❝  what was hope doing in your dreams?  ❞

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

Alaric Saltzman sighs as Katherine inspects their new artifact for unlocking the key to Malivore. Hope had been notified Landon was in danger, and she and Dr. Saltzman went off to save him whilst Katherine held down the fort at the Salvatore School. "It's kind of ugly." She says finally.

Alaric rolls his eyes playfully. "I didn't say you'd like it, I was just explaining how it's glowing." Katherine nods, watching the urn glow a red-orange color.

Hope walks in, "I'll take it," She says. Katherine rolls her eyes at the Mikaelson, handing it over. "I'm going to go hide it and then I'll be back."

Katherine turns in her chair to watch Hope storm off. "She's awfully grumpy." She jokes.

"She's had a rough few days." Alaric mumbles.

"Havent we all?" Katherine adds. She wore a black and white houndstooth patterned skirt with a black long sleeve tucked in. She had a glass of bourbon in her hand, which rested on her lap. "So, Damon and I are on talking basis now."

Alaric looks at her. "Really? And you didn't kill him?" He asks.

Katherine clicks her tongue. "Nope. He's even having Elena give me extra blood bags when they have them." She explains. "Not as good as the fresh stuff, but Matt is getting stiff about me eating his residents, so I have to lighten up a bit."

"No casualties, Katherine. That's the rules."

"And I'm following your stupid rules." She pouts. She sighs. She remains silent for a moment. "What's your favorite snow-cone flavor?" Before Alaric can answer, Hope walks in with a pile of books. "Reading time, my favorite," Katherine says sarcastically.

The three get to reading, looking for some type of answers. "How long do you think it'll be before the next monster shows up?" Hope asks. Katherine glances at her phone, it was nearly two in the morning. Not that she needed the sleep, though.

Alaric shrugs. "It's hard to say. I've never actually seen an artifact glow before." He says. "Where did you hide the urn, by the way?"

"I'm not sure I should tell you."

Katherine snickers as Alaric raises a brow. "Excuse me?"

"Isn't it safer if only one of us knows where it is?" Hope asks.

Alaric counters, "Then that one of us should be the adult."

"Funny, because I thought it should be one of us with high-level superpowers." Hope replies. Alaric purses his lips, going back to work. "What do we tell everyone else? We should probably warn them before a cyclops crashes exam week."

Alaric sighs. "It's usually best to start with some form of the truth."

"What about those times the truth is the one thing you can't say?" Hope says softly. Katherine looks up awkwardly. Hope has told her and Dr. Saltzman what happened in Kansas. Katherine didn't know why only Hope could remember.

"Are you sure you want to keep all of this from Landon?" Asks Dr. Saltzman. "I mean, I understand you wanting to protect him, but,"

Hope replies instantly. "He's been wondering about his mother his whole life. He finally meets her and then she dies. If I can keep him from knowing what that feels like, then it's worth it." She sighs. "Look, it's my secret to keep, Dr. Saltzman. Please."

"Okay." Alaric says finally.

"Thank you."

Katherine sighs. "The trick here is to give everyone the right amount of information without giving away too much information." She says. "We've been through this before with the knife, so it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that there's a round two." She explains. Alaric nods, agreeing.

"This is our chance to do things differently, more responsibly."

⋆⋅☆⋅⋆

"Yesterday, I came into possession of another Malivore artifact. It was my hope to find a method of containment before it signaled another monster, but given the emergency meeting I've just called, I'm sure you can guess how well that went."

Landon leans over to Rafael. "Do you see Hope anywhere?" The two of them look around, and Rafael shakes his head. Katherine stands at the bottom of the stairs, next to Dr. Saltzman.

"But rest assured we are taking every precaution. Sheriff Donovan has been kind enough to open the doors of the Lockwood Mansion to us. And Katherine Valentine has opened her former home to us also, so Mr. Williams and Ms. Tig are now in the process of evacuating our students from the lower grades." Explains Dr. Saltzman.

"Why don't we just evacuate the damn artifact?" Asks Kaleb.

"We are much more well-equipped than the world at large to handle the arrival of a monster." Alaric retorts. "Once we know what we're dealing with and the problem is contained, then we can reassess what to do with the artifact. If any of you would like to evacuate, please talk to Dorian or Emma. However, exam week will continue as scheduled, wherever you are." The students groan, annoyed. "I know. I'm sorry. I can't exactly call the state accreditation board and tell them that we're canceling the exams because of monsters." He explains. "We'll get through this, I promise. Try and get some rest, okay? Good night."

The students begin to disperse, Katherine turned to the Headmaster. "I'll find the key to the old house. It's probably dusty, but I did ask Jeremy to keep it tidy when he's there." She says.

"Thank you, Katherine. It's very nice of you." Says Dr. Saltzman.

Katherine smiles. "As long as I get my snow-cone machine." She chimes before walking away. Alaric chuckles, shaking his head at the Valentine.

