wayneixmoff: thank you! i'm glad you like them together so much!
Okay this took kinda long, but it least it's also longer than normal? anyways. my b.
Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf
"Give her 800 milligrams of the yellow this time," Valack instructed Nurse Cross. The woman nodded, carefully filling the syringe with the odd ochre substance. Loki squeezed her eyes shut, trying to calm down. She knew the more scared she was, the faster her heart beat, and in effect, the faster the poison would be distributed through her system. Still, it was hard to remain calm as the needle pierced the skin of her neck.
As the toxin seeped through her system, Loki unconsciously strained against her bonds. As she did so, a strangled whine of pain rose from her throat, and she was rewarded with a harsh slap from the nurse. To keep her mind off the excruciating pain as the wolfsbane coursed through her veins, Loki tried to focus on something else – memories of her friends.
*FLASHBACK*
Loki reclined in the backseat of Malia's car, next to Kira. Lydia was in the passenger's seat, looking as coolly disinterested as always. The were-coyote in the driver's seat had her teeth clenched together in a nervous grimace as she surveyed the dark and empty road in front of her. She looked as though she'd rather be anywhere than where she was.
"Okay," Kira said optimistic as always. "Hands on the wheel at ten and two." Malia obeyed, moving her hands up the steering wheel so they were a few inches apart at the top.
"Actually, the recommended position is now nine and three," Lydia corrected Kira's statement. She turned to look at Malia. "At ten and two, a deployed airbag could break your thumbs."
"Mine would heal," Malia pointed out. Lydia rolled her eyes, and Loki leaned forward to instruct her friend.
"Save your strength," Loki suggested, trying not to sound sarcastic. "And try not to destroy this car – it's brand new and beautiful." Loki smiled. "Nine and three."
Sighing, Malia acquiesced, moving each hand down the side of the wheel slightly so that they were opposite one another. As she tightened her grasp on the steering wheel, Loki could hear the leather straining beneath her grip. Loki listened, a little conference, and Malia's heart rate picked up, her scent suddenly spiking with anxiety.
"Malia?" Loki cautioned. "You okay?" The were-coyote gave her head a shake as if she was clearing it. She nodded, glancing at Loki in the rearview mirror.
"Fine," she replied tightly, pressing her foot against the gas. The car began to roll forward slowly. Very slowly.
"Alright," Kira directed. "Just ease into it…good, good, okay. There you go!"
"Please shut up," Malia gasped, sounding breathless with concentration.
"No problem," Kira responded. "Shutting up." Kira stayed quiet for about thirty seconds, and then began to speak again as Malia began to direct the car off the road. "Other way. Other way. Uh, Malia? Other way." Ignoring her friend, Malia continued to drive off the street, her jaw clenched tightly.
"We are now off the road," Lydia said, unnecessarily. "This is not the road."
"What is that? What is beeping?" Malia snapped, looking around wildly. She didn't seem to notice that the car was rolling over uneven ground, more concerned with the obnoxious alarm ringing through the car.
"That would be the car telling you not to run into that tree right there," Loki said sarcastically. "Turn the wheel. Malia, turn the wheel." No response. "Malia!" Loki leaned forward instinctively, reaching out as if to grab the steering wheel, but Malia had already – finally – turned to car back towards the road. Sighing with relief, Loki relaxed back against her seat. "Try to stay on the actual road this time, okay?"
Instead of straightening out to drive along the road again, Malia turned the car in a tight circle, causing Loki's shoulder to slam against the door. Kira pressed her lips together, looking partially annoyed and partially bewildered.
"Okay, sure. This is called a U-turn."
"Loki said turn the wheel," Malia responded, sounding confused. Loki sighed, pressing her fingers to her nose.
"Maybe you should press a little harder on the gas," Lydia suggested, glancing critically at the speedometer, the needle pointing to a mere fifteen miles per hour.
As usual, Malia didn't do anything by halves. She slammed her foot against the pedal, and the needle ratcheted up to almost sixty miles per hour. Unprepared for this, the other three girls were slammed back against their seats.
"Okay, okay, just turn up here," Lydia directed, a note of panic in here voice. "Slowly – slowly!" Malia turned the corner, almost running the car off the road again. Kira gritted her teeth, humming in a disapproving manner, but managing to stay silent.
"Okay, does anyone want to tell me where we're going?" Malia asked.
"The school," Lydia suggested. "We can finish with parking practice in the lot." Loki nodded, but Kira leaned forward to look out the window in confusion. She hesitated, and then spoke.
"Lydia," she said. The redhead hummed affirmatively. "We're actually heading downtown."
"What?" The Banshee asked, looking up. She glanced out the window, lips parting with confusion when she saw that Kira was right. Lydia's eyebrows furrowed.
"Yeah," Kira said. "If we want to go to the school we should do a U-turn, shouldn't we?"
"No," Lydia replied, her voice suddenly very quiet. "Keep going."
"Lyd, you sure?" Loki asked from the backseat.
"Yes," she replied shortly, eyes scanning the dark horizon. "We're almost there," she added quietly. Malia stopped the car about halfway down a ramp. A van was blocking the exit. Its lights were still on, but the back doors were open and it appeared abandoned.
"It's a prison transport van," Loki said, pushing her door open for a better look. She curled her lip. "And I smell blood." As the four girls walked to get a closer look, a prone figure was illuminated by Malia's high beams. As the girls approached cautiously, the man on the ground stretched out one bloody hand in a silent plea for help. Lydia took one more step and then stopped, exhaling hard.
"Call 911."
The police and an ambulance arrived on the scene quickly. The injured man was quickly carted away, and officers came to talk to the girls about how they'd found the scene. The Sherriff came up to the girls, speaking quietly to the deputy interviewing them and then pulling Loki aside.
"What's up?" She asked, as he led her over to Scott and Stiles. She couldn't help but notice that he was dressed unusually nicely for a crime scene, and wondered why.
"We have an APB out on a kid named Donovan," the police officer informed her as they stopped by the other two teenagers. "He's our primary suspect for what happened here." Loki nodded, putting two and two together.
"He was the prisoner being transported?" She clarified. The Sheriff nodded gravely.
"I want you and Scott to find him."
