That night, Ophelia was leaving Alaric's office, a smile on her face that refused to disappear. After their kiss, she and Alaric had talked.
Alaric had assured her that he understood Ophelia would never get over Klaus. At least, not fully. But the same went for Jo in Alaric's case. They shared a mutual understanding with each other when it came to that. To find someone that was okay with it was something both of them thought they would never find in someone else, but they did. They found it in each other.
Just then, Ophelia's phone vibrated in her pocket and she was quick to answer it when she knew it was Hope, "Hope," She greeted the girl in a worried tone, "Are you okay? Did you find Landon?"
"Yeah," Hope responded and Ophelia couldn't help but realize something was wrong just by the way she was talking.
"Okay, well, tell me where you are," Ophelia insisted, beginning to walk toward the main door of the Salvatore School to leave.
"Fort Valley, Georgia. Landon's gonna need you when I'm done. You have to write it down," Hope demanded, causing Ophelia to frown in confusion.
"Wait, what? You're at Triad Headquarters?" She asked Hope concerned.
"Yeah. Uh, don't worry, though. Everyone here is dead," Hope responded, causing Ophelia to laugh humorlessly as she rolled her eyes.
"Is that supposed to make me feel better, Hope?" Ophelia complained to Hoe, "Listen, you're not making any sense right now. Just put Landon on the phone, alright?"
"I can't. Uh, he would have tried to stop me, so I had to kill him, too," Hope informed Ophelia, whose eyes widened in shock.
"You what?" Ophelia exclaimed loudly, a look of disbelief on her her.
"He'll come back. Don't worry. Even if I don't," Hope told Ophelia, who immediately knew that something wasn't right with Hope. She was up to something.
"Hope, you're going to tell me right now what the hell you're about to do right now before you do it, understand me?" Ophelia demanded in a stern tone, but of course, Hope ignored her.
"Clark won. He found the final artifact, and he tossed it into the pit, which is Landon's father, by the way. And now Malivore's gonna rise unless I stop him," Hope explained, causing Ophelia to frown in confusion.
"Stop him how?" Ophelia questioned Hope, clearly thinking that none of what Hope said made sense.
"Landon got all the answers, but, basically, Malivore was created by the blood of a werewolf, a witch and a vampire. It used to be that only they could destroy what they created, but nature found a loophole," Hope explained before pausing for a brief moment, "By making me. The Tribrid. I'm the loophole. Technically, you and Val are the loophole too, but I was the only one who was born as all three, only I was."
"Hope, you listen to me right now," Ophelia demanded in a stern tone, knowing there was no other way to speak to Hope at that moment, "What you're talking is a theory, okay? You don't even know if it's gonna work, so why don't you just sit tight, and you wait for me to get there? Sound good?"
"There's no time," Hope aruged, causing Ophelia to start to grow angry that Hope wasn't listening to her.
She couldn't lose Hope. She refused to. Not after everything they had been through.
"I've always thought that I was a cosmic mistake, Ophelia, someone who should never have been born. But after all this time, I mean, my purpose is finally clear. Think about it. I'm the answer to all of this. I can remember things about Malivore that no one else can. That Triad weapon didn't affect me," She explained to Ophelia, who immediately could tell that Hope was trying her hardest not to cry, "Did my blood heal Josie?" She asked and Ophelia's silence gave Hope the answer she needed.
"I am not okay with this, Hope," Ophelia argued, shaking her head as she held the phone to her ear.
"I know. But you will be, because once I toss myself into that pit, no one at school will remember me. Including you. Including Valerie." Hope informed Ophelia, who was trying her hardest not to cry.
"Hope," Ophelia spoke in a pleading tone, her voice breaking, "You listen to me right now. Don't do this."
"I've spent years torturing myself, asking myself why my father sacrificed himself for me, to get to this point where, I mean, I totally understand it. And I don't want you to have to go through that pain, Ophelia. You've been through enough. And I don't want anyone at school to miss me, because they're my friends. Maybe I would have seen that sooner if I hadn't been beating myself up all this time. You can't tell Val what I'm doing either. She can't know. It'll break her and I've hurt her enough lately," Hope explained, beginning to silently cry, "I love you, Ophelia. Thank you for being the parent I've needed this entire time, even if it took me my entire life to finally realize it. You've sacrificed so much for me since even before I was born, it's time I do the same thing for you and everyone else," She paused, wanting for Ophelia to respond, but Ophelia was unable to form the right words, "I'm pretty sure this is the part where you tell me that even though you wish you could change my mind, you know I'm doing the right thing. This is the part where you tell me you're proud of me. That you understand why I'm doing this because I know deep down you do."
"I have watched you grow and I've always seen you as a daughter. I love you, Hope," Ophelia told Hope, beginning to cry, which led her to quickly wiping her tears, "Your father would be so proud of you. As am I," She paused, hearing Hope quietly crying on the other end of the phone at the mention of her father, "Now, what is it you need me to do?"
"Call maintenance. Have 'em pack up my room. Take everything that belongs to me and everything Valerie has in there that is somehow connected to me," Hope instructed, "Take my files, all those notes I know that Dr. Saltzman keeps about me, and burn them. Along with Landon's journal."
"Listen, if you want to erase yourself, that is on you, okay, but you can't ask me to do it, too," Ophelia argued, knowing she couldn't do what Hope was asking her to do.
"I'm sorry, Ophelia. But I trust you more than I trust anyone, even Val. You have been there for me my entire life, no matter what I've done. I wish I would have figured that out sooner, too. I got to go," Hope explained quickly.
"Hope, you listen to me right now. Wait," Ophelia pleaded, her tone becoming louder.
"Not an option. Uh-uh," Hope argued, shaking her head, "Uh, promise me you're gonna do what I said."
