CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE:
HERE FOR CORA

THE THREE WERE HIDDEN IN Derek's loft. They had been quick to tell Derek everything that had happened, knowing that Derek and Jennifer had something going on between them. The trio watched as Jennifer ran into the loft. Elaine held herself close to her brother and Stiles, the thunderstorm outside getting worse and worse by the second.

     "Derek? Derek where are you?" Jennifer called.

     "Right here." Jennifer quickly turned to face him.

     "Thank God!" She breathed, pulling him into a hug. "Something happened at the recital, at the school, okay? I need to tell you before you hear it, before you hear it for any of them."

     "From who?" The man frowned.

     "Scott, Elaine, Stiles. . ." She answered. "They're gonna tell you things―︎things you can't believe. You have to trust me, okay? You trust me."

     "What is it?"

     "Promise you'll listen to me." She asked. Derek nodded his head.

     "Promise."

     She gave the man a kiss before she pulled away and paused for a minute before closing her eyes. "They're already here, aren't they?" The three teenagers stepped out, revealing themselves. The woman glanced towards them before looking back towards Derek. "So, they told you it was me? That I'm the one taking people?"

     "We told him you're the one killing people." Scott corrected her.

     "Oh, that's right. Committing human sacrifices? What, cutting their throats? Yeah, I probably do it on my lunch hour―︎that way, I can get back to teaching high school English the rest of the day. Makes perfect sense."

     "Where's my dad." Stiles asked, tears filling the boys eyes.

     "How should I know?" Jennifer questioned. She then looked towards Derek. "Derek, tell me you don't believe this?"

     "Do you know what happened to Stiles' father?" Derek simply asked.

     "No!" The woman exclaimed.

     "Ask her why the hell she almost killed my best friend, Lydia Martin." Elaine growled, her eyes glowing, but Stiles squeezed her hand. She had promised him she wouldn't do anything too irrational unless she had to.

     "Lydia Martin? I don't know anything about that!" Jennifer looked at Elaine, feigning disbelief.

     "What do you know?" Derek snapped.

     "I know that these three, for whatever misguided reason, are filling your head with an absurd story―︎And one they can't prove, by the way."

     "What if we can?" Scott asked her. That's when he revealed the jar of mistletoe that was in his hand. Scott started forward.

     "What is that?"

     "Our boss told us it's a poison and a cure." Elaine spoke up. "Which means you can use it."

     "And it can be used against you." Scott finished. He opened the jar and the woman's face immediately turned into an angry expression.

     "Mistletoe?" With that, Scott quickly threw it on her. They watched as it encircled around her body. They watched as it revealed what she truly looked like under there. A hideous monster with scars across her face, white skin, and not hair. Her eyes were white as she growled at them before the mistletoe disappeared, turning her back to the face she was using. The group looked at her with wide eyes. She made a run for it but Derek was quick to grab her by her throat, holding her up in the air, and making her choke.

     "Derek, wait! Wait! You need me!" She choked out.

     "What are you?" Derek growled.

     "The only person who can save your sister. Call Peter. Call him!"

      Derek did so, keeping Jennifer in a choke hold. Peter picked up before saying, "It's not good. She's in and out of consciousness, she's vomiting up black blood, along with one other alarming substance."

     "Mistletoe." Derek finished.

     "How did you know that?" But Derek didn't answer. Instead, he hung up and glared daggers at Jennifer. HIs hand tightened around her throat.

     "Derek." Scott called. "Derek, what are you doing?"

     "Her life. . ." Jennifer gasped, "it's in my hands!"

     "Stop! Derek, stop!" Stiles snapped.

     "Stilinski. . .you'll never find him. . ."

     "Derek!" Elaine snapped. "Derek!" She shot her hands out, separating the man from Jennifer, making the Darach fall to the ground. She looked up at them, a smile on her lips.

     "That's right. You need me―︎all of you."

They were on the road, driving in the vicious rain that continued to bound off the car like hail. Elaine sat in the back of Stiles' jeep, Stiles and Scott up front with the two following closely behind Derek's car that had the wolf and Darach inside of it.

