Chapter Text
//Josie POV
Josie watched as Hope froze.
She wondered if she had said too much… revealed too much, but then… this was Hope.
Josie knew that she could trust Hope with her life… and her heart. Plus, she didn't want Hope to kill someone when Josie already had blood on her hands.
You liked it. Don’t deny it.
Josie grunted in her mind. She had.
I did. We did.
Triad… She and Kol and Rebekah and Marcel (Freya and Davina had unfortunately been ambushed by some vampire coven… so, they hadn’t joined in on the fun) had thoroughly killed each and every person in Triad, racking up a body count that would make Klaus Mikaelson himself green with envy. She and the others murdered the fuck out of a whole sireline of vampires, made one of the seven werewolf packs extinct, killed off 18 different world-wide covens… then destroyed entire bases full of Triad’s human agents.
Triad, it turned out, had been made up of three different species… vampires (who had apparently been from Rebekah’s sireline? With Lucian from Klaus’s sire line and the Strix from Elijah’s… Josie had not been surprised that another one of the Mikaelsons’s sirelines had joined or created an evil organization. At least Kol was better off in that score. He hadn’t created a vampire or a sire line after his first death), werewolves from the…
Josie blinked. She hadn’t gotten a name of the pack that the Triad Alpha had belonged to before she and Kol had killed them all for turning themselves into hybrids using Hope’s blood.
They got what they deserved. Desecrating her corpse to become a hybrid!? We should have just used Expression on their souls.
Josie sighed, nudging her darker self in her mind. That wasn’t helping right now.
Her darkerself rolled her eyes, but stayed silent.
Anyway… vampires, werewolves and witches from 18 covens world-wide (unfortunately, Penelope’s coven being one of them), along with some… 10 thousand or so humans, most of whom were working as sleeper agents in different governments, with Triad only having around a 2000 active, on duty, agents. All in all, Triad was a global organization… one that had around 20 thousand or so agents/workers/collaborators.
By the time that she and the rest of the Mikaelsons had gotten to them, there had only been about… 18 thousand or so alive. (Malivore had started consuming a few bases, starting from Europe… for some weird reason) and they’d killed all of them. All around the world.
Stupid of them to brand their operatives.
Josie huffed at her darkerself’s humor, but was taken out of her mind when Hope’s eyes flickered gold again. She almost smiled… (They were beautiful. Hope’s eyes… she’d always loved them) but remembered the seriousness of the situation.
She could kill the pyromancer/dragon being. She didn’t have any regrets over killing the creatures from Malivore, especially since she knew that killing them was a mercy… and after their time in the darkness of Malivore, it made sense that any creature would take the deal. She knew this Hope had killed as well, (obviously, to awaken her wolf side) but the thing was, Josie already knew what events she couldn't change. And… for everything that she wanted to change with respect to this timeline, this event, it wasn’t one of them. The dragon-pyromancer lady/being had to die.
It was mercy, really. (She didn’t know how many times she could repeat it to herself to start believing in it)
And, if that was the case, then… why would she allow Hope to kill… this being… when she can do it herself? She didn’t have any sort of ‘humanity’ leftover and… after Lizzie and Hope, she’d lost her soul too– so… what did it matter if there was the blood of another kill on her hands?
Josie delicately put a hand on Hope's shoulder, and saw Hope shudder in place, looking up into her eyes.
Gold-Amber flecks faded, leaving those stormy blue eyes that she loved. Oh, those eyes.
Josie cleared her mind– this wasn't the time for that. She started slowly. “So since I won't hesitate, you should cast the spell… and weaken her so that I can kill her easily.” Josie reasoned, looking at Hope. Sure, she could do both at the same time, but this was to make sure that Hope wouldn't stop her.
Hope's eyes flashed that same Amber-gold again, but only for a moment, as Hope grit her teeth, “No. We’re going to do this my way. I'm going to bring her down while you protect your father and the others. Once I cast the death spell, we can find out who she is, and why she's after the knife. Then… If we have to, and only if we have to, and she gives us no other choice, I'll kill her." Hope declared, looking at her sternly.
Josie inclined her head, and raised an eyebrow at that plan.
That had a lot of ways of going south, extremely fast, and… Josie would have agreed to the plan, if not for the fact that it technically placed her out of the fight. The very reason that she had come to the past was to make sure that Hope wouldn’t die and no one managed to kill her.
