[trigger warning: i don't know if anything in this chapter is actually triggering but i feel like some things could be so i'm putting this here anyways because i don't want to take chances]

Life was great.

Though many would beg to differ with the above statement, particularly the people who'd been brutally slaughtered minutes ago, the psychopath with an everlasting sinister smirk set on her lips would never believe otherwise. It wasn't like lifeless corpses, whose blood was practically painting the kitchen walls, could argue with her or even attempt to plead their case of the many reasons why life was certainly not great— especially not when Lita had just about everything she wanted, and at no point in time had she ever been happier to be a psychopath.

Her situation, to any normal human, would be horrifying. Overpowered by an ancient trickster demon, one capable of inflicting unimaginable terror upon anyone he so desired, if they'd known even a fraction of what he could do, they'd run for their life. The pathetic human would shake with fear, too weak to form as much as a lone coherent sentence; muttering "please" & "let me go" like a broken record, all while the demon watched in amusement.

But not Lita.

If said weak, pathetic human was replaced by the infamous psychopath, it almost seemed to reverse their roles entirely. Of course, the demon was indeed still overpowering, but the human, now no longer susceptible to emotions like fear, didn't fall weak to the death grip holding her tightly against the wall. The pain, the way she could practically feel the bluish purple bruises forming on each arm, didn't phase her like it should've— in fact, no pain did.

Pain was an indication, a warning sign that intensified whenever death grew closer. Pain was the human mind's very own stop sign, flashing a blindingly bright red whenever something managed to trigger its insatiable demand to be acknowledged & felt. It struck panic by design, and existed only to be avoided at all costs by anyone with so much as a speck of sanity; the only exception, being someone who lacked that vital fragment. That exception came in the form of clinically insane Lita Mitchell.

Of course, she felt pain; she felt the way the skin on her wrists burned, and how the bones beneath it were on the verge of cracking if the demon's iron grip tightened even the slightest bit more. She felt the way her jaw still ached from the impact of her head being slammed against the kitchen counter minutes ago by someone she was almost embarrassed to say was of blood relation to her, and she felt the way her head pained as though someone had hit her with a hammer rather than a fist.

The fine line separating her from anyone else, was that no matter how much the pain demanded her attention, she never gave in. She saw the bright lights, the stop sign indicating that it was too much to handle, and the only thing she wanted to do was floor it & leave the sign in the dust. What truly made the difference, was that Lita could stare death directly in the dark brown, remorseless eyes, and not a single part of her cared whether or not he killed her then & there.

"What was that about knowing how I planned to shut you up?" The nogitsune seethed, his once calm demeanour now nothing but rage. Lita could tell she'd clearly hit a nerve, and she was all but alarmed by that discovery— she'd done what she escaped Eichen to do. She had her revenge, and even if she didn't get to torch the treasured family home, she no longer cared if the nogitsune came to the realization that she was dead weight & killed her. Although, she wouldn't be upset if the situation went in a different direction.

"I would've went into detail, but I took being pinned to the wall as an indication to stop talking." Lita shrugged, struggling to move her hands as the lack of blood began to trigger pins & needles in her fingertips. She had another sentence ready on the tip of her tongue, but chose to bite it back as she suspected it would anger the creature far more than it'd amuse her.

"Maybe underneath all that narcissism, there is some intelligence in there after all." Stiles chuckled, leaning in closer. His tight grip on Lita's wrists remained the same, despite the brunette struggling slightly out of annoyance; she hated pins & needles almost as much as she hated the Jesus freaks back in Eichen. "So tell me, is this everything you were expecting?"

"Well, we're not ripping each other's clothes off quite yet, but the day is still young." The psychopath joked, though despite only knowing her for all of two days, the demon boy knew she was serious; as serious as someone like her could be, that is. "I like to assume that look in your eyes is lust, not a growing desire to murder me."

"Assuming is a form of giving your power away to another regarding an outcome that concerns you." He responded, the words evidently a quote he'd found floating in the back of Stiles' mind from an old book. Lita swore it sounded familiar, but she couldn't place it; nor did she want to. Other things were of far more importance to her in the current moment.

