From Ashes ✗ Stiles Stilinski - Chapter 34: Chapter 34

May 2003
The day was too bright, too warm. Her eyes couldn't completely focus the moment she set foot on the front steps of the school. Her body still felt like it was buzzing, full of light and energy. Still, her stomach coiled whenever she thought about it for more than a few seconds, which made it particularly hard to get any rest in the nurse's office. Instead, she found it much easier to focus on everything else - for instance, a blindingly sunny day. Or even her missed math test. She groaned softly and allowed her head to fall back in exasperation. She'd have to retake it during lunch tomorrow.
A hand gripped her arm tightly and yanked her down the steps. Taken off guard by the sudden movement, she willed her legs to move when she caught sight of whom the hand belonged to. The other girl's jet black hair was in a ponytail, making it easier to see her face. She was met, at an alarmingly close proximity, with the wide hazel eyes of Trista. Her pulse quickened but she allowed the girl to drag her into the shadows of the school, the reality of her situation sinking into her chest. She wasn't there to give the larger girl the answers. She wasn't there to ensure a passing grade. She wasn't there. She wasn't there. She was a dead girl walking.
She could feel the tears begin to stream down her face.
They stood in the shadow of the sun bleached brick building and Madeline Hayes found herself rushing to the ground in one throw. She landed face first in the dirt, perhaps with a few scrapes on her face from tiny jagged rocks. Her cheek was on fire and she felt something dribbling down it.
She could feel the girl above her glaring and hear her quiet snarls, soon accompanied by the other children in the distance shouting. "Fight! Fight! Fight!"
Something in Maddie was still coiling tightly, like her insides had turned into a spring that was being pushed in on either side. She wiped her wet cheeks on the sleeve of her violet shirt and stood. Once she slowly turned around to face the girl, she was immediately met with the sting of a hard slap to her left cheek. Bright, violent pain tore through her for a moment, easing into a throbbing pulse in her under her eye. Maddie touched her cheek and and whimpered from the pain.
"I failed that test because of you!" Trista screamed. Around, them the hellish roar of "fight! fight! fight!" grew deafening and pressed against the spring Maddie's insides had become. She'd done so well at avoiding a beating for nearly three whole months. Her brother, Jack, warned Trista the last time what would happen if Maddie came home bloodied up ever again. Why didn't Trista care? Why was this happening?
What did she do so wrong?
"It's your fault!"
Maddie's tears had ebbed only momentarily, as if something in her was willing her toward something deeper.
In a split second, she found herself whipped into the brick wall of the school. She'd flinched, the ache in her skull and shoulder agonizing. The larger, intimidating girl put all of her weight into pinning Maddie against the wall and the rough brick behind her scratched at her arms as she struggled.
"Your mom and dad won't recognize you when I'm done." It wasn't the first time she said that. The first time, she remembered telling her parents that she took a bad tumble down steep hill. She remembered her first fractured bone. Her mom cried when she saw the bruises.
Kids shouldn't have to think about what it would be like to not survive the day, and yet it was the only thought she had. The spring burst out.
Something was different, new and buzzing through her. Warmth and understanding.
A flood of energy opening wide and devouring her, easing her tears and unleashing what slept beneath her fear.
It all happened in a haze. Red and blackened haze. A flood of swollen flesh and blood. There were other children screaming and crying, but it took her a long to time realize she was one of them. She could feel something crack as her fist landed on its target again and again. Rage and power held her tightly and split her in two all at once as her hands were first covered in the blood of someone else.
Whatever light had formed inside her that day didn't come without something heavy and dark. Something primal. Something uncontrollable.
☽ † ☾
Something pooled on the blacktop and at Allison's feet, thick and warm as it touched her bare toes.
Her eyes darted to the ground and her breath caught in her throat. The liquid crawling over her feet shined in the dim light like the burgundy wine her mother would have with dinner every night.
No. Wine wasn't thick; wine wouldn't warm her cold feet. Wine didn't smell like her father's weapon cabinets - musky and metallic. Her heart raced as she followed the trail on the dark, wet canvas until it led to pale flesh and soaked blonde curls - then, finally, to open blue eyes. Blood trickled down the young girl's neck as someone feasted from it. Not someone - something. Allison clasped her hand over her mouth to stop the scream that threatened to tear through her throat.
