Chapter Text
The bestiary was more useful than they could ever imagine. Well for Stiles and Lydia especially, because they were the ones studying it.
It was Stiles who convinced the others to tell Lydia about the whole werewolf thing. When he learned that she could read archaic Latin, he could not stand there without telling her, because it meant she could translate the entire bestiary. Even if they were only interested in it for the Kanima in the first place, Stiles had thought about it and if there were others creatures than werewolves, they needed to know about them, to be ready in case one of them attacked.
Lydia took it remarkably well, and she seemed very excited at the idea of translating the book. Stiles was very excited too, mostly because that meant he got to spend quite some time alone with Lydia. But as soon as they started working, he forgot all about the little romantic scenario he imagined. Two exceptionally clever people in the same room working on the same thing they were both deeply interested in was quite a surprising scene. There were papers on the floors, schematics on the walls and lots of talking. Stiles’ father would not have believed that his son’s bedroom could be more messy than it already was, but Stiles looked like he was having fun and it had been a long time since he has seen the boy like that. Plus there was this lovely girl who came over almost every day, and he knew that Stiles had the biggest crush on her, so he was not going to complain. Or to ask about what they were actually doing…
“How many pages have we translated yet?”
“10? Almost everything about the werewolves and the kanima… After I’ve finished this page I’ll start the vampires.”
“Vampires?” Stiles said, raising one eyebrow. “Derek said vampires don’t exist.”
“Well maybe he just didn’t know about them. Or maybe they don’t exist anymore? Anyway, we still have a lot of pages to translate and classify so we better get back to work.” Lydia smiled.
At least once a week, Stiles met with Derek’s pack. They talked about the Argents mostly, what to expect of Gerard (never getting close to the truth of course), and the kanima problem. Then Stiles explained the new stuff they’ve discovered in the bestiary. Most of the things about the werewolves, Derek already knew them. The little information they had about the kanima were not really useful, but still. Then Stiles started talking about the vampires.
“So we’ve finished translating the part about the vampires and they seem pretty real to me. Apparently, the Argents even hunted some of them not so long ago because they made edits on the pages.”
There was a cold silence in the warehouse.
“But vampires aren’t real, right?” said Erica with a tiny voice, almost whispering.
Stiles sighed. How much he would have liked to believe Derek and the idea that only shape shifters were real. But they were quite advanced in their translation now and they had to face the facts. If werewolves were real, why wouldn’t any other supernatural creatures be?
So that night, when all the pack was leaving, and Stiles was walking toward his jeep, he was stopped by an hand on his shoulder.
“Derek. What is it? If I don’t leave now I will miss the curfew.” He said, exasperated.
He turned on his feet to face the alpha.
“If you still don’t believe me about the vampires...”
“No, actually it’s…”
Stiles looked suspiciously at Derek. He had never seen the guy with such a confused expression on his face. Or well, once, when they faced the kanima for the first time, so it wasn’t a very good sign.
“Listen, I still don’t totally believe you… But you need to translate this bestiary quickly. Maybe vampires don’t exist but that doesn’t mean that other creatures don’t. I…”
It was really intriguing, because Derek seemed really worried. He looked like each word had a hard time passing through his throat. Stiles didn’t need super werewolf senses to know that he was being serious.
“My mother. She told me once, when I was a kid that I needed to be careful, because there’s things out there, more dangerous and stronger than us. And I thought she meant the other shape shifters because I’ve always been warned about them. But maybe it was more…”
“Okay…”
For once, Stiles was speechless. It was weird, having Derek telling him something about his past. He never talked about his past. And certainly not his mother, no more than Stiles talked about his. And for a second, he couldn’t help but think about all the time she told him to be careful. She even gave him a tiny bottle of holy water. It was still in his room, along with a box of salt. He never understood the utility of these things. He just kept them because they were a memory of his mother, and because she believed it would keep him safe. From what, he never asked.
Somehow, Stiles started believing in fate, because almost every time they finished translating a part of the bestiary about a creature, they would hear about such creature being real in the following days.
Stiles promised himself to never get any pet after seeing the skinwalker. Hopefully this one was not dangerous. He will have a harder time forgetting about the rugaru. Or the Arachne, which he only saw the body, but still… He realized soon enough that there really was more in this world than they could imagine, and that half of it was dangerous. All those creatures were well hidden, but once you knew about them, you start noticing the small details that lead you to them. Hopefully, Beacon hills was quite calm because of the werewolves, but as it happened with the Arachne, sometimes some of them were found outside of town or in an abandoned building. Anyway, the pack was still busy with the kanima, trying to find its master, and there was the Argents, who apparently, despite being specialized in werewolves, had a past of hunting all kind of monsters.
“OK, it’s over for today.” Lydia announced while standing up. “I’ll start translating the next part tomorrow because it’s big. There must be 30 pages about that. I don’t know what it is…”
“I don’t think it can be scarier than the wendigo. I hope we never encounter one of those. Hopefully they don’t live here at all…” said Stiles, piling up papers.
“Oh, maybe not scarier, but more dangerous, that is very possible.” She observed.
