Chapter Text
Theo fought the bone-deep exhaustion threatening to drag him under with every breath as he checked through the usual end-of-the-day paperwork. It was all in order as expected when Hayden was in charge. There was a reason she was his manager, and it wasn't just because she was one of his best friends. The woman was so efficient that it was almost bordering on anal-retentive regarding the restaurant’s financials and other incidentals. Of course, her attention to detail and passion for the restaurant probably stemmed from being one of his best friends, but that was not the point. The point was that the paperwork was flawless as usual, and that should've been surprising, seeing as Hayden left two hours early that night, and yet somehow, it wasn't.
His phone buzzed loudly, dragging him out of his thoughts. He snickered when he saw the picture flashing across his Caller ID.
“Speak of the devil, and she shall appear,” Theo grinned as he answered the phone.
“ Tell me you're not still at the restaurant ,” Hayden's voice snapped in lieu of a greeting.
He knew her well enough to know she wasn't genuinely irritated by him. No, it was the faux irritation that came from routinely having to make sure your workaholic best friend/boss didn't work himself into an early grave. Theo snorted instead of verbally addressing the question she already had an answer to.
“ Of course you are. Don't make me come back there. ”
“First off, you should be more than halfway to Silver City by now, so there is no ‘coming back’ here. Plus, I'm leaving. I'm leaving.”
“Uh-huh,” Hayden drawled. Theo rolled his eyes as she made it painfully clear that she wasn't hanging up until he was actually locking up. He sighed. “Don't you sigh at me, Argent! I promised Liam that I would look after you while he was gone, and you’re still my responsibility until you’re officially back together again. So get your shit and get home to your hot boyfriend, so I don’t have to think about you for the rest of the weekend.”
“Fine, but only because you reminded me that I do have a hot man waiting at home for me,” Theo teased. Hayden giggled in response. He put the paperwork back in the folder and tucked it neatly into his desk.
As he moved through the restaurant, making sure everything was shut off and secure for the evening, Hayden stayed on the line keeping up a steady source of chatter. He was quietly grateful. Everyone else had long gone home for the evening, and the building felt eerie in a way it never had before. This was far from the first time he closed the restaurant by himself. This was practically his second home. The spacious restaurant gifted to him by his mentor was as familiar to him as Liam’s eyes. But as he was locking down the building, he felt an uncomfortable tingling creeping up his spine. It almost felt like someone was watching him. But his senses told him that he was alone.
“Theo?”
“Huh? Oh, sorry,” Theo murmured, resuming his lost effort at locking the front door. “I just… never mind.”
“Do you need me to come back there?”
“Hay, you're like a five-hour drive away. I'm closer to home than you are to here. I'll be fine.” He moved through the rest of the routine of closing a little quicker. “There. All done. Happy now?”
“Ecstatic,” Hayden retorted. “Oh, dammit. Val is calling. How many times do I have to tell her I'm a whole grown adult and I'm perfectly capable of driving to see her without a thousand updates on my progress?!”
Theo snorted, even as he switched the phone to cradle under his chin. He picked up the last garbage of the evening to take to the dumpster, shouldering the bag he normally carried with him to work in a delicate and precarious balance.
“Almost as many times as I remind you that I'm a whole grown adult myself, and I don’t need the whole damn Puppy Pack checking on me every five minutes.”
“Lies! You, my friend, are nothing but trouble and require constant adult supervision lest you fall into an abyss or something. Me, on the other hand, I am perfect,” Hayden laughed. Theo grumbled a protest pulling a higher-pitched laugh from his friend. “Look, just text me when you get home, okay?”
“Okay. Give Val, Fredo, and the baby my love.”
“Will do. Be safe.”
“Always am.” He hung up on her very uncalled for snickering. Friends: can't live with them and definitely would go insane without them.
He kept the phone tucked under his chin as he swung the garbage into the dumpster. His nose wrinkled at the various smells wafting from the rusted contraption, and he was all too happy to slam the lid shut a moment later.
“Theo.”
