Author's Note: Chapter two, featuring 75% more twins. This was fun to write so read, enjoy, leave a review. The usual stuff.
Hanging On By A Thread
"Two weeks! I was gone for only two weeks and you're hosting fights between students?" Caroline yelled, continuing an argument that had been going since she'd walked back into the school some fifteen minutes ago.
"You weren't here!" Alaric finally yelled back, having grown tired of trying to pacify his co-parent already. "I was. Javier was determined to make Hope submit. It was either help her beat him or let them continue trying to force her to join the pack."
"Couldn't you have waited until I was back?" Caroline asked, a tired look on her face.
"You know I couldn't. Neither of us knew how long you would be gone. And if they had pushed Hope too far then she might have killed them." Alaric pointed out, giving his reason for having done things the way he had. He had hoped that Caroline would return before the fight and they could find another way, but she hadn't so he'd gone ahead with his original plan.
"Hope isn't Klaus, Rick." Caroline countered as she rolled her eyes. He had better not be letting his hatred of Klaus color his opinion of the man's daughter. "She wouldn't kill anyone."
"We both know that's not entirely true." Alaric pointed out, prompting Caroline's eyes to narrow at him. They had both been informed by Freya of the events that had happened in New Orleans, Hope's aunt feeling that they needed to know so that they could help her when needed.
Possessed by dark magic, goaded by her murderous father, a damn good reason to take revenge… none of those changed the fact that Hope, at only fourteen years old, had massacred dozens of vampires. If she had been pushed too far, lost control for just a second, then the consequences could be lethal.
"Hope isn't like that. She's kind and smart and all to willing to atone for her family's legacy." Caroline countered softly, having discussed as much with Hayley over the years. They were far from friends but having kids had changed them both. They had been able to bond somewhat over their daughters and their complicated history with Klaus.
"I know." Alaric replied, surprising Caroline by agreeing with her. "But she's also a teenager. A hormonal, grieving teenager who just lost her family and has a nasty temper. I would be worried about that combination with a human teen, much less one with Hope's abilities." For an ordinary witch it would be a concern but not as great of one as they wouldn't be able to kill so easily, they were more likely to lash out with a fireball or throw someone across the room. With Hope she could kill by just losing control, letting loose with enough raw magic to liquefy someone's brain.
"So what a-" Caroline started to say, before being cutoff by a shrill yell.
"Mommy!" An excited Lizzie screeched, running into the office and launching herself at her mom. Catching her daughter with practiced ease, the vampire gave Alaric a look as if to say they'd finish this later even as she hugged Lizzie to her.
"Did you miss me? Did you bring me a souvenir? Why's Josie hiding behind the door? Are we getting a new student?" Lizzie asked, rapid firing questions so fast they could barely understand her.
"No, there wont be any new stu… Did you say Josie was hiding behind the door?" Caroline realized, eyes widening at that. Handing Lizzie off to Alaric, the girl pouting for a moment at being placed in her father's arms before shrugging and throwing both arms around his neck, Caroline vamped over to the door, getting a hiding Josie to jump as she realized she'd been caught.
Sighing Caroline closed her eyes for a moment, willing herself to remain calm. It wasn't as bad as it could've been, she would've just heard them discussing(arguing about) Hope, which wasn't great but not as bad as it would've been if she'd heard them discussing the Gemini curse.
"Sorry?" Josie said, looking down at her feet as she tried to look apologetic. She had caught a glimpse of her mom returning and had just wanted to see her before Lizzie hogged her for herself. By the time she'd made it to the study though her parents had already been arguing and the temptation to listen in had been too strong.
"For some reason I doubt that… but you will be. You're grounded, for the rest of the week." Caroline said, not happy with her daughter at the moment. Both of her girls knew better than to try and spy on them, they had always made it clear that there were some things that were just off limits to them. Three days having to go directly to her room after class might help remind her of that.
"Ooo, busted," Lizzie taunted, smirking at her twin. It was rare for Josie to be the one getting in trouble. Usually it was either just her or it would be both of them.
"Need I remind you that you're also grounded?" Alaric pointed out, the smug look on the blonde's face falling at that.
"But Daddy! It's been, like, three days already." Lizzie pointed out, feeling that she had served enough of a sentence already. So she had accidentally pointed out that Hope had gotten her family killed, was that really so bad as to confine her to her room for this long?... probably. But she was tired of it and wanted it to be over.
"And it's going to be three more. Look at it this way, the two of you can take this as an opportunity to spend time together." Alaric said, not giving in to his daughter's pout. He had built up a tolerance to it over the years, he had too.
"We already spend all our time together," Josie pointed out. If anything, they spent too much time together, some separation might be good.
"This is a clear abuse of authority. No other students are ever grounded; therefore, this qualifies as cruel and unusual punishment and should be done away with." Lizzie argued, her twin nodding along in agreement. It wasn't fair to ground them, no one else ever got grounded. They were witches for heaven's sake, you weren't supposed to be able to ground a witch.
"We're your parents." Alaric pointed out, deadpan expression as he ignored his daughter's protest. "Which means the normal rules don't apply."
