Chapter 10

Normally, the Sheriff would've gone to bed around now, after having gotten off work as late as he did. But he couldn't even pretend he was tired enough to sleep.

Someone had tried – and succeeded – in killing his son, his only child. Sure, the creature responsible was now dead, but John wouldn't try to pretend he wasn't rattled.

Even though Scott and Malia volunteered themselves to sleep over until Stiles found a way to control himself – Lydia and Kira made themselves comfortable in the living room for tonight.

The Sheriff wasn't about to send two teenage girls home in the middle of the night when they didn't have their cars with them. He figured he would drop the girls off at Lydia's car at the Preserve in the morning on his way into work.

But for now, let's be honest – no one in the house was asleep. No one in the house was even pretending to sleep.

Stiles had grabbed a blood packet, as he promised Scott he would. Except once the blood sat in his hands, he quickly withdrew himself from his friends' and locked himself in the bathroom. Once the door was locked behind him, his fangs extended before he bit into the packet in his hands.

He didn't realize he was so hungry before, but he was glad he caught it now before it got worse.

Scott had insisted he didn't need to be embarrassed drinking blood in front of them, but Stiles felt like that level of comfort would take a bit of time.

Once the packet was empty, he withdrew his teeth from the bag. He felt his fangs recede into their smaller form, as the fire in his stomach dulled significantly, and the dryness in his throat dissipated.

Stiles folded the packet up, and disposed of it in the waste basket before unlocking the door and going to meet with Scott and the others.

Scott sat on Stiles's freshly made bed, reading something on his phone. When he heard Stiles reenter the room, he put his phone away in his pocket before looking up at his friend. Scott visibly startled before quickly recollecting himself.

"What?" Stiles prodded curiously.

Scott said nothing, instead he just pointed to his mouth as a clear signal to Stiles to wipe his face. Evidence of the blood he just drank must've been all over his face.

Instinctively his tongue darted from his mouth to lick the remaining crimson from his lips, but still he turned around back into the bathroom to stare at his reflection in the mirror.

Dark red still painted grotesquely around his mouth. Not wanting to taste blood anymore, Stiles ran his hand under the tap and wiped the blood away with his wet hand. Once the evidence was gone, he ran his hands under the faucet again letting the warm water clean his hands, before turning it off.

Stiles heard Scott's heartbeat approaching. Was this what it was like for the wolves? Stiles couldn't help but wonder. He could hear that Scott was a little nervous as he walked toward the bathroom.

Scott suddenly appeared behind him with a dopey half smile on his face, which Stiles saw through the mirror in front of him.

"Glad that myth is false." Scott stated with an awkward sort of chuckle, "The whole 'vampires have no reflection' thing."

"Me too." Stiles muttered in agreement as he turned to face Scott.

"In about another hour we can check and see how you handle the sun," Scott said, forcing himself to sound hopeful, "I'm sure you'll be fine. And in a couple days we can all go back to school."

Stiles didn't say anything right away, truthfully he wasn't all too excited about this 'sun test'. He didn't like the idea of potentially bursting into flames or exploding into ash, or whatever it is the horrible myth says about vampires in sunlight.

Within the last couple hours, Stiles has been able to determine that vampires are indeed nocturnal – considering his exceptional eyesight in the dark, and how an internal clock was screaming at him to get some sleep because daylight was coming.

But he wasn't sure if he could go out during the day. Which is probably a good thing to know, really.

And even if it turns out that he can walk in the sun, he doesn't think he'll be going back to school in just a couple days – as Scott had so nonchalantly worded it.

Maybe a couple weeks – but he couldn't stop his thoughts from going to food whenever he heard heartbeats. Imagine if he were hungry, and surrounded by that sound?

He tried not to think about that.

Scott actually noticed that Stiles looked a lot better since emerging from the bathroom. He seemed only slightly less pale, and the creepy black veins that had been visible beneath his skin could no longer be seen. He looked almost normal.

He didn't want to say anything aloud to his friend. Scott didn't want to upset him.

Instead, his friends and he sat around Scott's room talking. They talked about the goings on around school, and anything at all in their lives.

