12: Broken Trust
Sean watched his sister's reaction to the revelation of the family secret he'd tried so hard to hide from her. She was horrified at the scene before her. Truthfully, Sean had been as well when he first saw her as well. He never thought his parents would stoop so low just to find something. Sean had never known them to do this.
"Mark!" Emily was at the helm of the electrical box. The Sullivan woman looked pissed and Sean knew she hadn't told his parents what they wanted to hear. He was pretty sure she was a werewolf, as her eyes were glowing bright blue. This was the first time he'd been back in the room since finding that his mother and another Procurer had taken her. "I told you to wait!"
"She needs to see what we do. I'm done with the two of you coddling her."
"Coddling me? You kidnapped someone!" Lindsey screeched. "Who the hell are you people!?"
"Lindsey!"
"Don't yell at her!" Sean interjected. "You're the one that decided to bring her here now! To drop a bomb on her knowing she wasn't ready to know the truth!"
"Sean, I will not tell you again."
"Tell me what? That I should know my place in this family? It's bad enough I have to sacrifice my happiness. Don't make Lindsey make the same sacrifices!"
"How about you guys take your family discussion elsewhere," Isabel suddenly said. "I feel a little awkward being in the middle of your personal business."
"Shut up," Mark said.
She attempted to shrug.
"What are you doing to her?" Lindsey asked.
"Using an old persuasion method to tell them something I don't know."
Mark backhanded Isabel. "I said shut up!"
"Dad!"
"You're torturing her!?" Lindsey was appalled. "What kind of monsters are you to torture another human being!?"
"That thing over there is no human."
Isabel gave a dramatic eye roll.
"Sean, get her out of here," Emily said.
"No, she's going to stay in here and see what we do."
"She's sixteen!"
"So was Sean when he found out."
"He's the eldest!"
"It doesn't matter." He motioned to the box. "Continue."
Emily brushed her hair away from her face and turned towards Isabel. "The sooner you tell us, the sooner we can let you go."
"When you let me go, you better get the hell out of this town, because there are wolves in my pack that will kill you for this and not think twice about it."
"Isabel, dear, nice try but we both know you are not a wolf. And just because you have the protection of a couple of Hales doesn't make you a part of their pack." The name caught both Sean's and Lindsey's attention. Lindsey didn't understand their talk about wolf packs. "Where is the Eye of Odin?"
"Are you even listening? I told you I don't know what the hell that is!"
"You're lying."
"I swear to you I don't know!"
Emily turned a knob on the electrical box, causing electricity to go through wires connected to the fence and Isabel gave a scream. Lindsey screamed as well. Isabel's body arched and her eyes glowed again. Emily turned it off and Isabel sagged. "Where is the Eye of Odin?"
"I don't know!" The crackle of electricity went through the fence again.
"Stop it!" Lindsey screamed. "You'll kill her!"
Isabel sagged again, breathing heavily.
"No, this won't kill her. Not yet."
"You have to believe me. I don't know what it is or where it is."
"The lies will get you nowhere. I know it's a Valkyrie artifact and I know that the Pure know where it is. Tell me now!"
"I don't know!" Isabel screamed at Emily.
"Oh, God," Sean whispered, realizing now that Isabel Sullivan was a Valkyrie. He'd never come across one in person, but he'd heard about the power they held. They were protectors and fierce fighters. And he was also aware of what her Scream would do if she unleashed it. "Mom, back off!" Instead of backing off, Emily turned on the power again. And Isabel lost control of her human form. Her iridescent wings extended, right before her body started to glow. "Ah, sh—" The curse was not able to fully leave Sean's lips before she gave an extremely loud Valkyrie Scream and the light burst forth from her body. When the light died, no one was on their feet. Except for Lindsey. Sean reached up and felt the blood coming from his ear.
"Lindsey?" He staggered to his feet. His parents and the three Procurers that had been in the room all had blood dripping from their ears. "Lindsey? You okay?" Lindsey was in complete shock. Sean took her face in his hands and noticed that she was also the only one whose ears weren't bleeding.
Emily approached Isabel, who was sagging and seemed to be on the verge of passing out. Emily grabbed her by her jaw. "So you used an alias to hide from the Dark Valkyrie. I know who you are and I will get the location of the Eye from you. Your ruse is exposed, Esther Evans." The Valkyrie's eyes fluttered closed as she completely passed out. She turned to Sean. "Take Lindsey back home."
~~~
Derek was sitting on the couch in his loft. Since moving into the loft, it hadn't felt like home until Isabel moved in with him. Scott had forbidden him from speaking to Devin. He was desperate for any clue as to what happened to Isabel. He knew it had to have been these Procurers the mysterious man had warned Isabel about. Chris was speaking with his contacts to see if he could uncover clues as to the whereabouts of any Procurers in the area. Derek had never heard of Procurers, but he wasn't surprised that Deaton had. Derek picked up his phone to call the vet to see if he'd meet him at the clinic when he heard the distinctive eagle-toned scream.
Derek jumped to his feet. "Isabel."
~~~
Lindsey rang the doorbell, tears rolling down her cheeks. She was extremely upset and hurt. Upset that her parents were monsters and hurt that Sean knew about it and was involved in the family business of torturing people. The moment they returned home, Lindsey jumped into her car and left. Sean didn't even bother to stop her. He'd explained everything to Lindsey between apologies. She's always been close with her brother but she now felt like she didn't know him at all. So Lindsey went to the one person she could trust.