Seeing Alaric look to her for support, Caroline nodded her agreement. "Your Dad's right. If we say you're grounded, then your grounded."
"Mom…" Both twins whined in unison, having hoped their mother would be on their side.
"But that doesn't mean that you have to be miserable. Return to your room and I'll be by in a little bit to show you what I picked up on my trip. I just need to talk with your father first." Caroline said, both girls brightening at that. They hated when she left on these recruitment trips but at least when she came back she always had presents for them. It didn't make it worth it, but it did take some of the sting away.
"Fine, but it better be something good. If it's just fortune cookies, I'll never forgive you." Lizzie said, glaring at her parents in warning before turning and stomping off. Josie followed after her, pausing for a just moment to give her mom a welcome back hug.
"Next time let's shut the door before we start fighting." Caroline pointed out to Alaric once their daughters were out of ear shot, making a show of getting up to shut the door.
"Agreed. Remind me to have Emma spell it so that's its soundproof as well." Not that it would matter if his daughters were determined but it should help keep other students from hearing secrets they'd rather them not know. God knows he had enough of those. "So, did you find anything useful?"
"Many things. Just nothing about the Gemini coven." Caroline replied, a sour look on her face. She had really hoped this trip would turn up something new, and it had provided a wealth of knowledge on the covens of southeast Asia, but nothing on the Gemini. Nothing that would help save their children's lives.
"As you all should know casting spells on multiple targets at once greatly increases the amount of energy required and the strain it places on your focus." Mrs. Ortfine said, the Intermediate Spellcasting teacher summarizing the assigned reading from the night before. "There are multiple ways around that problem though, does anyone know what they are?"
Silence greeted her question, the majority of the students looking anywhere except at her while a few others weren't paying attention at all. As the silence dragged on Mrs. Ortfine sighed, "Very well, if there are no volunteers… Lizzie, any ideas?"
"Huh?" Lizzie said, jolting up as Josie kicked her to get her attention. Seeing the expectant look their teacher was giving her she realized she must have been called on for a question. "Umm… four?"
Sighing heavily Mrs. Ortfine shook her head, "Please pay attention to the lecture Miss Saltzman. I promise you will have time to draw hearts around young Grayson's name later."
That got an eruption of laughter from the class, Lizzie blushing and covering the pages on her notebook, currently filled with hearts and combinations of her and Grayson's names. Beside her Josie had a hurt look on her face that her twin was doing her best to ignore, choosing instead to glare at their teacher instead for embarrassing her.
"Now does anyone have an answer they'd like to volunteer, or must I continue to pick?" The blonde witch asked, glancing around the room to see if anyone would volunteer. Finally a hand went up, surprising even her as she saw who it was. "Yes, Wade?"
"I could cast the spell over an area instead. I don't know if it would take less energy, but it should take less focus." Wade answered, practically beaming as he saw the teacher nod in agreement with what he said.
"I think you mean we could cast it," Alyssa Chang chimed in, Wade's happiness rapidly disappearing. "You know, since it's magic? That thing you suck at… sorry, one of the many things you suck at."
"Ms. Chang!" Mrs. Ortfine snapped, getting the young witch to sit up as she seemed to suddenly realize she was in the classroom. "That will be detention for you. Come see me after class."
"What's with everyone getting detention for being honest now? So much for free speech." Lizzie said quietly to Josie, having agreed with what Alyssa had said. Bitch or not, she did sometimes make a good point.
"And that will be detention for you as well Ms. Saltzman." Mrs. Ortfine said, Lizzie having not been near as quiet as she had thought. Seeking a way to refocus the class she cast around the room, searching for someone she thought might be able to answer her original query. "Hope, any thoughts?"
Looking up from the book she'd been reading all class, Hope quirked an eyebrow in surprise at being called upon. "On Wade sucking at magic? Or the axis of evil getting detention?" She responded, unable to resist firing a shot a Lizzie, and by extension Alyssa.
"Neither," Ms. Ortfine said, a slight edge to her voice. "About how to cast spells upon multiple targets more efficiently."
"You bind them first." Hope answered easily, "Find a common attribute between your targets, add a binding layer to your spell, and let it seek them out on its own. Works for curses at least."
"I suppose that would work as well," Mrs. Ortfine replied after a moment, not having expected that answer. The type of binding Hope was talking about was highly advanced, used only for the most difficult spells. Most typically for powerful curses, such as the ones that had created the other two supernatural species.
"A simpler way though, is to have multiple witches cast the spell together. Divide the energy expenditure and focus across multiple witches. It's this concept that was the basis upon which many of the original covens were built." Mrs. Ortfine elaborated, disappointed that none of the witches had thought of such an obvious answer. Maybe it was because so few of them had been raised in a proper coven, thus the reason many of them were even at this school in the first place.
"Oh, and Hope? I will refrain from giving you detention today but please, no more referring to your fellow students as evil." Mrs. Ortfine requested, Hope rolling her eyes before nodding in agreement.