Stiles looked at her with wide eyes then sighed. “Stop talking bad luck. See you tomorrow.”
The next morning when Stiles arrived at school, late as usual, he was not expecting all the police cars and ambulances. Scott ran toward him, followed by Allison. All the students and personnel were outside the school, and the principal, Gerard, was talking with the policemen. He was agitated, and his face was way more expressive than usual.
“Dude! What happened?” he asked Scott after shaking his head to make sure it wasn’t a dream.
“I don’t know! A guy started attacking another with a fucking knife. There’s blood everywhere in the corridor. They’re not dead but one is bleeding a lot and the other seems burned. Like, I was just there, I saw his face! That was the strangest thing ever. Didn't looked human at all. The other guy punched him and sent him face against the lockers and he started screaming like hell and hold his face in his hands. Then the cops arrived.”
Stiles searched in his head everything they’ve read in the bestiary as fast as he could. What kind of creature would burn by…
“Scott, what are the lockers made of?”
Scott looked at him, surprised.
“What? The lockers? I don’t know. Metal? I don’t know which kind though. Probably Iron.”
Stiles sat on the ground, followed by Scott and Allison who tried not to be seen by her grandfather, but he was too busy talking to the cops.
“So you’re sure this student wasn’t human Scott?”
“Well, except if a human face can start burning out of nothing, yes.”
“I don’t think it’s out of nothing. Are you sure that the other guy didn’t sprayed something in his face? Like pepper?”
“Stiles, man, I’m a werewolf, and even if I wasn’t, I was close. The guy’s face hit the lockers, then he started screaming and there was even this little smoke… But I know he wasn’t human. I could feel it. I’m sure of it.”
“OK. So we have a problem.”
At the same time, Gerard’s voice resonated in the school sound system, announcing that school was suspended for the day, considering the number of student who witnessed the bloody fight and would need at least a day of rest. Stiles stood up and walked toward his jeep, followed by his friends. As he opened the door, he rubbed his head, looked at Scott then at Allison with a desperate face.
“Allison, try to learn as much as possible from Gerard. I’m sure he knows something. Scott, warn Derek and the pack that there is another supernatural scary thing in town. I’m going to call Lydia and we’re going to search into the bestiary for anything with the word iron… I’ll call you as soon as I’ve found something OK?”
“Oh, Lydia, thank god you answered!”
Stiles was driving toward his house quite slowly because he was half concentrated on what to say to Lydia.
“Were you at school?”
“Yes yes but I couldn’t even enter with all the cars. I tried to find you but there were too many people so I decided to go home. I was sure someone would call me if things were bad. So what happened?”
“A guy face burned at the contact of metal. Not something we know of. Have you started translating the next pages?”
“Yes I did. You won’t believe me when I’ll tell you what it’s about. Seriously. I think this one is a joke because this is definitely not possible.”
“Go on! Nothing can surprise me now! I’m even starting to believe in faeries…”
There was a silence at the other end of the phone. Stiles started accelerating as he arrived close to his house.
“Demons.”
“WHAT?” he choked. For a second, he lost control of his jeep and almost ended up in the side of the road but recovered soon enough.
“ARE YOU SERIOUS?”
“Yes I am. I told you it was crazy. I looked quickly but I don’t think there’s anything about angels though. “
“OK, can you come to my house now?”
“Oh I’m sorry, I can’t. But I’ll work here. I’m sending you what I translated by email. It’s not so much but it’s a beginning. And I’ll send you every page I’ve translated OK?”
Stiles parked his car and ran to his room, not taking the time to take off his shoes or anything. He threw his bag on his bed and jumped on his seat in front of his desk, almost falling doing so. He opened Lydia’s email. It was just a few sentences but as she said, it’s a beginning.
Stiles couldn’t quite believe what he was reading. Actually, he didn’t believe it at all, but he tried too. He had learned with time not to be fooled by the extraordinariness of a creature. He had made this rule: “It exists until proven of the contrary”. Better to be prepared for something that doesn’t exist than not being prepared for something that does. But demons, really? Children of Lucifer apparently, tortured soul in hell who lost all their humanity. Before he knew it, he was searching the whole house for a bible. He knew his mother had one, even if she wasn’t religious. From the living room, he heard his phone alert telling him he got an email. Again, he ran to his room, spent another five minutes searching for his phone under the tonne of paper that strew his bedroom floor, finally found it, realized he could have looked up his emails on his computer, swore and opened the files Lydia has sent him.
Naturally, Scott didn’t answer his phone, neither did Allison. It was time to try who Stiles has been trying to avoid for the past hour: Derek. Strangely, Stiles was a bit anxious about it. He’s never called Derek before. It was always like that with the alpha. You can never guess how he’s going to react. Stiles had never met someone as unpredictable as Derek. He’s quite good at reading people, usually. It’s something he’s always been doing. Looking, analyzing, and trying to understand how other people work because obviously they don’t work like him. It’s like his brain is going too fast. It has something to do with his ADHD, he supposes. Anyway, the problem with Derek is that he doesn’t know what to expect of him. With Scott, it’s easy. He knows exactly how far he can go, how much he can push him before he breaks. With Derek, he has no idea. At first the guy scared him, and he still does sometimes. But some other times it’s almost like he’s nice. And he cares, in his own way, about his pack. Stiles also noticed that he seemed to be almost as talented as him with sarcasm (but no one is as sarcastic as him.). Stiles decided that Derek was in fact two people. The person he really is and the alpha he thinks he should be. Which, in Stiles’ opinion, is not very good for his mental stability. And right at this moment, Stiles didn’t have any idea at how Derek would react to the announcement that demons were real. But since he didn’t really had a choice, he pressed the call button and waited.
