The tip of my finger pressed against the doorbell that belonged to Lydia's elaborate brick castle of a home. I eagerly awaited the opening of the door as Stiles continuously pressed Lydia's present against my back. He couldn't help it—he was having trouble holding it being that it was the size of a car. I bounced on the balls of my heels as cold air nipped at my bare legs.
"I still don't understand why you had to get her something so big." I noted, staring at the front door awaiting Lydia. I bounced on the balls of my heels as cold air nipped at my bare legs.
"Because it's Lydia." Stiles elaborated. Finally, the wooden door swung open. Lydia stood there in the first outfit of the night looking more like a goddess than ever as she held a tray of stem-less wine glasses filled with coral colored alcoholic drinks. She raised her brows, staring past me at the gigantic present.
"Happy birthday!" Stiles and I happily shouted. He shook his present as I lifted the small gift bag I held in my hands to display for Lydia. I entered the home while Stiles struggled to get his over sized present through the door.
"Coming in." He alerted. Lydia and I glared at him and all of his ridiculousness. "Can you—you don't—can you just grab that side maybe?" Stiles struggled, heaving his body against the gift so it would fit through the door. Once Lydia had enough of the show, she turned on her heel and strutted away.
"Don't forget to try the punch." She called, disappearing into another room. Just as I watched her leave, both Stiles and the present came tumbling through the door and onto the floor. I looked down to my feet where my best friend groaned.
"Stiles, what are you doing? Get up." I nudged him with my heel.
The house was littered with an occasional person here and there. There was no doubt in my mind that everyone was in the backyard flocking towards the bar. After placing our presents in a separate room, that's the first place we went off in search for Jackson.
"Have you seen Jackson anywhere?" Stiles asked Scott as he finally joined us in one of the hallways.
"No…seen Allison?" Scott wondered.
"No, but we should probably tell her what we found." Stiles suggested.
"Which is what exactly? I'm still a little confused." I admitted.
"We figured out it has something to do with water." My brows crunched together as I looked to Stiles as if he had stated the obvious being that, well, he had.
"We already knew that, though. Remember when he trapped us in the pool?" I cordially reminded.
"Yeah, but all the victims were on the swim team."
"So whoever's controlling the Kanima hates the swim team." Scott finalized.
"Hated the swim team." Stiles corrected. "Specifically the 2006 swim team. So maybe a teacher, or another student back then. I mean, who are we missing? Who haven't we thought of?" Stiles mused as we stepped outside into the backyard. My brows immediately tightened once more as my eyes gazed around the backyard. It almost looked like a typical Lydia Martin birthday party. It was decorated with lights hanging from roof to roof and more tangled around the many columns. Bouquets of balloons were scattered here and there. Music played lightly over the speakers. There was also a drink fountain circled by tons of plastic cups. It had everything except the guests. It was a rare sight.
"Jackson's not here." Allison informed as she stepped up to meet us.
"No one is." I realized. The four of us were the only ones outside.
"Maybe it's just early." Scott reasoned.
"It's past ten fifteen." I blankly informed, knowing the party already started. No one showed up late for Lydia's parties. Nobody ever wanted to miss a minute.
"Or maybe nobody's coming because Lydia's turned into the town wack job." Stiles pessimistically commented.
"Hey." I defended, my eyes falling on Lydia at the other side of the pool beside the open doors of the guest house. She looked around, waiting for people to show. There was no doubt in my mind she was clearly disappointed. The realization of her not being queen bee anymore was setting in. Being a loner, a freak, was Lydia's biggest fear.
"Well…we have to do something because we've completely ignored her for the past two weeks." Allison urged, taking an occasionally awkward glance at my brother.
"She's completely ignored Stiles for the past ten years." Scott rebutted.
"I prefer to think of it as me not having been on her radar…yet"
"We don't owe her a party." Scott shook his head.
"What about the chance to get back to normal?" Allison offered.
"Normal?" My brother asked, dumbfounded.
"She wouldn't be the town wack job if it wasn't for us. Her biting Peter was our responsibility." I explained. Scott sighed, realizing that Allison and I did have a point. By now, he should have just realized that we were always right.
"I guess I could use my co-captain status to get the lacrosse team here." Scott caved. I patted him on the back.
"That's what I thought." I whispered.
