Theo had ended up being the one to find Liam and Hayden and bringing them back safely to Scotts house. But that was all the good news to come out of that night. Somehow, Scotts asthma had returned, Kira had left town again and Stiles' father found out about him being at the library that night, fueling the boys fear of everyone finding out the truth. No one had told his dad about Parrish either, knowing well that he would try to stop him and that seemed to be when the deputy was most dangerous. To put a cherry on top of the whole situation, Malia seemed to have pushed herself away from everyone, even Isaac, leaving the boy to mend his own heart.
The pack had hit a stump. They weren't communicating anymore, they were all hiding their own secrets, their own nightmares and fears. It felt like they were back at square one, searching for bodies and trying to find the Nemeton. Venus' body would have to be stone cold and six feet under before she let anyone perform another ice bath sacrifice. But she knew something was coming.
Venus was sound asleep in Stiles' arms, their legs tangled beneath the sheets, his heartbeat ringing steadily in her ears. The sight was peaceful but the world behind her eyelids was a different story. She was seeing them again, the image of them drawing blood from her younger self stuck in her mind.
The memories seemed to be expanding, almost like she was watching a movie of other people's experiences. It didn't happen often, but when it did it was horrible. The Nymph had yet to tell anyone about any of this, none of them had spoken about their hallucination, each of them clearly fearing what they saw.
In her head, she could see the Dread Doctors, moving around what appeared to be their 'lair' as her boyfriend would put it. Someone was lying across their operating chair, the three doctors moving around with purpose. That's when she heard their distorted voices. Perigee Syzygy.
Her body jolts awake, startling the boy next to her with her movements. A hand was placed on her chest as she tried to catch her breath, even seeing them in her dreams seemed to weaken her body.
"What happened?" Stiles asks worriedly, his voice hoarse with sleep.
Venus simply shakes her head, trying to keep the pain in her chest and he tears at bay. "I'm fine, you can go back to sleep."
"Vee." his voice was gentle, lowering to almost a whisper as he sits up. "Talk to me."
She lets out a huff, wiping her hands down her face and brushing her hair out of her eyes. Without turning back to look at him, she begins explaining. "I keep seeing them. I don't know why but even when they're not physically around me, they still affect me and it...it terrifies me. Even more since my memory of them resurfaced, they did something to me and I don't know why they keep coming to me in my sleep."
"How often does this happen?"
"Not a lot. But when it does, God, it makes me want to die. The pain, it just- it gets too much and it feels like my body can't handle anything anymore."
Stiles was unsure of what to say, he could hear it in her voice how she was trying to hold back her sobs. He did the only thing he could do and pulled her back into his chest, placing soft kisses against her head as her tears soak through his shirt.
"What do you mean they did something to you?" he asks after a few minutes of silence had passed and her body had stopped shaking as much.
Venus sighs, explaining her resurfaced memory to him without lifting her head off his chest. "It feels like we're living a nightmare and now I have to deal with it in my sleep too."
"You know, I have nightmares like that too." he admits, running his finger through her brown locks gently. "When I was...when it was Void in control, I felt trapped in my own head. I remember everything I did, everything he did, to you and to everyone. Sometimes I still see him in my sleep, I relive all of that again. But that's all it is, a dream."
His words sent an ache through her heart, he had never spoken to her about what he went through last year. She knew it must've been difficult for him, but he had been doing so well since then that it felt like he had forgotten all about it already. Her body draws back from him, her palms moving to cup his face.
"You know all of that, all that happened, it wasn't you. It wasn't your fault. You know that, right?"
"Most days, yeah."
"Do you, um, do you ever see-"
Stiles cuts her off, knowing who she was referring to. "Sometimes. I guess it's easier to deal with because of your reassurance but I still killed him and I know it'll always stay with me."
"It means your human." Venus whispers, her thumbs brushing across his cheeks as they spoke. Stiles gives her a soft smile, pressing his lips against her forehead before pulling her to lie down again.
Her head rests against his chest with her hand wrapped around him tightly, scared that if she lets go he'll disappear. He could tell something was still on her mind but he didn't want to push her further, placing one of his hand in her hand and the other holding her own that rested against his chest, the two eventually being pulled back to sleep.
