chapter forty three
hostage

"So this kid's a real killer?"

As soon as Matt had disappeared along with the Kanima, the three teenagers had quickly drove to the Stilinski household where they knew Stiles' dad would be. They told him that Matt had been the one behind all of the murders, of course leaving the part out where he used a Kanima to do so.

Currently they were stood over a yearbook, the lamp on Stiles' desk shining down on it. A red circle was drawn around Matt's picture.

"Yeah." Stiles confirmed his dad's question.

Noah shook his head, "no."

Harper and Stiles looked at him in surprise. "Yes!" Stiles shot back, glaring slightly from his desk chair.

"No." Sheriff Stilinski replied sternly, folding his arms across his chest.

Stiles quickly bounded up from the chair. "Dad, come on. Everybody knows that the police look for ways to connect victims in a murder, okay? So all you have to do is, like, look through their transcripts and figure out which class they all had in common."

Scott nodded encouragingly from behind the mole speckled boy.

"Yeah, except for the fact that the rave promotor Kara wasn't in Harris's class." Sheriff Stilinski pointed out.

"Right, sorry." Stiles groaned, "I guess they dropped the charges against him?"

Noah shook his head, holding a finger up to Stiles. "No, you know what. They're not dropping the charges. But that doesn't prove anything- Scott, Harper. Do you two believe this?"

Stiles rolled his eyes.

"It's really hard to explain how we know this, but you just gotta trust us." Scott explained to him, "we know it's Matt."

Harper nodded along side him when Noah looked at her expectantly. "Oh yeah it's definitely him."

"Yeah, he took Harris's car, okay?" Stiles continued urgently. "Look, he knew that if a cop found tire tracks at one of the murders, and that if enough of the victim's were in Harris's class, that they'd arrest him."

"All right, fine." Noah reluctantly gave in. "I'll allow the remote possiblity, but give me a motive. I mean, why would this kid want most of the 2006 swim team and its coach dead?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Stiles cried, his hands making big movements. "Our swim team sucks! We haven't won in, like, six years. Okay, we don't have a motive yet. I mean, come on, does Harris?"

Noah nodded, "what do you want me to do?"

Stiles let out a breath of relief and Harper smiled slightly as Scott leaned forwards. "We need to look at the evidence." He told him.

"Yeah, that would be in the station, where I no longer work." Noah replied, shooting Stiles an annoyed look since he had been the one to get him fired.

Harper hadn't been there for the news, but apparently it didn't look great to have the Sheriff's son stealing police transportation vans and kidnapping lawyer's sons.

"Trust me, they'll let you in." Stiles pleaded with him.

"Trust you?" Noah pointed a finger at him, narrowing his blue eyes.

Stiles pursed his lips together nervously. "Trust- trust Harper and Scott?" He jerked his thumb towards the two mentioned teenagers.

Noah nodded. "Harper and Scott I trust."

...

The former Sheriff of Beacon Hills held the door open for Harper, Stiles, and Scott as they all wandered inside. The lady sat behind the front desk raised her eyebrows at the older man, looking at him expectantly.

"It's two in the morning," she pointed out in a monotone voice.

Noah leaned on the desk, "believe me," his voice was low, "I wouldn't be here if it wasn't extremely important."

Stiles turned to face his two best friends. "We look at the hospital stuff first, okay?" He mumured, causing Scott to furrow his eyebrows in confusion.

"Why?" The werewolf questioned.

Harper answered for Stiles. "All the murders were committed by Jackson." She shuddred, "except for one. The pregnant lady, Jessica."

Stiles nodded, "yeah, that's right." He mumbled, "since Matt had to kill her himself, someone from the hospital could have seen him."

Scott's eyes lit up in realisation, and he was glad that they had somewhere to start when looking through the evidence that they needed. The lady behind the desk jerked her head behind her and Noah pursed his lips in a thank you.

"Boys, Harper." Noah called, leading the way to his office.

...

Harper's eyes strained at the TV sat in front of them on Noah's old, wooden desk as they watched through the CCTV footage from Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital on the day of the death of Jessica. The three teenagers were watching on the edges of their seats, trying to grasp some sort of proof that Matt had been there, while Stiles' dad was starting to lose hope in what the trio had told him earlier.

"I don't know, guys." He sighed tiredly, "I mean look at this. There was a six-car pileup that night, the hospital was jammed."

"All right, just keep going." Stiles pushed, "look, he had to have passed one of the cameras on the floor to get to Jessica, okay? He's gotta be on the footage somewhere."

