"Well don't be too shocked," the woman smirked. "Surely you knew you and Ryan weren't the only ones."

"You're lying," Hope said. Her eyes had gone to normal, only, now they were filled with rage and curiosity. Sometimes both of those are reserved for Mel, who she's trying so desperately to bring back. "All of Malivore's creations flopped."

"Except the perfect son, of course. The perfect boy with a human heart, mind, and soul... Daddy's perfect vessel, my dearest baby brother, Landon Kirby."

"No, we're not related."

"Well, you wouldn't know for sure, would you?" The blonde stepped closer to them, shoving her hands in the pockets of her jacket. "Now... I know why I'm here... but why are you? You mentioned Ryan?"

"Look, lady, I don't have time for your shit," Hope spat. "My friend is missing, and I believe that asshole had something to do with it. So, you don't happen to know anything about it...or where he is, do you?"

She shook her head slowly. "Maybe I know where Ryan is. But this friend? What's their name? Perhaps if I knew, I could be of some help."

"Melori," Kaleb answered. Whoever this supposed Malivore woman tried to look like she didn't know who she was. However, that seemed like crap to Kaleb. "Melori Collins. Sound familiar?"

"Sorry, kid. Not even a little."

Hope scoffed, folding her arms over her chest. "You know something."

The blonde clapped slowly, giving the girl a sly smile. "Acute observation, wolf girl. I do know where Ryan is... but what he's up to, I couldn't say."

"Just for the record," Kaleb started. "We don't trust you."

"Not one bit," Hope agreed. Landon only stared, not believing there was another Malivore creation roaming around. "But like it or not, you're coming with us."

"Yeah, like I'm gonna listen to some kids..." As she turned her back on them to resume rummaging through the boxes before her, Hope shot out her hand to cast the very helpful (and classic) pain infliction spell on the mystery person. The one that causes multiple aneurysms to occur in the mind.

She doubled over in pain, clutching her temples. "Ahhhh! Stop! Jesus, just stop!"

Hope released her hold on the woman. "It's not a choice," she said, slowly stepping closer to the other woman, who had turned on her back to watch Hope carefully. It was clear that she was shocked by Hope's magic as it wasn't expected. She thought Hope was only a wolf, nothing more. "You'll help us find your brother, or there'll be a whole lot more where that came from. Understood?"

Reluctantly, she nodded, wise to not test the angry were-witch. "Fine."

"Good. We need to go now, then. The sooner we get there, the better." Hope turned on her heel and made her way down the stairs.

Kaleb turned back to the woman, shrugging. He cocked his head towards the stairs to signal her to follow. She rolled her eyes and hopped to her feet, dusting off her hands in the process. Landon stepped to the side and allowed her to go first. Rolling her eyes again, she slowly began walking down the steps with the boys on her trail.

When they reached the exit, they overheard Hope finishing up the debriefing. "...Malivore's first child."

"There's no way there are more children of the pit, you have got to be fucking kidding me."

"Lizzie."

"Josie, I cannot stand the thought of there being more of them. We got lucky with the curly-haired french fry—"

"Hey!"

"—not wanting to kill us. Luckily for us, he's shagging the Mikaelson."

"The Mikaelson?" The woman chuckled. "Holy shit, you're totally Klaus Mikaelson's daughter, aren't you? Which means you're the tribrid."

Hope pointed a threatening finger. "Unless you're telling us where to find Ryan, I highly suggest you shut your mouth."

"Sure, but... I mean, I've heard the stories about your father. Your whole family. Such power was felt in that spell back there, this explains it." Hope cut her eyes at her. The blonde woman held her hands up in surrender, stepping back only slightly.

Hope took a deep breath, pinching the space between her eyes. This annoyance would be so much more bearable if it was coming from Mel, she thought.

"Okay... the compass... led us to the wrong relative and therefore the place Mel is not. We need to follow..."

"Alice."

"We need to follow her to wherever Clarke is."

