❛ Oh, she's sweet but a psycho. A little bit psycho. ❜

SEASON 2, EPISODE 9
party guessed

TRIGGER WARNING: GRAPHIC VIOLENCE

WILLOW'S HEAD WAS pounding when her eyes slowly blinked open. Her sight was blurry, so she first noticed that she was standing, which wasn't typical for someone who had just woken up. Then she realized that her hands were tied behind her, with a post between her back and her hands. Then, her neck, waist, and feet were bound as well. She closed her eyes, not ready to see what she'd be brought to. For a second, she hoped that this was an extension of hers and Blair's sexual escapades rather than what she was slowly beginning to realize.

⠀⠀⠀A tear spilled from her eyes, knowing it wasn't, opening her eyes to see her family in the living room, bound to posts as well.

⠀⠀⠀Bridgette was crying her eyes out. Rowan glared at their captors. Her mom begged and pleaded with them to spare her children. Her dad struggling against his restraints. Then lastly, Willow turned her head despite the feeling of the ropes burning into her skin to look at Laurel on her left. She was slumped, shoulders hanging forward-looking defeated.

⠀⠀⠀Laurel, the one who had always been the first to put up a fight when she knew she could fight. Now, she barely looked like she knew how to cast a spell, let alone stand up. She turned once she'd felt Willow's eyes on her, looking out of her peripheral to her sister but not turning to look at her.

⠀⠀⠀Willow couldn't handle looking at her sister any longer, feeling defeat grow in her stomach by just looking at her. So instead, she turned her gaze to finally look at what she didn't want to see.

⠀⠀⠀Dillon and Blair.

⠀⠀⠀They circled the family slowly, looking at each of them so they could never forget their faces. Willow didn't even recognize them. Everything about them seemed to change in between the party and now. The way they held themselves was mighty, shoulders straight and chins raised as they looked down at the family. Malicious smiles twirled onto their lips as they watched in amusement at their attempts to get free. Begging, fighting, crying, but nothing seemed to affect them.

⠀⠀⠀Willow strained forward, her throat choking from the rope around her neck, and the ropes around her hands felt ready to break the skin. Her sudden movement caught Blair's eye as she turned swiftly on her heel, eyes lighting up at the sight and the smile on her face turned into a full-blown grin.

⠀⠀⠀"Mittite haec vincula, et permittite mihi mille deos vires caelus, ignis, aquae, terrae. Da mihi virtutem ubi non est, et si non habuero, tolle a me, et permitte mortem meam salvare eos, qui in circuitu meo sunt."

⠀⠀⠀Willow's ears were ringing, unable to hear anything around her as she waited for the spell to work through her. A second passed, then another, and finally, as she kept up hope it just needed a moment to charge up, Blair interrupted the air by laughing.

⠀⠀⠀Her laugh was not like before, full of teasing and amusement and something Willow thought might be love. But, no, it was sharp against her eardrums and loud. Her eyes squeezed shut at the sound, feeling like someone had just tapped a chisel against her brain.

⠀⠀⠀"Don't even try it, Willow," Blair sneered, her voice an octave lower now that she wasn't holding up a façade. She had been standing near Bridgette on the other side of the room. Then, Blair suddenly appeared standing face to face with Willow in a second flat. "We've painted sigils to nullify your powers," she whispered, taunting as her eyes flickered up to the walls.

⠀⠀⠀Willow followed her gaze to the walls around them and found red paint staining them. Willow's face fell, realizing she was right. Sigils witch hunters once used to trap witches in their homes painted across the walls, surrounding them and keeping them in.

⠀⠀⠀Blair grinned at the defeat that finally fell over Willow. She leaned forward, kissing Willow deeply on the lips, and pressed into her that this, all of this, was Willow's fault. Blair stepped away, staring at Willow in amusement for a moment longer, then glanced over to her step-brother.

⠀⠀⠀"We've been playing the long game," Blair casually said to Dillon as if they were having a normal conversation, pacing the circle on opposite sides as they spoke. "Embedding ourselves into the lives of witches. Just to make sure that you are True Witches and not these imposters that use sage or a pendulum and think that they have a connection to the supernatural. The harmless ones."