He didn’t notice it was this late already. The sun was setting slowly, darkening a sky already covered in clouds. He would not be surprised if a thunderstorm burst during the night. He was sitting on his bed, facing another pile of papers, his computer and the bottle of holy water and salt he had from his mother. Questions surged in his head, another and another, never stopping, each one leading to another, more complex, and none came with an answer. Why did his mother gave him that? Did she knew about demons? Does his dad know? The Argents? Do salt and holy water and iron work? How many are there, what do they want, why didn’t he heard about them sooner? Is he going crazy for actually starting to believe in it? And Derek wasn’t answering either, of course. He put the phone next to him, letting it ring. He’s been working on the bestiary all day, searching and searching again for confirmations, details, mythological background, everything he could find. He almost forgot to eat, which was the ultimate proof of how concentrated he was. He checked the time, and decided that it was time he cooked something. As usual, his father was not going to come home early. He put the phone on his pocket and headed to the kitchen.
Just as he entered the kitchen, the lights went out. Stiles stood still for a moment before starting to search for a lighter. There must have been one in the kitchen; he vaguely remembered seeing it not so long ago. But as soon as he moved, a violent gust of wind opened the window. Now it was getting scary. Slowly reaching for a meat knife and grabbing it, Stiles turned on himself, trying to distinguish something in the darkness.
“Derek?” he softly called. He was used to find the werewolf waiting in the darkness of his room, but this was a whole new level of creepiness.
“Who’s there?” he tried, a little louder.
A grinding warned him that the door was being opened. He could hear a heavy breathing, and footsteps.
Calm down. Calm down! It’s not the moment to have a panic attack! Come on, Stiles! You have a big knife in one hand and your phone ready to call the cops, it's going to be fine. He hold his phone in his hand but did not dare trying to call since it would make a light and warn the intruder that he was here. He had a choice. Either facing the intruder with his not-so-big-but-still-dangerous kitchen knife or hiding and hoping that he won’t be found. Unfortunately, he has never been a patient person. Stiles took a deep breath and jumped in the corridor, right face to the intruder.
“WHO ARE YOU?” he yelled as he was pointing the knife toward the person, who, strangely, was backed against the wall and seemed to be… bleeding?
At that instant, the lights came back, and Stiles found himself facing an obviously injured boy around his age… The boy from the fight! Stiles didn’t know him but he had very bright hair that no one could miss. They both stood still, staring at each other with deep incomprehension. The boy was bleeding from his nose, mouth and ears but didn’t look like he was harmed anywhere else. The only light was coming from the kitchen, so they were still in a soft darkness and Stiles couldn’t really see his face. He doubted that the student could do him any harm in his state, but he kept his distance, still brandishing the knife.
“What do you want? What happened to you?” Stiles asked, trying to look menacing and scary but probably failing as he never looked menacing or scary not matter how hard he tried.
“You’re the… boy… with the wolves… Aah…”
He was breathing painfully, holding himself like he was trying not to fall, and digging his fingernails in his arms as if the pain would help him not to faint.
At the word “wolves”, Stiles took a step back. How could he know about the werewolves? Stiles didn’t knew him, except from seeing him once in a while at school, he was older, didn’t play lacrosse, and they had never talked. He didn’t even knew his name! This was becoming really weird. Since werewolves had been mentioned, he couldn’t call the cops anymore. He hesitated a second before trying to call Scott, holding the phone in his hand as it rang, never stopping starring at the injured boy.
“The boy is… dying…” Stiles heard a whisper.
“What?”
“He can’t… support me…”
“What are you talking about? Who?”
“This… body, you idiot!”
Stiles stopped moving, eyes and mouth wide open. What the hell was he talking about?
“Hell you’re slow… You should know… about this… huh kind of things… With the werewolves and… all…” As he talked, he has started moving toward Stiles, slowly, still supporting himself against the wall. As he moved, Stiles stepped back, still holding the knife in front of him. Suddenly, the boy was in the light and Stiles could see his face, clearly. There was blood on his neck and shirt, and his face was partly burned and his eyes. His eyes were black. Completely, entirely, black.
“WH-WHA-WHAT THE HELL?”
“A friend of the… werewolves… How lucky… am I…” The demon whispered as he fell on the floor. Stiles was not moving. He didn’t dare. So they were real and one has just trespassed on his house, at night, when he was alone and powerless and couldn’t even access the kitchen to find salt. Hopefully, he’s read a lot of thing during the day, but at the same time, it was not very reassuring to know how demons can possess human bodies. And obviously this body was not doing his host job very well. He checked his phone quickly only to notice that of course, Scott still wasn’t answering his phone. You’re alone in this, buddy. And this time, I don’t know what’s going to save your ass. He swallowed hard, closed his eyes for a second, trying to calm his heart beat accelerating with the panic, and said:
“You’re a demon.”
