{1.12 | There's a Mummy on Main Street | part 2}
Elara leaned against the van as Alaric approached, crossbow and bag in hand. She was waiting for Hope to return from the tent with the twins.
Agent Clarke, as the man from Kansas introduced himself as, informed them that a mummy was responsible for the swarms. He asked them, practically begged them to help, and Hope insisted that they did. Elara thought it was strange since Clarke seemed like complete trouble, but Hope showed them the card he'd given her.
Elara couldn't explain it. She didn't have a set reason as to why she disliked Clarke, but there was something about him that put her off. Well, aside from the fact that Clarke worked for TRIAD and had been in Kansas chasing Landon.
TRIAD was the company that possessed the portal to Malivore. TRIAD wanted the urn, and they had to figure out how to get it first.
And how to kill a mummy.
"Got any ideas in that secretive head of yours?" Elara questioned, uncrossing her arms.
Alaric let out a sigh as he dropped the bag into the floor of the van. "I'm starting to think I should just leave you here to save myself the trouble of dealing with your incessant need to interrogate me."
"Can you blame me?" Elara scoffed. She pushed herself off of the van. "For once, I have a chance to get a straightforward answer about whatever the hell is going on with me. You don't think I'd jump at that chance?"
"I was really hoping you wouldn't," Alaric answered bluntly. "Elara, you don't understand what is at stake--"
"Because you won't tell me! How the hell am I supposed to understand the risks and-and the potential consequences if you won't give me an answer as to what I am?"
"Alright. You want an answer?"
Elara shrugged. "I'd love one."
"You're an impulsive, unstable wolf with the capabilities of hurting everyone we care about. At the drop of a hat, you can and will snap."
As if to prove his point, Elara's eyes unwillingly flickered a wolfish yellow.
"You wonder why you're the last Laurent left alive?" Alaric continued, his gaze hardened. "Because Laurents, no matter how hard they try, end up becoming the monsters they kill."
"We ready to go?" A voice cut in.
Elara and Alaric turned their heads towards the voice, and Hope stood a few feet from them, having gone unnoticed for a moment. Her expression made it clear. She heard everything Alaric said.
Ignoring the racing of her heart and the pounding in her head, Elara cleared her throat and nodded.
"Yeah," she breathed out, locking eyes with the headmaster. "Let's go kill a monster."
~-~-~
It didn't take them long to get to town. The mummy had been spotted not too far from their location, so the group carefully scouted the area.
Lizzie broke the silence. "Some people find it helps to clear their conscience before heading into battle."
Hope glanced at Elara's back. "Not stopping you," she countered.
"Now is not the time," Josie insisted.
"It's always time for truth," Lizzie argued. "Last chance, Hope. There's still one thing that doesn't make sense. If you didn't start that fire to keep us from going, then why were you so mean to me after?"
She didn't give the tri-brid a chance to answer. "I'll tell you why, because you were guilty."
"Cut it out," Elara snapped.
"Seriously," Josie added.
But Hope and Lizzie continued.
"I wasn't mean to you. You were mean to me," Hope corrected.
"Because you were telling people about my episode," Lizzie accused.
"Your what?"
"My episode. The one I had when our trip got cancelled. You told everyone that I was witch bipolar."
"I would never do that."
The two stopped walking, turning to face each other, but Josie, Elara, and Alaric continued.
"Guys, seriously, what is the point of even talking--" Josie attempted to argue.
Lizzie cut her off. "Just drop the act."
The rest of the group stopped walking, and Elara tensed, noticing movement in the middle of the street. It was still a good distance away.
"I had my first... occurrence, my mom took me away to get help, and you decided to use it against me," Lizzie explained, her voice tight.
"I didn't even know," Hope said. "I swear, I would never do that."
The shape moved closer, and Elara heard the shifting of sand and a guttural groan.
Josie seemed to notice it too.
"Guys!" she called.
"What?" Hope and Lizzie snapped at the same time.
Elara moved to stand a bit in front of the group, lowering herself in case she needed to run.
"There's a mummy on main street."
The mummy stepped clear of the mist, and Elara quickly noticed the urn in its hand. A green, glowing, insect-shaped object clung onto its chest. Alaric trained his crossbow on it, and Elara felt a wave of strength run through her as her eyes briefly glowed.
Lizzie spoke up. "So, what, do we, like, rush it?"
"It's seven feet tall," Alaric pointed out. "We hold our ground until it's close enough to attack."
