Hope adjusted her neck and pushed herself up from a pile of broken wood. She didn't even stop to analyze where she was, "Lizzie!" The tribrid yelled, infuriated. Her voice grew colder, "I swear to god, I will kill you for real this time."
The tribrid began to feel a forceful pull against her body, "What the hell—," she muttered as it pulled her, banging her into every wall she came upon until she hit a window, shattering it as she went through. The uncontrollable force was gone as soon as she was no longer in the house.
When she pushed herself up from the ground, she saw two people standing on the other side of the window she was pulled through. One looked about 17 and he had light brown stood-up hair. He was standing with one hand against what was left of the window and the other dropped to his side. The other man was about 23 with messy raven hair, and he stood to the left of his brother from Hope's view.
The men glanced at each other, and then the teen stepped over the glass to question the girl who just shattered their window. "Who are you?"
Hope shook her head back to the teen, "Who are you—?" She asked as well with the same confusion, maybe more, as the 17-year-old walked in front of her.
"Stefan. And that's Damon," he rolled his eyes as he pointed to his brother. Damon smirked as he noticed his brother's annoyance. He looked back at Hope, "Mind telling me what the hell just happened?" He gestured his hand over the shattered glass then dropped it back onto his leg. "And maybe who you are?"
"For starters, I don't even know," Hope rolled her eyes in annoyance and sighed. "Next, my name's Hope." After the introduction came a short pause. Quickly it went away as Hope began walking, "Now I am going to kill Lizzie."
Stefan grabbed her arm, "Kill who?" He interrogated. "Don't just get to appear out of nowhere and make death threats."
"Stefan, just let her do whatever the hell she wants, we have bigger problems right now. It's not like we know a Lizzie." Damon remarked with an impatient shrug.
The vampire turned to his brother still in the house and dropped his arms to his sides, "No, but we know a Liz. Besides, you really think it's the best idea to let someone who just randomly appears in our house," the Salvatore pointed at the window, shaking his head, "go off and do whatever the hell they want?"
Damon replied to his brother with a smug smile and raised eyebrows. They're concentration on the matter broke when a brunette with straight hair and a Bennett witch came walking from the front yard around the house to the voices.
"What the hell happened here?" The girl said, confused. Her face grew tense when she noticed the new face next to Stefan and the obliterated window. "Who is she?"
"She's," Stefan sighed, "A new problem?" The Vampire clearly had nothing to say.
"Then let me deal with her," Bonnie, the Bennet witch, stepped up.
"I'm no one's problem." Hope nodded with a slight chuckle. "The only problem there is, is Lizzie." She began walking away with the rest of them lost for words. However, she came to a halt when she saw her headmaster come around the tree. "Dr. Saltzman?"
Alaric had barely any time to look at the girl in front of him before he was pinned against the outside wall of the Salvatore Boarding House. "Where the hell is Lizzie?!" The others looked alarmed and shocked to find that the girl knew Alaric.
"Who?" Alaric's teeth were clenched and visible. He had his hands up and eyes closed while pinned to the wall. "Who the hell is this, Stefan?"
"Don't play dumb with me. Lizzie did a spell. Tell me where she is, or I will do to you twice as worse than what I'll do to her." Hope tilted her head as she made threats.
"Ric, do you know her?" Damon finally came outside and stood by Stefan, Bonnie, and Elena who analyzed the situation. Bonnie was ready to send a wave of her magic.
"No, I don't know her! Why would I ask Stefan who she is?" Alaric muttered through the grip around his neck.
"Let go of him. He has no idea who you're talking about." Stefan stepped closer to the tribrid. Still keeping a careful distance as he didn't know what she could do to Ric within seconds.
Hope raised her eyebrows, "Really? No clue who Lizzie is?" Huh? Craziest lie I've ever heard." She tightened her grip on Alaric. "You must be desperate," she raised her eyebrows once again and spoke with a tired voice.
