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Chapter 9
Lydia stilled as the sharp pinched of the knife cut slightly into her skin and warm blood soaked into the fabric of her dress. The banshee tried to slow her racing heart as it hammered against her chest; she needed to stay focused. Not planning to back down the young woman glared back at her captor with matching intensity.
Caleb smirked at the defiance. "I thought you were smart, Banshee? You know you've already served your purpose and I could kill you without a second thought. But still you test my patience."
"Caleb, let her go. Can't you see they're scared as hell?! She was just trying to save her husband." The younger of the two said, desperately trying to make his brother see sense. "This is wrong."
The pressure on Lydia's throat suddenly vanished as Caleb stepped away from her and back towards his brother. The brutal man didn't even bother to watch her as the young mother crumbled back to the cold earth in a distressed daze.
Stiles did his best to catch his wife as she dropped, but her weight caused a spike of pain to shoot through his broken wrist. The young man gasped quietly with the pain, but he wasn't quiet enough to hide it from Lydia.
Swiftly, the banshee pulled back to support her own weight while at the same time swept her concerned filled eyes over Stiles searching for the source of his pain. It didn't take long for Lydia to zero in on her husband's swollen and bruised left wrist and she knew without a doubt that it was broken. The strawberry-blonde scolded herself for not having noticed it earlier and didn't realize that she was staring until Stiles used his uninjured hand to still her shaking ones.
"We just have to hold on a little longer." Lydia whispered confidently.
Stiles inhaled deeply looking doubtful. "Lydia, there's no way the others are going to find us. They can't even get into this plane of existence."
The banshee gave Stiles a look that reminded him of all the times that she figured something out and was surprise that he hadn't yet. "I secretly told them to use Parrish when I dropped Ally off. They shouldn't be too far behind us."
The corners of Stiles' lips lifted into a small impressed smile. "That's really smart."
Lydia answered with a smile of her own. "That's what you love about me."
"That and so much more." Stiles answered back, easily repeating their exchange from the morning.
The moment between husband and wife was shattered by Caleb's hysterical pleading cry. "I can't live without her anymore!"
The muscles in Caleb's arms were taut from his tight grip on Colin's shoulders. The younger and slightly taller of the two had his head bowed making it so Caleb had to tilt his own head down and forward to catch his eye.
Caleb's voice was soft and pleading as he continued to try to persuade his brother to help him. "Please Colin…brother, I need you to help me do this one terrible thing. Then we can spend the rest of our lives making amends. It could be like before. We could go back to saving people."
When Colin looked back up his blue eyes were troubled from his internal struggle. Clearly he wanted to help his brother, but in doing so he would comprise his soul. The moment Colin surrendered was clear as he dropped his shoulders in acceptance and nodded dejectedly.
Caleb pulled Colin into a crushing hug. "Thank you. I'll make this up to you I promise. Hold the banshee back I'll take care of the rest."
There was no more time; no more moves. Stiles could do nothing to stop from being yanked to his feet and dragged away from his panic-stricken wife. The young man thrashed in Caleb's iron hold, dug his heels into the earth, and tried kicking his captor, but the distance between Stiles and the Nemeton continued to steadily shrink.
Lydia flew into a full-blown panic the moment Colin used his arms to break her hold on Stiles and pulled her to her feet. She screamed and fought with every once of her energy in vain as she watched the love of her life be pulled further and further away from her. Tears trailed down the sides of Lydia's face and filled her frantic voice as she pleaded. "Please! Don't do this! You can't kill him! Please Colin, you know this is murder! Stop him! LET ME GO!" She sobbed.
With difficulty, Caleb finally dragged Stiles next to the Nemeton and turned towards his captive striking him in the face with one fluid motion. Stiles yelped with the unexpected hit, stumbling to the side in a daze, and landed hard on the supernatural beacon.
