Note: Wow! That's all I have to say after all the reviews I got on the last chapter! Seriously, after that long wait, I never would have expected that kind of response! Thank you so much for all the positivity and for being so patient with me! :) I promised that this chapter would be up faster since it's a little bit shorter, but it's still past 7k so I hope that's okay.
As promised, this is the PURELY Olicity centered chapter that sort of develops their relationship a bit. You also learn a lot about Felicity's past...
Please enjoy! :)
Oh! And there might be a bad word in there... We're traveling into swear land a bit, but I'm just putting the warning here to be safe! :) (it's ONE word.)
ADDED NOTE: Seems like there was some kind of problem when I tried to update! People got the alert but the link didn't work. Hopefully it'll be fixed now :-)
Hunted
Supernatural hunter Oliver Queen's latest mission's name is Felicity Smoak; a new born hybrid who has gone rogue and left her master. The new hunt brings unexpected twists and turns and when the young hybrid saves his life, Oliver realizes that there might be more to the girl than meets the eye. The hybrid might not be the biggest monster in Starling City and as their unexplainable bond grows stronger, he learns that you can't plan who you fall in love with.
Chapter 12: The Girl
Felicity sighed deeply as she watched Oliver and Diggle leave.
All alone again, she thought to herself, looking around the silent and dark lair. She looked at the blood bag in her hands that Oliver had given her before the two of them had started arguing. It weighted heavily in her hands and she shook her head, walking over to the fridge. She opened it and put the blood bag in there again before closing it and going back to her small cot. She sat down and buried her face in her hands, sighing loudly.
She knew she was better than this; she didn't need any blood to heal, even though it would speed the process up a bit. Her wound had already healed superficially, but internally it still stung a bit, although she knew she would endure. If there was one thing she knew she was able to do, it was just that: endure.
Running a hand through her unruly curls, she opened her eyes and stared out at the open space of the room. She loved the Foundry like a home, yes, but that didn't mean that she had to enjoy staying there every single night. Some nights, she couldn't help but miss the comfort of a real bed and she remembered the apartment she had lived in before she had been taken.
She missed waking up in her own bed, surrounded by pictures of friends and family members who she had long ago lost...
A tear trailed down her cheek and she wiped it away quickly, preparing to lay down on the cot. She couldn't think about all the things that had happened in the past. If she did, she knew that it would kill her. She had shut it all out for so long, focusing on the missions that she, Diggle and Oliver had instead of actually allowing herself to work through her own issues.
Pulling the cover over herself, she leaned her head back against the pillow and stared up at the ceiling. When she closed her eyes, she could still hear the sound of music from upstairs, but she knew that it was just a matter of time before the club closed for the night.
After everything that had happened in that underground casino tonight, she needed rest. She put her hand over her stomach where Alonzo had attacked her with a stake and gently touched the small ridge of puckered skin that would be completely healed tomorrow morning.
She tried not to think about it, but the memories forced their way to the surface.
-§-
The wolfsbane burned her wrists as the men who had taken her tied her up in the chair with the rope drained in the herb. Her head lolled to the side, her mind still not alert enough to know that was going on. She tried to open her eyes but the light was too bright, causing her to audibly wince.
"Look who's waking up," a man snickered. Felicity felt the ropes around her wrists tighten slightly and let out a small groan.
"Who are you?" she whispered, prying one eye open, allowing it to adjust to the light. She could only see two shadowed figures standing on her right side.
"You'll find out soon enough," another one replied. "As soon as you submit."
Whoever it was, knelt down in front of her and began tying up her legs too. She reacted on pure instinct, lifting her leg, kicking the man in the face.
He let out a loud scream and Felicity finally managed to open both her eyes as she began struggling against the bonds.
"You fucking bitch!" the man yelled, his nose bleeding as he glared at her from the floor. "What the hell are you looking at? Restrain her!"
The door on the other side of the room opened just as the other man who had been next to her held her hands down, his fingernails digging into her skin, drawing blood. Three more men hurried inside. One of them pointed a gun at her and the next thing she knew, she felt a sting in her neck, a second before everything turned black.
-§-
The sound of the Foundry door opening broke her out of the memory. She sat up in the bed immediately and looked toward the stairs. Inhaling deeply, she sensed the familiar scent of Oliver, but it only confused her.
Why had he returned?
