CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
of zombies and being outed

HOPE WAS PANICKING BUT TRYING TO KEEP it cool for Josie's sake. She felt like she couldn't breathe. Her heart was cracking and her chest was enclosing around her lungs, squeezing tightly. 

Alaric had filled her in on what he thought happened which scared the crap out of her. She couldn't lose Josie. She couldn't. She'd be broken beyond repair and nothing ever would fix that. 

She had been so caught up in her own mind, a flashlight in one hand and a shovel in the other, that she didn't realize that she was walking by two people who could potentially help her until she heard Satan's voice.

"You gonna howl at the moon wearing that?" Penelope asked her and Hope looked over at her and the vampire. 

She looked away. "Sorry, no time for bitchy banter." She said, continuing to walk. Her tone was harsh, she knew that, but she needed to find Josie before it was too late. She stopped and turned towards them. "Actually... I could use your help finding Josie." None of them missed how her voice shook slightly when she said the brunette's name. 

Katelyn came running over just as Penelope asked, "What happened?"

"Apparently, her possessed biological mother buried her alive in the cemetery." Hope replied with such bitterness that the three flinched back a bit. 

Katelyn, Penelope, and MG all grabbed a farming tool. "We're coming with you." MG said. 

They all followed Hope. She looked back at Katelyn. "What about Lizzie?"

Katelyn looked at her. "She'll understand." Katelyn's phone rang and she took it out of her coat, answering it. "What, Alaric?" She snapped. 

"Dorian and Emma took the knife and drove out of town." He told her. 

Katelyn's eyes turned golden as she put her phone between her ear and shoulder, grabbing onto the tool with both hands and hitting a tree so hard that it snapped in half. 

The other three stopped and stared at her. "TELL THEM TO BRING THAT KNIFE BACK INTO THE BOUNDARY LINE!" Katelyn shouted into the phone. "If the witches get ahold of the one thing that I was trying to keep away from them then they one step fucking closer to winning Alaric!" 

She ended the call, breathing heavily. She stuffed her phone back into her suit and looked at the others, her eyes going back to normal. 

"Let's get Josie back." She growled. The other three nodded in agreement and they took off into the forest. 

"MG, listen for her breathing." Hope told the vampire after they finally arrived at the cemetery. 

"Hold on." The vampire said making the three women stop. "I hear something. Shovel." Penelope handed him the shovel while she took his farming tool. He walked forward and started shoveling a spot as Hope shined the light on it. 

A hand flew out. It was rotted and disgusting. MG gasped as it grabs his leg, making him fall over. Katelyn swings her tool, cutting the arm off and kicking the part that was still locked onto MG's leg into a tree. 

The zombie popped up out of the ground, growling. Katelyn grabs MG by his coat as Penelope brings down the hatchet onto the zombie's neck. It doesn't stop though. 

"That won't work." MG said as he grabbed the shovel and shoved it into the zombie's head. He pulled it out and the man fell backward in a lump. Katelyn pulled MG up as they all stared at the zombie. 

"To kill a walker." Katelyn said as she and MG did a handshake. 

"You got to go for the brain." MG finished. 

"Everybody knows that." They both grinned at the two girls. 

"Yeah, every nerd maybe." Penelope said to them. "Just call it a zombie." 

Hope shines the light on another zombie that popped out of the ground. "Zombies." Hope said, meaning that there were more than one. "Plural."

They all look around to see zombies popping up left and right. They were being surrounded now. 

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In the assembly hall, Lizzie is looking for Katelyn who had disappeared after she went to get a drink. She walked around aimlessly, looking over people's heads but not being able to find the older blonde. 

She was so invested in looking that she didn't realize she was about to run into someone until she did. She turned around and saw Rafael wearing a gray suit. 

"What's wrong?" He asked her.

"I can't find Katelyn." She replied. 

Rafael looked at her before averting his eyes to the floor. "I saw her run out of here a couple of minutes ago. She had gotten a call and then bolted. I'm sorry."

Lizzie sighed. "It's okay. Thank you, Rafael." 

"Hey, if you want, we can dance together." Rafael said, a smile in place as he took her hand and spun her around slowly. 

"I— I guess." Lizzie said. 

"You look beautiful, Lizzie." The girl blushed a bit. "She's stupid for running out on you." 

Lizzie gave the boy a small smile and looked around as he pulled her close. "Where's my sister?" She whispered, her heart thudding painfully in her chest.

.

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.

MG cut off a zombie's head. "Whoo! Two for two, baby." 

"Penelope, Hope, and I can handle the rest. Just find Josie." Katelyn told MG. 

