♡ 𝙩𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 ♡
𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 eighty-six.

you'll just have to taste me too. 

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

DALLAS felt the heaviness of raindrops on her eyelashes. They almost forced them closed, pushing her into an abyss of watery darkness except for the tiny glimmer of the sunlight peeking through with each blink.

The smell of freshly cut grass and faint cologne stuffed up her senses with each gust of midsummer wind. She tried not to look down at the imprint of his sneakers in the mud and see the patterned soil. She would only end up replaying the steps which he took to leave.

So, Dallie found herself fiddling with a necklace that wasn't there. A gift given to someone who didn't even want to give her the time of day.

Oh, she was bitter. She competed with mulled wine and sweet tarts with the sourness he'd dumped on her.

Dallas was unsure of what she'd ever done wrong. If anything. Somehow, this time, she was confident she didn't do anything. The crimes she was accused of held no merit. Could he hear her plea? Would he even bother?

She'd done everything right.

She kissed his face when his angered skin scorched her lips. She'd cradled his hands when they were rough from clenched fists. She'd held his heart with the gentleness of a god, holding him like a relic, and he'd bit the hand that fed him. The hand that fed on everyone but him.

Would this be it? Loving everything that in every scenario, every universe, every past life and afterlife, could never truly love her back?

She'd think him cruel for giving her two years of paradise and snatching it away in three minutes. His space always included her, revolved around her like the sun, and now his solar system would be nothing but a cold void without it.

Dallas had to lean against the trellis and dig her fingers into the roots to keep herself upright. Her mother's absence was expected. Wanted, even. She just didn't expect to lose both parts of herself when trying to save all.

She closed her eyes. Her heartbeat was her main focus. It would be the only rickety thing in her life that was permanent. Thump, thump, thump.

No matter how often the thing would break, leap, or drop to her stomach, it was stuck with her. The least she could do was spare it a little more heartache.

The girl raised her head, specks of English ivy ruffling her hair. She'd spent eight years with an unrequited love. Surely she could survive a tragic one. Anything was pretty and swallowable coated in sugar and frosty ignorance.

A broken heart wasn't fatal. Hopefully.

⊱ ──────ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ────── ⊰

Stiles kept his post. Though his reason for war was shaky, he'd come too far to wave his white flag. If his love for her was fabricated, intensified by the very soul of her supernatural being, what part of it was real?

A girl he'd loved his entire life, from freshman year to senior, may only love him back because A higher power told her to. 

He loved her so much. So so much, it could only be something beyond the mere human ability. Loving her that much was either the work of two possibilities: Her mind or the universe.

And the universe was never kind enough to give him such luxuries for free.

Stiles felt the stiff ridges of his mattress thump against his back as he fell back on it. Or he would've, atleast if Scott's voice hadn't thrown him off-track and redirected his body to hit the carpet instead.

He let out a stiff grunt as his shadow appeared above him. "Did you tell her?"

Stiles snatched a pillow from the duvet and stuck it against his face with a hefty murmur. No, he did not tell her. He didn't have the heart. He wasn't sure he had any heart since she ripped it out and harpooned it under her stiletto heel.

"It didmfh comfh upf-" Stiles muttered into the pillowcase.

"Huh?"

Stiles attempted to lash the pillow at the wall. But the gods didn't want him to have much luck with anything these days, and the limp fabric feathered against the skirting board before laying against the carpet softly.

"It didn't come up." Stiles' voice sounded much raspier now. "It got lost somewhere between "I might have been manipulating you this whole time" and "Nothing is real."

Scott wanted to pick apart his words and question them all at once, yet, all he could muster was a look of utter confusion.

"Her aunt." The Stilinski shuddered the word. "Think's were sired. Like.. bonded. Supernaturally."

"So?"

So?

"So, Scott, my relationship with my girlfriend may be built upon lies and deceit."

Scott chewed the inside of his cheek. He understood both parties... Partially, anyway. He had little experience being a temperamental siren, but Stiles looked dishevelled, like he'd been played a fool, and the tides turned.

His loyalties to Dallas were completely different than those for Stiles. To one, he was like an annoying big brother. To the other, he was his brother.

He couldn't help but take Stiles' side.

Scott winced. "And what do you think?

"I don't know what to think, man. I don't even wanna think about it at all."

Stiles just needed time to think. Even if his brain became a jungled mess from every seed of doubt he buried, he'd work through it. He didn't wanna think about her at all.

He felt the mattress next to him sink, each spring groaning against the weight, and glanced sideways at Scott. "Atleast you're not gonna see her at Eichen tonight, though, right?"

Of course, he wouldn't. He threw a wrench into her well-oiled mechanical heart and now hid from the flying bolts. Stiles held atleast that much sense.