Anything except what had happened that night.

This of course led to a few moments of awkward silence between everyone. The events from that night still fresh in everyone's minds.

Finally, Scott's routine alarm went off on his phone that usually would be to wake him up for school. It was just turning six fifteen, and Scott grabbed his phone from his pocket before turning the alarm off.

Sunrise was at six twenty nine.

Stiles was suddenly hit with an overwhelming drowsiness, the new internal clock had finished its countdown. It felt like he had to fight to keep himself awake at this time.

The pack made their way to their feet, and Stiles struggled to keep it together. He tried to stand with the rest of his friends, but his head was suddenly swimming, and he was unable to support himself.

Luckily, Scott and Lydia were close enough to grab Stiles by each shoulder before he fell to the ground.

"Stiles?" Scott called out in an almost panic, "Dude, come on. What's wrong?"

"Tired." Stiles muttered simply as his eyes fluttered shut.

Malia suddenly reached over and slapped Stiles across the face. Sure enough, his eyes flew open before he looked around the room wildly.

"Sorry." Malia started as she crossed her arms over her chest, "We need you to stay awake, just a little while longer."

"What just happened?" Kira inquired aloud, wide eyes turned on Stiles.

The young vampire shook off Scott's hand from his shoulders, but Lydia's firm grip only slid to hold onto his elbow instead of his shoulder.

"I dunno." Stiles replied truthfully, "It's like the minutes Scott's alarm went off…I just couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. Even now, it's the most tired I've ever felt in my life."

"Does this mean we shouldn't test to see if you can't go out in the sun?" Malia wondered, her expression turning worried as she eyed Stiles up and down.

"No…let's do this." Stiles confirmed.

Scott nodded toward the pack as he led the way out of the bedroom and down the stairs. Stiles followed close behind, and Lydia's hand was still on Stiles' elbow as if to try and steady him.

In the living room, they found the Sheriff on the couch where they had left him last night with a cup of steaming coffee in his hands. He looked up at them when he heard them coming down.

When he noticed Stiles coming down, being gently guided by Lydia, he stood from the couch and placed the hot mug on the coffee table.

The teens stared at him from the landing for a moment, that's when the Sheriff got the hint. He looked out the window, and sure enough, he could see the early morning sun beginning to lighten up the sky.

"What happens if he can't take the light?" Sheriff Stilinski asked, sounding entirely worried.

"We'll pull him back in," Scott replied smoothly, "We'll do whatever we have to, to heal him if it comes down to it."

"I just need to get to sleep." Stiles remarked, mostly to himself than to anyone else.

That's when John got a really good look at his son. He looked better from when he saw him before, most definitely – but Stiles had said he was going to feed again, so he thought maybe it had something to do with that.

But the bone crushing exhaustion was very apparent on his face. He looked like he hadn't slept in days. Which, maybe technically that was true – but Stiles has pulled all-nighters in the past, but he's never looked this bad after two nights.

"What's wrong?" The sheriff demanded as he took a step toward his son.

"The minute the sun started rising, Stiles is having a hard time staying awake." Malia responded truthfully.

"Understatement." Stiles murmured as he swayed on his feet just a little. It was then that he was grateful Lydia hadn't removed her hand from his arm.

"We should try this now." Lydia suggested, "He's not gonna make it much longer."

Bad choice of words, Scott thought to himself with a wince. He looked up at the Sheriff and realized that he was thinking the same thing.

"She's right." Scott had to agree.

With that, the five teens and Stiles's father made their way toward the front door. There was no overdramatic moment of hesitation, no long overdrawn sideways glances. One minute the door was closed – the next minute, Malia had reached out and pulled the front door open.

Nothing happened. Stiles didn't start smoking, nor did he just burst into flames – he just stood on the porch with his half opened eyes.

He had to admit it was definitely harder to see in the daylight, but at least the sun wouldn't kill him.

"This is great!" Malia exclaimed, as she reached out and hugged Stiles.

That was the moment his exhaustion won out, and in Malia's arms – Stiles completely slumped against her. His vision suddenly went black, he was unable to keep his eyes open any longer.