Chapter 5
Hope could practically feel the waves of anxiety emanating from Josie’s body as they stood under the sole street light of the alley way they were currently hiding out in as they awaited Lizzie and MG’s return.
Josie’s breathing was slightly erratic and she couldn’t seem to stop fidgeting with her hands.
Of course, Hope wasn’t feeling much better considering what had gone down between her and Josie’s parents within minutes of her suggesting she bring Josie hunting.
Alaric had paced around his office, red faced and short of breath as he continued to shout at Hope.
“Are you absolutely insane?!” He slammed his fist down on his oak test and Hope reckoned if he had anymore than human strength, he might have left an impressive dent. “You think bringing her into town to hunt is a good idea in her state?”
“Have you seen your daughter?” Hope countered. “She’s sick and she needs blood soon! Drinking from the vein is the last option.”
“If she needs to drink from the vein, she can do it here on school grounds!”
Hope had of course considered this option minutes after blurting out her suggestion to Caroline. But she had also considered the risk that a bloodthirsty Josie might not be able to control her thirst, and an emotionally unstable Josie would not be able to forgive herself if she thought in any way she had brought harm to her family or friends. Not that harming an innocent civilian was exactly a great substitute plan, but Hope was confident she’d be able to help Josie get through it if it came to it.
“No, she won’t,” Caroline interjected, a slight sense of resentment in her tone. “She won’t do that, because Hope doesn’t want her to.”
Both Alaric and Hope’s head snapped up to face her, asking in unison. “What do you mean?”
Caroline waved away the question. “We can talk about it later, we need to help Josie first.”
Hope could still make little sense of Caroline’s words. Sure Josie was blood deprived and agitated, but surely she was still capable of making decisions for herself.
The fact Josie adamantly refused her mother come along on the hunt heightened tensions further. She claimed she wouldn’t be able to focus under the pressure of her mother watching. When Hope offered her assistance instead, Alaric outrightly protested - claiming Hope couldn’t be capable of such a thing.
As though she hadn’t dedicated her entire teenage years to defending his school from monsters. As though he didn’t trust Hope to take care of his daughter. It hurt just as much as it angered her.
Eventually, however, they had agreed Hope could take Josie as long as MG accompanied them. Of course, Lizzie managed to weasel her way into Hope’s car trip into town too - refusing to be left out of the fun.
The flashbacks of the argument with Alaric and Caroline were playing on repeat inside her mind and Hope was feeling nauseous at the thought of the long lecture she was going to receive when they returned to the school later that night. But she needed to stop worrying about that for now, and focus on Josie instead. Of course the younger girl had to be terrified, it wasn’t every day you had to sink your newly developed fangs into a stranger’s neck.
Hope tried rubbing soothing circles into Josie’s back, hoping it might calm or at least distract the brunette. Josie stiffened slightly at the contact.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled. “I can’t help it.”
Hope couldn’t hold back the desire she felt to hold Josie and protect her. She placed an arm around her waist and pulled her closer , into a tight hug.
“It’s fine Jo,” Hope whispered softly, “Once you feed properly you’re going to feel so much better.”
Hope felt Josie relax into her arms a bit.
Her ears pricked up at the sound of Lizzie’s high heel boots clacking against the pavement as she and MG returned - with Josie’s first source of fresh blood in tow.
Judging by a sudden tight grasp on Hope’s hand, Josie heard it about the same time.
“Hope?” The brunette’s voice was so fragile and small it caught Hope off guard. The slight tremble in her hand was more than unsettling for Hope.
“Yes, Jo?”
“What if I hurt them?”
“You won’t Josie. You could never hurt anyone. And I’ll be here the whole time okay?”
Josie chewed on her lip, her gaze flickered back towards the top of the street where her sister, MG and their target were beginning to come into view.
Hope narrowed her eyes as she took in the sight of the obviously compelled man Lizzie was linking arms with.