"Oh, of course, she gets away without consequences." Lizzie complained, glaring over at Hope.
Giving Lizzie an exaggerated smile, she waved at the angry blonde, before picking up her book and returning to her reading. Mrs. Ortfine was a fine teacher, but this was all stuff she already knew. The only reason she had looked forward to it all was because she thought it'd be interesting seeing what her fellow witches could do but sadly the only thing, she'd seen so far was an excess of snark. If she wanted that she could just go seek out Alyssa or Lizzie on her own time.
Out near the old mill Josie was glaring angrily at a row of soon to be rotten cabbages she'd taken from the kitchen storeroom. With Lizzie having detention there hadn't been anything in particular she needed to do and having only recently gotten un-grounded hadn't wanted to spend the rest of the day in her room. So here she was trying to put the day's earlier Spellcasting lesson to practical use and failing spectacularly.
"Incendia," Josie tried again, trying to set all six of the cabbages ablaze. Embers flickered around each of them for a moment, seeming as if they'd catch fire before dying in an instant. Pouting at the failed attempt she shook her head as she realized that she barely had enough magic left for another try.
Focusing she readied herself to try again when the cabbages suddenly exploded without warning, showering the wall they were against with leafy remains and getting her to jump a good foot off the ground in shock. For a second she wondered if she had somehow done that before the sound of someone snickering reached her ears.
Turning she found Hope Mikaelson of all people a few feet away, leaning against a tree, one hand holding her ribs, the other over her mouth as she tried and failed to keep her laughter from escaping. "I'm sorry," Hope finally got out, as Josie continued to stare at her in surprise. "I saw a chance and couldn't resist."
"It's fine." Josie said, a smile coming to her lips. She couldn't remember hearing Hope laugh like this in years, and it was hard to find a reason to be mad at her with it ringing in her ears. It was actually kind of cute how happy Hope seemed to be at having startled her.
"I don't think I had enough left for another attempt anyways." Josie continued, flicking her head to get her hair out of her eyes as she straightened her back. Lizzie should nearly be done with her detention, she should probably go find her before she found another way to get into trouble.
"From what I saw I doubt you had enough magic to start with. Who did you siphon from?" Hope asked, wondering who Josie had borrowed the magic to practice with from. Given how quickly the siphoners burned through magic she would have needed to take quite a bit to be able to cast area of effect spells, more than she was likely willing too.
"I bumped into a vampire on the way out and siphoned off of him." Josie answered, looking down at her feet in a way that made Hope immediately suspicious.
Thinking through the likely candidates Hope realized who Josie had borrowed her magic from, "Let me guess, Lizzie's latest fling?" Lizzie was notorious for having dated nearly every guy at the Salvatore school that was within a year of her age. Given that Grayson was a fifteen-year-old vamp it looked like she'd decided to move up. "Was he able to walk afterwards?"
"What? Yes. Why wouldn't he be?" Josie asked, looking up at Hope with a little bit of alarm. Of course he was able to walk. He had just happened to be napping in the common room… and she might have extended how long that nap would be for.
"Because you had a crush on him, and Lizzie swooped in and stole him." Hope answered, Josie looking at her in shock. "I may not care about the school drama but that doesn't mean I don't pick up on it."
"Ugh," Josie groaned, tilting her head back and looking to the sky for answers. She wondered how Hope had picked up on it, the tribrid hadn't even been at the school when she had really been crushing on him. "You can't tell Lizzie."
"Do I ever talk to Lizzie about anything?" Hope pointed out. Besides it was a moot point, the whole reason she had known about Josie's crush was because she had overheard Lizzie bragging about having stolen Grayson out from under her twin while in the bathroom.
"Fair point." Josie admitted, Lizzie and Hope never spoke to each other unless it was to exchange insults. Not that Hope and herself were all that much better. "But it's not like I'd expect the two of us to have a normal conversation either."
"I like you better than Lizzie." Hope said casually, missing the slight blush it caused on Josie as she shrugged her shoulders. "You're less evil."
"And hey, I think you actually got lucky with missing out on Grayson. From what I've heard he kind of sucks." Hope continued, despite having heard no such thing. She wasn't all that sure she could have picked Grayson out of a lineup of the school vamps. But it was the type of thing that it helped to say in a situation like this.
"Well the magic I siphoned from him certainly sucked." Josie said, Hope smiling at that. Siphoning from vampires was always tricky as their strength depended in part on how well fed they were. There wasn't much danger of accidentally killing one, but it was surprising easily to pull enough to cause them to start desiccating. From a werewolf or witch, she could pull more as there was a higher threshold before the negative effects began, although she still had to show restraint and not take too much.
"Like I was saying earlier, you probably didn't take enough magic. Increasing the area a spell effects takes a lot of energy. You only use them over casting multiple spells because it's faster and takes less focus, but it does actually require more energy." Hope explained filling in the gaps for Josie. Casting a spell over an area was actually pretty wasteful, as you ended up directing the magic into empty areas where there would be no effect.
"I'm not sure I even understand why it's supposed to be easier." Josie admitted, not too sure why you just wouldn't aim at each target separately.
