Archive of Our Own ^beta

The rumor spreads like wildfire. Steve is told by his boss, the ice queen is calling in favors and blackmailing those who will not cooperate otherwise, if someone comes asking for Scott’s crowd everyone is to imply that yes, they are in the business, barely starting but with enough clientele that bigger fish let them distribute for a fee.  Steve’s boss has no problem with this, Lydia Martin has no favors to collect from him, but she hasn’t bothered with blackmail either. She knows he will comply, she is scary like this. Steve has no doubt she will had had something to blackmail them with had they refused anyway.

He has seen The Queen only twice, the first time in the mall. Steve had just moved in, and he didn’t know why they were all so afraid of Teenager, he snorts in amusement, they are all scared of teenagers.

Then one night Steve is in this place, dealing some low quality stuff, it is in the far edge of the forest, the buyers are from next town but none else wanted to go there for some reason, Steve has learned that people in Beacon Hills are really superstitious.

He short cuts trough the forest against all warning. That is when Steve hears the screams, he may have a considerable reputation, but that is a girl screaming and he can only think of a couple of things that will make a girl scream like that in a forest like this, none of them good. Steve runs towards the voice. He is prepared to arrive screaming madly and bluffing to scare the little shits off the girl, is a good thing he is stunned to silence because once he arrives he is not sure of what he is seeing.

‘If you tell me where you put them, we will let you go. I promise. No harm done’ The one Talking is a Hispanic boy, his eyes are hard but his voice is gentle. The lanky kid at his right side snorts, and the girl by his left tightens her -Steve has to look twice- bow. The other boys are just standing behind them.

Half lying in the dirt is the girl Steve heard screaming, there is an arrow buried in her leg. She looks terrified. Steve is kind of proud of her when she puts all her courage forwards and spits at the boy’s feet.

‘Okay, we gave you a chance’ Lanky at the right says, he steps forward, and the whole thing is set into motion. The Hispanic boy looks dawn, Steve can see regret practically irradiating from him. ‘Allison’ Lanky utters the name softly, like he is just calling her in the middle of amiable conversation. The girl with the bow shoots. It strikes the girl in the shoulder, she snarls. Steve is paralyzed.

‘Will you tell us where they are?’ The Hispanic boy asks again. The girl in the ground hisses a sound so inhuman, Steve steps backwards. Then Steve sees the Ice Queen coming forwards from the shadows.

‘This, sweetheart’ The Queen’s voice is laced with sarcastic sweetness ‘Is something that your kind hates very much’ She shows the girl a vial of glass filled with some clear liquid. ‘Believe me, we don’t want to do this, but you leave us no option’ Lydia Marin gives the vial to one the muscled twins, he looks mildly sick, but takes it anyway.

‘Last chance to talk’ says the boy in the middle, the one who is kind. The girl tries to drag herself backwards.

‘You can’t. Those arrows are made especially for you’ Allison is smiling, something in the way she holds her bow makes Steve’s hair stand on end. It’s like she loves the thing and can’t wait to fire some more.

The Boy with the vial stands over the girl and lets the liquid fall. It doesn’t do anything immediately, then she starts screaming again, and her skin looks like it’s melting off. The boy flinches, but doesn’t releases her arm, even when she starts clawing madly.

‘Stop! Stop!’ says the boy who first talked. ‘Tell us where they are or we will find them anyway’

The girl laughs bitterly ‘Not alive, no’ the boy holding her drops more of the liquid and she chokes in her own pain.

‘This was never about them’ Lanky kneels by the girl’ side ‘this was always about saving yourself. This was your trial. You understand now?’

The girl sobs, then makes a fast move and tries to bite Lanky’s fingers off. Is a vain attempt as the twin holding her arm jankes her back.

‘Who do you think you are? Playing executioner when you are no better.’

‘Nous protégeons ceux qui ne peuvent pas se protéger leurs-même’ Lanky intones like a song. The girls eyes open wide.

She is so frightened, scrambling madly. Begging.