⠀⠀⠀"We just needed to get close enough," Dillon said, glancing over at Willow to cause a chill to run up her spine at the dead look he gave her. "To your friends, like Stiles."

⠀⠀⠀A wide smile passed over his lips, and his dead eyes lit up in excitement as he watched her physically falter.

⠀⠀⠀"What did you—" Willow started. Her voice dry all of a sudden at the thought of getting Stiles hurt because of her. Getting any of her friends hurt because of her. Scott, Lydia, Allison... Were they okay? "What did you do to him?" she finally asked.

⠀⠀⠀"Oh, don't worry," Blair assured her, words cool to reassure. "He's fine, just a little tied up!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands up. "But, he's not on our kill list. We're witch hunters, not murderers."

⠀⠀⠀"I would consider this murder," Laurel spat, life filling her once again, and Willow turned to see the sister she had known all her life.

⠀⠀⠀"Murder?" Dillon repeated, then rolled his eyes. "Do you call putting a dog down for biting a child murder?"

⠀⠀⠀"We're not dogs," Rowan hissed.

⠀⠀⠀"No," Blair agreed, nodding her head slowly as she mulled over his response. "You're witches. Dogs are kind; they don't deserve that kind of treatment for doing only something that is a part of them."

⠀⠀⠀Blair paused, rolling her wrist as she tried to gather her words. She looked away from them before her eyes snapped back to Rowan, holding him in an intense gaze.

⠀⠀⠀"You, on the other hand, and your kind have made it a mission to ruin lives. Take the words of the Devil and use them against us innocents. Killing people closest to us, our parents, our family, our entire lives, ruined because of you."

⠀⠀⠀"Your parents?" Willow couldn't help but ask. Blair snapped her sharp gaze to her, and Willow wanted to clam up, but Blair was waiting for her to continue. Wanting her to say something. "They were at Kate's funeral," she rushed out.

⠀⠀⠀Dillon scoffed, rolling his eyes, "Our foster parents. We convinced them to attend, seeing as she had been close to our real family. They're too stupid to realize they were surrounded by deadly hunters, let alone their own children."

⠀⠀⠀Willow shut her eyes again and began chanting under her breath as she felt the sinking feeling fill her insides full of dread.

⠀⠀⠀"That's cute," Blair cooed, but Willow tried to ignore her. "That's really cute. Dill, look at this. She's still trying."

⠀⠀⠀Willow chanted, hoping that she could get somewhere. She had read in one of her texts on witches that could psychically link with others. There wasn't much on it but maybe, just maybe, if she put all of herself. Her mind, body, energy, everything, she could reach Scott. She didn't know if it could work, if he'd even register it as a call for help or just a strange thought passing him. Still, she needed to do something to hopefully save them because it didn't seem like there was any other way out of this.

⠀⠀⠀"I'm getting bored," Dillon sighed loudly. "Can we get this started already?"

⠀⠀⠀"Sure," Blair said.

⠀⠀⠀She walked over to Willow first, resting her fingers against her chin to force her to look at her, then cradling Willow's face in her hand, so her nails were pressing cuts into her cheeks.

⠀⠀⠀"As my ancestors have done, and I will do today, you're going to watch your family burn as I cleanse the earth of you."

⠀⠀⠀Willow's eyes welled with tears and then streamed down her face as she stared at the girl she thought she once knew.

⠀⠀⠀The girl she had tragically fallen in love with could imagine all their homecomings and proms, applying for college, and possibly going to the same school. Dorming together, having late-night study sessions and falling asleep in each other's arms.

⠀⠀⠀That girl was nothing, a shadow of someone else that was long gone. A mask crafted for Willow to fall so deeply into her just for this purpose. This greater purpose Blair believed in.

⠀⠀⠀Willow had thought her heart had been broken once by Stiles, but that was nothing compared to this. It was like Blair had reached into her chest, touched each of her organs to poison them, then ripped her heart out and watched slowly as she died.

⠀⠀⠀"What have I ever done to you?" Willow begged for an answer.