"Think of it as needing to fill up several glasses with water. You can go to each one separately and fill them up, that would be just casting multiple spells. Or you could do as Mrs. Ortfine said and have others help, so you would be able to fill them all at once." Hope explained, giving a version of the explanation she had received from Freya when learning.
"You can also try to fill each glass simultaneously from one source, but that would require another tool to do so... honestly that one doesn't work as well with this example." Hope admitted with a shrug, Josie smiling at that. It actually was possible for a witch to do that, it just wasn't easy. "And of course area of effect spells. Those are the equivalent of just dumping a bucket of water on the glasses. They all get filled quickly but it makes a mess and there's a bunch of waste."
"So what would what you said be? About using a binding agent?" Josie asked, curious if Hope had an example for that.
"Huh, I guess... I guess it would be like telling the water to fill the glasses itself." Hope said, snickering a bit at the image it conjured. That one didn't work so well with her example either. "And here, since I interrupted your practice, I'll let you siphon from me." Hope continued, offering a hand to Josie.
Josie paused as she looked at Hope, eyes flicking down to the offered hand. "Are you sure? Most people don't like it when we siphon from them."
"It'll be fine." Hope said, stepping forward and grabbing Josie's hand as she continued to hesitate. Rotating them so that they were facing the remains of the cabbages Josie had taken, she gestured for her to continue. "Start by taking as much from me as you did from Grayson."
"Alright." Josie said, still not too sure about this. Focusing she pulled magic from Hope, stopping after only a couple of seconds.
"That's it?" Hope asked, looking at Josie curiously. She had barely felt that at all. "That's not even half of what you need. Go ahead and take more."
"Hope are you sure about this? I don't want to take too much and hurt you." Josie said, subconsciously squeezing the hand she was still holding. The amount she had taken was as much as she dared take from a vampire before there was risk of desiccation. And Hope was saying to take at least twice that?
"Josie. Mythical one of a kind tribrid here. You can take ten times that much and I won't even feel it." Hope said, reassuring the Saltzman twin she could handle it. This was the first time she could remember being with Josie without her eviler twin around, it was kind of nice. Maybe Dr. Saltzman was right and it was possible for them to be friends. Maybe.
"I hope you're right," Josie said, they're connected hands starting glow once more. This time she focused not on the amount she was drawing, but rather on the amount of magic she had to draw from. It was staggering. She had known Hope was powerful but this… she couldn't even feel a limit to it. With everyone she had siphoned from before she could always feel the limit to their reserves, whether it was her mom, someone from the school or her Aunt Bonnie. With Hope there wasn't limit she could feel, just a seemingly bottomless reserve of magic.
"Now, try your spell again." Hope directed, letting go of Josie's hand and nodding toward the cabbage remains strewn around the wall.
"Incendia," Josie cast, aiming her spell at about a foot-thick strip along the edge of the old mill. And this time it worked. Flames leapt up from the ground instantly, covering the entire area she had wanted. But they didn't stop there, instead roaring upwards, still contained in the zone she'd targeted but now towering twenty feet high, high enough to actually hide the old mill from view.
"Vid aer," Hope cast, having been ready for such a thing to happen. The flames died as quickly as they had appeared as she pulled the very oxygen they needed for fuel from the area, Hope holding the spell for moment to make sure there was no risk of the fire returning before releasing the spell. There was a dull wump as the air pressure returned to normal, both girls reflexively reaching for their ears as they popped.
"See? You can do it, you just didn't have access to enough magic." Hope said, smiling over at Josie. The other girl didn't seem as happy as she was, instead staring at the blackened grass and side of the mill where the flames she had conjured had been.
She had never lost control of her magic before like that. One of the perks of being a Gemini was that she always able to siphon just what she needed, there was never any risk of losing control. Or so she had thought. "Uh… thank you." Josie said finally, Hope looking at her curiously as she wondered what was going on.
"You're welcome?" Hope replied, head tilting as she surveyed Josie. The girl appeared to be spooked by the spell she had cast. At least that was what it looked like to her. But surely she had known that she was capable of something like this already?
"Yeah. Umm… I'm going back to school now. Lizzie's probably waiting for me." Josie said, backing away from the old mill and Hope as she gave her justification for leaving. With one last glance at the blackened ground around the building she turned and headed for the school, leaving a confused Hope behind her wondering what had just happened.
Close to two weeks had passed since running into Josie by the old mill and things were pretty much the same as ever. Hope and Lizzie still spat insults at each other whenever an opportunity presented itself, the vast majority of the school avoided her as she wanted, and she had no social life to speak off. One of the few changes was that Josie was no longer hostile to her, in fact the two had actually had a few relatively normal conversations since then. The girl had even smiled and waved at her in the hallway earlier, a perfectly mundane interaction for anyone else but completely out of the ordinary for Hope Mikaelson.
*Thwack* "Focus, Hope." Alaric advised, having just landed a clean blow to the tribrid's forehead with his bo staff.
