Lover Boy [Book 2]

Chapter 6

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Scott, Stiles, and I stood in the Sheriff's office as we talked with Noah about the murders.

    "So, the Walcotts were the first...at least, the first we know about. Four murders—Sean, his brother, and their parents. They were killed by a professional assassin called the Mute; weapon of choice, a military tomahawk. But then, the Mute was killed by Peter Hale after he tried to blow up Derek with a claymore mine. Next was Demarco. He delivered a keg to the party at Lydia's lake house...and got decapitated outside his car." Stiles told his father, continuing on. "And then, last night, twenty-three-year-old Carrie Hudson..."

    Scott took out the Deadpool and handed it to Noah. "It's a Deadpool—a hit-list of supernatural creatures. This is only part of it...the rest still has to be decoded."

    "Who found this list?" Noah asked as he looked at us.

    "Lydia." I answered.

    "How?"

   "She wrote it," Stiles said, "...actually, she transcribed it...without realizing it..."

    Noah sighed. "Banshee?"

    "Banshee." his son nodded.

    Noah rubbed his eyes from tiredness and stress. "Beautiful. All right, what are these numbers next to the names?"

    "We're getting to that. First, you need to know that the code was broken with a cipher key." Stiles said.

    "Wait...you mean, like, a...like a key word?" Noah asked.

    "It's actually a name..." Scott answered.

    "Allison." I said, glancing at Scott and gently putting my hand on his arm. "Her name broke a third of the list. And now we think there's two other cipher keys."

    "Which will give us the rest of the names. Okay...so, how do we get the cipher keys?" Noah asked us.

    "Same way we got the code," Scott said, "Lydia. She's been at the lake house all weekend, trying to find the other two key words."

    "You didn't know about Demarco or Carrie, hmmm? And what about these other two names on the list—uh, Kayleen Bettcher and Elias Town? They're werewolves, too?" Noah asked us as he looked at the Deadpool again.

    Scott shrugged. "I don't know...but Deaton said that the Nemeton would draw supernatural creatures here."

    "Here being Beacon Hills, or Beacon County? The population of Beacon Hills is just under thirty-thousand—"

    "And dropping." Stiles said grimly.

    Noah sighed. "But, if we're talking Beacon County, then you're looking at close to five hundred thousand. Look, how many werewolves, banshees, kitsunes, and whatever the hell else is out there are we talking about? And what if the next cipher key uncovers not twelve names, but one hundred?"