𝔪𝔞𝔤𝔦𝔠 𝔠𝔞𝔫 𝔟𝔢 𝔡𝔞𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔯𝔬𝔲𝔰, hosie

loose ends, 15

Hope, Lizzie, and Josie were already at the mill, waiting for the rest of their friends to show up. While they waited, Lizzie and Josie were sparing, giving Hope the chance to see how well each were doing on an even playing field. She was surprised at how good Lizzie had gotten since they started training. Though she wasn't sure why. Lizzie had the most fun outside of herself during fight training. She was always eager to try and kick Hope's ass and listened carefully when Hope corrected her on something.

Josie on the other hand wasn't as thrilled as her sister to fight. She enjoyed training, but Lizzie had fun while she trained like she was studying for a test. She carefully learned every move Hope taught them and focused on what Kaleb did when she attacked. All in all, they were both evenly matched. Every time one sister got the upper hand, the other would punch, or kick, or magic their way to the top.

Still, Hope was nervous about letting them come. She had just gotten to know them, and she couldn't lose them too. She couldn't be the reason they died. She just wouldn't.

Slowly each of their friends show up, each gathering around the twins to watch them fight. She quietly told them to pair up with whoever, and then gently pulled MG outside, telling him she needed to talk to him when he inquired why.

She looked at him and suddenly everything she practiced went right out the window. This was MG, the nerdiest kid in their group. The one she could sit at lunch with and talk nonstop about a show none of their friends had seen. He liked to write fanfiction in his spare time and joined Hope at least once a week to binge watch all of their weekly shows together. He was her friend and she was about to crush his feelings.

"What's up Hope?" He asked when she didn't say anything.

"It just..." She began and tried to remember what she had practiced in her head not even an hour before. "MG, I'm sorry, but I can't let you come with us to Georgia."

The friendly look on MG's dropped into a hurt and confused stare. "What? Why?"

She sighed, "Doctor Saltzman told me about your blood problem. I'm sorry, MG, but I can't have you on the field with none vamps if you can't control yourself if one of us gets hurts."

"I can..."

"That's why you disappeared yesterday during the fight," she said accusingly. When a guilty look crossed his features, she knew she was right. "Look, if you were able to control it, I'd let you come, but since you can't you're likely to get someone killed. I won't put the rest of the team in jeopardy. I can't risk something happening to them if I know I can prevent it."

"But I can control it. Emma's been helping me," MG insisted.

"Yeah?" she half asked, then reached into her back pocket for the pocketknife she borrowed from Alaric. She opened the knife and side it effortlessly across her palm. Enough blood seeped out of the wound before healing to show where she cut. It was enough to garner the reaction she expected.

MG's entire demeanor changed the second her blood seeped from the wound. While her blood was vampiric in nature, being born instead of being created gave her a human aspect to her blood. Something she realized long before she started feeding her aunt her blood. He suddenly went ridged, as though he was doing everything in his power to stay right where he was. Which Hope suspected was exactly what he was doing. His eyes also changed, showing his inner vampire.

What she did next, she wasn't proud of, but she had to show him why he couldn't come with them. She bought the knife up to her throat and made a small incision and then bared her neck for him, daring him to attack her. He held strong for all of a minute, before he closed the small gap between them and latched onto her neck.