My poor baby, Riley

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I slipped in and out of consciousness as I rolled onto my knees, breaths rattling out of my body. I began to crawl over to my bag, shattered pieces of glass cutting my arms as I did so.

Groaning in pain I reached out and pulled my bag towards me, dragging it across the dark floorboards. Opening it I reached in and took out my phone, black spots dancing in front of me, my head foggy.

Managing to unlock my phone, I went straight into my contacts and phoned Stiles.
"Pick up," I mumbled as I pushed myself back so that I could use the wall to stay upright.

The call rang out and Stiles didn't answer. I went to Scott next, and then Allison and then Isaac but none of them answered either.
"Where is everyone?" I muttered, any movement causing pain.

Going to Lydia's name next, I called her, praying she would answer. I readjusted the way I was seated, trying to get more comfortable but it didn't work. When it had been ringing for a while I was about to give up, when finally it stopped.

"Hey, sorry I didn't pick up right away, my phone was on silent," Lydia answered.

"Lydia," I gasped, thankful to hear someone's voice coming out of my phone. "Lydia, I need your help."

Lydia hummed to herself, "I'm at the hospital, but I can be there in maybe an hour."

My breath shook as I breathed in, "Lydia, you don't understand. I'm currently bleeding all over my floor and I need someone to help me before Charlotte gets home and no one is picking up."

Lydia stuttered for a moment, "Wait, what? Riley, why are you bleeding?"

"I need you, Lydia. Please."

"Okay, I'll be there as soon as I can."

When Lydia hung up the phone I allowed my arm to fall, my hand hitting the ground and my phone tumbling onto the floor. I tried to move, but all I could feel was the glass shifting in my back.

Resting my head against the wall, I tried to focus on healing. I felt the cool air dance over my skin, trying to lace it back together.

I kept at it for another twenty minutes until Lydia arrived at my house. "Hello?" She called. I tried to shout back to her, but I was just too tired from trying to heal myself.

Since Deucalion hadn't bothered to lock the door, Lydia walked right in. She kept calling my name until she reached the living room and saw me sitting against the wall.

"Oh, my god, Riley!"
Lydia crouched by my side putting her hands towards me trying to figure out where to start.
"What happened here?"

"Deucalion," I sighed as I let her help me stand. "I'm trying to heal. But I can't with all the glass."

"We need to get all of those shards out," she mumbled as she walked me to my bathroom and helped to sit me in the bath, "So you know what you are then?"

I nodded lightly, "Yeah. A sylph. Something to do with air."

Grabbing a pair of scissors, Lydia cut away my top so that she could see the damage. "I've read about those before," she nodded. "I know what I am too. A banshee."

"How'd you find that out?"

"Miss Blake told me," she replied simply. "Turns out she's the Darach."

I turned to face her, "Did you guys find something? Like, actual proof?"

Lydia pulled the scarf from around her neck to reveal deep purple bruising on her pale skin. She avoided my eyes, fiddling with the scarf in her hands.
"She kidnapped me, took me to a classroom and tried to strangle me with a garrote. I screamed, and she stopped; called me a wailing woman. A banshee."

"Lydia, I'm so sorry," I mumbled. "I don't know what to say."

She got me to turn around before getting a pair of tweezers from my bathroom drawer and beginning to pluck the glass from my back. "You don't have to say anything. It's been a rough night for everyone."

I heard each piece of glass as Lydia pulled it out, plinking against the tub after she dropped it.

My hand gripped the edge of the bath to keep from reaching back and making Lydia stop.
"Do you know where Stiles and Scott are?" I asked, trying to distract myself.

Lydia stopped for a moment, sighing, "You missed a few things tonight."
As she continued on the glass, she began to recount what had happened so far.

After the little showdown in the bathroom when Stiles had taken Cora home, they had stopped off to try and prove to the sheriff that werewolves and the rest were real. Cora had passed out and been rushed to the hospital.

This was just before Stiles had texted me and asked if I would be going to the recital. I had never regretted saying no so much.

