this took so long to write because I've been busy with school but I hope you guys enjoy it.

It was the twins' birthday and Shiloh was not having the time of her life. If someone had asked her that morning if she thought she'd fighting zombies and searching for a missing birthday girl with Hope, Milton Greasley, and Penelope Park instead of partying and mooning over Josie Saltzman?

Well, she would have believed them because nothing in the past couple weeks had qualified as 'normal.' In fact, Shiloh probably would've thanked them because she might have thought to wear more appropriate footwear. Also, she wouldn't have shredded her party dress changing into her wolf form.

"I can't do it!" MG shouted through the trees.

Shiloh snarled at him.

It probably should have occurred to Shiloh that something was wrong when she saw a woman striding down the hall in a wedding dress that morning.

But because she only got a glimpse from behind, she assumed it was something to do with the school's drama club, if the Salvatore School even had one. She was also a little preoccupied because it was Josie and Lizzie's 16th birthday and she was supposed to be helping with the decorating for the party that night.

Shiloh couldn't say no to anything involving the brunette twin, even if it was Lizzie that asked for her help. The outspoken siphon had roped Rafael into being her date and to help decorate for her party and he was using the pack for the manual labor. So, there she was moving a box of balloons and encountering bloody brides.

If Hope weren't having a session with Ms. Tig then Shiloh could have forced the tribrid to help her, or tried, at least. Sadly, Landon's departure hit her hard, even if she did have a hand in the decision to kick him out. Rafael was still obviously upset about the Honor Council's vote and was upset with Shiloh by proxy.

After locating the rest of the balloons, Shiloh handed them off to some freshman, before making a quick exit from the room.

Via the school's gossip grapevine, she had heard Caroline wasn't going to be there, which she knew would obviously devastate her two daughters. Even if she couldn't take that pain away from them, she could make sure her presents for both of them put a smile on their faces.

For Lizzie, she managed to procure some jacket the blonde was prattling on about at breakfast one morning. It cost her a pretty penny, but Shiloh didn't really care about the money.

Josie, on the other hand, had Shiloh laboring over the decision of what to give her. It wasn't that the girl was picky, but very much the opposite. It's liked that she'd like anything that Shiloh gave her, but the older girl wanted it to mean something.

So, she convinced Hope to have her Aunt Freya mail her one of the many offensive magic spell books collecting dust in the Mikaelson library.

Because Josie had an interest in being able to fight, and Alaric wasn't supportive of that plan, Shiloh figured the least she could do was provide some reading materials for the witch. It didn't hurt that Josie being able to protect herself better would allow Shiloh to relax; especially with all of the monster attacks.

She didn't want to think about what the next problem to stroll through the doors would be.

Little did she know that it already had.

It was by chance that Shiloh happened to overhear a hushed conversation in the library. With only a little less than thirty minutes until party time, she needed to get dressed and have time to look good enough that Josie might possibly look at her for longer than just a sideways glance.

The route she'd normally take to her room had a little more foot traffic than normal, so she decided to go a different way.

One that went right past the library.

"…she knows things that only Jo knows and let's not ignore the fact that I remember her, so she's not like the other creatures," Alaric's voice traveled through the open door.

Shiloh paused.

"Brute force has gotten them what they want, so they've moved on to psychological warfare," a familiar feminine voice warned, "tread lightly. If Jo is another monster, she can do more damage than any dragon."

Mrs. Tig was there too? Shiloh wondered. Who was Jo?

Surely, they weren't discussing his daughter, so it had to be someone else. Racking her brain, Shiloh couldn't think of anyone else with the same name. Yet, it must have been important if Alaric was talking about it and not chaperoning the party on the lookout for underaged drinking.

It had to have something to do with Malivore.

The adults shuffled around when Dorian pulled out a large book. Shiloh ducked behind the doorframe for a moment until they focused on what he was showing them, angling her right ear towards the conversation.

"There was something she said," the scratching of paper accompanied Dorian's voice, "There was an eyewitness account of a group of World War I soldiers that were buried in France who came back to like and massacred a village. After, they didn't remember hurting anyone…"

Footsteps and laughter alerted Shiloh to the incoming group of girls heading in her direction.

