Alexandria sat in the comfort of her own room, headphones securely around her head as she did her best to study for her upcoming exams. Taking a three day road trip was not her plan so she was already incredibly behind on studying and some content for a couple of her classes. It left her feeling so unmotivated and she had almost given up on multiple occasions.
Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Alexandria flinched at the touch and quickly spun her chair around. Only to find Hope standing over her as she removed her headphones.
Hope raised her hands in the air in mock surrender and chuckled lightly at the werewolf's reaction. "You weren't answering but your door was unlocked."
Alexandria sighed in relief and put her hand over her chest. "Sorry... I haven't been getting much sleep lately," she apologised as she rubbed her eyes tiredly.
"I can tell," Hope replied, noticing her jumpy behaviour. "I think you need a break."
Alexandria stopped her movements and looked up at Hope. "I need to study. I've been so behind with everything. I just started at this school and then for the past three days, we haven't even been here. Oh, my god, I'm so behind," her voice trailed off and she hid her face in her hands.
Hope looked at her with concern and worry. "Okay, you definitely need a break."
The girl gently took hold of Alexandria's wrists and brought them away from her face. Although when Alexandria opened her eyes, Hope was nowhere to be seen.
"WHERE IS IT?!"
Alexandria's eyes snapped to the source of the voice, but she stumbled back and fell onto the floor at the sight. A sight she never wanted to see again. The pungent smell of blood and smoke filled her senses and her stomach began to churn. Alexandria's eyes frantically darted around her surroundings. She was back at the accident at the edge of Mystic Falls. The werewolf was beyond confused and incredibly alarmed.
The bloodied driver yelled out from his seat. "I know you have it!"
She was left stunned but was sent into a frenzied panic when the driver began to claw at her from his seat. The collapsed car didn't seem to faze the driver one bit as he grabbed the frame of the door to pull himself out. Despite the steel tearing at his legs, he didn't flinch once. He kept going until he was finally free from the wreckage. His legs had become mangled so he was left to drag himself on the asphalt road. A trail of blood being left behind. The sight made Alexandria sick to her stomach.
Alexandria cried out in fear as she crawled back but was stopped when her back hit something. Her heart jumped and it felt like it was pounding out of her chest as her muscles tensed up. She strained her neck to look above her, only to see a woman wearing a black lace veil, looming over her ominously. Her voice grew shrill as she screamed, seeing the woman so close to her, she pushed herself away from the driver and the woman. The veil covered her face but she saw glimpses of her features from underneath and it only terrified her even more. The veiled woman to the right and the driver crawling on the left.
Alexandria turned around and tried to push herself up from the floor so she could make a run for it in the forest but something jumped on her back just as she was about to stand up. She let out a scream as she crashed back down onto the floor, her jaw hitting the road. She was forcefully turned around by her shoulder to be met with the bloodied driver inches away from her face. His body weighed heavily on her as Alexandria shut her eyes and turned her head away from the driver, feeling the uneven ground scrape against her cheek.
Baring his teeth he screamed, "You murderer! Where the fuck is it?!" Spit and blood went onto her face as he grabbed onto her shoulders, pushing her further into the ground.
The werewolf's eyes shot open. Pain spreading through her spine. Her vision became blurry and everything began to spin. Her breathing became short and uneven as her heartbeat grew faster. Alexandria felt her strength leaving her. Seeing the bloodied man over her. The short dark hair, the brown eyes, the freckles on the left side of his deathly pale skin. The face that haunted her on many sleepless nights.
The werewolf reached her hands out and bunched the fabric of the bloodied white button-up shirt of the driver in her hands. Pushing back on the man but she felt incredibly weak. Her chest heaving up and down, muscles tensing from fear and panic. Her strength had left her in a time of great need. Leaving nothing but terror and anxiety.
"I– I don't know! Please, I don't know what you're talking about. Let me go!" she pleaded and she moved her hands to the man's wrists, attempting to pull them off as he began to dig his hands into her shoulders.
The man only yelled in rage, yanking his hands out of the werewolf's grip. The man was fast to use the time that she was distracted to move his hands to her neck. Squeezing tightly.
Alexandria's eyes widened in fear and she was quick to bring her hands back on the man's wrists. Clawing at them and clenching tightly till she could feel the very bone structure of his arm. She desperately used any remaining strength in her body to pull his hands away, but the man only pressed down harder.