⋆⋅☆⋅⋆

The night was quiet. Katherine walks back inside the school after going out for a late-night snack. She walks through the hall, seeing a sleeping Rafael. She frowns, noticing something strange.

As Rafael sleeps, he breathes heavily, even shaking. "Rafael?" She asks, walking over. Rafael simply breathes faster, harder. "Raf!" She shouts. He sits up, shouting in pain. Katherine jumps back, shocked. "What the hell happened to you?" She asks.

Rafael looks at his arm, a mark forming on his skin. "I was just attacked." He whispers.

Katherine raises a brow. "I'll call Hope and Ric," She says. "Are you alright?" He nods slowly. Katherine nods, leading him to Alaric's office.

After a few minutes, Alaric and Hope are inspecting his wound. "This happened to you in a nightmare? Are you sure?" Alaric asks.

"Look, I know that it sounds crazy, but I was studying and then I fell asleep, and then I just started dreaming about," Rafael pauses.

Katherine raises a brow. "About what?" She asks, annoyed.

"Um..." He stammers. "One of my old, uh, foster dads. He was in the library, and he had this old belt that he used to use on me."

Hope looks over. "Do you remember anything else?" She asks softly.

Rafael frowns. "Yeah, there was, there was this woman there, too. She was wearing an-an old, black dress and-and a veil. And she told me, You know what I want. But," He shrugs, unsure.

Hope throws her hands up, looking at Alaric and Katherine. "The urn."

"Sounds like our next monster showed up." Katherine sighs.

"You know, every culture on Earth has legends about creatures that only appear in dreams. But a woman in a black dress and a veil is pretty specific."

Rafael looks at Alaric as he begins to flip through a book. "So, does that mean that she can, like, control what we see in our dreams? That she can put stuff in our, in our heads, right?" He asks awkwardly.

Alaric glances up. "It's possible." He looks down, flipping through the book before turning it to Rafael. "Does that look familiar?"

 ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ 

Katherine sits in front of Landon. "If I give you my blood, your hand will heal up instantly." She explains.

Hope walks by. "You're not giving him your blood. He can heal like a normal person." She snaps. Katherine smirks, leaning back in her chair. They had another meeting, and everyone was evacuating or staying awake at the school. Landon had fallen asleep and woke himself up by shoving a pencil through his hand in his dream. Which, the Night Hag made an appearance in as well.

"The senior witch faculty have mixed together a batch of energy herbs to help you stay awake. So, for those of you who are not getting on the evacuation bus, for lack of a better term, please dose yourselves responsibly." Says Alaric into his microphone. He finishes up his announcement, sighing. "I'm gonna get sued. Or hexed, at the very least."

Landon shrugs. "You don't have to be so hard on yourself. At my last school, the gym teacher was dealing coke under the bleachers."

"Oh, yeah, that only makes me feel marginally better."

Landon yells in pain as Hope wraps his hand. "Hey, uh, hold still. I'm almost done, okay."

"Okay. What do you think she meant when she said bring it home?" Landon asks the three other people in the room.

"I'm guessing she means Malivore." Says Alaric. "It seems her plan is to torment us until we give up the thing."

"Right. But if the Night Hag is a monster that's trapped on the astral plane, then how can she even physically take the urn anywhere?" Landon asks Dr. Saltzman.

Alaric looks down. "Yeah, the book also says the Night Hag can't affect our reality, but... Rafael's welt and your hand seemed to prove that wrong." He adds. "When your research consists of fairy tales and urban legends, sometimes the stories get twisted."

"Human dragon, anyone?" Hope points out as an example. Katherine hum, taking a sip of her bourbon.

"Dorian might be busy with the evacuation, but we'll figure this out." Dr. Saltzman says. "When the Night Hag finds a way to get the urn, we'll be there to stop it."

"Well, at least it was a pretty memorable first day," Sighs Landon.

Katherine nods, Alaric sighing. "Yeah, and the Night Hag is likely just getting started. You know, Landon, I really wish you'd just evacuate with the others." Dr. Saltzman says to the apparent human boy.

Landon looks up, confused "I worked so hard to get here. If I run at the first sign of trouble, what's the point?" He asks

"The point, Landon, is that we're trying to look after you two." Dr. Saltzman explains, sitting in the chair.

Landon chuckles. "Honestly, you three are taking better care of me than anyone in our life ever has." He says. "Course, I had to stab myself to get your attention." Landon points out towards Hope.

Hope sighs as she excuses herself. "You know, we're all good here."

Katherine watches as Hope leaves the office. Landon sighs. "I'm blowing this, aren't I?" He asks, looking up.

Katherine shrugs. "Hope is...a different creature." She says. "She's like a brick wall, in a safe, eaten by a whale, who's buried 100 feet in the ocean, with lava on top." She explains. Landon nods, finding the description very accurate.

Alaric raises a brow. He shakes his head before looking back at the human. "You know, Landon, sometimes the best thing for Hope is to just let her be Hope." He advises. "Stay busy. She'll talk when she's ready." He says.

