♡ 𝙩𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 ♡
𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 twenty-six

she's a maneater 

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

DALLAS GARCIA breathed in the steam from her early morning shower and stepped out of the cubicle, wrapping a towel around herself. It was fairly early in the morning and the Latina had limited time to get dressed and to school, unless she wanted to be late - which Miss Blake was always harsh on. 

She wiped the condensation from the chilly mirror with her hand and gazed at her reflection through the watery glass. Dallas grabbed her hair comb from inside the cabinet and softly brushed through her copper hair. Everything seemed well until the girl reached the ends and winced as the brush spokes scraped across her skin. Usually, she'd shrug it off - but the pain began to worsen. As she moved her hair out of the way, a patch of sickly green scales lay beneath.

"What the fuck?" she swallowed dryly, inching closer to the mirror and flickering her eyes to the patch of skin. She ran her finger across it lightly while one of the scales chipped off, causing her a great deal of pain. "Dad!" The brunette called out desperately. 

Thundering steps came from outside the bathroom door and within minutes, the bathroom door flew open. "Honey, what's wrong?" James noticed her frozen stance and fearful expression.

Gently, she spun around and swallowed hard. His eyes fell on the small cluster of scales that had slowly begun to spread across her skin like a galactic rash. "What the hell is happening to me?"

She noticed how her father didn't seem shocked or afraid - but rather - disappointed. "You're changing." he swallowed dryly. 

"What do you mean, changing?" Dallas watched as her father ran a ringed hand through his gelled hair. "This is why I'm hearing things, isn't it?" she felt her chest grow tight. "Dad, I'm not human.. am I?"

Within the few weeks, Dallie had seen everything from werewolves to mutant Alpha packs, but even so, the possibility of being anything but human herself scared her.

As much as he wanted to keep her in the dark and fill her head with pretty lies - he could hide it from her no longer. "No, you're not human, Dal." he dropped his head to the floor. "Not anymore."

⊱ ──────ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ────── ⊰

Louis Morelli slung his bag over his shoulder with a loud huff, ignoring the calls that buzzed in his pocket from Dallie Garcia. 

His sneakers brushed against the plastic flooring and his denim jacket blew in the wind. Louis threw open his locker, pulling out his math and geography books before slamming it without care. 

"Are you ignoring me?" Dallas spoke from behind the locker door, her shoulder leant against the cold metal while she crossed her arms. 

Louis didn't bother to look at her. "Yeah, sucks, doesn't it?" he held a sour look on his face. "You stood me up."

The Latina readjusted her stance and scoffed. "I had to comfort my best friend. I'm sorry that I didn't put you above her,"  she spoke with a venomous and sarcastic tone. 

Louis chuckled humorlessly and towered over her. "I think I finally get you, Dallie." he cornered her against his locker in the almost-empty hallway. "And honestly, it's kind of sad being that insecure. You're so scared of being second choice, you push everybody else away until you're all alone." he taunted and jeered to her. Dallas gritted her teeth and felt her jaw clench tightly. "You're never going to be Stiles' first choice, you know? But you could've been mine."

Dallas grew red with rage. She could feel her teeth sharpen and hunger grow while she kept her eyes on the boy. More of the skin on her shoulder grew thicker with scales underneath her shirt. "Hey," her attention was pulled elsewhere as the gruff voice of Scott McCall echoed through the hall. He stood beside Dallie with a spiteful look. "Don't talk to her like that."

The Morelli scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he commented before disappearing down the hall. Scott narrowed his eyes at the boy before turning back to the girl he had known for so long. Not only was he able to hear the entirety of their conversation, but he could also smell the fury radiate from the Latina - one strong enough for murder. 

"You okay?" he turned to the Siren but trailed off as he took notice of her changed appearance. One of her irises gleamed white and sharpened teeth pulled at her lips. "Dallie, your eye." 

Almost immediately, the girl clasped her hand over her left eye and rushed down the bathroom, the werewolf in pursuit. "Wait, no, Dallas!" he whisper-yelled. "I can help." He came to a halt as she fled into the girl's restroom.

"How could you possibly help me?" The Siren stood in front of the mirror, gripping the sides of the sink while a lump formed in her throat. She lifted her lip and widened her eyes at the sharp teeth that sat underneath, ready to tear at anything they could grab ahold of.  The whites of her eyes became a sickly grey and her iris soaked up all light with its pearly gleam. 

Scott stood outside the bathroom door, remembering all the panic and terror he felt when he first turned too. "Because I've been through this." he spoke gently. "And I thought I could do it alone, but I couldn't. I lost control and I almost hurt the people I cared about."  

Her eyes gradually faded back to the warm brown colour they once were and her teeth straightened at the tips. "It's not just that, Scott." she pushed open the restroom door and swallowed hard. "When he grabbed me, I could hear some of his thoughts."

⊱ ──────ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ────── ⊰

Stiles held the phone up to his ear as he pushed past the doctors inside Beacon Hills Hospital. "Allison and her father just found Mr Westover, our history teacher," he explained to Scott who paced around the courtyard. Dallas sat slouched at one of the benches, rubbing her hand over her shoulder which became littered with scales. "It's after philosophers, like teachers."