Alexandria's breathing became restricted and she found herself gasping for any amount of air. She felt the blood rush to her head and she became lightheaded. Everything became muffled around her and her grip on the man's wrists grew weak. As the air was denied any access to her lungs all she could think was, 'This is what he felt'.
"Please..." she weakly cried out, slowly beginning to lose consciousness.
"You know what I want," the woman's voice echoed loudly throughout the empty road.
All of a sudden the man squeezed even tighter. "Murderer."
The pain doubled before it stopped.
Everything went black.
Alexandria gasped as she shot up from where she was, her hand instantly went to her throat but felt nothing constricting her breathing. She hastily got up but stumbled back into her desk. With her hip hitting the edge, she muttered a curse as she used her hand to stabilise herself, shutting her eyes as she focused on her breathing. She had to lean her body weight onto the wooden surface as her body still felt weak and ached all over.
Her hand ghosted her own neck. There was nothing there and yet it was like she could still feel the hands of the driver gripping around her neck. Her hand slid down just a bit and rested over her heart as she greedily took in air. Taking in deep breaths till it eventually slowed along with her heart.
Moments felt like hours, standing at her desk. She opened her eyes to take in the room she had become accustomed to. Her eyes went around to various objects scattered around her as if to remind herself that she was in her room. The sun had only just started to rise. The light slowly poured through the gaps in her blinds. She could hear a couple of students walking outside her room. She was at the Salvatore School. She was safe.
She was safe.
She was safe, and yet her body still trembled. Lifting her shaky hands in front of her, she only stared at it for a second before she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror across the room.
Alexandria's focus shifted to the full length mirror and her eyes widened. The werewolf carefully pushed herself off her desk and went towards the mirror. Now standing in front of it, she stared at herself in disbelief. Alexandria pulled down the oversized grey shirt she wore to see the red marks that went across her neck.
She let go of her collar and clawed at the fabric above her heart as panic began to settle in the depths of her core once more. It was only a dream and yet she sustained the injuries from it. Every time she closed her eyes, she could see his face. It was still fresh in her mind. Him towering over her. The smell of blood and smoke. The feeling of terror.
Alexandria ran her hands down her face and it was only then that she realised she had begun crying again. She furiously wiped them away and when that didn't work, she brought up the collar of her shirt over her face. Soaking up the tears.
She took a deep breath and let go of her shirt and looked back to her bed. She rushed over and grabbed the discarded black hoodie laying on it. Pulling it over her head before rushing out of her room.
Alexandria pulled the hood over her head and hurried her way to the headmaster's office. She made sure not to make eye contact with anyone as she pushed her way through several students. Keeping her head down and her neck covered.
"Hey, Alex!" a voice called from behind her.
Alexandria was stopped in her tracks. "Fuck," she mumbled to herself, wiping her face and fixing a bit of her hair before turning around to see Jed across the hallway. "Hey," she responded and plastered a fake smile on her face as Jed made her way over to her.
Jed slung his bag over his shoulder, grabbing his books in one hand before making his way to Alexandria. "Uh– hey, how have you been?" he asked.
Jed was anxious. From his last conversation with Alexandria, he had a lot of time to reflect and reevaluate. He was unsure about how to go about anything anymore, but he knew one thing. He didn't want to be seen as the hot-headed werewolf anymore. So he thought he would start with Alexandria. Every other student besides her seemed to be cautious around him. Didn't care to give him the time of day. But he knew it was within good reason.
"I'm really sorry, Jed, but I gotta go. Remember pack training is off until next semester. Good luck with your exams," Alexandria quickly said before he had gotten too close and turned on her heel.
Jed was a little down, seeing Alexandria walk off after barely saying anything to her. But he tried his best not to be discouraged by that fact.
Alexandria didn't even think to knock before bursting into Alaric's office, surprised to see Hope also present. The man was standing behind his desk with a book at hand, in the middle of a conversation with the student who sat across from him.
The two shot their heads to Alexandria with confusion but they quickly noticed her dishevelled appearance. Alexandria became nervous under their questioning gazes, but closed the door behind her, keeping her hands against it behind her back.
Alaric was the first to break the silence. "Is something wrong?" he asked and put down the book.
Alexandria's gaze fell to the floor, unsure how to begin. So, without bringing her head up, she pulled down the collar of her hoodie and shirt. Figuring that was a good place to start. The red marks now visible to the rest in the room.
"Oh my god," Hope let out a gasp as Alaric's eyes widened.