Then, at the recital, Miss Blake had taken Lydia captive -which she had already told me - and tried to kill her. That was when I heard her scream. The recital had ended with one of our music teachers having her throat slit by a piano string, strangely enough.

She had been the final scholar sacrifice. I knew it was selfish to think, but I was so glad that it hadn't been Lydia. I couldn't bear to lose anyone else.

Scott, Stiles and the sheriff had come to save Lydia and that was when they had found out that Miss Blake was the Darach. Meaning the sheriff now believed in the supernatural.

My eyes widened as I realised that that meant Derek had slept with another serial killer. He needed to seek help, because honestly, two was just two too many.

"Okay," I said slowly. "That's a lot to happen in the space of a couple of hours. But that didn't really answer my question, Lydia. Where are Stiles and Scott."

"Looking for Stiles' dad," Lydia answered as she pulled out a rather large shard of glass, causing me to cry out in pain.

"Son of a bitch," I groaned as I smacked the tub, biting the inside of my cheek.

Lydia turned on the bath and ran the tweezers under the water, "All done."

I could feel my skin beginning to weave itself back together as I watched the water swirl down the drain, taking my blood and the glass with it.

"You need to go and find them before they do something they'll regret."

"It's probably too late for that," I almost laughed. "But even if I wanted to, I need to clean up here before Charlotte gets home."

Lydia thought for a moment before nodding, "Well, let's get started. The sooner it's done, the sooner you can go. I'd come with you, but my mother didn't want me to leave and wants me back."

After she helped me climb out of the bath, I hugged her quickly. "Thank you, Lydia. I know you've had a bit going on tonight."

She smiled, shaking her head, "Don't stress."

As I went to go and get a new shirt on, Lydia went and began to clean up the mess Kali had left. I turned to look over my shoulder in the mirror, scanning my back.

Almost all of the puncture wounds were gone, except for the bigger ones. But even those were just about closed up.

Grabbing a cloth, I wet it and wiped off as much blood as I could, and then pulled my shirt over my head.

This was Deucalion letting me live. This was him warning me of what would happen if I turned him down again.

I clenched my teeth as I walked out of the room. I needed to end this.

Lydia and I worked fast disposing of all the glass and mopping up the pool of blood. It took a bit longer than expected, but we were soon going our separate ways; Lydia home to her mum and me to wherever Scott and Stiles were.

Unfortunately, Lydia didn't know for certain, all she could tell me was that last she heard Allison had been at Beacon Hills Memorial with them. She was unsure whether they'd still be there, though.

I didn't care, it was enough to go off of for now. Getting in my car I drove straight to the hospital. The building was dark except for a light blue glow. The main lights all seemed to be out. My heart was in my throat, worry tugging at me. What had happened here?

Parking in the car lot quickly, I ran to the front entrance.
"Hold on, miss, you can't come in here," a paramedic told me, trying to hold me back.

Pulling my arm away from them, I stopped. "Please! My boyfriend was supposed to be here, and I'm worried about him," I pleaded with him.

As he was thinking it over I looked around. There was paper on the ground, lights flickering, and equipment abandoned. They had mentioned the weather conditions on the radio; they must've worsened while I was unconscious.

I then spotted Stiles sitting over on some chairs against the wall. A relieved smile made its way to my face as I pointed him out to the paramedic. "That's him. Please, it's not like this is a crime scene or anything. Surely I can go and see if he's okay?"

The man's head cocked to the side before he eventually just nodded. "Okay, but don't go any further than the lobby."

"Thank you."
Sidestepping him I ran straight over to Stiles, who must've heard me because he turned and stood up. Throwing my arms over his shoulders and embracing him, I buried my face in the crook of his neck. "You weren't answering, I was so worried."

"I could say the same," he sighed, wrapping his arms around my waist. "It's been hours, where have you been?"

As we pulled away he guided me down to the chairs he had been sitting in. No more secrets. That was the deal. And I was completely prepared to keep my word.