“A cop Lizzie? Are you serious? That was the best person you could for her to feed off of?”
The officer was young. He couldn’t have been much older than them. It had probably been easy for Lizzie to lure him in with her beauty and charms.
The blonde just shrugged. “He was like the only person that was roaming around the streets this time of night. It’s fine, they stopped dosing themselves with vervain after Sheriff Donovan left. Now can we get this over with? I’d really like to put these last few traumatic days behind us.”
Hope rolled her eyes before switching her gaze to MG, who gave her a knowing smile. He took hold of the policeman’s shoulders and gently shoved him against a nearby wall. As he turned around to face Josie, he pulled down the officer’s collar, revealing a visible vein on his neck.
“C’mere Jo,” MG beckoned. “Best place to go is for the neck. Go gently okay? Bite too hard and you’ll hurt him.”
Josie glanced up at Hope, as though waiting for her permission. The tribrid gave her a nod of reassurance. “Go ahead, I’ll be right here. Drink as much as you need.”
The brunette hesitantly shuffled forward. Her posture suddenly straightened as she caught hold of the man’s scent - the scent of the blooding pumping around his body. It was suddenly calling her forward, begging her to claim it as her prize.
Josie felt her surroundings darken as her focus was now locked on the throbbing pulse point in the man’s neck. His blood , though slightly masked by a deep cologne, smelled so sweet. She needed to have it.
She hovered closer to him, and held him by the wrist to keep him in place. MG took this as an opportunity to step out of the way and give the newly turned vampire some space.
Just a breath away from his skin, Josie’s fans slid out of her gums with far too much ease, ready to pierce their way through his flesh.
Hope stood back watching in fascination at how easily Josie was adapting - how her teeth managed to find the right mark on first try, and how she nonchalantly raised a hand to cover the man’s mouth as he let out a gasp of pain.She watched how her eyes rolled back in relief and satisfaction as the warm blood trickled down her throat.
Part of Hope felt relief too, finally seeing colour return to Josie’s face. But there was a part of her that began to grow uneasy too the more the brunette continued to drink.
Blood started to drip down the man’s neck, staining the grey collar of his uniform.
“Okay Jo, maybe take it easy,” Hope warned. If Josie heard her, she made no attempt to acknowledge it. Her teeth only seemed to sink deeper, ripping into another vein. Blood sprayed from his neck onto her cheeks.
It was becoming too much for Hope to handle. She’d never had much of a problem with blood before, but seeing sweet, caring Josie capable of this was a different scenario altogether. She felt ashamed of herself that she was the one responsible for turning her best friend into some type of bloodthirsty monster.
“Josie that’s enough,” MG told her and placed a hand on her shoulder. Unhappy to have been disturbed from her meal, Josie let out a vicious growl before using a single arm to throw him halfway down the street. MG let out a painful groan as his head collided with the bonnet of Hope’s jeep.
“Josie!” Lizzie let out a scream, her twin took no notice. The mam’s knees had buckled now, Hope knew it was time to intervene before they ended up with a dead cop on their hands.
The blonde beside her was growing increasingly frantic. “What’s wrong with her? Why is this happening?”
“I don’t know!” Hope screamed back before rushing to pull Josie away from the policeman. She couldn’t help but feel her stomach twist in disgust at the sight of the gaping wound in the man’s neck.
“Let go of him Josie, let go of him and compel him to forget what happened!”
Josie’s hand loosened its grip and the cop collapsed to the ground with a deep thud, letting out a weak cry of pain as he did. Hope found it hard to hold back a scowl as Josie, whose face was smeared with sticky, red blood, showed little regard for the man bleeding to death on the ground. Luckily, MG was quick to swoop in and feed him some of his blood. Meanwhile Hope’s attention was turning back to Josie.
“Josie! Look at what you've done!” Hope yelled. "You almost killed him!"
