There had been so many more bodies found in the tunnels.

The Beast was killing them, and we didn't know how to stop it.

In all, there were 23 bodies.

We thought that the Dread Doctors were hiding the bodies because they were covering for the Beast, protecting it like a parent would.

The next day, we were at school.

I was walking along through the hallway toward my locker alone.

The PA came on. "By the order of the Sheriff, a county-wide curfew goes into effect tonight at sundown. All after-school activities are cancelled until further notice. Students should go directly home at the end of the school day."

Deputies were walking through the hall with shotguns. People in the hallway watched them walk away.

At my locker, I saw Scott and Stiles down the hallway talking to another deputy, not knowing what to do, opening my locker, listening to them.

"You know, I think this is a bit much in terms of fire power for a high school," Stiles told him.

"Your dad's the one who issued us these things and he wouldn't officially say why," the deputy told him.

"Did he say anything unofficially?" Scott asked.

"No," the deputy answered. "But everyone's got a theory."

"What's yours?" Stiles asked.

"I shouldn't be talking to you guys," the deputy told them. "Don't you have class?"

"Come on, Strauss," Stiles told him. "What's your theory?"

"Do you guys believe in the supernatural?" Strauss asked.

Stiles and Scott exchanged a seriously? look.

I rolled my eyes at the question.

Scott, Liam, Derek, Isaac, Cora, Peter, Ethan, and I were all werewolves. Aiden, Boyd and Erica were werewolves. Stiles used to be possessed by a Nogitsune. Malia was a werecoyote. Kira was a kitsune. Lydia was a banshee. We all had been terrorized by werewolf hunters, Alphas, Kanimas, Darachs, Dread Doctors, Chimeras.

Did we believe in the supernatural? 

Hell, yes. We were the supernatural.

I closed my locker, turning to walk down the hallway.

Stiles and Scott saw me, looking as if they didn't know what to do, either, but like they knew they had to do something.

I hesitated for a long moment, turning around, walking away.

 £   

The bell rang to let class out.

I walked down the hallway.

Liam walked toward me. "Hey, I need you to tell Scott something for me."

"Uh, why me?" I asked.

"Because I'm meeting Mason later for practice, and you said so yourself that you need to find a way to talk to him," Liam answered. "So, you can talk to him about this. Just tell him he was right about the tunnels. Just tell him that, okay?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"When we were down there looking for Hayden and the other Chimeras, we didn't know it yet, but we were a lot closer than we thought," Liam told me. "There's an operating theater down there. Down in the tunnels."

"How do you know?" I asked.

"Malia told me that she found it by scent," Liam answered. "Just tell him, okay? Tell Scott he was right."

Liam walked away to meet up with Mason.

I sighed, considering, walking down the hallway.

 £ 

I went down into the tunnels alone, looking around. My phone vibrated. I took it out, walking past a snake sculpture on the wall, looking at my phone, seeing a text from Liam.

Shouldn't be down there alone, and I would be there if I could. That's why I called someone in to help you while I'm with Mason.  

I frowned, coming to a stop. I walked along, coming to a side tunnel, looking into it to see Scott standing in the shadows.

"You lost?" Scott asked.

I sighed unevenly. "Completely." Scott walked closer. I held up my phone. "Let me guess. Liam told you I was down here."

"Yeah," Scott answered. "He knew that you weren't going to tell me, so he told me himself and told me that you would more likely come down here by yourself."

"I'm just trying to figure out if this is where they took the Chimeras," I told him. "Liam said Malia was down here, too. That the scent was the same. Said you were right."

"Uh, there's a turn you keep passing," Scott told me. 'It's easy to miss."

"How many times did you watch me pass it?" I asked.

"Five," Scott answered. I raised my eyebrows, nodding. "Come on. Let's see if we can find it together."

I nodded, following Scott down the tunnel.

 £   

Scott and I were still walking, feeling vibrations in the tunnels.

"Do you feel that?" Scott asked.

I nodded. "It's like something's vibrating."

"I can't tell where it's coming from," Scott told me.

I knelt to the floor, putting my hand over the ground, feeling the vibrations. I looked up at Scott. "It's coming from everywhere." I sighed, looking away. "I was just trying to do something right."

"You do a lot right," Scott told me.

"Yeah, but I did one thing really wrong," I told him.

"I know what really happened, Natalie," Scott told me. "I know Theo locked you up, and your fear of confined spaces kicked in on the supermoon. And you lost control. You and Isaac used to lose control like that when you were trapped somewhere even if it wasn't on a full moon. I can't blame you if you lost total control on the supermoon."

