[three]
fireflies

ALEX PICKED UP her phone with a frown as she received a call from Lydia late at night.

The werewolf had been studying at home alone, since both Derek and Scott went to try to find Boyd and Cora (Derek's sister), and Alex had decided she didn't want to go with them. She really couldn't be bothered.

"Lydia?" Alex questioned. She thought Lydia would have been sleeping by now, since the strawberry blonde had told the werewolf she couldn't study that night with her, as she wanted to get some extra sleep.

"Alex." Lydia's shaky voice replied from the other end. Alex frowned, immediately concerned.

"Are you okay?" Alex asked, her frown deepening when Lydia inhaled a nervous breath.

"I don't know what's happening, but you have to come here right now." Lydia replied, whimpering slightly and emphasising the last two words.

"What's happening?" Alex questioned, speaking again once she got no reply. "Lydia, what's going on?"

"Just- please, Alex. I don't know what's happening, but you have to get here now. I found a dead body." Lydia whispered the last part, her voice still shaky.

Alex had never heard the girl sound so terrified in her life.

"Send me the address, I'll get Stiles, and we'll be there soon, okay?" Alex quickly spoke, Lydia nodding, although Alex couldn't see. "It's okay, just don't panic, alright? I promise I'll be there soon."

"Okay." Lydia spoke, sniffling. "Just please hurry."

With that, Alex hung up, immediately calling Stiles. Within the second ring, the boy picked up. "Hey, Lex, what's up?"

"I'll be at your place in two minutes, get your Jeep ready." Alex spoke quickly, leaving her house and locking the door, beginning to run in the direction of Stiles' place as the two lived within walking distance of each other.

"Why? What's going on?" Stiles spoke from the other end, frowning at Alex's abruptness. "Not that I don't love seeing you daily because I absolutely do, don't get me wrong, but-"

"Lydia just called me and she said she found a dead body. She doesn't know what to do." Alex cut the boy off as she arrived at his place. "I'm here."

She hung up the phone as she approached the parked Jeep outside the Stilinski house. Stiles was already in the front seat, waiting for Alex to sit in the passenger side. The girl quickly opened the door, sitting down in the passenger seat, Stiles immediately starting the car once Alex closed the car door.

Alex received a text from Lydia. The address. Alex told Stiles where the place was, telling him where to go.

"Okay, what the hell is going on?" Stiles frowned as he began to drive faster. "You said Lydia found a dead body?"

"That's what she told me." Alex replied, glancing at the boy. "But Stiles, I've never heard her sound so scared. Ever."

"Is she okay?" Stiles frowned as he pulled up to the location.

"Looks like we're gonna find out now." Alex spoke as she got out of the Jeep, running towards Lydia.

Stiles followed the girl out. "Lydia!"

"Lydia, are you okay?" Alex asked as both her and Stiles approached the trembling girl.

"I'm okay." Lydia replied, inhaling a nervous breath as she looked at the dead body she found. "That, over there...not okay."

"Yeah, alright, I'm gonna call my dad." Stiles spoke as he and Alex glanced at the dead body lying on the lifeguard's chair.

"I already called nine one one." Lydia spoke before Stiles could call his dad.

"You called the police before you called us?" Stiles frowned.

"I'm supposed to call you guys first when I find a dead body?" Lydia questioned, confused.

"Yes!" Stiles exclaimed.

"Alright, calm down." Alex frowned at the outburst as she took out her phone. "I'm calling Scott."

••••

"Are you sure?" Scott frowned as he spoke to Alex, Stiles, and Lydia on the phone.

"Yep." Alex replied.

"Throat ripped out, blood everywhere." Stiles added as Scott was on speaker. "It's like the freaking Shining over here. If two little twin girls come out of the woods and start asking me to play with them forever and ever, I'm not gonna be surprised."

"Can you get a little closer to make sure it was them?" Scott asked, ignoring the last part.

"Make sure it was them? Scott, who else is going around ripping people's throats out?" Stiles frowned.

"Please, just do it." Scott replied, exasperated.

Alex handed the phone to Stiles as she walked closer to the dead body. She examined it, frowning as she looked at his hand. Placed on the boy's ring finger was a purity ring.

She shared a glance with Stiles, the two frowning as they realised the same thing.

He was a virgin.

••••

"You didn't have to follow me home." Lydia spoke as she walked into her room, Stiles and Alex following.

"We just wanted to make sure you got in okay." Alex replied, crossing her arms.

"I had a police escort." Lydia frowned.

"Yeah, well, I'm your best friend, so it's kinda my job." Alex spoke. Lydia shrugged.

"And I know the inner workings of that force, alright? They're not nearly as reliable as people think." Stiles added.

"Well, you also didn't have to follow me into my room..." Lydia replied, frowning at Stiles.

