"𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙜𝙪𝙮𝙨 𝙙𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘿𝙤𝙘𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙝𝙞𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙤𝙙𝙞𝙚𝙨, 𝙙𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪?"

Meilani rushed through the hospital with Stiles, Scott and Isaac as the trio made their way up to the third floor where Meilani could smell Noah to be. Stiles had gotten a call from his father to get down to the hospital with Meilani as twenty-three dead bodies had been brought in to be placed into the morgue. As usual, Scott and Isaac had to tag along and the four barreled out of the elevator to see Noah stood in the hall as a line of nurses wheeled gurney upon gurney with a body bag on it towards the morgue. It was a pretty morbid sight and Meilani and Isaac's noses both twitched at the overwhelming scent of blood in the air. The fact that the two were stood next to each other not helping much as their bond only heightened the other's senses.

"Who found them?" Stiles asked his dad the second the four stopped next to the sheriff who gripped to his cane.

"Argent and he said the Doctors were down there. He also said that you guys might know what this thing is," Noah responded, using his cane to turn so he was properly facing the teenagers next to him. 

Isaac pursed his lips with a timid nod. "Yeah, we got a theory alright."

"It's a slightly terrifying theory," Scott tacked on with a small grimace at the thought of what they could be more than likely dealing with currently.

"Well, the ME said that victims were killed somewhere else and then dumped into those tunnels."

Meilani blinked at the new information from Noah and she glanced over to Stiles with furrowed eyebrows. "You guys don't think that the Doctors are hiding the bodies, do you?"

Stiles nodded slightly, visibly lost in thought as he stared at a random square tile beneath his feet as he chewed the inside of his lip. "Maybe they're covering for it. They could be protecting it like a parent would."

"If the Doctors were parents, I suggest someone better set their supposed children up with foster care because that is a toxic living environment," Isaac grumbled, earning an unamused glare from Stiles and a very amused snort and roll of the eyes from Meilani.

"What could the Dread Doctors possibly be protecting?" Noah questioned, cutting off whatever sarcastic retort Stiles would have had for the blue eyed werewolf.

Meilani sighed and crossed her arms, licking her lips absently as her eyes flickered over to Noah. "A werewolf."

"It's called the Beast," Scott added in for his sister, fidgeting hands stuffing into the pockets of his jean jacket.

"We know. Horrifying," Stiles agreed when he noticed the pale tone that had appeared over his father's currently freaked out expression.

"We better figure out what we are gonna call Parrish because it looks like his dream is coming true."

As if the dead bodies weren't enough, the next morning at school had been filled with a bunch of the deputies with rifles in their hands. Noah had set out a curfew for the town of Beacon Hills that would start once the sun had set and everyone would need to remain in their homes until the sun came back up. Not that the school day had even changed much besides that as Meilani and pack still went about their day as normal, or as normal as the pack could with everyone still tense with each other. The only ones that remotely were together were Stiles, Scott, Isaac, Kira and Meilani. Malia and Liam were both still awol, especially Malia who Meilani barely saw or smelt in the halls which sent a bunch of warning bells off in her head about what the werecoyote could be doing.

In addition to that, Meilani had followed Liam back down into the tunnels as her beta had decided it was a good idea to go alone while Scott, Stiles and Isaac went to visit Lydia who was still inside Eichen House. Not that Liam even heard her following him as she made sure to keep her distance as she followed and Liam didn't even know she was in the tunnels until he whipped around suddenly and jumped, seeing her across from him in the small gap between the opposing sides of the tunnels. He gulped audibly as Meilani didn't look the least bit amused with his mini suicide mission.

"You lost?"

Liam opened his mouth to respond, but quickly closed it when he heard the sternness to her voice. Almost feeling like he had been scolded by his mom for doing something wrong. "I — yeah, completely. How - how did you know I was down here?"

Meilani dropped her arms from where they had been crossed tightly across her chest and walked towards Liam so she was stood on the same side of the tunnels as Liam was. "I followed you here. Why are you down here, Liam?"