"You've already got all the power there is to have." Lita stated, smiling sweetly. "Question is, what are you gonna do with it? I mean, as much as I'd love to stand here all day & stare into those cold, dead eyes of yours; kinky psycho sex sounds a little more fun, don't you think?"

"What makes you think I'd want that?" The demon asked, tilting his head to the side slightly without breaking eye contact. The "ancient, all-powerful monstrous trickster" intimidation act might've worked if he was still inside the bandage-wrapped, decayed body— but not when he was walking around as Stiles Stilinski. When someone that pretty tried to threaten her, Lita didn't register a single word they spoke; unless it involved screwing her. Literally or figuratively.

"This dialogue is going to put me in a coma." She sighed, rolling her eyes. Was he trying to taunt her? Lita truly could no longer tell— she felt like some type of statue, standing there with her wrists pinned at her sides, unable to do anything besides make an array of suggestive facial expressions out of sheer boredom. "Kiss me, kill me, fuck me— it's your choice, just make it before the corpses downstairs start rotting. If I had've known nogitsunes were this boring, maybe I would've been team Stiles. I mean, he had no appreciation for my dashing personality, but at least—"

The nogitsune's grip on her wrists tightened again, causing the brunette to wince at the pain shooting up her arms. What the hell? She looked at the stone cold expression on Stiles' face & for a second, she was almost certain he was actually going to kill her. Not that the idea scared her— death by nogitsune sounded a hell of a lot better than the ways she'd previously expected to die (rotting in Eichen, overdosed by an orderly, the list is endlessly pathetic). It was just disappointing— the nogitsune was the type of wild, psychotic adventure that Lita had been dreaming of for years. He didn't have to kill her for being her usual suggestive self; a simple "no" or "you're not my type" would've worked fine, rather than avoiding every damn remark she made in the most annoying, mysterious, punk!harry styles fanfiction type of way.

"Let me make one thing clear." The demon growled, his voice low & menacing. "I don't want you. I only ever wanted what you had to offer, and that was a quick way out of the insane asylum without drawing attention to ourselves. I could have done it without you, I could have used that stupid coyote just the same as you & then left her."

"But you didn't."

"Every Dracula needs a Renfield."

"Is that your motto?" Lita furrowed her brows, stifling a laugh as she recalled the first time she'd heard him say it before he'd gained full control of Stiles. "Because as great as it is, we all know how the story ended for Renfield. Tell me, big bad demon— are you going to fuck me over in the end? You know my opinion on being fucked, but fucked over.. I can't say I like it as much as the former."

"That's unfortunate." The nogitsune muttered, letting go of one of her wrists only to grab her jaw tightly & force her to look at him, rather than down at her bruising arms. She involuntarily winced at the pain but recovered quickly. "Because I could kill you, right here, right now. As Dracula did to Renfield, I could break your neck & leave you lying here for the police to find."

"Then do it." She snapped, not an ounce of fear in her voice. He expected her to at least seem slightly nervous; to stutter or tremble at the knowledge of just how close to death she was, but she didn't. Lita Mitchell did not fear death— she was truly insane & whatever untimely demise she would one day meet, it would be welcomed with open arms.

"I will." He declared, squeezing her jaw tighter before letting go of her entirely & taking a step back. "The moment you cease to be of use in my game."

Life was still great.

—

Not long after her exhilarating near-death experience, which she hoped to relive again soon, Lita found herself standing in Stiles Stilinski's bedroom. Why? She wasn't particularly sure.

Following the revelation of how numbered her days were becoming, not much more had been said. She'd gone up to the attic & found some of her old clothes to trade with the blood soaked ones she'd previously been wearing; a t-shirt, old jeans & a hoodie to hide her face. Admittedly, everything was a bit tighter than it had been two years ago— but it fit, for the most part. Except the shoes; those, she had to steal from her dead mom's closet. The high heeled leather ankle boots where admittedly trashy, but at least the bitch had something other than loafers. Besides, Lita had always wanted to stab someone with a high heel— maybe now she'd get the chance.