Josie suddenly looked petrified as her darkened eyes flickered upward to meet Hope’s, her demeanor completely shifting. She whispered her compulsion to the guard before shrinking into Hope’s touch.
Josie flinched. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry Hope. I didn’t mean to. I -”
Hope instantly felt guilty for snapping at her friend. She inhaled deeply to try to calm herself. It wasn’t like Josie had intended to hurt the cop after all. She was new to this. As she felt her heart race settle she realized she wasn't angry, but rather worried. If Josie had killed that man, she wouldn't forgive herself easily, and it would be completely on Hope.
“Josie?” She tried again in a softer tone but the brunette pulled away from her. Using her new found vampire speed, she retreated to the opposite side of the alleyway where she huddled up against a cold, brick wall.
“Please, don’t hate me.” Her whimpers were barely audible. “I couldn’t help it.”
Lizzie stepped forward from where she had stood in the shadows, taking in the disturbing sight of her sister rocking herself in a corner, crying and whispering to herself. The blonde was still shaking herself from witnessing her sister almost drain a man. She whispered,
“Hope, what the hell is going on with her? How did you do that?”
Hope looked from one twin to the other. She honestly had no idea, but she had a feeling Caroline might.
“You created a sire bond,” Caroline sighed from behind the desk in her office.
Hope choked on her own breath.
“A sire bond? ” Lizzie practically shrieked from where she stood beside her.
“We anticipated this,” Carolline sighed, standing up from her leather chair. “Considering your family’s history, but it was foolish for us not to have prepared ourselves for this occurring. The bond seems strong. It’s influencing her emotions and her actions. Josie’s upset not only because she has hurt that man hut also because she knows she disappointed you, Hope.”
“But why is she so afraid of me?” Hope frowned. “I’d never hurt her, you guys know that right?”
Caroline smiled thinly. “Of course we know that Hope, you saved her life. It’s common for vampires to fear rejection from their sires.”
The blonde Saltzman twin turned to face her. “This is why she’s been acting so weird around you, why she only drank because you told her to. Isn’t it?”
Hope felt at a loss for words. Did the bond have something to do with Josie storming out on her in the library? And her calling for Hope’s help earlier today? A million questions were suddenly floating around her head. Sure she had been a sire to the hybrids, and even her own mother - but Josie just seemed like a different ball game completely. She was one of Hope's closest friends. Their friendship had already been tested so many times over the years by complicated emotions - a sire bond wasn't going to make things any simpler. Hope felt anxious at the thought of having such influence over Josie's feelings. If her freak out in the alleyway was an indication of the power of the sire bond, Hope was going to be extremely careful to ensure she did nothing to upset Josie like that again.
“I’m sorry-” she stammered, meeting Caroline and Lizzie’s gazes. “I didn’t mean to cause any complications. I just wanted to help.”
“We know that Hope,” The headmistress meekly replied.
“Does she know? Should I go talk to her?”
“I imagine she may have figured it out by now. If not she definitely has an inkling as to why she feels so attached to you since turning. We can all have a long conversation tomorrow, but right now Josie’s feeling rather down on herself. Her emotions are already a bit unstable.”
“But what do we do about the bond?” Lizzie spoke up.
“That’s not exactly a straightforward issue Lizzie,” Caroline sighed. “There are options that need to be discussed. Hope and Josie will have to be the ones that ultimately decide. But that’s a complex conversation that shouldn’t be had until Josie is well rested and in control of her emotions again. So for now, I think we should all call it a night. We can talk again in the morning, okay?”
Caroline didn’t give either Lizzie or Hope much of a chance to argue. The older blonde was quick to head the door and disappear into the hallway.
Once she was out of earshot, the blonde Saltzman twin turned to the aubrenette.“I know you’re probably trying to wrap your head around this and everything. But I need you to promise me that whatever you decide to do, you won’t hurt my sister.”
Hope nodded solemnly, "I promise."
This was a promise she certainly didn't want to break.