Josie remembered, from the stories that Kol and Freya had told her, that Alaric had killed the dragon, but then… something had happened that Hope hadn't shared with Kol, when Hope had called Kol and Davina for some supernatural assistance for the knife — Kol thought that Hope had been sad — but then with the Malivore trapped creatures coming for the knife, it… Hope hadn’t called for her family to come, and Alaric hadn’t notified any of the parents about their kids being in danger, or fighting in a war that they never should have fought in, as well.
That was going to change this time around, Josie decided, as she thought back to now knowing why exactly Kol had thought that Hope had been sad. It was probably because of her father's vendetta against Mikaelsons– and how dare he be that much of a hypocrite?
Hope took her eyebrow raise as a question, as she started explaining. "If she's stronger than a black magic death spell… then I don't want you to get hurt. I want you and the others safe.” Hope reasoned, sounding… protective?
Even as that warmed her heart, Josie scoffed out loud, "Bit hypocritical, don't you think, Hope?” At Hope’s blank look, Josie explained further. “Because I want you safe as well, but I'm willing to let you fight beside me." Not that Josie would let Hope be in any actual real danger. She knew Hope could handle herself in a fight… Hope had trained with Marcel and Freya… but, Josie was trained by Kol, Marcel, Rebekah, AND Freya. She’d had a year of just martial arts training, magic, knife throwing… and everything that the Mikaelsons could ever think of teaching her, just to get her out of her mind… get her mind actively working on something, and not thinking about how she’d screwed up with Hope– She didn’t know if those skills translated to this timeline as well, but the magical knowledge had carried through, as had her instincts… so… hopefully, she had all of her skills.
The point was, now, Josie could easily defeat any enemy that Malivore was capable of sending right now. But, if Malivore got Landon’s phoenix ability– That hellish nightmare of a timeline would come true.
Hope stared at her for a moment, then sighed, "You're not letting this go, are you?"
Josie just smirked.
As if we would walk away from a fight.
No way was she letting Hope go out alone.
Hope grit her teeth, giving her a sharp nod. “Fine… but, once we get back, you owe me some answers." And… there was that familiar glint in her eyes… that goddamn Mikaelson stubbornness.
Josie nodded softly. She wouldn’t be able to tell Hope everything… not without revealing and explaining everything that happened in the first timeline– but she would be able to tell some stuff to Hope. Some important stuff that would probably explain her erratic behavior, especially any actions that she took, away from the norm.
Hope eyed her for a moment, then nodded. “What's the plan?"
Josie pointed to herself, "I'm bait, and you—"
Hope’s eyes flashed that familiar Amber-Gold again, "What? No!"
Josie blinked. “Okay… Why?”
Hope threw her hands in the air, looking at her incredulously. “She’s a pyromancer!”
Josie felt a laugh bubble up her throat… which Josie suppressed the hell out of. "Between the two of us, I'm a pyromaniac, Hope.” She had burned down a whole lot of buildings, people and supernaturals in that timeline. Even in this timeline, her affinity for fire was deemed… excessive. “I'm better at Fire Magic than you. And, I’m a siphoner .” Josie felt the dark magic in her hum, as if in agreement.
They were much more powerful than any… creature that Malivore sent. “That may be, but this is a pyromancer… who burnt down an entire bus load of people.” Hope argued… and she very barely stopped herself from replying to that.
Just a bus? Oh… was she supposed to be scared?
Instead… Josie breathed out slowly, looking at Hope. "And?
"And, she's dangerous, Josie!” Hope yelled, sounding afraid and a bit pained. “You could get hurt– and I would never forgive myself if you got hurt or god-forbid, died…”
Josie blinked… oh, that was endearing. “Trust me, I won’t die. And I can handle myself. Once you've cast the dark magic spell… I can kill the woman, then we’ll leave. Get back to Mystic Falls."
Hope stared at her, “And what about your dad? I know he won't approve of this plan.”
Josie shrugged, not really concerned about her father. She would have killed him for everything he’d done to Hope (or what he would do to Hope), if not for the fact that she still technically needed him alive. Well… the timeline needed him alive, so…
That was neither here nor there, Josie supposed.