Patiently, she waited and a couple of seconds later, Oliver stood on the last step of the stairs, frozen in his spot as he saw her sitting on her cot. She pulled the covers away from herself and stood up.
"What are you doing here?" she asked. "Is everything okay?"
Oliver looked around almost nervously and she could see his two fingers rubbing together; his only tell showing. "Everything is fine," he said after a moment, looking up at her. For another few seconds, he stayed quiet and Felicity could hear his heart beating steadily in his chest, not giving anything away.
"Why are you here, Oliver?" she sighed. "You should be at home, resting."
He took the final step off of the stairs and walked toward her desk slowly, resting his hands on the table as he sat down in her chair. "I couldn't leave knowing that we hadn't resolved whatever it was that we started tonight," he admitted.
"It's already resolved, Oliver," Felicity told him. "We argued. It happens. We have more important things to think about than a small fight."
Oliver just sat there, watching her with his intense blue eyes that made her want to drown in him. She was glad that Oliver wasn't a supernatural being, because her own heart was beating frantically in her chest at the moment.
"I need to apologize for the things I said, Felicity," Oliver said, spinning in the chair so that he was facing her.
Okay, now she was a little confused. She knew that she too might have said a few things that he hadn't liked, and yes, he might have been somewhat of a jerk, but she knew that he hadn't meant the hurtful things he had said.
"Oliver, you don't have to–" she began, but he held up a hand to cut her off.
"Felicity, please," he said. "Just listen to me, okay?" He waited for a moment and she nodded, giving him the go. "I should have listened to you when you first told me that Alonzo was dangerous. I underestimated him even after you warned me about him and..." he trailed off for a moment, shaking his head. "I hate that I put you in danger."
"Oliver..." She took a couple of steps and stood in front of him. He was still sitting on her chair, refusing to look at her. Slowly, she put her hands on his shoulders and forced him to meet her gaze. "I'm fine, Oliver. I'm healing and we all came out of it alive."
She didn't know whether it was his exhaustion or if he had suffered some kind of head injury while fighting off Alonzo's men, but Oliver lifted his hands and put them on her waist, looking up at her. It felt so incredibly intimate that it made her skin all warm and tingly. She couldn't tear her eyes away from his and in that second, he seemed to let down all his walls, allowing her to see the pain that was flowing through him.
Her breath hitched and she wanted to say something else, but she couldn't find the words.
"Oliver, listen," she finally decided. "I've been through so much already in such a short period of time. I don't blame you for not listening to me tonight because I know that you wanted information on the Dark Archer–"
"Information that could have gotten you killed! Both you and Diggle," he added in a whisper.
"And you," she told him sternly. "Whatever it is that is going through your head, stop it. You don't have to blame yourself for the things that happened tonight. I risked my life because I thought you were worth saving and I'm not going to let you blame yourself for my choices."
"Felicity." He had only said her name, but somehow it felt like he had told her a thousand things at the same time.
"All I ask," she continued, "is that you don't try to downplay the thing we have going with our team. Somehow, in this messed up world, we're kind of like family and I stand by what I said earlier tonight: you and Diggle are my family, whether you like it or not." She finally took a step back from him, causing his hands to fall limb down into his lap again. "Even if you might not consider me family, or even a partner like you do with Diggle... Please don't push me away because of the way I feel. I don't want to lose you... You and Diggle both."
After what felt like ages of just staring at each other, Oliver finally nodded slowly. "Okay," he agreed.
She sent him a small smile which only widened when she saw that his lips too twitched up a little.
"So," she drawled, shifting nervously on her feet. "We okay?"
"We're okay," Oliver confirmed with a small nod. "I'm sorry if I woke you up. I just needed to get all of that off my chest."
"It's alright," Felicity said, feeling her cheeks heat up a little. "I couldn't sleep. The cot isn't the most comfortable thing I've slept on... Not that I'm complaining!" she quickly added before groaning. "Except that I totally am, aren't I?"
Oliver watched her curiously, as if contemplating her. There seemed to be a thousand questions running through his mind and when he finally opened his mouth to speak, she never would have expected the words that came out of it.
"Would you like to come with me?" he asked and she swore that a second later, his cheeks were a little more red than they had been before he had spoken.
Her eyes widened momentarily and apparently, it was very possible for heart to start beating even faster. "What?" she asked.
"You need to rest and well, you said that the cot isn't very comfortable... I just thought, uh, that there's plenty of room at the mansion," Oliver explained.
