the darach
As soon as school had ended, Harper had decided to walk home and go straight to her bedroom, blasting Rex Orange County out of her speakers. With a paintbrush in her hand and an empty canvas in front of her, she began to paint whatever her heart desired. It felt like she hadn't painted in forever, and it sucked, because it was probably her favourite thing to do.
She seemed to favour orange tones at the moment, her previously blank space now filled with exciting shapes and peachy stripes. The brunette hadn't felt this relaxed since the weekend she returned to Beacon Hills- when she and Stiles were just carefree teenagers in love.
Her heart warmed at the memory of the two just lying on her bed, facing the ceiling and talking about whatever came to their minds. She worried that she would never be close to him like that again, but there was nothing she could do about it at the moment.
Trying not to think about the boy who had broken her heart anymore, she skipped the next song, groaning when she realised that it was their song. But she let it play. She allowed the sweet sounds of The Neighbourhood to fill her ears with nostalgia and butterflies.
'You're a doll, you are flawless,
but I just can't wait for love to destroy us,
I just can't wait for love-'
Harper scoffed and turned the song that Stiles had sang to her multiple times off. Some random song from an album she had bought two years ago played, but she didn't skip it this time. There was no point in trying to clear her head of the boy that she was so desperately in love with.
"Harper?" She heard Melissa yell, obviously just having come home from work.
The teenager quickly switched off the music and rushed to the top of the stairs, smiling down at the Hispanic woman who was holding the phone that Lydia had given her yesterday. Melissa waved it, smiling back at her.
"I got the number changed to your old one during my lunch break," Ms McCall explained as Harper came down the stairs and collected it from her, "I'd stay and chat but the hospital needs me."
"Thanks, Melissa. And it's fine, I was just doing some painting anyway," Harper shrugged.
Melissa chuckled, "I can tell," she pointed at her oversized flannel, that previously belonged to Stiles, which was covered in oranges, pinks and yellows.
"I'll keep the rest of your house clean, I swear," the Empath promised.
"It's not my house sweetheart, it's our house. Yours too," she reminded her gently, causing Harper to just smile in a mixture of gratefulness and awkwardness, "now I really have to go, but you have fun and take it easy, yeah?"
Harper nodded, "sure. I'll see you when you get home, Melissa."
"Bye, sweetie," she gave a short wave and smile before leaving.
Harper turned her back as soon as the door closed behind her, running up the stairs and flopping onto the bed with the phone. God she had missed having a phone for the past twenty four hours. She flicked through her social media accounts, her eyebrows raising when she saw that she had a couple of texts, some missed calls and a voicemail.
Lydia: come hang out with Allison and I
1 missed call from Lydia
Allison: we're doing facemasks!
Stiles: i just listened to your voicemail.
Stiles: are you at home?
2 missed calls from Stiles.
Scott: where are you it's late
Scott: harperrrrrr
Melissa: let me know where you are. i need to know if you're okay or not sweetie.
3 missed calls from Scott.
4 missed calls from Melissa.
1 voicemail from Stiles.
With raised eyebrows, Harper clicked on the last notification, Stiles' deep voice immediately flooding her ears like a melody sweeter than any other band she had ever enjoyed.
It made her miss stupid things like calling him up in the middle of the night, even if they had only been broken up for three days now.
"Harps, it's Stiles, obviously. Scott and Melissa say you're not at home and I know that you said your phone was going to die but hopefully you're listening to this right now. Tell one of us where you are and we'll come and get you. And please stop crying, you know I hate it when you cry. I'm sorry for all of the crap that I said. I was so angry and I wasn't even thinking. I just saw you and Isaac together and I'd never felt so insecure and useless in my whole life. I snapped and I should never have let you go. Next time we see each other we need to talk. I have a question to ask you."
Harper's heart beat quickened with every word that left his lips and travelled to her ears. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. It felt like she had ruined everything. She felt like such a dumbass for telling him that he was right last night, when he actually regretted the whole thing. She had messed up so bad.