That was until I turned to the door and saw who had just arrived.
"Storytime might have to wait until later," I mumbled.

Stiles followed my line of sight, to see a tall man talking to the paramedics. A man we both easily recognised. Rafael McCall; FBI agent; Scott's father.
"Oh, just perfect."

My hand found his as I tried to help him remain calm. No one really had many fond memories of Scott's father, but Stiles' dad especially. There was definitely bad blood there.

Agent McCall walked over to us, looking especially tall considering we were seated. "A Stilinski at the centre of this whole mess. What a shocker."

I felt Stiles tense beside me, but he didn't say anything.

"And where there's Stiles, there's Riley," he added, glancing at me for a moment before focusing back on Stiles. "Think you can answer some questions without the usual level of sarcasm?"

"If you ask the questions without the usual level of stupid," Stiles answered bluntly. I snickered quietly beside him, trying not to make it too noticeable.

Agent McCall didn't look overly impressed, ignoring his comment.
"Where's your dad, and why's no one been able to contact him?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen him in hours."

I squeezed his hand lightly to let him know that I knew. Well, hopefully, he figured. We needed to get out of here so we could start looking for him.

"Is he drinking again?" Agent McCall asked.

Stiles' head fell as he let out an exasperated breath, "What do you mean, 'again'? He never had to stop."

"But he did have to slow down. Is he drinking like he used to?"

At this point, Stiles had had it, "All right, how about this? Next time I see him, I'll give him a field sobriety test, okay? We'll do the alphabet, start with 'F', end with 'U'."

I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing, knowing the man would be less than amused.

He smiled condescendingly down at us, "How about you just tell me what the hell happened here?"

Stiles sighed, giving up on the witty comebacks, "I don't know what happened here. I was stuck in the elevators the whole time."

"And what about you?" He asked, turning to me.

I cleared my throat as I shook my head, "I only just got here."

"So neither of you put the name on the doors, did you?"

This caught Stiles's attention, "What name?"

"Argent."

♡♢♤♧

I decided to leave my car at the hospital so that Stiles could tell me what the hell had happened when I wasn't there.

After his dad had been taken by the Darach at the recital he and Scott went and spoke to Derek. They then all confronted her together, which lead to them going to the hospital to get Miss Blake to help Cora.

Apparently she had been the reason why the Beta wasn't getting any better.
But while they were there, the Alpha pack came for Miss Blake, which lead to a little showdown between the two packs.

When it had all ended Miss Blake had escaped, and Melissa had gone missing, which lead to Scott going with Deucalion after he said he could help him stop the Darach. Stiles said that he tried to stop him, but Scott left anyway.

After Stiles finished, I began to tell him about the rest of my day. From everything I had learned about sylphs to Deucalion and Kali showing up at my door and then to calling Lydia.

Stiles seemed almost hurt that I hadn't called him until I reminded him that I had and he was a bit too busy at the time.

"Okay, well I'm not leaving you alone until Deucalion's gone for good. I'm not having something happen to you just after I got you back," Stiles said as he drove.

I smiled lightly as I shook my head, "Whilst I appreciate the sentiment, I don't need you protecting me, Stiles."

"Firstly, you don't get a say in the matter," he told me. "And secondly, did you really just say 'whilst'?"

"Shut up," I laughed.

Not too much later we finally arrived at the Argent's building. When we pulled up I saw Allison was waiting for us in the lobby.
We followed her up to their apartment where her dad had been expecting our arrival.

We got straight to talking about the last part of the sacrificial pattern, which was Guardians. The Darach had already taken Sheriff Stilinski and Melissa McCall, and Allison had a feeling that her father would be next.

"The word is Guardian, Allison," Mr Argent reminded his daughter. "More than anyone, you know that's a role I haven't exactly lived up to lately."

Allison wasn't ready to let it go just yet, "But she took Scott's mother and Stiles' father. That's not a coincidence."

