Song: Enemy (opening title) from Imagine dragons
Arc Two
Hope POV
Her steps were heavy.
Yet the body in her arms had never felt so light.
She walked slowly toward the manor.
The front door stood open, and her father was waiting there.
The moment he saw who she was carrying, his eyes blazed with fury.
He opened his mouth to speak, but the moment he met Hope’s eyes, he fell silent and stepped aside.
She carried Jinx to their wing of the manor before making her way to the bathroom.
As the bathtub filled with water, she gently undressed her wife.
When the bloodstained clothes fell to the floor, she set them ablaze with a single glance.
They were soaked with the blood of her failure.
Then she carefully lowered Jinx into the bath and began washing her.
“Did you know I always knew you had a little obsession with showers and baths?
That’s why I left you a new scented soap every week.
I thought it was so adorable.
But it also made me sad that this was your first time experiencing any of it.
I miss you.
I miss you, my love.
I will kill them.
I will make them suffer as much as they made you suffer.
I won’t stop until they’re on their knees before me, begging me to spare their pathetic lives.
Wake up soon, my love.”
As she spoke, she watched Jinx’s wounds slowly disappear.
A few minutes later, Hope covered Jinx with a sheet.
She could have believed she was merely asleep, if not for the absence of a heartbeat…
And the unbearable emptiness on the other side of their bond.
Only now did Hope realize just how dependent she had become on it.
It had been a direct line to the love and tenderness Jinx constantly sent back to her.
She felt so alone.
If she hadn’t had a task to accomplish, she would have curled up in the corner of the room, trembling.
She felt like an addict going through withdrawal.
Whoever they were, she would make them pay for this.
She leaned down and gently kissed Jinx’s forehead before leaving the bedroom.
As she walked down the hallway, the turmoil within her became invisible.
She stopped in front of her father.
“Hope…” he began hesitantly.
“She’ll wake up.
Plan V worked,” she said simply.
Plan V had been conceived a month earlier, after Jinx had returned from her workshop with a cut on her hand.
Hope had wondered whether Landon’s gift would prevent Jinx from dying if she were attacked or suffered an accident.
The answer had been no.
Jinx could live as long as Hope did, but without the regenerative abilities of a vampire, she would always be vulnerable.
So Hope had devised what Jinx had jokingly named Plan V.
The Vampire Plan.
Every morning, Jinx drank a small amount of Hope’s blood as a safeguard.
If Hope couldn’t reach her in time to heal her, Jinx would instead awaken as a vampire.
Today, Hope had never been more grateful that she had insisted on that precaution.
“Stay with her,” she said to Klaus.
“What are you going to do?”
“Hunt.”
Just as Hope was about to teleport away, she heard his voice.
“You will do terrible things for love.
Just don’t lose yourself along the way.
We’ll be here when you return.”
She looked at him without saying a word.
Then she vanished.
She reappeared on ground covered in cracks.
She paid little attention to what her power had done moments earlier.
The stain of her beloved’s blood was still there.
She clenched her fists before walking to the last drop.
The bar was lively, but even in Zaun, the arrival of a woman covered in blood made heads turn.
Without slowing down, she headed straight for Silco’s office.
One of his subordinates tried to stop her.
He collapsed to the floor coughing violently, as though he were choking.
When she entered, Silco was speaking with Sevika.
He froze the moment he saw her.
Then their eyes met.
“Jinx!” he shouted, jumping to his feet in panic.
“She’ll survive,” Hope replied coldly, “but the people who tried to kill her won’t.”
Silco slowly sat back down, relief washing over his face.
“When?” he asked.
“After she dropped you off.”
Hope saw the guilt on his face, and a part of her felt vindicated.
She was here tonight because of him.
Her anger demanded an outlet.
But then she remembered that Jinx loved him.
And that he loved his daughter, too.
She had to hold that anger back.
She had to save it for the ones who truly deserved it.
“The alley was deserted,” she said.
“Tell me, who would want Jinx dead?”
Silco stared at her for a long moment.
“The list is too long.”
“Then you’d better start writing .”
Over the next few hours, terror spread through the streets of Zaun.
Doors were kicked in.
People were dragged out and interrogated.
And even when they had nothing to do with the attack, it wasn’t enough.
“I swear, I had nothing to do with it!” a heavily built man cried.
He was kneeling before a monster.
He wanted to move, but his body was paralyzed.
He had been asleep when Hope, her face smeared with blood, had smashed through his front door.
