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She hears the bones crack on the way walking back toward the school building even though she wants to slip away and go far enough in the woods that she could run wild and free. Her feet are taking her in the opposite direction. He is laying on the ground, no signs of him being conscious. The tears fall from her eyes, chest heaving for air between loud broken sobs. The air around her became thick, wind picking up as she falls to her knees beside him. Landon already is showing signs of bruising that Hope would expect from a human, his beautiful olive skin tainted with dark purple and blue patches from a wolf that was pissed off that someone beat his ass. Blood collecting on his forehead in a deep crimson puddle which makes her growl.
It is wrong, she knows but she easily leans down and laps up the blood that she can get. The tribrid runs an index finger across his bruised jaw, only pulling all contact away when she cleaned the line of blood twice. Her control was amazing, something to envy but that might be because she hasn’t died yet, right now she is able to fake it till she makes it. Pretend to be more witch than a werewolf or even vampire. Hope spent ten years of schooling pretending to be something she wasn’t so no one has ever seen her hungry for blood, her mother would come down with a blood bag enough that she would drink in the car on the way to the grill for the monthly mother/daughter lunch date. Rafael must not know that Hope knew Landon first, that Hope felt something for the boy laying here before her long before Rafael even knew him.
Hope had wanted to ask Landon on a date but then her mother died and her father followed quickly after and she was so wrapped up in her grief that she hardly noticed that the cute boy from the grill was gone and when she did notice, there had been a deep longing for him that never could be crushed. She kneels before him, hand pulling at Landon’s jean jacket so that it falls open so she could see his shoulders before moving on to lift the thin t-shirt up just enough to see the purple on his stomach ❝Oh Landon,❞ her voice breaks. Loving anyone was a weakness that she couldn’t afford. Loving a Mikaelson is a death sentence. I will not let you become a casualty of mine. She hears Alaric call her name, Rafael rushing toward her as the wolf scent grows stronger, rain starting to sprinkle down on them in a sudden flash thanks to an emotional tribrid. When Alaric and Rafael pick Landon up, she stays in step with them, on their heels that every so often her toes nip at their heels.
When the nurse cleans wounds and Landon starts to come around, Hope feels like she can finally breathe. She acted as if she hated him, and for a while when he stole that knife she had but seeing him hurt brought her attention to her true feelings, it scared the hell out of her. She stays with him even when he is helped to his room by Rafael.
Hope lies to Rafael, tells him to go get her something that will never be found to give him some time to cool down, it does no good if he stood there brewing more anger, the air around them tense enough without Hope feeding off of his anger. Landon sitting up in the bed, his green eyes never not on her and it makes a difference in the way she portrays herself. Hope sits on the edge of the bed, reaching out to brush a strand of his curly hair out of the way. Words are exchanged, ones that don’t even matter to her as much as feeling his skin under her touch. She leans in and gives him a quick peck on the lips, nothing like she would be doing a few hours from now. ❝You have to trust me,❞ she starts out before pulling back, bringing her wrist up to her mouth, eyes shining that beautiful golden color as she bites down. Her blood hitting her mouth making a growl come from the back of her throat. She brings her bloody wrist to his mouth, ❝Just drink. I know this is gross and intimate but it will heal you,❞ the tug she feels as blood pulls out of her vein and into him is hot, a feeling she has only ever really experienced when she was close to someone, kissing them like she had the boy from the bayou that had been her first time, how her breathe catches in the back of her throat and soon the feeling is gone as Landon pulls away. The bruising is gone, he can suddenly move with ease. ❝I need to put some fake bruising on your skin with magic and you will need to pretend to be hurt for a while as no one knows that my blood is this good.❞ Alaric knows it is a cure for a wolf bite but that is about it. Magic brings back the look of wounds that he had before.
The moment that they shared was broken when she asks him if he feels safe there and she makes some excuse to leave him alone. The wooden door shuts behind her, she pulls the ball out of her pocket and the truth stares at her in the face, the red light shining brighten. He doesn’t feel safe and she can’t blame him and she knows what her vote is going to be when she is at that council meeting. She will do the thing that Rafael doesn’t have the guts to do, put Landon before either of them. Voting no means that a date with Landon will never happen, she will never see him again (So she thinks) but she will be okay with that because he deserves so much better than her. Hope calls her aunt Freya from her cell phone that she keeps hidden in the back of her dresser. She asks Freya and Vincent to help her friend find his mother, buys him a bus ticket to New Orleans with the credit card that she owns before getting ready for the meeting with the honor council. Hope will go after Jed later, revenge is a dish best served red hot with Alaric nowhere in sight because he always spoils her fun. The tribrid has never liked bullies, always willing to stick up for the weaker people even if one day it gets her killed. One thing for sure, the saying, if you love something, let it go seems to hold true at this moment.