"Right. Got it." He said, vamping off. 

Katelyn twirled the hoe expertly before swinging, cutting a zombie's head clean off and it flying into a nearby bush. Hope looked at Penelope.

"How do you want to do this? Magic?" She asked the witch who was back-to-back with her. 

"I say we DIY and pretend they're Lizzie Saltzman." Penelope replied. 

Hope turned her head right as a zombie started towards her. "Much rather prefer you." Hope said as she swung, cutting half of the zombie's face off. 

"Not the time!" Katelyn called to both of them as Penelope stabbed one in the head. They killed zombie after zombie. Soon enough they found themselves back to where MG was. 

Hope stabbed the zombie that had MG by the legs through the back of the head, the handle of the tool poking out of its mouth. 

"MG, we're running out of time." Hope said to him.  

"Watch out!" MG shouted, pointing to a zombie behind her.

"Penelope?" The witch looked at Katelyn. "Axe!" She threw it and Katelyn came out of nowhere, catching it and slicing the head clean off. 

Hope looked at the vampire who was still on the ground, anger coursing through her. Her eyes turned golden as she stared at him. "Damit it, MG, get up and find her!" 

"There's too much noise." MG said as he stood up. 

"Well, listen harder. Pretend you're on a beach or something." Hope told him. 

MG closed his eyes and listened. "I got her." He vamped towards her with the three following close behind. 

They found him digging a spot. The three fell to their knees near him, Katelyn helping him dig it out. A hand popped out of the dirt. 

Hope and Katelyn grabbed it at the same time and pulled with force until Josie was popping up out of the ground, gasping and heaving for air. She was crying as she clutched the talisman Katelyn and Hope gave her. 

Josie launched herself into Hope and Katelyn's arms, hugging them both tightly while trying to regain her breath. The two hugged her back, Hope with tears pouring from her eyes. 

"The talisman." Katelyn said after a second. 

"It worked." Hope said as she caressed the back of Josie's head with her hand, pulling back to see the girl. All of them looked at the necklace hanging around Josie's neck as the girl clutched it. 

"What's it supposed to do?" Josie asked, looking at the two of them. 

Katelyn and Hope looked at each other before answering at the same time. "Make quiet things heard..."

Katelyn smiled at her, tears in her eyes as well. "We thought it could be useful." Josie gasped out a laugh, tears still evident. 

They all heard clapping and looked over to find the source. 

Katelyn shot up, a snarl leaving her lips as her eyes turned gold. The woman that stood in front of them was the woman that had projected into the gym with Katelyn and Hope. 

Katelyn's eyes kept flashing between gold and bright orange. "You know, I didn't expect you to find her." The woman told Katelyn. "I warned you that we'd get rid of her and the other two, did we not?" 

"How did you get in?" Katelyn asked, her voice low, menacing. She kept the other four behind her, close to her. 

"Well, when the little siphoner took down the barrier spell you put up to keep her mother in, she unknowingly took down all of the ones you created and hers too." She nodded toward Hope with a sneer. "You being blood and all connects you." 

"What?" MG, Josie, and Penelope asked as they all stood up along with Hope. 

The woman smirked. "You've done good protecting the knife, keeping your secret even from your own darling sister. You've done well with outsmarting us dear. With Landon and all." 

"I've learned from the best." Katelyn said with a sneer. "You can't control me anymore, Vera."

"Oh, really?" Vera raised an eyebrow, a smirk in place. She raised her hand but nothing happened. She frowned.

Katelyn smirked. "I told you..." Then the trinix raised her hands, her eyes taking on a bright orange color, and flames flew out of her hands and straight at Vera, setting her on fire. 

She screamed in pain.

Penelope stepped forward. "Ignalusa!" She cast, a ball of fire appearing between her hands before blowing it at the woman. 

Once the fire died down they all saw the witch's burned carcus. Katelyn stepped forward and cast a spell to levitate her. "She'll be back in the morning." Katelyn said.

"What?" MG asked. "No way. You both just burned her alive. She's dead." 

Katelyn sighed and whispered a spell, making the woman disappear and reappear in the dungeon. She looked at the others. 

"What happened here tonight cannot be said to anyone. It needs to stay between this group here. It's for your own safety. You two are in danger now." Katelyn said, pointing to MG and Penelope. "So, you are gonna need to listen to me."

They nodded.

"Okay. I'll explain everything another time. Let's go." Katelyn said as she walked over to Josie and Hope. 

They all made their way to the school before going in different directions. Josie, Hope, and Katelyn went to the twin's room. Once they got to the twin's room, they told Josie to go take a shower. 