Not wanting to get caught and snitched on by some of the middle schoolers, she started walking in the direction of her room, her original destination before becoming distracted with an impromptu administrative meeting.

After all, the adults could handle it, couldn't they?

So, with that, Shiloh pushed it to the back of her mind and focused on what she was going to wear to a party. Admittedly, one that she wasn't even sure she wanted to go to. She'd probably spend the night standing in the corner waiting to have some kind of interaction with Josie, who probably would be too hung up on Rafael and Lizzy.

At least Hope would be there, even though her company was not always the most…pleasant. There had been times where the two didn't exchange a single word in a day, most of them early in their friendship. Although Hope didn't mind the silence, it suffocated Shiloh, who had a tendency to ramble when nervous.

Yet, somehow the combination worked.

Which is why when Shiloh found herself standing at the edge of a crowded hall next to a jittery MG with no Hope in sight, she was understandably worried. She didn't have time to dwell on her roommate's whereabouts because the DJ—yes, Lizzie requested an MC—was announcing the birthday girls.

"Let's welcome birthday girl number one and her lucky escort!"

Lizzie strode down the stairs in a short sparkly blue dress with a fluffy white shawl wrapped around her shoulders. Halfway down, she came to a stop and stood awkwardly waiting for her escort to bring her the rest of the way.

"Um, where's Rafael?" Shiloh turned and found herself asking the obvious question to the air.

MG had sped over to the damsel in distress and Shiloh turned back around just in time to see the vampire offering Lizzie a rose.

"Guys got game," Shiloh muttered to herself, watching as the two walked by her on their way to the dance floor.

Expecting to see the other Saltzman twin, the only reason she came to the stupid party, Shiloh waited for Josie to be announced.

She lasted five minutes before her thoughts turned from Josie's probably just running late to something's really wrong here.

When ten had gone by, she was already heading towards the door, with one last glance at Lizzie, who didn't seem worried and was having a good time with MG.

First, she couldn't find Hope, then Rafael ditched Lizzie, and now Josie was missing from her own party. Something was going on and Shiloh had a sinking feeling that it was not a good thing at all.

She had to fine Hope.

But as it turns out Hope found her first.

"Shiloh," the tribrid called from the other side of the hallway, intercepting the other girl on her quest back to their room. "What's going on?"

"Hope!" Shiloh's feet carried her the rest of the way over to her friend, "Where have you been?"

Huffing out a sigh, Hope explained, "Penelope Park trapped Raf and me in the gym with a barrier spell."

No wonder MG was so ready to take Rafael's place as Lizzie's escort. Shiloh would bet money that Penelope orchestrated the whole thing. But then, where was Josie? Certainly, the popular witch's ulterior motive was to be Josie's escort, and yet neither of them had shown up.

When she asked Hope about it, the older girl said, "It was just the two of us in the gym. Isn't she at the party?"

"No, she never showed," Shiloh noticed Dorian coming down the narrow hall with his phone glued to his ear. "There's something wrong, Hope."

"There's always something wrong at this school," but like Shiloh, Hope was watching their teacher with interest. "But we're about to find out," she began marching down the corridor, "Mr. Williams!"

Dorian looked up and breathed a quick "hold on Ric," before clutching the phone to his chest and asking "What is it, Hope? I'm kind of in the middle of something really important."

"Have you seen Josie?" Shiloh cut off whatever her friend was about to ask in favor of asking, what she thought, was the most important question.

"Did you check her birthday party?" if it didn't seem like he was stressed out, Shiloh would have found Dorian's response patronizing. "I don't have time for this," putting the phone to his ear again, "Ric, hey I'm going to sweep the dorm rooms. You find anything outside?"

Shiloh and Hope exchanged meaningful glances as their teacher brushed by them. If Alaric was out in the woods instead of supervising the party, then something was definitely off.

"Alright let's go see what Dr. Saltzman is doing in the woods," Hope announced taking quick steps in the direction of the forest the both of them knew every inch of.