•••
The next morning Stiles, Venus and Isaac had met Lydia at the preserve in order to head into the woods again to find the Nemeton. They had been venturing out almost regularly since their discovery of Parrish stealing the bodies and the relation to his dreams. Venus had been more than vocal about her hatred for the stump, making the situation all the more frustrating.
The four had been searching for a while before stopping in a wide clearing, Lydia and Stiles giving Venus a little space as she stood in the center while Isaac ran around the perimeter. Her eyes were closed, arms raised lowly to her side as she called upon her surroundings. The wind slightly picked up, blowing her hair into her face as she beseeches the Nemeton, but her arms fall limp to her sides for the third time that morning.
"It's almost like this thing doesn't want to be found." Stiles huffs, his feet kicking at the fallen leaves by his feet, earning his a smack on the arm from his girlfriend.
"Maybe it knows we're late for class." Lydia speaks sarcastically, turning to look at them.
"More like gossiping about Sheri and Jakes engagement." Venus mumbles, earning herself strange glances from the other teens as they catch her glaring at a tree ahead of her. None of them had ever come to understand her power.
Isaac come to a stop a few steps ahead of them before letting out a loud groan. "We've been her twice." he points at the crosses they had drawn on one of the trees. The group curses as they take notice, all of them evidently fed up with this whole thing.
"Maybe we should just talk to Parrish." Venus groans, looking up at her boyfriend.
"If the Nemeton's covered in bodies, shouldn't you be able to find it?" he points to Lydia, disregarding the Nymphs statement. "That's what you do. You're the Banshee, you find the bodies."
"Well, the Banshee's having an off day," the strawberry blonde huffs, rolling her eyes at him. "so how about we talk to Parrish?"
"We can't."
"Why not?" Isaac presses.
"Because one of the bodies..." he trails off, fingers fumbling together in anxiousness. "One of them could be, like, a clue."
That's when it clicked for Venus. He didn't want anyone to find the tree until he knew if Donovan was there or not. It seemed like with every passing day, everyone was getting closer and closer to finding out about the boy and it scared Stiles.
"Alright, I'm leaving." Lydia announces, already walking away from them. "I'm gonna talk to Parrish and tell him he's the one taking the bodies. It's always better when they know."
Lydia walked away from the three of them, making her way back to her car. The remaining brunette lets out an exhale before moving to hold onto Stiles' hand tightly, a silent message that she understood him.
"Well then he should know he owes me a Jeep." Stiles calls after the strawberry blonde, already pulling Venus along so they could make their own way to school.
•••
Two more dead Chimeras and one of them was Corey. No one knew what they were supposed to do anymore, they didn't know how to save them. Because if they don't die at the hands of the Dread Doctors, they'd probably die from Mercury poisoning. Lydia hadn't made it to school that day, instead she got Parrish and went back into the woods. Theo had just come back from the hospital where he and Scott had found Coreys body.
Venus was stood in the hallway where the paramedics were taking away one of the bodies when she spotted Theo leave the locker rooms with Stiles' dad. The man had a sullen look on his face, like he'd just gotten some bad news while Theo himself fashioned a pair of teary, red eyes yet a triumphant look on his face.
Her strides were long as she followed down the hallway and taking a left, there was no one around but them since everyone was crowding around the dead body in the other hall. In one swift movement, she grabs the back of his collar and slams him into the lockers, placing her forearm on his throat and pressing her body against to prevent him from moving.
"What did you tell him?" she interrogated through gritted teeth, it was taking everything in her not to punch his smug face.
Theo sputters for a second, grabbing onto his arm to try to pull it away but to no avail. "Why do you immediately suspect it was a bad conversation?"
"Because I don't trust you. You're up to something, Raeken, and God help me I will find out."
"That's if you're around for much longer."
Venus presses her arm harder onto his throat, restricting his airway. "Is that supposed to be a threat? Because I can slice your throat open right here, right now, without a single care."
"And suffer the same fate as Stiles with Scott?"
"Don't think for a second that you're worth more to Scott than either of us." she pushes him back one more time, his head hitting the lockers roughly before finally letting him go. "Watch your back."
•••
Isaac had left school that afternoon to find Malia, apparently she had been there when one of the Chimeras was killed and she was pretty upset about it. Lydia had called to tell them Parrish had locked himself up at the station to keep himself from going after the bodies, leading Stilinski to finally learn the truth. Meanwhile, Venus and Stiles had made their way back to her house, waiting for something to do when Scott finally sent her a text.