The creature lifted it's grim, yellow gaze and smiled at Allison with long, bared fangs. The young brunette patted down her pockets, hoping for something. A weapon, maybe. Still, there was nothing. Hesitantly, she took a step back until she thought she saw the girl's mouth move from several feet away. Over and over again, the same motions. Allison found herself squinting at the girl, trying to read her lips.
"Free."
No. That couldn't be it. The creature whose mouth was dripping with the girl's blood growled and took a threatening step forward. Allison balled her fist instinctively but backed away all the same, only making herself angry. She spun around to run but was stopped immediately by another blonde in front of her. This one was smaller with smoother hair and soft green eyes full of tears. Her white dress was torn and covered in dirt but it was really the girls frightened gaze that caught Allison's attention. It almost reminded her of her own.
Her lips moved but the sound that came from them was a few seconds off and so quiet Allison hardly heard it.
"I'm sixteen years old. I... I don't wanna die."
A pale, clawed hand grabbed the girl's neck from behind and the blonde gave Allison a hard shove out of the way. Before the youngest Argent fell to the ground, she caught a glimpse of the man behind the blonde. All she could see in the blur were hideous red eyes peering down at her.
She hit the ground with a thud, feeling dry dirt beneath her fingernails. As Allison took a deep breath, she could smell the heavy scent of incense burning. In the distance, the sound of screams and pounding filled her ears. Her focus on the noise didn't last long though, as dirt flew up in her direction and she covered her face with her forearm and it sprayed across the sleeve of the oversized, long sleeve shirt she wore. When the dust cleared, she peered through only to see another blurry figure in the dim candlelight.
It was then that something inside her seemed to snap - something strange, primal. Something that didn't feel like her. Her hand instinctively searched the ground and found the rough leather and cool metal of a hilt. She gripped it and, in one smooth motion, leaped to her feet and charged the clearer image of a man. He dodged.
"Just like I pictured it. This good for you?" asked the man, his voice out of breath but gleeful with a thick cockney accent taunting her.
She whipped around to meet his eyes but the room had grown almost bright, almost enough to blind her momentarily. This room became clear and distinct in mere seconds though. There was someone in front of her again, this time alarmingly close and detailed. More detailed than anyone else she had encountered. She could make out her pale complexion and the pale blue hues of her eyes, which were already wide and piercing through Allison's. She could make out the woman's perfection coiffed black hair that fell over her shoulders. She could see the hand of the woman between the while two of her manicured fingers aligned with Allison's eyes.
"Look at me, dearie."
She couldn't move. Even with the adrenaline pumping through her veins, she couldn't will her body to run or fight.
"Be in my eyes."
She had to move. This couldn't be it. Not after her training. Not after she left her family behind, a family that she never knew. It couldn't all be for nothing. She couldn't leave the innocent to die. She couldn't leave the only friend she had to fight alone. They finally weren't alone. Not now.
Allison could hardly even understand her own thoughts. They didn't feel like hers though.
In a rapid strike, the woman sliced her nail across Allison's neck. In sheer terror, the teenage girl gripped her own neck, feeling the same warm, thick liquid seep through her fingers and down her shirt. What she didn't feel, though, was the wound. There was no pain. Still, her vision was blurring and flickering to black. She felt her legs crumple beneath her and she fell to her knees. Before she could pass out, shock and adrenaline once again shot through her and she caught herself by placing her hands on the floor.
It wasn't the floor. It was stone. It was stone that she was now shackled to. Iron cuffs had, at some point, encircled her wrists and she had no idea how or when.
The room was bright and blue where she was, still crouched. She shook off the last of her grogginess that lingered in her head and unsteadily stood. As it turned out, she was standing in the only bright spot in the room. Not a room. A cave. In the darkness surrounding her, she could make out four shadows, three of which moved more and seemed farther away.
"Let me go!" It wasn't a plead, but a command as the words left Allison's mouth. Her rage and confusion outweighed her fear tenfold.
Crack. The sound of wood hitting hard stone echoed around her and she jumped. It sounded again and again, in slow rhythm.
The figure — the closest to her — stepped forward, toward her. Not stepped, though. Its movement didn't indicate a step that had been taken, but it moved forward still, gliding perhaps.
A shadow was the perfect description of it. Looking ahead, straight into it, was like looking into the abyss. It was an all-encompassing darkness that Allison felt the urge to run from, but, at the same time, felt comforted by. Warmth and cold. Life and death. Peace and chaos. Unknown.
