CHAPTER 11
[minor Trigger Warning for self-harm, similar to my last warning. No suicidal ideation attached.]
Pandemic. There were screaming children everywhere; it was all Emma could do to corral them towards the mansion. Where the fuck did that monster come from? There was a Cyclops pounding at the gate. The metal rattled with each blow. Because of course there was a thrice-damned Cyclops at the gate; must be Thursday! Without further ado, Emma activated the four-tiered boundary lines inside the ground, hopefully that would slow the monster down. The sun was going down behind it, so that the Cyclops' overly long shadow extended almost to the doors of the school.
"Emma! What do we do?" one of the little ones was yelling at Emma in panic. Pedro. Emma quickly gathered him in her arms, making sure he was the last kid on the grounds before stepping inside, locking the door and casting another boundary spell on it.
Alaric had guests, he specifically asked not to be disturbed, but this was priority one. Luckily, his office was on the first floor. Panting from her sprint, she opened the doors, , "Alaric, we've got a problem!" The people in the room instantly rose to their feet. If the situation were different, Emma would've parsed out why the hell there was another Mikaelson here, but now wasn't the time. But Caroline sent her a small smile, good. At least there was at least one other dependable face here to help sort out this madness.
"What's the situation," Alaric asked while he swiftly lifted down his favourite crossbow from its perch.
"There's a Cyclops trying to smash down the front gates, my boundary spell is holding, but not for much longer," Emma wheezed as she tried to catch her breath.
The Mikaelson, Freya, Emma realised with a small gasp, replied, "We've got this, but you should have some of your witches put up additional boundaries up around the mansion once everyone's inside."
As Freya and the stranger brushed past her she called after them, "I already set up another," Freya didn't turn back, or acknowledge her, but the man did. He simply raised a 'thumbs up' sign as they turned around the corner and out of sight.
Caroline lightly gripped Emma's shoulder, encouraging her to regain her breath. "Are the children accounted for?" she asked firmly.
"Yes. MG and Rafael were leading them to the gym," Emma replied.
"The new Alpha wolf," Alaric supplied at Caroline's brief look of confusion, which disappeared just as quickly. "You four, join the other kids in the gym, he said as the three adults also left the room.
There was a beat of silence before all four girls had varying reactions to Alaric side-lining them like that
"Fuck that."
"As if."
"Not again."
"Second story balcony has the best view," Penelope pointed out casually. The other three girls looked to her for a moment before she shrugged, "What? You think I'm missing a chance to watch Freya fucking Mikaelson kill a mythical monster? It's like you don't know me at all."
"Penelope, if you were me, how would you secure your silence on the whole tribrid blood topic?" Hope asked abruptly.
Penelope had a clear dark look cross her face once the surprise wore off. Hope using Alaric's tactic? What's going on–
Before the twins or Penelope could move, Hope had flexed her hand by her side, and suddenly Penelope was immobilized, while the doors were closed and locked, "If you hadn't eavesdropped, I wouldn't have bothered with this, but here we are."
"Wait, Hope, what are you doing?" Penelope scowled. Hope didn't bother gagging Penelope, because that would've been tacky.
"Not hurting you. Yet. But if I do, then it will be because you sold out the twins," Hope said coldly. In a quick move, she slipped a small razor blade from her sleeve and opened one of her fingers.
Three sets of eyes widened, Oh. So that's what Hope was doing…
"You're giving her your blood too?" Josie asked, admirably not cracking in clear anxiousness.
"Hope, are you sure about this?" Lizzie asked in an uncharacteristically quiet voice.
"If you have a better way to ensure your new diet remains a secret, please tell me now. Seriously. One of the vampire purists who helped killed my mother was a Nazi named Roman, and he was here for a while and may have acolytes still here for all I know. I've had all manner of supernaturals trying to kill me since before I was born, and all the time since, because I wasn't 'pure' one species or another; or because they wanted my powers as a tribrid, or as a powerful sacrifice, or a vessel. Hybrids wouldn't be treated much differently, especially since if either of you were turned, you'd be exactly two of three witch/vampire hybrids in the world that we know of." Hope was on a roll, and the other three girls looked upon her with mixed expressions of sympathy, fear, and more fear.
Unaffected by their expressions, Hope continued without pause, "I'm not exaggerating the danger of this secret getting out. If the wrong person knew you had my blood in your system, they could kill you, and once turned, they could imprison you and sacrifice you achieving gods know what kind of power. Or they could coercer you into doing magic that ordinary witches would never be capable of for their own gains, like binding you to them, and making you their nearly invincible slave; their one-woman army. That was the horror my much-more-powerful-than-all-of-us Aunt Freya lived for the last thousand years.
So tell me. Josie? Lizzie? Do you have an alternative plan on securing Penelope's compliance keeping your new vulnerability a secret?" Neither of the Saltzman twins came up with an answer on the spot, so Hope turned her face back to Penelope, who was still immobilised.
Hope's voice lost its heat and became chillingly calm, "I'm going to make you swallow some of my blood. If I hear a breath even insinuating that the twins are on my blood from the student body, I will blame you, and snap your neck. When you turn, your magic will be gone. And I know how much pride you take in your powers and heritage," Hope said quietly. Without much ceremony, she twisted her hand, dropping Penelope to her knees, while at the same time, she raised her other hand so it was dripping blood from her finger, moving inexorably towards Penelope's mouth.
There was silence, and then…
"I won't tell! PLEASE! People talk, people might figure it out on their own! I don't wanna be a vampire!" Penelope's devil-may-care veneer was gone, and in it's place was a terrified girl who was so uncomfortably vulnerable. "Hope, I won't tell! I won't! I wouldn't hurt the twins like that. You HAVE to know that! My powers are all I have left of my sister, please don't take that away from me!"
Hope was immovable by Penelope's increasingly desperate pleas. Her hand was over Penelope's face now. Penelope managed to turn her face so the blood landed on her cheek, not her tongue and down her gullet.
"I WON'T BETRAY THEM!" Penelope was beginning to hysterically cry, tears mingling with the flecks of blood on her cheek. In her desperation, she appealed to somebody else, "JOSIE, TELL HER, PLEASE!"
"Hope, please stop."
Nothing changed, except Hope grabbing Penelope's face in her free hand, turning the frantically sobbing girl's face upwards to forcibly swallow her life-altering blood.
CRUNCH!
At once, Hope relinquished Penelope, whose immobility was broken with the tribrid's concentration shattered by the blow to the side of her face. Blood spurted as Hope's teeth went through her lip.
Penelope crumpled into herself, still sobbing; snot, tears, and flecks of Hope's blood marred her face.
Hope's bleeding hand slowly reached up self-consciously caressing the immediately darkening bruise on her lower cheek and jaw, blood began to ooze from her lower lip down her chin. Eyes wide in shock, she turned to face cold blue eyes looking down on her: Lizzie's eyes.
The blonde's hand was shaking at her side, knuckles bleeding and definitely disfigured. Her voice quietly contrasted the rather loud action she had just taken to aid Penelope, "I don't know what the hell went on in New Orleans…but this? THIS isn't who we are, Mikaelson."
Without a word further, Lizzie Saltzman gathered a messily sniffling Penelope Park in her arms and strode out of her father's office, spartan-kicking the doors open, leaving Josie and Hope stunned in her wake.