“Oh, I know…” she said calmly.
“You didn’t stab her.”
“But you are her enemy.”
“And every enemy of Jinx has to die.”
The man collapsed to the floor, his eyes still open.
His heart had burst inside his chest.
“Be grateful,” Hope said coldly.
“Yours was a quick death.”
Her gaze then fell upon the naked woman in the bed, covered by a blanket far too small to conceal the bruises marring her skin.
Hope saw her trembling with terror.
Without a word, she casually walked toward the door.
Behind her, she heard the woman relentlessly beating the corpse.
And for several days afterward, tales of a Grim Reaper stalking the streets of Zaun spread throughout the city.
At last, only one name remained on the list.
The Firelights.
A group resisting Silco’s Shimmer trade.
They were bona fide heroes.
But Hope knew that behind those so-called heroes lay a darker side.
It had taken her an hour to find someone willing to lead her to their hideout.
In the distance, she looked up at the great tree that symbolized the Firelights’ hope.
“Hey!
Who are you?”
“What are you doing here?”
“She’s covered in blood.
Is she hurt?”
One of them stepped in front of her, trying to block her path.
Hope was about to answer when she suddenly caught a familiar scent.
A scent that had no business being here.
There was only one reason she could smell Jinx.
The one responsible was here.
Suddenly, she charged into the camp.
He was close.
But before she could get any nearer to the scent, Firelights swarmed around her, riders on hovering boards cutting off her path.
One of them, wearing a mask, stepped forward.
“What are you doing in our camp?”
Hope gave him a vicious smile.
“What am I doing in your camp?
What am I doing?”
She tilted her head.
“I’m looking for someone carrying a jacket that doesn’t belong to them.”
“Someone who stabbed Jinx in an alley.”
“Someone who’s about to die.”
One of the Firelights stepped toward her.
He lifted his mask just enough to expose his mouth and spat at Hope’s feet.
“Why the hell should we care if someone stabbed the Demon of Zaun?” he sneered.
“If she dies, good riddance.”
He exploded without warning, leaving behind nothing but a crimson mist.
Cries of horror erupted.
The other Firelights rushed her, weapons in hand—
Only to freeze abruptly, unable to move.
That was when they noticed what the darkness of the night had concealed.
Blue clouds winding across Hope’s arm.
“I only came here to find the idiot who stabbed my wife,” she said quietly.
“But after hearing what your friend had to say about my beloved…
this has become far more interesting.”
“You have until dawn to bring me the culprit.”
“Otherwise, your little camp—and that lovely little tree—will go up in flames.”
She released them from her magic.
Then she leapt onto one of the tree’s branches and sat down.
A small flame flickered to life on the tip of one finger.
“Tick…
tock…
tick…
tock.”
“Time is running out.”
“And if I don’t get the culprit…
I’ll take every one of you with them.”
Ten minutes later, the leader approached her on his hoverboard.
“So, have you found them already?”
“Listen,” he said, “we don’t hand our people over here.
We’re not like Silco.
If I have to, I’ll come with you myself—but spare my camp.”
“How noble.”
Hope smiled faintly.
“You must be Ekko.
The one who always wants to save everyone.”
“Silco told me about you.”
“He said you used to be my wife’s best friend.”
The young man removed his mask, revealing his white braids.
“That was a long time ago,” he replied.
“Before she betrayed us for Silco.”
“Now she’s just my enemy.”
“She’s dangerous.
She’s insane.
She kills everyone who gets close to her.”
“You should understand that.”
“How touching.”
Hope’s smile never reached her eyes.
“How touching that you think your words have any effect on me.”
“All I see is a man who’s going to be dead very soon if he doesn’t give me what I want.”
“You’re a monster, just like her!” Ekko shouted.
“No, Ekko.”
“I’m worse.”
“Now get to work.”
“Because dawn isn’t far away.”
The minutes passed, but before long, something interesting happened.
The scent was getting closer.
But it was tinged with fear…
and determination.
Oh.
Someone’s trying to be brave.
“I surrender!” a young man about her age shouted, trembling.
“Kill me, but leave everyone else alone!”
Hope jumped down from the tree and slowly walked toward him.
“The jacket,” she said, holding out her hand.
He placed it in her palm.
The moment she touched it, the Mikaelson crest appeared on the sleeve.
It was an ingenious way to prevent impersonation.
Only members of the same clan could reveal the emblem on their clothing.
