AUTHOR'S POV
"Drinks?", Scott asked, reaching for some apples and bananas from the wicker fruit basket. He opt to prepare the usual refreshment Stanley drinks in the morning. "And what's with the sunglasses?"
"The sun is a bit hurting today... How about some brandy?", Stanley coughed a little, sitting down on one of the black leather bar stools, leaving his cane resting against the bar counter.
"Hmm..", Scott paused mid-reach to the blender.
The lythari elf, perched over Scott's shoulder, squints his eyes over the old man he's seeing first time. "He smells… wrong", Ofir whispers, confused about the misleading scent of the wolf that exudes from Stanley.
Scott then took a balloon glass, filled it with ice and poured some aged cognac from a crystal crusted decanter. "What brings you here? ".
"Diana Woodsworth", Stanley said too quickly, without a fuss.
Scott didn't even finished pouring brandy in Stanley's glass. Her name, whenever mentioned by any man makes him loose all of his edges. He put the decanter down, and left the bar. "This conversation is over".
"Son, listen to me first", Stanley shifted to Scott, coughing up something thick in his throat.
"Look old man", Scott turned to Stanley. "I thought we're done with this, but I don't mind repeating myself to you. If you want her dead, you're gonna have to go through me".
"I don't want her dead anymore", Stanley said, as he took the glass of liquor. "I see you haven't found her. Let me, let me help you find your Luna", coughing a few more, deliberately. Timed too perfectly.
Scott's jaw tightened, without blinking. "That's new. Last time we talked about it, you were all ready to kill Diana. Let me guess, you need more medicine?", he figured softly. His eyes focused on Stanley's limbs, tremor-free, as he hold the glass.
Stanley took a sip of the brandy, clearing his throat with the hard liquor. The coughs suddenly disappeared for a while, as the old man lick his lips, not wanting to waste the rich taste of the brandy. It was a sort of medicine that soothes him. "We both gain. You stabilize the lycan in you, I recover".
"...you knew?", Scott squints, slowly going back behind the counter.
"You're my son, how could I not know?", Stanley sips the brandy again. This time, he slips a steady composure, with less timed cough. "Let's both find Diana, and I'll let everything fall into place", each word came out clinical, and too eager. "I'll put you back right where you belong. The Alpha of the clan. The CEO of SD Steel Enterprises. The King of our world", Stanley takes the decanter, pouring his glass half full, as the bottle whispered tipping the rim of the glass. He then slid it across the counter top.
Scott took the decanter, swigged the liquor straight from it and slammed the decanter on the table."I am an Alpha", Scott's voice thundered in the space. "No one dictates if I'm that or not", the room shook under his power as he clench his fists. The bottle in his hand cracked easily like thin porcelain. The lights flickered. And in a matter of seconds, everything calmed, but the tension arising in Scott's veins didn't.
"An Alpha without a clan?", Stanley scoffs that led to a series of coughs. While it sounded like a sickness under the mask of its manifestation, it was merely a thought sarcasm for Scott. "You need me, son. And I'm helping you, willingly.".
"Desperation doesn't suit you", Scott walked off with his hands in his pockets. "My Luna is not a resource. The Luna whom you ordered to kill ", Scott said, quietly. He felt disgusted at how Stanley assume he thinks the same way.
"And I rescind it", Stanley stayed on the chair with those words that stopped Scott from leaving. There was no apology, and no weight. Just revision like rewriting a document. "I'll be honest. The company is collapsing.", Stanley blurted out. "With only a few weeks of Sebastian being in the position, our butts are already getting hurt from the losses. Your people are leaving. The pack stayed out of the way too.", he sighed, licked his dry lips as he clasp his hands together. "Scott, your brother could hardly pull it through and without a doubt, he is struggling, son… With your Luna in our hands, we conquer everything. And we get to control the beast inside you, because it's... what's the word?", Stanley tilted his head. "Unstable?".
Scott didn't react. He watched Stanley drink all the brandy in one chug, as if it was water. "Did I mention a new Alpha is being selected as we speak? Ugh… Son, let's bring her back.", he leans forward slightly. "You regain control, I regain my health. The clan regains its future. You become the Alph—".
