❝  we're gonna need a spotlight  ❞

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Students piled up in the auditorium for the talent show, their opening act preparing to begin. Vampires were performing first, then the wolves, then the witches. But even before that, Katherine had a opening show.

Curtains lifted, and Katherine stood at the top of red stairs. Men wore suits, all of them from different factions. She had her hair much like Marilyn Monroe's, the inspiration for the evening. But instead of her dress and gloves being bright pink, Katherine's dress was black, giving it a more darker look. She raised her hand, waving it and suddenly the boys all fall to the ground. "The French are glad to die for love. They delight in fighting duels." Her hands clasp together, placed over her heart as she begins to walk down the red steps. She makes a surprised face, hugging her body. "But I prefer a man who lives, and gives expensive jewels." The boys all spring to their feet, surrounding her as she moves her hip to the beat. "A kiss on the hand, may be quite continental. But diamonds are a girl's best friend." She moves along the stairs, continuing almost the same dance as Monroe. "A kiss may be grand. But it won't pay the rental on your humble flat. Or help you at the automat!" She descends down the stairs, smiling wide as the boys still move along with her. "Men grow cold, as girls grow old. And we all lose our charms in the end." Students giggle as she does a little dance move. "But square-cut or pear-shaped, these rocks don't loose their shape. Diamonds are a girl's best friend!"

Suddenly her and the boys begin doing a dance more complicated than the original. Classmates are even thoroughly surprised she can do anything in the dress. She leans onto a werewolf. "Tiffany!" A vampire lifts her feet, another person or two coming under to help them lift her up. They spin her slowly, the others still doing the dance. Suddenly, they seem to flip her in the air, catching her as she faces the crowd. "Cartier." They set her down, the boys lining up to the edge of the stage. She begins to walk down the line, each boy pretending to faint as she walks by. "Black Starr, Frost Gorham. Talk to me Harry Winston. Tell me all about it." The boys begin doing more dancing, Katherine doing it also. She grabs onto a vampire, the two of them doing a bit of the tango as they dance around the others. The two stop at a group of boys who have formed a chair for her with their arms. "Time rolls on, and youth is gone, and you can't straighten up when you bend." A few of the boys stand, the vampire still sitting in their arms. "But stiff back, or stiff knees, you stand straight at-" She throws her hands up, staring at the ceiling. A spotlight shines down on her. "Tiffany's." The boys set her on the ground, and she does a spin, holding out her arms as she grazes along. "Diamonds!" She clasps her hand over her chest as the boys do their dance, singing Diamonds as well. "Diamonds!" She walks over to Penelope, who sits on the side of the stage, holding a jewelry prop. "I don't mean rhinestones!" She sings, throwing the prop towards Josie a few feet away. "But diamonds are a girls best," Two boys lift her by her arms, carrying her to the top of the stairs. The boys circle around her again, holding jewelry props as she smiles wide. "Best friend!" The curtain begins to close as the crowd cheers.

Katherine's smile immediately falls as she gets off stage. "That was amazing!" Josie squeals. One of the boys place a fur coat over Katherines shoulders, while a witch walks over, handing Katherine a glass of water. "Every year just gets better and better." She gushes.

"Thank you," A werewolf girl passes, handing Katherine her cellphone. When Katherine unlocks it, she sees a series of texts from Dorian and Hope about the latest monster, and how they believe everyone is infected.

Josie frowns as Katherine begins to walk away. "Katy," The vampire stops, looking back at her. "Are you okay? We have barely even talked since we...you know-"

"Since we slept together?" Josie's cheeks grow red as Katherine finishes her water, handing it to a passing student. "Jojo, what do you expect between us?" The vampire was close to her face, Josie's heart quickened, her breathing becoming uneven.

"I-I don't know."

Katherine took a step closer, causing Josie to take a step back. "My sweet, innocent Josette." She licks her red lips. "I care about you Josie, I care about a lot of people. But humanity is a vampires greatest weakness, no matter how easy it is to turn it off." Josie's eyebrows knit together in confusion. "We, aren't anything, Josie. We can't be." Katherine says finally. Her words are harsh and emotionless.

The vampire begins to walk away, Josie biting her lip. "You don't mean that." She says. Katherine looks over, raising a brow at Josie's bold words.

