CHAPTER FOUR: HOPE IS NOT THE GOAL

mg makes his way down from his room to the kitchen and over to the large steel fridge, still freaked out from his dream earlier he opens the fridge and is pleased when nothing pops out at him. he grabs a bag of blood as a snack and is shocked when he shuts it being scared by henrietta and kalebs arrival.

"boo" kaleb and henrietta say in sync, "ahh!" mg says in reply to his friends as they begin laughing. mg takes a breath to calm himself down before glaring at his friends.

"come on, man" mg says, kaleb laughs at him slightly as henrietta makes her way towards the sink.

"sorry mg, it was too easy" henrietta says as she washes her hand from the dry blood.

mg realizes they were wearing their outside clothes and not their pyjamas "where were you?" 

"got a little peckish, went out for a midnight snack" kaleb explained as he wiped his lip with a towel, looking at henrietta to make sure he got it clean.

mg takes a moment to realise before letting a "ooh" escape.

kaleb notices mg's expression as henrietta grabs a blood bag "we good?" he asked.

"all good" mg answered unsure of his friends, he didn't want to say anything which would anger them.

henrietta nods in return before giving each boy a kiss on the cheek and exiting "good night boys" 

"night ria" they both reply before kaleb also leaves, mg walks over to the sink and is slightly unnerved when he notices a dishtowel with a large spot of blood from when kaleb wiped his mouth.

ˍˍˍˍˍˍ

it was now morning at the salvatore school and the students were gathered in the main hall were alaric and matt donovan were explaining the disappearance of sasha and dana. matt explained how dana usually did this but this was a first time for sasha.

"i'll need a few of you to go to mystic falls high school under the guise of an exchange program meant to improve relations between our schools." alaric briefly looks at josie and lizzie before continuing "which, unfortunately, is necessary, given recent events. now, i give you permission to compel them, to gather materials for locator spells, because any information we get will make a difference" 

lizzie with a look of determination stands to her feet and buttons her blazer before turning to the rest of the students, henrietta and katherine rolled their eyes before the girl even started speaking. "well, i guess that i can set aside my differences with dana for a day... because that is what heroes do" lizzie turns to look at alaric "so i volunteer as tribute"

hope rolls her eyes and mutters under her breath "she battles one gargoyle, and suddenly she's mother teresa"

"guess i'll be going then" sebastian said as he got up following lizzie forward .

"fuck sake" katherine murmured to herself as she also stood up, the same time as charles and henrietta.

"anyone else?" alaric asked as the declare siblings made their way forward.

"you're going to be real embarrassed when i prove you wrong" kaleb said to mg before standing up "im in"

mg who wants to keep an eye on kaleb stands up too "im in, too" he says before looking at kaleb hardly.

victoria looks around as theo gives her look before they both stand up "count us in " they say before theo sighs.

hope being the only one of the core group decides to go "i'd like to help" making some of the hall gasp out in shock of the turn of events.

ˍˍˍˍˍˍ

landon is getting dressed when rafael, in his school uniform, walks up to him. "did they say anything about me?" he asked anxious as rafael sits down on the steamer trunk.

"no, not yet. everybody's been talking about some missing girls from your old high school" this does little to calm landon's nerves about staying at school.

"well, do you think they're going to kick me out?" landon asks curiously not really wanting to know the answer

 rafael gestures to his jacket "they gave you some clothes. i think that's a good sign"

landon looks at the jacket and retorts in exasperation realising it belonged to damon salvatore "from 1993!" which causes rafael to give him a look.

"come on, man. we have both been places where nobody wanted us before. you know the drill" landon nods in understanding.

"yeah- keep my head down, make myself useful, don't pick fi-" landon never got to finish when katherine came bursting through the door giving them both smiles.

"hello boys, are you coming to the high school?" she questioned with a smile intact on her face. rafael shakes his head as landon smiles at the girl who has quickly became his friend.

alaric arrives looking at the three with a stern look on his face "landon? you have a minute? i think you might be of some use today" rafael looks at landon thinking this might his chance to stay at school.