Having gotten exactly the results he was hoping for Caleb took the opportunity of Stiles being stunned to grab the connecting chain of his captive's cuffs. The cruel man wrenched the cuffs over Stiles head and maneuvered a long two-sided steel stake over the connecting chain and drove it down into the stump with a burst of magic from his outstretched hand.
Stiles tugged frantically on the cuffs as soon as Caleb moved away and cried out in frustration when they didn't budge. The distraught man's whiskey-colored eyes caught a glimpse of Caleb's glowing blade only a moment before his captor used it to slice open his black t-shirt to reveal the burned mark over Stiles' rapidly beating heart.
Lydia's struggle intensified when Stiles' shirt was cut. "NO! Please…you have to stop this." She pleaded hysterically.
Sucking in a calming breath, Colin squeezed his eyes closed and tried to block out the pleas of the woman whose life he was helping ruin. A sharp pain exploded in the spiky-haired man's abdomen as Lydia's bony elbow slammed into his side unexpectedly. In an uncontrollable reaction, the tall man's arms released and the banshee hit the ground on her hands and knees.
The strawberry-blonde jumped to her feet and bolted towards her husband, but was jerked to a stop abruptly from reaching her goal by Colin's painful grip. Squirming in Colin's ever-tightening hold Lydia shrieked to Caleb in desperation. "Wait! Kill me instead!"
"Lyds, no!" Stiles countered immediately, but it was too late Lydia had gotten Caleb's attention.
The malicious man's heartless stare glided over the strawberry-blonde before signaling Colin to release Lydia. The banshee started taking wary steps forward, the bottoms of her bare feet twinging with discomfort.
When Caleb began matching Lydia's steps Stiles called after him. "Caleb…don't—"
"Stiles, shut up and let me save your life." Lydia interrupted, eyes red and irritated from all the tear she had shed.
Stiles' breath hitched as he remember saying those very words to Lydia that terrible night in Eichen House.
Lydia shifted her sight from Stiles' crestfallen face to the dangerous man closing the distance between them and pressed on determined to save her husband from this madman. "You know that a willing sacrifice is stronger than an unwilling one. Please…let my husband go."
Stiles yanked on the chain restraining him to the Nemeton with the intensity of his struggle increasing the closer Caleb moved to his wife, not even feeling the pain of his broken wrist in his panic. "STOP! Don't touch her!"
A look of guilt crossed Lydia's face as she peered passed Caleb at Stiles apologetically. "I've wasted too many years not realizing I needed you in my life and I can't go back to living without you by my side. I won't. Forgive me, Stiles."
Caleb stopped just in front of Lydia and said in a surprisingly tender voice, "That is very selfless of you. A sacrifice given with love is very powerful indeed." The black-haired man reached towards his captive and caressed the side of her face as Lydia flinched, but didn't move away. "But I'm afraid…you will not work." Without another word or explanation Caleb turned away from Lydia and made his way back towards Stiles.
Lydia instantly chased after Caleb and yanked on his arm, forcing him to face her once again. "What?! Why the hell not?! You said you need a life so I'm giving you mine! Please...you can't take him from me. You of all people should know…I can't live without him. Don't make me suffer as you have." The young woman tried desperately to persuade her and Stiles' captor.
"I'm sorry." Caleb replied softly and Lydia realized numbly that his words were genuine.
The banshee shook her head as gathering tears burned her already irritated eyes. "No…you can't. Please just use me." She pleaded in a faltering voice.
"You will not work because if I were to use you for the sacrifice I would be taking two lives instead of one." Caleb finished sadly and signaled to Colin to hold Lydia back once more.
"Two...wh-what are you—" Lydia slowly lifted both of her shaking hands to rest atop her stomach as tears escaped her wide green eyes and trailed down her dirt dusted cheeks. Her gaze returned to Stiles and the distraught woman saw the shock she was feeling reflected back.
