Forever Original | Alaric Saltzman

Chapter 72

While Hayley had been getting the wolf, Hilda was moving coffins.

To get a head start, since it was hinted at by Mary that someone else had found the Malraux wolf, too, Hayley had gone ahead, and told Hilda where to take the coffins. She'd had Alaric help her load her siblings into a moving truck, which would have been a very awkward sight for anyone who didn't know about the Mikaelsons.

Giving her daughters and nieces each a kiss on the head, she shook Mary's hand and pecked Alaric's lips before getting into the truck and beginning to drive toward an old warehouse near the Texas-Louisiana border, since the Malraux wolf was somewhere in Austin.

Hilda made quick work of setting up the back room of the warehouse for the spell. She set the coffins out, keeping the lids closed as she started to set up the other materials she'd brought with her— an unfortunately painful mask that the wolf would need to wear to acquire their venom. Hilda was glad she wasn't a wolf, because that sounded downright terrible.

Using the chalk Hayley had given her, she made the necessary star with seven points on it, though she didn't set down any of the six vials of venom yet, because knowing her, she might accidentally break them, and that'd be a ruddy shame.

"Hayley texted me letting me know she'll be here soon," sighed Hilda to Alaric while she sat on the floor, resting her back against Kol's coffin. "It's almost time. How are the girls?"

"Well, they're worried," he told her through the phone. It'd taken several hours to drive to Texas, because unluckily for Hilda, she'd met traffic along the way. "But Mary and I decided it was a good idea to let them watch a movie. This is um, Barbie in the Twelve Dancing Princesses? You can guess who picked that."

Hilda laughed knowingly. "Josie, of course. We should offer a ballet class at the school."

"I bet they'd love that, if they decide to stick with it. No one's given you trouble yet, have they?"

"Well, no, unless you count a very annoyed man who flipped me off after cutting me off at a freeway ramp, which was completely irresponsible since my visibility is terrible with a truck instead of a car. I was tempted to bump the back corner of his bumper to send him off spinning, but I was already running late to get to this rendezvous point. Unfortunately, it's quite empty and dull."

"You'll be back soon enough. Let me know when you're on your way with everyone so that I can try to make some food. I know vampires don't really need that stuff but it's some comfort, and it's the next best thing without blood bags."

She smirked. "Or you could put a few drops of your blood into everyone's glass."

"I only do that for you, no one else. Speaking of blood— the girls were talking earlier about the 'mission' as they call it, and they were wondering what blood tastes like, because they know cranberry juice isn't the real deal. I think maybe we should keep sharp objects away from them for a bit."

"Ah, just tell them they're not going to like it unless they're actually vampires. It's like how right now, they know we like the 'big kid' drinks but they won't like it until they're of age."

"Another thing. They know Hope is a tribrid. Lizzie made a comment about the twins becoming hybrids so they could become superheroes."

Hilda rubbed her forehead. "Crap. I knew we shouldn't have told them about Valerie being part vampire. Oops. That one's on me."

Alaric laughed on the other end. "No, no, it's okay. I just think they're not really understanding that supernaturals aren't automatically superheroes. By winter, they'll understand it better with the lessons. I got another call today about a new student— she's a witch, but she's got a specific leaning toward Pyrokinesis. I assured the mom that we're going to help her get it under control, but I didn't even know that was a thing."