ˍˍˍˍˍˍ

the bus for the salvatore school had just arrived at the front of mystic falls high school, it caught the attention of the students outside. as the students depart the bus the cheerleaders outside practising could be heard. more students were staring at them now which lizzie noticed. she tried to own the attention by walking on the sidewalk trying to act oblivious to the onlookers until landon knocks into her causing her to fall over.

"sorry! sorry" he apologised, scared of the girl, connor and his jock friends laugh at her as she glares at landon. that is until they see henrietta, katherine and victoria in the centre of all the students. cat whistles can be heard towards the girl causing the boys around them to glare.

"i was making an entrance mop head" she spits at landon.

"sorry, i just had a flashback of my freshman year here..." lizzie gives a mutinous look as she stops walking.

"girls are missing, so get your wedgie-trauma in check, or leave"  the other gather around lizzie ignoring the onlookers as hope sighs defending landon.

"he's fine now. let it go" lizzie turns her attention back to the group before giving them each tasks.

"landon, you talk to any of the people you still know from when you were here" landon opens his mouth to speak but lizzie ignores him, lizzie then turns t hope who looks frustrated. "hope, you try not to deliberately alienate the entire student body" hope gives lizzie an offended look, katherine places a hand on her upper arm to calm her down.

"this isn't a contest, lizzie" hope says before lizzie takes on a serious tone.

"you're right- it's a mission for a hero and her league of-" lizzie looks around at the other before saying "whatevers"

"me and charles are going to search on our own" victoria said as she grabbed charles' hand walking off somewhere. 

"i'll go with kaleb and henrietta" theo said before walking off with the two vampires following him. 

"me, hope and landon are out" katherine said grabbing her two friends hands and walking off, not bothered to hear lizzie's crazy plan. lizzie turned to mg who was left before turning to sebastian with a smile. 

"mg and sebastian, i need your compulsion skills. would you like to be the robins to my batwoman?" mg's excitement slightly dimmed wanting to correct her comic book reference.

"actaully, batwoman doesn't have a robin, she-" lizzie already bored cuts him off.

"metaphor, nerd" lizzie wraps her arms around mg and sebastian's shoulder's before guiding them into the school. "let's go"

ˍˍˍˍˍˍ

hope and katherine who already look bored walk around with landon who looks anxious while he narrates his tour of the school with his own previous experiences. "this is the senior hallway, where i spent much of my formative years stuffed in every locker, except this one-" he stopped as he tried to open one "that one doesn't open" they continue walking as he points to a bathroom in the hallway "on your left, you'll find the bathroom. it's where i had my first kiss with a toilet-" hope and katherine cut him off at the same time.

"i had my first kiss in 1912" katherine announced with a proud smile.

although hopes response was much different "i'm sorry, does the fact that im openly hostile to you make it seem like were back to being friends?"

landon is taken back by both statements, shocked at how old katherine is and hope's rude response. "uh, sorry. i just... i was going for effortlessly natural..." landon tries to talk to hope but she continues walking forcing him to run to catch up to her. katherine stays still where she stood watching them walk away before deciding to just do some investigating of her own.

a young teenage girl walks up to katherine after going to hope with landon rushing behind looking stunned "was that loser over there bothering you?" she asked looking at landon disgusted. katherine smiled at landon weakly as if apologising before replying "tried to get me to listen to his band" the young girl scoffed before asking her to go to lunch with them, which she  gladly accepted.

ˍˍˍˍˍˍ

landon is wondering through the corridors when hope approaches him wearing a pair of cat ears which he raises his eyebrows at. "hey" she says casually.

"let me guess - pigtails spilled her guts and confessed to kidnapping dana and sasha, case closed... and where's katherine?" he asked concerned for the girl.

she shot him a look and rolled her eyes "her name is cheryl, and not exactly... but she did invite me to try out for the cheerleading team. she also invited katherine to the locker room... we won't be seeing them for a bit" hope sighed as she rolled her eyes. landon noticed this but didn't think hope did so he said nothing.