Lydia's resolve to save him strengthened, but before she could do anything she was ensnared by Colin's grasp again. She thrashed in vain trying to dislodge the man's hold hopelessly.
Lydia stilled suddenly as Stiles' steady voice washed over her. "Lydia, it's fine. Everything is going to be okay. You're the strongest person I know and I know you can do this without me."
The banshee felt a coil of terror wrap around her as she realized her husband was trying to calm her down like he did with their daughter just hours earlier. Her breath caught in her throat and Lydia felt like she was suffocating. Stiles was saying goodbye.
"Always remember I love you, and I love Allison." Stiles' voice cracked over their daughter's name. The young father continued his voice faltering more and more with each word. "Don't let her ever forget that, and take care of my dad and Scott for me."
Hearing Stiles say goodbye over the sound of chanting as well as the rumbling voices of impending death broke something in Lydia. She screamed. A great wave of energy erupted from Lydia's scream that sent Caleb flying back into a tree with a loud crack, Colin across the forest floor behind her, and leveled several trees surrounding them.
Drained, Lydia collapsed to the ground and a deafening whoosh noise filled her ears. Slowly the noise subsided and a different sound entered the banshee's hearing.
Stiles called out to his wife in alarm accompanied by the sound of rapid clanging from the chain cruelly trapping him in place as he strained to loosen it.
In a daze, Lydia looked around to see both men that kidnapped her and Stiles on the ground unconscious. Stumbling to her feet Lydia crossed the distance between her and the Nemeton that held her husband hostage unsteadily. The moment she reached the stump Lydia crashed to her knees next to Stiles and gripped the sides of his face. "Are you okay?"
With a concern fueled gaze, Stiles' warm eyes swept over his wife's exhausted face and answered. "Yeah. What was that? I've never seen one of your screams that powerful."
"I don't know." She answered back truthfully in a strained voice while her dirty hands tugged on the chain keeping Stiles restrained. The hook didn't budge even as Lydia threw all of her body weight into each desperate pull. The banshee lost her grip and fell back, breaking one of her perfectly manicured nails. "Damn it!" She shrieked at her lack of success.
Stiles' heart sank. "Lydia…Lyds, you have to go for help."
Strawberry-blonde hair whipped in a wide arch as Lydia's head snapped to glare at her selfless husband, and declared. "I'm not leaving you!"
A snapping twig was the only warning the two got before Caleb's looming form lifted Lydia around the middle and hurled her away from his sacrifice.
Lydia hit the ground hard and rolled along the dirt, coming to a stop several feet away from her endangered husband. The young woman gasped for breath from the painful impact with the ground and felt a slow trickle of blood leak down the side of her face from a small gash above her right temple.
When Stiles first encountered Caleb he was every bit a composed manipulative villain, but the man staggering towards him with a wild look in his eyes was the complete opposite. The former hunter looked deranged. Caleb's jaw-length black hair was a tangled mess, his navy blue button down was covered in dirt and missing buttons, and a trail of blood leaked from his ears down to his neck.
Stiles' chest seized in terror as Caleb climbed onto the Nemeton and straddled him. His captor began to chant in Latin again with his deep voice rising in force at a steady pace. Not willing to give up, the young father tried to buck the former hunter off him, but his struggle halted and body tensed abruptly. The mark on Stiles' chest started to glow and burn causing him to scream in agonizing pain.
Caleb positioned his knife over his sacrifice's heart and readied himself to make the killing strike that would bring his beloved wife back. Just as the muscles in the deranged man's arms tensed to plunge the knife down a familiar voice caused him to hesitate.
"Caleb stop!" Helen cry out as she burst through the remaining trees that were still standing after Lydia's scream and reached out towards her friend in what she hoped was non-threatening manner.
The break in chanting stopped the searing pain coursing through Stiles' body. His sudden release from torment left the young man panting and trembling underneath his captor.
