Never Lose Hope

Hope

My name is Hope Mikaelson and this is my story. I'm what you would call a tribrid, part witch, werewolf and vampire. My mother Hayley Marshall was a werewolf. I say was because she died shortly after giving birth to me. My father Klaus Mikaelson is a hybrid, part werewolf and vampire. He's one of the Original vampires like his siblings Finn, Elijah, Rebekah and Kol, created by their mother, my grandmother Esther who was a witch.

The Originals are immortal, I however am not. Not yet anyway, so for the time being I age, while my dad and his Original siblings do not. Dad says maybe when I'm older I can decide for myself if I want to die and become an immortal vampire like them. I can't tap into my werewolf side until I kill someone. That's how the legend goes and of course none of my relatives are onboard with me murdering someone and neither am I to be honest. None of my dad's siblings are hybrids, however. That's one of the things that makes me and my dad unique from the rest of our crazy family. Don't get me wrong, Dad and I are plenty nuts ourselves, just in different ways from the others.

Dad's older sister Freya is actually a witch, not a vampire. Uncle Kol knows how to practice magic too but he's not a witch or a hybrid. Dad had a little brother named Henrik who died as a child. The family never really talks much about him or Uncle Finn, for that matter, even though Uncle Finn is still alive. Dad really doesn't like his brother Finn because he's such a mama's boy. Apparently my grandmother Esther has him wrapped around her little finger and he's more than happy to do her bidding, even if it's at the expense of his siblings' happiness or wellbeing. As Uncle Kol would say, Finn is a bit of a wanker. I'm not entirely sure what that means because Dad gets annoyed at Aunt Rebekah and Uncle Kol when they use British slang so he won't let them explain it to me but I do know it's not a good thing.

My family has a lot of secrets they would prefer to keep buried. I suppose all families do, to some extent. Being immortal and living for centuries, however, provides much juicier fodder and in larger quantities to boot. My family sure is unique, as am I, but in many ways we're just like everyone else. We fight, we argue, we love, we celebrate the good times and mourn through the bad. Enough about my family for now. You'll get to know more about them in a minute.

Like most kids, I have to attend school. I go to a private school, Salvatore Academy for the young and gifted, more like for the weird and hopeless but you'll see that for yourself soon enough. My fellow students are all supernatural beings who look like regular humans but aren't. We have some classes that teach magic and stuff about being a werewolf or vampire etc but for the most part it's just a regular school with the typical sports, clubs and academics. Being just the super lucky person I am, note the sarcasm, I'm fortunate enough to have most of my family teach at my school.

My dad of course is the art teacher, plus he's the girls' basketball coach and my Uncle Elijah teaches piano and English. Uncle Kol is the girls' softball and boys' soccer coach and he teaches physical education/gym. Aunt Rebekah is the French teacher and girls' volleyball coach. Aunt Freya teaches algebra, geometry and calculus. My dad's ex-crush's sorta baby daddy Alaric is the headmaster. I say sorta because it's a really weird situation. We'll get into that later.

The two Salvatore brothers, Stefan and Damon, who founded the school, teach there too. Stefan teaches guitar and world history, plus he's the girls gymnastics coach. Damon teaches chemistry, physics and Italian. That's just a brief summary about my school and my professors. You'll soon see how most of the ones I'm not related to by blood are really more like part of my family than just teachers at the academy. It's complicated, like every aspect of my existence.

So, back to my family. Since my mom died when I was just a baby, my dad and Uncle Elijah were tasked with raising me. Thankfully my aunts stepped up to help their brothers who were more than a bit overwhelmed by the whole parenting situation. They didn't always agree with each other about what was best for me but they still made it work. For the first few years it was mostly just about making sure my basic needs were met, you know, clothes, food, shelter, the necessities. As I grew past the toddler stage into my preschool years, the debate became about discipline. This is where my dad and Uncle Elijah differ the most, still butting heads over the issue to this day.