"Easy enough," she said, shrugging. She glanced at Scott, and he nodded.
"Alright," Stilinski said, pulling a walkie-talkie from his pocket. He handed it to Scott. "Keep it on Channel Two." Scott nodded, taking it and tucking it carefully into his pocket. He touched Loki in between her shoulder blades to get her attention.
"Ready?" He asked. She nodded, and the two werewolves took off. Scott allowed Loki to lead, knowing that hunting was her forte, not his. He followed her without question, over a wall and back down to the ground. Landing in a crouch, Loki paused, and Scott followed suit.
"Young male, likely human," she noted. "Smell that?" she asked, standing back up. Scott nodded. "That him?" The Alpha nodded again, remembering that Loki had never actually met Donovan, therefore not knowing what he smelled like. "Good."
Loki led Scott forward. Everything about her, from the way her knees were bent slightly (like she was ready to spring into attack at any moment) to the way that her eyes darted around (looking for any movement) proved to Scott how formidable of an enemy Loki would be – or really, had been.
Something tugged in Scott's heart as he watched her, and he blinked. He hadn't realized until just now how much he missed Loki. Not that he'd say anything – he was with Kira now, and she had clearly moved on as well. But still.
"Scott," she whispered, too low for human ears to catch. Her lips barely moved as she spoke. "Focus." As soon as she reminded him of this, something caught Scott's attention. Footsteps, preceded by the smell of fear, anger, and blood.
Donovan rushed at Scott, yelling out. Catching him by the throat, Scott tossed him to the ground, the reaction as natural and easy as breathing. As Donovan's body slapped against the cold cement, he rolled on to his back. His eyes were wide with fear and he held a hand out timidly.
"Please!" he whispered. Loki bent down next to him.
"Are you Donovan?" she asked him. He nodded, looking up at Loki in a somewhat mesmerized manner. Scott couldn't blame him. "Okay. Are you hurt?" Donovan didn't answer – he was shaking. "Donovan," Loki said again, this time with more conviction. "Are you injured?"
"N – no," he whispered. "I'm f – fine. But T – Tracy. You have to find Tracy." He began to pant, hyperventilating. "I didn't – Tracy! She – " he cut himself on, his breathing becoming too erratic to allow him to speak. He whimpered wordlessly.
"Okay," Loki said again. She placed a hand on his back, and turned to Scott. She raised her eyebrows, and Scott nodded, knowing what she was trying to convey. They needed to get Donovan back to the police, but there was no point in scaring him further. Walking a ways away, Scott began to speak into the radio. Behind him, he could hear Loki talking to Donovan soothingly, attempting to calm him down.
"Scott, is that you?" Deputy Parrish's voice crackled over the line.
"Yeah," the teenager responded. "I found Donovan. He's completely freaked out. He keeps saying some name."
"What name?" Stiles's dad asked. He must have taken the walkie talkie from the deputy.
"Tracy," Scott replied. "He keeps saying Tracy."
"Tracy who?"
"Stewart," Loki said from her position on the ground next to Donovan. Scott looked at her, and he was surprised at her expression. She looked guilty, almost ashamed. "Tracy Stewart."
"Tracy wasn't just having trouble sleeping." Lydia was explaining to the others what had happened to their classmate. It was the next morning, and they were all at school – by the buses as usual, leaning around the Jeep. "It was a real disorder. It was night terrors."
"Well, now she's the night terror, especially since no one can find her," Stiles muttered.
"Okay," Scott said. "I know we're all tired and miserable…" He trailed off, looking at the sophomore next to him. Mason was listening to the conversation with rapt attentiveness. An almost giddy grin was plastered on his face. "Except for you." Mason looked up and then blinked, realizing that they were talking about him now.
"Oh. I'm sorry," he said quickly. "This is all just mind-blowing." He gestured to Kira, eyes wind with wonder. "You're a Kitsune. I don't even know what that is." He grinned again, shaking his head in disbelief. Kira smiled tightly back.
"I'm still learning," she muttered, mostly to herself. Scott put his arm around her shoulder, and Loki thumped her head against the Jeep.
"Liam, they said you could tell him," Loki scolded the other freshman, her voice muffled by the metal of the car. "Not invite him to the inner circle so he could fanboy over our statuses."
"I – I'm in the inner circle?" Mason stuttered, seeming even more excited by this.
"No," Loki said, Liam and Stiles responding to the other teen at the same time. Undeterred, Mason grinned jubilantly, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned against the car behind him.
"Guys, look, back to Tracy," Scott said. "She's just one lone wolf. We can find her."
"One lone serial killing wolf," Malia corrected.
"Well, technically she only killed one person," Loki amended. "The other two were just…mauled."
"I'm glad the technicalities are coming from our own resident serial killer," Stiles muttered. Loki glowered at the human next to her and punched him on the bicep. "Ow! You do know you have super strength, right?"
"You're a – you're a serial killer?" Mason asked, his voice squeaking slightly as he looked from Loki to Stiles, the latter of whom was still pouting and rubbing his arm pointedly.
"Not in years," Loki quipped. She arched an eyebrow, looking at Mason with a coolly detached expression. "Don't tempt me, kid."
"Hey!" Liam snapped, his own temper flaring at the threat, even if it was an empty one.
"Yeah, what crawled up your ass anyways?" Stiles asked Loki, still holding the place she'd hit him. She glared at the human again, her eyes cool and steely.
"Scott said it himself," she replied. "We couldn't find Tracy. That's the first time – " Loki paused, remembering this summer, and grimaced. That made it worse. "I'm not used to not finding someone when I'm looking for them," she finished in a more subdued manner. She sounded almost petulant. "I don't like it."
"Guys!" Scott scolded. Loki looked at the ground, lapsing into a stubborn silence.
"What are we going to do when we catch her?" Stiles asked, back on topic.
"I say we put her down." Malia, of course. The others exchanged looks, but no one protested to Malia's suggestion immediately. There was a moment of charged silence, broken of course by Mason.
"Intense," he commented in an awed tone. Loki rolled her eyes.
"Guys, let's just focus on catching her first." Scott steered the conversation back on track for the third time in five minutes. "We'll figure out the rest later."
