Weaponised:
The stark white walls of Braeden's hospital room were slowly started to drive me crazy and the florescent light overhead was making my normally tan skin seem grey as I sat at her bedside. My bare feet were kicked up on the side of the bed, careful not to disturb her medicated sleep and I fidgeted with my fingers in my lap as I watched the gentle rise and fall of Braeden's chest.
The moment Derek called to tell me he wasn't coming home for dinner, and the abridged reason as to why he was skipping out on our date, I raced to the hospital to be there for my friend. Apparently, Derek had found Braeden bleeding out of bullet wound in the clearing where he found Satomi's poisoned pack.
"Sophie…" Derek started quietly like he was trying not to disturb the silence that had fallen over us and I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from answering him as I continued to stare at Braeden's face. I heard him sigh in frustration as he his gaze burned into the side of my head and he moved closer to where I was sitting as I pursed my lips to stop from snapping at him. "Come on, So. Please talk to me."
"I have nothing to say. Well, that's not true. I have plenty to say. I have nothing you're gonna wanna hear." I told him sharply as I crossed my arms over my chest in defiance and he crouched down next to my chair as he leant his folded arms on the edge. "The only reason I'm not tearing you shreds with my vicious, vicious words is because I don't want to get thrown out of the hospital when Braeden needs someone."
"You have to see this from my point of view."
"No, I don't. Your point of view is stupid."
"How is it stupid for me to want you to be safe?" he asked defensively in disbelief as he shook his head slightly and I snapped my head around to glare at him heatedly with a scowl on my lips.
"Because you know that I am more than capable of keeping myself safe!" I retorted in a slightly raised voice as I sat forward in my seat to face him and his light green eyes blazed with anger as his scowled darkened. "I don't do damsel well. Distress, I can do. Damsel? Not so much."
"I know that. I do, but – "he started to argue with an irritated expression but was cut off when the door suddenly opened and my mother came rushing in with a determined expression on her face.
"Mom? What's going on?" I asked in concern as I watched her ready a syringe with a frown on my lips and she ignored me as she injected the medication into the IV attached to Braeden. "What's that?"
"Naloxone." Mom explained shortly as she carefully watched the medicine run through the plastic tubing and I raised both my eyebrows in surprise as I leaned forward in my chair while Derek looked at me in confusion.
"It's a synthetic drug, similar to morphine, which blocks opiate receptors in the nervous system." I informed him quietly without taking my eyes off of my mother and she looked over at us with a tired sigh as she pursed her lips like she didn't want to say the next thing to come out of her mouth.
"We need to wake her up."
"I thought you said she needed to rest."
"That was before I found out the CDC just put the high school under quarantine with Scott and Stiles still in there."
Braeden released a startled gasp as her eyes flew open and I immediately turned my attention to her as I placed my hand into her own. Her eyes looked around wildly as she tried to make sense of her surroundings and I rubbed my thumb over her knuckle to sooth her as she started to calm down when her gaze landed on me.
"Braeden, look at me." My mom encouraged her in a firm voice as she placed a hand on the mercenary's arm to draw her attention and Braeden slowly turned her head to look at her while clearing her throat. "You were shot, but you're in the hospital now and you're fine. Do you understand?" my mom asked her gently with a small smile on her lips and then waited a moment for Braeden to nod in affirmation. "Good. Okay. Last night you were in the woods and you came across another pack? Do you know what happened to them?"
"I told you, they were poisoned." Derek reminded her in a slightly confused tone as he stood up from his crouch and I spared him a glance as he met my gaze with a frown before I turned back to my injured friend.
"No. No, they were infected. It was a virus designed to kill werewolves. It did. It killed them all." Braeden whispered in a hoarse voice as tears filled her eyes and I tightened my hold on her hand because I knew how hard it would be for her to show her vulnerability.
"Go back to sleep." I told her gently as I stood up from my seat and leaned over to press a kiss to her forehead as she nodded slightly while her eyes fluttered closed. Her breathing evened out as she fell back asleep and I headed towards the door with Derek trailing after me. Mom closed the door behind us as she followed us out of the room and Derek placed a hand on the small of my back but I glared at him until he held up his hands in surrender.