"Yeah, I also know some people who can get this thing going. Like really going." Stiles exclaimed.
"Who?" Allison and I asked simultaneously.
"I met them the other night Let's just say they know how to party." I looked to Stiles in a mixture of confusion and horror.
"Do you have some kind of night life I don't know about?" I wondered. Stiles opened his mouth but instead I rose a finger to stop him. "Actually, I don't think I want to know the answer to that."
Within thirty minutes, Lydia's party was packed. Most of the party-goers were from Beacon Hills High, but there was a fair amount of people that were too old—and scandalous—for that. And as I stared down the same Nicki Minaq-esq man that had mistaken me for a dude the other night, that's when I recognized them to be the drag queens from Jungle.
"Excuse me." I mumbled to Danny and the blonde boy that stood with us. I grabbed my drink off the table beside me and stormed over to where Stiles hovered over Scott, who sat on the arm of one of the fancy lawn chairs.
"Are you going to apologize to Allison or not?" I heard Stiles ask Scott as I marched over to the boys.
"These are the people you met the other night?" I exclaimed to Stiles.
"Hey, the livened up the party didn't they?"
"I'm almost concerned at how you got their number." Stiles stammered for an answer, which I easily rolled my eyes at. My gaze fell on Scott, who was gawking across the pool at a pensive Allison.
"So what happened between you two?" I finally asked.
"Nothing." He flatly muttered, continuing on staring.
"You're rubbernecking. You haven't taken your eyes off her since you got here." I observed. Embarrassed, Scott turned away from looking at her and focused on his hands in front of him instead. "The tension is literally suffocating me, Scott." I added.
"We got in a fight." He oh-so-generously elaborated.
"So apologize." I shrugged, taking a sip of the drink in my hand.
"He wont." Stiles groaned.
"Why should I?"
"Haven't you lived with me long enough to understand that the boy is always wrong and the girl is always right?" I rose a brow.
"I haven't done anything wrong." Scott defended.
"Any time a guy says that he hasn't done something wrong means that he's definitely done something wrong." I nodded at Stiles words, looking my best friend straight in the eye. He was probably the only guy in the world that understood that.
"Wow, when you're done pining over Lydia, date me." I joked, finally focusing my attention back on Scott. "See? Stiles knows. That's some real boyfriend material."
"I'm still not apologizing." I rolled my eyes once more at Scott's stubbornness. Sometimes I wanted to strangle him.
"Is that the full moon talking, buddy?" Stiles sang.
"Probably…why do you guys care anyway?" Because one of us needed a decent love life, I thought.
"Because, Scott, something's got to go right here. I mean, we're getting our asses royally kicked if you haven't noticed. People are dying. I got my dad fired. You're going to be held back from sch—"
"What?" I gaped. "Stiles, your dad got fired? Why didn't you tell me?" Stiles heavily sighed.
"Yeah, but that's not the point. Scott's going to be held back from school. I'm in love with a nut job. And if on top of all of that, if I have to watch you lose Allison to a stalker like Matt I'm going to stab myself in the face." Stiles exclaimed. Scott abruptly stood up, staring straight ahead. Probably at Allison per usual.
"Don't stab yourself in the face." He ordered.
"Why not?" Stiles calmly asked. I followed Scott's continuous gaze as he looked to the other side of the pool. Jackson slowly walked out the open double doors of Lydia's house and into the backyard. He looked around, finally making eye contact with us. His jaw squared as his beady eyes glared at Scott, Stiles, and I, like he was mentally plotting our demise.
"Because Jackson's here."
I'd lost Scott and Stiles in the crowd somewhere after Danny had dragged me into dancing with him to his new favorite song. The moon had officially risen and the concern for Scott's werewolf well being gnawed away at me. As much fun as I was having, with however many drinks I had poured into me being my aid, I still couldn't help but worry for my brother. The wolfsbane I had in my jacket burned a hole in the pocket. I felt almost guilty asking Derek for the dangerous herb, but it was insurance. I couldn't let Scott hurt himself or anyone around him.
I scoured the backyard in search for Scott, hoping he was in full control. As I pushed past drunken teenagers carelessly dancing on each other to the upbeat music blaring over the stereo, I felt a cold hand grab my wrist. I turned around, meeting Lydia's grinning expression.
"Look at you." I rang, admiring the new blue dress Lydia had changed into.