"Anything else? I have much more important things to do", Scott interrupted as if it was final.
Stanley smiled as he stands up. "There's only one way to fix this. And you know how", he the walked forth, smoothly as if his legs no longer belongs to a tired man with weakening body. Remembering his cane, he turned around slowly at the sight of Scott already handing him the cane that he left against the bar counter. He lifted his chin and as he face Scott, he made one mistake that shifted the entire room.
"He... sees me", Ofir uttered. Dropping his jaw, nails pressed into Scott's skin.
Scott knew it from the moment Stanley entered his home. The gussy up attire early in the morning along with the fedora hat he never once wore. The sunglasses that never showed a glimpse of what's behind them. The persistent coughs, yet absence of tremors that should be there whenever his ailment takes over his body. His scent rotting underneath the fake wolf and expensive cologne. The brandy in the morning. They were all too... theatrical and unlikely of his father. "Are you done playing games, Tamara?".
A soft chuckle emerged from his lips. "Took you long enough", Stanley said. "You got a prized thing right there.. I can't help but look. I thought they are all dead".
Scott suddenly lunged forward, wrapping around Stanley's throat hard enough to crack the bone as he drive him against the wall. The sunglasses that never moved over the bridge of his nose hit the floor and shattered, showing a pair of yellow eyes glowing, staring right back at him. "You think you can fool me in my territory, Nagual?".
Stanley smiled wider, despite Scott's hand is being rushed in its throat. "There he is". Scott's grip tightened violently. Veins bulged along his forearm. One twist. One second. He could snap the neck clean off. But, Stanley laughed. Soft and mocking. "You can't kil..l me in this form, Scott. You know damn well".
Scott froze.
Rage crashed through him so hard his vision blurred crimson. The realization struck like poison crawling under his skin. Stanley made a deal. Unlike Sebastian who unwillingly sealed a bargain in his deathbed, Stanley readily let the Nagual in him. Scott slammed the Nagual harder into the wall anyway, the concrete cracking behind Stanley's head. "What do you want?".
The Nagual tilted her head unnaturally. "You and Diana. I just might consider breaking the curse for you... And maybe save your father's pathetic life too.", she smiled. "Your father, asked me for some more medicines you know? A year supply. Since my daughter have wandered far from home too long, I need her back".
"You seem to believe you got us all wrapped in your fingers", Scott shoved her against the wall.
"Oh yes I do", the nagual chuckled. Scott shoved her back again on the wall. "Surrender the girl to me, bring me yourself willingly. And perhaps, I can spare your father alive". Silence stretched between them. Something heavy arise, throbbing with hatred and helpless rage. A flicker glowed in the Nagual's eyes, ignited by interest and amusement. "I wonder if the son truly loved the father".
Scott's jaw flexed. Beneath the anger sat something uglier. His disappointment in Stanley for choosing himself to deal with a Nagual grew bitter in his mouth. All for the vial of stolen youth. Not for the clan, not for his son. Not to save anyone. Then, he released the Nagual violently that made Stanley crumple to the floor. The moment he let go, Stanley's body convulsed lightly, and a shadow peeled from his skin like smoke dragged from drowning lungs. Thin. Twisting. A pair of yellow eyes lingered before it completely vanished toward the ceiling. " Ticktock, Alpha".
Tamara vanished as the silence crash down afterward, while Stanley lays unconscious on the floor. Scott watched his father wince as he take slow breaths, as if every rise and fall in his chest was a burden. He stayed quiet. Pressing his lips not knowing which betrayal burned worse, that his father made a deal with the monster... or that part of him understood why. "You say you can teleport?", Scott asked the lythari elf.
"Ye-yea?", the lythari elf answered, clutching on Scott's shoulder. "The place. You should speak of it through your mind", he said.
"Alright then, let's go", Scott said. "And make sure no one sees us once we're in". Scott understood that the Nagual wants him desparate. Torn making choices. And so, he decided to choose differently.
The lythari elf stilled, wrinkling his smooth forehead. Then, he lifted his pale hands with a sharp exhale. "My magic follows memory better than sight. Think of the feeling of that place... and off we go".
