CHAPTER 25 - HOLDING HANDS WHILE THE WORLD COMES TUMBLING DOWN
"Isaac," Allison begins carefully. She crouches, trying to make herself seem smaller and less threatening. "Isaac it's me. Allison." Her voice is low, as if she is speaking to a wild animal.
She sees the yellow flare and then dim slightly, "Allison?" his voice is a mix between a whine and a growl. Isaac's breathing is far too fast, and she can tell he is freaking out but he isn't quite past reason just yet.
He shakes his head and his hand trembles. "Try to slow your breathing," she tells him, "Slow it down. Count. One. Two."
"I-I can't." he swallows, and he keeps glancing around, as if the walls are closing in on him, "I can't!" he says, weakly, "I can't, I can't, I-"
"You can," she's an Argent female, so she does what she is trained to do. "You can and you will. Now breathe."
She takes a risk then, and presses one hand to his chest so that she can feel his heart pumping wildly underneath it. She meets his gaze squarely and begins exaggerated breathing for him to follow. He's her tether but she can be his too, just like Stiles and Lydia, supporting each other.
At first she thinks it isn't working. But then his eyes flicker closed and she can hear him mouthing numbers, and slowly, his heart rate slows.
There is a crash and a curse from wherever Stiles is. Isaac laughs, and it's slightly hysterical.
When his eyes open again they are blue, and his breathing is carefully controlled to match hers. "Are you okay?" he asks.
She nods, "Just banged up," she says, "I'm fine. Are you fine?"
"Yeah."
"Well if he's fine and you're fine, I'm fine too!" Stiles shouts through the wall, "Now can we work on getting out!"
Allison threads the fingers of her right hand through Isaac's, her other still over his heart. She shares a small smile with him. "Yeah." she says. "That sounds good."
"Who is that?" Scott sounds confused. Lexi's mouth hangs open a little as the figure begins strolling towards them, arms hanging at her side. "Is that your friend? The one the demon took?" his fingers curl around her arm as he half stands in front of her, staring at the figure.
It's Luke.
But at the same time it isn't. Luke would never dress up like that. The girl wears heavy eyeliner, and a pale lipstick that shines in the light. Her clothes aren't baggy, but tight fitting, low cut and clinging to her body.
She walks towards them, back straight and head held high, staring at them. Despite her weaving motion and the slight swing to her step as she almost skips along the cracks in the road, it is clear she's heading straight for them.
As she approaches the wind blows her words towards them. All three werewolves can hear them, a sing-song tune that rises and falls as she dances towards them.
"Mary, Mary quite contrary how do your murders go? With silver knives and humans lives, and little dead girls in a row." She turns, skipping up along a crack towards them. "Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow? With old tombstones and picked clean bones, prettily all in a row."
It's not Luke.
Nate has been walking forwards, as if to meet the figure, but now her sister stumbles to a stop. "No." she whispers. "No."
The girl stops about five metres from them, lowering her gaze. She looks up at them through long lashes and flutters them a little.
And when she does her eyes flash a vivid green.
"You're a demon." Scott moves forwards to stand besides Nate, body posture defensive and wary. He lets his own eyes flare red and his fangs prick through. "Who are you?"
"They call me Dantalion," the girl smirks.
"Luke-" Lexi mumbles, "That's-" she stops, shifting uneasily. Demons can't possess werewolves. Which means Luke is de-
"I'm afraid Lucy isn't here anymore," the girl's head tilts to one side and she taps the side of her head, "The body's empty. He's left you pups far behind to find his own way without you holding him back!" she sounds gleeful.
Scott growls low in his throat. It's a warning, telling the demon to get out.
He even says as much. "Get out," he steps forwards, his claws flashing out. "Get out of my town."
"Your town?" the girl croons, "This isn't your town. This is ours. And we're taking it back." It's a deadly promise. "What are you going to do about it?" she gestures at the broken fire hydrant, at the dust hanging in the air, "It's already lost, Scott." he tenses at his name, "What can you do to save it? What do you honestly think you can do?"
"I'm going to rip you apart," Scott replies, voice even.
Dantalion laughs, her voice clear like a bell, "It's so sad." the demon girl says, stepping daintily over a crack in the tarmac, "I mean… Even now, when you're so outnumbered, you still try to fight. But they're all going to die, Scott. Your mommy will die. Stiles is gonna' die. I'll rip out their throats and feast on their hearts." Her words grow cold. Lexi shivers.
"What do you want?" Scott challenges, "What are you doing here?"
