Chapter Text
Jordan watched from his desk, enraptured, as a suspect walked out of his cell with a confident smirk. Watching him cross the threshold made him think of how easy it was to cross some lines. And how hard it was to cross some others. Ever since the young deputy transferred to Beacon Hills he felt as if he had crossed many figurative lines. Somedays he wondered if he had even crossed the line that separated reality from fantasy, others he knew for certain that he had.
So lost was he in his thoughts that when he came to, the criminal had already left the station, leaving him staring at the floor with a lost look in his eyes.
Raising his gaze to look at the clock on his computer he sighed in relief seeing that his shift was finally over. He really enjoyed his job at the station, but ever since he found out he might be some kind of strange creature no one knew about he couldn’t wait to get home and bury himself in hundreds of –what he had considered up until now fantasy-themed– books. Not knowing what he did when he went to sleep was driving him insane. Sure, he knew he was taking the bodies of the dead chimeras to the Nemeton, but with what purpose really? And now that Scott affirmed that success had been achieved with the last chimera what was his purpose?
Now, he finally understood how Stiles might have felt when he sleepwalked. It was an unsettling feeling to say the least, not knowing what a part of yourself decided to do when you had no control over it. Jordan could only pray that his alter ego wasn’t of the same evil nature as Stiles’ was.
Getting up from his chair and stretching his muscles until a satisfying pop came out of his back he took his jacket and walked out of the station after bidding his farewell to his fellow deputies and his boss.
Parrish realized that Sheriff Stilinski was working himself to the bone trying to find what made the young teenagers, chosen by the Dread Doctors to be transformed into chimeras, stand out. He was worried about him but knew that the Sheriff wouldn’t be able to rest until he solved the mistery haunting him in that moment.
As soon as he left the confines of his workplace the freezing rain welcomed him, making him rush to his car. Jordan had always hated the cold. He used to think it was just who he was, but now he was starting to think that maybe it was more a part of who he was.
He sat in the driver’s seat and threw his leather jacket into the back after taking it off. Turning the heat as hot as it would go, he started the car and eased into the main road.
Speeding away into the dark night, he didn’t realize his phone was buzzing in his jacket’s pocket until he stopped at a red light and the sound of the engine of his about-to-die car gave him a break. Reaching into the backseat and retrieving the device, his pulse skyrocketed when he saw the name Lydia Martin flash across the screen. It was quite late for a casual phone call so Jordan didn’t hesitate in picking up.
“Lydia?”
At first, he only heard labored breathing, but then, “Jordan…”. Her voice shook.
“Yes, I’m here. What’s wrong?” Parrish picked up on her fear and his nerves started to escalate.
“I don’t know where I am, or… or how I got here. I think I may have walked.” He heard her teeth clatter from the other end of the line. The deputy’s worry grew when he thought of the young woman in the pouring rain in such a cold night like that one.
Right as he was about to answer he jumped in fright when the car behind his honked to get his attention. The light was green, he had no idea for how long it had been that way. His movements were frantic as he put the car in gear and sped away from the turn.
“Parrish? Are you still there?” Said Lydia desperately, the thought of him having hung up on her seeming to scare her out of her mind.
“Yes, sorry, I got distracted. Can you tell me what you see? Just try to describe your surroundings.”
Jordan rolled to a stop on the side of the road, no longer being able to concentrate on such a task as driving.
“I don’t know. I can’t see much with the rain and how dark it is,” Lydia mumbled. Parrish heard the sound of packed dirt beneath her feet as she moved to turn around. “But I think I’m somewhere in the woods because I can smell wet earth.”
Jordan closed his eyes for a moment to think. Beacon Hill’s wooded area was quite big, he could spend the entire night looking for her and still not be able to find her. Still, he didn’t want to scare her any more than she already was.
“That’s great, you are doing great. Just breathe, okay? I’m coming to find you.”
He started the car once again and headed in the direction of the road that gave way into the woods closest to Lydia’s house, if she had walked there she couldn’t have gotten that far, right? He really hoped she hadn’t.
He heard Lydia exhale shakily before whispering “Jordan, you need to find me. I have a very bad feeling about this.”
His stomach sunk. Lydia’s instincts never failed. He better hurry.
“I’m on my way, just don’t hang up.” Jordan went past all of the speed limits, but he didn’t really care. Benefits of working for the Beacon County Sheriff’s Department. “Try to tell me whatever you can see from your surroundings.”
