Chapter 25: Gloves Come Off
Okay, sooooo this is long overdue. I want to thank you all for your patience and promise to get the last chapter in before December. Your continued support is the reason I have been able to continue this story when it was started five years ago. I present to you, the penultimate chapter of My Pointe Of View.
I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to dance better than myself. - Mikhail Baryshnikov
Helen left a small clue on her bedroom door. A trivial little Easter egg for the guard to find in the form of a pink sticky note. The words open me with a small smiley face beneath it. She knew she was getting cheeky with everything, something that would bite her in the ass if the plan failed. Still, it couldn't be helped. She had been playing the role of Aro's obedient child for so long that she felt the need to revel in this moment in time.
Descending the staircase, she found everyone all packed up and waiting. Their faces trying desperately hard to not look upset. It burned her inside to have to do this again, almost worse than it was before. She was forcing everyone to go on the lam and putting her friends in the same position she had been for the last six months. In a perfect world she wouldn't be this selfish, this destructive.
'I want to be ignorant and without shame, I want very much to be the old Helen again. It does not do well to want the impossible.'
"Sorry." Helen bit her lower lip, flinging her duffel bag over her shoulder. "For keeping you waiting I mean. I needed to do a once over."
"It's alright, honey." Richard adjusted his glasses. He normally didn't wear lenses while driving, it added to her list of things that worried her about him aging. She wondered how he was handling this. Six months of his daughter being missing, getting her back for all of five minutes and then having to say goodbye once more. Helen doubted that Sydney and Aggie would forgive her for this either, no matter how much they said it wasn't her fault. They could be as angry as they wanted and Helen would be perfectly fine with it, she would allow them that much.
"Alright." Ruby cleared her throat. "Here's how it's gonna go. We're driving to Kansas City and then resting for the night. After that, we split up. You guys will head to your new house in Denver and Helen goes with me to Portland."
"That's really far." Wesley mumbled out loud.
Helen looked down at her shoes, the tension in the room growing. Ruby readjusted the strap on her luggage before addressing everyone again. "Yes, well let's not delay this anymore." She coughed. "I'll be waiting in my car."
Ruby closed the door behind her, a deafening silence now present in the foyer. It also occurred to Helen that this would be the last time she might ever be in the house. She couldn't come back here, not with this being the first place Aro would look to find her. Her mind briefly flickered to the last time she had been in Volterra, running through the fields and drunk on her own anger. She had been so caught up in escaping she hadn't even bothered to ask Gracie if she wanted to come with her. Helen didn't think the girl would get caught helping her, it seemed so unlikely, but still she worried. It was another moment of awareness on how careless she was being. She walked over to Sydney and Aggie and saw the two of them glance nervously at each other before facing her. Helen could tell something was up, something nestled on the corner of their lips that they didn't want to say.
"Do you guys want me to ride with you?" She asked very kindly, a small and hopeful smile on her face. Sydney looked at her shoes while Aggie cleared her throat before addressing her.
"Helen, if it's all the same we'd like to be by ourselves until we get there." Her voice sounded cold, emotionless. It stung Helen in a way she didn't think possible, venom immediately flooding to her eyes. Sydney saw the pain form on her face and also chimed in. "We're not trying to be assholes, I swear, it's just not an easy night for us. I think it would just be better if you rode with Ruby or your Dad."
Helen paused while clasping her hands together tightly. "I understand, if you're sure I mean."
"Mmmhmm." Aggie gave her a thin lipped smile while Sydney nodded. "We're sure."
"Guys." Helen caught them as they were leaving, their eyes trying to hold back angry tears. "I'm very sorry about this, I really am. I still think of you two as my best friends and I wouldn't ask you this unless it was necessary."
Something in Aggie almost seemed to snap as she tightly wrapped her fingers around the door knob. "We know that Helen, we know that you didn't mean this and you're very sorry. I also know that my mom is gonna call me in ten minutes and ask why I'm breaking curfew on a school night. Then she's gonna get worried and call Syd's mom and after several hours of me being gone she's gonna think back to the huge fight we got into last night when I told her that I couldn't wait to move out and go very far away. She's gonna wonder if I meant anything when I said I'd pack up and leave if her and my Dad didn't back off of my life." Aggie was crying angry tears with Sydney. "I never get to tell her that I didn't mean it, that get's to be the last thing I said. But hey, it doesn't matter, because fucking vampires."
