♡ 𝙩𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 ♡
𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 sixty.
oxytocin
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
DALLAS GARCIA STARED CHALLENGINGLY AT THE SCHOOL BEFORE HER, EYES NARROWED AND BROWS KNITTED GRUDGINGLY.
"You sure this is a good idea?" Derek's voice called out from his car and a concerned look plagued his structured features.
He had a right to be worried - Dallas Garcia and Scott McCall being in the same place at the same time was a disaster waiting to happen. More so on her part than his.
Dallas had a pair of sunglasses resting on her face and her lips pursed with anticipation. "Would I be doing it if it wasn't?"
Noticing his silence, the girl trod on ahead. The wind brushed loose strands of hair out of her face and pricked the cold gloss on her lips.
"Steer clear, Dallas. Promise me."
Dallas didn't bother to look back at him and instead shoved the front doors open to the public school. "Stop telling me what to do, Derek," the Garcia yelled back with the roll of her eyes. She wasn't in the mood of another one of his heroic speeches. Not today.
The halls were packed with students and teachers alike. Some she knew, some she hated. No matter who, though, she felt their eyes linger on her.
Dallas didn't know why but never let her confidence falter.
Instead, she shooed people out of the way with her hands and pushed the hair from over her shoulders with a nonchalant look.
Meanwhile, Lydia and Malia made their way down the very same hall, only in the opposite direction.
"The Dread Doctors by T.R. McCammon." The redhead hummed idly as her fingertips ran across the coarse paper.
Malia, continuously confused, halted behind her while the Banshee came to a short pause. "What?"
"I don't know. There's something about it." Lydia spoke with curiousity, staring down at the book that she held between her dainty fingers.
Malia clutched the muddy brown leather jacket that coated her shoulders and blew the hair out of her face. School had become an increasingly boring place, especially when one of her best friends had spent most of her time either locked up or on the bend.
But, of course, Malia tried to understand. Even if none of it made sense.
She brushed the hair out of her face with raised eyebrows. "Has anyone actually read it yet?"
Disinterested in the chaos that erupted around her, Dallas placed a piece of gum in between in her teeth and slammed the locker door shut with discontent.
When she stepped away, however, Dallas ended up colliding with the two girls in question. She hissed out when her books toppled to the floor and inevitably, into the walkway of both a Banshee and a Were-Coyote.
Crouching down to a half-height, Dallas scooped up her books from the dusty floor while connecting eyes with the two girls that loomed over her. Her gaze was wicked, teasingly tilting her head to the side and running her tongue over her teeth at the mere sight of them. "Well, this is a bit awkward."
She stood up to her natural height and brushed the dust from her hands onto her hips before flickering her gaze between one teen to the other.
"Dallas," she let the name slide easily from her tongue. "What are you doing here?" Lydia clutched the book close to her chest and took an uneasy look towards Malia. The Hale, on the other hand, kept her eyes locked on Dallas until she had a wink flown her way.
"Well, I-"
Malia didn't give her the time to speak before butting in. "You're bleeding." And a moment after that, stepping forward to pull up the hem of her shirt to widen her eyes at the large, stitched wound.
Dallas swatted her hand away and pulled the fabric back over her bare stomach. Her lips spoke little words but frowned at the sympathetic and worried looks they gave her. "Don't."
"Who did that? Why aren't you healing?" Malia practically quizzed her on the spot. It was too much for Dallas to handle. Yet, with one look, The Siren knew Lydia thought the very same thing.
"Oh, you should see the other guy." She smirked while turning towards Malia. "Well, you probably wouldn't. I kind of shish-kebabed him. You know, I don't know why people keep comparing me to Wendigoes. I'm much more charismatic than he was. And prettier-"
Connecting the dots, The Banshee called out her name to pause her insistent rambling. "Dallas!" Lydia swallowed. "Where's the body?"
".. Well, that's why I'm here, Lydia." The Garcia glanced back to the Library. "Derek didn't see any body." She titled her head to the side and recalled it out loud. "Kind of like it was-"
"Stolen?" She finished the sentence for her, eyes wide and foot tapping impatiently against the laminated flooring.
Dallas dropped her hands to her sides and parted her lips. Surely she was the mind-reader there, not Lydia. "Now how the hell did you know that?"
⊱ ──────ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ────── ⊰
Scott McCall stood before Theo Raeken, surrounded by empty lacrosse lockers and dimly lit windows. He had both hands struck loosely onto his backpack straps and his head tilted forward intrigue.
"Sorry, but I'd never even heard of the Kankma until a few days ago." He flicked through the pages of the booklet that he had been given to by yours truly. "You want me to read this?"
"Well, not yet. I'm still only on chapter one."
Fidgeting with a classic smirk, Theo hummed in response. "You guys do this a lot, huh?"