Mrs. Finch placed Loki's test face down on her desk. She flipped it over – a 90. Filing it away, Loki turned to Scott as Mrs. Finch placed his test in front of him. He flipped it over, holding his breath, and a grin spread over his face – he'd received an 86. Kira grinned jubilantly, and Loki and Lydia smiled too. They were all proud of his work.
"Nice to see where your priorities are, Scott," Mrs. Finch said. "Since you have such a good grasp of the subject, how about you lead us in a review of last night's reading?" Scott's smile faded slightly.
"Uh…sure." He flipped his textbook open to the marked section, but before he began to read, he glanced towards the doorway, clearly distracted. Loki followed his gaze and saw Liam there. The sophomore was gesturing to the hallway frantically. He clearly wanted Scott to come out for whatever reason.
"Scott?" The teacher asked, noticing his distraction.
"Sorry," he responded. "Just – looking for the page." He flipped through the textbook, purposely avoiding the section that had been assigned the night before.
"Scott," Mrs. Finch said again, this time sounding impatient instead of simply confused.
"Yeah, one sec. Sorry."
"Scott." The Alpha tapped his ear, signaling for Liam to speak to him from outside the classroom. Loki listened in too, and from across the room, Loki could see Theo's head tilted in Liam's direction as well.
"She's here," Liam whispered, his voice as clear as if he was standing right next to her. "She's in a history class right now. Tracy. She's here."
Loki was outside the school building, waiting for the fire alarm to stop when she saw Scott, Stiles, Malia, and Mr. Yukimura rushing towards the Jeep. Scott had Tracy in his arms. As the alarm stopped abruptly and the principal announced that they were free to return to classes, Loki, Kira, and Lydia hurried back into the school.
Liam met them in the hallways, nearly colliding with Kira before they both halted.
"They're taking her to the animal clinic?" Kira asked breathlessly. Liam nodded, running a hand through his hair in a distracted manner.
"Yeah, to see if Deaton can figure out what's wrong with her."
"What's wrong with her is that she killed two people," Loki hissed, glancing around to make sure no one was listening in on their conversation. "Her father, and according to Jordan." Loki held up her phone here for proof, to show the others the text she'd just received. "Her psychiatrist."
"Isn't there anyone else we can talk to?" Kira asked. "Her mom? Does she have any other family?"
"Alpha," Lydia responded, suddenly. She looked to Loki. "If she's a werewolf she has an Alpha, right?" Loki bit her lip.
"Not necessarily," she replied cautiously. "She could be a lone wolf – in fact, it may be more likely that she is. A good Alpha who didn't want her killing people would have controlled her, and an Alpha who did would have probably at least covered her tracks. Still…" Loki shrugged. "It's worth a shot. Anyone know of a new Alpha moving into Beacon Hills?"
"No…" Kira said slowly, as though something was occurring to her. "But there's an old one. One of the oldest. And we know her." Liam scowled, looking unhappy. He clenched his jaw, and Loki guessed he wasn't particularly looking forward to the conversation he was going to have to have with Brett.
"And her pack." Liam grimaced again, looking unexcited at this prospect. "I'll talk to Brett." Loki nodded, and Liam turned to go.
"Where are we going?" Loki asked, looking at Lydia and Kira. Lydia pressed her lips together, eyes narrowed in thought. She smiled slightly.
"How about back to Tracy's?"
"Hold on," Kira said as the three girls paused at the closed door to Tracy's room. "Isn't this like a crime scene or something?"
"No," Lydia scoffed. She swung the door open, and then halted, eyes wide as she took in the room. Yellow caution tape had been strung up around the room like streamers, crisscrossing across Tracy's four-poster bed. Lydia shrugged. "Maybe." Kira sighed, taking a slowly deliberate step forward. "Don't worry about it."
"We have friends in high places," Loki reminded Kira as she strode carelessly into the room. "We'll be fine."
"Okay," the Kitsune sighed. "What are we looking for?"
"I'm not sure," Lydia admitted, walking over to Tracy's dresser and picking up a bracelet before setting it back down. "I'm mostly just following a feeling."
"You mean the feelings that usually lead to dead bodies?" Loki muttered. She walked over to the other side of the Tracy's room so that she was just under the skylight, which had been boarded up. Lydia switched the lamp on her bedside table on, illuminating the rom.
"Well, let me know if you find one."
"What, to bring the homicide rate to three?" Loki scoffed. "I don't think so. Let's give this girl the benefit of the doubt for now." As she said that, something occurred to her. Loki sighed heavily. "That being said..."
Loki walked over to the window, and unlatched it. She opened it as wide as it would go, and swung one leg over the edge, ducking her head so she wouldn't slam it against the wooden frame of the window.
"What do you think you're doing?" Lydia asked. She and Kira were staring at the werewolf incredulously.
"What?" Loki asked. She clamped her legs tight against each side of the wall to ensure she wouldn't fall. "I just want to check something from last time we were here. It would be easier if the skylight wasn't boarded up, but whatever. This will do." Leaning as far back as she could without falling, Loki wrapping her hands around the top of the lip protruding just below the shingled roof.
Pulling herself up in one fluid motion, Loki launched herself through the air. Her feet tapped against the roof impossibly lightly as she landed, completely steady on her feet. Grinning, Loki straightened up.
Walking forward briskly despite the precarious slant of the rooftop, Loki bent to look at the decaying bodies she'd smelled last time they were there. Her shoulders relaxed. They were just birds.
She hadn't thought to ask Jordan what he'd seen up there, and she hadn't been able to see them herself. Even though she knew that Jordan would have told her if it had been something truly alarming, like a human corpse, she had wanted to see it with her own eyes, just to make sure.
Dropping back down to the ledge, Loki swung back and forth once to gain momentum, and then let go. She flew through the tiny target of the window and landed easily on her feet. She turned around to close the window behind her.
"What was that all about?" Lydia asked. Kira was on the ground on her stomach, looking under Tracy's bed.
"Last time we were here I smelled something dead. I wanted to see what it was," Loki responded. "They're crows. Like – half a dozen of them or something. So Tracy's homicide rate stands still at a double murder."