Helen stood there, shocked to her core. Her Dad came over and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder as she barely managed to choke out. "Aggs."
"Let's just go." Sydney said while ushering her out the door, she gave Helen a somber smile. "We'll talk in a little while okay?"
The room deafened once more as Helen stood there, flabbergasted. She didn't mean for any of this to happen, she didn't mean for this to be the price that anyone would have to pay for caring about her even remotely. She needed to get everyone out and then get as far away from them as possible. She hadn't even been home for two hours and already she had managed to turn her two oldest friends against her. She made her father leave a career he loved, her brothers leave their school and friends. What further damage would she cause? What kind of a burden did she pose on everyone.
"Flapjack, hey, she's just frustrated okay?" Her Dad called out to her softly. "I'm sure in a few hours everything will be fine."
Helen could only nod as she was let out of the front door by her family, the surroundings of her old home blurring as she immersed herself deep in her thoughts and self-doubt. She loathed herself quite frankly, she was scared to look or touch anything out of fear she might destroy it.
'I would like to not be such a fucking weakling, maybe things would be different then.'
At her Dad's insistence, Helen rode in the car with her family. Ruby hadn't been in love with the idea and made them all swear that the second she got twitchy they would pull over and change cars. They had managed to hit the road so far without any inconveniences, and the further away they got from the house the more relaxed everyone seemed to get. She sent Sydney a text on the new phone she had received and was happy to get an emoji response back at least. The act of having to say goodbye once more still loomed over her, but in a way she was almost getting excited to explore an new uncharted land. Helen had never been to the Pacific Northwest before, but she imagined that there would be lush fields, rain, forests with tons of flowers and breezy hilltops for her to run in. She wouldn't be locked up in some ancient estate anymore, she would make her own decisions again.
The car ride gave her more time to think about everything. She felt like a lot of things that had happened were her fault, that she tried to make things better and it was only going to make it worse. Perhaps there was some part of her that wished she had stayed in Volterra, that she could've done more to try and keep Aro content. It didn't matter now, though, because he knew by now that she had left him and even if she confronted him at some point about his own doings he would swiftly blame her for the repercussions
'I am in disgrace, which is the opposite of grace, a violation of my role in the Volturi. I'll be blamed, because I'm not blameless in this.'
She would not run back to him, though. If he found her then she would resist and do everything she could to escape his clutches. Their relationship was incredibly complicated, and now that her anger had calmed some she was starting to really process everything that had happened while she was in Italy. She couldn't believe how much she had allowed him to do to her, how vulnerable she had been to him and his manipulations. She hated how at this moment it almost felt strange to not be guarded or be surrounded by the coven.
In the quiet of her mind she started making a list of everyone she was mad at, everyone she decided would share the burden of her anger towards the Volturi. First is Caius, even though he was probably only doing what Aro asked of him in order to make it appear unbiased, he still decided and showed great wanting to kill everyone she cared about. Number two is Aro. He kidnapped her, tormeted her, manipulated her, ruined her life and ground her down until she was exactly what he wanted her to be. Aro is the reason behind her pain and suffering and she was gonna be sure he paid for it. Number three belongs to Sulpicia for being just as involved in Aro's doings and for playing the good cop in order to placate her. She was a kind and maternal woman who showered her with such comfort and care and yet decided it didn't matter how much being in Volterra hurt Helen. She was entitled and manipulative and would never be forgiven. Athenodora and Marcus tie for fourth, both contributed to her pain in different ways but nonetheless were complicit. Athenodora was a major bitch who enjoyed tormenting her and Marcus proved that regardless of their friendship he found no issue in killing her family.
Number five went to Helen herself. She could have done more to resist the Volturi and had numerous chances she could've escaped. As she said, she wasn't blameless. She needed to own some of what was going on. She both was and wasn't the reason that everyone she loved was in danger. Helen would take responsibility for her own part in this, because she had one.
She moved her list down to the guard, it was too difficult to be specific as she hadn't stuck around to see who would be selected to do the job but regardless they have a place on her shitlist. It would be someone in the Elite, someone who could take out humans and then move onto executing those involved in Seattle, she only wished she had a face and a name.
Thinking about the Volturi seemed to strike something deep inside of her. She felt wrong, she felt almost lightheaded. Could vampires even get lightheaded? It was like she was being pulled very far away from everything, and trying to desperately to not let go. Everything started to spin, everything felt completely distorted and unearthly in a way she had never experienced.
And then everything went white.