"Thank god."

⊱ ──────ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ────── ⊰

Marilyn gripped the steering wheel as she drove, eyes switching between the road and rearview mirror every six blinks. Her bottom lip took permanent refuge between her teeth as she bit down hard. History was repeating once more. She was driving out of town and leaving carnage at her heels.

Her brown eyes would only stray once. In the bottom left corner, her fuel icon blinked relentlessly. Surely she had filled the gas tank before she left. She almost considered turning around altogether before pulling over to the side of the road.

Marilyn got out, body slouching beneath her fur coat and guilt, and ran her hand along the side of the car until she reached the fuel tank.

An animalistic slash was taken out of the side. Oil spilt onto the floor and left a puddle of petrol lining the tyres. Her knees would've made it to the concrete and her hands would've rooted through the ripped metal, had she not felt the same claws dig into her stomach next.

"Hmpfh!" Marilyn winced as her spine pressed hard against the car door. She felt claws scratch against her ribs and another hand wrap around her neck.

"Where are you going, hm?"

She knew that voice. She knew the sound of spite well.

"James," Marilyn grunted, opening her eyes and meeting his furious gaze. "Not a way to treat a lady."

A deep laugh rumbled from his chest. "I don't see no lady."

It was that tone that had her whipped from day one. She gave him a stern glare and tried ripping her jaw from his hand. She was always the more dominant one, the stronger one, but now it seemed the playing field had levelled too much for her liking.

"Leaving again? So soon?" James pushed her back against the car door. "Is tearing my family apart more tiring the second time?"

"James-"

"No, you'll shut up and listen." His hand raised to point in her face. "You come into my house, berate my daughter, raise your hand to my boyfriend and then leave?" He laughed coldly. "Being the mother of my child may have given you a thin sheet of immunity, Marilyn, but you're poking holes here, honey."

Jim could've dug his nails deeper, to make her feel the pain she'd inflicted for the past eight years, but couldn't find the heart.

His always seemed to be a few sizes bigger than hers.

"You know, I loved you. I did. Did you know that? Did you even care? Or was I the five-year plan?" James, for the first time, got in her face. "You didn't leave the first time because of the Argents. You left because our five-year plan suddenly stopped revolving around you the moment we had a kid. That's when you bolted."

"James-"

"No, no, I see it now. I've been dying to say this to you for the past eight years and goddamn it, you're gonna let me have it. You made me mourn you. You made me miss you. You made me go into parenthood alone."

"And you know what? That's the best thing you ever did. Cause once I put all my energy into being a great dad, I stopped missing you."

Marilyn's face flushed. She felt like a scolded child, or worse, a wolf without its lamb coat to hide behind.

"So know you're not leaving on your own accord, I'm telling you to. I'm ordering you to. I hope this town spits you out like the venom you are."

She watched him place a cigarette up to his lips and step away. Her aura was only spoon-feeding him more frustration. With smoke staining his cold lips, he gently kicked the petrol-soaked tyre of her Mustang.

"Fix your damn car."

⊱ ──────ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ────── ⊰

Dallas' eyes followed Malia's silhouette through her vanity mirror. She was patting blush against her cheekbones, yet, she still saw how the girl tugged at her sleeves nervously.

"You can sit down, I don't usually bite girls, Mal." The Siren muttered, patting away the red tear stains on her cheek with powder. "Unless you ask very nicely."

Malia chuckled, standing behind her with a sway and flushed cheeks. "Don't tempt me."

She bit the inside of her lip. "Why'd you invite me over?"

Dallas found herself shrugging. "I don't wanna be alone tonight."

While her ears were tuned in, Mal's eyes watched the Siren shape her face with creams and contours. She watched how each tear stain patted away and how the glimmering gold of her earrings distracted the glossiness of her eyes. Dallas had a habit of making sadness look chic.

"I doubt seeing Stiles at Eichen tonight will cause that much turmoil."

Dallas paused mid-lipstick-swipe and stared at her through the reflection, her elbows propped up among sparkly makeup brushes and crumpled-up photo-booth strips. "They're going to Eichen?"

Her eyes suddenly snapped to her face and she stuttered slightly at the great change in tone. "Yeah, we all are."

The were-coyote watch her jaw clench tight enough to sharpen her cheekbones and hollow out her cheeks.

Dallas let out a bitter laugh. He was lecturing her about trust mid-lie. "That little fucker." She glared at herself in the mirror. "And let me guess, my name wasn't on the roster?"

Malia didn't have an answer for that, though, she could smell the betrayal all over Dallas like expensive perfume. She could smell the underlying tones of sadness, regret, and hurt between floral scents of amber and jasmine.