I chuckled without humor. "That's what Liam said. That's exactly what Liam said."

"Yeah, well, Liam's right," Scott told me.

I stood, sighing. "It doesn't matter. I almost killed you. And I'm sorry. I'm so, so, so sorry."

"It wasn't your fault," Scott told me. "Theo made you lose control. And you helped Liam bring me back."

I shook my head. "Why does everyone say that like it gets me a free pass? Like I somehow made up for it?"

"You did," Scott told me.

"No, I didn't," I told him. "Scott, you... you took me and Isaac in when Derek and Cora kicked us out, and you still let me stay at your house even after Isaac left town. You're like my brother, Scott. You're like family. And that's what makes this so hard, on top of everything. And nothing I say, nothing I do is going to say how much I'm truly sorry." I fought back tears, taking a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Scott. After what I did, I don't blame you if I lost you, if I lost Melissa, if I lost the only family that I have left in this town. I wouldn't blame you if you kicked me out of your house, out of this town, straight to Isaac."

Scott shook his head. "You didn't lose us." Scott wrapped his arms around me. I tried to keep from crying, returning the embrace. "We're waiting for you to come home." We pulled away. "Because you're right. We might feel like family to you, and that means that you feel like family to us, too. Okay? We can rebuild the pack and make it stronger and better and fight against everything and come out stronger, like we always do. Together." I took a deep breath, nodding. "But not down here. We've been walking around for hours and all we've been able to find is some stupid snake sculpture on the wall." I frowned in confusion, turning to face the sculpture, walking closer. "You think it's important?"

I shrugged, turning the snake sculpture slowly at first, then all the way.

The vibrations wound down.

A panel in the wall slid open, revealing a door.

Scott and I exchanged a surprised look, walking toward the door, walking inside.

Chris Argent aimed a gun at us until he realized who we were, putting the gun away.

I recognized a scent, looking at Chris. "You didn't."

"I had to," Chris told us.

Gerard Argent walked out into view, smirking. "Hello, Scott. Hello, Natalie." Scott and I glared at him, letting our eyes glow red for him, and gold for me. "Well, Scott, I haven't seen that color on you. It suits you."

Scott and I let our eyes return normal.

I was angry at Gerard for him trying to kill me, Boyd and Erica years ago, looking at Chris. "What were you thinking?"

"That we need him," Chris answered.

"He's right," Gerard told us. "It you want to catch a werewolf like the Beast of Gevadan, you need more than one Argent."

Chris walked toward us. "He knows all the stories. All the folklore. Everything written and everything passed down."

Scott stepped closer. "Are you sure about this?"

Chris looked from Scott to me, nodding for us to follow him. "Take a look." We followed them into the operating theater, where there was a large painting on the wall. There were two creatures. One was on fire. One looked like the Beast. "The one on the right is the Beast of Gevaudan. You know what the other one is?"

Scott shook his head.

"No," I answered.

"The Hellhound," Gerard told us. "The guardian of supernatural places. They're both creatures of the night. But you may know them as ordinary people during the day."

"And most likely neither of them know what they are," Chris told us. Scott and I exchanged a look. "What is it?"

"I found a message in Latin," I answered. "Damnatio Memoriae."

"They want it to remember itself," Gerard told us.

"That might give us time," Chris told us.

"Time for what?" Scott asked.

Chris walked toward the painting. "To prevent this."

Chris kicked the remaining wall covering the painting away, revealing skeletons and bodies underneath the Hellhound and the Beast.

"Who are they?" I asked.

"Us," Scott answered. "It's all of us."

 £   

Malia had called us to tell us that the Desert Wolf had kidnapped Deaton, but that they had been able to save him from her and the Beast. They were waiting in the animal clinic.

Scott and I walked into the back room of the animal clinic to see that Malia, Liam and Deaton were already there. 

Malia nodded.

Liam smiled a small smile.

Deaton looked toward us.

Scott and Deaton smiled, walking toward each other, embracing in relief, pulling away. I walked closer so that Deaton and I could hug, smiling, pulling away. I looked at Liam, smiling in relief. Liam smiled, nodding.

 £ 

Scott, Stiles, Kira, Malia, Liam and I were meeting in Scott's house, standing around the table, looking at a map of Eichen House on the table in front of us. We all looked at each other, glad to be back together, smiling small smiles, nodding.

I put an Eichen Security Log on the table in front of us.

Scott nodded, looking over all of us. "Now we get Lydia."