figure this out. The only thing we don't have is time. Which is why I need every bit of help I can get." Argent replied, torn between finding Lottie's enthusiasm amusing or concerning.

"Where do we start?" Stiles asked as he gently lifted Lottie off his lap, moving to the map, keeping her hand in his.

With a black light in one hand, Argent tapped a finger to the marks on the map in front of them as they crowded over it.

"The place where the sacrifices have been committed have usually been different from where the bodies have been found. I think the placement has to do with the strength of the Current. So there's the School, the Animal Clinic, the Bank..." Argent began, pointing out each spot.

"What about the motel?" Stiles asked as Lottie smiled lightly, despite the horrors that happened there, her strongest memory is of Isaac agreeing to officially be her brother. It was one of her favourite memories, despite the horrific setting.

Argent shook his head, "I don't think she'd take them that far. It'd take too much time."

"This still looks like too much ground to cover. We could spend weeks looking at all the possibilities." Allison pointed out much to Lottie's misery. Time was running out.

"She wouldn't use the same place twice would she?" Stiles asked, curiously.

Argent looked as if a lightbulb had lit up above his head as he moved his finger to the Beacon Hills Bank, "Only if she didn't succeed the first time. Deaton. It was her only failure. That could mean something."

"So we're checking it out then right? Any lead is a good lead right now surely?" Lottie asked. She was desperate to get Scott and Stiles' parents back. And destroy Jennifer. But that was second right now.  Argent nodded in agreement, moving to pack up some essential hunting items that had Lottie's eyes widening.

"But that's just one place so far. We need more help." Stiles frowned.

"What about Lydia?" Lottie frowned at Allison's suggestion. Lydia had been through so much already and was still new to the whole supernatural world. She hated the idea of dragging her into this anymore than necessary. But they needed help and Lydia would hate it if she found out Lottie needed help and didn't ask.

"Lydia? What can she do?" Argent asked, confused.

"She's got a kind of... talent. She's somehow ended up finding a couple of the bodies. Without actually looking for them." Stiles explained.

"What is she? Psychic?"

Stiles sighed, "She's something. I thought you guys were retired?" He asked as himself and Lottie watched both Argents pull out weapon after weapon.

"Retired, yes. Defenceless, no. Now make sure your phone's on. If you hear from Scott, let us know immediately."

"I'm thinking that's going to be kind of unlikely." Stiles replied as Lottie scoffed as the teens all made eye contact, none of the trio agreeing with the werewolf's decision.

"All of you, try to remember he's just doing what he thinks is right. I've see that seventeen year-old boy come through more often than most men I've known. Don't give up yet." Argent defended Scott - something Lottie never thought she'd see, nodding at the man as he sent the teens a warning look. Argent then turned to look at Allison, only to see her looking past him at the door where Isaac stood almost nervously.

"Big Bro!" Lottie grinned. "Alive and in one piece, just how I like ya!" Lottie grinned, walking over to the tall boy and wrapping her arms around him as he hugged her back tightly.

"I thought I could lend a hand? I came in through the window?" Isaac offered as he unwrapped himself from Lottie's embrace, ignoring Allison's glare. "Sorry. I just--I want to help. I can't shoot a gun or use a crossbow. But I'm starting to get pretty good with these..." He tried, flashing his claws as Lottie smirked, proud of how far he'd come.

"We'll take it. Right, let's go. Ally, Isaac, Lottie move it." Argent instructed, pausing when he noticed Lottie hadn't moved.

"Lotts, it's okay. I'll explain everything to Lydia, she'll be okay." Stiles reassured, noting Lottie's hesitance.

"Be safe. Don't do anything stupid Stiles." Lottie told him as she reached up on her tiptoes and looped her arms around his neck. "Oh and if you need a bat, go to my house, there's an aluminium one in my wardrobe. Might work better." She winked at him.

"Five steps ahead always aren't you? My perfect little siren. Be safe." Stiles smiled earnestly, squeezing her hand three times. "Don't do anything stupid." He kissed her fondly before letting her go. It was this day Stiles learnt that he didn't truly know how much Lottie would do for him, if it meant keeping him safe. Even if it meant doing something stupid.

✧༺♥༻✧

Light spilled across the Celtic knot on the floor of the abandoned bank as the vault door opened slowly. Allison and Isaac cautiously followed Argent in the room as Lottie merrily skipped her way in, not worried by the impending threat half as much as she should be.

"You're skipping? As we are walking into almost sudden death?" Isaac asked, bewildered by his sister.