"Well, I..." Stiles stopped himself when he realised he didn't have anything to say. "Uh, yeah, I don't have an answer to that. I can leave."

Stiles began to leave, Alex following him until Lydia stopped the two.

"Are you guys really gonna leave without asking me the question that you've been dying to ask me?" Lydia frowned.

"Wh- we've not- we haven't been dying to ask you a question." Stiles scoffed as Alex sighed. "I- no questions here for Stiles and Alex."

"I can see it all over your faces." Lydia replied, frowning.

"Maybe our faces just have, like, these natural interrogatory expressions." Stiles spoke unconvincingly. Alex's head fell in her hands at how Stiles was trying to stall and get them off the hook.

"Well, your interrogatory expressions are getting on my nerves." Lydia spoke, annoyed.

Alex sighed as she crossed her arms again.

"The answer is I have no clue at how I ended up finding that body." Lydia answered the silent question both Stiles and Alex we're dying to ask. "I didn't even know where I was until I got out of that car."

Stiles frowned. "Yeah, but the last time something like this happened-"

"I know." Lydia cut him off as she glanced between Alex and Stiles. "Derek's uncle."

"Peter." Alex sighed.

••••

"Hey." Melissa spoke as Stiles and Alex approached her.

"Hey." Stiles and Alex replied at the same time, sending small smiles to the woman.

"Over here." Melissa spoke quickly, beginning to lead the two teens down the hallway of the hospital.

"And if you tell anyone I showed you this, I will kill you painfully and slowly." Melissa spoke, mainly to Stiles, as she knew Alex was a werewolf. Plus, Melissa saw Alex as the daughter she never had.

"Why do you want to show us a body we've already seen?" Alex frowned, changing the subject.

"Because you haven't seen everything." Melissa replied quietly as she led the teens into the morgue.

••••

Melissa took the sheet that was placed on the dead boy's face, off it. He was the boy that Lydia had found earlier. "See this around his neck?"

Alex and Stiles glanced at the face, nodding.

"That's a ligature mark. That means that he was strangled with something." Melissa continued with a frown. "Like, cord, rope..."

"Okay, wait a second..." Stiles frowned. "What kind of werewolf strangles someone? You know, it's not very...werewolf-y."

"My thoughts exactly." Melissa replied.

Stiles and Melissa glanced at Alex, who raised her eyebrows.

"We don't." Alex replied with a frown. "I don't. All the werewolves I know don't..."

"There's this." Melissa changed the subject as she turned the boy's head, revealing a bloody wound.

"Oh, man, what is that?!" Stiles cringed, narrowing his eyes and avoiding looking at it. "Is that brain matter?!"

Alex frowned at the wound.

"Yeah, it's brain matter, of course..." Stiles whispered to himself.

"See that indentation?" Melissa questioned, glancing at Alex, who nodded. "He was hit in the back of the head. Hard enough to kill him. In fact, any one of these things could have killed him. I mean, someone seriously wanted this poor kid dead."

"So then this couldn't have been Boyd or Cora." Alex frowned. "They wouldn't have done all that."

"Yeah, maybe this is just one murder, just a random coincidence?" Stiles frowned.

"No. I don't think it was just one." Melissa sighed.

"How come?" Alex asked, crossing her arms.

"Because that girl over there? She's got the same injuries." Melissa replied, nodding her head to another other table, Alex and Stiles following her gaze.

••••

Melissa took the sheet off the other dead persons face, revealing Heather, Stiles' childhood friend, with the same injuries.

Stiles glanced at the girl with wide eyes, Alex and Melissa not noticing as Melissa began to explain.

"The M.E. said this one wasn't just strangled. Whoever did it used a garrote, which is a stick that you put through the rope, and you just kind of twist it and-"

"Stiles?" Alex cut Melissa off as she glanced at the boy, who was glancing at Heather's dead body sadly, tears pricking his eyes.

Melissa followed Alex's gaze, widening her eyes as she placed the sheet back over Heather's face. "Oh my god, did you know her?"

Stiles softly nodded. He couldn't bring himself to speak.

"I'm so sorry." Melissa spoke sincerely. "I didn't even think."

"I was...uh..." Stiles spoke, pausing as he swallowed, Alex giving the boy sympathetic eyes. "I was at her party. It was her birthday."

Stiles wiped away the upcoming tears in his eyes with his sleeve.

Alex walked closer to Stiles, wrapping her arms softly around his torso as she engulfed the boy in a reassuring hug, Stiles relaxing in the girl's arms as he hugged the girl back, his arms gently placed around her frame.

"We need to call your father because you're a witness." Melissa spoke as Alex gently pulled away from Stiles.

Stiles then realised something. He glanced at the boy's dead body, Alex frowning and following his gaze.

"Stiles?" Melissa questioned.