“Clever… boy…” The demon answered, with a small grin drawing on his host’s face.
“What do you want from me? Why me?”
“I just ran to the… first house I saw… from the truck…
“A truck?”
That, Stiles could do, talking. If he kept the demon talking long enough, maybe someone would come. He tried, discreetly, to call Derek. Against such creature, he doubted that anyone but the alpha would have some kind of power.
“The hunters… they were transporting… Huh me…” He coughed some more blood.
“The hunters…? The Argents? They know about… Oh. The bestiary. Of course they know. How could have I been so blind? BUT that’s not the point here! What do you want? I know you creatures are evil and I’m not going to let you sweet talk me into doing whatever you want me to do.”
The demon looked quite surprised, but stayed silent. So Stiles decided it was time to use his main argument, being the knife in his hand.
“See this lovely knife here? It’s a memory from my grand-father. Quite old, really and all made in, guess what? Iron! I understood that you demon didn’t like that thing a lot… So if you try to do anything, I’ll stick this into this boy stomach, which I also understood would kill you.”
He was quite proud of his little speech. It was mostly a lie, he had no idea where the knife came from and if it was in iron or not, but that didn't change the fact that he wouldn't hesitate to stab the demon if needed. From the demon’s wide eyes (if you could call them wide, since they were all black, it was hard to tell.), it made its effect. Except that he started laughing.
“You’re quite a… clever boy… Aren’t you… I can’t do any… thing in this state… They made me eat… salt. I’m already dying… and the other demons they… are searching for… me… I am a… deserter…”
« “What are you deserting from?” Stiles started to ask. Questions scrambled around his head. He was thinking so fast it almost hurt.
“The... war… obviously.”
That was new. The government would know, if a war was happening on American soil, certainly. They wouldn’t hide it. But did the government knew about all the supernatural creatures who walk the earth? More questions burst into Stiles’s head. He swallowed before talking, afraid that if he did not take his time, he would start asking about everything that went through his mind and wouldn’t be able to stop.
“OK demon. I have a lot of questions for you, but your answers aren’t more important than my life, because it might not look like it, but I don’t hold the idea of dying now dear in my heart. So tell me quickly why I shouldn’t kill you right now before I decide to do it.”
“You do realize… That if you… Kill me you will… Kill that Boy… too…”
Stiles felt a little upset at those words. Of course he thought about it. Unfortunately for the demon, hanging out with werewolves had changed his priorities. Sometimes, he felt horrible for being able to think these kinds of things. Like... Whising that they could just kill Jackson, for example.
Jackson had bullied him since they met each other, when they were kids, and he wouldn’t miss it. If it was not for the fact that he was a clever human being and was sure Jackson’s death would bring a whole new lot of problems… There was also Lydia, who was so obviously and desperately still in love with Jackson and Stiles would never do that to her. He still cared about her. But this boy, this total stranger who was already dying, against his own life? It would be self-defense anyway. After all, he had trespassed in his house in the middle of the night. He had to do something before his father came back.
He jumped back and hit the wall when the door suddenly opened, revealing a rather furious Derek, eyes glowing red, teeth and fangs out, looking straight to Stiles. Slowly, his gaze followed the blood stains, to finally arrive to the boy. The alpha put his hand against his nose with a disgusted face. Stiles and the demon starred at him, but with very different expression. While Stiles looked confused, the demon seemed to be rather pleased. Walking toward Stiles, Derek coughed and grumbled.
“Stiles. This… This isn’t human. And it smells death.”
“I know” Stiles replied, raising his eyebrows. “It’s a… You won’t believe me. It’s a demon.”
Exactly when he said that, the demon’s eyes became black again, and a huge grin appeared on his host body’s face.
“A pleasure to… Meet you… Alpha…”
Derek stood still, mouth half open and eyes wide. His expression changed with his thought and after a moment, he sighed and turned to face Stiles.
“You got to be kidding me…”
Before there could be any debate about whether or not Stiles was becoming crazy or that it was a very bad joke, Derek had asked what could keep the demon from arming them, and as soon as Stiles answered ‘Salt’, the werewolf had ran to the kitchen and came back with several salt pots that he dispersed all around the demon who was still grinning and sometimes muttering things like ‘clever, very clever’ or ‘impressive’. Finally Derek had decided they were safe for now and that Stiles could explain to him what exactly happened.
“I guessed something was weird when you called but all I could hear was muffled voices. Then I smelled the blood, and it is not how blood usually smell. I could tell it wasn’t human. And there were hunters’ cars everywhere, I was not sure I could make it to your house! And now you’re telling me that this… demon came here by chance? I don’t know how you even do that. It’s always you! If one hopeless teenager must find himself in trouble it’s you!”