     "I don't know." Stiles spoke up. "Something feels wrong about this, you know? We proved it to Derek, but she still had this look like it didn't matter. You know, like it was all going to plan. You saw it, didn't you?" They pulled up to the hospital and the three teenagers got out, with Stiles grabbing a baseball bat.

     "What's that?" Scott yelled over the rain.

     "Well, you got claws, she's got magic, I got a bat." Stiles answered. The group of five all made it inside with Derek keeping a tight hold on Jennifer. They walked through the hospital that was currently being evacuated, when Melissa spotted them.

     "Scott! Elaine!" She walked up to the two. "What are you doing here? The hospital's evacuating."

     "We're here for Cora." Scott answered.

     "What, all of you?" Melissa frowned before pointing towards Stiles. "Why does Stiles have my bat?"

     "Mom, just trust us on this―︎you need to get out of here, right now." Elaine urgently told her mother. Melissa glanced between her two children before nodding her head.

     "The building is supposed to be clear in thirty minutes. We've got two ambulances that are coming back―︎one's ten minutes out, the other's twenty. Cora needs to be on one of those. They'll be picking up in the basement garage."

     "Got it." The siblings nodded before quickly turning and continuing down the hall. The five entered the elevator.

     Jennifer sighed. "You don't have to keep me on a leash, Derek. I'm going to help." She then looked towards Scott who glaring dangerously at her, then towards Elaine whose eyes had the faintest shade of purple in them, and then Stiles who was holding his bat ready in his hands. The elevator doors opened and they walked out, only to notice the lights in the hall were flickering. That's when Derek stopped. They all turned to see what he was looking at only to find a pool of black blood on the floor, on e that had a trail. They followed the trail down the hall and to the double doors. They looked at the doors just in time to watch as Peter Hale was thrown through them, sliding across the floor and landing at Derek's feet.

     "We got a problem. Big problem." Peter told them. They looked down the end of the hall to see the twin alphas in their combined form, letting out a roar as he looked at the group. Immediately Derek transformed and started to fight the alpha. Scott wasn't too far behind, and neither was Elaine. The girl continued to throw the alpha back as much as she could whilst the other two wolves fought him. Derek was quickly knocked to the ground and Elaine was thrown into the wall whilst the alpha held Scott up against the wall. She watched as Peter and Stiles quickly ran through, quickly sliding down beside of Cora who was laying in the middle of the hallway.

     "Ethan, Aiden―︎stop! You don't know what you're doing!" Scott grunted.

     "All we want is her!" They snarled. That's when Elaine and Derek both turned their heads in time to watch as Jennifer stepped into the elevators with the door closing. The merged alpha let go of Scott and immediately ran for the elevator doors, only for them to close. Peter was quick to drape Cora over his shoulders as the group ran away from the alpha.

     "Don't stop, don't stop!" Derek shouted at them, making them keep on going.  But Stiles did just that, and Elaine quickly turned on her heel.

     "Stiles!" Elaine called, grabbing Derek and Scott's attention as well. They watched as he stood beside the double doors, waiting for the alpha twins to come through. When they did, he hit the merged alpha over his head, only to break the bat into shatters. Stiles quickly backed into the wall, scrambling towards the other three. Derek and Scott had their claws out whilst Elaine's eyes started to glow. Scott looked up at the light before jumping and swiping at the light so that it would fall and hit the twins in the face. With the distraction, the group quickly started running again.

     The three quickly ran into another room and Elaine and Derek were quick to close the doors. Elaine looked towards Derek before nodding her head, placing her hands firmly against the door as she closed her eyes. "Claudo te." She backed up before nodding her head.

     "Where's the big guy?" Stiles asked.

     "He's close." Derek answered.

     "What about Miss Blake?" Stiles the looked towards Scott who shook his head. "What do you mean? What does that mean? Like she's gone? Scott are you kidding me?"

     "Shh! Quiet!" Derek snapped.

     "Me, be quiet? Me? Huh? Are you telling me what to do now? When your psychotic, mass-murdering girlfriend―︎the second one you've dated, by the way―︎has got my dad somewhere, tied up, waiting to be ritually sacrificed?"

     "Stiles, they're still out there." Elaine told her boyfriend.