Kira had resurfaced from Tracy's bed, and she was holding an open box wrapped in pink paper and tied with a ribbon. The girl pulled out a delicate looking dreamcatcher, holding it up for the others to see.
"Hey, look at this," she said, opening the card that had come with the box. Lydia and Loki leaned over Kira's shoulder as she read aloud. "'Remember, Tracybear. It only works if you believe it. Hope this helps. Love, Dad.'" Kira sighed, and turned towards the other two girls. "This is beyond depressing."
"He was just trying to help her," Lydia said quietly.
"Why would she go after him like that?" Kira asked.
"She probably wasn't in control of herself," Loki pointed out.
"But it wasn't even a full moon." Loki shrugged.
"If she's a new wolf, having a night terror can be disorienting enough for her to lose control. You saw how Liam got when he was angry right after he was turned. It's worse when you're scared."
"So a werewolf with night terrors is worse than – " Lydia cut herself off suddenly, grabbing the dreamcatcher from Kira's hands. She turned it over. "You know," Lydia said, changing topics. "There are cases of people who accidently murdered their whole family while in a night terror. They had no idea what they were doing."
"Homicidal somnambulism," Loki murmured. Something occurred to her suddenly.
"So if Tracy's killing people she doesn't really want to kill," Kira began. "She might not actually be awake."
"She's still in a night terror," Lydia confirmed.
"Guys – " Loki said, causing the other two girls to look at her. "Do you know – are we sure that Tracy's a werewolf?"
"What do you mean?" Kira asked.
"I mean – " Loki paused, collecting her thoughts. "I just remembered something. That night last year when Stiles went missing in the woods – he was dreaming the entire time. Having something that sounds a lot like a night terror, now that I'm thinking about it. And he was possessed by a Nogitsune." She looked up at the other girls. "Do you think – is it possible that Tracy is Nogitsune also?"
There was a long pause as the other digested this information. The very thought of dealing with another dark fox spirit was terrifying, and none of them wanted it to be the case. Lydia was the first to speak.
"You said it yourself, Loki. A night terror could be overwhelming for a newly turned werewolf. For now, let's operate under that assumption, and think about everything else later." Loki nodded. She'd been hoping for a more negative response, like the other two girls telling her that she was crazy or something, but whatever.
"Okay, wait a second," Kira said. "Her dad was just trying to help her, right?"
"So was her psychiatrist," Lydia replied, staring at Tracy's drawings on the wall.
"So maybe that's why she was at the school," Loki pointed out. "Trying to find someone else who was trying to help her."
"Maybe she was looking for you two," Kira said. Loki and Lydia both turned to look at Kira, and she seemed to realize the implication of her words. "Or not. Because that would mean that she wants to kill you."
"No, you're right," Lydia agreed. "We were trying to help. But…so was someone else. My mother." Lydia's eyes were wide. "What if Tracy went to the school looking for her?"
"Where is she now?" Loki asked. Lydia pressed her lips together.
"On a date."
Lydia parked hastily in the parking lot of the Sherriff's Station. As soon as she'd stopped the car, all three girls were getting out of it, rushing towards the station.
"Mom!" Lydia yelled as she burst through the doors. Luckily enough, the woman was still there. Unluckily, Loki could tell immediately that Tracy was as well. "Mom, she's coming for you," Lydia warned breathlessly. "Tracy."
"What?" Ms. Martin sounded reasonably confused. "What do you mean 'for me?'"
"Guys," Loki called, eyes trained up at the ceiling. Tracy was upside down, partially transformed. Before the werewolf could utter another word, the kanima dropped to the ground. In one fluid move, Tracy knocked the Sherriff's gun aside, effectively paralyzing him as her tail whipped into his hand. Loki dropped into a fighting stance, and Kira whipped out her sword. The two supernatural creatures surrounded Tracy, who was crouched on the desk, hissing.
"At least I was wrong about the whole Nogitsune thing," Loki murmured, trying to figure out how to attack Tracy without being paralyzed. How could you fight something you couldn't touch?
"That's what you're thinking about right now?" Kira asked, incredulous.
"Among other things," Loki admitted, voice lurching as she dropped into a crouch to avoid Tracy's tail as it whipped over her head. "But, hey, silver lining, right?"
"Kira, Loki, look out!" the Sherriff yelled. Tracy sprung into a one-handed backhand flip, landing in a defensive position before quickly changing tactics to offensive. Loki could hear Lydia yelling to her mother to run as the werewolf flipped over Tracy so that Kira and Loki were on either side of her.
Before either girl could do anything, Tracy shoved past them, whipping her tail out at Lydia. The Banshee yelped in pain as the tail slashed into her side, leaving a deep cut under her ribcage. Immediately, blood began to spread across her shirt in a dark stain.
"Lydia!" Loki heard Ms. Martin scream hysterically. "Lydia!" Loki ran to her friend's side, grabbing the girl just before she hit the ground and slinging her friend's body away from Tracy. Loki was, perhaps, not as gentle as she should have been in her haste to get Lydia out of harms way, and Lydia's cut off gasp indicated that.
Shielding the Banshee with her own body, Loki knelt over Lydia, trying to examine the wound. Her teeth clenched together in concern - she could see how deep it was. In Loki's moment of distraction, Tracy managed to lash her tail across the Beta's back, and Loki cried out, body arching as the cut stung.
The venom began to seep through her system quickly, and Loki fell to the ground, inches away from her injured friend. Already struggling to move even slightly, Loki barely managed to turn her head to see Kira on top of a desk. Her mouth fell open.
Surrounding Kira's body was an orangey glow in the shape of a fox. Loki realized immediately that it was the aura that surround Kira's body always. Usually it was invisible to the human eye, but now it glowed a thousand times stronger, and anyone could see it.
As Tracy whipped towards Kira, the Kitsune brought her sword down, right on Tracy's tail. It fell to the ground, twitching, and Tracy shouted in pain as she collapsed. As Loki and Lydia watched, the glow around Kira strengthened until it resembled flames. Just as abruptly as it had started, the aura faded, and Kira's shoulders slumped as she panted, exhausted.
Kira's hands were covered with Lydia's blood as she tried in vain to stop the bleeding that still seeped out of the wound, oozing between Kira's fingers. Lydia's wound was still bleeding profusely, and the Banshee's skin was clammy and chalky white. Her breath was shallow, and her eyes were very blank looking.