They had found Liam and Hayden and brought them back to the animal clinic to protect her, but it looked like she was gonna die either way. Venus was now sat in the passenger seat of the Jeep, watching Scott as he pulled his helmet off his head when Stiles pulled up next to his bike.
"Hey, sorry I had trouble starting the Jeep again." Stiles raises his voice in order to be heard over the heavy rain that was already soaking through their clothes as soon as they stepped out of the car. "Isaac went to look for Malia and we couldn't reach Lydia again."
It didn't take Venus long to sense his heavy aura, like he was carrying some sort of burden. But then again, this is Scott, he always seemed to be carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. The werewolf doesn't speak though, his eyes simply staring ahead of him. He only moved when Stiles called his name.
Scotts hand reaches into his pocket, pulling out a metal wrench covered in blood. Stiles' eyes widen and his finger start to fiddle, confirming the girls suspicions of it being Donovans blood. This definitely wasn't how Scott was supposed to find out.
"Where did you get that?" Stiles mutters, his gaze locking onto the wrench.
Scott lets out a heavy breath. "This is yours?"
Stiles clenches his jaw and reaches his hand out, grabbing the wrench from the boys hand, the tension simultaneously increasing between them.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I was going to."
"Why didn't you tell me when it happened?" the werewolf reiterates.
Stiles finally looks up from the wrench in his hands, his eyes finally taking in the solemn look on his best friends face. "I couldn't."
"You killed him? You killed Donovan?"
"Scott he was gonna kill my dad. Was I supposed to just let him?"
"You weren't supposed to do this." Scotts eyes flit between the two of them. "None of us are."
"Scott, you can't blindly accuse him like this." Venus interrupts, her tone wary.
The boys eyes widen in response. "You knew? You know and you didn't tell me either?" the girl gulped, not knowing she was supposed to counter this. "You were helping him hide it."
"Leave her out of this." Stiles defends, letting out a scoff. "You think I had a choice?"
"There's always a choice."
"Yeah, well, I can't do what you can Scott. I know you wouldn't have done it. You probably would've just figured something out, right?"
"I'd try." he admits, making Venus shrink further away from the two boys and their intensifying argument.
"Yeah because you're Scott McCall." Stiles yells, his temper finally leaving him. "You're the true alpha. Guess what? All of us can't be true alphas, some of us have to make mistakes. Some of us have to get our hand a little bloody sometimes. Some of us are human!"
Scott takes a second to gather his thoughts, his gaze moving to the gravel before looking up again. "So you had to kill him?"
"Scott he was gonna kill my dad."
"The way that it happened...There's a point when it's just not self defense anymore an-"
"What are you even talking about? I didn't have a choice, Scott!" Stiles interrupts, his anger getting the best of him but his shoulders finally deflate when he noticed he wasn't changing his mind. "You don't even believe me, do you?"
Scott avoids the boys gaze, his shoes suddenly becoming interesting. "I want to."
"Okay so believe me then." the human pleaded, his eyes desperate. "Scott, say you believe me. Say it."
"Stiles we can't kill people that we're trying to save."
"Say you believe me." Stiles took a step forward and Venus swore she could hear her heart break at Scott's scared reaction. The werewolfs body flinched away from his friend, his eyes widening as he looked at the wrench in Stiles' hand.
"Scott.." she warns, sending a silent message to not make this any worse than it had to be.
"We can't kill people." he stressed again. "Do you believe that?"
"What do I do about this? What do you want to do? Just tell me how to fix this, alright?" Stiles' voice breaks as he begs his friend. "Scott just please- what do you want me to do?"
"Don't worry about Malia or Lydia, we'll find them. Maybe..." Scott cuts himself off, taking a breath. "Maybe you should talk to your dad."
The girl wasn't sure where her tears ended and the rain started as she watched Scott back away into the clinic. Stiles stood defeated in front of his jeep and she could feel the sadness rolling off him but then she felt something else. Someone else. That grey, empty aura was emitting from inside the clinic.
Theo. This was his plan all along, he wanted them to fall apart. The accidents just made it easier for him to drive the wedge further between the friends. It was then that she decided she would do everything it takes to get rid of him.