Surreptitious

Chapter 39: Death And Other Deadly Things

"Did you miss me, love?" Landon spoke with his own voice, but a distinct accent and diction as opposed to his own. He stared at Hope through the bars of the cell he had been detained in immediately after Hope had realized what was going on and had alerted Alaric and the other teachers.

"Terribly." Hope snarked at him and folded her arms defensively.

"What do you want with us?" Alaric ground out through his teeth from next to Hope. If it wasn't for the fact that the Necromancer was possessing Landon's body, he would have given him the same treatment as he gave Kai Parker. "Not only did you get to take all the dark magic you wanted, but you also didn't hold up your end of the bargain by neglecting to bring Landon back properly."

Landon, or rather his puppet master, grinned as he sat down casually on his chair and crossed one leg over the other. "I want absolutely nothing with you, you insignificant human. There's no use for me in this mangy school of yours. I couldn't care less. But I am here for her." He motioned subtly towards Hope by nodding his head towards her. "As for Landon... I kind of needed him, so I changed my mind." He shrugged casually.

"Well you can't have me and you can't have Landon either. So why don't you just necromance your way to a faraway place before I come find you and turn you into the dead filth that you really are?" Hope spat angrily at the being behind the bars. She was furious. And she was distraught, knowing that if the Necromancer was possessing Landon that the boy was only half-alive and would perish without the magic that binds him to the dark witch.

"Hmm, let me think about that..." He paused and smirked, then lowered his head so that he could glare at Hope from beneath Landon's heavy brows. "No. I don't think so. You see, I have plans - BIG plans, and unfortunately I cannot achieve said plans without your assistance, nor without the boy."

"Why me? Why Landon?" Hope nearly shouted in frustration, struggling to keep her emotions under control.

"You, because of your ancient bloodlines. Him, because of his paternal ties." He replied simply, not even worried in the slightest about giving away his intentions. Something about his confidence heavily unnerved Hope. She could sense there was something more. Something was not right regarding his arrogant approach.

"Malivore." Alaric muttered. "You want to resurrect Malivore, don't you?" His eyes grew wide even though he frowned deeply. He knew that could not be allowed to happen. "Why?"

The witch laughed then, finding the whole ordeal terribly amusing. "Well, I'll give you a hint - it has less to do with restoring forgotten about magical creatures to the world and more to do with the chaos that some of these monsters can cause."

"We would never help you, or even consider allowing it to happen. What game are you really playing?" Alaric asked, speaking slowly. He was also starting to worry about what exactly it was that was giving the man this much confidence to just waltz in and demand they assist him in his evil deeds.

He slowly shifted his gaze from Alaric to Hope. "Notice anything gone missing yet?"

"Missing? Like what?" Hope shook her head in confusion.

"Perhaps something quite precious..." He then shifted his gaze back to Alaric, the look on his features exceptionally unnerving. "To you both."

Could it be...?

Hope's heart stopped.

No no no no no...

Please no!

Josie...

When her heart kicked back into motion in her chest with a deep ache, Hope's eyes immediately flared into a burst of gold as her canines protruded further from her gums in accompaniment. "I WILL KILL YOU, YOU BASTARD!" She growled out loudly, as she grabbed the bars and squeezed them in her fists until her knuckles turned white. "I swear to god if you hurt one hair on her head I will end you in the most painful way that your twisted mind could not even conceive of. I will destroy not only you, but your entire legacy - erase your memory - award you with that permanent death that you so despise!" Hope was crazy with anger to the point where it even seemed like she was about to full-on shift into her wolf. Her nails extended and dug into her palms and her ears started to lengthen and sharpen their tips.

"Oooh calm down wolfy, before you bust a vein there." He chuckled at her, not bothered in the least by her aggressive display of anger. "She's safe... For now. But she won't be for long if you don't accompany this strapping young man to where I'll be waiting." He then turned to Alaric again, who had been silent since Hope's outburst, too afraid to even breathe at the thought of his baby girl being in trouble. "And don't you even dare think of a way to stop this from happening. I'm sure you'd be of no help to anyone if you stumbled head first into a burst of magical dark energy."

(...)

"Hope!" Josie called out immediately as she saw her mate enter the cold and musty cave. She was trapped in a cage that was elevated at least 30 feet above the ground, except there was a moderately sized pit of bubbling mud below her. The cage was dangling precariously by just one rope, swinging slightly back and forth from Josie's movements.

"Oh my god, are you okay?!" Hope called out as she ran to just the side of the pit; she wouldn't be able to reach Josie very easily, even though that's all she wanted to do right then. "You keep her caged like a fucking animal?!" She growled over her shoulder with a threatening golden stare at where the actual Necromancer was standing on an elevated slab of rock to the side of the cave, watching her with amusement.

"Well, she is one, isn't she? Almost, at least..." He casually shrugged his shoulders and then squared them in a show of power and bravado. "Besides, better to keep a siphon away from any possible magical objects."

"Well I'm not doing shit until you let her down!" Hope shot back at him before returning her worried gaze back to Josie. She could see Josie was scared and it killed her inside. Josie was hers to protect, and the Necromancer had wanted Hope, using Josie to get to her. If anything happened to Josie because of it, she'd never be able to forgive herself.

"Oh no, Miss Mikaleson. That there is my insurance policy, just in case you decide to get wise." The dark witch said and snapped his fingers in Landon's direction, causing the young man to move closer to him, his eyes still pearl-white and blank.

"And how do I know you won't go back on your word like you did before?" She pushed the words out angrily through her clenched teeth as she stared him down.

"You don't...but are you willing to risk the alternative?" He smirked again as he glanced up at Josie. "Looks like that rope is starting to unravel, don't you think?" He snapped his fingers again and a few chords woven through the rope gave way. Hope realized that very soon the whole thing would unravel and drop Josie into the Malivore pit and erase her from all memory. Even just the thought made Hope feel physically ill and absolutely sick to her stomach.

"How did you even create a new portal?" Hope glanced down at the bubbling and sticky mud, shaking her head.

"You do remember who this guy is and where he came from, don't you?" The witch arched a brow as he pointed to Landon; as if Hope could forget. "And now he needs to return in order for the spell to work. 'Flesh from my flesh', and all that jazz, you know."

"You mean to sacrifice him?!" Hope shouted indignantly and furiously. "I did not agree to that!"

"Okay..." He nodded his head, seemingly thoughtful but thoroughly facetious. "He doesn't need to die... But then she goes into the pit." He raised his icy gaze to Josie. "Choose." Hope jumped as another string in the rope holding Josie's cage snapped, causing Josie to let out a small shriek as she got a fright. Hope's heart was beating out of her chest.

"And you better be quick about it..." The Necromancer chuckled.