For the Love of a Hellhound
(Takes place after the end of the series, shortly after they discover Alec.)
Chapter 1: Crash
Deputy Parrish sat in his desk staring at the pile of ever-growing paperwork. It had been almost a year since Scott McCall defeated the Anuk-ite. Lydia and Stiles continued their ever-blossoming relationship, and the younger wolves were adjusting well to their notoriety of having been outed to the public now that most of the fear had abated.
Most – though not all. With the help of Agent McCall the events in Beacon Hills were largely written off as an elaborate hoax rooted in superstition and the growing wolf population in the area, but many of the locals still knew. But Parrish remained. Stagnant. Something was missing, and he could feel it.
"Available units, we have an accident, possible 505 on Route 11."
Parrish picked up his radio immediately. "This is Parrish. I'm on it."
"10-4"
He'd been itching to get out of the office for days, but now there was almost a sense of urgency. He ran to the squad car, flipped on the lights and sped toward Route 11.
*Twenty Minutes Earlier*
Beacon Hills wasn't a town Daphne had given a moment's thought in years, apart from the time she wondered if it had a good fast food restaurant off the interstate on the way to school. The past several months had changed that.
Rumors of supernatural creatures and bizarre, unexplainable phenomena had trickled out into the surrounding towns and into the surrounding cities. The news wrote it off as bogus theatrics pulled by a group of teenagers, but the damage was done. Beacon Hills was taboo - practically haunted. And as she headed north for spring break, she once again became consciously aware of each whispered tale.
Daphne stared down at the gas meter in dismay. Of course she hadn't thought to gas the car earlier, and now her options were limited: stop in Beacon Hills to fill up or drive on fumes for God knew how long.
She missed the main exit and cringed as she neared the next one. It was now or never. She grudgingly pulled off at the last exit and made her way to the nearest gas station. Unlike the main exit, the nearest gas station was over a mile down an FM road, much to her chagrin.
It was the last week in April in California, but that didn't stop her from having on the heater in the car. Doctors couldn't explain it, but Daphne had felt cold for the past four years. They guessed a rare type of hypothyroidism that couldn't be picked up in the typical blood tests, or poor circulation. Different guesses every time.
Driving past the Sheriff's station she remembered the rumors, and her heart rate accelerated. Werewolves. Creatures of the night. Demons. Could they really live in such a quaint little town? An unfamiliar wave of heat washed over her senses, and Daphne had to will herself to breathe normally.
Where was the gas station?
She turned down a forest road to try and get turned around when she thought she saw something from behind, but when she blinked it was gone.
Nope. Nope. Nope. Daphne was so done with Beacon Hills, and she hadn't even made it to the gas station yet. Flipping a U-turn, she sped back toward Route 11, and turned back toward the interstate.
As she passed the Police Station again she felt a sheer sense of panic. It made no sense, but the further she traveled the more defined that panic became. Looking behind her one last time she accidentally swerved.
The shoulder was far too narrow, and she over-corrected, lunging across the road and diving into a ditch.
The last lucid thought she had was swearing at her own stupidity.
"This is Parrish. Driver is unresponsive. 11-41."
"Copy that. Ambulance is on its way."
Parrish could see the girl in the car still breathing, and the blood appeared to be minimal, but he could tell her heart rate was erratic.
"Ma'am, can you hear me?"
He listened to the sound of her heart with his hellhound senses, and if anything, the beating became even faster and more frantic. If he didn't get her out, she was going to go into cardiac arrest.
He wrenched open the passenger side of the door and extricated the girl from her seatbelt, and laid her on a stretch of grass.
"It's going to be okay. I've got you." He brushed the deep brown tresses from her face to check for cranial injuries.
Deep gray eyes fluttered open, and the girl's pulse slowed.
"Am I dead?" she looked at him with grave confusion.
"No. I'm Deputy Parrish from the Beacon Hills Sheriff's Department. You were in a car accident. An ambulance is coming to take you to the hospital now, but I had to get you out of the car."
She still appeared bewildered. "You feel warm."
"Yeah, I get that a lot…" Parrish tried to deflect the conversation. "Adrenaline, you know..."
She stared into his eyes with an air of perplexity. "I never feel warm."
Parrish wasn't sure what to say, but her eyes fluttered closed into unconsciousness, and he was spared the decision by the sound of the approaching ambulance.
