♡ 𝙩𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 ♡
𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 twenty-nine

singing like a siren.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

DALLAS AWOKE ON THE QUARTZ SAND, COUGHING UP PATCHES OF LAKE-WATER AND DIRT.

She held no memory of what happened the night before, just a hard-blurriness that gently seemed to fade away. Dallas tried to lift her leg and stand herself up, but both seemed to drag against the sand. The Latina widened her eyes in horror as she lay her eyes on her legs - which weren't legs anymore, but a tail sowed together by scales and fins. She still wore her long, oversized shirt which covered the handful of green and beige scales spread across her chest while some stretched as far as down her arm.

It wasn't until the brunette noticed the dried red liquid underneath her fingernails did everything finally dawn on her. The storm, the fisherman, the attack. It was all falling on top of her like heavy bricks, crushing her spirit.

Controlling her erratic breathing, the siren pulled at her legs once more. This time, they seemed to glide through the scales as her tail fizzled out into dust. Her shorts were floating in the water, which she grabbed and pulled over her legs. The wet temperature of them didn't bother her but as soon she stood up - she felt herself wobble.

Stumbling her way over to the docks, she picked up the fisherman's coat and slipped it over her shoulders. The early-morning air was cold on her skin and the sound of squawking birds echoing in her ears. Even though it felt like walking on glass, the siren slowly made her way home.

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James Garcia sat in his kitchen, sipping on his roasted coffee as he heard the front door creak open. "Wanna tell me where you've been all night?" He held a parental tone to his voice as he glanced up from his newspaper.

"I need to get to school." His daughter simply stated before hopping upstairs into the bathroom.

James knitted his eyebrows together and stood up, following her until he was met with the bathroom door. "Where were you last night?"

Instead of an answer, the splashing of the shower-head was all Jim heard. In the bathroom, Dallas scrubbed desperately at her nails and swished the water inside of her mouth, hoping to rid herself of all evidence of the night before. Swiping the strawberry shampoo through her hair and the water across her face, hoping everything she remembered was just another simple nightmare.

If only she were so lucky.

After what felt like hours of scrubbing, she finally stepped out of the shower cubicle and wrapped a towel around herself. In a state of deja vu, she brushed away the condensation away from the mirror and swept her hair away from her shoulders, expecting to see the troublesome scales.

Instead, her honey-toned skin gleamed back. It held a healthy shimmer to it, as did her face. Her eyes seemed less sunken in and her lips much plumper and pinker than before. Frowning, she wrapped her hair in a towel and slipped through the bathroom door and into her bedroom. The day was going to be a long one - she could feel it already.

⊱ ──────ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ────── ⊰

The car ride to school was silent. Dallas had picked up her phone from the kitchen table, where she had left it the day before, only to set her eyes on dozens of missed calls from both her father and Stiles Stilinski. She opened a voice message from him. It explained how he had found his father, along with all the other parents, and how grateful he was for her faith in him.

Jim gave his daughter a side-glance. There was something different about her. Although he could pinpoint what exactly, he swore something had changed overnight. Before he could mention it, however, the car came to a halt outside the school.

"Thanks, Dad." she sent him a tight smile, shoving her phone into her back pocket and slinging her backpack over her shoulder. "I'll see you after school."

The siren pushed her way past the students and approached the school. Her hair swayed behind her as she walked while her sugary perfume left its sweet scent in the air. She plucked her books from her locker and didn't notice how Stiles Stilinski passed by, leaning against her locker and glancing down at her.

It was only when the brunette slammed her locker door shut, did her eyes catch his sheepish grin. "Scott's bitter about me ditching him, but I wanted to walk you to class."

With her textbooks bunched up in her arms, the edges of her mouth curled up into a small smile as she responded. "Careful, you might suffer his werewolf-wrath." her look softened. "How's your dad?"

He silently took the books from her arms and carried them for her as they walked towards English. "Pretty good, surprisingly." he paused. "You disappeared last night, by the way. You never called me back. You're okay, right?"

She swallowed harshly and avoided his look. "No, I was just.. tired." Dallas frowned. "Anyway, I'm sorry I wasn't much help."

Stiles stole a glance at her. She had helped a lot more than she originally thought. Without her, he was sure he would've lost his mind already. Stiles was thankful she was there for him then - and even more thankful that even she still was.

They reached the door and Dallas turned to him, expecting her books back, but he kept them by his side. "Stilinski, I need my books."

He grinned at the use of his last name. "Meet me in the library at break," he replied smugly after passing her two back but keeping the chemistry one. "Or you'll never see your book alive again."

"I can just borrow one, you know." She replied, knitting her eyebrows at his odd flirting.

"Yeah, probably." he pushed past her into the class. "But you won't," he added, finally turning his back to her and dropping himself to his seat.

