"𝒽𝒾𝒹ℯ 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓈ℯℯ𝓀"

"No, wait!" Scott yells out, pleading for the school counsellor to let them go. As soon as Marin turns her back on the group to leave the supernatural creatures inside the bank vault, Cora and Boyd roar out ferociously as they transform fully into their werewolf forms.

"Well, this is just splendid," Ophelia mumbles, allowing her eyes to shut momentarily. When they open, they are glowing bright red with the usual specks of gold spotted throughout. Her canines bare as her lips curl into a snarl, warning the two werewolves to back off.

Both Cora and Boyd are visibly stunned at the veins that appear on the girl's cheeks, although they quickly snap out of their daze. With a malicious growl, the latter rushes over to Ophelia who only sighs and steps to the side, causing the werewolf to slam into the solid metal wall behind them. With no sign that the newly introduced Cora is close to her, it leads Ophelia to believe that Scott and Derek have their hands full. Recovering quickly, Boyd breathes heavily as he stands up then heads straight back to his opponent, his eyes blazing with anger from her movement that was almost smug in nature. Grabbing his arm right before he can scratch her cheek with claws, Ophelia twists it behind his back, and a roar of pain leaves his mouth as she kicks the back of his knees.

Her head snaps over to Derek and Scott who are catching their breaths, resting their backs against the wall as they watch Cora hit the floor after a heavy blow. Ophelia's eyes narrow as she digs her claws into Boyd's wrist, keeping a firm grip on his arm so he can't escape her hold. "What's the plan, Derek? Are we killing them, or not?"

The Hale's eyes flick over to her, the brief surprise that she had even asked leaving as quickly as it came. "I- She's my sister, my younger sister," he informs the two.

Scott's eyes widen dramatically as he glances over to Cora who is pushing herself to stand up. "What the fuck is she doing here?"

"Like I have a fucking clue? I thought she was dead!" Derek exclaims.

The new information that he has provided her with answers her initial question. Ophelia would have to ideally knock Boyd and Cora out without killing them. Especially if this new female really is his sister.

All attention goes to the door of the vault where a familiar brunette appears in the sliver of light as her eyes widen. "Look out!" Allison yells in warning to Ophelia, arriving just in time to see Boyd's canines peeking through his lips as he braces himself to retaliate.

Ophelia yelps as a set of teeth are sunk into her upper arm, Boyd making use of her momentary distraction to his advantage. He rips his arm out of her grip and spins around to kick her firmly in the stomach. Equipped with the power of the full moon after being deprived of it for far too long, he has enough energy to send the hybrid flying back a few metres, her head hitting the concrete floor harshly with a smack. Glancing down to just below her shoulder, her eyes glow even brighter as she finds her leather jacket destroyed, the material torn to reveal the healing bite mark. "Oh, you bitch," she spits out in between coughs, a splatter of blood landing on the floor. "This is my favourite jacket."

Derek rushes over and grabs onto Ophelia's hand, his eyes briefly lingering on the now healed wound from his Beta. As he quickly helps her up to her feet, they barely have any time to react before Cora is in front of them again, swiping impulsively with her claws. Ophelia recognises the frantic behaviour and comes to the realisation that the two feral werewolves aren't thinking properly. The carnivorous anger that is usually drawn out only by the full moon, but now amplified tenfold, is consuming all their thoughts and leaving them both with cloudy minds. Although ultimately this gives Ophelia, Scott, and Derek the advantage.

The hybrid growls as she ducks under one of Cora's arms, Derek then roughly driving his elbow into his sister's stomach. Ophelia's tenses the second she hears Scott's pained groans, and she doesn't hesitate to quickly move over to aid her friend who has been impaled by Boyd's claws, slowly being lifted higher up the wall of locked boxes.

"Oi! Come pick on someone your own size," she calls out tauntingly. Boyd's quickly drops his hand from Scott, immediately distracted by the call from the girl. Loudly gasping, Scott is dropped onto the ground and violently coughs, blood dripping out of his lips and trailing down his chin. Ophelia grins as Boyd charges toward her, the ivy-like tendrils once again trailing down her cheeks. "Are we dancing, or are you going to actually fight me?"

Speeding forward, she digs her fangs in his neck, resulting in another roar from him. This time, it isn't for her own pleasure. It's to give herself some time. After a second, she pulls away and harshly shoves the male backward, licking her lips clean of his blood.

