The Pit 1/1
Title: The Pit
Author: safaiagem / bloody-hellfire
Word Count: 6,430
Rating: R
Characters/Pairings: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Lydia Martin, Laura Hale, Original Characters
Warnings language, torture, violence, someone is briefly kissed against their will
Summary: Stiles had suffered The Pit a second time for Derek but the memories still lingered far too close to the surface. Getting holy water thrown in his face didn't really help either.
Notes: Part two of the Ten Years Gone series. This literally would not exist without all of your kind words for the first story. I can't thank any of you enough, truly, and there is more to this series after this one. A longer story is planned out and being written right now. I'd like to thank Adihsar for their list of suggestions for one-shots. Thank you so much! I'd also like to thank Baibaba for being my beta again <3
Read on AO3 or The Pit
The sound of his bones breaking made Stiles feel sick to his stomach. It was his pinky finger and someone was laughing at the way he struggled to hold back a scream. There was a clamp on his knuckle now and pressed down. The world went white around the edges and Stiles knew that they were going to drag this out. One finger at a time, one knuckle at a time, until his hand was nothing but a piece of dead meat. Ruined forever, broken in a way even a demon cannot heal, and he instinctively knew that they were going to do the other hand next. The clamp moved to his ring finger and something that sounded like a sob escaped from his lips. Stiles hated himself instantly for letting them hear that. They laughed. He bit his tongue and ignored the way they started chanting his name.
Stiles, Stiles, Stiles...
Stiles wanted to tell them to shut the fuck up but his voice was stuck in the back of his throat.
Stiles, Stiles, Stiles...
He squeezed his eyes shut hard enough that he saw stars and Stiles hoped, he hoped for the first time in so long, that when he opened his eyes all of this would fade away.
Stiles!
Stiles opened his eyes and everything was gone. The bright pain in his hand felt like it was fading and when he looked down it was whole. He blinked as the world began to come back into focus around him. He was in the Camaro driving along the flat roads in the middle of nowhere with a werewolf behind the wheel. Derek wasn't looking at the road though. He was staring at Stiles.
"What was that?" Derek asked. Before now the flashbacks had been brief enough that Stiles was able to ignore them. This was the first time he remembered the pain and he flexed his fingers to make sure they were all still there.
"I was remembering," Stiles said because there was no lie he could say that would make any sense. There was no point in having a fight about the lie. “Before I knew you I hadn’t been on a table in Hell for a long time. I was able to push a good portion of it all away, not really forget, but bury it I guess. Now, it’s really, I don’t know, raw? I hate that I have to word it this way but it’s true.” Stiles waved his hand hoping he could dismiss the rest of this conversation. “It’ll pass. Now, what are we going to go hunt this time? I hope it’s something cool. I want to poke something cool with a stick.”
“We’re going to look at something, but I don’t think you want to poke it with a stick,” Derek looked back at the road, finally. Stiles wasn't really interested in getting into a wreck and having to re-grow bones. Plus, Derek had a really comfortable car.
“Sounds fun,” Stiles said, smiling. Something was not right with Derek though. Since they had reunited over three months ago there had been a few hunts that were fun. A poltergeist that threw Derek through a wall. A wendigo that Stiles might have enjoyed setting on fire a bit too much. There was something about cannibalism that really grated his nerves. A woman in white that screamed in Stiles' face and then got very angry when he laughed. They were heading East now and Stiles had no idea why. There had been no reports that had grabbed their attention yet Derek was driving like he knew where they were going. “So, what aren’t you telling me?”
“You’ll see when we get there.” Derek shifted like he was uncomfortable and that did not happen often. Stiles narrowed his eyes and stared. He knew that he had a good glare, but Derek did not seem to care. Instead he drove along like he did not have a care in the world. Stiles groaned and stared out the window some more. Wherever they were going it was going to be a long drive. Stiles put his feet on the dashboard and did a mental countdown before Derek would push them off.
Three and a half seconds.
+++
There was something very familiar about this place and when Stiles realized where they were going he was nervous. There were few things that made him nervous. He was a demon that had come out of two rounds in hell (relatively) sane. Derek pulled up in front of the house, but did not get out. Stiles clenched his fists and looked up.
“This is a bad idea,” Stiles said.
“It won’t be that bad,” Derek replied.
“It’s going to be so bad.” Stiles looked at the house and felt that dull ache in his hand that never seemed to really go away. “I’ll stay out here.”
“Are you bitching out?” Derek asked.
“Absolutely,” Stiles said with zero shame. Derek raised an eyebrow and looked very unimpressed. “Fine but I’d like to make it known that I think this is a terrible idea.”
“Noted.” Derek climbed out of the car and for a moment Stiles thought about locking the doors and staying right where he was. This was the worst possible idea. He could hear Derek gathering his gear from the trunk and if he was going to lock the doors he needed to do it now. Stiles hit his head again the window and climbed out of the car. Derek looked a little too smug and Stiles flipped him off.
“Still a bad idea,” Stiles said as they walked up the stairs. Derek snorted and rang the doorbell. Stiles could hear someone moving around and he braced himself for the worst.
Getting holy water thrown in his face was not the best way to start the morning.
Fortunately Stiles had enough sense to throw up his arms to block the water from doing any real damage but it still burned his arms like acid. It made him think of the table, of skin melting and being peeled off of his bones, and for half a second he thought he was going to be sick. Then Stiles looked up and into the glowing red eyes of Laura Hale. Derek growled, took his sister by the arm, and walked her a few steps inside. Stiles glanced down and felt that every window had a line of salt. She was thorough if nothing else. Stiles rubbed his arms, trying to push those memories out of his head, and sat down on the porch steps. The Hale siblings were fighting and he did not really care enough to eavesdrop.
Five loud minutes later Derek joined him on the steps. Laura was his alpha so it was not like he could really fight her on any issues. Stiles didn't really blame Laura for her paranoia. He assumed that Derek had explained everything that had happened to them and how demons were the source of everything terrible that had happened to her family. Stiles understood her reasons not to trust the one partnered with her brother. Still, the holy water hurt like a bitch.
“I really didn’t think she’d do that,” Derek said which was kind of an apology and probably the closest to one he’d ever get. Stiles shrugged and leaned back on his hands. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Laura standing behind the salt line and glaring at him. There was no way to really make himself not look like a threat. Not to a werewolf that could sense and feel everything about him. So the two of them just stared at each other like they were kids and the first one that blinked would lose. Laura’s eyes flashed red for half a second but she knelt down and broke the salt line. Stiles smiled to himself and stood up. He could feel Derek watching the two of them, ready to spring to action to break them apart if someone decided that violence seemed like the right answer, but Stiles kept his gaze on Laura. Despite the salt line being broken he stopped right in front of it so they were only a few feet apart.
“I’ll let you in but I’m not letting you stay the night,” Laura said.
“I don’t blame you,” Stiles said shoving his hands his pockets. “Though I do have one request.”
“And what would that be?” Laura snapped clearly annoyed, but Stiles grinned.
“What’s it like being an alpha? I want to know everything.”
+++
Apparently they were not there to have an uncomfortable meeting with Laura. That was a benefit that Derek seemed to be regretting, but they were mainly there to get some supplies. Laura was in the kitchen making noise, Derek was upstairs getting something, so Stiles wandered around the living room. There was something fascinating about being in the same house as an alpha and a beta. In his many years studying so many things he had never seen pack dynamics in person. Pack dynamics in the Hale family seemed to be avoiding each other. Derek was in the attic now so Laura walked out of the kitchen and stared him down.