Footsteps sounded, coming from the main entrance of the building. Loki recognized the scent and she called out, albeit with some difficulty due to her frozen position.
"Malia?" She yelled. The were-coyote rounded the corner, stepping into view. Her eyes widened when she saw Lydia on the ground, and she gasped.
"It's okay," Lydia whispered. "It's not as bad as it looks." Loki grimaced. Liar. "Malia," Lydia said again, voice shaking with the effort to speak. "Tracy…Tracy thinks she's sleeping. She thinks she's dreaming. It's a night terror." Lydia's voice dipped down, trembling with pain.
"I don't know what that – "
"She's not awake, she's not dreaming," Lydia continued. "Get her to understand." Her voice faded as her eyes closed.
"Malia," the Sherriff rasped. The were-coyote turned around to look at her boyfriend's dad. "They're in the basement," he informed her.
"They?" Malia asked, confused.
"Tracy," Lydia clarified, as she opened her eyes again. They were wide and unseeing. "And my mother."
Jordan was lying on his couch, his shift for the day over. He was holding a playing card in his hand – the queen of diamonds. The caricature on the card held an uncanny resemblance to Loki – even the serenely mysterious smile and the unfathomable green eyes were spot on. He recalled a night when they'd been trying to figure out what he was – a conversation he and Loki had had.
Loki and Jordan were in the deserted Sherriff's Station, sitting at his desk. Loki held up a butane lighter, one of the cheap, disposable ones, and flicked it expertly so that the flame sparked. She glanced up at Jordan, a smile playing across her lips. He grinned back, a tad mockingly.
"You're going to do a magic trick?" He asked, teasing her. Loki smiled again, and let her thumb slip off of the lighter, extinguishing the flame.
"No," she replied. "But you are." Jordan raised his eyebrow, and shook his head, but decided to play along.
"I only know one trick and it's with a playing card," he informed her. Loki smiled back playfully and pulled her chair closer to him, so that there was only about six inches of space between them.
"Well," she said. "I'm about to teach you a new one. And it involves a lighter and your hand." Jordan dropped his hand from his face, looking at his girlfriend with an eyebrow raised in a mocking manner.
"This is sounding less like a magic trick and more like assault." Loki smirked devilishly. The mischievous expression was somehow just as fitting on her face as her angelic smile. As usual, everything about Loki was a paradox, an oxymoron. Nothing about her made sense. Jordan shook his head again.
"It's a little dangerous, true," she agreed. "But it's nothing compared to being lit on fire in a deputy sheriff's car." Loki raised an eyebrow. "Which, by the way, you walked away from…unscathed."
"Not entirely. I had to pay for the uniform," he quipped. Loki gave him a look, unimpressed.
"Give me your hand," she ordered, holding out her own.
"I think I've seen something like this in a movie," he told her, extending his hand despite his protests.
"Lawrence of Arabia," Loki replied without missing a beat.
"Remind me what the trick is again?" Jordan asked, eyes locked on Loki's face.
"Not minding," she whispered. She flicked the lighter so that the flame was an inch away from the palm of his hand. Focusing on his face, Loki began to move it closer…closer…Jordan jerked his hand away, wincing.
"Ow! Son of a bitch," he muttered, before laughing as he shook his hand out. Loki laughed too, but when she looked at him, a challenge sparked in her eye.
"You can last longer than that," she teased. Jordan shook his head, huffing in amusement at Loki's antics. "This time," she said, curling her fingers around his loosely closed fist. "I want you to do something different. Don't think about the flame," she said, carefully stretching his hand out flat again. "Don't think about the heat. Don't think about it hurting." Loki pulled her hand back. "Don't even look at it. Focus on something else." Jordan raised an eyebrow.
"Okay." Loki held the flame below his palm again, and immediately he pulled it back. "Nope. Nope. Can't do it." Loki leaned back in her chair. She didn't look annoyed; she looked thoughtful. She brushed her forehead absentmindedly, a gesture like she was pushing hair out of her face, even though her curls were tied above her head in her usual messy bun.
"'Kay," she said. "Let me try something then. Focus on me," she suggested, her voice low. "Focus on my voice." Jordan nodded, once, and Loki flicked the lighter again, holding it about an inch below his palm. As she did so, she began to speak slowly. "Think about something right now. Think about something that's been bothering you, or something that has been making you happy, or something that has been puzzling you. Focus on that. Don't let it make you angry or giddy, just hold it your head. Remember it. Analyze it…" Loki's voice faded out.
Jordan could tell that she was still talking because her lips were moving. Distantly, he was aware that her voice was echoing around in her head, but the meaning of the words that sounded in his ears didn't register in his brain. Instead, he was focused on something else…
"Oh!" Loki pulled her hand back, dropping the lighter on the desk instinctively. She winced. Jordan blinked in surprise. He had no idea how much time had passed.
"What happened?"
"It was too hot," she admitted. She smiled at him sheepishly. "My thumb was too close to the flame." Jordan raised his eyebrows at her playfully.
"Ha," he said teasingly. "You deserved it." Loki grinned at him, wrinkling her nose in mock irritation and he smiled back. "You are okay, though, right?"
"Fine," Loki reassured him. Her eyes flicked to his hand. "Are you?" Jordan turned his hand over. It was blackened with soot, but when he scraped his finger across the ash, the skin was unmarked, unburned.
"Did it hurt?" Loki asked, the smile gone. Now she was concerned, wondering if she'd been off her mark to do this. Jordan looked up at her, and shook his head. Her shoulders relaxed.
"How did you know how to do that?" he asked her. "That – whatever. Did you hypnotize me or something?" She smiled.
"It is kind of like hypnosis, I guess," she replied. "But I think of it more like – guided meditation. It comes easy for me, because I'm good at telling people what to do." She smirked again, her lips lilting up in a lopsided, mischievous grin. "What were you thinking about?" She asked.
"A dream," he responded.
"What dream?"
"I've had it here and there for about six months," he told her. "I'm walking in the woods, carrying a body. But it's completely burned. I can't see who it is, or who it was.