“It’s really dark, and it smells foul. It smells like something’s dead.” Jordan didn’t mention that there probably was, considering her banshee nature. She surely knew this already. “I can’t talk much longer, my phone is dying.”
“Wait! Are you safe from the rain?” He had to know in how much of a hurry he needed to be.
“What rain?”
Jordan froze for a second before his mouth caught up to his racing mind.
“Lydia, it’s pouring tonight.”
“Huh… In here it isn’t.” He could practically hear the wheels spinning in her head. “But it’s really fucking cold.”
Parrish contemplated the possibility that Lydia might be underground, but that wouldn’t narrow the search much, considering the amount of tunnels that ran beneath Beacon Hills.
“I don’t know how much longe–” Suddenly, the call ended. Jordan stared at his phone in disbelief and tried to call her back again and again, but to no avail. Her phone had run out of battery, or so the deputy prayed.
He didn’t waste a second in contacting the station and informing of the situation at hand, as well as putting the others up to speed. The more people out looking for her, the better. Scott picked up on the second ring and assured him he would call everyone as soon as possible.
Knowing help was on the way calmed him a little, but not much. He needed to find Lydia right that second. She wasn’t the only one with a bad feeling.
When he finally reached the woods, he practically threw himself out of his car as soon as he had grabbed his jacket and his emergency backpack that he kept in the trunk from his army days. It usually contained a flashlight and some supplies. He turned on the flashlight and slung the bag over his shoulder, closing the trunk with more force than necessary in his haste.
Plunging into the darkness of the trees, the flashlight didn’t help much with the rain drops sticking to his eyelids and limiting his vision but he carried on.
After an hour of wandering without any luck, he started to get impatient. He couldn’t find any place where she could have hidden from the rain. No tunnels, no passageways, hell, he hadn’t even been able to find any holes big enough for a human to crawl in.
He sighed in frustration and spinned around to check his surroundings when he bumped into Stiles.
“Fuck! Stiles! You almost gave me a heart attack! Were you following me?”
“Deputy. No, I just thought I heard something but it was just your noisy self.” He retorted ironically. Parrish noticed he seemed a bit on edge. His wet hair sticking to his scalp from being out in the rain, and his ironic smirk a little bit too wide. He was worried about Lydia just as much as he was.
“No luck yet?” Jordan asked even if he already knew the answer.
“No, no one’s called yet.” Stiles replied before staring at him intently.
“What is it?”
“Nothing. Is just… Well, I find it a bit weird that she called you, don’t you?” Jordan didn’t think of it as an accusation, in fact, Stiles had sounded as if he was coming up with something.
“Uhm… Not really. We usually call each other when something banshee or whatever-the-hell-i-am related happens.”
Stiles was silent for a few moments, seeming to contemplate his answer.
“Which means she called you because she thought it was banshee related, didn’t she?”
“I guess. I mean, we’ve grown close over the past few weeks.” Parrish shrugged, he hadn’t really thought about that.
“Yes, but if it’s banshee related there’s only two people that could find her. Meredith, who we can’t reach right now in Eichen House, or… you.” Stiles said, looking at him funny.
“Me? Why me?” Parrish, who had begun walking again in hopes of stumbling upon the girl, stopped suddenly and turned back towards the younger boy.
“Just think about it. You’re both harbingers of death in a way, right? You only find bodies to hide them of course, but that last part is not what we need right now.”
“Yes, of course, except for one little problem. I can’t control it. I’m not the one finding the bodies. My other self is – or whatever the fuck it is.”
“Okay… So when does it usually come out?”
“When I go to sleep which I can’t do right now, I’m too hyped up.” Replied Jordan, trying to wipe the raindrops sliding down his face with his hand without much success.
Stiles though about that for a moment. “What if I rendered you unconscious? Do you think it would work?”
Jordan took a frantic step back from Stiles as the latter readied his fists. “I don’t know. What if you hurt me? You aren’t exactly trained. Besides, if it doesn’t work we’ll waste time while we wait for me to wake up.”
“I’m not going to wait around for you to wake up. Either you get your other self to come out and play or I’m leaving you on the ground.” Parrish wasn’t entirely sure if he was kidding or not. “Either way, I don’t think we have much of a choice, deputy. If she’s hidden like you think she is we might spend days before we find her. We need you. Well, the other you.”
Jordan took a deep breath before processing what Stiles had just said. He was right. They were wasting time. Lydia could be freezing to death right now. They had to, at least, try.
“Okay. Just be careful of where you–” Before he could finish the sentence Stiles had punched him unconscious. If only he’d been awake to see Stiles jumping and cradling his fist in pain.
