Sorry, guys, it's not Isaac! :) I've tried to write Tara and Isaac together before, but it seems too forced to me, and if it's forced, it's not good.

Who I'm thinking about has been building up since book one, and Tara's REALLY reluctant to do ANYTHING about it, so you won't see much of it until later on, but . . . . :)

Sorry, Tisaac fans. It just seems too forced to me, but you WILL have something that you'll like. :)

~~~~Flashback~~~~

"I know where they are," Scott said as he slid the loft door open, walking closer to Peter, Derek, Cora, Boyd and me. 

"Same building as the Argents, we know," Derek said. 

"Cora and I followed the twins," Boyd explained.

"Then they want you to know," Scott said.

"Or, more likely, they don't care," I said.

He stood next to me, looking down at the carefully laid out maps. "What is this?" 

"Isn't it obvious?" Peter asked. "The schemers are scheming, coming up with a coup de main, better know as a pre-emptive strike." 

"You're going after them?" 

"Tomorrow," Derek answered.

Scott looked at me, and I said, "And you're gonna help us." 

 *

I was fighting. Everyone was. I saw Boyd's chest being slashed by Kali's toe nails as Ennis held him still. Then Boyd fell as I felt my arm behind held from behind me, spinning me to face Ennis as he clawed into my sides as hard as he could . . . 

 *

"They're one floor above them in the penthouse, right about Allison," Derek said.

"So kill them first, that's the plan?" Scott asked.

"They won't even see it coming," Boyd said. 

"Why is the default plan always murder? Just once, can someone try to come up with something that doesn't involve killing everyone?" 

"You never get tired of being so blandly moral, do you?" Peter asked rhetorically, then looked to Derek. "Not that I disagree with him." 

"I do," Cora stated bluntly. "Why do we need this kid?" 

"This kid helped save your life," I told her. I looked at Scott. He looked back. "And you know we can't just sit back and wait for them to make the first move." 

"You can't beat a pack of Alphas," Scott told me. 

"That's why we're going after Deucalion," Cora said, making us look at her. "Just him." 

I saw her, Peter and Derek giving me a weird look and I looked down to the maps, ignoring them as Boyd said, "Cut off the head of the snake, and the body dies." 

"Only this isn't a snake, it's a hydra," Peter said, looking away from me with his quizzativ, piercing gaze. "And like Scott says, they're all Alphas." 

"Deucalion's still the leader," Derek said. 

"Let's hope so. Because you know what happened when Hercules cut off one of the heads of the hydra?" 

"Two more grew back in its place," Scott said as he looked over the maps. 

"Somebody's been doing their summer reading." 

 *

As I laid on the ground below Ennis, with him reaching down an arm to slash toward my throat, trying to kill me, Derek jumped over me, punching Ennis back, toward the edge as Scott neared them. Ennis head-butted  Derek as I tried to stand. 

And saw them falling toward the edge. Over the edge. Toward the broken escalators below, too far, the impact too strong . . . 

I looked over the edge, looking to Derek on the escalators and Ennis a few feet away on the ramp . . . 

Both had their eyes closed. I couldn't hear Derek's heart beat. 

Oh, my God. 

Derek, my older brother, who've I've been through hell with, was dead.

 *

~~~~Now~~~~

Derek was dead.

After all of the hell we'd been through, I couldn't wrap my head around it. 

Back in the building where we'd fought the Alphas, on the broken escalators, I knelt down to the spot where I'd seen Derek's body next to Ennis'. Both were gone now. 

"You really sure you wanna be here?" Cora's voice asked me as she walked closer. "You were with him for a little over a year, right?" 

"So?" I asked, not looking up.

"So, you were closer to him than we were." 

"If you could call it close. We hardly even trusted each other . . . At first." 

"Yet, you're here, you're hurt," Cora said as she stood next to me, and I blinked, looking up. "You don't really believe he's dead." 

