She's Mine

Chapter Twenty-Three

Alaric POV-

"Lizzie, go get Kaleb, MG, and Penelope, now. We need to head to Mystic Falls." MG arrives first. "MG, can you carry Josie and put her in Hope's room?" He kneels down to pick up Josie. "No problem, Dr. S." Penelope walks in next followed by Kaleb and Raf. MG walks in with Lizzie a couple of seconds later. "Okay, here is the plan."

Emma agrees to stay with Josie to help keep her pain levels low while we go get Hope. Freya, Lizzie, Penelope, MG, Kaleb, Raf, Dorian and I pile into my car. Freya rigs up a magical compass that is connected to Hope. As soon as we are within 100 yards of her, it will begin to point us in the right direction. We just need to get close enough.

Mystic Falls is only a couple of miles down the road but it is nearing 3 am and everyone is tired so no one talks. I head to the center of town before parking by the water fountain. "I think we are picking something up," Freya starts to walk around following the compass. "There, the arrow is staying in one direction, this way." We all start to follow Freya walking towards the north part of town. We finally arrive at what looks like an abandoned house, secluded from all of the others. I look over to see the arrow spinning in a circle, fast. "This is it."

Hope POV-

I wake up with my head laying on my shoulder. My stomach is still recovering from the sword that the Peryton inserted and then twisted into my stomach over and over again until I blacked out from the pain. "Jo?" No response. I lift my head and look around to see that there are still stars in the sky. I hear movement up above me again. No, no, no, not again. The Peryton opens the basement door and descends the steps.

"Ready for more?" I don't respond. "Think your girlfriend is ready for more?" That sets me over the edge. The man starts to walk back and forth in front of me. "What should we try this time? Fire? Waterboarding? I could carry you high up into the sky and drop you? So many options." I try to control my breathing.

The Peryton turns around and says, "I think we will try this." I watch as he begins to transform into his true form. The hybrid is huge, body of a male stag and huge wings each 6 feet long like a bird. It slowly begins to walk over to me cocking its' head. At least it can't talk in this form. It begins to hover in the air before swinging its talons forward slicing them across my chest and arms.

Josie POV-

I wake up to my arms and chest searing with pain. I grit my teeth and grab ahold of the sheets as Emma comes over to help me. We lift up my shirt to see four red lines across my stomach and four more on each arm. My skin wasn't actually sliced. I bet Hope's was. "Emma, help, please," I close my eyes trying not to cry out again. Emma sets both hands on my arm and starts to mumble the spell Freya taught her. "Hope, it is going to be okay, Dad is on his way," I will my message to get to her before she blacks out again. "I love you, Jo, I promise, you will see me again." Tears well up in my eyes as I pass out again from the pain spell.

Hope POV-

I can feel my heartbeat in my wounds. They are closing but slower than I would like. The Peryton starts walking back towards me for round two. I am floating in and out of consciousness as blood pools out of my body. I open my eyes briefly to see his talons slice across my chest once more. I can feel the pain, but it feels like it is far away. I feel almost numb to it. My eyes open a couple of seconds later to see the Peryton walking back up the stairs. My head rolls to my shoulder as I lose consciousness again.

Alaric POV-

I start motioning to everyone around me. We have the same game plan as last time except Dorian brought the blessed dagger for us to stab the Peryton's shadow with. As long as he is in his true form his shadow will be available for us to kill. I hold up my hands and countdown from three. "3, 2, 1," Raf busts down the door as Kaleb and MG vamp inside. Raf runs around back to catch any stragglers. This time we have Penelope and Lizzie as well. They follow Dorian and me inside after a couple of seconds.

"We need to find the witch who helped him, that will be the only way he can escape us." MG and Lizzie pair off and start checking the left side of the house. Kaleb and Penelope start checking the right side of the house. Dorian and I make sure that the couple of bodies MG and Kaleb killed are actually dead.

"Clear," MG and Lizzie runback to the front door. "Clear," Penelope and Kaleb run in after. "Where isRaf? He should have come in the back door by now." We all lock eyes beforerunning towards the back of the house.