"Ow..." Hope whined, rubbing at the spot where she had just been popped. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts she returned her focus to the sparing match, trying to use the unfamiliar bo staff to get even with Dr. Saltzman.
That had been the other big change, that she had started training with Dr. Saltzman again. She had found that she had far too much free time once classes ended, and the training helped fill the void better than just binge watching TV shows. Plus given the way her life had gone not learning everything she could about fighting seemed like malpractice.
Returning her attention to the fight she swung out with her staff, letting it slide out of her off hand and swinging with just one to increase it's reach. Dr. Saltzman blocked as she had known he would, Hope taking a step forward and pushing the base of her staff at him, before spinning it to take it up in both hands again.
Moving quickly Alaric blocked that as well, twisting his staff in an attempt to loop it behind Hope's and pull it away. He succeeded, or thought he had anyways, as he felt Hope's give way before realizing she had taken hold with just one hand again. Bringing her staff down to the floor she took hold of the far end with both hands before using it sweep his legs out from under him.
"Ow," Alaric said, rubbing his sore backside as he lay on the ground. Hope had a knack for coming up with maneuvers that would never work without the superhuman strength she had access too. It was something he was happy to encourage, even if it was a little painful at times.
"Need me to heal you?" Hope asked, having had to do so a few times already before today. Fortunately the man didn't seem to mind the injuries, and it wasn't exactly difficult for her to do so.
"Don't worry, the only thing you hurt is his pride," came a voice from the side, getting Hope to jump as she turned and saw Caroline there.
"Uhhh..." Hope started, looking to Dr. Saltzman for guidance on how to proceed.
"Oh, don't worry you're not in any trouble. Rick told me that he'd be training you." Caroline said, waving off Hope's concerns. She still wasn't happy with why it had started but she could see the merits of it. "Besides the old man was probably going stir crazy without anyone to fight with."
"Hey! Easy on the old man part." Alaric said taking offense with that. What she had said about going stir crazy he was going to leave alone as it was fairly accurate.
"You are old." Hope chimed in, laughing at the look Alaric gave her.
"If we want to be technical, I've barely been alive longer than you." Alaric said, getting Caroline to shake his head. It depended how you counted his time as a vampire but even if you ignored that there were plenty of other times he'd died.
"Umm, no. We're not counting from the last time you died." Hope retorted, shaking her head in protest. If they did that then she would be older than both her Uncle Kol and Aunt Davina and that did not work for her.
"He should add a year for every time he died, that would likely get him over sixty." Caroline suggested, getting Hope to start laughing. "But that's enough picking on the old man for now, I actually came down here to remind him that we have dinner obligations tonight and he needs to look... not like this."
Alaric sighed at that, having forgotten about their semi-regular smoozefest at the mayor's. The things he did to keep up appearances. "Fine, I guess that'll be all for today Hope."
"Same time tomorrow then? Assuming your old bones can handle it." Hope taunted, smiling to herself as she left.
"See what you started?" Alaric complained to Caroline, wincing as he started to walk back up to the school. Maybe he shouldn't have turned down Hope's offer.
"Here," Caroline said, biting into her wrist to open up her own veins, as having him wincing all through dinner would just be annoying. Taking the offered blood, Alaric drank deeply before stopping once he felt his injuries heal. "Maybe you should take some blood before you spar, that way when she inevitably kills you by accident you'll come back."
Alaric shook his head at that, ignoring the barb. They both knew he was too skilled to let that happen. And it wasn't as if he didn't have an insurance plan in place in case something did go terribly wrong to begin with. Living with supernaturals for so long had taught him to always prepare for the worst case scenario.
Stepping out of her room Hope made her way down the hall for a late night shower, having gotten caught up on binging a show Marcel had recommended. It had only been when she was about to get ready for bed that she noticed that she was still covered in dirt from the earlier training session and decided to make a detour.
She kind of hated the community showers, so she almost preferred taking one this late as there was no risk of bumping into anyone. Almost on cue she heard a voice from down the hall, "Hope? Why are you up this late?"
"Josie?" Hope asked, turning to see the girl sitting on one of couches in the common area. "I was going to take a shower, why are you out so late?"
"Uhh..." Josie stalled, not having thought this through. Of course Hope would wonder why she was also up. Sighing she just decided to be honest, it's not like Hope would care anyways. "Lizzie asked me to leave her the room tonight."
"What? Why would she do tha-" Hope started before realizing why. Oh. "Ew... ew, ew. I did not need to know that."
Josie laughed at Hope's reaction, it was just so unlike how she pictured the girl. "I take it you haven't..." She asked before she could stop herself, facing turning red as she realized she had.
"Ew, no. I'm fourteen!" Hope retorted, face turning redder than Josie's at that. God, Lizzie was only thirteen and was... nope, not going there. Did not want any of those images in her head. "Besides who would I even-? I mean with who-?"
Josie couldn't help but giggle at how flustered Hope was. "I'm pretty sure anyone in the school would." She said, giving her honest opinion of the situation.