"I'm just trying to figure out if this is where they took us — me and Hayden. Malia said she was down here, too. That the scent was the same. She said you were right about these damn things," Liam explained, waving his hands around to showcase the tunnels the duo currently stood in together. "Which shouldn't really be shocking at this point, I guess."

Meilani smiled faintly and jerked her thumb to the right as she glanced in that direction. "Uh, there's actually a turn you keep passing. It's easy to miss if you don't know it's there, which you don't so . . ."

Liam blinked and followed Meilani's gaze for a moment before they snapped back to Meilani with a scrutinizing sort of expression. "Lan, how many times did you watch me pass it?"

Meilani rolled her lips into her mouth an amused giggle and shrugged, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her sleek leather jacket. "Um . . . five. Let's just see if we can find it together then."

Without a word and a tiny smile that Meilani would have missed if she had blinked, Liam followed after his alpha and back through the way he had came. He made a tiny noise of embarrassment when he realized there was, in fact, a turn he kept missing and completely passed by every single time as if he were blind. It was practically right in his face and he missed it, even with his werewolf senses in full swing. 

Meilani walked in silence with Liam at her side, keeping her ears out for whatever it was they needed to look for. However, she froze in a corridor of tunnels when her hands and feet felt like they were vibrating on their own. She twisted her hands this way and that as a blue light from above cast a bluish tint onto them where she stood and Meilani tilted her head in contemplation. "Liam, do you feel that?"

"It feels like something is vibrating," Liam replied, removing his own hands from his jacket pockets to see they were shaking slightly as well from the vibration that suddenly took over the tunnels.

"I can't tell where it's coming from," Meilani said, furrowing her eyebrows in concentration as she tried to focus all of her senses onto where the vibration could be coming from.

Liam squat down next to where Meilani stood, pressing his hand to wet and dusty ground below and he flickered his gaze up to Meilani. "It's coming from everywhere, Lan." He frowned as he retracted his hand from the wet ground, wiping it out on the leg of his dark jeans with a heavy, sadness filled sigh. "I was just trying to do something right."

Meilani dropped her hands back to her sides and shook her head softly at Liam. "You do a lot right, Li."

Liam scoffed and pushed back up to his full height, slapping his hands to his sides out of annoyance or anger, Meilani wasn't really sure. "Yeah, but I did one thing really wrong. I nearly got Hayden killed."

"Hayden's alive, Liam. Everything before that shouldn't matter."

"It should. I feel like I had to do more than just say sorry."

Meilani pursed her lips and placed her hands on her hips, raising an eyebrow at him. "Actually, you haven't done that yet."

Liam scrunched up his nose and rocked back on his heels awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck. "Back at my old school . . . at Devenford, I got into a fight with this kid. I knocked two of his teeth out. They made me write a letter of apology. We both knew it meant absolutely nothing. We both knew that sooner or later, we were gonna get into another fight. I can't just say I'm sorry. I feel like I have to do something. Like maybe, somehow I have to save your life. Just like you save everyone else's."

Meilani softened slightly at Liam's words, her eyes growing softer and a small frown taking over as she could tell how true his words were. He even sounded a bit sad over his words as he felt like a failure for not being able to do the things that Meilani did. "Li . . . don't worry, okay? I'm pretty sure you'll get a chance."

"Well, not down here. We have been walking around for hours and all we've been able to find is some stupid snake sculpture on the wall," Liam sighed, pointing to something over Meilani's shoulders. "Is it important?"

"What?" Meilani inquired, slowly glancing over her shoulder to see that Liam was right. On the wall was what looked like a snake forming a circle with a chunk of dark wall behind it. It almost looked like a glassless mirror and Meilani tilted her head at the thing as it looked out of place in the dripping and dark tunnels. She walked over to it and ran her fingers along the marble of the snake, gasping quietly when the snake turned a bit like a wheel when her finger ran along it. A look was exchanged with Liam before Meilani continued to spin the wheel and the duo snapped their heads over when a part of the wall opened up like a hidden doorway. 