At that moment, Felicity thought, he was the one who seemed uncomfortable. She couldn't believe that he was actually asking her to come with him to the mansion so that she could get a proper night's sleep in a real bed. It was just so...sweet of him.
"Felicity?" Oliver said and she looked up at him. "Uhm, an answer would be nice..."
"Oh," her eyes widened, "yes. I mean, of course I'll sleep with you. No! What I meant was that I'd love to come over to the mansion and sleep there tonight! Ignore what I said ten seconds ago," she blushed.
Oliver watched her again and she could have sworn that she saw the corner of his mouth twitching again.
"Let me just grab my things quickly," she told him and he nodded. She sped around the lair in her hybrid speed, grabbing all the things she would need in the morning when she got ready for work, showing them inside a bag. Zipping it up, she turned around to face Oliver again, "Okay, I'm ready."
He nodded and stood from his seat, walking toward her. Taking the bag from her hands, he motioned with his hand toward the stairs, "Let's go then."
As they walked toward his bike, she tried her hardest to ignore his hand that seemed to be hovering over her lower back.
"You need to put on a helmet," he told her.
She stared at him as he handed her the extra helmet he had been quick to grab before they had walked out of the lair. "I didn't consider you driving us to the mansion on your bike," she admitted, biting her lower lip.
"Do you want to run there like you did to the lair that first night?" He raised an eyebrow at her and she shook her head quickly, smiling as she remembered that night when she had followed him on foot and beat him to Verdant. "Come on then."
She put on the helmet and he got on the bike. Quickly, she grabbed the bag from him and slung it over her shoulders so that he wouldn't be distracted by it while driving them and then got on the bike herself.
If anyone asked her if she enjoyed having to wrap her arms around Oliver's body and hold on for dear life as he sped through the streets of Starling City at night, she's pretty sure she would have ended up rambling so bad, that everyone would see through her lies if she tried telling them that she didn't.
-§-
Oliver parked his bike in the garage and allowed Felicity to get off it first before him. A part of him still couldn't believe that he had actually gone back and invited the blonde hybrid to come with him to the mansion. He had felt bad for her because the girl had been injured while saving him and he had forced her to stay down in the lair since she had joined them, even if she had proven herself multiple times over that she could be trusted.
"I'll take your bag," he told her softly as he reached for it. It was still slung over her shoulder and when he took it from her, he couldn't help but touch her blonde tresses as well. Felicity stood frozen, watching him as he met her gaze, his hand still hovering over her shoulder, fingers brushing back her hair, his fingertips gently touching her cheek.
Oliver swallowed, willing himself to calm down and not do something stupid because surely, he must have surpassed the amount of stupidity that was allowed during one night.
"I, uh..." Felicity began but trailed off. Oliver found himself wishing she would have finished the sentence, because he wanted to know what she was thinking. He remembered the way he had held onto her down in the lair before he had invited her over; remembered the way his hands had rested on her waist and how right it had felt, for some reason.
"Hmm...?" he hummed his silent question and she blinked a couple of times. Why couldn't he stop touching her?
"Your mother," Felicity suddenly said.
Oliver blinked, "What?"
"Is your mother home? I mean, don't you think it'll be awkward tomorrow when she sees me? I don't want her to think that something is up between us. Especially not since she's finally starting to be nice to me," Felicity explained. "Not that your mom isn't nice, of course. And Walter and Thea. I don't want people to assume that–"
"Fe-li-ci-ty," he said, sounding out every syllable and he couldn't help the smile that appeared on his face. "They are all asleep and if we even see them tomorrow, we'll make up some excuse. Don't think about it tonight."
"Okay," she agreed. "I suppose we've been thinking too much anyway..."
Yet again, their eyes connected and he couldn't hep but feel like she was thinking about something else too. To be honest, he was the one that was definitely thinking about something else regarding the two of them, but he wasn't ready to share that at the moment.
"There's a room right next to mine with an adjoining door," he explained. "You can sleep there tonight."
He began walking toward the door when he felt a pair of cold fingers slip into his hand, stopping him. His breath hitched a little and he looked back at Felicity, who was watching him intently with her cerulean eyes.
"Thank you, Oliver," she whispered, not removing her hand from his.
Without actually thinking first, he squeezed her hand tightly, "Don't mention it."
He didn't let go of her hand as he led her through the house quietly and neither of them pointed it out either. Some kind of unspoken understanding seemed to be passed between them and for the first time in forever, Oliver realized that he had never really needed words to communicate with Felicity.
