𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘 - the poison

━━━━━━━

𝐉𝐎𝐒𝐇𝐔𝐀'𝐒 𝐒𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌𝐒 𝐎𝐅 pain were entirely muffled by the hand clamped across his mouth. The second Ophelia's hand had been clouded within a brilliant red glow, the poor young vampire gasped and trembled from the pain that had flooded his undead frame, his legs eventually buckling and giving way; sending him to the ground.

Before the entire city of New Orleans could be alerted to what was happening via his screams, Rebekah sped behind the baby vampire and swiftly slammed her hand over his mouth.

Ophelia's veins flooded with magical energy and the moment she knew she had enough to fuel the spell that was needed to ensure young Timothy kept his life, she let Joshua free.

The poor thing panted heavily; his arm had felt like it was on fire the moment she had touched him, scorching pain clawing at his veins. Slowly, Rebekah peeled her hand away, wiping it on her jean-clad thigh as she scrunched up her nose. Ophelia wasted no time at all and the moment her hand fell from Josh's, she began to chant beneath her breath.

Her words were fast and neither of the vampires, even with their spectacular hearing, couldn't make out a single word she was saying. She pictured Tim in her mind, going by the copious pictures that Davina had drawn and from the small glimpse of the boy she caught back during the music festival when he skillfully played his violin.

To Rebekah and Josh, it didn't seem as if anything was happening, Ophelia looked odd, standing in an alley, hands hovering in the air palm down as she muttered away. But after a few moments, her hands dropped to her side and she looked up with an accomplished smile that concealed the mild headache she had received from the powerful spell. "Done."

"That- that was it?" Joshua questioned; the amount of pain he had gone through made whatever spell she had muttered pale by comparison.

"Did you expect fireworks?"

"Honestly? I don't know, I'm- I'm new at all of this. But you were right.... that hurt like hell."

"I did warn you."

"Yeah... hey uh, so, like what are you? Is Tim safe? What are we doing now?"

Ophelia blinked at the young boy before sharing a small look with Rebekah who rose a brow in amusement at Josh's rapid-fire questions. "How about we go and make sure Davina's okay instead?"

"Oh! Yeah, we should- we should do that."

⋆⋆⋆

The girls went entirely unnoticed as they stood on the top floor of the compound watching the scene below. Davina was furious, shouting at the three men before her. Her cheeks were a vibrant red as anger flood her veins, her eyes were latched onto Klaus, the one who had stolen away Timothy and forced the poor boy to play his violin from a terrifying height, no way to get down.

Ophelia could not only see the pure desire Davina had to rip Klaus limb from limb, but she could see the ripples of hurt when the young witch directed her gaze to Marcel. Ophelia had warned him; he was her guardian; it was up to him to relay information to her but he didn't. And now there was no way that the poor girl would trust him again.

The harvest girl had enough of Klaus and threw her hand out, "You pretend to be so confident, but I know the truth. You're afraid everyone can see what you really are- an animal." Davina, without even muttering a single word, brought Klaus to his knees as he groaned in pain at the flaring and burning sensation within his head, "A beast. Why don't you show us your real face?"

Once again, her magic took ahold of the hybrid and forced the man's face to reveal his true nature. Topaz eyes shone and some of his teeth elongated into razor-sharp fangs. The young witch snarled, her face made up of pure malic as she flicked her hand to the side, snapping his neck.

She watched with her head held high as the hybrid slumped to the ground. "That's enough of you."

"Davina, you don't have to do this." Elijah pleaded. And though he had technically kept his end of his deal with the young witch, well, he had manipulated her, withheld the whole truth from her, just as Marcel did. Ophelia may have cared for him, but Davina deserved to take her anger out.

"You! You looked me in the eyes and lied to my face. Pretended you wanted to help me."

"Listen to me-"

Davina cut him off, making the words fizzle out on his nervous tongue as he awaited whatever fate she would bring to him, "You call yourself the noble one, but you're a killer just like your brother. For a thousand years, you've fed on innocent blood. Why don't you choke on it?"