"I don't know about you, but I have no plans on dying. Not until I am old and grey and have a last name rhyming with Bilinski." Lottie smirked.

"You're psychotic. I love you. But you're psychotic."

"It's all a part of my charm." Lottie laughed as she observed the empty room as Argent pulled out a stun baton, her brows pulling together in brief confusion before she realised what Argent had done.

"I thought you only used those on werewolves." Isaac pointed out, confused before Argent sent the teen an apologetic look.

"I do." He admitted before he swung the baton up, pressing it to Isaac's chest as bolts of electricity crackled over the boy's body, sending him unconscious to the floor. Before Allison can even comprehend what was happening, her father had a pair of handcuffs clasped around her wrist before connecting the other to a steel rail behind her, preventing her from moving.

"What the hell are you doing?" Allison called out.

"I'm sorry. But you're just going to have to trust me on this." Argent replied before turning to Lottie, his hands clutching a gun, which he pointed at Lottie.

"You will be sorry if you pull any of that shit on me." Lottie fumed, her eyes flashing. "Whatever it is you're doing. I'm in." Lottie almost growled. Argent's stupidity was going to potentially cost Scott and Stiles' parents lives. So naturally she planned of ensuring she was bel to follow the Hunter.

Argent tossed his gun to the floor nodding towards Lottie, knowing he had no choice but to let her join him as Allison cried out her protests. Isaac struggled and failed to push himself up, desperately trying to crawl to Lottie.

"I knew a long time ago that she didn't just operate on the Currents. She was in sync with them." Argent explained.

"Lotts, don't. She'll kill you. Please, you're my sister. You're the only family I have. Don't do this." Isaac tried.

"He's right, you know. I will kill you. And I'll have so much fun doing it." Jennifer admitted, as she appeared from the shadows through the vault doors. "The power of a Siren. I'll be unstoppable."

Lottie rolled her eyes, "Yeah, yeah okay enough with the speeches. Let's just get on with it." Isaac let out a gut-wrenching roar as Lottie and Argent disappeared in a mist of shadows as the shriek of the Darach deafened the two remaining teenagers.

"Isaac?" Allison called out quietly. The boy looked up, tears streaming down his face. "Stiles is going to kill us. Why did they do that?"

Isaac took a moment, racking his brain for why his sister would do such a thing. Why she'd put herself at such risk? He came to one conclusion. 

"I can't speak on your father's behalf. But Lotts? The only reason she'd do this is because she has a plan. A last minute moment of madness plan. One that probably involves killing Jennifer. One that she hasn't told anyone. At least that's what I'm hoping for. But we need to get out of here. We need help, okay? Allison?" The boy called out as Allison clutched on to him, unwilling to move. "Allison, we have to go."

"They're going to die. Aren't they?" Allison asked as she broke out of her shock, looking at him with watery eyes. Isaac inhaled deeply, trying to calm himself, wrapping his arms around the girl tightly.

"Lotts will save them. She won't die. She won't die." He repeated it like a mantra. He hoped that if he said it enough it'd be true. He simply couldn't live in a world without Lottie.

✧༺♥༻✧

Stiles was making his way down the school corridor with Lydia. He was a bag of nervous energy for more reasons than one. Lottie hadn't replied to any of his messages since last night. She hadn't even read them. He was about to ring her for the sixty-seventh time when he got a text message that made his blood run cold.

"What? Oh God, what is it now?" Lydia asked, watching as the boy stumbled slightly.

"It's from Isaac. Jennifer... She has Allison's father. She took him. And- Oh my God I think I'm going to be sick." Stiles gagged as he rushed to the boys locker room, Lydia rushing after him, watching in horror as the boy leaned over the nearest toilet and threw up his stomach's contents.

"Stiles... what's happening?" Lydia asked, feeling her chest tighten as she started to connect the dots. "Stiles why did Isaac text you and not Lotts?" Lydia asked as her face also went pale. Stiles shakily held up his phone as he retched into the toilet again not stopping until all that came up was bile. Lydia cautiously held the phone up and read the message.

Lotts Brother: she's got allison's father. and stiles... she's got lottie. lottie went with them. i'm so sorry. we'll get her back. i don't know what she was thinking. she has a plan i'm sure of it. i'm so sorry.

Lydia felt terror in a way she'd never experienced before, "She went with them? What does that even mean?"

"She-she. I-I can't breathe." Stiles began to panic as he fell back, landing with his back against the tiles of the locker room. "I think- I think I'm having a panic attack." He choked out, looking at Lydia in panic as the girl tried to calm herself down.