-§-
Felicity twisted and turned on the bed.
It was so comfortable, that it was almost too comfortable and she didn't seem to be able to get any sleep at all. Oliver had showed her to the room and she had felt like a teenager again, sneaking into her boyfriend's dorm room late at night.
But of course, Oliver wasn't her boyfriend. They weren't officially friends either, but she knew that they were getting there. The intimate moments in between didn't help much though, but she didn't dwell on it too much.
The reason she couldn't sleep wasn't the comfortable bed though. It was the thoughts that had been plaguing her before Oliver came back to the lair and talked to her; the memories of her earlier years and the horrors of her captivity.
She eyed the chandelier in the middle of the room and then stared at the ceiling. It was silent in the room, but next door, she could hear Oliver twisting and turning in his own bed. The urge to go to him was almost too big, but she pushed it down and closed her eyes, willing herself to sleep.
It didn't work.
She sighed loudly and sat up in the bed, moving the covers away from her body as she stood up. Barefoot, she walked over to the balcony door and opened it as silently as she possibly could before stepping out into the cold night air.
The full moon was only a few nights away and she could feel it straight into her bones as she recalled the days that she had been forced to chain herself up in an abandoned shack a couple of miles away from campus so that she wouldn't lose control and rip her roommates to pieces when she turned.
It had taken her years to learn how to control her wolf form and even though she had never fully mastered her powers as a werewolf, she hadn't needed o think much of them once she was turned into a hybrid. At times, she found herself wishing that she could just go back in time and appreciate the fact that being a wolf would have been easier for her. She could have found herself a pack and lived happily, but instead, she had hated what she was and tried to deny that part of herself, which had made her transformations even more gruesome.
She grabbed the railing on the balcony and looked down at the lawn before closing her eyes. Tears sprung from them and she took a small breath, willing herself to calm down before she broke completely.
She was so deep in thought that she almost missed the balcony door opening again, but she felt his presence behind her before he even spoke. Chills crept up her arms as she slowly turned to face him and she didn't bother hiding the fact that she had been crying.
"Felicity?" Oliver asked, looking uncertain. She looked down at his hands and noticed that he was clutching a blanket in them. Warm washed over her when she realized that he had carried it outside for her and she was once again forced to blink away tears.
Even though Oliver had claimed to hate her, dislike her and everything in between, things between them had changed these last couple of weeks. Actually, they had changed a lot more these last twenty-four hours, if their conversation down in the lair was anything to go by.
She found herself wanting to share everything with him. She wanted to tell him her story and she wanted him to see her for the person she was, not the monster he thought she was. When she had first joined them, Diggle had been more welcoming that Oliver and she had told him a story or two from her past. Diggle had sat in silence as she had retold the way she had been held captive and she had seen the way he had felt sorry for her. She didn't want his pity, but she knew that it had been inevitable.
"Are you... Are you cold?" Oliver asked, lifting the blanket in his hands. "I don't know if you, or any hybrids really, get cold."
"I get cold," she told him silently, watching him. "I feel everything that you feel, maybe more."
Her emotions for one were a lot more heightened now that she was a hybrid. It had calmed a bit since she had first been turned though. The first month had been excruciating, to say the least.
"You can't sleep here either, can you?" Oliver frowned.
"I just needed some air, I think," she said calmly. He stepped toward her and opened up the blanket. Taking another step closer, he wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and she smiled up at him as she grabbed the edges to pull it tighter around herself. She was surprised when he didn't immediately pull away from her. Instead, he remained there and suddenly the distance between their bodies felt barely existent. Breathing in, she could recognize every single scent on him that made him Oliver.
"Do you mind staying with me? Just for a little while?" she asked him, not being able to help herself.
"Just for a little while," he agreed, so silently that she had barely heard him.
The two of them sat down on the balcony floor and leaned back against the wall, looking up at the moon and the stars together. They sat there for several minutes when she felt Oliver shudder next to her. She turned to him and noticed that he was just wearing a short sleeved t-shirt and some sweatpants.
"Are you cold?" she asked, repeating the question that he had asked her earlier. "We can share the blanket, if you want?"
"I'm fine," he mumbled. "I've lived through colder nights..."
On the Island, Felicity realized as she eyed him.