“So, this is the jacket,” she began softly.
“But do you really take me for an idiot?”
“There’s someone else’s scent on it.”
The young man’s eyes widened in horror.
How had she figured that out?
“It’s similar to yours…
but not the same.”
“A brother?
A sister?”
“It was me,” he insisted.
“I’m the one who stabbed her.”
Hope let out a quiet laugh.
“What courage,” Hope said softly.
“But against absolute power, your courage will only prolong your suffering.”
“Now…”
“Show me the one who’s guilty.”
She used compulsion for those last words.
Against his own will, the young man slowly raised his arm, straining with everything he had to resist.
Under different circumstances, Hope might have admired that determination.
And it might even have worked against a weaker vampire.
But she was the Tribrid.
His arm continued to rise, inexorably, until it pointed at someone behind her.
Hope smiled.
Then she slowly turned around.
Standing before her was a little girl, no older than ten…
Terrified.
“You will do terrible things for love.
Just don’t lose yourself along the way.
»
A long time ago, she had lost her mother.
She had held the boy who had betrayed her in her hands.
And she had let him go.
She had even forgiven him.
But back then, she had been mortal.
She wasn’t anymore.
She slowly approached the culprit, her eyes full of menace.
Suddenly, someone stepped between them.
“You’re not touching her,” Ekko said.
“If she has the courage to stab someone, then she has the courage to die for her crimes.”
“She’s a child!” he shouted.
“Thirty stab wounds,” Hope replied.
His eyes widened, but he stood his ground.
“Very well.”
“Then you can die with her.”
A flame sprang to life in Hope’s hand.
“No!” her brother cried, running toward them.
“I…
I didn’t stab her!” a small voice shouted.
Ekko turned toward the sound.
It was the young pickpocket.
“I…
I didn’t stab her.”
“They told me to be the bait.”
“They wanted me to scream as if I were in danger.”
“Jinx is a demon…
but she always protects children.”
“They knew that.”
“When she came over to make sure I was okay, they stabbed her in the back.”
“Again and again.”
“She kept looking at me…
as if she wanted to shield me from seeing it.”
“Then she collapsed…
and they just kept stabbing her.”
Hope felt herself on the verge of losing control of her magic.
She pictured the scene over and over again.
She felt the blades tearing into her own flesh.
A cold laugh escaped her lips.
“My wife…
the monster, huh?”
“So monstrous that you had to use a child to hurt her.”
“I want their names.”
“I want their names now.”
Ekko looked at the child, who hesitated.
He clenched his fists, then slowly nodded.
“It’s the group that’s always hanging around Theo.
They’re new to the camp, but they never listen.
The kids here think they’re cool, so they do little jobs for them.”
Hope remained silent.
“Theo’s father was addicted to Shimmer.
During one of his episodes, he killed Theo’s mother.
When he realized what he’d done, he took his own life.”
“Theo never forgave Silco.”
“And when he noticed that Jinx often used that alley, he planned everything.”
“Since Silco had taken his family from him…
he decided he would take Silco’s.”
“How touching.”
“Now…
where are they?” Hope asked.
“They’re running that way,” the girl said, pointing into the distance.
Sure enough, Hope could see four men fleeing.
Suddenly, the ground beneath them turned into quicksand, trapping them where they stood.
“I have my culprits.”
She looked back at the girl.
“But what am I supposed to do with you?”
“After all…
you helped lure my wife into the trap.”
You’re not going to do anything, Hope Andrea Mikaelson.
I was dead for only a few hours, and you’re already trying to threaten and kill everyone.
Come home.
Right now.
Hope flinched as her wife’s voice echoed inside her mind.
Then she felt it.
Jinx’s unconditional love washed over her, filling every part of her being.
It was as if a light that had gone out had suddenly been lit again.
Her eyes widened.
Only then did she truly realize what she had done…
…and what she had been about to do.
Fuck.
She looked back at the child.
“You helped me find the people responsible.”
“I’ll forgive you this once.”
“But choose your friends more wisely.”
The girl’s brother and Ekko both visibly relaxed.
Hope slowly walked toward the four culprits, who struggled in vain to free themselves.
She lifted them effortlessly with one hand and teleported away with them.
Behind her, she left only chaos and fear, as the first rays of sunlight broke over the horizon.
Back at the manor, Jinx slowly opened her newly awakened vampire eyes, their color strikingly reminiscent of Shimmer.