     "And. . . And they want her, right? Which means now, we don't have her either, so my dad and Cora are both dead."

     "Not yet." Scott shook his head. Scott then walked over to Peter whilst Elaine placed a hand on Stiles' shoulder. "Is she really dying?"

     "She's definitely not getting any better." Peter answered.

     "There has to be something that we can do. We have to help her." That's when the one set of doors that Elaine hadn't sealed opened. They turned their heads to see Jennifer standing there.

     "You can't." She told them. "Only I can. I can save her, and I can tell you where Sheriff Stilinski is. But, there's a pack of Alphas in this hospital who want me dead. So, I'll help you―︎ but only when I'm out of here and safe. Only then." Derek then lunged forward but Scott was quick to stop him.

     "Wait!"

     "She was trying to get out!" Derek snapped.

     "I was trying to keep from getting killed! You can't blame me for that." Jennifer snapped back at him.

     "If you want to show you're one of the good guys, then heal her." Stiles told the woman, nodding towards Cora.

     "Not until I'm safe."

     "I'd like to volunteer a different method of persuasion." Peter spoke up. "Let's torture her."

     "Works for me." Derek growled.

     That's when Melissa's voice fell over the intercom. "Um, can I have your attention? Mr. Deucalion. . .Excuse me, just Deucalion. . . requests you bring the woman calling herself Jennifer Blake to the ER reception. Do this, and everyone else can leave. You have ten minutes."

    "Mom." Elaine breathed before going to run forward only to be stopped by Scott. "Let me go! Scott, that's mom!"

     "He's not gonna hurt her." Jennifer told the siblings.

     "Bullshit!" Elaine snarled whilst at the same time Derek snapped for her to shut up.

     "He won't!" Jennifer told them. "Scott, you know why. Tell them it's true."

     "Scott, what does she mean?" Derek asked.

     When Scott didn't answer, Jennifer finally did. "You're not the only one he wants in his pack." They glanced towards Scott except Elaine who already knew this because of Deaton. She bit the inside of her cheek as her anxiety continued to rise, hoping her mother would be okay. "Deucalion doesn't just want an Alpha Pack―︎he wants perfection. That means adding the rarest of Alphas to his ranks."

     "A true Alpha." Peter answered, stunned.

     "What's that?" Stiles questioned.

     "The kind that doesn't have to steal his power from another. One that can rise by the force of his own will." Peter explained before looking back towards Scott. "Our little Scott."

     "It doesn't matter. We still need to get her out of here." Scott changed the subject.

     "Scott, El, your mom―︎" Stiles tried.

     "My mom said there's one more ambulance coming in twenty minutes. And I don't think we've been here that long, so, if we can get down to the garage, get to the last ambulance, we can get out of here." Scott explained to them.

     "I am not leaving my mother in the hands of that blind psychotic alpha!" Elaine snarled.

     "El, just, trust me on this, alright?" Scott begged, meeting his sisters eyes. She clenched her jaw before looking to the ground in defeat.

     "The twins aren't gonna let us just walk out." Peter pointed.

     "I'll distract them." Scott spoke.

     "Me too." Elaine nodded. "I need to release some anger."

      "You mean fight them." Derek corrected the duo.

     "Whatever we have to do." Scott said, glancing towards Elaine who nodded her head.

     "I'll help you." Derek offered.

     "Um, sorry, but I'm not going anywhere without you, Derek." Jennifer spoke up, making Elaine roll her eyes.

     "I'll do it. But, I'd prefer to be out there with an advantage." Peter told the two.

     "An advantage? Like what? You mean, like, a weapon?" Stiles asked.

     "Something better than a baseball bat."

     "Hello, am I nonexistent?" Elaine questioned.

     "You're backup." Peter waved her off as the group searched for something that could be of help to the three.

     "Hey, wait, what about these?" Stiles asked, holding up the paddle of the machine that was used to shock people back to life.

     "Do you know how to use those?" Elaine asked.

     "Well, no."

     "Put them down." Both Derek and Elaine told the boy.

     That's when Scott found a giant needle, holding it in his hands. "Epinephrine?"

     "That'll only make him stronger." Elaine shook her head.

     Peter looked at the girl before asking, "How strong?"