“What are you planning to do to my brother?” she asked and it took a considerable amount of control not to laugh at her. He must not have done a very good job because Laura stalked forward and loomed over him. “What are you going to do to my brother?”
“I’m not doing much of anything,” Stiles replied which was a lie there was plenty of ‘doing’ going on between them, but if Derek hadn’t told her that then Stiles wasn’t going to be the one to break the news. “In fact, the only thing I did was come tell your brother not to shoot me if he saw me while hunting. That was it.”
“And now you’re partners,” Laura said.
“Yep. He asked me and pointed out that he trusts me and it’s always good to have someone you trust watching your back.” Stiles rolled his shoulders and clenched his fists in his pockets. “Derek had the opportunity to kill me and end his deal and he didn’t. I trust him too.” Laura narrowed her eyes and looked him over like she could tell if he was lying, and him being a demon she couldn’t exactly do so, but it still made Stiles feel a little nervous.
“He told me what you did,” Laura said. “Thank you.” Fortunately she turned and walked across the room so she missed his reaction. Stiles was sure he was pale and looked like someone had just scared the crap out of him. Of course Derek told Laura about his little vacation to The Pit. She was his sister and alpha. That didn't mean that Stiles was entirely happy about it either. He had to sit down.
Despite the fact that it had been three months since Stiles had crawled out of The Pit, it was still something that they did not talk about. It was on the same level as the fire on the long line of things they did not talk about. Along with the fact that Stiles was the one that gave Derek the demon killing knife. Derek was going to bring it up at some point and Stiles was still trying to work out how he was going to explain that one.
Stiles looked up and he could see Laura’s red eyes as she glared at him again and it hit him like a punch to the gut. Red glowing eyes that mocked him as they looked down at him. Weight of metal and rope on his wrists, twisting his shoulders from the sockets, the sound of the pop echoed like a gunshot. A voice that called him weak, a child, something that needed to be punished for being very bad and going against the rules. A voice that felt too familiar whispered into his ear.
The blacklist doesn’t protect him from everything, Stiles...
The anger Stiles felt was as red hot as the fire that burned every inch of his body. This was Hell, of course there was fire, but there was so much pain, so much blood, and it filled his lungs until Stiles was choking on it. Until he could not breath and the voices were laughing at him again.
This is what happens when you get attached...
There was movement and Stiles could feel someone sitting beside him. He blinked and realized it was another fucking flashback. There was no fire, no pain, his arms and shoulders were fine, but his fists were clenched so tight there was a risk he was going to break his own fingers. Stiles opened his hand and watched as the half moons healed. It took a little too long to become aware of the presence next to him on the couch. It was Laura but she was not touching him. There were a good few inches between them, she wasn't even looking at him, and Stiles didn't remember her sitting down at all. She was going to pity him, the poor demon that crawled out of hell, she had every right to call him out on his weakness.
“I still have nightmares about fire,” she said. Laura didn't reach out to comfort him and she didn'tt say anything else but Stiles took it for the olive branch that it was. They were still sitting like that, silent and unmoving and not looking at each other, when Derek joined them twenty minutes later.
+++
After an uncomfortable dinner, Stiles found himself lying on the front lawn with Derek as they stared up at the crescent moon. Despite it not being full Derek still loved to lie out in the moonlight and Stiles had long since given up making fun of him for it. Laura had already salted the doors and windows so it was this or the Camaro for Stiles’ bed. Derek didn't apologize for his sister and Stiles did not expect one. It took some time for Derek to let them stay in the same room. Stiles rolled, rested on his elbow, and looked down at Derek.
“So I think your sister likes me,” he said knowing full well that Laura was probably listening in. Derek did not look as convinced. “Okay, maybe ‘like’ is a strong word, but I don’t think she’s going to tear my throat with her teeth.”
“Those two are on such different ends of the spectrum I’m not even sure if they’re in the same universe,” Derek deadpanned.
“Also true, but it’s nice to know I won’t have to build a new voice box.”
“You’d be quiet for awhile then, right? Maybe I should talk to Laura about this,” Derek said thoughtfully. Stiles used his speed advantage to crawl over Derek and pin him down. A quick glance up and he could see red eyes through the window of the house. Derek got one of his wrists free and moved his arm behind his head. “Careful Stiles, Laura can be territorial.”
“So can I.” In the end Stiles really did not care if Laura knew that they were sleeping together. If she didn’t smell it on them, he was giving her far too much credit as an alpha. Derek smirked as if being in the middle of a territorial pissing contest with his alpha and a demon was amusing. Stiles decided his best course of action was to wipe that smirk off of Derek’s face while staking a claim of his own. The kiss was hard and demanding, like all of their kisses were, and Stiles smiled when he felt Derek bite at his lower lip. There was so much more that he wanted to do but Laura would probably rip his throat out. Stiles broke away and patted Derek on the cheek. “Go get some sleep or you’ll be even grumpier.”
“Can’t have that.” Derek rolled his eyes and eased Stiles off of him. Stiles stretched out on the grass as Derek looked down at him. “Are you going to be okay out here?”
“I don’t know whether to be flattered that you’re protective instincts are kicking in or insulted that you think I can’t take care of myself,” Stiles mused. Derek groaned and walked back toward the house without indulging him which was a shame. Stiles listened as Derek and Laura had a brief conversation that had some variation of ‘be careful’ and ‘I’m worried’ in it, but Stiles did not really care enough to listen. Instead he settled down and listened to the world around him. Laura and Derek were asleep and Stiles let himself drift for a few hours. It was well into the night when he heard something nearby and smiled.
“Hello Lydia,” Stiles said without looking away from the sky.
“I’m not even going to ask how you knew it was me.” Stiles sat up on his elbows and saw Lydia standing a few feet away. She was examining her nails and her red hair was straight instead of curly. She was trying to look bored but Stiles could see the tension in her shoulders.
“What can I do for you?” He said.
“I was just wondering why you’re lying out here like you don’t have a care in the world. Have you always been this stupid or are you really that hung up on the wolf?” Lydia snapped. Her eyes were red and Stiles was strangely proud of his protege. “You are once again the talk of the town.”
“I’m a sucker for attention. It’s one of my very few flaws,” Stiles said with his best shit eating grin. Lydia was not impressed. “I’m sure the higher ups will find someone else to focus on and then I’ll be able to wander around without a care.”
“Not this time.” Lydia looked worried and the fact that she was letting it show was a big deal for her. “Stiles, they aren’t going to let it go. You didn’t just crawl out. You escaped. They’re going to want to know how and when they get you again it’s going to be worse.”
“That’s not possible,” Stiles said before he could stop himself. Lydia surprised him by walking over and sitting next to him on the lawn. Stiles fell back and stared at the sky.
“I’m glad you’re out, I really am, but you need to be careful. They’re not just going to come after just you and you know that. This is putting him in the crossfire too. You should walk away before this gets any worse,” she said quietly
“They already know I’m attached, they loved reminding me of it, so they’d just use him to draw me out anyway. He’s safer if I’m here looking out for him. If they find out you’re here they’re going to punish you too.”