"Oh, does that include you then?" Hope said, seeking any way to turn the awkwardness she felt back on Josie. Seeing the way the girl's eyes widened and her face lit up it seemed it had worked. "Ah, this is awful. I do not want to be thinking of Lizzie and Grayson having sex tonight. Or ever."
"I'll second that," Josie muttered, not happy with it herself. She was really praying that their twin bond had limits because if she had to feel any of it, then she might just have to find a way to get rid of Lizzie.
"Wait? So were you just going to sit out here all night?" Hope asked, looking over at Josie for her answer. Didn't she have a friend she could stay with at least?
"I didn't want to bother anyone," Josie said, looking down at the floor. That was part of it, and she hadn't wanted word of this getting out, which it inevitably would if she stayed somewhere else.
"That's such a terrible idea." Hope said, shaking her head at Josie. "Look, you can stay in my room for the night. That's better than being out here."
"I wouldn't want to intrude," Josie demurred. She and Hope weren't even friends so she was kind of shocked the girl was offering. And staying with the girl she had recently realized she had a crush on just seemed like a bad idea.
"Josie, take my offer. Look, I'm going to go for a run anyways and then get a shower. So just take my key and let yourself in." Hope said, walking over to the girl and holding it out for her to take.
"I don't..." Josie started before Hope cut her off.
"If you say no again I'll be forced to spell you to sleep and carry you there." Hope threatened, giving Josie a smile to let her know she was kidding. Mostly anyways. "You shouldn't be forced to stay out here."
"Fine." Josie relented, taking the key from Hope. "If only so you don't end up kidnapping me."
"That's the spirit," Hope said, before turning to head for the doors leading outside.
"Wait, what do you mean a run?" Josie said, having finally processed that part. It was a little late for that wasn't it?
"I have to do something to get the image of Lizzie's very special night out of my head. I'll probably be gone awhile so just leave the door unlocked and don't wait up." Hope said, giving an almost wolfish grin back to her.
Oh that's what she meant. Was she even allowed to do that? Going by the fact that Hope was already headed outside she either was or didn't care that she wasn't. Honestly either was equally likely. Turning she headed for Hope's room, wishing she had as easy a way to push away the thoughts of what Lizzie and Grayson were doing. Or the thoughts of what Hope had teased the two of them could do.
Running in her wolf form was always freeing to Hope, in a way that was nearly impossible to describe. Everything just seemed to fade to the background, letting her just run. She had talked with Aunt Keelin about it and compared their transformations, and it seemed like she had greater sense of self while in her wolf form than most did, due to her tribrid nature.
Still it was a welcome relief from her earlier thoughts, as they disappeared from her mind and her expanded senses took over. She could hear every insect in the forest, smell every blade of grass, feel the earth sinking under her weight and the wind brushing against her fur. It felt like freedom.
Not having any destination in mind she ran down to the pier first before turning and starting on a loop of the grounds. It was then that she picked up on something that didn't belong, a smell in the air that shouldn't be out here. Turning slightly she moved to head for it, curiosity driving her as she was unable to place exactly what she was smelling.
"Come on, shouldn't we at least go back to my room?" Lizzie said as she was pressed into a tree, her hair all sorts of tangled and her clothes bunched up in various places. Josie would kill her if she ended staying away all night when she hadn't even needed too.
"Why? Wouldn't it be more romantic under the stars?" Grayson said, saying what he imagined she'd like to hear.
Lizzie bit into her lip at that before pulling him in for another deep set of kisses. When they broke she could feel herself becoming more turned on with the way he was looking at her, his eyes dark with lust. He wanted her so badly but she wanted to make him earn it more. "But I have some drinks for us back in my room that I'd hate to go to waste."
Grayson licked his lips at that, his eyes darting down to Lizzie's throat for a moment, "I think I'd rather drink what I have here."
Lizzie looked puzzled for a moment before realization dawned on her. Ok, so that was kinda hot. Also not something she was going to be doing. "I don't think so, I'd prefer sipping on stolen alcohol." Courtesy of her dad's rather large stash, although she wasn't too sure she would actually prefer it. It was quite a bit stronger stuff than the normal wine coolers she and her friends split.
"But that's all the way back there, while you're right here." Grayson said, running his fingers along her neck before moving to kiss her temple and working his way down.
"I don't think so," Lizzie said, her voice still having a playful quality to it as she pushed his hand away. She was planning on losing her v-card tonight, not her b-card.
Grayson didn't seem to hear her, now focused on the blood he could hear pulsing through her veins. It was just so tempting, pressing his lips to the side of her neck he pressed kisses to it, even as his fangs started to slide out and his eyes darkened with hunger.
"Grayson." Lizzie warned, the playfulness gone from her voice. "Grayson, no. Grayson." Still he didn't seem to care, and she could practically feel his fangs against her neck.
"Grayson, stop!" She shouted, and that finally got the fifteen-year-old to pause, pulling away from her slowly like he wasn't even sure where he was. What had he been-
It was then that they both heard a low rumble echoing through the area, the source stepping out from the bushes a moment later. A very large gray-furred wolf that was growling menacingly at them. Actually it wasn't at them, just Grayson Lizzie noticed as it drew closer, the wolf's eyes never leaving the teen.