They quickly rushed off and went to take a shower as well and get into new clothes. Hope was done first so she made her way back to the room while Katelyn finished up getting ready. 

Once she was finished, she walked back over to the twin's room. She opened the door and smiled slightly when she saw the scene in front of her. 

Both Hope and Josie were lying down on the bed. Josie was curled into Hope's side. Hope was whispering things to her and the brunette had a small smile, letting out a giggle or two every now and then. 

"You two are cute," Katelyn said and they both looked over. Josie blushed and gave her a smile before snuggling in closer to Hope. The blonde closed the door and walked over, climbing in the bed on the other side. 

"Thank you," Josie said after a couple of minutes of silence. "Both of you. For saving me," she whispered. Katelyn and Hope both looked at her. She had tears in her eyes. "I— I thought I was going to..." 

Hope tightened her arms around her and put little kisses all around Josie's face. 

"You don't need to thank us, Jo Jo," Katelyn murmured, looking back at the ceiling. "We'd do it again in a heartbeat." 

No one said anything else and Katelyn had drifted off into sleep. Hope still held Josie close, letting the brunette snuggle into their warmth. 

It was great. . .

Until Lizzie barged in. 

Katelyn woke up with a jump, almost falling off the bed if Josie and Hope hadn't grabbed onto her. "And that's the floor," she squeaked, her face inches away from it. The two pulled her back up and the blonde released a relieved sigh. She turned to Lizzie. "What the hell, Lizzie?" 

"Shut up, Mik," Lizzie said, barely acknowledging her. Ouch. "You can go now. Both of you. I don't want my sister to smell of dog." She looks at Josie, her eyes softening. "Dad wants to talk to us." 

Alaric appeared at the door with Josette behind him. 

Hope and Katelyn looked at each other than at Josie, hesitant to leave. 

"I'll be fine," Josie promised. "If anything happens I'll howl." 

"Your mean," Katelyn grumbled, standing up, tripping slightly. "Jeezus," she said, catching herself on the bed. 

Hope snorted and got up. She leaned down and kissed Josie's forehead before the two began to leave the room. 

Katelyn stopped and turned back, grabbing Lizzie's arm gently. Alaric and Josette went to speak with Josie for a moment, giving them some privacy. "Hey, I know this is a bad time—"

"It's a really bad time," Lizzie said forcefully. "So don't."

The older girl let go and stepped back. "Right," she said, her voice unusually small. "Sorry." She turned on her heel and walked out of the room. 

The two started to walk down the hallway in silence, planning on going back to their rooms for a couple of minutes. 

"Girls!" Came Alaric's voice from behind him. They both turned right as he hugged them. They were stunned for a moment before wrapping their arms around him. "Thank you," he whispered. "Thank you for saving my baby." 

"Your welcome, Ric," Hope said quietly. 

"I'm sorry," Katelyn murmured a second later making the two pull back and look at her. She had tears in her eyes, her resolve crumbling to pieces in front of their eyes. "If it weren't for me then this never would've happened—"

Alaric pulled her into an embrace, letting her cry into his shoulder. She clutched the back of his shirt, her body wracking with sobs. He stroked her hair soothingly as Hope leaned against the wall. 

"It's not your fault. It's the people who did this, Katelyn. There was nothing you could do and you didn't know that Josette would try this. You had your suspicions but you didn't know for sure. I'm just glad you were there when Josie needed you." 

Katelyn nodded against his shoulder. Hope saw Josie, Lizzie, and Josette peeking out of the room but made no comment. 

"I know this is hard for you. Seeing Josette and the girls. It's... It's a lot and I should've been more aware," he continued as she slowly calmed down. "I promise, I'll pay more attention. To all of you. Especially to my daughters." 

The two pulled away from each other. Katelyn wiped her eyes with her sleeve. "Thank you. And what I said about the whole father of the year thing... you're an amazing dad, Ric. Now, we'll leave and let you sort out the family issue." 

Alaric gave them both a smile as they walked down the hallway back to their room, not glancing behind them. Alaric watched until they turned the corner and then he turned to look at the three.

"What was that about?" Josette asked. "She seemed pretty upset." 

Alaric gave him a small smile. "She didn't get to meet her mother or father," he stated simply. 

"Oh," Josie and Josette said quietly, realization dawning on them. 

Lizzie had a stoic look on her face but inside she was kicking herself. She shouldn't have snapped at Katelyn. She should've thanked her for saving her sister.

Shit

AN: This is the last episode that I will be using in the story. Now I'm going off into my own plot! Don't forget to vote and comment.