CHAPTER 168

Jennifer knew fighting now was a very bad idea and that was why she opted for convincing/blackmailing Derek and/or Chris to let her go. She had no idea how the vampire found the Nemeton, even after she had gone the extra steps to hide it from other supernaturals, but somehow he and Malia had found it and them calling their pack here inadvertently brought Deucalion too.

Taking the Argent Matriarch and Melissa McCall was a last ditch effort to save herself in case she ended up getting jumped by all of them.

Deucalion and his pack weren't the only ones with enemies after all.

She knew she had to sacrifice them nevertheless, but they didn't need to know that. She couldn't postpone the last sacrifice any longer, not when she was so close to her goal of killing Deucalion.

A pity that Kali died all too soon. She would have loved to kill her best friend with her own hands.

Maybe that was another reason, nay, a justification of why she wanted to kill Tristan? As far as she was concerned, the coming of a vampire, at the same time when the telluric currents just started flowing more richly again, was a very bad omen.

They even had a banshee on their side and yet how they remained just as clueless was truly a mystery to her. Depending on what choices were made, the oblivious Sheriff could very well lose his life on this grim evening.

"I don't have that much time, Derek, either you let me go without trying to stop me, or I'll be forced to kill the Sheriff." She warned.

"Don't listen to her, Derek. She'll end up killing him regardless, and then Scott's mom… and then my wife." His fingers massaged oh-so-gently against the trigger of his gun as he stared hatefully at Jennifer who regarded his frosty look with a scoff.

Minding the tension around him, Derek looked squarely at Jennifer's hopeful look, and regarded her with a hint of confusion. "Why me? Why am I the one you're trying to convince to fight Deucalion?"

"Because of all the people here, you are the one who has the least reason to kill me." She answered logically.

"And the people you killed-"

"What, you think I had a choice?" She laughed scathingly. "Don't pretend to be righteous in front of me. Both you and Chris have had to do unpleasant things for a necessary cause," turning to look at Chris, "And I'm sure the Argent patriarch has had his own share of innocent blood on his hands. Casualty or not."

The three of them, unlike the others around them, were having a mental war instead of a physical one. One where taking the moral high ground served to one's disadvantage.

"Righteousness be damned if you think I'm letting you leave without knowing where my wife is. And I promise you that if you try to pull a smart one, I'll be the first one to help Deucalion rip three new slits across your throat."

"Step aside, Jennifer. You know there's no way we're letting you kill Sheriff Stilinski." Derek said.

Jennifer scoffed. "And you think you can stop me? Both of you?" She laughed as if hearing a belly-aching amusing joke. "What do you think you alone can do when 5 Alphas and a Primearch couldn't?"

She laughed even harder as she saw their faces contorting into a displeased grim look.

"We don't really have to do this, boys. Just help me get Deucalion weak enough and I'll kill him for you. After that I'll be gone from Beacon Hills." She said with a tired sigh. "You know, I think we keep having this conversation on repeat."

To her words and utmost disappointment, the only Derek could come up with was lowering himself into a stance with his hands spread wide, claws growing out.

"We are the victims of our choices." She muttered.

Derek jumped at her while Chris fired off a few bullets that she dodged, showing an agility she was not known for having. She met Derek calmly and easily, taking care to avoid his hands while also keeping a close distance to him to limit Chris' firing options.

"This could have gone way different, Derek, had you not been so stubborn!" She grunted angrily and slammed her palm into his chest, sending him flying and tumbling away.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Chris fired off a series of shots but as if she was waving off a fly, the wind around her picked up and somehow changed the directory of the bullets.

CLICK!

"Shit!" Chris cursed as his gun fired a blank, trying to reload it but ended up too slow as Jennifer was already in front of him and clocked him across the face that sent him skidding along the ground.

Her lips twisted in distaste as everything was becoming more chaotic and growing out of the range of what she expected.

It was never in her interest to go so brazenly against the Hale Pack and the Argents – the Buddhist Pack was a no go because of how vengeful she knew Tristan and Malia could become.

Right now she was at the point of no return and it was better to become more extreme and confident in her choices as a simple mistake or a sliver of hesitation at this point could be fatal.

She looked around her and saw that the fight was slowly spreading out into the woods and when she was about to turn around and hurry down into the cellar under the roots of the Nemeton, she felt something behind her that caused her to freeze.

Turning her neck slightly to the side, her eyes had barely focused on what was behind her when it caught a pair of red eyes staring straight at her.

Deucalion was staring directly at her and just matching gazes with him was enough to freeze her to her spot.

She took an instinctive step back, again, and the sight of that, she swore, put a grin on the monster's face.

'He isn't being serious.' She thought as she saw his partially shifted form. It wasn't the form of the terrifying monster she's had the nightmare of seeing.

Only his eyes and claws were shifted and just that alone was still sending warning bells ringing loudly in her head.

He took a step and she took one back, then frowned as she realized what she'd done and luckily for her before Deucalion could come over to her side, blood lances barred his path as Tristan and Satomi once again clashed with him.

Watching their fight, she understood immediately that they weren't seriously trying to kill each other because, along with Deucalion, she knew that Tristan was a lot more terrifying than the display he was putting on.

"She's going for Stilinski!" She heard Tristan shout as she went for the hatch to lead deeper into the roots of the Nemeton.

She saw Derek and Chris trying to push themselves up to chase after her but they wouldn't be able to stop her before she slot open Stilinski's throat, and that was exactly what she had intended to do had a rain of needle-thin tendrils of blood not come down on her.

The few seconds she took to dodge and shield herself were ones that resumed the hail of Argents bullet coming for her and Derek trying his very best to rip out her throat, although both had little to no success.

"Allison, get Stilinski!" Oh she really wanted to kill that vampire.

The moment Argent saw his daughter coming closer to where they were fighting, the man started putting in 120%, going as far as to change the type of bullets he was using, something Jennifer noticed with extreme displeasure.

"Mistletoe!"

Just like how it was an antithesis to vampires and werewolves, so also was it useful against druids like her, and in general almost all mythical creatures.

Unlike his other bullets, anytime she attempted to redirect or stop them completely, the bullets would explode into a green mist as the mistletoe in them fought against her supernatural manipulation.

"He might have been crazy before he died, but my father was one of the greatest hunters of his generation." Chris said, not including the fact that he was extremely low on these types of bullets. Forging mistletoe bullets wasn't an easy thing.

"Go, we'll cover you!" Derek urged her as he pushed himself to a full shift and roared angrily at Jennifer, who was also at the last thread of her patience.

"I'll kill you all!" She raged.

In response to her shout, the wind picked up and Derek, Tristan, Satomi and Deucalion could see small cracks running from the nearby trees around them towards Allison, Derek and Chris who were nearer to the Nemeton.

Chris was a moment too late and a root shot out from the ground and wrapped around him, as with Derek too but the Alpha was quick to react as he cut the vine roots before they could wrap a tight noose around him.

Allison would have been in the same position as her father had it not been for the two blood lances that pierced the vine roots straight to the ground, giving her ample time to blow off the hatch as Derek faced off meaninglessly against Jennifer.

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