"What is going on with you two?" Mom asked in a mixture of amusement and concern as we headed down the empty hallway towards the elevator.
"Derek has no faith in me." I told her in a mock cheerful tone of voice as I violently pressed the down button for the elevator and she raised an eyebrow at me with a smirk as I crossed my arms over my chest.
"Your daughter is a crazy person." Derek countered in the same tone as he narrowed his eyes at me and I scowled at him in annoyance as I shook my head slightly. "She's mad at me because I don't want her to do something insane."
"No, I'm mad at you because you don't think I can."
"I don't even know what that means!"
"It means, even if it is insane, you're meant to believe in me, support me."
"Even if you want to do something that could get you killed?" he demanded sceptically with a quirked eyebrow as the elevator doors slid open and I held back a growl of frustration as we all stepped into the small metal lift.
"You know what? Forget I asked." Mom said with a tight smile as she waved a hand in the air like that would erase the entire conversation and I scoffed out a laugh as I leaned back against the wall.
"Aren't you meant to get involved in your daughter's love life?" I asked her jokingly with a smirk on my lips as she pressed the down button and she shot me an amused look over her shoulder.
"If you were a normal teenage girl, yeah, maybe. But I'm pretty sure you were born 25. You're not a normal teenage girl, Sophie. You're smarter than anyone I've ever met. You have more wisdom in your little finger than most people have in their whole bodies. You've been through things most people couldn't even imagine, and you've learned from those experiences. All that pain and misery and uncertainty, it just made you kind. If I'm sure of one thing, it's that you know what you're doing."
There were tears in my ears as I reached forward to squeeze her hand in gratitude and she smiled back at me proudly as the elevator doors slid open on the ground floor. She gave my hand one last squeeze as walked out ahead of me and I spun around to face Derek as I started walking backwards with a smirk on my lips. "She agrees with me. Suck it!"
His mouth parted to retaliate but I laughed happily as I spun back around and rushed to meet up with my mother as she helped Deaton, an older Asian woman and an injured man into the hospital. The injured man was extremely pale as he was practically dragged through the door and I hurried over to replace Deaton because I was stronger than he was, assuming that they were the remaining members of the pack that died in the woods. The man's breathing was laboured as his head lolled forward in exhaustion and I struggled to get a proper hold of him as he lurched forward to vomit a black goo onto the floor.
"Okay. This isn't happening at the school, is it?" Mom asked in shocked concern as I helped the woman carry the man's weight and we started ambling down the hallway slowly.
"School? It's Saturday." Deaton stated with a deep frown on his lips as he attempted to help me keep the sick man upright and Derek helped the older woman carry her share of the weight on the other side.
"They're taking the PSATs." I explained in a strained voice as the man slumped forward in unconsciousness and I glanced down at him with a concerned frown as I took notice of the drastic wolfish features he displayed.
"Why aren't you there, Sophie?"
"Took it freshman year." Derek and I both answered at the same time as my mother rushed over with an empty gurney and I looked over at him in surprise that he had remembered something so insignificant about me. I couldn't help the small upturn of my lips as I ducked my head to hide the blush on my cheeks. I guess it was true that the sweetest things you could do for a girl were the little things that let her know you care about her.
We carefully placed the unconscious man on the gurney before rushing towards the opened doors of the elevator and we all crowded into the lift as the doors slid closed behind us. I bit my lower lip as I twitched uncomfortably the tight space and I closed my eyes as I focused my hearing on counting the heartbeats around me, a tactic I had picked up in order to gain control. One, my mother. Two, Derek. Three, Deaton. Four, the unknown woman. Five, my own. Six, there was no six. Why was there no six? My eyes snapped open as I looked down at the man on the gurney and I focused on his heartbeat but there was no noise coming from inside his chest.
"Guys!" I alerted them in panic as I turned my attention to the man and I pressed my hands over his heart as I started to chest compressions in order to get his blood flowing but I knew that there without much I could do without risking my own health. Deaton pulled me back so that I wasn't touching the now deceased man and I glanced over at him with a frown as I backed up a little in defeat.
