Me, Kira, Malia, Braedon and Hayden all gather around the kitchen table of mine and Stiles' apartment. We called it a 'Girly Night' but we all knew it wasn't going to be popcorn and watching reruns of Friends or Gossip Girl. We were fully on board with the fact that we would be going over everything so far that we knew about the murder/'suicide' cases.
"What've we got so far?" Malia asks chewing on a pretzel as she pushes herself onto the work surface, "Wait is it safe to sit here? Have you and Stiles ever done it on this?" She jokes in which I smile and playfully roll my eyes.
"You know I can't really remember..." I say, pretending to be in thought, putting a finger on my chin. Malia's face turns into the most funniest reaction I've ever seen, a mix between horror and disgust, her mouth wide open.
"Lydia!"
"I'm kidding! It's sex-free." I laugh at her as she visibly relaxes. She pretends to shudder at the thought then smiles at me sweetly, in which I put on a mock glare.
"Guys!" Kira clicks in my face, she shakes her head slightly and gives her attention to the bestiaire lying open on top of the table, turning away from the coyote.
"Right, what do we already know?" Malia says from behind us all.
"They've all been girls," Braedon notes down.
"They've all had cyanide in their system." Hayden contributes, as she steals a pretzel from Malia, laughing when Malia almost falls off the surface when she tries to snatch it back. After that suggestion it's silent between us all.
"Is this all we know?" Braedon asks, her eyebrow raising.
"Well, I guess that's all we know for patterns. We have more solid information on Jess Leatherwood's case that will really help us out." I say optimistically, realizing how truly limited our information is. We know nothing, yet it feels like we're two seconds away from closing the case.
"Well, start talking." Malia says.
"So we found a bestiaire in Zack's house from the other night. The page that was marked was the one on banshee's." I tell them.
Kira opens and shuts her mouth several time before actually speaking, "So was she a banshee?"
"My guess is yes, she was a banshee and her and Zack knew about it. Zack felt it was vital to tell us this but in a stupider way so that he wouldn't sound crazy. At least that's what I think."
"What about the other girls? Were they banshee's..." Kira asks again, as if something is forming in her mind but she needs details to confirm it.
"We don't know, their loved ones didn't mention anything, so if they were they didn't tell anyone or their banshee gene wasn't triggered." I sigh, dropping down onto a seat.
"Maybe it's a disease that's going around killing banshee's!" Malia chimes in, a little too cheerful considering a banshee sits a few meters away from her.
"Gee, thanks Malia!" I reply to her sarcastically in which she rolls her.
"No, I think it's something more darker." Braedon says, almost to herself.
"Well maybe it's someone doing this to banshee's." Hayden guesses, she sounds unsure when she says this, but it is a clever idea.
"No, that's a good idea..." I say thinking aloud.
"Lydia what're you thinking?" Kira asks, running a soothing hand over her growing stomach.
"We need a copy of the bestiaire," I say rushing over to the bookcase in our living room and taking the book off of the shelf, then I run back to the kitchen. "We need to look for anything that feeds off of other supernatural powers, or something of the sort."
"I have Theo's number if you wanted me to call..." Malia says. I flash her a smile because even though the situation is serious that was a really good joke.
So we spend the next hour or so flipping through every page of the bestiaire until we're a few pages to the end and we come across a type of supernatural creature that looks oddly familiar to me, however has no description, the page is left blank as if no-one has ever done research on this.
"An Afreet." I murmur to myself, all the girls' eyes focus on me. "I know that word."
"Well, what does it mean?" Malia asks. I pause before telling them anything and quickly search it up on my phone. The results frighten me and I think about lying to them.
"Lydia?" Kira asks.
"It's from Muslim mythology," I begin, everyone's brows knit together, "It's a demon."
"A demon?" Hayden gasps, fear lacing her words and making her eyes grow wide.
"You're telling me we may have a freaking demon on our hands." Braedon exclaims, I nod biting my lip. I'm not sure what I was expecting it to be, really but a demon seems a little far fetched.
"But, guys, we don't have any information on it... It might not even be what we're looking at..." I say hopeful, I only stopped at it because the word was familiar. Believe it or not but I spent a lot of time at one point researching mythologies and the supernatural.