Scott seemed to be at a loss for words. "Do what?"
Theo referred to the book with a nod of his head and watching the Alpha slouch with sudden guilt. "Get involved."
Scott felt uneasy at the question. Sure, he got involved quite alot. But it was always for the right reasons. He only wanted to help.
That was nothing to be ashamed of.. right?
"What about the author?" Theo cocked a single eyebrow. "If he knew about these guys, shouldn't we be talking to him?"
Theo held a copy of the Dread Doctors in his hand, which coincidentally, seemed to copy each and every move the suspicious masked figures Scott had encountered not too long ago.
Curse his curiosity, but as it was Beacon Hill's, he had to get involved nonetheless.
"We thought about that, but it's pretty much a dead end." He watched as the Raeken flickered through the pages aimlessly. Theo then stopped at one page, tapping his finger against it with a hidden motive. "What about this guy?"
"For providing scientific perspective and invaluable insight.. " Lydia, hallways away, read out to both Dallas and Malia.
"...This book is dedicated to Dr. Gabriel Valack." Scott, unknowingly, finished for her. He then rubbed his thumb over the paper and allowed his to thoughts roam freely.
Noticing this, Theo knitted his eyebrows. "Do you know him?"
Scott turned him with a spark of enthusiasm. "Yeah." He paused with a steady heartbeat. "And I know where to find him."
⊱ ──────ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ────── ⊰
Boots thumped against the wet flooring of an underground basement. Green lighting soaked up the brickwork and spilt over the shoulders of a Dread Doctor that slithered out of the shadows.
"The book worked." Theo, still slightly sweaty from his run from the school, spoke with his signature smirk. "And now they're going to see Valack."
The creatures all shared a knowing look while his chest rose and fell with his laboured breaths. "They're going tonight."
A voice echoed through the walls and caused the hairs to rise on Theo Raeken's arms. "To Eichen."
⊱ ──────ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ────── ⊰
Dallas Garcia, in every way possible, wanted to be as far away as where she stood right now.
Her coat was clutched close to her chest and her hair swindled to the side in a braid. Initially, she would've let them succumb to the horror house themselves - but they had struck her a deal.
One she couldn't refuse.
She remembered it clearly.
"Why would I help?"
Scott knew she was important - but so we're the lives of so many others.
"Because if you do, I promise to leave you and your humanity alone for good." He paused. "We all do."
She glanced back at him, while he fought back the guilty look on his face. Nobody else knew that. Nobody else knew the things he had promised on their behalf.
Annoyed by the reaccuring buzzing of the Yukimura, the Siren turned back to the two girls and cocked her head to the side while muttering lowly. "Maybe you should ring it again, so they can ignore you. Again."
Then, as per usual, she felt Lydia Martin scold her. "Do you have a better idea?" She interrupted her before she could speak. "One that doesn't include killing, maiming and torturing?"
"I mean, a few." she trailed her eyes over face while pulling at her lower lip with her acrylic nails.
When Lydia fell silent, she rolled her eyes with a bitter laugh. "Oh, stop taking everything so seriously, Lyds. You're gonna get worry-lines."
Lydia Martin felt the Siren slide her fingertips across her cheeks before turning away to watch Kira Yukimura pressed the buttons that lined the gate entrance of Eichen House.
Scott listened intently while Stiles leant against his jeep with a pained look. His shoulder ached with the imprint of the Wendigo's teeth and skin stretched with each breath. Not that he'd let anybody know that, though.
"She's not wrong, Lydia." Kira gave the Banshee a sugary, sweetened smile. Scott watched Dallas carefully. While her acts where convincing, it only took her one minute to snap.
Conflicted, he turned to his bestfriend.
"Are you going to be okay in there?" His face held that same puppy-dog look that everyone knew all too well.
Stiles plastered a look of confidence over his weary features. "Yeah. Why?"
"You just seem a little off."
The Stilinski directed his look to the floor and ran his thumb over his knuckles in an attempt to calm himself. "I think we're all just a little off." He swallowed. "Some of us more than others." His eyes flickered to Dallas who had rolled her eyes at something Lydia had said.
"Anyway, what, uh, what happened between you and Kira?" Stiles diverted the conversation topic to anything but himself.
Scott didn't wait before divulging into the biggest worries on his mind that day. "Well, when the other Chimera, Lucas, when he came after us.." he struggled to find the right words. "I heard Kira say something in Japanese."
"That doesn't too bad-" His eyebrows softened.
"She doesn't know any Japanese." The Alpha spoke wkth an exasperated tone.
Stiles rose his eyebrows at him. Things could most definitely be worse - that he knew for sure. "Still not terrible, Scott."
"I also think I might have stopped her from killing Lucas."
