𝟙.𝟙𝟚: 𝕋𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖'𝕤 𝔸 𝕄𝕦𝕞𝕞𝕪 𝕆𝕟 𝕄𝕒𝕚𝕟 𝕊𝕥𝕣𝕖𝕖𝕥

—Narrator's perspective—

"Girls, you take the fountain area. I'll need to steal Arabella from you until further notice. See what you can find out." Alaric said and Arabella wasn't too keen on being away from Hope but she herself didn't have any choice.

When the three left the car, Arabella sent a simple smile to Hope and Ric drove off again before she can even see the girl's reaction. They started waking on the sidewalk, Arabella about to burst out of laughing when she saw how tense the two looked.

Instead of teasing, she complained. "I could be with Hope right now, you know. Not be a third wheel to whatever's going on between the both of you." She crossed her arms while walking in the middle of the two.

"There's nothing going on." Alaric said a little too high pitched which left Arabella to scoff.

"Nothing at all." Emma added, her lips went to a straight line in awkwardness.

Arabella stopped walking, something caught her ear which Alaric questioned on what was the hold up. "I hear something. Shush." She pointed at him and looked at the ground to focus. "It's like something's buzzing? I have no clue what this is."

"You're like a hundred years old, Ara." Ric deadpanned making the girl glare at him.

"I don't see you helping." She retorted and they continued to walk. "Why am I even here again?"

Alaric and Emma sighed, shaking their heads while they ask a few more townies if they've seen any peculiar recent activities.

"Something buzzed all right..." Ric said and looked back, seeing a swarm of insects about to hit them. "Run. Run!" He shouted and the three began to dash through the sidewalk, running back to the car.

Arabella first got inside, almost tripping and hitting her head on the window but pulled herself together when the other two came inside too.

"Is it the end of the world or something?" She murmered, looking around the windows of the van when the bee looking flys were surrounding them.

"These hornets, they're indigenous to Africa, or Southwest Asia. I mean, they shouldn't even be on this continent." He chuckled and looked at the two girls besides him.

"How would you even know what kind of hornet this is? You're a geek, Ric." Arabella said, having nothing else better to do than to be crammed between two adults who won't even look at each other.

Emma had her hands on her eyes. "Oh... What are they doing here?" She complained and never dared to look.

"Oh, you guys, it's so obvious, you're gonna kick yourselves." Alaric said, still fascinated by the hornets around them which honestly creeped Arabella out.

"I can't do this. I simply can't. I can't do it." Emma whimpered and shook her head. "Creepy crawlies. I hate them."

All of the sudden, the hornets died down and disappeared from their eyes. It was on the ground, dead.

"Well would you look at that." The Blonde said and sent a simple smile to Ric.

"If I could look, I wouldn't be covering my eyes, Arabella." The counselor retorted, still oblivious of what happened.

"Oh would you just look? They're all dead." She scoffed and that was when Emma dropped her hands to her lap hesitantly.

She screamed when a man in a hazard suit suddenly banged on the window, gesturing for them to come out.

"That wasn't concerning at all." Arabella exhaled out when they exited the van. "Definitely not..." She whispered, pointing at the group of people in hazard suits.

☘︎︎

They all grouped up again, except for Dorian who was diving in a river to find the urn. They arrived in a recovery center in Maple Hollows, just as confused as many people are. "Please form an orderly single file line and proceed to the triage tent for processing." A woman on the P.A spoke.

"It's like 2020 all over again." Arabella complained, shuddering for the year while they were almost up for inspection.

"I don't get it. The locals that we met said that they hadn't seen anything, which means that the first sign of trouble happened after we got here." Hope informed, whispering to Alaric and Emma by the front which Arabella heard since she was right besides her.

"How did these people got here before the bugs?" Emma question, suspicious of everything's events.

"I don't know who they are, but they are too prepared, organized, and well-equipped to be responding to some random insect attack." Ric said and they all walked forward when it was their turn.

The woman taking down lists looked up, "You together?" She questioned flatly.

"Yeah, you know, we just came in from Roanoke to see that giant ball of yarn you guys have." He faked a smile and information.

"And these are?"

Alaric looked besides him. "This is my wife. Emma. Uh, these are my daughters, from my first marriage." The woman looked at a certain blonde who has purple eyes, clearly not buying that she is his daughter too. Alaric noticed and cleared his throat. "And, uh, Arabella here is uh..."

"My girlfriend." Hope answered for him, holding the girl's arm and for the first, it wasn't a lie for them. Arabella smiled plainly at the woman when she eyed them suspiciously.

When they were let through, Hope still had her arm around Arabella's, passing by a man who they once saw in Kansas. The Vampire acted as if she didn't know him and kept walking. The pair walked towards where waters were and where Alaric was.

"Don't look, but that guy over there was outside of Seylah's house when we were in Kansas, with the fake gas leak." Hope said, looking at the cups.

Alaric frowned and looked anyways. "She said don't look, Ric." Arabella said, using her body to cover them before the man could suspect them. "What's he doing here?"

"I don't know. Probably the same thing we were. Trying to cover things up. There are groups like this scattered all over the globe. Probably tracking the same activity we were." He said, secretly glancing at the man.

Hope's eyes caught two men by the other side of the window, "Awful lot of artillery, too." She said, all of them looking outside. "Dr. Saltzman, their gear." They had oxygen and professional snorkles, many more to go sightseeing under sea. But that wasn't the case.

"They're here for the urn." He said in realisation and fear, looking at the two girls.

"Dorian."

☘︎︎

"Oh poor Emma." Alaric started, looking over the blonde vampire who arched her eyebrow of his sudden words. "I mean, she's worried sick about Dorian. Got to find a way to put her mind at ease." He sighed.