"who are you right now? and what is that thing on your head?" landon asks not liking what he sees.

"it's a gift from cheryl" landon laughs darkly.

"you're better than this, hope" hope rolls her eyes before explaining herself.

"relax, eeyore. dana gave it to her, it's potential locator spell material. plus, even though sasha and connor are dating, dana was sleeping with him behind her back" landon scoffs not expecting anything less

"yeah, some clue. everyone at this school know connor's a dick" landon explains not liking the boy one bit.

"come on, landon. adultery, missing girls? it's like every tv show that old people watch. a "crime of passion", i think they call it" landon not convinced, walks away not before giving her a serious look.

"i know connor. he's made my life a living hell, but he's not a killer. trust me" hope sneers at this comment before remembering she's angry at him. katherine comes running out of the girls changing rooms buttoning up her shirt, flipping her hair. "i think cheryl's fully gay guys" katherine said with a proud smile. landon looks at her before the room she just exited unable to find words.

"trusting you is what got us into this mess in the first place" hope says ignoring katherine, she see's connor over katherine's shoulder staring at katherine. "look, there he is" she says in a monotone voice. landon looks at connor over katherine's shoulder, seeing him enter a classroom. "so, do you want to play "good cop", "normal cop" or "bad cop?" because i don't think "emo cop" is a thing" landon rolls his eyes in frustration at the comment.

"calm down guys..." katherine says as she places a hand on hope's shoulder, which she shrugs off.

"oh, very funny. but while you were making friends and you were making some lesbians, i did some sleuthing of my own" landon said laughing at katherine's shocked expression. he points at a girl down the hallway with blonde hair and a handkerchief around her neck which clashes with the outfit she's wearing "scarf in virginia? sounds like a lead, i think they call it" hope reluctantly follows landon who chases after the girl to get some information on who's been feeding on her. katherine rushes after the girl, confused why she shrugged her arm off.

ˍˍˍˍˍˍ

"victoria, wait, it could be dangerous" charles called after the younger girl as she followed the smell of dana which she caught after going through her locker.

"so what, she could be in trouble" victoria shouted back, not wanting to wait. she ran as fast as her legs could take her, she smelt her as if she was right next to her. 

"victoria!" the girl ends up running to the others who are confronting kaleb, "what's going on?" she questions as kaleb looks ready to run.

"i didn't kill her, so ya'll need to get the hell outta my face!" kaleb vamp speeds away but lizzie flicks her hand out casting a pain infliction spell on him, she dramatically starts making her way towards him. 

"come on, guys. let's go. it's hero time" hope rolls her eyes as she follows, charles grabs victoria's hand as they run up to kaleb. henrietta, katherine and sebastian stay behind laughing at lizzie. landon, mg and theo to run to catch up with the others.

"to the blondemobile" hope says sarcastically. when the others finally catches up with lizzie she takes the spell of kaleb.

"not so fast, kaleb" kaleb looks up at the others as he catches his breath.

"you guys, i don't think kaleb did this, last night me and him were out togethar. we didn't separate once" henrietta explained, knowing for a fact kaleb was innocent.

"why were you off school grounds, last night?!" sebastian shouted walking up to her. charles vamp sped towards him grabbing his arm before he started shouting

 "calm down" katherine whispered lowly knowing he could hear her.

"i told you, all i did was feed. torture me all you want, but my answer's going to remain the same... because i didn't kill dana" kaleb explained, annoyed everyone thought he did it.

"uh, he's right..." everyone turned to landon with questioning looks.

"what, so you're a mind reader now, landon?" hope asks annoyed as landon shrugs pointing to the woods near them.

"call it a hunch" everyone turns to where he points as dana stands there sickly pale , stumbles and falls to her knees.

