CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE:
HUMAN SACRIFICES

     "MOM." ELAINE SPOKE AS SHE and Stiles entered the hospital.

     "Hey." Melissa spoke to the two. She then nodded her head for them to follow her. "Over here. And if you two tell anyone that I showed you this, I swear to God I will kill you painfully and slowly."

     "Threatening your own daughter that's already died once, wow mom, didn't think you had it in you." Elaine joked, making Melissa scoff.

     "Why do you want to show us a body we've already seen?" Stiles questioned.

     "Because you haven't seen everything yet." Melissa answered before bringing the two into the morgue where the body was, showing it to them, and pointing to its neck. "See this, around his neck? That's a ligature mark. That means he was strangled with something, like cord, rope. . ."

     "Ah, okay, wait a second. What kind of Werewolf strangles someone? You know, that's not very Werewolf-y." Stiles spoke, him and Elaine exchanging looks with one another.

     "My thoughts exactly. And then, there's this." Melissa stood so that she was standing at the head, carefully tilting it to the side to reveal the hole in his head.

     Stiles groaned in disgust. "God. . .Man, what is that? Is that brain matter?"

     "Yes, dumbass, it's brain matter." Elaine gave him a blank look.

     "See the indentation? He was hit in the back of the head, hard enough to kill him. In fact, any one of these things could have killed him. I mean, someone seriously wanted this poor kid dead." Melissa looked between them.

     "All right, so then this couldn't have been Boyd or Cora, you know?" Stiles suggested, looking at Elaine. "They wouldn't have done all that. So, maybe this is just one murder? I mean, maybe it's just a random coincidence."

     "I don't think it was just one." Melissa told them.

     "How come?" Elaine frowned.

     "Because that girl over there? She's got the exact same injuries." Melissa walked over to the body, removing the cloth from the girl's face only to reveal Heather. Elaine was quick to grab Stiles' hand, squeezing it gently. "The ME said this one wasn't just strangled―︎whoever did it used a garrote, which is a stick that you put through the rope, and you just kind of keep twisting, and. . . Stiles? Elaine?" Melissa paused. "Oh, my God. Did you know her?" Stiles nodded his head. "I am so sorry, I didn't even think." Melissa quickly covered it back up.

     "I was. . . I was at her party. It was her birthday. Her name is Heather." Stiles answered, wiping the tears away.

     "Okay. . . We need to call your father, 'cause you're a witness. . . Stiles?" Elaine glanced towards the boy, who was staring, as if a realization was dawning over him.

     "Has anyone else been through here tonight? Any-any other bodies, or even anybody missing?" Stiles quickly asked.

     "Uh, no. No bodies, but, um. . ."

     "What?" Stiles asked.

     "Two girls. They brought the first one in, Caitlin, for a tox screen. . . and then I overheard that her girlfriend, Emily, just disappeared. I mean, they were out in the woods, and―︎"

     "Nobody's found her yet?" Stiles frowned.

     "I don't know."

     "Okay the first one―︎"

     "Caitlyn?"

     "Okay, is she here? Is she here right now?"

     "I think so." Melissa furrowed her eyebrows.

     "Okay, where?"

     "Stiles, what's going on in that head of yours?" Elaine asked the boy.

     "I have to talk to her."

     "Why?" Melissa questioned.

     "Because I think I know what's happening."

Elaine and Stiles carefully entered Caitlyn's room, offering the girl a small smile before Elaine decided to ask her questions, not wanting Stiles to scare the poor girl. She sat there in the hospital bed, looking between the two. Stiles stood at the end of the bed whilst Elaine sat on it, a gentle and reassuring smile on her face. Melissa kept in the doorway, watching the two teenagers.

     "We weren't doing anything that bad. . . I mean, I've camped out there plenty of times." Caitlyn told the duo.

      "Right, by why tonight?" Stiles asked, making Elaine shoot him a warning glance.

     "We wanted to be alone for one night. Emily lives with her mom, and I have three roommates. Not exactly romantic settings, you know?"

     "Caitlyn, how long have you two been together?" Elaine questioned her.

     "Three months." The girl answered.

     "And you wanted to make it romantic." Elaine said, making the girl nod.

     "Yeah, you know, because. . ."

     "Because it was her first time." Stiles finished.

     "They're gonna find her, right?" Caitlyn asked, glancing between the two. "Aren't they?"

     "They're doing everything they can, alright?" Elaine assured, grabbing the girl's hand and giving it a small squeeze.

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Scott arrived at the morgue, with Stiles being the one to show him Heather's body.  Elaine bit down on her lip, wishing that the girl was alive so that she could thank her for what she had said to Stiles.

     "So, Boyd and Cora might not have killed anyone?" Scott questioned, looking between the two.

     "You're gonna wish they did." Stiles spoke with a sigh.

     "Why?" Scott frowned.

     "We're not exactly sure yet." Elaine spoke up. "But Scott, that day in the classroom, I could feel something was off. There's magic related into this somehow. I can feel it."

     "The other girl who was out in the woods, Emily? Eventually, they're gonna find her. She's one of them. Emily, Heather, that guy Lydia found at the pool? All three were virgins. And they're all gonna have the same three injuries―︎strangled, throat-slashed, head bashed in. It's called the three-fold death." Stiles informed him.