Stepping away from Lizzie Grayson held his hands up peacefully, not wanting a fight. Lizzie didn't seem to have pieced it together yet but he knew a werewolf when he saw one and there was only one kind of wolf that could change without a full moon. He prayed to whoever was out there that Hope had better control than most and wouldn't tear him apart for the fun of it.
Walking slowly Hope circled behind the tree the two horny teens had just been pressed against, it being large enough to conceal her. Forcefully reverting her transformation while hidden from view, she took a few seconds to calm herself from her heightened emotions before speaking. "You should leave. Now."
Not being an idiot the teen vamped out there, disappearing in a blur as he quite literally ran for his life. He didn't think Hope was going to hurt Lizzie, especially while not transformed, but if she had seen the way he was acting there was a very good chance she would hurt him, wolf or not. God, what had he almost done? He thought he had better control of himself than that.
"Hope?" Lizzie said hesitantly, recognizing the voice and you know, the fact that she was the only one who could shift at will. Not receiving an answer she darted around the tree, coming face to face with the girl. "Oh my God! You're naked! Very, very naked!"
"Yes, I know. That's why I was hiding behind the tree." Hope hissed trying to cover everything, while wincing at how loud Lizzie was being. Every vamp in the school could probably hear her.
Covering her eyes Lizzie tried to look away before giving up and just dropping her hands. "Damn you're stacked." She said, giving an appreciative nod as she looked Hope over. Girl had clearly been blessed in a way neither her or her sister had been.
"Lizzie!" Hope snapped, not believing the girl. She had intervened because wolf-Hope had thought she was in trouble. Naked-Hope though was wishing she had just let the girl be eaten.
"What have you got to be embarrassed of? I mean just look at all that." Lizzie said, using Hope's obvious embarrassment to push away the hurt and fear that Grayson had caused.
"I'm going to eat you myself." Hope said, shaking her head as she awkwardly scooted around to the other side of the tree to give herself some privacy.
"I might let you with you looking like that." Lizzie fired back, smirking as she could practically feel Hope's face burning with embarrassment through the tree. Huh, wait did she go for girls too? Hmm, well she could figure out her own sexuality later, right now it was just fun to tease Hope.
"I hate you so much," Hope said, banging the back of her head against the tree. She had walked right into that one.
For a moment things were quiet between them, the two of them just leaning against opposite sides of the tree. "Hope... thanks." Lizzie said finally, saying what she should have said to start with. She didn't know what Grayson might have done if she hadn't been there. It had seemed like he'd gotten his senses back but given that he'd lost them in the first place... It was better that Hope was there.
"It was nothing," Hope deflected, even though they both knew that wasn't the case. Moving away from the tree she got ready to transform again, wanting to get away from there faster. And less naked. "And I won't tell anyone about this."
"Never thought you would." Lizzie admitted, before turning to look on the other side of the tree as she heard something moving. She could just make out a gray wolf moving off into the distance, bringing smile to her face. Turning to make her way back to the school for a moment, thinking to herself that maybe her sister was right and Hope wasn't as bad as they thought.
Stepping back into her room Hope smiled at the sight of Josie curled up on the couch she had near the window. She looked so peaceful and cute when she was asleep, not evil at all. She was hating to admit it but Dr. Saltzman might be right about his daughters not being evil, even Lizzie. Possibly.
She debated for a moment about what to do with the sleeping girl, part of her just wanting to let her sleep. But she had a feel Lizzie needed someone, god knows she would in her place, and that could really only be Josie. Reaching down she pushed her shoulder, nudging the girl awake. The girl's eyes opened slowly, not seeming to realize where she was before seeing Hope kneeling in front of her.
"Is it morning already?" Josie asked, rubbing at her eyes. It didn't appear to be judging by how dark it was. Looking Hope over she titled her head in confusion, "I thought you were going to take a shower?"
"Wow thanks," Hope said, feeling slightly insulted. Did she really look that bad? Or did she smell? Resisting the urge to sniff herself to check she focused on Josie. "I was going to let you sleep but I ran into Lizzie while on my run and I think she could use your company."
It took a moment for what Hope had said to register but when it did Josie jumped to her feet. "What? What happened? Is she ok?" She asked in a rush, panic building before Hope placed her hands on either shoulder to calm her down.
"She's fine. Just...look, I don't even know how to say it. I just think she'd like to have you there." Hope said, not sure what to say but understanding that Lizzie wouldn't want to be alone tonight.
"Okay." Josie said, nodding to herself as she tried not to panic. If Hope was saying Lizzie needed her and had ran into her while running around outside then it was safe to say that Lizzie's night had not gone as planned. So hopefully it was just relationship drama, something she was well versed in. "I'll go then, thank you for letting me know. And for being willing to let me stay here."
"Anytime," Hope said, Josie looking at her with an eyebrow raised before Hope realized what she'd said. "Ok, so maybe not anytime but if you need to... then we'll see."
