Ephemeral ➵ Allison Argent (5)

Eight

Allison's POV:

I cautiously walk behind Gerard and my father as they curiously look around the tunnels. Gerard walks closer to the wall and drags two of his fingers across before showing them to us, revealing the smeared black dust.

"What is that?" I speak up, my voice laced with suspicion.

"You might call it a fingerprint." He answered before the three of us continued to walk.

"This isn't gonna look like anything we've seen before, is it?" My father asks, letting out a quiet sigh.

"There were a lot of descriptions of the Beast of Gévaudan. Everything from a red-furred giant wolf to a cloven-hoofed panther the size of a horse." Gerard explained but I share an uneasy expression with my father before we looked forward once more. "But my grandfather gave me a description that was a bit stranger."

"How strange?"

"He said the body was oil-black, solid but shapeless at the same time. Like a shadow pretending to be real."

My father and I look down at our weapons, seeing that he was holding a small pistol and I only had my crossbow in my hands. Yeah, this wasn't gonna stop the Beast.

My dad, however, holsters his pistol and takes out the shotgun attached to his belt. "How do we stop it?"

"As far as legend goes, the only way that proved effective was a simple spear in the hands of a young woman." Gerard continued, causing my eyes to widen in remembrance of the vision I had.

That must have meant this was the time to know about her.

"The Maid of Gévaudan." My dad answered in which Gerard hums in response.

The three of us stop at the tunnel intersection and I immediately turn to my father. "I'm going with you." I say and he nods as Gerard rolled his eyes.

"Not like I was gonna ask." He muttered in annoyance before we split off.

As we cautiously walked deeper within the dark tunnel, the sound of something scurrying on the ground causes me to hold my father's arm to prevent him from moving forward.

"What--"

"Listen." I whisper, bringing my finger close to my lips. "You hear that?"

The scuttling sound that rustled somewhere further inside the tunnel causes my father to reload the ammo from his gun before we continue to walk inside.

Walking further inside, my father stops me from walking and points down to the grate in the middle of the floor. I attach the crossbow to my belt and crouch down to the grate, seeing some of the insects but couldn't get a better look at what they were on top of.

"Let me see a flare." I say and he nods, digging through his bag before pulling out the bright red stick and dragged the cap on top which instantly ignited the flame.

I grab ahold of the candle and place it closer to the grate, I wince at the sight that there were way more insects that were crawling all over something.

Reluctantly, I drop the flare through the holes as my father crouches down to my level and once it landed on the ground, my eyes widen in horror at the sight of the piles of dead bodies that had the insects scattering all over them.

"I think I'm going to be sick."

<>

Olivia's POV:

"Who found them?" Stiles asked as Kira, Scott, and I watch the doctors roll several gourneys that each contained a dead body straight into the morgue.