Erotomania

Chapter 14

Spending the day with her father didn't end up being nearly as boring as Hope had originally thought it would be when he told her that's what would be happening. It had been... well, Hope couldn't remember how long it had been since she had spent the day with her father. Which meant that it was long overdue. Especially given how close she and her father had always been. So while she sat at the table facing the window in his office, doing her classwork, and her father sat at his desk, Hope realized just how much she had missed this.

"Hey, Dad, since we had to leave a message for Uncle Elijah, do you think he'll actually call back, or do you think he'll just show up here?" Hope asked as she turned in her chair and stretched.

"I honestly can't say, Sweetheart. I do not keep tabs on your uncle's case load, so I do not know which option would suit him better." Klaus replied.

"I kind of hope that he shows up here. I think I'll have a better chance at convincing him to have the restraining order cover everyone that I want if he can actually see me." Hope commented.

"Hope, Sweetheart, please understand that with just one restraining order, at most, that I know of, you can protect the family, myself and Ryan. To protect your friends, they would all have to agree to, and request, restraining orders themselves. There is only so much pull that Marcellus would have on this matter, and then the rest would be up to Elijah." Klaus said with a sigh.

"I know... you mentioned that in the car. But if I at least mention it to Uncle Elijah, then maybe he could at least get the other ones started while I talk to my friends." Hope responded.

"We'll see what Elijah says when we hear back from him." Klaus said with a sigh before his phone rang. "This is Dean Mikaelson."

"He made bail. Please tell me Hope is somewhere safe, because this kid is furious." Marcel said.

"She's right here with me, Marcellus. Are you on your way over?" Klaus asked.

"I'll be there in 15 minutes. And I've already dispatched a unit to your house, just in case he decides to head there." Marcel replied.

"Thank you, Marcellus. I'll let my assistant know that you'll be here soon and to just let you right in."

After hanging up the phone, Klaus let out a sigh and glanced over at Hope who was giving him a curious look. He held up a hand to hold off whatever question or questions Hope was about to ask and headed out to speak briefly with his assistant. When he came back into the office, Hope didn't give him a chance to stop her questions.

"Why is Uncle Marcel coming here? What happened with Landon? We need to get Ryan here. I knew we shouldn't be apart." Hope rambled.

"Marcellus is on his way so that I can give him everything on what Landon did to you last week. My assistant is already sending for Ryan. And as for Landon... he somehow managed to make bail from this morning. Marcellus already has officers going over to the house. Everything is going to be okay, Hope. I promise you that."

Hope nodded once as her eyes started to sting with tears and she wrapped her arms around herself. When that action didn't help, Hope pulled her legs up onto the chair, wrapped her arms around her legs and rested her cheek on the top of her knees. Hating seeing his daughter looking so vulnerable, Klaus moved over to lean against the table and pulled Hope into his side, rubbing her back to soothe her. They stayed like that until Ryan rushed into the office, and then Klaus moved away from his daughter so that Ryan could pull Hope into a tight hug. As Klaus sat down at his desk, he could hear Ryan muttering something to Hope, but couldn't make out the exact words. From where he was sitting, Klaus could see Hope relax slightly, so he figured whatever Ryan was saying was helping. It wasn't much later that Marcel strode into the office, closing and locking the door behind him as he did. The conversation that was about to transpire couldn't allow anyone barging into the office and interrupting.

"First things first, how the hell was he able to make bail?" Klaus asked.

"I don't know." Marcel replied with a shrug.

"Our father. It's the only way. There's no way that Seylah would have been able to make up even half of whatever bail was set at in just a few hours. The only way that Landon got out was if Seylah managed to get ahold of my father." Ryan explained with a frown.

"I thought he walked out on you guys when you were 10?" Hope asked.

"He did... but Landon was always his favorite son." Ryan replied as his frown deepened.

"Hey, you're my favorite." Hope whispered and Ryan pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"I'll have a couple of officers look into him. Now... onto why you asked me to stop by Klaus; other than trespassing, what else has he done?" Marcel asked.

"He assaulted Hope last week." Klaus replied, pulling a stack of folders out of a locked drawer and handing them over.

"Why am I just now hearing about this? This should have been brought to my attention when it happened." Marcel inquired as he flipped through everything.

"I made an administrative decision, Marcellus. Based on the multitude of cameras we have in each hallway; I was able to talk to each person that was present when Landon assaulted Hope. I wanted to get everyone's account of the incident before I brought it to you. The only two accounts that you don't have there are Hope and Ryan's." Klaus explained.