Hope got out of her seat and carefully went up to the girl. Alexandria let her hand fall to her side and kept her eyes trained on the floor. As the tribrid got closer, she instantly caught sight of her tear stained cheeks. Her eyebrows furrowed with worry as she tenderly took the werewolf's hand and guided her to a seat.
Alaric moved towards the front of his desk and leaned his body on it. His arms crossed over his chest. "How did this happen?" he immediately said which got him a glare from Hope.
Hope sat back in the seat next to Alexandria's, reaching out and taking her hand comfortingly. "Are you okay?"
Alexandria inhaled deeply. "Yeah, I'm fine," she brushed over quickly. "It happened to me in a nightmare," she answered the man's question, her voice coming out strained and raspy.
Alexandria hadn't even noticed at first. A throbbing pain in her throat that increased any time she spoke. But the soothing touch of Hope helped her relax. The small amount of contact was enough to make the werewolf's heart race just a little.
Alaric's head tilted at the response. "A nightmare? Okay, walk us through what happened."
"I– I was studying and I fell asleep. I started dreaming, I was here, at the school, in my room. But then I wasn't..." her voice trailed off and she swallowed hard from the pain.
"Where were you?" Hope asked softly, her thumb caressing the back of her hand.
Alexandria held her gaze for a moment. "The car accident," Alexandria answered vaguely and looked up at Alaric.
It was then that he understood what she meant. He adjusted his position and shook his head discreetly at Alexandria. When he saw that Hope was about to pry further, he swiftly stepped in. "What else happened?" Alaric interrogated, taking lead of the conversation.
Hope caught on to the small act and her eyes moved between the Headmaster and the werewolf. She could tell that they were hiding something from her.
"There was a woman there. In a black dress and this... veil. When he– uh..." she struggled to form a proper sentence to explain what had happened to her, so using her free hand, she gestured towards her neck. "When... that was happening, the woman said, 'You know what I want'," she finished, her leg bouncing up and down as she caught glimpses of the two next to her, gauging their reactions.
Hope gently squeezed her hand as she glanced at Alaric. "The urn," she deciphered.
Alaric nodded, agreeing with the theory. "Sounds like our next monster showed up," he announced, moving to his bookshelf, picking a familiar book that held something that contained the legend he was thinking of. "You know, every culture on Earth has legends about creatures that only appear in dreams. But a woman in a black dress and a veil is pretty specific," he told his students, moving back to his spot, flipping through the pages before he landed on an image that roughly described what Alexandria had seen. "Does that look familiar?" he handed the book to Alexandria.
Alexandria let go of Hope's hand, missing the comfort that came with it and took the gothic styled book in her hands. A drawing depicting a ghastly woman with sharp nails in a dress, a veil partly covering her face. A more tame image of what she had encountered in her nightmare, but an image of what she saw nonetheless.
"That's her..." she mumbled as her eyes didn't leave the page.
~ * ~
Alaric had come to the conclusion that their next monster was a 'Night Hag'. A type of spirit trapped on the astral plane that could only interact with others through their dreams. With the Lockwood Mansion doors open, the majority of the school had evacuated, except for those who had their exams.
Alexandria didn't stay for the announcement that Alaric was going to make to the upper grades of the Salvatore school. Having already been there for the discovery, she didn't think there was a point. So once again, she found herself in the confines of her room. At her desk with a notebook in front of her, several textbooks scattered and open. But she struggled to even put pen to paper. Instead, she sat in silence, in a daze, with her knees up to her chest. She had lost track of the amount of time that had passed. But she sat there, in silence, the events of her nightmare playing over and over in her head. On a constant, torturous loop. She lost track of the number of times that it played. She was only brought back to reality when a soft knock came from her door.
"Who is it?" she said monotonously and without thought.
The door creaked open and Hope stepped through, her features immediately softening seeing the state of the girl. "Some of the witches made this energy herb tea. It's supposed to help keep you awake. I thought I would bring some for you," she told the girl who gave her a small grateful smile, bringing her legs down to sit properly in her chair.
Hope moved towards Alexandria and placed the insulated bottle filled with the tea on an empty spot on her desk. Her hand lingered on the desk, looking down at the girl who seemed to enter a daze staring at her empty notebook.
"I think you need a break..."
Alexandria almost flinched at the sentence. It was a harmless sentence, but it struck a chord in her. And not a good one. Hope noticed the small action and she narrowed her eyes slightly. "Hey... what's going on?" she said softly as she crouched down in front of the girl. Tilting her head to look at Alexandria better with her hands resting on the girl's knees.
