Stay with Me (Stalia)

Chapter 8

He hated this plan. Stiles had to make a conscious effort to flex his hands after realizing they had been gripped onto the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white.

He actually didn’t hate the plan. It was a good plan. But he hated knowing that it was Malia who was most vulnerable. He hated knowing that it was Malia who was going to be alone with Gerard Argent. Gerard Argent, the man who always had a plan. The only thing that mattered was whose plan was better.

“It’s a good plan Stiles” He said out loud, trying to convince himself. He focused on keeping his breathing steady as he went over the details of the plan. Liam would go inside first, asking to use their restroom where he would stay unless something went wrong. It made Stiles feel better knowing there was a wolf so close for backup. Kira would drive Malia and stay outside in the car so she was also close. Parrish was in a squad car a few blocks away monitoring the 911 calls. Scott and Isaac were in the woods behind the nursing home, ready to provide assistance if it was needed. They were all hoping that the hunters wouldn't dare to attack them in such a public place, but they were ready just in case.

The three new werewolves in addition to Lydia and Mason had been left at the loft. They had tried to bench Stiles again but he was insistent. They all knew him well enough to know he would just come anyways so they gave in. He was in his jeep down the street from the nursing home. From his vantage point he could just barely make out Kira’s car. He was ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice, his whole body felt tense, and his nerves were fried. He rolled down the windows to give himself some fresh air, trying to keep the panic at bay.

He watched as Malia got out of Kira’s car and walked into the home. To her credit she looked totally normal and relaxed and that made Stiles think that maybe they could actually pull this off.

The minutes ticked slowly by.

 “Come on Malia.” He clutched his phone, his eyes remained fixed on the nursing home entrance. So he didn’t know someone was next to him until he felt a slight pinch in his neck. His fingers reached up and pulled the needle out. He looked up at his attacker but his vision was starting to blur. His phone dropped from his hands before he could think about using it to call for help. He tried to call out but blackness overtook him.

Back in the loft, Lydia started screaming.

*****

“You’re one of them aren’t you? A werewolf.”

“Werecoyote actually” Malia kept her voice even and tried to not be repulsed by the sight of him.

“Can you take people’s pain?” Malia nodded, Scott had shown her that trick a little while ago. Gerard held out his hand and she walked over to him. Scott had warned her that he would probably request that of her before he did any talking. She took his hand and couldn’t help but gasp at the pain as black tendrils went up her arm. She took as much of his pain as she could without weakening herself and then stepped back.

“There’s a new group of hunters in town.” She said getting right to the point, she didn’t want to prolong this any more than she had to.

“And you want to know if I’ve had any sort of communication with them?”

“Yes”

“No self-respecting hunter would be caught dead talking to me.”

“From what I’m getting, these hunters are almost as far off the rails as you were.”

“Well you see Malia…” Her eyes widened in shock before she could stop them, she hadn’t told him her name. “Oh yes I know all about you. I know about all of you. And maybe I was visited by a hunter, and maybe I told him all about your little raggedy pack. And maybe I told them about a certain weak human boy who allowed himself to get possessed by an evil spirit that led to the death of my granddaughter. And maybe I even told him that this boy could be the key to bringing down the pack seeing as he is very special to the Alpha.” Malia retreated from his words, shaking her head. No, not him, they couldn’t hurt him.

“Stiles…”

Just then a scream reached her ears that could only belong to Lydia. She immediately turned and ran out the door, ignoring the sounds of laughter coming from Gerard. She was so disoriented she almost ran directly into Liam.

“Are you okay?” He said frantically

“Yes, the screams not for me” She said as she got her bearings again and ran as fast as she could out the door. Liam followed her shouting,

“Who’s it for?”

“Stiles.” She managed to throw over her shoulder. Liam immediately picked up his pace. They ran past Kira’s car, ignoring her questions. Malia ran faster when she saw Scott and Isaac standing next to his jeep. She could smell blood, Stiles’ blood. She ran around to the driver’s side of the car and felt slight relief that Stile’s wasn’t lying there dead. Her relief was quickly replaced by horror as she saw the words on the side of the car

We will kill you all

“Please don’t tell me that is written in what I think it’s written in.” Isaac said staring at the letters. The lack of response was answer enough. The four stood unable to look away from the gruesome text as Kira ran up.

“Is that…” she started but trailed off

“It’s blood. It’s Stiles’ blood.” Scott responded to her unasked question.

“Oh god” Malia found herself unable to catch her breath, black spots came across her vision as she thought about what it meant. “Oh god…they’re going to…kill him. They have Stiles…and they are going…to…kill…him.” She frantically tried to draw in breath. She swayed and felt two strong hands grasp her arms. She looked up into the fierce red eyes of Scott.

“No they are not, we are going to find him. Malia listen to me, breathe, we will find him, but I need you to focus and tell me what Gerard said to you. Breathe, Malia, breathe.” She closed her eyes and focus her breathing, she knew she needed to stay calm and focused if they had a prayer of finding Stiles.

“We have to find him Scott” She said breathily as her breathing slowly returned to normal.

“We will, but first tell me everything Gerard said to you.”

*****

He woke to a bucket of freezing cold water being thrown onto him. He gasped and tried to move but found himself tied to a chair. His still groggy brain tried to figure out what was happening. He noticed a burning feeling on his forearm and looked down to see blood.

 “Good to see that you are awake Stiles.” Stiles turned in the direction of the voice but all he could see was a figure illuminated in the door way. “Sorry about the cut, we had to leave a little message for your pack.”

“Wh-what are you going to do to them?” Stiles asked, his voice wavering more than he would like it to.

“I think the more appropriate question would be what am I going to do to you? Do you know how excited I was to hear that the Alpha’s second was a human? Humans are so much easier to kidnap and torture. The only downside is that you don’t heal like they do so we won’t be able to have quite as much fun.” The hunter walked towards Stiles and kneeled in front of him. Stiles tried not to be scared by the manic look he saw in the man’s eyes. He had to focus on protecting his friends.

“I won’t tell you anything.” His voice came out stronger now

“Oh you will tell me everything about Scott McCall and his little patchwork pack. In time you will tell me everything.”

“Never” Stiles said and spit in his face. The man gave him an evil smile and grabbed his chin, his fingers biting into Stiles’ skin hard enough to bruise.

“Oh I love the fighters, we are going to have a lot of fun Stiles.” Then he pulled back his hand and punched Stiles square in the temple.