"Just think about something else. Anything else. Happy things. Good things. Friends, family-" Stiles sent her a look, "-I mean--not family. Oh God. Okay. Just try to slow your breathing." Lydia instructed, crouching to his height.

"I can't– I can't." Stiles heaved in air desperately as his head felt like it was imploding. His dad was taken. Lottie had basically sighed her life away. God, he was going to kill her when he found her. He needed to calm down.

"What calms you down?" Lydia asked as she felt herself growing calmer, using Stiles' need for help as a distraction.

"The one girl that isn't he- Oh my God wh-what has she don-done?" Stiles choked as tears fell down his face. He clutched his chest as he doubled over in pain, literally feeling like his heart was clawing its way through his chest.

"Okay Stiles, look at me." Lydia inhaled deeply, rolling her wrist. "Don't hate me." She pleaded as he looked at her in confusion briefly before he felt a stinging sensation on his left cheek, his head swinging to the side as he held his breath in pain. He turned to look at her once the pain wore off, his breathing returning to normal.

"What-"

"I read somewhere once that holding your breath stops a panic attack. When people experience pain their heart rate rises and their muscles tense, causing them to hold their breath." Lydia explained.

"That's- that's smart." Stiles replied, rubbing his cheek as he fought off images of Lottie in his head.

"I just read it somewhere. And if I was really smart I'd tell you to sign up for a few sessions with the Guidance Counselor. She knows more than you'd expect."

"I think we should pay her a visit."

✧༺♥༻✧

Lottie gasped herself awake almost simultaneously with Argent who heaved in a breath as he found himself tied to a post in the root cellar. Lottie, however, had been placed eerily near what looked like a small pool of dirty water, roughly the size of a small pond. She could only hope it was deep enough to submerge herself when the moon hit it's peak tomorrow. Cursing to herself she looked to the roof of the cellar, regretting her actions almost instantly.

"Little Lotts, what have you done?" Stilinski called out as his sad eyes scanned her form, he too was tied to a post, along with Melissa.

"Oh you know, just trying to save the world, nothing major." She shrugged as she felt her skin tighten at the close range of the water. Her shifts were controlled now but this close to a full moon and having not fully transformed in a while, her body called for the water. Jennifer must have known.

Argent slowly blinked in the dank surroundings, his face focusing on Melissa.

"It's Chris right?" She asked. Argent nodded before looking around the root cellar, a bitter laugh escaping his lips.

"Is it just me or have you been here before?" Stilinski asked.

Argent sat up, "Years ago." He began to struggle against his bindings, trying to reach for his pant leg whilst Lottie made quick work of unsheathing her claws and began attempting to cut through the binds. Of course it wasn't that simple, there was mistletoe on the rope, causing her to hiss in pain quietly.

"Hate to disappoint you, but we watched her take the ankle knife." Stilinski called out as Argent stopped struggling for leg, instead moving around to his sleeve. "And the knife in your sleeve. And the switchblade in your other sleeve."

"You wear all that all the time? Don't you worry you're gonna cut your hand off?" Lottie asked as she took a break from sawing through her binds, the mistletoe burning.

"I also took the Taser in your jacket pocket." Jennifer called down the stairs as she slowly made her way to the quartet tied up. The once timid look she held was nowhere to be found as she entered the cellar, a stare filled with cold, murderous purpose in her eyes. She knelt before Argent and used a small towel to gently wipe the blood from his forehead.

"Argent. The French word for silver. Interesting how truth becomes altered by legend. When it's not actually the metal silver that kills werewolves but the family. What's the Argent code again? 'We hunt those who hunt us?'" Jennifer taunts as she continues to wipe away the blood. Argent stared at her as Lottie rolled her eyes. "I hope you don't mind if I borrow it for a while. Since I've been hunted myself."

Argent scoffed in anger, "Don't pretend we have the same cause. I don't kill innocent people."

"That's why they call it a sacrifice. And I wish it worked another way. But think of what you're doing. You're making this town--even this world--safer for your children." Jennifer turned to Melissa with an icy glare. "Well.. most of them."  Jennifer then turned to Lottie, a malicious smirk on her face.

"Then there's you. Little Siren Girl. You know, I've heard if Sirens don't turn on the full moon the agony is excruciating? I'm willing to bet you've not missed a moon since you were turned. And now, not only will you miss one, but you're going to be so close to escaping and you're not going to be able to." The older woman smirked as she picked up a metal bar she'd left laying against the side of the cellar. "I know mistletoe will only contain you for so long, so don't mind me." Jennifer smiled before hitting Lottie harshly across the head with the metal bar, knocking her out instantly, ignoring the protests from the adults in the room.