Scott obeyed.
In a few seconds, thick smoke blanketed the two. They were instantly surrounded by the smell of ash and burning wood. The stink of burnt flesh rot beneath the flames. And then in a blink of an eye, the world folded. The air compressed violently against them, squeezing the breath from Scott's lungs. Shadows stretched into silver threads. Everything became into blur, and slowly, it all snapped back. He squints his eyes when the cold air hit his face. When he opened them, the Woodsworth mansion in the middle of the woods of Huaxyacac stood before them. Untouched, looming silently beneath the trees, pristine and whole. Scott's eyes moved around the mansion. He stared at every corner, grunting at not even a scorch mark remained in the house that Roman burned into ashes.
"This can't be right... Diana won't be back here", Ofir uttered, as he opened the door gently with a flick of his hand.
"No", Scott said. He chose not to take Tamara's bait, and decided to swerve a little from what is expected of him. "Make no mistakes, elf. No one should see us inside. Not even ghosts". Scott entered the mansion with a low groan. He passed through the dustless floors, and perfect walls. It was as if the fire never happened. The deeper they walked, the more he can sense the unpolished sickening smell of decay underneath the floorboards.
As Scott go along, a Naga patrolling the corridor heads their way. Huffing at every heavy step, looking around with its keen slitted eyes. Scott forged his way in the narrow hallway towards to creature, without an ounce of hesitation. Protected by the power of the lythari elf and trusting on it, Scott walked through the creature like a wraith drifting unearthly. He gave a faint smile for the excellent job the lythari elf did, as if it has earned his trust for a tiny bit.
Scott then headed down the basement. The memory of getting almost killed by the Nagas in that very same stairs that he descends is still at the top of his mind. He slowed as he reach the steel door coming into view. He froze at how it stood flawlessly, as if it was new. He grabbed the handle and the second his skin touched the steel, pain hissed through his hand. Smoke curled from his palm, baring his teeth as he force the door open. "Lycans hate silver. Keep in mind not to touch them, Lycan King", Ofir said.
"Then you should teleport us next time beyond steel doors", Scott grunted heavily, pushing the door open until it was enough for him to squeeze in. Inside, he saw the same three blood painted doors surrounding the blue lit hall. However this time, each door is already marked. The first one carried the mark of the sun. The second one had claw marks. And the last one bore a moon and an embedded moonstone. Scott stopped there. The stone on the door pulse softly that never happened before.
"There's something inside.", the elf whispered.
"Good", Scott answered.
The lythari looked at Scott sharply. "You know what this prison holds?".
"The original."
Ofir's expression darkened instantly as he hop down from Scott's shoulder. "Claudia almost drained the life out of Diana.".
"Yes."
"Then why free it?".
Scott stared at the glowing stone. "Because whatever the Nagual needs ti chain down here", his voice hardened. "I want unleashed", he pushed the door open but it didn't budged.
Ofir clammed up, eyes on Scott opening the door with all his might. Eventually, he stepped forward reluctantly. "You are gambling with monsters.", he said. "It's locked with a spell now, you see?", Ofir said as he point on the markings on the door.
Scott let out a sharp exhale as he step back. "After you then".
Grunting in annoyance, Ofir placed his palm against the door and circled it a few times as he said, "Destruam Ostium". Each word sounding less spoken than summoned from the earth itself.
The moonstone flickered. Dimmed, and died. The red line protecting the doorway faded along with the power of the stone. The lock clicked and the door opened slowly. Inside, a woman bound to a chair sits. Still. Silent. Human-like with dry blood still smeared on its lips that smell of Diana. Waiting as she stare at the door that suddenly opened before her without anyone coming in, naked to her senses. Her eyes, despite naturally amber before doom struck her centuries ago, darkened into deep brown. The chains around her wrists and ankles clink as she shifts. Suddenly, they all shattered one by one.
"I don't think this is a good idea", Ofir warned, as he hop onto Scott's shoulder. While Claudia makes her way out of the room, Scott and Ofir have already vanished into thin air.