Alexandria pulled the sleeves of her hoodie over her hands and held her arms close to her stomach. Despite the hot weather, the werewolf insisted on wearing the hoodie to cover her neck. Even though the bruising had completely faded and healed over the morning, she still wore it.
"I'm sorry... I just can't– I can't get that stupid nightmare out of my head," she admitted as she inhaled sharply, holding her breath for a moment as she turned her head away. Trying to keep the tears at bay as she shifted her vision to the mess on her desk.
Hope saw the onslaught of emotions running through her eyes and she wanted nothing but to comfort her. The details of the nightmare were limited to her, but whatever it was she could tell that it had shaken her up badly.
"No, don't apologise. You have nothing to be sorry for," she said. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"I can't get his face out of my head..." she muttered with her head hung low.
"His?" Hope picked out. When she noticed that Alexandria hesitated to continue she speak again, "Earlier this morning, you mentioned the woman in the veil. But you also said 'he'."
Alexandria propped her elbow on the armrest of her chair and unconsciously began to bite her nails. Seeing the action, Hope gently took her wrist and led her back to her bed. Alexandria didn't say anything as they both sat on the edge facing each other. She sat cross-legged looking down at her hands which fidgeted in her lap.
Despite the several beats of silence that passed, Hope was patient and waited for Alexandria to begin speaking.
"Last week... on Remembrance Day when I was with my brother, there was a car accident," she began quietly, speaking slowly as she relayed the events of the day. "It was dark... and Lukas was just walking on the side of the road. It was some drunk driver. He swerved out of the way in time, but uh– it crashed right into a tree. It was bad... he survived the impact but he wasn't going to make it out alive. Lukas didn't want to activate his curse... so I made sure he didn't," she finished, her voice going higher as she bit back tears.
Hope's eyes widened but she didn't say anything yet.
"God... the look on his face. I've never seen Lukas so scared in his life," she glanced up to the ceiling to prevent tears from falling down. Blinking furiously to get them to stop before her head dropped back down to her hands. "I can't sleep properly because I keep seeing his face."
Hope gently took her hand and began to rub her thumb across it. Just like she had done earlier that morning. Alexandria looked up from her hands and met Hope's gaze briefly before it fell back down.
"This morning, in the nightmare. I was back at the accident. Everything was exactly as I remembered. The car, the man, the smell of smoke and burnt rubber... the way the goddamn air felt on my skin. I was so scared..." she simply put, but the way she struggled to utter the sentence made Hope realise just how bad it was for her. "He– he had gotten out of the car and crawled over to me... blood all over... He called me a 'murderer' as he– as he choked me," she stuttered, bringing her hand up to her neck as she almost could feel the pain again.
"All I could think was, 'This is what he felt. This is what he had felt', because I had done the same exact thing to him. I killed him..." she muttered as she bit down on her lip, almost hard enough to draw blood. "Dr. Saltzman almost expelled me for it," she laughed bitterly as she remembered the argument she had with him.
Hope's face scrunched with confusion. She couldn't believe that the Headmaster would even think about doing such a thing. But she pushed down the anger she felt towards the man to focus on the girl in front of her. She scooted closer to Alexandria to bring the girl into a hug. She wrapped her arms around her shoulders, one hand going to the back of her head.
It only took a few seconds before the werewolf caved in and reciprocated the hug, her arms going around the girl's torso, her head buried in her shoulder. Alexandria sought comfort in Hope's arms. And comfort she found, as she relaxed into her touch. She no longer held back her tears as her cries became muffled in the fabric of Hope's cardigan.
Hope let Alexandria cling to her with a sense of desperation. Her heart ached for the girl as the dots connected in her head. The argument with Alaric that Alexandria had alluded to was about this situation.
"You're okay. I've got you," Hope murmured as she rubbed her hand up and down the werewolf's back.
Alexandria couldn't remember the last time she had cried this hard. And while in the arms of Hope, everything seemed to come crashing down. She could no longer tell if she was only crying about the nightmare, but all the pent up anger and frustration she had been holding back for months, all the times she had wanted to just scream and cry ever since the end of the previous year, all of it. All of it dissolved into that one moment.
"You did what you had to do to protect your brother. You're not to blame for that," Hope whispered softly, gently stroking the back of her head.
Hope didn't say much after that but Alexandria didn't need anything else. That simple sentence which was absent of judgement and only full of empathy and compassion, helped her heart ease slightly. Alexandria couldn't bring herself to speak any longer but being able to express her own emotions freely, she felt just a little bit better. And that little bit was all she needed in that moment.