She came to almost moments later. Helen blinked several times and her vision adjusted, and then she almost started screaming when she realized she was looking out the window from her chambers in Volterra. She wanted to howl and start trashing everything. The biggest of knots was forming in her abdomen and had she been human she would've been sweating, crying and blubbering like an idiot. This wasn't possible, this was unfathomable. Helen had left this awful place almost two hours ago, there was no way she could be back so quickly. How had the guard managed to find her? Where was everyone else? What was happening? Had she simply hallucinated escaping? It would be strange if she did considering how real it felt.
The thing that finally brought her out of her confused and frightened stupor was the soft tapping on solid wood. Helen slowly turned around to see Aro seated at her desk area. He was drumming his left index, middle, ring and pinky fingers on the surface. He stared at Helen was absolute anger in his eyes, like he was ready to maim something, kill something, set the world ablaze if he had to. He also looked incredibly impatient, as if he found the fact that she hadn't guessed he was there to be incredibly annoying.
"Done gawking?" He seethed whilst still tapping. Helen put her hands to her sides and curled them into very tight fists. Her vision was beginning to get red again, and she remembered how much she absolutely wanted to hurt him. She wanted to scream and pounce and take out all of her anger at everything he had done to her and her family. Aro would not leave this room unscathed if she could help it. "I see that you're alright.
"Yes." She snapped back, not even remotely bothering to try and exchange fake pleasantries with him. He furrowed his brows and stopped tapping on the desk, his own hand curled in a fist.
"Well that is very good news, dear." He stood up and slowly started walking over to her, hands now behind his back. He was still in his cloak, almost as if trying to maintain his image of power in front of her. Helen puffed her own chest up and folded her arms in retaliation. She would not let him touch her at all.
"How am I here?" She addressed flatly. If she was truly back in Italy she damn well wanted answers. Aro smiled darkly at her and stopped just as he approached her. She would admit that he was doing a good job of looking very tall right now.
"You have nothing to say for yourself? No explanations or follies to tell me? You would allow me to come back to this room after making clear that dire circumstances were about and find it empty? Do you have any idea what you have done, you stupid girl?" He saw the jeans and Cardinals sweatshirt she was now wearing and she saw rage build in his eyes. He too was likely wondering how she might have managed to escape so quickly and undetected.
Helen scoffed at him and held her ground. "Sorry I got bored of being your prisoner, but usually I don't keep living with people who decide to murder my entire family. Don't you even try to fucking deny it."
Aro, to her surprise, kept his dark smile and chuckled. "Ah, there's that sanctimonious little spirit I missed. As much as I enjoy you behaving, you do make things more interesting when you take the moral high ground. I do think it's a bit premature to call those humans family, Helen."
"They are my family and nothing you can ever do will change that." She hissed, but it did nothing to dissuade his grin. "Now answer my question." Aro kept his gaze on her and sighed lightly. "I know you were told about the sire bond, dear, though I do realize I have never demonstrated one of its many abilities to you. Since you have rendered my tracker useless I have resorted to desperate measures."
Helen's smirk faded off of her face as quickly as it had formed. Fear now flooded her core, the complete lack of knowing what it was he was going to do making her want to vomit. She remembered Athenadora talking about how he could unmake her entire mind and destroy her very will. She shouldn't have talked back to him, she should have tried making it seem like something else was afoot. Aro took note of her trembling fear and reveled in it. "Yes, yes, I remember you being warned that any misstep and I could make you obey me with the slightest motion." He laughed and it sent a chill up her spine. Aro reached out to touch her cheek and Helen recoiled at how real it felt, yet it was almost like having an encounter with a ghost. It was like touching something that wasn't fully there. "Yet you may be very thankful that I am not able to do so unless you are in my presence."
Helen blinked in shock as he faced the fireplace with frustration. A smirk spread back over her mouth in satisfaction. A great weight had been lifted off of her shoulders as she realized that not only could he not control her, but he hadn't actually managed to bring her back. "I'm not really here."
"No." He pursed his lips. "No you are experiencing the corporeal mental link that I can summon in this current predicament."
She laughed rather cruelly, it made him tighten his fists.
"You don't know where I am, you can't control me and your guard can't find me." She chummily walked over to him and enjoyed this. "You're panicking, you're getting desperate. I bet the whole coven is making you squirm like a moron who fucked up. I bet you're shitting yourself right now, and boy do you deserve it."