Apparently, Derek had stopped worrying and was rather angry. It made Stiles laugh. It was quite reassuring, because it meant that they were safe enough for Derek not to have all his attention on the demon. Stiles had explained as simply as he could what happened. After all, the demon was already dying when he entered the house. And now he apparently had passed out, or was sleeping possibly, but his eyes were closed and he wasn’t moving anymore. Only the rough sound of his breath showed that he was still alive.
“Well it’s not my fault if I was born with ‘Welcome dangerous supernatural beings, I exist only to be your perfect victim’ tattooed on my forehead!” (Stiles was only half kidding when he said that because, really, sometimes, it was just as if.) “Now it would be nice to find what to do with him before my father comes back, please. I don’t know how I’m going to explain so many blood stains on the floor. That shit doesn’t go away easily, you know!”
Derek crossed his arms. He had literally no idea what to do. He’d just learned that demons existed, how was he supposed to know what to do? He wasn’t even sure brute force was of any use against them. And most – not to say all- of his plans included brute force. Stiles was the plan guy, usually. It surprised him, how natural it had become, to have Stiles around, making plans, doing the research… Apparently, the kid had spent the whole day researching about demons. Derek was slowly realizing that Stiles was part of his pack, maybe even more than Scott. Scott’s loyalty was to Allison, and at first, Derek thought Stiles’ loyalty was to Scott until he realized that it had evolved when Scott had made the Argent girl his priority. Strangely, he couldn’t quite discern Stiles. Yet, having him around, and doing the brain storming before possibly dangerous events had become normal. When he got Stiles weird phone call, he didn’t hesitate a minute.
“I say I kill him now.”
He drew out his claws, but Stiles jumped between him and the demon.
“No no no! No more blood here! Have you seen the state of this corridor? My dad is going to ground me for the rest of my life, and that’s considering I find a proper excuse to give him. I agree with the killing, but let’s find a clean way to do it, OK?”
The wolf stepped back, exasperated.
“Right.”
“I was thinking… Salt or holy water. Apparently it’s salt that put him in this state. He’s already dying. We have to thanks the Argents for that apparently!”
But the demon’s breath was less rough than a few minutes earlier, and it crossed Derek’s mind that he might have a few healing powers like him. They had to kill him before he regained his full powers – whatever those might be.
“OK, whatever! But do it quick!”
He observed the boy running to the first floor, and coming back with a bottle of what was supposed to be holy water, while giving quick looks to the bloody body next to him. Stiles had a proud smile on his face that meant ‘This thing is finally going to be of some use!’.
Then Stiles had the very bad idea to jump the last stair, and landed on a drop of blood that happened to be big enough to make him lose his balance. He dropped the bottle of water and Derek was fast enough to catch it before it hit the ground, but not to catch Stiles as he fell directly on the demon.
“Aouch!”
“Stiles are you—“
Suddenly, Derek found himself hitting the wall behind him with violence. He shifted with the shock, and glared at Stiles whose eyes expressed perfectly all his anxiety and incomprehension. Then he saw the demon’s black eyes. They were open. And he had a satisfactory smile then was not reassuring at all. The bloodied hand grabbed Stiles shirt.
“How nice… of you…”
Neither Derek nor Stiles could move. The alpha looked around him with incomprehension. Then… Oh. Of course. How could he miss that? The demon seemed to notice that he just understood and started laughing.
The salt circle. It was broken.
Derek was laying on the floor, still unable to move. He growled, but that was all he could do. Stiles, who was still being held by the demon, looked at him helplessly. This was not good. Derek had no idea what was going on. The teenager didn’t had the time to explain anything about demons. If only he had answered his phone... He tried to move, but the demon noticed and pushed him again the wall again. Grunting with pain, the alpha tried to determine what could the demon do. The most logical option would be to kill them. Being this powerless, this vulnerable, was not usual for Derek, and he could feel the anger grow inside him. He would not die without fighting. Then he heard a muffled voice.
“Derek!”
And saw the black smoke coming from the demon’s host body’s mouth. And Stiles’s desperate eyes.
The smoke started enveloping Stiles and suddenly went into the teenager’s mouth. Derek heard a choking sound, as he could not see Stiles clearly with all the weird black smoke around him. But it was quickly disappearing, Stiles swallowing it painfully, crying with pain. Then Derek noticed that the grip of the demon was gone and he could finally move, but it was too late already. Stiles had swallowed all of the black smoke.
Stiles put his hands on his face, shoulders moving as he was sobbing. The body of the boy the demon had been using was laying on the ground and Derek could feel he was dead. Nothing they could do here. He got up slowly, starring at Stiles. Something was not right, definitely not. He took a step toward the boy, and stopped. God, he hoped he was wrong. He had to be wrong, because he had no idea what he would do next if he wasn’t. Taking a deep breath, he took another step forward.
“Stiles.”
“Oh hello there!”
The voice was Stiles’s, but the tone was not. Stiles – Stiles’ body really – turned to face Derek, but he was still hiding his face with his hands. This time, Derek took a step back. Oh fuck... Stiles moved his hands and looked at Derek, he looked and his eyes were entirely black.
“I was really planning to die there but I couldn’t let go of this occasion. God this body is sure nice!” Stiles’s voice said as his body stood up, observing himself with a grinning face.