Theo froze on his journey back around the restaurant to where his truck was parked. The voice sounded like Tara's. The Tara that still haunted his nightmares. But he was awake. So that was impossible. And he wasn't in hell. He was in the parking lot of the restaurant he owned. It was his place. It was his home outside of the apartment he shared with Liam. His home outside of Liam. This wasn't hell, and Tara wasn't here. His mind was playing tricks on him because he hadn't slept more than a few hours since Liam left for a school trip three days ago.
But Liam was back at home. He called a few hours ago to confirm that he was back in their apartment, taking a nap before setting up a surprise to show his boyfriend just how much he missed him while he was gone. Corey called an hour later to confirm that Liam was ordering food from their favorite takeout place and was very much not touching the kitchen as strictly enforced by him and Alec, with a bare minimum effort from Mason, who was enjoying the chaos. Theo knew he was super biased, but his best friend and little brother really were the best.
He felt his earlier tension drain away as he thought about whatever surprise Liam had brewing that required Mason and Corey to take time from their busy schedule of being the most annoying newlyweds in the world to help him set up. But whatever it was, Theo was ready. With Hayden visiting her sister for the week and Corey officially transitioning to a full-time position with the high school, Theo thought it was best to close for the rest of the week. It would be his first time off in months, and he was so ready to spend at least most of that time in bed with his aforementioned very hot boyfriend.
“Theo.”
He could feel the beginning tendrils of panic gripping him, but he fought it. He forced himself to take a deep breath and focus on facts. Tara couldn't be here. She was in his nightmares only. Well, nightmares and the skinwalker’s prison hell. But since Liam smashed the sword and got rid of the pieces, that wasn't possible. What was more likely was that one of the staff was playing games with him.
Theo's past wasn't a secret, and while most of the hostile staff quit when Sergio handed him the keys four months ago, there were still quite a few who didn't take kindly to Theo being in charge of them. He wouldn't put it past them to try and take advantage of a rare time he wasn't with one of his friends.
“Theo. I want what's mine.”
Still…. he knew all of his staff. None of them sounded like that. It was Tara. They might know about his sister, but none of them would know how she sounded. That horrible raspy tone was cold and menacing all at the same time. He could try and rationalize it all he wanted, but it was Tara. That was her voice. She was here. But how was she…
His phone buzzed in his hand, and he almost dropped it in surprise. His breathing slowed, and tense muscles relaxed as he looked at the picture on his Caller ID. He answered the call on speaker and felt better at the familiar heartbeat on the other end.
“Liam?”
“Theo, baby, what's wrong? You're panicking.”
“I,” Theo paused, looking around the dimly lit lot around him. There was nothing in sight. There were no other heartbeats than his own frantically paced pulse. “I heard… I think something is here with me. But I don’t see it… I don’t know… there’s something here.”
“Something? Something like what? Talk to me, sweetheart.”
“I keep hearing,” Theo’s breath hitched as he felt something brush against his neck. He whirled around but found nothing there. “Liam… something is here with me. I think it's Tara.”
He heard rustling and the sounds of Liam's car starting up. “Theo, listen to me. It cannot be Tara. Tara is only in your nightmares. And she's losing power there too, remember? You're tired, babe. Hayden told me you weren't sleeping much.”
“Hayden is a snitch,” Theo choked out, almost against his own will. He clutched the phone tighter as if he could latch onto the security and warmth that Liam provided through the line. “So I guess your surprise wasn't of the sexy variety.”
“Definitely not. It was of the make Theo rest or else variety,” Liam laughed. It was the laugh he had for Theo exclusively. The one that told the chimera that he was being an adorable idiot. Theo loved that laugh. “Though I was willing to pull out all the stops to make it happen.”
“You are very thorough,” Theo snorted in response. A lull in the conversation let him hear what was happening on Liam’s end of the phone... “Li, the sunshine of my life, are you seriously driving here right now?”
“Damn right I am, Theo, the moonlight of my heart. I'll meet you halfway. Core and Mase can pack up the food and save it for tomorrow. I’ll meet you at Scott’s place. You can park the truck there and ride home with me. They can either bring the truck home later, or we’ll get it on Monday. Doesn't matter.”
