CHAPTER 181

The little fiasco with William Barrow was quickly forgotten by almost everyone after he was tossed back into Eichen House after the cut in his wound was stitched back. The very few people who didn't forget him were either those of pure curiosity or those in pursuit of answers that suddenly had a connection involving the deranged bomber.

"Hehehehehehehe…."

Maddening laughter reverberated through an unending expanse of trees. The winds picked up with a howl causing the trees to sway in the direction of its discretion. This only served to make the echoing laughter sound more ominous as its sound remained clear to hear even amidst the howling winds.

I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have nobody, but come alive with wind.

The winds suddenly stopped and the laughter could no longer be heard.

… What am I?

The only thing that remained from the violent winds were the soft echoes of the slowly swaying trees.

….

Boyd, Lydia and Allison were sitting outside, forsaking their usual hangout spot that was the cafeteria and library for the cool breeze that blew this time of the year.

"Weird dreams are the worst." Boyd sighed despondently.

"Weird dreams are the worst, yes. Getting chased around by bipedal human sized piñatas in bikers clothes? A weird dream, yes. In the worst weird dream category? Definitely not. I believe that there are other worst dreams to be had." Allison couldn't help but say after she and Lydia listened to Boyd's description of his dream. In her opinion, it was better to call it ridiculous than to call it weird.

"Allison is right. That was an absurd dream. I once dreamt that my dog, Prada, actually turned into a giant Prada bag and tried to swallow me." She paused and blinked a few times. "Now that I think about it, maybe the reason I saw him as a giant Prada bag is because I got shrunk to Prada's dog size. Hmm. What a weird dream."

Boyd scoffed derisively at Lydia. "And I guess the first thing you did when you woke up was go buy a Prada bag and stuff Prada inside it."

Lydia looked revolted at his words. "Of course not!" Boyd however didn't buy it and continued looking at her until she shrugged and swished her hair backwards. "Of course I bought the bag, duh~. And no I didn't stuff Prada in it."

Now Allison and Boyd were staring pointedly at her to know what she did. She shrugged nonchalantly as her answer cut through the suspense she created. "I just didn't talk to him for a week… and I wanted to change his name but my mom didn't let me."

"Lydia!" Allison gasped in amusement at the level of pettiness she didn't know her friend had.

"Turns out she was a psycho before she became a Banshee." Boyd scoffed and they all laughed.

They were soon joined by Scott and Stiles who were followed by Tristan and Malia.

"We're talking about weird dreams? I have those all the time. Like this one time where my dad was riding a dog and was chasing me with the entire K-9 unit behind him. Oh and get this; the dogs had rocket boosters and were pulling sleds that had pirate sails."

"..."

"…"

"… That's…"

"Weird right?"

"That's a weird one alright, but I think your mind is actually trying to tell you something this time around. Maybe stop snooping around your dad's files?" Boyd said but Stiles just laughed as if he heard a funny joke.

"Hey, I've been meaning to ask; have any of you seen Derek? Isaac said he's still in Beacon Hills helping Allison's dad with some 'werewolf' stuff as he put it." Boyd asked but one look around the table of surprised face told him that they didn't know. Malia and Tristan weren't visibly surprised but that was normal.

"So that's the reason why he's been going out a lot lately." Allison stated in realization. "I think he said something about the rodents down the sewers killing themselves."

"Fascinating right? I tried getting Scott to go with me." Stiles said, earning him a few weird looks.

"Don't you have any self-preservation instinct? Wise animals run away when they sense danger, not run towards it." Malia's comment on Stiles lacking a survival instinct awarded her with deadpan stares from everyone except Stiles and Scott.

"… Hi."

They all turned to look at the newcomer and saw the new girl, Kira Yukimura, waving at them.

"And who are you?" Lydia asked.

"Kira." Scott said, drawing to himself a few inquisitive looks.

"Guys, she's in our History class. The new History teacher's daughter. The one you said was cute or something, Lydia." Boyd added. With the personalities of Lydia, Malia and Tristan, Boyd knew they were more likely to chase her away, especially with Malia and Lydia's occasional bluntness.

His friend group was a very close-knit and reserved one and he couldn't complain because he too liked it that way.

"So what can we help you with, Kira?" Lydia asked.

"It's just that I couldn't help but overhear some of your discussion about rats killing themselves in the sewers and I remembered reading somewhere about how some animals would go rabid and twist themselves so hard–"

"That they'd snap their own spine." Allison completed before Kira could, blowing away whatever momentous winds she'd gathered in her sails.

"Oh… I see you've read something similar." Her words carried a hint of dejection that only a few at the table caught.

"Yes. So thanks for your input but would you mind le–"

"Would you mind joining us?"

Lydia had been about to drive the girl away, like she'd done countless others, when Allison suddenly interjected with a smile while using her eyes to tell Lydia to stop talking.

Malia, who wasn't bothered with what the new girl was saying was now staring questioningly at Allison.

"Really? Thanks!" Kira excitedly took a seat on their table and started pouring out the limited knowledge she had on suicidal animals.

How could Allison not understand what the new girl was going through when she had been the same? Her only luck as the new girl was that she knew Tristan and Malia from her very first day.

The excited smile on Kira's face said everything.

They didn't speak much on the rats before Lydia changed the topic to something more normal and less morbid. But it seemed the new girl had her own plans.

"Is it true that serial killers are common in Beacon Hills and some teachers used to be one?" Her excitement quickly died when she saw everyone staring incredulously at her.

Lydia scoffed. "And where did you hear something so ludicrous?"

Their incredulity grew when she pointed at the silent duo at the end of the table.

"I sat behind them in History so I kinda heard them when they were talking about it in class a few days ago." She said hesitantly, inwardly praying that no one called out her three instances of unintentionally eavesdropping.

"That? Oh don't worry about it. Students have turned up dead a few times this year and our theory was that it might be the teachers but that isn't true as all the killers have been caught." Tristan simply explained and Kira seemed to buy it and even looked relieved for some reason.

…..

[POV: With Derek]

Derek's seven days timer was up and his night flight was already booked. With the time difference between both places, he'd arrive in the early morning hours in London.

"Good luck with your hunt, Chris."

"Thanks for sticking around this long to help me out." Chris said as they shook hands.

Derek's car door was halfway open when he stopped and looked around warily, even snarling with his fangs out. Seeing Derek's actions, Chris whipped out his two guns.

"What's happening, Derek?"

"We're surrounded."

According to Derek's words, four figures stepped out of the shadows and Chris' eyes shook as he saw them.

Their four assailants were dressed in all black and wore a demon mask while their hands held swords – they looked very similar to the general depiction of ninjas.

"Derek, we're leaving now!" Chris said and pushed Derek into his car while opening fire at them except it looked like his bullets did nothing but he looked like he was already expecting something like that.

Derek had already floored the gas when Chris jumped into, managing to drive away before a fight broke out with those people.

"Who are they?" He asked.

"I don't know." Chris replied with a critical look on his face.

"The hell you don't! Who the hell were they, Chris?" Derek yelled.

Chris rubbed his forehead and took in shaky breaths. "Not who, what. And I really don't know what they are. I've met them once over two decades ago and the only thing I can say is that I don't know how to kill them."

"I don't understand. They have some type of insane regeneration or something?"

"No." Chris shook his head weakly as he remembered the first and only time he had seen those things and had managed to glimpse what was beneath those mask of theirs. "There's nothing to kill under those clothes."

All he'd seen beneath the broken demon mask of one of them was nothing but shadows.

"Oh…" Chris chuckled humorously as eh saw Derek groan and say what was recently becoming his favorite sentence.

"I hate Beacon Hills."

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