Her threat came to fruition as she slowly closed her open palm into a fist. Elijah began to choke, falling to his knees as the blood that he had consumed traveled up his throat as sputtered out, down his chest and onto the ground. It was a crimson waterfall that pooled beneath him until he finally fell to the ground, unconscious.

From the corner of her eye, Ophelia could see Rebekah flinch just slightly. She had to admit, it was an awful sight to watch the blood spill everywhere and watch Elijah fall into it. But nonetheless, the girls stayed where they were.

Davina's sharp eyes snapped to Marcel who looked rightfully frightened. "And you! I trusted you. I loved you, but you were just using me to stay in power. You don't care about me. Why didn't you tell me about Agnes?!"

"Davina you're wrong... Ophelia told me to tell you, I should've listened." Marcel muttered as he held his hands in front of him, approaching the girl as if she were a wild animal.

Davina faltered for a swift moment, entirely unaware that Ophelia had actually tried to get Marcel to tell her everything. The dark, hateful look returned, her eyes darkening as she took a step forward, no longer afraid of anything. "Yes. You should have listened to her." she scoffed, "When you lost to Klaus, you handed me over like some trophy. Maybe I should boil you in bronze."

"I care. I took you in like you were my own blood."

The moment Marcel tried his hand at convincing Davina to let him off lightly, Rebekah lightly grasped ahold of Ophelia, delighted to find that the woman no longer reacted as strongly to her touch, just the slightest of muscle tenses.

Ophelia was placed back on her feet the moment Rebekah had made it to the bottom floor, and the siphon just couldn't keep the corner of her lip from twitching as Rebekah came up behind Marcel and stabbed him through the chest with a wrought-iron poker. Like his 'teammates' he choked and fell to the ground.

"Come on now, love. Don't tell me you were falling for that. Isn't it time for us girls to have a chat?" Rebekah's light tone chimed as Ophelia joined her side.

Davina met Ophelia's eyes and the intense gaze faded. Ophelia held her arms out and grinned when Davina threw herself at the siphon, wrapping her arms around her. Ophelia rubbed circles into the young girls back, her tone soft as she spoke into Davina's hair, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Agnes."

"Marcel should have been the one to tell me. He was the one keeping me locked away, trading me to Klaus, not you."

Rebekah looked towards the hugging brunettes with a light smile; she could see their bond and see the way Ophelia acted towards the girl. She cared about her, that much was plainly obvious and the original was glad to know that like Davina, she was able to bring out the softer side of the siphon.

The blonde cleared her throat lightly, gaining their attention as she spun to gesture at Marcel and her brother's figures slumped to the ground, "Now, that is impressive. And well-deserved, in my opinion. Now, before you turn on me, I have a surprise for you."

Just then, Joshua entered the courtyard, his face lighting up at the sight of an unharmed Davina. Though that look soon disappeared when a hand clamped around his throat, lifting him off the ground. "What are you doing?" The boy choked out.

Ophelia frowned as she watched the small scene. That certainly was not part of their plan. Rebekah, however, turned to face Davina, "Now, if I were Klaus, I would rip Josh's head from his neck, feed it to a nightwalker, and that would be the end of your friend," Her grip loosened and Josh landed back on his feet, his hand immediately rubbing at the red skin on his neck before the original continued on, "But hurting people is such a boyish thing to do, like how Klaus compelled your fiddler on the roof. And, while I am many things, I'm certainly not my brother."

Rebekah turned her attention towards the poor boy who had been forced to play his violin from above. He was shaking as he looked down, utterly terrified. Rebekah flashed a dazzling smile that didn't do much to comfort the boy, "It's okay, Timothy. You can come down. No one is gonna hurt you."

The poor boy's voice was shaking just as much as his hands, "He told me I couldn't climb down off this beam."

"Then don't climb, Tim." Ophelia called out, Davina gripping her tighter, "Jump. Rebekah here will catch you."

Timothy swallowed the lump of anxiety that scratched at the inside of his throat, the burning sensation fading just slightly as he looked to the blonde for confirmation. Upon seeing her nod, Timothy swallowed a large breath, closed his eyes, and shuffled himself off the high platform her was perched on. The wind whistled in his ears as he fell at a terrifying speed before hands latched around his waist and carefully plopped him on solid ground.

