Captive, Stiles Stilinski

81

"Why won't she wake up?" Stiles asks in barely a whisper. All eyes land on him, trying to decipher what he said.

"Stiles?" Scott asks.

"Why won't she wake up?" Stiles asks slightly louder, keeping his eyes on Katherine's peaceful frame.

Everyone goes quiet, unsure what to think or say as they all have the same question running through their heads.

"I don't know," Melissa finally answers, her smile disappearing completely. "I don't know."

***

Cold water splashes onto my face and I bolt upright into a sitting position, coughing and trying to wipe the water away with my hands. My eyes are squeezed shut but I can feel how unsafe I am. Or, as unsafe as I can be while dead.

"Took you long enough." Erica says. I rub my eyes to clear them and when they open, I'm met with Erica sitting in front of me with an empty cup in her hand. Immediately I glare at her, tucking strands of wet hair behind my ears.

"Where's Christine?" I ask angrily. She just smiles at my tone which angers me even more.

"You got her killed, Katherine, you really think she wants to talk to you?"

I know that no matter what happened that night, I did not get Christine killed. She was protecting me, and her dying because of it made me blame myself. But also...Derek.

"Derek killed her."

"For you." She responds quickly.

I grip the end of the sofa I realize I'm sitting on, my anger and frustration only becoming more apparent.

"I get it, alright? This is all my fault. I got you and Christine killed," I tell her. "Is that what you want to hear?"

Erica tilts her head and throws the empty cup aside. I flinch. "No, I want you to believe it."

"I do!" I exclaim. "I blamed myself every time someone died. I relived every death every night! How do you think it feels to be born with this magic and not able to save anyone?"

She finally goes quiet. Her silence makes me fidgety. "I'm so sorry about what happened to you, Erica. You didn't deserve that."

I notice tears start to form in her eyes and she looks away from me to hide them. My heart constricts in my chest at the sight, but even then I'm not sure I want to let my guard down.

And sure enough, a hand grabs on to my arm tightly and I look over to see Christine. She stares down at me with hard eyes and I don't realize what she's going until she's already done it. A needle presses into my forearm, hard. Blood begins to seep from the wound around the syringe and panic blossoms in my chest.

"Christine!" I beg. She presses down and I gasp as memories explode in front of me.

***

"Parrish isn't the only one who can help defeat La Bete," Gerard tells Lydia. The strawberry blonde looks over the book in front of her, her eyes widening.

"It's Katherine."

Her eyes flash up to the older man who nods at her statement.

"Marie-Jeanne may have killed The Beast, but who do you think helped her?"

Lydia looks back down at the book, confusion overriding her thoughts.