"What happened between you and Stiles?"

"He needs time. What does he need more time for? Everyone has the same amount. Don't be greedy."

Malia found herself sitting on the edge of her vanity. "Seriously?"

"Oh, I run the world, if you haven't guessed." Dallas spat quietly. "He needs space, I guess. At this point, he can have the whole planet. Whatever."

The were-coyote tapped her fingernails against her thighs and turned to her softly. "But you're coming to Eichen tonight, right?"

"Oh, for sure." Dallas straightened out her hair. "He can have space when I'm in the mood for it."

Malia split a wide smile. She couldn't help but take her side. By the end of it, they'd all be wearing matching scars from their insatiable civil war.

"Let's go."

⊱ ──────ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ────── ⊰

Stiles could practically taste his heartbeat as he approached Eichen. He could already see the outline of a few of his friends gathering around the gates. This had to go well. Not a thing could be out of place. Not a person-

Dallie?

Stiles could've stumbled right then and fell to her feet. Everything felt so raw, why would she want to clean the wound so early?

He could do nothing but put on a brave face as he approached the group. The thick gel in his hair and musky cologne helped him build a facade of confidence. "Everyone ready?"

Kira bounced anxiously on her heels. She was anything but ready. Her nerves had stacked higher than the levels of obvious tension around the group. "I am." She swallowed. "Kind of."

Malia gave her a sideways stare before settling her eyes on Dallas and Stiles. Then she met eyes with Scott, who seemed to have a knowing look that matched hers. She narrowed hers at him.

"Remember the plan, okay? No detours, no changes, just stick to your post." Stiles' assertive aroma always seemed quite irresistible to Dallas. She had to look away. "Got it?"

Dallas' brown eyes could've rolled out of her skull then and there.

Before she could interject, the outside speakers did.

"Please remember to follow visitor rules."

The gates slotted open beside them and two officers stood guard. Now was not the time for snarky comments.

Dallas took a step back, letting the group enter before her.

Stiles waited too, a icy blanket between them, until he tugged on her jacket gently. "What are you doing here?"

"Receiving my late invite." She crossed her arms defensively. "Or has all my Siren manipulation bullshit fried your brain?"

The Garcia had to remind herself to dull her sharp tongue. Her unbothered and aloof wall could've been broken so easily. Even if both parts of her wanted to slap him and kiss him equally.

"Im here for Lydia. I care about her too."

Stiles didn't doubt that for a second. No part of him wanted to continue their conversation from hours prior. He nodded. Firmly. His eyes would have trouble straying from hers if he allowed them to meet.

"Just.. stay with the girls." His voice was gentle.

Dallie's had trouble with that as she nodded to the gate. "Ladies first."

"I'll meet you inside." Stiles brushed his knuckles against her hand. What an ass, she thought. "Don't do anything stupid."

From the brief moment he was in her line of sight, he left it just as quickly. Dallas could only watch him from behind as he pulled back and departed to the parking lot with Scott.

He pissed her off. From his broad shoulders to his thick waist, to his perfectly veined hands and effortless dimples-

This was more difficult than she expected.

"Eichen House has a wide range of patients and we cannot guarantee the safety of those who deviate from the rules."

Malia met eyes with her reflection as she stepped onto the glimmering tiled flooring of the foyer, her hand in Dallie's. They were all ushered in with an urgency that made the back of her neck bead with sweat. If she weren't dragged along, she'd follow Stiles to bug him a little more.

"Alright, so what's the pla-aouw!" Dallas scowled as she was tugged harshly to the side, her back pushed against the corner of the wall as the three huddled out of sight.

Something told her that being dragged around the hospital like a misbehaving child would be her role now.

Parrish, however, dealt with his own slurry of misbehaving children. Especially the ones he called friends.

The car inched towards the guard's booth as Deputy Parrish exchanged an anxious glance with the passengers hidden in the backseats.

Peeking his head into the open window, the officer cleared his throat. "What's your business?"

"Delivery to the morgue." Parrish nodded to the backseat at the body bag.

The officer took a sceptical look at his clipboard. "I don't see you on the list."

"You heard about the animal attacks, right? The hospital ran out of refrigerated drawers and Eichen's got the only other up-to-code morgue in the county."

"Agh, let's have a look."

"I don't think you want to. The stench back there almost made me pass out while driving."

"Open the back of the van, please."

Parrish let out a hefty sigh as he did just that. The bodybags lined up next to each other in a trio while his flashlight darted over the material.

"I'll need to log the names off the toe tags."

"There's significant decomp. They were found in the county tunnels way past rigor mortise."

"Open them up, please."

