Wolf’s Bane
Stiles Stilinski
“The last time I talked to my sister she was close to figuring something out, two things – the first was a guy named Harris.”
“Our chemistry teacher?” I jutted forward.
“Why him?” Scott asked.
“I don’t know yet.” Derek admitted.
“What’s the second?”
“Some kind of symbol.” Derek replied, opening a piece of paper.
Scott winced, shaking his head.
“Oh no.”
“What?” Derek asked. “You know what this is?”
“I’ve seen it, on a necklace…Allison’s necklace.”
Scott pushed his foot to the floor in frustration, speeding away into the night.
“Why didn’t you mention this about your sister sooner?” I asked. “You could of questioned the guy or we could of, since you’d probably go all terminator on the poor bastard.”
“Wait!” Scott exclaimed. “Emery can get the necklace, right?”
“Yeah…that’s not gonna happen.” I muttered.
“Why not?” He asked. “I know she’s off sick but—”
“See I don’t think so, my dad hasn’t seen her brother for a couple days and he’s not been answering his phone.” I told him. “He went round to their house but it looked empty, no one answered the door but the next day, her mom came into the station and said her dad and Wyatt had to fly back to the UK, for some family emergency.”
“And you didn’t think to mention it?” Derek roared.
“Oh, I’m sorry since when do you ever ask for my opinion?”
“Her family are Guardian’s, they don’t just disappear without reason.” Derek told me. “Have you tried calling her?”
“No I just shouted at the sky – yes I’ve called, sent texts but there’s nothing, even on her burner phone.” I retorted, but as a worried look washed over the sour-wolf, I anxiously added. “Okay, now I’m getting one of those feelings where I think somethings gone horribly, horrifically wrong because I know Em, she wouldn’t just leave, not with everything going on.”
“We’ll go to her house and get a scent, then we can track her from there,” Scott said. “Right, we can do that?”
“Absolutely.” Derek nodded.
Even as Scott speed through the streets, I could help but the feel the turn in my stomach as I ran over the endless possibilities. I knew Emery was off sick, Lydia had told me when she’s ill she barely goes on her phone but even then, there was something off about her voice, like she didn’t believe her own words. I found the whole thing a bit weird but it didn’t stop me from texting Em updates, if anything she could be seeing them and then falling back asleep.
Sure, we weren’t as close as we were a couple years ago but Emery was still my friend and by the sounds of it, had been going through hell with her family.
“Wait, let me try her again.” I told them, grabbing my cell and pressing redial, for the millionth time, her contact almost glowing.
RIZZOLI
Since we were both determined not to get caught, I’d switched up the names in my contacts, Emery’s being Rizzoli, since it was her favourite crime show, and evidently we were now in the business of solving them.
We’d spent a long weekend binging the whole show, times were a lot simpler back then.
“Wait, Scott stop the car.” Derek demanded.
“What?”
“Stop the car!”
I grabbed my seatbelt tight as Scott swerved to the side of the road, I barely got the chance to ask what was going on before Derek asked.
“Can’t you hear that?” He asked Scott, who twitched, titling his head.
“Wait, wait, hear what?” I asked. “Is it the alpha?”
“Stiles, hang up the phone,” Scott said and I ended the call. “Okay, now call again.”
“How is Emery going to help us at the side of the road?”
“Just do it!”
“God, fine.” I grumbled, pressing the redial button.
“There it is again.” Derek nodded before suddenly, the pair launched themselves out the car.
I scrambled after them, my arms flailing in the air as I slammed the car door shut, running after the pair who’d sprinted back down the road we’d just driven up.
“Guys!” I yelled, trying to get them to stop but Scott darted into the trees lining the road, and as he walked back, with something small gripped in his hand I realised why we’d swerved to a stop, as the loud ringing of Emery’s phone echoed against the wind.
Her blue phone case was covered in dirt but as I ended the call the lockscreen of a beach glowed, every text I’d sent her sat there, all piled up on top of one another. The battery almost dead. I knew it wasn’t her burner so maybe she still had it with her, but there was no way of tracing that, right?
“Okay, now I’m getting a really bad feeling.” I rambled, knowing I was stating the obvious but I didn’t know what else to say.
“We’ve got to find her,” Scott said. “I mean – she had to be in a car right? If this was at the side of the road?”
RING.
RING.
RING.
Without even looking at my cell, I answered it.
“Em!”
“No Stiles, it’s me.” The tired voice of my dad grumbled. “But uh, actually I was calling to ask if you’d seen her.”
“Why?” I asked, Derek and Scott both eyeballing me intensely.
“Because Wyatt’s just walked into the station and arrested his own mother for being behind these murders,” Dad said and my mouth dropped.
“Wait, it was their mom?”
“I’m not convinced given the security footage but apparently, she’s been holding him and Dr Halliwell hostage in their house for the last couple of days, that’s why he’s not been in but Stiles, Emery’s missing they don’t know where she is.”
“We just found her phone, it was at the side of the road.” I shot out.
“What road?”
“Uh…the one heading downtown,” I said, double checking the signs.
“So you’ve not seen her?”
“No, we all thought she was sick, that’s why she wasn’t in school.”
Even though I wanted to ask more questions, I knew my dad wouldn’t say anything over the phone. He wouldn’t give out case details like this, well in person he might, if I pushed the right buttons but given someone had arrested their own mother, I knew he’d play this one close to the chest.
How could Emery’s mom be behind the murders? I thought she was a Guardian? The cold cases of dead people I’d put together were dark, sure, but I thought Emery’s family were the good guys? Well not good, but I didn’t think they were pyscho’s!
“Listen Stiles, we’ll get an AP out on her but – yeah just send him in!” Dad yelled. “Right I’ve got to get a statement but if you see her call me – Christ Johnny, what happened to your face?”
Then the phone went dead.
Even though a conspiring sense of anxiety riddled through me, Derek’s panicked expression didn’t make it any better.
“An alpha working with a Guardian to kill people?” Scott asked him. “Does that happen?”
“No.” He shook his head. “But if a Guardian was working for him, it’s no wonder we’ve been one step behind.”
“But doesn’t that mean the alpha has Emery?” Scott pressed. “Why would he take her?”
“She comes from a family of Guardian’s, he’ll want her for his pack,” Derek said, bowing his head. “But the alpha will have masked her scent, if he’s taken her hostage and had Melinda tell him what to do, then we won’t be able to track her.”
Even as Scott and Derek tried to draw up a battle plan to find her, I couldn’t help the thoughts swirling around in my head; How did Derek know Emery’s mom’s name? Sure, Em told me she’d spoken to Derek but I doubted they got into family specifics. Then something her brother said when Derek was shot, had been bugging me.
“Well at least you’ve not lost your dramatic flair.” He’d said, like he knew the guy.
Had Wyatt met him before? How did Derek know Melinda and Wyatt? Did Guardian families talk to each other? Even though I had the book it never told me about how Guardian’s conducted themselves or how they interacted, which would have been helpful, considering right now I was thinking the impossible.
Did Emery’s family know the Hales?
Then again, it wasn’t that impossible, Emery grew up here, she only moved away for a year or so because her mom’s family was sick – was that another lie? Did she even remember?