Meilani tugged on the tiny handle of the sliding door and quickly stood in front of Liam when she heard a gun cock. However, her protective stance quickly diminished when she realized it was only Chris Argent and her shoulders relaxed instantly at the sight of him. "Chris, I thought we were pals." 

However, whatever remark Chris would have given back to Meilani was cut off as another pair of feet were heard from the tunnels to the right. Her head slowly turned and she let out an irritated groan at the sight of Gerard Argent decked out in all black, a cocky sort of look on his face when his eyes landed on Meilani. She flashed her red alpha eyes at Gerard as he took in the sight of her, stopping next to his son while Meilani made sure to keep Liam behind her as she didn't trust Gerard as far as she could throw him and that was pretty far.

"Hello, Meilani," Gerard greeted, his deep voice sending another shockwave of annoyance through the alpha wolf. "I have not seen that color on you just yet. It suits you."

"Who's the old guy?" Liam asked Meilani, peeking around her shoulder to look at the eldest Argent male.

Gerard chuckled and Meilani had to hold herself back from choking the laugh out of him. "Uh, at the moment, uh, they would call me a necessary evil, but you can call me Gerard."

Meilani poked her tongue into her cheek and crossed her arms across her chest, her dark eyes shooting to Chris who shifted at Meilani's expression. "You got the evil part right. Chris, what the hell were you thinking?"

"That we need him."

"He's right," Gerard chimed in before Meilani could even think to respond to Chris. "If you want to catch a werewolf like the Beast of Gevaudan, you are going to need more than one Argent."

Chris took a step closer to Meilani, his eyes pleading as his hands went to her shoulders and squeezing gently. "Mei, he knows the stories and folklore of this thing. Everything written and everything passed down."

Meilani exhaled heavily, her eyes flickering to Gerard for a fleeting moment. This was the same guy that randomly showed up in town after Kate had "died" and nearly killed her, Derek, Jackson, everyone. He had brainwashed Allison and drove her against Meilani, Scott and the whole pack. This was the same guy that had brought nothing but stress and anger upon her and now she had to team up with him? Things have really hit rock bottom then. "Chris, are you positive about this?"

Chris nodded and jerked his head for Meilani and Liam to follow after him. Reluctantly, the alpha and her beta followed after Chris with Meilani glaring at Gerard to keep his eyes away from Liam if he wanted to keep them in his skull. She was lead to a painting on the wall of some sort of creature with claws on fire and the other a wolf that looked more like a beast. Now Meilani understood why this thing was called the Beast. "The one on the right is the Beast of Gevaudan. Do you know what the other one is?"

"The Hellhound," Gerard answered for Meilani when she merely shook her head in response to Chris' question. "The guardian of the supernatural places. They are both creatures of the night, but you may know them as ordinary people during the day."

"And most likely neither of them know what they are," Chris piped in, eyes fixated on the painted figures before him on the wall. He tore his gaze away when he noticed Liam shake his head at Meilani from the corner of his eye and narrowed his eyes at the beta that shifted closer to his alpha. "What is it?"

Meilani puffed out her cheeks and turned her gaze from the painting and to Chris and Gerard. "We found a message in Latin . . . Damnatio Memoriae."

"They want it to remember itself," Gerard noted, exchanging an unreadable look with Chris that Meilani couldn't properly decipher. "That might give us time."

"Time for what?" Liam inquired.

"To prevent this," Chris said, surging towards the wall and kicking at the tiles on the wall to reveal more of the painting on the concrete. 

Once enough of the tiles were broken off and shoved away, Meilani and Liam were able to see the painting in its entirety. Just below the Beast and the Hellhound was a pile of dead bodies, blood smeared all along the bodies that rested on top, most of the paces painted to reveal open and lifeless eyes on the victims. It was enough to make Meilani's stomach flip at the sight and she grimaced.

Liam's eyes widened in horror and Meilani could hear his heart beat spike in fear. "Who are they?"

"Us. It's all of us."

— we got a bit of the mom/son duo that i missed so much. the pack is slowly getting back together and we are thriving, peeps! much like meilani's sass apparently . . . will forever live for meilani sassing gerard argent. is my favorite thing.