Evelyn found herself tied to a wooden chair. The room was bare; white walls, no windows, and one door. The only furniture in the room was the chair she was attached to. She tried to lift her wrists, but her skin sizzled under the touch.
"It's covered in iron dust."
Evelyn noticed a woman now standing beside the door. She had a grey business suit on with her blonde hair pinned in an updo. The woman looked like a stereotypical businesswoman, but even from where she was sitting, Evelyn knew that wasn't the case; her aura was a mixture of two colors.
"What are you?"
"You should recognize a hybrid when you see one, Evelyn," The woman smiled with the fangs of a vampire, but her clawed hands said werewolf.
"Ah, a vampire and a werewolf. How fun, but why did you kidnap me?" Evelyn asked. "I'm not really that important."
"Oh, but you are, Evelyn Hartley … you are," The woman said, moving away from the wall to get closer to Evelyn. "You're the leverage we need against the tribrid, Hope Mikaelson."
Evelyn did her best to stifle the laugh in her chest. "Oh, you got that wrong. Hope doesn't care about anybody, especially not me."
"We know her switch is flipped, but she does care about you, Evelyn. We have spies everywhere and we know more than you think. When she discovers you've been taken, she'll come for you, emotionless or not," the woman explained.
"You're wrong, Hope doesn't care about me, she told me herself," Evelyn sighed, biting her lip before returning the woman's gaze. "Besides, even if she does decide to come for me, she'll kill all of you."
"We'll just have to wait and see, won't we?"
The woman twisted her wrist as the door to the room opened, a giant man appearing in the doorway. He handed the woman a knife and cellphone before quietly exiting. When he was gone, she turned to Evelyn with a smile.
"If your plan is to torture me, it isn't going to work," Evelyn snapped, not fully believing her words.
The woman laughed. "I don't plan to torture you, Evelyn. We're going to make a little phone call and see how much Hope really cares about you."
Josie ran back inside and stormed past MG. This time MG set down his comic book and followed her. "Did you find Evelyn?"
"Yes, I did," Josie muttered.
She slammed the basement door open and ran down the steps, MG doing his best to keep up with her stride. Hope raised a brow at the loud entrance but didn't move from the opposite wall she was leaning against. Josie came up to the bars and did her best not to break something.
"Welcome back to my humble abode," Hope said sarcastically.
"Were you being followed before we brought you back here?" Josie asked, ignoring her comment.
Hope shrugged. "I don't know. What's it to you?"
"Were you being followed?" Josie asked again, just a little louder.
"Why do you want to know? Hope asked once more.
"Because I just watched Evelyn get kidnapped from the front lawn and I'm guessing that was because of you. Were you being followed?" Josie asked with tight fists.
Shock filled MG's features as he looked from Josie to Hope and back again. "Evelyn was kidnapped?!"
Hope and Josie ignored his remark as Hope sighed with annoyance. She moved away from the wall she was leaning against and approached the bars Josie was standing in front of. She looked her up and down before sighing again.
"Triad is trying to take me out. They sent a vampire for me while Evelyn and I were in New York. I went to one of their facilities and found a folder with photos, documents, and other things dedicated to me, but no names. I'm guessing they followed you after Evelyn betrayed me," Hope explained.
"Do you have any idea where they may have taken her?" Josie asked.
"As I said, all I know is they are after me, not who or from where," Hope said, leaning forward. "I can't help you."
"Do you even care that she was taken?" Josie sneered.
There was a flicker of feeling behind Hope's eyes but that quickly faded. "No, I don't. She betrayed me and got me locked up in this cage. So, no, I don't care one bit."
"She's your friend," MG said.
"Yeah and she betrayed me," Hope said, turning to look at MG. "I don't like liars and deceivers. If they took her, so be it."
Alaric and Lizzie came down the steps. Alaric had his phone in hand with concern. He put the phone to his ear and whispered. "She's here."
Alaric nodded, moving the phone away from his ear and pressing a button on his phone to put the call on speaker. A woman's voice came through the device.
"Hello, Hope Mikaelson," the voice cooed.
Hope leaned forward. "And who might I be speaking to?"
"I work for Triad and we have your friend Evelyn here. Isn't that right, Evelyn?"
There was movement on the other side of the line as Evelyn's voice came through. "Screw you."
"Oh, she has a temper. I thought you would've taught her better at that school of yours, Alaric Saltzman," the woman laughed.
"What is it you want?" Josie asked.
"Simple. Hope for Evelyn. Give her to us without a fight and we'll return Evelyn," The woman demanded.
"And if we don't?" MG asked.
"Then you may not like what you find."
Movement could be heard on the other end of the line. The sound of metal cutting through flesh came loud through the speaker as Evelyn's muffled scream blared loud.
The woman brought the phone back to her ear. "Bring Hope to the old baseball diamond on the east end of town at 8 PM … alone. We'll take her with us and destroy the abomination she's become. If you fail to show or fight us in any way, Evelyn's life will be cut drastically short."
"G…guys don't i…its n…ot wor…th…"
The line went dead, Evelyn's choppy voice the last thing they heard before being met with silence. Alaric put the phone away as the group looked at one another, not knowing what to say or do next. That is until Ethan appeared at the bottom of the stairs and by the look on his face, he had heard everything.
"Why are you guys just standing around staring at one another? Let's take Hope to them so we can get Evelyn back," Ethan said.
"If we do that, Hope will die," Alaric pointed out.
"If we don't, Evelyn will die," Ethan whined, coming to stand beside the others, glaring toward Hope. "Evelyn was taken because of Hope, so she should be the one to fix this."
"Not really in the mood to die," Hope shrugged with disinterest. "So, I think I'll pass on that one. Thanks for offering though."
"Evelyn's going to die and you don't even care!" Ethan yelled, lunging toward the bars as MJ held him back.
"No, I don't," Hope said without hesitation.
Ethan tried to go for the bars again but MG pushed him away. When he tried a third time, Alaric stood in front of him to block his view of the bars.
"Ethan, stop," Alaric demanded.
"So, you plan to just let Evelyn die?" Ethan asked.
"No, we are getting Evelyn back," Alaric said, turning to look at Hope. "And you're coming with us."
"Have you finally given up on me, Alaric?" Hope asked.
"No, I won't them kill Evelyn, but I will not give you away as some bargaining chip. We just need to make them believe that's the case and we can save you both," Alaric explained.
"This could easily backfire," Lizzie said.
"I know, but we don't have a choice."
The woman ended the call, removing the blade from Evelyn's chest where she left a long slash; blood staining the edge of her shirt. She made another motion with her hand, the same man as before coming into the room. He took the phone and bloody knife from her, handing her a washcloth for her stained hands.
Once they were clean, he took the washcloth, the knife, and the cellphone from the room. The woman turned back toward Evelyn with a smile. "You'll be free once they bring Hope to us."
"They won't give her up that easily," Evelyn pointed out.
"Oh, I know. Don't worry, we're prepared for a fight. If they decide to make things difficult, we have ways of dealing with that," she explained.
"And if they don't bring Hope?" Evelyn asked.
"Then we're going to have to kill you. Painful, of course. Probably send you back to them piece by piece. Starting with a finger or a toe first, eventually up to your head and torso," The woman explained.
"You're twisted."
"I may be twisted, but I know what I believe in. Do you?"