Someone Worth Staying For (Hosie)

Chapter 27

    After awhile of walking in different directions, Kol stops walking. "What is it?" "I smell blood. Let's hope it leads to Hope." He said and started following the smell of blood. It's a good thing he came with me because I don't think I'd be able to find her on my own. Eventually we made it to an area with a bunch of houses. "A neighborhood? Why would she be here?" I asked and he just shrugged his shoulders. "Hey let's ask that lady over there." I said and pointed to a woman. I walk over to her before Kol could even say anything. "Excuse me ma'am." I said and she looked at me with a smile. "Hi there, how can I help you?" She asked. "Have you happened to see a short red headed girl who seems nice but in all honesty, she's a bitch?" I said giving a bit of judgement since I was a bit upset with Hope for making Josie go through this. She chuckled and it sounded nervous. "The only short red head I've seen is my new neighbor." She said and pointed towards a house. "She invited me to dinner tonight and asked me to tell everyone else so she can get to know everyone. I'd say she's a sweet young woman and not that word you used." I rolled my eyes, seeing that she was one of those suburban moms who hates cuss words but probably says them when she's really angry. "Thank you." I walked back to Kol. "You think it could be her?" Kol asked, telling me that he was listening in. "I sure hope so. I mean you smell blood and this woman said she's a new neighbor who wants to have dinner with everyone later tonight. That sure sounds like they're going to be the dinner." "Then you have to get into character just in case." He said and I nodded my head. It took me a moment but eventually I had tears rolling down my face. "Woah, you're good love." Kol said and gave me a little smirk. If I didn't have to stay in this character, I would've give him a smirk back and thanked him for appreciating my skill. We walk towards the house that the woman pointed out and Kol nodded his head, which told me that he definitely smelt blood. I knock on the door and wait for someone to answer it. Eventually I hear a groan near the door. "What the hell do you want?!" She yells through the door. Yep, that's Hope alright. "Little niece it's me. Open the door please." Kol said and I kept up my act. "How the hell did you even find me?" Hope asks, still not opening the door. "I could smell the blood." He said and she said something under her breath that I couldn't make out but I'm sure Kol heard it. "Just open the door damn it! There's something you should know and we don't want to yell it through the fucking door." I said, sounding pissed off. I was pissed that she wouldn't open the door but I still kept up my act like something was wrong. I hear another groan and she finally opens the door. "What's with you Saltzman?" She asked and raised an eyebrow at me. "If you coming here and faking tears is how you plan on getting me to turn on my humanity, you're wasting your time and mine." Can she see right through my act or does she just assume it's an act automatically? "Hope, just listen for a moment please." Kol pleaded making Hope roll her eyes and try to close the door on us. I stopped the door with my foot and looked at her. "It's Josie." Is all I say, hoping she believes my act. "What about Josie?" She asked and I can see fear in her eyes but she's trying to fight it, which meant she didn't want to believe that this was real and not a trap. She wasn't sure if she could trust me so I had to lay it on thick. "It's better if you just come and see for yourself." I say and give her a sad look. "Please Hope. Jo would want you there." Now she seemed to believe a bit more but was still unsure. "Alright fine. But if you take me there and everything is normal, there will be consequences." She opens the door again and steps outside. "Lead the way." She says still no emotion in her voice. As Kol leads us back to house, I walk behind Hope so I can text Josie to let her know to get ready. I quickly put my phone away so Hope doesn't catch me and see that this is a trick. I just hope this works.

