Allison's POV:

"This doesn't seem so bad." Stiles shrugged as he, Lydia, and I cautiously walk through the town in Mexico.

A bike rung its bell as it rode passed us, the man on the vehicle giving a subtle wink towards Lydia and I couldn't help but chuckle at her not-so-amused expression.

"It's not the town, it's the plan." She scoffs.

"If my dad was here, he would probably think the same thing," I add with a small chuckle.

Stiles furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "What's wrong with the plan?"

"Stiles, this could be the stupidest plan we've ever come up with." Lydia scolds. "You're aware of that, right?"

"Hey!"

"Lydia, you can at least say it in a nicer way." I nudge her side. "It's not stupid."

He smiles gratefully. "See, Allison gets it."

"But then again, it's really not a good one," I add and he drops his smile.

"Okay, look. I'm aware it's not our best."

"We are going to die." Lydia bluntly emphasizes and adjusted the strap to her purse as the three of us continued to cross the street.

"Are you saying that as a Banshee, or are you just being pessimistic?" He questions.

She hums. "I'm saying it as a person who doesn't want to die."

I nod. "Yeah, I'm with Lydia on this one. I sort of want to make it back to Miss Flores' house in time so she doesn't stress call my dad about how I'm not home."

"Okay, can we—could both of you just restrict any talk of death to actual Banshee predictions and negativity about the plan." Stiles retorted as he looked between both of us.

Lydia and I glance at one another before looking back at Stiles.

"This plan is stupid and we're going to die," Lydia says with a fake smile.

"Oh, thank you." He copies her fake smile before he shook his head with disbelief. "You can't even just be positive for one—"

"Will you guys stop? You're arguing like an old married couple." I scold and point to the building we were walking close to where rather two large intimidating men stood. "We're here."

The three of us stop at the threshold and the two bodyguards intimidatingly stared us down.

"Estamos aqui para la fiesta." Lydia fluently spoke to the two men.

The one on the right numbly shakes his head and I look to Stiles, knowing that we had to go with our second plan.

He digs into his jacket pocket to pull out a tarot card that had a skull design and showed the card to the men. They both simply look up and I follow their line of vision, seeing a small camera trained to us.

Stiles moves the card where the camera would clearly see it and within seconds, the door opens behind them.

He shoves the card back into his pocket and walks in first with Lydia and I following behind. The door shuts as soon as we fully inter the building and I glance to Lydia who wore an uneasy expression.

"I don't like this," I whisper, noticing the lamps that lit the hallway rattled due to the music from the party.

Stiles grabs the handle to the door and pushes it open, causing all of us to be bombarded with cheers as the beats of the electronic music blared in the room.

Lydia and I follow closely behind Stiles as he pushed his way through the huge crowd until we eventually reached the bar.

As soon as we take out seats, three shots of alcohol were placed in front of us with a bit that spilled to the side.

Stiles reaches for his wallet but instantly I feel someone's hand on my shoulder. "No, on the house." The man takes notice of us not reaching for the shot glass. "Most American teenagers don't cross the border to refuse a drink."

"We didn't come to drink." Lydia answers and looks to me, knowing I had the bullet casing with me.

I pull out the bullet casing from my pocket and drop it inside, causing my drink to overflow a bit but it clearly showed why we were here.

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"Severo hates this music." The short tanned woman named Araya spoke as she wiped a dagger with an old cloth. The three of us were seated in front of her with several of her bodyguards around the room. "Me? I've always loved the music of the youth. This kind, especially. It has a savage energy."

"With all due respect," I spoke, not wanting to beat around the bush. "we're here for Derek Hale."

She tilts her head a bit. "Is that so?"

"We know you have him," Lydia added. "We've heard you can be bought."

Stiles slams the first stack of cash on the table then proceeds to place the rest of the four stacks that were divided ten thousand dollars each.

He gestured to the cash. "That's fifty thousand, for Derek." He says but Araya simply smirks.

"Now, where does a teenage boy get money like this?" She glances over to me. "Japanese mafia?"

The three large bodyguards cock their guns, but I made sure to keep my posture stiff to show I wasn't afraid. For Stiles and Lydia, however, they both jump at the noise which causes Araya to lean forward.

"Not smart to come alone." She taunts, but Stiles smugly tilted his head.