"I have to agree with Allison on this one," I chipped in. "She doesn't seem to ever do things just for the sake of it. Everything has meaning."

"Yeah, I'd also consider that fact that someone put your name up in large block letters on the elevator doors, that kind of felt like a warning to me," Stiles added.

"That too."

Mr Argent walked around to the other side of his desk to evaluate his map, listening to us all talk still.

"I think it might be Morrell. She knows a lot more than she lets on, and she might even be trying to help us," Allison ventured.

Stiles looked annoyed next to me, his eyes red as he tried not to think too much about his father. "Well, she needs to get on that a lot faster, okay? Seeing as how the lunar eclipse is less than two freaking nights away."

Mr Argent, noticing the look on Stiles' face, stopped to talk to the boy. "Stiles, don't give up hope."

The boy beside me should his head solemnly, "They could already be dead."

I wrapped an arm around him, resting my head on his shoulder. There was nothing I could say that could improve the situation as it was, so I just made sure to remind him I was still there.

"I don't think so," Mr Argent told him. "There's something about Jennifer's tactics. It's like she's still positioning, still moving pieces into place."

"And you're one of them," Allison reminded her father. Scott's father had informed Stiles of a name tagged on the elevator doors after the fight with the Alpha.

The name had been Argent. The only logical guess was that Mr Argent was to be the third guardian to be sacrificed by the Darach.

Mr Argent nodded, "Then let's not wait around to see the next move." He grabbed out a map and laid it flat on his desk. "Everything she's done has been on a telluric current, so Melissa and the Sheriff have to be somewhere on one of those currents, right?"

We all stood up to look at the map, but Stiles was still unfocused, which Mr Argent had again noticed.
"Stiles, if we're gonna find them, we need your help."

He shook his head as he looked up, "You seriously want to go after her? I mean, what if she just takes you like the others, huh? No offence, but what's the difference between you and them?"

Stiles stepped back, taking a seat on the couch once more. I turned and went to sit beside him, holding his hand. I could feel him shaking.

Mr Argent picked up one of his handguns, loading it and holding it up, "I'm carrying a forty-five. Maybe she can heal from a shot to the leg and a few slashes to the face, but personally, I'd like to see how she holds up with half her skull blown off."
He put his gun down, leaning against his desk, "We've got one priority right now, and that is to find Melissa and your dad. We've got a map and every clue we need to figure this out. The only thing we don't have is time, which is why I need all of you."

I squeezed Stiles' hand as I looked at him, "Come on, you're the brains here. I know you can do this," I told him softly.

Stiles sighed, thinking it over, before lifting his head, "Where do we start?"

Smiling I stood up and pulled Stiles with me, walking over to the desk so that Mr Argent could run us over the facts.

"The place where the sacrifices have been committed have usually been different from where the bodies have been found," Mr Argent began as he pointed to the map. "I think the placement has to do with the strength of the current, so there's the school, the animal clinic, the bank."

His hand carried a black light over the map, lighting up each place he mentioned. It was crazy to think how many murders had taken place in our small town in the space of less than a year.

"Wait a sec," Stiles interrupted. "She wouldn't use the same place twice, would she?"

"Only if she didn't succeed the first time." His hand drifted over to the bank.

"Scott's boss," Allison filled in.

Mr Argent nodded, "It was her only failure. That could mean something."

Stiles stood up straight, "That's just one place so far. We're gonna need a lot more help."

"We're a little low on options," I pointed out.

"What about Lydia?" Allison suggested.

"Lydia? What can she do?" Mr Argent asked. No one had told him about her yet obviously.

Stiles thought for a second, before attempting to explain. "Uh, Lydia's got a sort of talent. She somehow ended up finding a couple of the bodies, um, without actually looking for them."

"What is she? Psychic?"

"She told me that Miss Blake called her a banshee, or something like that," I offered. Almost instantly, both Allison and Stiles looked at me with confused looks.
"What? We were talking earlier and she told me."

"Alright," Mr Argent deterred the conversation. "Let's get started."