Parrish swallowed thickly as he leaned over the trunk. His hands were slightly shaky as he pulled down the zipper and a few troubled breaths managed to slip out from behind his lips. The zipper got lower, his chest tighter, and a glimmer of skin peeked through the fabric.

Completely rotten.

The officer stepped back, clutching his nose tightly as stench stung his eyes. It clouded his eyes and forced him to hover a few inches behind Parrish. When the Deputy reached for another, he shook his head.

"No, no. You're fine, just go!"

Parrish internally simmered with relief and zipped the bag back up, slamming shut the van doors with an appreciative smile.

Meanwhile, Dallas held her lips in a twisted frown. While eyes from behind the patient registration desk tore from corner to corner of the room, her shoulders remained sightly hunched behind Malia's and her smaller frame felt suffocated by both girls.

Before she could even speak her complaints, Malia gave her a shush.

Dallie would've scowled if her eyes then hadn't travelled to the wandering patient wearing a goofy smile.. wearing only a goofy smile.

"Not again, Nelson!"

In a flash, a blurry flash of tan skin bolted past the trio. Then shortly after, a slew of workers with a whistle. Including the one behind the desk.

"Nelson!"

Kira barely had time to think before she tugged Malia and Dallie's hands, dragging them to the electrical room. 

"It's natural!" Nelson called out. 

"So is 50,000 volts!"

⊱ ──────ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ────── ⊰

The morgue had a putrid scent to it. Nausea settled in the stomachs of the living and worms in the stomachs of the dead.  A few tools scattered around the metal tables, some dried with scarlet liquid while others seemed doused in cleansing acid.

Scott felt like he was choking all three. His nails clawed at the bodybag and tore it open, jumping up in a panicked heave.

He turned to Liam, who jumped up right after. His hair was ruffled and his jaw was slack from the stench.

The third to jump up was Stiles. However, his escape was a lot less calm. His arms flailed around and his breaths were harsher, almost falling to the floor, while both boys watched with a wince.

"Oh my god!" He panted, swallowing thickly. "Never again."

Scott nodded and stared down at the timer on his phone. 

7:45:15.

"Fifteen minutes. Starting now."

They all shimmied out of their respective bodybags, except for Stiles, whose face met the floor. He sat up with tangled limbs and dirt speckles patterned across his cheek.

"Ugh, little help here?" 

⊱ ──────ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ────── ⊰

Kira wore a wide smile as she glanced around the electrical room. Eyes wide like daisies, she chirped out.

"We're in! We did it."

Malia gave her a deadpan look. "Don't get too excited. Getting out is the hard part."

7:48:36.

"Twelve minutes." she reminded Dallie, who stood by the door with a face like thunder. She watched Malia rip the electrical door from the wall and expose a jungle of wires, some she wanted to warn her not to touch, but she was reduced to silence as she stood aimlessly in the doorway.

"Okay, Kira. You can do this." 

Malia stepped back while the Kitsune stepped forward.

"Can she?" Dallas spoke without thinking. Her forte. She could see the whirlwinds spinning in Kira's mind and watched the splatters of doubt drench her shaky hands. 

She left her post at the doorframe and instead stood by Malia, whose look to her seemed both scolding and appreciative. "It's okay to be scared, Kira. Trust doesn't come without fear, right?"

"You do kick ass when you need to."  Malia reminded her, offering a toothy and sharp smile. "Thing of these wires as like.. asses that need kicking."

Dallas gave her a bewildered look. "What?"

"It's a metaphor." Malia shrugged innocently, bumping her shoulder with the Siren.

Kira rolled her eyes and ignored the two, her hands fumbling with folded-up paper and recited the writing with a mumble. 

"I think it's these." she reached out for three wires, all varying in colour. "But they're covered in rubber."

Dallas bit back a dirty joke and crossed her arms. Before she could respond, Malia reached for a pair of rusty scissors on the desk and aimed for the wires.

"You want to electrocute yourself?" Kira scolded, passing the scissors to Dallas who held them like a disapproving parent.

"I'll heal!"

"Not if you die, you psycho." Dallas shook her head, putting the scissors in her back pocket. "Behave."

Malia pressed her lips together and waited for a second. Then two. Then three. Then before the two girls could register, she slashed at the electrical box with her claws.

"Malia-!" Kira tried to pry her hands away but was only met with a giggle.

"See. Didn't die."

Dallas shook her head in dismay between the two. They were all doomed.

⊱ ──────ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ────── ⊰

Stiles led the two boys down the labyrinth-like hallways, guiding each turn with ease. That was until they almost became chest-to-chest with the staff. He pushed them back against the wall and ushered silence with a singular finger in front of his lip.

