Chapter 13
Dawson watched as Olivia blatantly flirted with Liam. Any other time he might have found it incredibly amusing and teased her for it, but at this moment he just hoped Scott didn’t notice and get angry at them. It was hardly the time to be focusing on little crushes, not when Stiles was missing.
Still, Dawson had to admit that he enjoyed seeing Olivia filled with life again. He hadn’t known her that well before they were all bitten. Olivia had only slightly been on his radar because she was related to Remy, and everyone knew who Remy was. He had been one of the most popular kids in school. Dawson’s only memories of Olivia were of a cute young girl who was always laughing.
The Olivia he had met after they were bitten was considerably different. He was bitten first so he was already in the pack when they arrived. Over time the three of them had gotten close, along with a few other teenagers who had been turned. Olivia had gotten back a bit of her sunny disposition and chatter, but it wasn’t until they had become a part of Scott’s pack that she really seemed happy. Dawson knew they had Liam to thank in part for that, his attention and done wonders for Olivia.
“This is hopeless” Dawson looked up as Isaac threw down his laptop. They had all been searching for hours with no luck. Liam and Mason had returned from Deaton's with no new information, Scott had come back from telling the Sheriff without Malia looking like the weight of the world was on his shoulders, and Lydia had stormed out of the loft a little while ago. Dawson looked around at the hopeless expressions on everyone’s faces. They had known searching for Stiles this way was a long shot, but they were all steadily losing faith that they would ever be able to find him.
Dawson could feel the pain coming from every member of Scott’s pack, even Remy, Olivia, and himself were in pain over Stiles’ kidnapping. They had only known Stiles for a short amount of time, but he had certainly made an impact. Dawson had found his sarcasm and wit utterly amusing, but the best part was that Stiles treated the 3 newcomers no differently than the rest of the pack. He bantered and interacted with them like he had known them for years. The entire pack was civil to them, but Stiles really had accepted them.
“It’s not hopeless” Remy spoke up, and Dawson was incredibly glad for him at that moment. Remy was always there to say the right thing to make people feel better, a skill that Dawson did not possess. “We've finished our list of all of the abandoned buildings in Beacon Hills, I know it's a lot but we can split up in pairs and search them. We will find him eventually.”
“Remy’s right, we can’t give up hope, Stiles is counting on us to find him, and we will find him,” Scott said. Dawson was in awe of the boy, he had no idea how Scott was holding it all together, but he was. Dawson could see that he was making a honest effort to remain optimistic for his pack, he couldn’t let them see him lose hope because then they would as well. It was the Alpha’s job to keep up pack morale, it was a hard job and one that was not usually given to a teenager. Scott McCall was an incredible human being.
"Isaac can you help me split the buildings into sections? You know Beacon Hills better than I do." Remy asked, giving Isaac a job to distract him. The tall boy nodded and pulled a seat next to Remy.
“It’s not a very solid one, but at least it’s a plan,” Kira said, “Maybe you should call Lydia and Malia” She suggested to Scott. The boy nodded and took out his phone, but before he could hit a button, the loft door began to open.
Everyone in the room snapped to attention and eyes began to glow. Three unknown figures stepped into the doorway. Dawson remained ready to pounce until he saw the reactions of those around him. Everyone suddenly relaxed, Scott broke into a smile and grasped the hand of one of the men. Isaac threw himself into the arms of the other man who gripped him back tightly.
Dawson quickly figured out that these must be the people who Scott had been calling in for backup. He was wary about new faces, but if Scott trusted them, then so did he.
“Guys this is Derek, Braeden, and Argent,” Scott said with his hand on the shoulder of the one whom he had called Derek. “This is Remy, Dawson, and Olivia” Scott introduced them in turn. The three people regarded them solemnly.
“You sure you can trust them?” Derek said bluntly.
“Absolutely”
“They are the ones who brought the Hunter’s here?” The other man named Argent said.
“Yes, but we didn’t mean to bring harm to any of you” Remy spoke up to defend themselves “We would have died out on our own and thought the hunters would give up sooner than they have.”
“These hunters are not playing by any hunters’ rules.” Argent said, his eyes softening a bit.
“Do you know who they are?” Isaac asked him. Dawson remembered that he used to be a hunter and part of a very powerful family of hunters.
“Have you heard any family name or any other names mentioned?” Argent asked.
“Remy has made a list of the ones we know about with pictures of the ones we could find,” Dawson spoke for the first time. Remy turned his laptop towards them in response. Argent walked quickly over and looked at the screen. They all heard his intake of breath as he stepped back.
“You know them?” The woman named Braeden spoke up. Isaac had said she was a mercenary that had saved his life once and almost gotten killed for it. He assumed that’s how she got those freaking cool looking scars on her neck.