"Where are you taking it?" Loki asked, intrigued.
"A clearing," Jordan responded. "A huge tree in the middle of the woods, you'd think it's a thousand years old. But it's been cut down – it's just a stump." Loki closed her eyes when he said this, and he wondered why.
"It's a real tree," she had told him when she opened her eyes again. "It's here in Beacon Hills, too. It used to be the center of a grove of trees called a Nemeton."
"What's a Nemeton?" Jordan had asked, confused.
"A sacred meeting place for Celtic Druids," Loki explained. "Scientists and healers from a thousand years ago."
"I've never seen this place," Jordan muttered. He remembered being confused – he'd thought you couldn't dream about places or people you hadn't been to before.
"But that's why you're here," Loki told him. "It drew you here. That's what it does – it's a beacon for supernatural creatures. It might even make them more powerful." Loki's eyes flicked back up to Jordan's. "What else happens? In the dream?" He stood abruptly, turning around. He pressed a hand to his face, trying to remember.
"I put the body down," he said. "I lay it on the rings of the trees." He paused, struggling to recall what happened next.
"What?" Loki prompted.
"Nothing," he said, quickly. "That's the end of the dream." Loki leaned back in her chair, unconvinced. She could tell by his facial expression and his heartbeat that he was lying. She considered briefly trying to drag the rest out of him, but decided quickly against it. It wouldn't be fair for her to make him tell her things he didn't want to when she hid so much from him.
"Well," she began lightly, changing the topic. "I thought you'd be thinking about me." Jordan looked at her, surprised by the one-eighty in topic. Loki smirked. "Something that bothers you…puzzles you…" Jordan rolled his eyes, grinning at her affectionately. He reached down to touch her hand, pulling her into a standing position.
"You don't bother me," he reminded her. "I've told you that already."
"But I puzzle you," she pressed, as the two walked out to his cruiser. Jordan laughed as he turned the keys in the ignition.
"Loki. I think you puzzle everyone." She smiled, leaning back against the seat.
"Ah, good. I like to maintain an air of mystery," she replied loftily. Once they arrived at her apartment building, Jordan waited for her to get out. She did so, but paused before turning to enter the building. He looked at her, confused, and she raised her eyebrows teasingly.
"Are you coming?" She asked him suggestively, her lips twitching into a smirk again. Jordan hesitated for just a moment, and then killed the engine, getting out of the car himself to follow her.
Jordan blinked, his mind thrust back to the present. He remembered his words: "I only know one trick and it's with a playing card." Moving his thumb over the glossy surface of the card in his hands, Jordan flicked it upside down, practicing the trick.
The previously unblemished card was replaced with one that had been ruined with a burn mark right over the face of the queen. He flipped it over again, and the untouched card returned. Jordan slid his fingers apart, revealing two cards, one behind the other.
He blinked once, recalling the rest of the dream.
Jordan walked through the darkened forest, cradling the body of an unknown person. He set it gently on the large stump, looking around at the other bodies around him. Dozens of them, all burned badly. At least one of them was still alive, her eyes closed as she twitched with pain in her half-awake state.
Jordan sat down behind the body he has just brought, lowering his head into his hands. Flames flickered on his body, engulfing him in a bright orange glow. As the flames burned and flickered around him, Jordan raised his head.
His eyes, too, were glowing orange.
At long last, Loki began to feel paralysis leave her body. She could finally move her wrist. As feeling began to return, Loki realized how uncomfortable this position on the floor was. Her shoulder was strained, as she was situated so that all of her weight was resting on it.
Grunting, Loki rolled onto her back, muscles seizing uncomfortably as she did so. Clenching her jaw in concentration, Loki began to try to struggle into a sitting position. She turned her head, the sound of footsteps drawing her attention to the door. Stiles was there, his eyes wide with fear when he saw Lydia sprawled across the floor, Kira's hands red with her blood.
She was no longer moving, her eyelids flickering as she struggled to stay awake. Loki was painfully aware of how slow Lydia's heartbeat sounded. As Stiles watched, speechless, Theo shoved him aside, whipping his belt off. Carefully tying it around Lydia's middle, Theo began to cinch it tightly in order to make a tourniquet.
"Oh god," a voice whispered. It was Lydia's mom. She rushed into the room, kneeling next to her daughter with tears in her eyes. Loki could smell her panic; hear the spike of her heartbeat.
"Stiles," Scott called from the other room. The human didn't react at first, eyes locked on Lydia. "Stiles!" The human tore his eyes away from the girl on the ground, looking at Scott. "Stiles, come on."
Even as Loki finally managed to get herself into a sitting position, propped up by the desk behind her, her muscles were still stiff from lack of use and venom. Tracy must have cut her deeply. Loki could hear sirens in the distance. Lydia whimpered, but she managed a smile and a nod towards Stiles, who was still standing at the doorway, frozen.
"Tracy," she whispered. "Stiles, I'm fine. Help Tracy." The teenager nodded slowly, and finally turned around. He and his father and Scott and Deaton all disappeared, running towards the bottom level of the station where Tracy and Malia had disappeared.
Moments after they left, medical personal began to file into the station. Loki could hear one of them swear in surprise when they noticed the amount of blood on the floor. Suddenly, there were people around them. Most of them surrounded Lydia immediately, lifting her carefully on to a stretcher and talking quickly to one another. One knelt next to Loki, but before she could speak, the girl was waving her off.
"I'm fine," Loki insisted. She stuck a hand out. "Just – help me up." The EMT looked mildly irritated by her brusqueness, but hauled Loki to her feet nonetheless, and steadied her when she stumbled.
"Are you okay?" Someone asked. Loki turned her head. It was Theo, smiling at her hesitantly. His eyes were full of concern. Loki nodded, brushing her hair back out of her face habitually.
"Deep cut," she murmured, too low for any of the EMTs to hear. "It's going to take a while for the affects of the venom to completely wear off." He nodded, and offered her his arm to steady herself. Loki glanced at him, hesitating, and then nodded, wrapping her hand around his forearm as she stepped forward.
"Thanks."
