Shadows Within

ELEVEN

Hope Mikaelson hadn't slept that well. Her dreams had been haunting her, the memories of Ryan in that ridiculous hoodie and a pair of sneakers at the front of that bar too fresh on her mind. If she was being truthfully honest, she didn't know what to think. On one hand, she should be angered at him, for not seeking her out at the first chance, but on another, she was simply far too happy to see him back to ever be truly angry at him. Thus, Hope Mikaelson boarded the car with complicated feelings towards a man who was probably keeping far too many secrets from her than was his own good, in the car that was filled with loads of people who probably would have preferred to not have been forced into enclosed space with each other.

"Get your fucking feet off!" It was Lizzie Saltzman staring angrily at Landon, who was merely shooting her an equally annoyed looking glare. "They're in the way."

"Where would I put them then, huh? In case you haven't noticed, Princess , we hardly have any space to move right now."

Josie Saltzman watched them with a worried look on her face, sighed deeply under her breath as she looked down her lap, quietly eating a bag of chips as those two argued. "Are you going to do something about them?"

Hope shook her head. "Nope." She muttered. She had enough to deal with as it was without having to deal with Landon and Lizzie's inability to stay in one room without trying to break another's throat apart.

"They've been getting in those arguments awfully lot lately."

Hope agreed. "And you want to throw me between them?" Hope arched her eyebrows. "I don't think so, Jo. I don't want to die."

"You would just come back as a vampire." Josie reminded her.

"True, but still don't want to." Becoming vampire wasn't exactly on her list of things she wished to do right now. She moved her body closer to the front of the car, watching the way both Alaric and her dad were specifically trying to avoid having any contact whatsoever. Her father had his arms crossed across his chest as he looked into the distance. Alaric drove quietly as the music went on (to call it music was an insult to music) and on, torturing her ears. Caroline might have forced them into the car to get along, but that didn't mean they were actually going to do it. "Ric, can you change the music?"

Alaric frowned. "What's wrong with my music?"

"Everything." Hope and Lizzie chorused at the same time. They looked at each other with huge grin, Hope shaking her head in amusement.

"See, Alaric? Even the kids agree that you have an awful taste in music." Her dad jabbed purposefully with a rather smug smirk, turning to face Alaric for the first time since they took off.

"You don't have awful taste in music, Dad. Yours is just — different than all the others." Josie said, apparently failing to comfort Alaric, if the way Josie looked quite uncomfortable and wishing to escape at that moment was to indicate anything.

Alaric sighed deeply. "I may have an awful taste in music, Klaus, but at least I don't have the bloodshed of many on my hands."

Hope had a feeling this was going to get ugly, like really ugly. See? This was why she absolutely hated road trips. They always ended up in an argument or another. "Are you fucking serious? You really want to do this here?" Her dad breathed hard. "That may be so, Alaric, but at least no kids died on my watch. Tell me, exactly how many children died on your watch?"

The car took a sharp turn. Hope had to grasp to Josie to stop herself from falling.

"Because you murdered them!"

"That is a blatant accusation and you know it! I may have turned their lives around — that I would shamelessly admit — but murder them? I never did such a thing. It ain't my fault that they were prone to trouble, especially that girl, Elena Gilbert. Tell me, where were you when she died?"