"Oh, be quiet. She's more dangerous than any of us combined. Well, if she lived she would be one day anyway. I'm doing you a favour." Nobody in the room knew just how true Jennifer's words were, not that they were paying attention anyway, they were far too focused on the girl passed out in the corner of the room.

✧༺♥༻✧

Lydia and Stiles were rushing to the exit of the high school, Stiles speeding so fast Lydia could barely keep up, almost running after him after they'd had a brief visit to the guidance counsellors office - only for Morrell to be missing and a drawing of Lydia's to lead them to the Nemeton.

"It's the Nemeton. That's where she's keeping them. It has to be–" Stiles began, only to be called out by a FBI Agent.

"Stilinski!" Rafael called out loudly down the corridor, two deputies trailing behind him. Stiles turned to Lydia, speaking fast.

"Get to Derek. He and Peter know where it is. They've been there. Tell them it's the root cellar. They'll know." With a quick nod, Lydia turned and ran down the stairs, heading to the Hale base.

"Did you know that your Dad's car is in the school parking lot and has been since last night?" Rafael asked Stiles who looked up bored at the Agent.

"No. What does that mean?"

"It means he's officially missing." The duo split up from the deputies and made their way into a classroom nearby. "Stiles, why am I getting the feeling you know something that could help us find your Dad?"

"If I did, why would I not tell you?"

"If it meant helping your Dad, why wouldn't you?" Rafael asked.

"Are you asking me to tell you what I wouldn't not tell you?" Stiles asked, confusing the older man with his wit.

"First, I have no idea what you just said. Second, how about you just help me help you?" He asked the teen tiredly.

"I don't know how to help you help me tell you something that will help you if I don't know it." Stiles retorted with a passive smile, enjoying the fact he was getting under the man's skin. He only wished Lottie was with him, she'd be even more teasing.

"Are you doing this on purpose?"

Stiles sighed, scoffing lightly before looking up at Scott's poor excuse of a father, "Look, I don't know anything. Can I go now?"

"Where are your other friends?" Rafael asked, looking down at his notes. "And I'm talking about Scott, Lottie, Isaac Lahey, Allison Argent, these twins– Ethan and Aiden. I've been told your whole little clique didn't make it to school today."

Stiles rolled his eyes, "I don't have a clique, although if I did you missed a couple of people. Pretty shoddy detective work there... Agent." Stiles retorted sarcastically, smiling to himself, proud of his response when he saw Rafael visibly tense in frustration.

"Stiles, come on. There's been a pretty disturbing amount of violent activity in this county in the last few months. Several murders tied to this school. I don't know what's going on here, but it's serious. Your Dad is missing." Rafael sighed, he was growing tired of the never-ending dead ends. He eventually gave in when Stiles responded with silence, refusing to answer the interrogation. "Fine. But I don't want you going home alone. You have someone you can stay with tonight?"

"He's with me." A voice called out, causing Stiles and Rafael to look at the doorway of the class, seeing Deaton with a stern look on his face as Stiles scrambled to get his bag and practically ran to meet the man.

✧༺♥༻✧

Two werewolves moved fast through dense forest on the hunt, only to stop when the glow of a firefly caught them off guard in their hunting haze. Deucalion paused to inspect the white glow bug, fluttering its wings before him as Scott stepped closer to the Alpha.

"It's a firefly." Scott pointed out plainly as he stepped behind Deucalion.

"It's unusual for this region. They aren't native to such places."

Scott thought briefly before responding. "It's because of Jennifer isn't it? Right before all of this started, a deer ran into Lydia's car. All the cats at the Animal Clinic went crazy. Birds flew into the windows of my high school. It was all her wasn't it? All of this is her."

"They say animals can sense when natural disasters are about to happen. Maybe they can sense supernatural ones as well." Deucalion replied thoughtfully as he plotted and planned silently, unbeknownst to the young werewolf next to him.

"Does she scare you?" Scott asked quietly.

"She concerns me if she's willing to kill that many innocent people for her cause. People like your mother and Stiles's father. People like Lottie." Deucalion of course had little care for Lottie's innocence, knowing full well that if he managed to get her on his side, she'd become lethal. But she was a loose cannon as long as her friends were alive.

You cannot control someone with the amount of power someone like her could grow to have. She was a ticking time bomb, an expiry date loomed over her head, it was just a case of whether or not there was going to be anyone out there strong enough to put her down. Deucalion ignored the thought as he focused his thoughts on having her as a part of his pack.