Theo, Malia, Stiles, Kira, and Loki stood in the waiting room of the hospital, anxiously waiting to hear about Lydia's condition. Scott and Liam and Melissa were walking towards them. The nurse's face was calm, so Loki's shoulders relaxed. She didn't look like someone who was about to deliver bad news.
"Stiles," Melissa said, and the boy swung towards her.
"How bad is it?"
"Could have been worse," she responded. She turned to the boy standing next to him. "Theo, nice going with that tourniquet. You probably saved her life." Melissa turned around again, so that she was facing her son this time. "Alright. She's about to go into surgery, so it's going to be a while. Any other supernatural details I need to know about, or do we just stitch her up and hope for the best?"
"It was the tail," Kira offered. Scott nodded.
"Yeah. Tracy cut her with the tail, if that makes a difference." Melissa nodded.
"Okay." The nurse left then, ready to attend to Lydia.
"But it wasn't just Tracy," Malia added suddenly. Loki looked over at her, surprised. Malia's eyes were wide and earnest. "There were the others. The guys in the masks."
Lydia groaned, the sounds of punching and shouting waking her up. For a half second, Lydia panicked, wondering what was happening to her friends, who they were fighting. She then realized that how theatrical the sounds were, and remembered she was in the hospital.
Sitting up, Lydia saw Loki in the chair next to her bed. She was watching the TV absentmindedly. It was playing some blurry channel of martial arts fighting. Realizing that Lydia was awake, Loki turned around. She grinned.
"Hey."
"What are you doing here?" Lydia asked, rubbing her eyes.
"I volunteered to keep an eye on you just in case," Loki replied flippantly, pulling her chair closer towards Lydia's bed so she could talk to her friend better. "My grades can afford to take a hit. Not everyone's can." Lydia frowned.
"I'm in the ICU," Lydia said, looking around. "Isn't only family allowed in?" Loki flashed a wide grin at Lydia.
"Usually." Lydia rolled her eyes fondly. Of course Loki could get in. "Glad to see your strong enough to mock me," Loki teased. "Unfortunately," she continued, glaring pointedly at the screen behind her. "This place has nothing to watch except this stupid kung fu movie with poor cinematography. At least you're awake now to keep me company." The Banshee stared at the screen, her eyes sharp with interest.
"Do you know how to do that?" Lydia asked Loki, inclining her head towards the TV. Loki turned back towards the screen. She laughed.
"Surprisingly, yes." Loki rolled her eyes. "You may have noticed the twins and Ennis were less refined with their tactics of 'bite first, ask questions later,' but between Kali and Deucalion…I know a little here and there." Loki shrugged, lifting one shoulder off-handedly. "Why do you ask? You've seen me fight." Lydia shrugged. She was quiet for a moment and then:
"Will you teach me?" Loki blinked, clearly startled by Lydia's question.
"You – you want to learn hand-to-hand combat?"
"I want to learn to fight," Lydia clarified. Loki tipped her chin back, surveying Lydia in a new way. Loki had always liked Lydia, but something about this new determination in her sparked a new respect for her friend. Loki nodded once.
"Alright then." Loki's eyes narrowed, like she was already planning how to train her friend. "You'll learn."
Lydia was deeply asleep again. So deeply asleep, in fact, that the sound of agonized screaming didn't even make her flinch. Loki winced, raising a hand to rub at her sensitive ears. When the screaming didn't stop, Loki glanced anxiously at Lydia's sleeping body, and then at the nurse's station next to the ICU. The nurse on-duty looked up, and smiled reassuringly at Loki.
"It's okay to take a break, sweetie," the woman told her. "I'll keep an eye on her until you get back." Loki hesitated. She was concerned that if she left, people would start to remember that non-family members weren't allowed to visit patients in the ICU, and she would be kicked out.
Another scream ripped through the air, making the nurse and Loki grimace again. The werewolf made up her mind.
"Maybe I'll just…stretch my legs for a bit," Loki murmured, pointing at the door. She got up, closing the door quietly behind her. Pausing for just a moment to actually stretch, Loki then took off towards the sound of the screams.
It didn't take her long. Loki came across Melissa, Liam's stepdad, and two other nurses struggling to restrain a teenager boy. He was sobbing and wailing in agony as he writhed in pain on the stretcher. One of the male nurses grimaced in sympathy as he began to push the stretcher towards an unoccupied room.
"Woah," Loki muttered under her breath, eyes wide. Melissa saw her and nodded. She said something to the doctor, and pulled Loki off to the side.
"We don't know exactly what's wrong with him," she told the werewolf in a low voice. "But he came in about forty-five minutes ago." Loki was startled. Had it really taken her that long to notice his screams? "The pain started getting really bad about ten minutes ago." Oh, that explained it.
"Melissa." Liam's stepdad stopped by the nurse. "I'm going to find an anesthesiologist specializing in acute pain. See what you can do." The nurse nodded.
"What's happening to him?" the Beta questioned, walking after Melissa as she moved to enter the room.
"It's the pain. Nothing's working. We've already pumped him full of morphine…the next thing we can do it put him in a medical induced coma." Loki nodded.
"Let me see if I can help." Melissa pressed her lips together, hesitating. Then she nodded.
Loki bent over the boy, biting her lip. His face was slicked with sweat, an entire sheen of it covering his body and making his shirt stick to his chest. His hair was matted down.
Someone had attached leather cuffs to the bed that surrounded his wrists and ankles to keep him in place as his body arched on the bed.
"Please," he begged, sobbing. "Make it stop."
"Okay," Loki said. "Okay, calm down." She clasped his hand in hers, closing her eyes. As soon as she touched him, Loki's mouth dropped open. She'd taken others pain before, many times. Usually it was a mildly uncomfortable feeling, a sort of ache. Even when she'd given up her power as an Alpha to save Aiden, it hadn't felt like this. She had never felt anything like this.
The pain was agonizing. It was a burning, acidic feeling that coursed from her hands where she'd touched his skin to her whole body. She could feel it infiltrating her very nerves. It turned her blood into lava underneath her skin, and where her bones melting? It felt like they were.
"Loki!" Someone that wasn't Melissa was yelling her name. "Loki, let go of him!" It was a familiar voice. Distantly, she was aware of someone wrapping their arms around her waist, tugging her away from the boy.