"Oh my god," she whispered, allowing the phone to fall onto the bed.
She put her head in her hands, rubbing her temples as she felt a headache come on. Stiles still loved her. Stiles still wanted her. Stiles was going to ask her out again. She friend zoned him. She friend zoned Stiles.
"Idiot!" Harper yelled at herself, standing up.
The short haired girl moved to the mirror, a deterimed look on her face. She didn't care that she was only in leggings and one of Stiles' plaid shirts, paint splatters all across her skin and clothes. She didn't care that she was wearing one of the worlds messiest buns, or that she was looking slightly sleep deprived.
She was going to get Stiles back.
Grabbing her phone, she quickly pressed Stiles' number and put the phone to her ear, waiting nervously for him to pick up. He did after about two beeps, but before she could say anything he was talking.
"Harper? Can you please get over here? Cora and I need to tell my dad about the supernatural and he never believes me, but he might if you're here," Stiles rushed out, and it sounded like he was shuffling on the other side, "he's in my room right now and I don't know how to word it."
The brunette managed to push down her dissapointment about not being able to tell Stiles that she needed him back, knowing that he needed her in another way right now.
"Yeah, um, I'll be over there in ten minutes," Harper nodded despite him not being able to see her on the other side.
"Okay, great, thank you so much, I lo- thank you," he rambled, before ending the call.
Harper's heart skipped a beat, knowing what he was about to say- the three words that they had gotten so used to saying to each other.
She put her new phone in the pocket of Stiles' old plaid shirt and rushed out of the house, walking as quickly as she could.
...
"Hey, kid, I don't have this kind of time," Harper heard Sheriff Stilinski warn Stiles as she came up the stairs of the household she had grown familiar to.
The brunette turned around the corner, all eyes on her as she stood in the doorway. Stiles and Noah were in the middle of his room, Cora perched awkwardly on the edge of his bed. The hazel eyed boy sighed in relief upon seeing her, muttering a 'thank god'.
"Harper?" Noah raised an eyebrow, "what are you doing here?"
In all honesty, he was hoping that Harper and Stiles were back together. He had never seen his son happier than when they were together, and lately he had been being a depressing asshole because of their unneccessary breakup.
"Hi, Noah. I'm here to help Stiles explain something really important, and really true, to you," Harper explained, moving to stand next to Stiles.
His eyes trailed down her body as he felt her warmth beside him, his heart skipping a beat when he saw how she was wearing his old plaid shirt. Sure, it was covered in different shades of orange paint, but the fact that she had kept it and not burnt it meant something to him.
Stiles pulled his eyes away, clearing his throat. He felt like he could explain everything to his dad now that Harper was here, like she was some sort of cure that made his anxiety vanish momentarily.
"Okay, dad," he began, "for the last year, you've had all these cases that you couldn't figure out, right? I mean, all the murderers involving Kate Argent, and then Matt killing all the people who had drowned him, and all these murders right now. It's like... it's like you've been playing a losing game."
Noah stared at him in disbelief, "Stiles, the last thing I need right now is a job performance review from my own son."
Stiles rubbed his forehead, "I know," he muttered, his eyes landing on the chess board across the room.
He grabbed it and moved it over to the table, opening it up, "but that's just it, dad. The- the reason that you're losing the game is 'cause you've never been able to see the whole board."
Harper bit her lip, "we're gonna show you the whole board."
...
"Scott and Derek are werewolves?" Noah repeated slowly, looking extremely tired and disapproving after a long explanation on what had really been going on in the town of Beacon Hills right under his nose.
Between the two, Stiles and Harper had set up the chess board with all of the pieces and labeled them with sticky notes on who was who.
"Yes," Stiles confirmed.
"And Kate Argent was a werewolf?"
"Hunter," Stiles corrected his dad, holding up her piece with the purple sticky note, "that's- purple's hunter."