The Empath sighed deeply, moving her head to click her neck that had stiffened from leaning fowards for so long. All she was seeing was a nurse wheeling a hospital patient away in a wheelchair, an old man walking down the hall with a lady behind him, a lady sat down reading something in the waiting area, and a guy in a leather jacket walking-

"Wait!" Harper hissed, pointing a finger at the screen, "that's him. That's Matt."

"Scroll back," Scott ordered urgently, clearly having seen the teenage boy too, "did you see that?"

Noah did as Scott had instructed, scrolling the footage back. You couldn't see Matt's face, but it was obvious to anybody that knew him that it was him. He was wearing the leather jacket he always wore and his curly hair which hadn't changed since elementary school.

"That's Matt." Stiles confirmed, glaring at the screen.

Noah squinted, "all I see is the back of someone's head."

"Matt's head, yeah." Stiles gave a short nod, becoming impatient with his father. "I sit behind him in Histroy. He's got a very distinct cranium, it's weird."

"Are you crazy?" Noah glared at him.

"All right, fine, dad, look at his jacket, huh?" Stiles gestured towards the screen, "how many people do you know who wear black leather jackets?"

"Millions, literally." Noah dead panned, and Harper crinkled her nose up, knowing that he had a good point.

Scott interrupted them before their bickering got too out of hand. "Okay, can we scroll forward? There's gotta be a shot of him coming at one of the cameras." He pressed.

Harper nodded along to Scott's words and Noah listened to them, scrolling forwards. The CCTV footage showed Matt walking around a corner, his head down.

"Stop!" Harper shrieked, making Stiles jump from beside her, "there. Right there."

"You mean there's the back of his head again." Noah corrected, clearly stressed.

Stiles leaned closer to his dad, pointing at Matt. "Okay, but look. He's talking to those people.

Scott leaned closer, his eyes widening a fraction when he saw that the people Matt were talking to were his mum and Harper's grandma. Melissa was talking to him while Rose stood beside her, nodding her head.

"He's talking to my mum and Rose." Scott gaped.

Harper's mouth fell open slightly before her painted lips pursed together and she exhaled through her nose. She felt furious that Matt had been anywhere near her grandma.

Stiles frowned, "why's your grandma at the hospital, Harps?"

Harper cleared her throat, and she noticed Noah shoot her a sympathetic look. Did he somehow know? Harper didn't know who Rose had told about her cancer, but it made sense that she would tell Noah and Melissa, since they were like second parents to the teenage girl.

"Oh, um, I don't know. I'll have to ask her," Harper lied, and she felt extremely bad for doing so- especially to Stiles.

Noah quickly made Scott call Melissa up on the phone on his desk, and thankfully she picked up almost straight away. Scott quickly explained some of the situation to his mother, asking her if she had seen Matt.

"Scott, do you know how many people I deal with in a day?" She questioned, bored.

"This one's sixteen. He's got dark hair, looks like a normal teenager." Scott explained, causing Harper to roll her eyes at his lack of description.

"Yeah, he looks evil." Stiles snapped.

"Scott, I already talked to the police about this." Melissa sighed on the other end of the phone.

Harper decided to speak up, "Melissa, you and my grandma were talking to him in the middle of one of the halls. Does that ring any bells?"

There was a heavy silence before she replied, "do you have any pictures?"

"Yep." Scott answered shortly before snapping a picture on his phone of Matt from the yearbook, sending it straight to her. "Do you recognise him? Do you remember him?"

"Yeah, I did." Melissa responded, "I mean, I remember I was talking to Rose and then I stopped him because he was tracking mud down the hall. Scott what's going on?"

The four of them shared looks as Scott replied, "it's- it's nothing, mum. I'll explain later. I gotta go."

The werewolf hung up as Noah reached across the desk, pulling out a file filled with text and pictures of patterns. "All right, we've got the shoe prints along side the tire tracks at the trailer site." He explained.

"And if they match that puts Matt at the scene of three murders." Stiles realised, "the trailer, the hospital, and the rave."

"Actually four," Noah corrected him, "a credit card receipt for an oil change was signed by Matt at the garage when the mechanic was killed." He stood up.

Harper's dark brows furrowed together, "when?"

"A couple of hours before you two got there." He looked between Harper and Stiles.

There was a silence before Stiles spoke up, "all right, dad. If one's an incident, two's a coincidence, and three's a pattern, what's four?"

"Four's enough for a warrant," Noah smirked at them, genuinely proud of the trio for managing to crack the case.