The woman that had brought the man into hospital released a strangled sob as she covered her mouth with her hand and Deaton wrapped an arm around her shoulder as she turned her face into his shoulder for comfort. I leaned back against the wall of the elevator as I tilted my head up to stare at the ceiling and I squeezed my eyes closed tightly to stop the tears from filling my eyes as I tried to block out the woman's mournful sobs.
"I need to go. I need- I need to go check on Braeden." I murmured quietly when the doors slid open on the right floor and I hurried out the elevator before anyone could stop me from leaving. It was only last night that I had promised Scott we'd save everyone on the Dead Pool and a whole pack of werewolves were dead, not to mention Braeden was lying in a hospital bed with a bullet wound and my own pack was infected with some unknown poison.
Braden was sleeping peacefully when I entered her private hospital room and I sunk down on my previously vacated seat as I covered my face with my hands to muffle my frustrated groan. Tears stung my eyes as I closed my eyes tightly and I felt someone crouch down next to me silently as they gently brushed a strand of hair off of my forehead.
"What are you doing here?" I murmured through my hands without looking up because I could tell it was Derek by the trail of heat that followed his touch.
"I'm protecting my investment. Got a lot of money riding on her." Derek told me jokingly as I lifted my head to look at him with a small smile and I chuckled slightly as I diverted my gaze to my injured friend.
"I'm sorry I'm a crazy person." I whispered gloomily as I looked down at my hands on my lap with a pout and he rubbed his thumb over my knuckle as he slipped his hand in between mine.
"Ah, everyone needs a little crazy." He told me softly with a smirk as he leaned forward to press a kiss to my temple and my smile widened as I turned my head to meet his lips in a brief kiss.
Derek stood up from his crouch as I quirked an eyebrow at him in question and he carefully slipped his arms underneath my knees as he lifted me out of my seat before sitting down with me on his lap. I draped an arm around his neck as my head rested in the crook of his shoulder and my feet kicked up on the edge of Braeden's bed so that I didn't disturb her sleep.
"You know, when I left after Aiden and Allison died I suffered from nightmares. I used to wake up in the middle of the night screaming, drenched in a cold sweat. They were really bad. Them blaming me off their deaths. Scott blaming me for him losing Allison. Stiles blaming me for not noticing something was wrong with him. Lydia, Ethan, Isaac, Chris. All of them blaming me. And then sometimes, I would have dreams that the Oni killed everyone I knew. Absolutely everyone. And all I could do was stand there. Completely useless as the Oni stabbed them in the chest, as they fell to the floor. But, um, when I was in Brazil, I ran into Braeden outside of São Paulo. We got talking, drinking, did some dancing. It was fun. We ended up sharing a hotel room to save money. That night I had a really bad nightmare. I woke up screaming and Brae ran in with her gun drawn, searching for someone attacking me. She stayed up with me all night watching comedy movies so that I didn't have to be alone. The next night she sat with me, waiting for me to go to sleep. She thought I'd sleep better knowing someone was watching over me. She did that every night until I slept through the night without waking up. I owe her, Derek. She's saved my life before. When I heard someone had shot her, I snapped. I really did want to hunt down whoever hurt her. You were right to try and talk me out of it. And I know you know I can take care of myself. I wasn't thinking straight."
"I do know you're capable of handling yourself. You were capable of handling yourself when you were human. But I don't want you to get hurt, okay? I don't care that you're not on the Dead Pool. I need you to be safe."
"I get that, because I feel the same way. It doesn't help that you're actually on it. You're worth $15 million, Derek. That's a lot of money. And it's dangerous, I know. But I can't do nothing. Not when people are getting hurt all around me. Whoever this current assassin is, they've killed an entire pack of werewolves and now, they're hurt people I care about, people that I love. Scott's in that school. Stiles and Kira and Malia, they're all sitting ducks and I feel totally useless right now."
"You're not useless, Sophie. At the moment, you're the most useful person in the pack. You're going to go down to the morgue and help Deaton figure what kind of infection it is so that we know what we're dealing with. That's what you're going to do." He told me firmly as he cupped my cheeks in between his hands and met my eyes with such determination and adoration that I couldn't help agreeing with him. A small smile spread across my lips as I grabbed hold his wrists gently and I leaned forward to press a lingering kiss to his lips in appreciation.