Shaking her head, Dallas sighed heavily and only seemed to be shaken from her thoughts when the loud whistling of the teacher and the scuffling of students entered her ears. Wiping the giddy grin from her face, the siren finally took her seat and tried her best to ignore the burning stares from the Stilinski behind her.

⊱ ──────ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ────── ⊰

James stood in the bathroom, laundry basket in one hand and the phone pressed against his ear. He was chatting to Melissa McCall and making sure she was alright after her treacherous kidnapping from Miss Blake.

"Derek has a lot of bad qualities, but I trust him. I know Dallie is safe with him - which is the same for Scott. You have nothing to worry about, Melissa." he heard the woman mumble a reply on the other side of the device and continued to stuff clothes in the basket. That was until he came across something he didn't recognize. Jim grasped the fisherman's jacket that was tucked behind the stand-up mirror and knitted his eyebrows. When he pulled his hand away, blood soaked onto his skin and stained his fingertips.

"Uh, Melissa." he swallowed hard. "I'll have to call you back."

He didn't wait for a response and instead dropped the phone to the floor. James grasped the material and stretched it out, watching as more bloody splotches began to appear. Among the blood, however, was streams of water and speckles of sand. Dallas looked different this morning and James had finally figured out why.

She had finally tasted blood.

⊱ ──────ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ────── ⊰

Dallas Garcia's classes passed by without much trouble. There were a few class clowns here, and some teacher meltdowns there, but overall it was smooth sailing. That was until break rolled around and instead of spending time with Danny Mahealani or Lydia Martin, she had to retrieve her stolen Chemistry book from Stiles Stilinski.

With the strap of her back placed strategically on her shoulder, the brunette pushed past the stuffy students of Beacon Hills High and into the almost-empty library. There were a few littered students around with coffee-cups in hand and binders placed in front of them, but not many.

"Stiles?" Dallie called out, making her way through the labyrinth of stacked books. Before she knew it, hands tugged at her hips and pulled her out of sight. When they pulled away, Stiles Stilinski stood above her with a charismatic grin.

Stiles had felt something overtake since his 'death'. He was more confident to do the things he couldn't before - like something was taking ahold of his body and giving him the push he needed. He wasn't sure if it was him overthinking but recently he never really felt himself. It was only when he was around Dallie did things seem normal again.

"I knew you'd come." he commented smugly.

"Yeah, cause you kidnapped my chemistry book." The brunette rolled her eyes. He smirked before carefully unzipping his backpack and placing it in her hands.

"Which by the way, blackmailing a lawyer's daughter?" she skipped through the pages confirming that he hadn't tampered with any to wind her up. "Did your father teach you no better?." she sarcastically remarked as he leant his hand against the wooden bookcase above her.

"Why don't you come over this week and ask him yourself?" he spoke with confidence. Dallas furrowed her eyebrows at it. Each minute his demeanour seemed to shift. One minute, he was cocky, confident and smug - the next, he seemed agitated, nervous and almost afraid.

The confidence seemed to melt away along with his consciousness. His mind fell elsewhere as the room around him started to darken. Dallie's voice soon drowned out and her image became blurrier and blurrier.

"Stiles?" He was suddenly snatched back into reality, feeling Dallas' hand lay comfortingly on his shoulder. "Are you alright?"

He nodded and cleared his throat. "Yeah, I just didn't get much sleep last night." he leaned in kissed her cheek as he noticed her worried expression. "Don't worry about it. I'm fine." he grabbed her hand. "Come on, don't wanna be late for class."

⊱ ──────ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ────── ⊰

James paced around his kitchen and stared at the fisherman's coat that was slumped on the dining table. He felt mocked - taunted even - by its mere existence. The smell of the blood alone was enough to make him seeth silently. While James had worked hard to protect Dallas from The Hales and The Argents, he had failed the most important task of all.

James had failed to protect Dallas from herself. He saw how the heavy burden of a fresh kill affected his wife and now his daughter was in the same boat. Her transformation was activated and she already had blood on her hands, which was now dripping down the lawyer's table.

Grinding his teeth, Mr Garcia grabbed ahold of the coat and shoved it into the trash can. He buried it deep beneath the trash and slammed the lid shut. While he knew deep down that asking for Derek's advice and help would be the responsible thing to do, he decided against it. He had dealt with Marilyn alone and he would do the same for her child. At least, that what he hoped.

⊱ ──────ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ────── ⊰

Dallas fiddled with her pen and slouched in her seat. Scott was sat behind her, giving Allison longing looks who was placed behind Danny. Stiles was at his usual spot beside the McCall and Lydia took upon herself to take the seat at the front.

Scott McCall tilted his head to the side and mustered up the courage to ask Dallas the question that he would usually label taboo. "Hey, Dallas?"

The brunette turned her head and propped her arm up against the wooden chair. "What's up, Scotty?"