The demon grins, the green and black eyes swirling sickeningly. "I'm here…" she savours the words, "Because it's my first time topside in a long, loooong time." she grins, "I wanted to have some fun. To tear the ground apart until its bloody and dead. Red meat, dead meat, something to sink your teeth into, right to the bone. Then I hang around and listen as the whole world chokes, chokes, choking on the screams of the dead." She sounds like a little girl, telling a story.
"You started the earthquake," Nate whispers, "You did this."
"I'm a good girl, aren't I?" Dantalion cocks her head, and she blinks away the black and green until her eyes are Luke's usual clear blue. She smiles simpering at them. "Distracted you all good."
The alpha stiffens. "Distracted?" he asks, "Then what were the murders about?"
"Murders?" she pretends to look confused, "Oh that isn't us." Lexi shivers at the word 'us' but remains where she is, standing behind Scott even though all her instincts scream at her to run. The demon shrugs, "I swear," one hand crosses her heart, "God's honour. Or you know…" she flashes teeth, "Whatever."
Scott growls. "If you stay here, we will stop you," he vows. "Whatever you're planning we'll stop."
It's disturbing as Luke's body widens her eyes as if hurt, "What makes you think you can stop us? What makes you think you even have a chance?" Luke's voice lilts into confident mocking. It's twisted and sick and even though Lexi knows there is a demon there it doesn't help matters.
Scott however doesn't know Luke. He isn't unnerved by the body, just by the demon with her sulphur smell and the scent of fire. "Because we've faced worse than you," Scott says, suddenly confident and strong. "And we win. We always win. Why should you be any different? You're just another supernatural psycho who soon enough will be a thing of the past."
"Then you better hurry." Dantalion seems unbothered by his threat. "I am after all - just a distraction." she hums considering, "I wonder how your little friends are doing?"
Nate has finally had enough and she lunges forwards with a snarl and red eyes for the demon. Her sister misses, but not because the demon has ducked or moved out of the way but because she's simply not there anymore.
Lydia can't really say when exactly she was grabbed.
Only that out of the four of them, she was the only one who had made it out of the house when the second quake hit. Behind her she sees Stiles stumble over in the entrance hall, while Isaac and Allison are still in the living room.
It's like it all happens in slow motion, the whole building shifting with the earth and collapsing inwards. It's like the deck of cards Stiles had built into a house and Jethro had been allowed to blow down at the end. Everything goes from standing in line to lying flat, as if blown over.
Then I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house down, said the Big Bad Wolf, and Lydia wants to laugh at the irony of that sentence.
She on the ground herself, trying to cling to something as the world crashes down around her. She clenches her eyes closed and tries to hang on to something. She's curled up so tightly that she barely notices when it stops, that the only reason the world is still shaking is because she's shivering from fear.
Not for herself. For her friends. Her pack, still trapped in the house.
Later on she will realise that she should have been worried about herself. But to be honest it came out of nowhere.
Strong hands clamp down on her shoulders, and one wraps over her mouth.
She startles, and her first instinct is to scream.
She can't. The hand blocks off her mouth and nose, choking her.
Her second instinct is to bite down on the hand. She does so, and there is a cursed snarl, but the hand doesn't move.
She bites down harder but it doesn't do anything.
The person yanks her up and backwards and she stumbles. The person - male - definitely male - seems unbothered by the bite, and beneath her teeth the skin seems unresponsive.
It's healed already, she realises.
The guy is a werewolf.
She barely has time to process this information than she is thrown sideways into a van.
How original.
The doors slam closed and the last thing she can see is a cloud of dust and rubble before it shuts with a resounding finality.
"Why, hello there," a female voice purrs.
She turns slowly, and there's another girl there - about seventeen or so with rough blonde hair and a dark smile on her lips.
There's something wrong with her face, and Lydia examines the girl critically, before finally settling on the eyes.
There is no pupil. No whites around the outside.
They are just swimming pools of black, shot through with streak of a brilliant, moss green that swirls like a dark, hypnotising vortex.
And Lydia's trapped. She's trapped, her friends might be dead, and she's just been kidnapped.
She finally opens her mouth for her banshee wail.
"Oh scream all you want, pretty," the green-eyed girl smirks, "Nobody is going to hear you."
For the fifth time Stiles trips as he tries to pull rubble away. If only he had werewolf strength this would have been easy.
His wrist twinges in pain. He thinks he's sprained it. He also thinks he's got a busted rib, but he can't really see clearly. There is a speck of light coming from somewhere, but he hasn't yet managed to work out where. It's all he can do to locate the best place to try and get out and to begin digging away.
