CHAPTER 148

Pulling himself off the ground, Tristan tried to register what just happened but couldn't come up with any explanation, well he did but the notion of it sounded ridiculous to even speak out.

"Malia, what do you think it is?" He patted the dust from his clothes and stood in front of the mountain ash barrier.

"Honestly, I have no flipping idea. From where I stood, it looked like she just voodoo-ed your ass," Malia said, "How did it feel? Does it hurt as much as it looks?"

Tristan rubbed the place where the attack had hit him squarely and winced. He actually winced, opting for massaging the place very softly.

It wasn't phantom pains, oh no. It was like he was a normal human and took a professional boxer's punch to the ribs.

He didn't even know if he was healing from this or if there was anything broken to heal from.

"Literally felt like she just palmed my soul out of my body." Tristan said, still rubbing his throbbing chest. "I feel weird."

The two of them stood there, Malia looking at him in worry while he looked confused. Understandable as this was the first time either of them had come across something like this.

"Soooo, what next? Think we should be expecting that thing chanting curses?" Malia teased, laughing to herself at the amusing(horrifying) sight it would be.

Tristan ignored her joke, frowning to himself as he tried remembering the weird feeling he got as soon as he sensed the foreign presence. "She feels like wind."

"Who?"

"The Darach – it's a she." He said. The only way he could tell was the difference between the emotional spectrum of men and women. "She feels like wind. Tempestuous wind."

He let out a groan of frustration at the new complications, something he was doing a lot nowadays, and turned to Deaton who had a scabbed wound on his head.

"Him?" He jabbed a finger at the strung up veterinarian.

Malia looked at Deaton with a blank look, letting out a nonchalant shrug as she rested her back against the wall of the vault. "I don't care all that much. Well he did help us out so there's that. And we kinda owe him one so this is basically us paying it back."

Tristan nodded.

The prime reason they came after all was to get a clue on the Darach and it could be said that they half-accomplished it.

Tristan walked out of the vault and came back with a piece of broken tile which he threw at the rope, cutting it and letting Deaton fall to the ground.

Deaton jolted up from the fall, opening his bleary eyes and seeing the blurry figures of Tristan and Malia. "I'm thankful, but couldn't you have let me down a little easier?"

He then looked at the where the duo were pointing their fingers and nodded in understanding. "Fair."

As a human, he had no problems walking out of the circle of mountain ash, earning him a mild jealous glare from Malia which went unnoticed.

They briefly explained how they came across his location and also the brief encounter with the Darach.

"She's harnessing the power of the sacrifices on the telluric currents to empower herself." He said.

"So faster and stronger? Against a bunch of Alphas, there's little how that's going to help." Tristan said, gaining a supporting nod from Malia but a shaking head from Deaton.

He held five fingers up, "Virgins, warriors, healers, philosophers, guardians – each stage of the sacrifice gives her a substantial edge. Greater than what you can imagine. Take for example, healers. That alone gives her the regenerative properties that exceeds that of werewolves, possibly even a vampire."

Malia was slow to understand the implications of the ritual but hearing what Deaton said made Tristan's eyes widen.

If the sacrifices were taken literally, then warriors would increase her strength, philosophers would increase her wisdom and possibly her psychic abilities, guardians would increase the protection she would get from the natural energies and the telluric currents while virgins were most likely for purity. An ablution needed to begin a sacrifice, just like in most traditional customs where a virgin would be offered along with the most bountiful of harvests to appease the deities.

"Who the hell is she anyway?" Malia was confused upon seeing the grave looks on Tristan's and Deaton's face.

Deaton sighed, "She might have been an Emissary to one of the packs Deucalion has wiped out, or possibly…"

"One of the Emissaries of the Alphas in Deucalion's pack. Makes sense that way since if they did kill all their pack members then they'd also kill the Emissaries as they are also part of the pack." Tristan completed. It wasn't that hard to figure out when most of the facts were getting put out in the open.

"Yeah, quite likely." Deaton nodded, cautioning them further, "Underestimating her would be a grave mistake on any of your parts."

"Well, shit." Tristan cussed, once again slowly slipping out of his normal calm and impassive mental state. "Hop in, doc. We'll give you a ride to your clinic."

During the ride, the two of them, Malia and Tristan, engaged in small questions and answers with Deaton and the doctor was less secretive with it this time since they were the ones who rescued him.

"Do you know anything about Ms. Marin Morrell? She's a French teacher and guidance counselor in our school."

Deaton was about to say something but kept quiet, rearranging his words.

"You Emissaries sure are weird. Is it some type of sacred druidic oath that you guys take that makes you secretive in how you give out answers?" Malia commented, catching the hesitation Deaton involuntarily showed.

The man in question only gave a half-smile, but still chose to answer nonetheless. "Not entirely, but something along those lines. As for Marin Morrell, yes I know her. Have known her for a very long time."

"An extended family?" Tristan interjected, looking at Deaton through the rearview as he drove. Nodding to himself as he caught the slight cramp in Deaton's lips.

"You don't have to worry about her." Deaton said, further clarifying as he caught the skeptic looks both teens were giving him. "She has no hand in any of what Deucalion is doing, of that you can be sure of. All you have to focus on is Deucalion's pack and the Darach."

They dropped the doctor off at his clinic and pulled a reverse as Tristan drove off in another direction.

"Where are we going?" Malia asked in confusion as Tristan drove off the main road.

Tristan put his hands inside the peephole and brought out a paper with a sketch on it.

"Lydia's drawing?"

"Yes." He nodded. "Remember those scribbles she drew when Derek was hunting Gerard? Well she drew a lot of those drawings that looked like tree stumps."

Malia took the paper and looked at it, the sketch of a dry tree stump, remembering that that wasn't the only occasion where Lydia drew those trees. It was something the auburn haired coyote had caught the strawberry blonde drawing absentmindedly, sometimes even during class.

"You think this is something important?" Malia's skepticism was very apparent. What use could a drawing of a tree stump be?

"I don't know but it's something that filters into my mind every now and then. And meeting that Darach got me thinking. 'What if it's more?'. She did go into a traumatic coma when she drew all this, so maybe there's something more to it."

It was a wild fetch even for Tristan but the first thing that came to his mind about the Darach when dropping Deaton off was this particular sketch.

It was a sort of familiar feeling that he couldn't explain.

"Or maybe this is just another of her crazy sketches." Malia snorted.

Tristan didn't bother with trying to convince her since even he was doubtful.

"So? You want us to start looking for a tree stump in the middle of the woods?"

Tristan shrugged. "Most of the telluric currents flow through the woods surrounding the county."

The both of them looked around, completely unsure of whether or not they should go with it.

"Why didn't you ask the doc if that thing was some kind of sacrificial altar or something?"

"Honestly, it didn't cross my mind until he got inside the clinic." Tristan scratched his head. "We could ask grandma if it means anything before asking the doc. Cool?"

"Anything is better than searching through trees for miles on miles. Come on, let's go." Malia grabbed his shoulder and pulled him along, all too eager to leave. "I supposed to be the spontaneous one, you know."

On their way home, Tristan received a 'thank you' text from McCall which he ignored. As far as he was concerned, there was no need for Scott's gratitude and accepting it would make the other party feel somewhat indebted to him, which was the last thing he wanted.

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