Derek stood still, staring. Of course he was right. He rarely was, but when it happened, this had to be the one time he wished he wasn’t.
“You took control of Stiles’s body.” He articulated, because he had no idea what else he could say except stating the obvious.
The demon smiled widely.
“Obviously. What a clever werewolf you make! This boy is very clever you know? Usually we avoid too clever hosts, because you have to be clever too if you don’t anyone to notice that it’s not the same person anymore, but in my situation, it’s the least of my worries, and I do love clever people!”
“What do you plan to do with him?” Derek asked trough his teeth, his voice rough, cold, the anger building up inside him trying to break trough his skin, and his eyes glowing red with rage.
“I’m not planning to kill him right now. I don’t plan to kill you either, by the way. First, you’re a werewolf, and I’m a week low-class demon, and second, I hate fighting. It’s tiring and not interesting at all. And this body is definitely not made for fighting anyway, so right now, I’m planning on having a bit of a sit up, enjoy the fact that I am still alive and have a nice little conversation with this boy because he’s yelling inside there.”
Stiles’s face was still covered with a smile. Derek showed his fangs.
“I could kill you right now. Expel you out of his body.”
“Oh as if you know how to do that! I know the boy didn’t have the time to explain anything to you! You are quite useless here I’m afraid.”
Derek looked at the demon, then at the covered-with-salt ground, then at the demon again.
Stiles’s smile faded. “Oh.”
“Yes. So you better leave now before I make you.”
“Oh come on! Can’t you leave me alone for a minute!” The demon yelled, exasperated, raising Stiles’s hands in front of him. “It’s not like I plan to kill anyone. I don’t want to make deals, to steal souls, to put curses on people or anything, I just want to stay alive, is that hard to understand?”
Standing still, but claws and fangs out, Derek followed Stiles – Stiles’s body as we walked in circle sighing deeply. He had to get the demon out of there. He couldn’t let such a creature take possession of anyone body. Especially the body of someone he knew. The body of someone from his pack.
He had always been conscious that having Stiles around was dangerous for everyone. Stiles was weak, even for a human, and there’s some situation you can’t get out of with talking. Derek knew that the moment he started considering Stiles as a member of his pack he was making complicated things even more complicated. Stiles as pack meant that Derek would not hesitate to risk his life in order to save Stiles’s, as he’d do with any of the betas. But Stiles had more chance to find himself in a dangerous situation than the others, and considering the boy’s personality, it always had to be this kind situation. The worst kind. I should have told him to stay away. I was not – am not strong enough to keep a human in the pack. Not yet. But he couldn’t. Having Stiles around, working with him had become natural. Stiles had always been here, since the beginning, with Scott, and Derek could not tell him to leave. They needed him. And it was hard for Derek to admit it, but he enjoyed Stiles’s company. The simple fact that a human accepted being around him knowing he is a werewolf and not minding at all, to the point of daring to provoke him when he felt Derek was being unfair - that was new, and quite nice. Not being a monster, for once. So Derek wasn’t going to let Stiles in this demon’s hands. He was going to take the boy back and make the demon see hell. Literally.
Suddenly, the atmosphere changed. Stiles coughed, putting a hand to his throat and tried to talk, but his eyes went from black to... Normal.
“Derek” Stiles whispered with a broken voice.
And immediately, the werewolf knew that it was really Stiles.
“Stiles what the he—“ But he couldn’t finish, because Stiles started coughing again, but as Derek came next to him, he smiled as if to say it was all right. Which, Derek could obviously see, was a lie.
“I don’t think I can stay in control a long time... The demon, I can feel him in my head. He’s angry but... I was expecting him to be stronger or just more, I don’t know, evil? He’s desperate, I can feel it.”
“Stiles. What should we do?”
“Exorcise him. Maybe. Ask Lydia, she knows what to do, it’s all in the bestiary. You’ll have to keep me – us – locked somewhere because... I don’t think he’ll like the idea of going back to hell.”
“Ok, I, er, just... Is it safe?”
“What?”
“For you? Will it hurt you?”
Stiles laughed but it made him cough, and Derek noticed the hint of despair in his voice. Of course, with a creature of hell, it’s a whole new level of safety – from safe from getting hurt to safe from an army of demons or the apocalypse or anything of the kind. And safety has never been Stiles priority. His own safety. Which was the problem, because Derek knew that Stiles would be ready to sacrifice himself to protect the people dear to him, his father, Scott, Lydia and Allison... Stiles knows that Derek knows that he is a self-sacrifying idiot, so Derek suppose that he also knows that Derek won’t let him do anything stupid like killing himself in order to kill the demon.
“I... I don’t know. I don’t care. The demon is weak now, so you must act quickly. Just do what you need to—“ He started coughing more and more, and as his breathing became worse, his legs went wobbly and he fell on the floor. When he looked at Derek his eyes were black.
“What the hell is the kid?” the demon said, sounding annoyed and angry.
Before he could say anything else, Derek was on him, hands on Stiles’s throat, claws digging into the pale skin of his neck, fangs all out and eyes glowing red.
“You are not going anywhere, or doing anything.” Derek grunted.