"Well we should probably do some research on it." Hayden says, nodding almost to herself as if she's reassuring herself that it might not be a demon on our cases.
"Right get everything we might need, then we search, I don't care how long it takes." I tell them, I grab all books based on supernatural we have in the house and put them in a messy pile on the table and we all take one, except Kira who gets my laptop and starts searching the internet.
We search for a lifetime. Or at least it feels like it. I'm not sure if we find something minutes after we start or hours, it's hard to tell when you're concentrated and your life is hanging in the balance of it.
It's Kira who first finds something so we immediately discuss.
"It says, 'An Afreet needs power to survive, a power of a supernatural being. They are known for going after a being that is vulnerable and an easy target.'" Kira finishes, she eyes me worriedly then drops my gaze when I meet her eye.
"So this is probably what we're dealing with then? An Afreet." Malia ponders.
"I guess, it sounds exactly like what I was expecting." I sigh, running a hand through my hair.
"Is it a shape-shifter?" Hayden asks, apparently at thought by the look on her face. We all shrug.
"What if it takes on the appearance of being a human?" Hayden wonders aloud. She bites her lip and looks around nervously. This could be a legitimate fact, and it makes sense. It goes after an easy target. Who's that easy and 'vulnerable' to allow themselves to become within reaching distance of a monster? No-one. So it's someone who's most liable to go to a human and get endangered, and who's supernatural and can't defend themselves like a werewolf can? A banshee.
I have a horrifying thought.
"Lydia, are you okay?" Kira asks me, she touches my arm with her hand.
"What if it feeds off of banshee's?" I question, "It makes sense, we can't defend ourselves so we won't fight back. We can't heal so if they hurt us we react the same way a human would..."
"It makes sense." Malia nods.
"But we don't know for sure. That's just a theory." Kira reminds me, as if she's trying to not worry me or herself.
"Maybe we should call it quits for the night? My brain is fried." Braedon sighs.
"Wait, before you leave, you should hear something," I tell them, they look at me eyebrows raised, "Our estate agent, Liz. When I see her I can see something gold on her tooth, like a symbol or something."
"Yeah?" Braedon says, almost like a question.
"Stiles can't see it. Only I can." I tell them.
"Maybe it's something about being a banshee..." Malia tries to reassure, I nod and try to let myself believe it, "Let's leave it for now, yeah? We can talk about it tomorrow, we'll research some symbols."
"Yeah, I guess you're right..."
"Guys, you head on home, I'll wait with Lydia until Stiles is back." Malia tells them, taking my hand and squeezing it.
In that moment I'm grateful for such a friend like Malia, someone who will always protect me, make me laugh and try her best to reassure me. Something, that I know isn't easy for her. So we wait for Stiles to come home by playing 'Never Have I Ever'. Which proves interesting.
It's been a few days since me and the girls had our 'girly night' (if you can call it that) and still we're at a dead end with everything. We had a pack meeting the next day to discuss an 'Afreet' but our information is limited. I told the rest of the pack my theory, but even they thought that was a little extreme to be coming off of the little information we had. I also told them about the symbol I keep seeing on Liz's tooth, so since then any chance we have we've been looking for symbols that mean something we might relate too. But to no avail. I can't even see the symbol clearly anyway.
The only good thing is that there hasn't been a suicide since me and Stiles broke into Zack's house. The testing came back the same, cyanide poisoning, which I am still baffled by.
"Lyds," Stiles says, snapping me out of my thoughts, I raise my eyebrows at him. "Did you hear anything I just said?"
"Sorry, what was it?" I ask, Stiles rolls his eyes and I smile at him.
"Liz said if we want to make an offer on the house, we have to do it by the end of the day. Otherwise that other couple get the house."
"Well, do you want the house?" I ask him, popping a grape in my mouth that rests in a bowl in the middle of our table.
"I want whatever you want, you know that." Stiles tells me softly.
"Well, personally I love the house, but I don't want to just move there if you aren't happy with it." I sigh.
"Then great, I want the house too." Stiles tells me his voice low, his hand somehow finds mine on the table and he clasps it, giving it an affectionate squeeze.