Stiles chewed on his bottom lip and nodded along. "Okay, definitely terrible now." He furrowed his eyebrows and ran a hand over his face. "What is it with the girls in this town and murder?"
He then looked up in intrigue. "Wasn't he trying to kill you, though?" He rubbed his nose and tried to combat the chills that rubbed up his spine. "I mean, that just sounds like self-defense."
Scott shook his head in dismay.
"It was more than that." He whispered low so she couldn't hear them conspire. "I mean, she nearly took off his head."
Stiles projected a little too much. "Maybe she had no choice." He shifted uncomfortably. "There's gotta be a point where its justified, right? Tracy killed her own father - and Lucas would've killed you."
"They're not the bad guys. They're the victims. We shouldn't be killing the people we're trying to save." Scott clenched his jaw. "We shouldn't be killing anybody. No matter the reason."
A blanket of silence fell on the two, an itchy and uncomfortable one - almost asif they didn't agree.
Yet, that silence didn't seem to last too long.
The slam of Dallas' hand against the metal buzzer caught their everybody's attention and moments later, the gate creaked open and electricals sizzled wildly from the buzzer box.
With a gleamed smile, teeth bared and swaying back to back on her feet, the Siren pushed past the two girls and led the way into Eichen House with a pep in her step.
"How did you even make Dallas come along?" Stiles knitted his eyebrows while the two boys lingered outside the gates, Lydia and Kira following Dallas in hesitant pursuit.
Scott avoided his look. "Alot of convincing." He bowed his head to his sneakers. "Don't worry about that. I've got it under control."
The group then finally slipped through the doors and disappeared into the walkway of Eichen House, unaware of the very horror that awaited them on the other side.
⊱ ──────ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ────── ⊰
"Please empty your pockets into the container."
Scott McCall stood at the patient registration desk, Kira Yukimura at one side and Lydia Martin at the other.
Stiles stood at the back, rubbing the backs of his hands with unease while Dallas Garcia watched with dwindled curiosity.
He noticed her slight frown disappear underneath her blank gaze and her look away within seconds. Still, humanity or not, Stiles knew she was never good at hiding things like that from him.
"I'm okay." The Stilinski kept his eyes focused forwards but leaned slightly to the side so he could whisper beside her.
She clenched her jaw and avoided his look. "I didn't ask."
He faked a wince but continued to push against her boundaries. "You didn't need to." Stiles then gazed down at her while choosing his next words carefully.
"Thanks for being there... At the library." His voice became barely over a whisper while Scott tried to reason with the receptionist. "I know you did that for me. No matter what you say."
This time, Dallas didn't respond. Simply clenching her jaw and inhaling sharply. However, she felt his hand slither around hers and an understanding smile stamp on his bruised face.
"I said empty your pockets into the container." The receptionist bugged again in a much louder tone, capturing the attention of everyone in the group.
Scott turned to the pack with a look of defeat, rummaging through his pockets and watching everybody else do the same.
Dallas huffed silently while she dropped the extra packets of chewing gum and retractable knife into the box along with Scott's phone, Stiles' keys and Lydia's bag.
Still, the receptionist kept his gaze on Kira. "Please remove your belt and place it into the container."
Kira cleared her throat and let out a meek breath. "I kind of need the belt. I mean, it's crucial to the outfit."
Dallas scrunched her face up at her response. Barely hanging around her waist and encrusted with a thick bolt, it never seemed to be Kira's usual style.
"Please remove your belt, which patients will attempt to take from you and use to strangle either themselves or others."
Lydia flickered her eyes between the two before watching her drop the belt into the box also. Her misty gaze then trailed off while the quintet heard the chilling music wander through the overhead speakers.
"Right. Okay. Got it."
The doorway to the downward spiral staircase then opened, a guard standing idly by with hands resting on his hips and a grim look on his face. "After you."
⊱ ──────ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ────── ⊰
Malia sat alone in the library, a book sprawled out before her eyes and a highlighter clutched tightly in her hand.
When a figure appeared at her table, she expected to see Scott - or Dallas, even.
The last person she expected to see was Theo Raeken.
"Page turner?" He referred to her book with raised eyebrows and a cocky demeanour.
Malia gave him a skeptical look. While she was in no position to turn away new friends - with two of her closest ones fighting and the rest solving murders instead of exam questions - she responded in the most polite tone she could.
"Not exactly." She deadpanned.
Maybe not so polite.
He chuckled at her and lifted his Precalculus Textbook from his backpack before dropping it to the table with a slam. "Neither is this."
Narrowing her eyes, The coyote kept them trained on Theo as he shrugged off his jacket and leant backwards in his chair. She tried to focus back on her chemistry work but noticed his repetitive smirks.
They were starting to get to her.
