Everyone Has Demons [Teen Wolf]

5

I was flipping through books absently, not paying attention unless they mentioned one of the key words I'd been looking out for. I opened the cover an old brown book and gasped at the dedication page: "For my daughters Evelyn and Bridget Bates."

"What?" Derek asked. He was at my side in a second.

"It's nothing. I mean nothing about what we're looking for. It's about me," I told him.

"Evelyn and Bridget?"

"Those were me and my sister's names in the late 1800s. Our mother was a writer, she mostly wrote about supernatural beings. It wasn't really your typical Victorian era literature." I flipped the book shut to look at the cover. "Unnatural Things and their Natural Order" by Maurine Bates. "Actually, there might be something in here. I remember this one, I think."

"Didn't you read it back then?"

"Not really, I wasn't always this interested in books." I opened it up and started flipping through it. There were chapters on just about every kind a supernatural being. I stopped when I reached the chapter on succubi. I flipped through the basics, every chapter started with information like their life span and diet. Then the chapter moved into legends and other stories that weren't as widely accepted. One of them caught my eye; it was something that Maurine had told us many times, like a bed time story.

Derek pointed at one of the illustrations, four items which were talked about in the paragraph below them. "What are those?"

"The four treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann," I told him. He gave me a look that said he had no idea what I was talking about. "Before the modern people of Ireland settled, there was a group of people known as the Tuatha Dé Danann; supposedly they were the descendants of the goddess Danu. They came from four cities in the North of Ireland – Falias, Gorias, Finias, and Murias. They were trained in magic arts and when they migrated they brought with them magical tools from each of their four cities. From Falias came the stone of Fál or Lia Fáil, the stone was said to contain the spirits of Celtic goddesses and it was able to tell who the rightful king would be and it could heal those who touched it among other things."

"That's this one," he said pointing out the drawing of a large straight stone.

"It's still in Ireland on the Hill of Tara. The spear of Lug," I said tapping the next picture "came from Gorias. It rendered its wielder unbeatable. The third artifact was the sword of Núadu from the city of Finias, once drawn no one could escape its wrath."

"Sounds like my kind of weapon."

I rolled my eyes. "I would love to see you take up sword fighting. That would be quite entertaining."

"You don't think I could handle stabbing someone?"

"It's cute that you think it's that easy. I doubt you have enough balance or coordination."

"But if it is inescapable, then it would have to make me look good," he reasoned.

"I think it would make an exception for you. Anyways, moving on." I looked at the fourth artifact. The paragraph on this one was considerably longer than the others and there were notes scribbled in the margins, in a very familiar hand. "This was my sister's book."

"What?"

"That's Brooke's handwriting. She was reading this and she was making notes. The fourth treasure was the Cauldron of the Dagda from Murias. It had the ability to grant the every wish of the person drinking from it; it never sends the person away unsatisfied. Basically it can do anything you could ever possibly think of; heal, cleanse, resurrect. You can only use it once though. It will fix every problem you have at that exact moment but you'll never be able to use it again. If someone were to have it, they better be sure of the thing they want to use it for."