Aro smiled darkly again and glanced at her with black eyes. "Oh yes, you should be very thankful that you are not back in this room, my darling you will pay for that later. In actuality, the only blame I possess is the fact that I did not take care of these fools several months ago. Nothing for you to return to, no one else you could have left me for. It was a burden on you more than anything, to leave room for you to betray me."
Helen scoffed and faced the fireplace with him. Her hands curled into fists once more as there was a long pause that filled the room. After a few minutes she finally choked out in upset. "You know, I don't get it." Aro glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, his body language lightening slightly, noticing how her face was contorted with hurt and rage it was almost as if he was fighting some instinct to comfort her. He waited for a moment while she continued in a strained voice. "I did everything you asked of me and more, I tried so hard to make myself love you and I didn't care what happened to me in the process. I thought it would all be worth it, if it meant you wouldn't hurt anyone. I smiled, I obeyed and I let you love me. I let you tear me apart and put me back together. Why wasn't it enough for you?"
Aro considered his response before glancing at her again. "Do not act like you have not stopped thinking about him for one moment since you came here. You tried yes, but you did not give yourself fully to me. You denied me the piece of your heart that I wanted, you never really became my daughter. I thought once I changed you it would happen, because you would be like me. Still, you pined and kept brooding and sulking in corners thinking I wouldn't notice. You kept your hope alive that this would be over, that if you kept up appearances maybe I would get bored and let you go free."
He towered over her again. "The truth is, my love, you can never be free of me. The blood that had once flowed through your veins is now replaced by my venom. I gave you this existence, you were reborn of my own being, you are my child in every sense of the word. We are connected in countless ways that you don't even understand. I sense your pain at not being Richard Hendricks' human daughter, but what you don't know is that he will never accept you as you are now. He will cast you aside and wound you but you will still run back to him for as long as both of you are able. Richard cannot love you like I do. He can never love you like he did before and he never will, but you don't care about that at all. You don't care about how much he won't want you anymore because you refuse to be anything but his."
Helen was shocked at how hurt and torn up he looked. How much devastation and anger consumed his entire being. She found herself fighting incredibly hard to offer him any form of comfort. He wouldn't get any more from her, not after everything he had done to her and was more than likely still planning to do. He was wrong, her father would never treat her like that. Richard had already proven that he would do everything to keep her close to him.
"I see no other solution. For your sake and for the sake of my laws they must all die." He placed a hand on her shoulder, annoyed at how she tensed up, rage beginning to boil inside of her. "You can be upset if you must, you can make me a villain if you need to, but this is what must be done. Now, if you're a very, very good girl and tell me where you are then I will allow you to make your final goodbyes. I will make sure that any punishment you receive is as lenient as possible and we will all put this to bed as though it was merely a bad dream. You belong to me and I know what is best for you."
Helen snarled and knocked his hand off of her, the act shocking him greatly. "You're wrong, because I don't belong to you or anyone else. I will not let you hurt them and I swear I will spend the rest of my life protecting him from you. I will fight you every possible turn even if it kills me or you."
Aro narrowed his dark eyes. "So your words turn treasonous instead? Such a brave girl you are, saying such things without fully aware of the consequences. You think you have the means to challenge me? You have only the advantage of surprise, something I will be sure to remedy with great expedience. I will leave no stone unturned, I will search every backwater, flea infested scrap in your entirely unpleasant country until I find all of you and then I will show you how I treat foolish challenges from foolish vampires. If that is what must be done, then so be it. But take this one piece of advice from me, dear, if there is ever one thing you decide to head from me it is that I only have so much mercy and patience to give. Understand that the allotted leniency I choose to give you has very much run thin. You find me so cruel and terrible now? Darling, you don't even know half of it."
Helen hissed at his threat, rage building inside of her again. "What is wrong with you? What is wrong with you?! Why are you like this? How can you try and shower me with such fake kindness and love and then go around and murder everyone I care about? How can you do that?!"
He said nothing and stared at her with cold eyes. The only result making Helen get even more upset. "You're deranged! You're fucking evil! You know that?! You are a goddamn motherfucking monster! I hate you! I hate you so fucking much!"
There was a beat, Aro still keeping his cool composure. "Even in the end it's not as much as you wish you did. Now, are you quite done throwing a tantrum?"
"This is not a tantrum you crazy, evil prick!" Helen screamed as loud as she could. That only made him scoff and he towered over her even more so that their faces were nearly level.
