When Cassidy awoke she was surrounded by darkness. She wondered if she had died and was stuck in a state of purgatory, but her chest rose and fell as she took deep breaths. Pain shot through every inch of her body. She clenched her fist and gritted her teeth as another wave of discomfort surged through her. The clenching of her fist was such a small gesture that she forgot that she had been previously paralyzed. She wiggled her toes just to make sure that everything was functioning. She lifted her arms only to hit a barrier above her and to her sides. Claustrophobia clawed at her brain, her heart rate picking up at the realization that she was confined. She kicked her legs and thrashed her body around, hoping to get some sort of idea of where she was.
"Help! Somebody help me, I'm trapped!" She screamed without knowing if anyone would ever hear her, but it was worth a shot. "Please, anybody! Help!"
She heard footsteps approaching, holding her breath so she could listen better. The footsteps seemed to stop right next to her. She heard the sound of a zipper being undone above her, light flooding through a crack and blinding her. Her hands shot to cover her eyes, the light searing a bright white space behind her eyelids. An arm snaked under her knees and another around her shoulders, picking her up out of the bag and onto the floor. She removed her hands from her eyes and squinted, slowly adjusting to the light. Some part of her hoped that he rescuer was Stiles, but the smarter part of her knew better. She couldn't forget what had just happened or the information she had just learned. Everything had changed. Her father was alive, werewolves existed, and she was deeply scarred; physically and emotionally. She tried to focus on the figure in front of her, opening her eyes more and more. Eventually, her eyes opened fully and she was able to look at the figure entirely.
"Hello, Cassidy. Nice to see you're awake." Declan smiled down at her, his previously endearing smile now terrifyingly haunting.
Cassidy frantically searched the room with her eyes, seeing nothing but an ordinary apartment. She looked down at herself for the first time, appalled to see that she was covered in nothing but bruises and open wounds. She curled into a ball trying to conceal as much of her bare body as possible, looking up at Declan through her tear soaked eyes to find that he was still staring at her. "What did you do to me?"
"Besides almost ripping out your throat, slashing your arm, and paralyzing you? Only what you deserved, Cass." He winked at her and she felt like she was going to be sick.
"Don't call me that." Cassidy spat, her voice shaking. "Only the people I care about call me that."
"Whatever you say, Cass. Now, you might want to get some clothes on. We're going to see your daddy."
•••
"So you're telling me that Cassidy's body was stolen last night." Sheriff Stilinski sat behind his desk across from Stiles and Scott.
"That's the only possible explanation other than she magically woke up and walked away and failed to tell anyone she's alive." Stiles almost laughed at the thought.
"What would anyone want with her dead body?"
"Dad, stop saying dead body. She could be alive, she has to be." Stiles was still hopeful, it's all he could do to keep from falling apart.
"We'll find her, Stiles. I put out an alert for a missing person, there's a search party looking all over Beacon Hills. If anyone can find her, it'd be you guys. Scott, can't you do some werewolf trick and lock onto her scent?" The Sheriff was still new to the whole supernatural world, half of the things he said he didn't understand.
"We're working on it, we're gonna go to Cassidy's house after this." Scott wondered what they were going to tell her mother.
"What about Mr. Hunt? Do you have people looking for him too?" Stiles wanted nothing more than to see the man behind bars or even dead for that matter.
"We're looking for him. If by any chance this all ties back to him, odds are we'll find them together." The Sheriff was still doubtful that his son's girlfriend was still alive, but he would never say that to him. He had already seen his son go through enough pain to last a life time; he definitely didn't deserve any more. He dismissed himself from his office to do more research on Declan Hunt, leaving the two boys alone.
"Stiles, we should probably go to Cassidy's house right now. We need to find her fast, there's no telling what's going to happen." Scott didn't want to think about the possible outcomes. Stiles nodded and the two returned to the Jeep and drove off towards the Steele residence. When the boys reached Cassidy's house they hurried to the front door, not bothering to pause before ringing the door bell. After a minute, Cassidy's mother opened the door. The woman looked as close to a zombie as a human possibly could get. Large red bags circled under her bloodshot eyes where tears never seemed to stop flowing.
"Stiles, Scott. What are you doing here?" Elizabeth tried to keep her composure, she knew her daughters death was just as hard on them as it was for her.
"Cassidy may be alive." Stiles blurted out before he could think of something else to say.
Elizabeth's hand flew to her chest, taking a step backwards out of shock. "What are you talking about?"
Scott looked at Stiles before looking at Elizabeth again. "Her body went missing from the hospital. We think someone could've faked her death and kidnapped her. We need some of her clothes so that um...police dogs can pick up her scent!"
The woman nodded her head vigorously, excited by the chance that her daughter was still alive. She stepped out of the way so the boys could enter. The pair ran up to Cassidy's room, the smell of her momentarily reminding Stiles how painful her absence was. He shook the thought from his mind and returned to what they came here for; picking up her scent. He searched for her favorite item of clothing before realizing that the item was one of his own; a sweatshirt he had given her so many times that he let her keep it. He placed the sweatshirt back where he found it and instead pulled out the sweatshirt he had given back to her on the first day of school.
