Night had fallen on Beacon Hills. Naturally, the streets were as empty as an abandoned building save for a few passing cars rushing home as the waning moon rose higher in the sky. Nights had become very strong source of fear for the people of Beacon Hills. Not because of the curfew, but because of what caused it's placement.
The Blue-Eyed Beast. The icy eyed murderer of Beacon Hills that seemingly took lives at random and without a grain of remorse. It plunged fear into the hearts of every living being within the town.
Except for two individuals.
Two individuals that walked down the lonely sidewalks of a street lined with innocent and empty stores, restaurants and cozy Libraries. A young man and woman. Even if the sidewalks were crowded with human bodies, they would've stood out alone for the simple difference in physicality and personal nature that set them apart from most people.
Walking a bit further ahead was the young woman. Her curly blonde hair was thick and full of life as it bounced and swayed with the switch in her walk. She wore a simple pair of blue jeans and a leather jacket. No make up or extra cosmetics was needed to make her feminine features any more expressive-- and she seemed to know it. That or she was radiating confidence for no reason.
Maybe it wasn't no reason. Erica's growth in confidence had a very simple cause.
Boyd's lack thereof also did as he slowly followed behind her. The young man was huge. Even bigger than usual. Now he looked closer to Marco's size-- he even moved with a similar agile grace despite his timid and anxious demeanor.
The two seemed like complete opposites in those moments as they walked alone. One completely fearless and expressive, the other restricted by it for reasons unknown.
"Lighten up, Boyd. It's a simple job, I've done it by myself a number of times..... well, we're never really alone on these things, actually." Erica said back to Boyd.
Boyd shivered and looked up at the tops of the buildings that lined the streets and loomed over him.
Erica wondered what he'd do if he found a pair of blue eyes looking down at him. The thought got a chuckle out of her as they rounded a corner and found themselves heading down the parking lot of a movie rental place named, Movie2C.
The building looked so insignificant and outdated with it's grey walls and faded orange light up sign, but teens used to frequent it throughout the year. Hell, Erica used to sneak in and rent The Notebook whenever she had the money. That was until she ran into Lydia Martin and Jackson one fateful night. Nowadays she'd give them her mind, but Lydia was about three more outbursts from being sent to a psyche ward and Jackson was bleeding from every orifice throughout the day like he was imploding in slow motion. Karma can be a bitch sometimes....
And another famous saying that had relevance to her and Boyd's current situation. History repeats itself.
Despite the movie rental buildings insignificance and mundane appearance, the place had incredible value and importance. In many ways....
She could almost feel it in the air as she pushed past the poster plastered glass doors and entered the building. Boyd lumbered in behind her, looking as if he was on the verge of not being able to enter due to the bulk of his shoulders.
Erica slowed until she was beside Boyd and forced her arm around his to pull him close to her.
"Hey guys, it's past curfew. I was just about to close." The man working the counter said. An inconspicuous middle-aged white man that looked like he wasn't being paid enough to deal with what was currently happening.
"Oh I know, sir. Me and my boyfriend are just grabbing a movie for tonight and then we'll be out of here. I promise." Erica said as she pulled Boyd down into the aisles of movies.
"Damn teenagers...." The man mumbled. "Hurry up."
"We'll make it quick." Erica replied with a wicked sneer plastered on her face.
Boyd fought off the urge to shiver again.
They walked for a few more feet with Erica naming off movie titles as if she were reading from the aisles. Only when Boyd looked down at her, she was looking up. At the ceilings, the corners where walls met.
"Camera's?" He whispered.
Erica nodded, but continued to slyly name of movies.
"Most industrial buildings have required camera placement areas, but they actually don't need to be functional. And if theft rates are low, managers won't waste the time..... stores are also losing money here. So, most are probably duds." Boyd said anxiously.
Erica stopped in the middle of the aisle and looked up at him, "I knew you were a good choice... just not in the way I thought, I guess..."
"Can you stop looking at me like I'm dinner...?" Boyd questioned.
"Can you stop acting like dinner?"
Boyd rolled his eyes.
"Any day now!" The man working the counter yelled.
Erica winked at Boyd, "Showtime. Go lock the back door and meet me at the front desk when you're done."
"Ok-- what the!" Boyd replied as Erica grabbed two handfuls of movies and playfully skipped over to the counter.
Boyd heard the man's sigh of frustration even as he reached the back door.
***
"You said you were going to grab a movie.... as in one." The man said angrily. His thick eyebrows furrowed and cast shadows over his brown eyes.