⠀⠀⠀Blair's face softened for a moment, returning to the girl Willow knew for a moment, and she whispered, "Nothing."

⠀⠀⠀And that hurt the hardest.

⠀⠀⠀"Now, watch," Blair told her, turning Willow's head for her to stare at Dillon.

⠀⠀⠀Dillon struck a match against the matchbox in his hand as he stood at Laurel's post that Willow finally processed as a pyre. He grinned, the flame illuminating his face and his eyes as he watched Laurel begin to sweat so close to death. She struggled and begged for him not to, but he found it amusing, like watching a cockroach wither before slamming a boot fully against it.

⠀⠀⠀Willow's stomach knotted, and for the first time in weeks, it was from panic and pain as she watched Laurel, the strongest of all of them, lose her hope.

⠀⠀⠀Rowan had been the first to start screaming once they realized how close the two witch hunters were going through with it. There was a hesitation in all of them. They still thought of them as only teenagers, but there was a psychopathy behind both that seemed to negate anything else.

⠀⠀⠀Starla followed, then her father and Bridgette, and finally Willow. They screamed and begged, a jumble of words and noises unable to get through to the two.

⠀⠀⠀Dillon let his fingers part from the match, and Willow watched as it tumbled to the foot of Laurel's pyre. It felt like a century until it hit the ground, but the flames that consumed her took only a second.

⠀⠀⠀Willow let a scream from deep within her stomach pass, seeming to echo out past her and far beyond. Laurel was screaming as well, flames dancing along her skin as she tried to struggle against the ropes with no success. Willow followed, trying to work against her own restraints.

⠀⠀⠀The front door to the house kicked in, and Scott was rushing inside. He threw Dillon to the side like he was nothing, slamming into the wall and breaking the drywall.

⠀⠀⠀With Dillon unconscious, he was about to try for Laurel, who had stopped screaming, and they could only assume the worst but was cut off by Blair. She ran head-on for him, but she was even easier to stop. His hand swallowed her head before she could reach him, holding her back. Scott went forward, taking her arm, and bent it until it let out a sickening crack, and Blair was forced to the ground, cradling her arm.

⠀⠀⠀Blair tried to stand again, but Scott slammed his foot into the side of her head, knocking her unconscious.

⠀⠀⠀"SCOTT! SCOTT!" Starla screamed at him. "YOU SEE THOSE SIGILS! I NEED YOU TO BREAK THEM! ALL OF THEM!"

⠀⠀⠀Scott followed her direction and ran around the room, dragging his claws across the walls and cutting through every one of them.

⠀⠀⠀Starla screamed unintelligible words the second Scott had finished, staring at Laurel, and the flames reduced into nothing.

⠀⠀⠀Scott helped Starla down first, cutting the ropes from her hands, then moved around until he was at Laurel, none of them sure what to do next.

⠀⠀⠀She was still breathing, barely, her eyes shut burned together, and she smiled softly, her chin resting against her chest.

⠀⠀⠀"It's okay," Laurel whispered, her voice barely above a whisper, but it felt like it filled the room. "It's okay."

⠀⠀⠀"Take her down!" Willow screamed, running over to Scott and pulling on his shirt desperately. "TAKE HER DOWN, NOW, SCOTT!"

⠀⠀⠀Scott hesitated, turning to Starla, and she nodded for him to go ahead. With the help of Vic, they were able to lay Laurel on the floor. Her skin was burned, all of it, every inch of her. None of it free from the licks of pain, some to the point of blisters, cracking and bleeding. It was especially noticeable when Vic pulled his hands away, and they were covered in her blood.

⠀⠀⠀"Willow," Laurel muttered, turning her head where she thought Willow was, but her eyes were still forced closed. "Willow, Will..."

⠀⠀⠀Willow fell to her knees, resting beside her as she tried to hold back the tears coming to the back of her throat. She wanted to hold her sister's hand, comfort her in any way she could, but it seemed that anything she did would only cause Laurel more pain.

⠀⠀⠀Red and blue lights streamed inside the home as the emergency services pulled up, illuminating Laurel in flashes.