Danny opened the door. "Lindsey? What's wrong?" He could tell she was upset.
"I'm sorry if I woke you but I need someone to talk to."
Danny stepped aside and Lindsey walked in.
"I'm sorry." The two teens went to Danny's room and she sat down on his bed, Danny sitting next to her, holding a box of tissues.
"What happened?" he asked.
The tears started to fall again. "Everything I know has been a lie," she said, sniffing. "My family isn't who I thought they were. Nothing around here is what I thought it was." Danny knew right then that she knew about Beacon Hills. He waited, not wanting to let her know that he knew as well. "Please don't think I'm crazy when I tell you this. You're the one person I trust to tell you this."
"I'm pretty sure there's nothing you can tell me that will make me think you're crazy."
"Really?" Lindsey took a tissue from the box in her best friend's hands.
"Try me."
"My family is something called Procurers. They collect rare artifacts and relics for high-paying clients. Apparently, this stuff has connections to the supernatural. Mom and Dad run the whole thing and Sean knew. They'd been making him sacrifice everything for this and I think they want me to, too. Danny." She looked at him. "I think they torture and kill people to get locations of these things they look for. Sean said that all the fairy tales and legends are real and that a lot of them are in Beacon Hills."
"And you're upset that they kept it from you."
Lindsey shook her head. "It's not that they didn't tell me the truth about the world. It's the way they did it," Lindsey paused, noticing that Danny didn't seem too surprised about what she was saying. "You knew too, didn't you?"
"That your family was Procurers? No."
"I meant that the supernatural creatures from books were real."
Danny sighed. "My ex is a werewolf."
"You dated a werewolf? Really?"
"Ethan didn't know I knew until I broke it off with him. There's too much weird stuff going on in this town for it not to be a supernatural waystation." Danny tried to steer them back to the original topic. "So if you're not upset because they didn't tell you, why are you?"
"There was a woman there. They had her handcuffed to a fence and they were torturing her asking for something called the Eye of Odin."
"What's that?"
"I have no idea. She didn't seem to know either but Mom didn't believe her. She then lets out this scream that sounded almost like an eagle and this light just comes out of her body and she sprouts wings."
Danny was sure all the color drained from his face just then. He knew of only one supernatural in Beacon Hills that had wings. "Oh, my God," Danny whispered.
"What?"
"What was her name?"
"Mom called her Esther."
"Lindsey, I really don't think that's her name. There's a pack of werewolves in Beacon Hills. If she's who I think she is, she's a part of that pack."
"If there's a pack, then there's an alpha right?"
"Yeah, there's an Alpha. I knew him well. Are you willing to help them?"
Lindsey looked at Danny. He knew about this world and was asking if she was willing to betray her family to help Esther's pack. "I'll want to talk to him face to face."
"It can be arraigned." Danny picked up his phone and dialed.
~~~
"You couldn't pick up where it was coming from?" Deaton asked.
Derek shook his head. "No, it echoed. Like it was coming from everywhere at once. It means she's still alive."
"We hope."
"She's still alive," Scott said, Stiles, Lydia, Kira, and Malia right behind him. "Danny is bringing someone that knows where to find her."
"Who?" Deaton asked.
"I don't know. He wouldn't tell me over the phone. All I know is they're coming here."
"The sooner they get here, the sooner we can get Isabel."
"I wouldn't be so eager to take on Procurers," a voice said from behind Derek. "They make Gerard Argent look like a preschooler."
Derek spun around, his eyes flashing. Devin held his hands up as the Beta growled and leapt on Devin.
"Derek!" Scott, Stiles, Malia, and Deaton jumped in to pull Derek off of Devin. "Stop!"
Derek snarled.
"Enough!"
Derek glared at Scott, feeling the Alpha compulsion.
"This isn't helping Isabel!"
"You've got to be kidding me?" No one had heard the door open with the commotion. "One of you is an Alpha werewolf?" Everyone turned to see Danny and Lindsey.
"Wait a minute...," Stiles started. "Lindsey? You're the one that can tell us how to find Isabel?"
"That's not what my mom called her, but yes."
"Your mom?"
"Apparently, I come from a family of Procurers who think Esther or Isabel or whatever her name is knows where something called the Eye of Odin is."
Devin suddenly cursed.
"You know what that is?" Scott asked.
"It's a legend. At least I thought it was."
"Mind sharing?" Stiles asked.
"Legend has it the Norse god Odin went to Mimir's Well to gain wisdom and knowledge, but Mimir required that he sacrifice an eye to prove that was what he wished. When he did so, he was able to drink from the well. Odin's eye remained at the bottom of the well until Mimir gave it to the Valkyrie for safekeeping. The years the eye spent in the well caused it to turn into a jewel and the most powerful of the Valkyrie kept it in their possession." Devin turned to Lindsey. "Did she do a light burst?"
"Yeah."
"Whoever sent the Procurers must not know that Esther is dead."
"So they've mistaken Isabel for her mother," Derek said. He turned to Lindsey. "Where is she?"
"She's in one of our warehouses, but you won't be able to just walk in there, get her and walk out. By the way, which one of you is the alpha?"
"That would be me," Scott said. "How well do you know the warehouse where they're keeping Isabel?"
"Not very well, but it won't take me long to do so."
"The sooner we can get to Isabel, the better."
Lindsey nodded, not even thinking twice about betraying her parents. She just hoped she could keep Sean away from the warehouse when she brought the pack in.
Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: Truyen247.Pro