We're more than friends

Chapter 8

Hope's POV

Two months. Two months of traveling across the country, covering up the blood baths MG left behind. Two months of Josie dodging me even though she's the one who kissed me. Two months of grieving Landon...

Landon's death was still a sore subject. True. Was I sad? Yes. Did I cry myself to sleep? Multiple times. Had I spent every waking second trying to catch the monster who killed him? You best believe it. However, the constant road trips had made that mission near impossible.

The first time I saw what MG did, was the day he went missing. Doctor Saltzman and I drove to the motel and saw the scene for ourselves. Two bodies. Both women. Both with their heads ripped off. Bodies drained of blood. They laid there on the floor, with terrified expressions plastered on their faces. What did MG do? I was having a hard time believing MG was capable of this. We knew he was dangerous, that's why we had locked him up. We didn't know how he got out. He had help, that's all we knew for sure. But who? Who could drag a cursed vampire out of his cell without anyone noticing or without them being ripped apart themselves?

The next few days we had two more sightings, the same MO as before. But after a week the numbers grew. The scenes were bloodier. It was as if he embraced his hunger, as if he enjoyed it. If that was the case, we needed to get him back, fast. The worst one yet was in Oregon. MG had slaughtered everyone at a beach party. Twenty late teens, all with their head ripped off. However, by this point MG had his own calling card. The corpses would look like people were doing something, but their heads wouldn't match their bodies. That time, he had made it seem like the twenty teens were playing spin the bottle. They were all in a circle in the living room, an empty wine bottle in the middle. The floor and walls were stained with blood splatter. I wanted to throw up at the scene in front of me. Doctor Saltzman and I walked in carefully. Examining the room before we would light it on fire, hiding this atrocity.

As I looked around, one of the heads fell and rolled over to my foot. I looked down to see the whites of the eyes staring at me. Shivering, I forced my gaze to go anywhere else. That's when I saw it.

"Uh... Doctor Saltzman?" I asked, audibly gulping at the sight in front of me.

"What is it?" He asked from the kitchen.

"You might want to take a look at this." Seconds later I heard Doctor Saltzman walking over then halting once he saw what I was referencing.

On the once white wall was some writing. It was dark brown, nearly black, and smelt like iron, it was blood. Doctor S cleared his throat then read the message.

Stop following me, or your daughters are next.

Ever since that day there had not been any more incidents. At least none that we had heard off. We didn't go on any other road trips, except for the odd recruitment missions here and there. MG seemed to have gone underground. That knowledge didn't calm me. I was on edge, constantly waiting for the next attack. The lack of monsters didn't help. Ever since Landon's death there hadn't been any. Maybe now Malivore will forever be stuck as he is, a pit.

With my constant worrying I had the need to shift more frequently. It appeased my mind and let me watch over the school, just in case. Then one night, on one of my late strolls, I saw some light coming from the old mill. Walking closer to it, I heard a heartbeat and smelt something familiar. As I approached, I recognised the figure sitting on the sofa. Josie. Growling a little, to make my presence known, I walked in.

"We have got to stop meeting like this." I said, chuckling, trying to lighten the mood a bit. This is the first time we've properly spoken in weeks. Hesitantly, I joined her on the sofa.

"Yeah." She said unenthusiastically.

"What's wrong?" I asked frowning. Josie had seemed down since the mind jump and since she wouldn't talk to me, I couldn't help her. It's not like I didn't try. Whenever I saw her, I would try to walk up to her and talk to her, but she would walk – or more accurately – run away.

"Nothing." She said but I could tell it was a lie. She was playing with the bottle then brought it up to her lips to take another sip. Before she could I took it and threw it on the floor. This was the second time I had caught her doing this. I was pretty sure those two weren't a rare occurrence.

"Hey!" She shrieked, looking between my hand and the bottle of vodka currently emptying itself on the wooden panels.

"You've had enough." I said in my best 'mum' voice possible. "Now tell me what's wrong." She didn't reply, she just scoffed. "Josie." I pleaded, reaching for her hand. "What is it?"

"You know what Hope?" She yelled. "You don't get to hide out in your room for a decade, poking any chance you got and refusing any attempts to becoming friends to suddenly what? Talk to you? Confide in you? You should understand better than anyone else what I'm feeling. You're not the only one who can shut people out, you know."

Suddenly Josie was on her feet, heaving. The old mill started to tremble. I stood up, trying to get Josie to calm down. I placed my hands on her arms, but the room started shaking violently. Lamps and chairs fell, the walls were cracking, and the roof was rocking from left to right. I looked back at Josie whose eyes were shut.

"Josie." I said but was propelled into something hard on the other side of the room by a wave of magic. Everything went dark.

The next thing I remember was Josie calling me from somewhere nearby. Reluctantly I opened my eyes and saw a panicked Josie by my side.

"Hope? Can you hear me?" She asked scanning my face for any possible wounds.

"Ye...yes." I said, trying to sit up. Bad move. I looked down and saw a big chunk of wood lodged in my abdomen.

"Josie? Could you... pull it out, please." I asked, trying to hide the pain I was currently feeling.

She nodded then grabbed the foreign object and proceeded to pull it out. Moments later it was out, and my body started to heal on its own.

"Thanks." I said as I propped myself on my forearms. "I owe you one."

Once I stood up, and helped Josie up, I looked at the damage she had caused. If I didn't know better, I would have guested an earthquake hit this place or something. I wondered if they noticed anything at the school. Probably not. We were deep in the woods, and nobody would be out this late anyways.

After we magically restored the old mill we walked up to the school, hand in hand. Josie didn't seem to mind or maybe she hadn't noticed. I accompanied her to her bedroom door before going to mine to take a shower. I was covered in dirt from my run and of specks of dust and blood.

"Well this is you." I said, staring into her mesmerising brown eyes.

"This is me." She repeated with a small smile making my heart flutter.

I didn't want to go. I wanted to stay with her. The idea of asking her to stay with me tonight went through my mind but I couldn't think of an excuse as to why she should. So, instead I said goodnight.

"Good night Hope." And like that she walked inside her room once again.

I walked back to my room, took a shower, and climbed into bed. Before I drifted off to sleep however, I said something that I hadn't been able to say out loud until that night.

"I have a crush on Josie Saltzman."

3rd person POV

Pedro was heading back to his room from the kitchen when he heard footsteps coming from the hallway behind him. Quickly he ran into an empty classroom and watched as two girls walked past him. His curiosity peeked when he recognised the two girls in question: Hope Mikaelson and Josie Saltzman. What were they doing out together? Quietly, Pedro opened the door and followed them. Then the girls stopped to what he assumed to be the twins' room. Pedro halted before the turn, so he couldn't be seen. Carefully he peeked his head out to see what was going on. Hope and Josie were staring at each other for a long time. Even though Pedro was a kid, he was not stupid. He knows what this means and his friend Shabinna would love to hear about it. He walked back skipping as he knew he was going to get praised for revealing this information to her. Hope and Josie are dating.