Ophelia remained silent, clearly hesitant to say she promised, "Promise me, Ophelia," Hope demanded, causing Ophelia to sigh in disbelief.
"Okay, okay. I promise," Ophelia quickly replied, "I love you, Hope."
"I love you, too," Hope responded, just before she hung up the phone.
After Hope hung up, Ophelia became consumed with anger, knowing for sure she wasn't going to see Hope against. So angry, Ophelia yelled out in anger, the bulbs on the lamps in the hallway she was standing in exploding.
_______
Just outside the school, Ophelia stood in front of the fire she created with all of Hope's files burning in it. She held a photograph of Valerie and Hope in her hand, one that was taken on their first day at the Salvatore School when they were seven. A tear fell down her cheek as she stared at it, finding herself unable to throw it into the fire. It was the only thing she hadn't gotten rid of yet. She took a deep breath, just before she tossed it into the fire.
Suddenly, Ophelia let out a groan in pain, clutching her gut in pain. It took a moment for the pain to pass, just before it went away.
Ophelia frowned when she heard a wolf's howl. She slowly turned around, only to see Rafael standing before her in wolf form. Just then, Ophelia was suddenly hit with a feeling that made her feel like she was forgetting something. She couldn't even remember why she was in the wood in the first place.
Ophelia glanced over at the fire she created, confused about why she even made it begin with. Frowning, Ophelia looked down to see a piece of paper in her hand that read, "Fort Valley, GA. Find Landon."
Her frown became even larger as she looked down at the burning pieces of papers in the fire, "What the hell?" She muttered under her breath, "What am I missing right now?"
____
Meanwhile, Ophelia quickly pulled out her phone, dialing the school's cell, which she somehow knew Landon had.
"Ophelia?" Landon answered the phone in confusion.
"Landon," Ophelia responded in a calm tone as she began to walk toward Alaric's car with the keys in her hand, "I'm on my way."
"Okay. Uh..." Landon trailed off in confusion, "I don't...I don't really know what happened."
"Yeah, well, that makes two of us, buddy," She replied, quickly getting into the truck before starting the engine, "I just found a note that said you needed me."
"I guess I kinda do," Landon awkwardly replied, seeming to be just as confused as Ophelia, "Who left it, Miss Ophelia?"
"Honestly, I have no idea," Ophelia admitted, a concerned look on her face, "Anyway, I'll be there as soon as I can, alright?"
With that, Ophelia quickly hung up the phone, waiting in the car for Alaric to get outside to go with her, seeing as though she had sent him a text.
_____
In Josie's room, Josie and Valerie were sitting on the bed, making out. After a moment, Valerie pulled away, smiling at Josie, "I'm really glad you're not dead," She jokingly responded, causing Josie to playfully roll her eyes as she smiled, "I mean, what would I do without my favorite make-out buddy?"
"Make-out buddy?" Josie exclaimed in disbelief, jokingly gasping as she lifted her hand to playfully hit Valerie.
At vampire speed, Valerie caught Josie's wrists, pinning them at the girl's sides, "Bad idea," She pointed out to Josie, a playful smile on her face.
Valerie used that same vampire speed to grab Josie by the waist and make it so that she was laying on the bed with Josie straddling her. Josie laughed at Valerie's actions, leaning her head downwards as they began to kiss once more.
Valerie lifted her head to place it on the pillow, only to feel some sort of object under the pillow. She frowned, pulling away from kissing Josie and moving the pillow to find the red box from earlier, "You brought this back with you?" Valerie asked Josie, a confused look on her face.
"Yeah," Josie replied, nodding her head, "There's some sort of object inside. Lizzie and I think it's familiar, but we just can't remember from where."
Valerie opened the box, only to have her eyes widen in alarm when she saw what was inside. The 2018 accendent. The same one she had gotten her hands on years before and sent someone she didn't like to. Her mother was pissed. So was Dr. Saltzman. She had risked the girl's life, Ophelia had said. Not because of the prison world itself, but because of what was inside.
Valerie couldn't help but wonder, what was inside that made it so bad?
"Have you seen it before?" Josie suddenly asked, causing Valerie to quickly turn to her.
"What?" Valerie asked, clearly playing dumb on purpose.
"Have you seen it before?" Josie repeated her question, "You're looking at it like you know what it is. Do you?"
Valerie was silent for a long moment, wondering whether if she should tell Josie, "No," She found herself lying to Josie for some odd reason, "I've never seen this thing in my life. But whatever it is, it doesn't look like it's a toy so be careful."
"Always am," Josie replied, a smile on her face.
Valerie got ready to lean forward to kiss Josie, only to suddenly have a feeling in her gut that made her feel awful, "Ah," She groaned, clutching her stomach.
"What's wrong?" Josie asked Valerie in concern, quickly climbing off of Valerie, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, maybe I'm just hungry," Valerie replied, referring to blood.
"How did you even become a vampire in the first place? I mean, you're part werewolf. Nothing in the world can turn wolves into vampires." Josie suddenly asked and Valerie was about to answer when she found herself unable to produce an answer.
"I-I don't know..." Valerie suddenly confessed, a horrified look on her face as she looked up at Josie, "Josie, how don't I know?" She asked, a deeply concerned look on her face.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
So, this is the end! Sorry if you do not like the ending. I had no clue how to wrap it up. There will be a sequel for season 2, we just have to wait until it comes out. Hope you'll read it! I also hoped you liked this book, it was one of my most favorite books to write.
The gut pain that Ophelia and Hope felt is my way of showing the sire link. They were both turned by Hope don't know when someone with a sireline is thrown into the pit so I simply had it that they had gut pain.
Anyways, thank you for reading this book!