"Don't be silly," she said anyway and pulled at the blanket so that he too would be able to wrap it around his shoulders. It took a little maneuvering since he was so much bigger than her, but eventually she got them settled. She was forced to sit a little closer to him than before and she hoped that he didn't mind, especially since she didn't. When he moved his arm so that it was wrapped around her and rested his hand on her hip, she told herself that it was only so that he would be more comfortable.
They kept looking at the moon together, neither of them speaking for over half an hour. Oliver's hand hadn't moved from her hip and they had both relaxed, leaning against each other. The clock was most likely past three in the morning, but so far neither of them had made a move to go to bed or even suggested that they were tired.
It was exactly then, that Felicity opened her mouth and spoke, risking the perfection of the moment as she did.
"I was born a werewolf, you know?" she said, eyes still trained on the moon above them that had moved a bit over the sky since the night had begun. "I think I got the gene from my father, but I wouldn't know exactly, since he walked out on me and my mom when I was seven. My werewolf side didn't show until I was in college..."
Oliver's grip on her hip tightened a little and she grew silent. He cleared his throat, "You can talk about it, if you want to..."
Clearly, she had misunderstood his action, so she turned and looked at him. He looked down at her, leaning his head back a little so that he could actually see her face fully. That was the moment that Felicity realized just how close they were to each other and she felt her face heat up a little.
"You really want to know?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him. Silently and incredibly slow, he nodded. Felicity took a deep breath and turned back to look at the sky.
"You already know that I'm from Vegas, originally," she said. "As I mentioned, my dad walked out on me and my mom... I don't know why, but I suppose it might have had to do with hunters in the area or... I don't really know. Maybe that's just something I kept telling myself when I found out that I would turn into a wolf at every full moon, to make myself feel better."
"When did you find out?" Oliver asked quietly, his thumb brushing against her hip, in an almost comforting manner.
"First year of going to MIT," she replied. "I, uh, was very angry over the Summer. Couldn't sleep well at night so I went out and partied a lot. Didn't do any drugs though, just drank, but never too much since it didn't take much to take the edge off at first. Then during my first semester, somewhere in mid October, I think, there was a full moon and–"
She cut herself off, staring blankly into space. The night was silent and the only thing she could hear was her own breathing and Oliver's.
"It's okay," he murmured. "You don't have to tell me."
"I want to," she whispered back, still staring ahead.
-§-
There was loud music playing down the hall. Felicity rolled onto her side, glaring at the clock that informed her that the time was 1 A.M. She had a huge test tomorrow and she needed to sleep, but the party next doors was raging on and there was nothing she could do about it, since she didn't want to be the buzz kill that always ruined everything.
Drowning out the noise, she managed to catch some sleep, but an hour later, she woke up drenched in her own sweat. Eyes wide, she stumbled out of bed and hurried to the bathroom, locking the door after herself. Everything was blurry but at the same time sharper than it had ever been. The music from next door seemed louder suddenly and she felt the same anger she had felt the entire Summer well up inside of her.
Washing her face, she could feel her hands trembling. It was as if a fine tremor was running through her body; like bugs were biting away at her flesh and leaving the bones out in the open. Whenever she moved, it hurt, until suddenly, it just didn't.
She stared at herself in the mirror. Her eyes shimmered; the blue of her irises seemed to be glowing, making her look almost lethal. She tried to remember if she had eaten anything during the day that could cause an allergic reaction like that, but nothing came to mind.
Then, a loud noise was heard next door and she completely lost it. She slammed the bathroom door open and then went straight for her front door. Without thinking, she stalked over to the people living next to her and knocked on the door loudly, anger still seething inside of her.
"Open the damn door!" she yelled, barely recognizing her own voice. The music quieted down a bit and the door swung open, revealing two giggling girls who were looking at her funnily.
"Smoak? What's up with you?" one of them asked.
"Did you take a midnight swim in your pajamas or something?" the other one laughed, giving Felicity a once over.
"Turn the music down," Felicity growled at them– literally growled at them.
"Why don't you make us?" the first girl crossed her arms over her chest. Felicity took a step forward, ready to rip the girl to pieces with her teeth when a third figure appeared in the door.
"Hey, Jasmine," the guy said, looking at the girl who had spoken. "I'll take care of this."
Jasmine smirked at Felicity before turning to the young man again, "You do that, Coop. We'll keep partying." She sent Felicity a pointed look before walking away with her friend again. The music was turned up once more and the guy stepped outside, closing the door. He looked over Felicity once before narrowing his eyes at her.