Then he knocked him out.
The place the demon woke up in was dark, cold and wet. The first thing he noticed was the drawing on the ceiling upside him. Of course. Clever guys. So they locked him in anyway they could, he thought as he noticed the metal bars. The only light came from a tiny hole in the ceiling outside the cage. The walls and ground were made of rocks, and he could see a burnt metal bed next to him that he unfortunately couldn’t sit on, because his legs were starting to hurt. He wondered how long he has been here, but supposed it couldn’t have been more than a few hours, because it was still the night. Certainly they couldn’t keep him locked here all day. After all, the kid, Stiles, had a life of his own, and can’t just disappear like that. The hunters would immediately suspect the werewolves. But the hunters possibly can’t know the werewolves know about me… They must think I’m dead. It would be nice if they thought that because that’s one threat I don’t have to worry about anymore. He massaged his head – Stile’s head – and looked around him. They hadn’t left him to rot here, they had to be near. He wasn’t going to wait patiently until they came to kill him.
“I haven’t been enduring all that for so long to die at the end of a pack of teenage werewolves!” he said out loud, because the silence was starting to irritate him.
He wasn’t expecting an answer.
“I’d prefer not to die at the end of a pack of incompetent teenage werewolves too if you don’t mind.”
“What the—“
“Yes, that me, in here. Still alive, still conscious even though I can’t do anything, I can still hear and see what is happening and also feel, by the way, I’ll have to say something to Derek about this blow, my head hurts!”
“Oh god…”
“So Mister demon, I was thinking, since you’re the only one I can talk to and we’re locked in a very gloomy cage, and also probably going to die very soon, why not talk? Because, you know, I could feel that you’re very desperate and I was wondering why so?”
“You don’t sound very scared to me, boy – what’s your name already?”
“Stiles.”
“Right, Stiles, so you’re trapped inside your own body, said body is being controlled by an evil creature from hell, and by some miracle you’re still conscious. Usually souls go to sleep you know. Or we have fun with them. Do you realize that I could torture you beyond your imagination?”
“Well you haven’t tortured me yet?”
“Don’t push me.”
“You’re a bit weird for a demon you know. You really don’t sound evil or scary at all. Also, you’re not very strong, that’s a bit obvious. My friend the werewolf you saw yesterday? That’s strong. Also, me. Maybe my body is weak, but I’m not in control of it right now. My mind though, it’s kind of like an engine working full speed. And I’m ready to use it to fight if I need to.”
“You’re really talkative aren’t you?”
“Yep! So, are you going to explain to me what’s happening in the magical word of biblical creatures?”
The demon stayed silent. He must be funny to see from the outside, talking to himself. That’s why they didn’t like the clever ones! Not that this demon followed orders and traditions to the word. Following is boring and dangerous. Or so he thought. As the kid said, demons are supposed to be evil and to like to hurt people. He, he was a poor excuse for a demon. He was lazy, or so he’s been told. The war, he wanted nothing to have with it, he really couldn’t care less. He was nice and cozy in a body he’d been in for years, girlfriend, family, cool job, collecting a soul or two from time to time so the others left him alone, etc. Then the girlfriend decided to go to California to see her cousin and when they stopped at a motel for the night, there were hunters everywhere! They were obviously not expecting a demon so it went all right but they drove to the same direction as him. That’s when he started being curious. What would so many hunters have to do in a little town in California? He reacted when he heard the name ‘Hale’ because of course, he knew about the fire. Any demon who has been to California during the past 6 years knew about the Hale fire. They were all quite enchanted to know that a human could be this evil. Also, the Hale pack used to be really powerful at a time, and all this talk about a new alpha only fueled his curiosity. Only, at some point, the girlfriend was start to be a bit too loud and questioning, and the hunters noticed him.
How he did not die, he had no idea. Everything happened so fast, and before he knew it, he was searching frenetically for a new meatsuit. Poor random boy who had just stepped out of his car to see where the gunfire came from. He didn’t saw it coming either. After that, he only trusted his instinct. Actually, he trusted them a bit too much because he found himself in a school that was stinking of werewolf without being able to control his anger, and ended up in a car full of hunters trying to make him tell what he was planning to do here. Of course, the answer ‘I was just curious!’ wasn’t enough. So as soon as he could, he ran. The rest is history.
“Oh. Well. And I thought I was the one who got not luck!”
“Oh shut up!”
“So basically you’re just a random demon who wanted to know what was happening with the werewolves here? Well good job dude, you just got caught in the middle of it!”
Yes, the demon had noticed that, he was not that stupid.
“By the way. Does the demon have a name? I hope it’s pronounceable, not one of those old Christian names or one like mine.”
“Only the oldest demons have strange names, and they don’t possess useless teenagers like you. I’m Thomas.”
“Hm. Boring name for a boring demon.”
The kid was starting to be very annoying. That was not how he was supposed to react. He admitted he was not a very impressive demon and the fact that Stiles has been hanging around werewolves had to make him less scared but still… He – They were going to die.
“You realize you’re going to die? Not a bit scared or anything, really?” Thomas asked with Stiles’s voice.