"I know." She flipped a strawberry blonde curl back. "Looks incredible." She gloated. Before I got another word in, the birthday girl shoved the drink she'd been holding at me.
"Lydia no." I chuckled. "I've already had—"
"Are you going to drink it or am I going to have to unhinge your jaw for you?" She smirked. I quietly chuckled, taking the drink from her grasps and chugging half of it down, my throat burning as the alcohol slithered down. Satisfied, Lydia smiled and winked before walking away most likely in search of Jackson.
Eventually, I found myself roaming the inside of Lydia's crowded house aimlessly in search for Scott and Stiles. I seemed like I was finding everyone but. I even passed a pissed off Allison talking to Matt Daehler. I made a mental note to ask Allison what that was about later. I hadn't drunk in what seemed like an eternity for me, so I was already feeling some effects of the many drinks Lydia had shoved in my hand. My skin was hot and flushed, like someone had turned the air conditioner up to 90 degrees. I stripped of my jacket, draping it over a living room chair. Droplets of sweat began beading at my hairline. It was rare I ever got sick from drinking, so I figured maybe I had just drunk more than I realized. I walked down a hallway, officially deciding I was in need of getting fresh air. A loud whirring noise echoed in my head as my feet were tempted to stumble. I silently cursed out Lydia for giving me that last drink, clearly I had too much. My eyes focused on a door at the end of the hallway, hearing shuffling underneath it I figured it was a door that lead to somewhere. I pushed myself forward, opening the door.
"About time. Nice of you to join the party, Hayley." My body froze, my face paling to the color of alabaster. James Cadwell stood straight in front of me. A sickening smirk was plastered on his lips as he watched fear consume my body. My parent's murderer, who supposedly sat six feet under the grown in a Boston cemetery, stood before me once more. His crisp white dress shirt was splattered in blood. The walls of the guest room were splattered as well. I finally managed to get the courage to look at James, my stomach rolling waves of nausea through me as I did.
"You're dead." My voice sounded anything but courageous.
"Right, I heard. It's just ridiculous what you can read in the papers nowadays." His laugh faded out. "Oddly enough, you're not. Didn't I kill you? What, must have been almost 10 years ago!" A handgun was hot in James' hand. All I could do was swallow the rock hard lump in my throat and shake my head. James' snickering laugh turned into him clicking his tongue. Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. "Unfortunate. Look what you did, Hayley." He threw his hands up in exasperation. That's when I noticed all the bodies. My breath hitched inside my throat. Behind James, there were four bloodied and mangled bodies piled on the bed. My biological parents laid at the bottom of the pile. Their bodies were caked in dirt and blood. Piled on top of them were the bodies of Scott and Melissa. On the floor, there were bodies everywhere. Lydia's was propped up in the corner of the room. Her blue party dress was stained with blood, the fabric tattered with holes from a knife. A dead Allison laid at James' feet. On the right side of the room, four more people laid lifeless. Derek, Stiles, The Sherriff, and my uncle slash adoptive flake of a father Rafael. A gasp lodged itself in my throat as I stumbled back.
"I didn't kill everyone you love. No, Hayley, no. That's on you." James leveled his gun to me, his eyes staring me down like prey as he maliciously smiled. His finger hovered over the trigger. "Here's to staying dead this time." Three bangs echoed in my ears. My hands flew up to my upper abdomen. I looked down, expecting to see blood flowing, but instead, nothing was there. My dress was intact and there were no bullet holes through my body. Confused, I looked back up. I expected to meet James' sadistic gaze, but, the room was empty. There was no blood, no bodies, and no murderer. The guest room didn't have a hair out of place. I stood in the doorway alone. A whimper escaped my lips as tears dotted my eyes.
"Hayley?" A calm voice said. I whipped around to see who the voice belonged to. Matt Daehler stood halfway across the hallway from me. He took a step back, looking suspiciously at me. He looked down to where I had a hand pressed against my abdomen.
"Are you okay?" He nodded to the hand. My lips quivered as I hesitantly nodded, reluctantly taking my shaky hands back to my side.
"Y-Yeah. S-sorry." I muttered as I rushed past him and down the half in search for Scott or Stiles. Something was wrong, and I needed to get out of the party more than I needed air to breathe.
