◤ chapter six: ❛ three dead virgins ❜ ◢

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COOPER HAD BEEN TO LYDIA'S HOUSE PLENTY OF TIMES. Countless parties where he drowned himself in alcohol and attached himself to a pretty face, countless times picking up Jackson or dropping him off, countless times just hanging out there with Danny in tow as well. But, in all the times he had been, the house had never been so quiet.

         There was always some life to it. Jackson who filled up a room, Danny who always wanted to crack a joke, Lydia herself. Lydia who always took control of a room and made it her own, commanding people to look her way and listen to her. There was always life, but there was none tonight.

         Lydia wasn't herself, not that he could blame her. Her eyes were frantic and her hands shook as she unlocked the front door, fearfully walking in as if waiting to walk into another brutal crime scene. This wasn't the Lydia Martin he knew. Lydia was loud, but in this moment, she was quiet. Her movements were small and cautious, crouching into herself instead of expanding herself shoulders and moving boldly.

         It wasn't because of the late hour and her parents sleeping, no, it was something deeper. It was trauma. Lydia found a dead body, was mystically just led there, and she was scared it would happen again. Cooper wanted to reach out to her, but that seemed to awkward for the both of them.

         Cooper wasn't the biggest touch person to begin with, and that wasn't their relationship. While he had known Lydia for so long, it through the extension of Jackson. That had been the bridge that brought them together, and while they had hung out together, it was never just the two of them. It was them and Jackson, or them and Danny. Someone else was always in the middle, bringing them together but simultaneously separating them.

         He couldn't bring Lydia the comfort she needed, and honestly he didn't know who could, or if that was even possible. Cooper didn't know who would be able to make him feel safe if he stumbled upon a dead body by himself. Though he saw the same body she had, it had been with Stiles and her, and he hadn't discovered it. For him, it was different.

         It was better, for him, and a million times worse for her.

         He let himself follow Stiles who was practically acting like a dog at the tail of Lydia, dragging his feet across the floor as they got to her room. "You didn't have to follow me home," Lydia told them sternly, masking her fear the best she could.

         "I just wanted to make sure you got in okay," Stiles defended himself, and Cooper rolled his eyes a little. Stiles barely knew her, they weren't close to being friends at all, and if anything it should've been Cooper who was hounding to escort her home.

         Lydia blinked at him. "I had a police escort."

         The other boy stumbled over himself for a second before getting out, "I know the inner workings of that force, alright? They're not nearly as reliable as people think!"

         Cooper snorted, shaking his head a little while taking in the girl's room. The walls were a light pink, which made sense because it was her favorite color, and there were a lot of pens on her desk. Like, a lot of pens – too many, if you asked him. She had a miniature Eiffel tower and some textbooks as well.

         "Well, you also didn't have to follow me into my room..." Lydia added.

         "Well, I, uh..." Stiles tried to think of an excuse before eventually sighing, "Yeah, I don't have an answer for that. We can leave!"

         "Yeah, so let's do that right now," Cooper tugged at Stiles' arm, "She's safe and she's home and we need to go."

         He gritted his teeth, getting out the last few words, pulling at Stiles who didn't even pay him any mind, still staring at Lydia. How rude.

         Lydia raised an eyebrow at the Stilinski boy. "Are you really gonna go without asking me the question that you've been dying to ask me?"

         "Well, I'm not...I haven't been dying to ask anything. I...No questions here for Stiles! Nothing!"

         "Dude, you are the worst liar I have ever met," Cooper deadpanned, blinking and shaking his head to distance himself from that mess.

         "I can see it on your face," Lydia added with Cooper' statement, crossing her arms.

         "Maybe my face just has, like, a naturally interrogatory expression...?" Stiles continued to lie.

         Unable to stop himself, Cooper scoffed. "Just ask her the stupid question so we can go!"

         Stiles opened his mouth to do just that but it didn't work, only creating some jumble of noises as he tried to start his question, which didn't go anywhere. Eventually, Lydia got tired of him trying and sighed, explaining without the actual prompting, "The answer is...I have no clue how I ended up finding that body. I didn't even know where I was until I got out of the car."

         "Yeah," Stiles frowned, as if that was the last thing he wanted to hear, "But the last time something like this happened..."

         "I know – Derek's uncle," Lydia cut him off.

         "Peter," he said the name in contempt.

         Cooper furrowed his eyebrows, looking between the two before finally asking, "Okay is anyone going to tell me about what happened with Peter exactly or am I just supposed to ask Peter myself and hope he's honest? Which, well, I don't think he will be, knowing him."

         Stiles pulled at his mouth before turning to Cooper. "Well, you know, Peter died...then he came back to life."

         He slowly nodded, "...Yes, that's been explained to me before, so...?"

         "Lydia somehow revived him. Whatever led her to the pool tonight, probably led her to Peter where she, you know, gave him his life back," Stiles finished off, and that left Cooper with more questions than answers in the end.

         Really, there was so much he wanted to ask, but Stiles shot him a look asking him to save the questions for the car, and he sighed but complied. Then, he turned to his gaze to Lydia, who was looking down and drawing in her shoulders to make herself look as small as possible. Shame. She felt shame for Peter and shame for tonight.

