*** ONE HOUR BEFORE THE ATTACK ***
Alaric stood frozen in place for a long time after Hope ran out of the office crying.
He couldn't believe what had just happened. He couldn't believe it.
This was all his fault. He knew it. It didn't matter what Hope had done, he was the adult. He was in charge. He had let this happen.
He had been ogling and fantasizing about his student's breasts for over a year now, and clearly she picked up on it. Now he had hurt her, and there was no way to take any of it back.
He felt sick. The nausea had been growing in the pit of his stomach ever since she left the room.
Dear God. He thought. What kind of a monster am I?!
He had just earlier that day jacked off to the thought of her! He had felt proud of himself for sneaking a look down her shirt!
He was supposed to be protecting her, but he was a predator. The look of hurt and confusion on her face...the thought that he was the one making her feel that way. A girl that he had partially raised…
Suddenly it was too much for him. The nausea overcame him and he dove for the trash can. He landed on his knees and stuck his entire head into the bin.
He puked and puked and puked. Retching over and over until there was nothing else coming up.
Then he laid down on the floor, flat on his back and just stared at the ceiling.
How was he going to fix this? What could he say? What kind of apology could make a dent in this kind of fucked up situation?
Then he sat up straight. A sudden thought occurred to him.
What if she told Caroline?
Oohhhh fuucccckkkk! He thought, holding his head.
Not only would Caroline never let him touch her again...not that she did now anyway...but he couldn't face the thought of seeing the disgust in her eyes when she found out.
He had to talk to Hope. He had to find her and they would work it out before Caroline came back. It would never be the way it was before, but it could go back to some semblance of normal.
He knew he would have to do whatever it took to help Hope get through this. If that meant coming clean to the entire school and stepping down, then so be it. This was all on him.
Alaric hauled himself up from the floor, uncomfortably aware of the new crusted cum-stains in his underwear. There was no time to go all the way back to his quarters -he had to find her, and quickly.
Just then, he saw a text pop up on his phone. It was from Dorian.
"Wards triggered! Back tree line!" There was an indicator light on a map of the property.
Oh, shit! He thought. I don't need this now. Not now!
Nevertheless, he burst into motion. He ran from his office straight to his weapons locker to grab his crossbow.
Luckily, from there it was a straight shot out to the back, and he would be unlikely to encounter any kids. They would have all went back inside after the fight.
At least he hoped they did.
Crossbow loaded, he exploded out of the back door of the school and kept running toward the dot on the map.
Alaric hoped he would have a chance to make things right with...
...Hope?!
Coming up over a small hill, he saw Kyle splayed on the ground, and Hope had just launched a fire attack on...something.
It was the thing they had fought in Colorado! It didn't bode well that it had found them that quickly.
He ran on, seeing Hope's fire attack apparently nullified. The creature said something to Hope, but Alaric didn't wait to hear what it was.
In one smooth motion he stopped, aimed and fired.
The creature caught the bolt.
Damn. He thought. I'm gonna have to move in for hand to hand.
But then Dorian ran up from another direction, with one of the untested weapons from his office.
He yelled out something, but Alaric didn't hear it, he hoped to fire at the creature again, but then it was suddenly gone.
Suddenly, there was nothing in between him and Hope. She was looking right at him. Unflinching.
He was the one who looked away.
He talked to Kyle to get the lay of the land, while Hope tried to get in his field of vision and catch his eye.
Alaric just couldn't do it. Even though he had every intention of talking to her later, he realized he just couldn't face the girl now. He was too ashamed of his behavior.
Instead, he ran off to check the wards around the other sides of the grounds. Like a coward.
Running from a teenage girl. Very Heroic, Ric. He thought as he ran.
The crispy cum-stains in his underwear chafed him but he still had no time to go change.
He kept running, realizing that he would rather have another encounter with that creature than with Hope Mikaelson.