"I'm your new Alpha, now," Hope smiled.
Dissent rose through the pack in an instant.
"Are you kidding me?" "She doesn't count as a wolf-" "She's a filthy vampire!" "There's no way in hell we're letting a bloodsucker become-"
"If you think I don't deserve the role of becoming your leader," Hope said, raising her voice above the crowd's, "Any of you are free to come down here and challenge me to a fight."
After a few seconds of nervous chatter, a burly boy with rippling muscles stepped forward.
"Carlos," Hope greeted him cheerfully. "How brave of you to take me up on my offer. Shall we?"
Lizzie watched, entranced by the level of confidence Hope possessed.
Carlos made the first move. He leaped into the air, and came hurtling down towards Hope. Contrary to what the universal law of gravity dictated, Hope didn't crumble under Carlos's weight. Instead, she grabbed him by his wrist and flung him aside easily, as though he were nothing more than a small puppy dog.
Everyone gasped when Carlos's body went flying into the opposite wall of the arena. The marble walls cracked on impact, and Carlos fell to the ground, unconscious and barely breathing.
"Who's next?" Hope asked as she dusted her hands off.
A girl who was either really brave or really stupid made her way to the front of the crowd. Within thirty seconds, the girl had been beaten unconscious by Hope, who hadn't even broken a sweat.
"Hey!" Finch shouted, when Hope continued to punch the girl's face again and again, even though several seconds had passed by since she had fallen unconscious. "Leave her alone! You've made your point, okay?" Finch said.
Hope tilted her head and stared at Finch. "You're the new girl," Hope said. She dropped the girl's bloodied body and gave Finch her full attention.
"I'm guessing you don't know how things work around here, so I'll let you off the hook just this once," Hope said. "But if you care about the safety of your own life, you'd do well to remember... Never, ever, threaten a Mikaelson."
Hope's eyes flitted over to Lizzie and MG. Lizzie sunk against the wall, and tried her best to melt into the background.
"So the rumour's true," Hope laughed. "One of the Salvatore School's little lambs decided to walk straight into our wolf den. How are you feeling after last night, MG?"
The wolves began to gather around them, eagerness glinting in their eyes. Clearly, the bad feelings they had for Hope could be easily brushed aside at the prospect of watching Salvatore students get humiliated.
"If I were you, I'd be thrilled. Your work has caught the attention of all the local news stations. What are your plans for making it to national television? Oh- Causing a massacre at a college, perhaps?" Hope smiled. "Or maybe you can take a leaf out of the book belonging to the man your adorable little school was named after. I heard Monterey is fabulous this time of year- why not go wipe the entire place out, just like Stefan Salvatore did?"
Lizzie stared at Hope. How was this evil person the same girl who had gotten furious at Kaleb for putting people's lives at risk?
Perhaps the answer was as simple as any. Hope Mikaelson only had one rule, and that was 'never kill'. Clearly, she didn't care that much about hurting other people's feelings or tormenting them with their greatest fears.
"Let's get out of here," Lizzie muttered to MG, pulling him out of the arena as the wolves threw taunts at them.
*****
"There you guys are," Alaric said. He walked up to Lizzie and MG, after having spotted them resting near the place where Keelin's car was parked.
"Hey, dad," Lizzie gave him a sad little wave.
"MG," Alaric called. "Freya and I need to see you in her office. Wait for me, Lizzie, will you? This'll only take a minute."
"I'll be here," Lizzie mumbled.
Barely two seconds had passed by since Alaric and MG had faded from view, when Hope materialized before Lizzie.
"Oh my god!" Lizzie shrieked in alarm.
"Calm down," Hope said, grinning at the reaction she had gotten out of Lizzie. "Come with me. I want to show you something," she said in an eager voice.
"I'm not your friend, Hope," Lizzie scowled. "And after the whole speech you gave to MG in the arena, I seriously doubt I ever will be."
"You don't mean that," Hope said.
"Yes. I do," Lizzie said.
Instead of answering, Hope took Lizzie by her wrist, and dragged her into the main building of the Mikaelson Academy.
"Leave me alone," Lizzie muttered, making half-hearted attempts to free herself from Hope's grasp. "Where are we even going?"
"Right... Here," Hope said, throwing open a polished oak door to reveal...
"A broom closet," Lizzie said. "It's a freaking broom closet."
Before Lizzie could react in any way, Hope pushed herself and Lizzie inside. Hope closed the door shut behind her, and used her werewolf strength to break off the door handle so that they were locked in.
"What the hell?" Lizzie demanded. "Why are we- What are we doing in here?" she sputtered in disbelief.
"You remember, don't you?" Hope asked hopefully. "Exactly one year ago was the night we first kissed. It was in a broom closet, just like this one, only we were at the Salvatore School back then."
