Boyd's situation was a little bit tricky and the most Tristan could do was help with his pain.
He wanted to give him his blood to see how it might help alleviate Boyd's condition but something told him that doing that would only make it worse. The sudden aversion he felt towards Boyd wasn't just a psychological thing, because even touching Boyd made him feel like he was about to throw up.
Whatever was in Boyd was something that he was very averse to and given how he didn't sense anything wrong until moments before it started, he doubted it was a simple coincidental occurrence.
Malia pulled up to the driveway of Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital while Tristan helped him out of the car.
"What's wrong with him?" A familiar nurse rushed towards them before they even made it near the receptionist desk.
"I don't know. I think poison of some kind. The pain was abrupt." Tristan explained to woman he somehow recognized as Melissa McCall, Scott's mother, during one of his earlier lacrosse games.
"Nnrghhh!" Boyd groaned in pain, overwhelming pain, that arrested some of his nerve functions.
"Come on, let's get him into a room and give him a pre-op." She hardly had finished her words when Boyd jerked to the side and opened his mouth to vomit his innards.
Tristan flinched as Boyd threw up, not because he threw up but because the few drops of Boyd's vomit that made contact with his skin immediately caused it to sizzle.
Not just Tristan, but Malia and Melissa who also saw that, looked between the two boys before the experienced nurse looked between the young couple and nodded. "I need a stretcher!"
Very fast, Boyd was taken to a ward where Melissa began administering to him and even without possessing any expertise, they could tell that his situation was getting worse.
Tristan internally was floored when he saw that what Boyd vomited was mistletoe, one of his major weaknesses, and said thing was still flowing through his veins.
"He's having trouble breathing." Tristan notified Melissa who paused to verify Tristan's words and gave a grim nod.
"Don't worry, your friend is not going to die." Melissa said, trying to console the concerned boy and girl who were visibly worried for their friend.
"Here." Melissa picked up a long syringe, visibly frightened and slightly trembling because why won't she? Especially when Tristan's red eyes were boring into Boyd's chest that was heaving forcefully due to his lack of air. "H-hold him down."
It was unclear if the one she meant was Boyd or Tristan but Malia quickly did what she said and held Boyd down for Melissa to stab the syringe into an area of his chest to let air escape his lungs.
Malia turned to Tristan, wondering if something made him lose his composure. "Trist, is something wrong?"
Shaking his head lightly, the red glow of his eyes faded to their normal color. "This wasn't a coincidence." He said without doubt.
"G-guys…." Boyd groaned and struggled to get a clear view of the both of their faces with how foggy his vision was. "I feel like shit."
"Rest for now, we'll be back to check on you." Tristan patted his shoulders and Boyd slumped into a slumber. "Thank you, and I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable." He apologized to Melissa who nodded with a relieved smile.
When they left Boyd's ward, they saw that the hospital was steadily being crowded with patients but something else caught Tristan's notice.
"Can you feel it?" He asked Malia beside him but no matter how she tried, order than an incoming storm, she couldn't get a feel of what he was sensing. "It's the same feeling I got when those crows attacked the school on the first day. Something is happening."
The two of them ran outside the hospital, ignoring Scott and Stiles who were going inside, and stood in the middle of the driveway with Malia patiently waiting for Tristan to sniff out a supernatural trail.
"This way." Getting the feeling of the general direction, Tristan ran towards it with Malia following right behind.
By now the sky was already dark and because of the storm that had already started pouring down in some areas, a long traffic line streaked across both the expressway and the main roads.
They slowed down their speed considerably since this part of traffic was heavily congested and using any of their supernatural abilities will result in hundreds of eyewitnesses.
"Got it!" Tristan shouted as he finally got a precise tell and when they rushed towards one of the cars stuck in traffic, it turned out that it was empty.
"It's an empty car, Trist." Malia deadpanned at Tristan, eyes raised and waiting for an explanation. "Don't tell me you just had the both of us run halfway through town for an empty car."
Tristan however shrugged. He only followed his instincts, not like he had anything concrete in mind. "Probably someone was just kidnapped." He rolled his eyes at Malia and felt the temperature of the trunk.
Hearing someone was kidnapped, everything clicked in place inside Malia's head. "A sacrifice." She said.
Knocking on the window of another car, Tristan kindly asked them if they saw anything weird with the empty car or when the owner left it but they all shook their heads.
"Someone's already put a call to the Sheriff's office, let's go."
"Where to?"
"The Argents."
"Huh?"
...
Tristan was bothered, greatly so, Malia noticed. Ever since Boyd's episode a few hours ago, she could feel that he was barely keeping his inner voices on a thin leash because of what happened to Boyd.
They had been making their way towards the Argent House when Malia caught Chris' scent near the hospital and told Tristan, making them cut a detour to Argent patriarch instead.
When they arrived at his location, he was about to get into his car but sensing their presence he pulled out a gun and pointed it at them only to find that both his hand and his gun was covered in crystalline blood.
"Mind explaining the meaning of this?" He spoke calmly as he acknowledged the presence of the two teens.
It was Tristan who spoke first. "Mistletoe. My friend got poisoned by it."
Chris raised his brows at what was practically an accusation. "And you think that what? That I did it?"
Surprisingly Tristan shook his head, choosing to explain a bit further. "I want to know why Boyd was targeted, and why mistletoe."
Chris sighed and turned to close his car's door but realized that one of his hands was still trapped in an encase of blood. "Do you mind?"
The crystalline blood cracked and dissolved into blood that flowed back into Tristan's body.
"Tell me what happened to Boyd."
They briefly narrated what had happened and from the short story and a little background context, Chris couldn't find a solid connection between them except for Boyd being a sacrifice.
"Well, other than that the only thing I can think of is that someone is trying to send you a message." Chris theorized.
"So you think the dark druid is behind Boyd's attack and that they are trying to warn me?" Malia asked.
This was one of the conclusions that Tristan originally came to but he needed an educated point of view before acting on impulse.
Chris sighed, massaging his thick beards, almost wishing he had a light right about now. "I don't know. Those are just based on my own thoughts. It could mean a lot of different things."
"Mr. Argent, do you know how the sacrifices are carried out?" Malia asked tentatively.
"Virgins, Warriors, Healers, Philosophers and Guardians." Chris supplied. He did not prove difficult when it came to the two teens before them because though he thought of one as an idiot, the both of them were highly competent – at least when fighting is concerned.
"What of Deucalion?" Tristan was rightfully curious because out of everybody involved in this quagmire, Deucalion's pack was the only one that nobody had any idea of what they were up to.
And then there was the little heads up during practice today.
"I've been tracking their presence and actions and it's not been forthcoming with any clue."
"I see." Tristan muttered. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Argent."
He and Malia turned to leave but this time Chris called out to them and seemed a bit reluctant to speak words that were clearly in his mouth.
"Be careful, kids." He ended up saying, releasing a relaxed breath.
Malia and Tristan nodded the next moment they were gone.
Neither Malia nor Tristan really believed that Boyd was used as a sacrifice because it would have been way easier and effortless to just kidnap him after he got home.
"Do you want us to try hunting the dark druid?"
Tristan squeezed his lips and didn't immediately answer, weighing the importance and impact of any choice he made at this crossroad, before softly shaking his head. "Not actively. But should we find them-"
"Of course we're killing them. That much is pretty obvious." She interjected and happily helped him complete his sentence.
.
.
.
Read up to 20 chapters ahead on my patreøn
Patreøn*com/Draul_TheOminous