"What makes you think we came alone?"

Araya slowly leans back and stands up from her spot, glancing towards her bodyguards who immediately spoke into their walkie-talkies before glaring at us. "You brought a wolf into my home?"

"We brought an Alpha."

"And," I swiftly pull out my Chinese ring dagger from my boot and casually twiddle the blade around. "I'm an Argent."

Araya looks towards the window. "My friends," She sighs. "I don't think you are aware of your poor timing. Do you know what the dark moon is?"

"The part of the lunar phase when the moon is least visible in the sky," Lydia answered.

"But do you know its meaning?"

"Some people say it's a time of reflection. Or..." She momentarily glances at me before facing forward again. "grief."

Araya turns to us and leans against the chair she previously sat on. "Grief and loss, mija." She corrected. "I wonder why, when you and your friends have suffered so much loss, you would risk it again for someone like Derek Hale."

"Cause we don't like to lose." Stiles retorts.

She trains her eyes to me. "But you lost someone close to you recently, hm?" I clench my fist tightly on the dagger, keeping my mouth shut so I wouldn't snap.

"Nadie en la cantina." Someone spoke from the walkie-talkie.

"Front door, clear."

"South, clear."

Severo rose his radio close to his face. "North?" No one answers. "Norte? Adonde está norte?"

"Stiles," Scott's voice echoed around the room from the walkie-talkie. "take ten off the table." Severo quickly leaves the room with one of the bodyguards, most likely to search for Scott, Malia, and Kira.

Stiles obliges and takes a stack off the table, shoving the cash in his jacket pocket.

"Maybe you should take the deal," Lydia spoke up.

Araya chuckles and leans forward. "While I'm keen to follow the warning of a Banshee, I'm going to have to decline."

Stiles shakes his head with disbelief. "C'mon just give us Derek. You don't want him anyway. Haven't you noticed what a downer he is?" He looks to Lydia and I for help, but I simply nod in agreement. "No sense of humor, poor conversationalist. Just come on, take the money."

Araya grabs the walkie-talkie on the table and clicks the button to speak into it. "Severo? Show them how the Calaveras negotiate."

Uh oh.

FLASHBACK

"Okay, so how long has it been?" Stiles asks as he, Lydia, and I follow behind Scott inside the clinic.

"Weeks. He hasn't gotten back to any of my texts." Scott responded as he went through the containers on the shelf.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Has he ever returned your texts?"

"Once. Definitely once," He grabs one of the jars and faces us again. "but this time it felt different. I went to the loft and the alarm was on. Everything was okay, but then I found these." He opens the jar, revealing several brass bullet casings.

I reach inside the jar and pull out the casing, noticing the familiar skull symbol I recognized. "I know what this is. My dad went over with me about different brands the hunters use for their bullet cases. This one is the mark of the Calaveras, a family of hunters in Mexico."

"What would they want with Derek?" Lydia questioned.

"You don't think they killed him, do you?" Stiles asked.

"I don't know," Scott muttered and glanced at Lydia. "that's why you're here." He pushes the jar closer to her and I drop the bullet casing back inside.

She puts her hand inside and grabs a handful, moving them around which caused some to clink against each other. We watch as she shuts her eyes before letting some fall to the metal table with a clatter until it's silent once more.

"Lydia?" I whisper, seeing the pure look of confusion on her face. "What did you see?"

"Is he dead?" Stiles bluntly asks.

"No...but I'm not sure he's alive either." She hesitantly looked up.

"What does that mean?" Scott asks.

"I don't know...there's something not right. I just...I don't know. There was a gunfight, but then the vision somehow transitioned to smoke."

"It has to be their smoke bombs to make sure Derek couldn't see them during the ambush." I cross my arms.

"So if the Calaveras have him, how do we find them?" Stiles glanced at his best friend.

Scott reaches for the bullet casing with a determined filled expression.

"Mexico."

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A/N:

hey everyone

let me just say that the amount of love I've gotten from the last book is very very much appreciated and I'm grateful for the support you've given which practically made me want to continue the series.

I know I've barely started this book but I just found out some news about my family where I need to sort of cope by myself until I can be in the right state of mind again.

I'll try to update if I can but im not completely sure if I could do my frequent updates like before.

I love you all and please be patient with me 💛

~Cimbello