"You'd be surprised how many times we both cheated death." 

A noise at the top of the escalators made us both look up, and I stood up as Cora started up before me. 

"It's just me, you uncle," Peter said. "Uncle Peter." 

"Uncle Peter who killed sister Laura," Cora said as we started to walk up together. 

"Mm, not my finest hour, no." He finished as we reached the top. "But I'm hardly the only dysfunctional family member. Did Derek or Tara mention that he killed me too? Slashed my throat, ear to ear. She nearly threw a piece of broken glass through it the first time she saw me alive again." 

I didn't answer, looking away, as Cora asked, "So that means I should trust you?" 

"Actually, I'm wondering if I can trust you." 

"You've known me for 17 years." 

"I knew you for 11, leaving the last six unaccounted for. And I'm not particularly fond of things unaccounted." 

I sighed an annoyed sigh, looking back at Peter. "What are you doing here?" 

"Same as you," he answered. "Wondering where the bodies went. Wondering if they were carried out, or maybe if one of them managed to find enough strength to push themselves up off the floor and walk out, leaving the three of us standing here to answer the all-important question." 

I looked down, then up again. "Which one." 

 *

~~~~Flashback~~~~

Scott had to pull me back from the edge, either of his hands on either of my shoulder, saying in my ear, "Tara, come on." 

I didn't respond, but let him pull me further away.

*

Derek, Cora, Boyd and I waited in the shadows, shifted as Isaac and Scott walked toward Deucalion. 

"You didn't come alone," Deucalion stated. 

"Yeah," Scott said. "This is Isaac." 

"I'm not talking about Isaac." 

The four of us stepped forward, and Scott looked toward us in confusion. 'You knew I would do this?" Neither of us answered. "Derek, don't. You can't do this so no one gets hurt. If someone else dies--" 

"Him," Derek said, pointing at Deucalion. "Just him." 

"Just me?" Deucalion repeated. "Now, how's a blind man find his way into a place like this all on his own?" 

Then they appeared. All of them. Kali was sliding down one of the pillars, her toe claws digging into the stond. Ennis was walking up behind Scott and Isaac. Ethan and Aiden were on the story above, shirtless.

Well, this hadn't gone according to plan. 

 *

~~~~Now~~~~

"An animal clinic?" Cora asked as we walked toward Deaton's clinic.

"It's not as ordinary as it looks," Peter said. "The building's half made out of Mountain ash. I'm not actually sure how to get in." 

"Derek and I got in," I said.

"And maybe they did what normal people do--uh, knock on the door," Cora said. 

We both turned for the clinic, starting to walk for it as Peter stopped us. "They're here." 

"Who?" 

"All of them." 

 *

"But how do we know who's in there?" Cora asked. "Is it Derek or Ennis or both?" 

The door to the clinic started to open, and we ducked behind a car as Aiden held Kali as she yelled out, roaring in pain, her head to the sky as she started to cry, the noise causing all of the car alarms to sound. 

Obviously, someone had died. Ennis. 

"Well, we know one thing," I said. "That wasn't for Derek.

Cora shook her head as Peter took her hand, and she took mine as we started to disappear--with the mood Kali was in, she'd kill us on the spot. 

*

{Flashback}

We had to fight. Well, we could've backed off, went away, come back when Deucalion was alone, but they wouldn't have let us leave like this.

Derek looked toward Deucalion, growling, running forward, toward him on the escalators, and Kali leaped into the air, her arms raised to her side's and her leg in front of her, kicking Derek down as he rolled away. Kali to roared.

The twins lept into the air, one back flipping, one front flipping as they fell toward our level, and when they landed, they were merged into the one giant Alpha, growling at all of us as we turned to face them.

I turned back to Derek and Kali as he swung his arm toward her, she ducked and spun underneath, spinning to face him as she slashed a clawed arm toward him. Derek dodged, and she missed.