“Yeah,” Theo sighed. “That sounds like a good idea.”
Truth be told, he wasn't looking forward to the long drive back home even before he panicked and thought he heard his dead sister. He was so tired. And seeing his older brother sounded like a great idea. Scott wasn’t just his brother. He was his Alpha. He had a way of grounding Theo that even Liam couldn't achieve on his own. The more he thought about stopping at their place, the more he dreamed about melting into their too-comfortable sofa. Liam would carry him home. Wouldn't be the first time. It was part of the whole black dog soul mate thing. For better or for worse. Through exhaustion and panic attacks. Even in death, you won’t part.
Theo snickered at his ridiculous thoughts even as he found a renewed passion for getting in the truck. He finally rounded the corner that would take him to the front parking lot where staff parked their cars. Liam was mostly quiet on his end, humming along with the radio or occasionally hissing at someone else on the road. It was normal. And soon, he would be wrapped up in a quilt that somehow always smelled like the whole pack and listening to his brother and Isaac (who was practically his brother-in-law at this point) bicker and banter. Then Liam would be there, and everything would be…
“Theo.”
“T….”
“Wait, you heard that too?!”
“Theo, do you hear any heartbeats around you?”
Theo paused in his hasty trip to his truck. He blocked out the panic and fear to focus on heartbeats. He heard his own: frantic and loud thumping, Liam's steady but increasingly more nervous beat, and nothing else. Yet he heard the voice. So did Liam.
“Liam… I think something is wrong.”
“Nothing is wrong. You just have to get in your truck and then get to Scott and Isaac. I'll meet you there. It's okay.”
“You're lying,” Theo laughed, slightly hysterical.
As he got closer, he could smell sulfur, dampness, and decay. It was a nauseating odor that overwhelmed his senses. But he knew that smell. He remembered it. He remembered feeling Tara’s hands dragging him down while he begged, pleading for them to save him, and no one did. They abandoned him, and Tara dragged him down to hell. She was going to do it again. And there was no one there to save him again. Because they swore that this would never happen again. That he was safe and she would never come back. Yet she was here.
But it was still impossible. Liam broke the sword. Theo saw it. He saw him break it. He knows he got rid of the pieces because Liam would never lie to him. Not about something like this. And yet…
“The sword,” Theo said, staring at the bane of his existence, shiny and whole. It was stabbed into the ground a few feet away from his truck. A massive furrow in the pavement stopped him from moving forward to the sanctuary his truck promised. “The sword is here. Liam, the sword is here. It's open.”
“No, no! That's not possible. Theo, you saw me! I smashed it! I buried the pieces. I never told anyone where I buried them. It can’t be there”
“I know,” Theo sighed. And he did know. He knew Liam. The beta would never lie to him. But the reality was there separating him from his truck.“But it is. It's here, Liam. The sword is here.”
He felt a cold hand brush against his neck. He didn't bother to turn around or run away. He knew who it was. He knew this was never meant to be. He wasn't meant to keep this life. It was always going to end this way.
“Theo.”
He closed his eyes, body trembling as his sister's hands trailed from his neck, winding down around his shoulder towards the front. Her previously ghosting fingers landed solidly on his chest. She clutched his shirt and pulled him closer. He dropped the phone and bag he had been clutching in surprise. His eyes flew open to meet the dark, decaying specter that haunted his nightmares. He tried to pull away from the swollen, bloated flesh of her hands. The rotting smell that lingered in his mind even after all these years. Slowly his gaze drifted up to her face. Everything went forgotten as he stared at the face that haunted him standing before him.
“It's okay,” he whispered, his voice shaking. “You don't have to stop.”
Tara smirked, and Theo closed his eyes as the tight grip never lessened, her fingers digging deep into his flesh, all the while dragging him forward on stumbling legs until they were plunging over the edge together. He watched as the ground sealed above their head, and then the world went dark. He knew the next time he opened his eyes, he would be in the morgue, and the hunt would be on.