Josie smiled at that, leaning over and giving Hope a hug that seemed to startle the girl. "Thank you," she said before moving to leave. Pausing at the door, she stopped to lock it, looking back and shaking her head as she saw Hope just throw herself down onto the bed. Pulling the door shut she turned to head down to her own room before pausing.
Reaching into the pocket of the pajamas she'd been wearing she pulled out a note she had written while Hope had been gone. It hadn't been meant to be anything, just a way of distracting herself from what Lizzie and Grayson were doing. What it ended up being was a confession, perhaps not the best written one, but an honest one. One that detailed the crush she had on Hope and the, for lack of a better word, hope, that the girl felt something similar.
Walking back to Hope's door she paused, before summoning up the courage to slide it under the door. Shaking with a mix of fear and excitement she backed away from the door, shocked she'd actually done it. Well, no going back now. Moving away once more she made her way down to the hall, back to the room she shared with her twin.
"Lizzie?" Josie said, opening the door with the key she had been sure to bring when she'd left earlier. She was not going to get caught out in the hallways in her pajamas the next morning because Lizzie had locked her out.
"Josie?" Lizzie answered, surprised to hear her twins' voice.
Hearing the sound come from her bed Josie knew that Hope had been right about her needing her. Shutting the door behind her she crawled into her bed, wrapping her arms around Lizzie. For a moment she just hugged her sister, waiting to see if she would speak first.
"How did you know to come back?" Lizzie asked, wiping a couple of tears away before holding onto her sister's hand like it was a lifeline.
"Hope ran into me, she said that you might need me." Josie simplified, not wanting to get into the fact that she'd been sleeping in Hope's room.
"She did, huh?" Lizzie said, smiling at that. Ok, the tribrid was definitely not as bad as she thought she was. "She ran into me.. well us, outside, while in wolf form."
Josie nodded at that, not bothering to say anything while waiting for Lizzie to elaborate. She didn't need to know everything that had happened, she just needed to be here for her sister.
"Grayson, he... I think he was going to bite me." Lizzie said, feeling the way Josie tensed up at that. She didn't need to see her twins face to imagine the anger that'd be on it. "He didn't, obviously. And I'm not sure he would have. But then Hope showed up and scared him away. Well wolf-Hope."
"I'm glad she was there for you." Josie said, letting her anger fade as she heard Hope had been there to stop anything bad from happening. And it seemed that it had made Lizzie soften toward Hope as well, which might make things easier.
"Me too," Lizzie admitted, the idea of what might have happened having been running through her head every time her thoughts slipped. The ideas ranged from bad, to very bad, to dead, to very bad then dead. Not exactly pleasant.
"So she just scared him off then left without saying anything?" Josie asked, thinking that seemed like something Hope would do.
Getting an evil smirk Lizzie snorted as she remembered the rest of her run-in with Hope, "Oh no she said a bunch. Mostly some variation of 'Go away Lizzie, I'm naked.'" Lizzie ad-libbed, relaying the meaning behind what Hope had been saying if not the words.
"Wha-" Josie got out, more than a little shocked. Why had Hope been naked?
"Yeah, apparently wolves don't take their clothes with them when they transform. Who knew?" Lizzie said, having been surprised by that. It felt like something that should be covered in class but either she'd missed it or it wasn't. Maybe they hadn't wanted to embarrass them? "Also she is just... damn. I was jealous. And maybe a little turned on? Haven't worked that part out yet."
What? Lizzie was-? For Hope? The Hope she had just left a confession letter to? Josie's brain shutdown for a minute at that, not sure what to say. All of a sudden the idea of Lizzie warming up to Hope didn't seem so great.
"Josie? You ok there?" Lizzie asked, having noticed her twin freeze up.
"Yeah, of course. I'm just glad she was there for you." Josie repeated, forcing her body to relax even as her mind raced through the possibilities of what to do.
"Yeah," Lizzie said, a slight smile on her face at the thought. "You might be right, she might not be that bad after all."
Josie just nodded at that, not trusting herself to speak. Feeling Lizzie snuggle in closer, finally moving to go to sleep, she tried to do so the same. Her alarm was set for early anyways, she could just go get the note in the morning. Hope and Lizzie never needed to know that she had even wrote it.
On her knees outside Hope's door early the next morning Josie tried in vain to retrieve the note she had written. It was just too far inside for her to do so, even with the coat hanger she'd thought to bring to help. Why had she pushed it so far in? Why had she locked the door in the first place?
Every passing second brought more desperation for her. It was early and she was likely the first up but it wouldn't stay that way for long. She had to find a way to get that note back and destroy it... Wait she didn't really need to get it back did she? She just needed a way to destroy it.
Siphoning magic out of the walls she mentally prepared herself, regretting that she didn't know some kind of telekinesis or summoning spell. She was going to learn one after this, and if there wasn't one then she'd invent the damn thing. Laying against the floor she peered under the door, taking aim at the note she could just barely see. "Incendia."
Author's Note: Is it still a cliff-hanger if we all know what comes next? No idea, but I enjoyed writing it. And again, leave reviews, I always like reading those and seeing what people thought.