CHAPTER 154

The ride in Stiles jeep was a little awkward for the sarcastic teen which ended up with him sneaking glances at Tristan every now and then.

Despite the close proximity they've had since the start of the year, Tristan had been consistent with keeping his distance from everyone else and ensuring that he didn't make any more friends.

At first Stiles thought it was because Tristan was a little stuck up and he couldn't be bothered to make friends with regular humans but that thought was quickly shot down, quite repeatedly even, on the numerous occasion that Tristan made it clear that he wasn't looking to make friends or socialize.

He was the most committed antisocial person Stiles has ever met and yet he was still the co-captain of the lacrosse team, and even then he still managed to not make friends.

It was an open secret that he most times leaves his co-captain duties to Scott or Danny.

"Any particular reason why you can't seem to look straight ahead?" Having gotten tired of Stiles' persistent staring, Tristan returned his stare with a neutral look.

In the end, Stiles ended up blurting out something entirely different "How does it feel? Being an Alpha?"

Tristan could tell with a glance how the boy's nerves spiked for a moment there and the resulting question was just an automatic deflection.

'Maybe I should have driven myself after all.' The reason he decided to ride with Stiles in the latter's car was because he wasn't in the mood to drive and he just wanted to close his eyes throughout the ride.

He could have simply ignored Stiles, but he didn't because he was a bit bored, so here they were.

"I don't know what it's like for werewolves and other were-supernaturals, but being an Alpha- or I guess it's a Primearch now, at least according to Derek. Anyway, sometimes it's like I'm in a never ending loop of being high. Everything just seems to fit into a perfect puzzle."

Between having nothing else to do and Stiles' constant staring, Tristan figured that it wouldn't be that bad to engage in some pointless conversation.

This was one of the reasons why he missed Boyd. Even with how annoying the huge teen could get every single second of the day, the both of them rarely ran out of things to say.

"So a perpetual never-ending adrenaline rush? Damn, you guys are really living the high life!" Stiles exclaimed, somewhat finding the idea of an unending adrenaline rush fascinating.

Tristan didn't bother correcting him of his misunderstanding and just relapsed into silence.

"How does blood taste?" Stiles asked after contemplating for a while whether she should or shouldn't.

"It's a bit sour, yet sweet." Tristan said, explaining even further of his acquired taste. "Not sugar sweet. It has its own distinct taste like every other natural thing. It's sweetness is fulfilling which makes it very addicting. It's like a hard drug you have no hope of getting over once you take that first dose."

Stiles eyed Tristan warily, couldn't help but blurt out the first retort that came to his mind. "You sound a lot like a crackhead."

"Well, I'm addicted to it so you're not wrong saying that." Tristan calmly replied.

"Wha- Eh? Why does that make perfect sense?" Stiles muttered to himself. Like that, the two of them play a game of questions and answers with Stiles asking as much so he could to learn more about the vampire and Tristan absentmindedly answering those that didn't make him think too much.

"We're here."

The place they arrived to was right behind a cemetery.

"… What?" Tristan asked Stiles who stood just before the cemetery gates, refusing to go in, while giving him a knowing look. "Right. Just because I'm a vampire means I should be the one to go into the cemetery?"

"Isn't that kind of like your whole thing?" Stiles asked back unconvinced.

Tristan sighed and turned around to go back to the car, surprising Stiles who ran after him. "Wait! Why aren't we going in?"

"Because there's nothing in there. Other than the pungent smell of decayed corpses under the ground, no one has been in this graveyard for weeks."

"O…kay?" Stiles got into his jeep looking partially unsettled but drove nonetheless to the next spot they picked up.

"What is it, Stiles?!" Tristan had his head back against the headrest and a hand over his eyes and couldn't help but growl out in minor irritation at Stiles' murky constant worry. It was a sickening emotion to feel, one that he hated, especially from people like Stiles and Allison who were prone to worry a lot inwardly making Tristan the unfortunate receiver of everything they didn't care about oozing out.

Stiles jolted in surprise at Tristan's uncharacteristic growl, flinching a little as he saw the barest shade of Tristan's eyes under the shadow of his hands.

"You don't have to be an ass about it, you know."

"And you don't have to be annoyingly worried about every small thing." Tristan shot back, now more than ever regretting why he didn't just take his car.

"Well my best friend got kidnapped by a pack of psychotic Alphas and every day I have to think of a new excuse to tell his mom to assure her that he's still alive! So sorry, if I 'worry' too much!" Stiles shouted.

The two of them sat there in silence, both staring at each other, one in surprise and a bit of apprehension while the other had deadpanning broody eyes.

"For your own good and for my peace, don't ever try to use me as a medium for venting again." Tristan said. To others it might be a good idea to vent and to Stiles it might be a good therapeutic action for him to calm down, but to Tristan it felt as if he was just sprayed with someone's decaying vomit.

That was how intense worry and denial felt like to him.

He is no one's emotional bin.

What do people think is the reason why he hates spending time with Allison and Lydia, or being in their general vicinity whenever they are moody or in any similar emotional wavelength?

"Sorry, it felt-"

"I don't care how it feels. Don't do that to me again."

Stiles nodded unsurely, not exactly what Tristan meant with his words. 'What the hell did I ever do to him?' He asked himself inwardly.

…..

[With Malia, Allison and Lydia]

The three ladies looked down in three different emotional spectrums; one overly dejected, one worried and fidgeting in a feeling of creeping horror, one generally bored after visiting their third busted location.

"This is getting ridiculous." Malia whined, kicking her leg up against the car's dashboard.

"More like worrying." Allison corrected as she drove. What she didn't tell them was the worry she had had upon discovering her father's map. What if he got kidnapped also? He was both a guardian and a warrior, the druid could take him for the next sacrifice and they would just be as late as they were to save him.

"Tristan says they just went over their fourth. This is cutting it kind of close, don't you think? I mean, it's not like the sacrifice has to take place on one of the marked places on the map your dad made." Malia got a text from Tristan, snickering to herself at the little whining attached at the end of the text.

"We don't but it's the only lead we have. Better that than running around town aimlessly."

"Then what should w-"

"Guys stop!"

Allison slammed into the brakes of the car at Malia's sudden shout, causing Lydia who was sitting behind to violently jerk forward.

"Allison, are you both trying to kill me?" Lydia screamed.

"We wouldn't be if you wore your seatbelt." Allison replied matter-of-factly and then turned to the culprit. "And what was that for, Malia?"

"Your dad's smell. I think I caught a whiff of it just now."

She put her head through the window and took repeated sniffs of the air before turning to the others and nodding in confirmation. "Yup, it's your dad's smell alright. Should we go after him, it's his map after all." She looked at Allison, who in turn looked surprised at the realization of the look in Malia's eyes.

How could Malia not know what was constantly plaguing her best friend? Especially after Boyd got hurt.

Allison took in the silent consideration with appreciation but shook her head. "No, I don't think so. He's probably out there looking for the same thing we are."

"Your call." Malia shrugged as she drove off.

They marked out the next intersection of the telluric currents on the map and kicked in gears towards it.

Unexpectedly, that location turned out to be the one they were looking for. Unexpectedly.

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