"Yes I suppose me being evil means you must be good. Rather pretentious isn't it, Helen?" He chuckled darkly. "A silly thought from a silly little girl."
"Bullshit." Helen bared her teeth. "You just think you can fuck with me enough that I'll crack."
Aro began chuckling, his amusement filling the silence in the room and making the hairs on the back of Helen's neck stand up. "Can I be frank with you for once, Helen?"
His attempt at what was obviously a fake politeness pissed her off but nonetheless she folded her arms and nodded.
"Anything you think I've done to hurt you, I did because I care so very deeply about you. You ask me why I do the things I have done? It is because I too thought any suffering that was undertaken would be worth it in the end. It does not matter to me if this world loses a few more lowly maggots because in the end I have what I wanted most. You think that I do things to hurt you without being aware of the consequences? You're wrong about me, I am not a villain, all I ever wanted was love." He clasped his hands together. "I know I'm very difficult to love, and in all honesty when I first met you I told myself that I would leave you be if I found you to be in suitable care."
"What?" Helen blinked, complete shock filling her voice. That didn't even resonate with her, the idea of Aro having doubts when they met. In fact, she found it very hard to believe. "That doesn't sound like you."
"Helen, I'm old." Aro laughed humorlessly. "I'm tired. I have only so much effort to give the new things in this world. I was not planning on ingratiating you into my life and that of the family unless I was sure it was the right thing to do. I was prepared to leave you be and continue on with my existence until the day I first met you. You wouldn't remember it, I was very careful not to reveal myself to you. You were jogging at night, on one of those modern trails, all alone. I wondered what kind of parents you had that would allow a young girl to be out so late without an escort. I kept myself in the shadows and for a brief moment I was able to brush up against your arm and read your thoughts. That, my dear, is what made me decide to take you home with me."
"Explain."
"I felt it, the connection we share. I saw your mind and heard you call out for something, anything, to come take you away from the life you had lead. You felt neglected and unfulfilled, you didn't want to be there anymore. You were so lonely, so wanting of people who could give you proper love and attention. Everything that has occurred has been because of you, Helen. You called out for me, and I answered."
Helen scowled. "That's not even remotely true."
Aro scoffed and gave her a condescending smile. "Oh but it is, dear. This is your doing, this is the consequence of your desires. But these are such ugly realities Helen, such hard things for a child to face."
Helen curled her fists and stared at her toes, anger boiling inside of her. It wasn't just reserved for Aro, though, that self blaming attitude she had taken earlier was coming full force. His words were creeping inside of her brain, such sickly sweet honey words that would begin to stick if she wasn't careful. Had she truly called out for him? Had Helen betrayed her family in ways she hadn't even thought of?
'Is this really my fault after all?'
"I know dear, it's so hard to face facts." He sighed. "So difficult to accept ones mistakes and recognize things that weren't there. Do you think yourself some kind of champion heroine, Helen? Some brave and righteous being opposing those who she finds in the wrong? Do you still think of yourself as some kind of innocent victim? Perhaps it's time you realized just how far from the truth that is. What do you think Richard would say if he found out the extent of what you've done?"
Helen felt a wave of negative energy surge up her body. He would be so disappointed at her, to find out that she had done these things.
"Yes I imagine he'd be so very angry, so hurtful and unkind. He would leave you and cast you aside at every turn. You would be so very alone, Helen, so sad and pitiful." Aro circled around her and wrapped his ghostly arms around her neck, his voice just barley above a delicate and treacly whisper. "It is okay, my darling, for you will have me to turn to when you are unwanted. I have seen the very pits of your mind and soul, the darkest places of who you are that he could never know, and I have never turned away. I will not judge or shun you, can Richard Hendricks say the same?"
Helen was shaking now, her confident edge gone. He was so very good at playing her insecurities, at making her feel small and fragile and in need of him. His words were like fungus growing on a window, so hard to peel off and break away.
"What will you do, Helen? What do you want me to do for you? What does my little girl want her father to do?"
Helen felt her blood begin to boil again. It was an error on his part, jumping the gun so soon and referring to himself as her parent. He wanted to go on and on about actions having consequences, well she would be more than happy to oblige. Helen uncurled one of her fists and brought it up to one of the hands he had on her, the act soothing him, making him let high guard down for just the simplest of seconds.