Scott paced around some more. "I don't want to add to our growing pile of problems, but I'm pretty sure Dallas just almost ate someone."

The Stilinski widened his eyes and lowered his voice. "Wait what?" he hissed. "What happened?"

The Lycan gave the Siren a knowing look. "I don't know, Louis was saying some pretty awful things to her and she must've got angry. It might be like how anger shifts werewolves." 

"What did he say to her?" He could hear Stiles speak through gritted teeth. Scott glanced at Dallie, who heard their conversation and waved her hand underneath her chin - signalling him to stay quiet. "Scott?"

The McCall cleared his throat. "Nothing important." he acknowledged her thankful look. "Just being a douche. How are we going to keep an eye on all the teachers, Stiles? They're all heading home."

"They're not, actually," Dallie spoke up. "They're all heading to the recital. If all the teachers will be there, so will the killer."

⊱ ──────ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ────── ⊰

Dallas and Scott entered the recital, taking the seats positioned next to Lydia Martin as Danny stood up on stage. "Aren't you supposed to be at home?" Dallie raised a brow to her best friend. 

The strawberry blonde gave the two odd looks. "I could say the same for you."

"I almost took a bite out of Louis, so now Scott has taken it upon himself to become my personal babysitter." She explained as the werewolf glanced around for the killer. Lydia gave her a wide-eyed look and stuttered.

"What?"

Dallas swallowed and pulled down the edge of her shirt. "You know when I told you I was healing? That's not all." she watched as the redhead's eyes flicked to the scales. "Side effect of being a goddamn Siren, apparently." 

"It's good to know I'm not alone in this." Lydia sunk in her seat with a meek smile. "I don't know why I'm the one that keeps finding the bodies." she inhaled sharply and hid behind a flyer. "But maybe if I just stopped trying to fight it, I'd find them before it happens."

The Latina's look softened and grabbed the Martin's hand, giving her a comforting squeeze and flickering her attention back onto the recital. She acknowledged the wave that Danny gave her from the stage and swallowed harshly. Something was bound to go wrong - but maybe she'd be able to help stop it. 

The recital had already begun, violin music and melancholy singing erupting from the stage. Stiles Stilinski pushed his way through the crowd and stood near the doors, grasping the attention of Scott McCall. Lydia rose from her chair, which was something that Siren quirked a brow at. "It's Aiden," she pointed to her phone. "He wants to talk." 

Before anyone could protest, the girl slipped through the crowd and out of the main hall. However, in the front row, Aiden was hissing to his brother about his missing cellphone. 

Noticing the empty seat near Dallie and Scott, Stiles slipped through the rows and not-so-elegantly threw himself down onto the metal chair. "Hey." he cleared his throat and whispered to Dallas as they both kept their eyes glued to the surrounding teachers. 

She knitted her brows and turned her head to him. "Hi, Stiles." she pursed her lips, ignoring the butterflies in her stomach. Next to the duo, Scott McCall shook his head playfully. He would've laughed if they weren't in such a dire situation. If what he heard from Louis was true, then Dallas was crushing on Stiles as much as he was on her - yet they both remained utterly clueless. 

Meanwhile, Lydia Martin made her way into the empty classroom, one that was doused in darkness. "Aiden?" she called out, but there was no response - at least, not one that came from the werewolf.

"You recognize it, don't you?" Miss Blake stepped out of the shadows, but before Lydia could even begin to scream, she slammed a crowbar against the teenager's pretty head and watched her fall to the floor. 

Inside, Dallas glimpsed around the main hall and felt her heart sink at the sight of Aiden and Ethan. "Lydia said she was meeting Aiden, right?" she spoke, mainly to Scott.

Stiles gave her a peculiar look as the werewolf nodded. "Yeah, why?" 

"Aiden's right over there." a sickly feeling settled in her gut. "So, where's Lydia?"

⊱ ──────ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ────── ⊰

Outside the school, Dallas paced around on the concrete and dialled the strawberry blonde's phone number into her dial-pad desperately. Scott used his enhanced sight to look for her, but his attempts fell flat. 

"Anything?" Stiles ran a hand through his hair and tried to calm his dreadful anxiety.

"No, nothing." Scott turned to the Siren. "What about you?"

"She's not answering her phone." Dallas ran her hands over her face and found her chest feel heavy with worry. "- Or texts. God, her location isn't even on!" she had truly begun to panic. 

Stiles stopped her pacing by the gentle pull of her arm, placing both hands comfortingly on her shoulders. "Dal, we're gonna find her, okay?" he rubbed her shoulders with his thumb. "Come on, just breathe."

Since the day had begun, everything around her seemed to go wrong. Even with the difficult relationship they had, Dallie couldn't lose Lydia. She did as Stiles advised and took deep breaths. While Scott McCall steadied his hearing, the Stilinski continued to soothe the Garcia behind him.