"Are you willing to kill innocent people?" Scott knew the answer before he asked, hating the look of indifference on Deucalion's face as he turned to answer the boy.

"I'll kill any living thing that gets in my way."

Scott wrung his hands out in front of him, an anxious habit he was trying to stop, "You can't have always been like this. What happened?" A howl in the distance prevented from receiving a question, turning to the noise as Deucalion announced it was the twins. "Why did you send them after the twins?" Scott asked as the pair followed the sound. 

"Morrell said they were the most likely candidates to help you." Deucalion started before realising Scott was about to ask why, cutting him off and answering his barely asked question. "Lydia's talents make her a perfect candidate to be an Emissary. Danny has the strength of intellect and body to make a superior wolf. So I had Ethan and Aiden keep them occupied. Keep them away from you and from forming stronger connections."

"From forming a pack with them." Scott realised, watching as Deucalion nodded in confirmation. "Because you knew if I had my own pack, I'd never kill to be part of yours."

Deucalion smiled, "You're smarter than you let on, Scott."

"Is that why you never went after the Argents? Why you left Lottie alone?" Another howl interrupted the pair, this time much closer than it had been before.

"They've found her."

✧༺♥༻✧

Lydia inhaled deeply, knocking on the large steel door of the Hale apartment waiting for the door to slide open, only to quickly feel her blood boil at the man who stood before her.

"You."

"Me." Peter smiled awkwardly at the girl he'd bitten all those months before, effectively ruining her life.

Lydia inhaled sharply, her nostrils flaring in anger as she pointed a menacing finger at the man, "You!"

"Me." Peter replied, almost glumly, sending the girl what could only be described as an apologetic smile. "Derek, we have a visitor!" He called out, stepping aside and letting the redhead in the loft before muttering to himself, "This awkward reunion thing is turning into a very bad habit."

Lydia made her way over to Derek whose veins were black as he continued to take away Cora's pain, "Where's the Nemeton? It's where Stilinski, Melissa, Argent and Lottie are."

"Tiny? Wha- what do you mean it's where Tiny is?" Derek asked, dropping Cora's hand briefly in shock. "Why isn't she with Stiles?"

"Because for once in her life she's being an idiot." Lydia sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration. "We have no idea. Argent sacrificed herself and I'm only able to assume she has a plan or is on some sort of acid trip and thought she was being taken to some sort of portal that would teleport her to Disney. I can't think about her reasons, I can only focus on getting her back. On getting them all back."

Derek fell back into his seat, lost in his thoughts knowing that Lottie had a slim chance of coming out of this alive. Jennifer hated her, always had. From the very first time the woman had met his little Tiny, she'd had it out for her, jealous of Lottie's power. He silently sent a prayer to anyone that was listening, hoping his Tiny came home safe, unharmed and untraumatised. It was a big ask he knew, but he had nothing else.

"Well I'm sorry to disappoint sunshine but we don't know where it is." Peter told Lydia, noting how his nephew was in a worried sort of trance.

"You don't know where it is? But Stiles said you'd been there." Lydia replied confused, panic settling in her bones.

"We have." Offered plainly, before elaborating, "After a few memorable experiences, though..." He shared a look with Derek. "Talia--Derek's mother and my older sister--decided she didn't want us ever going back. She knew how dangerous it was. So she took the memory of its location from us." 

"But then how are we supposed to find it?" Lydia asked helplessly, before she received a text from Stiles telling her to meet him. Briefly saying goodbye, Lydia sprinted out the door leaving the Hale family in a heavy silence.

"Derek?" Peter asked quietly as the younger man slowly came back to himself, silently taking his sister's hand in his own, using her pain to distract him from his own. "She'll be okay. Lottie is stronger than we know." He offered softly, a genuine tone to his voice for once as he sensed the premature grief Derek was exuding.

✧༺♥༻✧

Breathing hard, frightened but defiant, Morrell glared at the Alpha's surrounding her as she stood within the safety of mountain ash. Hearing branches snap, she turned to see the shapes of Deucalion and Scott approach in the darkness.

"How did you know, Marin? That we'd come for you?" Deucalion asked as he stepped out of the shadows.

"Because Jennifer and I are the same. And I know you've always been suspicious of us. Of our kind. Of what we can do." Morrell replied stand-offishly.

"With good reason." Kali replied with a snarl. "We know that you sent that girl. The one that helped Isaac. What was her name?"

"Braeden. And I sent her to do what I have always done. What I always told you I would do. Maintain balance." Morrell remained firm in her beliefs and her actions, knowing sending Braeden had been the right thing to do.

