𝟙.𝟠: 𝕄𝕒𝕪𝕓𝕖 𝕀 𝕊𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕝𝕕 𝕊𝕥𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝔽𝕣𝕠𝕞 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔼𝕟𝕕

—Narrator's perspective—

Alaric had already went out first, letting the two girls behind to pick themselves up. Hope was the first to wake up, feeling someone asleep above her making her gently smile. She sat up, going besides the girl and holding her waist, resting her head on her shoulder.

"Hey, wake up." She whispered, planting small kisses on her jaw to wake up the vampire who was groaning gently and opened her eyes. "Ric already went first."

Arabella blinked a few times and saw they were in a parking lot by a motel. She could see Ric contemplating on what room to go in, practically confused and lost.

"Can I go back to sleep and you wake me up again like this?" Arabella joked, looking over to Hope who planted a small kiss on her cheek again.

"As much as that sounded tempting," She whispered and pulled away with a sigh. "Landon still needs saving. Come on."

The Vampire whined but still exited the car, stretching her limbs for a few seconds until she heard the car door close again. She felt a hand crept up to her neck, Hope's slightly smaller figure came to her view.

"Something you want?" Bella asked with an arched eyebrow, looking at her light blue eyes visible from under a streetlight.

"Nothing. I really want to go to that milkshake right about now." Hope answered with a simple smile, admiring the purple orbs delicately.

"I promise, We'll get one." She answered and it made smile at her words before leaning in to capture her lips gently.

The two stood besides the car, Hope wrapping her arms around Arabella's neck to secure their position slightly. Both of them can't help but feel addicted to each other's warmth. Especially Hope who had to yell at herself internally to pull away before someone walks in on them or before Landon actually gets killed.

"We better go." Hope whispered once they parted, making Arabella groan playfully but smiled.

The Vampire heard something clicking from where she saw Alaric get inside a room. She looked at Hope alarmed and the girl gave her a nod, gesturing for her to hurry and do what she does best. Arabella used her Vampire speed to see a woman pointing a gun at Alaric, Seylah was too quick and her instincts kicked in, turning the gun to her and fired.

Hope showed up in time, flicking her wrist and the gun was on her hand in seconds. She knelt down to Arabella in a worried look, "You okay?" She asked and the girl groaned and panted nodding, taking out the lead from her shoulder with a silent gasp.

"Tell me where he is before I blow your head off." Hope threatened and helped Arabella stand up before walking towards Seylah, pointing the gun at her.

Alaric carefully pointed the gun downwards before Hope could actually do that. Landon came rushing out of the bathroom because of the gunshot that recently fired, looking surprised to see the three by the door.

"Oh god— Is she all right?" He said and rushed besides Seylah, looking apologetic to Arabella who held onto a nearby wall, steadying herself.

Alaric and the two girls looked at each other in relief when they saw Landon unharmed and okay.

"She's a vampire. You're lucky that she is or else I would have done worse than what you've done." Hope glared at Seylah who nodded, taking note of the threat.

"You must be Hope. And you're Arabella." She said to the blonde who simply regained her composure. "I thought you were kidding when you said she has purple eyes." Seylah turned to Landon who stammered to explain why she knew that.

☘︎︎

"So you're the headmaster of a private school for supernaturals. And you're the teacher's pet. And you're the one who helped Landon." Seylah pointed out, Arabella sighing and holding herself aback from saying something drastic.

"Actually, they're kind of a pain in my ass." Alaric turned to her with a neutral voice.

"I'm the teen you shot." The blonde said sarcastically and retorted.

"A little judgy for an absentee mother." Hope crossed her arms, looking at Seylah with a pissed expression for shooting Arabella just like that.

Seylah turned to Landon, "You were wrong. I like her." She smiled and the boy didn't want to look at Hope in embarrassment.

"Well, now you know about us. All we know about you is that you gave birth to Landon, he says a monster attacked you, and now there's some sort of fake gas company cominf after you two. So I think it's time you start filling in some blanks." Ric spoke, standing by the window when Seylah turned to sit down at one of the beds.

Arabella stayed where she was, leaning on a wall besides the window in case someone might come here. Hope standing near her with Landon sitting in front of Seylah, Ric hovering above him. All in which waiting for an explanation from the woman who left Landon when he was a baby.

"When I finished my service in the army, I was  recruited by an intelligence organization. The states sounded like a better life. I didn't know what I was signing up for, but soon I learned that things like you exist in the world." She looked at the vampire and tribrid. "My job was very much like yours. To keep the supernatural world a secret. Whenever a monster went bump in the night and risked exposing the truth I tracked it down and brought it back to headquarters."

"We're not monsters." Hope spoke, defensive of her breed and stepped forward with her arms crossed.

Seylah looked at her, then to the blonde who didn't seem to faze by her words. "You are to me."

"This headquarters, where is it?" Alaric asked

"Sorry. You just seem morally inclined enough to do something stupid and there's too much blood on my hands as it is. A few years in, I saw something I shouldn't." She started and Hope sat down behind Landon, eager to listen. "I became the hunted instead of the hunter."

Alaric pulled up a chair, sitting down and looked at the woman. "What exactly did you see?"

"I wanted to know what was happening to the monsters. Because even though I spent all that time studying their every move, I couldn't remember them at all. So I started taking noted. I realized my memory was being erased. The question was: How?"

"Malivore." Alaric said in knowing of what it does.

"How do you know about Malivore?" She asked in surprise of how much they know.