Because of the special occasion, the witches spelled lanterns to float along the pathway leading to the dance hall, so at least they weren't subjected to walking in the pitch back when monsters could be lurking behind every tree.

Aside from the obvious ones that attended the school, of course.

"Where is she?"

Dr. Saltzman's scream broke the silence that had fallen over the two, causing the two supernatural students to quicken their pace.

Turning the corner, Shiloh immediately noticed their headmaster holding a mysterious woman against a tree. There was something vaguely familiar about the unnamed female that she couldn't quite put her finger on. Whatever it was would have to wait until her mind wasn't running a mile a minute.

"Dr. Saltzman!" Hope's call broke the aforementioned man out of his trance. "What's going on?"

He looked visibly relieved to see them. "Hope, Shiloh. I need your help."

If possible, the pit in Shiloh's stomach became even deeper.

In an abridged version, Dr. Saltzman explained the events that took place over the past ten hours, leading them to where they were at that moment. Apparently, Josie and Lizzie's biological mom and the love of his life, who was slaughtered at their wedding, had risen from the dead. Which explained the woman in the wedding dress Shiloh had seen in the hall earlier.

Not only that, but she also had been struck with a brief lapse in her memories where she had done something to Josie. Although, their teacher was pretty sure someone else was controlling her, Shiloh felt a sudden wave of anger towards the woman.

"Shiloh" Hope had warned when the other girl's eyes flashed gold and she took a step forward.

"Sorry," shaking herself out of her stupor, Shiloh turned to Jo, "Sorry."

"Girls," Dr. Saltzman was looking more worried by the second, which in turn had Shiloh's skin itching. "I need you to search the woods for Josie. I'm pretty sure she's been…buried alive," he choked out.

He didn't need to say anything more, Shiloh had been ready to move the moment Josie's name had been mentioned. It took some serious self-control for the dirty blonde to stay put through the entire, albeit rushed, conversation.

"We're on it," Hope was moving, and Shiloh found herself quickly following. "We'll find her Dr. Saltzman."

Once they were far enough away from the father and his resurrected wife, Hope turned to her, "We're going to need some shovels and a flashlight."

"There isn't really a lot of time," Shiloh reminded the tribrid, "Josie only has so much air before she runs out. Plus, we don't even know where she is."

"Where would somebody bury a body?" Hope's tone left no room for Shiloh to answer. "The cemetery. Also, there's an equipment shed right by the sports fields," Hope's mind was working better than her jumpy roommate's. "It'll only take a couple of minutes," when Shiloh didn't follow, she asked, "What are you doing?"

"Shifting, I can see, smell, and hear the best in wolf form," Shiloh kicked off her heels.

Nodding, Hope admitted, "That makes sense, but one of us needs to stay human in case we have to call Saltzman and I might need my magic. I'll be right back."

By the time Hope returned carrying the shovel and flashlight, Shiloh's dress and heels had been dumped in a pile on the ground. The silvery wolf that replaced her human form paced the clearing anxiously, lifting her head at the approaching footsteps.

"Alright let's go," resting the shovel over her shoulder, Hope allowed the wolf to lead the way to the graveyard.

The trek seemed agonizingly slow to the hybrid, but Hope said they shouldn't rush through the woods in case anything was lurking in the shadows. Although it made sense, Shiloh couldn't help the occasional low whine, ears flicking in all directions.

She was entirely focused on listening for Josie, so she didn't know they had company until a voice called out to them from the old mill.

"Are you going to howl at the moon wearing that?"

Of course, it had to be Penelope Park hanging around in the middle of the woods. Yet, Shiloh was a little surprised that MG was with her. Last, she had seen him, the vampire was living his dreams back at the party.

Shiloh let out a low growl at the popular witch.

Taking a step back, Penelope showed no other sign of fear. "Maybe you should put your dog on a leash," she raised an eyebrow at the silver-furred student.

"Sorry, no time for bitchy banter," Shiloh felt a twinge of jealously at Hope's ability to barely acknowledge the other girl.

Suddenly, the girl paused, causing her four-legged roommate to huff impatiently. Josie was currently buried alive somewhere and they needed to move.

"Actually, we could use your help finding Josie."