She knew Kol, Rebekah and Freya had been itching to kill her father… and Josie, after learning everything that he’d done, she… she wouldn’t have stopped them, if he’d still been alive around that time… and not consumed by Malivore. “Knock all three of them out, then finish the fight, and we'll wake them up. Easy!” She revealed.
Hope blinked, staring at her incredulously. "Easy? Your dad will be pissed ."
Josie scoffed, crossing her arms. "Well, I'm more angry at him anyway… so, that sort of cancels out any… physical retaliation from him.” Before Dark Josie, she’d never thought that she’d needed to be worried about him hurting her, but it was clear that he was capable of hurting people that he cared about. He was a psycho in his younger age. He had been a vampire hunter, after all… and she knew that he hadn’t really let go of that type of fearful thinking, even after building their school. “And he'll grumble, and scold us… probably, but the threat will be neutralized, and we can go back to the school.” Josie explained, then sighed, forcing herself to make sure that things still stayed on track… as far as the timeline went. “As for Landon, I know that you brought that spell because of him…” Plus, she didn’t want Landon to activate the second Malivore key, so the only way to get him to not activate the key was to either kill him, or to remove that compulsion from him… since both scenarios weren’t possible as of yet; Josie chose the third option. Keep an eye on him.
“Jo…” Hope looked concerned– and Josie pretended that the nickname wasn’t sending butterflies through her stomach.
Josie shook her head immediately, guessing what Hope was thinking. “I don’t judge. And, I won’t tell. I promise.” Hope looked at her incredulously. “But, you saw the orb. He didn’t remember stealing the knife…. So it was some kind of compulsion.” Josie pointed out.
“Jo. He’s a supernatural.” Hope paused, looking at her, as she explained further. “And… unless my family is hanging around compelling teenagers to steal ancient knives, he chose to steal the knife. And, we tested him for compulsion. He can’t be compelled. MG tried it and it didn’t work.”
Josie huffed, “I wouldn’t consider MG as the best way to make sure that someone can be compelled.” MG was a ripper, and was on the bunny blood diet. His compulsion didn’t hold a candle to any vampire who drank human or even witch blood. Kol and Rebekah were so much better at the compulsion thing– (a millennium of practice will do that to you, I guess) Speaking of… “And, from what I know of your family, they would much rather buy off the knife rather than steal it. They have the money… And if they were stealing it, they wouldn’t use an unknown supernatural… Kol would probably ‘Ocean 11’ the knife.” Josie guessed.
He was a notorious sweet talker that somehow got everyone around him to give him whatever they wanted, or he would sneak in, and take the five finger discount on what he wanted. Especially when it came to anything related to magic.
Josie had, unfortunately, seen that in person. She’d had to bring down an entire Triad base, just to make sure they couldn’t follow her, because of Kol, who had been impressed by some dark objects on that base— Hope huffed, grinning softly. “Yeah… he’s definitely—” Hope paused, staring at her in some confusion. “Wait. How do you know my uncle?”
Josie winced inwardly… damn, she shouldn’t have let down her guard this early in the game. She… she’d just been curious about some of the rumors that she’d heard— and oh, that could work. “I just… read and heard about him. Some rumors say that he stole the books that were saved by the Priests of Isis Coven from the Library of Alexandria before it burned down? Another rumor says that he’d burned the library of Alexandria down himself… but we know that vampires were created around the 11th century… and the Library of Alexandria burned down in the 2nd or 3rd century.” Josie remarked, looking at Hope, as she leaned on one of the shelves. The Egyptians were good at magic… Josie hadn’t known that.
Hope rolled her eyes, a small smile on her face. “Those rumors are getting a bit old.”
Josie blinked in surprise– Kol had always had a secret smile whenever someone had teased him about that, so… she’d always assumed that he’d stolen them. “So, he didn't steal the books from the Priests of Isis Coven?” Josie asked Hope… because who else would give her a straight answer? The rest of the Mikaelsons were surprisingly tightlipped about that time in their lives.
Hope shook her head, “No. It wasn't books. It was Egyptian grimoires… the ones that taught the witch Kemetism.” Hope revealed with a grin. “And I think he seduced one of the Priestesses to get him a copy. He probably still has those somewhere… in some corner of the world.” Hope paused for a moment, turning serious. “But… it wasn’t him that killed off that coven. It was Mikael .”