Alaric looked at Landon, "Landon took a knife that belonged to our school's collection. Now monsters that shouldn't exist have been coming after it ever since."

"He means I stole it. And then I, like, um, woke it up or something. What's Malivore?" He questioned and looked at Alaric.

"It's a hell dimension that consumes creatures and wipe their existence from the collective conscience." Hope answered his question and turned to Seylah. "Sounds about right?"

"More or less." She shrugged.

Landon nodded, half confused. "Awesome."

"The last monster that came for the knife was a Necromancer who screwed us over and returned it back to Malivore." Landon looked at Hope confused. "Long story. But he said that the knife is one of three keys that kept Malivore contained, So why are monsters still coming for you?" She asked Landon.

"I have no idea. Didn't really get a chance to ask the last one. He just tried to eat me."

Arabella sighed and looked outside, taking all the information in her head as much as possible. She listened intently while staring at the stars, moon, darkness of the sky. Though the relief she felt that Landon was safe blooms, She still had to worry of what Seylah might do after all this is over. It's not like she'll be a devoting mother to the curly haired boy when this was all over.

All she heard was the door shut after Seylah's words pierced through Landon's heart like a stake. She sighed and looked at him sympathetically.

"Ara." Alaric called, cocking his head to the side, motioning to the door and left. Arabella looked at Hope, nodding her way as a sign to go.

Alaric and Arabella sat down besides Seylah who stared at the pool in front of them. She somwhat looked hesitant and holding something back from getting out. Seylah offered the flask she was holding to Ric who refused.

"Oh, believe me, I would but I'm trying to cut back." He chuckled and Arabella just stared at the water moving due to the wind. "Look, I get how hard this is, but we need some answers."

"You already know everything I know." She answered and tilted her head backwards to drink the alcohol more.

"I think we all know that's a lie." Arabella said, still leaning her back on the bench while staring at the shallow waters.

Alaric agreed, "Just like you lied to Landon about not knowing who his father is."

"What makes you think I was lying?" She questioned and turned her head to him, arching an eyebrow slightly.

"Bad liars look away when they lie to their kids. Good liars look 'em straight in the eye." He spared a glance to her, knowing that he was right of what he said.

Seylah seemed impressed. "We have something in common, then. You have children?"

"Two girls." He sighed. "So, take my hard-earned advice. Tell Landon the truth."

"How about I tell you two instead?" She said and the other two looked at each other before looking at her in waiting. "Just to see if you believe me." Seylah sniffled and turned her head back to the front, guilty enough as it is on not telling Landon what she knows. "Because I'm still not sure that I believe what I'm about to say, and I lived it. The organization I used to work for guards the portal to Malivore. When I realize I was having memory lapses, I started writing everything down. Drawing maps. I wrote about the creatures I captured and where I took them. Each entry ended there."

"Where did you take them?" Bella asked, crossing her arms in anticipation of the answers she was going to receive.

The woman laughs softly and shook her head. "Nah, that's not important."

"Seems super important to me." Ric countered and sipped his coffee.

"Well, then I'm not gonna tell you. For your own good, believe me. One day, I snuck in by myself. And what I found was a... a black pit, locked away." She nodded in confirmation when Arabella looked at her in disbelief.

"Is that supposed to be a metaphor?"

"Oh no. It's an actual pit filled with... tar, uh, or something." She sighed and sipped her beverage.

"A literal pit of doom. The story has it that if, uh, Malivore consumes you, you experience endless darkness." Alaric informed, remembering all the monsters that came for the knife saying that.

Seylah agreed, nodding her head. "Yeah. It's not just a story though. And I should know. I've been there." She informed and made Arabelle frown.

☘︎︎

"That wasn't disturbing at all, Ric." Arabella sighed out while they walk back to the motel room, filling her head about to explode into millions of pieces. "What should we tell Landon? His own mother doesn't want him."

Alaric heaved out a heavy sigh and didn't know what to say even. "I have no clue. Wing it?" He questioned and looked at the blonde who laughed shaking her head in disbelief of what he said.

"You're really aging backwards, buddy." She gave him a pat on his back and the two laughed silently. Alaric first opened the door and immediately backed away and looked the other direction.

"Oh! Hey, uh..." He didn't know what to say when two teenagers were in the bed, Hope on top of Landon while they made out. Landon fell on the floor and the girl looked at Arabella who could only stare at them in shock. "Ara." He turned to the girl who couldn't even mutter a word.

It was then this night, she stepped backwards, heart was in an intense amout pain that she couldn't begin to understand. It felt like years that the two stared at each other, Hope's eyes filled with regret when she realised what's she's done today.

A phone rang, Arabella didn't waste a second on pulling her phone out of her pocket and wiping a tear away before walking outside in a hurry. She could visibly hear Alaric telling Hope to not follow her and give her space.

"Who is it?" She asked, tone sounded cold and in pain. Arabella clenched her fist, nails were digging into her skin like it was nothing and drew blood in anger and betrayal.

"You sound horrible, Luna." A familiar voice spoke, making the girl smile in relief and in sadness as well.

She mustered out a chuckled and stopped walking, looking back to see Hope's figure, on the front of the motel door they were just in. Her eyes were pleading her to go to her but instead, She breathed out shakily and looked away.

"Bonnie. What do I owe the pleasure?" She asked, pushing away her emotions and desperately holding onto her head to stop the aching pain in her chest.

"I'm just checking up on my bestfriend. How are you?" She cheerfully asked without a worry and it made Arabella laugh.

☘︎︎