･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽
▎ 𝑾𝑯𝑬𝑵 𝑰𝑻𝑺 𝑨𝑳𝑳 𝑶𝑽𝑬𝑹 ▎
CHAPTER THIRTY TWO ━━ familiar faces

"JUST text me when you guys get there. And make sure you somehow buy us more time." Ophelia instructed Caroline over the phone.

"Buy you more time? Lia, what the hell is going on?" She frantically asked over the phone. "I would like to know if someone needs their head swiftly removed from their shoulders, sister." Kol piped up from the other line.

Ophelia shook her head, "I'll explain later just- get them out of there." She rushed over the phone hanging up.

The pack shut down the animal clinic, and now stood around the operating room conversing with one another.

"It was, literally, day one at my internship, and up comes a slide about this guy that they've been chasing in the woods in North Carolina." Stiles explained to the eight.

"I thought you were in South America?" Malia questioned Derek.

"I was. The bodies of the werewolves I told you about? They blamed me."

"So I learned that the FBI cornered this feral mass-murdering unsub-" Stiles further explained confidently.

Theo rolled his eyes at the boy next to Ophelia, who smiled faintly happy he was back alongside Derek. Another she had missed having around.

"I found a group of hunters gathering in a meeting place. I was trying to get information."

"Well, the FBI found out about it too and they were planning a SWAT assault to take him down. Dead or alive." Stiles nodded to the group who eyed him sceptically. "And, as we all know, though with Derek, it's preferably dead."

"Preferably." Derek affirmed with a tilt of his head.

"So I convinced them to take me on the Field Op."

"You convinced the FBI to bring an intern onto an extremely dangerous field operation?" Lydia asked in disbelief.

"I'm surprised he didn't convince them he could lead it." Derek remarked sarcastically.

Stiles pursed his lips, "I tried. Didn't work. Anyway, long story short, I basically, you know, had to save his life."

"You?" Hayley asked in disbelief.

"Yes, me." Stiles squinted his eyes at the hybrid.

"That's not how it happened." Derek shook his head at the hazel eyed boy.

"Yeah. I may have left out a detail, but that's the gist of what happened." Stiles nodded to the group. Who stared at him. "It was the essential essence of it."

"I'm sure." Elijah nodded to Stiles, a smirk graced his lips. Stiles looked to the Original with narrowed eyes, not appreciating his sarcastic attitude.

"You couldn't walk." Derek deadpanned.

"I was limping." Stiles defended himself moving his gaze to the wolf.

"You couldn't walk and I know that because I was carrying you." Derek remarked to Stiles.

Ophelia snorted next to Theo. Stiles looked to the red head with narrowed eyes. "Sorry." She murmured.

"They shot my toe. You want to see it?" Stiles argued with the wolf. Derek looked in amusement to the group. "My toe was caught in the crossfire. It was obliterated!" He squeaked.

"You sure you didn't lose a few brain cells along with it?" Theo tilted his head to Stiles who gaped in offence.

"I like him." Derek pointed to the Chimera.

"Okay, forget your toe and forget who Derek likes." Lydia rolled her eyes. "Even if it is a first." She looked to Derek who smiled sarcastically.

"Obliterated." Stiles said softly with a frown. Ophelia nodded solemnly, pressing her lips into a thin line trying to not laugh at her friend.

"Guys, it's not just the hunters. We've got another problem." Scott piped up.

"It's called the Anuk-ite."

"It can get in your head. Make you see things, specifically what you fear the most." Ophelia explained looking between the two.

"What does it look like?" Stiles asked the red head.

"It used to look like two ordinary people." Theo voiced up next to Ophelia. "Then they merged."

"All we know it's made of two faces. One human. The other supernatural." Lydia added.

"And it's a shapeshifter, just like us. And now it can kill you just by looking at it."

"Okay, so you're telling me we gotta go up against this thing blind?" Stiles questioned. "And face our deepest fear?"

"Yeah. Why? What do you fear the most?" Scott asked his best friend with furrowed brows.

"He hates spiders." Ophelia sighed. The group snorted.

Stiles gaped at the red head, "They're terrifying little creatures." He grumbled. "As head of team Stelia, I do not appreciate you mentioning my deepest darkest fears to everyone." He whispered loudly to the red head.

"Okay, well. Lydia, Stiles, Hayley and Elijah need to find Argent. Ophelia and Theo will head to the Armoury, rescue Jackson and Hope."

"I don't think we have time to wait for him. I've gotten through those doors once, anyway. I can do it again. And I have two Original's on my side." Stiles subtly coughed to his girlfriend. "And Stiles." She rolled her eyes.

"Can we just slow it down, for a second. So, we're actually talking about doing this? We're gonna do exactly what Gerard wants us to? Is that right?" Stiles questioned the group.

"I think that if we stop the Anuk-ite, we stop it all." Scott explained.

"Doubt that." Hayley murmured next to Elijah.

"Stopping this thing can stop Gerard and the hunters?" Derek asked the true alpha.

"Not all of them are hunters."

