The Druid

Chapter 36

I apologize for what you're about to read 😭

The relief Stiles felt as he established a connection with Lydia was immense. While he and Deaton hadn't gone over how to create them yet, he had been studying from the book and how to communicate with people. He knew what to do and he was fucking glad it worked. Except he still had to deal with Paige.

Paige screeched in animosity and ran towards him. The house flickered again, a little more prominent than the first flicker. A plan started to formulate in Stiles' mind: if he could just get her concentration to break and get her solely focused on him, the house would disappear and he'd be free. It was like something was trickling information on Nosferatus into his brain. He didn't know who it was or why they were but he was so fucking grateful for it. If he kept Paige focused on him, it would give the pack time to come and find him.

"You insolent brat!" She yelled as she swiped at Stiles, her claws emerging from her fingernails. Stiles yelped in pain and fell back as she managed to scratch his arm and kicked out at her. He landed his foot on her stomach and sent her flying back, making her crash into the dining table. Though, something weird happened when she broke it. The debris disappeared into thin air. Stiles was getting closer to his goal.

"How dare you!" She screamed, glaring at him. "I'm going to make you pay." She growled. The house flickered again, much more than it did before.

"Oh, yeah? So far you've only failed to choke me twice and landed just a single scratch on my arm. You haven't done anything to me to cause me serious harm yet." He argued back. His scratch was already starting to heal: the clearing with the Nemeton. With Paige still distracted, he utilised the newly formed pack bond with Lydia and sent a message through to her.

'I'm by the Nemeton. Paige is distracted, hurry!'

Derek still had his eyes closed, trying to calm the ever rising anxiety that was very close to bubbling over the edge as they waited. Losing Stiles a second time was really taking its toll on his patience and it made him more worried about how Stiles was doing with handling Paige.

There was a sudden gasp from Lydia, making everyone turn to look at her. "Stiles. He spoke to me. We need to go now." She hurriedly stood up, making a beeline for the front door.

"Lydia, wait! Where are we going?" Isaac and the rest quickly followed her.

"The Nemeton!" She called back as she zipped out the door. The pack hightailed it, following her in the direction of the Nemeton. It wasn't long before Lydia started slowing down, the pack doing the same, as they came closer to it. They could hear screeching getting louder and louder before they all dotted along the treeline and tried to keep out of Paige's sight while also keeping an eye on Stiles.

"Now we wait." Scott whispered, watching the fight. Everyone nodded as they watched the fight progress, hidden amongst the trees.

'Thank God that worked.' Stiles internally sighed. He knew it would but seeing his pack dotted among the trees was a sight to behold. He heard Scott whisper and glared at Paige, speaking to cover it up as he dodged her swipes and pushed her again, slamming her into a tree. "Did you really think you could take me on? I'm a lot more powerful than you thought."

"So it would seem." Paige glared. "But if you thought that would distract me, you're sadly very wrong." She grinned and disappeared into the dark canopies. Stiles looked around, swallowing as he tried to keep track of her. "Your pack can come out now. See if they'll protect poor, defenceless Stiles." She cackled.

The pack rushed out of their hiding places and surrounded Stiles. Derek specifically stayed close to him, pressing their backs together. "Fuck, I thought that would work."

"So did we." Scott said. "She's smarter than we thought." He shook his head. "Keep a lookout and stay alert. Make sure she doesn't get the drop on us."

"Too late." Paige smirked from beside Stiles and produced a blast of air that sent all of them flying. Except for Derek. "Derek." She cooed, smiling up at him. She was back in her human form. "You've grown so handsomely. I knew you would."

Derek tried to back away from her. "I'm sorry."

"Shh." Paige held a finger to his lips. "No need to apologize, my love. You did what you had to do. I understand." She spoke with an adoring voice. "And I understand you're apologizing for letting a filth like him touch you. You didn't know. Now we can be together. You and I, like we're meant to be."

"I don't love you like that anymore." Derek said, breaking away from her.

"But............ But I was your mate."

"No, you were a potential mate. Stiles is my true mate."

Paige stared at Derek. And in the blink of an eye, she was on Stiles, her face full of frenzied anger. All the pack could hear was inhumane snarling and the sound of bones popping and breaking as Paige transformed into a more demonic-looking version of her vampiric side. In the blink of an eye, her hands wrapped around Stiles' neck and razor-sharp claws dug into it. Stiles coughed and tried to fight her off, doing anything he could but it was too late.

Scott and the others were screaming at her to stop, even Peter was yelling at her. But as soon as one of them got one step too close to try and stop her, Paige used her magic to fling them back further and further away. "I told you you would die! And I'll make sure you do. You don't deserve him. If I can't have him, no one can!" She screamed.

Stiles' attempts to fight were getting weaker by the second. He couldn't keep it up much more longer.

He slowly felt himself slipping into unconsciousness. The pack watched in horror as they saw Stiles get weaker and weaker, blood oozing out of the punctures. The forest seemed to go silent as Stiles' hands fell in what felt like slow motion to his sides as his head lulled back, going limp. Paige let his body crumple to the ground, seething as she stared down at his body with his blood staining her nails and hands.

"STILES!"