     "So, if these aren't random killings, then what are they?" Scott asked, glancing between the two.

     "They're sacrifices." Elaine told him.

     "Human sacrifices." Stiles finished, before glancing towards Scott.

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     "Since when did you take track?" Stiles asked, glancing towards his girlfriend with a raised eyebrow. The girl sighed, shrugging her shoulders.

     "I got bored."

     "You got bored, and signed up for track?" Stiles rose an eyebrow at her and she smiled, shrugging her shoulders.

     "Maybe I did it to be closer to you." He opened his mouth but before he could say anything, Coach had blown the whistle and she was off. She ignored the Alpha twins and Isaac as they seemed to be having a race, for she was too busty having her own with Stiles, and she was having way too much fun. But of course, that had to be ruined by another body being found tied to a tree by a dog's leash around the person's neck.

Elaine stood there in front of the body, noticing the exact same wounds that had been inflicted on Heather and the guy from the pool. Stiles stood by Elaine, grabbing her hand before Isaac and Scott were quick to join the two.

     "It's him, isn't it?" Stiles questioned them without tearing his eyes away from the body.

     "Hey, get out of the way! Get back!" After a few moment, their attention turned towards the sound of Noah Stilinski's voice. "Get this area cordoned off before they trample every piece of evidence." The deputy did as she was asked, quickly ushering the kids to back up away from the body. "Get these kids out of here!"

     "Dad, just come here. Look, look!" Stiles was quick to usher his father over to the body. "Look at it―︎it's the same as the others, you see?"

     Noah sighed. "Yeah, I see that. Do me a favor? Go back to school, yeah?" He then looked towards the Coach. "Coach, can you give us a hand, here?"

     "You heard the man! Nothing to see here! Probably just some homeless kid." Coach told the students.

     "Coach?" Scott spoke up, making the man turn to him.

     "Yeah?"

     "He was a senior."

     "Oh. . ." The man paused. "He wasn't on the team, was he?"

     "Kyle!" A scream could be heard, making them turn their attention towards the blonde that called out her boyfriend's name, tears streaming down her face as she struggled within the deputy's grip. The group of teenagers were quickly ushered away, and the four stood with one another, glancing towards the body before looking back towards each other.

     "You see the way the twins looked at him?" Isaac asked, glancing towards the Alpha's.

     "Yeah, you mean, like, they had no idea what happened?" Stiles deadpanned, raising an eyebrow at him as he interlocked his hand with Elaine's. The girl focused her attention on their hands, smiling as she swung them back and forth but listening in on the conversation.

     "No." Isaac shook his head. "No, they knew."

     "The kid was strangled with a garrote, all right? Am I the only one recognizing the lack of Werewolf-itude in these murders?" Stiles asked with an exasperated sigh.

     "Oh, you think it's a coincidence they turn up and then people start dying?" Isaac shot back at the boy.

     "Well, no, but I don't think it's them." Stiles continued to stand his ground. He and Isaac then looked towards Scott.

     "Scott? How 'bout you?" Isaac asked the boy as they both looked at him.

     Scott glanced between the two before shrugging. "I don't know yet."

     "You don't know yet?" Stiles asked, furrowing his eyebrows in disbelief.

     "Well, he's got a point." Scott spoke. "Seriously, dude? Human sacrifices?"

     "Scott, your eyes turn into yellow glow-sticks, okay? Hair literally grows from your cheeks and then will immediately disappear, and if I were to stab you right now, it would just magically heal, but you're telling me that you're having trouble grasping human sacrifices? Elaine, back me up here?"

     Scott looked towards Isaac, nodding his head. "That's a good point too."

     "Elaine." Isaac tried, making the girl look up, humming in response. The three males looked at her and she shrugged her shoulders.

     "I'm with Stiles." Stiles smiled at this, directly looking towards Scott who trusted his sister's input more than he did his own.

     "I don't care." Isaac finally said. "They killed that kid. They killed the girl that saved me. I'm gonna kill them, too." With that Isaac walked away. And he did what he promised, or rather he had attempted so during Mr. Harris' class. He walked outside only to see the twins beating each other until Ethan was slung to the ground in front of Isaac, and the students and Mr. Harris came out of the class, listening to Ethan's words as he claimed Isaac had come at him, immediately resulting in the boy getting detention.

When lunchtime came around, Elaine sat outside, enjoying the sun as she answered the call that was coming through. She furrowed her eyebrows when she saw it was Stiles, before remembering the boy had told her he was going to ask Kyle's girlfriend the same questions that they had asked Caitlyn.

     "Hello?"

     "He wasn't a virgin." Stiles told her. 

     "Uh-huh and?"

     "And she slapped me." Stiles mumbled.

     "I told you it should've been me." Elaine shrugged, taking a bite of her food. "Everyone knows me as Lydia's best friend. I do have a slither of respect all throughout."

     "Popularity doesn't get you respect." She could practically hear his eyes rolling.

     "No, but apologizing to anyone that crossed Lydia's path when she was angry and sincerely hoping that her words wouldn't get to them is definitely something that does." Elaine responded, standing up as she threw her food away, putting her bag on her shoulder. "I'll see you in when you get back."

     "I'm on my way now." He simply answered before she hung up the phone, biting back the amused smile that so desperately wanted to spread across her face.