hold on tight

I sit at my art station in my room, painting quietly when Hope walks in. "What are you doing?" She asks.

I tilt my head, lost in thought. "Mourning." I say cooly. The wound of Josie cheating on me, and not even telling me, was still fresh in my mind. After the events, I had distanced myself slowly. Today, she was at the Salvatore School talking to Ethan. I miss Ethan, he was a nice guy. Sure, he was boring, and human. But I liked boring. He supported me after Maya and I had split.

"Mourning what?" Hope asks, bringing me back to reality. Putting my paint brush down, I turn to look at my sister. Instead of answering, I stand up from my stool, using my magic to put a cloth over the painting. She purses her lips awkwardly. "Hey, are you okay?"

Pursing my lips, I tilt my head to the side, giving Hope a fake smile. "I'm great." I say through my teeth. Hope raises an unsure brow, and I run my fingers through the ends of my hair. "What do you want?"

"Dr. Saltzman wants to talk to us."

♚

"Necromancer has made his move, and the entire student body is in that high school with him." Dr. Saltzman says as he stands next to my mom. "So the question my daughter asked me earlier is one I put to you now: What are we gonna do?" Students chatter as I stand next to Hope, refusing to even look at Josie. "I have a plan. In the past, I would have kept it from you. You know, I built this school to protect you and your gifts from a world that understands neither, but the way I see it, you're the world's only shot now."

Hope and I look at each other, stepping over. "All right, enough with the speech." She says, "We're in."

Dr. Saltzman looks at us. "Well, you haven't even heard the plan." He says, looking between my sister and I.

"I don't care as long as it ends with us winning." I say, crossing my arms. Dr. Saltzman glances at me, but says nothing.

"Where the hell is MG?" Lizzie asks from beside Josie.

Kaleb speaks up. "Found a note from him this morning. He went to go help Alyssa Chang."

Lizzie purses her lips. "Then I'm in, too."

Landon walks forwards. "Yeah. Make that the four of us."

"Landon, this is gonna be very dangerous. And given recent events-

I cut Dr. Saltzman off. "Landon and I both went to that school, Dr. Saltzman. I have friends there." I say, talking about Jamie, Isaac, Alex, and Steph, and Kyle. Even Ethan and Maya.

The Kirby shrugs. "I mean, I'll stay out of the fight, but I can help."

Hope looks between her boyfriend and I. "Like he said, we're in." She says shortly.

"All right. Who else is with us?"

When we all disperse to gather supplies, Josie walks over to me. "Stasia, are you okay?" She asks, grabbing my wrist.

I stare at her worried eyes for a moment, then down at her wrist. I look back at her face, remembering how she blushed when she and Jade kissed. I remember her kissing Penelope, twice, I remember her telling Jade their first kiss was different because she was Dark Josie. She had lied this entire time. A cold feeling settles in my heart, and I look up slowly. "I'm fine." I snap, ripping my wrist from her grip. "I'll see you later."

♚

My mom speeds into the school parking lot in her matte black car, Kaleb's red car behind us, as well as one of the Salvatore buses. Mom steps out of the vehicle, taking off her sunglasses. She wears a pair of black flared suit pants and a dark read pleather corset like top, and a black trench coat. She walks over, wearing black Louis Vuitton heels. I step out as well, walking along side my mom as we all walk over to Dr. Saltzman and Sheriff Mac.

"Anna?" Mac says, confused. She looks at Ric. "Are you crazy? They're kids."

Dr. Saltzman chuckles. "Oh, they're more than that. They're special."

Mom raises a hand. "And I'm much deadlier than I look." She mumbles, smirking deviously.

"And this will go a lot easier if you just trusted me." Alaric adds, handing students weapons.

Mac looks over at him. "What do you need from us?" Inquires the sheriff.

"I need you to evacuate the town and then have your team help my students hold the line." Alaric explains.

"Against what?"

The sound of growling causes my mom to hum. "See for yourself." She says.

"Here they come!" Kaleb shouts. I walk around, seeing a zombie centaur, along with a zombie sphinx.

Sheriff Mac's eyes are wide in horror. "Ric, what the hell is happening?"

"Exactly what we wanted." Ric says. My eyes flash their tribrid color, Alaric looking back at the Sheriff. "That's my cue. I got to get out of here before he sees anything we don't want him to." Alaric scrambles off, leaving us.

Kaleb looks at my mom. "Uh, Mrs. Mikaelson, or, Ms. King, what do we do now?"

My mom looks at me, taking off her trench coat. "Don't kill any humans, and don't get too traumatized. I don't have enough money for therapy bills." Mom looks at me, "Make your parents proud."

I give a smile, turning to the centaur. My eyes flash gold, black veins popping under my eyes. A wolf like roar escapes my lips as I jump forward. Students jump back as I punch the monster in the gut, sending him feet back. I turn towards them all, "Well? Are you going to stand there?" Students begin to take action, my mom nodding as she speeds off to where Sheriff Mac and Alaric went.

