Rekindle The Flame || Stilinski || Book Four || WATTY's 2022

Five

"YOU GOT IT?"

Scott worriedly called to Sierra, watching her climb down into the hole at the communication building. The true empath gripped the sides of the rusted ladder, sneaking a glance to the bottom. Stiles looked up from where he stood, already in the tunnel, with raised hands in case she lost her balance.

"Yeah," Sierra replied back to Scott, but the break in her voice showed her nerves. Inwardly, she cursed. After all, it was just a ladder. She had survived way worse.

Yet, during those times she didn't have a gaping wound in her stomach that made every breath hurt.

Seeing her start to panic, Stiles assured, "I'm right here, string bean. You're almost down."

Sierra swallowed hard, trying to take his words to heart. Slowly, she continued her way to the tunnel--focusing on Stiles instead of the pain. Despite their current status, he still put her first. His hand grasped hers when it became close enough, and he held a gentle hold on her waist until her feet stood safely on the ground.

Sierra shot him a look of gratitude, before creating space between them and calling up to Scott. "Okay, I'm at the bottom! You can come down now."

Scott listened, joining his two friends within minutes. He felt his injury start to bleed a little, and prayed his bandages would at least last till he got back home.

Stiles turned his flashlight back on, and started to explore forwards. Scott and Sierra followed.

No one really knew what to look for, other than mercury. Usually chimeras still had scents to catch, but due to the chemicals in the air Scott's senses were clouded.

Once they turned a corner, the trio stopped and glanced around. Sierra's eyes narrowed on the wet cement, feeling an electric buzz in her fingertips. "Stiles," she said, not looking away. "Flick it to black light."

Stiles nodded, and did as she instructed. Following her gaze, he pointed the flashlight to the ground. Only then could they notice a familiar black fog--one that only appeared when mercury was present. And mercury meant a chimera was close by.

Simultaneously, they started to move again and followed the dark trail with the flashlight. The fog came to a stop in front of a circle carved into the wall, and Sierra's eyes widened when she saw that it had taken the shape of letters. A phrase, to be more precise.

DAMNATIO MEMORIAE

Scott furrowed his brows. "What is that?"

"Latin," Sierra and Stiles stated in-sync, making Scott raise his eyebrows at them. Stiles made eye-contact with Sierra, who immediately adverted her gaze while her lips quirked up.

Pulling out his phone, Scott then asked to hold the light. "I'm gonna get a picture of it," he said. Scott raised his camera and focused the image on the screen, but frowned when the light kept moving. "Stiles, can you hold the light still?"

A slit.

Sierra whirled around at the sound, seeing Stiles collapse with his hand clutching the back of his neck. He groaned, feeling a familiar numbing sensation quickly spread up his legs. It could only mean one supernatural creature--or in this case, one chimera.

Tracy hissed at Scott, who looked startled, and lifted her paralyzing claws with her fangs barred. She attacked, forcing the true alpha to dodge her swings while another chimera crept up from behind.

"Scott, behind you!" Stiles warned, seeing Josh and bolts of electricity flick around him.

Sierra at first remained hidden, knowing the chimeras hadn't noticed her in the shadows. Not to mention, she doubted how useful she could be in her current state. If she could barely make it down a ladder, how could she fight Tracy and Josh? However, she wasn't the only one hurt.