The figure stepped into the light, revealing a woman — no, a girl. Someone young with dark skin, scorched by the harsh sun. Her movements were animalistic, cautious and threatening as her matted, dark hair hid most of her face. Torn and dirty white scraps of thin cloth covered her, matching the cracked white mud that was caked on her face in the shape of a skull. Then there were her eyes, dark and feral — but, most of all, tired. Old. Empty. Allison felt like she knew those eyes.
"You're right, you don't know me." The voice echoed in her head.
The eyes were questioning her but the girl made no words, no sound.
"You're not one of us," whispered a voice. A voice she knew, at that. Out of her peripheral, she caught sight of strawberry blonde locks and green eyes. Lydia? No. It didn't feel like it was Lydia. Something about her wasn't right. She was simply something...familiar. Familiar and not the intended focus of Allison's attention.
Allison, still struggling against the iron shackles, looked at the girl in rags that was examining her. The fair brunette's brows knitted together and, in her terror, she took a breath.
"One of you?" She addressed the girl as if the voice had come from her and it felt strange. "What do you mean one of you? Who are you?"
"Words will not stop the night from coming." The rhythmic cracking continued, gaining speed and volume. When Allison was about to speak again, the girl stood, meeting Allison at eye level. "The shadows wait for you."
The girl backed away again, retreating into the darkness as the noise got louder. Allison struggled against her chains even more, frantic to break them.
"The beast will come bearing three heads and she will know its face. It is the end of everything."
Rising out of the dark and into the dim light was a funneled pitch black smoke, first slowly. As Allison watched it curve and twist above her, she pulled against the chains in panic as the cuffs dug into her skin. In the blink of an eye, the smoke sped toward her before she felt it claw through her eyes and mouth. She tried to scream but felt herself choking on what had to have been ash. She couldn't see anything for only a moment until something flashed in front of her.
Bodies. Severed bodies.
Pools of blood.
A large, bearded man as the head of a mob...laughing.
Trees burning. People screaming.
Allison could feel her hands trembling, even as something strange gripped her bones tightly. Something foreign.
Graves. A field of thousands.
Creatures smiling in the dark, baring their fangs.
In that instant, something powerful and painful erupted in every nerve ending in her body, like all of her bones had shattered and become whole again in the same moment, but denser. They felt whole. They felt like steel.
"I am destruction. Absolute. Alone."
Faces, all girls, flew through her head rapidly as her skin hummed.
A match. The smell of gasoline. An explosion.
Allison bolted upright out of bed, gasping for air as her head spun. The sunlight filling her room blinded her and she furiously rubbed her eyes. She still could see the faces. She could hear Lydia's voice saying words that she'd never say. She could remember the feeling of blood slipping between her fingers. It was just a dream.
Once her sight had adjusted, she looked down at her hands. They were the same. Pale, small, a bit shaky, but nothing odd.
Still, in the quiet of her room, Allison Argent could swear that they...that she was different.
☽ † ☾
"Do I need to explain to you the point of a secret identity?"
"Well, what the hell was I supposed to do?" Maddie whispered in a harsh voice over her phone. Not harsh per se, but perhaps hoarse from all of the talking she had to do last night. Or maybe she was simply getting sick. She did feel a bit dizzy when she stood up that morning, after all. Whatever she was going through though, the last thing she needed was Stiles lecturing her. That would most certainly be a new low. It was enough that she kept her promise to call. She rolled her eyes as she bound down the stairs and to the kitchen. "Lie again? When has that ever worked?"
There was a pause. "The point is that the werewolf thing isn't really your secret to tell!"
"I didn't bring up the werewolf thing!" she groaned. Here he was judging her actions while he had Jackson locked up in a police van. Typical.
"How did you tell her the slayer thing and somehow avoid the werewolf thing? They're pretty interlocked."
She shrugged as if he could see it. "It didn't come up. We just know that whatever she is knows more than a little about what I am. If Scott or Allison wants to do a big reveal and fill in any blanks, that's on them. Keeping it a secret's pretty pointless now, though — and that'll sort of make them look like jackasses in the long run."
"Y'know, with a kind, considerate spirit like yours, it's a wonder you work alone."
She caught herself before she huffed loudly into the receiver. It was too early to be pissed off at him. Instead, for once, she had a better idea. "You know me — I'm kind of a league of one." For a second there, it sounded like Stiles started choking on something and the line became silent. "You okay?"
