A Bond in the Dark

Chapter One

Chapter 1

"The banshee also is a predictor of death. If someone is about to enter a situation where it is unlikely they will come out of alive she will warn people by screaming or wailing, giving rise to a banshee also being known as a wailing woman."

(Hope)

Everything hurt.

The ground was surprisingly hard beneath her, at least harder than she anticipated when she made the decision to jump into a seething, black pit of goo. She checked for injuries, finding herself relatively unscathed after such a long fall. Odd.

Stranger yet, she found no trace of the inky sludge on her body or clothes.

She quickly took stock of her surroundings—everything was shrouded in a misty, black fog. It was as if she was looking at everything from beneath a black veil. The rocky ground beneath her was solid enough, but the landscape in the distance shimmered strangely, like a distant mirage. She could make out the skeletal shape of trees and some rock formations in the distance—but everything remained ominously dark and hazy.

How was she ever going to explain this to Landon?

Only minutes before, they had finally reunited and cleared the air between them. She finally told him she loved him—and better yet, he felt the same. She finally opened herself up to being vulnerable and the universe rewarded her for what—ten minutes?

Wonderful.

Groaning, she pushed herself up onto her knees. If this was Malivore, then everyone at home had already forgotten about her. She was truly and utterly alone. There would be no one left on Earth who remembered Hope Mikaelson.

Maybe that's how it should be.

"Erggghhh—" The sound of a male groan brought her instantly back to the present.

Crap.

The weight of throwing herself into oblivion had almost made her forget the fact that she hadn't come here alone.

Agent Clarke was sprawled out on the ground next to her—his back was rigid, fists clenched, breathing in sharp gasps... His indignation was practically palpable.

"When I said I would be rooting for you, I didn't mean I'd be joining you on your little suicide mission!" Agent Clarke spat.

He was now standing over her, his pale face practically glowing in the inky darkness.

"Yeah, well we don't always get what we want," she quipped back at him.

Honestly, she wasn't entirely sure why she had forced him to come along in the first place. She guessed she preferred having him here where she could keep an eye on him. Plus, he was the only person besides Landon who knew anything about this forbidding hell scape.

Landon. Her heart hurt just thinking about how she left him on the floor of Triad, alone and helpless.

Please, Dr. Saltzman, get to him quickly.

"I don't know what you think you're going to gain by bringing me along on this little misadventure," Clarke continued, "But I'm sure as hell not going to help you find my father. If he thinks I'm working with you, he'll destroy me."

"Doesn't seem like my problem," she bit out.

If she was being entirely honest with herself, she was enjoying herself just a little. When she had forced Agent Clarke over the edge of the railing, it made her feel in control of an impossible situation—and she liked feeling in control.