Josie blinked a few times, as she nodded. She should have suspected. The Mikaelsons, when regaling her about the stories, had only shut up about their history whenever Mikael was involved… or when Kol or Klaus went off on a bender. “Huh, okay.” She shook her head, “So… Landon and Rafael. We’ll have to give them both a choice. And, since both of them are supernatural, they have to come back to school with us.” Josie explained. Keep your enemies closer and all that.
Hope stared at her for a moment, then nodded with a sigh. “Alright, Josie.” Josie smiled fully then. Even though she was screwing around with the timeline, she’d kept it on track… mostly. She was about to drop the spell around them, when Hope extended her hand to her. “Siphon from me.”
Josie shook her head, “No, you'll need your strength for what's to come. I'll siphon from Landon and Rafael.” Those two should have more than enough magic in their bodies, even if Landon hadn’t really activated his phoenix ability. Plus… she could always draw from the Earth if needed, or as a backup… fall back on the black magic slithering through her veins.
Hope stared at her, then brought her wrist up to her mouth. Pearly white canines peeked out from the edge of Hope’s mouth as Hope bit into her own wrist. Josie, knowing what was coming… (and having done it a lot of times — and like a lot. Because the Mikaelsons had never let her join an attack without that reassurance — she knew what exactly to expect), Josie moved in closer, next to Hope.
Hope extended her arm, “If you want to go out with me, then you’re–”
Josie attached her lips to Hope’s wrist, sucking on Hope’s tribrid blood.
It… was what she’d expected.
Hope’s magic entwined with her blood, gave it a weird sweet sort of metallic taste. Hope’s magic thrummed through her veins, Hope’s blood being absorbed by her body fully.
A few moments after she’d decided that she’d had enough blood, Josie removed her lips from Hope’s wrist, kissed the wound better, whispering a low healing spell. “There. All better.” Josie commented absently, but felt her breath catch when she looked up.
Hope’s eyes were glowing gold-amber… fully. But in her eyes… there was a primal hunger there.
Josie had seen it in herself to easily recognize it. Josie had unfortunately had that in obsidian black, but… it was still valid.
Josie shook herself out of her shock, but only then noticed that Hope had crowded her to one of the shelves— if Josie had been anyone else, then she would have panicked, but she was who she was, and this was Hope. “Y’know… I didn’t expect your blood to be sweet.” She commented, trying to break the sudden tension that had thickened the air around them… again. “Satisfied?”
Hope stared at her… kept staring at her with those blazing eyes, then gold-amber eyes dropped to her lips.
Josie licked her lips automatically, both trying to clean away the blood… and because–
A loud explosion rocked the building as dust billowed down from the roof.
Both she and Hope jolted out of their… positions. Hope cleared her throat, “Drop the spell.” Hope ordered… but it still came out a bit more growly than normal.
Josie absorbed the spell around them, back into herself. No need to waste magic.
Josie looked over the panicked forms of both Landon and Rafael… then the sort of angry form of her father. "So… the pyromancer woman is here." Josie pointed out calmly, as she started siphoning from her surroundings.
At her voice, Rafael's head snapped towards her. "About time, what were you two talking about!?”
“We were having sex. And… Hope, didn’t want our love-making to reach you guys.” She deadpanned, “Especially since I was so loud .” Josie corrected her collar meaningfully, giving a look at Hope, who blushed from head to toe, avoiding eye contact with the rest of them… but the flecks of gold sparking in her eyes was more than enough for Josie to know that Hope had liked it. Or her wolf had. She glanced at Landon… red in the face, for a very different reason. So… she took the chance to make sure to add one more change to the timeline. “You were great with your fingers, Hopey.” She winked at Hope for good measure, looking at Landon fuming out of the corner of her eyes.
Her dad made a choked, sort of dying sound as he glared at Hope. Hope smiled a bit, before she blinked, turning back to Josie. “Hopey?” Hope sounded so confused. It was adorable.
But, Josie took a step back… with respect to her teasing. “Yeah. I like it. You have your own nickname for me, so… it’s only fair.”
Hope stared at her, then shrugged. “Fine. You wanna do your thing?” Though… There was a small smile on her face which Josie took as Hope liking the name.