Josie held a hand up to protest. "Forgive me for being skeptical, but I don't think we can trust... Alice."

"I don't see us having a choice," Rafael sighed. "The way I see it... we don't know who has Melori. We don't know if she's being hurt or tortured, or if she's already dead."

The lot of them went silent. They knew Raf was right. They knew the only real way to get one step closer to their friend was to follow Alice the mysterious Malivore woman. It was almost ironic that it took one to find another.

Eventually, they all nodded, and Hope motioned for Alice to start leading the way. However, the woman shook her head and refused to move forth. "Okay, first of all, we're not going anywhere until daylight."

"Yes, we are."

"No, we are not. It's a quarter past midnight right now and you're all just a bunch of kids with no real plan on how to save your friend from...who or whatever. How do you expect to be the poor girl's heroes if you're walking around like zombies?" Alice held her hands out, shrugging as if making a point. "And don't worry, I'm not gonna pull your legs or anything. Only an idiot would try to double-cross a Mikaelson."

Hope eyed her suspiciously. "You'd better not be that idiot then. Otherwise—"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it, wolf girl. Now come this way, I know a place we can crash for the night." Alice walked off, whistling innocently. All the teens—except Hope and Landon—followed her. They were tired, hungry, and likely anxious about what Alaric would say about their mission.

Hope hesitated to follow suit but thought it best to not protest. There wasn't much choice in the matter. The compass didn't work as planned and it seemed their only option right now was to put faith in Alice to take them to her and Landon's brother.

Hell, that part was still boggling to them. Especially Landon. He jogged a bit to catch up to Hope to walk next to her. He slid his hand into hers for comfort. It almost made Hope want to recoil, knowing it wasn't Melori's hand.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"How can I be? My best friend's gone."

"I know. I know, and Hope, I promise she's okay. Everything will be fine."

"Assuming she's not permanently dead, or worse: turned into a vampire, forced to flip the switch, and maybe... maybe she's killed someone against her will. Do you..." Hope stopped walking and turned to face Landon. He never let go of her hand. "Do you know how much it will devastate her if the latter happens? If Mel gets turned... if she kills someone in cold blood, she won't be any better than the vampires that killed her family. And when she gets her emotions back, she'll never be the same."

"You're thinking about the worst possible things that could happen, and not what will happen."

"Yeah? And what's that?"

"Us finding her, of course. In good health and all that."

"Even though she potentially hates your guts..."

"She definitely hates my guts."

"...you're standing here, promising me she's going to be fine?"

Landon shrugged, tucking his free hand into his pocket. "Between her and me, I'm the actual one that was born of our great evil, so... I would hate me too."

Hope shook her head with a smile. "I can't confirm nor deny that but... thank you, Landon, for having faith." She brought her hand up to the back of his head and leaned in for a soft kiss on the lips. It lasted longer than Hope expected because the boy had grabbed hold of her waist, pulling her closer by the second.

Hope pulled back and rested her forehead on his. It became evident that focusing on the boy in front of her was hard to do when all she can think about is the missing girl. It became evident that being in Landon's arms, kissing him, holding him... just didn't feel... appropriate right now.

"We have to go rest," she whispered. "Alice is right about one thing; we have to get sleep to bring her back."

Landon nodded and interlaced his fingers with Hope's. "Then that, we do."

I lowkey feel bad for plotting to break them up but at the same time I really don't. the prophecy states that Hope will be in a lovely lesbian relationship with a certain green-eyed tribrid. wink wonk.

I actually started a notebook for this. it helps for when I'm at school, bored as hell. and I always have ideas swarming, so there's that too. it's just that writing (or typing) those ideas is difficult sometimes.

BUT NO WORRIES, I promise more and more content comes soon. pieces of puzzles will be filled, relationships destroyed, more relationships formed...people to bring into the equation.

WE ALREADY KNOW FINCH IS COMING TOO. AND CLEO, I love them both. don't doubt that for a SECOND.

'til next week, homies. :3