“They won’t find out,” Lydia said.
“The same way I wasn’t supposed to find out that you were the one that broke Derek’s mountain ash circle in that police station?” Stiles could see the way Lydia stiffened and he touched her back gently. “I know why you did it, I’m not an idiot, and I don’t want you to get punished for me either. I want you to keep your distance.”
“When did you get so sentimental?” Lydia said bitterly, but Stiles smiled. Lydia turned and looked down at him with that motherly look she used to get when he did something incredibly stupid. Considering the amount of bad decisions he had made in the last couple months he deserved a lot more than just her scrutiny. “Try not to get yourself killed or caught.”
“Yes ma’am,” Stiles replied. Lydia rolled her eyes but touched his hand gently. Maybe everyone knew about how much they focused on his hands this time. That was not exactly something he wanted to be common knowledge.
“They’re going to get worse before they get better. Not many of us have escaped a table twice. Try not to get yourself killed. I don’t want to deal with your boy if something should happen to you.” With that cryptic advice Lydia vanished, but her presence lingered. Maybe Stiles knew her too well because while he knew that she would not turn him in he also knew that she would not cover for him either. Lydia was his protege, his successor, but she was still a demon.
“So hard to find good help these days.”
+++
Stiles spent the next three days amusing himself by pushing Laura’s limits. He did everything he could to stake his claim on Derek which she would retaliate by doing the same. Derek seemed far too entertained by the fact that they were essentially trying to one up each other. By the time they left Stiles was fairly sure that Laura was having to physically restrain herself to keep from killing him. It was not like he was taunting her in so many words, even if he sort of was, Stiles was just fascinated by the alpha mentality. When he tried to justify that to Derek Stiles was sure Derek’s eyes were going to roll straight out of his skull.
They were sitting in the middle of a park as Derek looked through articles on his computer and Stiles watched everyone around them. Every now and then he’d catch Derek glancing up from his computer to make sure he was still there. Stiles knew that Derek thought he was taking in all of the details because it was all new and amazing or that Stiles was making sure this was real and he was out of The Pit. The truth was he was keeping an eye on everything that moved in the shadows that Derek could not see.
“Found something,” Derek said.
“Is it going to be something fun or something boring?” Stiles asked.
“If it’s boring are we going to let it slip by?” Derek said raising an eyebrow. Stiles raised one back and smirked.
“We can pass it off to one of your hunter buddies. Let them handle the boring ones and we’ll take the interesting ones. You know, best foot forward, supernatural creatures handle the heavy hitting while the humans handle the supernatural idiots.” Stiles said. Derek scoffed and turned his computer around. There were several articles about a town nearby that had bodies of children showing up. These bodies were mutilated in ways, that were he not a two time veteran of The Pit, Stiles would have winced. Instead he frowned deeply as he looked over the information. “This sounds bad, but there aren’t any indication that it’s our type of problem.”
“There have been storms in the area,” Derek said.
“It’s the summer so of course there’s gonna be storms,” Stiles pointed out, but he could tell that Derek was looking for some sort of excuse to go and check this out. “One of these days you and I are going to sit down on one of those couches and have a long talk about feelings and your hero complex.” Derek eased the computer aside and leaned into Stiles’ space.
“You’re coming with me so what does that make you?” he asked.
“An enabler.” Stiles could see something moving in the shadows, something watching them, and he needed to remind the rest of the underworld what they would have to go through to get to Derek or anything else Stiles deemed his. Stiles pulled Derek in a hard but brief kiss and when he pulled away he saw the shadows had gone.
This is what happens when you get attached...
Stiles knocked his forehead gently into Derek’s and grinned.
“Let’s go check it out.”
+++
They were somewhere in Nebraska. Stiles was not really sure where. Derek seemed to know where he was going and Stiles really just considered himself along for the ride. There were no indications that these murders were being done by anything other than some sick human. He was unsure what Derek’s morals were on killing humans. The last kids body was found out in the woods two days before and by now the crime scene tape was already gone. Derek seemed to be under the impression he was going to be able to find something with his super senses. Stiles was not so confident and kept reminding Derek the entire time to the sight.
“If you don’t want to look around you could always go somewhere else,” Derek said as he parked the Camaro.
“And miss out on you trying to justify this as a hunt? I wouldn’t miss this for the world,” Stiles was planning on another barb, several in fact, when he felt the disturbance in the area. It was about a 50/50 shot whether or not it was something Derek could sense. It was the all too familiar feeling that came from being around various supernatural creatures for far too long. They walked into the crime scene and Derek began to poke around. Stiles shoved his hands in his pockets and walked around the area that he knew the kid died in. There was blood soaked into the dirt and it stunk.
“Believe me now?” Derek asked because of course he could feel the fact that something non-human was involved in this.
“Fine, it’s a legitimate hunt. Let’s find the thing that thinks killing kids is super and kill it.” Stiles said and he glared at Derek. “And please remember I can and will kick your ass if you say ‘I told you so.’”
“You would have absolutely said ‘I told you so’ if I was the one denying that--”
“Irrelevant,” Stiles interrupted, waving his hand. “I’ll get the police files and we’ll go from there. I’ll meet you back at the motel in an hour.”
“I’ll walk around and listen in. See if any of the local say anything.” Derek walked back to the car and not waiting for Stiles. He drove off in a cloud of dust and left Stiles standing in the middle of the forest. He wondered how many times he could tell himself that this was not what he thought, not who he thought, before it became reality. Instead Stiles went to the police station and slipped passed half asleep officers into the records room. He had nearly forty five minutes before he needed to meet Derek and that was plenty of time to read this file on his own. It would not be the first time Stiles did a little digging without Derek.
The records room was dark but Stiles could see well enough. He slid down to the floor and began to read over the paperwork. The state police were being called in and if that did not work the federal government. Too many kids were dead for the state to ignore and that made sense. There were plenty of clues too but none that made sense to humans. To Stiles, however, they painted a very clear picture. The way the kids were carved up, the weapons used, even how long it took these kids to die, he knew exactly with whom he was dealing with. Stiles hit his head against the wall a few times. It was painless and was not nearly enough to make this situation any better. Stiles put the file away and did not make copies. There was no need and he spent the next thirty minutes sitting in the dark by himself.
Derek was already at the motel when Stiles arrived. His eyebrows were drawn deeply in a way that meant he had spent the last hour listening to people mourn and leech their sadness onto the rest of the world. Derek looked even more annoyed when Stiles walked in empty handed.
“Where’s the file?” he asked.
“We need to leave town,” Stiles said ignoring the question.
“What do you mean ‘we need to leave town’? I thought we agreed this was a legitimate hunt.” Derek stood up and crossed his arms tightly.
“We did, it is, and we still need to leave,” Stiles repeated. Derek was already getting angry. This was going much worse than he could have anticipated.
“There’s something out there tearing kids apart and you want to walk away?” Derek said slowly.
“Yes.” Stiles said and that startled Derek. “We need to leave.”
“You know what’s doing this,” Derek stated as he took a step forward. He looked like a threat, he was trying to be a threat, but Derek was not frightening to Stiles. “I’d even bet you know who is doing this.”
“Yes, I do, and we still need to leave.” Stiles mentally wondered if he could convince Derek to listen to him if he repeated the same thing over and over with some sort of positive reinforcement. Maybe sex would work.