"What are you thinking? You should be chained up somewhere so you don't hurt anyone," he told her.
"What the hell are you going on about? Chained up? I'm not into all that domination crap," Felicity snarled at him. Then she realized that she was still growling at him and her eyes widened. She felt sick to her stomach and the pain was once again back. "Oh my God, what is happening to me?" she cried out, covering her ears with her hands.
"You've never...? Oh my God," the guy said, grabbing onto Felicity's shoulders. "I need to get you out of here. Now!"
The next hour was a blur to Felicity. She remembered getting in a car with a complete stranger and the guy speeding toward the forest. Briefly, the thought that he might actually be trying to kidnap or kill her crossed her mind, but the excruciating pain was too much so she could barely keep her eyes open.
"Who are you?" she mumbled through closed eyes as her head lolled to the side.
"My name is Cooper. Don't worry, I'll take care of you," he answered. "I just need to get you to a safe place."
When he turned the car off a few minutes later, he opened Felicity's door and practically pushed her outside. She fell to the cold ground and remained there, on all fours, panting and trying desperately to breathe.
"Why does it hurt so much?" she cried, tears streaming down her face. She felt a lot more sober now, and the pain was...unbearable.
"You're turning for the first time," Cooper replied. "That's the way it's supposed to be." He sat down on the ground in front of her but didn't move.
"Turning? What?" Felicity gasped, suddenly hearing a bone break. Actually, she didn't just hear it; she felt it. The scream that was torn from her throat was so loud that Cooper actually cringed in front of her. Felicity stared down at her arm, which was stuck in a strange angle. The bone in her leg was snapped in two, then her other arm ended up like the first. Felicity screamed and screamed until she was hoarse and couldn't scream anymore.
Then, everything went black.
-§-
"Cooper and I got together later," Felicity told Oliver. "I was lucky that he was there that first night. He was two years older than me, so he had been turning for a longer period of time and was used to it. He could control his wolf form better than me, so once I turned, he did too and kept me from running into any people."
"You had no idea that you were a werewolf?" Oliver asked and Felicity shook her head.
"I had no idea that those things even existed. I was eighteen when I first turned and I swear, I would have ended up killing someone by accident if I had been alone," she said.
"So you never...?"
"Killed anyone?" Felicity turned back to look at him. She met his gaze and could literally see the worry inside of them. This would be a defining moment, she knew it, but fortunately, she didn't have to worry about lying to him. "I've never killed anyone," she said. "I've been close, a few times, but I've never actually done it. I have never been able to bring myself to actually kill a Dark One either, so maybe that can be considered a weakness."
Oliver didn't say anything and she sighed.
"Either way, I was with Coop until my last year of MIT. He was arrested for something that he hadn't done and he... He hung himself before they could even go to court," Felicity swallowed.
"I'm sorry," Oliver whispered and she could have sworn that he had pressed his face into her hair as his grip around her tightened.
"I got myself together, found a pack of wolves and became their beta," she explained, purposefully not saying anything regarding Cooper. It was still too painful for her to think about. "I think the alpha's brother had a thing for me, which made it easier to join the group and be accepted. They were a family pack, so they were friendly. I ran with them until I graduated and then separated from them and became an omega. I wanted to live as humanly as possible, so I came to Starling City." She shook her head and snorted at herself, "Little did I know that the supernatural being in this city were basically organized crime lords."
"Was that when you got captured by the Master?" Oliver wondered.
Felicity felt happiness flutter inside of her at the fact that he hadn't referred to the Master as her Master. That had been one of those things that she and Oliver always ended up arguing about and she was glad that he had remembered not to put it like that.
"Yeah," Felicity drawled. "I was at the Black Rose one night and then afterward, some guys jumped and attacked me. When I woke up again, I was chained to a wall in some basement."
"What did they do to you?" This time, when Oliver's grip on her tightened, she was sure that she hadn't imagined it. Her hand came to rest on top of his and she squeezed gently, forcing him to relax before she continued telling her story.
"For a while they just mocked me and...tortured me," Felicity shuddered. Yet again, Oliver drew her a little closer, but she didn't want to question the sudden closeness between them, because she liked it. "They would use wolfsbane and drag it over my skin. Laugh at me when I cried, telling me I was weak. They tried to mentally break me and until I finally figured out why, they almost managed."