⠀⠀⠀Laurel lifted her hand, blisters running down the skin, and held it for Willow to take. Hesitantly, Willow did despite her wariness not to, and Laurel gripped her hand tightly.

⠀⠀⠀"It's not your fault, okay?" Laurel told her sternly, shaking her head slowly from side to side. "It's not your fault. I promise it's not your fault. It's not you—" she chanted, hiccupping between her words. "It's not."

⠀⠀⠀Tears fell from Willow's eyes as she sobbed over her sister as she continued to mutter, and the EMTs rushed inside.

⠀⠀⠀"I'm going to need you to back up," a paramedic told Vic and Willow. "Please."

⠀⠀⠀Vic pulled Willow to her feet, her hand still in Laurel's, and their hands slipped from the others, creating a devastating eruption to pass through Willow.

⠀⠀⠀Bridgette was at her side in a second, pulling Willow into her as they watched the paramedics swarm Laurel.

⠀⠀⠀"WE NEED A STRETCHER!"

⠀⠀⠀Another set of EMTs ran inside, a stretcher between them, and just as they were about to move Laurel, the head paramedic rose his hand.

⠀⠀⠀"Time of death, 3:00 AM."

WILLOW HAD BEEN taken to the hospital due to minor asphyxiation and a concussion. She had told Scott about Stiles and the little information she had from them. Willow could only hope Scott found him as she fell back into the pillows trying to keep herself from sobbing again.

⠀⠀⠀Melissa McCall was her nurse, and where at one point Willow would have been overjoyed at the idea, all she could think about was the fact that her sister was dead. Along with the fact that she kept thinking back to that day back after the winter break when Willow had warned her. Laurel had warned her that if she kept getting involved, then one of them would end up dead.

⠀⠀⠀What Willow didn't realize was that it wouldn't get her killed like she had assumed when she brushed her sister off. Instead, it was everyone around her that would die and leave her surviving, grieving, wondering what she could have done instead.

⠀⠀⠀Willow looked over at Ms. McCall, fixing up her IV with saline flooding her veins.

⠀⠀⠀"Could you put me on morphine instead?" Willow asked her, staring at the clear bag then at Ms. McCall.

⠀⠀⠀"I'm sorry, sweetheart," Ms. McCall said softly, her hands returning back to her sides, and she frowned back at Willow, pity filling her gaze. "I can only do that for extreme physical pain."

⠀⠀⠀"My heart's in pain," Willow told her simply. "That's physical."

⠀⠀⠀Ms. McCall's hand raised to Willow's face, smoothing her hair out of the way.

⠀⠀⠀"I'm sorry," she whispered, and Willow that she was by the crack in her voice.

⠀⠀⠀Willow sighed after a second, then nodded.

⠀⠀⠀"Do you need anything other than morphine?" Ms. McCall asked her, removing her hand, and Willow felt empty without it. Willow shook her head after a minute. "Alright. Let me know if I can get you anything, okay?"

⠀⠀⠀"Okay," Willow muttered.

⠀⠀⠀Ms. McCall smiled as best she could, lingering for a moment longer, then left to leave Willow alone.

⠀⠀⠀Sort of.

⠀⠀⠀Rowan was on the other side of the room, staring longingly out of the window. So still that Ms. McCall hadn't fully registered him in the room with her.

⠀⠀⠀Outside, Willow could hear Ms. McCall get stopped just out of her door as sneakers scuffed against the tile floor and screech to a halt. Stiles and Scott were talking loud enough for her to know it was them by the tone of their voices.

⠀⠀⠀Willow felt herself let out a hiccup before resting her hand over her mouth, relieved to know Stiles was okay and alive. She didn't think she'd be able to handle him dying, too.

⠀⠀⠀"Rowan," Willow whispered across the room, waving her hand at him.

⠀⠀⠀Rowan turned slowly from the window, eyes rimmed with red from the tears he was trying to hold back and his hand steadily placed over his mouth as well. Then, finally, he let his hand fall to his side and walked over to her bedside, holding her hand tightly in his.

⠀⠀⠀"What is it?" he asked, his voice low from the tears.

⠀⠀⠀"I'm sorry," she said to him, feeling guilty for interrupting his mourning. "Can you tell her that they can come in here? I need—I need to see him."