"Sounds good to me," Elara mumbled, curling her hands into fists. "I suggest you step back."
"I can't do that."
"Dad," Lizzie called.
Alaric turned his head to look at her. "I have to protect you, all of you."
"No offense, Dr. Saltzman, but you and your crossbow are kind of manspread in front of three powerful witches and a..." Hope trailed off, remembering the terms Alaric had used to describe Elara.
"A wolf that hits hard," Elara answered. "Get behind us."
Alaric glanced between them, then nodded. "Good point." He dashed to stand behind the witches.
Josie took a deep breath. "Okay, what can a mummy do to hurt us?"
"I think we're about to find out," Hope whispered. "Elara, back up."
Elara took a step backwards, watching the mummy stop in front of them. He seemed to take a deep breath and then opened his jaw widely as insects flew from his mouth.
"Bulla!" the witches said in unison. A barrier formed itself around them, protecting them from the onslaught of insects.
Elara eyes darted between the gem on its chest and the urn. "When the bugs stop, I'm rushing that thing."
"Don't," Hope urged. "We don't know what he can do."
Elara rolled up the sleeves of her black t-shirt. She'd ditched her flannel in the car, wanting to move easier. "Then I'll find out. I'll at least draw his fire."
"You'll get hurt, Elara," Josie argued.
She shook her head. "I'll heal, Jo. Just trust me."
"Elara--"
They didn't have time to argue as the insects disappeared, and the second the shield dropped, Elara was already in front of the mummy, launching herself at it.
The hit connected against the side of his head, the sound of impact echoing through the street. The mummy's head jerked to the side as parts of his face broke off. She swung again with her other hand, hitting him squarely in the chest.
Her fist hit the metal scarab beetle, but the brief sting didn't stop her.
The mummy raised a hand and managed to block her next attack, but not fully. He still took the brunt of the hit, stumbling.
"Hurry!" Elara cried out. She kicked at its leg, trying to get him lower to the ground.
It didn't work. The kick connected, knocking off more sand and loosening some of the ancient wrappings, but the mummy stayed standing. He jerked out a hand, grabbing Elara's neck with one of his hands, then he lifted her into the air and tossed her to the side.
She landed with a hard thud, and her body skidded across the concrete sidewalk. Elara heard coughing, but she couldn't look. Her eyes were trained on the mummy, which had its hand raised.
She pushed herself to her feet. The last monster she physically fought beat her.
But this one wasn't going to.
She launched herself at him again, this time using her strength to hold his arms down. She wrapped her arms around them, pinning them against his body. He was strong, and she couldn't hold him forever.
"If you've got something, use it!" she yelled.
"I'll hit you!" she heard Josie cry.
Elara gritted her teeth. "Then do it!"
A quick second passed before Elara saw a bright, orange flame in the corner of her eye. The flame quickly engulfed the mummy, swallowing Elara's arms in the heat, and she was glad she took off her flannel. She let go of the mummy, and when her back hit the road, she scampered backwards as quickly as she could. The pain of the burning hadn't quite hit her yet.
They all watched at the mummy burned into a pile of ash, the urn and the scarab on its chest falling into the pile. Josie and Hope were on her within the second. Elara's arms had been coated in flames, and the burns would've been severe.
"You- you are so stupid!"
But when Hope grabbed her arm to look at it with a healing spell prepared, she found the freckled skin untouched by any flames. It was like nothing happened.
Elara looked as shocked as Hope did, but the shock passed quickly, a laugh escaping her.
"Oh, oh my, God," she said in between laughs. "I'm fireproof."
"And an actual idiot," Hope snapped. "What the hell were you thinking?"
Elara shrugged. "I bought us time, didn't I?" She shifted her gaze towards Josie, who wore an expression of pure guilt.
"Elara, I'm--"
"A genius," Elara finished for her, grinning. Josie recoiled slightly in surprise at the praise. "A fire spell was a great idea, Jo."
Alaric sprinted up to them, his crossbow at his side. "Everyone alright?"
Elara glanced between Hope and Josie. Hope wiped at her mouth, her chest still heaving with quick breaths, and Josie looked shocked. She looked past them at a confused and frustrated Lizzie.
"Worst spring break ever," Lizzie groaned.
~-~-~
Shoving clothes into her backpack as quietly as she could, Elara thought about the long ride from Maple Hollows to Mystic Falls.
