Sirens (Theo Raeken) [1]

Flaws

"Theo, I'm scared."

"You want a cuddle to comfort you?" he laughs.

"Rude." I trail after him, looking behind me every few seconds. "So, uh, what exactly are we doing?"

"Looking for the scrawny human with the weird name."

"Oh, come on, Theo! Stop teasing Stiles."

"That's it. Stiles. He sounds familiar now."

I roll my eyes, grinning. I didn't know that being in Eichen House could ever seem comical, but Theo has put me at ease with the constant banter.

He strolls casually, swinging his arms as he saunters down the corridor. "We're going to Victoria's Secret tomorrow, yeah?"

I raise my eyebrows at the random plan. "Huh?"

"You know, the big charity lacrosse thing is coming up. I want to spoil you instead of making you watch your ex play lacrosse."

"And?"

"Are you seriously questioning my niceness?" He chuckles softly.

"Shut up," I grumble. "You are an evil psychopath who shouldn't have an interest in buying a new bra for his girlfriend."

"You know, that's where you're wrong," he says. "Yeah, I'm evil and yeah, I'm a psychopath, but I'm your evil psychopath. I'm an ass to everyone else, but you're my girl, so I have to tone it down a little bit for you."

"I'm glad," I say with a slight laugh. I jump slightly at the sight of a figure materialising from the shadows.

"Stiles," Theo says, raising his eyebrows. Before the boy can say anything back to Theo, Theo speaks. "I want her out of here, too. I've got her scent."

"What do you want?"

"I want Lydia safe," I interject at the same time as Theo speaks.

"What's the difference?" Theo says. "I can find her. You can't."

Theo's body language goes stiff as if he's just found something. He jolts forward and makes a start towards a metal door. He hauls it open and steam pours from it. He seems slightly shocked and even after Stiles follows him in, I find myself hesitating.

Even so, I will my legs to move towards the door. I pause momentarily as I see what the room is, but I try not to pay it too much heed. It seems to be a type of shower room, and although the men in the room have towels around themselves, they look scared to death of us and shrink away from us.

I clear my throat and fall into step beside Theo, who is inspecting a drain flung open at the back of the room. "It leads to the tunnels, doesn't it?" I murmur.

Theo furrows his eyebrows slightly, clearly distressed. "There's miles of them."

Stiles swears under his breath. "They could be anywhere by now."

"That's why we have to get down there. Now," Theo says.

"That's a sewage system down there!" I argue.

"Lydia's down there," Stiles says.

"You go first, then. We all know how much you love your five foot three strawberry blondes."

"You lead the way, Arden," Stiles says. "We all know how much you love being around pieces of shit." He looks pointedly at Theo who shrugs half-heartedly in response.

I roll my eyes. "Fine," I hiss. "You guys are a bunch of pussies anyway." I lower myself into the narrow hole, stepping down onto the first rung of the ladder and sighing.