         He cleared his throat, pushing past Stiles and placing his hand on Lydia (which felt way too uncomfortable) before trying to channel any Siren energy he learned into his next words.

         "It's alright. Tonight was awful but tomorrow will be better, and we'll find out why you were led to the pool. Get some rest, and you'll feel better," his voice was softer than usual, eyes trained into Lydia's, pouring everything he had in his song to lure her to peace.

         It was a gamble, and a really big one at that, but it was all he had. He couldn't protect Beacon Hills with his claws like Scott or Derek, he didn't have the brains to figure out the hard shit like Stiles, but he did have his words. He had his words and his influence and right now, Lydia needed that. She needed peace, she needed to sleep, and she needed to feel better.

         The day just needed to end quicker.

         And, thankfully, Lydia nodded her head, sniffling a bit but nodding. "Yeah, I just need some rest," then she looked at Stiles, flickering her eyes between them, "You two should go."

         "Goodnight, Lydia," Cooper squeezed her shoulder, still feeling awkward about touching her, before letting go and pushing Stiles out the door less than gently as Stiles said his goodbyes as well.

         They moved quietly throughout the Martin household, gently closing the front door as they got outside before going back to the car. Cooper eyed the blue jeep disdainfully knowing full well that the handle on the passenger side had duct tape keeping it together – along with everything else that was falling apart – but nonetheless hopped in.

         "So, Lydia," Cooper said as they got in, turning to Stiles as he was cutting on the car, "Supernatural?"

         Stiles sighed, "It's seems like it."

         "And does she know? Like, fully know?"

         "Yep. We told her around the same time we told you," Stiles confirmed.

         "But she doesn't know what she is," Cooper continued, this time more of a statement rather than an actual question.

         "Well, unlike you, she can't just access her powers and then magically have a mentor appear knowing someone else sang a song," Stiles sent a look at him.

         Cooper glared back at him. He knew he had it easy, getting incredibly lucky with Julia. She explained that when he accessed his powers for the first time, letting out his siren's song on accident, that she heard it – felt it in her bones because all sirens were connected with each other. Then, when she saw him for the first time, she knew. And he did too.

         There was a tug in his heart towards her, drawing him to her, knowing instinctively that they held a bond and that she understood him. And she welcomed him with open arms, training him where she had been so untrained in her youth, unable to find a teacher.

         "But she doesn't know what she is," Cooper confirmed, watching as Stiles clenched his jaw then relented, shaking his head in confirmation, "Shit. Okay. Any ideas then?"

         "Not a clue," Stiles said in a disappointed tone, and it was the first time Cooper had seen him where he absolutely had no idea about something. It was interesting; Stiles had a brain, Cooper would give him that, but he didn't know, possibility didn't even know where to start.

         He didn't push any further, only nodding and accepting that, because it wasn't like he had any better guesses for Stiles either. He was a bit new to everything supernatural to begin with, and possibly learning about anything new made his head start spinning already. That would be a problem for another day, when there weren't at least two rabid werewolves out looking for blood and a dead body already found in a pool.

         They continued to ride in silence before arriving at the hospital since Scott's mom asked for Stiles to come as she had information for them. Seeing as Cooper was already in the car, he was practically volunteered to go along when the only thing he wanted was to go to bed and pretend this was the strange nightmare and sleeping would mean actually waking up.

         But he didn't fight being brought along, following behind Stiles as they entered the hospital, meeting Melissa McCall who didn't exactly look thrilled to see them even though she was the one who told them to come.

         "I didn't know you were bringing anyone else," Melissa stated to Stiles though her eyes were trained on Cooper, who gave her a wave.

         "Well, he was already in the car and it'd take too long to drop him off and leaving him at Lydia's house wasn't an option, so..." Stiles rambled on until Melissa sighed and motioned for him to stop.

         "Stiles, it's fine. Over here," she led them to another area where the body found in the pool was on an autopsy table, "And, if you tell anyone that I showed you this, I swear to God I will kill you two painfully and slowly."

         Cooper swallowed looking at the body. It didn't have an odor yet, but his brain filled him in on what it could possibly smell like in a few days. He really hated dead bodies. "You should've just brought me home," he muttered.

         Stiles didn't seem interested in his opinions on the matter, glancing at the body before back at Melissa, "Why do you want to show me a body I've already seen?"

         "Because you haven't seen everything yet," she told him before bringing the two closer, much to Cooper's dismay, "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 furrowed his eyebrows.

         "Unless they don't wanna make it look obvious that it's a werewolf," Cooper shrugged, "Might be trying to mask it."

         "I don't think a wolf on a full moon would use their brain enough for that. And even in that case, there's this –" Melissa continued after shaking off his suggestion.

         "God...man, what is that? Is that brain matter?" Stiles began to gag, along his Cooper who was also coughing while having to look away to keep his stomach stable, "Yeah, it's brain matter...of course."

         Melissa, who was the only one not bothered by this, pointed to another spot, "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!"

         "So definitely not a werewolf," Cooper concluded, "But a human."

