Always There {6}

Chapter 18: Genotype

The packs in the animal clinic listening to a voicemail. They hear a woman say, "Hey, it's me again. I, uh, don't know why you can't seem to call me back. Maybe it's because you think you're punishing me, but this is too long. It's too much. And it's not about us. Something's happening in Beacon Hills, to the people here. I just... I just, I need to know everyone there with you is okay, so can you just, please, call me, please? One call, that's all I'm asking for, and if you can't call me back, then... I'm going to get my answer, anyway. That means I'm coming up there myself. If I don't get a call from you, I'm coming up there. So just try, try to remember, it's my pack, too." Theo says, "You pulled this off one of the bodies in the woods?" Liv says, "Yeah, I did. There were six dead bodies, and one of them had no face." Theo says, "Okay, so the one with no face, you think that's the woman on the phone?" Scott says, "Maybe." Mason says, "It's the same thing that happened to Aaron. It took over his body, basically stole his face and his DNA. So that means whoever this woman is, she could be the other half of the Anuk-ite." Theo says, "Which means she's just half of the problem. The other half we already know about, Aaron." Liam says, "We don't know where he is, though." Theo says, "Okay, hold on. Aren't we supposed to keep both halves apart? If we know about one half, let's just go for that one, that's Aaron." Mason says, "I'm not agreeing with Theo, but I do think it'd be easier to track down Aaron over a voice on a phone." Liam says, "That's agreeing with Theo." Mason says, "Yeah. But I thought I'd try to soften the blow a bit." Theo says, "Is everyone completely shocked that I might be right?" Liam says, "No, we just don't like it." Scott says, "Maybe we're all right, maybe we should be looking for both, Aaron and the woman on the phone. I mean, since you guys agree..." Mason says, "Wait, you mean, me and..." Theo says, "Him?" Scott says, "Yeah. You two find Aaron. Liv, Liam, and I will try to figure out whose voice is on the phone." Liv says, "If we find either half, maybe we don't have to fight at all. Stop the Anuk-ite..." Scott says, "Stop the war." Later, Liam picks up the phone and Liv stops Liam and says, "Do you even know what you're gonna say?" Liam says, "'Hello'?" Liv softly smiles at Liam and Scott says, "We might only get one shot at this. What are you gonna tell her?" Liam says, "I'm gonna try to get her to meet us somewhere." Liv says, "Maybe that might not be the best idea." Liam says, "Why? Then we'll know who they are." Liv says, "And they'll know who we are." The phone rings in Liv' s hand. Liam looks at Liv and says, "Answer it." Liv gives Liam the phone says, "You're the one who wanted to make the call, you take it." Then the phone stops ringing and then Liam calls the number back. A male answers it and says, "Beacon Hills High School. How can I..." Liam says, "It's someone at school." Scott says, "We might know who they are." Liv then grabs the phone to listen to the woman's voice again. Scott softly says, "Liv. Liv?" Liv realizes who's on the phone and looks to Liam and Scott and says, "I think I know who it is." Then they drive to the school and the Jeep. Liv's next Scott with Liam in the back. They watch Mrs. Finch get out of her car and Scott looks at Liv and says, "Mrs. Finch? You're sure?" Liv nods and says, "Yeah, it was her on the phone." Scott says, "Okay, well, that still doesn't prove that she's the Anuk-ite, or even that she's one of us." Liv says, "It was still her." Scott says, "Okay, well, we need to get closer, see if we can get her to expose her supernatural side." Liam says, "How are we gonna do that?" Scott looks at Liam and says, "You're gonna do it." Liam says, "Well, what about the hunters, and the Nazi student brigade?" Liv says, "Yeah, we'll be right there with you. Just get close. Find out and get out." Liam says, "But I hate Biology." Scott and Liv hide behind a wall near Mrs. Finch's classroom. Then Liam turns on one of Argent's emitters and Liv and Scott watch a girl run out the classroom. Liv says, "Anything?" Liam says, "No. No reaction at all." Scott then sees someone with a rifle, and Scott says, "Liam?" Liam says, "What?" Scott says, "Did Gabe get a text out?" Liam says, "I don't know." Liv and Scott watch the door rattle and wait for the person to reveal themselves. Liv stays back and Scott gets up to charge, but they see it's just a teacher. Scott exhales and Liv grabs Scott's hand to relax him and Scott squeezes Liv's hand with a soft smile. Liv says, "Hey, Liam, you better hurry up. I think we're running out of chances." Liam then does the mountain ash on the easer and Mrs. Finch just sneezes and Liv and Scott sigh. Liv walks in with Scott behind her and plays the message for Mrs. Finch. Mrs. Finch walks up to Liv and grabs the phone and closes stops the message. Mrs. Finch says, "Where did you find this?" Later, after telling Mrs. Finch, she says, "I told you, I don't know what the Primal is. I don't know what an Anuk-a-whatever is. I, I was