“Yes I know them, they aren’t a family, more of a group who shares similar life views.”
“Like that everything supernatural should be killed?” Kira asked.
“Exactly. They are a rogue group that goes around and kills anything supernatural. They usually establish themselves within a town, identify every supernatural, and then eliminate them systematically leaving no survivors. They are not normally as sloppy as this.”
“I don’t think they expected us to run, we abandoned our Alpha when the fighting started because he was horrible and we were planning on leaving anyways” Remy explained.
“They are ruthless and their life goal is to exterminate everything supernatural. You guys may have brought them to Beacon Hills, but if they were so close they probably would’ve heard about it anyways.” Dawson felt a sense of relief at his words, a weight that he didn’t realize he was holding lifted from his shoulders. Maybe the three of them didn’t have to take all of the blame for the current situation.
“I’m going to call everyone who’s not here and then we can all fill each other in,” Scott said pulling out his phone.
*****
Scott was wholly overwhelmed by the amount of people in the loft, yet the missing presence was even more overwhelming. All he wanted to do was scream and then curl up into a ball until it was all over, but he couldn’t afford that luxury. His best friend was counting on him, his pack was counting on him, and he had to keep it together for all of their sakes.
The arrival of backup had lifted everyone’s spirits. Scott felt a lot safer with Derek and Argent around. They, along with Deaton, were the most experienced when it came to the supernatural. Although this time they were not fighting something supernatural, they were fighting men. Men who had seen fit to kidnap his best friend.
He couldn’t argue that Stiles was harmless, that mind of his could cause a world of pain to whichever foe he chose. But Stiles’ only weapon was his mind, and that silly baseball bat which never ended up helping anyways. Stiles was a defenseless human teenager who was currently at the mercy of an insane group of rogue hunters.
“Scott, you ready?” Argent’s question brought him to the present, reminding him that he had to get the pack meeting started.
“Right, so it all started last full moon when Deaton got word of 3 Omegas roaming around the Preserve…” Scott went on to explain the whole situation to Derek, Argent, and Braeden with the occasional help of his fellow pack members. Chris Argent grimaced at the mention of his father and Malia’s account of her conversation with him. After they finished Argent filled in the rest of the pack about what he knew about the group of hunters.When he had finished there was a moment of silence as everyone let the information sink in.
“Why would they take Stiles?” Derek asked
“He’s the easiest to take, plus Gerard knows that he is Scott’s best friend and probably knows a lot about the pack.”
“It was probably Gerard’s idea,” Malia said bitterly
“Why would you say that?” Isaac asked as most of the pack turned to her questioningly, but Scott could tell where she was headed.
“He did it once before, the night Jackson stabbed himself, Gerard kidnaped Stiles off of the lacrosse field.”
“He’s the one who beat Stiles up, not people on the other team,” Scott added and Malia looked at him in surprise.
“You knew?”
“Of course, it didn’t take too much to put it together. I kept offering to talk about that night, but he vehemently refused so I eventually dropped it.” Scott was a little hurt that Stiles hadn’t chosen to confide in him.
“It’s because Gerard did it to hurt you. He hurt Stiles to send a message to you and Stiles didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of delivering the message” Malia explained. Scott nodded, that seemed like something that Stiles would do, suffer through it alone to protect Scott.
“They are going to torture him aren’t they?” He asked turning to Argent.
“Yes.”
“How long do we have?”
“It’s hard to say. Stiles is stubborn and clever, so he will know to keep as much information as possible from them while keeping himself alive, but he’s also mouthy and obstinate which is going to cause him problems.” Chris told them plainly. Scott appreciated his honesty, although it stung hearing the words out in the open.
“We have to find him,” Liam said quietly. Scott felt the pain radiating from his beta. Scott was glad the two boys had finally put aside their differences and developed a friendship. Liam looked to Stiles for support and Stiles had grown quite fond of the boy.
“How do we find him?” Lydia asked and Scott flinched at the desperation in her voice.
“Actually, Isaac and I have been working on something” Remy spoke up.
“We made a list of all of the abandoned buildings and divided them into sections to search” Isaac put in.
“It will take a while unless we get lucky, but it seems like the only thing we can do right now,” Remy added.
“Chris?” Scott looked to the hunter for his thoughts.
“It’s as good of a place as any to start.”
“Okay, we will meet back here first thing in the morning,” Scott announced. He continued talking when they stirred as if they were going to object, “we are all exhausted and if we find where Stiles is being held we need to be ready for a fight. So go home, get some sleep, and we will all be fresh for the search in the morning.”