"Come on, we have a case to solve." I stated mockingly as I stood up from his lap and held my hand out towards him as he grinned up at me in amusement. Our fingers intertwined as I pulled him up from the seat and we strolled out of the room together as I guided us towards the elevator. We were silent as the doors slid open and we walked into as I pressed the button to the basement where the morgue was located.
The basement level of the hospital was chilly as we headed towards the door marked morgue and I pushed open the door as the occupants turned around to see who was entering. Deaton had the deceased werewolf on the autopsy table as the woman and my mother waited to the side the room.
"Sophie, Derek, come officially meet Satomi Ito." Deaton said sagely as he turned around to face us with a straight expression and I looked over at the Asian woman with a quirked eyebrow as she smiled serenely. "Satomi, this is Sophie McCall and Derek Hale."
"Oh, I know all about Miss McCall and Mr Hale." The Alpha said mysteriously as her gaze swept over the two of us appraisingly and my lips twisted slightly in freaked out expression as I discreetly pushed Derek in front of me.
"Oh, yeah, you're definitely not a scaredy cat." Derek whispered sarcastically with a roll of his eyes as I pushed him forward from behind and I hummed mockingly as I ran my hands down his muscular back.
Deaton stood at the head of the autopsy table with rubber gloves on his hands as my mother situated herself next to him so that she could assist him and I positioned myself besides the metal table next to Derek with Satomi one his other side. A grimace crossed over my lips as Deaton turned on the bone saw and I turned my head into Derek's shoulder so that I didn't have to watch him perform a craniotomy.
"Okay, yep, definitively not going to be a medical doctor." I murmured in disgust as I tried to block out the sound of bone being sawed and Derek wrapped an arm around my waist as he pressed a kiss to the top of my head. "I think maybe veterinary science is out too. I can't stand that sound. Definitely changing my major. Maybe I'll study physics or chemistry or oceanography, or archaeology, or linguistics. I'm very good at languages."
"I know. You talk in your sleep. Sometimes in Spanish, Italian, or French, or Latin." Derek informed me in amusement as he looked down at me with a smirk and I scowled at him but couldn't help smiling slightly. "Sometimes you start in one language and then swap to another in middle of a sentence. It's cute."
"Oh, god, that sound. I need to keep talking, block it out. Maybe one of the social sciences. Psychology? I would good at psychology. Being a True Druid means I already have copious amounts of wisdom. Philosophy! It's literally part of me."
"Okay, Sophie, you can stop babbling. He's finished." Derek told me as the disgusting sound of the bone saw stopped and I shot him an offended look before turning my attention to Deaton. I watched as he carefully pulled back the skin covering his cut open skull and a frown appeared on his lips as he looked into the man's brain for any sign of what went wrong.
"I think I know what this is. Unfortunately, if I'm right, and Scott and the rest are infected, it's not good. They're going to die without an antidote." The emissary explained sagely as he looked over at us across the table and I frowned deeply in concern as I crossed my arms over my chest. "It's a variant of canine distemper. A few years ago, an outbreak in Yellowstone killed 40% of the wolf population."
"What's it going to do to our wolf population?" Mom asked in a worried tone with her eyebrows raised questioningly and I bit down on my lower lip as I tapped my fingers on my arm.
"Well, it's been altered to infect quite a bit faster."
"You mean it's been weaponized?" Derek asked in surprise as he placed a hand on my back and I relaxed into his touch as I released a breath I don't realise I'd been holding.
"It infected my whole pack." Satomi reminded us in a saddened tone as she looked her Beta's face and I felt a wave of sympathy for the Alpha who had just lost most of her pack in one attack.
"Everyone except for you. That's the real question. Did you not get infected? Or are you immune?" Deaton asked rhetorically with a frown as he pulled off his rubber gloves and tossed them into the waste bin to the side of the room.
"If your pack was infected, then who was doing all the shooting at the entrance to the woods?" Derek asked in confusion with a frown as he rubbed his thumb in circles on my back and I frowned at the reminder of my wounded friend upstairs.
