Stiles dropped Lydia off home after school the day after they'd found out about Heather going missing. They weren't speaking as much as they would have normally, and the cab of the jeep was suffocating with unattended tension. Lydia nervously brushed a lock of red hair behind her ear as she turned to her lifelong friend.
"Are we ever going to talk about this?" She hedged after a brief moment; Stiles glanced at her from the corner of her eye.
"About what?"
"This Stiles!" The prissy redhead hissed, gesturing to Stiles' jittering leg and twitching fingers. "What the hell is going on and why is everyone so freaked out about Erica being alive? You can't keep me in the dark about this one, Stiles. I mean it, everyone has lied to me before and look where it got us! Jackson died, he literally died and came back. I watched Scott rip you open like a monster and just... walk away and now you're both pretending that it never happened." Lydia paused to take a much-needed relaxing breath, knowing her next words would get a response. "And Allison –"
"Let's not talk about her. I couldn't care less about Scott's perfect, little huntress or their stupid little retirement code." The brunette snapped finally turning to face Lydia, hazel eyes glistening with unshed emotion. "Please, Lydia can we just... I don't want to talk about it anymore. I don't even want to think about it."
Lydia sighed through her nose but relented, "Thanks for the ride, see you tomorrow?"
Stiles nodded silently and watched as Lydia walked up the driveway and into her house before starting the jeep up once more and heading home herself to do some much needed research. Derek and the other wolves were locating Boyd and she wasn't really needed until they had found him which, according to Peter could take hours.
As time passed Stiles delved into the supernatural world through the mountains of books that she had piled around her room, thankful that her dad was working late. It took several hours and three translations before she found anything on trickster spirits and the wild hunt, a Norse myth surrounding ghost-like beings that rode the storm bringing plague, war and death to any who witnessed the supernatural. According to some of the more obscure wiccan and witchcraft memoirs Stiles glanced over, there was a firm but controversy belief that only death themselves could stop the hunt in its tracks. Stiles was so immersed in learning that she didn't acknowledge her phone had been buzzing with missed messages from Scott asking about types of stone and the First Beacon Hills National Bank, so when her phone suddenly rang shrilly she jerked into reality with a yelp before scrambling for the device and answering it.
"Oh finally she answers." A sarcastic voice drawled in annoyance. Stiles could envision Peter's bored eye roll.
"What's up, anything happening?"
"Only if you count Derek running headlong after Scott into an unknown situation to find our missing werewolf friends. After, of course they found out Erica was dead only a few weeks ago when Scott dragged Isaac to Deaton and nearly killed him." Peter explained plainly like it was something she should have already known.
Stiles blinked dumbly as she absorbed the sudden information, only managing to take in a few pieces as her brain was swimming with Norse and Japanese folklore. "Where are they keeping Boyd?" She asked after several long seconds.
Peter gave her the address for where the alphas were keeping Boyd while casually mentioning there was another she-wolf in the vault with him. Erica had already been evasively interrogated by Peter himself but they couldn't find any valuable information. Stiles all but flew from her bedroom and towards the jeep before taking off like a bat out of hell, only noticing for the first time as she pressed her phone to her ear that the sun had set some time ago and the air was chilly as she shivered. She huffed in irritation as Derek didn't answer, not that she really expected him to as he did have other things to worry about.
She continued heading towards the abandoned bank, putting her phone on speaker when the alpha wolf finally called her back.
"We lost them." He growled as Stiles tossed her phone on the passenger seat.
"How? Weren't they locked in a freaking bank vault? Peter mentioned they'd be like super charged or something."
"Yeah, Ducalion has stopped them from feeling the moon for months, so when we broke in it was like dangling a steak in front of a starved dog. The only thing keeping them in was a line of mountain ash."
Stiles felt her brow twitch, "Mountain ash? As in the magical, keep all supernatural things out barrier, mountain ash?" Derek grunted in affirmation. "But then how did they get out? None of you can touch the stuff."
Derek snarled something indecipherable that she was about to question when he spoke low and dangerously to whoever he was with – probably Scott. They spoke about something to do with hunters and keeping them away from the town, "I need to go Stiles, stay at home."
Stiles was about to give a snarky and sarcastic retort when her ears popped with a high pitched shrieking sound of white noise. Her head split open with a blinding, blackout pain that had her swerving over both lanes.
