Chapter 3
Hope marched into the boys’ locker room, determined to just go ahead and kill the troll so she can move on with her life.
She could definitely smell the troll, so she knew she couldn’t be far off, but despite the abundance of purple blood splattered across the room, there was no troll in sight. And Hope was pretty certain that, if it was in the room, she wouldn’t miss it. Still, she was on high alert. Of all the horrible beasts that Malivore had sent her way, the troll was the only one who had been able to knock her out cold for 12 hours. So, when she felt a hand grasp her shoulder, she didn’t hesitate for a second before throwing her attacker to the floor. She already had the offender pinned to the floor, hand poised to strike, when she realized that she had just whammied her principal.
He raised his arms to protect his head, curling in on himself and trying to tell Hope to stop. She sat on top of him, frozen, and he looked at her in utter confusion mixed with a bit of fear.
“Okay, seriously. Who are you?” He asked, apparently unable to excuse Hope’s vague and evasive answers to any personal questions for any longer.
“I’m a vampire hunter.” Hope lied, immediately kicking herself for it. Of course she knew that Ric was well acquainted with the supernatural, but as far as he knew, she would have no way of knowing that. In his eyes, she had just potentially blown a secret that had been carefully guarded for over a thousand years. She really didn’t know how she’d lie that one away.
Thankfully, he didn’t seem to overthink the statement as much as Hope had, so she just kept talking. She supposed there was no harm in informing him of the troll’s presence, he’d find out sooner or later that another Malivore monster had found its way to him. He’d be able to help her, then she could leave faster.
“And I came across a creature-“
“What kind of creature?” He interjected. If he’d just let her talk, maybe she could tell him. Good to know he hasn’t changed much (besides the beard, that is).
“A creature that’s big enough to flip over an empty bus. It’s green, it’s ugly, and it smells absolutely terrible, so I’m going with a troll.” She explained. “And it’s hiding somewhere inside the school.” She added, realizing that she still hadn’t made the real reason for her arrival at MFHS clear.
“And how do you know that?” Ric asked.
“Because I wounded it.” Hope gestured vaguely to the splotches of troll blood that he had somehow missed, and continued on. “It’s nocturnal, so it hides out during the day. I found a legend that says I just have to pierce it through the heart-“
“Listen,” he interjected again. “You’re not doing anything, okay? You’re just a kid. If there’s a monster in my school, I’m gonna take care of it.” Hope’s blood boiled at his all-too-familiar condescension and dismissal.
“No offense, but I’ve been trying to kill this thing for over a week, and nothing’s worked.” Hope lied again, hoping that he’d let her help if she made it sound too difficult for him to manage alone. She realized that her failure didn’t hold much weight with him, though, since he knew her as a petite human teenage girl, not the most powerful supernatural creature known to man.
“If you are a vampire hunter, then I’m sure you’ve heard of Alaric Saltzman? I know what I’m doing” He shot back, with a cocky tone and a self-righteous look on his face. Hope didn’t answer, she didn’t trust herself not to shatter his horribly over-inflated ego on the spot. He could really be a pain in her ass, sometimes.
“Yeah, you’re very famous around here.” She said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “But you’re gonna need my help.” She was done beating around the bush. She was pissed at him and thoroughly done with this petty squabble.
“I’ve put kids in danger before, and I’m not gonna make that mistake again.” He said, firmly. Hope softened at that, realizing that Ric was genuinely trying to protect her. Maybe this had something to do with his transfer to MFHS, maybe he crossed a line and got a kid killed or something. After all, he didn’t have an immortal tribrid at his disposal anymore. Before she could even begin to formulate a response, the bell rang and the locker room was flooded with teenage boys, all staring at her and Dr. Saltzman. She didn’t know what they were thinking, but getting caught in the locker room with her principal certainly had interesting implications- ones that she would definitely rather not think about.
“Yes, of course we’d love to have you try out for the team, all are welcome.” Ric was loudly addressing her, apparently trying to not-so-subtly explain the scene that the boys had walked in on. “But in the meantime, go to class. And stay there.” He hissed, emphatically. Hope was more than happy to make her exit.