ˍˍˍˍˍˍ

the group of 11 took dana to the parking lot where they questioned her about the previous night. "we were on the way to graffiti the mill at your school. it was a harmless prank. but then, i got snatched. next thing i remember, i woke up in a ditch." dana obviously exhausted takes a breath, before turning to lizzie. "so, enjoy it well you can, lizzie -i'm sure i look like crap" dana sneered towards lizzie who looked amused, only to be pinched by henrietta.

dana goes to scratch the back of her neck only to feel the huge bite on her neck, immediately beginning to freak out. "oh, my god! what is that?" dana asked alarmed.

"it's...someone help me out here" hope tries to answer, the rest of the group stand awkwardly.

that's until katherine decides to speak up "the mother of all hickeys" she answers, slightly laughing. 

"you're fine dana" henrietta reassures. "you're just a-a little slutty" lizzie adds on to the end making dana give her an offended look.

"i don't even like any of you, i should be speaking to the cops" dana get's up to leave until landon walks in front of her.

"i can't let you do that..." landon trails off. hope raises a hand making dana fall unconscious, the same spell she used on katherine the night they spoke. landon moves out of the way still feeling awkward. 

"so you didn't kill her, you freaking turned her!" lizzie says horrified as she looks at kaleb, kaleb scoffs at the accusation.

"turned her? you think i wanna listen to that for all of eternity? kaleb asks not liking the girl that could possibly be in transition.

"well, someone did, meaning that we have a transitioning vampire on out hands" hope gestures towards dana with her hands.

"so what are we going to do?" katherine asks, with her arms crossed.

ˍˍˍˍˍˍ

theo carries dana's unconscious body to the back of the bus as the oldest vampires of the group try to explain to landon how she's in transition.

"so, let me get this straight... dana died with vampire blood in her system, so she came back to life, and now she's in transition, and she needs to feed or die...?" theo who just deposited dana, nods his head to confirm.

"nailed it, bro. easy decision, right?" sebastian asks, theo looks down at his hands well landon looks conflicted. he sees a fibrous substance on his hands and frowns in confusion.

"all right, so we give her some human blood. it's that simple" henrietta said as if it were the most simple thing ever.

"not everyone want to be supernatural, some people just want to be normal" hope explains as she gives kaleb a look.

"if only i stayed normal" katherine mumbled, thinking no one heard her.

"dana's traumatised, you guys. this is a huge decision. maybe we should give her a day or two" lizzie chimes in with false empathy.

"she'll be dead in a day if she doesn't feed" charles said in worry.

"oops, i suck at maths" lizzie shrugs, dropping the nice act.

"surgere" hope chants waking dana up. dana groggily wakes up, as if she was in a deep sleep 

"did i pass out?" she asked, very confused as to how she got on the bus. "i don't feel so well" she says swaying in her seat.

hope looks at her with sympathy for the situation she's in. "we know how you feel... and it's okay. you're just hungry" hope tries to explain but dana cuts her off in a rude tone.

"anorexia was sophomore year. this is something else" she mumbles in annoyance.

"you'll feel better after you feed. i promise" mg calms her, dana prepares herself for what's about to come.

"oh, shut up! for real. even thinking about eating makes me want to-" suddenly dana throws up a large amount of black-green substance on the pavement, everyone jumps back in disgust as kaleb covers his nose.

"oh, damn! what'd that girl eat?" dana continues to vomit much to everyone's dissatisfaction.

"i'm going to be sick" sebastian says, speeding behind a tree to throw up.

"same" victoria and katherine say at the same time, swallowing down the vile rising in their throats.

"i think her soul just got on my shoes. ew" lizzie says in disgust, gagging.

"i think i'ma be sick, too." mg groans, as landon who watches dana covers his eyes leaning against a wall.

"is this normal?" he asks in confusion and worry.

"she's puking her guts out- literally" hope says in realisation, hope tries to get dana's attention before she dies.

"dana! dana!" katherine shout's, trying to grab the girls shoulders. in the end, dana lay in a puddle of her own vomit. except she was only a body-shaped piece of skin, hair, and clothing. the salvatore students stand around her body worried and disgusted by the event's that just occured.