“Why should we walk away?”
“Because we should.”
“What aren’t you telling me, Stiles?”
“We need to leave town.”
“Tell me what’s going on.” Derek was yelling in Stiles’ face. This made Stiles want to throw Derek to remind him that he was not the strongest player in the room. That would just escalate this even more and they were in too public of a place to hash out their differences in a fight.
“Because I can’t have a part of this,” Stiles said calmly. Derek growled and Stiles glared right back.
“You better explain yourself,” Derek said.
“Pretty sure I don’t have to explain shit to you, wolf boy,” Stiles snapped. Derek took a handful of Stiles’ shirt and jerked him forward. Stiles had to dig his nails into his palms to keep from retaliating. This was only going to get worse the longer they fought about this. “What did I tell you when I got out of The Pit?”
“You had help from friends, what about it?” Derek released Stiles and straightened his shirt. It felt extremely patronizing and Stiles wanted to hit him.
“The one out there that’s killing those kids? That’s the one that literally got me off of the table, the first one that helped, and I can’t go kill them because I owe them a debt.” Stiles crossed his arms and waited for Derek to understand what was going on. “You are associated with me so you can’t touch them either.”
“How many people do you owe a ‘debt’ to Stiles?” Derek said slowly. “How many people are going to die because they owe you a favor?”
“I can’t answer that.” Stiles said.
“Because you don’t know the answer.” Derek spit out. “Since when do demons have loyalty anyway?” If Stiles was younger he would have reacted to that barb. But he was old, he had experience, he had survived The Pit twice, and walked away relatively intact. Instead he let his face go carefully blank and looked Derek directly in the eyes. He had stared down far worse things than some beta werewolf that knew which one of his wounds bled.
“We don’t.” Stiles said flatly. “Do whatever you want.” He turned to leave but Derek took his arm to stop him. Stiles shook his arm hard enough that he nearly dislocated Derek’s shoulder. He was not associated with Derek. Derek could hunt and kill whatever he wanted. He could extend that hero complex to hell and back for all Stiles cared. As he walked away from the motel room Stiles could feel the line of salt go up like a prickle on the back of his neck. He ignored it and faded into the shadows.
+++
It was five in the morning and Stiles was sitting on the ground against a bar of drunk people. The noise was enough to drown out the buzzing in his head and the little voice that kept nagging him. They were the same voices from The Pit, the ones that reminded him day in and day out about how his attachment brought him here and weak it made him. Now, here he was sitting alone in the middle of nowhere because he was stupid enough to get attached.
Since when do demons have loyalty anyway?
Stiles listened to the world around him. To the humans. To the creatures that lingered in the shadows. To his owns screams that echoed inside his head and could not tune any of it out. He could still feel Derek to an extent. There was something between them. It happened while he was on the table, Stiles remembered, he had wanted Derek to be safe as they tortured him. Now there was this connection. Most of the time it was enough to bring him back from the edge of insanity, but now Stiles could not help but resent it.
He hated it even more when he realized that Derek had found his friend and was about to become the latest in a line of torn up bodies.
Stiles was on his feet in seconds and he ran across town. There was tension in the air that made his lungs burn, but Stiles ignored it. He ran so fast that the world blurred and jolted when they came into view.
These days she was calling herself ‘Emily’. The body she was in was one she had used in the past. Chopped short blonde hair spiked in all directions, lean but thin frame, and a wicked smile that had more to do with her personality than the body itself. Derek was down the road from her with the demon killing knife in one hand and a shotgun full of rock salt in the other. The world slowed and Stiles saw it all happen. Derek threw the knife and used his speed to fire the shotgun seconds later. If those hit Emily she would do whatever she wanted to him. Stiles could not begin to think about what she would do with someone that had super healing. He moved without thinking.
There was no time to catch the knife no matter how fast he was, so Stiles did the first thing he could--he got in front of her. Fortunately the knife did not go straight through his chest, but it still hurt like a bitch when it went through his shoulder. The shotgun blast was too wide to avoid and the salt hit his skin like thousands of tiny knives. It knocked the wind from his lungs and Stiles fell to his knees. He looked up and saw Derek staring at him horrified. Stiles wanted to explain that he could not touch, he couldn’t let Derek touch her, because that would mean she could touch him, but the pain kept Stiles from saying anything.
“Oh that’s interesting,” Emily said. Derek’s eyes glowed blue and he raced forward but Emily flicked her wrist. Derek fell to the ground and Stiles could hear bones cracking as he struggled to sit up. Emily knelt down in front of Stiles and smiled fondly. “You really are good for your promises, aren’t you?”
“Don’t sound too surprised,” Stiles replied. There was some blood on his lips and he needed to get that fucking blade out of his shoulder. He reached for it but Emily grabbed it.
“I heard about how you’re so fond of this wolf, everyone has heard about it, but I never thought I’d live to see Stiles so weak that he’d jump in front of a blade to protect someone.” Emily twisted the blade in his shoulder at the word ‘weak’ like it personally offended her. “You were beautiful back then, when you were slaughtering your way to the top, what changed?”
“Even we change,” Stiles said through his teeth as she twisted the blade again. Emily looked over her shoulder as Derek struggled against her, but she held him down. Derek looked desperate, like he was witnessing his worst nightmare, and Stiles struggled against the lump in his throat. “I saved you just like you saved me. We’re even now.”
“I suppose we are, but this bond you’ve formed with the wolf is so amusing. I can’t wait to see what kind of fun everyone will come up with to exploit it.” Emily leaned forward and pushed the knife in until the hilt hit skin. Stiles had to blink against the black dots that were dancing in front of his vision. “Maybe I’ll play with that bond now.” Emily smirked and kissed the blood from Stiles’ lips. Simultaneously he was hit with the disgust of having her touch him again and Derek’s rage. Were it not for the rock salt in his stomach and the blade in his shoulder he would have cut her in half. Instead, all Stiles could do was jerk away and bare his teeth at her.
“We’re even.” Stiles said and he barely recognized his own voice. Emily smiled before disappearing. Derek was on his feet as soon as she was gone, scrambling over to Stiles, and staring down at him. “If you had touched her everything I had put in place to keep you safe would have been undone.” Stiles explained as he yanked the blade out of his shoulder.
“What else have you done to protect me that you aren’t saying, Stiles?” Derek said.
“You don’t need to worry about the others that helped me,” Stiles said ignoring the question. Derek was not ready to know. Stiles was unsure Derek was ever going to be ready to know everything he had done and given up to keep Derek safe. Derek helped him to his feet as the wound on his shoulder healed and the salt worked its way out of his system. “Anyone who’s my friend wouldn’t use my debt to them as leverage. And even if they did, it’s not like demons have any loyalty anyways.”
Derek stiffened like he wanted to say something, but Stiles knew that he wouldn’t. Derek was not going to apologize for that comment and Stiles did not expect it. He knew that they certainly were not going to address how loyal Stiles obviously was to Derek. Instead, Derek put a hand on the small of Stiles’ back and helped him stand up a little straighter.
“Is she going to stop?” Derek said, looking in the direction Emily ran off.
“No, and that hurt like a bitch, so I’m still a little unsteady on my feet. Do you think you can track her?” Stiles said. Derek glanced at him and Stiles knew the smiles they shared were razor sharp.