"What are they doing there?"  Scott murmured, poking his head from behind the wall.

Stiles shook his head, rubbing the stubble against his jaw and tensing his shoulders. "I don't know. Their rounds should've ended five minutes ago."

Liam shrugged innocently, nudging the two boys. "I can take them."

Like clockwork, they both gave him a crazed look, each line on their face folding like the other's.

"No one's taking anyone." Scott shook his head.

"How much time?"

"Three minutes."

"I'll just knock them out and hide the bodies." Liam shrugged. 

Stiles scrunched up his face. If being back in Eichen wasn't torture enough, listening to Liam talk was. "Oh my god, please stop."

A hand slamming against the glass jolted them, forcing them to look up. A boy behind it stuttered. "Did you take the doctor?"

"What?" Liam asked, shaking off the shivers and rolling back his shoulders.

"I said, did you take the doctor?"

"I haven't had my medication. I need ten milligrams at 8 am, 15 milligrams and 1 pm and no more than 20 at dinner." he shook. 

"we'll get the doctor..-"

"Dr Fenris," he repeated. "Dr Fenris. They took Dr Fenris." he slapped the glass again.

"They took him!"

His hands slapped and thumped against the plastic glass, the wobble of the material echoing down the hall and alluring the workers with each suspicious step. Scott could only glance uneasily between the two boys and feel his own anxieties rising higher. With sharp teeth and illuminating eyes, he bared his jaw at the boy with a panicked snap.

The wobbling ceased, as did the boy's nonsensical rambling, and fell backwards in fear.

And in turn, the doctors took a sharp turn.

Stiles wasted no time slipping past with curled fingers and head hung heavy. Not for the first time either.

⊱ ──────ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ────── ⊰

"Kira's nothing happening."

Dallas watched Malia pace and back forth with a stiff jaw. The constant twists and turns were making her nauseous. As did the buzzing hospital lights and smell of old mopped floors. Her nailbeds were a little scratched and bitten, yet, the anxiety didn't stem from the same root Malia's did.

Hers had pale skin and dimples.

Malia's was faceless and came in waves.

"I don't want to lose control," Kira muttered through gritted teeth, hands gripping at the wires like straws, and tensed up her delicate shoulders. "I could fry the entire system."

"But you won't," Dallas confirmed, as it were fact.

Malia nodded along with her. "Stop worrying about what you might do." She glanced between her eyes. "This isn't about you or me. We're here to save Lydia. It's about Lydia."

If Dallas ever had a moment of pure respect, pure admiration, it'd be now. The way Malia's hands curled around Kira's shoulders with nothing but tenderness in her eyes and the softest tone she could muster. She paid attention to her rising breath and her shaky hands. She could've said anything and morphed it into something audibly sweet.

Dallas suddenly felt an ache for the same comfort.

Kira nodded, hands tensing and relaxing with each squeeze.

"We're here to save our friend."

She let out a deep exhale and gripped the wires once more, a little tighter this time, and let her eyes soak up an amber hue.

Electricity crackled from her firm fingertips and flickered through the wires. Voltage sparked from one side of the room to the other while the lights above dimmed into a flashy pattern. 

"Kira!" Malia beamed. "It's working!"

Even though Dallas could feel the static lifting follicles of hair, her eyes were fixed on Malia, a wide smile chewed back between pursed lips and cheek-biting.

"Keep going!

REEBOT INITIATED.

Dallas ignored the bolts of electricity around her, instead, flickering them between Kira and Malia. Tension riddled her gut like parasites, butterflies, or a sick combination of the two. 

Finally, a good feeling.

⊱ ──────ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ────── ⊰

The hallways of Eichen were a murky green. Each light above seemed more damp and musty than the last. Yet, with the clicking and wiring of the overhead wires, Stiles managed to slide to a stop on the wet concrete.

"Five minutes to get Lydia." Liam leapt forward while his steps never ceased.

Meanwhile, Scott grinned widely. "She did it. Kira did it."

"Heh, yeah, wonderful." Stiles spoke through chewed lips. "But where's the card reader?"

His shaky hand hovered over the barred door, the ID almost slipping through sweaty palms and chest heaving underneath his tattered flannel. 

Scott swallowed thickly. "They must have taken it out when the Dread Doctors got through."

"Are you telling me we came all the way down here just to be stopped by an ordinary key?" Stiles scoffed back.

Liam took a few steps backwards. "We don't need a key." He cracked his neck, almost to hype himself up. "Not if we can break it down."

Stiles sighed heavily. Doomed, for sure. 

⊱ ──────ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ────── ⊰

Hayden paced back and forth, her arms crossed with narrowed eyes, and stomped one foot in front of the other. The slinging ceiling light boiled down on her like a minuscule sun hanging on a thread thinner than her patience. 