"What do you know about Jennifer?" Kali asked, turning her full attention to the Emissary.

"Nothing more than you know." Morrell replied before turning her body to face Scott, "This isn't you, Scott. Go back to your friends–"

Deucalion cut her off sharply, "He can decide what's right for himself."

Morrell scoffed a laugh in the face of the Alpha, "Not without all the information." She started before elaborating on her statement. "Have you told him everything you've done? How you've piled up bodies in a narcissistically psychotic effort to form your perfect pack." She turned, giving attention to the other Alphas in the forest. "Bodies that include Ennis, by the way. My brother saved him. He was alive when Deucalion went in to see him. He wants you to go after Derek, Kali. To force his decision. If Derek joins the pack, it paves the way for Scott."

"The lies people will tell when they're begging for their life." Deucalion counter-argued, hoping his pack believed him. Kali however had begun to peer at the Alpha with a certain level of mistrust in her eyes.

"Ask him if he would have killed Ennis if it meant getting to Scott. Getting his True Alpha in the pack." Morrell instructed, angering Deucalion to the point of violence as he threw his cane at the woman, his unseeing eyes causing no hindrance to his aim as the cane landed squarely in her shoulder.

Morrell stumbled, breaking the ash and now at the mercy of the Alphas hands as they began to close in.

"Back off." Scot growled as he stood between the Alphas and Morrell. He reached forward and pulled the cane from her shoulder, tossing it to the side and helping her up. He doesn't let go of her once she's back on her feet though. "I'm not going to let them kill you. But if you know something--if you know where they are–"

"The Nemeton. You find that and you'll find Jennifer. That's all I know, I swear. Find the Nemeton."

✧༺♥༻✧

Moonlight lit up the root cellar as the peak of the almost full moon inched closer, causing Lottie to slowly stir from her unconscious state groggily.

"I don't want to kill your optimism or anything, but we kind of both tried the same thing for hours." Melissa retorted as she watched Argent struggle against his binds. Stilinski however, had his focus solely on the young siren waking up mere inches away from him.

"Little Lotts? You with us sweetie?" Stilinski asked as Lottie lifted her head slightly, meeting his eyeline, smiling tiredly as she held a thumb up at the man who sighed in relief. "Oh thank God. Try not to move too much, you took a hard hit."

"Don't worry Papa S, I plan on hitting her twice as hard when I stop seeing two of you." Lottie replied blinking harshly as she tried to regain focus, having formed a plan in her mind before she'd been knocked out.

"So is being tied up all part of being a werewolf hunter then?" Stilinski asked as he watched Argent continue to struggle. Lottie's head shot up at the question, snapping her into reality. Stilinski knew.

"I tried to download him on as much as I could." Melissa explained, a soft smile on her face as Lottie looked at the man she considered a second father nervously.

"Little Lotts. My little Lotts is a Siren. How badass." He grinned at the girl, reassuring her. She could only hope that her father was as understanding as Stilinski was when he eventually found out.

"You knew." Argent spoke up, looking at Stilinski, who glanced back at the man, confused. "I remember meeting you once, before you were Sheriff. You questioned me about a body. You knew something was up. You just weren't ready to believe it."

Melissa and Lottie watched as Stilinski nodded slowly in admission.

"You're right. There was a night. Eight years ago. The night my wife died." Stilinski began as his eyes drifted, focusing on the memory of the awful night all those years ago as Lottie's heart ached at the memory. She cradled Stiles in her arms for hours as he sobbed, calling out for his mum and pleading with whatever Gods were out there to bring her back. All she could do was hold him.

"I was at the end of a shift when a call came in. It was a pile-up. There was a young woman. Just a teenager, actually. Trapped under an overturned car. We had to wait for paramedics. We were never going to get her out. But I was able to hold her hand. I tried to keep her calm. She knew she was going to die." Stilinski explained as he closed his eyes, remembering the scene as if it were yesterday.

"I kept telling her the paramedics were on the way and to just hold on. Then I remember her hand suddenly gripped mine, so tight I thought she could literally break the bones. She looked me right in the eye and said "If you want to be with her, go now." I knew right away she was talking about my wife. But that other part of my brain--the part that looks for clues, for fingerprints, logical connections--that part said she couldn't possibly know about Claudia." He scoffed lightly as he opened his eyes before finishing the story.

"So I stayed until the paramedics had pulled her out. Until her heart stopped beating and they declared her dead. When I finally made it to the hospital, I saw Stiles sitting in the waiting room. Head in his hands. Little Lotts cradling him like I should've been. He was there when Claudia died. But I wasn't. Because I didn't believe. I just didn't believe." He sighed sadly, the emotions radiating off of him as Lottie began to fight with her bindings, biting her tongue as the pain began to overcome her.