Lizzie blinked. Had it already been a year? And more importantly, why was Hope keeping track of the date and place of-
The questions in Lizzie's head all ceased to exist when Hope leaned upwards and kissed her.
To her extreme surprise, Lizzie found herself returning the kiss. It was warm and passionate, which were two qualities Lizzie could seldom find in Hope under any other circumstances.
Hope pressed forward, forcing Lizzie to stumble a few feet backwards. Lizzie's back hit the wall. Hope's hands snaked their way around Lizzie's hips, and in turn, Lizzie grasped at Hope's shirt-
"No!" Lizzie said, shocked at what she had let happen. "No- Get away from me!" she yelled at Hope.
Hope took a step backwards, looking slightly hurt.
"I broke it off last month for a reason, Hope! We can't be together! It's- It's wrong!" Lizzie said, unable to find the correct words to describe her emotions. "You need to stop acting like some kind of creepy clingy stalker ex, because there is no way in hell I'm going to let anything serious happen between me and a Mikaelson!"
For a moment, Lizzie thought she saw the glimpse of a tear in Hope's eyes. But then that moment passed, and all she could see in Hope's glare was her usual haughtiness.
"A creepy clingy stalker ex?" Hope laughed. "Don't flatter yourself, Lizzie. You were only ever just a fling, nothing more. And I got what I wanted from you today," she said in a harsh tone. "So I think I'll see myself out."
Hope kicked open the broom closet's door, and marched away extremely quickly.
Lizzie stood there, shocked and confused as to what on earth had just happened.
*****
Later that evening, Lizzie found herself walking into the Assembly Hall of the Salvatore School. Her dad has just announced over the intercom that an emergency assembly was going to be taking place.
Lizzie sat down in the middle row, next to Josie and Penelope. People had already started to whisper about MG's absence- some were even saying that MG had gotten himself expelled.
"As I'm sure you've seen from the news, a vampire attack took place last night," Alaric began in a grim voice. He looked upon the young faces staring up at him before continuing.
"Milton Greasley went on a ripper spree. For those of you who don't know, a ripper is a vampire who is incapable of stopping once they start to feed. They drain their victims to the point of death, then move onto the next."
'Not a great start, dad,' Lizzie thought to herself.
"Two students from the Mikaelson Academy decided it would be fun if they were to provoke MG into attacking a house full of innocent teenage humans. Their foolish actions resulted in the death of a student from Mystic Falls High School," Alaric said.
"I'm telling you this because you need to know exactly who it is that we share our town with. The Mikaelson family. Yes, you've learned about their contribution to the supernatural world in history class. But right now, I'm going to tell you what it means to live next to them, side by side, as neighbors."
The Assembly Hall turned eerily quiet.
"I've known the Mikaelsons for nearly two decades, now," Alaric began. "And I've learned that they never change. Despite being millennia old people, the Mikaelsons live by a rather simple code: Family is always and forever. They've used this as a way to justify every horrible thing that they've ever done to the world. They're dangerous people, and none more so than Hope Andrea Mikaelson. The most powerful being in the history of all creation."
'Hope Andrea Mikaelson,' Lizzie repeated her dad's words in her mind. Try as she might, she hadn't been able to get Hope's face out of her head since earlier that day.
'You remember, don't you? Exactly one year ago was the night we first kissed.'
When they had first started meeting each other in secret, Hope had been just as mean and haughty as she was now. But back then, Lizzie had found those characteristics so alluring. And it had excited her, to know that she was sharing kisses with the most dangerous person in the world. Right when Lizzie had been craving something new and thrilling, Hope had come along.
'It was in a broom closet, just like this one, only we were at the Salvatore School back then.'
Hope had sounded genuinely happy when she had said those words.
"Hope is dangerous. She preys on both the weak and the strong, because she is an apex predator. If you cross her, you're going to end up like all those who crossed the Mikaelson siblings centuries in the past- Damaged and broken beyond repair."
'Don't flatter yourself, Lizzie. You were only ever just a fling, nothing more.'
A fling and nothing more. Lizzie didn't know why this statement stung so much.
"Hope is manipulative, cunning, and smart. She was raised by the most bloodthirsty people in the entire world. So now, I'm going to ask something of all of you," Alaric said.
'And I got what I wanted from you today.'
Lizzie should have been downright insulted at this, but instead, her heart had skipped a beat at Hope's words.
'I got what I wanted from you today.'
Hope had wanted her.
"Do not ever, under any circumstances, confront Hope Mikaelson outright," Alaric spoke.
Goosebumps had risen on Lizzie's skin when Hope had placed her hand on Lizzie's hips.
"Avoid her. Do whatever it takes to avoid her."
The way the world had slowed around them when Hope had pressed Lizzie against the wall... The impossibly amazing sensation Lizzie had felt when their lips had met...
"Stay away from Hope Mikaelson," Alaric finished.
Lizzie needed to see her again. She needed to see Hope again.