Sire Bond | Hosie

one

"We're too late," the man's voice was the only sound in the entire room. At this late hour, an eerie silence had spread throughout the building, cut only by their voices over and over again. The adult ran his hand through his blond hair in an exasperated gesture and looked around for the girl who had entered the room with him: "The dagger is gone."

She had been waiting by the door, but when she heard his words, she started to move. She kept her eyes fixed on the place where a glass case had stood before, but of which now only shards remained. A dark liquid could be seen on their sharp edges, staining the wood beneath.
"We should definitely not clean up the shards," she said, raising her eyes again to look at him, "Maybe the blood will tell us a little more about its owners."

"There's no time for that now, though. They can't have gone far and we know the area better than they do," the girl explained, turning on her heel to head for the door. There, however, she stopped short and took a crossbow from a spot next to the door, where it had been leaning against the wall, ready to hand. Without thinking, she tossed the wooden weapon over to him and he caught it expertly.
"Come on, Doctor Saltzman. It's time to catch our three thieving demons," a small smile appeared on her lips and barely a moment later she had left the room and her footsteps could be heard in the hallway.

Now Alaric also started to move, picking up a few extra arrows as he passed, before he too left the library. Most of the time he couldn't help but constantly drag Hope into his mission to hunt down the monsters of Malivore, but at this moment he wouldn't complain about a little extra help. With a Tribrid at his side, hunting three demons would be much easier, and he already knew from numerous, previous failures that trying to stop her and explain that she couldn't come along was futile and would only cost them valuable time. After all, they needed the dagger back before the shadow demons managed to get it to Malivore and get further away from unleashing a dangerous power that none of them really knew how to use yet.

His eyes had to adjust as she stepped out of the lit room into the dark hallway, but the pathways inside Salvatore Boarding School had already burned into his mind so much that he didn't need to see anything to find his way to the main door. Bright moonlight shone through the panes set into the door, allowing him to make out Hope waiting for him there.
"Let's go then," he was about to say, reaching out to open the door so they could step out onto the school grounds, but before he managed to turn the doorknob, he heard noises behind him that didn't seem to be coming from Hope or himself.

Quick as a flash, he wheeled around and raised his crossbow at the same time, his finger on the trigger and ready to pull the trigger at any moment.
"Stop," Hope's voice was sharp as she held out her hand, causing him to lower the weapon. He looked at her in irritation, but then followed her gaze, which she had fixed firmly on a spot in front of them. Only now that he could see better in the darkness did he recognize the two figures standing before him.

"What are you doing here at this hour, Dad?" rang out Lizzie Saltzman's voice, letting her gaze wander from one to the other. There was a brief pause between them all before the blonde continued, "It's okay. I know it too, without you giving me an answer. You and Hope are going off alone again that night to hunt some Malivore monsters, aren't you? Just like you always do."
"There's no time to discuss it now, Lizzie," her father replied: "Please go back to your room. We'll talk about it tomorrow."

With one hand he reached for the door handle to step out of the house into the darkness, but when he tried to push it down, the door didn't swing open.
"Not so fast, Dad," Lizzie continued, her hand raised as if she were using it to keep the door locked, "You always put us off and say you'll talk to us about it next time, but then never do."
"It's complicated," Alaric countered, trying to open the door one more time, but failing again, "Now open the door again, Lizzie."
"Lizzie's right, Dad," Josie now spoke up too, "You never talk to us about what you're doing and always count on Hope instead."
"Because I don't want anything to happen to you. You're my children," the attempts to open the door faded and he looked at his two daughters in turn.
"And it doesn't matter if something happens to you if you always go off alone with your crossbow?", Josie took a step towards him as something changed in her gaze, "You're the last thing left for us too and I'm sorry but you're only human while we're witches."
"Josie is right. Take us with you," Lizzie agreed, also taking a step toward us, "We're not kids anymore."
"Maybe they're both right," Hope now spoke up, "They're strong witches and could be helpful to us. After all, it's not just a shadow demon we're dealing with here. A little help can't hurt."