Wolf Among Us

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Maybe battle isn’t the right word, that seemed to be something more grand and
glorious. It just wasn’t desperate enough. But “fight” really didn’t serve up to the memory and gravitas of what happened that night.

Blood and Novaks and Luke and wolves and vampires and coming back to life…

There were scars she wouldn’t heal from this time, some running deeper than her marred face. But Avery accepted it. The pain and the hurt and the relief when her lungs still worked, and heart still pumped seemed to be the most realest feeling after all that crazy. A small token, tangible proof that she was still alive.

The hours that followed…. They were near disorientating but still grounding.

Claire Novak didn’t explain much, “not yet,” she only told Avery. But the scary part of her was yet to be revealed when she spoke in action. Instead the woman slowly simmered down from her own hurricane of death, nodding her head at Avery to follow. The scary part was that Claire understood that Avery was deathly afraid—for her friends’ wellbeing.

So no deliberating, no ultimatums or compromises or any scheme as Arturo
Castle would have done. Claire got into Avery's trusty Jeep without invitation, blood-soaked and whistling as she played Candy Crush on her phone.

“I think I’m going to throw up,” Avery muttered, feeling her head spin as she got in with the dark queen.

As Sophia said, Castle had moved everything in advanced. They drove two hours, with Claire only asking a few questions about Avery’s life alone. The woman had more tact than her counterpart, Nathanial, seeming curious as to how Avery had stayed a nobody all these years.

Avery was too tired to play coy, so she answered. Claire didn’t seem to want to tear her throat out, and honestly Avery knew there would be nothing she could do to stop Claire if Claire wanted too.

The large factory was set up like a mad science lab, medical equipment, cold storage, rows of gurneys, vials of blood and venom and cruel looking instruments. But nearly empty.

Cocking her head to the side, Claire heard a scuffling somewhere, told Avery to be quiet and together they tiptoed to the locked storage on the end. Claire broke the handle off with a clean snap, throwing the door wide open and there were Sawyer, Reece, Adam and the rest of the shifters, blistered skin as a fog of wolfsbane smoke slithered out the small room.

It took them a few hours to heal up, but Avery had never been more happy to see Sawyer. He took one look at her and knew something was beyond wrong. He wrapped her in his arms, crushing her against his chest and she finally cried. Maybe until morning, maybe only a few minutes, she can’t remember. She could only remember him cradling her all the while, running his hands over through her hair and reminding her that it would be okay.

Afterwards, Claire lit the whole building on fire. Enough that Castle wouldn’t have a syringe to save. “And if it’s any consolation, my family will hunt him down,” she said with a careless shrug.

The days that followed were even more of a haze.

Reece, Adam, Sawyer and Avery went back to Jackson, one final time.

They trekked all the way up the forested mountain, and buried Laurel way above. It broke them. Seeing the mound, standing there in silence only holding Sawyer’s hand. Breathing in the cold night air and thinking how did it come to this. Once Laurel and Avery couldn’t stand each other and now Avery wanted that snarky blonde to be standing next to her more than anything.

All four of them said the same thing. It was hard to imagine a life without Laurel Forbes.

Claire had one last thing to do before she went her own way. With Avery and her friends’ grief fueling their bodies, the five of them set out on destroying all evidence of what Castle was trying to do. Claire was pretty vindictive with shredding all that paper, even more so when a rogue vampire came along still believing in the doctrine. But they rescued the wolves.