"Apparently another assassin. Personally, I'd rather face a gun than a variant of smallpox." I commented drily with a quirk of my lips and he chuckled lowly as he smiled fondly in my direction. I returned the grin as I scrunched my nose up at him and I frowned slightly when I caught sight of Satomi glancing at him from the corner of her eye. Derek raised an eyebrow at me before he turned around to see what I was looking at and saw that the Alpha was looking at him in fond recognition.
"Sorry. I just noticed how much you remind me of Talia." Satomi told him with a small smile on her lips and Derek looked away with a variety of emotions flitting across his face as I slipped my arm around his waist for comfort. "I used to visit her a lot, you know. Do you remember me?"
"I remember the tea. You always brought that tea that smelled terrible." He recalled fondly with a small smile touching his lips and Satomi grinned happily that they had a shared memory of Talia.
"I brought that tea as a gift. Your mother loved it."
"Are you talking about that purple tea?" I asked them curiously with my head tilted to the side as a small frown played on my lips and they both turned to look at me with surprised expressions. "Talia used to bring it sometimes when I met up with her, Peter and Cora. It tasted better than it smelt."
"You tasted it?" Derek asked curiously with a quirked eyebrow as the corner of his lips turned up and I shrugged innocently with a smirk playing on my lips.
"What kind of tea? The tea with the smell, what kind was it?" Deaton asked with a sense of urgency in his voice as he frowned over at us and I looked over at Satomi for an answer since I had absolutely no idea.
"Reishi. Wild purple reishi. It's very rare." The Alpha explained in a confused tone as she frowned at him slightly and the emissary's expression lit up in recognition as he grinned slightly.
"It's also a very powerful remedy for sickness. Satomi, you didn't get infected because you've been inoculated."
"Okay, okay. How rare is it? Can we find it?" Mom asked in a rush as her expression perked up in hopeful expectation and I started to head towards the door so that I could research the plant.
"We don't have to. My mother kept some of it. It's in our vault." Derek explained in a confident tone that stopped me in my tracks and I spun around to face him as I rushed to plant a kiss on his lips.
"You. You are awesome!" I told him happily as I cupped his cheeks in between my hands with a grin and he chuckled with a smile as he pulled my hands down from his face. "Got to go save some people. Problem with that?"
"Go." He told me pointedly as he pressed a kiss to my forehead and I grinned even wider as I started walking backwards before I spun around to rush towards the door.
Police cruisers, news vans and trucks from the CDC were surrounding the high school as I pushed my way through the crowd of spectators. Deputy Officers were guarding the perimeter around the yellow warding tape and they tried to stop me from ducking under the Do Not Cross tape. I glared the deputy heatedly before I glanced over his shoulder for someone that I recognised and I scowled at the man in front of me as he pushed me back a step with a smirk on his lips.
"Hey! Deputy Haigh, let her through!" I heard Sheriff Stilinski call from somewhere in the background and a smirk spread across my lips as I ducked under the tape without a word to the deputy. I saw John standing with my father and Lydia near the front steps of the school and I hurried over to them with a frown on my lips.
"I need to get in there." I told them urgently without exchanging pleasantries and I grabbed a hold of John's arm desperately like he was the only thing keeping me afloat.
"What? No! Sophie, you can't go in there!" My father exclaimed incredulously as he moved to stand next to me and I shook my head at him because I knew he wouldn't understand as I turned my attention to the Sheriff.
"John, Scott's dying. Malia and Kira too. There's a cure, but I need to get in there and tell them! Please! Please! It's literally life and death!" I urged him frantically as I meet his gaze with wide earnest eyes and he looked conflicted as he glanced between me and the high school where his son and his friends were locked.
"Sheriff, someone's going to die. And it's not just a feeling." Lydia murmured firmly in a quiet voice so that no one would overhear her and I frowned at her for a moment before I looked at John pleadingly. If Lydia was saying that someone was going to die, it wasn't a guess or an exaggeration. This was really happening and it had the banshee nod of accuracy.
"Okay, alright. Alright. Come with me." John said quietly as he placed a hand on my hand with a worried frown and I smiled briefly in relief as I nodded rapidly in understanding.
"Stilinski! What the hell are you think? She can't go in there!" my dad snapped angrily as he grabbed my opposite arm to stop me from going with John and I frowned down at his hand as he turned me towards him so that I was looking at him. "Sophie, they're saying it's a variation of smallpox. You can't go in there! It's dangerous."
