┏━━━━⋆°.☾⋆.ೃ࿔*:⋆━━━━┓

DADDY DEAREST

SHE WAS SEEING DEUCALION IN A DIFFERENT LIGHT— A WORSE LIGHT, NOW.

Emerson's hand went to her stomach as it roared with discomfort, nausea. The boogeyman from her childhood, the bad man of the stories she was taught, was her father. He'd been her father this entire time, hunting down his own kid for sport.

"No," she mumbled out, weak but adamant in her own right, "there's no way."

He took a step forward. "Emerson—"

"No!" she roared, eyes flickering their crimson colour as she scrambled away from the man. She felt sick, really sick this time around, like she'd been poisoned. "I don't—"

"Margaret hid you from me," Deucalion interjected with an unimpressed shake of his head. "She paid the price for it, I suppose."

Emerson squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. "If I'm your—" she cut herself off with a harsh swallow, not even daring to say the word, "—then why... why are you doing this to me?"

An unknown emotion was radiating off of him, one she could smell before it was replaced by an air of nonchalance.

"I've always wanted the best of the best in my pack," Deucalion offered out, a pointed look on his face before he added, "and that plan includes you. The flesh and blood of the Demon Wolf, born with unadulterated power."

Her lips curled back on their own because who in their right mind would call themselves a demon? Then again, it seemed like Deucalion had never quite been sane enough, anyways.

"So you've been making my life hell as a result of this weird little dream you've created," she scoffed, angrily rubbing away at her own eyes. When had they started to tear up. "That's some real father of the year shit right there, Deucalion."

His lips were pursed in distaste. "If certain people hadn't of gotten in my way, they would've been spared," he told her in an annoyed tone. "You would've been where you belonged this entire time."

"But instead, you're out here kidnapping teenagers and pitting them against each other," she spat back in his face. "Yeah, I know all about it."

Deucalion hummed. "A necessary feat," he said. "You need to get rid of your pack in order to join me. I'm simply making the transition... easier."

Was that was he'd been doing? Was he trying to get rid of Erica and Boyd and Isaac in order to bring Derek and Emerson closer to joining his pack?

"I don't have a pack," she corrected. "And I sure as shit don't belong with you and the heathens you associate with. I belong with Hannah now."

She saw a flicker of rage cross his face for a split second, and it obviously wasn't what he wanted to hear. "Oh, but you do belong with me," Deucalion responded cooly, his jaw ticking, "and you'll realize it soon enough."

She shook her head immediately. "I won't be like you. You'd have to kill me before I ever hurt anyone."

After a few beats of silence, he sighed. "That's rather unfortunate," he said, turning on his heel and flicking his cane out to its full length. He paused in the doorway, craning only his head in her direction. "I do hope Hannah gets well soon... just like I do hope you consider my offer. I think it would be beneficial for the both of you."

And then, it was like he'd never been there in the first place, leaving Emerson to crumple to the ground with the taste of blood on her tongue.

ೃ࿔*:⋆

Hours passed since anyone had heard from Emerson, the night bleeding into the next day after she'd stormed out of Deaton's clinic.

It was odd, going from spending so much time with one person to spending time apart so suddenly. It was like he was feeling the weight of her absence around him, and he begrudgingly found his eyes searching for her, just to come up empty.

As he stood in the loft, surrounded by blueprints of the abandoned bank and people that weren't her, Derek was getting increasingly worried.

Granted, he was worried about a lot; about Boyd and the mystery werewolf in the vault, about retrieving Erica's body, about Emerson's horribly timed disappearing act. Shit, he had so much on his plate, but he couldn't get the latter off his mind. Especially when it grew dark outside, and she still showed no signs of turning up.

"Has anyone heard from Emerson?" he finally asked when there was a moment of silence, Stiles still cradling his hand that the Hale man had punched just a few moments ago. It was the night of the full moon— she should've been here by now.

Scott's eyebrows furrowed. "I assumed you knew where she was."

"Does it look like I know?" he retorted, figure hunched over the desk. "Does anyone know where she is?"

"You think something's wrong."

Derek spared Scott a short glance. "She's not the type to forget about a plan," he responded, scratching at the base of his neck, "and she's never bailed on me."

"Maybe it has something to do with the call she got yesterday," Scott suggested, knowing the wolves present had heard bits and pieces of the short phone call that had her storming out. "It came from the hospital, and it sounded pretty important based on—"

"Still. Something's keeping her from being here."

The silence was astounding before the figure perched by the spiral stairs piped up. "I, for one, think this is all pointless," Peter stated. "Not only is Isaac out of commission, but our star player is missing. I'm sure Erica and Boyd were sweet kids, they'll be missed."

"So I'm just supposed to let them die?" Derek asked in retort.

"One of them is already dead," Peter reminded him.

Derek's lip curled back. "We don't know that!"

"Derek— it's not worth the risk," Peter responded, crossing his arms over his chest as he voiced his final opinion.

Derek looked at the blueprints again. "What about you?" he asked Scott, being that the boy was the only other werewolf who seemed to be invested in a rescue mission.

"I don't know about Erica, but if Boyd's still alive, we have to do something," Scott agreed much to the dismay of Peter who rolled his eyes. "We have to try."

"But?" Derek pressed, hearing Scott hesitate at the end of his statement.

"Who's the other girl? The one locked in there with Boyd?"

Derek stood at his full height, not having a decent enough answer for Scott's question. He hoped it was Erica, that Isaac saw something else that he mistook for the blonde beta, but hope never really got him very far.

"Okay, we rescue them, and then we find Emerson," he said, determining the best course of action. The betas were the top priority, given that the full moon was lurking in the sky already.

Emerson would have to wait, and Derek was hoping he was making the right decision.

⋆°.☾⋆.ೃ࿔*:⋆

[ wyn's note ]

whomp whomp! duke hasn't been chasing emmy to kill her! he's been chasing her to get her to join him! far better option than death, i'd say LOL

thanks for 13k pookies!! mwah