She still needed to be questioned about the incident, so he called the station and followed as they took her to the hospital.
Warmth. It was the last thing she remembered. He was so perfectly warm, like a beam of sunlight wrapped around her body. Like a fire that filled her veins from the inside out.
She opened her eyes to find herself in a hospital room. Shoot. She'd forgotten about the car accident. Spring break was ruined.
A nurse with curly black hair and kind eyes opened the door and greeted her with a smile.
"Oh good! We were worried about you, Miss McKnight. I'm Melissa, I'll be your on-call nurse for the evening."
"Evening?" Daphne frowned. "How long was I out?"
"About a day and a half. You had a pretty bad concussion."
"Where's the man who found me? The deputy?"
Melissa smiled. "Officer Parrish is the one who pulled you out of the car. We'll let him know you're awake, and I'm sure he'll be back here soon."
"He was warm." Daphne mumbled. "I've never felt warm like that."
The nurse's eyes widened. "Well, physical touch can often cause the sensation of heat within the body. Maybe you found him attractive, and your body's hormones reacted to him holding you?"
Daphne suddenly blushed thinking about the vague recollection his blue eyes and chiseled jawline. "Heh, yeah, maybe…"
"Are you hungry? I can get you a snack."
"Yeah." Then she frowned. "Can I also have a toothbrush?"
Melissa laughed, "Of course! And your backpack was brought in with you if there's anything in there you need."
"Thank the lord," Daphne sighed. She wasn't about to face the police officer who made her hormones apparently go haywire with anything other than minty fresh breath.
Parrish opened the door to see the woman from the accident chatting amiably with Mrs. McCall. Her gray eyes sparkled, and her smile made him glad he'd been the one to find her.
"Miss McKnight, I was wondering if I could ask you some questions about yesterday's accident."
She grimaced, "Let's get this over with."
"Let any one of the nurses know if you need anything, Daphne. I'll be back to check on you in an hour." Mrs. McCall smiled and left the two alone.
"Daphne's a nice name." Parrish offered.
"Thanks," she frowned slightly. "Do you know what happened to my car?"
"It was towed. I can get the number for you to call."
The girl groaned, "I bet insurance totals it. I don't even want to think about how much a taxi to UC Davis is going to be." She threw her hands in her face and grumbled again.
"So you're going to school?"
"Graduate degree in Anthropology. I had the pipe dream of being an archaeologist. I graduate in 2 months."
"What brought you to Beacon Hills?" This was the most pressing of all the questions. Any time a person mysteriously appeared under somewhat dire circumstances either he or Sheriff Stilinski had to make sure there weren't any supernatural connections.
"To be honest I wasn't even going to stop here. I wasn't checking my gas gauge carefully and had to fill up somewhere."
Relief flooded his senses. That almost certainly ruled out supernatural forces. "What happened that made you crash?"
"It's going to sound ridiculous."
Parrish smirked, "I'm not sure there's anything you could tell me that would sound ridiculous."
Daphne pursed her lips. "I was… scared. I've been going to UC Davis for six years, and I started hearing stories about this Beacon Hills place, and wolves that run around, and people that turn invisible, and I don't know. I started thinking about it, and I freaked out and lost control."
His smirk instantly fell, not quite sure how to proceed. "Are you still afraid? I'm sure the accident didn't improve your opinion of Beacon Hills."
"Not that I've seen enough to accurately gauge an opinion." She looked in his eyes and half-smiled, "but I do like what I've seen so far."
He quirked a grin. "Is that so?" A blush crept up her cheeks, and the grin widened.
"My imagination must have been getting carried away. It sounds crazy anyway. Supernatural creatures in Beacon County, yeah right."
Parrish's smirk softened. "What if it was true? What if I was a supernatural creature?" He wasn't sure what possessed him to say it, but he didn't entirely regret it either.
Her mouth fell open slightly, and she grinned. "Okay, I'll play along. What are you, Deputy? Are you a werewolf running around the streets of Beacon Hills?"
He should have made up something ridiculous, but he was enjoying the banter. "I'm actually a hellhound."
Daphne laughed out loud. "Wait, like the three-headed dog that guards the underworld?"
"Do I look like a three-headed dog to you?"
"Okay, then tell me," she sighed with a chuckle. "What is a hellhound?"