Inside, at the recital, the choir singing slowly became something more sinister. Their humming shifted into chanting and violin choruses became more violent. Allison Argent noticed this, sending a worried look to her father. 

Lydia awoke to the stream of tears clogging up her eyes. Holding her hand up to her head, her heart dropped at the droplets of blood that coated her fingers. She whimpered softly and looked up to the blurry figure of Miss Blake. 

"What are you doing?" she croaked out at the Darach. 

Jennifer shook her head with a remorseless giggle. "What's necessary." she began. "You call them sacrifices, but you're not understanding the word. It's derived from the Latin sacrificium, an offering to a deity, a sacred rite." The Darach paused. "A necessary evil."

"Stop." Was the only word Lydia could muster out. 

"Oh, I wish I could." Jennifer leaned towards the Banshee. "But you don't know the Alphas like I do."

"Please, stop." She repeated, unable to budge from the chair she was taped to. 

Jennifer stalked towards her, circling her until she was now behind the girl. "Oh, but Lydia," she spoke through a smile. "You're not a sacrifice. You're just a girl who knows too much." she tilted her head to the side and took a moment to rethink her choice of words. "Actually, a girl who knew too much."

As the teacher attempted to pull the wire around her neck, the banshee struggled against her grip and pulled at the black lead. Seconds later, a petrifying scream echoed from her lips, one that was heard from afar - especially to the Sirens and Werewolves of Beacon Hills.

"Unbelievable." Jennifer stood away from the banshee who seemed exhausted from her wail. "You have no idea what you are, do you?" she grinned. "The wailing woman. A Banshee, right before my eyes."

The woman ranted on as Lydia shook with fear. Her mascara streamed down her face along with her tears. "You're just like me, Lydia. Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it." she spat venomously as another whimper came from the teen idle's lips. The Darach grabbed ahold of her hands and reinforced the tape that she wiggled out of. A series of whimpers and cries left her mouth as she was spun around in the chair. 

She placed the wire back around her neck and stretched it tightly. Lydia choked desperately but her vision became blotted with black spots as the oxygen gradually left her lungs. "One last philosopher." Jennifer spat slyly while positioning the large dagger in front of her neck. 

The dramatic orchestra raged on inside as all the participants and viewers could do nothing but watch. One of the strings of the piano flew loose and sliced across one of the student's neck, leaving her falling to the floor and gasping for air. The orchestra came to a halt as the hall erupted into chaos. 

Before the Darach could swipe the dagger across Lydia's neck, she jumped at the sudden yell of Sheriff Stilinski. "Drop it." he aimed his gun towards her skull. She grinned with malice and threw it towards him, allowing it to swirl in the air and bury itself in Noah's chest. The gun clattered to the floor. With the Eldest Stilinski fallen to the floor, the roar of Scott McCall caused him to glance up. His eyes gleamed goldenly and hair grew from his cheeks. Everything Stiles had tried to tell him was true. Werewolves did truly exist - and it may have cost him his life just to see one.

Scott leapt toward Jennifer and attempted to swipe his claws against her face, but she was too fast, falling backwards and narrowly avoiding his talons. The Darach roughly pushed her hand against his chest and sent him flying over the desks and into the stacked chairs. Blood coated the McCall's mouth, but he would do anything but give up. 

Dallas and Stiles ran down the halls and caught the eye of Jennifer. She sent a desk soaring across the floor and slamming the door shut - but Dallie managed to slip through at the last minute. She lay eyes on the defeated lycan who had blood pouring from his sharp teeth. Stiles threw his body against the door but it was to no avail. Now four people he cared about were in danger and he was utterly useless to them. 

The Siren stepped backwards at the sinister grin Jennifer gave her. She grabbed ahold of a nearby sweeping brush and snapped the Brussels of the end, swirling the elongated stick between her fingers. "Do you really think that's gonna help you?" Jennifer stepped towards her.

With a single flick of her hand, Dallas was thrown against the wall, stunning her greatly. She fell to the floor beside Scott and tried to soothe the pounding headache the fall had given her. Sheriff Stilinski picked up his gun from the floor and raised it to the teacher who treaded towards him. "There was a girl, years ago, we found her in the woods. Her face and body were slashed apart. That was you, wasn't it?"

"Maybe I should've started with philosophers, with knowledge and strategy." she taunted the officer. Noah lowered his gun and sent a bullet into her thigh, catching her off guard. Yet, as she winced, the bullet-hole healed over. "Healers." she picked Noah up by the knife that was etched into his chest and pushed him against the wall. "Warriors." she ripped his badge away. "Guardians."  The metal crushed under her fingers. "Virgins."

Dallie shared a knowing look with Scott as the glass shattered around them. She rose from the floor and helped the lycan up with her. Meanwhile, Stiles pushed against the door - finally being able to slip through it and into the classroom. 

She took notice of Stiles' worried look and swallowed hard. Both her and Scott stood behind him while he stared out the broken window. "Dad?"

Nonetheless, his calls were useless. Noah Stilinski and Jennifer Blake had disappeared into the night. 

☆ word count: 2,983 ☆