A/N: hi guys! here's another chapter for you, i hope you like it! have a wonderful day x
Chapter Text-Aro's POV-
They had been moved to another room. This one looked like a control room, there were cameras everywhere, displaying all parts of this place. It seemed to be a factory or warehouse of sorts, from what Aro could make out from where he was sitting against the wall opposite the one that had all the monitors attached to it. That was also the exact reason why Aro didn't understand why they had been moved to this room. It made no sense to move them to a control room, considering all the information it gave them about their whereabouts and a possible way out. During their move, they had been careful not to touch his body, everyone wearing gloves, which had disappointed him, but had made sense.
"Please explain this again, Aro. Ophelia's abusive father, whom she believed died the day that vampire brought her to the Romanians, is alive and, well, a vampire? And suddenly he's a racist vampire too?" Caius speaks up from beside him. Caius had been less fortunate than him. When being moved, he'd tried to fight back, and had received a few painful punches in the face.
"He was racist as a human too. Seems he's adapted his morals to his new lifestyle." Aro mutters, not admitting that it had confused him too. Why on earth was he this hellbent against his daughter being a human? And how had he gotten such a large following so quickly? From what they had heard, the rebellion consisted of a large group of vampires, though he hadn't seen one he recognized yet.
"It's time." Ophelia's father says to another vampire, as he enters the control room without warning. His eyes land upon Aro and Caius, a smirk appearing on his face, but he quickly redirects his attention to the monitors. The other vampire sits down, presumably to operate the system.
"When Marcus gets us out of here, I will end you in the most painful way possible, you insufferable piece of filth. I will make you pay for what you did to Ophelia." Caius says, slowly but sternly. His eyes are fixed on the man, filled with a hatred Aro had rarely seen before.
"When that pathetic excuse of a vampire gets here, I will easily capture him, just like you two. You do not frighten me at all, Caius Volturi. You're all bark and no bite." Ophelia's father answers, chuckling. Caius growls at it, highly offended.
"Seven." The father orders the other guy. In the middle of the monitors, there's a screen that's three time the size of all the others. The other guy pulls up the images of monitor seven to display on that one.
From the left corner of the screen, a vehicle comes into view. It drives onto the path that leads to the entrance, presumably, and is soon followed by two more. Aro can now see that they are jeeps, and they are approaching at high speed.
The jeeps turn at the last moment, revealing their right sides. Ophelia's father curses as he sees the large machine guns that are mounted on the back, and the three people that operate them. They begin to fire at the entrance, but Aro only has eyes for one person.
Ophelia.
She's standing on the middle jeep, and the look on her face is positively murderous, fury in her eyes. The anger she's radiating reminds him of Caius, and it takes his breath away.
"Turns out my daughter has decided to save you herself!" Her father laughs mockingly.
-Ophelia's POV-
There are no guards in front of the door, so it's easy to break in. I jump off the jeep and quickly run over to the doors, followed by Vladimir and Stefan. We pause for a moment, taking a breath, as we place our backs against the wall beside the doors. My eyes meet theirs, and after one nod, Stefan opens the doors, Vlad tossing in a grenade without hesitation.
Curses and yells resonate through the hallway as our grenade hits home, and Felix runs inside after it, machine gun now held over his shoulder, bullets flying.
"All clear!" he shouts, causing us three to enter the building. I hold my gun in my arms, ready to fire at anything hostile. Alec joins us, appearing by my side, the others following behind, but a bit slower. Felix, Vlad, Stefan, Alec and I would do the scouting and would clear all the rooms, one by one. Should we get into trouble, Demetri, Jane, Renata, Santiago and Marcus would come to our aid. For now, they had our backs.
Most of the rooms were empty. I didn't need to use my gun so far, the grenades sufficing, and it pleasantly surprised me to see just how well Plan Z was going. The vampires seemed taken aback by our human weapons, and human speed as well. Mostly, they attack first because of their impatience, leading them straight into our traps.