         "So, maybe this is just one murder? I mean, maybe it's just a random coincidence," Stiles brushed it off, though not easily as he was still incredibly effected by the brain matter and dead body in the room. Cooper wasn't fairing much better.

         Melissa grimaced, a grim look coating her features. "I don't think it was just one..."

         "How come?"

         "Because that girl over there? She's got the exact same injuries," Melissa pointed to another body, bringing them to another victim, "The M.E. 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?"

         Cooper looked between the body, something oddly familiar about her, then glanced at Stiles when Melissa called his name. Looking back at the teenage girl on the table, it became a little clearer; this was the girl. The childhood best friend.

         "Shit," he whispered before turning to Stiles, "It's that girl, right? The birthday girl?"

         Stiles nodded in confirmation. "I was...I was at her party. It was her birthday. Her name is Heather."

         Melissa's face pooled with guilt after learning that Stiles knew her and she was describing the girl's murder. "Okay...we need to call your father, 'cause you're a witness...Stiles?"

         He seemed to dissociate for a second so Cooper began to call his name as well, waving his hand in front of Stiles' eyes to see if that would have any effect. It didn't. Stiles only snapped out of it when he chose before turning straight to Melissa. "Has anyone else been through here tonight? Any-any other bodies, or even anybody missing?"

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

         "What?" Stiles demanded, becoming impatient.

         "Calm down, dude," Cooper said in a flash of anger, "Demanding shit doesn't suit you."

         Melissa sent Cooper a look, almost of appreciation, before answering Stiles. "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 interrupted.

         "I don't know..."

         "Okay, the first one, is she here? Is she here right now?" Stiles asked frantically, itching to go somewhere.

         "I think so..." Melissa said in a voice of confusion.

         "Okay, where?" Stiles moved right on to the next question he could think to fire.

         "Okay, okay, wait – just wait a minute –"

         "Why? Calm down, Stiles, you can take a breath for a second," Cooper looked at him, but Stiles didn't seem to be swayed at all.

         "Because I think I know what's happening," and that seemed enough for Melissa to tell him where she thought the girl, Caitlin, would be for Stiles to interview.

         Watching him race to Caitlin, Cooper shook his head. "I don't understand him," he muttered, mostly to himself but Melissa heard anyway.

         She sighed, then, "I don't either."

         Still, Cooper slowly moved to go after Stiles, knowing that he couldn't just leave the boy to his own accord. They were unwilling partners for the night, and partners don't just leave each other no matter how much he would like to, but he also didn't join Stiles' conversation with the girl. No, he simply watched and let Stiles persuade the girl to give up details which seemed to satisfy him until he came over to Cooper, cogs turning inside his head.

         "I think I know what's happening here," he said, though made no attempt to continue.

         Knowing that he needed prompting, and although he didn't want to give Stiles the satisfaction of giving in and asking to find out, he knew it would be worse to be ignorant so he pushed his pride away. "Okay, then what's happening? I'm hoping just a onetime mass murder and you know the killer but I don't think I'm gonna get what I wish for."

         And, of course, he didn't. because this was Beacon Hills and there weren't just random but normal occurrences. Anything out of the ordinary had to be supernatural and certifiably really bad and not good at all. So it wasn't just a one off thing, because why would it be? And it wasn't just a senseless mass murdering human who would be easy to catch. No, of course not.

         "No, it's worse than that," Stiles grimly stated, "Look, Heather was a virgin, so was Emily – the girl in the woods – and a bet the guy in the pool is, too. And they all have the same three injuries – strangled, throat-slashed, and head bashed in. It's called the three-fold death. They were sacrifices."

         Cooper blinked. "I know I should be focused on the sacrifice part but honestly I'm just surprised as to why you know what a three-fold death is. I've never heard of that in my life and I'm sure that every other teenager at school hasn't either, except you."

         Stiles got a little upset, tilting his head and giving Cooper an unimpressed look. "There is a human sacrifice going on and it's probably not going to end, but you're caught up on me knowing about a ritualistic type of killing?"

         "Look, I said I know it's not appropriate, but that's what my mind went to as a form of protection against hearing that there are literal human sacrifices happening right before me!" Cooper exclaimed, though lowly because they were still in the hospital, "I'm sorry if I can't help my immediate reaction!"

         "It's really not the time!"

         "I know!"

         Stiles continued to stare at him as he cooled down, decompressing and letting out a huge breath. He placed his hands on his hips, letting his brain process everything before looking back at Stiles. "So, human sacrifices?"

         "Yep."

         "Three people."

         "Yep."

         "Could be repeated."

         "Most likely."

         "Well, fuck me," Cooper groaned. This was not how he pictured the new school year going for him. In an ideal world, Jackson would still be there and they wouldn't be anything supernatural – that wouldn't even exist – and maybe he'd have something a little bit more permanent with Danny. In a more realistic ideal world, he would get to live a normal life while training with Julia almost every afternoon to build himself into a good siren – nothing else supernatural coming to kill him.

         But this wasn't either of those idealistic worlds. No, this was just reality, and reality was a bitch.