But when she spots Allison bending down to the mountain ash in her peripheral vision, Ophelia allows herself to make a terrible mistake; to be temporarily distracted once again. "Shit-Allison, no, leave it!"

The Argent locks eyes with the hybrid and purses her lips together, hesitantly pausing and listening. Her mind quickly changes once she surveys the situation. Derek is on the losing side with Cora, no doubt going easy on her with the hopes as to not hurt her too badly. Scott on the other hand is struggling to stand up, his breathing shallow as he watched helplessly.

"No! Don't break the seal!" Derek exclaims desperately to Allison as he watches the girl crouch down once more.

What he doesn't know is that the second Ophelia had been tackled to the floor by Boyd once more, Allison had already made up her mind. Brushing her hands on the mountain ash, the barrier finally breaks. "Boyd!" Not needing any more encouragement, said werewolf removes his arms off Ophelia as he quickly loses interest in their own catfight, and darts out of the vault past Allison with Corafast behind on his heels.

Derek runs over to the brunette and tightly grabs onto her arm. "Don't touch her!" Scott snaps.

"What were you thinking?" Derek questions angrily.

"That I had to do something!" Allison retorts back, snatching her arm back from the Alpha, her eyes flicking over to Ophelia who wears a straight face as she slowly walks over to where the trio stand just outside the vault.

The hybrid's gaze softens ever so slightly as she stares at Allison, thoroughly confused to why the huntress had broken the barrier in the end because of her. Despite Allison thinking she was too distracted, Ophelia had caught the moment when her mind had changed. The two girls had locked eyes right as the blonde had hit the ground. The last time she had checked, Allison Argent despised her with every single fibre of her being. "She saved ourlives." Biting into her wrist, Ophelia gives Scott a pointed look andholds her arm out for him, the werewolf sighing before placing his lips ontoher skin and forcing himself to drink her blood.

"Yeah, and what do you think they're gonna do out there?" Derek questions, gesturing in the direction Boyd and Cora had run off in. "Do you have any idea what we just set free?"

Allison takes a step toward him, her eyes blazing with seething rage. "You want to blame me? Well, I am not the one turning teenagers into killers."

"No. No, that's just the rest of your family."

Feeling some sort of responsibility to stand up for the girl, Ophelia's eyes narrow as she holds a finger up to Derek, wiping her now healed wrist on her jeans. "Okay, let's take a breather, we're all riled up-"

"I made mistakes," Allison retorts sharply. "Gerard is not my fault."

"And what about your mother?"

Scott and Ophelia share a look at his question, the former suddenly extremely anxious about having to finally confront the topic he has been avoiding for so long. Allison's eyebrows knit together in confusion as she looks around the group. "What do you mean?"

"Yeah, I'm not getting into this, " the Stone concludes. With a sigh, she pats Scott's shoulder and gives him a slight smile for encouragement. "Good luck, mate." Turning around to leave, she gives Allison a curt nod out of respect and silently thanks her.

"Tell her, Scott," Derek says simply, before following Ophelia and leaving the two teenagers to talk it out amongst themselves. Only half a minute later, both Alphas would walk past an open storage closet to discover the deceased Erica Reyes.

 
⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡ ⋆

"All right, dog-man, what's the plan?"

Derek rolls his eyes as he glances over to her, panting slightly as they finally stop running. "We find them before they kill someone," he states simply.

"Obviously, but I meant more like right this very second, because I have a bath sitting at home that hasn't been used and about forty blood bags-"

"Ophelia, I need your help. You can turn into an actual wolf, so we have to use that as an advantage."

"I'm not a fucking toy you can just turn on whenever you want, sunshine," she grumbles back, glancing up to the full moon shining brightly above them. When she looks over to Derek, she sighs through her nose at the desperation etched onto his face. "Fine," she gives in reluctantly. "What do you want me to do? Try and sniff them out?"

Derek hesitates as he finds himself unsure of what to tell the girl. It's an odd change, having Ophelia asking him for instructions and following his lead instead of going off and doing whatever the hell she wants. "Scott's on Boyd, so we need to find Cora."

Ophelia's lips lift into a grin, and she raises her eyebrows at the man, walking back a few steps to lean back on the trunk of a nearby tree. "So, your sister, huh? She's hot." His face falls blank as he meets her eyes, not even a scowl as his expression. That alone makes the blonde realise she had said something severely wrong. "Either you're pissed I brought her up in general, or it's 'cause I called her hot."