“OW!”
—
When he came back to, Stiles was on his knees besides him watching him intently. “Parrish?”
Parrish couldn’t answer, in fact, he couldn’t move a muscle. Suddenly, his skin felt really warm and clammy. But that didn’t make sense with how cold the rain making him dripping wet was.
“Holy fuck you are scorching!” Exclaimed Stiles, jumping away from him when he tried to grab the deputy’s arm to help him stand.
Without him ordering his body to, Jordan stood up gracefully. Out of the blue, he felt as if he really needed to head east. And he needed to go fast. Without thinking twice about it he broke into a sprint deeper into the woods. Stiles tried to follow him, but couldn’t keep up. He couldn’t really see him, but he felt as if his hearing was clearer that ever, which made easier hearing Stiles struggling for breath after stopping to lean on a tree.
Jordan just kept running. He felt as if he was burning hotter by the second. As if his skin would erupt in flames at any given moment, but far from being anxious about it he felt rather comfortable being so warm.
At some point he heard who he though was Scott and others running after him and tailing him. They called for him to slow down, but he couldn’t.
Jordan finally allowed them to catch up when he stopped suddenly in a clearing. She was near. He could feel it.
“Parrish!” It was Scott, with Liam and Malia behind him. They all stopped with him and looked at him with a strange intensity, “Your eyes…”
Jordan turned back around searching, ignoring the people around him. Argent had caught up now, a gun in his hand.
“She has to be here.” Jordan knew his voice was deeper than normal, much deeper. It wasn’t really him, but at the same time it was. He knew he could take control right now if he really wanted, but his top priority was finding Lydia.
They all looked at him shocked for a moment that he had spoken, before they finally broke out of their trance and started searching the area.
After a while, Malia said, “Do you smell that?”
Parrish watched Scott sniff the air trying to cath a scent. Jordan didn’t even think about trying it. He knew scent wasn’t his forte. But he didn’t need to, because he could feel them calling to him. “Dead bodies.”, lots of them.
He strode with purpose to a sewer entrance half-hidden beneath foliage. Jordan stoked his internal inferno until he could feel flames licking his skin, making his friends take a step back from the heat in surprise.
Parrish burned through the foliage without a though and grabbed two of the bars protecting the entrance to the sewer with his scorching hands, melting the metal and turning it a yellow color. Once it was finally hot enough he started to bend the metal with all his might, making it give way and leaving an opening big enough for him to scurry through.
Extinguishing the flames surrounding his body and leaving red streaks in their place, he walked confidently through the underground tunnels until he found some kind of chamber that gave way into two different tunnels. He took a second to decide his next step, all the while hearing Scott and the rest of his pack trail behind him, “He’s here! I can see him!”
“Which tunnel, Parrish?” Asked Argent, gun raised and pointing towards the tunnels in front of them.
“None.” Jordan replied with his gravelly voice, before proceeding to kneel in the ground and looking through a metal grid beneath their feet that none of them had noticed before.
Jordan melted the lock keeping it shut easily and pulled it open.
“Oh my god, that smell…” Said Liam, taking a step back in disgust.
“It’s coming from down there.” Added Malia.
“All of you, take a step back.” Ordered Argent before coming closer and pulling a flare out of his own backpack. He lighted it in a matter of seconds and let it go. As it fell down, the bloodied walls of the gaping hole in the ground lit up with a sickly glow, before the flare hit what at first they all thought was solid ground. A second look confirmed that it had hit a body. A dismembered one. It wasn’t the only one, Parrish could see many of them piled up in a macabre show of the human anatomy.
Jordan had time to make out Lydia’s silhouette sitting with her knees to her chest in a corner, trembling and rocking back and forth, before a chilling growl came out of one of the tunnels, making the deputy raise his head and snarl in reply. Parrish knew it was the last chimera, he didn’t know how he knew, he just did. Just like he knew he needed to fight it. He needed to keep it away from his friends.
“Go, you are the only one that can fight it!” Said Argent urgently.
Parrish looked down at Lydia unsure. A part of him was incredibly protective of the banshee huddling in a corner beneath him, but another part of him felt this unsurmountable need to go and fight.
“We’ve got Lydia, just go!” Yelled Stiles, pushing him forward and helping Argent tie a rope around his waist to lower himself into the lower level.
Parrish propelled himself forward, setting himself on fire, without looking back. He let out a growl of his own, trying to rile up whatever was down there with them and get it to follow him deeper into the tunnels.