Malefica; Stiles Stilinski [3]

Chapter 17

Trigger Warning: Mentions of suicide!!

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Prudence woke up in a dark, lit basement. She felt ropes around her ankles and wrists that tied her to a wooden chair. She looked down and saw that she was in the middle of a pentagram made of salt.

She scoffed and started to chuckle tiredly but evilly. "You think your pathetic, little ritual is going to bring your daughter back?" she questioned mockingly, making Katherine turn to her. "Your daughter is gone. If you get rid of me, she will die. She can't survive without me."

"I'm willing to take that risk," Katherine said as she set up somethings around the pentagram.

"Of course, you are because you are just that selfless. Oh wait. You aren't," she replied hoarsely. "You are the reason Cassandra gave up. I am the reason she's alive. Without me, she will disappear into oblivion. She may be not in control of her body. She may be long gone. But she is not fully gone yet. If you do this ritual, you will kill both me and her."

"I know what I'm doing is right," Katherine responded. "You're just scared you'll be in hell again."

"I give her what she wants. Power. Her powers never really evolved like they were supposed to when she turned sixteen, correct? I give her power. I make her powerful. Do you not want your daughter to have that?"

"Not if she doesn't have control over what she does anymore," Katherine said, tears pricking her eyes.

"It will not work. You're not powerful enough. You will fail."

"Maybe, but it's worth a try." Katherine turned to her with cold, dead eyes. "I won't leave my daughter again."

"If you do this ritual, you will."

"At least this way I'll be protecting her."

"You will never be able to protect her in the way you hope. No matter what, you are nothing to her. You will always be the woman who left her because of an affair. Nothing else."

"Maybe so. But at least she'll know I care about her. At least she'll be alive."

"Not for long if you go through with what Bianca told you," Prudence said. "I know how Bianca can be. I know how she guilt trips you into doing what is 'right' or whatever. You do not want to do this. You do not want to die."

"You're right. I don't. But I'm willing to do it for Cassie's sake."

"Ah, right. Your little flower. The one who still does not care about you."

"It doesn't matter whether she still cares about me or not. I had to learn that the hard way. As long as she's alive and safe, it won't matter what she thinks of me anymore."

At each point the pentagram were Cassie's personal things. The ring she always wore, her soccer ball from when she was little, the bedtime story Katherine would always read to her before tucking her in to sleep, bayonet knives that Katherine assumed was for self-defense, and a polaroid of Cassie and this boy with a buzzcut that she kept in her wallet.

In front of Katherine, there was a small table where there was the Malefica grimoire and a dagger. On the page she was on in the grimoire was a resurrection spell. The same one she used to resurrect Cassie in the first place.

Except, she was going to do it correctly this time.

"Maiores meos invoco ut darem mihi potestatem resurgendi mortuos," Katherine chanted over and over again.

"Do not do this," Prudence said, practically pleading at that point. "You will lose your daughter. Cassandra needs me."

Katherine ignored her words and continued the incantation, putting all her power, all her energy, and all her concentration into that spell.

Prudence was starting to get her energy back. She grunted as she tried to tear through the ropes tied around her wrists. She couldn't as the ropes were too tight.

A sudden wind started to pick up in the basement, blowing out all the lit candles. She tried to ignore it as she continued on chanting the incantation. Her nose started to bleed as her eyes became full of pitch blackness.

She felt her house beginning to shake as if there were an earthquake happening. That was her cue to move onto the next chant.

"No. No, please!" Prudence pleaded.

"Cassandra Rose Margret Julia Williams, secundo casu vitae do tibi."

Katherine started to raise the dagger to her abdomen despite Prudence's screaming pleads to stop. She stared at the dagger; tears filling her eyes. Then, she closed her eyes before finally stabbing herself with the dagger.

"NO!" Prudence shrieked.

She screamed as she felt an overwhelming pain take over her whole body. She pleaded to whatever was out there to not do it. To leave her in Cassie's body. But they didn't listen.

She let out one last scream before her soul left the body.

Cassie's body went limp. Katherine's breath hitched as she waited for Cassie to awaken.

"Please. Please. Please, come back," she whispered as her breath shortened and quickened.

It was as if her words were the thing that made Cassie come back to consciousness. Her eyes fluttered open, and once she saw Katherine's body bleeding out, she began panicking.

She stood up despite the pain that was everywhere in her body. She then slammed her body that was in the wooden chair down, breaking the chair into pieces. Once the chair was broken, she quickly untied the ropes as fast as she could and rushed over to her mother.

She cradled Katherine's head in her lap as tears began spilling out of her eyes uncontrollably. She took hold of Katherine's blood hand and held it tightly.

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean what I said. I-I didn't," Cassie cried.

"I know, flower. I know," Katherine replied, already having tears stream down her face.

"Please. Please don't leave me. I need you. Please."

"It's okay. It's all going to be okay."

"No. No, it isn't. I need you, mom. Don't leave me again. Please. I didn't mean what I said. I want you alive. I want you with me, mom. Please."

"You're going to be okay."

"No. No, I'm not! I still need my mom! I still need you! Please, mom, please."

Katherine heard a ringing in her head, making her shut her eyes tightly. She felt the energy starting to slip away from her body as her eyelids started to get heavier and heavier.

"No. No, please! No!"

Katherine smiled weakly. "I'm sorry, Cassie."

Her hand went limp in Cassie's, and her breathing stopped. Her eyes laid open, but they were cold and dead.

"Mom? Mom?!"

Cassie started shaking her body lightly; a part of her hoping that she would wake up although the other part knew that she wouldn't.

"No. No," she sobbed, burying her face in her mother's shoulder. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. This is all my fault."

She wanted to cry. She wanted to cry her eyes out until she felt like passing out.

So, she did.

She lifted her head up from Katherine's shoulder and released what was supposed to be a sob.

But it wasn't a sob.

It was a scream.