The sun had long risen from the horizon in Mystic Falls, with the Salvatore already noisy from its students roaming the corridors as they tried to enjoy their first day of the weekend.
However, one particular person wasn't among these students.
In her room, Hope was sitting on her bed, still in her pajamas.
She went to sleep a little late yesterday. Knowing her boyfriend was in a dangerous place, it took quite a while for her to find herself comfortable to sleep.
To relax, she painted until not a single soul but herself was awake in the entire school.
But when she went to bed, Hope truthfully only slept properly when the text from John, saying he was returning, reached to her
It was only then that her mind calmed enough and she dived into the world of dreams without any impending thought or anxiety.
However, when she woke up, before Hope could properly stretch herself, she caught sight of a message from Rebekah, with its content intriguing her deeply.
Hey, sweet. By now, you must've seen it. But if you don't, don't worry. It's from your boyfriend. Buy some new clothes with it. I doubt he will ever spend that much so early. So, enjoy it~
At first, Hope didn't understand much of what it meant. That is, until she pulled down her notifications bar and noticed one from her bank account that made her freeze while sitting on her bed.
Truthfully, after the shock, there came the thought that it all was a misunderstanding or possibly a joke. But when accessing her account, the idea just kind of vanished.
"… The fuck?" Hope blurted out.
Almost unconsciously, Hope's fingers moved. And rather quickly, the phone's screen changed.
Beep… Beep…
The phone rang a couple times before the person receiving it accepted the call.
"Hello?"
Listening to his deep and steady voice, Hope immediately mellowed down a little.
"Hi…" She replied, slowly moving out of bed. "Sorry for calling while you are coming back, but I wanted to hear from you."
"Hey, none of that. You can call me whenever you want. You know that." John quickly replied. "Besides, I just took a break to get me something to eat. Right now, I am in a small roadside diner near the border between Virginia and Kentucky. " On his other hand, John held a menu.
As she grabbed a set of clothes out of her closet, Hope couldn't resist chuckling. "Try not to make the place run out of food."
"I will try my best." John put down the menu and raised his hand, calling a waitress. "So, how has your morning been?"
"It can be resumed by talking to you. After all, I just woke up."
"Is that so?" John moved his eyebrows up in surprise. "Have you been missing me that much?"
Slowly, Hope shook her head while an affectionate smile crawled onto her lips. "Well, you may think that way. But, the main reason is something else."
"You break my heart by saying that, you know?" John directed his eyes from the waitress to the menu and pointed in it what he wanted to eat for her to note down.
With clothes in one hand and phone on the other, Hope pushed open her bathroom door with her feet. "You have to understand me here. After all, it's not everyday someone wakes up with nearly ten million dollars deposited in their bank account."
"Ah, you refer to that." John offered a thankful smile while the waitress walked away with his order. "Well, to be honest, I just didn't want to walk around with that much money. So I asked Rebekah if you had a bank account and when she said yes, I decided to deposit it all there." Lazily, John leaned more on the leather bench.
"You won all of that playing in a casino?"
"Yep." John nodded despite not talking face to face with Hope. "And only from playing their variation of Poker. Which I may say, it's fun as fuck. Much more unpredictable and strategic than normal poker. I even forgot to test the other games there when I had the opportunity."
"Good that you had fun." Hope commented, hanging the clothes in her hand. "What did you think of the place? As bad as the rumors that I told you?"
"Not really. I mean, thinking about it now, sure there were the not so very kind of people there. Damn, the fights I watched were gruesome and violent as hell as well. But the individuals weren't exactly the worst in the world." John replied, looking outside the diner through the window. "I mean, sure, there was a woman who married rich men just to kill them and rob their wealth. But from what I heard, they were not exactly the best people in society. So…"
"I see." Hope put her phone on the speaker, with her pushing up her shirt.
Though very faintly, John could hear the weak rustle of fabric moving. And strangely, it seemed to echo as well.
"What are you doing?" John asked, not so lazy anymore.
"I am taking off my clothes to take a shower."
"…" Silence followed from John's part, with him almost letting his phone drop from his hand.
Noticing the silence, Hope smiled joyfully, knowing well what was going over the boy's mind. "If only you were here, maybe I would allow a peek, but-"
Slam!