‘We are who we need to be’ He says. ‘We know it was you, we won’t have done this if we weren’t certain’

‘We’ve been following you since you first got here’ Allison’s voice is like steel. ‘We know it was you. And you know that yes, when we need to be we are the trial, the judge and the executor.’

‘You should know better than to enter here uninvited and violate the rules of our land.’ Hispanic steps forward, and everyone around him does as well. ‘We made the rules clear, we made certain that everybody knew. No killing, no biting, no transforming.’

‘And… we know where they are. We just wanted you to tell us, so you could live’ Lydia’s voice is mocking, she looks the girl straight in the eyes. ‘Besides is always a good thins to try this things before hand’ She shakes a vial filled with the clear liquid delicately ‘So we are sure it will truly kill you.’ Steve shivers.  

‘Scott?’

They all look expectantly at Scott who Steve discovers is the Hispanic boy. ‘I’ll do it’  His voice is firm but sad. Scott lowers himself by Lanky and the Twin who is holding the girl tighter, she his tugging fiercely.

Allison passes him a dripping knife with bare hands, Lydia has already poured the liquid and it and it doesn’t seem to be affecting them. ‘I’m sorry, I truly am.’

Scott stabs her in the heart. The noise is the worse, the snapping bone of the ribcage giving in and a loud Tud, Then gurgling and the only thing impeding the girls corpse from falling is the boy holding her arm.

They all look mournful for a moment. Their silence weighting in the air, Steve wouldn’t have been so scared if this had been a violent murder, some petty thing. But this was planed, and this teens doesn’t look guilty or scared. They look like they’ve done this a thousand times, and even in their silence, like they will do it thousand more.

‘You can come out now’ Lanky is the one to break the silence. Steve is slow to realize that he is talking to him.

‘Stiles’ chides Scott. They have some sort of exchange trough looks alone. Steve’s heart beats madly in his chest, he is paralyzed in fear. He never contemplated what will happen if they saw him. I’m dead, he thinks, and then holds the urge to laugh; this was never the way he imagined it.

‘We’ve know you been there since you got here.’ Stiles looks stray at him, Steve has never been more afraid in his life, he wants to run, but he knows is useless. ‘We just want to talk with you, promise.’

Steve walks from behind the tree he was hiding, he snorts, so much for it. They are all staring at him now. Is Lydia Martin, The Queen who moves forwards and actually talks with him.

‘You will not go the police, or any other kind of official force.’ She orders, he can’t stop himself from staring. Beneath her make up, Steve can see remains of baby fat and childhood. He can see innocence in her features where there is none. Her voice chills Steve to the core, and he understands why she is called The Ice Queen. ‘This is bigger than you. Bigger than anything you know. So go ahead and tell all your mob friends what you witnessed tonight, when you do, they will believe you. Tell them that none messes with the McCall Territory. Tell them that the only way to see us is when we are already there.’ Steve can’t hold those eyes, so he looks down, she is wearing flat boots and he remembers something he heard When The Queen isn’t wearing heels you better run.

And so Steve does. He runs like he has never run in his entire life, faster than the time the police broke into his house. Faster than the time when his brother slip up in the ice ad into the lake. Steve is convinced they will come after him, he looks backwards so much that he keeps stumbling with the roots. He doesn’t stop until he gets to the car, speeding to his house.

He considers not saying anything, but when his boss see him the next day, he only sais ‘You went further into the forest didn’t you?’ Then he asks Steve what is the message this time. The boss insist in gathering everyone so he can say it again, and Steve is dizzy with fright when he notices that his story is only surprising to himself.

‘That’ his friends say ‘Is why we told you to stay out the forest’

Then they tell him other things. How if they promise you something, they will hold that promise no matter what. How in Beacon Hills things do go bump in the night, How this chilling kids, who might as well be demons, are the only thing standing between contained murder and outright slaughter.

So when The Queen calls you listen, and if you don’t Steve’s friends whisper, The Blind Death or The trial come for you.