Before Derek can retort something sarcastic, offensive, or try to make a harmless threat, the once peaceful silence in the Preserve is broken by the loud, sharp ringtone of his phone. "Anything?"

"Yeah, so..." Derek turns the device onto speaker phone, even though the girl could hear the conversation between himself and Scott just fine. "About that."

Ophelia's eyes widen at the unwillingness in Scott's voice to break the news, and she immediately assumes the worst. "You lost him?" Her voice raises in incredulity as she shares a look with Derek, who seems just as frustrated as herself, if not more. "How the fuck did you lose him? Scott, he's like seven feet tall, it's impossible to lose him!"

"Well, I kind of had to," the boy vaguely replies.

"Wasn't exactly the plan," Derek retorts.

"I know. Which is why I think that we should stick together."

"Wouldn't it be easier to do the opposite though?" Ophelia suggests, folding her arms over her t-shirt, having ditched the now ruined red leather jacket in heartbreak and agony. "I mean, we can split up, cover more ground..."

"No, trust me," Scott quickly argues. "He's too strong, too fast, and way too angry for one person to handle."

"You're forgetting who I am, Scott."

"Ofi, no. We've gotta do this together."

Derek sighs as he nods to her, backing up the McCall's firm statements. "Okay, we're both at the trails by the entrance to the preserve. Can you meet us here?"

"Yeah," he confirms, his voice fading off slightly. "Just gotta drop something off first."

"What could you possibly have to drop- and he hung up. Asshole."

  ⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡ ⋆

Her eyes bright red to help survey her surroundings with ease, Ophelia leaps over a fallen log as she follows the faint trail of Cora and Boyd, her white paws hitting the muddy ground with a soft thud. The girl's mind is on overdrive, hundreds of different smells flooding through her nose. Although she no longer experiences the burden of changing involuntarily on a full moon, she still feels the effects of it. They might not be negative anymore, but it does mean that all of her already heightened senses are then amplified by a further hundred. It makes concentrating much more difficult than usual, but the looming threat of Boyd and Cora going on a rampaging murder spree gives her some further motivation.

Skidding to a stop as she spots a pair of barely visible tracks on the ground, she turns to look behind her as she waits for Derek and Scott to catch up. Ophelia rolls her eyes at the way Scott flips off the branch, then somersaults on the floor to stand up. Derek on the other hand, opts to just jump over the tree like a normal person, which is an almost concerning change compared to his normal dramatic flair.

The two males walk forward to where the white wolf is positioned and notice the faint footprints in the mud. "Is it them?" Scott questions to Derek.

The Hale nods to Ophelia, a praise for managing to find something they most likely wouldn't. "We're not the only ones that decided to stick together," he confirms.

Scott bends down, his fingers hovering over the print as he examines it for a few seconds. "Is that gonna make it easier or harder to catch them?" A loud bark answers his question, and they both return their eyes to the wolf who stares at them, her ears flicking back and forth. "Fi, we can't understand you," he points out with a chuckle.

"I don't know," Derek replies genuinely, his eyebrows furrowed in thought.

"Guys," Scott begins, standing up and letting the wolf brush against his legs. "I saw Boyd try to rip two little kids apart... Are they gonna do that to everyone they find?"

Ophelia barks once more, her eyes now back to their usual striking green. Derek nods his head to her, his gaze flicking between herself and Scott. "What she said. Everyone and anyone."

  ⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡ ⋆

When Derek had informed her that she had ten missed calls from Lydia and two from Stiles, the wolf had quickly made her way back into her human form once she had returned to her car with her phone secured in her jaws. Over the time she had known Lydia, Ophelia had barely ever received calls, the strawberry blonde settling for text messages instead. So, to receive ten in the space of just over an hour? Something had gone seriously wrong. Which meant that she didn't hesitate to leave Scott and Derek on their own to continue tracking Cora and Boyd. Her duty as a best friend had been switched on, all her attention now focused onto Lydia. The two werewolves with the help of Isaac would hopefully do just fine on their own.

Pressing the gas pedal down to the floor, Ophelia clenches her jaw as she listens to Stiles ramble on the phone, obviously picturing the worst case scenario in regards to why Lydia had called him as well. "I'm almost there, but she sounded really, really freaked out. What if she's hurt? Are you on the way? Where are you right now? How many minutes?"

"Stiles, you need to take a few deep breaths for me," she tells him calmly, her voice the exact opposite to how she is feeling on the inside. Her fingers tightly clench around the steering wheel. "I'm about thirty seconds away. I'm going to hang up now because I can hear your car behind me, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, yep, sounds good."