"Yeah," he said, his voice now hoarse as well. He cleared his throat. "I'm fine. I, uh...I'm good. Totally fine."
A small, almost inaudible chuckle escaped her throat and she smirked, as if this was the reaction she wanted. It was almost... At the mere thought of the word that came next, her smile fell flat and she shook her head as she reached the fridge. Like she actually cared that that even got a reaction at all. "I gotta go."
"Yeah, me too." His words came out just as quickly, almost jumbled together. Still, the next thing he said caught her off guard. Not because of the words themselves, but the eagerness is his voice. "See you after school?"
"If you're still alive by that point, then sure."
"...You really need to work on your jokes, Mads."
She ended the call, tucking her phone into her back pocket and pulling out the milk from the fridge. Footsteps thudded on the far end of the room, a low clearing of a throat sounding behind her, and she couldn't help but roll her eyes. Spinning on the ball of her foot, she was met with the familiar weathered face of Chris Argent. He had the same gruff expression he always wore and she wondered vaguely if he had any other expression.
"It almost sounds like your friend's in trouble." His eyes narrowed only slightly.
Maddie attempted not to stiffen up, not to change her expression. This was the part that she hated the most about living with the Argents. They were constantly looking over her should, listening and judging. They were everything she was warned about as far as the people who knew what she was. Her lips almost twitched. "Are you talking about a new kind of trouble or the usual 'protecting themselves from people with guns' kind of trouble?"
The look on Chris's face seemed almost amused by the reply in spite of himself, like he didn't take her comments too seriously because he obviously knew better. It was infuriating. "You tell me."
She moved past him with the milk and went for the pantry, opening the door and grabbing a box of Fruity Pebbles and kicking the door shut behind her — an act she only did when Victoria was not in the room. As she poured herself a bowl of cereal at the center island countertop, she continued to glare at the man who had allowed her to begin eating before interrogating her further. With her mouth full, she offered, "Anything else? Or can I eat?"
"Actually, there is something," he began, folding his arms. "We need you to be here Saturday evening."
"Why?" Still, she did not bother to pause her meal.
Chris blinked his blue eyes slowly, which she caught. It was usually fairly easy to irritate the man. "Because it's family night. I volunteered both you and Allison to help in the kitchen."
Finally, she set down her spoon and glared in his direction. "What? You can't do that."
"I already did."
"First of all, I'm not family. Second, do you know what volunteer means?" she argued, feeling more of her sense of self-preservation than the annoyance she allowed to rise in her tone. "Besides, Allison won't agree to this."
"Did I hear my name?" Allison came rushing through the kitchen, hair slightly more disheveled than usual and eyes wide as she attempted to go through her usual morning routine, only a bit clumsier than normal.
"Be home Saturday evening," Chris started, giving Maddie a pointed look as he spoke to his daughter. "It's family night."
Allison mumbled a quick "okay" as she grabbed two granola bars from the cupboard and bound toward the fridge.
Chris, with a look that showed absolutely no surprise whatsoever, gestured to Allison with his hand and gave Maddie a looked that said 'see?'.
Maddie sent him a narrowed glare back before drinking her milk and setting her bowl in the sink. As she passed the man and maneuvered around Allison who was pouring herself some orange juice with a slightly shaky hand, she quickly put the milk away in the fridge.
"Fine. Whatever. Saturday night." She only waited a moment for Allison to down her juice and nodded in the direction of the front door. Allison gave her a most peculiar stare but nodded all the same before waving goodbye to her dad and following Maddie out of the house.
As Maddie's stare followed Allison out of the house, the slightly shorter girl raised an eyebrow. Something seemed off about the girl. Different. Wrong. As if she wasn't completely there. As they got into the car, Maddie was hit with the familiar scent of vanilla and stale spearmint gum, which always seemed to match Allison. Now, though...Allison didn't seem to match Allison. Maddie frowned and furrowed her brows at the girl. "...is everything okay?"
"What?!" Allison jumped at the sound of the other girl's voice which, in turn, startled Maddie. There was a moment of panic that faded after a second or two and the fairer girl sighed. "Yeah, I just...had a weird dream. That's all."
A bit worried about Allison's next reaction, Maddie simply nodded and stayed silent for the rest of the ride to school. She allowed her thoughts to fade back into more important things. Lydia's current state. Stiles holding Jackson captive. Then, of course, the most important: the things that sent her a message. The vampires.
Whatever Allison was going through, Maddie was sure she could handle it on her own for now.