He has no idea if it's a good idea or not. Any and all lessons he's had about being stuck in this situation have flown out of his head. He needs some Adderall, to calm him down and keep him focussed, but it's he left in the Allison's car (she had refused to take his jeep).
His hands are raw, and they're probably going to start bleeding soon. He takes off his shirt, because it's hot in the small confined space and it's probably wrecked anyway. He wraps it over his hands like gloves and keeps working.
Allison and Isaac keep up a running commentary from where they are trapped. He knows it's for his benefit, because he's alone while they are at least together.
They have the dead body in there with them though, so Stiles thinks he got the better end of that deal.
He doesn't notice his phone vibrating at first. To be honest he's more worried about not succeeding in getting out (which is stupid, there's a werewolf next hole over who is super strong), but its still something to panic over. He's also mentally trying to work out how bad the quake was on the Richter Scale. It's definitely over 6, but he doesn't think it was as bad as 7. Not that he really knows, because Beacon Hills has never had an earthquake up to 7 on the Richter Scale. This one is probably the worst one they've ever had.
And he's willing to bet a lot of money that it's something supernatural.
He sighs, and wipes some dirt from his face, only succeeding in smudging it further. His hair is full of dust and plastered to his forehead with sweat and he probably looks a mess. That is the only thing he misses about the buzz-cut, that his hair was easier to keep in line.
His phone makes a whining noise in his pocket and he pauses, taking longer than it should to realise what it is.
And because really - he can get a signal in here? Really?
He pulls out his phone and sees the name slumps slightly in relief.
"Lydia?" he asks, "Oh thank god you're okay," he garbles, all in one breath.
"Stiles?" There's something wrong. Her voice is weak and trembling. He tenses.
"Lydia?" he asks, "Are you okay? Where are you buried?"
"I don't - I'm fine but - Stiles I've been… Someone grabbed me and now I don't know where I am. I don't know…" she is violently cut off.
"Lydia!" Stiles voice is panicked.
A new voice can be heard on the line. Smooth and feminine, "I'm sorry," she chirps. "But your friend is coming with us." Stiles hand clenches into a fist, and he wants to shout at this person. Who are they? Who the hell wants to kidnap Lydia?
And why now? She's just Lydia. She's just their resident banshee.
Who keeps finding the dead bodies.
He knows instinctively that the voice is that of a demon.
"Who knows?" she croons over the line, "Maybe if you're good you'll see your little banshee girlfriend again."
"Give her back," he growls out.
The voice laughs, "Not a chance. Now you lovebirds say goodbye." there is a pause as she presumably holds the phone out, because Stiles hears Lydia's voice.
"Stiles don't worry - I'll be fine - just tell Scott that-" whatever she had been about to say is cut off when the line goes dead. Stiles has no chance to say anything, the words sitting like a brick weight on his tongue as he is left in silence, alone, and still trapped under the rubble.
They find Jethro at the hospital.
He's not badly dinged up, and Melissa is seeing to him, if only to avoid the problems with the insurance again.
Nate and Lexi fuss over their friend, while Scott looks around. The hospital is well built, and the only sign there was an earthquake is that anything on bookshelves or countertops have all slid off. A few glass windows are broken, but otherwise the place is structurally sound.
It kind of has to be, being a hospital and all that.
Lexi doesn't appear to like the hospital, and she keeps casting uneasy glances around her.
"What's wrong?" Scott asks, weakly. He's been trying to phone Stiles or Allison, but he can't get a signal.
"I don't like this place," the young beta says, her eyes flashing gold, showing her unease. "It's just - I never get sick. Werewolves don't get sick. So I never had to be at a hospital before Jethro ended up in one." she shivers, "I had a bad dream about it," she adds in, "This place. It's all the flashing lights - I think." She frowns, seeming uncertain.
"Well there's nothing wrong with this hospital," Scott tries to smile, "My mom works here - it's all normal - right mom?"
"Shh," Melissa is focussed on stitching up a cut on Jethro's arm from where a piece of glass had cut him, "I'm working," she says, and again Scott gets the horrible feeling of being thrown off balance by his own mother. It's something in the tone of her voice as she dismisses him, without even appearing to acknowledge his existence.
"Call the twins," Scott tells Jethro, "As soon as your phone works call the twins."
"The twins?" Jethro looks alarmed. Scott doesn't blame him really. The twins are still in town but they're not in school anymore, so their interactions with Ethan and Aidan are limited.
"Just call them." Scott growls, "They're pack too. Sort of." he adds weakly. He needs them to be on his side in this. Derek would be useful too if he hadn't run off to South America with Cora. And he's not going to try and find out where Peter is hiding, which leaves only the twins as back up.