"Here, try this." Stiles handed the hoodie to Scott who lifted it up to his nose.
"I think I've got it, let's go."
•••
Cassidy tripped over loose branches on the forest floor. Her bare feet ached from walking for so long, bloody and coated in mud. Both of her hands were held behind her back by only one of Declan's, the strength of his grip almost crushing her bones. The outline of Declan's dagger pressed into her back, a threat to paralyze her in case she decided to struggle. She could feel the blood pumping through her veins and her pulse was rapid. She wasn't sure how to feel about what was about to happen. She was going to see her father. She had dreamed about reuniting with her dad many times before, but she never could have pictured it coming to this. Declan had stop leading her when they reached a clearing with a large stump in the center.
"Where are we?" Cassidy was always a curious girl and the life or death situation she was placed in didn't change that.
"The Nemeton. I left your father a message to meet us here." Declan heard the sound of a stick crunch to his right. His grip on Cassidy tightened as he drew her body closer to his own.
A tall man with dark brown hair and gray eyes emerged from the trees, carefully studying the two people in front of him. Cassidy's heart stopped at the sight of him, too many different emotions swimming around her brain. Nothing about her father had changed since the last time she saw him. Anger suddenly washed over her as she realized what he had done to her. He had been pretending to be dead for so long! He caused her such emotional trauma she didn't know if she'd ever recover. But here he was, very much alive. Tears swelled in the man's eyes at the sight of his daughter. He had left her and her mother to protect them from himself. Looking at Cassidy now, in the arms of another werewolf with deep claw marks tracing her throat, he regretted everything.
"Cass..." The man stepped toward his daughter uneasily.
Declan wrapped his free hand around the lower half of Cassidy's face to prevent her from speaking. "This isn't time for a family reunion, Harrison. This is a deal. Give me what I want and your daughter will live."
"What do you want?"
"I want you to kill Scott McCall and his pack."
Cassidy's eyes widened at the mention of Scott's name. Scott was a werewolf? She thought she knew her best friend, but she was wrong. Was Stiles who she thought he was or was he a werewolf too? Her head spun as she contemplated the information. She came to the conclusion that she didn't care about them being werewolves for the time being. All that mattered to her was them being alive.
"Why do you want them dead?"
"I want to be the most powerful alpha in Beacon Hills. It's kinda hard to do that when there's a true alpha in the way. Can you believe it? A teenage true alpha. What a joke."
"Why don't you kill them yourself?"
"I couldn't possibly do it alone. I need assistance. Hopefully you'll be able to provide the help I need." Declan released the hand over Cassidy's mouth.
"Don't do it." She blurted. "You can't kill them, you can't."
"I have to, Cass. It's you or them, I can't let you die."
"You left us! You left me and mom. We mourned for you. I lost my mental health because of you, moms in debt because of you! I want nothing to do with you. If you think that saving me will make you a hero, you're wrong. I wish you were still dead, it would make it easier for me not to hate you." Cassidy's anger got the best of her.
"Cass..."
"Shut up! Just shut up! You need to go...you can't help Declan. If any part of you still cares about me you'd turn around and leave right now."
Declan had enough of her talking and put his hand back over her mouth. "Don't let her influence your decision. Now choose, Harrison. The life of your daughter or the lives of the useless werewolves. Your pick."
Cassidy shook her head at her father, praying that he would listen to her. "I'll do it. Just hand her over."
Cassidy's heart hit the floor at the words from her fathers mouth. Her friends couldn't die, not for her. Declan released her from his grip and she fell to the ground. Her father approached her but she inched backwards. She looked back and forth between Declan and her father. Impulsively, she grabbed the dagger from Declan's belt and jumped to her feet. She held the dagger to the largest wound on her neck. She knew if she cut any farther, she would die, for sure this time. Declan glared at her, his fangs bared. Her father only stared with a blank expression, tears swelling in his eyes.
"What are you doing?" Declan yelled at the girl, although he already knew her intentions.
"Nobody's dying because of me." Cassidy's voice remained strong despite the fact that every other part of her trembled. She closed her eyes and tightened her grip around the handle of the blade. She took a deep breath and counted to three before putting pressure onto the wound, drawing blood to the surface. She knew that the venom would kick in any second, so she needed to react quickly.
"Cassidy, stop!" Her eyes flew open at the recognition of the voice that didn't belong to either Declan or Harrison. It belonged to Stiles. She had already done what her mind was set on, blood seeping down her neck from the opened wound. She lowered her arm and the blade slipped out of her hand and onto the forest floor. An unlikely smile appeared on her lips before she fell to the ground, unconsciousness swallowing her once more.
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(Author's Note): If you didn't catch on from the image attached to this chapter, I envision Declan being played by a more twisted version of Robbie Amell. So if you were wondering what Declan looks like, that's it. Thank you for 200+ reads I know that there's not many people who read this but I appreciate those of you who do. I'm having fun writing this, even if I'm the only one who reads it :)