Slowly but surely, we get deeper and deeper into the warehouse. My heart races, the bond screaming at me to go get Aro and Caius right now, while my mind reminds me we had to clear all the other rooms before it first. We couldn't risk being attacked from behind. Room by room, I grow more anxious. We had to be close.
Finally, we end up in front of a set of metal doors, and I can feel they're there.
"Ophelia, wait-
The doors swing open before we can react, and the only option now is to barge into the room first. Running for cover would only result in more danger. My gun ready, I sprint into the room.
Bang! Bang!
Without hesitation, I shoot the first two vampires that charge at me, clean shots having them dropping to the floor. Refocusing, my eyes land upon Aro and Caius, and…
No.
I freeze up, feeling my knees grow weak.
"Y-You're dead." I manage to bring out, horrified at the sight of my father, alive and well, with a pair of bright red eyes, standing behind Aro and Caius, who were tied to two metal chairs. Anything had been better than this, anyone but him. This was worse than my worst nightmare.
"Happy to see your father, sweetheart?" He asks, that familiar look of pure evil appearing in his eyes. I grab the gun tighter, aiming at his head, but I notice how my hands shake.
"Still as weak as I remember. Still useless, still worthless, still utterly stupid. You're already a disgrace to the family, and now you want to be a disgrace to the entire vampire world? These so-called kings must be delusional!" Father laughs loudly, and Caius is looking murderous, while Aro looks so calm it's even more frightening.
"Ophelia…" Marcus softly speaks up, drawing my attention for a split second. Father bolts forwards at that, grabbing Caius by his hair, ready to strike.
BANG!
I fire without hesitation this time, again and again and again, but he's gone already. Disappears in seconds, too fast for me to follow.
"Princess, calm down." Vlad pulls me out of my daze, gently taking the gun from me. Marcus and Stefan are already freeing Aro and Caius from their chains.
I bolt for Aro and Caius, pulling both of them into my arms, squeezing as tight as I can. They seem just as relieved as I am, and I only notice I've been crying when Caius gently wipes away my tears.
"I'm so glad you're unharmed!" I bring out, looking them both up and down to see if they're alright.
"We're fine, don't worry. I'm assuming your father wanted to use us to get to you." Aro muses, a frown on his face. I could feel he was going to think about it a lot longer, and the worry that filled me indicated that was a good idea.
"I can't believe… that he's alive." I bring out, my hands starting to shake. It had been the only reassurance I had, that he'd never be able to hurt me again. I had been wrong.
"I will kill him." Caius swears, a murderous look in his eyes.
"Let's go back to our place first. We don't know if he'll return with backup." Vladimir speaks up, making a good point at that. Aro holds my hand in his, like he's afraid I'll disappear if I let go. Caius is right beside me, looking furious still. Marcus is walking in front of us, beside Stefan.
Step by step, the weight on my shoulders lessens, and my heart warms up again.
"I was so worried." I whisper, making Aro glance down at me.
"I know, cara mia. You've made us very proud. You reminded me of Caius a lot, the way you burst into that room." He answers, a smile playing across his lips.
"You were amazing, honey." Caius adds, breaking his scowl briefly.
"I'm just happy to have you back." I answer, pulling them both close.
The way back to Vlad and Stefan's is a blur. I can feel shock take over, my mind reeling from the news that my father was alive. It had been a while, but by the time I recognize the disassociation happening, it was already too late for me to pull back.
"Julian is here, demanding to speak with the kings."
A voice finally snaps me out of my daze. Blinking slowly, I realize we've just entered the castle. Aro's holding my hand, Caius close by our side, Marcus behind us.
"Who?" I ask, immediately on high alert. I had to keep them safe.
"Don't worry, cara mia." Aro shushes, when we enter the meeting room.
I recognized him. At the ball, he had threatened me.
"Aro! How delightful to see you again." A voice speaks up, and next thing I know, Aro's stopped by another vampire. He has dark skin that somehow still has a pale hue cast over it, and his hair is braided tightly against his scalp in tiny little braids. He's taller than Aro, and I'm a little intimidated by him to say the least.