Hope didn't finish her words when a loud sound came from the phone, interrupting her.
"Hey, lady! You can cancel my order." He said to the waitress. Then, he put a $100 bill in front of the cashier. "For the trouble." John then shot out of the diner, all while still holding the phone over his ear.
Outside the roadside restaurant, John ran as fast as a human possibly could towards a nearby forest. "I will be there in forty– no, thirty minutes!" He shouted to the phone before disappearing amidst the woods.
Before Hope could reply anything, the call was cut off, but not before the sound of the wind rippling briefly echoed through it.
Looking at her phone, at the screen showing the call had ended, Hope quietly remembered some words her aunt said a few years ago.
"So men are that simple…" Hope muttered, a chuckle following as she proceeded to get in her shower.
…
In the distant sky ahead of the Salvatore School, a small figure approached the school grounds at extreme speeds, with the wind around him howling.
As he lost altitude, John landed on the ground after just crossing over the school gates.
But instead of braking, he continued moving forward, immediately appearing before the school's doors.
After opening it and taking a few steps into the main building, John was greeted with an unexpected sight. Josie stood before him, holding a few books, apparently heading towards the staircase to the dorms.
Due to his sudden movements and appearance, Josie instinctively turned to look at him before noticing who he was.
"Hey, John. You are back."
"Hi. Sorry, I don't have the time now." John passed by her side, giving a quick look over his shoulder. "I will talk to you later. I have an urgent matter now." He said before running towards the stairs.
His figure blurred while climbing up the stairs, getting to the last floor in no time.
All it took was a last sprint before John stopped before Hope's door–his destination.
However, instead of intruding without saying anything, John knocked twice on the door while he finally tried to catch up his breath in this long run of his.
Knock! Knock!
Shit… That tired me out a bit. John took a few deep breaths, although the action wouldn't bring any chance to his condition.
The wait John experienced wasn't long, for he quickly listened to steps coming closer and closer to the door.
When the door was opened, Hope's figure was revealed, wearing black shorts and a sleeveless black shirt, with her hair tied in a ponytail.
Maybe, when listening to Hope's steps, John could have potentially thought of saying something cheeky in the possibility he wouldn't be able to see what he traveled half the state in half an hour to see.
However, when her dazzling blue eyes looked back at him, John could think of doing one single thing.
Stepping forward and dropping the bag on the floor, John laced his arms around Hope, pulling her close to him. "I missed you."
With a beautiful smile stamped on her face, Hope's words weren't much different from his. "I missed you too."
Closing the door behind him, John raised Hope by her hips and kissed her as he moved towards her bed.
Showing no sign of complaint, Hope locked her legs around the young man's torso while she laced her arms around his neck, leaning down her face closer to his while she savored his lips.
In no time, the two of them were standing by the side of the bed, with John carefully placing Hope on it while he stood above her. They didn't break the kiss at any moment yet.
With one arm to support himself from falling, John used his free one to roam Hope's body. His fingers crawled under her shirt, tenderly caressing her skin as they made their way from her hips to her belly, navel and then stopping just under her breasts.
Feeling the warm touch, Hope retreated her lips and opened her eyes, staring into those golden iris looking right back at her after her movement. "You must've really missed me to be that unsatiated."
"You have no idea, dear." John gave a peck on her lips, quick enough for her to not react. "You teased me, and that made me cross half the state in under thirty minutes while already tired. I really hope that shows you just how much I long and cherish you." He smiled, showing his white teeth to her.
With her fingers making his hair a mess, Hope couldn't impede herself from softly giggling when seeing his expression. "It does… You idiot." She said, pulling him closer.
Not showing any resistance, John fell on Hope's lips again. The sweet taste invading his mouth was intoxicating, making him nearly ignore everything around and focus solely on the girl.
They rolled around the bed, going to the middle of it. Now, John laid under Hope, with his fingers trailing down to hold her supple and perfect lower butt.
When sinking his fingers into her cheeks, Hope let out a weak, almost inaudible moan.
But just as they were immersed in it, enjoying the warmth of each other, there were things that could still interrupt them.
For example, someone knocking on the door.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
As the dull sound of knuckles against wood echoed across the room, both teenagers opened their eyes and immediately directioned them towards the entrance.