"I know, sir. But I got pickey..... so I improvised. I hope it's no trouble?" Erica said as she leaned over the counter and looked up at him.
The man's eyes struggled to stay on hers for a moment before he looked away, "Of course it is!"
"Oh.... that's too bad. I'll talk to you to make it go by faster. How's that?"
The man shrugged and began scanning through the movies, "I already started so whatever. Where's your boyfriend?"
"Bathroom. Forget about him."
The cashier side eyed her..... for a bit too long.
"Like what you see?" Erica questioned with a smile.
The man didn't say anything, focusing instead on scanning the movies.
"How are you liking Beacon Hills?" Erica asked as she pulled a pen from a cup and chewed on it.
"It's ..... not to my liking." The cashier explained hesitantly. As if he were holding himself back.
"Oh? Why is that?" Erica questioned.
The man shook his head, causing the brown hair spilling from his storebrand cap to shake.
"C'mon sir. I may be from here, but you can tell me. For conversations sake, remember?" Erica persisted.
"....This place is a cesspool of crime and filth." The man said, weirdly enough the beginnings of an accent made it's way into his voice.
"So, you don't even like the vast forestry Beacon Hills has to offer?" Erica questioned.
The man clenched his jaw and Erica could taste what used to be the starting signs of a seizure in the back of her throat as her hand vibrated faintly.
"No. That's the worst part." The cashier said with a grunt. He was halfway done with the movies.
"Hm." Erica said before standing up off the counter. "That's so weird...." She looked at his name tag, "Jason."
"W-what's weird?"
"It's just that you're speaking like you just moved in here..... but I've been buying movies from you since freshman year. It's almost like you don't remember me." Erica said.
The cashier froze before quickly returning to his duties.
"Jason....? Did I really change that much? I let you get a good look at me." Erica said with a fake pout making it's way to her face.
The cashier's chest rose and fell heavily. She could hear his pulse hammering away in his wrists and throat. It made her hungry.
"Hehe.... No. I didn't recognize you. Sorry about that."
"What's my name?"
The cashier looked up at her, seemingly noticing their difference in height for the first time.
"Uhhhh....."
"C'mon, Jason. Don't tell me you forgot the sad seizure girl that used to come in every other day to buy whatever corny romance movie was available for her to live vicariously through!" Her words ended in an accusatory snarl.
The cashier dropped the movie he was scanning and picked up his phone with a shaky hand, "Excuse. I just remembered I need to make a call home."
Erica's hand vibrated fast enough to blur as she hid it in her pocket.
The man typed away on the phone plugged in at his desk and brought the talk piece up to his ear. Erica heard three rings before something exploded outside and the power in the building went out.
In the darkness, all that was visible were Erica's eyes. Two bright yellow rings that sucked in the faintest remnants of light within the movie rental store. Behind her, Boyd loomed over her like a monstrous shadow attempting to appear human.
The man stumbled backward and hit the wall where he remained, hyperventilating.
".....Inhuman filth." He spat.
Erica turned her head and smiled, "You..... Jason, you seem to know what's happening here. You know, that actually makes sense since you were here a few months ago. You know back when this placed was attacked by..... what was it? A Mountain Lion?"
The man spat on the floor despite his fear, "That was no Mountain Lion... and you know that!"
Erica shook her head, "No... no it wasn't."
Following her words, something landed outside of the store. Right in front of the door. Whatever it was, it was heavy enough to shake the entire building. Erica spoke again as the door slowly opened.
"And neither is this one."
Ducking through the doorway wearing busted and steaming armor that felt both modern and ancient with a bloody spear in hand, The Blue-Eyed Beast of Beacon Hills entered the building as if it were just a random citizen.
It's cold eyes laid a blue haze throughout the dark room and sent goosebumps flaring along everyone's skin.
In the silence, they could hear the Beast's breaths through it's helmed and hooded head.
The cashier's breaths had transformed into heavy pants that looked ready to become screams for help.
The cashier took in a deep breath as tears spilled from his eyes.
Scream it is. Erica rolled her eyes. Her hair suddenly moved in front of her face as a gust of wind blew past her.
"OH!" Boyd yelped in shock as the Beast darted from the entrance of the store over to them quickly enough to seem as if it teleported.
The only sign that it didn't was shown in the way the Beast broke through the counter as if it were cardboard to reach the Cashier, placing a gigantic black skinned and clawed hand over his face.