Cora spoke up from the bed, "along with Allison and her father."
"Yeah, and... and my friend Deaton, the veterinarian, is a Kanima?" Noah asked, his tone only lacing with further disbelief as each word escaped his lips.
"What?" Stiles shook his head, "no, no, no, no, no. He's a Druid, okay? Well, we think."
"So who's the Kanima?"
"Jackson," Harper pointed to his piece.
"No, Jackson's a werewolf," Sheriff Stilinski protested.
"Jackson was a Kanima first, and then Peter and Derek killed him and he came back to life as a werewolf. Now, he's in London," Stiles rambled an explanation out.
"Who's the Darach?"
"It's Darach," Stiles pronounced it correctly.
Harper rolled her eyes at him, "that's what we don't know yet," she told him, Stiles nodding along.
"But he was killed by werewolves?"
"Slashed up and left for dead," Stiles agreed.
Cora cut in, "we think."
Noah exhaled loudly, sitting back in his seat. Harper could feel the stress, anger and confusion radiating off of him, and she knew that he didn't believe them. He didn't say anything for a few moments, before he shook his head.
"Why was Jackson the Kanima?" He asked yet another question.
"Cause sometimes the shape that you take reflects the person that you are," Stiles answered.
"And what shape would an increasingly confused and angrier-by-the-second father take?" Stilinski sassed.
"Ur, that would be more of an expression, like the one you're currently wearing," Stiles gulped nervously.
"Yeah," Noah nodded, standing up to leave.
"Dad... Dad, would you... I can prove it, okay?" Stiles quickly stood up, standing in front of him, "she's one of them, okay? A werewolf," he pointed at Cora, "and Harper is an Empath."
Harper pinched the bridge of her nose and hung her head low at how unrealistic all of this was probably sounding to Noah. She felt as Stiles' dad grew furious.
"Stiles! Stiles!" He yelled, seething, "that's enough."
He walked straight past him.
"Dad, can you please just hold on?" Stiles pleaded, turning to face Cora, "you ready? All right dad, just watch this, okay?"
Cora nodded and stood up, ready to turn into a werewolf when her eyes suddenly rolled into the back of her head and she fell down onto the floor with a thump. Harper's eyes widened as she dashed forwards, feeling a slight pain in her head.
Noah was beside her in a second, checking the other teenage girl's pulse.
"Call an ambulance."
...
Stiles had gone to the hospital with his father and Cora, but Harper had decided not to. She was buring to tell him about how she wanted him back, but she knew that now definitely was not the time.
Cora had just passed out and wasn't waking back up, Noah was fuming at Stiles, and they were stressed enough about all of the sacrifices.
Lydia had come over so that they could get ready before heading over to the recital that was being held tonight at the school for all of the kids that had been murdered. Danny was performing in it and Harper thought it would be nice to pay her respects to all of the losses.
The said strawberry blonde was laying across Harper's bed on her stomach, watching Harper as she looked through her wardrobe for something smart and suitable. Her brown eyes landed on a dark, floral dress and she took it off it's hanger, grabbing a pair of tights to go with it since it was going to be a chilly night.
"I'm gonna go to the bathroom and get changed," Harper warned her best friend, also picking up one of her scented body lotions from her desk.
Lydia raised an eyebrow, "we always get changed in front of each other."
The brunette's cheeks burned bright pink and she felt her ears turn hot. Pursing her lips together, she smiled awkwardly at her friend, fiddling with her fingers nervously.
"Um, yeah, but that was before we made out at that party," she admitted, cringing slightly when she saw Lydia's eyebrows raise a little more, "you remember right? I just- we haven't spoken about it and every time I see you it's all that's on my mind."
Lydia stood up, walking over to Harper so she was stood in front of her, only an inch or two taller. Harper bit her lip anxiously, a small frown on her face as she waited for her friend to talk.