For a moment, none of them spoke anything. But the silence didn't last long as the person behind the door decided to break it.
"John, are you there?" A very recognizable voice followed; Dorian's voice.
Exchanging glances with Hope, John raised himself a little bit while she still sat on his lap.
"Yes?" He replied, a little hesitant to break the current moment.
On the other side of the door, Dorian seemed to notice the hesitancy in the young man's voice and smiled wryly. "If you are occupied, I can come back to talk to you later."
Those words sure made the young man's expression brighten a little. "Thanks. Just give me a few–"
"No, you don't need to stay." Hope interrupted him. "
Surprised by these words, John looked up. "What do you mean?" He asked, eyebrows slightly raised.
"Even though Mr. Williams said he could come back later, it must be something important for him to come right after you came back." Hope replied, her hands on his chest. "Yesterday, he was searching for you. It must be the reason why he is here right now."
"He was looking for me?" John asked more seriously, sitting up while still holding Hope close to him.
"Yes. Actually, a few people did. They came looking for me since they couldn't find you and I ended up having to tell them where your overall location was." Hope ran her hands through John's hair, fixing it a little. "Dr. Saltzman was one of them as well. And he asked the next time you left, you could at least tell him."
"Right, I should do it." John nodded, releasing a sigh right after. "And here I was thinking I would rest by your side the entire day." He rested his forehead on hers, bringing their faces closer.
Hope chuckled. "Yeah, sure. I am sure that was your intention." She cupped his face and kissed his forehead. "Go, don't keep them waiting since it might be important. I will be waiting for you since I have a few words to share with you."
"That sounds ominous." John said, helping Hope to move to the side.
After he moved out of the bed and stood up, John stretched his arms a little. "Shit, they are still a bit sore from the fight from earlier."
"Wait, fight?" Hope raised her voice slightly, the worry taking over her voice. "Who did you fight against? Why did you fight?"
"An old lady." There was a smirk on John's face. "We fought because of some foolish reasons. But we ended up solving things peacefully later. Well, not so much since I had to threaten her a little so she would calm down."
Hope sat by the bed's edge. "You know you will have to explain all of that properly later, right?"
Leaning a little forward, John lightly kissed the top of Hope's head. "I know." He said, softly rubbing her cheek before walking to the door.
He opened it and walked outside of the room, his eyes resting on Dorian who was waiting a little farther away.
And something John immediately noticed on Dorian were the heavy dark circles under his eyes.
"Hey, kid." Dorian waved towards him.
"Mr. Williams." John greeted him with a little bow of his head. "Not to sound rude, but I really hope this is important."
These words only earned a humored scoff from Dorian. "Sorry to interrupt your loving moment. But yeah, it's important." He spun on his heels and started walking away. "Come on, let's head to the headmaster's office."
Silently, John followed behind, always staying a couple steps back.
They went down the stairs and passed through the hallways and corridors, with John waving to some familiar faces along the way.
A few moments later, the two men were now standing before the door to Alaric's office. Dorian didn't even knock on it before simply pushing it open and wavering for the young man to enter.
As he stepped into the room, the sight of Alaric sitting in his chair and with his elbows leaning on the table entered his eyes.
But before the middle-aged man could greet him, John's eyes fell on what lay on the table, right in front of Alaric's hands.
That movement didn't escape Alaric's eyes. His lips thinned and a sharp breath escaped his nostrils. "I guess you already noticed why I called you here, John."
"I guess so." John sat down on one of the chairs in front of the table. Then, he picked up the item on the table. "So, what do you require from me with this little thing?" He asked, twirling the dagger around his finger and playing with it.
Alaric ignored the boy's playfulness and proceeded with his words. "As you might know, this dagger is an artifact we initially planned to put in the library in a showcase as something for the students to sight-see since we had the idea it was just an useless magical artifact." He pointed at the dagger.
Well, I can't say he is wrong. John thought, looking at the blade a little more attentively.
Yes, from outside–and even using witches' usual identifying methods–the dagger looked normal. It might make someone raise their eyebrows from how well preserved it was despite the passage of time, but that was it.