"They wanted to turn you into a hybrid," Oliver muttered bitterly and she nodded.
"That, and they wanted to control me," Felicity explained. "That's why they were tormenting me, because it was easier to get me to submit once I turned if I had already been broken."
"For their army of hybrids..."
"Yeah..."
They stayed quiet for another minute before Oliver once again spoke. "How did they turn you?"
Felicity shifted a little uncomfortably, "There are several ways to turn a supernatural being into a hybrid. Made vampires are more difficult to turn, since they are already dead, but werewolves are easier. Either one feeds them a mixture of highly concentrated lamia blood mixed with shapeshifter blood, kill them and then leave them to turn once they feed on a human, or you can do it like they did it to me."
"Which was?" Oliver questioned.
"They force fed me lamia blood for days," Felicity said, scrunching her nose up in disgust. "Lamia vampires are born vampires, so they're not technically dead. They are just...monsters, I suppose. The vampire blood killed all the human cells in my body, but my werewolf side was still strong. The wolf blood and the lamia blood mixed together and connected as far as I know. Then the new blood became the only thing that was being pumped through my heart and body."
"Which means that your body started producing those blood cells all by itself then, right?" Oliver frowned and Felicity nodded.
"I'm not a biology major, but yeah. At least that's the only thing that makes sense, since I was knocked out for the final part of the procedure," she admitted. "When they had been feeding me the lamia blood, my body was exhausted and I was in constant pain since the blood types fought each other. I fainted and then woke up a week later, with fangs and all. I was already a hybrid by then."
"So you weren't killed?" Oliver breathed out, clearly shocked by the revelation.
"No," Felicity confirmed. "I wasn't killed. I was turned naturally, if that can be considered the right term to use."
"But does that mean that you're immortal?" he wondered.
"I heal faster than an average werewolf, depending on if I've drank blood, as you already know," Felicity said. "I age slower, like lamia vampires, but I am very much alive. The ways of killing a hybrid apply to me too, but wolfsbane and vervain don't hurt me, unless they are combined. White oak is the only effective wooden stake that would kill a hybrid, not sure why, so don't ask."
Oliver let out a breath, "That's a lot of information to take in."
"I know," Felicity said. "I'm sorry for burdening you with all of this."
"Hey," he said, gently touching her cheek with his hand that hadn't been wrapped around her. He forced her to look him in the eyes and she once again felt that fluttering in her stomach that she can't remember ever feeling with anyone before. "I was the one who asked you to tell me," he reminded her. "You're not a burden."
She smiled at him and reacted automatically by leaning her head into his palm. His thumb moved across her cheekbone and when she looked at him, she could see that there were a lot of things running though his mind.
"Before I escaped," she continued, "they tried forcing me to turn." She swallowed and looked down again. "They wanted to prove that I was submissive, but when I refused, they realized that something had gone wrong. I wasn't loyal to them, or the Master but they still tried to control me."
"They hurt you." It wasn't a question and Felicity could only nod.
"Tortured me for days again, until I finally pretended to give in," she said. "I made them believe that I had submitted, but inside, I still had a mind of my own. I saw others lose theirs though... People I had gotten to know who were turned into perfect little soldiers that didn't even recognize me."
They didn't talk after that. Felicity closed her eyes, leaning into Oliver who only tightened his grip on her further. She could see that the sun was beginning to rise and finally, after retelling her story and getting most of it off of her chest, she could feel herself relaxing.
She could recall that she had mumbled something about being dead at work later but Oliver had told her not to worry about it, so she had decided to listen to him. With his arms still around her, Felicity finally drifted off to sleep; the events of the night and the exhaustion from telling her story getting the better of her.
For the first time in months, she felt okay.
-§-
Oliver felt Felicity sag against him and immediately knew that she had fallen asleep. He didn't want to wake her, but he knew that he should probably get her to bed.
A lot of things had changed tonight, some of which Oliver himself wasn't even ready to think about fully. When he had seen Alonzo stab Felicity, something inside of him had broken and he never would have guessed that the hybrid that had joined his team had grown to actually mean something to him.
Felicity had shared a part of her past with him tonight and he partially didn't even understand why she would have done such a thing. He knew a thing or two himself about having gone through hell and back, but Felicity's story... It was something else entirely.
When he had gone back to the lair, the only thing he had had in mind was resolving the issues the two of them had argued about and also apologize for his behavior. The way he had reacted, the way he had been treating her since she joined them... He had somehow always just seen her as someone- something- that would take it without even batting an eyelash.