She made her way to her next class, collapsing at an empty table in the back. Chemistry. Great. The last thing she wanted to be doing at the moment.
“Can I sit?” A voice beside her asked, and she looked up to find Maya, her hand resting on the back of the other chair at the table Hope was seated at. Hope’s stomach erupted in butterflies again.
“Oh, sure!” Hope said, more than a little bit too enthusiastic. Her face reddened and Maya smirked, a look she knew all too well even after barely 2 hours of having known the girl.
“I guess we’re lab partners, then.” Maya commented.
“Right.” Hope replied, ducking her head and grinning to herself. Maybe being forced to go to class wasn’t so bad.
The teacher gave instructions for a simple experiment, but Hope wasn’t listening. Not a single bit. Every time she tried to focus on the teacher’s words, Maya drew her attention in, just by doing the littlest things. The way she chewed on her lip while she tried to concentrate, the way she absentmindedly braided a small strand of hair, the way her face looked when she rested her chin in her hands. It was so adorable, it almost looked like a pout. It almost looked like-
No. She absolutely would not go there. She was never going to see…her again. It was best to push the brunette twin out of her mind. She was going to kill the troll and then leave this town, and she was never going to come back.
Shit, the troll. All of this stupid girl drama was clouding her head. She needed a plan. The troll was nocturnal, right? It had been sticking to the shadows. If she couldn’t overpower it with brute force, she’d have to disable it for long enough to kill it. And she knew just how to do it.
“Maya, could you do me a favor?” Hope whispered, once the teacher had finished giving her instructions.
“Anything for you.” Maya replied coolly, making Hope blush furiously.
“I need you to distract the teacher for a minute. Just keep her facing that way.” Hope gestured towards the front of the room, eyeing the supply closet in the back. Maya gave her a strange look, but called the teacher over nonetheless. Hope dashed to the closet, swiped a few things from the shelf, and dumped them as inconspicuously as possible into her backpack. She gave Maya, who was asking the teacher questions that were beyond irrelevant to their project, a small nod.
“Okay, never mind, I got it. Thanks!” Maya told the teacher abruptly, turning back to Hope.
“What was that about?” She questioned the redhead.
“Long story. Thank you, though, you’re a lifesaver.” Hope deflected.
“Oh, I know.” Maya teased, with an exaggerated hair flip. “Now, let’s get to work on the project.”
*
After Chemistry, Hope decided that she could waste no more time before putting her plan into action. What was Dr. Saltzman going to do, expel her? From the school she’d have disappeared from by tomorrow? Whatever.
She scoured the halls for a trace of troll blood, clutching her homemade chemical concoction underneath her jacket. She spotted a splatter of purple liquid at the door to what Hope guessed was the basement, and checked to make sure there was no one watching as she crept towards it. She heard a loud crash and a groan of pain from what sounded like her principal, and immediately dashed through the door and down the stairs.
She found Dr. Saltzman crumpled on the floor, the troll standing above him, poised to strike.
“Hope,” he groaned, “Go. Now.” She rolled her eyes and tossed the jar she’d been hiding under her jacket towards the troll. It stopped in its tracks, looking confusedly at the container of bluish liquid clattering towards him.
“Sol.” Hope whispered, and shielded her eyes as a flash of light exploded from the jar, effectively blinding the troll.
“Hope!” Dr. Saltzman called from the floor, tossing her an arrow. She suspended it in the air with a wordless spell, then propelled it towards the distracted troll, driving it directly into its heart. It fell to the floor lifelessly, and Hope ran to her principal’s side.
“Are you okay?” She asked in a panic, kneeling next to him.
“I’m fine.” He responded, not very convincingly as he winced in pain when Hope helped him up. “I’m gonna go ahead and agree with your troll theory.” He said, eyeing the corpse in front of him.
“You didn’t tell me you were a witch.” He turned to face her, eyeing her suspiciously.