That got Penelope's attention, sobering the typically sarcastic teen, "What happened?"

It didn't take long for Hope to fill them in on the situation and it took even less time for Penelope to pick up a shovel and join their search party, MG close behind her. Despite her intense dislike for the brunette witch, Shiloh set aside her feeling because they needed all the help they could get.

That's how Shiloh found herself leading the knock off Scooby Doo Crew through the forest, her eyesight being the best out of all of them.

Something felt off, she could feel it in the air, and her hackles raised. She just hoped whatever it was left them alone.

No one spoke until they were just outside of the cemetery, Hope falling into her unspoken leadership role and divvying up the tasks.

"Shiloh, MG, listen for her breathing," the tribrid commanded.

The wolf didn't need the soul bond to follow her friend's instructions. Straining her ears, she swore she could hear rustling further up ahead, almost like hurried footsteps, but more…staggered.

"Hold on," MG came to a halt, "I hear something. Shovel."

Whining, Shiloh turned her gaze on Hope, conveying her nerves.

"Don't worry," the girl assured her, giving Shiloh a reassuring nudge. "We're gonna find her."

Neither girl noticed Penelope watching the interaction with interest.

They watched as MG drove the shovel into the dirt, pulling several clumps of dirt out of the ground. Suddenly, a hand shot out of the dirt and they collectively held their breaths as it grabbed the boy's leg, making a terrible sound.

As MG wrestled with the creature, Penelope stabbed it in the chest with her shovel, but the thing kept attacking.

"That won't work," the vampire struggled with the monster, before finally jamming his shovel through its skull.

Shiloh, Hope, and Penelope watched with bated breath as it dropped to the ground and didn't move.

Pulling himself to his feet, MG said, "To kill a walker you got to go for the brain." He added, "Everybody knows that."

Holy shit, Shiloh though as Penelope teased him for being a nerd. Zombies are real.

Scuffling drew her attention to a patch of dirt to her left and she let out a surprised bark as another zombie dug itself out of the ground.

"Zombies," clarified Hope, "plural."

Shiloh snarled, crouching low to the ground as the groaning zombies emerged from the ground around them.

They were surrounded.

Leaping forward, Shiloh clamped her jaws around the closest one and pulled it to the forest floor. Hope wasted no time plunging her weapon into its head and pulling it out with a loud squish.

MG took another one's head off, "Woo! Two for two, baby!"

"Penelope and I can handle the rest, just find Josie," Hope and the other witch stood back to back. "You too, Shiloh." When the wolf hesitated, she yelled, "Go!"

Although she didn't want to leave Hope, she knew Josie was running out of time and trusted that the tribrid and Penelope could handle the zombies. She took off after MG, who was using his vampire speed to move through the trees.

"Josie!" she heard him shout and skidded to a stop at his side, "I hear you, hold on!"

Not Josie, he wouldn't understand Shiloh's growl, who knew it wasn't the brunette siphon in the ground a moment before MG ripped the lid off the coffin. So, when the zombie shot out, she was quick to tear its head from its shoulders.

"Thanks, Shiloh."

"We're running out of time, you guys," Hope appeared from the brush with a zombie hot on her heels.

"Watch out!" MG called.

Turning around, Hope kept the corpse from eating her face off long enough to yell, "Penelope!" and get the witch to toss her an axe. Then, she quickly chopped it's head off. Shiloh was already scouring the area for any trace of Josie's scent. "Damnit, MG, get up and find her!"

"I can't do it," MG cried.

Shiloh snarled at him, before continuing the search.

While the two argued over it being too loud, Shiloh kept her nose to the ground, and an extremely muffled sound reached her ear. Blocking out the noise, she could hear it a little more clearly the further she walked away from the other three.

It sounded like…screaming.

Josie.

If it weren't a life or death situation, Shiloh would rather be skinned alive than suffer the embarrassment of acting like one of those hunting hounds. But it was Josie's life and she pushed down her feelings and let out a loud howl to get everyone's attention.

She didn't wait for them to react, she just started digging.

"Did you get something, Shiloh?" Hope called through the trees at the same time MG announced, "I got her."