"You know after, uh, Prom." he avoided her look. "Did you start.. seeing things?" Scott remembered how she had been through a similar situation. She had been deemed dead for days. He hoped that she would be able to say she experienced the same and ease the anxiety in his gut. Allison, Scott and Stiles had all started to see and hear bizarre things after their time under the water. Things they could never really explain or understand themselves.

The Garcia's bubbly demeanour dropped and she stiffened. Stiles noticed this, sending a glare to his best friend. "What do you mean?"

"Like, nightmares." he listed, ignoring the burning stare from the Stilinski. "Sleep paralysis, anxiety, all that stuff," Scott noted how her jaw tightened. "You know, trauma."

"Nightmares, yeah." she nodded slightly. "Mainly about Peter, but they passed within a few weeks. Why what's going on?" she glanced between Stiles and Scott. Stiles gave her a warm smile in hopes to not worry her but it achieved the opposite.

Scott began to explain, but the loud hushing of the new teacher cut him off.

"Good morning, everyone. My name is Mr Yukimura." the man turned from the chalkboard, a grin resting on his lips. "I'll be taking over for your previous history teacher."

Dallas turned back around and lay her eyes on the educator instead. Moments later, an eraser flew its way into the side of Scott's head from Stiles' table. Harsh glares were directed towards him as the Lycan glanced his way. "What's wrong with you?" he mouthed, a crazed look on his face.

Scott shrugged innocently and held his hands up in defence, eventually turning back to the teacher. "My family and I moved here three weeks ago. I'm sure, by now, you all know my daughter Kira." he spoke proudly. "Or you might not since she's never actually mentioned anyone from school.. or brought a friend home for that matter."

At the back of the class, the girl in question dropped her head to her desk with a heavy sigh. The entire class turned to her, Dallas included, and watched as she slowly peeled her head from the wooden surface. "Either way, there she is." Mr Yukimura finished.

Scott seemed particularly interested, his eyes growing wide and his posture straightening out. "Let's begin with American History at the turn of the 20th century." he continued as the McCall turned back around, a grin forming on his thin lips. He glanced down at his shadow, which seemed to grow and form into a carnivorous werewolf before his eyes.

He wasn't sure what was happening, but he knew it wasn't good.

⊱ ──────ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ────── ⊰

At lunch, Dallas sat beside Lydia Martin. The table was filled with Scott McCall, Isaac Lahey, Allison Argent and Stiles Stilinski - all discussing what happened at the animal clinic and the side effects since. "Okay, so what happens when you come out of a near-death experience and are unable to tell what's real or not?" Scott asked rhetorically.

"-And is being haunted by demonic visions of dead relatives?" Allison added on, Isaac sat supportingly beside her.

Isaac perked up his head. "They're all locked up because they're insane."

Dallas rolled her eyes. "Could've put it sweeter than that." she gave him an unamused look.

"Okay," he nodded, readjusting his posture. "They're all wearing comfy little jackets in padded rooms." he deadpanned. "How about that?"

Dallas gave him a sarcastic smile and slouched back in her seat as Stiles leant forward with narrowed eyes. "Ha." he hissed. "Can you at least try and be helpful?"

Isaac seemed to one-up the human. "For half of my childhood, I was locked in a freezer." Isaac cleared his throat as Allison gave him a sympathetic look. "So, being helpful is kind of a new thing for me."

"Are you still milking that?" Stiles challenged as Scott dropped his head to the table.

Dallas shared a look with Lydia who rolled her eyes. "Yeah, we're still milking that."

The arguing soon died down as Kira Yukimura stood at the end of the table. "Hi." she grinned, her pastel bink binder pressed against her chest. "Sorry, I couldn't help but overhearing what you guys were talking about.. and I think I know what you're talking about." she stood awkwardly.

Stiles shared a look with Dallas, who raised her eyebrows at him before turning back to the girl. "There's a Tibetan word for it. It's called Bardo." she paused. Dallie noticed the intrigued, almost threatened look on Lydia's face and glanced between them. "It literally means 'in-between state.' The state between life and death."

" And what do they call you?" Lydia spoke with malice, venom dripping from her words.

"Kira." Scott answered for her. They all turned to him with confused expressions which he shrugged at. "She's in our history class."

"In Tibetan Buddhism or Indian?" Lydia challenged but it only seemed to perk up the Yukimura girl more.

She sat down at the empty seat beside Stiles and crossed her arms. "Either I guess." Kira hummed. "But all the stuff you guys were just saying? All that happens in Bardo. There are different progressive states where you can have hallucinations. Some you see, some you just hear." Dallas cocked her head to the side at the information that was being dished out. "And you can be visited by peaceful or.. wrathful deities."

"Wrathful deities?" Isaac turned his head, "What are those?"

"Like Demons."

☆ word count: 2,916. ☆

a/n: don't mind me im just simping for void stiles :) also stan scira