YOU WILL BE MY DOWNFALL
"TRAGIC MEETS TRAGIC"
Penelope Park stretched her arms as the Friday morning sunlight hit her face. With her brown eyes barely opened, she look to her right to see Ashley still asleep.
She smirked.
Quietly got up, grabbed her pillow in one hand, and made her way to Ashley's side of the room. Getting closer, she raised the pillow above her head, then slammed it down on her roommate's face.
Ashley quickly got up, then laid back down once she realized what was going on. "You're a bitch, you know that," She groaned.
"So I've been told," Penelope shrugged, "Get up, your going to be late, and you don't want a bad first impression, do you?"
Ashley turns to her side, her back facing her roommate. "Just five more minutes."
"No, this is my chance to show you around," Penelope whined.
Ashley quickly turned over to face the Witch, smiling. "You want to show me around? Honestly, I didn't expect you to be this nice."
The Witch gasped and put a hand over her heart. "I can be nice. Plus, showing you around means I can show you off, and hopefully, make people jealous."
"You want to show me off?" Ashley smirked.
"Yeah, you're sort of good-looking. I mean I wouldn't date you, but you're decent enough," Penelope said.
"Fine, I'll get ready," Ashley groaned. Finally, getting up from bed. "For the record, I am very good looking and you'd be lucky to date me." She walked to the bathroom.
__________
Ashley was the first to be out of the dorm, leaving Penelope trailing behind to close the door.
The Witch turned to the left to see Ashley smiling like a kid in a candy store. "You ready?" Her roommate nodded. "Stop smiling like that, you look ridiculous." She walked ahead.
The so-called 'Vampire' changed her expression into a more neutral one but was secretly screaming with joy inside.
She quickly caught up to Penelope and being to rant. "So, where are we going first? Gym? Cafeteria? I already know where the library is since I was there last ni-"
"Woah, slow down there," Penelope interrupted. "I'm just taking you to Dr. Saltzman's office. I'll point everything out as we walk."
"Less than I was expecting when you said 'show you around', but I'll take what I can get," Ashley shrugged.
They both made their way into the lounge area.
"While I show you around, I might as well tell you about the people who are relevant here." Penelope clicked her tongue and pointed at two girls. "Saltzman twins. Dr. Saltzman's daughters if you couldn't tell. The Blonde is Lizzie, and the brunette is Josie, aka my ex."
Ashley recognized those girls from the picture, she used to get into the school.
"Lizzie's a bitch, I guess she's currently working on being better." Penelope rolled her eyes, "Josie was selfless, now is working on becoming selfish, but still a sweetheart. Lizzie's a Heretic, and Josie's a Siphoner."
Penelope directed her attention to a group not far from the twins. "Vampires, your group of bloodsuckers. The one in yellow is MG. He's into comics, superheroes, anything your typical nerd would like."
Ashley felt a little hurt as she was one of those 'nerds' who were into superheroes.
"The guy on his left is Kaleb, he's best friends with MG, even though they're the opposite of each other. The girl he has his arm over is Cleo, his girlfriend. She's not a Vampire but is a Muse. The guy on MG's right is Ethan. A Pukwudgie. He can appear, disappear, teleport, and phase through things."
"Cool," Ashley mutters.
The girls walked into another room, where the Witch pointed to another group. "The Werewolves. The guy in the middle, that's Jed, the alpha. He's a hothead, but then again all werewolves are. He has a younger sister named Isabela..." She paused to look around for the werewolf. "But I guess she's not with him right now. The girl to his right is Finch... Josie's girlfriend."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sure it was her loss anyways." Ashley reassured. "I mean-"
Penelope waved her roommate off. "I want Josie to be happy and she is. Plus, I broke up with her," She smiled.
"Moving on!" She quickly changed the subject. "The two guys that are sitting across from the Werewolves are Rafael and Landon. Rafael is a Werewolf, he's not always with the others because he's usually with Landon. They're brothers, technically foster brothers. Landon is a Phoenix... or he's a Mud-man, person, thing. I don't know, to be honest, there's always something new with him. He did come back from the dead recently."
Penelope pointed to Hope. "Finally, the girl who looks like she's in a hurry is Hope. She is known to be a part of the original family, a Mikaelson. And is the best of all three, a-"
"A Tribrid," Ashley finished. "I met her last night, she help me get to our dorm."
"Be careful around her. She killed a lot of people and we're still waiting for her to realize that. Right now, she's basically a ticking time bomb," Penelope warned. "She recently came back from turning her humanity off. She had to kill her boyfriend, Landon, but as you saw he's back now."
"Landon is her Boyfriend?" The Vampire questioned, looking at Hope as the Tribrid left the room.
"Surprising, right? When you think about it, they're kinda perfect for each other. They both have tragic lives, so tragic meets tragic," The Witch replied. "I think that's everyone."
"Thanks for the background check on everyone... I guess." Ashley look straight ahead and saw they were already close to Dr. Saltzman's office. "So much for getting a tour of the place."
"Yeah, sorry but now you know about some of the people here, you're welcome," Penelope responded.
They stood at the door of the headmaster's office and said 'they'd see each other later'.
When Ashley stepped through the office doors, she saw the room a mess. Dr. Saltzman was quickly walking and searching around until he saw her at the door.