Caleb paid his sacrifice no mind, instead his focus was solely on his best friend. He tried to swallow down the bitter taste of betrayal at seeing members of the McCall pack flanking Helen, but he couldn't. Helen had brought the enemy here to stop him. She chose mongrels and strangers over him, and it hurt.
Once in the clearing Parish moved directly to Lydia's side and helped the banshee to her feet. The hellhound's eyes returned to normal and the flames that engulfed his body subsided the moment the two supernatural beings touched.
"So you're with them now." Caleb sneered and glared at his longtime friend. "Tell me Helen, did Grace really mean so little to you?"
"Did she mean so little to you?!" Helen countered her posture changing from non-threatening to challenging. "Grace would never put her life before an innocent person. She would never allow you to sacrifice this man to bring her back. Caleb, if you do this then it won't only be your soul you're tainting, but Grace's as well." Helen pleaded desperately, willing her friend to see sense and put the knife down.
As the female hunter was trying to persuade the dangerous man threatening Stiles, the rest of the rescue group cautiously closed the distance and surrounded Caleb. All of them very aware of how easy it would be for the man to end Stiles' life.
"I'm sorry." Caleb said so quietly that Helen had to strain her ears to hear it.
Hope flicker in Helen's heart with her friend's apology and the sight of Caleb's tense posture relaxing a fraction. From all the years of knowing Caleb, fighting alongside him, and being attuned to his emotions, Helen could see her words had gotten to her friend. The female hunter held her breath and waited for Caleb to put the knife down, itching to rush to her friend's side and pull him into a tight hug. But in a instant that small flicker of hope shattered as Caleb tightened his grip on the hilt of his knife and sent Helen a silently apology through his watery blue eyes. "I can't live without her anymore."
John was ready, the moment the knife threatening his son's life moved he pulled the trigger. The bullet hit true and pierced through Caleb's shoulder. The former hunter didn't release the knife, but the bullet slamming into his shoulder distracted the man long enough for Scott to tackle him off Stiles.
Chris and John moved in unison with the former moving to cover Scott, pistol drawn, and latter rushing to his sons side. Derek picked Colin up from the ground and used the sheriff's extra pair of handcuffs to restrain the man while Parish helped a limping Lydia to Stiles. Scott, after having used another pair of handcuffs to immobilize Caleb left the man in Argent's care and swiftly joined the small gathering group around his best friend.
The true alpha noticed his best friend's dad struggling to pull out the stake pinning Stiles to the Nemeton and moved quickly to help him. The steel stake took more effort than expected to be removed with Scott's eyes burning a bright alpha red with the strain. When Scott was able to finally release his brother he helped Stiles sit up with a supportive hand on his back.
Stiles turned his exhausted, but grateful gaze to the true alpha. "Scotty, have I ever told you that you have the absolute best heroic timing?"
Scott used his enhanced werewolf abilities to move around to the front of Stiles faster than humanly possible and pulled his best friend into a tight but gentle hug. "I'm so glad you're not dead!"
The injured man huffed out a laugh. "Yeah me too. Scott?"
"Yeah?"
"I'd really like to participate in this hug, buddy." Stiles said a bit muffled from being squished against the werewolf.
Scott pulled back abruptly and ducked his head in embarrassment at having forgotten about the cuffs still secured to Stiles wrist. "Right. Sorry."
Lydia had made it to Stiles' side just as Scott started trying to break the metal cuffs apart and John draped his jacket over Stiles' shaking shoulders.
"Thanks, Dad." Stiles' voice was rough as he leaned into his father's side.
John leaned down and placed a kiss to his son's head before whispering reassuringly. "We've got you, Kiddo. You're safe…you both are."
John's comforting gaze connected with Lydia as she sat down on the other side of Stiles. The banshee sent her father-in-law a grateful smile and started running her fingers through Stiles' hair. The husband and wife looked at each other and just took a moment to absorb the fact that they were both alive, safe, and surrounded by people who loved them.