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Author: safaiagem / bloody-hellfire
Word Count: 6,430
Rating: R
Characters/Pairings: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Lydia Martin, Laura Hale, Original Characters
Warnings language, torture, violence, someone is briefly kissed against their will
Summary: Stiles had suffered The Pit a second time for Derek but the memories still lingered far too close to the surface. Getting holy water thrown in his face didn't really help either.
Notes: Part two of the Ten Years Gone series. This literally would not exist without all of your kind words for the first story. I can't thank any of you enough, truly, and there is more to this series after this one. A longer story is planned out and being written right now. I'd like to thank Adihsar for their list of suggestions for one-shots. Thank you so much! I'd also like to thank Baibaba for being my beta again <3
Read on AO3 or The Pit
The sound of his bones breaking made Stiles feel sick to his stomach. It was his pinky finger and someone was laughing at the way he struggled to hold back a scream. There was a clamp on his knuckle now and pressed down. The world went white around the edges and Stiles knew that they were going to drag this out. One finger at a time, one knuckle at a time, until his hand was nothing but a piece of dead meat. Ruined forever, broken in a way even a demon cannot heal, and he instinctively knew that they were going to do the other hand next. The clamp moved to his ring finger and something that sounded like a sob escaped from his lips. Stiles hated himself instantly for letting them hear that. They laughed. He bit his tongue and ignored the way they started chanting his name.
Stiles, Stiles, Stiles...
Stiles wanted to tell them to shut the fuck up but his voice was stuck in the back of his throat.
Stiles, Stiles, Stiles...
He squeezed his eyes shut hard enough that he saw stars and Stiles hoped, he hoped for the first time in so long, that when he opened his eyes all of this would fade away.
Stiles!
Stiles opened his eyes and everything was gone. The bright pain in his hand felt like it was fading and when he looked down it was whole. He blinked as the world began to come back into focus around him. He was in the Camaro driving along the flat roads in the middle of nowhere with a werewolf behind the wheel. Derek wasn't looking at the road though. He was staring at Stiles.
"What was that?" Derek asked. Before now the flashbacks had been brief enough that Stiles was able to ignore them. This was the first time he remembered the pain and he flexed his fingers to make sure they were all still there.
"I was remembering," Stiles said because there was no lie he could say that would make any sense. There was no point in having a fight about the lie. “Before I knew you I hadn’t been on a table in Hell for a long time. I was able to push a good portion of it all away, not really forget, but bury it I guess. Now, it’s really, I don’t know, raw? I hate that I have to word it this way but it’s true.” Stiles waved his hand hoping he could dismiss the rest of this conversation. “It’ll pass. Now, what are we going to go hunt this time? I hope it’s something cool. I want to poke something cool with a stick.”
“We’re going to look at something, but I don’t think you want to poke it with a stick,” Derek looked back at the road, finally. Stiles wasn't really interested in getting into a wreck and having to re-grow bones. Plus, Derek had a really comfortable car.
“Sounds fun,” Stiles said, smiling. Something was not right with Derek though. Since they had reunited over three months ago there had been a few hunts that were fun. A poltergeist that threw Derek through a wall. A wendigo that Stiles might have enjoyed setting on fire a bit too much. There was something about cannibalism that really grated his nerves. A woman in white that screamed in Stiles' face and then got very angry when he laughed. They were heading East now and Stiles had no idea why. There had been no reports that had grabbed their attention yet Derek was driving like he knew where they were going. “So, what aren’t you telling me?”
“You’ll see when we get there.” Derek shifted like he was uncomfortable and that did not happen often. Stiles narrowed his eyes and stared. He knew that he had a good glare, but Derek did not seem to care. Instead he drove along like he did not have a care in the world. Stiles groaned and stared out the window some more. Wherever they were going it was going to be a long drive. Stiles put his feet on the dashboard and did a mental countdown before Derek would push them off.
Three and a half seconds.
+++
There was something very familiar about this place and when Stiles realized where they were going he was nervous. There were few things that made him nervous. He was a demon that had come out of two rounds in hell (relatively) sane. Derek pulled up in front of the house, but did not get out. Stiles clenched his fists and looked up.
“This is a bad idea,” Stiles said.
“It won’t be that bad,” Derek replied.
“It’s going to be so bad.” Stiles looked at the house and felt that dull ache in his hand that never seemed to really go away. “I’ll stay out here.”
“Are you bitching out?” Derek asked.
“Absolutely,” Stiles said with zero shame. Derek raised an eyebrow and looked very unimpressed. “Fine but I’d like to make it known that I think this is a terrible idea.”
“Noted.” Derek climbed out of the car and for a moment Stiles thought about locking the doors and staying right where he was. This was the worst possible idea. He could hear Derek gathering his gear from the trunk and if he was going to lock the doors he needed to do it now. Stiles hit his head again the window and climbed out of the car. Derek looked a little too smug and Stiles flipped him off.
“Still a bad idea,” Stiles said as they walked up the stairs. Derek snorted and rang the doorbell. Stiles could hear someone moving around and he braced himself for the worst.
Getting holy water thrown in his face was not the best way to start the morning.
Fortunately Stiles had enough sense to throw up his arms to block the water from doing any real damage but it still burned his arms like acid. It made him think of the table, of skin melting and being peeled off of his bones, and for half a second he thought he was going to be sick. Then Stiles looked up and into the glowing red eyes of Laura Hale. Derek growled, took his sister by the arm, and walked her a few steps inside. Stiles glanced down and felt that every window had a line of salt. She was thorough if nothing else. Stiles rubbed his arms, trying to push those memories out of his head, and sat down on the porch steps. The Hale siblings were fighting and he did not really care enough to eavesdrop.
Five loud minutes later Derek joined him on the steps. Laura was his alpha so it was not like he could really fight her on any issues. Stiles didn't really blame Laura for her paranoia. He assumed that Derek had explained everything that had happened to them and how demons were the source of everything terrible that had happened to her family. Stiles understood her reasons not to trust the one partnered with her brother. Still, the holy water hurt like a bitch.
“I really didn’t think she’d do that,” Derek said which was kind of an apology and probably the closest to one he’d ever get. Stiles shrugged and leaned back on his hands. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Laura standing behind the salt line and glaring at him. There was no way to really make himself not look like a threat. Not to a werewolf that could sense and feel everything about him. So the two of them just stared at each other like they were kids and the first one that blinked would lose. Laura’s eyes flashed red for half a second but she knelt down and broke the salt line. Stiles smiled to himself and stood up. He could feel Derek watching the two of them, ready to spring to action to break them apart if someone decided that violence seemed like the right answer, but Stiles kept his gaze on Laura. Despite the salt line being broken he stopped right in front of it so they were only a few feet apart.
“I’ll let you in but I’m not letting you stay the night,” Laura said.
“I don’t blame you,” Stiles said shoving his hands his pockets. “Though I do have one request.”
“And what would that be?” Laura snapped clearly annoyed, but Stiles grinned.
“What’s it like being an alpha? I want to know everything.”
+++
Apparently they were not there to have an uncomfortable meeting with Laura. That was a benefit that Derek seemed to be regretting, but they were mainly there to get some supplies. Laura was in the kitchen making noise, Derek was upstairs getting something, so Stiles wandered around the living room. There was something fascinating about being in the same house as an alpha and a beta. In his many years studying so many things he had never seen pack dynamics in person. Pack dynamics in the Hale family seemed to be avoiding each other. Derek was in the attic now so Laura walked out of the kitchen and stared him down.