No scream emerged.
"....qUiEeeeet." The Blue-Eyed Beast growled before picking him up by his face and turning to face Erica.
The Beast nodded at her. The two had a dynamic that didn't require much speaking.
Erica approached and held her hand up to the man. It still vibrated in a blur, varying in intensity as she hovered her hand over different portions of the man's body.
The man didn't move an inch despite his circumstances. Although it wasn't really his choice. All Erica needed was a glance to see that the man was held firmly by the Beasts gaze. As they all had been before.
Her eyes were pulled from the horrific ShapeShifter as her entire arm shook. Her hand remained over the man's back.
"Here." Erica said.
The Blue-Eyed Beast spun it's spear and stabbed it into the ground. With it's hand freed, it pointed at Boyd.
"....wAtCh..."
The Beast reached up and ripped off the mans shirt.
"mmmmM!" The man moaned in a panic from his held mouth.
Once the shirt fell, a faint purple light illuminated the area between them.
Boyd's eyes widened in shock. The man's back was.... branded. At least thats how it looked. A marking was scored into his flesh at least an inch deep and burned with a purple ominous glow. It reminded him of the creature back at the Ice Rink.
"What..... what is that?" Boyd questioned.
"A Rune." Erica said, "Warlocks use them to empower themselves and do things other Hunters couldn't dream of."
"Warlocks.... like at the Ice Rink?" Boyd questioned, never looking away from the cashiers scarred and flabby back.
Erica didn't answer. Boyd knew the answer. Instead, she slashed open the mans back with her claws.
"MMmmm!!" The man writhed in the Beasts grip, causing it to growl in either enjoyment or anger.
After Erica cut through the Rune, the purple glow that once lined the markings leaked like ink beneath the mans skin and slowly faded like dust from the wound. Immediately after, the most grotesque thing Boyd had ever seen took place.
The man shook and vibrated. His skin wriggled and expanded into loose flabs, his bones jolted and burst through his skin at odd angles and incorrect shapes before the flabby skin stretched followed by the muscle and fat beneath, giving him solid and comprehendible form. Even his hair and nails fell out to be replaced by new and different remains.
After two minutes of muffled screaming, tearing and shifting of shapes, a completely different individual was being held by the Beast.
A man. Tall with lean muscle and a low buzzed head. He had blue eyes and pale skin with the scars of similiar Runes all along his body.
".....waaARLOCK!" The Blue-Eyed Beast snarled.
"You..... the reports..... you aren't a serial killer hunting at random." Boyd mumbled.
The Blue-Eyed Beast said nothing.
"You joined us for a reason. You followed the Beast for a reason. You knew this." Erica said, suddenly standing behind him with her hand at his back.
"Why else did you join, Boyd?"
Boyd continued to stare at the markings on the Warlocks back, remembering the battle at the Ice Rink in gory detail. Remembering how he thought he'd die, cowering and alone.... alone while the brave like Scott and Stiles went toe to toe with the Warlocks.
"I'm tired of being alone..... I'm tired of being afraid to act."
"Everyone needs a pack." Erica said, "The only thing keeping you from that, is them."
Suddenly Erica grabbed his hand and pulled it up to his face, showing him the hook-like feline claws that were growing from his fingertips.
"They are the only one's in our way."
The Blue-Eyed Beast held the Warlock's back to Boyd as if the man weighed nothing.
".....kILlll...."
Boyd's body warmed. It warmed until his skin burned. His gums itched. They itched so much he felt like he'd go mad. In those moments, his vision sharpened, drool filled his mouth... his lungs expanded in his chest. The tangy scent of fear was strong enough to blind him.
He moved without thinking, stopping only when he found his reflection on a busted open cd on the floor.
His jaw extended into a hybrid muzzle of sorts. His nose thickened along with his eyebrow ridge. His parted lips showed a pair of growing sabered incisors.
He stumbled backward in shock. The intense feelings faded. The warmth died out like a flame in a blizzard.
In those moments the Warlocks muffled screams heightened before the sound of flesh tearing silenced him.
Boyd looked up to find the Beast's hand sticking out through the Warlock's back. A red dripping object held firmly in it's clawed hand. The Warlocks heart. Or whatever remained after it squished it into red tattered remains.
The Beast dropped the body and looked up at Boyd.
".....pUsSy...."
The sound of sirens in the distance was the only sound to come as a reply. The pack of Onurians was gone without a trace before the Sirens were even within human earshot.