Stiles glanced between the two dead bodies, which were covered by sheets, as memories came flooding back to him. "Has anyone else been through here tonight? Any- any other bodies, or- or even anybody missing?"

Melissa shook her head as Alex frowned. Stiles sent her a look that suggested 'I'll tell you later.'

"Uh, no, no bodies, but, um..." Melissa replied as she frowned.

Stiles frowned. "What?"

Melissa explained as Alex crossed her arms. "Two girls. They brought the first one in, Caitlin, for a tox screen. And then I overheard that her girlfriend, Emily, just disappeared. I mean, they were out in the woods and-"

"Nobody's found her yet?" Stiles interrupted.

"I don't know." Melissa spoke, her frown deepening.

Alex frowned. "Stiles, what's going-"

"Okay, first one..." Stiles cut her off.

"Caitlin." Melissa spoke.

"Is she here? Is she here right now?" Stiles asked.

"I- I don't think so." Melissa replied, wondering why Stiles was in a rush and asking so many questions.

"Okay, where?" Stiles tried to move, however, Melissa stopped him, Alex's frown deepening.

"Okay, wait. Just wait a minute." Melissa spoke as Stiles sighed.

"We have to talk to her." Stiles replied, referring to Alex as well.

"We? What are we gonna do?" Alex frowned.

"We're gonna talk to her. I'll explain on the way." Stiles glanced at Alex, then back at Melissa. "We have to talk to her."

"Why?" Melissa raised her eyebrows.

"Because I think I know what's happening." Stiles replied, glancing between Alex and Melissa.

••••

"You that guy Lydia found?" Stiles started quietly to Alex, making sure Melissa and no other nurse heard as the two were walking together to Caitlin's room, Melissa leading the two there.

"Yeah, he's vaguely familiar." Alex started sarcastically, frowning as she became serious. "What about him?"

"You saw the purity ring, right?" Stiles quietly replied.

Alex nodded. "Yes, I did. Stiles, what are you-"

"That means he's a virgin, right?" Stiles interrupted, Alex nodding again, the frown still placed on her face. "And Heather...she was a virgin too."

Alex didn't even want to know how he knew that, but she nodded along anyway, wanting Stiles to get to the point.

"Both of them have the same injuries..." Stiles spoke quietly once again, hoping Alex would get his point.

Alex widened her eyes in realisation. "And both of them are virgins..."

"Exactly." Stiles nodded. "And now, with Caitlin, her girlfriend's missing."

"A pattern." Alex spoke, Stiles nodding once again.

"It can't be a coincidence." Stiles replied as him, Alex, and Melissa reached Caitlin's room.

••••

"We weren't doing anything that bad." Caitlin spoke as she glanced between Alex and Stiles, fiddling with her hospital band, which was around her wrist. "I've gone camping plenty of other times."

Melissa stood next to Alex.

"Right, but why tonight?" Stiles asked, his arms crossed over his chest.

"We wanted to be alone for one night." Caitlin spoke, letting out a weak chuckle. "Emily lives with her mom, and I have three roommates. Not exactly romantic settings, you know?"

"How long have you two been together?" Alex asked softly.

"Three months." Caitlin answered.

"And you wanted to make it romantic..." Stiles added.

"Yeah, you know, because, um..." Caitlin frowned, not being able to finish the sentence.

"Because it was her first time." Stiles finished quietly, Alex and Melissa glancing at him.

"They're gonna find her, right?" Caitlin spoke after a few seconds, her voice trembling as she glanced between the three. "Are they?"

Stiles and Alex looked at the ground, Melissa glancing at the teens before glancing around the room.

••••

Stiles carefully placed the sheet over Heather's face as Scott was done looking. Alex sighed.

"So Boyd and Cora might not have killed anyone?" Scott questioned.

"You're gonna wish they did." Stiles replied with a sigh.

"Why?" Scott asked, glancing between Stiles and Alex.

"I'm not exactly sure yet, but..." Stiles spoke, his voice trailing off.

"The other girl who was out in the woods, Emily? Eventually they're gonna find her." Alex added, her eyes set on the sheet covering the boy who was found at the pool. Stiles and Scott glanced at her as she continued to explain.

"She's one of them. Emily, Heather, that guy Lydia found at the pool. All three were virgins. And they're all going to have the same three injuries. Strangled, throat slashed, head bashed in. It's called 'The Threefold Death.'" Alex explained, finally glancing between the boys.

"So if these aren't random deaths, then what are they?" Scott questioned.

"Sacrifices." Stiles answered, glancing between Alex and Scott. "Human sacrifices."

••••

a/n:

hiii :)

this chapter is pretty short, so I apologise for that, but the good news is that I'm gonna upload another chapter either later today or tomorrow.

thank you all, as always, for reading, voting, and commenting, and I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

—voidelmslie 💌✨