The poor boy, with legs still shaking like a leaf in a winter breeze, rushed over to Davina who untangled herself from Ophelia to hug the violinist. Timothy returned the short hug before his eyes landed back on the bloodied scene behind Ophelia. He pulled back, "Davina, how did you do all that? How did I even get here?"

"I'll explain everything, I promise." the young witch promised before turning to Rebekah, her sea-green eyes swimming with confusion, wondering why the original vampire would go against her brothers, "Why are you doing this?"

"Seems to me that you're the one holding all the cards, but you don't know who to trust. I've just proven that you can trust me... if you don't want to, fine, but trust Ophelia at least." Rebekah uttered softly, her voice calming. Her words seemed to have settled the little witch.

Davina's eyes drifted towards Ophelia, hesitance in her eyes as she looked to the siphon in question. Ophelia nodded, a smile tugging at her lips, "You can trust her." that seemed to have reassured Davina, and Ophelia was glad that the girl still trusted her enough to find comfort in her words.

Rebekah clapped her hands together, "Now I'd like to show you one more thing. Won't take long. You can bring your friends."

⋆⋆⋆

The Garden wasn't a pleasant place at all. Groans and moans of pain and thirst rang out from the vampires Marcel had sentenced during his time he sat on the Throne of New Orleans. Whenever a vampire broke one of his rules they would be sentenced to the Garden. The rule-breakers would be chained up and have a wall of bricks built up to surround them, leaving their faces free.

Over time, their skin would turn a murky grey and slowly but surely, they would desiccate. It was an eerie area, drops of water lightly splashing into puddles, the groans sounding like a hoard of zombies and the multiple moss-covered brick walls made it seem abandoned.

Joshua, as ever, broke the silence. He turned his head towards his friend and kept his tone cheerful despite the scene before them. "Oh, don't worry. They're not really dead, just really hungry... and I'm not helping."

Rebekah led the group further, each of them ignoring Josh's rambles, though Ophelia did turn to raise a brow in amusement. The originals heels clicked against the ground, the sound bouncing across the walls and echoing in their ears before she decided to explain where they were to the young witch and her little crush, "You think my brother Nik is awful? Marcel learned from the best. This is how he treats his so-called friends who betray him. Most of what these poor souls did is no worse than what Josh did."

Rebekah paused in front of one of the walls, the face that stuck out was a dirty, unhealthy grey. "Take Thierry, for example. He was Marcel's most trusted friend. Klaus tricked him into breaking one of Marcel's rules. Marcel knows this, and yet he keeps Thierry locked in here day after day, suffering."

"Why are you telling me this?" Davina muttered with wide eyes as she looked around, disgusted by the sight. A chill crawled over her skin and she shivered before looking towards Ophelia.

"Davina, you've been lied to for far too long. You deserve to know the truth; Rebekah thinks so too."

"Hey, hey, it's gonna be okay. I mean, you're gonna be all right." Little Timothy rambled as he approached his former classmate. The boy had regained his footing and seemed to have been taking things in rather well. His hands that were no longer shaking held out a bottle of water, a warm smile on his face, "Here. Drink something."

Davina gave him a tense smile of gratitude and reached out her hands that felt like a bowl of jelly to grasp the bottle, bringing it to her mouth to take a hearty mouthful in the hopes of quelling her nerves.

Ophelia made her way over to the witch, holding out a hand that Davina hastily accepted. The younger of the two curled herself into the siphon's side and breathed in the lingering rose scent. It calmed her immensely; the scent of rose and being able to hug the only person she could truly trust. Ophelia had never lied; she had sat the girl down and told her of her involvement with the originals, even if it wasn't the young girl's business. She had even tried to talk sense into Marcel, and though her attempts were futile, Davina appreciated her trying.

Rebekah placed a hand on Davina's shoulder, her cerulean eyes filled with a sympathetic understanding. She knew what it was like to be on the wrong end of Klaus's diabolical plans. "Davina, both you and I have been lied to and taken advantage of by Marcel and Klaus, so has Lia here, to an extent. Maybe together, we can get a little payback."