When Stiles slowly regained consciousness it was with low pitiful groan as she was assaulted a cacophony of sound. Stiles pulled back from where her forehead had been pressed against the steering wheel and sat up, glancing around her in mild surprise. As Stiles shifted her surroundings melted away, she was no longer sitting in her crashed jeep but standing at the edge of the community swimming pool. Stiles felt her heart quicken as ominous chanting echoed around her as if it was being spoken by the breeze itself. Glancing around Stiles noted there was a CPR dummy propped up in the lifeguards chair at the opposite side of the pool before she could think too much on how its wide open, lifeless eyes were staring through her, a short soft gasp escaped her lips turning into a choked wet splutter of surprise. She turned to see her attacker but was met with something smacking her across the head instead.
The Spark jerked violently. Her entire body shooting back as she became one with herself again. Stiles blinked rapidly to rid herself of the sudden onslaught of tears that poured down her cheeks. What the hell had she just witnessed?
Not giving it to much thought, Stiles took off towards the pool leaving her phone to ring out a couple of times from where it had lodge itself under the passenger seat. When she got there she was mildly surprised to Lydia there, tears pouring from wide green eyes, staining her cheeks and smudging her mascara. Her phone was clutched in a vice like grip as she lifted her head at the sound of Stiles' footsteps.
"I've already called the police." She murmured softly, her voice trembling slightly.
Stiles didn't know what to say so instead she pulled the redhead into her arms and gave her a tight squeeze before letting her go. She moved towards the pools edge, noticing the resuscitation doll was lying face up on the water soaked tiles, her eyes closed for a moment, mind flashing back to the out of body experience from earlier when the doll was in the lifeguard chair. Eyes still closed, Stiles spun around and came face to face with the bloody, gruesome sight of a teenager, swimsuit still damp with chlorine, blood dripping from the neck that had been savagely ripped open. A flash of gold sparked in the overhead lights catching Stiles' attention, a band of gold was resting neatly on the guys right hand - a chastity ring. Strange she mused to herself, she took half a step closer freezing when her phone went off in her grip. She jerked to looked at the screen relaxing only slightly when she noticed it was only Derek calling her.
'Not now Derek, kind of in the middle of something.' She said in lieu of any greeting, she really didn't want to listen to him being grumpy about her ignoring his alpha orders.
'Don't tell me...' He sighed through the phone, Stiles could practically see the resigned look on his face. 'You're looking at a dead body.'
'Yeah. pretty much. How'd you know?'
'Because, like I said earlier...' He growled fiercely, 'Thanks to an incompetent werewolf and his pathetic hunter girlfriend we have highly two volatile and out of control wolves running around the woods. Where are you?'
'By the public swimming pools.' She intoned calmly stepping closer to the dead body, something about the gash in the throat not screaming 'feral wolf' to her. She could hear Derek muttering to someone and Lydia quietly hissing at her to stop. 'Derek, I don't think it was them...'
'What do you mean you don't think it was them?' A new voice sneered through the device, Chris Argent, no doubt Scott went begging for his help believing they couldn't handle it. 'Two feral wolves trumps random murder.'
'Maybe in your backward hunter code, Argent.' Stiles found herself snarling, Lydia watched in fascination as deep, hollow markings cracked over Stiles' face and her eyes turned black with vibrant violet irises staring at nothing. 'But to most people logic trumps magic and monsters. This kids throat was slashed from ear to ear, one clean cut besides I'm fairly certain werewolves don't bash their victims heads in before ripping their throats out. But I'm not the expert here.'
'Stiles are you certain this is a human?' Derek spoke again, Stiles' growing rage simmered to nothing when she heard his voice.
'If you're asking me if I can tell the difference between a blades cut and a set of claws then yes. I'm certain that whoever killed this kid was human.' Stiles said through gritted teeth as she absently rubbed at the pinkish silver scars on her chest. 'Focus on finding your sister and Boyd, Derek, your pack is your priority. My dad can deal with this.'
With nothing else to say Derek ended the call and Stiles turned to Lydia, the redhead having been strangely quiet. Lydia was staring at her with wide green eyes filled with concern and fear but she didn't shy away when Stiles stepped towards her with an outstretched hand, she knew Stiles wouldn't hurt her - she couldn't.