Hope's P.O.V.
    I follow behind Kol as we walked back to the house. Lizzie said something was wrong with Josie. Part of me wants to believe it but the other part doesn't believe it at all. If this is some trick to get me home so they can do something to me, they'll deeply regret it. Eventually we make it to the house and we all walk in. Everyone looks like someone has died. No.. No I won't believe it. Lizzie takes over leading the way and leads me into the next room. "Like I said if this is some trick, you will all deeply regr-" I stop in my tracks. There she was, laying on a table, with a stake driven into her heart. No.. No this can't be! She's not dead. She can't be. Seeing her this way, my emotions come flooding back in and are overwhelming me again. First thing I feel is anger. "How the hell did this happen?! Tell me! Who did this?! Whoever did this is going to pay!" "Hope calm down." Lizzie said and I looked at her. "Calm down?! I am going to find the person who did this and rip their heart right out of their chest and rip them to pieces!" "Hope sweetie, calm down." I hear my aunt Freya speak up. I turned to look at her. Then I feel another emotion. Pain. And then sadness. "Aunt Freya, sh-she's.." I feel tears rolling down my face. She tries to walk towards me to pull me into her arms but I push her away. "This isn't happening! I don- I don't believe this! She was just fine! Who did this to her? Who..?" I feel myself breaking down. I walk to Josie and hold her hand in mine. "I'm sorry Jo. I'm so sorry." More tears fall down my face as I can't even feel my legs anymore. I fall to the ground, crying my eyes out. I've lost her. I never even got to call her mine. She's gone. She's actually gone and it's my fault. "Hope please calm down. Your magic is going crazy." Lizzie said and I finally noticed that the lights were flickering, alarms and other machines were going off, and things were flying around the room. I can't control it. I feel myself about to let go and scream until I hear a voice. "I can't take this anymore!" That voice. It can't be. Suddenly I feel arms wrap around me from behind. This feeling, this warmth. Everything that was happening around us, has stopped instantly. Am I imagining things? She pulls me into her chest and holds me close as she whispers in my ear. "It's okay Hope. I'm here." I must be imagining things because I can see her dead body right in front of me. "N-no. You're not here. You're not." I said and looked down with my eyes closed. I feel her turn me around and lift my chin up. "Open your eyes." She says and I hesitantly open my eyes to see her sitting in front of me. "I-I must be imagining things." I said, shaking my head. I feel her hands cup my face, making me stop from shaking my head. "I'm here. I'm really here." She says and then what I feel next is her lips against mine. The warmth. The taste. It can't be, can it? Is it really her? "Uhm.. Have I missed something here?" I hear Dr. Saltzman say. "Shut up!" I hear Caroline say. Right her dad doesn't know about us yet. Well at least he didn't. When she pulls away, I open my eyes and look at her. "Jo is it really you?" I asked and placed my hands on her cheeks to see if I could feel her. "It's me Hope. I promise." She said, giving me a smile. "B-but how can you be here, perfectly fine and up there, perfectly not?" I asked and she stood up and helped me stand up. She turns me around and I see aunt Freya standing over Josie's body, or at least the body, I thought was Josie. "Wow this is too freaky. Freya, can you?" Josie said and aunt Freya nodded her head. She says some words under her breath and I know exactly what spell she was doing by the words. Eventually Josie on the table, becomes aunt Rebekah. They used an illusion spell to make me think she was Josie. "You did this to aunt Rebekah? She hates being staked!" I felt anger rising up in me because they staked aunt Rebekah when they knew she hated it. "It was her choice Hope. It was either her or Kol and she volunteered." Aunt Freya explained as I pulled the stake out of aunt Rebekah and threw it to the side. "It was her choice Hope. She would do anything to help you. And so would I. I hated the idea but I knew it was worth a shot and it worked." I hear Josie say behind me. I turned to look at her. "I'm just so happy you're okay." I said and hugged her tightly. "But don't think I'm not mad because I am. Please never do this again." I said and felt more tears rolling down my face but this time they were more happy tears than sad because my Josie was okay and here with me. "I promise Hope. Never again." She said and wrapped her arms around me, hugging me tightly back. I enjoy the moment as I can smell her scent. She always smells so delicious. I can never get enough of her scent.