“What are you planning to do to my brother?” she asked and it took a considerable amount of control not to laugh at her. He must not have done a very good job because Laura stalked forward and loomed over him. “What are you going to do to my brother?”
“I’m not doing much of anything,” Stiles replied which was a lie there was plenty of ‘doing’ going on between them, but if Derek hadn’t told her that then Stiles wasn’t going to be the one to break the news. “In fact, the only thing I did was come tell your brother not to shoot me if he saw me while hunting. That was it.”
“And now you’re partners,” Laura said.
“Yep. He asked me and pointed out that he trusts me and it’s always good to have someone you trust watching your back.” Stiles rolled his shoulders and clenched his fists in his pockets. “Derek had the opportunity to kill me and end his deal and he didn’t. I trust him too.” Laura narrowed her eyes and looked him over like she could tell if he was lying, and him being a demon she couldn’t exactly do so, but it still made Stiles feel a little nervous.
“He told me what you did,” Laura said. “Thank you.” Fortunately she turned and walked across the room so she missed his reaction. Stiles was sure he was pale and looked like someone had just scared the crap out of him. Of course Derek told Laura about his little vacation to The Pit. She was his sister and alpha. That didn't mean that Stiles was entirely happy about it either. He had to sit down.
Despite the fact that it had been three months since Stiles had crawled out of The Pit, it was still something that they did not talk about. It was on the same level as the fire on the long line of things they did not talk about. Along with the fact that Stiles was the one that gave Derek the demon killing knife. Derek was going to bring it up at some point and Stiles was still trying to work out how he was going to explain that one.
Stiles looked up and he could see Laura’s red eyes as she glared at him again and it hit him like a punch to the gut. Red glowing eyes that mocked him as they looked down at him. Weight of metal and rope on his wrists, twisting his shoulders from the sockets, the sound of the pop echoed like a gunshot. A voice that called him weak, a child, something that needed to be punished for being very bad and going against the rules. A voice that felt too familiar whispered into his ear.
The blacklist doesn’t protect him from everything, Stiles...
The anger Stiles felt was as red hot as the fire that burned every inch of his body. This was Hell, of course there was fire, but there was so much pain, so much blood, and it filled his lungs until Stiles was choking on it. Until he could not breath and the voices were laughing at him again.
This is what happens when you get attached...
There was movement and Stiles could feel someone sitting beside him. He blinked and realized it was another fucking flashback. There was no fire, no pain, his arms and shoulders were fine, but his fists were clenched so tight there was a risk he was going to break his own fingers. Stiles opened his hand and watched as the half moons healed. It took a little too long to become aware of the presence next to him on the couch. It was Laura but she was not touching him. There were a good few inches between them, she wasn't even looking at him, and Stiles didn't remember her sitting down at all. She was going to pity him, the poor demon that crawled out of hell, she had every right to call him out on his weakness.
“I still have nightmares about fire,” she said. Laura didn't reach out to comfort him and she didn'tt say anything else but Stiles took it for the olive branch that it was. They were still sitting like that, silent and unmoving and not looking at each other, when Derek joined them twenty minutes later.
+++
After an uncomfortable dinner, Stiles found himself lying on the front lawn with Derek as they stared up at the crescent moon. Despite it not being full Derek still loved to lie out in the moonlight and Stiles had long since given up making fun of him for it. Laura had already salted the doors and windows so it was this or the Camaro for Stiles’ bed. Derek didn't apologize for his sister and Stiles did not expect one. It took some time for Derek to let them stay in the same room. Stiles rolled, rested on his elbow, and looked down at Derek.
“So I think your sister likes me,” he said knowing full well that Laura was probably listening in. Derek did not look as convinced. “Okay, maybe ‘like’ is a strong word, but I don’t think she’s going to tear my throat with her teeth.”
“Those two are on such different ends of the spectrum I’m not even sure if they’re in the same universe,” Derek deadpanned.
“Also true, but it’s nice to know I won’t have to build a new voice box.”
“You’d be quiet for awhile then, right? Maybe I should talk to Laura about this,” Derek said thoughtfully. Stiles used his speed advantage to crawl over Derek and pin him down. A quick glance up and he could see red eyes through the window of the house. Derek got one of his wrists free and moved his arm behind his head. “Careful Stiles, Laura can be territorial.”
“So can I.” In the end Stiles really did not care if Laura knew that they were sleeping together. If she didn’t smell it on them, he was giving her far too much credit as an alpha. Derek smirked as if being in the middle of a territorial pissing contest with his alpha and a demon was amusing. Stiles decided his best course of action was to wipe that smirk off of Derek’s face while staking a claim of his own. The kiss was hard and demanding, like all of their kisses were, and Stiles smiled when he felt Derek bite at his lower lip. There was so much more that he wanted to do but Laura would probably rip his throat out. Stiles broke away and patted Derek on the cheek. “Go get some sleep or you’ll be even grumpier.”
“Can’t have that.” Derek rolled his eyes and eased Stiles off of him. Stiles stretched out on the grass as Derek looked down at him. “Are you going to be okay out here?”
“I don’t know whether to be flattered that you’re protective instincts are kicking in or insulted that you think I can’t take care of myself,” Stiles mused. Derek groaned and walked back toward the house without indulging him which was a shame. Stiles listened as Derek and Laura had a brief conversation that had some variation of ‘be careful’ and ‘I’m worried’ in it, but Stiles did not really care enough to listen. Instead he settled down and listened to the world around him. Laura and Derek were asleep and Stiles let himself drift for a few hours. It was well into the night when he heard something nearby and smiled.
“Hello Lydia,” Stiles said without looking away from the sky.
“I’m not even going to ask how you knew it was me.” Stiles sat up on his elbows and saw Lydia standing a few feet away. She was examining her nails and her red hair was straight instead of curly. She was trying to look bored but Stiles could see the tension in her shoulders.
“What can I do for you?” He said.
“I was just wondering why you’re lying out here like you don’t have a care in the world. Have you always been this stupid or are you really that hung up on the wolf?” Lydia snapped. Her eyes were red and Stiles was strangely proud of his protege. “You are once again the talk of the town.”
“I’m a sucker for attention. It’s one of my very few flaws,” Stiles said with his best shit eating grin. Lydia was not impressed. “I’m sure the higher ups will find someone else to focus on and then I’ll be able to wander around without a care.”
“Not this time.” Lydia looked worried and the fact that she was letting it show was a big deal for her. “Stiles, they aren’t going to let it go. You didn’t just crawl out. You escaped. They’re going to want to know how and when they get you again it’s going to be worse.”
“That’s not possible,” Stiles said before he could stop himself. Lydia surprised him by walking over and sitting next to him on the lawn. Stiles fell back and stared at the sky.
“I’m glad you’re out, I really am, but you need to be careful. They’re not just going to come after just you and you know that. This is putting him in the crossfire too. You should walk away before this gets any worse,” she said quietly
“They already know I’m attached, they loved reminding me of it, so they’d just use him to draw me out anyway. He’s safer if I’m here looking out for him. If they find out you’re here they’re going to punish you too.”
