19 Friends and beloved family

Scott had long since left the hospital after Maylee's warning, in hopes of saving himself and everyone's life, something to do with not wanting to die horrible deaths she said.

" She's... still alive..."

Scott was gone, along with Braden but the two banshees remained where they sat, there was still a lot to unravel, and judging by their most recent discovery, they weren't any close to see the end of their pain.

" So... Jennifer Blake was your enemy a few years back, from what I am understanding, "

" Well, she didn't come after us per say but... We sorta were in her way so... " said Lydia as she fiddled with her fingers, but she quickly added, "Her real name is Julia Beccari, she was Kali's emissary, but we all know how that part ended,"

" It'd be wise to assume that she's been in town for a good while already, " the confusion in Lydia's eyes coaxed Maylee to speak further of her thoughts, " She disappears for years, and now, all of the sudden she pops up in your vision, somehow in the location connected to the people I came to warn you about and right on time at that... Do you see where I am going with this Lydia? "

" The threat that brought you here... and Jennifer are somehow connected... What about the rabid scorpion men you saved us from? Were they also conveyed to this party?"

" If I can guarantee you one thing in this whole story, it's that for sure, " and there it was, the verbal confirmation she was so reluctant to hear, a few seconds were all she could afford to recover from the initial shock of hearing those words from somebody else's voice, one that wasn't in her own head at least.

For three years they ran around and about to find the next victim to save, seeking to accomplish the impossible: A world without the legacy of Gerrard Argent. A world where they didn't have to feel guilty for every moment of calmness and peace, every brief chance at rest they managed to steal away from their busy schedule.

Yes, they could do with a world like that.

" The last time she came to Beacon Hills, she came with a new face as Jennifer Blake but for that, she performed many sacrifices to obtain the power to do so..." she dozed off for seconds that allowed her thoughts to linger on what she was actually saying, a conclusion started to form in her mind, she continued when Maylee nudged her to elaborate, " We all came back to Beacon Hills tonight... a bus full of supernatural creatures, I mean sure we were after Monroe but it still counts I guess..."

"What counts?"

"Every sacrifice she made gave the nematon its powers back and with that, it recovered its original fonction as a beacon... for supernaturals, once the nematon had enough power... it pulled supernatural creatures towards it, like the sun and its planets,"

" Of course... You show up, I arrive, the scorpion men come out of the woodworks... All that happens in one night, none of it is a coincidence," confirmed Maylee once again.

"No, she's been flying under the radars, working her charms, we know she already got her new face and... Supernaturals are flooding into town, which only means she killed enough people to give that much power to the nematon,"

"Which means they are here,"

"Who are they?" questioned Lydia.

"Well, my beloved family of course,"

****

"Liam?" Mason announced himself as soon as he stepped through the door of the room. A pair of ocean blue eyes greeted him, his friend's impartial expression remolded in order to cast one of the most radiant and welcoming smiles he'd ever seen him show.

Sure thing, Mason preferred to meet his friend under different and a tad more joyful circumstances, but after so long without seeing him, without hearing his voice, he'd missed their shenanigans together so much, enough for him to simply set complaining aside.

" So, are you gonna give me that hug or... you're just gonna stand there?" exclaimed Liam as he widely stretched his arms left to right. Snatched out of his rumination, Mason immediately dashed forward wearing the warmest of beams on his face without asking the rest of it.

" Missed me that much?" the letters in Liam's words were mispronounced as they were muffled in Mason's embrace.

" Yeah... I guess I have..." he retorted sarcastically, bemused by his friend's teasing tone. He broke the hug shortly after, somewhat in an abrupt way, which made Liam look at him questioningly, although Mason seemed to have queries of his own," You're not agonizing!"

The confused and astonished tone in which he exclaimed that last sentence, pricked the attention of the werewolf even more, " Um... Yes, I thought that was a good thing but... maybe I was wrong?"

" No! I didn't mean it like that, it's just... Theo... He's been attacked a while before you guys' and... He doesn't seem to recover... Not as much as you did..."

" He was attacked by the same creatures?"

" Most likely, he was with Peter but neither of them got a good look at it,"

" So... he's not healing?"

" Well, the humans that were attacked by that creature didn't survive so... He's one step above that at least..."

" Maybe it's because he's a chimera..." Liam was thinking back to the time Brett was injured by a chimera that had scorpion venom, Corey was also hurt by the same chimera, however it took Brett far less time to recover than it did Corey and far less agony. Hayden also had a harder time healing from graver injuries as a chimera before she was bitten.

" Hey Liam!" Corey's voice made both young men glance towards the door, he walked straight to Liam and hugged him briefly before ending it.

" Long time no see Corey!"

" I would ask how have the years treated you but as we all know this type of question is useless among us. So, what were you guys talking about? "

" About Theo and the differences in healing capacities between chimeras and supernaturals," answered Mason. Liam pulled the top of his hospital gown to reveal his chest," It hasn't completely healed yet but it's nowhere near the disaster on Theo's chest,"

" It definitely isn't," agreed Corey.

" It definitely looks like you're not gonna die," Peter stood at the door looking as unbothered as his usual.

"Glad to see you too Peter... And Malia is in the next room..."

"I know that... I am a werewolf too, Liam..."

Liam felt a slight pinch in the guts, guilty of assuming Peter only stopped by to ask for Malia's whereabouts. Not judging him by his past actions was no easy task, the pack had gotten used to him being stone cold and self-serving, and thus disregarding his caring or affectionate actions or mistaking them for manipulation tactics and scheming.

"Right!... I should go see my daughter before she gets creative with the ways she'd torture me in," he broke the awkward silence and exited the room, leaving the three young men behind before any of the could say anything.

" Did... Peter just come by to check on me?"

" I believe he did," Both friends uttered the last sentences very slowly, they squinted their eyes as they approached the subject with suspicion, acting as though it was such an unbelievable thing to happen. But then again, they couldn't be blamed, it was pretty uncommon and as Peter himself used to say,

- "We're all works in progress "-