    Eventually I hear movement behind me and I hesitantly pulled away from Josie to turn around. I see aunt Rebekah finally awake. "Did it work?" She asked and I smiled at her. "You tell me aunt Rebekah." I said and pulled her into a hug. "Thank god. Never let that happen again. I hate being staked." She said and I chuckled softly. "I can't believe you did this in the first place." I said, looking at her. I feel her cup my face. "I would do anything for you Hope. Even if it means staking myself." She said, her tone changing when she mentioned staking herself. I smile at her as she caressed my cheek. "Now I need some blood." She said and I chuckled softly as she let go of my face and got up to go get some blood. Then it hit me. "Oh no!" "What is it Hope?" "I-I killed those people." I said and started to panic, tears welling up in my eyes again. The lights start to flicker again until I feel Josie grab a hold of me and plant a kiss on my lips to calm me down. "Don't worry about that." "D-don't worry about.. what?!" "She's right little niece, don't worry about it. When the blonde one and I went to find you at that shack, we saw the people and I managed to save them before it was too late. You didn't kill anyone." I felt relieved but then sighed. "You're wrong uncle Kol. I did kill someone." "Who Hope?" Josie asked, as if she was thinking some stranger. "Landon. I killed Landon." I said and suddenly felt tears rolling down my face. Josie had a face of realization and just wrapped her arms around me, pulling me into her chest. "It'll be okay Hope. He gave his life to save you and everyone else. We did everything we could but it had to be done." She said trying to soothe me but it wasn't working much. I killed him. He was my best friend and my boyfriend for a long time. I will always love Landon. No matter how much I love Josie and want to be with her, Landon will always be a part of me and I killed him. Why does everyone I love always die? I feel Josie running her fingers through my hair. It helps a little but not a lot. "People I love tend to die." I said softly and I feel Josie pull away to look at me. She wipes my tears away. "None of their deaths are your fault Hope. I hate that you always blame yourself and I know everyone else here hates that you blame yourself too." "Yeah and don't you dare try and run out on Josie because you're afraid she'll die or else I'll kick your ass." Lizzie spoke up and Josie turned to give her a look. "Seriously Lizzie?!" I hear her say. "What?! I'm just saying that if she breaks your heart, I'll kick her ass." "Lizzie! Like you could kick her ass and even if you did, you think I'd thank you?" "Well you should but I know you wouldn't because I know you will always protect your little Hope." I smile slightly by what Lizzie called me. Josie's little Hope.. well minus the little part. She always tries to find a way to make short jokes with me. "Okay now I know I've missed something." Dr. Saltzman says. Josie looks towards her dad. "Look dad. I love Hope and you can't change that or stop us if we want to be together." Woah. Did she just do that? That was very hot. I know that Josie would never have been able to just come right out and say it if it wasn't for the vampire confidence. I feel her grab my hand. "Uhm.. what?" Is all he said. I think he's in shock. "Wait, so my daughter and the girl I always saw as a daughter are in love?" Josie and I looked at each other and then back at him with a nod. "This is going to take some getting used to." He said and looked like he was about to pass out. "Daddy, just think of her as your daughter-inlaw." What? What did Lizzie just say? "Lizzie!" I hear Josie yell at her and I turn to see her blushing. "What? It's not like you two haven't thought of it before." I feel my face grow warm. "Ha, blondie made them blush." I hear my uncle say while laughing and I turn to give him a glare and he just smiles at me. "Oh no. My little girl is not getting married until she's at least 30." Dr. Saltzman said and I turned to look back at him. "Dad! We will marry when I'm ready and I'm pretty sure it'll be before 30." Josie said. Did she just admit that she wants to marry me? Or is she just saying us in general. I look at her with a smile across my face. "Oh we?" I say and she looks at me, her face red. "Hope! Don't look at me like that! Y-you know what I meant!" I chuckled softly. "But it is good to see you smile like that again." "Well it's because of you." I said, smiling at her. With everything that just happened, I know it's gonna take a while for me to cope with but as long as I have her, I can get through it.

Author; Hey guys! Another chapter. I'm thinking there is only going to be one or two more chapters after this one, possibly three, it just depends. I obviously won't end it without them having their first date so that will be coming soon. I hope you all enjoy this chapter! Again thank you for everyone reading!