"Klaus, you do realize that I'm still going to have to contact each and every one of these students, right? Get each of their statements again."

"Of course. Start with them."

Hope's eyes widened as she realized that her father was pointing to her and Ryan. Glancing at everyone else in the room, Hope sighed.

"I was leaving class and was about to go meet up with Ryan, but Landon stopped me before I could get very far. It was actually the second time that day that he cornered me outside one of my classes. He had accused me earlier that day of lying about how I spent my weekend, which, technically I did, but only because I was protecting Ryan, but Landon didn't need to know that. When he cornered me that second time, he wanted to make sure I didn't still think he accused me of lying, but I told him that's exactly what he had done and went to walk around him. At some point during the brief conversation, I saw Ryan over Landon's shoulder, so when I went to walk around Landon, it was to follow the direction that Ryan had been going. But Landon grabbed my arm. I told him to let me go, twice, and instead of doing that, he kissed me. I didn't have a chance to react because Dad and Ryan pulled us apart." Hope explained. "I was too disgusted and sick over the entire thing to even think about going to you, Uncle Marcel. The next morning, when the memories of what he had done came back, I got physically sick."

"What about you, Ryan?" Marcel asked.

"Hope and I had made plans for that afternoon, so after class, I was making my way over to her classroom to meet her, and that's when I saw her talking to Landon. The look that Hope gave me over Landon's shoulder had me concerned, and I came to get Klaus. When I came to get him, Landon hadn't grabbed Hope's arm yet, but by the time Klaus and I got back, not only was Landon still gripping Hope's arm, but it was clear that the kiss was being forced. Hope's body was rigid, and by then... well, I knew how Hope reacts to a kiss that she wants to be happening, and what I saw wasn't it. So I grabbed Landon and pulled him away from her, getting him in a headlock while Klaus pulled Hope back." Ryan replied.

"Was there any thing that could have been construed as you having wanted something more than friendship with Landon?" Marcel asked.

"I don't think so. I always treat all of my friends the same way. I never showed any of them more attention than any of the others. Other than Ryan. I tried to hide my feelings for him, but everyone else knew. Lizzie, Josie, Kaleb, MG, Dad... hell, even Josh and Aiden seemed to know. Rafael even knew." Hope replied.

"May I offer a possibility as to what might be going on?" Klaus asked.

"Please do, Klaus." Marcel replied.

"I talked to Keelin, reached out to her about the way that Landon has been acting, based on what I've witnessed, and what Hope and Ryan have told me, and she believes, but isn't 100% certain, that he's suffering from erotomania." Klaus commented.

"What's that?" Hope asked.

"It's when someone, more times than not a female of lower standing, strongly believes that someone of higher standing, is in love with them. In this case, Landon's firm belief that you wanted him to kiss you; that if I went to get you this morning to talk to him, that you would want to talk to him; seeing your natural empathy and kindness towards everyone around you as only being directed towards him. If he is, in fact, suffering from this, then he would see these as ways of you showing him you love him." Klaus explained.

"Hope, I think he might be right. All of Landon's behavior lately attests to this." Ryan said softly.

"What will happen if this theory that you and Aunt Keelin have goes unchecked?" Hope asked.

"There's no telling how bad things will get. But chances are that Landon could turn violent. That his delusions about the perceived love that you have for him could start to corrupt others. That he could lash out at anyone he sees as standing in his way."

"So you and Ryan would be in the most danger." Hope commented.

"Myself, Ryan, your friends. Landon hasn't tried going against any of them to get to you, but that doesn't mean that he won't if this goes unchecked." Klaus said.

"I don't see him agreeing to getting checked out, Klaus." Marcel said.

"Which is why we need to convince Seylah to do it." Ryan replied with a sigh. "She's the only one that could convince him to go through with the tests; although I'm not really sure how something like this is tested."

No one knew what to say after that, because frankly, none of them knew how someone could run tests to determine if Landon was actually suffering from this. After a few minutes of silence, Marcel cleared his throat.

"I'm going to take these files down to the station. If one of you can figure out more about this erotomania thing, call me and let me know. In the meantime, I think it would be safer for all three of you if you stay somewhere else for the time being, just until we're able to get a better handle on what we're dealing with here." Marcel said.

"Thank you, Marcellus, we will do just that." Klaus replied and with a nod, Marcel left the office.

"Are we really going to find somewhere else to stay, Dad?" Hope asked.

"Yes, we are. I will not put you in danger, Hope. He has shown up at our house twice now and has gotten aggressive both times. And neither Ryan nor I can be at the house 24/7. If we stay somewhere else for now, he has a less likely chance of being able to get to you."