Josie smiled back at Hope, then turned to her father (who looked like he’d just eaten an apple and found that it had a worm in it), and Rafael (who looked a bit more understanding) and Landon (who looked not just angry and jealous… but also looking like he understood was all that she’d wished from her maneuver. Success!), she raised a hand towards them, despite knowing the spell non-verbally, immobilizing them… “ Corpores Impetu. ” Once they were immobilized, she quickly cast another spell. “ Somnus. ”
All three of them fell to sleep… still standing, as her spell took effect. “Why’d you cast the immobilization spell first?” Hope asked, looking over the still standing forms of all three of them. “I mean, other than them trying to run away.”
“Because if I had just cast the sleep spell, they would have fallen on the ground, rather than staying standing… with the help of the immobilization spell.” Josie explained, placing one hand on Rafael and the other on Landon. She started siphoning from them… knowing where the magical limit was for them. Landon, being an unactivated Phoenix, had much less… magic in his system but coupled with Rafael’s newly awakened werewolf, it was probably going to be enough. “And… yes to the second reason too. Which is also the reason why I’m doing this.”
Josie whispered a protective spell to wrap around them. Hope looked at her curiously and in question. So… Josie explained. “Have you ever tried spelling someone while they’re crossing the street? Or when they’re swimming for that matter? The spell knocks them out, enforcing their knocked out bodies to the effects of the environment.” She’d only learned that particular trick when Kol and Freya had forced her to learn to swim with only her magic, when she’d been bound with an immobilization spell and physically as well. Those assholes.
She’d learned though… so, at least they were doing something right.
“Ah. right.” Hope’s face dawned with realization as she did an ‘Oh’ face. “Done siphoning?” Hope asked as she removed her hands from both Landon and Rafael.
“Yep. Let’s go.” Josie stood up, “We go out at the same time, weather a few attacks from her, then we split and I’ll flank her. Countdown from 10, then start the deathspell. Knife please.” Josie held her hand out, looking at Hope.
Hope stared at her for a minute, searching for something on her face, before sighing as she removed the knife from her jeans hoop, “Are you sure about this, Josie? She’s a witch– you’d be killing someone. A person. A living being.”
Josie took the knife, meeting Hope’s gaze. “I know.” Hope held onto her hand, looking in her eyes, but Josie just stared back, as she explained. “I know , Hope. But if the choice is between us or her, then I’m choosing us. Simple as that.” And… It was that simple.
She had killed, felt the warm blood on her hands, watched as the light went out behind a hundred eyes, saw the dead bodies that she’d killed, saw the broken remains of those she’d tortured… or helped tortured, but for all that, she’d never killed without reason or valid cause. And the only ones she’d killed were the guilty, no one else… that is, other than Hope and Lizzie.
And… after seeing Nature itself break– all because of her— the entire world, Earth… gone. Malivore won… and he’d consumed almost everything by the time she’d traveled back in time. In just one year after gaining Landon’s body, the population of the entire planet was in its thousands. Going from Billions to thousands. Not in the hundreds of thousands or tens of thousands, but… thousands… and most of them were just survivors or those who lived on islands that Mali-Landon hadn’t gotten to yet.
Mali-Landon had swept across the globe, like an unquenchable fire, rolling through cities, countries, continents alike. He’d started in Europe… making his way down Asia and Africa, growing more and more intelligent as time passed. Creating more and more copies of himself, despite the copies not having the Phoenix powers, and deploying them on Australia, South America, England, Japan, Korea, Greenland, the numerous islands around the world– saving the continental US for last… mostly because of the Mikaelsons and her, who had brought the entire world’s supernaturals over to New Orleans to fight.
Eight weeks later, New Orleans had been rubble, as had every freaking city on the west coast. That was when Freya had agreed to their insane, very much suicidal and reality breaking plan.
No one knew the desolate apocalyptic hell that was the other timeline, and if she had to kill every creature that Malivore ever released to make sure that her previous timeline didn’t come true, then she would do it. If she had to kill Triad all over again… then she would. If she had to murder and kill enough for her to drown in the blood of her victims… then she would.
Because, despite Josie’s actions saving the world, her soul was already damned, so what the hell did it matter? The blood of one more kill on her hands? One more death? One more uncounted and unremembered mercy death at her hands?
Hope stared at her for a few more moments, then nodded. “Fine.”
Josie pulled her mind back from the brink. Her darkerself being silent during that introspection meant that she agreed just as much as Josie herself did. “Good. Stick to the plan.”