"I've already called the cops, they should be here soon." She reminded the sheriff's daughter who nodded once, her shoulders falling lax and her head tilted curiously to the side as she caught sight of something - no someone - over Lydia's shoulder.
Her eyes settled on a tall, shadowy figure at the otherside of the pools just out of the light so he wasn't easily seen. He must have felt Stiles watching him because the second she opened her mouth to call out, the mysterious guy turned and fled.
"Lydia stay here I need to go after that guy." Stiles took off as she shouted over shoulder ignoring the redhead's cries of fear of being left alone.
"Stiles!" A banshee like scream echoed after the spark that vanished like smoke as the shadows encased her in nothing. "Stiles there was no one there!"
As she ran after the potential witness Stiles' mind flashed to the crime scene she had left her friend at, wondering just who could be twisted enough the small town of Beacon Hills to murder a sixteen year old defenseless kid. She wondered if this was the beginning of something bigger, like that night she dragged Scott into the woods, she wondered if the killer felt remorse for the lives they had taken and would take. Stiles wondered what the hell happened, skidding to a stop as the pavements and houses around her melted into a void of nothing for a split second before she was stumbling to a halt in front of the school. In the middle of the abandoned parking lot Stiles spun on her heel, confusion overtaking her drive for answers, she flinched as an arrow flew past her face and skimming the tip of her nose.
"Stiles?" A high voice squealed in worry, Stiles' head darted around her before they fell on Allison standing on top of a yellow school bus, clad in all black quiver of arrows on her back and her bow held loosely between her fingers. "Where did you come from?"
"Allison what the hell? Why are you shooting at me?"
"I thought you were one of the omega's." The huntress shrugged unapologetically as Stiles scowled about to answer when she was cut of my low, blood thirsty growls. "Shit, Stiles you need to run."
Stiles hesitated for a moment as a she-wolf with amber eyes stalked out of the treeline followed closely by the hulking snarling form of Boyd. They both spotted her at the same time, freezing as their eyes met, glowing amber against whiskey brown, several breaths were taking, several heartbeats thudded in Stiles ears before she moved. Running to the doors of the school as the feral wolves were quick to pursue their newly found prey.
She didn't know where she was going, the last time she was running for her life in the school at night she wasn't alone and she didn't have two out of their minds on power wolves after her. Blinded by her panic, Stiles flew down the stone steps that lead to the supply storage and boiler room, barrelling into the underground room and slamming the heavy metal door behind her. Stiles stopped, heaving huge breaths of much needed oxygen as her brain whirred and fritzed coming to a complete blank as she tried to think of a way out - magical or mundane.
Boyd and Cora's hunting howls crept along the halls, striking fear straight into Stiles' heart as it hammered against her ribcage. Stiles ran her hands through her hair, frustrated as her mind refused to co-operate and think. She didn't have any weapons on her which meant her only defence was her powers and she was around eighty-five percent sure they were going awry on her. She flinched as two bodies banged against the boiler room door, her only protection buckling and denting under the weight of the wolves behind it, Stiles jerked back against the cold, stone wall her hands raised in defence as the door busted open.
It was silent, eerily so that Stiles cautiously peeked one eye open, sucking in a sharp breath through her nose at the sight before her. Boyd and Cora standing no more than fifty yards away from where Stiles was slumped against the wall, they were staring right at her or through her she wasn't entirely sure as blocking her from the wolves was a rock solid shadow-demon. Standing over six-foot tall, the shadow towered over the three of them, it's glowing amethyst orbs halting the wolves in their tracks, the shadow beasts ears twitched atop its head as it listen to its surroundings, taking in the threat in front of it before it procured a katana just as dark and solid as the fox like creature. The fox demon, because it became clear to Stiles that's what it was, swiped the air between it and the wolves warning them back but said wolves growled and the fox demon tilted its head curiously.
It was as if it was trying to understand its reason for being there, inspecting the young betas unable to determine how much of a threat they were. Cora slashed at the fox demons leg causing it flinch back with a whine of pain. Boyd followed Cora's example with a snarl, as they continued their attack to satiate their bloodlust, the fox demon took every hit with a whine or groan of pain, only looking over its great shoulder once. As their eyes met, Stiles felt power thrum within her as her eyes matched the glowing jewel like eyes of the fox demon protecting her, the warm thrum of magic was quickly followed by a white hot pain lancing through her entire body, looking down Stiles noted that there was a stain of red liquid seeping through her shirt. A low whine from the fox drew her attention, he too was looking down at his gut where Cora's claws were buried knuckle deep in the solid shadow, her fingers coated in a black, inky like substance.