“Look, I’m just here to kill this thing, then I’ll be out of here.” She replied, completely avoiding eye contact. “Meet me here after school so we can clean this thing up.” She didn’t even wait for a response, just hurried towards the stairs before he could question her any further.
“Hope.” He called behind her. “Hope!”
“What?” She whipped around, exasperated.
“It’s, uh…” He glanced down at his watch. “It is after school.”
“Perfect.” Hope muttered to herself, glancing through the small window in the basement door.
“There’s still, like, hundreds of kids here, though. We can’t just drag a thousand pound troll body through the hall with them here.” She pointed out.
“Come to my office, then. Give it an hour and they’ll all be gone.” Ric replied. As hesitant as Hope was to spend more time with him, she realized she didn’t really have any good reason to refuse, and she didn’t want to give him any more reasons to be suspicious. So finally, she relented, nodding slightly and making her way up the stairs, Ric following behind.
They made their way to his office in silence, not really able to discuss the murder of a troll in the presence of high schoolers anyway.
When they entered Ric’s office, Hope immediately collapsed onto the couch by his desk, while he took the seat behind his desk and pulled out a bottle of whiskey. He kicked his feet up onto the desk and took a long sip, staring at the ceiling contemplatively.
“How’d I know to throw you that arrow?” He asked her.
“What?” Hope replied. He was on the ground and she was ready to fight. Why wouldn’t he have thrown her the arrow?
“It was like…muscle memory.” He explained, more to himself than Hope, eyes still trained on the ceiling. He sat up abruptly and fixed his eyes on her, squinting, as if to get a better look at her.
“We’ve fought together before, haven’t we?” Posed as a question, but intended as more of a statement. Hope’s eyes widened in panic for a brief moment, but she forced herself to play it off.
“Is that your first drink of the day? I think you’d remember me if we’d fought together before.”
She remarked, sarcastically. He set his glass down emphatically, then leaned back in his chair.
“Yeah, well I live in a world where a monster called Malivore can erase a person completely.” He began, open-endedly.
“Right, well I’m just passing through. After today, you’ll never see me again. It’s best that way.” Trying to convince herself as much as him.
“Why?”
“Everyone’s moved on. Their lives are complete. Trying to insert myself somewhere where I don’t belong anymore would just be painful and confusing for everyone involved.” She held back tears for what felt like the millionth time today, and realized that this was more than she should be revealing to her principal. She glanced into the hall and found it empty.
“We should probably go deal with that troll.” She got up and left before he had the chance to protest, wiping her eyes as subtly as she possibly could.
She walked quickly to the basement, making sure to stay a few paces ahead of Alaric. She didn’t need any more questions, and she certainly didn’t need him to bring up any more fucking feelings. She needed a clean break from this.
Which, apparently, was never going to happen, because, somehow, the troll had disappeared, leaving only an arrow and a puddle of purple in its wake.
“Fuck.” Hope whispered through gritted teeth, giving the wall next to her a solid kick. The cement cracked easily, and Hope turned to see a baffled Alaric, clearly stunned at her unexpected display of strength. Thankfully, he had the good sense not to comment.
Where the hell is the troll? How had it just gotten up and walked away? All of her research had shown that a troll just needed to be pierced through the heart…
“Maybe we missed it’s heart?” Ric suggested.
“Or maybe, it’s not a troll…” Hope began, processing aloud. “Maybe, it’s like that time the Oneiroi disguised itself as a Night Hag. We have to find out what it actually is to kill it.”
“Wait, you were there for the Night Hag? How-?” He began, but was cut off by a sharp glare from the redhead.
“Come on, it shouldn’t be too hard to track.” Hope mumbled, gesturing to the much more obvious trail of blood that the not-troll had left this time.
The two of them traced it to the park in the middle of town, where Hope, without hesitation, lit it on fire (maybe a slightly careless move considering their very public location, but she was far too upset to care).
Apparently, it was a good move, though, because Hope’s fire spell turned the not-troll’s tuft of ugly, matted hair to dust, revealing an eye at the top of it’s head.