The second the red Porsche is parked just behind Lydia's blue car, she yanks open the driver's door and uses her vampiric speed to reach her friend pacing up and down beside the pool. The Martin jumps at the new presence, her heart thumping rapidly against her ribcage. "Oh, my God, you scared the shit out of me," Lydia frantically yells.

Ophelia pays no attention, her eyes scanning across girl's body in worry as the fragrance of blood hangs heavy in the air. "Are you okay? I'm so sorry I didn't answer, I was in my wolf form."

"I'm okay," Lydia whispers shakily, her arms rubbing up and down her green coat.

The two girls are drawn over to the Jeep that screeches to a stop, Stiles jumping out whilst yelling their names. "Lydia? Fi? Are you guys here?" As soon as he spots them, his eyes widen further in concern and he runs over. "Lydia, are you okay?"

"I'm okay," she repeats to him, swallowing thickly as she tightly grabs onto Ophelia's hand. "That, over there...? Not okay."

Stiles and Ophelia look to the side where she had nudged her head in the direction of, and the former's jaw drops open in horror. The blonde sighs heavily at the male body drooped in the lifeguard's chair, and she runs a hand through her hair riddled with knots. "Yeah, all right. I'm gonna call my dad," Stiles declares, his eyes still wide as he looks between the body and Lydia, who is still visibly shaken.

"I already called nine-one-one," Lydia quickly informs them, her eyes not meeting either as they stay locked onto the ground.

Stiles stares at her incredulously. "You called the police before you called me?"

"I called Ofi first-"

"You called Ophelia before you called me?"

Lydia finally looks up to Stiles, her under-eyes stained a light grey from the mascara that has mixed with her tears. "I'm supposed to call you first when I find a dead body?"

Blinking quickly as he finds the question absurd, Stiles raises his hands into the air as he yells, "Yes!"

"Let's lower our voices, no need to yell. Stiles, call Scott, he needs to know." When his eyes narrow at her based upon the first sentence, Ophelia raises a brow, challenging him to begin an argument. "Now." As the boy walks away to inform the werewolf of the newly deceased body, her stern facial expression quickly morphs into one of worry at how Lydia's fingers are trembling in her grip and how her eyes are darting around the area in anticipation. "Hey," she softly voices. "Lydia, you're okay. Nothing else is gonna happen, yeah? Not with me here."

"Y-yeah, I know," she tries to answer confidently, their eyes finally locking together. Lydia takes a moment to study her best friend, and her heart warms at how worried over her well-being Ophelia is. They've known each other for less than a year, yet they both feel that they've been in each other's lives for far longer.

"Are you sure?"

Ophelia breaks her gaze away and moves it over to Stiles as she tunes into the conversation between himself and Scott. "Yep," the Stilinski replies. "Throat ripped out, blood everywhere- it's like The-fucking-Shining over here! If two little twin girls come out of the woods and start asking me to play with them forever and ever, I'm not gonna be surprised."

A light bulb goes off in her mind and Ophelia grins at Lydia before walking over to Stiles, who currently has his back turned to them as he stares over at the bloodied corpse a few metres away. The plan is to not only lift her friend's mood, but of course to get her own entertainment by scaring the living daylights out of the other.

"Can you get a little closer to make sure it was them?"

With his eyes narrowed, Stiles scoffs. "Make sure it was them? Scott, who else is going around ripping throats out? And don't say Fi." When he turns to check up on Lydia, a shrill shriek leaves his lips at the aforementioned girl standing right behind him.

The combination of her devilish grin, her fangs peeking out of her upper lip, and the glowing red eyes with dark veins, almost gives him a heart attack right then and there. Ophelia's smile only widens as she hears Lydia's giggles, and she looks at him innocently when he picks his dropped phone up from the floor.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"Give me a month. I'll get you a list," she answers, struggling to keep her voice even without breaking into wheezing laughter.

"I hate you," Stiles hisses, still glaring at her. "I actually hate you. Sorry," he apologises to Scott as he raises the phone back up to his ear. "Bloodsucker was being a bitch." His own grin replaces his scowl when she reacts to the nickname exactly as he had hoped she would.

"Stiles, please just do it," Scott asks again, brushing aside the confusion to what had happened on the other end of the call.