Jethro doesn't look impressed.
"While they're at Beacon Hills they're my responsibility," Scott growls, patience running short. "Call them." He turns away, "I need to find the others," he says over his shoulder to the group, but his mom isn't listening. Nate however nods.
"I'll come with you." she says. "Lexi stay here."
Lexi looks alarmed. Scott feels a wave of sympathy for her, "She can come with," he says, including her. The thirteen year old doesn't want to be in this place longer than she has to.
Nate glares at him for overriding her orders but he ignores her. He has more important things to worry about.
He has a pack to locate.
The light breaking through into his prison feels like a breath of fresh air.
His phone no longer works. The signal is down, and whatever the demon did to manipulate Lydia into calling isn't working anymore. Stiles has been sitting here, occasionally digging, but more often than not sitting through the aftershocks and shouting to Allison and Isaac.
Finally one of the aftershocks shake something loose, and he goes for the gap. It's too small, but he somehow manages to get through. His broken rib screams in protest, and the wrist of his left hand is all but useless, but suddenly he's gasping fresh air.
He's out.
Lydia's still gone.
He scrambles away from the roof that sits on top of the rubble pile, moving like an automaton around to where the sound of Isaac punching at debris can be heard.
Stiles wonders if the werewolf is actually trying to punch his way out of the rubble, but then has no time to wonder because with a loud crash something dislodges and a cloud of dust flies into the air.
The sound of coughing can be heard. Stiles tucks his left hand into his side, presses his right hand over his mouth and eyes squinting, he walks towards the dust cloud.
In a tangle of limbs Allison and Isaac stumble out. The werewolf's eyes are golden but other than that he looks human. Allison looks un-mauled, and what she had said about Isaac calming down was obviously correct.
Her face is creased with tears. Stiles had told them about Lydia. Both look shocked, coated in dust until he can barely see their skin colour properly, and pressing against each other for comfort.
"Well that's a story to tell the grandkids," Isaac says weakly, and Stiles just glares because really? Wrong time Isaac.
"We need to find Scott," Allison says, and she attempts to move towards her car which is sitting undamaged on the street. There is a telephone pole that has fallen over, only to be caught on a nearby lamppost and the two posts strain against each other, creaking. "We need to find Scott," Allison repeats, "We need to-" she's as lost as Stiles is, and he sees the desperation in her eyes.
"We need to go to the hospital," Isaac says firmly, and he's looking at Stiles when he says that, "Get you two checked out that you don't have a concussion, anything broken. Then we find Scott and the others."
"But Lydia-" Stiles protests.
"There is nothing we can do for her now." Isaac shakes his head, "I'm sorry. But she's gone."
The hollow pit in Stiles' stomach just grows larger. He feels sick.
"I'm driving," Isaac says.
Neither Allison nor Stiles have the strength to argue.
The town is pretty much still standing.
Which is a relief.
There's been a lot of damage. The old house that Allison had been in with Isaac and Stiles is not the only old house to fall down. Electrical fires have sprung out in several other homes, and water mains are pooling out everywhere.
Allison feels like she's lost something, some limb or something.
Lydia's been kidnapped.
It's a blow to their heart. To their pack.
Stiles is taking the disappearance badly. Allison thinks it is because Stiles was the last person to talk to Lydia, and because of that he should have been able to save her.
They still need to tell Scott. Allison dreads that conversation.
Isaac pulls in at what seems like the only free car parking spot outside the hospital. People are milling everywhere, some crying. Allison has barely clambered out of the car, feeling numb, than there is a shout and footsteps run over to her.
It's Lexi. "Are you guys okay?" she asks, eyes almost comically wide, "We were just coming out to look for you!"
Scott and Nate skid up, just as Isaac says, "We're all fine. Stiles broke a rib. I think Allison has a concussion." He stops, because the next person in the list is Lydia.
And Lydia is gone.
The other three wolves can tell them. Allison's sure it's obvious, but she's not sure if it is Stiles' dejected posture, the lack of a familiar haughty tone or the way they mill about like lost sheep that tells them that.
"Where's Lydia?" Scott asks. "Guys - wasn't she with you?"
"The demon took her," Allison lets Stiles say it. He's the only one that has any right to. "The demon took her. We were all buried under rubble and she - she got taken. It phoned me to tell me that."
"What?" Nate whispers, eyes wide, "What do you mean 'taken'?"
Allison can't bear to look at anyone in the eye, because she thinks if she does she might just collapse and begin crying right there and then.
"Lydia's gone." Stiles says, "She's been kidnapped."