"Sorry about the mess." Alaric gestured for the girl to come in. "I have somewhere to be right now, and I don't have time to talk, but I did write down your classes." He gave her the schedule, "You'll start on Monday. I'm sure you'll be able to find them by then," He smiled. "You know the way out."
And with that he left, leaving Ashley standing there confused. She didn't think that much of it though. She just left his office, and went down to the library, since Hope told her to meet there. She thought she'd be early, but once she was in there, she could see Hope sitting in a chair reading.
The Tribrid finally saw Ashley walking toward her. She placed her book down and stood up. "Finally, thought you'd never show up." She began to walk, while the Vampire stood there. "Come on, we're late."
The taller girl was confused, 'Late to what?' She didn't want to ask any questions and just went along with it.
__________
Hope took Ashley into what seemed like a conference room. There she saw familiar faces that Penelope pointed out: the Saltzman twins, MG, Cleo, Jed, and who she guessed was Jed's sister, Isabela. They were all seated at the sides of the table, while at the far end was Dr. Saltzman. Her eyes went wide at the man who was standing next to the headmaster, it was Prometheus. The God and her made eye contact.
"What is she doing here?" Alaric questioned.
"She's the one I was talking about. I think she'll be able to help us," Hope answered.
"What happened to running the other way?" The headmaster asked Ashley.
"I didn't know it was something that required running off," She defended, "I thought Hope just needed help with homework or something like that."
Hope sat at the close end of the table, "Well this isn't homework."
Ashley crossed her arms. "Yeah, no kidding."
"It doesn't matter now, Hope thinks you can help," Alaric spoke. "Let's start with everyone introducing themselves."
The Vampire took a corner seat close to Hope. "There's no need, I've already been told all your names."
"Let me guess by Penelope," Lizzie scoffed.
She ignored Lizzie's comment. "I'm Ashley Houston." She and Prometheus met each other's eyes again, with her quickly looking away.
They've only met once. The one time Ashley was bored, she ran off. Wandering around in places outside of Hell when her father wasn't paying attention. One of those times, she found Prometheus, or Ben as he calls himself, back when he was food to monsters and chained to a rock by his father. She wanted to help him but it wasn't in her place, plus, she didn't want to risk her father knowing she left. So instead, they got to know one another, and talk about anything that came to mind. It was nice for a change since she didn't have anyone except Maze to talk to. Then, she had to leave and they never saw each other again... until now.
Alaric cleared his throat. "I doubt anyone told you about what we're doing here. You see, we're being attacked by a God, Ben's father, Ken." He informed. "Although, I'm a little confused about how another Vampire can help us, Hope?"
"Ashley seems to know a lot about this stuff. She even knew about Ben. So, I thought maybe adding another brain to the table would help."
"Of course, she knows about me. She's-" Ben cut himself off, seeing everything and everyone around him in slow motion.
"Ashley."
She turned to see a familiar face. "Uncle Amenadiel, what a surprise!"
"What's going on?" Ben asked.
The Archangel ignored his question, "You and Lucifer must return to Hell."
"I think you mean just my father," The girl corrected. "He's the ruler of Hell, not me."
"I don't care if it's just him, I need you to persuade him," Amenadiel said.
"You think I can do that?" She laughed. "My father would never agree to go back. I mean, do you honestly think he'd listen to me?"
Amenadiel grit his teeth. "If not him, then you'll be the one sent to Hell."
Ashley quickly stood up from her seat, "That's absurd! Hell is my father's responsibility, not mine."
The Archangel shrugged. "From what I'm told you're next in line."
"You're next to rule Hell?" Ben questioned, but like Amenadiel, Ashley ignored him.
"Oh right, let me just check the calendar." She pretended to look at her phone. "Does never going to happen work for you?"
"Why do you act this way?" He asked. "Don't you see that you were given a gift?"
Ashley looked offended. "A gift? What part of being the Devil's daughter is a gift?" She questioned. "Is it the part where if people even know who I am, they'd fear me? Think I'm evil? Think less of me?"
"I'm sure that wasn't your grandfather's intention," He defended. "He wants what's best for everyone, he-"
"No! He didn't want what was best for me," She argued. "You both can go to Hell."
The Archangel wing came close to Ashley's throat. His wings were like blades that could cut through any surface.
Ben quickly got ready to fight.
"Do it! I dare you," She challenged, "Your father would be so disappointed."
Amenadiel look at Ashley for a moment, but retracted his wing and walked off. Ashley stood there smiling.
"How'd you know he wasn't going to kill you?" Ben asked.
"Because he was scared. If he did, he'll probably end up like my father, sent to Hell." She walked toward Ben, "Before time stops slowing down, I need to have a word." Ben gestured for her to go on. "I need you to not reveal who I am... please."
"What's in it for me?" Ben asked.
"So many questions." She rolled her eyes. "But in return, I'll make sure no one gets hurt in this war. Especially him." She pointed to Jed. "I see the way you look at him. Deal?"
"Deal."
Just seconds later, time began to run normally again.
Hope saw Ashley on the other side of the room. "How did you get over there?" The Vampire hummed in question. "You were just sitting next to me and now you're over there with Ben."
"I guess vamp speed has its perks," Ashley shrugged.
"I'm pretty sure I would've seen you," The tribrid spoke.
The vampire ignored her and moved where she previously sat. Alaric started talking about the plan and what they'd need. Throughout the entire time, Hope just stared at her in suspicion.