"You do that so well, you know?" She mused lightly, earning a small chuckle from him. It only took half a second for Helen, with all of the strength and speed of a newborn vampire, to grab his left index finger with her right hand and give it a good snap! The sound that Aro made was not even close to humane, it was more like a deep and throaty yowl as he shoved her away from him and began clutching his injured hand. Helen examined it from the floor near the bathroom door and saw that while she hasn't snapped it clean off, it was dangling by a thread. The interior of vampire skin was an ugly dark brown almost like it was rotted flesh, venom dripping from the exposed wound and his entire form quivering with fear and stress at having received such an injury.
Helen smirked as she saw him spit and begin to apply his own venom to the wound to seal it. She wasn't sure if he would be able to fully use that finger ever again. Something that made her smirk even more. As soon as his finger was starting to heal, he turned on her with an absolute murderous glare. "You brutish girl! You are making it very difficult to keep you alive! How do you expect me to explain this to the others?!"
She stood up slowly, smirking and pulling her sleeves back down, "You can tell them that I broke your fucking finger."
Aro seethed for a moment before his mouth turned into a dangerously wicked smile. "Such a stupid girl you are, so childish and reckless. I hope you enjoy this moment, Helen Hendricks, truly I do. For it will be all the more rich to put you back under my power. You have forgotten your place, a grievous error I will remedy. You will regret the decisions you have made tonight, and you will know that all those who suffer will be because of you."
Helen scoffed and stared him back down. "You wanna know what I want, Dad?" Her voice was dripping with absolute hatred and mockery. "I want you to go the fuck away."
The familiar spinning started again. The room began to flash and turn, the surroundings becoming distorted and foul. Helen felt herself being pulled backwards, she saw Aro reach out for her, enraged and confused as to how this was happening. She heard him scream for her, an almost mournful cry. She felt herself being pulled up high in the air, if only to immediately be pulled back to Earth.
It took a few seconds for her vision to refocus, she was blinking several times and realized she was laying on the ground on the side of what she assumed to be the road, given the sound of nearby cars and one very obnoxious semi. When everything finally stopped spinning, Helen took notice of the people around her. Ruby and Richard were hovering over her and to the side she noticed Wesley turning Henry away and her friends sitting near a tree, trying hard not to look nervous.
"Huh, I'm back again." Helen grumbled while sitting up on her elbows, her vampire vigor restored. "That was easy."
"Oh thank God." Richard wrapped his arms around her, she noticed how pale he seemed. Exactly what had happened when she left? Had her body disappeared or gotten injured. Helen did a quick inspection and found nothing wrong. All of her limbs, ten fingers and toes, head still attached to her body.
"Honey I think you passed out. Wait, can vampires even pass out?" Richard ran his hands through his hair. "Maybe we should take you to a doctor, there has to be something they can tell us."
"Easy, Dick." Ruby waved him off. "I don't think she passed out, to answer your question she can't anyway. You kind of just zoned out, like you went into a very long day dream. Richard pulled over and said he saw that you slumped over. Gave us quite the scare, chickadee."
"I'm not exactly sure how it happened, but Aro summoned me using the sire bond."
At that exact statement, she saw Wesley and Henry pale and Sydney and Aggie perked up in concern. Richard all but looked like he was going to have a stroke, while Ruby helped her to her feet.
"What happened?!" Her Dad yelled angrily. "What the hell did he do to you now?!"
"I'm fine, really." Helen assured while dusting her shirt off. "He tried to get me to reveal where I was, bullied me a little and then all of sudden I was back here when I said I wanted him to go away."
"Did he hurt you?" Richard put his hands on her shoulders. It was such a comforting action, unlike the possessive and invasive acts of Aro. She had missed her father so much, she had missed how it felt to have someone want to her protect her out of genuine love, and not possessive greed and conditional affection.
"If you mean physically, then no." Helen assured. "He never has, that is, it's not his style I don't think."
"Oh, baby girl." He hugged her as tight as he could, involuntarily tensing up at how cold she felt. "I'm so sorry. All I wanna do is keep you safe, healthy and happy and I feel like all I've done is fail you. I thought, of all places, your mind was safe from him."
"I know." She sighed. "I'm not sure how I got back, though."
"From what I know about the sire bond it requires both vampires involved in order to use a mental link, like a two way phone call." Ruby surmised. "My guess is you hung up on that fucker."
"Ruby!" Richard furrowed his brows. "Not in front of my eleven year old, if you please."