Stiles fist pumped the air excitedly while Harper squeezed his shoulder, sending a proud smile his way.

"Scott, call your mum back, see how quick she can get here. If I can get an official ID, I can get a search warrant. Harper, go to the front desk, tell them to let Scott's mum in when she gets here." Noah instructed them all.

Harper nodded and quickly left, not waiting around to hear what job he had assigned Stiles. She rushed towards the front desk and went to grin at the lady that was there before, only to find that she was gone. Her smile faltered as she slowly looked around, feeling herself get a little anxious.

"Hello?" She called nervously, "Ms Police Lady?"

The Empath didn't hear anything so she looked over the desk, her heart skipping  a beat when she saw that the lady from before was lying on the ground dead. Her dark brown eyes were wide open yet lifeless, and her entire chest had been slashed up, blood everywhere. Harper knew what that meant.

The Kanima was here.

And wherever the Kanima was...

The sound of a gun clicking behind her confirmed her theory, causing her to gulp. She slowly turned around, her heart beating rapidly in her chest when she saw Matt stood there with a gun. His blue eyes were filled with tears as he sent her a smirk, cocking his head.

He pressed the barrel of the gun to here forehead and leaned in, his lips pressed against her ear. She felt the bile rising in her throat and her entire body start to shake. She couldn't help but wonder- was this how her parents felt right before they were shot dead?

"You're going to move your pretty little ass and lead me to where you friends are, got it sweetie?" His voice came out in a harsh whisper, his hot breath hitting her ear and causing her to cry out a little, clenching her teeth from the amount of fear that she was feeling.

Matt pressed the gun further into her forehead when she didn't reply, causing her to hesitantly nod. She slowly began to lead the way, Matt moving behind her and pressing the gun to her back.

The chatter inside the office was cut short when Noah looked up, his eyes widening at the sight in front of him. Confused by his dad's lack of speech, Stiles looked up too, only for his heart to drop at the sight.

Stiles had been threatened by psycho alpha's and paralysed by killer Kanimas, but by far the most terrifying moment of his life was seeing his girlfriend being held at gunpoint by a mentally unstable teenager. His heart was pounding out of his chest and his palms began to sweat as his mouth fell open, his hazel eyes wide.

Matt's hand was shaking as he glared at the other three people in the room, tears in his blue eyes that were threatening to spill over. Harper stood in front of him, her brown eyes meeting hers as she pursed her lips together, trying not to cry from the amount of fear that she was being forced to endure.

He pushed her using the gun, causing her to stumble straight into her boyfriend's arms. Stiles let out a small breath as he helped her up straight, his grip on her tight. He was afraid of letting her go, in case he never got to hold her again. Harper turned to stare at Matt cautiously.

Noah held his hands up in defence, "Matt. It's Matt, right?" He tried a calm approach, "Matt, whatever's going on, I guarantee there's a solution that doesn't involve a gun."

"You know," Matt scoffed, "it's funny you say that, because I don't think you're aware of just how right you are."

Harper pursed her lips together slightly, realising that he was talking about the Kanima. They knew it was him, but him basically admitting it to their faces sent chills down her spine. Stiles tightened his grip on her arm.

"I know you don't want to hurt people." Noah spoke softly.

"Actually, I wanna hurt a lot of people." Matt corrected him, "you four weren't on my list, but I could be persuaded." He paused, "and one way is to try dialling somebody on your cell phone, like McCall is doing."

Harper's head snapped in Scott's direction, seeing him whip his hands out from the pocket of his trousers quickly. Scott closed his eyes, wincing. She nervously looked back at Matt, wondering if he was going to hurt Scott for trying to call someone.

"That- that could definitely get someone hurt." Matt gestured to them all using the gun, "everyone."

"Now!" Matt suddenly yelled, the eerie calmness in his voice gone, and instead replaced with complete fury.

Sheriff Stilinski nodded at all of them and they all hesitantly began to pull their phones out of their pockets. Harper shakily put her phone down on the desk next to Scott's, before turning back to Matt who was still holding the gun up at them.

She gulped.

...

"Tighter," Matt instructed, a scoff of disbelief leaving his lips as he held the gun up to Stiles, forcing him to handcuff his own father to a pipe against a wall.

Stiles had tried to handcuff his dad as loosely as possible, but Matt wasn't having any of it. Harper stood behind the blue eyed boy with a worried look on her face as Matt shook with anger.

"Do what he says, Stiles." Noah told his son calmly, causing Stiles to clench his jaw.

