Morana disappeared.
Not retreated.
Not fled.
Simply vanished like smoke into darkness.
And somehow?
That was worse.
The hallway remained silent for several seconds afterward.
Then Stiles pointed shakily toward where the ancient entity had stood.
"So are we all just ignoring the fact that Dracula's goth grandmother called Drake property of Death?"
"Yes." Noah answered immediately.
"Cool cool cool."
Scott stared at Drake nervously.
"…You okay?"
Drake blinked slowly.
"That question is becoming repetitive."
"You attract nightmare creatures." Derek muttered.
"That's fair."
The school evacuation became chaos.
Police arrived.
Parents panicked.
Teachers cried.
And somewhere in the distance Coach Finstock yelled about liability forms.
Completely normal Beacon Hills behavior.
But Drake's focus remained elsewhere.
The shadows.
They were still moving.
Watching.
Waiting.
Morana hadn't attacked the school directly.
She'd tested him.
That realization annoyed him.
Ciri stepped beside him quietly.
"She's probing your limits."
"She won't like what she finds."
Ciri smirked faintly.
"No. She really won't."
Suddenly every shadow in the hallway twisted violently.
Students screamed again.
Dark figures burst from the walls all at once.
Not ten.
Not twenty.
Hundreds.
The hallway exploded into panic.
Scott transformed instantly.
Derek's claws extended.
Isaac moved protectively in front of Lydia and Allison.
Stiles grabbed a chair.
Which honestly was adorable.
Then Drake sighed.
Not worried.
Not angry.
Annoyed.
The entire school shook.
Everyone froze.
Crimson energy rolled outward from Drake like a tidal wave.
The pressure hit first.
Every supernatural creature in the building collapsed instantly.
The wraiths screamed.
Shadow creatures slammed against the floor.
Windows shattered across the entire school.
Scott dropped to one knee gasping.
Derek's eyes widened in genuine shock.
Even Ciri blinked slightly.
Drake's glowing crimson eyes slowly lifted toward the creatures.
"Enough."
One word.
That was all.
Every shadow entity disintegrated simultaneously.
Gone.
Not destroyed.
Erased.
Silence crashed into the hallway.
Smoke drifted through the air.
Students stared openly.
Scott looked horrified.
"…What the hell WAS that?"
Drake glanced around casually.
"…I used restraint."
Everyone somehow looked more concerned after hearing that.
Word spread quickly after the school incident.
Too quickly.
By sunset nearly every supernatural creature in Beacon Hills knew something terrifying had arrived in town.
Hunters noticed first.
Because hunter networks were apparently gossip clubs with crossbows.
Chris Argent arrived at the Stilinski house shortly after dark.
The moment Drake opened the door—
Chris froze.
His instincts screamed instantly.
Predator.
Not werewolf.
Not alpha.
Something worse.
Drake smiled politely.
"Hi, Chris."
Chris slowly lowered the handgun he'd instinctively reached for.
"…You got taller."
"Genetics."
"That explanation keeps getting less believable."
Inside the house Allison looked delighted.
"Dad!"
Chris hugged her briefly before his attention returned toward Drake.
Carefully.
Cautiously.
Hunter instincts practically vibrating.
"I heard what happened at the school."
"People exaggerate."
Derek snorted loudly from the couch.
"They really don't."
Chris ignored him.
"What exactly are you?"
Silence filled the room.
Scott immediately leaned forward.
"Oh my God yes finally somebody asked directly."
Drake considered the question honestly.
Then shrugged.
"…Complicated."
Stiles threw his hands upward dramatically.
"I AM GOING TO DEVELOP AN ANEURYSM."
Ciri sipped tea peacefully.
"Probably."
Chris remained focused.
"You're stronger than an alpha."
"Yes."
"Older than you look."
"Yes."
"You're connected to death somehow."
"…Yes."
Noah looked exhausted already.
"I hate this town."
Suddenly Drake's eyes shifted toward the window.
Then narrowed.
Three heartbeats outside.
Hunters.
Armed.