"Get off of him!" Bonnie quickly stepped in front of Elena, Stefan, and Damon with her hands up. A wave of magic pushed Hope off of Alaric, and he sighed in relief and shock as he looked at the witch's power.
"Get in the house!" Bonnie yelled as she kept the tribrid halted to the ground. Stefan vamped Elena through the window, and Alaric ran over and through the window just after him. Damon walked in just before Bonnie.
As soon as Bonnie was in the house, the magic was lifted and Hope vamped to the shattered window, but the threshold blocked her from entering.
"I don't know who the hell you are, but we have no business with you. Leave Ric out of whatever this ridiculous thing is you have with this 'Lizzie.' He doesn't know who she is." Stefan stated firmly.
Elena grabbed Stefan's arm, disregarding the girl on the other side that he was talking to, "Klaus made his first move." Alaric glanced at her as she spoke, and Hope flinched to the name—Klaus. Damon seemed to notice the tribrid's reaction, and as he began walking away into the house after the others, he and Hope exchanged glares.
————
"So we go to the dance, we find him." Damon walked down from the front entrance as he ruled out a plan, a very—simple—one.
"Really?" Stefan shook his head. He had his forearm up with his hand moving from his chin to elsewhere in the air. "How are we gonna do that? We don't even know what he looks like."
Damon turned away from the fireplace and to Stefan, "Something tells me he's not gonna be 16 and pimply." He raised his eyebrows with a smug face.
"He could be anywhere, at any time." Stefan rested his arms on his waist. He raised his eyebrows as he spoke, "He compelled somebody at school."
Stefan looked at Elena and Bonnie, and began a minor lecture, "Guess it's not as safe as you guys thought, huh?"
Elena shook her head. She crossed her arms and sighed, ignoring Stefan's lecture of a comment, "Okay, so we find him, and then what? Hmm?" She moved her hand to the side of her face, "What's our plan of attack?"
"Me." Bonnie glanced at all of them around the room. "I'm the plan." She walked up and shrugged, "He has no idea how much power I can channel. You can find him; I can kill him." She raised her eyebrows.
"That's not gonna be that easy," Alaric chuckled glancing at Stefan, then back to Bonnie, "I mean—he is the biggest, baddest vampire around."
"Alaric has a point, I mean—," Damon started but the Bennett witch cut him off before he, being Damon, could do something stupid.
"You saw what I did to the vampire outside. That was only a fraction of my power," Bonnie lifted her head in pride. She walked around, "It doesn't matter—if he's an original. I can take down anyone who comes at me." The Bennett looked towards her friend, "I can kill him, Elena. I know I can."
Alaric's eyes widened. He had his eyes on the Bennett witch the entire time he'd been there since he saw the power she had used on the vampire. And it was only a fraction...
"Okay. So that's problem Number A," Damon bounced on his feet as he fiddled with the ring on his hand. "What about problem Number B? Our new vampire friend outside." The Salvatore raised an eyebrow, "Who I suspect is listening to this exact plan of ours outside right now."
"Hopefully she doesn't reach the problem category," Stefan glared at his brother, looking at the positive side of things.
"And when has that been our luck? It's as you said, Stefan. She appeared in our house out of nowhere." Damon switched his eye contact from Stefan to Alaric, "And she clearly has this vendetta against someone named Lizzie who she seems to think Ric knows. She also called you Dr. Saltzman, Ric."
Alaric just shrugged with his hands in his jacket pockets, "I don't know." He shook his head and repeated, "I don't know her."
Damon went to the tabletop filled with drinks, and he poured himself a bourbon, "Let's just hope she's not on Klaus's side. She knows him."
"What do you mean she knows him?" Stefan stepped down to the tabletop, standing next to Damon.
"I saw her react to his name when Elena pulled us away from the window. She knows who he is." Damon brought his glass up and drank some of the bourbon contained inside, "Let's just hope it's not as his friend."
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Pages: 06
Words: 1567
Written: 01/09/23
Published: 01/16/23