She sat in the front seat, but the tension between her and Alaric made her wish she didn't. Hell, she debated not even riding in the van and just staying in Maple Hollows.
No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't fall asleep. Alaric had finally admitted to what she'd been waiting to hear, and the answer hurt just as much as she thought it would. She'd been telling herself she was a monster since...
Since they went after Landon.
When they made it back to the school, everyone went their separate ways, except for Hope and Elara. They returned to their room in silence, but Elara knew what she had to do.
She had to leave.
It was clear as day. Alaric didn't want her there. A monster wasn't meant to be a student at the Salvatore Boarding School.
When Hope finally returned from her conversation with the twins, the roommates made small talk. Hope wasn't sure how to broach the subject of what Alaric called Elara, and Elara was trying not to show how she felt about it. She didn't want to talk about it, anyways. If she did with Hope, she knew the tri-brid would convince her to change her mind.
Hope could've convinced her to do anything.
Her feelings for Hope had only grown exponentially. She liked Hope. A lot, and there was nothing she could do to make them go away. Seeing Hope with Landon didn't help, spending every second of spring break with Hope didn't help, and staying up late at night talking about anything and everything definitely didn't help.
But Elara decided the best thing was to leave. Even if Hope felt the same, Alaric was right. Elara would just end up hurting her.
The two climbed into Elara's bed with few words. Honestly, she thought it was a little odd that Hope kept sleeping with her (in a family friendly way) although Elara didn't ask her to, but she wasn't complaining. She waited for the tri-brid to fall asleep, and when her breathing finally evened out, Elara slipped out of her sheets.
She grabbed her bag from the floor and her jacket as she headed towards the door. There was already a goodbye note laying on her desk that she knew Hope would find. It was the best way for her to say goodbye.
The full moon was the next night, and if Elara wanted to put a large distance between herself and civilization before then, she needed to leave right then and there. Her hand grabbed onto the door handle, turning it carefully.
But the ruffling of sheets and the sudden light from her nightstand stopped her.
"What are you doing?"
Elara let out a soft sigh, releasing the doorknob. She turned towards Hope, who sat up in the bed, the sheets covering her lower half.
"I'm, uh," Elara began, thinking of an excuse. "Going for a hike?"
Hope cocked a brow. "At two in the morning?"
"Yeah, um, beating up the bags in the gym just isn't doing it for me anymore--"
Hope tossed the sheets to the side and jumped to her feet.
Elara cleared her throat, watching as Hope moved to stand in front of her. "I'll be back by sun-up."
"You won't," Hope croaked, and the look on her face sent a pang through Elara's chest. "You're leaving."
There wasn't a point in lying. "I have to. You heard Dr. Saltzman. It's safer if I--"
"Don't." Hope's voice shook, her eyes watering. "Don't try and convince me that you leaving is the right thing to do."
"It is. I can't hurt yo--" She took a deep breath, cutting herself off, but Hope caught the slip-up. "An-anyone that I care about if I disappear."
"And you don't think you'll hurt anyone by disappearing? Hurt me?" She didn't give her a chance to reply. "Hell, it hurts to even think about you leaving."
This was why Elara didn't want to say goodbye in person.
"I'm sure my absence wouldn't be noticed."
"You're an idiot to think that."
"You'll have Landon--"
"I don't need Landon. God, I never have."
Elara's mask faltered at that, and a sense of deja vu ran through her.
Hope stepped even closer to the wolf, brushing against her. "It's never been Landon."
"But you said yes to Landon..."
"Because you told me to, and I'm done playing the game where we pretend we don't have feelings for each other."
Elara swallowed nervously, a muscle in her jaw twitching. There it was. The words she'd both been dreading and wanting to hear.
"I played along originally because we've been here before. In Kansas, you admitted to how you felt, and then you ran. I... I was terrified of that happening again, so I said yes to being Landon's girlfriend."
Elara finally connected the dots. The anger, the jealousy, the fear. All of the emotions she remembered but not why finally made sense. "So that's the part you left out," she muttered.
"Yeah," Hope breathed out. "That's the part I left out." Her eyes dipped downwards. "Elara, you talk about Landon being the safest choice, but he's not the right one. Not for me."
"I don't want to hurt you."
"Then stay. Please."
And Elara didn't get the chance to respond as Hope grabbed the back of her neck and kissed her.
[a.n. how we feeling guys?
~NYM]