"He's right. Most of them are ordinary people acting out of fear." Theo explained.

"Monroe's not gonna change. But I think we can reach the other's, most of them." Scott said.

"The Anuk-ite is causing them to come from a place of fear."

"Well, fear's pretty motivating. Especially when it leads to anger." Derek added nodding to Lydia.

"And I think that if we can take out the fear, we can take out the fight in them too. They're afraid of us, but they don't have to be. They just need to change their minds."

"Well, we have to change their minds." Ophelia corrected.

"Okay, we can face the Anuk-ite. We can try to fight it blind. We can try to face our fears. But we still need to know how to catch it." Malia brought up a valid point to the group.

"We will figure that out. We always do."

"Oh, it is nice to see that somebody hasn't lost their optimism." Derek piped up looking to Scott.

"Not yet."

"I have." Stiles nodded.

"We will buy you time, Scott." Ophelia nodded to the alpha, reassuringly.

"You two. You're with me. And we need Peter." Scott nodded to Derek then to Malia. "Anyone who can help stop this thing or slow it down."

"Where we headed?"

"The high school." Scott nodded to his girlfriend.

"That's where we're gonna find this thing?" Derek asked, sensing deja-vu.

"No. It'll find us."

▂▂▂▂

"BLOODY hell Caroline, will you walk faster?" Klaus asked his fiancé who glared at the man, walking in her heeled boots. "Sweetheart, please." He smiled sarcastically to the blonde.

"Excuse me while I worry for our children." She snapped back at the hybrid, entering the hospital's dark hallways.

"Ophelia will get Hope. Davina and Kol have Josie and Lizzie." He assured the vampire, more so himself.

"Well, I'm still worried. Sue me." She mumbled, walking next to the dirty blonde man.

"Well, it wasn't my decision to put me on baby sitting duty to get these brats out of harms way." Klaus said to Caroline, his blue orbs taking in every inch of the hallway. Trying to narrow his search down on any of the McCall pack teenagers. "You and I both know I work best when it comes to revenge planning and killing."

"No, it was Ophelia's. Or Scott's!" Caroline lowly exclaimed.

Klaus sped Caroline off to a room off to the side. He placed his hand over her mouth, her narrowed blue eyes meeting his own in question.

"Think we found them." He said quietly, his eyes squinted to to the hall.

Caroline furrowed her brows watching as Klaus sped in the hall slamming his hands down in mid air; Corey and Mason appeared before their eyes.

"Ah, two down. Two to go." He smirked looking back to Caroline, who rolled her eyes looking to the relieved couple in front of them.

▂▂▂▂

"OKAY, eye spy with my little eye something that is red." Hope Mikaelson piped up looking towards Jackson. Her wrists ached from the vervain-wolfsbane filled ropes.

"God, do you ever stop talking?" Jackson muttered glancing down to the teenager in the cage.

"Ehh! Wrong answer." Hope imitated a buzzing sound. "It's the blood of the hunter right there." She smiled sweetly to the man who stood uncomfortably across from the two. "When I rip his heart out from his chest."

Jackson shook his head at the blonde's words. He looked to the hunter once more, "You're afraid of us, aren't you? Did they tell you why you should be?" He taunted, "If you're not afraid, why don't you come a little closer?"

"Shut up!" He demanded.

"Cranky, are we?" Hope teased.

"It's because I'm still part Kanima. Do you know what that is?" Jackson questioned the hunter. He smirked looking up at his clawed fingers. "Look at these claws. Come one. Come, take a look."

Hope watched the man walk over, she shook her head. Idiot. She thought to herself. Flicking out her claw she dug the sharp nail into the rope, moving it up and down.

"These claws can produce venom that can paralyze you. Even my eyes are different from her's." He nodded to the Original who looked up at the hunter with veins running beneath her glowing eyes. Jackson blinked, his Kanima eyes on show. "It's like having to switch from automatic to manual. Do you like cars? I used to drive a Porshe... But I can't drive sport cars anymore." He sighed. "There's no room for my tail."

Whipping out his tail it wrapped around the hunter's throat. Jackson then knocked him out against the wall.

"Phasmatos indendia." Hope murmured, as her bindings went up in flames.

Flicking out her claws once more, she stuck out her small arm from the cage. She grunted as she clawed at the lock, shoving herself forwards; pressing her body against the steels bars. She grasped the lock in her hands and crushed it.

"That was easy." She muttered, crawling out of the cage. "How rude to treat their guests like we're animals."

Jackson shook his head and smirked.

She stood over the hunter's body grasping the key's from his belt loop.

After unlocking Jackson's handcuffs the two made their way down the hallway carefully and cautiously. Coming towards a steel door the two halted hearing footsteps; stepping back from the door. A ear piercing screen was heard followed by gun shots and groans.

The door busted opened revealing Stiles Stilinski.

"Jackson?" Stiles asked.

"Stiles?"

"Jackson?" Lydia asked with wide eyes.

"Hope?" Ophelia called out to her niece.