“Okay boss” Isaac responded, clapping him on the shoulder before standing up. The rest followed suit and slowly trickled out of the loft. Soon Derek, Braeden, Argent, Dawson, Remy, Olivia, Isaac, and Scott were all that remained.
“Uh...Derek, these three have been staying at the loft while you were gone, we didn’t think you would mind. They can crash at my house if you want until we find them more permanent housing.”
“That’s okay Scott, I don’t mind” Derek assured him.
“They can stay at my apartment if they want to sleep in real beds.” Argent offered “The place is too empty anyways, and the hunters won’t know to look for them at my place.”
“That’s true, what do you guys think?” Scott said. He didn’t want to put them in an awkward position considering they had just met Argent.
“I’m up for anything” Olivia piped up.
“You had me at real bed, I’m tired of that sofa,” Remy added “Dawson?” They turned to the boy who looked a little unsure, but he nodded his head nonetheless.
“I’m in.”
“Isaac you’re welcome to come as well” Argent added.
“Thank you, but if it’s okay I think I’ll go with Scott,” Isaac said, then he looked at Scott, “Is that alright?”
“Of course, you are always welcome at our house Isaac,” Scott said meaning it. In truth, he liked Isaac being at his house. It gave him great comfort knowing the boy was in the room next to his, it made him feel a little less alone.
Sleeping arrangements all settled, they all headed their separate ways for the night.
*****
Stiles had no idea how long he had been captured for. It felt like weeks, but he knew it was probably more along the line of days. The hunters were still continuing to take turns torturing him. So far he had met 5 of them, 4 torturers and the man who would patch him up and bring him food. The medicine man had told him that his torturers had been instructed to torture him but not to the point that they might kill him, those in charge were not happy with Clarisse’s aggressiveness.
Each torturer had their own unique style and each one had succeeded in eventually getting information out of him. Stiles hurt in so many places that his brain couldn’t really comprehend it, it just felt like his entire body was on fire. He wished he was past the point where he could feel new injuries, but unfortunately he wasn’t. He still felt every single new cut, bruise, and burn.
He felt water splash over him. Had he been asleep? Or were they just dousing him for fun?
“Wake up sunshine, it’s my turn” Stiles opened up his eyes to look up at the ginger man sneering at him. Stiles tried to think of a snappy response as the man pulled him up and chained him to the wall, but he couldn’t think of anything. “Let's play a game shall we Stiles? I’m going to give you a situation and you are going to tell me what your pack would do, understand?” Stiles stared back at the man, refusing to make this easy on him. As a reward for his stubbornness, the ginger shoved the object in his hand towards Stiles’ side. Stiles hissed and shook as the electricity pulsed through him. A Taser was the ginger’s favorite tool, set low enough that Stiles remained conscious but high enough that it caused searing pain. “Do you understand Stiles?”
“Yes,” he said through gritted teeth, his body still shaking no matter how he tried to still it.
“Okay then...So let’s say your pack was attacked at school, you end up getting separated from each other and cell phones aren’t working. Where would you go to look for them?”
“The loft” Stiles answered because it was obvious enough.
“What if they weren’t in the loft”
“The hospital”
“Not there either”
“Their houses”
“Nope.”
“I would go back and search the school again, check in the locker room. A lot of crap seems to happen there.”
“And what if they aren’t there?”
“I dunno, the morgue?” Stiles said tiredly.
“I’m glad you’re such a smart ass” The man said as he stuck the Taser into Stiles’ side again. He grinned in sick satisfaction as Stiles convulsed. After a few moments he asked, “Now where is the secret place where you would all meet up?”
“The Hale house, or least where it was.”
“Didn’t the county knock that old thing down?”
“Yes, but we still go there to do outdoor trainings and stuff, so if we ever got totally separated and had to stay off the grid that is where we would go.” The first part was true, but the second part was a total lie. The group agreed that if they were separated they would go to the lookout point, or if they had a Hale with them they would go to the vault. Luckily for Stiles the ginger was easy to fool. As long as Stiles resisted enough and told a convincing lie he would be believed. The other torturers weren’t as easy to fool, especially the woman Clarisse. She always knew when he was lying.
“Good, that’s good Stiles. Now I’ve got another situation for you…”
“Is this what you do during your free time?" Stiles interrupted him, " Do you sit by yourself and think of hypothetical situations to give me? What no one will talk to you? Are you a loner ginger?” Stiles taunted, his patience for this man’s games running thin. Unfortunately, it looked like he had struck a sensitive chord in the man. He kicked out and stomped on Stiles leg, colliding with the lower half in a sickening crunch. Stiles screamed as the pain exploded and spread up throughout his entire body. He vaguely saw the door crash open before he faded into blackness.
- N x
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