Surreptitious

Chapter 5: A Distraction

Four days.

It had been four excruciating days since Josie last saw the wolf. Every night she would dream as usual and she would visit the forest of her subconscious, but she remained alone. She did not see Hope, did not hear her, could not even feel her.

Josie felt like she was on the verge of breaking down.

She could not explain it, but there was something absolutely undeniably poignant about the feelings swarming within her at Hope's absence from her dreams. She adored the tribrid; considered her her best friend. However, there was something vague but persistent creeping up her spine and into the back of her mind as of late. It was as if though every time she slept and she dreamt and she found herself still without Hope by her side, she could feel another small piece of her heart splintering and falling away.

She knew she'd do absolutely anything to get the older girl back.

(...)

"It's really hard to say. Most of the myths we've been looking into revolve around demon-like creatures that cause nightmares." Alaric eyed his daughter while her blonde twin held her arm protectively around her shoulders.

"Mares, Pesanta, Batibat, Pisadeira, Hags, Phi Am - those are just some of the creatures that are known for basically crushing your chest while you sleep and inducing terrifying nightmares." Kaleb noted on the other side of the room as he waved a book about and shrugged his shoulders.

"On the other hand, you've got some variations such as the Kikimora, Melino, Lietuvens, Ogun Oru, Bakhtak, Pandafeche, Alu - all creatures that are known for causing sleep paralysis." MG offered from next to Kaleb as his gaze travelled from Josie to Lizzie and back to Alaric.

"All I'm hearing is a bunch of randomly strung together syllables. You guys are not being helpful!" Lizzie interjected as she grabbed her twin's hand in a show of support, but Josie was quick to place her other hand on Lizzie's arm in a soothing gesture, very familiar with the way Lizzie's frustrations were prone to spilling over.

"I'm not having nightmares though, and neither am I experiencing sleep paralysis. Wouldn't these creatures be affecting me as the dreamer?" Josie asked thoughtfully as she cast her eyes back to her father.

"Not necessarily. Hope is also asleep and so she could also be the one that is affected. It could be that somehow your dreams are being linked." Alaric offered.

"But is Hope really sleeping though?" MG asked a second later, brows furrowed as he glanced around the room. Kaleb soon caught on to what he was implying and finished his thoughts for him, "G put her in Josie's subconscious. Wouldn't it be more a case of her consciousness being displaced into..."

"Another world." Josie nodded, eyes growing wide. "Like the box!"

"You mean that torture device that turned me into the world's most pathetic actress?" Lizzie pulled a face as she recalled their joint experience in the film noir existence that saw Josie's darkness come to the forefront. The thought caused her to shiver and feel a little queasy at the same time.

"The Chambre De Chasse?" Alaric arched a brow, seemingly both intrigued and a little skeptical at the same time.

"Well, not exactly. But perhaps it's a similar mechanism that keeps Hope confined to Josie's subconscious." MG said and nodded towards the dark-haired twin.

"And perhaps," Kaleb stepped forward again to fill in the blanks left by his vampiric brother, "Hope needs to first regain self-awareness before she can exit Jo's mind and, well, wake up."

The gang went silent for a few seconds as they fell into a thoughtful spell. It seemed possible, for sure.

"If Hope is not self-aware and is struggling to find this awareness, then Jo, you need to go find her and help her discover it." Alaric stepped towards Josie and put a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"I've been trying to find her. But every time I look for her... her wolf..." Josie shook her head almost imperceptibly, yet there was a slight blush coloring her cheeks then. She rubbed her hand absentmindedly with the other.

"What about her wolf...?" Alaric asked then, brows creasing his forehead as he watched Josie closely. Josie had neglected to inform him of the exact nature of the wolf's behavior in her dreams - especially the part about the biting. She knew her dad might freak out unnecessarily.

"Nothi-" Josie started when Lizzie, ever the thoughtful sister, chimed in, "Hope marked her!" She squealed.

"Lizzie, she didn't!" Josie's cheeks burned scarlet then as Alaric's jaw dropped slightly, then a flash of anger shot through his eyes. "She what?"

Josie shoved her twin lightly but it did nothing to deter Lizzie from divulging the sensitive information to their father. She grabbed Josie's hand and lifted it for Alaric to observe the now mostly faded mark. "She bit you?!" He choked out as he took Josie's hand to get a closer look.

"She just nipped me. It's nothing." Josie whined irritably and pulled her hand back, then shot her sister a less than impressed look from beneath her dark lashes.

"Josie! Werewolves don't nip! They either ravage, or they..." He sighed, lifting his hand to his forehead where he could use his thumb and forefinger to massage his temples. His head was suddenly pounding.

Josie blinked, her tongue quickly darting out to wet her lips as her mouth felt suddenly very, very dry. "Or they what, dad?"

Alaric dropped his hand and set his jaw, then shook his head. "We'll talk about this later." He quickly cast his awkward gaze back to the two vampires in the room and encouraged them back into their research before he shooed his daughters from his office. "Lizzie, go get your sister some food. I know she hasn't been eating." He barked before closing the office doors.

(...)

"You know I love you Jo, but I can't say that I approve." Lizzie stared hard at her sister as she sat across the table from her, both idly working on ingesting the food on the plates before them."

"And what exactly do I need your approval for?" Josie leaned back and sighed, not sure she had the strength for her twin's nonsense at that moment.

"Hope." Lizzie raised both her brows at Josie, but when her sister seemed intent on playing dumb, the blonde elaborated further. "As in. Hope. And you. You and Hope. Together."

Josie choked on the noodles she had just swallowed and coughed furiously, quickly grabbing her glass of water to aid the constriction of her throat.

"Don't be so dramatic. We both know, and dad clearly knows, that that's what the biting was about." Lizzie leaned in closer and lowered her voice to obtain the desired effect.

Josie was about to protest fervently as she felt feverish from embarrassment, when the pair was interrupted.

"Josie!" Jade grinned as she approached the table where the twins were seated, eyeing the empty chair next to the darker-haired of the two. Lizzie had quickly realized some weeks ago that the only person she liked even less sniffing around her sister than Hope Mikaelson, it was Jade the Ripper - as the blonde called her (though never to her face).

"Well that's my cue." Lizzie smiled at the vampire in that sickeningly sweet manner she used to when she was trying to communicate her loathing towards someone, and quickly left the hall.

Jade bit the inside of her one cheek as she watched Lizzie skip off, then turned her guilty gaze towards Josie. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt."

Josie gave her best apologetic smile and shook her head at the other girl, "No, no of course you didn't. Interrupt, I mean." Josie still couldn't quite make out what exactly she felt when she was around Jade. That distinct knotting in her abdomen returned whenever Jade cast those near luminescent eyes upon her, yet at the same time she felt the need to make a squirmy exit as soon as she could. Her senses were in constant flux around the vampire and the siphon really wasn't sure what to make of it. Did she want to reach out, or recoil? Sometimes she swore it was both.

"Hey listen..." Jade cleared her throat nervously as she scooted slightly closer to Josie, her eyes cast downward into her lap. "I was wondering..."

"Yes." Josie exclaimed before Jade could even finish her sentence, having no idea what she had just agreed to.

She didn't know why she did it, but she felt like she needed a distraction. She needed an escape.

She needed to not think about Hope.