"But, one thing does worry me," I sigh again, Stiles meets my eyes and his face falls in concern. "That thing on Liz's tooth. Why can I see it and you can't?"
Stiles draws in a long deep breath and looks at me. He's silent for several minutes as if he's trying to work out what to say so that he doesn't say anything that might upset me.
"I don't know, maybe it's just a trick of the light..." Stiles tells me as if this is what he's convinced himself that that's what it is, my mouth falls open in disbelief. The one person who always believed in me and all my banshee promotions, now he's doubting me.
"Stiles." I whisper, an ache spreads through my heart and something inside me has deflated, all I want to do is go to bed and not see or speak to anyone again. If the one I love doesn't trust what I feel, hear or see then i there any point in disclosing such information?
"But, you know I'm not doubting you," He tells me, brushing a thumb over my knuckles. I make a noise half-way between a cough and a laugh. Of course he's doubting me, he doesn't believe I'm seeing a hieroglyphic on a woman's tooth. Maybe it does seem a little crazy, and maybe it is the way the sunlight reflects on her tooth...
But no, no. If I start doubting myself now I'll go mad. If anyone's going to always believe in me, and be there, and understand myself it will be me. The minute I stop trusting or listening to my banshee intuitions will be the day I'm committed to an insane asylum. I can't turn my back on myself.
"I mean, she can't really have a tattoo on her tooth that only you can see, can she?" Stiles speaks slowly, as if he thinks I'm stupid. I laugh and pull my hand away. He flinches at my actions but what does he expect? To tell me what I can see through my own eyes isn't true. I've never heard such bullshit.
"You're right," I say, sarcasm ringing in my words, "That is just peculiar." I laugh, and stand up from my chair and walk away from the table, down the hall.
"Lydia!" I hear Stiles half sigh and half yell. I hope he realizes he's in the wrong, and if he ever wants to doubt me he can try being a banshee for the day.
"I'm sorry if I upset you," He sighs as he approaches me in the hall, "It's just..."
"No, Stiles!" I turn around, suddenly snapping, my body engulfs in anger that he would even insinuate that I was going crazy, especially since he's the one person whose always believed in me.
"It's not 'just' anything, okay? I know what I saw and I'm telling you there is something about her, something that I get a very bad feeling from! Why can't you just believe that?"
"God, are you hearing yourself, Lyds? Who has a fucking tattoo on their tooth!" He yells at me, his jaw clenched, I see a vein stick out of his neck and I'm taken back at how angry he is. Have I made him fee like this? All because I'm a banshee.
"You believe in Werewolves, Kistunes, Werecoyotes, Banshees, freaking evil spirits that possesses you! And you're having a little trouble believing in a tooth tattoo?" I yell at him, poking a finger at his chest. He's quiet for a bit and all that can be heard is are labored breathing.
"Don't make me seem as if I'm stupid," He says his voice low, "What person can get a tattoo on her tooth and then only you can see it?"
"I don't know, Stiles, maybe some voodoo-freaking-witch!" I yell at him, but then stop, a witch. That would make perfect sense, if a witch could make only supernatural beings see a certain thing, to identify them from the rest.
"Baby, she's not a witch." Stiles tells me grabbing my arms and pulling me close to him, "I can see your wheels turning in your brain, I know what you're thinking. She's not a witch." He tells me softly.
And I guess he's right on this one, that was jumping to a conclusion and I got carried away.
So I nod and rest my forehead against his. He rubs his hands up and down my arms in a soothing way.
"We'll put an offer on the house," Stiles whispers in my ear, my throat burning because of the shouting, "We can talk with Liz tomorrow about moving in, we'll go to bed and watch a film, okay?"
I suddenly want to cry, maybe because he's being nice and gentle with me or maybe because he doesn't believe me. I blink them away.
"Okay," I tell him, a hand caressing his neck, he pecks my lips.
"I'll go call Liz, you go up to bed." He tells me, his voice still gentle, I nod and walk to our bedroom, I crawl under the covers and wait for Stiles to join me.
I'm still mad at Stiles, but he's trying to make me forget about the stupid-tooth-tattoo. So for his sake, I will.
But tomorrow I will try so hard to get a banshee promotion out of her, that I'll be successful. Believe me.