Ophelia's eyes snapped towards Timothy, the boy had suddenly begun to cough and splutter, his hands reach to his throat, clawing at the skin as if he was trying to create a hole to let air inside.

"Timothy, are you alright?" Ophelia called out as she unwrapped her arm from Davina and made her way towards the curly-haired teenager.

He toppled to the ground, hands digging into the dirt as he continued to choke. "It was Klaus. He made me do it. I didn't even know what I was doing until I made you-"

"Made her what, Tim?" Ophelia questioned the boy as she fell to her knees beside him, unbothered by the dirt that marred her knees and the stones that made small cuts across her skin. Her hand rubbed his back, hoping to bring him some form of comfort as worry tugged at her.

"Drink."

Ophelia inhaled sharply as the boy collapsed, his head colliding harshly with the ground. His face was almost blue. Davina cried his name, her hand grasping at the lapels of his suit jacket, begging for him to wake.

Ophelia opened her mouth, ready to comfort the girl with the news that she had cast a protection spell; that the boy would be fine. Before she could even utter a single word, Davina gasped, her dainty hand flying up to grasp her neck as it tightened uncomfortably.

Ophelia, Rebekah and Josh all watched on, horror in their eyes as Davina fell to the ground, coughing and spluttering by Tims side. Yes, the three of them knew that both children would wake up, but even so, watching children- that were just sixteen years old- choke on poisoned water and fall to the ground in a spluttering mess was wretched.

Davina usually had rosy cheeks, a wide and contagious grin and glittering eyes, but as she laid down, her coughing slowing alongside her heart, her skin became pale, sickly- with splotches of blue and purple. Her lips were pulled down in a frown and her eyes... the light slowly faded from them. A tightness formed in Ophelia's throat, the thought that if Marcel hadn't have gotten a witch to perform the spell, neither of those children would have survived.

The Garden was silent. Even those stuck behind their walls rotting away were quiet as if they knew to be silent. Droplets splashed into the small and dull pools of water and the candles that were scattered about flickered restlessly, as if, like Ophelia, they were waiting for the children to regain their color and light.

The silence didn't last long, Rebekah's phone began to ring, the sound shattering the tense and deafening silence around them like glass. Ophelia missed the look in Rebekah's sapphire eyes as she scowled at the name on the screen.

"Time to keep up the ruse," Rebekah muttered. Her finger swiped across the glass screen and if she had added even a little bit more pressure, it would have cracked in her hand. "I'm with Davina, and she's dying because of your treachery."

Ah. Ophelia thought; Klaus.

"Just tell me how to cure her," Rebekah spoke as she stared down at the children. Her eyes latched on to Ophelia as the woman stayed on her knees behind the children, her hand was curled around Davina's... and the closer Rebekah looked; she could see that her other had taken ahold of one of Timothy's.

"For both of them, you diabolical bastard. They're children. We could've dealt with her fairly."

Ophelia had to hand it to Rebekah, she was certainly good at playing the fool and withholding the truth from her older sibling. Spite was a petty thing, and yet Ophelia knew that the days to follow would be filled with nothing but pettiness.

Klaus had clearly muttered something else that irritated the blonde original, she almost growled into the phone before disconnecting the call.

Ophelia tightened her grip on the little witch's hand as she felt her fingers twitch, and within moments, Davina shot up with a sharp gasp. Her chest heaved and her eyes blinked away their cloudiness before they caught sight of Tim. "Tim?"

Before Davina could get herself into a state, Ophelia pulled the girl close, almost crushing her with a hug, "Timothy will be fine, I promise. I placed a protection spell on him."

"You did?"

"I did."

Davina pulled back, her arms still around the siphons neck as tears gathered in her sea-green eyes and spilt over, trailing down her cheeks that had regained their usual color.

A sob broke through her lips, "Thank you, Lia."

━━━━━━━

25-12-2020

Merry Christmas to you all, and of course, if you don't celebrate, I hope you had a fab day nonetheless! I'm going to be a bit slower on 'regular' updates. I've decided to start uploading in my own pace, as well as publish as many books as i want without worry about not having updates. So, please remember, even if this book hasn't been updated for a while 'update' comments will not make me want to update.