"It's okay Dad, I already know the f-word and the c-word." Henry rubbed his eyes sleepily. Helen looked at all of them bickering and suddenly felt very calm. Everything was going to be fine, truly it was. She was thousands of miles away from the Volturi, and despite having to garner some distance with her family, she would be back in their lives. Things were going to work themselves out, she could tell.
'Maybe it's possible to regain some of who I was. I stood up to Aro of all people, I feel like I can do anything.'
"Helen." Her Dad addressed her once more. "You sure you're okay? You didn't look so hot when I pulled over."
"I'm still a brisk twenty degrees and have all of my appendages." She insisted with a small laugh. "If anything you should see how Aro looks, because I broke his finger." Everyone looked at her with absolute shock. Ruby did a double take, Richard paled, Wesley and Henry laughed and her friends started walking over with concerned interest. Helen nervously laughed and twirled a piece of hair, "In my defense, he was in full form and had it coming."
"Helen." Her Dad looked at her sternly. "Honey, we have been over and over this. You cannot use physical force as a solution for everything. He could have seriously hurt you, for fuck's sake he could've killed you. I mean it, I don't wanna hear about this again. I don't care that you're some super powered vampire, you cannot do that, it only puts you in an unsafe situation. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, Dad." She responded with a defeated look. Aggie approached her, arms folded and face looking sour. She wondered what was wrong now, and watched her raise her eyes to make eye contact.
"You're alright?" She asked in a small voice. Helen nodded and kept looking at her, wanting to see what she would do. Aggie sighed deeply and gave her a small shoulder pat. "Don't fucking scare me like that again, Hendricks."
"Same here." Sydney echoed and gave her a quick hug. "I mean it, you break his finger faster next time."
"Yes ma'am." She giggled slightly and gave each of them a happy smile. Aggie returned it but quickly brushed a piece of hair back behind an ear and coughed. "We should get back on the road. We've already lost some time."
"Yeah we should." Ruby nodded, making her way back to the car. "Luckily we managed to get out of the city. Hendricks, if you decide to angrily confront Aro and ascend to a higher plane again, a head's up would be appreciated."
"I hate that." Richard said as he opened the door for Helen, who was very happy about getting to ride shotgun. "I hate that he can summon you like that whenever he wants. It just makes my blood boil, after all he's done to you. I almost pray that he finds me, because I'll find a way to give him more than a broken finger." Helen smirked at that. Her Dad was in fine form tonight, like he always was. Richard Hendricks was her father, and no amount of manipulations by Aro could do anything to change that. Even still, she was now thinking about what he said about his venom flowing inside of her. She did hate that truly no matter how hard she tried she wouldn't be fully able to expel him from her life. Instead she focus on trying to live her life as an honest and decent citizen, she would do her very best to allow her experience with him as a deterrent to be better than she had been before.
It would be her penance, she decided. She would not want the impossible, instead she would act towards what she could control.
That night like all previous nights, passed. They had made it to Kansas City and Helen watched over everyone in rounds, before deciding to leave and spend some time with herself processing everything. Ruby had taken some bags of blood from the hospital because she didn't want her feeding in unfamiliar territory by herself, something that a squeamish Richard and Helen herself had agreed with. It wasn't as satisfying as a fresh feed, but it kept her calm and full for the time being. She couldn't believe she had experienced the sire bond in such a way, that she had actually managed to talk to Aro.
Before she accidentally brought herself back there, she quickly put all thoughts of him away. In all honesty, he probably was in no mood to talk to her at all. She imagined him having a fit in front of the family. Caius berating him for not finding her, Athenodora comforting him while poorly hiding her own anger. Sulpicia would probably be a mess, but she didn't feel like imagining her in any sympathetic way. Lastly, Marcus would be greatly irritated at having all of the noise and disturbance around him.
How familiar it was irked her greatly. It was so strange how much she could get used to things being one way, even if that way was downright awful and caused her so much pain. Still, the idea of Aro throwing a temper tantrum over her breaking his finger did make her laugh. He would probably go on and on about what a dreadful girl she was or something similar. In retrospect, she hated how much he called her girl, even if he was extremely older than her. It was just downright patronizing, rendering her as nothing more than a helpless child.
'He might think it's affectionate but it sets my teeth on edge. "Darling girl, sweet girl, dear girl, brave girl, stupid girl." It's just makes me wanna give him a thesaurus and highlight several other nouns for female.'