MG appeared next to her in a blur of speed and started to help her move the dirt. Hope and Penelope were quick to follow and soon a hand shot through the dirt, the scent of coffee and sweet pea hitting Shiloh's nose, causing the girl's tail to wag.

Soon, they were pulling a gasping Josie Saltzman out of the ground.

"The talisman," Hope sighed in relief, "it worked."

Josie gripped the piece of jewelry that Hope had gifted her for her birthday, "What's it supposed to do?"

"Make quiet things heard."

Shiloh had already known her friend's answer. She was there when Hope had spelled the necklace and explained it's meaning to her. Shiloh just didn't think it was going to end up saving Josie's life.

For the millionth time, she found herself thanking God for Hope Mikaelson.

Everyone, especially the birthday girl, took a moment to breath and collect themselves. It didn't take too long because they all wanted to get out of the woods and wash the zombie guts and dirt off.

MG and Penelope helped the shaky Josie out of the grave and to her feet.

Josie stumbled, hands shooting out to catch herself, but Shiloh had cut in front of the younger girl and stopped her fall. Josie's fingers twisted into the hybrid's fur while she regained her balance, tears of frustration leaking out of her eyes.

Nudging her back upright, Shiloh waited until the girl loosened her grip to step back, the spot where they connected tingling all the while. She would let Josie tug her fur out if it made her happy.

"Thanks, Shiloh." Josie breathed, letting go, but giving her an appreciative smile.

Together the group of teens trekked back to the Salvatore School, Penelope and MG walking beside Josie, while Shiloh and Hope brought up the rear. Although, Shiloh kept a very close eye on the brunette siphon as they walked.

"I don't know about you, but I can't wait to get in my bed," Hope murmured to her when they reached the edge of the forest.

Shiloh would have changed back if she wouldn't be left stark naked in front of the others.

When they arrived at the doors, Shiloh sat down and watched Penelope, MG, and Hope enter the building. She perked up when she noticed Josie had paused.

The other girl took a few short strides to stand in front of Shiloh, looking very nervous all of the sudden.

"Hey," Shiloh's ears twitched at the sound of Josie's voice. "I just wanted to say thanks again. You know for helping find me."

Josie's hand moved slightly, as if she wanted to reach out and touch Shiloh's fur once again. In order to not frighten the girl, Shiloh kept still. But Josie drew her hand back at the last moment and blushed.

"Goodnight, Shiloh."

She remained on the lawn watching as the taller girl disappeared into the school. Hope promised to be right back with a change of clothes and returned within ten minutes having already gotten dressed herself.

Once Shiloh had run back into the woods and returned to her human form, she pulled on the pair of sweats Hope had given her and made her way back to their room. Her roommate was already in bed when she got there, blanket pulled up to her chin and facing the wall.

Shiloh wanted to the exact same, but an object on her bed stopped her from leaping onto the mattress.

Josie's birthday present.

Although she had given Lizzie her jacket earlier in the day, she hadn't been able to track the other twin down and resigned to giving it to her tomorrow. But, something urged Shiloh to deliver the book of offensive spells that night.

So, she closed her door softly as to not wake Hope and headed towards the Saltzman twins' room. As it turned out, she wouldn't have to go so far as Josie was on her way back from washing the dirt off in the shower.

Yet, what Shiloh didn't expect to see was her in the middle of a heavy make-out session with Penelope.

Her good mood shattered at the sight.

She didn't have any right to be upset about Josie kissing another girl but hadn't expected to come face-to-face with her and Penelope doing so.

Backing into the wall behind her, Shiloh

Backing into the wall behind her, Shiloh cursed when the thud echoed through the hall, causing the two girls to pull apart at the sound.

Penelope took that as her cue to leave, "Bye Jojo."

"Shiloh?" Josie took a step forward, lips falling into a pout when the hybrid flinched. "I…"

Shiloh didn't give her a chance to finish, she just shoved the wrapped book into the brunette's hand with a forced smile. "Happy Birthday."

Then, she was gone, ignoring Josie's call as she scurried down the hall with her metaphorical tail between her legs.