A/N: TRIGGER WARNING! This chapter has scenes that depict torture. If this is a trigger for you, a brief summary will be provided at the end so no important plot points will be missed. Due to the nature of this chapter, the next installment is available for everyone, but especially those who needed to skip and missed out on the reading experience.

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After her emotional night the previous night, Neris woke up still feeling jittery. With the heightened emotions buzzing inside of her, she felt restless and bored just sitting in her room. She didn't want to stay cooped up in the house all day, but she didn't want to bother her friends either – after all, the reason for her restlessness was because she had just created another blood bond, and the trio had sworn off supernatural talk once they returned home.

Deciding exercise was a better option than anything else, Neris pulled on some running shorts and a tank top, laced on her barely used tennis shoes, and popped her iPod headphones into her ears. She scribbled a short note to her mom to let her know where she'd be and left it on the kitchen counter before jogging out the front door.

She didn't really have any particular destination – she just needed to go somewhere. She ultimately decided on the Preserve. Maybe it was the trees that relaxed her, or the canopy the branches provided from the hot sun that seemed like it was the appropriate locale. Or, just maybe, it was the fact that the old Hale house was tucked away in the trees.

Of course, the Hale pack wouldn't be living there. After Peter's return and the loss of Erica and Boyd, Derek had no doubt moved the pack's headquarters from the abandoned station they once used, and Neris had no doubt that they wouldn't return to the dilapidated shell of a house.

Then Neris realized that Isaac hadn't told her where he was living now. Derek was his guardian, so obviously Isaac would be with him, but where exactly their new home was remained a mystery.

Neris slowed to a stop as she realized this. It was a pretty important piece of information to forget to tell someone you called your girlfriend. Especially someone you just created a blood bind with.

She noticed too late the movement behind her. A painful blow glanced the back of her head and her vision darkened, her knees gave out, and she fell to the grass covered ground.

/

Neris' eyes fluttered open tiredly, her head heavy and dizzy. There was a throbbing pain on her skull, and another in the back of her neck. She tried to get up but found that her arms were restricted, duct taped to the wooden chair she was sitting in. She looked down at her legs and arms, surprised to see there were cuts and bruises on the skin.

"What the – " She looked around, seeing that she was in the middle of a poorly lit room facing a wall. Beside her was a small table decorated with tools and devices straight out of a horror movie, and worst of all there was a jar of grayish-green powder and vials of similarly colored liquid. Neris' stomach bottomed out as she realized what it was. "Fuck," she muttered quietly. Biting her bottom lip, she heard the door behind her open and she braced herself for the worst.

"Looks like sleeping beauty woke up," a deep male voice dripping with sarcasm broke the silence. It filled the small room and a chill swept over Neris.

"What do you want with me?" Neris asked, cursing herself as her voice shook. "Why am I not healing?"

"We gave you a little something to slow down the process," a female voice was heard. "Not enough to kill you, though. Not yet."

"We won't hesitate to if you aren't more cooperative this time around," the male voice told her.

"More cooperative?" Neris asked, her breathing becoming staggered. "I just woke up after you goons knocked me out."

The voices chuckled behind her. "This is the third time you've woken up, girl." The male voice replied.

"What are you talking about?" Neris struggled against her bonds.

"Don't even bother," the female voice scoffed. "You're far too weak to get free."

"We had to put you back to sleep," the male voice informed her. "You weren't being helpful, and we thought some sleep would do you some good."

"So then why can't I remember that?" Neris demanded. The only answer she was given was a pair of voices chuckling darkly. "Okay, fine," she spat. "Don't answer. But how about you stop being cowards and show me your faces?"

"Now why would we do that?" The female voice cooed. "If you knew who we were then you'd be better able to get your little wolf pack to help you stop us; not that they could."

"Just give us what we want and we'll think about letting you go," the male voice finished.

"That's a little hard since I don't know what that is," Neris ground out.

"Break the Alpha bond," the male instructed.

"I can't," Neris told him.

"That's what you said last time. But everything has a loophole. Find it and break the bond."

"There is no loophole!" Neris shouted.

"Maybe when you've been broken, the bond will be easier to break," the female voice wondered, venom dripping off her words.

"You're idiots," Neris seethed. "I don't know what the fuck you are – hunters, or werewolves, or whatever – but you don't know the first goddamn thing about Alpha bonds."

"We'll see," the male voice chuckled. "But there's no harm in trying. Well, no harm for us."

Neris struggled harder against her bonds as a black piece of fabric was tied around her head, covering her eyes. She heard movement from somewhere behind her. And then there was pain.