Stiles sighs as he drops his hand to his side, grimacing as he spares a glance over to the deceased male, blood dripping down from the lifeguard chair and adding to the already large puddle on the floor. "God... The things I do for you people," he mutters, glancing over to Ophelia as if he expects her to volunteer instead. "Can-"

"Sure."

His eyes widen at how quickly she had agreed, but he doesn't complain as she brushes past him.

Taking in deep breathes through her nose, Ophelia tries with everything in her to control her blood lust, closing her eyes briefly as she feels her fangs elongate involuntarily. "You're okay," she whispers to herself. "Breathe." Upon first look, her lips purse into a thin line as she thoroughly studies the male's mutilated body. She peers around the back of the chair to find one of the main sources of blood coming from a wound on his head. "What the fuck...?"

"See anything?" Lydia questions hopefully, wanting to get out of here as quickly as possible. With the mist floating atop of the pool, the atmosphere is eery of a kind, making it seem like a supernatural creature or something else just as dangerous is lurking in the shadows and waiting for the perfect moment to attack the group of teenagers. It's like they've stepped into a horror movie.

"Give me another minute," Ophelia responds. Once noticing a silver ring, she lifts up the finger stained a dark red and leans closer so she is able to read the inscription. "We've got a potential virgin," she calls back, dropping the boy's hand and joining the trio.

"What the fuck does that have to do with anything?" Stiles asks her with furrowed brows.

"No idea, but his ring had 'Purity' on it."

  ⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡ ⋆

Having driven right behind both Lydia's and Stiles' cars, Ophelia pulls into the Martin's driveway to watch the boy following right on the strawberry blonde's heels as she unlocks her front door and enters the house. The hybrid chuckles and takes the keys out of her engine, glancing down to double check her phone to see if there's been any updates from any of the boys. Her lips tug down into a frown at no new notifications, and she tries to reassure herself that everything is going just fine. Sighing to herself, she leans her head back on the head rest of her seat and allows her eyes to shut for a few short moments. Despite all the chaos that had been tonight, she can't help but acknowledge the desire to leave everyone and go play hide and seek with the coyote in the woods. That's much more fun than seeking out Cora and Boyd before they murder someone.

Another heavy sigh escapes past her lips as she walks through the door that had left open for her, and she follows the voices coming from upstairs. Finding her friends in Lydia's bedroom, an amused smile appears on Ophelia's face as she joins the conversation. "I just wanted to make sure you got in okay," Stiles defends himself from something that had just been said.

"I had a vampire-werewolf hybrid with me," Lydia points out, her eyes flicking over to her newly joined best friend who is trying her best not to laugh. "And a police escort."

"I know the inner workings of that force, all right? They're not nearly as reliable as people think."

"Am I also not as reliable as people think?"

Stiles jumps for the third time tonight, his heart racing as his head snaps around to find Ophelia leaning on the door frame. "I swear to fucking God, you're actually going to give me a heart attack one day."

Lydia rolls her eyes at their bickering, and she raises her eyebrows at Stiles as she gestures around herself. "Well, you also didn't have to follow me into my room."

"Well, I-" Finding no words coming to mind, he stares into space for a few seconds before pursing his lips together and nodding in agreement. "Uh, yeah, I don't have an answer for that... I can leave."

Ophelia pats his shoulder as she walks past him, finally belly flopping onto Lydia's bed to bury her face into the fluffy cushions. "Man, this mattress is so nice..."

The girl chuckles as she passes over another cushion when her friend makes grabby hands. However, her smile drops as she looks back to Stiles. "Are you really gonna leave without asking the question that you've been dying to ask me?"

At this, Ophelia turns her head to the side so one of her eyes is able to see Stiles' baffled expression. She bites onto her tongue at what she imagines he assumes Lydia is insinuating. Sure enough, he quickly shakes his head as he stumbles over his words. "Well, I'm not... I haven't been dying to ask anything! I... No questions here for Stiles! Nothing."

"I can see it on your face."

"Maybe my face just has, like, a naturally interrogatory exp-expression...?" Stiles places his hands on his hips, grimacing ever so slightly when Ophelia finally sits up and gives him a thumbs down.

"Well, your interrogatory expression is getting on my nerves," Lydia snaps. She sighs and glances to the blonde. "I know you want to ask it, too."

"Uh, I do?"

"The answer is, I have no clue how I ended up finding that body. I didn't even know where I was until I got out of the car," she explains, clearly frazzled by the events that had occurred over the last few hours.