Arabella snickered. "Are you worried about Dorian, or Emma? I honestly give up of you having a stable relationship buddy." She patted her shoulder in comfort.

"Both and I don't think my relationships are any of your business." He retorted, slightly glaring at her which only made Arabella prove her point of his behaviour. She hummed and rolled her eyes, retreating her hand. "Listen, we need to snag one of our phones back so we can call Dorian. Can you help?" He asked in hopes.

"Oh, Ric. I knew you couldn't live without me." She grimaced, standing up in search of the bag they put their phones in.

Arabella crossed her arms, eyeing the room and saw Ric talking to Clarke, which she heard. She didn't paid much attention to it and conducted a plan. Moreover, a simple plan.

"Can you lend me a phone? Anything is all right." She compelled the woman who took it, her nodding and told her to wait.

Arabella heaved out a sigh and leaned on the wall, hearing Hope and Lizzie go at it again. She couldn't control her ears of what she heard.

"Okay, Fine. You know what?  Maybe I was Jealous. Maybe I wanted what you had. A simple day with my family. I lost half of my stuff in that fire. Including the only painting I made with my dad. Why would I do that to myself?" Hope finished, looking past Lizzie and met with Arabella's eyes who was looking for hers.

The Vampire gave her a genuine smile, something about it telling Hope that everything will be fine and there is no need to worry. Hope nodded, smiling back. Arabella knew she couldn't do anything to lessen her girlfriend's stress so she conducted a plan for her and Hope later when they get back home. All she needs to do is stay alive, all of them.

"Here you go Ms. Salvatore." The woman came back, handing her the phone which she took and thanked her for.

Arabella walked back to Hope, about to say something but Alaric called the both of them to follow him. She gave a confused look but still followed with Hope besides her.

The 4 walked out the tent to somewhere more quiet and privacy so they can talk.

"I work for an organization that keeps monsters and things that go bump in the night from public view. I thought I recognised you, Jessica and Kate—"

"—It's Hope. And she's Arabella." The tribrid informed before anything gets confused later.

Clarke nodded and steered the conversation back. "I wasn't sure if it was a coincidence, so we searched your van. We know you're Alaric Saltzman, Headmaster of the Salvatore School, We know all about it. You have a terrific reputation."

"Leave the school out of this." Alaric brooded.

"Look, I applaud your school's mission. If you do your job right, makes mine easier." He added, looking at the three but the three didn't seem to take his words to the truth pile.

"So why are we still here?" The Saltzman asked, eyeing down Clarke.

"Well, I have an entire town that needs to forget what they've seen today. You know, usually it's convincing a farmer in Nebraska he didn't see a chimera. You know, or a few ice fishermen in Minnesota that it wasn't a yeti that ate their bestfriend." He remarked and looked at Ric. "This is an entire town. It's different. We could use the assistance of a vampire. I noticed the daylight ring on Hope's girlfriend— Arabella." He turned to the blonde who looked surprised of his sharp eye.

Hope frowned. "Why not call it a freak swarm of bugs? Why erase it from memory?" She questioned.

"Because someone may recognise them for what they are." He said like it was so obvious. "Harbingers."

"Of what?" She asked again, madly confused.

"Seriously? This is obviously the work of a mummy." Clarke said in a 'duh' tone making Alaric twist and click his tongue.

Hope looked at the man besides her, weirded out. "I told you." He said excitedly but chose to hide it.

"One of our drivers survived an attack by the river. He's been tracking the mummy ever since. He's still on the outskirts of town, but he's heading our direction. We're a cleanup organization. We're not equipped to go to battle with a mummy." He finished, "So... will you help? Cut him off the pass and keep all these people safe?"

"Oh, these are kids." Ric reminded, looking at Hope.

"Kids with magic, in a town full of innocents without it."

Hope spoke up, "We'd be happy to help." Arabella looked at her in disbelief.

"I'm gonna need my weapons." Ric gave in as well, looking at Clarke.

He nodded, "Ofcourse gather what you need. Round up your friends. My team can help you with anything else." With that said, Clarke left them alone.

"Okay, I know you two don't remember our trip to Kansas clearly, but that field that we woke up in? In Georgia. That's where the portal to Malivore is. It's hidden in plain sight by a company called triad." Hope finished and placed the card up for them to read. "Look familiar?"

"All right. But we still need to kill the mummy. I'll inform Emma. Ara, go compel some townies." Alaric said, excusing himself and left the two alone.

Arabella crossed her arms, "You are not seriously going head first into battle, are you?" She asked, eyebrows in a knot. Hope sighed, knowing full well the vampire wouldn't be too please to hear this.

"I think you already know the answer to that." She sucked in air through her teeth. Arabella sighed. "Oh come on. Atleast I know you will be safe here while I go behead a mummy in main street."

"And how about me? How will I even know that you're still alive once I compel the last person in this damn recovery center?" She snapped, Hope holding both sides of her neck, gently to calm her down.

"I'll be fine." She said, smiling a bit. "I'm a powerful tribrid who kicked your ass in a sparring battle, remember?" Hope teased and Arabella scoffed offended.

"Okay okay. I better not hear from Ric that he's sorry that he couldn't protect you." She hummed.

Hope chuckled and nodded, smiling genuinely at how adorable Arabella looked when she's concerned. The plan was she was about to kiss her but they heard someone cough besides them.

"That was Lizzie, wasn't it?" Arabella said, not looking to her left in a tight smile.

"I'll see you later. Have fun compelling all these people." Hope teased and gave her a peck on the cheek before meeting up with Lizzie, Josie and Alaric who was prepared.

Arabella exhaled, her hands inside the pocket of her loose jeans while she watched them scurry to battle. She snapped focus and realised that she got the worse job out of them all, which was to compel many people.

☘︎︎