I roughly pushed myself through the crowds of intoxicated teenagers. I could feel everything. The music pounding out of the speakers sounded twenty times louder. Every person who knocked into me, their skin brushing against mine made me flinch.
"Hayley! Hayley!" Stiles yelled, appearing through the crowd. He rushed up to me, part of his shirt soaking wet. I wanted to ask what happened, but I could barely speak. "Are you okay? What happened?"
"He—he was here. Stiles he was here." I stammered, looking through the crowd.
"Hayley look at me. Look at me. What happened? Who was here?" Stiles cold hands grabbed my face, causing me to look directly at him.
"Cadwell." My dry throat caused my voice to crack. "I—I saw him. He he killed everyone." Stiles tensed, pursing his lips and squaring his jaw in frustration.
"Hayley. He's not here. He's dead. We're all okay. Scott and me? Everyone? We're okay. It was a hallucination. The drink Lydia gave everyone? There was something in it. Look around? Everyone's hallucinating."
"But you and Scott—"
"We did too. It's not real." He assured, taking his thumbs and wiping away the few tears that managed to escape my eyes. My heartbeat relaxed as I replayed Stiles' assuring words in my head. It wasn't real. "Let's get you some water." I nodded, but didn't move my feet.
"Where's Scott?" I asked.
"He went looking for you." Stiles zoned past me and began waving his hand over quickly. "Hey! Dude I finally found her!" Stiles called. Before I knew it, Scott came rushing over to us.
"Thank God. Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." I sniffled, wiping away the last trace of a tear and recollecting myself. It wasn't real.
"What about Allison?" Scott asked.
Stiles shook is head, "Not her or Lydia."
My body jumped as a loud splash echoed in my ears. I looked over to the pool where a girl had just been thrown in, and now others were willingly throwing themselves in.
"No dude! Don't! No!" I could hear a male voice of someone, who clearly didn't want to be thrown in, cry.
"What are we going to do?" Stiles asked.
"I can't swim! No! No! No! No! Guys, stop! I can't swim! I can't swim!" The same male voice yelled. My eyes darted to the pool to see a couple jocks throw Matt into the pool. His body slapped underneath the surface, water flying everywhere. I took a step forward, hearing the desperate and water drenched cries of the male as he repeatedly screamed he couldn't swim. His arms flailed. My reflexes moved forward before Scott stopped me in my tracks as only one person came to his rescue. Jackson hurried for the edge of the pool, plunging his arm into the pool and pulling out a terrified and drenched Matt. The soaking wet teen clutched the ground and scurried up to his feet, his chest heaving as he looked at the party goers staring at him. Jackson stood by his side, his stance protective and defensive.
"What are you looking at?" Matt spat to the crowd. His eyes finally fell on Scott, Stiles, and me. His innocent features turned dark and full of fury. I took a step back into Scott as Matt advanced towards the three of us, walking past as he glared daggers. We turned around, our eyes following his back as he stormed off. Police sirens began ringing in the distance.
"Cops are here! Party's over!" Someone yelled.
"Run!" Someone else wailed.
"There's no way." I was the first one to speak. I looked over to my brother and my best friend, my mind trying to doubt that it was possible poor, innocent Matt was the Kanima master. The crowd erupted in chaos. The party goers screamed as they ran away from what was about to be a crashed party.
"We need to go after him." Scott urged. The three of us rushed through the house. I grabbed my forgotten jacket and tried to catch up with the two boys who I'd lost in the crowd. The front of the house was scattered with cop cars and running teens. I rushed down the driveway, easily spotting my brothers green shirt. Scott looked over and nodded to me as I caught up beside him. Our hunt for Matt soon came to a pause. Looking across the street, we saw the soaking wet teen glaring at us in utter rage. His face scrunched up and his hands were balled into fists. If looks could kill, Scott and us would have been dead. My eyes trailed down to Matt's lower body. At his feet, the Kanima crouched. Its tail slithered around Matt's body. The two looked at us before vanishing into thin air as a large crowd of people past by. I inhaled deeply, taking into realization Matt Daehler was really the Kanima Master.
A/N: Havent done an update this quick in a long time omfg! Hayley's dress and shoes are on polyvore! Also, James Cadwell is played by Willaim Fichtner (from the dark knight) . Was torn between him and andrew scott so that was a hard decision! Review review review and i'll update soon :] Lots of love!