It trailed over Neris' chest, the cold metal of a blade drawing blood as its holder circled the knife to her back. The blade was plunged into the meat of her shoulder and Neris screamed in pain. She heard the skin rip apart and felt unimaginable pain as the blade was twisted all the way around, unable to stop a second scream from escaping. As the blade was withdrawn, Neris whimpered.

Before she knew what was happening, searing hot agony hit her. Gasping and blinking even though her eyes were covered in the blindfold, she felt her tormentors pull whatever had burned her - a metal rod or even an actual branding iron - away from the sensitive underside of her upper arm. She heard a blow torch ignite; they had begun heating the metal again.

"We're running out of time, Neris. While we could do this all day, every day for the rest of your life, we all know there isn't that much time. It would be better for everyone if you just did as we asked." The male voice travelled around Neris and pressed the heated metal to the inside of one of her legs.

"I CAN'T!" Neris shouted, pulling on her hands again in attempt to free herself. She felt a sickly pop as one of her shoulders pulled out of its socket. White flashed behind her eyelids as she screamed in agony. Dazed by the pain, she didn't even register that the searing heat had been removed from her leg.

She slumped in her seat, her breathing hitched and weak. It hurt to breathe. Her throat felt raw and her body ached.

"Looks like she needs some more convincing," the female voice said in fake understanding. "Help me roll the machine in here."

"First, let's do this." The male voice said, and Neris heard the lid being unscrewed from its jar.

Pain quickly spread throughout her body as the powder connected with the open wounds. She didn't know how much they had used already. This could kill her if it wasn't treated immediately. But she couldn't escape.

As she heard the door open and close behind her, Neris' wits came back to her for a brief moment. The ring Ioannina and Arela had made sure she would wear. Her tormentors hadn't taken it off. Unfortunately, it was on the arm that was attached to her dislocated shoulder. She had to turn the ring around and touch the stone to make it work.

It hurt. It hurt, but she managed it. Breathing heavily through the pain, Neris pressed her thumb against the cool stone. Like Ioannina told her, the words came to her.

"Eas zoyah dagar malaq hezfordiya." She whispered though her staggered breaths.

Her whole body felt as if it was melting like hot wax. A tugging sensation emanated from her stomach and she felt as if she were being dragged through flames, freezing and hot at the same time. The sensation subsided, leaving her with the ache of her henbane infested wounds.

Without her sight, she couldn't tell where she was, but a familiar smell and sound hit her senses. The crisp biting clean of a sterile atmosphere combined with the musk of animals. The soft meows and snuffles of cats and dogs. She could only be in one place.

"Neris?!" She heard a familiar voice exclaim, confirming her suspicion that she was in the vet's office.

"Dr. Deaton," Neris whimpered, and she felt hands at the back of her head, fumbling with the knotted fabric that covered her eyes. "They used henbane. They hurt me and put henbane powder on me to stop the healing. I don't know how much is in my system, but we need to get it out."

"Who are 'they'?" He asked as he pulled the fabric off, and Neris could see the absolute horror on her face as he took in her condition.

"I don't know," Neris sobbed, shaking her head as much as she dared, the back of her still hurting. "I never saw their faces."

Dr. Deaton took out a scalpel, slicing through her duct tape bonds as swiftly as he could. "Whoever they were, they knew what you are. I'm going to call Scott."

"No," Neris contradicted quickly, anxiously. "No, not Scott. Call Stiles."

/

Stiles was sprawled across his bed, watching the Wolfman for irony's sake. His phone started buzzing on his nightstand, and the unknown number on the screen almost made him ignore the call, but a gut feeling told him to answer it.

"Hello?" He questioningly greeted the mystery caller.

"Stiles, it's Dr. Deaton," the caller said. "I need you to come to the clinic right away. It's Neris."

Stiles scrambled out of bed, shoving his feet into his shoes, "What's wrong; is she okay?"

"No, she isn't." Dr. Deaton told him.

That was all it took. Stiles grabbed his keys and snuck out of his house as stealthily and quickly as he could, making sure he didn't arouse the suspicion of his dad. He drove faster than reasonable; wondering what could've happened to Neris that she went to Dr. Deaton. Whatever it was, it was bad enough that she couldn't heal on her own.

Stiles almost ripped the door from its hinges as he barreled into the clinic, and his stomach bottomed out when he saw Neris sitting on the examination table. Her shoulders were slumped over and her skin was ashen gray as if she were ill. There were patches of black poultices on her skin, and Stiles swore he could've seen flecks of gold in it. Her eyes were downcast, red and puffy from crying. She didn't look up when he entered the clinic, though he knew she could hear him.

"Neris, what happened?" Stiles asked as he began walking towards her.

