"Put the gun down, Hope." Irritation saturated Josie's voice.

"After you put yours down."

Josie smirked. "You know I can't do that." She pulled the trigger with a practiced ease. MG cried out, grabbing at his leg. Blood ran down his pants and pooled in the bottom of his shoes. "Next one goes in his heart. So, I'll say it again: put the gun down."

Hope took one look at MG writhing on the floor in pain and did as she was told. He was her one friend left. Honestly, if she lost him too, what was she staying alive for? Her failed art curator career? Her big, empty, sad mansion? What did she have left?

"Much better. See? I just want to chat."

"It was you," MG spat. "It was you this whole time."

Josie rolled her jaw, glaring at the ceiling. "I don't want to chat with you."

"Then let's get MG to a hospital and then we can talk, okay?" Hope said, holding her hands out. "But he's going to bleed out if we don't."

"So what? It's not like he's your best friend. He's just some guy who lived with me that you got to know." Josie tilted her head. "You know, just one more thing I gave you."

"Actually, he's my only friend." Hope's scowled deepened.

"What about me, silly?" Josie smiled, and it sent chills down Hope's spine. Was she actually this delusional or was it a sick joke?

Hope's mind raced through all the messages and all the things Josie had done to her. It wasn't the acts of a sane person. It never was.

"When I found out about your affair with Ryan, I had to do something, as a good friend. I thought if I just got him in a tiny accident, then you'd rush in and confess to the affair."

She was half right. Isn't that almost exactly what Hope had done?

"I thought Landon would be heartbroken, and the two of you would split up for good. You didn't. I had to take more drastic measures." Josie's face was terrifyingly calm as she recounted how she planned to murder someone. "I released me and Penelope's sex tape. Accidentally got her killed – that wasn't me, by the way; that was actually her parents. Jade, yes. Finch, yes. Penelope, no – but it was worth it. You saw me as a kindred spirit. As another victim." Her smile was sick. "We got so close after that. I started thinking maybe I could worm my way in and get rid of Landon another way. If the affair wasn't enough for a divorce, I would steal you away the good old-fashioned way."

"I'm not something to steal or win," Hope spat.

Josie narrowed her eyes. "What, are you gonna 'cancel me' over poor wording?" She barked out a laugh. She was untouchable now. What did Hope think she was going to do? "Imagine my surprise when I found out about Rafael! He was the first person I actually killed, you know. It was really ... wet." Josie remembered the way his blood soaked through her hoodie as she stabbed him, over and over. "I enjoyed it. But I had to make it look like an accident, because you just kept calling the cops. Very annoying."

"You were killing people! What was I supposed to do?"

"Hope, I literally gave you directions on what to do."

"Like send you pictures of myself in lingerie?" Hope snapped.

MG croaked out, "What?"

Josie smiled. "That was a stroke of genius, really. I'm proud of myself for that one."

"You're sick."

"Well, yeah. That's what this whole thing has been about, Hope Mikaelson. I am lovesick for you. I once again thought I had gotten rid of all the competition, but you are full of surprises. God, if you had just been less slutty ... I had no idea you and Lizzie had a whole thing going too. Honestly, I was just itching for an excuse to get rid of her. She was such a bummer, all the time. Where's my meds, Josie? I need my meds. Can you help me find them? Yeah, I hid them. All the time. Does that make me a terrible sister? So what? She had it coming."

"You're a horrible person." Hope fingers were itching to grab at her gun again. She didn't want to hear the rest of this. She knew where it was going.

"You keep saying that like I'm going to disagree." Josie eyed her weird. "Lizzie should have killed herself sooner, but she was dragging her feet, so I took matters into my own hands. Her death shouldn't have been in vain. The fact that it was was your fault, you know. She was supposed to die so that our love story could live. If you had just believed it, Landon would still be alive. I wouldn't have had to pull the same stunt twice to make you fall for it – to make you fall for me."

"Except Lizzie wasn't the thing stopping me from loving you." Hope didn't know why she kept pushing her buttons, except that Josie seemed, for all her sociopathy, intent on not hurting her.

Josie arched an eyebrow and stepped forward. "Then what was?"

"The fact that you're a monster."

"Ah-!" Josie imitated a game show buzzer. "Wrong answer. You didn't know I was a monster until just now. What was the real reason?"

"The real reason?" Hope asked, her voice lowering. Josie nodded, lips parted and eyes wide. God, she really wanted to know. "The real reason was that I never even thought of you that way. I didn't like you, and I don't like you now. This has never been anything more than a one-sided crush."

Josie's face twisted like she was fighting against something inside her. Her gun came up to rest under Hope's chin.

"Take it back."

"No."

"If I can't have you, then no one can, so take it back, or I blow your brains out and I pin all of this on MG."

"They would never believe you."

"Really, Hope? They'd never believe me, the white girl, over MG?" Josie arched an eyebrow.

She had a point, and Hope had to admit it. "Fine, I take it back."

"No, say it like you mean it." Josie jabbed the gun under Hope's jaw. "Say that you were just lying. Say that you share my feelings."

"I do, Jo. You know I do. You've known that even longer than I did." The words taste like bile in her throat.

"Now kiss me."

If Hope thought her mouth tasted like stomach acid just saying the words, the way it felt when Josie kissed her was even worse. She wondered briefly if she could catch Josie off guard enough to get the upperhand. But Josie's gun was still securely in her hand, even if no longer pressed against Hope's face, and Hope's was feet away on the floor.

She jumped at the sound of a gunshot and the warm spray that speckled her cheeks.

"What the fuck?" Josie screeched, looking at the hole in the hand that once held her gun. Blood poured out of it.

MG just grunted and pushed Hope's gun towards her. Hope wasted no time in grabbing it and kicking Josie's away.

"Hope, are you gonna let him get away with that?" Josie cried, on her knees and clutching at her hand. Her eyes shone as she pleaded with Hope.

Hope stared back coldly. "Well, yeah."

She didn't hesitate as she pulled the trigger and coated her couch in the same red splatter as her face. Josie was right, it turns out.

First murders do feel really wet.