He was used to hating the Nightcrawlers and when Felicity had joined them, he had hated her too, automatically. Although, as time passed, he had started seeing something in her that was almost human.
The inappropriate dreams he had been having about her still flustered him and he didn't want to think about their meaning, but the way he continuously ended up crying over Felicity's body whenever he had a nightmare where she died... It proved that he had indeed started caring about her, if anything, on a friendly level.
She had told him that she considered him and Diggle family, but he hadn't been able to tell her that he couldn't imagine going down to the lair and not see her there, by her computers. He wasn't ready to tell her that yet, but tonight he had already crossed so many lines with her that he wondered if she didn't already know what he was thinking.
The way he had held onto her when they had been down in the lair, the way he was holding her right now as she slept by his side, her head on his shoulder and his hand still holding hers; it made him all warm inside and for the first time in a long time, he actually felt content.
He looked down at her and for the first time since he had met her, he didn't see a blood sucking monster. He didn't see a killer, a predator, a hybrid.
For the first time, he actually saw a girl.
A young woman, who had been through so much these past few months. A woman who had never asked to be turned into a monster, but a wolf who had actually tried her best to live a human life in peace, which had then been stolen from her when she had been turned against her will.
She had been innocent.
She was innocent.
'I've never killed anyone.'
Felicity's statement echoed in his mind and he remembered the way she had trembled after saving Thea's life, when she had admitted to wanting to rip the monsters that had almost hurt his sister apart.
'They wanted to control me.'
Suddenly, he understood her so much better. Why she was so unwilling to give up and keep her opinions to herself, why she hated it when Oliver referred to the Master as her sire. She hadn't broken free from a Sire bond like he had previously assumed. No, she had never been sired in the first place because she had figured them out and never given up on having a mind of her own. Felicity hadn't allowed herself to be controlled by anyone and Oliver's respect for her skyrocketed as a result.
For her to have that kind of willpower... It made her special.
They had been out in the cold for too long, Oliver decided. Ever so slowly, he moved Felicity away from himself before moving into a crouching position, so he could take her into his arms, lifting her effortlessly. His breath caught when she snuggled into his chest, not waking despite him moving her. Her small hand was clutching his t-shirt right over his heart and he wondered for a moment if she could feel the organ beating loudly in his chest, even in her sleep. There was a small smile on her lips which made her look so innocent that it almost hurt to actually look at her.
Oliver swallowed as he looked at her, trying to will away the urge to swoop down and just kiss her. He shook his head lightly before stepping inside again, carrying Felicity to her bed. He laid her down and covered her with her comforter, over the blanket that was already wrapped around her. For another minute, he remained there, just watching her. Gently, he reached forward and brushed away a lose strand of golden hair from her forehead, tucking it behind her ear. His hand lingered a beat too long on her soft cheek and his fingertips seemed to burn where they came in contact with her skin.
That urge returned again, which was exactly what Oliver needed to pull away from her. He wasn't ready to take that kind of step; he wasn't sure if he ever would be. It was clear to him that he already cared too damn much about this woman and he wasn't sure he would ever be able to risk actually falling for her.
Whichever way he twisted the various scenarios that played out in his head, they always ended the same way: in heartbreak.
The sun was starting to rise and he walked over to his room, sparing one last glance at Felicity before closing the door after himself. Sighing, he moved to his bed, laying down. He would probably be dead on his feet later at work, but he and Felicity could always just come in a little later. He was sure his mother would understand if he gave her some excuse about a pipe bursting in Felicity's apartment, but he knew that if Thea was there, his baby sister would never let him live it down.
Images of the beautiful blonde sleeping in the room next to his once again appeared in his head. Closing his eyes, his heart still beating loudly, his skin still tingling from where her body had been pressed earlier, he wondered if she would ever cease to surprise him, as he finally drifted off to sleep with a small smile on his lips.
Note: Soooooooo...? What did you think? :) Reviews are always welcome! :)
The next chapter is called "The Revelation" and it'll probably be a little longer, so once again, I'm asking you to be patient. I have it all mapped out, but I just need time to write it and you all know how things are in the beginning of January when you have to get your stuff together before school begins. I have some studying to do too, but I promise I'll give myself an one to two hour break every day to write! :)
Thank you for reading and supporting! :)
xoxo