Deaculion watched idly while his slumped body was wired and rigged up, leaving his torso flat against the wall. 

"Do I make you nervous?" His head lifted slowly as he dawned a furrowed brow. The swinging light above them illuminated his bloodshot eyes eerily. Hayden almost felt judged beneath them. 

Nevertheless, she shot him an easy glare. "Shouldn't you already know the answer to that?"

"Well, I thought it would be more polite to ask." Deaculion's words were as sharp as the cold air. "But yes, a girl your age shouldn't have a resting heart rate of 110 beats per minute."

The Chimaera swallowed thickly, the uneasy breath lodging in her throat, and kept her pacing straight.

"How about you unshackle me from this thing and we'll both be be a little more at ease?"

"How stupid do you think I am?"

"Since I highly doubt you want me to answer that question honestly, let me propose an alternative... you set me free and I'll tell you a secret about those talons sitting in a jar over there."

He paused. 

"I may be blind but my other senses paint a very detailed picture... I know those talons were created by the Dread Doctors."

"So what?"

"So.. Theo believes he can fit them onto his claws like a couple of press-on nails? use them to siphon power from the Beast? Hah, good luck with that."

"What do you mean?"

"The Dread Doctors would have designed those talons with a specific frequency. For a specific person." He paused. "As a genetic chimaera yourself, I would've thought you'd understand how often the body rejects an organ. Especially from an outside donor."

Hayden gave the talons a side glance. "If he puts them on, then.."

"Yes, Hayden, they'll kill him."

⊱ ──────ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ────── ⊰

Scott and Liam struggled against the metal gate, their claws dug into the grooves and their teeth biting wounds into their lower lips. 

And all Stiles could do was bounce anxiously from foot to foot. 

"Guys, we're running outta time." He shook his hands, almost trying to flick the anxiety from his sweat-ricken skin. 

Their panted breaths continued while their strains ceased. "We can't. The Mountain Ash.. it's too much."

Liam eyed his clenched fist for a moment before muttering. "Hit me."

"What?" The two teenagers gave each other a bizarre look. 

"Hit me," he ordered. "I'll get angry and then I'll get stronger."

Stiles felt Scott's eyes burn on him. Of course, he chose now to be unsure. "Hit him. Hit him!"

Liam spurred him on. "I tried to take your powers. i tried to kill you. Hit me!"

Stiles chirped in. "He also left you for dead." 

"I wanted you dead." Liam spat, his fists balled at his sides and words dripping with spit and spite. 

Scott gritted his teeth at that and slung his fist forward, colliding hard with Liam's jaw. His body hit against the door. Blood trickled down his lower lip and pooled around his chin, but he didn't stop. "Do it again."

Scott barely had time to think before he struck him again. 

Stiles winced at the sound of bones cracking beneath his fist. "It's gotta be harder than that."

"Do it!" Liam spat, eyebrows furrowed in rage. "Do it!"

Scott landed another blow. 

"Yeah!" Stiles cheered.

Scott landed another. And another. Each hit felt like it was happening in slow motion for Liam and the pain only fueled his fire of rage. 

"You angry?" Scott spat but was shortly met with irises bright enough to make him wince. A yellow hue crept in around the curves and blotted his sight with a hot steam of chartreuse. 

Instead of lunging at Scott, though, the Beta slashed at the metal door. Each push was heavier than the last. Each breath was shorter and grunts heavier. With bare claws and heated tension locking up his jaw, Liam tore through the metal like paper. 

"Stiles, go!"

Stiles had to leave the two behind and slid from corridor to corridor. his hands frantically grabbed each curve of the walls as he led himself through. His head shot back and forth, increasing the pain infesting his slender body, but he didn't stop. He couldn't. 

Not when he reached Lydia's room. 

Beside her bed, covered in a sticky coat of blood, a drill lay. Lydia's pillow was smeared with it and her hair seemed much redder in places rather than strawberry blonde.

"Stiles?" She croaked, dizziness giving her voice a shaky tone.

Stiles swallowed thickly and knelt at the side of the bed, feeling the thick liquid stain his fingertips. 

"You can't be here." Lydia's voice seemed indifferent to her situation. "You're going to die if you stay here..."

"All of you."

⊱ ──────ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ────── ⊰

Dallas poked her head through the doorway. Her hair got caught in the splinters of uneven sanding and pricks of metal but her stare remained focused. 

"I'm guessing those guards shouldn't be there?" She murmured to Kira and Malia, who were promptly stationed behind her. 

"We could get past them," Kira murmured beside her ear. 

