Chapter Eight: The Final Trick

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Scott sat next to Lydia, an arm round her shoulder as he looked round at the solemn faces of his pack. They had gathered in Scott's old house after the funeral. Mason had gone home already, exhausted from grief and crying. No one could blame him, he had just lost his husband.

The Nogitsune had been MIA for the past week, no sign of Stiles or the twins. It was if they had completely vanished. They were all still clinging on to the hope that they were alive as Lydia had not sensed their death. Then again, she couldn't sense them at all. It was if they had vanished off the face of the earth, without leaving a single trace, not one clue to signal where they could be or what happened to them. It was tearing Lydia apart.

Scott has seen Lydia go through so many hardships but nothing compares to what she now faces. He could see it in her eyes, the loss of hope. She had buried two bodies this week and it was eating away at her, and they could all see it. Lydia Martin-Stilinski was deteriorating in front of their eyes. Her unbrushed hair hang loosely in front of her face, her skin was deathly pale and dark purple circles became more prominent underneath her eyes each passing hour. She refused to eat or sleep, not until she knew her daughters were safe.

Scott watched her now as she lent into him exhausted, in a small black dress that she had hastily put on for the second time this week. He rubbed her shoulders gently and looked up as Melissa brought through a tray of coffee. He smiled in thank you as his phone buzzed. He looked down to see it then stood up to face his pack.

"Deatons coming." Scott looked around, the packs eyes widened in surprise. "I texted him after the incident at the animal clinic, I thought we could use his help." Lydia sat up abruptly and walked to the door. Scott eyebrows furrowed in confusion at her reaction. She jumped as the doorbell rang, frozen in place until Melissa pushed past her to open the door.

"Mrs Mcall it's nice to see you again." Deaton greeted smiling. Melissa returned it and welcomed him in. Deaton stayed at the door eyeing Lydia curiously, he waited a moment before reaching into his pocket. Lydia gasped as he plunged a syringe full of green liquid into her neck. She frowned in anger as she collapsed to the floor unconscious.

"Deaton!" Scott shouted, running down towards Lydia's unmoving body. He looked to Deaton in shock, Deaton only knelt down next to her pulling back her hair to reveal a lightning pattern of markings coming up from her back onto her neck.

"Is that what I think it is?" Malia asked eyeing the familiar lines with fear. Deaton nodded sadly.

"I'm afraid so. I thought you would recognise the effects of wolf lichen from your time spent at the echo house with one Stiles Stilinski."

"But what is it doing on her?" Malia asked pointing to the strawberry blonde. Deaton sighed as he stood up to face the confused pack.

"I'm afraid you've all fallen for the Nogitsune's final trick. You see when Scott texted me about the Nogitsune's return I was confused as to how it could have possibly possessed Stiles once more. And then I realised what actually happened, you see Lydia and I were working together in those two weeks when Stiles was on assignment, making our own bestiary." Scott looked up confused wondering where this was going.

"We made a version of the book documenting each creature we had faced, its strengths and weaknesses and how to defeat it. It was meant to be a guide to help defeat rogue supernaturals, so if anyone came to face them they could use this bestiary for life saving knowledge."

"Two weeks ago I sent Lydia to the Nemeton to retrieve a specific type of wolfsbane that only grows around those parts. It is my guess that she was drawn to the burial site of the Nogitsune, from its connection to death and was tricked into digging it up and setting it free. What she didn't realise was that it decided to possess her instead."

Issac's eyes widened in shock, he ran a hand through his hair as he looked to the veterinarian.

"But how is that possible? Stiles is the one possessed. We've seen him, he's killed people he's the one being controlled." Issac exclaimed, he looked to the pack and they all nodded in agreement.

"But maybe he was never there," Derek suggested. "You remember in the woods how he could duplicate himself? Maybe it was all just some illusion it had generated. It said it had grown in strength I just don't think any of use realised how much."

"But what about the real Stiles? Where is he?" Scott asked looking to Deaton, his heart rate quickened in worry for his friend.

"I checked up with a few contacts in the FBI on the way over." Deaton explained, "He never went on assignment, he never turned up."

"So what does that mean? Stiles had been missing for three weeks and no one noticed?" Scott shouted raising his arms in the air.

"Hey Scott it's ok we'll find him," Malia spoke comfortingly putting a hand on his shoulder. "We'll find them all I promise." She whispered pulling him into an embrace.

"But what do we do with her?" Liam asked looking down at Lydia, who was still lying on the floor.

"We do what we did before." Scott spoke up, drawing himself away from Malia. "It's a battle of the mind not the body, we spilt them." Scott looked up at the pack as he spoke. He looked down to see Deaton kneeling over Lydia.

"And Scott, the lines are fading fast, if we're going to act we are going to need to act fast."

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Another chapter up! I hope you guys like this little plot twist, I hope I don't annoy you guys too much but I think you won't be as angry with me after the next chapter I hope x

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