⋆⋅☆⋅⋆

Landon sits in the library awkwardly. He watches as Katherine walks in. She had changed since the night before. Now, she has a red shirt with a puffed sheer long sleeve and black pants. She flips her dark hair, looking around.

"Kat, over here!" She turns her head to see Landon. Pursing her lips, she gives a closed-mouth smile as she walks towards him. "Did you get it?" He asks.

"A book of every monster people see in their dreams? Yep." She places the large book on the table. "I had my friend from Greece send it immediately."

Landon furrows his brows as she sits next to him. "How did they send it so fast?"

Katherine glances up at him. "They have a private jet." Landon nods in understanding, before suddenly getting more confused. Katherine flips open the book. "So, Night Hags can't hurt us in real life, but Ric thinks the research is wrong." She explains.

"But maybe it isn't wrong." Follows Landon. "Maybe it can't."

Katherine flips through a few pages. "So, you and Hope?" She winks. Landon looks up.

His cheeks redden in realization. "Uh, yeah. Me and Hope." He chuckles. "We, um, got together in Kansas."

The Valentine nods, "Cute." Landon raises his brows, surprised. "What?" He shakes his head, looking back at his book. Katherine smiles, turning back to hers. "What about a shape-shifting dream demon?" Landon hums in curiosity as Katherine points to a page.

Landon looks up at her. "You're a genius!" He cheers, kissing her cheek before stealing the book. Katherine watches as he runs off to find Dr. Saltzman, shaking her head and smiling.

Eventually, Landon returns with Dr. Saltzman and Hope. "Katherine?" Hope asks, confused.

"She's actually the one who found it." Says Landon. Katherine smirks as she waves. "Let's pretend for a second that the research isn't wrong. Maybe the Night Hag can't hurt us in real life. Maybe the Night Hag can't leave the astral plane and get ahold of the urn, so maybe we are not dealing with a Night Hag."

Alaric looks between the two. "Well, if it walks like a Night Hag, and talks like a Night Hag, what else could it be?"

"That's exactly what I was thinking," Katherine hums. "So, I called a friend for some help, and I got a book filled with dream-related monsters and I think I found our latest friend." She turns her book to Hope and Alaric. " Oneiroi, a black-winged shapeshifting dream demon from Greek mythology." She explains.

Alaric furrows his brows. "I've heard of it."

"Yeah, of course, he knows what it is." Landon whispers, chuckling.

Hope looks between the three. "Why would one monster disguise itself as another monster? The Oneiroi sounds freaky enough."

"Because if we knew what it actually was..."

Alaric finishes Landon's sentence. "We'd know how to stop it." Katherine smirks, nodding. "Hope, kiss him for me. Come on, Kat." He waves her over.

⋆⋅☆⋅⋆

Katherine watches the group of people as they prepare for Hopes's mission. Katherine wasn't sleeping like the boys were, Hope offered for the vampire to help as the vampire is unable to be killed for the time being.

Kaleb stands next to her. "You know, you don't have to look so grumpy all the time." He says. "And you don't have to pretend to be all strong and crap." Katherine scoffs, laughing stock his doubt.

"Are we really doing this again?" She asks. When she and Kaleb were together over the summer, Kaleb was always trying to get her to feel weak or confess she wasn't the almighty Katherine Valentine. "I'm fine. Don't baby me, alright?" She snips at him.

Time passes, and the boys are fast asleep. "It's kinda weird, watching people sleep," Katherine says in thought. "Usually when I do this, I'm torturing them." Hope sends her a look, and she just smiles innocently. Suddenly, a loud booming is heard in a hall.

The two girls walk out and sure enough; the monster searches in the small nook behind the painting. "Did I tell Landon the wrong hiding place for the urn?" Hope asks out loud.

Katherine sighs. "I guess so." She hums. The two take on the monster. Hope uses her magic to slow down the dream demon, while Katherine vamp speeds towards it. She sends a quick kick and a handful of punches. The monster throws Katherine into a wall, running at Hope. Hope and the monster begin to fight. "Sorry, this might hurt." Katherine says, grabbing the monster, who's grabbing on to Hope, and throwing them into the gym doors.

Hope and the monster roll to the group of boys feet, all of which have woken up. Landon's eyes are wide as Hope stands on her feet. Katherine walks in, looking rather bored. "Boys, I was thinking getting blue nails next, what do you think?" She asks.

The demon and Hope roll on the ground a few times, before it grabs her throat.

Alaric runs over, "Katherine!" The vampire looks over. "Eyes!" He hands her an arrow. Katherine wickedly smirks, vamp speeding towards Hope. She shoves the tribrid out of her way, snapping the arrow in half. Stabbing the monster in his eyes, she stands up again. Hope lets out a breath, finally able to have access to air. The monster slowly disperses, and Hope stumbles back onto her feet next to Katherine.

The vampire girl flicks her hair over her shoulder. "You have to admit, I am getting better at this." She hums, looking up at the boys.

"Landon was right." Says Kaleb. "Sexy as hell."