Monster. (Sterek)

Part 19: Alone Without You.

TW: gore and blood, short anxiety attack

*****

Stiles blinked against the bright lights and sat up in bed. Had the ritual worked? Nothing felt different. He patted himself down; everything was still intact, that was a good start. Then he focused on his teeth and, after a moment of trying, reached a hand up to feel for any change. None. Completely human. No craving for blood. No extra strong sense of smell or hearing abilities. It had worked.

It had worked!

Pulling himself out of bed, he got changed quickly and rushed out of his room to find his dad, The Pack, anyone. "Dad?"

Noah walked out of his own room, "Stiles, you're awake?"

"Yeah, it worked!" Noah's face lit up and he moved to hug Stiles. Stiles still felt a little drowsy, the effects of the ritual still wearing off and he had to readjust to his human body. It was causing him to feel almost delayed. His limbs slightly too heavy, his mind struggling to catch up with him through a dense fog. He hugged his dad back anyway, glad that he was there. In need of a solid presence to ground him.

"I'm so glad. God, son, you had me worried for a moment there. We thought you weren't going to wake up."

"We?" he meant The Pack, but where were they?

"Yes, we. Go on downstairs." Stiles did as told, Noah followed him down. When Stiles reached the bottom step, the atmosphere shifted and he turned around, confused. Noah was no longer there.

"Dad?" no response. He must have forgotten something. But that didn't explain why everything felt wrong all of a sudden.

"Stiles, in here!" someone called. He recognized the voice but couldn't picture the face that went with it. So he went into the living room where the sound had emanated from, and stopped dead in his tracks.

"Scott, what the hell are you doing here?" Scott McCall was lounging on the couch, limbs spread wide, perfectly at ease. The T.V. was on and Star Wars was playing. Despite Stiles' best efforts, he had never succeeded in getting Scott to watch any of the Star Wars movies, why was he watching it now?

"I'm here to see how the ritual went without me. I want to see if you're no longer a monster." Scott's smile was sickeningly sweet, so reminiscent of Evalyn's.

"You think that after everything, you can just come in here, smile at me and we can be friends again?"

"Well, I mean, your dad was fine with it. And you're not a blood-sucking monster anymore. So I don't see why not." Scott frowned and stood up, hands raised in defense as he moved towards Stiles.

"No, no, no, I believe your exact words were: 'monster, vampire or otherwise'. So what the hell are you doing here?" Something felt wrong... something felt very wrong. He shouldn't be yelling at Scott. Why was he yelling at his best friend? "No, you are not my friend."

"But I am, we've been friends since kindergarten, why would we have stopped?"

"Because of everything you said... everything you did!" What had Scott done? What had he said?

"But, Stiles, I didn't do anything. Don't you remember?" What was he supposed to be remembering? What was going on?

Scott, his best friend was here to check up on him, and he was yelling. But Scott deserved worse than that, right?

"I- I need to get out of here, I need a breath of fresh air."

"I think that's a good idea, Stiles. When you're feeling better we'll talk again, okay?"