EIGHT LETTERS || Liam Dunbar [2]

FOURTY

A/N: just a bit of a warning, since I know it really grosses some people out, but super non-descriptive brief mentions of throwing up at the end of this one

The entire hallway was glowing with the orange flame of fire when Katherine turned around again. Parrish was once again the main immediate threat as he slowly sauntered up the hallway, and Theo had brought the rest of his pack out of Lydia's room; Corey and Josh were now off to his right, while Tracey continued to hold Doctor Valak to the wall. But Hayden was nowhere to be seen.

Clearly sensing he was in way over his head, Theo darted back into the room and cam out with Lydia in his grasp, his claws at her throat. Katherine fought the sharp inhale that would inevitably give them both away and clung tightly to Stiles' hand. "Back off," Theo snapped, but Parrish just growled once and never wavered. So he dug his claws lightly into Lydia's neck, blood beginning to roll down the length of it. "I said back off," he warned lowly. Parrish paused, but otherwise nothing else changed. "Take him," he ordered.

"The guy's on fire," Corey gaped in astonishment.

"You'll heal," Theo scoffed. "Do it."

Katherine watched Tracey race down the hall and jab her claws into the space between Parrish's ribs, only to begin to panic when it had to effect on him. He just knocked her out with one easy elbow to the face.

Josh tried next, grabbing one of the metal poles containing the electrical wires that ran the length of the wall, using himself as a conductor to send the current straight to Parrish's chest. But that did nothing either. "Theo, this isn't working!" He yelped just before being slammed into the wall.

Katherine flinched and closed her eyes at the sound of something whirring, and just caught a glimpse of Theo falling to his knees and yelling out in pain. "Sorry Theo, but I'm not done with her yet," Doctor Valak apologized meaninglessly.

She looked up again just in time to see the doctor try to pull Lydia to their door, and vaguely heard Corey screaming in the background. But all she could focus on was the empty look in Lydia's eyes as she was tugged to the side by Doctor Valak, and then the saw a dark smoking shake flying towards them.

Then she was on the floor, the air completely knocked out of her lungs.

Her arms flailed out for something, as if she could grab the air she so desperately needed, but the dead weight on her chest wouldn't let up so she couldn't.

Stiles managed to push the thing off of them and she gasped out for air, the dark spots in her vision slowly dancing away, as he scrambled up to his feet. But she heard a door click shut and as her brain began receiving the necessary amounts of oxygen for life, she realized at the thing that had nearly suffocated her was a singed Corey.

As she felt around his throat for a pulse, ignoring the throbbing pain in her back and chest from where he'd probably given her mild burns, she stumbled up onto her knees and pulled his head into her lap, feeling for a pulse at his throat — something she could take control of to prevent a panic attack — while Stiles slammed his palm into the door over and over again, screaming for Lydia.

Katherine sighed out in relief when she felt one, knowing he was just unconscious. She pulled her sweater off and crumpled it up to pillow under his head, knowing he'd need it more than she would. She wasn't overly concerned about his burns, since she knew he'd heal, but she did double check that none would end up being fatal before she shifted over so Theo could pass her and storm up to the door.

"Let me try," she heard him bellow angrily, and hovered the back of her hand over Corey's mouth to check that he was actually breathing  just as he kicked the door in.