After changing & washing the blood off her face (and maybe taking an extra minute or two to examine the bruises— she thought they were pretty), Lita was tasked with one final objective before leaving her former home. To dispose of the evidence. The nogitsune was utterly useless in this task, opting to simply observe with a bored expression as she stuffed her parents' corpses into garbage bags. She tied each of the bags tightly before pushing them down the basement stairs, the sickening crunches of bone on a particularly hard impact against the stone flooring was music to her ears. The remainder of the gasoline she'd previously been spilling around the upstairs was splattered down the basement stairs & trailed out to the back door, where the nogitsune had been waiting with a lit match in hand. The fire had burned through over half the tiny matchstick by the time they'd both backed out of the building, but nothing about the tiny flame burning his hand seemed to faze him.

He threw the match onto the trail of gasoline & the liquid ignited brightly, the fire quickly racing throughout the house. Lita & the demon didn't stick around to watch it, as much as she would have liked to. It was apparently their turn to make a move in his little game, and going to Stiles' house was required. That's how she found herself where she currently sat, on the floor of Stiles' bedroom, out of view of the camera— the discovery of that had almost surprised the psychopath. Stiles had a camera set up in his room, focused specifically on the bed. Lita was quick to make assumptions before the nogitsune had clarified that the camera was installed by his father & was triggered by motion sensors; apparently in the later stages of demonic oppression, Stiles had been sleepwalking. The demon had been making him believe he was in the basement of Eichen, when in fact, he was actually in a coyote den, slowly freezing to death.

She had to admit, she admired his creativity.

"So tell me, Drac, what're we doing here when we could be finding Stiles' friends & killing them slowly & painfully?" The psychopath questioned, boredly rocking on the floor as she watched the demon assemble chess pieces on a board. "I mean, I know I'm not the mastermind here, but watching you play chess with yourself is just sad. You could always play with me if you're bored— I'm not particularly great at chess, but I've got some other talents.."

"Maybe someday if I hate myself as much as I hate you & the rest of humanity, I'll take you up on that offer." He scoffed, placing one final piece on the board before standing up, finally satisfied with the way he'd arranged the board. "If you must know everything, Stiles used these game pieces to explain the supernatural to his father."

"And let me guess, you've rearranged them to somehow concern whomever may discover it?" Lita questioned, already knowing the answer. The nogitsune had one of those "of course I did, did you expect any less?" looks on his face, mixed in with his usual smugness which made Lita roll her eyes at him. He was quickly becoming predictable— maybe the infamous "great minds think alike" saying was more true than she once believed.

She watched as he walked over by Stiles' bed & sat on it without a word, a lunatic smile on his face as he waved at the camera that had just been triggered. Lita walked over beside him, faced the camera & held up her middle finger, her psychotic smile matching the demon's. They were watching. The Sheriff who had personally driven Lita to Eichen House two years ago in an armoured prison transport van was watching. And she hoped like hell that he knew his son was now just as much of a lost cause as her.

—

well hello there friends.

if anyone is actually here reading this, put down the pitchforks & give me a chance to explain why this turned out the way it did. i'm fairly certain most people were expecting kinky psycho smut, but i'm terribly sorry to tell you that is not what happened. it was going to (i wasn't going to write actual smut bc y'know, just.. no.) but after leaving this for months & months because of writer's block & how uncomfortable i felt with the way it was going, i decided to backspace a little & fix it up. i'm actually pretty happy with the way it turned out, and i really hope that if i haven't lost everyone in my outrageously long hiatus, i really hope you guys like it too.

this is a bit longer than my usual chapters (it should be 20k after not updating for like 4 months.. but it's 2.5) & i really hope to be able to update this again very, very soon. thank you to everyone who hasn't deleted this from their reading list/library or unfollowed me. i was going through some stuff & temporarily abandoned all my books & i felt like shit for it. now i'm back at 'em all & i'm doing okay. as always, i love you all & i hope you don't hate this.