"I don't believe you're crazy."

"Then you're stupid."

"I believe your brother did something to make you snap, so why don't you tell me what that something is? Tell me why you killed him. Why you killed your parents. Why you killed Lydia." Stiles gaze shot towards the strawberry blonde for a split second, his eyes welling with tears again at the fresh memory. "What did they do to you?"

Lita rolled her eyes, annoyed by the boy's persistence. "They didn't do anything to me."

"You're lying." Stiles insisted. He knew when people were lying, he could tell— he couldn't hear their heart rate like Scott, but he was observant & Lita looked like a liar. "Tell me."

"Fine, Stiles, you want to know what they did? My parents beat me. Every fucking day— they hit me, they used my back as an ash tray for their cigarettes. My breakfast before school was a shot of vodka & a slap to the face. Evenings at the Mitchell household consisted of me working like I was hired help, and if I refused, I didn't get supper. Or lunch. Or anything." Lita snapped, her voice monotone & her expression hard. "Lydia picked up where my parents left off. She called me every name in the book & made a habit of mentioning how sickly thin & pale I became."

"Lydia wouldn't do that."

"She wouldn't? Well, she did. She & her boyfriend Jackson. A day didn't go by without one of them making a mockery of me in the halls. I was a joke because of them." Her monotone was eerily cold, something that Stiles couldn't seem to decipher hidden within it. The look in her eyes was different, something he had yet to see on her, and he didn't know if it was good or bad.

"What about your brother?" Stiles questioned, dropping the topic of his deceased friend. "What did he do?"

"Our parents were gone for the weekend. They left Wes with the instructions to hit me if he caught me anywhere near the fridge, they didn't want me getting fat— as if that were possible. It must've been around one in the morning, I was up in my room, reading a book, when he came in. He didn't say anything, he just— he came in, and he.." Lita trailed off, her gaze meeting Stiles'. He looked sad, sorrowful— he felt sympathy for her, for what he thought she'd gone though. Lita wanted to keep going, continuing on with her story, but could no longer hold back.

Her cold façade dropped as she cracked a smile & began to laugh at how easily Stiles had fallen for her pathetic sob story. Lita didn't think he was that gullible, but on this rare occasion she'd been wrong, judging by the look of anger & confusion he now wore. She couldn't tell which overpowered the other, the anger or the confusion.

"I can't believe you actually fell for that." She giggled, the sword in her hand easing back a little. "God, you're so fucking gullible. One little sob story & you're practically my bitch. No wonder I got you to give into the nogitsune so easily. You seriously thought I had a reason for all of this?"

Stiles remained silent.

"My parents were no different than any others. They didn't hit or starve me— I was average. Probably why Lydia ignored me. Jackson still fucked me though; honestly, I'm surprised she didn't try to kill me for that, it happened while they were dating." Lita didn't doubt Lydia had been aware of it, but chose not to believe it. Why? She didn't know, nor did she care. "Eh, too late now."

The psychopath shot a glance towards Lydia. A dry laugh escaped her cracked lips. "Y'know, I'm pretty good at this serial killing thing. If one of your friends doesn't tear my throat out, it may be my new hobby. It's not as hard as I thought it would be. It's actually really easy. Like breaking glass. I've noticed over time that people bare eerie resemblance to glass— push 'em out a window, they shatter. Stab 'em, they shatter. Not literally, unfortunately, but they still leave an annoying mess that's hard to clean up. I mean c'mon, everyone hates sweeping tiny little glass shards up off the floor, just like everyone hates scrubbing blood off the walls. Blood stains are a bitch—"

"You still didn't tell me why you did it." Stiles spoke softly, his interrupting question referencing the murder of her brother rather than the strawberry blonde he was desperately trying to keep his eyes off of.

"Oh my god, you're more dense than a solid block of steel." Lita grumbled, rolling her eyes. The least he could have done was let her finish rambling before dragging her back to the subject of her stupid family. "I've already spelled it out for you, Stiles, but since you're fucking illiterate, let me make it clear. I am a psychopath. I'm not an innocent soul tainted by my supposed disorder— I'm not someone you can shine a light on & instantly restore good in. You can shine a light in my eyes, but the only thing that's gonna make me do is take this sword & cut your goddamn arm off because there is no light in me for you to drag out. There's no little box of light, no angel chained up in a cellar; there's no sympathy, no regret, and no remorse for anything I have ever done.

"You wanna know why I killed my brother? I killed him because I wanted to. I woke up, and I felt like killing my brother, so guess what? I did. I stabbed him, over & over again. And I loved it, because I'm fucking crazy. I don't have some disorder you can magically cure by blinding me with light & all things pure, I am clinically insane & I have never been otherwise. I will never be otherwise. It doesn't matter how many pills they shove down my throat, or how many times they lock me up in solitary confinement, it isn't a disease they can cure, it's who I am.

"So does that answer your question, Stiles? Does that decimate your little plan of trying to make me feel something & call off the nogitsune before he kills everyone you love?" A sickening smirk formed on her face as she saw the look in Stiles' eyes. Her assumption had been correct. "I guess you forgot one crucial little fact in your flawless plan. I may just be another glass human waiting to be shattered in the tempest, but I'm not Renfield. I can't suffer an attack of conscience because I muzzled mine. What's the good of having something tell me right from wrong when I already know I'm going to do wrong? I don't feel guilt, my actions don't have consequences."

Kill him.

The voice was firm, demanding, but Lita ignored it— she didn't want to kill Stiles, not yet. There was so much left to do, so much more mental pain to inflict on him before getting to the physical aspect. A part of her wanted to listen, to give in to her desires as she often did, but her inner demon could wait. Lita had already killed Lydia, surely that was enough to keep the monsters in her head satisfied for the time being. She liked to keep her demons on a tight leash, while still maintaining a truce with them so they didn't resort to a constant state of screaming twenty four seven as they had in the past when Lita was first admitted into Eichen.