"Hold on," Ophelia begins slowly. She remembers the many times she had been told the story of how Peter Hale had been resurrected, and more specifically the fact that Lydia had been the one to perform the ritual. "Wasn't the last time something like this-"

"I know," Lydia cuts her off softly. "Derek's uncle."

"Peter."

The three share a look until the hybrid's phone rings, Ophelia softly sighing as she reads the text message aloud to the pair. "It's Melissa." Stiles' eyes widen slightly, and he wildly gestures for her to continue. "She, uh, she wants us to come down to the hospital, and she put the 'now' all in capital letters."

"Okay, that sounds urgent," Stiles deduces, squinting his eyes. "Very urgent." Waving goodbye to the strawberry blonde, he grabs onto Ophelia's arm and struts out of the bedroom. "Bye, Lydia!"

  ⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡ ⋆

Rushing through the entrance to the emergency department, Stiles leads Ophelia through the corridors, having no doubt memorised the entire floor plan of the building at one point in his life. He would argue that it's handy to know in case there of a life-or-death situation. Spotting the female McCall in her nurse scrubs at the reception desk and looking through a medical file, the pair beeline over to her. The woman turns around as soon as she sees them approach in the corner of her eye. "Hey, guys."

"Hi, Mel," Opheliagreets with a grin, giving the dark-haired woman a side hug.

Melissa closes the file and gives them a seemingly innocent smile, before grabbing onto both of their arms tightly as she walks down the hall. "Over here, and if you tell anyone that I showed either of you this, I swear to God, I will kill you both painfully and slowly."

Stiles and Ophelia share a look, their lips either pursed together or eyes wide at the threat. Even though the hybrid would normally retort with, 'You can't kill me,' or 'Good luck with that,' something about Melissa's demeanour and authority scares her shitless. Which to Stiles is hilarious because just like himself the older McCall is also human. Keeping his voice low to avoid any attention drawn to them by nearby staff, he allows himself to be dragged along, the grip on his arm now somewhat looser. "I'm assuming we're here because of what happened earlier, so, why do you want to show us a body we've already seen?"

"Because you haven't seen everything yet," Melissa mutters to them, refusing to spill any further details until they are fully out of ear shot.

When they come to a stop before a locked door, Ophelia raises her eyebrows at the sign plastered on to the wall. "Oh, fun times," she whispers to Stiles sarcastically. He grimaces.

Entering the morgue, Melissa heads straight over to one of the metal tables with a body lain on top, a sheet covering it. Pulling on a pair of gloves first, she then pulls up the thin cotton material to reveal the male that had been discovered at the public pool by Lydia. The nurse points to the dark bruise that lies just above a gash on his neck, then briefly glances over to the pair beside her watching attentively. "See this around his neck? That's a ligature mark. That means he was strangled with something, like a cord, rope..."

Ophelia frowns in confusion as she stares at the two wounds. Stiles seems to have to same though process as herself, speaking up before she can get a chance to. "Ah, okay, wait a second... What kind of werewolf strangles someone?"

"None that I know," the hybrid agrees.

"Yeah, it's not very werewolf-y," Stiles adds, grimacing when Ophelia's turn to stare at him. "You know what I mean!"

"My thoughts exactly," Melissa nods, confirming both of their opinions. "And then there's this..."

As the woman carefully tilts the deceased boy's head to the side, Stiles gags in disgust, his face blanching considerably at the pool of blood underneath. "God, man, what is that?"

Ophelia crouches down and gets eye level with the injury on his skull, examining it for a brief second before she looks up to Stiles as she replies, "I think it's brain matter, dude."

He shudders as she points closer to the wound, making it even more obvious. "Yeah, it's brain matter, of course," he mumbles.

"See the indentation?"

The Stone chuckles quietly at Melissa's question, raising her eyebrows as she gestures to Stiles who is now a few metres away from them and breathing deeply. "He doesn't, but I do."

Forcing himself to return to the pair, Stiles stands by his friend's side as Melissa continues her examination. "He was hit in the back of the head, hard enough to kill him. In fact, any one of these things could have killed him. I mean, someone seriously wanted this poor kid dead!"

"I don't think Cora and Boyd did this," Ophelia concludes as she stands back up. "It's too tedious. They aren't thinking, and they wouldn't bother hurting him again once he's already dead, or even bother putting him back in the lifeguard's chair."

Stiles nods at her. "No, I think so, too. So, maybe this is just one murder? I mean, maybe it's just a random coincidence?"