"Do you think if I wanted more I would have had sex with Rafael?" Josie's heart drops, and the Valentine smirks. "Didn't think so."

⋆⋅☆⋅⋆

Katherine walks to Dorian, Landon, and Hope. "What did I miss?" She hums, now wearing leather pants and a lacy top.

Hope looks up. "Can you electrocute yourself?" She asks bluntly.

Katherine raises a brow. "Hope, I've known you since you were born, I don't feel comfortable knowing about your kinks." Dorian groans in disgust, and Landon practically chokes on air.

Rolling her eyes, Hope waves her hand, mumbling a spell that practically fries the girls brain. Katherine hisses in pain, but no slug. "Weird, why is she not infected?" Hope asks Mr. Williams.

Dorian shrugs. "Probably because she doesn't hold back like everyone else." The three students stare at him blankly. Sighing, the librarian places a bag onto the table. "Okay, we have no idea how long the unicorn was infected before it keeled over, so we should figure this out right now."

"I thought only one monster comes for the urn at a time." Says Landon.

"Except the unicorn wasn't the monster. It was just the host to this thing." They all look down to the pink colored slug. "A parasite. It hitched a ride here in that Trojan horse, and then it moved on to us." Dorian explains, looking at the tribrid. "From what Hope describes, it sounds like it latches onto the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain associated with inhibitions."

"So, I was slug-drunk?"

Mr. Williams nods. "And Katherine wasn't infected because does and says whatever she wants. She doesn't need a slug to do so." Katherine nods, agreeing with what he said. "Since we have multiple slugs, it must replicate inside the host, and then lie in wait for the opportunity to infect someone else."

"I'm good on the gory details, thank you." Hope mumbles. Katherine hums, proud of herself for not getting infected. "How do we stop it?"

"That's the weirdest part. I can't find any ancient legends about a creature like this." Dorian explains, looking down at books.

Landon looks up from his notebook for the first time. Katherine scoffs. "What?"

"Invasion of the Body Snatchers? The Faculty? Wrath of Khan?" The three others shake their heads. "Sci-fi is our modern-day myths. Meaning they could have been inspired by something, right?" He shrugs. "In those movies, it's all about mind control."Hope nods, catching on. "Before the slug popped out, Hope wanted to take the urn someplace. I'm guessing Malivore."

"So, it's like an infection. It gets worse as it spreads." Dorian begins. "Stage one, it-it lowers your inhibitions. It makes you act out of character. Stage two, once you're susceptible to suggestion, you'll do whatever the slug wants."

"Till stage three." Landon sighs. "You go the way of the unicorn." Katherine nods, slightly impressed the curly fry had figured something out for once.

Hope looks down at the jar. "Did you see this? Parts of this thing look bioluminescent."

Dorian nods. "Let me check that out." He opens up his bag, pulling out a small black light. He turns it on, the jar glowing light green wherever the slug had gone. Katherines face scrunches up in disgust.

Kathetrine looks at Hope, Snatching the flashlight, she shines it in her face. Like Katherine expected, theres a trail from the side of her face, leading into her nose. "I don't want to know, do I?"Hope asks.

"Probably not."

"Nope."

Dorian looks up. "You know what? We can use these lights to find anyone who's been infected." Dorian reaches into his bag, pulling out more lights.

⋆⋅☆⋅⋆

Hope and Landon stand at the top of the stairs with flashlights. Meanwhile, Katherine stands a few steps ahead. Dorian had just disappeared to call Ric. "Listen, I know that everyones going to die, but I kinda like the whole lowered inhibitions. I mean, I've gotten five texts from Rafael for round two, and a voicemail from Josie-"

"Wait, you slept with Josie?" Hope asks.

"You slept with Raf?" Landon follows. Katherine looks up at the two, nodding. As if on cue, Rafael walks on the stage, all thats there being a girl with a cello.

"My name is Rafael, and my talent is spoken word poetry." The crowd begins to snap, few cheers here and there. Katherine chuckles, crossing her arms.

"Oh, no." Landon mumbles. "He promised he wouldn't do this again."

Katherine turns to face Landon. "Do what?"

Suddenly, the snapping stops, causing Katherine to turn back to the stage. "Stillness. A light breaks inside. Unity. And division. Tension." He makes hand gestures.