Hope nodded before wrapping her arms tightly around Ryan's waist and burying her face in his chest. She didn't like the idea of going to stay somewhere else, and thus multiplying the number of people that might be in danger by a lot, but her father was determined to do whatever needed to be done to keep her safe. And it was for the fact alone that Hope didn't voice her discontent on the idea. Well, that, and the fact that Ryan was on board with the idea. And if both Ryan and her father were agreeing with each other, then there had to be something else about the idea that they saw that she wasn't seeing.

Legacies – Erotomania – Legacies

That night, Hope was crawling into a bed that was so unfamiliar that she wasn't entirely sure that she would be able to get any sleep. The only thing that made it better was that Ryan was pulling her into his embrace and kissing her neck. And then Ryan's hands were roaming over her body, nothing to insistent, which Hope appreciated, but the hand that had been resting on her stomach when he had pulled her into him did travel over her hip and along her thigh.

"I've missed you, Princess." Ryan muttered before pressing a kiss to her neck, just behind her ear.

"We've been together most of the day." Hope murmured.

"Not alone. I wasn't about to do what I've been thinking about doing in front of your father and uncle." Ryan replied as he gently nudged her legs apart as Hope rolled onto her back.

"And what have you been thinking of doing, Ryan?" Hope asked as she ran her hands up Ryan's chest and around his neck to curl the hair at the base of his neck around her finger.

"We spent a good majority of yesterday afternoon making love to each other, Princess. And I have not been able to get your gorgeous body off of my mind all day. Being buried deep inside you... the thought of doing that again made it very difficult to concentrate during my classes today." Ryan explained. "And don't even get me started on how much I couldn't stop thinking about you during work tonight." He added as he moved to hover over Hope.

"Well... we're alone now. And I could definitely use some loving after the stressful day that we've both had." Hope replied as she pulled him down for a deep kiss that had her swiping her tongue across his lips.

Everything after that seemed to go into overdrive. One second Hope was slipping her tongue into Ryan's mouth and the next her and Ryan's clothes were thrown about their hotel room. Rolling them over so that she was straddling Ryan's lap, Hope was thankful that her father had gotten them a separate room than him. Whether it was because he figured they would end up having sex, or just to give them some privacy, Hope didn't know, but it didn't matter. Bracing herself on Ryan's chest, Hope slowly sank down on his dick, letting out a shuddering breath once she had taken him completely in.

"How do you want to do this, Princess? Hard and fast, or..." Ryan asked.

"I just want you to make love to me, Ryan Clarke." Hope replied as a moan.

"That I can do."

Rolling them back over, Ryan ran his hands up and down Hope's outer thighs before lifting them up to wrap around his waist. Leaning down to capture her lips in another kiss, he started moving slowly, wanting to prolong this as much as he could. Unfortunately, having been thinking about sex with Hope all day had Ryan extremely close from the second she had taken him all the way in. Reaching between their bodies, Ryan rubbed at Hope's clit. He refused to reach his own release before Hope was at least close to hers, if not already cumming herself. When Hope let out a soft moan as Ryan came into contact with her clit, Ryan knew she was at least close.

"Ryan?" Hope asked in a small voice.

"Do you want to stop?" Ryan responded, pulling back to look into her eyes.

"God no... I just... I have to tell you something, but I don't want you to get freaked out, and I'm not even entirely sure what the best way to say what I need to say is." Hope said as she gripped Ryan's shoulders and lifted her hips off the bed.

"Whatever it is, Princess, I would prefer you just be blunt about it." Ryan replied through a groan.

"I know that we just became boyfriend and girlfriend yesterday... but I think I've felt this way for a while now, so it doesn't feel too soon..." Hope started before taking a deep breath and moving her hands from Ryan's shoulders to his face. "I love you Ryan. I think I started to fall in love with you the day we ran into each other on campus." She said. "And if you aren't able to, or ready, to say it back, I understand... although if you don't say something I'll think I just blew the best thing that's ever happened in my life... so..." She trailed off, biting her lower lip.

"Hope Andrea Mikaelson, I love you so much. After Nicole, I almost gave up on love, but after being around you these last few years, I'm glad that I didn't." Ryan said. "You asked me yesterday if Nicole had been my only love, and I told you it was a dangerous question to ask. I've known that I love you for quite a while. I just didn't say it yesterday because I didn't want to scare you off. I am the luckiest guy in the world to have your love, Hope. And I promise that I will do everything I can, every day, to be worthy of that love, and showing you just how much I love you."