⠀⠀⠀Rowan let the slightest smile pass his lips, and he nodded reassuringly to her. He let go of her hand, a feeling Willow didn't particularly like, and walked over to the door. He whispered to Ms. McCall it was okay if they came in. Willow could hear Ms. McCall sigh like she had been trying to tell the two boys not to go in there only to be sidelined by Rowan but moved out of the way for them to rush inside.

⠀⠀⠀Willow knew they were coming, but she didn't expect to see them simultaneously. Stiles had tackled her into a hug, wrapping her tightly into his arms and pressing her into his chest as tightly as he could without crushing her. Scott followed, wrapping his arms around Willow and Stiles.

⠀⠀⠀The comfort brought tears to her eyes, and she was sobbing all over again. Her hand formed a fist into the material of Stiles' shirt as she tried to hold onto him tighter, her face pressed into him so that her tears stained the front. Scott rocked them, the three silent but all crying to different extents. They stayed in the strangely comfortable yet uncomfortable position for nearly ten minutes or possibly ten hours. None of them knew.

⠀⠀⠀Scott was the first to pull away, then Stiles, who immediately held Willow by the sides of her face. His eyes were wild, scanning every inch of her to see if something was out of place like the crescent-moon cuts in her skin, the bruise forming on her temple, everything Blair and Dillon had done to them.

⠀⠀⠀"Scott," Rowan called from the door, but his words were lost on Willow and Stiles. "Come help me for a moment."

⠀⠀⠀"I'm sorry," Stiles told her, tears running down his face, and Willow hated the sight of him crying. She tried to keep her own tears down, but it felt like they were flooding her stomach instead until she let them release in a loud breath of air. "I'm so sorry. Are you—" he tried to ask but stopped, knowing that he shouldn't even ask.

⠀⠀⠀"No," she answered him anyway. "Physically, I'm okay, though."

⠀⠀⠀Stiles nodded.

⠀⠀⠀"Will you, um," Willow started but didn't know how to say it or even if she should.

⠀⠀⠀"Of course I will," Stiles answered her like she had finished asking, his voice barely above a whisper now.

⠀⠀⠀He stood from the bed, walking over to the chair Rowan had been standing beside, but Willow's hand in his kept him from moving far. So instead, he moved back, still standing, and looked to her with furrowed brows.

⠀⠀⠀"I don't want to sleep alone," Willow admitted.

⠀⠀⠀Stiles tried to smile, but it came off watery. So, he nodded, sitting on top of the blankets to separate them. Then, he pulled the second blanket Ms. McCall left on the end of the bed if she got cold and pulled it over his waist.

⠀⠀⠀It had been a long time since they had been together in any capacity of intimate, but it seemed like nothing had changed. It barely took them any confusion before laying back like they had once before. Stiles rested behind Willow, his arm over her waist and his head resting on her shoulder.

⠀⠀⠀Typically, though, he liked to complain about being uncomfortable or not being in the middle, but tonight... tonight, he couldn't even think about comfort for himself when Willow needed it the most.

AUTHOR'S NOTE —

So, yeah, hope you don't hate me.

ATROPOS: "inexorable" or "inevitable", literally "unturning", was the cutter of the thread of life. She chose the manner of each person's death; and when their time was come, she cut their life-thread with her abhorred shears.

Also, I was thinking as I was writing this that some people might be confused as to why Blair and Dillon would be able to get the upper hand against her family seeing as their witches. But it comes down to two things, the sigils which make Starla, Bridgette, and Rowan practically useless and being thrown off guard.

I've put a lot of foreshadowing into this book for this lead up so, to be honest, I hope it's not that surprising but all the more devastating. It's been being played at since the beginning with Blair telling Willow she's lived in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Virginia which all three states have well-known witch trials. Especially Salem, Massachusettes. Also, Blair's last name is Stearne and John Stearne is a real witch hunter :)

SONG: Sweet But Psycho by Ava Max

Thank you for reading! Leave comments telling me your thoughts on this chapter, but however you interact, know that I really appreciate you reading. I hope you enjoy, and until the next one.