Helen decided to stop thinking about it and focused on other things. Things namely the Volturi hadn't been able to change, like the moon. Yeah, the moon was still the same, they hadn't done anything to that yet. The moon was an alright thing to focus on for the time being, the dread of having to say goodbye looming over her like a death sentence.
There were barely any dry eyes the following morning, save for Helen because stupid vampire venom. It pained her terribly to see them all like this and to have to leave them all again. She didn't know when she would see any of them again, and she felt this great big weight on her chest and a lump in her throat. Perhaps this would be the closest she could get to crying, the allowance her vampire body would give her.
Sydney and Aggie tearfully said goodbye first and told her about this new app she had to try when she got settled. Snapchat, an app that let's you take pictures and send messages to your friends. Helen laughed and promised to do it as soon as possible. "We will talk, text, whatever. I'm not gonna go Unabomber on any of you guys. Just promise me you will try and stay safe and keep my Dad from going all Liam Neeson while he's incognito."
Wesley wrapped her in a big bear hug, smug as a snake as he proclaimed. "I told you I'd see you again, Nells, ye have little faith. Seriously, I said it before and I'll say it again, this isn't goodbye. We always find each other."
"Wes, I swear you better stop. I can beat you in an arm wrestling contest so hard now, it'll be like the bar scene in The Fly." She kissed his cheek. "I love you, brother of mine. I'll come and visit as soon as I can." Henry was bawling and begging Ruby to let him come with them, anything to give him more time with his older sister. Ruby looked very pained at having to tell him no, almost as if there was a secret on the edge of her lips that she was holding onto. Helen reminded herself that she promised to tell her what Lucius did to her whenever they got to wherever they were going.
"Listen, twerp." Helen was surprised at how tall he had gotten since they were separated, in fact he was almost her height. "I will call you as soon as I get to Oregon, and you will be the first person to come visit me. Got it?"
He nodded and wiped his face before getting in the car. Her Dad was absolutely shaking, all Helen wanted to do was grab him and take him with her. This would be the first time that she would truly be on her own without a parent or someone pretending to be a parent at least. Ruby would watch over her, but it would be a completely different atmosphere. Aro and Sulpicia dictated her every move, not leaving any part of her unchecked, unwatched or unsupervised save for one single error that cost them dearly. She imagined that Richard told Ruby to keep him updated on everything, even the things she didn't want to tell him at all.
"Okay, baby." He was crying, gosh she wished she could cry right now. "Now I want you to be good for Ruby, okay? You do whatever she tells you to do when she says it. I want you to check in with me as much as you can. I know things are really hard right now but I don't want you to think I can't handle it. Whatever is on your mind, you call me about, okay?"
"Daddy." She whimpered.
"Enjoy your life, flapjack. Find as much joy and happiness as you can, because I promise you that I will always love you. You will always be my daughter, no matter how far apart we are. Always. I mean that, okay?" He kissed her forehead. "You are my strong, beautiful, smart daughter. The bravest, kindest and funniest young woman I know. I will come for you as soon as I can, you hear me? This is temporary. This is just the bump in the road."
She wrapped him in a hug so tight she was worried she might break his ribs with her strength. Helen almost collapsed to the ground from the grief she was feeling. This can't be happening, she needed more time with him. She needed more time with everyone. Ruby eventually pulled her away from him best she could, watching him wipe his face and put his sunglasses on. He gave a giant wave as he reluctantly loaded into his car and left the parking lot, the red beetle that contained her friends following suit.
Helen finally fell to the ground, sobbing but with no tears. It was the ass crack of dawn, overcast. No one there to watch and no one to take notice of the strange pale girl beating her fists into the pavement, leaving giant cracks and holes. "Please Ruby! Please let me go with them! Let me be with them please!"
"Helen." Ruby said soothingly. "You need to take a few deep breaths, okay? You need to try and control yourself now. This, I imagine, is one of the hardest things you've ever had to do. Harder then before because you have the ability to see them but can't. We will work hard and get you under control, then it will get much easier. Listen to me, the sooner we go and get started the shorter this will be. We need to go now, Hendricks, we have to go."
Helen painfully nodded and allowed Ruby to help her to her feet. She vaguely remembered getting into the SUV, too busy focusing on how much her spirit was hurting right now. This wasn't fair, this was the cruelest thing in the entire world to have to be separated from everyone she loved. At some point, she was able to collect her emotions and start calming down. Breathing shallow, then easily, she stopped whining about how unfair everything was.
Life wasn't fair, but it still went on.
Reviews are appreciated my loves!