“They won’t find out,” Lydia said.
“The same way I wasn’t supposed to find out that you were the one that broke Derek’s mountain ash circle in that police station?” Stiles could see the way Lydia stiffened and he touched her back gently. “I know why you did it, I’m not an idiot, and I don’t want you to get punished for me either. I want you to keep your distance.”
“When did you get so sentimental?” Lydia said bitterly, but Stiles smiled. Lydia turned and looked down at him with that motherly look she used to get when he did something incredibly stupid. Considering the amount of bad decisions he had made in the last couple months he deserved a lot more than just her scrutiny. “Try not to get yourself killed or caught.”
“Yes ma’am,” Stiles replied. Lydia rolled her eyes but touched his hand gently. Maybe everyone knew about how much they focused on his hands this time. That was not exactly something he wanted to be common knowledge.
“They’re going to get worse before they get better. Not many of us have escaped a table twice. Try not to get yourself killed. I don’t want to deal with your boy if something should happen to you.” With that cryptic advice Lydia vanished, but her presence lingered. Maybe Stiles knew her too well because while he knew that she would not turn him in he also knew that she would not cover for him either. Lydia was his protege, his successor, but she was still a demon.
“So hard to find good help these days.”
+++
Stiles spent the next three days amusing himself by pushing Laura’s limits. He did everything he could to stake his claim on Derek which she would retaliate by doing the same. Derek seemed far too entertained by the fact that they were essentially trying to one up each other. By the time they left Stiles was fairly sure that Laura was having to physically restrain herself to keep from killing him. It was not like he was taunting her in so many words, even if he sort of was, Stiles was just fascinated by the alpha mentality. When he tried to justify that to Derek Stiles was sure Derek’s eyes were going to roll straight out of his skull.
They were sitting in the middle of a park as Derek looked through articles on his computer and Stiles watched everyone around them. Every now and then he’d catch Derek glancing up from his computer to make sure he was still there. Stiles knew that Derek thought he was taking in all of the details because it was all new and amazing or that Stiles was making sure this was real and he was out of The Pit. The truth was he was keeping an eye on everything that moved in the shadows that Derek could not see.
“Found something,” Derek said.
“Is it going to be something fun or something boring?” Stiles asked.
“If it’s boring are we going to let it slip by?” Derek said raising an eyebrow. Stiles raised one back and smirked.
“We can pass it off to one of your hunter buddies. Let them handle the boring ones and we’ll take the interesting ones. You know, best foot forward, supernatural creatures handle the heavy hitting while the humans handle the supernatural idiots.” Stiles said. Derek scoffed and turned his computer around. There were several articles about a town nearby that had bodies of children showing up. These bodies were mutilated in ways, that were he not a two time veteran of The Pit, Stiles would have winced. Instead he frowned deeply as he looked over the information. “This sounds bad, but there aren’t any indication that it’s our type of problem.”
“There have been storms in the area,” Derek said.
“It’s the summer so of course there’s gonna be storms,” Stiles pointed out, but he could tell that Derek was looking for some sort of excuse to go and check this out. “One of these days you and I are going to sit down on one of those couches and have a long talk about feelings and your hero complex.” Derek eased the computer aside and leaned into Stiles’ space.
“You’re coming with me so what does that make you?” he asked.
“An enabler.” Stiles could see something moving in the shadows, something watching them, and he needed to remind the rest of the underworld what they would have to go through to get to Derek or anything else Stiles deemed his. Stiles pulled Derek in a hard but brief kiss and when he pulled away he saw the shadows had gone.
This is what happens when you get attached...
Stiles knocked his forehead gently into Derek’s and grinned.
“Let’s go check it out.”
+++
They were somewhere in Nebraska. Stiles was not really sure where. Derek seemed to know where he was going and Stiles really just considered himself along for the ride. There were no indications that these murders were being done by anything other than some sick human. He was unsure what Derek’s morals were on killing humans. The last kids body was found out in the woods two days before and by now the crime scene tape was already gone. Derek seemed to be under the impression he was going to be able to find something with his super senses. Stiles was not so confident and kept reminding Derek the entire time to the sight.
“If you don’t want to look around you could always go somewhere else,” Derek said as he parked the Camaro.
“And miss out on you trying to justify this as a hunt? I wouldn’t miss this for the world,” Stiles was planning on another barb, several in fact, when he felt the disturbance in the area. It was about a 50/50 shot whether or not it was something Derek could sense. It was the all too familiar feeling that came from being around various supernatural creatures for far too long. They walked into the crime scene and Derek began to poke around. Stiles shoved his hands in his pockets and walked around the area that he knew the kid died in. There was blood soaked into the dirt and it stunk.
“Believe me now?” Derek asked because of course he could feel the fact that something non-human was involved in this.
“Fine, it’s a legitimate hunt. Let’s find the thing that thinks killing kids is super and kill it.” Stiles said and he glared at Derek. “And please remember I can and will kick your ass if you say ‘I told you so.’”
“You would have absolutely said ‘I told you so’ if I was the one denying that--”
“Irrelevant,” Stiles interrupted, waving his hand. “I’ll get the police files and we’ll go from there. I’ll meet you back at the motel in an hour.”
“I’ll walk around and listen in. See if any of the local say anything.” Derek walked back to the car and not waiting for Stiles. He drove off in a cloud of dust and left Stiles standing in the middle of the forest. He wondered how many times he could tell himself that this was not what he thought, not who he thought, before it became reality. Instead Stiles went to the police station and slipped passed half asleep officers into the records room. He had nearly forty five minutes before he needed to meet Derek and that was plenty of time to read this file on his own. It would not be the first time Stiles did a little digging without Derek.
The records room was dark but Stiles could see well enough. He slid down to the floor and began to read over the paperwork. The state police were being called in and if that did not work the federal government. Too many kids were dead for the state to ignore and that made sense. There were plenty of clues too but none that made sense to humans. To Stiles, however, they painted a very clear picture. The way the kids were carved up, the weapons used, even how long it took these kids to die, he knew exactly with whom he was dealing with. Stiles hit his head against the wall a few times. It was painless and was not nearly enough to make this situation any better. Stiles put the file away and did not make copies. There was no need and he spent the next thirty minutes sitting in the dark by himself.
Derek was already at the motel when Stiles arrived. His eyebrows were drawn deeply in a way that meant he had spent the last hour listening to people mourn and leech their sadness onto the rest of the world. Derek looked even more annoyed when Stiles walked in empty handed.
“Where’s the file?” he asked.
“We need to leave town,” Stiles said ignoring the question.
“What do you mean ‘we need to leave town’? I thought we agreed this was a legitimate hunt.” Derek stood up and crossed his arms tightly.
“We did, it is, and we still need to leave,” Stiles repeated. Derek was already getting angry. This was going much worse than he could have anticipated.
“There’s something out there tearing kids apart and you want to walk away?” Derek said slowly.
“Yes.” Stiles said and that startled Derek. “We need to leave.”
“You know what’s doing this,” Derek stated as he took a step forward. He looked like a threat, he was trying to be a threat, but Derek was not frightening to Stiles. “I’d even bet you know who is doing this.”
“Yes, I do, and we still need to leave.” Stiles mentally wondered if he could convince Derek to listen to him if he repeated the same thing over and over with some sort of positive reinforcement. Maybe sex would work.