"Now what?" Stiles asked her, his voice shaky. It was evident he was trying to remain strong and look as though he wasn't phased, but the way his lip quivered said otherwise. Lita could practically see him shaking— he was absolutely terrified. "You gonna kill me?"

"Nah." Lita shrugged, taking the sword away from Stiles' throat.

"Seriously? That's it? You're just gonna let me go?"

"Nah." Lita repeated her previous answer, stabbing the sword into Stiles' shoulder. He should have moved the minute the opportunity presented itself, but paralyzing fear proved itself to be the bitch he'd long thought it was. She hesitated for a moment, the voices whispering to her to twist the blade & double the pain, but she silenced them by retracting it, the bloody sword falling to her side. "Just gonna hurt you bad enough for Scott to know. I avoided all vital organs & arteries— I think, not really positive about the arteries to be honest, I nearly flunked health class — so, uh, you probably shouldn't die. I mean, if you don't get to a hospital soon you stand a pretty good chance, but that's not my problem. I just need you to live long enough to watch Scott die, then you can bite it— hey, where are you going?"

Lita furrowed her brows at Stiles, who was stumbling through the tunnels. He had started for the exit just a few seconds after she removed the sword, presumably using the adrenaline as a means of escape rather than falling down in shock. It wasn't going that well for him, being that he was already in horrible condition & Lita had just made it significantly worse.

"Aw, c'mon! Five more minutes? I promise I'll play nice." Lita faked hurt, walking after Stiles. Even at a slow pace she was steadily gaining; she estimated a maximum of seventy seconds before Stiles would fall, and Lita was almost certain he wouldn't be getting back up. "The game just started, don't quit now."

"I'm n-not playing." Stiles hissed, his voice nothing more than a weak echo down the tunnel. "I'm done. It's over."

"You're breaking up with me?" No matter what he said, she was going to twist it into whatever she wanted it to be— there was no winning against Lita. "But Stiles, we were so good together! I didn't even kill you. I thought about it a few times, but I didn't act on those thoughts & that's all that matters."

Stiles didn't reply, instead turning left at the intersection— the wrong way, if he planned on a quick escape. Lita laughed softly to herself, watching him for a moment once she reached the turn before going right. She knew the way out like it was engraved in her mind, she remembered it like the halls of Eichen. Lita's memory when it came to recalling an escape route was utterly flawless. She never wanted to miss her chance to get out of Eichen, so she wandered the halls & learned to take notice. She observed, far more than anyone would have ever expected her to.

She got so used to it, that even after she left the confinements, her old habits didn't cease. She observed the cracks in the walls of the tunnel, the pipes; which places had water, and which didn't. She paid close attention to detail, ensuring she would always have an escape route. It proved to be a useful thing to do when Lita managed to easily escape the claustrophobic space in no more than a couple minutes. There was no sign of Stiles as she looked back at the long hallway behind her, but she didn't hurry out into battle.

Lita leaned out, just enough to be able to see around the stone wall. Her eyes scanned the area, immediately spotting various figures a few yards away. She hesitated on moving back into the tunnel, furrowing her brows in confusion at the calm sight; there were no Oni, no nogitsune wreaking havoc upon the group. It was only when she noticed the two on the ground, one laying still in the arms of the other, that she realized chaos had already ravaged through.

Lita slipped out of the tunnel, hurrying around the large building in the opposite direction of Scott & his friends to avoid being seen. She doubted they would notice her, and if they did, they surely wouldn't pursue her in their current state. They had already lost one, a girl Lita didn't recognize but was fairly certain held some type of importance to the pack, they wouldn't want to risk losing another. She needed to find the nogitsune, to tell him what she had done & to ask what the hell had gone on while she was in the tunnel with Stiles.

Her task was soon completed as she found him wandering out behind the dilapidated structure, amidst other remains of Oak Creek. The Oni were standing off to the side, the remaining Oni, whilst the demon stood still, presumably waiting for Lita to get closer. The brunette approached him, but stopped at a fair distance. "Looks like you had some fun. Where's the other Oni?"

"Destroyed." The demon answered nonchalantly. Lita couldn't tell if he was angry. "Allison shot it with a silver arrow."

"And where's Allison?"

"Dead."

"Why did I think otherwise?" Lita exhaled quietly, noting that the girl lying motionless in Scott's arms must have been Allison— Lita hoped he loved her. It always hurt more when a pathetic human emotion like love was entwined in the bloody mess. "Aren't we gonna go kill the rest of them? I mean, if the bitch is dead she can't exactly shoot anymore arrows at these three—" Lita gestured to the three remaining Oni. "So what're we waiting for? Christmas? Let's light this town on fire."

"Not yet." The nogitsune disagreed, shaking his head. "Let them comprehend their loss. Killing them now would end their pain all too soon. Let them angrily plan vengeance; let them rush & make a mistake."

"So.. we spend the rest of tonight fucking & then kill them tomorrow?"

The nogitsune turned & walked away.

"I'm gonna take that as a maybe."

—

UNEDITED.

lol so i just figured out how this is gonna end & you're all gonna hate me but i'm cackling. also um ya remember how i said scott could die instead of allison? SIKE shes dead. will stiles die too? stay tuned! as of now, he is not dead. the only dead ones so far are noshiko, lydia & allison. will more die? maybe. probably. hell yeah. lita aint done yet.

also sad to say, this book is almost completed. i estimate a maximum of 2 more chapters & an epilogue (plus a fun facts chapter! i've been keeping a little diary as i write these chapters & i can't wait for you all to read it).