"Best friends kiss all the time," she dismissed, "it doesn't have to mean anything. Besides, you kissed me first- I just kissed back."
"I was drunk and upset about Stiles," Harper reminded her, "no offence, but I wouldn't have kissed you if I wasn't."
"It doesn't matter, Harper," Lydia shook her head, sighing, "it's whatever. We kissed, and we won't again if it means that much to you."
"We're just friends," the Empath whispered.
Lydia nodded, "best friends," she held her pinkie out.
Harper connected it with hers, smiling a little as they shook them, like small children. Chuckling a little, the two teenage girls moved away from each other.
"You can get changed in the bathroom if you want," Lydia shrugged, "I get it if you don't feel comfortable in front of me."
Harper shook her head, "like you said," she pulled Stiles' plaid shirt over her head, "we're just best friends."
...
Lydia, Scott and Harper all stood around their seats at the recital, watching as people poured in. Scott had just told them how philosophers were being taken, and that the next one would be here. The Empath was on the look out for anything suspicious, as well as her friends.
The orchestra began to play as they took their seats, the room packed with teenagers and adults from Beacon Hills. The depressing tunes filled Harpers ears, and then the buzz of Lydia's phone. She glanced down as Lydia pulled it out, reading the screen.
Aiden: need to see you right now.
Lydia looked up at Harper who was already staring at her with raised eyebrows. The two girls looked across the room at Aiden, who looked back at Lydia and sent her a short nod. Her phone went off again.
Aiden: life or death!
"It better be," Lydia muttered, "come with me, I don't know if I trust him after what he did to Cora."
Harper frowned, "I'm pretty sure he hates my guts after what Scott, Isaac, Allison and I did to his bike."
Lydia shook her head, "doesn't matter. You can sense if he's telling the truth or not. Come on."
The fair skinned girl grabbed her hand, pulling her out of the room quietly, leaving just Scott on watch, although he didn't notice because just as they left, Allison, her father and Isaac entered the room.
...
The two teenagers entered the main hallway of the school, still hand in hand. Harper shivered slightly, feeling really off about the whole thing. Being in a dark hallway after school times reminded her of the night Peter cornered them in the school and bit her.
"Look in here," Lydia took Harper into their English classroom where the door was wide open.
"When's he meeting you?" Harper whispered, but Lydia didn't reply.
Her green eyes looked around frantically, tearing up as her chest heaved up and down. Harper frowned deeply, squeezing her friend's hand. Before she could ask, she felt a presence behind them, causing them both to whirl around.
It was Ms Blake.
"You recognise it, don't you?" She looked at Lydia, confusing the other girl.
Their English teacher suddenly stretched her hand forwards and striked Lydia around the face, causing her to fall to the ground with a smack. Surprisingly, Harper hadn't connected to Lydia, leaving her stood there with wide eyes.
Ms Blake raised an eyebrow, "I thought you would have gone down with her, Ms Verum."
Harper glared, her eyes shimmering purple and her fists clenching. She had no idea what she could do to defend herself, but she was willing to try.
"Who are you?" She spat.
Ms Blake smirked, "who do you think?"
Harper raised her fist, but before she could land it, Ms Blake and grabbed her wrist and squeezed it tightly, causing her to squeak. Her eyes closed and when she opened them she saw the black mist around her teacher. She was evil.
"Darach," Harper whispered, eyes wide with realisation.
The dark haired woman chuckled dryly, "you've always been one of my smartest students, Harper."
Before Harper could do anything, Jennifer Blake turned her wrist so she fell to the ground and then kicked her in the side of the head. Harper's head fell to the side and she was faintly aware of the blood trickling down her head before her eyes closed and she was a goner.
...
When Harper came to, her head was resting on her shoulder and it was shooting with pain. She could make out the sounds of Jennifer and Lydia talking to each other, but nothing was making sense.