Nervous.
Chris sensed it too instantly.
"…They followed me."
Drake sighed softly.
Outside in the woods three hunters aimed crossbows toward the house.
Silver bolts loaded.
Mountain ash grenades prepared.
One hunter whispered nervously.
"Are we sure this thing is alone?"
Then Drake appeared directly behind them.
Silence.
None of them heard him move.
None of them smelled him.
One second he wasn't there.
The next—
Crimson eyes glowed in the darkness behind them.
The hunters froze completely.
Drake looked almost offended.
"…Thing?"
One hunter fired instinctively.
The silver bolt hit Drake directly in the chest.
And shattered harmlessly.
The hunter went pale.
Drake looked down at the broken silver.
"…Rude."
The second hunter threw a mountain ash grenade.
Drake caught it calmly.
Crushed it in one hand.
Then looked genuinely disappointed.
"You people really need new strategies."
The third hunter tried to run.
Tried.
Drake appeared in front of him instantly.
No movement.
No blur.
Just suddenly there.
The hunter stumbled backward in terror.
Drake leaned slightly closer.
And for the first time—
Allowed them to feel what he truly was.
The forest itself reacted.
Trees bent away from him.
Animals fled.
The air became heavy enough to suffocate.
The hunters collapsed instantly.
Not injured.
Just overwhelmed.
Terrified beyond thought.
Drake crouched calmly beside them.
"I'm actually being very friendly."
One hunter passed out.
"…Understandable."
By midnight the supernatural community of Beacon Hills was in complete panic.
Rumors spread everywhere.
An ancient alpha.
A demon king.
A reaper.
A primordial wolf.
Nobody agreed on what Drake actually was.
Which honestly?
Included Drake himself.
Peter Hale returned because of the rumors.
That alone proved how serious things had become.
The burned Hale house creaked softly as Peter emerged from the shadows.
Smirking.
Manipulative.
Dangerous.
Then Drake looked at him.
And Peter immediately stopped smiling.
"…Oh," Peter said quietly.
"That's concerning."
Derek folded his arms.
"You feel it too?"
Peter stared openly at Drake.
"I feel survival instincts I haven't experienced since the fire."
Drake blinked.
"…That seems dramatic."
"No," Peter answered honestly.
"It really isn't."
Scott looked between them.
"Wait Peter's scared of Drake?"
Peter looked offended.
"I'm not scared."
Drake raised an eyebrow.
Peter paused.
"…I am intelligently cautious."
"Cowardly." Derek corrected.
"Alive." Peter countered immediately.
Before the argument could continue—
The preserve screamed.
Not metaphorically.
Actually screamed.
Every supernatural being froze instantly.
Lydia nearly collapsed.
"That's impossible…"
The trees outside twisted violently.
Dark fog rolled across Beacon Hills.
Morana's voice echoed through the entire town.
"COME FIND ME."
Then bodies started rising.
Graves cracked open across the cemetery.
Corpses dragged themselves from the earth.
Scott stared in horror.
"…Nope."
Isaac looked pale.
"…Absolutely not."
Stiles grabbed a baseball bat.
"I would like to formally resign from supernatural activities."
Drake stepped outside slowly.
The entire town shook beneath the pressure radiating from the cemetery.
Hundreds of undead creatures moved through the streets.
Wraiths circled the sky.
Morana floated above the cemetery glowing with blue fire.
Citizens screamed throughout Beacon Hills.
Chaos consumed everything.
Then Drake cracked his neck once.
And vanished.
The shockwave alone shattered windows across three streets.
Morana's smile disappeared instantly.
Because Drake appeared directly in front of her midair.
One hand wrapped calmly around her throat.
The sky exploded.
Clouds split apart for miles.
Every supernatural creature in town collapsed simultaneously beneath the pressure.
Morana's glowing eyes widened for the first time.
"…Impossible."
Drake looked almost bored.
"No."
His crimson eyes burned like collapsing stars.
"Just unfair."
Then he slammed her through the entire cemetery.
The impact registered on the Richter scale.