-3-
Hope let Uncle Elijah drive since the rain and wind had picked up. His vampire sight could navigate a fly through a blizzard. They did not speak, but she sang along with the radio for the full forty minutes it took to get to Hayley's cabin at the bayou. She snuck looks at him on their way. She knew he was nervous…or something. It was hard to tell with him. The glow of the radio cast up his face, giving his sharp and masculine features a soft blue tint.
Hope blinked away when he glanced towards her, likely feeling her eyes. He never liked it when she stared and even scolded her once when she was thirteen for it while she was typing up an essay on the American Revolution. She'd just been trying to picture him in one of those weird ass white curly wigs men wore back then.
Their feet sunk into the mushy earth outside of the old shack on the bayou; Crescent territory. Hope was glad she wore her mother's boots instead of the flip flops that surely would've been sucked into the mud. Uncle Elijah hung back as Hope slowly opened the door, calling her mother's name. With a snap of her fingers, the cabin lit up with flickering candles.
"Wake up sleepy head. I brought Uncle Elijah," Hope called to her.
This perked Hayley's wolfself up, and the scratch and thud of her paws hitting the plank flooring was drowned out by another roll of thunder. Hope placed her hands around the thick silver fur of her werewolf mother's head. This was the way they communicated. Hope could hear Hayley's voice in her mind and she was able to understand Hope's too.
Why is he here? Hayley asked.
Hope pushed her thoughts forward until she felt her mother open enough to accept them, I've found a way to complete the spell. I've found a way to free you of this.
Let me speak with him, Hayley commanded, severing the link. Hope could feel her mother's apprehension before the link was broken. Hayley must know that if Uncle Elijah was here, he was aware of risks and needed permission. Hope had planned for that, but she hadn't planned on being cut out of the discussion. A lick of anger flickered in her gut, hot and familiar.
Uncle Elijah tentatively entered the room and knelt down in front of the unblinking wolf form of her mother. He placed his hands on Hayley's head, just behind her ears. Hope watched his eyelids droop and his breathing grow slow and deep. Every now and then his fingers would twitch or a muscle in his face would move. Her mother's fierce stature unwavering. Hope loved the color of her fur; caramel and silver strands marked with raven streaks along her ears and neck. She missed her mother's real face though, and the smell of her skin. Hope thought she was the most beautiful and the strongest creature in the entire world and it killed Hope to see her suffer. Hope did not care what was being discussed. She was getting her mother back.
When it was apparent they were going to be talking for a long time, Hope stepped outside to sit on the porch swing. Dialing Benny, Hope brought her knees to her chin, the old swing chains moaning in protest. Benny was a good distraction when things weren't going her way. He always had gossip and he could made her laugh.
"What's up Hopeless?" Benny's New Orleans twang filled her ear.
A bug hovered in front of her face, honing in on the glow of her cell. She manipulated it with her magic, sending it away rather than swatting at it. "What do you know about Veda from Jardin Gris?"
"I know her from school. She's cool. Kind of quiet. Why?"
"I'm plying her with weed and cash to slip me some restricted items," Hope admitted slyly. She couldn't help it, she loved confessing her sins.
He sounded more worried than impressed. He whistled sharply into the phone, "Wow, she must really like weed or need cash to risk it. Your dad doesn't play around with the witches anymore."
"No shit. She invited me to see her guy pal's band practice next week. Come with?"
Benny let out an obnoxious sigh that went on at an exaggerated pace. "And listen to hippies sit around in a drum circle and talk politics? No thanks."
"You're coming with, it can be my late birthday present."
"Yeah, yeah. Just remind me. You all packed for your trip?" She could hear the sounds of his fingers clattering at his keyboard. He blogged for the supernatural population's dark web forums. It was where the witches, vampires, and werewolves went to pass along information. Her father had hired Benny's dad to keep an eye on traffic through there, sending him weekly updates on possible areas of threats or interest. Benny just wrote gossip and had some success in his pieces he wrote on the terrifying Mikaelson family that he happened to know intimately.
"Just about. I'll let you go I guess. You can finish wanking off to Chad's new profile pic."
Benny let out a belt of laughter. "Have fun at the beach, don't drink too much or argue with Kol."
"Solid advice Bennykins," Hope murmured. Kol was more like that one cousin you never want to be around or that older brother that you wished would drown in a lake rather than an Uncle.
Just as Hope stood to stretch and shove the phone into her back pocket, a strangled cry came from inside. Hope gasped and tore through the rickety door, finding Uncle Elijah grasping his arm. So much blood. Gross, she could even smell it.
"Did she bite you?!" He looked pale and damp with sweat. Her mother's growls filled the cabin; deep and guttural. Hope felt the hair stand up on the back of her neck and a panic seize her chest. The werewolf venom would spread like acidic ink through his veins; charged forth with every surging beat of his heart. Luckily, Hope's blood was a cure just like her parent's.
Uncle Elijah stumbled towards her. His eyes were heavy and his voice sounded choked, "Go."
Hope tossed one last look towards her mother as Uncle Elijah ushered her out of the room. There was a way to free her of this and she bites him?! Hope led the way back to the car, looking back to see her mother's glowing eyes in the window as they retreated.
They argue the entire way back home, her driving freaking him out and the way he was pretty much already tripping balls and needed some hybrid blood to cure that bite and fast. Hope looked at him again as she waited for the light to turn red. Her dad was going to be so pissed.
"Please just try my blood. It will work and then he'll never have to hear of this," Hope pleaded as gently as she could.
"No," he rasped, dabbing at his brow with a handkerchief. "I cannot put you in danger, you should let me out here and have your father come find me."
"Uh, negative. I am not unleashing you into the city like a tourist on acid. Knowing dad, he will just let you suffer through it until we finish our meal as punishment."
Hope makes the decision for him and turns towards Elijah's place, the clicking of her turn signal causing him to wince away from the glowing lights. He doesn't protest. Though he still won't allow her to give him her blood and ushers her out of the door, basically slamming it in her face.
She presses her mouth near the peephole and says loudly, "I'm coming back to check on you later just so you know…"
A/N: To answer a question, which I probably should clarify. This is not quite or primarily a Hope/Elijah romance story but that does not mean I don't touch on some things concerning their close bond and that lines aren't ever crossed or blurred. No promises there ;) but it's not like the other story and focuses on Hope's relationship with her parents and other family members from childhood through adulthood. There will be time hops forwards and backwards to tell this properly as well as some POV shifts. It also focuses on a story line I've had in mind forever for Klaus and Hayley and finally figured out what I wanted to do with it.
Essentially My Blood, Your Blood is a story about what Hope might have turned out like with the Inadu/Hollow story line where she's separated from a lot of her family that we see on the show. Pit of the Peach is about what Hope might have turned out like without any of the Inadu plot and to show how Hope is raised with her whole family up until Hayley is cursed...which I will touch on very soon!
Thank you for your reviews, I'm so glad there is interest!