Suddenly Lydia let out a mixture of a shriek and whimper, and Harper's eyes were wide and she was more concious than before. Jennifer had a garrotte around Lydia's throat, and she was trying to choke her.
"Lydia," Harper groaned as Jennifer yelled at the strawberry blonde to shut up.
Lydia suddenly let out a scream so powerful that Harper's ears began to bleed. The Empath whimpered, tears falling as her head thumped and her body ached. Her scream lasted for what felt like forever but was probably only ten seconds, leaving a loud ringing in Harper's ears.
"Unbelieveable," she just about managed to hear Ms Blake mutter, "you have no idea what you are, do you? The wailing woman. A banshee, right before my eyes. You're just like me, Lydia. Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it."
Lydia had tears and mascara running down her cheeks, shaky breaths leaving her lips along with whimpers and pleads for her to stop talking. Jennifer only seemed to enjoy the two girls' agony, paying no attention to her begging. She ignored Harper altogether, not that Harper could really do anything right now anyway.
The Empath had never felt so weak in her life. She desperately wanted to help, but she was sure that she had a concussion, blood was dripping down her forehead and in her ears, she was bound to a chair and slipping in and out of conciousness.
She tried to connect to Jennifer in order to gain some of her strength and break out of the tape, but she had no luck. For some reason it was impossible for her to even read her mind, or feel her emotions, yet alone connect. Harper guessed that it was because of what Jennifer was- the Darach.
"It's too bad, though," Jennifer sighed, "and too late."
"No, please!" Lydia sobbed as the woman began to wrap tape around her hands, like she had already done to Harper.
"Stop..." Harper slurred, her hands twitching around the tape as she made a bad attempt to try and free herself.
Out of nowhere, Jennifer pulled the garrote back out and wrapped it around Lydia's throat, choking her. Harper began to cry out loudly, kicking her legs as Jennifer pulled out a knife.
She pointed it at Harper who was sat right in front of Lydia, "shut it!"
"Scott!" Harper cried frantically, knowing he would be able to hear her, "h-help!"
The brunette fought against her body's need to shut down, trying to follow her heart's need to save Lydia.
"One last philosopher," she whispered, holding the knife to Lydia's neck.
A familiar voice suddenly yelled out from behind Harper, "drop it!"
Harper turned her head weakly, seeing Sheriff Stilinski stood there, holding a gun in both hands pointed at Jennifer.
Jennifer reacted by throwing the knife at him so it lodged straight into his shoulder. Harper screamed loudly, sobs racking her body as he fell to the ground.
"No!" She cried, kicking harder although it was doing nothing.
A roar came from the doorway and Scott stood there in werewolf form, his eyes glowing golden, his hair on his face, his ears pointier than usual and his claws out. Harper felt herself sag in the chair a little, feeling safer than before, although she was still terrified for the life of Noah Stilinski.
She watched helplessly as Scott ran at Jennifer, diving off of desks and swiping his claws at her. Ms Blake leaned back so he missed her by a long shot, blocking off all of his attempts and then shoving him in the chest. The werewolf's body was sent flying backwards into the rows of tables and chairs, landing on the floor.
Harper felt the hopelessness return as he remained there, blood pooling out of his mouth. Her eyes turned to the door when suddenly Stiles appeared in front of it. Their eyes met and his face contorted into one of shock and fear, but before he could take a step forwards, Jennifer had used her powers to push the door closed and a desk against it.
In a weird way Harper was thankful since he couldn't get hurt if he wasn't inside the classroom. It was one less of her loved ones to be injured. She ignored him as he banged on the door, crying out to Harper and his dad.
Noah got back up, pointing the gun at Jennifer, "there was a girl, years ago, we found her in the woods, her face and body slashed apart," he panted as she walked closer to him, "that was you, wasn't it?"
"Maybe I should have started with philosophers," the dark haired woman replied, "with knowledge and strategy."
