𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔗𝔴𝔦𝔫𝔰

Chapter 81

I headed outside to find Alaric and the others by the minivan. I gave one last look to Derek before entering the car refusing to look back. The others climbed inside the vehicle while Alaric spoke to a man with a cropped haircut and thick beard, Chris Argent; the former werewolf/supernatural hunter. They shook hands prior to Alaric opening the driver's side door and took a seat in the driver's seat. He drove off in silence. "Want to tell me how you know Chris Argent?" Alaric asked me. "Family friend." I whispered looking out the window. "So...You know the McCall Pack?" Alaric asked again. "Not the entire pack. Only the Hale Family, Chris Argent. I don't know the others. My mother was good friends with Derek's uncle; Peter." I answered. "Why did you come here?" Hope asked. "I couldn't risk putting you two in danger...or the school. So I came here knowing that they could help me handle the situation. What I wasn't counting on was for the Beast to show up so soon." I explained as I tried to keep my eyes open. "Why don't you rest? You must be exhausted." Alaric told me. "No...I'm fine. Just...need some time...to comprehend everything that happened. Everything is practically a huge blurred mess. I only remember bits and pieces of what happened. Up to the part when I saw the two foxes beating the ever-living shit out of the monster. Everything else I don't remember. The Hound was in control like 97% of the time." I breathed. "Still...being a giant supernatural being from Hell can be very difficult to recover from. Wolves go through all the time. Your body can only take so much before it breaks. And I reckon you turned into Cerberus how many times exactly in the last couple of days?" Hope asked me. I looked back at her to find her wearing a serious look on her face filled to the brim with concern. I sighed. "Stiles. You've been the Hellhound for nearly the entire day." Josie added. "On top of that...you didn't even get a full night's sleep before dealing with that monster." She added again. I looked over at Alaric. "Don't look at me, kid. I'm with them. I don't need us to go back to the school and unexpectedly have another monster show up at our doorstep just to have you completely drained and unable to fight." He stated. I dropped my head. "Is it really that bad?" I asked. "YES!" Everyone answered. "Alright! Geez!" I said leaning my head against the window staring up at the moon.

J   O   S   I   E

I stared at Stiles as he sat up front finally passed out. I could tell by the way his shoulders were relaxed and his head was tilted back against the seat. Hope squeezed my hand getting me to turn my attention to the Mikaelson. "You good?" She whispered. "Yeah. Why?" I answered. "Your boyfriend was just temporarily killed by an ancient vengeful monster that wanted his head." She pointed out. I glanced over at the sleeping boy before turning back to her. "Okay. You're right. I've been better." I sighed. "I thought so." She said with a smile. "How do you deal with this all the time?" I asked her. "Well...my brother and I have had our fair share of experience when it comes to losing people we care about. For us...it was our parents. It's a miracle that we can even say that we have our dad back. That's the one thing that Nik has been wanting since he came back to this school. Desperately searching for months on ways and spells that could possibly bring him back." She said. "It was hard for us. But for Nik it was like he lost two parts of himself. The first being his happiness. He used to be a much more happier person before the deaths of our parents. He didn't always hide his emotions with lame jokes and toxic sarcasm. He was actually very open. Always telling me and our parents what he was feeling. I guess when mom died...he stopped doing it. But when our dad sacrificed himself...he shut himself off completely. I don't blame him." Hope lectured.

"At the time he was struggling to contain the powers of the demons inside. Back then, they were uncontrollable and refused to cooperate with Stiles...and each other. When Stiles took in a part of the Hollow...it only made things worse. Corrupting his mind and the demons housed inside. Making them more vicious and cruel. They started tormenting him more than they used to. Making him see things that weren't actually there. Telling him lies about why he's alive. Manipulating him into believing that he was destined to kill everyone. That he would be alone for all eternity...that he should just kill himself to save him the trouble. The Nogitsune was the cause for most of it. You see, the Nogitsune feeds off of chaos, pain, and strife. And at the time, our mom had just been murdered. So Stiles was broken and the fox took that opportunity to gain power. Gaining so much that he took on the likeness of my brother. Becoming an exact replica of Stiles but only a lot paler with black hair, eyes, and chrome metal fangs. I've only seen the Nogitsune twice. The first being when I tapped into his mind when we were younger. Back then the fox was only a shadowy manifestation of a smoky black fox with multiple tails and glowing yellow-green eyes. Even then, he was terrifying to look at. The last time was about a couple of months ago. I couldn't sleep and I went to check on Nik and found him asleep in his bed. But he wasn't alone in the room. I could sense it. Visually, Stiles was the only one in the room but when I searched. I spotted the Nogitsune in the mirror above his dresser staring at me with black dead eyes. He was in a white suit similar to the one we saw in the woods." She explained. "Wait...how can a demon manifests itself into a mirror and make eye contact with you? I thought they didn't have physical forms?" I asked confused.

"That's the thing, Jo. Kitsunes aren't your average demons. After a certain number of years, they can manifests physical bodies they can use once they become more powerful than their host's bodies can contain. They're incredibly intelligent, resourceful, and on top of that...they're extremely curious. Going so far that they are willing to test the limits of Stiles' mind. The Nogitsune did this by tormenting him. Specifically in his dreams when he was at his most vulnerable. Every time he was having night terrors...that was the Nogistune searching for weaknesses that he could exploit and use to his advantage and break free. From what I've heard from Argent, he's finally found that weakness and has made himself a tangible entity." Dad explained. I sighed looking at the sleeping figure up front. "Why don't they leave his mind? If they are so powerful why don't they just leave?" I asked. "Because...the same reason why I always have a crossbow and weapons nearby. They're scared. They want to leave but don't want to risk leaving the Nik's body given how much power it holds and how he's immortal now. And since he's the son of Niklaus Mikaelson. Only God knows what could permanently kill him." Dad explained before I leaned against the window and stared outside.