Boyd slashed toward Ennis, who practically stayed in one place as he used his torso to spin underneath, and when he reached back up, Boyd slashed upward at his jaw, and this time he landed the blow.

Isaac was shifted, running toward the twins as Scott finally shifted, sighing as he decided to join in. The twins pushed Isaac down, Scott growling as he ran toward them, and they took him by his chest and pushed him into the concrete wall, making the wall shatter and crumble.

Derek kneed Kali in her gut, elbowing her in the face as I slashed toward Ennis, and he took my wrist, spinning me around three times before finally slashing into my side as hard as he could, tossing me to the side, and as he pushed Cora down next to me, Boyd standing again as he took him by his throat, turning him toward Kali, who kicked Derek back before she spun, clawing her toe nails into Boyd's chest, and Boyd fell toward the floor.

As Kali walked toward us, I somersaulted away, but Kali pressed her foot onto Cora's throat the same time I reached to my feet, and as Ennis tried to grab my throat, I pivoted, spinning behind him, slashing into his back, then kicking him away.

He turned away, and I turned to face the twins as they dragged Isaac and Scott to their knees, but before I had a chance to take a step, I felt someone grab my arm from behind, spinning me toward Ennis as he grabbed my throat with his other hand, lifting me from the ground and then pushing me straight to it, making me lay and breaking some of the concrete as he held me down by my throat, and both of my hands gripped his wrist, trying to pull it away, to push the pressure point with a claw as hard as I could, drawing blood . . .

Ennis gripped harder, lifting me again and pushing me down harder, breaking the concrete further.

"Kill him," Deucalion told Derek as we looked to Boyd on the ground. "The others can go. You're beaten. Do it, Derek. Take the first step."

"Are we serious with this kid?" Kali demanded, having her foot on Cora's throat as Ennis held me to the ground with mine a few feet away from Boyd. "Look at him. He's an Alpha? To what? A couple of useless teenagers?"

"Some have more promise than others," Deucalion replied.

"Let him rise to the occasion, then. What'll it be, Derek? Pack or family?" She stepped harder on Cora's throat, nodding to Ennis, who squeezed my throat harder. Neither of us could breathe.

Then an arrow soared past, the flash bolt exploding, causing Ennis to let go.

"Your eyes . . . " Deucalion called. "Cover your eyes!"

Because of an Argent named Allison.

I'd never thought I'd be grateful toward Allison in my life.

Ennis stood above me, after the arrows had been let loose by Allison, and Cora and Derek had been Boyd out of the way as Ennis swung an arm at my throat.

My hand reached up, catching his hand, squeezed the bone, breaking in, and he groaned as I let go, rolling away as Scott ran toward him when he saw that I was in danger as Ennis looked up from his hand, running toward him.

Ennis' shoulder rammed into his chest, pushing him, making him slide back. When he looked up, his eyes were red.

What the hell?

Then he shook his head, and his eyes were gold again.

Kali had been behind me, spinning, her claws on her toes slashing into my back, pushing me down in front of Ennis again.

And, again, he raised his hand to kill me, and Scott started to push up from the ground, trying to stop him when Derek pushed Ennis away from me, jumping over me to slash two arms toward him, which both clawed Ennis' skin, and Ennis slashed him, pushing him back, spinning before he landed on the ground, rolling away from Ennis.

Derek stood, growling as he punched him, pushing him back, closer and closer to the edge.

I started to get up. The claw marks, the slashes in my back from Kali needed more time to heal, but I could crawl forward quickly, Scott already there as Ennis headbutted Derek, trying to push him down.

Scott slashed Ennis' ankle. Ennis wouldn't let go of Derek. Ennis and Derek . . . they started to fall.

I got to the edge, looking over as I felt my heart explode as I watched Derek's death, Scott starting to pull me back.

At first, I didn't let him. But finally, he whispered, "Tara."

I let him pull me away, but I still couldn't look away from the place my brother fell.