 "should we call your dad...?" hope asks looking at lizzie.

"why? so he can take another bullet for you?" lizzie asks, giving hope a snide look.

"lizzie that was your dad's choice, a girl is dead" katherine said defending hope.

"no, because whatever did this was not a vampire" hope returns lizzie's looks as if she doesn't understand the gravity of the situation.

"it's got to be another monster for the knife" sebastian says, giving landon a pointed look. 

kaleb suspicious of the new student and wanting to clear his name continues sebastian's point "well, maybe the monster has been in front of us all along" landon takes offence as kaleb stalks closer to him.

"what? are you serious?" landon asks, very much offended.

"hey, none of this started happening until you showed up and stole that knife, which is exactly what the other monsters came her-" kaleb didn't get to finish as katherine sped in front of landon blocking him.

"back up, kaleb" she said in a serious tone.

"you saying that's a coincidence?" kaleb yells towards landon.

"you believe me, right?" landon asks stepping out from behind katherine to ask hope and the others. lizzie, henrietta, theo, hope all stare at the ground as mg, victoria and charles give him sympathetic looks. sebastian only stand to the side, leaning on the bus. "got it. say no more." landon says beginning to walk away.

kaleb looks ready to go after him, but katherine steps in his way, kaleb looks as if he's about to move katherine but sebastian moves to grab his arm. "i may agree with you, but lay a hand on my sister, and i will kill you." he growled, ready to throw the boy into the bus. katherine vamp speeds after landon as hope watches him leave with a guilty expression. 

ˍˍˍˍˍˍ

katherine took quite a bit of time finding landon but when she found him he was face to face with connor, "say something, you dick!" landon shouted as he pushed connor back before beginning to walk away. "no, you made my life miserable. you don't get to pretend i don't exist!" he yells turning around walking back to connor punching him square in the jaw, connor however is unaffected. landon looks at his knuckles and is shocked to see a large piece of connor's skin.

looking up he is stunned to find a large, spider-like pincer popping out where connor's skin had been, revealing  connor is not connor at all. frozen in fear, landon watches as more pincers appear from the hole in connor's face, gulping anxiously before forcing himself to rush out of the school. "landon!" katherine yells watching the whole thing, she runs up to him grabbing his hand before speeding away.

ˍˍˍˍˍˍ

the 9 student's left in the parking lot figures out connor was actually a spider and rushed back to school figuring he was going for the knife. sebastian arrived first, he saw josie stuck in a web at the top of the mill with rafael, he see's spider connor making his way towards them.

"josie!" he shouts, worrying for his friend.

"sebastian distract him, i can get us out. i promise" she reassured seeing his conflicted look. he rushed up towards connor throwing him back, trying to give josie time to escape.

"ignarious!" josie chants sending a fireball towards connor who's about to eat  sebastian.

"all right, i think you got him!" rafael yells in happiness, until the monster makes a shrieking sound getting up.

"or we just pissed him off..." josie replied as the monster stared at them with eight eyes with a furious expression on it's face.

"sebastian, run!" josie shouts, worried for her friend considering the monster looked angrier at them.

"i can't leave you!" he shouted with a determined look on his face.

"yes, you can!" she pleaded.

"no!" he made up his mind.

ˍˍˍˍˍˍ

lizzie, kaleb, henrietta, mg, hope, charles, theo and victoria ran through the woods on their way to school. "hi, daddy..." lizzie trailed off as alaric phones the school phone, mg had taken.

"hey, thought I'd call, check in, see how things are going..." alaric asked from the other side of the phone.

"lizzie, hurry" theo shouted out to his childhood friend.

"really? define "good," lizzie, because I don't think that involves me tracking down dana's body to the glove compartment!" he shouts deciding not to beat around the bush.

"listen, dad, it's fine! we cracked the case. it's a spider—but, like, a bug, huge, nasty spider." lizzie explains not wanting to disappoint her dad again.