"Ophelia?" She giggled running past the two to her aunt, engulfing her in a hug. Ophelia kissed her niece's forehead.

"Hope?"

"Mom? Thank God." Pulling away from her aunt and ran to the brunette next to Theo and Elijah.

"Okay, can we please stop this?" Stiles begged looking between the group, annoyed his girlfriend was eyeing her ex.

"Oh my God! It's you! It's really you!" Lydia shrieked sprinting towards Jackson.

"Okay. That's nice." Stiles nodded, "Okay, not too close." He awkwardly pointed to the two. "Watch the, uh, watch the hands. Okay."

"Stiles." Ophelia shook her head in amusement.

"Okay, all right, let's just break that up." He quickly pushed the two exes apart.

Jackson smiled seeing the familiar red head who waved excitedly to the boy.

Theo cleared his throat, standing next to the red head. Glaring at the were-kanima, alongside Stiles.

"You guys did that?" Jackson asked Lydia and Ophelia nodding to the hunters who laid sprawled out on the floor.

"Yeah." Lydia breathed out.

"I kicked down the door." Stiles piped up, pointing to the metal door behind them. "Now that we've all contributed, wanna get the hell out of here? Huh?"

"Uh, not without Ethan." Jackson shook his head.

"Or Roman." Hope pulled away from her mother.

"Ethan? What's Ethan doing here?" Lydia asked Jackson who walked past the two hugging the Original.

"They're together, duh." Ophelia pulled away looking to the two. She glanced to Hope, "Roman is here too?" Hope nodded with a frown.

Theo let out a breath, "Good to know."

"Together?" Lydia asked with a raised brow.

"Yes, together." Jackson said in a bored tone.

"Ethan?" Stiles furrowed his brows.

"Yes, Ethan."

"Together, together?"

"Ethan?" Stiles asked still confused about the two.

"Yeah."

"Oh, my God." Lydia's lips formed an 'O' looking to the were-kanima. "I thought you'd never figure it out."

"Can we got find them now?" Jackson scoffed in amusement, his cheeks tinting pink slightly.

"Oh, yeah wait." Stiles nodded pulling out his buzzing phone. "Hey, yeah. We are leaving momentarily, though. Okay." Stiles looked to the group, "We're on it."

The group made their way down the hall.

"I'm going to head to the hospital. Help Caroline, and Nik." Ophelia announced to the group, making her way down the opposite direction.

"Wait!" Elijah called out to his sister, he nudged Theo forwards. "Take Theodore with you, please."

Ophelia pressed her lips into a thin line and nodded. Theo nodded and followed after the red head.

▂▂▂▂

"DO you and your friends ever stay out of trouble?" Caroline asked Corey and Mason who shyly looked to one another and shook their heads. "Great."

"You hear that?" Klaus asked halting the three.

Gunshots echoed the halls of the hospital.

"It's gunshots." Mason pointed out.

"Good eye, mate." Klaus sarcastically said to the human.

The four took off down the hallways of Beacon Memorial hospital.

On the other side of the hospital, hunters surrounded a blue eyed beta with anger issues.

"I've got him. Go ahead Liam, run. It'll be more fun that way." Gabe smirked, his gun aimed between the beta's eyes.

The elevator dinged, two pairs of arms pulled the beta behind the steel doors.

"What are you guys doing here?" Liam asked wide eyed looking between the couple.

"Keeping your butt safe." Ophelia answered shaking her head in a disapproving manner.

"Is Monroe dead?" Liam asked the red head.

"Not yet." Theo said lowly.

The three listened to the heartbeats behind the door.

"They're still out there." Liam nodded at the Chimera's words. "I'm not dying for you." Theo said pointedly to Liam, Ophelia glared at the Chimera.

"I'm not dying for you either." Liam remarked. Ophelia narrowed her eyes to Liam. "But I will fight with you." He sighed.

The tribrid smiled at the two, "Good."

"Let's fight." Theo sighed nodding to the red head and Liam.

The doors of the elevators opened, the three roared sprinting forwards. Ophelia jumped on the first hunter throwing him into the wall across from them. Gun shots lit up the dim hallway.

The three worked together knocking out the hunters.

Seeing the remaining hunters down, the three looked to one another and smiled. The click of a gun echoed through their ears. Ophelia turned on her heel, and sped down the hall shoving the hunter against the wall. She gripped the man's wrist slamming his hand into the wall. Melissa McCall and Nolan Hollaway appeared behind the wall, Melissa shocked the man with her stun baton.

Ophelia nodded to the two then looked over to Liam and Theo in relief.

Maybe they could survive it all. She thought.

Gabe appeared behind the two wolves with a machine gun.

"Get down!" Nolan shouted pulling Melissa McCall and Ophelia down to the ground.

Bullet's flew down the hall, the two boy's ran falling to the floor. A bullet swivelled through the air piercing the wolf in it's upper back.

"Theo!"

AN 🦋✨🧚🏼‍♀️

literally have like three more chapters left of this book 👀

𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭, 𝟐𝟕𝟒𝟐