CHAPTER 52

"There are two other betas apart from you. I want to know who they are."

Derek screamed in agony as Chris plunged a heated plier into a healing wound and ripped it open afresh.

Chris continued wriggling the plier into his body for a few moments before he pulled it out. 

"Just answer my question and all… this will stop. You'd be saving us both a lot of time." He didn't look a bit fazed seeing Derek's almost dead countenance. 

The man in question looked like a ghost as compared to how he looked just a few days ago. His complexion was very pale owing to the constant loss of blood he had suffered at the hands of two pissed off Argents. 

His eye sockets looked like two sunken holes with how black and dried out they were after being on the receiving end of daily tortures followed by his screams of agony. 

Derek finally managed to get back a little tone in his voice and croaked out. "I don't know who the betas are."

Saying just those words drained all energy from his body and the fact that he was yet to drink a cup of water since his capture added to current fatigued state. 

Chris scoffed upon hearing Derek's words. "I don't even need to look at you and know that you are lying. Even if you won't pity me or my family, not that we'd ever need it, at least pity yourself and stave off any further suffering."

 Chris eyes twitched as he saw a lot of weapons and torture equipments all bloodied and cast to the side, courtesy of his sister Kate. 

"Well, fortunately for you, unlike you I don't have all the free time in the world. So I'll genuinely advise you to use this time to come to a decision that will determine your permanent future."

Chris left Derek to his own thoughts and left the underground dungeon. He looked at his watch and saw that Allison ought to be home at this time as he also needed to oversee her training. 

As much as he trusted Kate like the tree trusts and axe, he wasn't going to let Kate fill his little angel's head with whatever psychotic behavior she seemed to have picked up somewhere. 

As for Derek? If he still refuses to comply going forward, then he's outlived his use. 

°°°°°

[Malia POV] 

I followed Tristan as he led the way toward where he believed Derek was being held. 

'Hmm?'

"We're going in the direction of the old Hale House." I informed him, causing him to stop as a pensive look came upon his still stoic face. 

Sometimes I wonder how people can actually say it's difficult to get a read on him. For someone who practically wears his heart on his sleeves and bares his emotions for all to see, it's still a puzzle to me that people will still then tell him to express himself more. 

I can read him like a book without even trying most times and despite the silent attitude and the default rock solid face he shows to strangers, Tristan was a pretty feeling individual. Well most times at least. 

He turned and gave me an advice if caution. "Keep your eyes sharp and your senses wide, Malia."

"Already doing so." It doesn't need to say that Derek could very well be used as a bait to draw other supernaturals. Similarly, anyone who comes in an effort to rescue him would be bagged and tagged. 

As we inched ever so closer to the house, I could help but ask. 

"What are we going to do if we come across Chris and Kate?" I could see that something about Kate violently ticked Tristan off but no one knew what it was, so obviously I wanted to know if he'll lose it and that point and take out all his frustration on her. And like I expected… 

"We'll still move according to Derek's state. If he's in any way to help us then we proceed irrespective of who we come across." He said. 

"The Argent's will find out about us sooner or later, and while this might implicate Satomi, it's way better than her finding out early on."

I groaned at those words and involuntarily frowned at what they meant. While I'm beyond thrilled at the prospect of the both of us going against an Alpha, the fact that Tristan became tunnel visioned to this was not cute in any way. 

This wasn't the first time something like this happened so I knew that none of this was going to end until he satiated his thirst. 

This was also why he didn't want to many people around. At least one of the reasons why. 

"I can't sense any in the vicinity, let's go." We both broke into a sprint and closed a fair amount of distance until Tristan made us stop again. 

"I can smell blood… and a lot of hate." He sniffed the air for a few seconds.  "It's coming from somewhere underground and it's fresh. Derek's definitely here."

If before I was skeptical, then now I'm definitely sure that Allison's dad does some kind of illegal trade. 

What sort of hunter will hide his prey in its own home? 

Finding Derek after that was easy as Tristan and I just had to follow the smell of blood and came across a gate that led underground. 

I caught a familiar scent which immediately clarified everything. "Chris was here…and he doesn't smell so good." He was mixed with Derek's smell as if he bathed with his blood. 

We followed the tunnel with the smell of blood getting heavier as we got closer, until we came across the room Derek was kept in. 

°°°°°

[Tristan POV] 

"What the hell are both of you doing here?" Derek asked as we helped him out of the binding he was strapped to. 

"We'll answer that once we get moving. I don't know how long they will be out." 

We left the old house and ran for a but before Derek stopped and looked at both of us with small suspicion and a large amount of confusion. 

"Why risk your own safety to rescue me. You know this could end very badly for you guys, right?

Without wasting any more time, I got straight to the point. "We need your help with killing the Alpha."

He looked at both of us, more specifically at me, and his eyes turned cold. He didn't ask why I still wanted to kill the Alpha because Derek, out of everybody else, understood just how close Malia was to dying that night. 

The Alpha definitely wasn't playing g around that night. 

"And how are we supposed to do that?" 

"Because I know where the Alpha is." He stilled at those words and his shock multiplied by the words that came out of my mouth next. 

"And very soon, I'll know who he really is."

Derek looked at me, trying to ascertain the truth behind my words. "How?" 

"Let's move out of here first. Hunters will soon know you are missing."

…..

I had no choice but to take Derek to our house since he had nowhere to do that wasn't under constant surveillance and our house was easily the safest place he could be that wasn't in the scope of the Argents. 

I went straight to the kitchen to whip up something for the famished werewolf to eat, not out of politeness but how we were raised. 

Giving was an essential core of Buddhist practices, and the caretaker in me just couldn't stand and continue watching Derek standing on nothing else but his will. 

I think there are some burgers in the fridge, and some leftover lasagna. 

"How did you find out about the Alpha?" Derek asked after coming out of the bath for a thorough wash. 

The smell of blood that he was practically wearing like a cloak around his body was very distracting for me despite my tolerance. 

"I caught his scent the following morning of that night after taking Malia to the hospital." I said from behind the counter. 

"He could have left the hospital by now."

I shook my head at his notion. "He's in the hospital's special ward. Kind of surprising but I know what I smelt. I doubt he's left the hospital by now."

That seemed to have caught Derek's attention as I could smell the suspicion rolling off of him in waves. "You said the special ward?" He asked to which I nodded as I set the table. 

"Do you remember the room number?"  

To that I practically stopped as a memory of my conversation with Elias at the starting of the school year came back to mind. 

Elias had told me about the other known survivor of the Hale fire but he was comatose and hospitalized in Beacon Hills Memorial. 

"My uncle."

"Peter Hale."

"The half-dead man?"

The room fell silent and the next second I was already at the door blocking Derek from leaving. 

"Get out of my way, Tristan."

"Not unless you eat first."

"…"

"…"

"You can't fight any good on an empty stomach. Have something to eat first and then we'll talk about how we are killing your uncle." Despite whatever complicated feelings he might have, vampires aren't known to be very forgiving. That's werewolves. 

Regardless of whatever decision he came to from meeting his uncle, that still won't change the fact that I'm still killing him. 

He grunted in a way that would have been threatening if he had done it to anybody other than me. 

"So, you guys are down with your little squabble, because I'm hungry as fuck." And Malia just destroyed the heavy atmosphere with the most casual reason anyone's ever made. 

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