The Young and Gifted

56. battle of the moms

Caroline rallied up the remains of the group, bringing along Ric, Lizzie and Josie into the town. Josie couldn't seem to talk, not after what happened with Penelope and MG was too busy trying to determine how Raf and Lizzie were so close. 

Caroline yelled down the block that it was time to head back into homes and not to return until further notice. It didn't take long for Officer Gilbert to emerge at the ruckus, demanding the vampire, "What's going on?"

"Tell the people to quarantine for a few days," she ordered, her gaze falling to the silver figure on the clock tower holding a pulsating book. She didn't know why she trusted Clarke's word for it but he wasn't lying. Which meant Jo was going to--

Jeremy nodded and said into his walkie-talkie. "I need all dispatchers to get citizens off the streets and into their homes immediately, all dispatchers get citizens off the streets, over."

Ric came to her side and stared up at the witch above. She swallowed, "You think she's actually going to do it?"

"I don't know. That is not the wife I knew," Ric sighed. Dark bags were already forming under his eyes and the cold wind blew his hair into even more of a mess. 

"The only solution is to give her Landon," Josie's broken voice concluded. 

"What? No--"

"He is not worth all the death that is coming. We have to give the book Landon," Josie said louder. 

"Josie--" Caroline began but the witch flinched away, tears pooling in her eyes. 

"I can't stand any more deaths," she sobbed.

Jo grinned as she stared down at the group below her. She opened the book, placing her hand on the page before she chanted, "Mortuus immortuos."

And around the gang, the ground began to crumble. Kaleb jumped back with a shriek when a hand popped up, clawing at his feet.  "These are..." Raf trailed off as the corpses continued to rise. 

"Zombies," MG finished. Stepping out of the grasp from the decaying fingers reaching for the sky.

It didn't take long for a heard of the undead to rise, attacking the group and they did their best to fight back. Jo had descended down from the tower and her cloak flew behind her as she stood in the midst of the chaos. "You know what I want. Give it to me and all this death and suffering will come to an end."

Caroline flitted to the poised figure, kicking the glowing book out of her grasp. "Don't touch my family." She punched Jo in the face and she reeled back with her eyes wide.

Jo quickly recovered and brought her hand up, muttering, "Cerebrum dolor," Caroline screamed with pain but she fought through it and flitted to her, pulling her fangs out. 

The moms continued to battle and when Caroline finally sank her teeth into Jo's shoulder, she recoiled back immediately, choking vividly as she spat the blood out. The vampire croaked and fell to the floor, unconscious. 

Josie, Ric and Lizzie stepped up with horror. "Mom?" Lizzie said with a broken voice. 

"Jo, please don't do this. We're your family. Come back to us," Ric pleaded. 

"I told you. Give me what I want and it all stops."

The terrifying thing was that Ric actually contemplated trading the life of Landon's for his wife. Too many times had he heard her voice in his dreams, too many times had he missed her smile while he lay beside Caroline decades ago. Too many times had he longed to hug and kiss her after a long day at work. And in that moment of thought, what happened in front of him happened so fast, he wasn't sure if it was real. 

Kaura had managed to sneak up behind Jo, holding the familiar jewelled dagger. He watched in horror as she brought the blade against Jo's throat and slashed it viciously. He felt in horror as the once love of his life fell to the ground, holding her throat with her eyes wide. No matter how corrupt she was, it was still painful to see her die in the same manner she had those 16 years ago. By the same hands, by Parker hands. 

*

As the town was facing some serious casualties matching the school, which was in ruins, Landon and Hope scavenged through the library for a solution. They didn't know where Emma and Dorian were and it was up to them to figure it out. 

"Have you found anything yet?" Hope asked as she scanned the pages, flipping them so viciously she was almost concerned that she was going to rip them. Freya would be waking up soon.

"No," Landon said. His hands were shaking and he planted them on the table. "I-I don't think there's going to be any other way. We might need to give the Legendarium what it--"

"No," Hope snapped instantly. "We're not doing that, Landon."

"I don't know, we might have to. Did you see the number of bodies we walked over on our way here? I saw Dave's corpse! You might have stopped the Taur Brothers but the book isn't gone," he tried to justify. Hope angrily continued to scan the pages, not saying anything. "Maybe it won't be a big deal--"

"Stop," Hope said abruptly and slammed her hands on the table. "I already lost you once I'm not doing it again. End of discussion."

Landon sighed, swallowing deeply as she angrily tossed books behind her. She was slowly losing it and at moments like this, an unhinged witch wasn't needed. Hope froze when her eyes snagged on an open book. "Wait a minute. I think I found it." She picked up the book and Landon quickly came to her side, eye falling on the sentences. 

He glanced up at her and began shaking his head. "No."

"It's the only way. If I have to become a part of the Legendarium to save everyone--"

"What, you can say no but I can't? I won't let you do this because I love you. We will find a different way to nullify the Legendarium but not this way," Landon shook his head repeatedly closing the book so that she didn't read any further. 

Hope smiled and turned to him, cupping his cheek. "I love you too, Landon," she said as she planted a kiss on his lips. "I love you so much." Landon was about to speak but his voice got caught in his throat as his eyes fluttered shut. Hope lowered him to the ground and kissed him one last time with tears in her eyes. "And that's why I have to do this."

~

"Trusting you is what got us into this mess."

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