"Dad, please, you've gotta trust me. I can save Scott and everyone that's been poisoned. I need to get in there. They're going to die. Please, please, don't make that rest on my conscience." I whispered furiously with tears stinging my eyes as I gripped his hand tightly and he pursed his lips as he studied my face for any sign of deceit or hesitation.
"Okay. Okay, but, I'm coming with you."
"Dad, you need – "
"Sophie! It's not up for discussion. I am your father and you will listen to me." He said sharply as he looked pointedly into my eyes and I was shocked into silence as I nodded my head numbly. He nodded back at me in determination before he turned his attention to the school with a sigh and he grabbed my hand as he started guiding me through the crowd. We snuck pass the deputies that were guarding the tape and my father led me towards the fire exit around the corner of the building. I glanced over my shoulder to make sure no one was watching us as he opened the door carefully and we snuck into the deserted stairwell.
"Do you remember when you were younger and I used to take you to the shooting range?" my dad asked me randomly as he opened the door slightly and peeked outside to make sure the coast was clear.
"Yeah. What about it?" I asked him in confusion with a frown on my lips as I wondered why on earth he was asking me such a random question now of all times.
"You remember how to shoot?"
"Of course."
"Good." He responded as he bent down to lift up his pants leg to reveal that he had a gun holster strapped to his ankle and I quirked an eyebrow as he removed the Glock Model 22 pistol before holding it out towards me. "For emergencies only."
I accepted the gun expertly as I instinctively checked the bullets in the magazine and then held it pointed at the ground as I nodded at my father to let him know I was ready. He nodded back once as he pushed the door open slowly so that it didn't make any noise and he went out first with his gun aimed in case someone was waiting in the hallway. I followed him out with my gun drawn in front of me and I looked around at the empty corridor as I lowered the gun to my side. my dad silently instructed me with a gesture of his head that I should go right while he went left and I nodded in understanding as I slowly started creeping in that direction with my gun at the ready by my side.
I focused my hearing, trying to pick up a voice, footsteps, a heartbeat, anything that would alert me to someone approaching as I headed in the direction of the basement where the second entrance to the Hale vault was located. A frown crossed over my lips when I heard a furious heartbeat pattering away like a hummingbird and another calm heartbeat accompanying it like pulsating music. Worry shot through me for the person with the face heartbeat because it sounded like he was about to have a heart attack and I immediately started heading the direction it was coming from so that I could help them.
"I think I saw them in the library. Or it might've been the cafeteria. It was definitely one of those two." I heard Stiles tell someone when I approached the boy's locker room and there was the usual level of sarcasm but there was also an underlying current of terror in his voice.
"I'm going to count to three, and then I'm going to kill you." An unknown male voice said in a deadly calm voice as I approached them as face as I could without alerting them to my presence because I didn't want to scare him into making a move.
"Think you can scare me?"
"No, I think I can kill you. I just thought the countdown would make it more exciting. So…" The unknown man told him with a hint of excitement in his voice and I silently stepped into the doorway where I could see the man's back. Stiles closed his eyes tightly as the assassin placed the barrel of a gun to his forehead and I could hear the rapid terrified pattering of his heart as he braced himself to die.
My arm moved of its own accord.
"One..."
I didn't even know it was happening.
"Two..."
My finger squeezed down on the trigger.
There was a loud 'popping' sound before the assassin fell to the ground and droplets of scarlet red blood sprayed all over Stiles' face as his eyes flew open in shock. The human boy spluttered incoherently when some of the blood got caught on his lip but all I could do was stare blankly at the fallen body on the ground.
"Where the hell did you come from?" Stiles asked in surprise as he stared at me with wide eyes but I stayed silent and numbly gaped at the corpse at his feet with my lips parted in disbelief.
It was like I couldn't feel my body anymore, like I was outside looking in and I just didn't know how to make sense of what I was seeing. My body just shut down because there was too much to bear, to comprehend and on a subconscious level, I didn't want to feel anything about it, I didn't want to comprehend it.
