ILLUSION, ELI HALE

twenty-one | the girl & the gang

Malia and her mini-shadow ran inside the Sheriff's station after the older woman haphazardly parked in the lot—just nearly colliding with a trash can. It was early in the morning, but still a bit confusing as to why the station parking lot was near-empty. Walking into the station only brought more questions. The place was abandoned. Sheriff personnel were nowhere to be seen.

"Maybe it's just a coincidence," Nadia said to Malia with a nervous look that contradicted her statement. "What are the odds everyone chose to take a sick day?"

As they walked through the halls, Nadia felt a chill run down her spine. She'd been in the Station before; her most recent time the other day thanks to the "stolen Jeep" situation. Then, the establishment had been busy and noisy. The place was filled with phone calls, conversations, and station personnel on duty. Now, she could hear her own footsteps echoing down the corridor. This was not normal, indeed.

Malia, who'd been the line leader, stopped at the end of the hallway. It lead to the jail. She'd not even walked into the jail before responding. Some part of her supernatural instincts were telling her something fishy was going on.

"I'd say very low. Close your eyes and walk the other way."

"What?"

Letting curiosity fuel her instincts rather than what Malia ordered her to do, Nadia peeked into the jail. Lying on the floor was a Deputy. He was an Asian man but was clearly lifeless. His body had been twisted in an inhumane way, eyes still open in fear of who had killed him. Nadia then decided to cover her eyes with her hands, much too late to have been scarred for life. Nightmare fuel, that was.

"Jesus, Malia!" Nadia had to hold in her gag. That was terrifying. "Why didn't you tell me there was a dead body on the floor!?"

"I warned you," Malia responded with a shrug, leading Nadia down the opposite way of the Station, where the offices were.

As Nadia tried to take her mind off of the dead man on the Jail floor, she thought about the empty station. Something must have happened for him to have not been found by now. It didn't look like the man was dead for days, but it definitely had been hours. Where was everyone? Had they all been taken by the Oni like Eli and the others? And what had killed him? 

Noises coming from Stilinski's office overtook her attention. On edge as if the killer had those two next on his list, Nadia turned to Malia and her were-coyote hearing to confirm if they needed to run. Malia shook her head, calming the girl down. They then ran into the Station, facing Lydia and her detective partner. Nadia had no clue who the nicely dressed man chomping on an apple was, but Malia seemed to.

"Guys!" Malia turned to the man, greeting him in her haste. "We got a big-ass problem."

"Big-ass." Nadia echoed, reiterating Malia's words. She got an eyebrow raise from both the man and Lydia in response, but Malia continued.

"Derek, Stilinski, Eli, Deaton, they're all gone."

"What do you mean gone?" Lydia questioned the woman.

She had been standing in front of the crime board in Stilinski's office, studying it prior to their arrival. On it were pictures of a handful of fires that happened lately in the woods. Nadia had heard about them, but always assumed them to be of careless campfires or cigarette buds. This was California, after all. It appeared to Nadia, in this town, everything was more than what meets the eye.

"They were taken," Nadia explained. Taken or killed, it was either one or the other. She hoped for the first option.

The man raised an eyebrow. "By whom?"