"The pleasure is all mine, Julian. How are you?" Aro says, diplomatic and polite, though I wouldn't expect anything less from him.
"I'm wonderful, especially now that I get the chance to meet your mate up close." The guy says, his gaze shifting to me at that. Nerves begin to build in my stomach, but I try to hide that. "I've been waiting to meet you, Miss…"
"Lewis. Ophelia Lewis. It's nice to meet you too, Sir." I say as politely as I can, and I flash him a smile too. Couldn't be too nice around these vampires, I reckon.
"Is it alright if I call you Ophelia? After all, you won't be needing that last name for long!" He says, followed by a loud laugh. Aro glances down at me to check if I'm alright, and I give him a reassuring look.
"Ophelia is just fine." I say, and the guy turns a bit more serious at that.
"When will you be turning her, Aro? Surely you wouldn't want her to get hurt." Julian says, and his eyes darken slightly.
"You should watch your words, Julian." Caius spats, suddenly by my side. The other vampire looks a bit wary at that, and I'm happy Caius is here.
"Apologies. I did not mean to overstep." Julian says, though he seems to be directing it more at Aro and Caius than me. Of course, he'd only think of me as a vulnerable human.
"It's fine. We'll talk to you later, Julian." Aro says with a smile, and the next moment Caius has his hand on my back, leading me away from the vampire.
"Thank you." I whisper to Caius, who looks down at me briefly, as if to assure himself that I'm alright.
"I'm fine." I add, and he huffs at it.
"These vampires are getting a bit too comfortable for my liking." Caius mutters, and I shrug at it.
He could not be trusted.
"Aro, how relieved I am to see you! I heard you and Caius were kidnapped, how worrying." Julian drawls, a smirk on his face. He makes his way towards us, and I let go of Aro's hand so mine are unoccupied. He has multiple vampires with him, and they're weary. Presumably his bodyguards.
"Don't come any closer." I speak up, stepping to the front of the group. His eyes land upon me, and immediately fill with disdain.
"Or what?" He drawls the words out slowly, continuing. One, two, three steps. When he's right in front of me, I draw the gun.
"Or I'll blow your brains out." I state seriously, my gun now pointing at his forehead.
"She can't be serious! This is ridiculous, you threatening me!" he laughs, looking down at me.
"My mates just got taken away from me. Do you really think I trust you?" I ask, holding my gun steadily. I can tell his bodyguards are tense, ready to strike, but so is our guard. My entire body has gone rigid with tension, but I had to make sure they were safe.
"Julian, you must understand that our mate has gone through a lot these last few days. She's on edge, forgive us." Aro speaks up, ever the diplomat.
"No, Julian must understand that I will be his Queen. If he gives me any reason to mistrust him, I will kill him." I argue, keeping eye contact with the vampire. He seems to get it now, surprise flashing across his face.
"Apologies, my Queen. I understand you're distraught. I merely wished to speak with your mates to pledge my loyalty and help catch those who are revolting against you." He says, sounding a lot less cocky now.
"Ophelia, you can lower the gun now." Caius speaks up, appearing by my side. His hand gently reaches for the gun, and I let him take it from me, eyes still on Julian. When the gun is out of my hands, I calm down ever so slightly, the tension in my shoulders releasing a little.
"Come, let Aro discuss with Julian. You probably haven't slept in days." He adds, grabbing my hand before leading me out of the room.
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to overreact like that." I manage to bring out when we enter my old bedroom. We had walked here automatically, and the scent of home hits me straight in the chest.
"Don't worry about it. Julian's a dick who wanted to rub the fact we both got taken so easily in our faces. You did well, putting him in his place." Caius dismisses it, leading me to my bed.
"You really need to sleep, honey." He adds, and I crawl under the covers, followed by him.
"I was so worried, Caius." I whisper, as he tucks me close against his side. My head rests on his shoulder, his arms wrapped snugly around me, his chin resting on my hair.
"We're here, Ophelia. We're safe now." He whispers back. I close my eyes, and it's like I pass out immediately, sleep taking over.