“Cyclops.” She heard Ric mutter to himself. “Hope, the eye!” He called out to her, tossing her another arrow. Just as she had done earlier, she used magic to suspend the arrow in midair and drive it directly into the monster’s eye. It collapsed to the ground, and quickly deteriorated into glowing ashes.
Hope breathed a sigh of relief, and turned back to her principal.
“I guess this is goodbye, then.” He sighed, sadly. Hope nodded, her eyes trained on the ground. She didn’t trust herself not to break down again.
“Here.” He said, holding his crossbow out to her. “Take it. I want you to promise me that you’ll keep yourself safe.”
“But…this is your crossbow! I’ve never seen you fight anything without it. You can’t just give it away.” She protested weakly, tears finally flooding down her cheeks.
“I get the feeling you’re important enough to me that… that this is right.” He choked out, pressing it into her chest. Hope brought her hand up, holding the crossbow to herself.
“Good luck, Hope. If you ever need anything, come find me.” She just nodded again, having to hold her breath to contain the sobs that were threatening to break loose. She looked up, taking a slow, deep breath, then brought her eyes back down to the man in front of her.
“Goodbye, Dr. Saltzman.” She whispered, turning on her heel and forcing herself to walk away, just as she had done with Josie the night before. She wandered down a dark path through the park, hugging herself tightly, allowing herself to cry freely.
She thought back to the day her mom died, and the day her dad died. How she had never really gotten to say goodbye.
She finally had the chance to say goodbye to a parent (or at least a parental figure). She got the moment that she had been wishing for since she was 15. But was this really better? Did that really make it any easier?
Dr. Saltzman had honestly felt more like a father to her than her father had. Sure, he had his moments, but he had always been there. Always.
And she had just walked away.
But this was for the best, right? She had reasons for leaving. Good ones. Ones that, in the midst of her breakdown, seemed to completely escape her.
And before her mind could even catch up with her body, she found herself in front of the Forbes’ old house, knocking on the huge wooden door.
When he came to the door, it finally hit her exactly where she was, exactly what she had done. And as she stood there, her mouth hanging open wordlessly, she couldn’t find it in herself to fight anymore.
“My name’s not Hope Marshall.” She began. “It’s Hope Mikaelson. I’m Klaus and Hayley’s daughter.” She heard her voice break at her mother’s name. Alaric’s eyes softened immediately at the mention of her parents. Her dead parents.
“And I know you don’t remember this, but you’re the closest thing I have to a father now.” She choked down another sob. “And the entire world has forgotten that I exist. And the… the person I love has moved on. So, I have absolutely no idea what to do next.” Her voice was breaking on every other word, tears were flooding down her face, her breath had completely escaped her. She felt pathetic. She felt… broken.
“It’s okay. We’ll figure it out…together.” He reassured her, stepping forward tentatively. She let herself fall into his arms, clinging to him and sobbing uncontrollably, as he rubbed her back soothingly. She cried and cried and just let him hold her.
“Do you want to stay here with me while we figure things out?” He whispered to her once her breathing had evened out. She just nodded against his chest.
“Okay. Do you want anything to eat? I was just about to order dinner.” He asked.
“I just wanna go to bed right now.” Hope answered, still sniffling slightly.
“Alright. There’s a bedroom at the top of the stairs on the right, it should have some spare clothes and stuff in it. Help yourself to anything.”
“Thanks.” She mumbled, making her way towards the stairs.
“And Hope?” He called out to her. “I’m really glad you stayed.”
“Yeah. Yeah, me too.” She said softly. “Good night, Dr. Saltzman.”
“Goodnight, Hope.”
She kicked her shoes off and flopped into bed immediately, not even bothering to change, not bothering to care that she was sleeping in someone else’s bed. She drifted off to sleep reveling in the bed’s oddly familiar and extremely comforting vanilla scent, but she didn’t realize until the moment before she drifted off who it belonged to.
Josie.