"It wasn't your fault Papa S. You were doing your job. How were you to know?" Lottie asked softly ignoring the pain for the man.

"I should've been there. He shouldn't have gone through it alone. You shouldn't have been doing my job. You were kids." Stilinski argued, looking in his lap. Lottie had been at the hospital with her the hospital's babysitters. They were hired to look after the kids of staff who worked night shifts. She'd been on the hunt for some snacks when she'd found Stiles sobbing in a hospital chair alone. She never left his side.

"You are a great man and an even better father. I am so lucky to have you in my life and Stiles is even luckier to call you his father. Now we are going to get out of here okay?" She grinned as the man smiled back at her with watery eyes as she paused her fight with her binds. Lottie knew patience was to be her greatest strength tonight. The full moon was tomorrow and to be this close to water this close to the moon and not be in it was weakening her and her abilities - Jennifer knew what she was doing. 

"Aha!" Argent shouted as he pulled a small device out of his back pocket. "An Ultrasonic Emitter. A smaller version of what we use to corral werewolves. Only they can hear it. Most of the time we use it to push them away. Let's see if it works to attract them. Sorry Lottie, this is gonna hurt." Argent apologised before pressing the button on the device, causing an ear-splitting high pitched noise. Lottie pressed her arms as close to her ears as possible as she groaned in pain.

"Turn it off! It's hurting her!" Stilinski called out, furious at the Hunter. 

"Until she breaks free of those binds, our kids are our best bet. She'll break free before the full moon. She just has to ground herself, blur out the noise. I have faith." 

"You best be right. Hunter or not, I'd take you on and win if she's hurt." Stilinski threatened in an uncharacteristically manner of protection of the young siren. 

"I'll be fine Papa S. I'll ground myself?" She questioned quietly as she found herself thinking of hazel eyes and flannel shirts, nights in watching Star Wars and soft lips, a small smile making its way onto her face .

✧༺♥༻✧

Underneath the examining room light, Deaton stood with Stiles, Lydia, Isaac and Allison as they assessed the information they currently had.

"It has to be on a Telluric Current. Maybe even at the axis of two. Or where they all intersect. I know it's where Derek took Paige to die." Stiles pointed out to the group.

Allison chimed in, "My Dad and Gerard were there once. But Gerard said it was years ago and he couldn't remember where it was. And my Dad obviously isn't going to be able to tell us now." Stiles agreed glumly.

"She took everyone who would remember." Lydia added, almost unhelpfully as everyone in the room had someone they loved sat in that cellar, of course Lydia did too, she loved Lottie with all her heart, but she knew the focus need not be on her and her feelings right now.

Isaac sighed, "Then how do we find this place?"

Deaton stepped away from the group, thinking deeply, an anxious air hanging around him so heavily that even the non-supernatural teens picked up on it.

"Doc?" Stiles called out.

"There might be a way. But it's dangerous. And most importantly, for it to work... we're going to need Scott." He hesitantly informed the group, watching as Stiles wasted no time in fishing out his car keys and held them up for the Doctor to see before moving to leave the clinic.

✧༺♥༻✧

Standing in Roscoe's headlights, Stiles and Deaton wait in the darkness as they hear the crunch of leaves underfoot approach them quickly.

"How did you find out?" Scott asked as he approached the pair as he stepped into the light.

"Lydia. You?" Stiles replied, his tone less than impressed at his friend who had abandoned him.

"Morrell. But none of the Alphas know where it is either."

"If this works, are you going to tell them?" Stiles questioned, hating how his friend had seemingly sided with the enemy.

Scott sighed, "I can't stop Jennifer without them." An uncomfortable silence followed his response.

"You know she has Lottie too right? If anything happens to her-"

"How about we concentrate on finding everyone first?" Deaton interjected before Stiles said something he'd later regret. "Essentially, you, Allison and Stiles need to be surrogate sacrifices for your parents."

"So we die for them? What about Lottie?" 

"He can bring us back. Lottie is supernatural so it won't work for her. Some weird supernatural loophole and her being a siren that I don't understand. But he can bring us back." Stiles replied, Deaton had explained why it wouldn't work for Lottie but as soon as Stiles had heard that he'd zoned out, the details were lost on him. 

"Hopefully I can, yes." Deaton nodded unsurely.

"Hopefully?" Stiles gawked.