The fight continues for a long while, people like Jed getting knocked to the ground every now and then. "Annie!? Can't you use a little tribrid power?" Kaleb shouts. I sigh, vamp speeding over and lodging my fist into the centaur's chest. It roars in pain as I rip out it's heart. He falls to the ground, dead. My tribrid eyes flash again as I look down at the body. A feeling of adrenaline courses through me. It was something I hadn't felt in so long. Something I hadn't felt since when I was first turned.

"Good job, Little King!" Jed says, patting my back. I stare down at the body, my hand shaking. A course of rage flooded every inch of me. I felt like screaming. Like ripping out every heart near me. "Annie? What's wrong?"

I look up, "I-" Before I can finish, I feel a hand wrap around my neck, twisting it quickly.

I'm dead.

♚

I open my eyes, sitting up quickly. "Oh, good, you're awake." I turn to see Lizzie, standing up.

"What happened?" I groaned.

"Well, after you killed the centaur, you had the I'm going to kill everyone because I don't know how to handle my own issues face, and your mom snapped your neck." Lizzie explains. I nod slowly, thinking about what I last remembered. "Josie was waiting for you to wake up, I'll go get her."

I watch Lizzie leave, and I sit there, lost in my own head. I was going to kill all of them. Why? Because of some pathetic heartbreak? Because of Josie. Glancing at the door, I watch the brunette walk in. "Hey."

"Hi."

She sits down on the bed, "I heard what happened." She says, looking at me. "What's wrong, Stasia? You've always been so careful with this, and now-"

"Do you want to know what happened, Josie?" I ask, turning to look at her. "You happened. Now only have you kissed Penelope twice, you kissed Jade when you forced me to turn off my humanity."

Josie furrows a brow, "How did you-"

I cut her off, standing up. "And not only did you lie about that, you made out with her before she left the school!" I shout, turning to look at her. "You cheated on me, again!"

"Annie, I'm-"

"No! I'm done!" I scream, holding my hand out. "You have betrayed me over and over. You cheated on me, twice, and then broke up with me because I wanted to spend time with my family, and then you forced me to turn off my humanity, and then you cheated on me, twice, again!" I run my hands through my hair, realizing just how much Josie had walked all over me.

She shakes her head. "Annie, it wasn't the real me that turned off your humanity. You know I would never-"

I cut her off again, "Are you sure? Cause you seem to manipulate me into doing whatever works best for you. I do everything for you! And you," Hot tears roll down my cheeks as I look around. Things in my room shake as I try to focus on the situation. It had been so long since I lost control, I didn't want it to happen now.

Josie wipes her eyes as she looks at me. "Stasia, I'm so sorry." She cries, walking over to me. She takes my hands in hers, "Please, give me one more chance. I love you so much." The Saltzman pleads, her beautiful brown eyes puffy and red from crying.

My eyes shut tightly as I cry, shaking my head. "I've already given you more chances than you deserve." I whisper. Josie's lip trembles as I sniffle. "I know what I want, what I've always wanted."

"Please don't do this." Josie whispers, gripping my hands tighter.

"But I don't think you feel the same." I confess, sucking in a heavy breath. Josie looks down at the ground, sniffling. "And until you know what you want; I can't be with you."

Josie closes her eyes tightly, looking at me. "I love you."

I swallow the lump in my throat. "I know you do." My voice is hoarse and rough as I look at her. She inhales sharply, letting go of my hands. My arms fall to my sides as I cry softly, letting the Saltzman walk by me, slowly out the door. I throw my head back, staring at the ceiling as I try to control my emotions.

It was like everything I had ever wanted, was gone. Just like that.

Wiping my eyes, I turn to the door, walking out to find Hope. I walk to the front door, seeing an unfamiliar woman. She had long dark hair, and pale skin. Her eyes were a deep brown as she looked around. She wore a yellow dress that reached nearly to her ankles. "I'm sorry, who are you?" I ask, confused.

Her eyes landed on me, and she gave me a smile. "I'm looking for Ophelia King." She tells me, looking around for a moment.

"What do you want with my mom?" I ask, crossing my arms,

The lady looks back at me, her eyes wide in surprise. "She's my sister." My eyes widen in surprise as she tilts her head to the side. "My name is Eleanor. Eleanor King."

authors note

me: annie and josie are one of my fav couples right now. they're in a super good place, healthier than ever-

also me: does this

also, WE ARE MEETING ELEANOR, I'M SO EXCITED. i'm going to try my best to incorporate this story line along with the normal storyline, but i'm a trash writer so i cannot promise. also, i hope we like this bit of klausy annie (aka crazy murderer), i want to get more into that side of her soon.

double update today! rather unexpected. thank you all for the love. i hope you all had a good day, and enjoyed this chapter.

toodles.