Reluctantly, the pale boy leaned down and tightened the handcuffs around his dad's wrist, making sure not to hurt him in the process. Matt gave a short nod before turning and grabbing a hold of Harper's arm tightly, tugging her into his side.

She let out a whimper as Scott and Stiles stared at the man angrily. Noah glanced between Harper and his son, praying in his head that Stiles wouldn't so something stupid to try and save her and get them both killed- because let's face it, Stiles would do anything for that girl, and sometimes it wasn't necessarily a good thing.

"Into the hallway," Matt ordered, his eyebrows furrowed together as he glared at them, "now."

Stiles pursed his lips together before turning and walking into the hallway beside Scott, Matt following close behind with a tight grip on Harper's arm and a gun pressed against her back. She shuddered as they walked past the door that lead them out to the offices, seeing three dead police officers sprawled out across the floor.

Their uniforms were stained with crimson blood, deep slashes wounding their bodies. Harper didn't understand why she hadn't heard any of them scream, or at least Scott, but she could feel their fear. It was possibly one of the worst feelings Harper had ever felt- a dead man's fear.

"Why would you do that?" Harper chocked, "why would you kill innocent people?"

Her parents never left her mind, and she thought about how this would have been them. They would have just been another dead body lying on the ground in their work place. She couldn't stop thinking about the gun pressed in her back, and how that could have been how her mum or dad had felt right before they were murdered.

"Oh, no, sweetheart." Matt chuckled, "that's what Jackson's for. I just think about killing them, and then he does it."

...

Matt lead them back to Stilinski's office and instructed that they get rid of any evidence proving that Matt was behind all of the murders. Just to be sure they did it, Matt was sat down on a chair with Harper next to him, his gun pointed at her back again.

Harper had never felt so useless in her entire life as she watched Scott shred up files and Stiles delete any online evidence on Noah's computer. She hated being the damsel in distress, the one being used in order to get the job done.

Nobody's favourite character was the one that needed help all of the time, and Harper seemed go always end up that way. She wanted to be like Scott and Stiles, doing the hard work with a brave face instead of being sat in the side lines because she's too fragile or because she's not one of the guys.

"Deleted," Stiles muttered, pressing a final button on the computer, "and we're done. All right, so, Matt, since all the people you brutally murdered deserved it because they killed you first- whatever that means- I think we're good here, right? You'll take the gun off of Harper's back, I'll get my dad and we'll go, you know? You continue on the whole vengeance thing. Enjoy the Kanima."

Car lights suddenly shone through the window of the office and the sound of a car parking filled their ears, causing Harper's heart to skip a beat. There's only one person Harper knew that was coming  to the police station tonight, and that was Melissa McCall.

Matt smirked up at the tan boy, "looks like your mum's here, McCall."

"Matt, don't do this." Scott begged, "when she comes to the door I'll just tell her to leave. I'll tell her we didn't find anything. Please, Matt."

Harper's heart was plummeting with each word that left her best friend's lips. Both Stiles and Harper knew what it was like to lose their mother, and neither wanted Scott to find out what it felt like too.

The sound of the door opening was like a bucket of ice water to the face. Matt didn't flinch or even hesitate, showing that he had already made his decision.

"If you don't move," he scoffed, "now, I'm gonna kill Harper and Stiles first, and then your mum."

Matt grabbed Harper's arm, forcing them all up. They stood in front of the door, Scott in arms reach of the handle. The blue eyed boy just smirked at all of the horrified and concerned looks on the teenagers faces.

"Open it," the Kanima's master instructed Scott.

The werewolf pleaded, "please, Matt."

"Open the door." Matt's face darkened and he pressed the gun further into Harper's back, causing her body to jerk forward a little as she yelped.

Scott gulped while Stiles glared at Matt, his eyes softening when he saw the look on Harper's face. It only just really occurred to him that this was the same thing that had happened to her parent's, and how she must be feeling. It only made him more angry, causing his fists and jaw to clench.

The tan boy reached forwards, his hand shaking as he forced himself to open the door. Harper let out a breath when she saw that it was Derek standing on the other side of the door and not Melissa. Scott sighed in relief too.

"Oh, thank God." Scott breathed.

Derek didn't move, much to Harper's confusion. Her eyebrows furrowed together as he continued to stare at a spot in front of him before his entire body just fell forwards, landing on the ground in front of their feet. Jackson came out from behind Derek, his face covered in the scales of the Kanima, his eyes reptilian.

So much for Derek saving them.

Matt crouched down, hovering over Derek with a sadistic smile on his face, causing Harper's stomach to lurch. This was the most terrified the brunette had ever been. She thought the anxiety of being in Finstock's Economics class was bad, but this takes the cake for sure.