"You remember the part where I said it was dangerous?" Deaton began. "If it goes right, the three of you will only be dead for a few seconds. But there's something else you need to think about. This is a dangerous thing in more ways than one. You'll be giving power back to the Nemeton. A place that hasn't had power for a long time. When it did, Beacon Hills was quite different. This kind of power is like a magnet. It attracts the supernatural. The kind of things that allow a family like the Argents to fill the pages of a Bestiary. It'll draw them here. Like a beacon."

Stiles sighed, crossing his arms across his chest. "Doesn't sound any worse than what we've already seen."

"You'd be surprised what you have yet to see." Deaton replied in his all-knowing voice as Stiles began to think about the list of supernatural creatures he'd made with Lottie one night a few weeks ago.

"It'll also have an effect on the three of you. You won't be able to see it, but you'll feel it every day for the rest of your lives. It'll be a kind of darkness over your heart. And permanent. Like a scar." Deaton informed the duo, wanting them to understand the gravity of the situation.

"Like a tattoo." Scott muttered as he rubbed his tattoo softly, deep in thought as the trio made their way back to Roscoe, racing to the clinic, stopping briefly to retrieve sentimental items for both teens.

Deaton, Isaac and Lydia were pouring ice into three large bathtubs filled with water and mistletoe in the clinic as Scott, Stiles and Allison stepped closer to the tubs, nervous looks on their faces as they clutched items tightly in their hands.

"All right. What did you bring?" Deaton asked, turning to Stiles first.

Stiles lifted up his father's Sheriff badge glumly. "Jennifer kind of crushed it in her hand. I hammered it out a bit. Still doesn't look great."

"It doesn't have to look good if it has meaning." Deaton replied as Stiles nodded, staring at the battered but shining badge. Next to him, Allison held up a bullet.

"Is that an actual silver bullet?" Isaac asked.

Allison nodded, "My Dad made it. It's sort of a ceremonial thing. When one of us finishes learning all the skills to be a Hunter, you forge your own silver bullet as a testament to the code."

Scott held up a watch, showing the group, "My Dad gave this to my Mom when she first got hired at the hospital. She used to say it was the only thing in their marriage that ever worked."

"It says water-resistant. Not waterproof." Stiles pointed out as he looked over the watch, the timing of his comment wasn't missed on Isaac who chuckled before hiding it with a cough, he was thinking about how funny Lottie would have found the timing of it more than anything.

"Well, I don't think she's going to mind if it saves her life."

"Okay, the three of you will get in. Each of us will hold you down until you're essentially... well, dead. But it's not just someone to hold you under. It needs to be someone who can pull you back. Someone with a strong connection to you. A kind of emotional tether." 

Allison looked at Lydia who smiled and made her way over to her, holding her hand tightly as Deaton nodded.

"Isaac you go with Stiles." Deaton instructed as the two boys looked perplexed at the decision.

"Don't get me wrong Doc, I don't hate the dude but we aren't exactly best friends." Isaac pointed out as Stiles nodded. It was true, the duo got on considerably more than they had previously but they weren't that close. Or so they thought.

"Whilst you may feel it, you two are closer than you think. The bond between you two is not related to the person Stiles is linked to. You two are close because of the love you both share for Lottie." The two teens paused, looking at each other with a newfound appreciation of each other. Nodding at each other, they accepted the decision and understood. A bond was formed that night. It wasn't necessarily conventional or easy. They were always going to fight and butt heads occasionally. But they loved Lottie. Not in the same way but they loved her nonetheless.

In silence, the three of them took their places. Scott, Allison and Stiles carefully stepped into the ice and mistletoe-filled tubs and sat back. Deaton, Isaac and Lydia took their positions behind them at the head of the tubs.

The trio sat in the tubs, clenching their teeth as the ice cold water tickled their bones in a most unpleasant kind of way. Already shivering, Stiles turned to Scott, "By the way, if I don't come back and you do, you should probably know something. Your Dad's in town."

Allison, Scott and Stiles shared a look. A silent moment between them, Allison and Stiles both waiting for Scott's lead. He took a breath and gave them a nod. One-by-one, they submerged themselves beneath the ice and mistletoe.

Their eyes closed as an almost peaceful look graced their features. Holding them down, Lydia, Isaac and Deaton threw worried glances to each other.

Underneath the water, Stiles stirred, fighting against the hands that held him down. But he was no match for Isaac's strength. And as he world began to fade into darkness, images of crystal blue eyes and perfect smiles danced across his mind. If you were to ask Isaac about that day, he'd tell you the last thing Stiles did before he died was smile.