"and mg's comic books know how to kill it!" henrietta said taking the phone from lizzie as theo picked her up and began to run quicker.

"comic books? really?" alaric scoffs in exasperation, not as confident in their idea to kill the monster as henrietta is. hope rolls her eyes, knowing this wont end well as mg gives her a look to say to leave him out of it.

"henrietta, listen to me—whatever you're thinking of doing? don't. okay? so, just tell me where you are, and matt and i will be right there. and where is lizzie gone?" he asked concerned.

"im sorry, mr. saltzman. you're going to have to trust lizzie this time" henrietta says sighing before ending the call and throwing the phone as far as she can.

"let's do this" lizzie says addressing the team she has before they all take off to school.

ˍˍˍˍˍˍ

"i think he's still out there..." rafael trailed off as sebastian tried to free josie first, suddenly a screeching sound is heard, they then look up at the third floor of the mill to see the monster, josie screams out in terror.

"ahhh!" sebastian places his hand on top of her mouth, to shut her up. the monster leaps across the edge and lands directly over josie, sebastian and rafael's heads, which causes them to scream louder, panicking at what they believe is their impending deaths.

out of nowhere, landon , holding a long pipe that has been painted yellow, leaps into the mill and distracts the creature by shouting at it and catching it's attention by hitting the pipe against the metal railing toward the entrance "hey douche bag!" as katherine rushes up towards her younger brother to help him and the others. 

landon rushes out of the mill just as hope walks inside, groaning when she sees the monster trilling from its position on the third floor. "i hate spiders" she says as henrietta comes in with theo at her side.

"you need to get us out of here" rafael says turning to josie. "uhhh..." she trails off thinking of something. she leans forward and kisses sebastian for a moment, siphoning more magic from him in the process. she points her right hand toward the webs and mutters a spell under her breath. 

"uanascar" the spell shreds the cobwebs restraining josie's arms, she performs the same spell to rafael before hope calls for her and lizzie who comes running down the stairs.

"come with me quick" charles says to rafael, speeding him out off the building.

"lizzie, i need your help!" hope calls out to the girl.

lizzie runs to take hope's hand as the monster jumps in front of hope making katherine worry from the top. she speeds to her sister and theo getting ready to get them out incase something happens. "josie! take my hand" the girls grab hope's hand repeating the same spell as her.

"imperium fluctus malleus. imperium fluctus malleus. imperium fluctus malleus." they repeat multiple times as the wind begins to pick up and blows the girls hair around. the girls raise their hands to add more power to the spell. the monster let's out a final shriek as it's raised into the air exploding into orange pieces.

theo takes katherine and henrietta into his arms before the creature explodes trying his best to cover them from the goo. the girls tuck their heads into his chest not wanting to be covered in any more insides like dana earlier.

ˍˍˍˍˍˍ

sebastian brings out the spider web-covered sasha and lays her gently onto the ground. landon and mg watch him as he does so, only for their attention to be turned to hope, lizzie, theo, katherine, henrietta , and josie as they depart from the mill. the two of them look stunned and a little afraid when they see the six walking toward them, all with serious expressions on their faces and all covered in the orange goo from head to toe. they  look exhausted and are too tired to be embarrassed by their current appearance, and the boys, knowing how powerful the three witches, the vampires and werewolf must be decide to remain silent.

katherine and josie decide to go and get cleaned up as lizzie and henrietta made their way to alaric's office to explain the days events. victoria and charles stand to the side watching them with smiles on their faces at their appearances wanting to laugh but knowing better.

"never do that again" victoria said as she went up to katherine giving her a hug, the girl shocked at the sudden sign of affection still hugged her back.

"wow, i think you could be one of my brother's girlfriend's i actaully like" katherine said towards victoria before walking away.

victoria turned to charles with slightly tinted cheeks before walking up to him and placing a soft kiss on his lips, which he happily returned . the moment was cut short when lizzie and henrietta say "aww" from behind a tree. making charles pick up a branch throwing it at her making her groan.