Hope breathed out, closing her eyes, then she nodded to herself, as she telepathically threw open the door, walking out. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you smoking’s bad for you?” Hope teased as soon as she walked out of the cellar, as Josie walked out by her side. The woman-dragon crashed to the ground, but picked herself up glaring at them, as her eyes flickered orange. “I know. Quitting is hard.”
“Seriously?” Josie turned to Hope at that… that was a really bad one-liner to start off a fight with. The Mikaelsons (Rebekah and Davina had taught her better… and she knew that they would have some really pithy lines for this instance right now) “ How do you know that?” Josie asked, angling her body so that she was facing both Hope and the dragon. Potent magic was pooling inside the woman-dragon.
Hope blinked, as she admitted softly. “I smoke weed… sometimes .” Her surprise must have shown on her face, as Hope defended. “What? When I don’t want to turn on Full Moon nights, they dull my edge… and well, give me a few hours of peace.”
Right. She’d known that Jed had a supply of weed, but hadn’t known that Hope was one to smoke weed as well. Josie shook her head, focusing on the situation as she felt the dragon’s magic spike. “Let’s just finish this.” She raised a hand as the woman-dragon spewed fire.
Fortunately, it was a magical fire, and magic was something that she could siphon. So… she just siphoned the, now figured out to be dark, magic… protecting her and Hope. Hope gaped, staring at her in amazement and surprise. “Whoa… you can transmute a magical fire into just magic?”
Josie smirked back to Hope, “Yep.” She could do a hell of a lot more than that, but… well, now wasn’t the time. She removed the knife from her jacket, drawing both the woman-dragon’s eyes and Hope’s to it.
She nodded to Hope, as she erected the most powerful shield spell that she had learned– Hope shuddered, looking at the magic in disbelief and curiosity, as Josie walked away from Hope, drawing the woman-dragon’s attention. Just because Hope would be able to protect herself didn’t mean that Josie wouldn’t use some protection for Hope.
Plus, it wasn’t like she was skimping on the magic. The dragon’s flames had recharged her systems enough that she could practically kill her right now, even without Hope’s death spell. Well, she could always do that… but it was going to be easier now.
Josie felt a familiar enough dark magic signature, settling heavy in the air, as Hope started chanting softly. One of Dahlia’s spells. Huh. She flipped the knife in her hand, as she watched the woman-dragon still trying to affect her by burning her alive.
She yawned just for show, as she willed the collected magic to put out the small fires that were forming around them. The woman-dragon’s flames were powerful… and they were sparking the forest, and the last thing that Josie wants is to burn down another forest. Kol would never let her live it down–
Josie grunted, instinctively slicing at the jugular as her other hand grabbed onto the woman-dragon’s hand which had just punched her in the gut. Blood spurted out of the woman’s neck, partially covering her top red, even as the wound healed. But, Josie used the advantage, as she pulled hard, both magically and physically, slipping past the woman’s left, twisting the hand behind the woman, as Josie violently dislocated the arm.
The woman yelped, screaming voicelessly, glaring at her with glowing orange eyes. Josie cracked her neck, tendrils of dark magic curling around her fists, thrumming in her veins in the anticipation of a fight.
Josie smiled mockingly, calling the woman-dragon over. It’d been a while since she’d had a good fight.
The woman-dragon snarled in her direction, bum rushing her… which Josie used to her advantage, redirecting the woman to the closest tree, and slammed the woman-dragon on it, skewering her on a sharp protrusion… of some kind of broken branch. Josie used the time to quickly slice along where she knew the nerves were there in the legs and the arteries, with the knife she’d had.
The woman-dragon’s face twisted in pain, as she stumbled to the ground, pulling the branch out her chest, as the wounds and cuts Josie had made healed… a bit slower than last time. Josie smiled, whispering a plant vine immobilization spell, before she raised a hand towards the woman. “ Lecutio! ”
Dark tinged, white tendrils of lightning forked out of her hand, striking the woman all over her body at the same time as the woman was restrained in her place with the plant immobilization spell. Skin sizzled and burned before her eyes, but healed as well.
Josie snapped off a long sturdy branch, then drove the branch into the tree… through the woman-dragon, pinning her there. She did have to keep the woman-dragon stable and in one place when Hope managed to–
The woman-dragon’s skin caught aflame as both the plant vines and the branch were engulfed in orangish flames, reduced to ash.