Sheriff Stilinski clenched his jaw before pulling the trigger and shooting Jennifer in the leg. Harper winced at the sound, her heart skipping a beat at all of the memories that it triggered. Her shoulder and her stomach ached at the noise, a reminder of what had happened before.
Jennifer just hissed, "healers."
She dashed fowards, lifting Noah up by the knife in his chest, causing him to cry out in pure agony.
"Warriors."
Jennifer ripped his badge off.
"Guardians."
She crushed it in her palm, letting it fall to the ground.
"Virgins."
She kissed him.
Harper became distracted by the sound of the glass breaking in the door and it slamming open. She peered through her half closed lids as Stiles rushed in, his trainers squeaking on the cold floor.
"Dad?" He yelled, but his father was gone, and so was Jennifer.
...
Harper blinked slowly as Stiles used scissors to cut her out of the tape, Scott working on Lydia. He was upset about his father, but he was trying to concentrate on Harper, who currently looked half dead. Tears brimmed in his eyes and a couple fell, but he wiped them away with his shaky hands.
"What happened to you?" He whispered, wiping away some of her own tears.
Harper moved her lips to speak but she winced, a searing pain shooting through her head. Stiles hushed her as he got all of the tape off, moving her off of the chair so that she was sat on the floor where he was kneeling, her body pressed against his as he hugged her tight.
"It's okay," he whispered.
Harper wiped at her head with her sleeve, looking down at all of the blood on it. Stiles' brows furrowed at the sight, concern washing over him. Harper shook her head, warning him to keep quiet as she stood up using his shoulders for support. The Stilinski boy stood up after her, holding her arms so she didn't fall.
Her finger tips tingled as she touched him and she closed her eyes for a second, connecting to him. She felt all of her pain drain away, feeling as physically fine as Stiles was feeling. Connecting to people could definitely be a perk sometimes.
"You dizzy?" He asked, "how you feeling?"
"We need to warn Derek," she dismissed his questions, "he and Jennifer are together, no doubt she'll be going there."
Scott frowned as he walked over, leaving Lydia in the seat where she was crying into Allison's arms, Chris and Isaac stood behind them. He put his hand on Harper's shoulder gently.
"Harps, you're head is bleeding out," he reminded her carefully, "we need to get you to the hospital and then find Derek."
"I'm fine, I've connected to Stiles," Harper admitted, "I feel fine."
"Yeah, but that doesn't stop the fact that you're bleeding," Stiles stressed, "you should stay here with Lydia and the others."
"Look, I can hang in there for a while longer. But right now we need to stop Jennifer from sacrificing your dad, Stiles," she moved her hand down to his, squeezing it, "if I die you can tell me you told me so."
She began to walk towards the door.
"That's not even funny!" He called after her, "Harper Verum, get your ass back here!"
Harper raised her eyebrows, "Scott, come on."
Stiles looked at Scott, and Scott glanced between the two awkwardly. He began to go after Harper, causing Stiles to let out an inhuman noise and throw his hands in the air.
"The quicker we warn Derek, the quicker we can get Harper help," Scott reminded his best friend.
Stiles groaned but nodded, rushing after them.
...
lmao harper should stay home but the next chapter is the hospital one and i have things planned ;)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
also this is my longest chapter in a long time woahhh and it's really messy but idc
OH AND I JUST REALISED THAT THIS BOOK HAS A LOT OF MISTAKES HAHA
NORMALLY I WRITE THE WHOLE BOOK AND THEN POST CHAPTERS A FEW AT A TIME AND PROOF READ N STUFF LIKE MY FIRST BOOK, BUT I JUST POST THESE CHAPTERS AS I GO ALONG AND IM NOT GOOD AT IT OOPS
like for example harper had a hurt hand in the second chapter (i think it's the second one?) and i never said anything about it getting better
AND I STOP TALKING ABOUT HARRY FOR CHAPTERS ON END AND EVERYTHING SO MESSY AHH SEND HELP
thanks sooo much for all of the lovely comments and the votes!