Melissa softly sighs. "I don't think it's just one."

"How come?" Stiles questions, sharing a look with the girl beside him in puzzlement. "Has there been another?"

Scott's mother slowly nods, inclining her head over to the table parallel to the one they are crowded around. "That girl over there? She's got the exact same injuries."

"Maybe we're looking at a serial killer," Ophelia suggests as she follows Melissa over to the table, Stiles lingering back a little longer with obvious hesitation to see another dead body.

Melissa pulls back the sheet for the body, and true to what she had said, the new female's physical state looks almost identical to the one they had just come from. "It's possible. The M.E said this one wasn't just strangled. Whoever did it used a garrotte, which is a stick that you-"

"Mel," the girl softly interrupts, said woman closing her mouth quickly as she finds what the teenager is focused on. Stiles dryly swallows as his gaze stays locked onto the deceased female, his eyes welling up with unshed tears. Quickly, Ophelia connects the dots between his sudden change of behaviour, and she realises that this is Heather. "I'm so sorry," she quietly tells him.

"Oh, my God, did you know her?" Melissa questions in shock. When he gives a weak resemblance of a nod, the nurse's face drops, and she doesn't hesitate to cover up Heather's colourless face. "I'm so sorry, I didn't even think..."

Ophelia grabs onto her friend and pulls him into a tight hug. Stiles doesn't move for a few seconds, until he reciprocates the embrace just as strongly. "Do you want to go? Just give me the word and we're out of here, okay?"

Stiles gives her a small, forced smile, before shaking his head and giving her the answer she had already been expecting. "I was... I was at her party," he informs Melissa, his eyes back on the soulless corpse that was once a dear friend. "It was her birthday. Her name is Heather." He wipes his few tears with the sleeve of his hoodie and sends Ophelia a look of appreciation as she takes hold of his hand, giving him some form of much needed support.

The nurse sighs as her eyes move between the two, and they eventually fall shut. "Okay, we need to call your father, 'cause you're a witness..."

Ophelia clocks the subtle change in his demeanour, any trace of tears now long gone, and a newfound determination replacing his disbelief and wave of grief. "Stiles? What is it?"

Her voice seems to snap him out of the slight daze he had been in, and he looks over to Melissa as he queries, "Has anyone else been through here tonight? A-Any other bodies, or even anybody missing?"

She shakes her head. "Uh, no. No bodies, but, um..."

"What?"

"Two girls," Melissa answers him. "They brought the first one in, Caitlin, for a tox screen... and then I overheard that her girlfriend, Emily, just disappeared. I mean, they were out in the woods, and-"

"Has anyone found her?" Ophelia interjects, hoping that perhaps Scott, Isaac or Derek had run into the girl throughout their search for the missing werewolves.

"I don't know."

"Okay, first one," Stiles begins impatiently.

"Caitlin."

"Okay. Is she here? Is she here right now?"

Melissa keeps her eyes on the boy, confused to what he is trying to get across. "I think so."

"Okay, where?"

Ophelia quickly sidesteps around Melissa so she is blocking his path, her hands grabbing onto either one of his arms to hold him in place. "All right, let's just wait for a second-"

"I have to talk to her," Stiles interrupts impatiently.

"I know you do," she reassures. "But first, can you fill us less quick-thinking people in? Why do you need to talk to her?"

"Because I think I know what's happening."

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"We weren't doing anything that bad," Caitlin justifies, rubbing her arms as she looks between the three people crowded around her hospital bed. "I mean, I've camped out there plenty of times."

"Right, but why tonight?" Stiles quizzes, his arms folded over his jumper.

"Are you sure you don't want me to just compel her?" Ophelia asks bluntly, her eyes narrowing as she glances to her friend.

Caitlin stares at the unknown blonde with scepticism, her eyebrows raised as she looks between Melissa and Stiles. "What's that?"

Stiles glares at the hybrid for a second, before quickly going to comfort the teenager who has suddenly become tense and anxious. "No, no, don't worry, she's not going to do anything. Is she?"

Ophelia stays silent, although when finding Melissa looking at her pointedly as well, she nods. "No, she's not..."

Caitlin plays with her fingers, avoiding the multiple pairs of watchful and curious eyes on her. "We wanted to be alone for one night. Emily lives with her mom, and I have three roommates... Not exactly romantic settings, you know?"

"How long have you two been together?" Stiles questions gently.

"Three months."