"What the hell?! I can't break these things!" Scott cried out in frustrated confusion.
Chris Argent was suddenly squatting next to Scott in front of Stiles. "Here let me have a look."
Helen who had been hanging back from the reunion to give them all their privacy sighed heavily. She was worried about this. They weren't going to be able to get those cuffs off without her help. With purpose, the female hunter strode right up to Caleb who was being held none too gently by Derek.
Caleb watched her progress with barely contained rage seething in his blue eyes. "I don't care how long it takes me, but I will make you pay for your betrayal, Helen." The restrained man growled almost inhumanly as she reached them.
Helen observed how Derek tightened his grip further with Caleb's threat, before she shifted her attention back on her former friend. She didn't respond, but instead reached her hand into his front pocket and retrieved a stone. The stone was black with golden speckles scattered over the smooth surface. Carved into the center was a symbol matching those on the blade of Caleb's knife. Without a word, Helen turned from Caleb and started walking away.
The female hunter only made it a couple of strides before her steps faltered with her former friend's unexpected voice. "You're dead to me." Caleb professed wholeheartedly.
Helen turned back to look at the person she no longer recognized with unshed tears blurring her vision. "You died the night Grace did, Caleb. It just took me a year to realize it." And then she turned her back on Caleb.
As Helen reached the gathered group at the Nemeton she caught the end of Chris' deduction about the cuffs. "…key. They're usually stones or some type of metal, but whatever it is will have a matching symbol to the cuff carved into it."
"You always did know your stuff, Argent. Here; run this along the symbol on the cuffs." Helen interrupted before anyone had noticed she joined them.
From his kneeling position Chris angled himself to look up at Helen and took the offered stone from her hand. "Thanks." The experienced hunter said as he immediately turned to the task of releasing Stiles.
"It's the least I could do." She responded quietly an element of self-loathing lacing through her voice.
Movement caught Helen's trained eye as Stiles looked up at her from where he had all but collapsed against his father's side. The exhausted and injured man opened his mouth as if to say something, but she swiftly turned away. Helen couldn't face him, not after the part she played in his kidnapping and almost murder. How could she? She had promised Stiles that nothing would happen as long as Lydia helped them. She was a liar. Helen knew she didn't deserve any of their forgiveness or thanks. She walked away from the small gathered group and made herself useful helping Derek keep watch on Caleb and Colin.
The cuffs clicked open effortlessly and fell to the ground with a thud. Stiles took a deep breath, finally feeling like he could breathe properly again with their removal. With tender care, Lydia helped guide Stiles' arms through his father's jacket sleeves and began to zip it close, hoping to stave off the chill of the night. The last thing Stiles needed right now was to get pneumonia on top of all his other injuries.
As the zipper reached his chest Lydia's fingers halted their task. "Stiles, the symbol is gone." She said in a hesitant voice as if she didn't dare believe what she was seeing.
Stiles looked down at his own chest and shiver as Lydia's cold fingers glided over his now unmarked skin. "Good. I wasn't really looking forward to having a scar to remind me of almost being someone's human sacrifice." The whiskey-eyed man said in jest, but it was easy for anyone who knew him to pick up on the truth in his words.
"Caleb only had until one to complete the ritual. That's probably why it's gone." Scott supplied clearly relieved with a wide smile.
After Lydia finished zipping the jacket closed John and Scott moved in to help Stiles stand. "Let's get you both to a hospital." John ordered in his best sheriff voice that Stiles was very familiar with growing up. It was a voice Stiles knew from experience was useless to argue with.
"Ugh. I hate hospitals." Stiles grumbled as he allowed himself to be helped toward the portal his wife opened supported by his father and brother.
What did you all think? Were you surprised by Lydia's pregnancy? Reviews are always appreciated as I love to read comments from my readers! Just the epilogue chapter left. As always, if you liked this chapter please remember to hit the follow/favorite buttons. Until next time!