"A one-headed shape-shifting demon that's a guardian of the supernatural."
She bit her lip, deep in thought. "Maybe you're just one of the heads then..."
"You don't believe any of this, do you?"
She scoffed, "If I didn't have the capacity to believe, I wouldn't have felt scared, would I?"
Jordan considered her words as she continued.
"It would be unnerving at first. I honestly don't know how I would handle it, but I keep an open mind."
The words felt strangely familiar. He'd made a similar sentiment years ago before discovering the supernatural world himself. "How about this - if you could be any supernatural creature in existence, what would you be?"
"I'd be a wizard, go to Hogwarts, and have a three-headed dog named Fluffy."
Parrish let out a low laugh. "Really."
"If you get to be a demon dog, I get to be a witch."
He was about to argue, but ultimately let it go. "A three-headed dog named Fluffy? You're kidding."
"No, you're right. If I had a Cerberus of my own I'd definitely name it Parrish."
They both laughed, and he noticed the way the silver in her eyes reflected in the light from the setting rays of sun.
"It's Jordan by the way. Not just Parrish."
She grinned. "Hey, I can get behind having a hellhound named Jordan too."
He returned the smile. "So, Daphne,"
"Hm?"
"I do have to ask you a few more questions."
"Of course," she looked lost in thought for a moment but shook her head. "Go ahead."
"If you weren't planning on stopping in Beacon Hills, where were you intending on spending Spring Break?"
"I was headed home to Seattle. I had a… a friend who wanted to reconnect. I figured, why not?"
"A guy."
Daphne blushed. "Yeah. I probably should have said no. But I felt like something's been missing, and, I don't know, I wanted to see if a crazy, impulsive trip to see a terrible ex would help me find it. It sounds so stupid saying it out loud now."
"It doesn't sound stupid."
She stared at him for several seconds. "Notwithstanding the hospital bills and loss of a car, I'm glad things went differently."
"Now that is the strangest thing you've said yet."
"No, really," she looked at her hands. "Just having this short conversation with you is better than any conversation I ever had with him. I'm - relieved that I'm not there."
Daphne's phone rang, and the color from her face drained. "Speak of the devil."
"You don't have to answer."
"No, I'd rather get it all out of the way now." She smiled weakly at him before answering. "Hello?"
Jordan tried not to eavesdrop, but it was hard not to pick up on some of the words.
...babe, I've been waiting. Where you at? You haven't been answering my calls.
"Hey, Doug, I'm sorry, I'm not going to be able to make it after all. I was on my way, but–"
You know what, just save it.
The insults and expletives that followed from the other side of the phone filled the deputy with rage.
When the voice on the other end finished, her voice was barely above a whisper. "Thank you for illustrating so perfectly why this was a terrible idea. Don't call me again." Daphne hung up the phone, and her breathing was shallow.
"Does he always speak to you that way?" Parrish shook his head in disbelief.
"Not always." She still seemed in shock. "He's a bit of a drinker."
"You deserve better than that. Hell, anyone deserves better than that."
"I know." Several seconds passed, and she chuckled, "Can you see why I said I'd rather have wrecked the car?"
"Yes."
She shivered and pulled up the blankets over her shoulders.
"Do you need the nurse?"
"No, I'm just little cold. It's fine."
He fell silent for several seconds. "When I pulled you from the car, you said you never feel warm."
"It's rare." She peered at him from the blankets and smiled. "I own a lot of coats."
Her hair flayed around her face as she squished in the hospital linens, and he couldn't help but grin. "Do you want me to ask the nurse for more blankets?"
She bit her lip. "Probably."
"I've got to go back to the station and file a report of the accident, but I'll make sure you get plenty of blankets on the way out."
Disappointment flickered across her features. "Am I going to see you again?"
Her lips settled into a half-pout, and Parrish found himself distracted by them for a moment. "Yeah, of course." The piles of paperwork could wait.
She beamed, and he found himself feeling just as grateful that she had crashed her car in Beacon Hills. The paperwork could definitely wait.
Thanks for reading! I realize I still have a few unfinished stories. I am slowly working on a couple of them and will start posting updates as they are completed. This one is already almost finished, though, so rest assured the updates will be consistent. I finally finished watching Teen Wolf, and Jordan Parrish is a great character, so I figured I'd flex my FanFic muscles again. Thanks again! -V