Malia was beside the other. "We could. But we don't want to set off any alarms until Lydia's out."

The three watched as they performed security checks on each person within sight, some even patting down while armed officers watched, and so, shuffled back into the electric room. 

⊱ ──────ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ────── ⊰

"Stiles, he's coming." Lydia whimpered as he tugged at her restraints. 

He gave her a gentle glare. "Lydia, I am not leaving you here."

"You have to."

Alarms blared through the building and pierced his hearing. The leather of the restraints fell from his shaky fingers as he jumped. 

"Stiles, go." She pleaded. "Please."

He could see the doctor in his peripheral and had no choice but to stumble backwards and hide. Lydia kept her face stoic as the door was pulled open for a second time, though, a friendly face she was not met with. 

"Now, where were we?"

⊱ ──────ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ────── ⊰

"Visiting hours are over." 

Kira could hear the muffled voices of staff from behind the door as she pressed her ear against it. 

"We're not here to visit." Tracy purred spitefully, her bare feet dragging against the cold tiled floor. 

Dallas could almost smell the sickening stench of ego on Theo as he stepped forward. "We're here for Lydia Martin." 

She could hear glass breaking and bodies being thrown. Her nails clamped into her fists and the very last thing she wanted to do was stand by idly. The bite she left in Theo should've been bigger and deadlier. Maybe this was her chance to rectify that. 

Sensing her thoughts, Malia squeezed her hand and helped it release its death grip on itself. She shook her head in dismay, almost pleading with her to wait it out. Just a little longer, Dallie.

Try telling that to her stomach. 

After a few moments, when the coast seemed clear enough, the three stumbled out the electrical unit. Kira, however. dawned a sizzling ring of electricity swimming through her skin. She crawled away from the two girls and held her shaky hands.

"It's started."

Dallas felt Malia rise to her feet beside her. "We need to get her out of here."

She couldn't stop the words from falling out. "I'm not leaving Lydia." The Siren leapt up. "And I sure as hell won't leave Stiles."

Malia tugged on them both. "They should already be at the morgue, Dallas. Let's just go!"

Stubborn as ever, she shook her head. With feet planted firmly in the tile, she shook her head. "Just take Kira and go."

"Are you insane?"

"It's a common theory." Dallas snapped. "Malia, go."

Malia seemed to be fighting an internal war with herself that they didn't have time to finish. With grit teeth and frowned lips, she grabbed Kira's hand and bolted out the door. Dallas could smell the remnants of perfume and the scent of guilt. But still, she didn't follow.

She couldn't follow anyone but the footsteps of those who hurt her most. 

⊱ ──────ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ────── ⊰

Lydia winced as wet cotton balls brushed against her headwound. Her hands gripped the bedsheets while Dr Valack's voice rang in her head periodically.

"Stay focused, Lydia."

her lips ghosted the question. "What did you do to me?" 

"I amplified your abilities. Something that might just save the lives of your friends." He held the cotton ball gently against her skull. "Theo and Hayden.. they found it. They were looking for Noah, but they found a symbol. A circle inside of another circle carved into a wall. The symbol of Scott's pack."

Stiles listened silently from the sidelines. 

"It was more than a symbol, wasn't it? it was a promise to reunite them." 

Stiles readjusted his line of sight as she answered. A parent of him just wanted to grab Lydia and go.. yet, the other part yearned to hear more.

"Yes."

"But has Scott done it yet? Will he be coming for you?"

She murmured softly. "Someone's coming... but it's not Scott."

⊱ ──────ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ────── ⊰

The building felt cold and empty around Dallas as she walked through it. Most guards were dead or elsewhere, leaving her to wander aimlessly through the building with her ears perked. Her senses shifted through the heavy scent of blood in the air and soured at the smell of wet dog and unnatural concoctions of chimaera flesh. 

Her tongue ran over her dry lips and rounded a dusty corner, splitting into an amused smile at the two heavily panted werewolves.

"Just finish dance class, princesses?"

Liam had both hands resting on his thighs as he panted, yet, rose one just to give Dallas the finger.

Scott, on the other hand, seemed ecstatic to see the Siren. "Where's Malia and Kira."

Her grin disappeared swiftly. "Gone. She thought  you'd finished." She then turned her head behind her. "Can someone please fill me in on what the fuck is going on?"

Liam winced. "Sure, yeah, maybe when you get rid of the guards."

"What guards?-"

Dallas was quickly cut off by the swift pain in her side. It forced her to the floor, leaving her to scratch and claw at the floorboards while guards prodded her with tasers. The pain settled itself into her bones and mulled her eyes into a brilliant shade of white. 