The blade's edge was dull, it wouldn't cut even the most frail skin if a lot of strength wasn't applied. Not to mention, the cloaking spell in it made the magic in it seem tiny at best. A normal teenager witch could put out more magic than what it apparently had.
Considering all of these facts, it wasn't surprising for the dagger to go under the notice of everyone that held it until now.
However, for John, someone more than just aware of what the dagger represented, he immediately saw through it and made use of the opportunity to alert others of its hidden nature.
But, even when holding it in front of him and with his sight peering through the illusion in it, there wasn't much John could see.
"But now that I raised the fact it isn't just a normal magical dagger, you wanted to know more about it." John said in reply to Alaric's words. His eyes were still glued on the dagger, trying to find out more about it from its magic.
Slowly, Alaric nodded in agreement. "Yes, that is the occasion. But, I fear we have failed to learn more about it." He weakly shook his head in disappointment. "And the reason for it is simple. Before even considering putting it in one of the glass boxes in the library, we–or more precisely, Dorian here–" He looked towards the librarian. "had already checked every archive we have access to to find anything related to the dagger. It was only after finding absolutely nothing about it and verifying the magic in it proved to not bring any damage to the surroundings that we thought it would be fine to bring it out of the archives room."
"The problem is–" Dorian chimed in, sitting on the other chair. "after what you said, we looked at basically any paper that could potentially contain information about it again and asked Emma to inspect it even more thoroughly. But we found nothing." Just after saying it, Dorian showed a tired look and tilted his head a little. "Well, not nothing. We are suspicious it is old, very old. Around eight to maybe a thousand years despite its good appearance."
Quietly, John nodded. After Malivore's birth, possibly. It matches what I know. "So, let me guess. Since I was the one who pointed out there was something odd about it and you weren't able to find anything new, you want me to find something?"
"If that's not a problem for you." Alaric pointed out.
John shook his head. "No, it isn't." He took a deep breath, his eyes focusing on the dagger again. "I just can't guarantee you that I will find anything about it."
"No rush on our part. The dagger still hadn't presented any threat to the school yet and hasn't in the past years while accumulating dust in the archives. We are just doing all of this because even if the chances are minimal, we wish to discard any possible problem to the school." Alaric explained, taking a sip from his mug of coffee. "Take your time in it. Don't slow down your studies or put it before what is important."
Faced with these words from his headmaster, John couldn't deny his request even if he didn't already know what the dagger was about.
"Okay." John nodded, playing with the dagger once again. "I will see if I can find anything while inspecting it. But I won't promise any results."
"I can live with that." Alaric offered a light smile. "Well, that resumes what I wished to ask from you, John. If you wish, you may leave to go back to your activities."
"I believe that's what he is mostly eager to do now." Dorian playfully said, smirking.
Alaric's smile widened as well, not missing the meaning behind his friend's words.
"Ha, ha…" Meanwhile, John dryly laughed, getting up to his feet and walking to the door. "If that's it, then I am going. I will see you later." He said, opening the door and leaving the room while the voices of Alaric and Dorian echoed in his ears.
Outside of the room, the first thing John did after hiding the knife in his pocket was increasing his pace as he made his way back to Hope's room.
Just like before, he went through corridors and climbed up the stairs to the dormitories to once again stand before Hope's door.
When he opened the door and was about to talk to her once again, John immediately noticed that Hope had his bag on her bed, with a couple stacks of the money in it now in her hands.
Looking up at him, Hope had a calm smile as she faced her boyfriend. "You see, one of the reasons that made me call you earlier was a unique notification on my phone. One which certainly surprised me. And I wanted you to explain it to me."
"That is a funny story, actually." John closed the door behind him. "It is about how I made a few old men cry because I got all their money."
"And which part of that story is true?"
"Most of it." John replied, getting closer to the bed. "The main difference is that instead of crying, they cursed me in their mother languages using such vulgar words that I was surprised they could be used in such ways."
Hope giggled softly. "You have to see my uncles arguing. I once heard them speaking in nordic and half the words I put on the translator weren't exactly the prettiest."
This time, it was John's turn to laugh, and Hope followed along as both of them enjoyed this small moment.
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A/N
So, I am thinking of stopping naming chapters. They give me more problems than writing an entire chapter. Give me your opinion on what you think of it.
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