Dark Side

Chapter 75

“We have to find Hope,” MG said, not for the first time. Kaleb resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Every time MG said it, he got more and more desperate, but saying it over and over again wasn’t helping them find an evil tribrid who didn’t want to be found. He knew his best friend was stressing, but he wanted to snap his neck and do the work himself. “She has to be around here somewhere.”

“I doubt she came back to this school,” Kaleb said, vamping into a classroom and back out again. 

“She wasn’t anywhere at the Salvatore School,” MG said. “Where else would she have gone?”

“New Orleans? Canada? Europe? MG, she probably ran as far as she could so she could keep chowing down on innocent people without us interfering.” A pang of guilt shot through Kaleb’s stomach when he saw MG’s face drop, but he needed that dose of reality. Hope wasn’t going to hang around Mystic Falls just because MG was a lovesick puppy for her. That’s not how vampires with no feelings worked.

“Let’s split up,” MG mumbled as he kicked at the perfect floorboards. “It might be faster that way.”

“Look, I’m sor-” But MG was already gone in a blur. 

He sped around corners and through the doorway to the dorm, slamming the door shut behind him. Kaleb was right. That was why he was so upset. He knew that, but he couldn’t stop feeling the resentment towards Kaleb instead of towards himself or towards Hope. Hope was still in there. He could see it. It was so fucking obvious. To no one but him apparently.

He sighed. He’d take one minute - one singular minute - to compose himself before he got back to the search. He couldn’t work as well with a cloudy mind anyways. He was just about to drop on the edge of his bed when he heard it.

Another heartbeat in the room with him. 

Every muscle in his body froze. He turned slowly, eyes glued to the empty spot in the corner. Except, it wasn’t empty for long.

Hope unclenched her fist, the illusion spell dropping and revealing her sitting in his chair, waiting. She dropped her chin in greeting. “Milton.”

“You have to go,” MG said. 

Hope smirked. How naive was he really? “I’m not going back to that cell.”

“No, you have to go. You have to go so far that Dorian and Dr. Saltzman and that hunter guy can’t find you. You have to lay low Hope, and I mean lay low. I know that’s gonna be hard for you, because you can’t feel the fear that I feel, but I need you to do it. For me. Please.” MG’s eyes pleaded with her.

Hope just nonchalantly nodded, waving a hand through the air like he had suggested snacks for movie night instead of an escape plan because her life was in danger. “Yes to all of that, but one more thing.” 

MG stood, guarded. She wasn’t taking this a seriously as he was, and he couldn’t prepare for whatever was going to come out of her mouth next. She rose and took his hands in hers.

“Come with me.”

“What?” MG’s jaw went slack. There was no way he had heard her correctly.

“Come with me, MG. Let’s run away together.”

“... okay.”

It was Hope’s turn to drop her jaw. “Okay?” 

“Yeah, okay.” MG’s heart thudded so hard it hurt. Was he really doing this? Was he really leaving everyone behind to run off with a murderous, humanity-less vampire? Leaving behind Kaleb, his best friend? Lizzie and Josie, who were like sisters to him? Dr. Saltzman, who had raised him like the father who abandoned him? Penelope, Landon, Rafael? He was really willing to lose all of them to stay by Hope’s side? “We have to be fast.”

“We’re vampires.”

“We have to be smart.”

“Oh, I have that covered.” Hope said dismissively. She turned away from him, dropping his hands. “Pack a bag and let’s go.”