CHAPTER TWELVE:
THE BEAST OF GEVAUDAN

"EL, I'M SO SORRY." SCOTT apologized once again. Elaine sat on the bathroom counter, a sports bra on as she looked over the purple and black bruises that lined her side. Elaine glanced at her brother through the mirror, shrugging her shoulders and wincing when the skin stretched.

"It's fine, Scott. I'm fine."

"But I wasn't there to save you from being hit. What's the point of being what I am, if I can't save my family before they get hurt. Stiles is mad at me because I wasn't there to save his dad." Scott frowned.

"Yeah, but I was there. And if you apologize one more time, I'll give you a reason to be sorry." Elaine spoke, giving him a sarcastic smile before grabbing her tank top and throwing it over her head so that it would hide bruises. "I'll get something from the hospital tomorrow to help it heal better. Now, go to sleep." She shoved her brother out of her room, closing the door in his face before he could say anything else.

Elaine sat on her bed, softly sighing before cutting on her night light so that there was some form of light in the room, and laying under the covers. She closed her eyes and started falling asleep, completely oblivious to the woman who stood in the darkest corner of her room, silently watching her before disappearing.

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When Elaine walked out of her first class, she had ended up passing by Scott and Stiles' classroom just as they walked out. She offered them both a small smile, falling in step beside of them.

"Wh―︎? He wants you to tap into your animal side and get angry?" Stiles questioned, making Elaine frown before realizing the only person they could possibly be talking about was Derek.

"Yeah. . ." Scott nodded.

"All right, well, correct me if I'm wrong, but every time you do that, you try to kill someone, and that someone's usually me." Stiles spoke, making a shudder crawl down Elaine's back as she remembered her first encounter with a yellow-eyed Scott.

"I know. That's what he means when he says he doesn't know if he can teach me. I have to be able to control it." Scott explained.

"Well, how's he gonna teach you to do that?" Stiles quizzed.

"I don't know. I don't think he does, either."

"So, let me get this straight, you have a 'mentor' that has absolutely no idea what the hell he's doing?" Elaine quizzed, cocking an eyebrow at her brother who thought about it before sighing in response.

"Okay. When are you seeing him again?" Stiles asked.

"He told me not to talk about it. Just act normal and get through the day." Scott told them.

"When?" Stiles asked once again.

"He's picking me up at the animal clinic after work."

"After work. All right. Well, that gives me to the end of the school day, then." Stiles told him, making both siblings turn towards the boy.

"To do what?" They both asked.

"To teach you myself." Stiles smiled.

"Oh lord. Have fun with that." Elaine said with a small laugh.

"You aren't going to help?" Stiles asked, frowning slightly. Elaine looked at him for a moment, almost changing her mind but then forcing herself to shake her head.

"I uh―︎" She cleared her throat. "I have to do something." Before they could ask, the girl quickly parted ways and made a bee line for the library. Elaine fixed her bag on her shoulder before entering the library section that held books with foreign languages. She picked up a Latin book, as well as two other before checking them out and heading towards the lunch room where Lydia and Allison sat. She offered the two a smile before taking a seat and opening her books.

"The Beast of who?" Lydia asked, looking at the girl who had a book opening and was trying to retain the information to Lydia.

"The Beast of Gevaudan. Listen, 'A quadruped wolf-like monster, prowling the Auvergne and south Dordogne areas of France during the year 1764 to 1767. La Bête killed over a hundred people, becoming so infamous that the King Louis XXV sent one of his best hunters to try and kill it.'"

"Boring." Lydia sighed.

"'Even the Church eventually declared the monster a messenger of Satan.'" Allison continued.

"Still boring."

"'Cryptozoologists believe it may have been a subspecies of hoofed predator, possibly a mesonychid.'"

"Slipping-into-a-coma bored." Lydia continued.

"'While others believe it was a powerful sorcerer who could shapeshift into a man-eating monster.'" Allison continued to read, Elaine glancing up and grabbing her water she had managed to grab on her way to the table.

"Any of this have anything to do with your family?" Lydia questioned.

"This." Allison spoke. "'It is believe that La Bête was finally trapped and killed by a renowned hunter who claimed his wife and four children were the first to fall prey to the creature. His name was Argent.'" Elaine choked on her water, coughing violently as she tried to catch her breath. The two girls looked at her in concern, to which she just waved them off.

"Your ancestors killed a big wolf, so what?"

"Not just a big wolf. Take a look at this picture. What does it look like to you?" Allison asked, turning the book towards her. Elaine watched her friend in concern as Lydia's eyes seemed to widen slightly.

"Lydia?" Allison questioned, but the girl continued to look at the picture.

"Lydia?" Elaine asked this time, frowning slightly and placing a hand on her arm, snapping the woman from her thoughts.

"It looks. . . like a big. . . wolf." Lydia spoke before looking between the two. "See you two in history." With that she got up and walked away.

Allison sat there for a moment before looking at Elaine. "So. . . it's not going to be awkward now that Scott and I are dating, is it?"

Elaine frowned at this before shaking her head. "Of course not. I'm glad Scott has someone like you in his life." She smiled at Allison as the female smiled at her words. "Anyways, I'll see you in history. I have to go run by my house while I have the next thirty minutes." Elaine said with a soft sigh. "See you, Ali."

"See you." Allison smiled, watching as the girl gathered her books and stood up. She walked over to the table Stiles and Scott was, Scott hiding behind a book as to hide himself from Allison.

"Hey, Stiles?" Elaine questioned, grabbing the two boys attention.

"Hey, Laney, what's up?" He smiled at the girl.

"Can I . . . can I borrow your car keys?" Elaine questioned. "I have to run by my house before my thirty minutes is up."

Stiles looked at the girl for a moment before digging in his pocket and holding them out to her. She was about to grab them only for the boy to pull back and look at her. "Not a single scratch, you hear?"

"Yeah, whatever." Elaine rolled his eyes, going to reach for the keys, only for Stiles to pull away again. She kissed her teeth before cocking an eyebrow at him. He looked at her expectantly, making her sigh. "I promise, not a single scratch." Finally, he dropped the keys in her hand and she thanked him before quickly running out to his car, entering it and quickly driving to her house. And as she had thought, the woman from before was there.

"Aren't you supposed to be in school." The woman quizzed, Elaine walking towards her, seemingly angry. "Elaine, is everything alright?"

"Shut up." Elaine hissed, pushing past the woman.

"Elaine-"

"Silencio!" A gasp fell from her lips as she watched the woman's mouth practically disappeared, making her let out a scream of surprise. "Oh my God! What the hell happened to your mouth?! Why the hell did I just speak Latin?!" But the woman couldn't answer her. The woman held out her hand, using the other as a pencil. Elaine quickly turned to her backpack, pulling out a notebook and pen, handing it towards the woman who quickly wrote down a word and handed it back to Elaine. Elaine looked at the Latin phrase before looking up at the woman.

"You want me to. . . say this?" She asked. The woman nodded. With a huff, Elaine glanced back down towards the paper before reading the word. "Sonorus!" The woman's mouth appeared once again and she let out a sigh.

"Care to have that discussion now?"