just trying to call my daughter. Where did you get this?" Liam says, "You said you were in a pack. That was you on the phone, that's what you said." Mrs. Finch says, "And I don't know what business it is of yours, my personal life. I am the teacher, and you are the students. I don't go digging into your personal life outside of these walls, you shouldn't be digging into mine." Scott says, "Did you reach any of them before they died?" Mrs. Finch says, "What... what are you talking about?" Liv softly says, "Well, Mrs. Finch, I'm sorry, but your family, they were attacked, and they're dead." Mrs. Finch has tears in her eyes and says, "Dead? They... No, they can't be dead because... They were just, they were... They were in the woods, they were just, they're hiding out. They're scared."  Scott says, "We found that phone on a body. Three men, two boys." Mrs. Finch says, "What about my daughter?" Liv says, "Well, there was another body, but, uh..." Mrs. Finch says, "But what?" Scott says, "We couldn't identify it. The skin was stripped down to the muscle. There was no DNA. Pack tattoo was still there." Mrs. Finch softly cries and says, "Okay, sorry, but this... Um... No, this doesn't make sense. I mean, this isn't how biology works." Liam says, "That's what the Anuk-ite does. It finds a body and it takes its face. It takes the whole identity of that person." Mrs. Finch cries and says, "Not my daughter. No, not my daughter." Liv says, "There's a way to find out."  Liv tells Mrs. Finch about her plan and Mrs. Finch says, "I won't do that." Liv says, "Just call her and tell her not to go anywhere near the school. Tell her that there's someone or something hunting for someone like her." Mrs. Finch says, "You have to stop talking about this." Scott says, "If she shows up, at least you'll know what happened to your family, what happened to your daughter." Mrs. Finch sighs and shakes her head. Liv softly says, "I'll do it for you." Mrs. Finch gives the phone to Liv and Liv makes the call. Liv notices something and says, "That's her name? That's your daughter's name?" Mrs. Finch looks at Liv and says, "Quinn. My daughter's name is Quinn." Later, they hear something, and Mrs. Finch says, "That's her, isn't it?" Liv nods and Mrs. Finch says, "Well, what are you planning on doing?" Liam says, "Shh!" Mrs. Finch whispers, "You, you're not going to try to hurt her, are you? That's my daughter." Liam says, "We're gonna do what we have to do." Mrs. Finch whispers and says, "What exactly does that mean?" Scott whispers, "Just stay back. Liv? Liam?" Liv and Liam both say, "Ready." Then Mrs. Finch grabs the easer with Mountain Ash and fleshes it on them and they cough. Mrs. Finch then runs out the room and then they run after her and find her on the ground bleeding. Liv says, "Wait, I'll stay. You two find Quinn." Liam says, "Whoa, whoa, we need to face her together." Liv says, "I can't leave her. Go." Liam says, "What if she finds Aaron first? How are we supposed to fight both of them?" Liv softly says, "Liam, look, it's okay to be afraid. Just don't let it stop you, okay? You've got this. Both of you do. Go." Liam goes with Scott behind him, and Liv takes away Mrs. Finch's pain. Liv says, "Hold on, Mrs. Finch. We're gonna get help. You just, you need to hold on a little bit longer, okay?" Liv looks to see part of the Primal tattoo on her shoulder and lifts up her shirt to see all of it. Liv grabs Mrs. Finch face and says, "Mrs. Finch? Hey, I need you to look at me, okay? You have to trigger your healing. You need to shift." Liv then drags Mrs. Finch to a classroom and Mrs. Finch says, "It's my fault. I pushed her away." Liv says, "Mrs. Finch, please, you have to trigger your healing." Mrs. Finch says, "I forced her to run to them, I forced her to hide who she was." Liv says, "Hey. You need to shift, or you're gonna die. Do you get it? You'll die." Mrs. Finch says, "Oh, Quinn." Liv says, "Mrs. Finch? Hey. Shift, okay? You need to do it right now. Shift!" Mrs. Finch says, "Quinn..." Liv says, "She's gone. Your daughter's gone. Quinn is dead." Mrs. Finch growls and shifts. Later, Liv joins the rest of the pack in the hallway and Liam says, "How do we fight something we can't look at?" Lydia says, "I have no idea." Scott says, "We have to learn to fight without our eyes." Malia says, "Fight without seeing, that means..." Liv says, "Deucalion." Later, Liv's in her bathroom trying to wipe the blood off her shirt and Scott leans on the bathroom door and softly says, "You, okay?" Liv looks up at Scott and softly says, "Yeah, I'm fine." Liv sees that the blood isn't coming off and sighs. Liv goes to turn on the shower and says, "I can't get the rest of the blood off, so I'm just gonna wash it off." Scott nods and says, "Okay." As Scott goes to leave, Liv says, "You wanna join me?" Scott looks at Liv with a smile and Liv smiles right back. Scott watches Liv take her shirt off and he bites his lip. They both go in the shower and Liv has her hands in Scott's wet hair and arches her back as Scott sucks on her neck. They make out in the shower and then make love in the shower.