Loki's hands unclasped around the boy's, and her knees gave out. She would have hit the ground, but the person who had grabbed her pulled her back to her feet. For a moment, just basing it off the gentle, tender way the person held her, Loki thought it was one of the twins. It took her a minute to realize that it was Scott.
She gasped, breath coming in quick, short pants as she struggled to fill her lungs with air. Slowly, the pain faded into a distant memory, and she managed to straighten up.
"I'm okay," she gasped. Scott set her on her feet, eyes crinkled with concern. Kira was there too, by the door with Melissa. She must have called them. "I'm okay," Loki repeated. She looked over at the teenager. He had stopped screaming, and his body was relaxed against the bed, his eyes closed. "Let me see his arm," she requested, noticing a bandage covering his forearm. She was guessing it was the source of the pain, and she was curious to see what kind of injury had inflicted that.
Melissa stepped forward, carefully unwrapping the shackle around the boy's wrist. She pulled the bandage back, revealing a grisly wound. It was oozing a lot of thick, dark blood, and it seemed to have burned part of his skin away.
"Holy…" Kira muttered, stepping closer for a better look. "What is that?"
"The lab says scorpion venom," Melissa responded. Loki frowned.
"Scorpion?" She repeated, incredulous.
"I know," the nurse said. "But that's not the weirdest part. Because a sting this bad means that he should have been dead ten hours ago. And that the scorpion that stung him would have been ten feet tall."
"Please tell me that doesn't mean there's a giant scorpion running around Beacon Hills," Kira said. Before anyone could answer, the boy on the bed gasped.
"Lucas," he whispered. Everyone in the room fell silent, looking towards him. He blinked. "It was Lucas."
"Hey, Corey," Scott said, leaning over the bed to talk to the boy. "What Lucas did to you, he's going to do it to someone else. And it's going to be a lot worse."
"We need to know what happened," Kira added. She was nervous, wringing her hands. Corey stopped examining his arm to look at the other teenagers.
"I don't really know," he told them. Loki sat down on the foot of the bed and he looked at her. She offered him his hand, and he took it. Loki carefully helped Corey into a sitting position.
"Can you just tell us what you think happened?" Loki asked him quietly. He hesitated, and then nodded.
"He's never really been like that before," he began. Scott shifted impatiently, but before he could ask for clarification, Loki held up a hand.
"Corey." He looked at her. "We need you to be really specific, okay? We really need your help. Just tell us what you think happened, with as many details as possible, okay?" Loki touched his arm gently, in a comforting way. "Please."
"I mean aggressive," Corey clarified. "We were taking it slow, but it wasn't me. He was the shy one. Then we were hanging out today and it's like he was a different person." Corey paused.
"Different how?" Scott asked.
"Like – super confident," Corey said. "We were just kissing, and I felt this sharp sting on my arm." Corey glanced down at his wounded forearm. "I looked up at him a – and I swear…" Corey trailed off, shaking his head. "It sounds so stupid."
"Don't worry about that," Loki reassured him. "Just tell us everything." Corey nodded.
"I swear…I swear his eyes turned black." Kira stepped forward.
"You mean totally black?" She asked.
"The whole eye." Corey nodded. "But it was only for a second. And then he said sorry, that he'll see me at the club tonight, and then he just left. A few minutes later, I'm in the worst pain of my life." Kira was pacing back and forth in front of the hospital bed, but suddenly she turned around.
"Hold on. You said club. What club?" She asked intensely.
"Every Friday night," Corey said. "Sinema." Loki heard two heartbeats spike. Kira and Scott, for whatever reason, reacted to this.
"What?" Loki asked, turning towards her friends. "What is it?" Scott shook his head, eyes wide with concern.
"Liam and Mason are there."
Kira and Scott had returned from the club. Apparently, Lucas was dead - killed by the creatures in masks that Malia had described. And from what Loki had overheard, the body was still covered with spikes and had claws. Loki waited impatiently for Scott to leave the morgue, and when he did so, she ran after him.
"Scott – Scott!" The boy turned around. Loki was running up to him. She looked agitated. "What are we going to do?" She asked him, voice low. "About the body with the stingers?" Scott shook his head.
"We're not going to do anything," he told her. Loki stared at him for a second, eyes wide as she processed what he had said.
"What does that mean?" Her voice was suddenly detached, and colder than Scott had ever heard it.
"I mean that the coroners will come up with some explanation about the stingers in his arms. That's what my mom said." Scott paused when he saw the look on Loki's face. She took a deep breath, trying to control her fury.
"No. No. You can't let them do that." Scott stared at her, trying to understand why she was so upset.
"Loki. It's fine. This is the first time they'll have dealt with something like this, it won't be a prob – "
"And how do you think they're going to react the next time something like this happens?" Loki snapped. Her eyes were flashing with a vicious anger Scott had never seen before. He took a step back. "Or the time after that?" Loki shook her head in disgust. "Eventually, they'll figure it out. And you know what happens to most humans that learn about the supernatural world?"
"Loki," Scott said quietly. "It's going to be –"
"Don't tell me it's going to be fine, McCall," she snarled at him. "Do you know what happens when humans learn about the supernatural world?" Scott shook his head slowly. Loki's eyes hardened. For once, they showed her emotions plain and clear. Pure, unadulterated fury.
"They end up in Eichen House," Loki said, her voice low. Somehow it was more terrifying than if she was yelling at him. "And not as the patients. As the nurses and the orderlies in the closed ward." Loki's voice cracked suddenly, and she closed her eyes. Her hands were tightened into fists, and as Scott watched her, speechless, he saw blood beginning to ooze out between his fingers.
"Loki," he said, gently, like he was trying to comfort a cornered animal. "Relax. You're hurting yourself." Loki let her hands uncurl, and then flexed her bloody fingers like she was considering punching him in the jaw. Instead, she just glared at him.
"Just let it be clear where I stand on this," she said icily. With that, Loki whipped around, stalking off in the other direction. Her shoulders were still drawn together, her muscles clenched in a tight whip of anger. Scott watched her go, his heart thudding unevenly in his chest as guilt welled up in him.
okay so please please please leave a review! i appreciate any and all feedback, and it really inspires me to write. so, please? :)
thank you!