Oh… that was a nice move. Josie might see to copying that at some time.
Josie brought up the knife in a defensive position, holding it ready– At that same moment, Josie felt a huge burst of dark magic passing past her, impacting the woman-dragon. Cuts opened up on the woman’s face and body, bleeding a strange dark red, as Josie felt the woman-dragon’s magic overwhelmed and then reduced to a fraction of its previous power.
Josie took advantage of the woman-dragon’s dazed and bleeding state, as she gripped the knife, forcing the knife into the woman-dragon’s chest, right where Josie knew the heart was.
The woman’s mouth opened in a soundless scream, even as her eyes flickered orange. Josie siphoned every bit of the dark magic from the creature, letting it seep into her veins, as she looked into the woman-dragon’s eyes. “You die free. Your energy will return to Nature, as it was meant to be.” Josie whispered, as the light went out behind its eyes. The woman-dragon’s body slumped into her, as Josie slowly brought them both down to the ground.
She breathed out. Another mercy kill.
Josie removed the knife, as she stabbed at the base of the head, severing the spine and the lower brainstem in one go, then stabbed the knife up the jaw, into the woman-dragon’s brain. She then robotically severed each major nerve center that she could find (this woman’s body was surprisingly human-like… so all of them), then Josie closed her eyes as she felt the magic in the woman.
Dark veins crawled up her arms, from where she’d started to siphon the woman, but… a quick deep breath in and out, fixed that as the dark magic’s effects faded from view, as she separated the Malivore tainted magical signature in her mind, the Malivore part dying inside her as it came into contact with Hope’s blood and magic in Josie’s own body… leaving only the magical signature of the woman-dragon.
Josie breathed out slowly, not letting the surge of magic overwhelm her, as she slowly pushed out the woman-dragon’s excessive magic out of her. The fiery magic exploded out of her… quietly, and only visible to supernaturals, leaving behind only a small trace of the dragon’s magic that had bonded to her.
She’d noticed that development around the tenth time she’d done this ritual. Some of the ‘essences’ of the creatures’ magic she’d siphoned, had stayed with her. She didn’t know if it was a permanent thing, or if the creatures were offering her their power for a limited amount of time, or if it was a consequence of the Merge or if it was because of her siphoner nature.
Either way… that small trace of magic deepened her understanding of the magic that she would now be able to wield as well. Though… It was fire magic, and something that Josie didn’t really need to learn more about.
Josie, once the fiery magic settled inside her, wiped the blood off the knife with the woman’s clothes, and stood up, looking around.
She didn’t much care if Hope or her father saw this, but fortunately neither had. Her father was spelled to sleep, while Hope seemed to be knocked out.
Panic jolted inside her as Josie took off towards Hope. She crashed down next to Hope, quickly checking her pulse, and feeling out for Hope’s magical signature. The dark magic had… flooded Hope’s body, overwhelming her… but instead of killing her like it would have done to the other witches… (other witches being all witches other than her, Hope, Lizzie, Siphoners, and Coven leaders) the dark magic had knocked her out.
She placed her hands on Hope’s chest, focusing on the dark magic, and pulled .
Having more than enough practice channeling, using, manipulating and dealing with dark magic, Josie breathed out slowly, untangling the dark magic from Hope’s magic (which wasn’t helping! She didn’t want to get overwhelmed by Hope’s magic while she was trying to deal with the dark magic in Hope’s body) Dark black veins raced up her hands, arms, shoulders and neck, as Josie absorbed all of the lingering dark magic from Hope’s body.
A few more moments of that, and Josie finally felt the dark magic inside Hope slowly come down–
Until… Hope gasped awake, knocking into her.
Josie backed off, but made sure to keep her hands on Hope’s shoulders, siphoning the dark magic inside Hope’s system. Hope looked at her, “Did we win?” Josie nodded softly… she wouldn’t call it winning, but it was still a win regardless. Hope glanced around only then seeing the woman-dragon’s corpse… and she nodded to Josie. “Good. Is… Is she alive?”
Josie shook her head softly.
Hope stared at her, “Are you okay?”
Josie shrugged. “Yeah, I will be.” Once she fixes the timeline, while keeping Hope alive.
Might not be for a few more years, but… still she would still do it.