Her stomach growled under each prod and hit of the baton. Every time she tried to stand another slam against her back would kick her back down to the dusty floor. Dallas could hear the scuffling and clamouring of the werewolves trying to reach her, even see them between the blurs of black and blue uniform, but would always be met with the floor against her cheek again. 

Then, an arm roped around her throat and squeezed tightly.

"Dallas!" Scott threw his hand between the gaps of batons but could only grasp fistfuls of air. 

Dallie slipped her jaw underneath the arm in a panic. Each breath she took seemed fainter and harder to slip out, so she did the only thing that made sense. She sank her teeth into the flesh and pulled. Hard.

Dallas was unsure if the screaming that came next was Scott's or Liam's. Or either. 

She could taste the copper on her tongue, yet, the arm became heavier in her mouth as she held it between her teeth. Her lips were wrapped around the stained cloth and she could feel the fingertips brushing against her collarbone. The cotton of his shirt continued to dry out her mouth and strips of thread stuck between her teeth.

 Why did he stop resisting?

Then it dawned. 

His arm was no longer attached.

Stuck between her jaws like a bone, Dallas slowly pulled her teeth from the joint and let it drop to her feet with a wet thud.

Blood had well and truly stained her favourite shirt. It smudged the makeup on her chin and left red lipstick printed around the large bitemark in the guard's arm. Maybe she should've been a little gentler.

White eyes pulled their way up to meet Liam's, who seemed struck to stone by her stare and gently stepped back towards Scott.

Dallas' neck cracked beneath her skin as it clicked towards the other guards. Her nails flicked off the chipped floorboards as she rose to her feet and her tongue licked away the copper-tasting cream on her lips.

She was ravenous.

⊱ ──────ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ────── ⊰

Stiles ducked back behind the wall and kept his breaths steady as he watched Theo. His hands clenched and unclenched as he listened silently. 

"I can't believe this is actually a medical establishment." Theo teased, grinning as Tracy held Dr Valack against the wall by nothing but his neck. 

His voice was slightly strained from the pressure against his neck but he still managed to quip back with a snarky tone. 

"Now what would a pack of Chimaeras want with a Banshee?" 

Theo scoffed. "I don't want a Banshee... I'm looking for a hellhound."

Stiles felt a chill run up his spine as a deep growl rumbled down the hall. Fiery hands gripped the gates and molten metal dripped from clawed fingertips. Behind it, Deputy Parrish split his mouth to reveal sharp canines and eyes of hellfire.

Dr Valack held a smug grin. "You wanted a hellhound.." He turned to smirk at Tracy. "You got one."

The once metal gates now puddled at his feet in a hot liquidated form. 

Stepping through it with ease and a body lit aflame, Parrish headed straight for Theo.

⊱ ──────ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ────── ⊰

Scott followed Liam's hesitant movements and backed up against the musty walls. They watched with wide eyes as her teeth lunged into flesh once more, this time above the pulse point of another guard, and devoured his essence in one big bite.

Her hand gripped the clusters of buttons and sank the ridges of enamel into another's chest, forcing him to the floor like he did her, before emptying him of everything but brain and soul. 

Did she even have one of her own in this state?

Around her, stretching from her feet to the other side of the hall, half-eaten bodies lay. 

She was hunched over, long black hair swept over her back and hands licking her fingers clean.

"Dallie?" Scott stepped forward, aiming to rest his hand in her shoulder.

The Siren hissed at him. Her face was a pale blueish tint and her ears pinned back like a feral cat. She stood up, her body clicking into place, and narrowed the glowing pearl eyes he'd grown to fear.

Before she could lunge, he gripped her arms and fought her strength with his.

"Dallas, Dallas, it's me. It's Scott!-" He pleaded with her as her teeth snapped in his face. "Dallas please!"

Liam blinked away the hesitance and lunged to help, holding back her arms as Scott cupped her scaled cheeks.  "Dallas!"

"Dallas, look at me. Think of Stiles. He wouldn't want this, would he? Would your dad want this? Would Derek?"

She only snapped harder. 

He snarled back at her, eyes sour and scarlet wine, and spat through sharp teeth. "Stop it!"

Dallas blinked. And then she blinked again. 

The picnic basket and dessert trays she'd tucked in moments before now felt wet on her palms. The sweet sugar between her teeth felt like meat and the syrup dripping down her fingers stained darker than she recalled.

"Scott?" She croaked out while Liam's grip loosened. 

He didn't dare look at the damage she'd cause. It was between him or them. And for once, he understood she'd chosen the lesser evil.

"Come on." He wrapped his arms around her in a tight, comforting hug.

"We're getting Lydia out of here."

☆ word count: 6,990. ☆

a/n: I SEE YOU GUYS GIVING ME SHIT and I love it please continue