⊱ ──────ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ────── ⊰
Lydia and Stiles approached the gate with slouched shoulders. A knot had formed in their gut and a heavy weight dropped unwillingly onto their shoulders.
It wasn't until the Banshee turned her head did she notice how Kira, Scott and Dallas all seemed to be pulled back by the same invisible force.
Dallas muttered out profanities while the familiar compressed feeling ached over her bones and upper torso. Scott connected his yellowing eyes with her white ones before turning back to the Security Guard.
"You didn't think you were all going, did you?"
The Alpha dropped his hands to his sides. "It's Mountain Ash, isn't it?"
He spoke as if it were almost obvious. "Everywhere, but heavily concentrated down here." The man taunted before sliding his card through the locks. "Valack's cell is the last one at the end of the hall." He then directed his eyes towards Lydia and Stiles.
Stiles gave Dallas an unsure look but she gestured him on with the slight nod of her head. She'd only be outside.
And if not, she had broken through Mountain Ash before. She was confident she could do it again.
Scott noticed this and nodded along with her. "We'll be right here."
Watching them disappear from sight, Dallas groaned loudly and leant against the wall while blowing the hair out of her face in a fit of impatience. She wanted Scott - No, everybody - to leave her alone.
But playing bodyguard for the day became less and less worth it.
"Thanks for coming," Scott mumbled with his hands shoved into his pockets and tone somewhat gentle.
"Don't." She crossed her arms and ignored how Kira pretended not to listen.
Scott ignored her warning. "For what its worth, I am sorry." The werewolf continued. "I don't think you're a monster. Not even now."
Dallas bit down on her jaw hard enough to feel her muscles strain underneath her teeth. Her breathing became laboured and her heart rate picked up. "I don't want your fucking apologies McCall, so stop it."
Kira had no idea what he was doing - or why now was the most appropriate time, but from Dallie's racing heartbeat she knew it was either working or going terribly wrong.
"- You want to be angry at me, Dallas?" He stepped forward confidently. "Be angry at me. Don't take it out of yourself because I said something stupid."
She stepped forward too and slammed her hands against his chest. "You-" Dallas breathed heavily and ran a hand through her dishevelled hair with newfound anger. "You promised you'd leave my humanity alone."
He took the slams against his chest while giving Kira a soft nod to signal that it was okay. That he understood.
"I know!" He overpowered her loud voice with his own. "I'm just trying to have a human conversation with you, Dallas, do you even remember what that's like?" The boy frowned. "I can't understand what you're going through if you don't talk-"
She shook her head and failed to notice how the Kitsune's hands had started to shake from the electricity that had formed around her.
"I don't want to talk! Scott, you're not my Alpha, so stop acting like this big stupid brother who thinks he knows the answer to everything."
The argument got more and more heated - as things usually did whenever Dallas and Scott butted heads.
"You just want to put my humanity on the list of things you 'fixed'." Dallas formed quotations with her fingers and spat the words his way.
"Um, Guys." Kira's voice barely made it out through the bickering of Scott and Dallie. Waves of electricity had started to cage around her and bolt up the sides of her arms.
"Dallas, just let me talk to you - the real you. Turn your humanity back on."
"No."
Dallie's humanity switch sat at a halfway point. Still pushing away feelings of love, acceptance and remorse but allowing all kinds of anger, bitterness and resentment.
Like her own Pandora's Box, she sabotaged her entire world.
But even with all that aside, Scott's persistence carried on through. The switch was close to flipping back. He could see it. Hear it, almost, in the thundering beats of her heart.
"Guys!"
The duo instantaneously snapped their heads to Kira who stood with a whirlwind of lightning bolts swamping around her body. Her eyes fell to a thunderous blue and her arms clasped closely at her sides.
Dallie's face contorted in confusion while Scott held his hand up in front of her with a worrisome frown. "Kira, whatever you're doing, stop."
She inhaled sharply and dragged her eyes from Scott to Dallas. "That's the thing. I'm not doing anything."
Dallas knitted her eyebrows before staring up at the ceiling lights that had began to shake sporadically. Their bulbs sprang in and out of faux light while others shattered above with the surge of electricity that rushed through them bursting at the seams.
Wind howled through the doorways before the remaining bulbs powered down and darkness overcame the halls.
Feeling a chill run up her spine, Dallas felt Scott and Kira step closer to her side while she listened in on the voice that echoed cells away from where they stood.
"They knew you were coming."
Dallas turned to Scott, her eyes wide and throat dry from the eerie feeling that had settled over her bones. "Who's coming?" She managed to spit out. "Scott... who is it?"
He watched the end of the hallway coat with inky smoke and the straining of leather boots inch closer.
"The Dread Doctors."
a/n: scott and dallas kind of argue like siblings sometimes... interesting.
☆ word count: 3,705. ☆