Dr. Deaton pulled him aside, away from the examination room, "She's still in a bit of a shock; she stopped answering my questions a while ago, but from what I gathered she was kidnapped while jogging," Dr. Deaton paused. "And tortured."

"Tortured?!" Stiles exclaimed, looking over at his friend. "By who?"

"She can't remember; she says she never saw their faces." Deaton explained. "But when I was putting the herb mixture on her wounds to draw the henbane out, there was a particular one on the back of her neck."

"What, like the kanima did?"

"No, they were claw marks, as if something – or rather, someone – had dug their claws into her neck."

"You mean a werewolf?" Stiles felt sick. Dr. Deaton nodded grimly. "How did she get out?"

"I didn't know at first; she just appeared out of nowhere, still strapped to the chair they put her in with a blindfold on." Dr. Deaton began. "Her ring. It's a tool for living sirens to evade extreme situations with the aid over their deceased ancestors. She literally went through hell to get here. It could've killed her."

Stiles sighed heavily, a mixture of emotions swirling vigorously inside of him. "What did Scott say?"

"She wouldn't let me call him," Dr. Deaton confessed.

"What?" Stiles asked, pulling out his cell phone. "He has to know."

"No Scott," Neris' weak voice was heard.

Stiles paused, phone still in hand, until reluctantly putting it back in his pocket and walking over to his friend. "Neris, you were kidnapped and tortured," Stiles began as gently as he could. "Scott needs to know."

"Stiles, we can't tell him," Neris pleaded. "Please, promise me you won't tell him."

"Wha – why?"

"Because whoever these people are, they wanted me to break the Alpha bond. The only blood bond that can't be broken and they wanted it done." Neris whimpered, fresh tears pooling in her eyes. "They already knew about the blood bond; they knew it was unbreakable, meaning they chose me. That means they want Scott to be weaker without me, and that they probably want to be stronger as a pack, too."

"Which is exactly why we need to tell Scott," Stiles argued.

"We promised each other a supernatural free summer!" Neris sobbed. "We owe him that! We owe ourselves that!"

"Neris!" Stiles exclaimed, grabbing hold of her trembling shoulders to steady her. "This could be what that Greek Alpha warned us about. Scott needs to know."

Neris shook her head, sniffing as the tears kept falling. "It's not what the Alpha said. Ioannina's oracle friend gave me three signs: a stampede of a single deer, the fury of a friendly canine, and the coming of crows. Whatever the Alpha threatened us about, it won't start until those three things come to pass."

Stiles pulled her into a hug, and he felt her arms wrap around him tightly. "We should still tell Scott."

"I know," Neris admitted. "But not yet. Not until the signs happen. We deserve the rest of this summer to be without anything bad happening."

Stiles wanted to argue, but in the condition Neris was in meant that it would fall on deaf ears. Even after she was tortured, her focus was still on making sure her friends had a normal summer. It only made him hug her tighter.

He knew why she had Dr. Deaton call him. Scott would worry and start pressing for information, and would proceed to try and locate her torturers and attempt a dialogue in his typical diplomatic Scott way to come to some agreement and avoid any unnecessary violence. Isaac would immediately start tearing the city apart to find them and probably get himself killed or seriously hurt in the attempt to kill her torturers. He was fiercely loyal, in love with Neris, and trigger happy enough abandon her in the effort to destroy those who hurt her. What she needed was comfort, pure and simple. Ordinary human Stiles was what she needed for that.

"Do you want me to stay with you tonight?" He asked, rubbing her back consolingly.

She nodded, sliding off the cold metal of the examination table to follow him out to his car.

"The henbane should be out of her system by now, but I'd keep the poultice on until you get home just in case." Dr. Deaton told her, taking her arm gently as he guided her out of the clinic. "Get a warm shower, and please, get some food in your system."

Neris nodded and managed a smile. "Thanks, doc."

"Call me if anything happens," Dr. Deaton directed his statement at both teens. They nodded, and Stiles wrapped a supportive arm around his friend as they walked to his car.

BRIEF SUMMARY:

Neris goes out jogging and is kidnapped by an unknown male and female. They want her to break the Alpha bond, and when she cannot comply they hurt her and use henbane powder on her wounds. She uses the ring Ioannina gave her to escape, and is pulled through the Underworld to Dr. Deaton's clinic. Dr. Deaton tends to her wounds, and calls Stiles to pick her up.

When Stiles arrives, Dr. Deaton relays her experience and Neris informed Stiles of the three signs: stampede of a single deer, fury of a friendly canine, and the coming of crows. She makes Stiles promise not to tell Scott what happened until those things come to pass. Stiles then takes Neris home.