"And you wanted to make it romantic," he assumes.

"'Cause the woods are bloody romantic," Ophelia mutters, her words receiving a sharp jab to her stomach from Melissa.

Caitlin doesn't hear her, instead focusing on trying to keep her composure together. "Yeah, you know, because..."

"Because it was her first time," Stiles finishes for her.

"They're gonna find her, right? Aren't they?"

The three share a subtle look with each other, all of them fully aware of the fact that Emily is most likely not going to be found. Or if she is, it wouldn't be in the state that her girlfriend hopes to see her in.

⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡ ⋆

As Ophelia leaves Caitlin, profusely apologising for both herself and Stiles for bringing up any unwanted feelings or memories, her phone buzzes in the back pocket of her jeans just as the door closes behind her. "Sherlock!"

Stiles spins around at her voice, his eyes squinted as he points a finger at her accusingly. "I don't like that, don't use it again."

"Well, now I know you don't like it, I definitely will." Walking alongside him in the direction back toward the morgue, she shoves her phone into his empty hands. "Read," she instructs.

He rolls his eyes and scrunches his face up in disapproval at her attitude. "Meh, meh, blah, blah, blah... Oh."

"I texted him half an hour ago and told him we might have something here," she explains as she takes the device back off him. "C'mon, let's go debrief."

Rolling his eyes once again, Stiles picks up his pace as he hurries after the girl weaving past hospital employees doing their daily rounds. "Don't call it that."

"What else am I meant to say? Come gossip over the dead bodies we found?" Upon glancing over her shoulder to him, she winces at the reaction her words have caused, Stiles' small smile now nowhere to be seen and his eyes glazing over with tears. "Shit, I'm sorry... I'm so sorry, I didn't mean-"

"No, it's okay," he assures quickly. "Well, it's not okay, but you know what I mean."

Ophelia gives her friend a sad smile, having an idea of what he is going through at this moment. Maybe not exactly, however, she has lost enough people in her lifetime to get a glimpse into the surface. "We'll find out what happened to her, Stiles. I promise. I'll kill whoever it was. I swear to Satan, they will die the most painful death-"

"Hey, you guys, sorry, I got here as fast as I could," Scott rambles out, joining his friends who have only just reached the reception desk. Although, at their grim expressions and the weak smile Ophelia gives him, the werewolf realises that whatever he has been called down for isn't going to be good. "What happened?"

⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡ ⋆

Staring at Heather's peaceful face, Ophelia wonders what it would be like to actually die. Sure, she had experienced death before, but it hadn't been long. The minute her neck was snapped, her vision had fallen dark; it was like staring up at a winter's night sky with no stars in sight. It had only been seconds later that she had sat up from the floor with a loud gasp and her life forever changed. She'd heard the stories about the 'Other Side,' a term that used collectively by witches to reference the place supernatural beings go to once they passed away. But she has no idea about humans. No one does for sure. At least, no one she knows or has asked previously. She wonders if Heather is in any pain at the moment, or if she's finally resting like she deserves to be.

Scott finally removes his eyes off the gaping wound on Heather's neck as she is covered by Stiles with the sheet. "So, Boyd and Cora might not have killed anyone?"

Ophelia tuts at him. "No, I know they didn't."

"You're gonna wish they did," Stiles adds with a sigh.

The boy's brown eyes flick between the pair as he tries to grasp what they are in the know of. "... Why?"

Ophelia gestures to the Stilinski and gives him a small smile. "Floor's yours."

He pauses for a few seconds, licking his lips as he stares at the covered body. "I'm not exactly sure yet... The other girl who was out in the woods, Emily? Eventually they're gonna find her. She's one of them. Emily, Heather, the guy Lydia found at the pool? All three were virgins. And they're all gonna have the same three injuries; strangled, throat-slashed, head bashed in."

"It's called a three-fold death," Ophelia pipes up, her voice full of pride that she can finally add something.

When Stiles nods at her, Scott's eyes widen. "So, if these aren't random killings, then what the fuck are they?"

"Sacrifices. Human sacrifices."

𝘏𝘪 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴!

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘥 𝘶𝘱𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘺 𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘭𝘮𝘢𝘰

𝘈𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘺𝘦𝘴, 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝙛𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘖𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘊𝘰𝘳𝘢 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘉𝘰𝘺𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘷𝘢𝘶𝘭𝘵. 𝘉𝘶𝘵, 𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘴. 𝘖𝘬?

𝘓𝘪𝘷 𝘹𝘹