"Suddenly I remember why I didn't want to be in the talent show." Hope whispers to her boyfriend.

The vampire turns around. "This is a joke, right?" She laughs awkwardly. Landon shrugs, unsure.

"All these wolves staring at me, waiting for the answer. Expectation is a cancer. Oh, you can't, sir? Then who will?" Suddenly, Rafael glances Landon and Hope. Then, his eyes fall on Katherine. Its like slow motion as she turns to look at him, her hair swinging behind her. He lifts up his hand, pausing the strummer, "Two brothers brought up together. Then one's left behind because he's no longer needed." Hope purses her lips, Landon shoving his hands in his pocket. "Violence inside of me. Inside, I'm, I'm bleeding."

His eyes soften as he looks up at Katherine, whos face is emotionless. "This just got awkward." She mutters.

"And I can't believe what I'm feeling, since the moment you kissed me. Buried so deep, rising up, enchanting me. And it won't go away." He turns his head to Landon. "And I was never jealous of anything that you had until today." Katherine looks back at Hope and Landon, who have equally confused expressions. Rafael's stare hardens. "And why is that artifact here? Monsters coming, people running. Ask for answers, always nothing." Student's around start standing up, and Rafaels eyes flash green. "I say we get rid of it."

Students stand, looking back at the three with glowing green eyes. "So they're all infected?" Hope asks.

"Yeah, I'm not gonna wait around to find out." Landon mutters. Katherine grabs the two, vamp speeding them out of the room.

Hope flings up her hands. "Vessera portus." She says, the doors shutting. "That should hold the pod people in for now. Let's go." She ushers.

"I have to find Penelope, or Josie," Katherine pauses in thought. "Or both." She smirks, vamp speeding off.

Landon and Hope sigh, "She does this a lot, doesn't she?" Landon asks.

"Leaving? Yeah."

"I meant running around saving people."

Hope's eyes widen. "Yeah, that too."

⋆⋅☆⋅⋆

Josie and Penelope part ways, "You know that we are never getting back together right?" Josie hums, Penelope leans her forehead on the Saltzman's, when the two are caught off guard by the sound of something moving, quickly.

The two turn around to see Katherine, holding the urn. "Geez, Jojo, if I knew we were playing supernatural Thelma and Louise, I would've played a little bit longer." She mumbles.

Penelope snarls, ready to mumble a spell. "Icaius!" Penelope flies behind Katherine, Hope standing in the entrance to the Mill. A set of canes begin to fall onto Penelope. "Found the canes!"

"You shouldn't have done that." Josie whispers. She gathers up her magic, ready to attack Hope. Katherine doesn't move, still holding the urn.

"Jo. Don't." Lizzie grabs her sister, siphoning her magic. "This isn't you."

Josie pulls away. "You don't even know the real me."

"Then answer one question while you're saying how you really feel. Am I a good sister?"

Josie scoffs. "Are you kidding me? You're a terrible sister." Suddenly, Lizzies bracelet zaps Josie, causing her to scream in pain. The ugly slug falls out of her ear onto the floor. Katherine hops down, squishing it with the heel of her boot. The brunette Saltzman looks up at her twin. "Lizzie? Lizzie, I'm so sorry." Lizzie doesn't say anything, but hugs her sister tightly.

Katherine looks up. "Does anyone know a good thing to help get slug gut stains out?"

⋆⋅☆⋅⋆

Alaric Saltzman stands next to Katherine at the redo talent show. "I kind of liked everyone's performances when they were slug drunk." She mutters during the vampires performance. "This is lacking their fun backflips."

As the witches prepare, Alaric looks down at Katherine. "I know I'm annoying, especially when I treat you like a student,"

"Because you made me sign up as one," Katherine follows. Alaric chuckles.

"I'm glad to have you by my side, Katherine Valentine."

The vampire makes a pouty face. "Does Ricky Saltzman love me?" Alaric rolls his eyes as Katherine hugs him. "Maybe after this year you'll let me be the hot substitute." She teases. Alaric shakes his head, keeping his arm around his friends shoulder as the witches begin to perform. Josie begins to sing, causing the crowd to cheer. "Thats your girl, Ric."

Alaric smiles, "Thats my girl." He says, feeling so incredibly proud of his daughter.