They all remained still, no one dared to breath even a sigh of relief as the first rays of morning light breached the small windows of the boiler room, as they light stretched and travelled over the stone the fox demon wisped away like smoke. Derek tore through the door with a demonic sounding roar, his eyes glowing like red hot coals. His first instinct to take out the biggest threat as he tackled Boyd unsuspectingly causing the bigger wolf to fly across the room and into the wall. Cora turned to the alpha with a warning growl as Boyd slumped helplessly to the floor, but before Derek could advance on the younger beta, her eyes fluttered with exhaustion and entire being collapsed to the ground as her transformation slipped. Stiles released a breath she didn't even know she was holding in a shuttering gasp, her hand coming up to rest on her abdomen that was slowly seeping blood into her shirt.
In the back of her mind Stiles noticed that her her wound was in the same place that Cora had buried her claws into the shadow demon, she shook the thoughts away for pestering later when Derek swooped her up into his arms pressing her against his solid, muscular chest that rumbled with a deep, content growl.
"You're okay, right?" He eventually muttered, glancing down at her, hands coming up to rest on her cheeks. Stiles nodded hesitantly, her eyes flickering from Derek to Cora and from her to Boyd, a small shiver running down her spine as they shifted and groaned in their restless state.
"You should get them home Derek." Stiles was only mildly surprised at the pitchiness of her own voice. "They're going to wake up terrified that they killed someone tonight and you need to be there to calm them down, tell them it's going to be okay."
Derek nodded wanting to say more, to hold her a little longer but he couldn't and he shouldn't if he wanted to keep her safe and alive. Instead Derek took a step away from the girl he cared about more than he should and scooped Cora up into his arms. Turning away he spoke over his shoulder once more to the Sheriff's daughter.
"Peter will get Boyd in a couple of minutes, you shouldn't stay down here though. Go home Stiles, try and stay out of this."
Stiles fought not to smile at his back, "You can't tell me what to do, Sourwolf." Stiles tried not to smile at his back as Derek made a huffing almost choking sound that she was certain was a failed attempt at not laughing.
When Stiles got home her jeep was waiting for her in the driveway along with an unamused sheriff but both Stilinski's had had a long night and neither were eager to enter into a screaming match with one another. That is, of course, until one Jennifer Blake came teetering out of the house, still damp hair lying limply over her shoulder, at first glance the look on her face was one of concern and wide-eyed worry but look closer, see the sweet english teacher the way Stiles could see her, and you saw the vindictive, triumphant smirk on the bitches face before the shadows around her melted away and the teacher smiled brightly.
"Is everything alright, Noah?" The Sheriff half looked over his shoulder but kept his focus on Stiles, watching for hostile behaviour towards his new relationship but there was nothing.
"Everything's fine, just my kid getting home late." The sheriff waved off, Jennifer smiled again before she headed back inside, "Now, Stiles -"
"I'm not staying here with that witch in my mother's house." She cut him off, her eyes narrowing, the sheriff mirrored the expression unknowingly.
"This isn't your mother's house, Stiles. It's my wife's!" The sheriff shouted, his usually cool temper escaping him as he lashed out at his only child. "Now get inside the house and go to your room!"
Stiles took a step back for the Sheriff as if she'd been slapped, in her pocket her hand clasped around cool metal keys. She cleared her throat roughly before yanking the keys to jeep out of her pocket and tossing them through the air, the Sheriff's hand snatching them out the air without a thought. Stiles had already turned on her booted heel and took off running towards the preserve, she vanished from sight long before the sheriff looked up from the keys in his hand with his brows creased together. He shook off the weird feeling of a cold hand wrapping itself around his throat as he re-entered the house, the gorgeous teacher waiting for him on the couch.
"Is everything alright? I heard yelling." Jennifer asked in a quiet, simpering voice. Noah melted slightly at the sound as Jennifer's magick and will washed over him, making whatever she wanted what he wanted and Jennifer wanted Stiles out of her way.
##
So this is finally being continued, sorry for the long absence. Hope this chapter was worth it.