“I’ve been expecting to die at any moment since my useless best friend got bitten by a stupid psycho werewolf. I’m scared 24/7.”
Thomas looked at the symbol on the ceiling. He’s been sitting on the same position for hours now and Stiles legs were really hurting. The cage was still silent. No sign of any of the werewolves anywhere. Stiles had gone silent in his head. It must be weird, being fully conscious but not being able to control your own body. He wondered what he was like for Stiles’s soul, where he was, if he had a mouth to speak or if he was just thinking… He’s been a demon for quite some time now, but he still had a lot of things to learn. He was a curious being after all. However every single time he followed his instinct and let his curiosity take control, he ended up dead, in hell, as a demon, then trapped and ready to go back to hell. If it was not for the stupid apocalypse…
“What do you think of that?” Stiles’s voice resonated in his head.
“Of what?”
Stiles chuckled.
“You can’t hear what I think!”
It was definitely the strangest thing that ever happened to Stiles. It was like… Like darkness. Like infinite darkness. Everything around was black. He could see himself, but nothing more. There was no light, no change in the infinity that was possibly the inside of his soul. Or something like that, he could only guess. The weirdest thing possibly was that he could see, hear and feel what his body saw, heard and felt. But it was inside his head. Actually, that was the strangest thing, because if he was inside his physical head, and still had a head here – wherever it was – then it meant he has two heads. Head-ception. Creepy.
Stiles never thought he’d be conscious. The moment he had realized that the demon was going to use his body as a vessel, he had been sure it would be like dying. Because he was going to die, in the end, but he would have preferred not to have to endure the long agony of not being in control of his body. He had a short blank right after the demon possessed him. He remembered Derek’s face. He had an expression he’d never seen on the alpha before. A mix of fear and worry, and something like panic, hidden behind his cold grumpy face. Then opened his eyes to the darkness and heard the demon laugh.
It’s funny how glad he was that it’s been Derek who came. How safer he had felt. He knew that Derek would protect him, as much as he could. It was something he had only started to realize, that pattern of how they kept saving each other life. Stiles had started to admit that he trusts Derek. He trusts him to keep him, and the pack, and everyone around him safe, or at least to do his best to keep them safe. Stiles’s pretty sure he’s the only one who noticed that part of Derek. Even after things calmed down with the Argent, Derek didn’t get rid of his cold-grumpy-alpha-werewolf armor, and it did not surprise Stiles, because if he had a past like Derek’s, he would never let his guard down. But he noticed, the tiny details that no one realize are important, or the ones so obvious even Derek don’t realize that he’s actually proving that he cares. Like coming to Stiles’s house in the middle of the night because he heard Stiles’s breathe on the phone and it sounded weird. Or trying to convince Stiles not to sacrifice himself. As if I has going to listen to that, he smiled.
Derek had stayed silent as they brought Stiles's unconscious body into the basement of the Hale house. Even if the cages had been built for werewolves, he had not been sure that it could handle a demon. Hopefully for him, Lydia had been doing her research. Still, it didn't mean they were safe. That Stiles was safe. Lydia, he had seen again a demonstration of her intelligence, had brought her computer with her, and put it in front of the cage Stiles was in. At least they could see Stiles now, without being close to him. Derek had forbidden the pack to come close to him, despite Scott's protestations. There was no way he would risk another of member of his pack's life. He was going to get Stiles out of this. To get the demon out of Stiles's body. He had to.
“He's awake!”
That was Scott's voice. Derek had been sitting, eyes closed, in front of the computer. He opened his eyes slowly, took a deep breath and stared at the screen. He didn't know what he expected. Stiles's eyes were still black.
“Where are you with the exorcism?” He asked Lydia. She had explained how it worked, and thought that she could do it, but she couldn't be sure Stiles would get out of it unarmed. Despite that, Derek agreed to let her learn it. They might have no other option at some point.
He wished that Stiles was here. Stiles would have a plan, certainly crazy, obviously dangerous for himself, but he always had a plan. He'd knew what to do that would be the best for everyone, because he cared about them. Sometimes, Derek thought that Stiles even cared about him. He was such an idiot.
Lydia arrived from the kitchen with several bottles of holy water that she had found god-knows-where. He stood up and met her eyes. It was time.
“Lydia and I are going down.” he told Scott, Isaac, Erica and Boyd. “You four are staying there, if something goes wrong, you'll see it on the computer or hear it. Kept your phones near you.”
Scott's eyes turned gold.
“I want to talk to him! I want to be here! He's my best friend!”
“And that's why you're not going. If we have...” He breathed heavily. “If we have to hurt him in order to make the demon leave, you'll react badly and mess the whole thing up. You're not going.”
“If you hurt him...” Scott grunted.
“If I have to hurt him for him to live, I will. And believe me, I'll hate it. But if it means saving his life, I'll do it.”
It was certainly a bit too much, but at least Scott went silent.
Lydia took a bag containing some stuff (Derek had no idea what it was for) and several books. She put a hand on his shoulder, and only then he realized how tense he was, and that he was fighting not to let his claws out.
“Let's go.” She said sweetly. He glared at the pack on last time before going into the depths of his house.