Father || Teen Wolf

14 - Merrier

"And now Erica's been turned and Lydia's losing her mind!"

Stiles' cheek were a dark red as he yelled into his phone. He had lost count of how many messages he had left on Jamie's voicemail these last two days, but he knew for a fact that they had grown increasingly threatening, and dangerously angry. He growled in frustration before hanging up, forcefully shoving his phone back into his pocket.

How someone Stiles considered his brother could leave him and Scott, and Lydia, and everyone else in such a mess was beyond him. He simply couldn't wrap his head around it. He had seen how wolves could get when the moon was full, right at the beginning before Scott learned control, and so he didn't understand what had been so traumatizing that Jamie had to go off the grid for so long. It simply didn't make sense.

The thought that Scott and Jamie were vastly different had crossed his mind. The fact that they had been turned in different ways had also crossed his mind, but he had been careful to avoid the ideas that a particular something in Jamie's bloodline could be the reason behind it all. He had seen more than one Hale lose control, one of them quite spectacularly, and he didn't want for his friend to follow in such bloody footsteps. In fact, he refused to even think about it, but he couldn't find a solution to make everything better either.

Alone in his Jeep, Stiles let out a loud sigh and contemplated the street around him. It was desperately empty. The yellow light of a lamp post flickered in the distance, its glow useless as the Sun had yet to set. This street was unfamiliar to Stiles - he had been there a few times but never really paid attention to the identical houses, the small neat gardens, the rusty postbox and all of these things only people who lived there really ever noticed.

Nervously, he took out his phone out of his pocket and checked the screen. Still nothing. His leg started bumping up and down, as if to let out a bit of the tension he was feeling. All day long, he'd had this uneasy feeling, especially when he had looked at Erica and Isaac. They had worn these smiles, these grimaces only found on the faces of people who were plotting something particularly evil. Scott had noticed too and he was convinced that this night, someone else would be turned.

They feared it would be Boyd. That was why Stiles was parked in front of his house and Scott was looking for him at the ice rink where he worked.

The rapid tapping of Stiles' thumbs against the steering wheel was the only noise he could hear. The silence unsettled him, and that was all he could do not to start speaking to himself, just so he could hear a human voice. He swallowed and looked at the house one last time, and then he took a big intake of breath. He was going.

The Jeep's door closed with a soft sound. Stiles rubbed his hands against the sides of his jeans and took a few steps. He had the strange reflex of clearing his throat before he knocked on the door. Three times, he rapped his knuckles against the wood.

"Hey, Boyd? Boyd?" Stiles called when his knocks remained unanswered.

He hesitated, wondering if he should go back into his Jeep and go home - the place gave him an uneasy feeling, as if he was being watched. He shook his head and gathered his resolve. Boyd needed their help.

"It's Stiles," he announced. He perked up when the door started moving. "Hey- oh wow."

In front of Stiles was standing Erica. The girl had a confident smile as she peered down at Stiles. She seemed relaxed, resting against the door frame as she was, yet Stiles couldn't help but feel like she was just seconds away from leaping at his throat. She smiled with a sickening amount of sweetness.

"What are you doing here, Stiles?" she asked. Her lips were painted bright red.

"Uh, nothing," Stiles stammered. He regretted not turning back on his heels when he had the chance. "I was just looking for, um..."