divine || emptier than the void pt. ii

xii.

"Oh, this is great," he continued, kneeling down and planting a firm hand across Derek's throat. Ribbons of black laced up his arm, making his smile wider. "Three of the people Stiles loves the most, all gathered in one place. I only wish Scott could be here."

"He will be," Lydia said, voice trembling. The Nogitsune stood as Derek passed out, ripping the pipe out with a squelch and tossing it aside.

"I'm counting on it." He cracked his knuckles, coated in Derek's blood. "Because after I'm through with him, I'll have enough energy to get what I want." He traced a wet finger alongside Lydia's head, making her gag and flinch away. The blood crusted into her hair and on her skin, filling her nostrils with its coppery scent.

"And what's that?" the sheriff demanded. "What's so important that you had to take my son?!"

"A little trick I learned with an insect thought to be so common and harmless." The Nogitsune smiled Stiles' smile, tilted Stiles' head. "If you wanna see, you'll have to wait a little bit until the kitsune comes for me. Then you'll have a show. I promise you that."

"You leave my son out of this," Noah growled, straining at the cuffs so hard that Lydia gave a cry. "Play your games somewhere else!"

"Is that what these are?" The Nogitsune strode around to the other side of the pillar, where he was out of their sight. Goosebumps erupted along Lydia's arms at his disembodied voice. "Games? Do you think your little lecture is going to stop me?"

He reappeared on the other side, his eyes flashing with a hue of silver. Leaning in close to Lydia's ear, he lowered his voice to a whisper.

"It's going to take a lot more than that to stop me."

"Which is why," came a shout from somewhere across the room, "we're here."

Lydia thought that was a pretty lame attempt at a sneak attack, the worst comeback line in cinematic history, but the Nogitsune seemed genuinely surprised. He took a step back, folding his hands behind his back patiently.

"I was beginning to think you'd no care for the girl," he said, voice crackling as it went deeper than Stiles usually talked. "That you'd no interest in playing my..." He glanced back at the sheriff and smiled. "...games."

"We're not." Scott took a fighting stance and his eyes glowed red, but he kept himself in control. "Remember, guys, don't hurt him."

Aiden ignored him, roaring as he leapt at Void. The possessed boy hardly had to move his arm to grab Aiden by the scruff of his neck, twist him, and flip him head over heels. He landed on top of Derek, who woke with a startled cough.

"What the hell is---"

With a loud buzzing, Allison pulled out her taser and fired. The Nogitsune caught the strand in his bare hands, glaring at her as he tugged it away. The taser was snatched from her hands and it clattered across the floor.

Okay, electricity immunity, Scott noted. Plus super strength. What can this thing not beat?

The answer came to him very quickly: numbers. No matter what action movies told you, it didn't matter how strong or how fast you were. If you were severely outnumbered, you were severely outmatched. With slim chances of victory.

"Everyone, together!" Scott shouted, sliding his claws out. "Now!"

Within a few moments of painful scrabble, Isaac and Allison were pinning down one of his legs, Aiden and Derek the other. Kira and Scott pressed Stiles' arms down so hard that Scott actually saw the ground crack.

"Quick, get the bottle!" Kira shouted over the grunts of everyone restraining Void. Strangely enough, none were actually coming from him. Instead, he was laughing. He threw his head back and cackled.

Scott replaced his hands over Stiles' arm with his knees, hands shaking as he pulled out the plastic bottle that had been inside of Stiles' Ziploc bag. From where she knelt across from him, keeping Stiles' other arm down, Kira grabbed Stiles' jaw and forced his mouth open. After giving the bottle a quick shake, Scott popped off the lid and poured a white powder down his throat.

Stiles coughed and hacked as some of it got into his lungs, expelling a white powder into the air. He gagged, trying to spit it out.

Scott would, too, if he was force-fed half a bottle of crushed Adderall.

But Kira clamped his jaw closed with both of her hands, tilting his head up and forcing him to swallow. He stopped struggling so suddenly that Aiden and Isaac both pitched forwards, conking each other on the head.

And then he started laughing again, spat out a piece of a pill that hadn't gotten crushed all the way.

"This is your plan?" he said, voice rasping. He coughed again, a little cloud of white dust fulminating from his lips. "I have to say, I'm impressed you bakemono came up with anything without Stiles."

"We do have Stiles," Scott insisted. "He's right here."

He pulled out a flashlight from his pocket and set it to S.O.S mode, shining it directly into the Nogitsune's eyes.