“Why should we walk away?”
“Because we should.”
“What aren’t you telling me, Stiles?”
“We need to leave town.”
“Tell me what’s going on.” Derek was yelling in Stiles’ face. This made Stiles want to throw Derek to remind him that he was not the strongest player in the room. That would just escalate this even more and they were in too public of a place to hash out their differences in a fight.
“Because I can’t have a part of this,” Stiles said calmly. Derek growled and Stiles glared right back.
“You better explain yourself,” Derek said.
“Pretty sure I don’t have to explain shit to you, wolf boy,” Stiles snapped. Derek took a handful of Stiles’ shirt and jerked him forward. Stiles had to dig his nails into his palms to keep from retaliating. This was only going to get worse the longer they fought about this. “What did I tell you when I got out of The Pit?”
“You had help from friends, what about it?” Derek released Stiles and straightened his shirt. It felt extremely patronizing and Stiles wanted to hit him.
“The one out there that’s killing those kids? That’s the one that literally got me off of the table, the first one that helped, and I can’t go kill them because I owe them a debt.” Stiles crossed his arms and waited for Derek to understand what was going on. “You are associated with me so you can’t touch them either.”
“How many people do you owe a ‘debt’ to Stiles?” Derek said slowly. “How many people are going to die because they owe you a favor?”
“I can’t answer that.” Stiles said.
“Because you don’t know the answer.” Derek spit out. “Since when do demons have loyalty anyway?” If Stiles was younger he would have reacted to that barb. But he was old, he had experience, he had survived The Pit twice, and walked away relatively intact. Instead he let his face go carefully blank and looked Derek directly in the eyes. He had stared down far worse things than some beta werewolf that knew which one of his wounds bled.
“We don’t.” Stiles said flatly. “Do whatever you want.” He turned to leave but Derek took his arm to stop him. Stiles shook his arm hard enough that he nearly dislocated Derek’s shoulder. He was not associated with Derek. Derek could hunt and kill whatever he wanted. He could extend that hero complex to hell and back for all Stiles cared. As he walked away from the motel room Stiles could feel the line of salt go up like a prickle on the back of his neck. He ignored it and faded into the shadows.
+++
It was five in the morning and Stiles was sitting on the ground against a bar of drunk people. The noise was enough to drown out the buzzing in his head and the little voice that kept nagging him. They were the same voices from The Pit, the ones that reminded him day in and day out about how his attachment brought him here and weak it made him. Now, here he was sitting alone in the middle of nowhere because he was stupid enough to get attached.
Since when do demons have loyalty anyway?
Stiles listened to the world around him. To the humans. To the creatures that lingered in the shadows. To his owns screams that echoed inside his head and could not tune any of it out. He could still feel Derek to an extent. There was something between them. It happened while he was on the table, Stiles remembered, he had wanted Derek to be safe as they tortured him. Now there was this connection. Most of the time it was enough to bring him back from the edge of insanity, but now Stiles could not help but resent it.
He hated it even more when he realized that Derek had found his friend and was about to become the latest in a line of torn up bodies.
Stiles was on his feet in seconds and he ran across town. There was tension in the air that made his lungs burn, but Stiles ignored it. He ran so fast that the world blurred and jolted when they came into view.
These days she was calling herself ‘Emily’. The body she was in was one she had used in the past. Chopped short blonde hair spiked in all directions, lean but thin frame, and a wicked smile that had more to do with her personality than the body itself. Derek was down the road from her with the demon killing knife in one hand and a shotgun full of rock salt in the other. The world slowed and Stiles saw it all happen. Derek threw the knife and used his speed to fire the shotgun seconds later. If those hit Emily she would do whatever she wanted to him. Stiles could not begin to think about what she would do with someone that had super healing. He moved without thinking.
There was no time to catch the knife no matter how fast he was, so Stiles did the first thing he could--he got in front of her. Fortunately the knife did not go straight through his chest, but it still hurt like a bitch when it went through his shoulder. The shotgun blast was too wide to avoid and the salt hit his skin like thousands of tiny knives. It knocked the wind from his lungs and Stiles fell to his knees. He looked up and saw Derek staring at him horrified. Stiles wanted to explain that he could not touch, he couldn’t let Derek touch her, because that would mean she could touch him, but the pain kept Stiles from saying anything.
“Oh that’s interesting,” Emily said. Derek’s eyes glowed blue and he raced forward but Emily flicked her wrist. Derek fell to the ground and Stiles could hear bones cracking as he struggled to sit up. Emily knelt down in front of Stiles and smiled fondly. “You really are good for your promises, aren’t you?”
“Don’t sound too surprised,” Stiles replied. There was some blood on his lips and he needed to get that fucking blade out of his shoulder. He reached for it but Emily grabbed it.
“I heard about how you’re so fond of this wolf, everyone has heard about it, but I never thought I’d live to see Stiles so weak that he’d jump in front of a blade to protect someone.” Emily twisted the blade in his shoulder at the word ‘weak’ like it personally offended her. “You were beautiful back then, when you were slaughtering your way to the top, what changed?”
“Even we change,” Stiles said through his teeth as she twisted the blade again. Emily looked over her shoulder as Derek struggled against her, but she held him down. Derek looked desperate, like he was witnessing his worst nightmare, and Stiles struggled against the lump in his throat. “I saved you just like you saved me. We’re even now.”
“I suppose we are, but this bond you’ve formed with the wolf is so amusing. I can’t wait to see what kind of fun everyone will come up with to exploit it.” Emily leaned forward and pushed the knife in until the hilt hit skin. Stiles had to blink against the black dots that were dancing in front of his vision. “Maybe I’ll play with that bond now.” Emily smirked and kissed the blood from Stiles’ lips. Simultaneously he was hit with the disgust of having her touch him again and Derek’s rage. Were it not for the rock salt in his stomach and the blade in his shoulder he would have cut her in half. Instead, all Stiles could do was jerk away and bare his teeth at her.
“We’re even.” Stiles said and he barely recognized his own voice. Emily smiled before disappearing. Derek was on his feet as soon as she was gone, scrambling over to Stiles, and staring down at him. “If you had touched her everything I had put in place to keep you safe would have been undone.” Stiles explained as he yanked the blade out of his shoulder.
“What else have you done to protect me that you aren’t saying, Stiles?” Derek said.
“You don’t need to worry about the others that helped me,” Stiles said ignoring the question. Derek was not ready to know. Stiles was unsure Derek was ever going to be ready to know everything he had done and given up to keep Derek safe. Derek helped him to his feet as the wound on his shoulder healed and the salt worked its way out of his system. “Anyone who’s my friend wouldn’t use my debt to them as leverage. And even if they did, it’s not like demons have any loyalty anyways.”
Derek stiffened like he wanted to say something, but Stiles knew that he wouldn’t. Derek was not going to apologize for that comment and Stiles did not expect it. He knew that they certainly were not going to address how loyal Stiles obviously was to Derek. Instead, Derek put a hand on the small of Stiles’ back and helped him stand up a little straighter.
“Is she going to stop?” Derek said, looking in the direction Emily ran off.
“No, and that hurt like a bitch, so I’m still a little unsteady on my feet. Do you think you can track her?” Stiles said. Derek glanced at him and Stiles knew the smiles they shared were razor sharp.
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