"This is the one controlling him?" Derek questioned in a mocking tone, "this kid?"

Harper was sure he would have turned his head to glare if he could have.

"Well, Derek, not everyone's lucky enough to be a big, bad werewolf." Matt sneered, causing Stiles and Scott to glance at each other, "oh, yeah, that's right-" Matt stood up to look at the three teenagers, "I've learned a few things lately."

"Werewolves, hunters, Kanimas." The boy with the crazed eyes listed, "it's like a freaking Halloween party every full moon. Except for you two, Stiles and Harper. What do you turn into?"

"Abominable snowman." Stiles replied sarcastically, "but, uh, it's more of, like, a winter time thing, you know, seasonal."

Matt glanced over at Jackson and nodded his head. With one swipe of his arm, Jackson had sliced the back of Stiles' neck using his razor sharp claws, causing Stiles to grunt and Harper and Scott to shriek. Harper felt the bile rise in her throat as Scott quickly reached out to grab the falling boy, only for Jackson to stick his hand out and wag his finger, warning them.

"Bitch." Stiles managed shakily as he fell on top of Derek, causing the Alpha to grunt before clenching his jaw angrily.

Derek glared at the ceiling, "get him off of me."

Matt laughed wickedly, "oh, I don't know, Derek. I think you two make a pretty good pair." His eyes flickered up to a distressed Harper, causing her to shrink back, "it must suck though," he glanced back down at the two paralysed bodies, "to have all that power taken away from you with just a little cut to the back of the neck. I bet you're not used to feeling this helpless."

"Still got some teeth," Derek muttered, "why don't you get down here a little closer, huh? We'll see how helpless I am."

"Yeah, bitch." Stiles added weakly.

For the second time that night, car lights filled the room as a vehicle parked in the carpark outside the station. Harper's heart was pounding out of her chest as she heard the engine turn off. Scott clenched his uneven jaw from beside her.

"Is that her?" Matt teased.

Scott turned his head, probably listening out for the sound of his mother. By the way he had paled and turned back around defeated, Harper guessed that it was.

"Do what I tell you two and I won't hurt her." Matt told him, "I won't even let Jackson near her."

Stiles interjected, "Scott don't trust him!"

Matt suddenly reached down, forcefully grabbing Stiles by the back of his plaid shirt and rolling him onto his front. Stiles gasped just as Matt forced his foot onto his chest, cutting off his air supply quickly. Harper shrieked again, rushing to help her boyfriend when Scott pulled her back by her arm, sending her a warning look.

"This work better for you?" Matt snapped at Scott, pressing down harder on Stiles.

The hazel eyed boy's face had gone red, his veins prominent in his forehead and his eyes watering as he attempted to breath, but the crushing weight on his chest was keeping him from doing so.

Harper struggled to form words, panic overwhelming her brain. "Stop it!" She managed, her voice completely thick with anxiety. "Get off of him, Matt."

"Stop!" Scott yelled when Matt ignored her.

"Then do what I tell you to." Matt yelled back through gritted teeth.

Scott nodded, "okay." He replied more calmly, but Matt didn't let go.

"Hey!" Harper yelled, "did you hear him? He said okay! Now get off of him."

Matt reluctantly took his foot off of Stiles' chest, the Stilinski boy gasping and coughing for air. As soon as he accessed it he let out a sigh of relief, his face slowly turning back to its usual colour. Harper sent him an extremely concerned look, but before Stiles could tell her he was alright, Matt had began to talk again.

"You," the boy with the gun looked at Jackson, "take him in there," he glanced at Scott and Harper, "you two... with me."

Stiles tried to lift his head up as he became much more frantic, "hey, hey, no, no, no, no, no. Matt, please- Harper."

Matt pointed his gun directly at Stiles' head, causing him to freeze. "How tragic would it be if Harper lost her boyfriend the same way she lost her parents?" Matt smirked, his words coming out slowly for extra emphasis.

Harper swallowed thickly, her eyes burning with tears as she glared at the back of Matt's head. Scott moved closer to the smaller girl, his hand brushing against the back of hers in a comforting gesture. Stiles glared back at Matt, defeated.

"Now," Matt turned back around, looking at Scott, "let's go say hi to your mum."

—-
DUN DUN DUNNNNN

I didn't proofread this so sorry if there are mistakes, I will come back to it later.

I SAW THE DEATH CURE LAST NIGHT AND IM SO UPSET OH MY GOD