I couldn't even begin to count how many times I had fired a gun. On a practice range. At a target. But there was something undefinably different about shooting a person. Something I couldn't even begin to describe with any accuracy.
"Sophie? Hey, hey, you okay?" I vaguely heard someone saying but it all sounded like white noise to me as I took a shaky breath without looking away from the body. "I think she's in shock."
"Come on, baby girl. Hey." I heard my father coerce me gently as he wrapped an arm around my waist from the other side and Stiles grabbed my arm roughly enough to jerk me out of my trance.
My head snapped over to look at Stiles with a dazed expression and he shook me slightly to get my attention as he gently slapped my cheek. "Hey, you with me?"
"Reishi." I mumbled quietly to myself as I tried to focus on the boy in front of me but all I could see were the drops of blood still splattered over his face.
"'Reishi'? What – what is that? Are you in shock?"
"No. No, no, no. There's an antidote. It's in a vault, reishi mushrooms. It's in a jar on one of the shelves." I told him in a firmer voice as I forced myself to look into his eyes and his eyes widened as I nodded rapidly in affirmation.
Stiles released a sharp breath of relief as he grabbed my hand and he started dragging me towards the exit as my father bent down to inspect the body. I couldn't help looking over my shoulder at the fallen corpse as I left the room and a heavy weight settled over my chest, like something was strangling my heart.
I stumbled slightly as Stiles' pulled me down the empty corridor to the door that led to the basement and I quickly righted myself as I followed him to a large rounded door with the triple spiral of a triskelion carved into it.
"We can't open it. You can only open it with Hale claws." Stiles informed me in distress as he stared at the door in horror and I felt my breathing elevate in panic as my eyes widened. I felt tears stinging my eyes as I shook my head in denial because I couldn't believe that my brother was dying on the other side of that door.
"Scott! Hey, Scott? Scotty? In the vault, in there with you. It's called reishi mushrooms." I screamed as loudly as I could as I slammed the palms of my hands repeatedly against the door and I cried out in emotional agony as I curled my hands in fists.
"Scott? Scott, open the door! It's in there with you. It's in a jar, it's on one of the shelves. Scott! Scott, can you hear me?" Stiles shouted along with me as he started beating his fists on the door and I put everything I was feeling into punching the door in an attempt to gain Scott's attention.
After everything that we had been through, I couldn't let it end like this. So much hurt and pain and suffering. I wasn't going to let it end this way for any of us. We deserved better. We all did.
Stiles screamed out in frustration until his voice turned hoarse and he sagged against the door in exhaustion as his forehead rested against the door. I tasted salt water on my lips, and it wasn't until that moment I realised that I had been crying. Tears streamed unapologetically down my cheeks as I continued to beat against the door and Stiles slumped down with his back against the door as he rested his head in his hands.
"No, no, no, no. Come on! Come on, Scott! Come on!" I screamed at the top of my lungs as I slammed my fist against the door and a whimper escaped my lips as I took a step back in defeat before whispering helplessly, "Come on, Scott."
I covered my mouth with both hands to smother the sob that escaped me and I squeezed my eyes closed tightly as I turned around from the door. Soft whimpers broke free as I tried my best not to cry but it was an impossible task and I felt my knees go weak as I collapsed to the floor without concern.
A squeaking sound echoed through the basement and I frowned in confusion as I slowly lowered my hands from my mouth. I turned my head around to face the door and my eyes widened slightly when I saw the door opening from inside the vault. I shot to my feet immediately, ignoring my exhaustion when Scott stumbled out of the opening and I ran straight towards him as a relieved sob escaped my lips.
Scott caught me around the waist instinctively as I catapulted into his arms and I wrapped my arms around his neck as I breathed in his unmistakable personalised scent to remind myself that he was safe. I closed my eyes as my worry was eased away slightly and I hugged him tighter as I tried not to think about how close I came to losing him.
Scott was safe.
Scott was safe.
Scott was safe.
I repeated it to myself like a mantra but it still didn't settle inside my mind and I buried my face into the crook of his neck as I sobbed uncontrollably.
I cried for everything that had happened since he was turned. I cried for all of us that had been affected by the supernatural. For all of those who died. For all that we had lost. For all that I had lost.
And now I could add the last shred of my innocence.