The text had come at 4 a.m., and now Hope stood, still in her pajama bottoms in the woods behind her family's house. She was only meant to be there for a few days, home for her mother's birthday, and hadn't expected to see any of the girls. But the text had come:

    S.O.S

    Then:

    Meet me behind the barn

    The number was unknown, but there were only four people in the world who it could be from. She didn't think Maya or Lizzie or Josie were in Mystic Falls, so that only left Penelope.

    It was cold, and she wanted to go back inside and feign sleep, but she would wait all night if she had to. Her heart was still racing from the first vibration, the first reading of the words. It had been years, since they'd sent anyone an S.O.S text.

    It was strange to be home—uncomfortable. Whenever she was back in Mystic Falls, the world felt like it had turned on an angle. She no longer fit into the skin she had left here, but she didn't know how to inhabit anything else. Not that was particularly comfortable anywhere. But it had never stung quite the same as it did in Mystic Falls, where ghosts hung around every corner, slept in every patch of dirt.

    Alyssa.

    Alyssa was suddenly in front of Hope. Without warning, without making a sound. Hope jumped back, managed to hold in a shriek that would have woken her parents for sure. She stumbled, grabbed hold of a tree trunk to keep herself up right.

    Alyssa was looking up at her, a curious expression on her face. Not malice, necessarily. But something hungrier than that.

    Hope straightened up, drew in a breath.

    "Did you send that text?" she said through gritted teeth.

    Alyssa cocked her head, like an animal watching its prey. But Hope was determined not to give away her fear—Alyssa could smell that. It was confirmation enough, though.

    "I'm going back inside," Hope said. But she hesitated—turning her back on Alyssa was such a dangerous game to play.

    Alyssa smiled.

    "I don't think you're going to do that," Alyssa said. Her tone was measured, serene almost.

    "What do you want, Alyssa?"

    "What I've always wanted," Alyssa said. She took a step towards Hope, who, despite her better judgement, flinched. She was so close that Hope could smell her—sweet, floral, with something dark underneath, something that lingered.

    "What's that?" Hope said.

    "For you to join my team."

    Hope gulped. No, no, no. This couldn't be happening. She clenched her fists, fingers numb from cold. No, no, no. Not a game—not a new one, not again.

    And yet, even as she thought it, she felt the adrenaline coursing through her veins, her brain firing up, ready to solve a new puzzle. That was the problem, wasn't it? As much as she wanted to hate the game, as much as she wanted to leave it all behind—life, real life, just did not have the same appeal, not when she had been under the spell of the supernatural for long.

    But help her help Malivore? No. That, she wouldn't do. It had been ecstatic torment, but torment nonetheless. She wouldn't put another person through it.

    "You know, Lizzie was wrong, you really haven't changed," Hope spat.

    Alyssa's grin grew wider.

    "Au contraire, mon cherie, I've changed more than you can ever imagine," Alyssa said.

    "And yet, here you are, asking me to help you help another supernatural villain?" Hope said. "Wasn't it enough for you? Wasn't all that—"

    But Alyssa cut her off with a wave of her hands.

    "I'm not asking you to help a supernatural villain. Really, Hope, do you think so little of me? I've moved onto something much, much greater than that?"

    "There's something greater than that?"

    Alyssa's mouth formed into a flat, humorless line.

    "Don't tell me you don't miss it," she said suddenly. "I can feel it, even now. Look at your eyes—I can see how alive it makes you feel, just having the possibility of a new villain dangled in front of you."

    Hope didn't trust herself enough to answer.

    "I'm not offering you any kind of game here," Alyssa said after a moment of carefully studying Hope's face. "I'm offering you a new life, Hope. I want you. I've always wanted you with me. And when I saw you in town this afternoon? I just knew, I knew I had to have you. You turned me down all those years ago, but I don't think you will now."

    Hope willed herself to turn around and walk away. But she couldn't bare to. She didn't to hear it out. She needed to hear the end.

    "What is it?"

    Alyssa smiled again. "Ah, now I have your interest. I could offer you a whole new life, you know."

    "What does that mean?"

    Alyssa opened her mouth wide, so that, even in the dim moonlight, Hope could see the two white fangs in her mouth.

    Hope scrambled back, slamming her back into the trunk of the tree, her breathing coming hard and fast. The bark was rough against her back. Her body was trembling, shaking like a leaf.

    "What the hell are those?"

    "You sure do ask a lot of questions, Hope," Alyssa said. She flicked a tongue over the fangs. "Do you want me to show you what they do?"

    Now the initial panic that had flooded her body was draining, she could think a little straighter.

    "Are you serious?"

    "Deadly," Alyssa said, and chuckled at her own wordplay. "Give me your hand."

    Hope wanted to refuse. But perhaps later, when she thinks about holding her arm out, she could pretend she was under Alyssa's thrall.

    Alyssa moved quickly, plucking up her hand and gently bringing it to her mouth—a lot more gently than Hope expected. She pit down, and Hope took a sharp intake of breath. Not an unpleasant pain, but sharp nonetheless.

    She closed her eyes, feeling Alyssa drink up her blood. Hope shuddered but she didn't want it to stop.

    Alyssa pulled up after less than twenty seconds, and Hope stared at her, bloody-mouthed and with the look of the cat who got the cream.

    "Join me, Hope," Alyssa said, wiping her mouth so blood streaked across her lips. "Think of all the possibilities. Think of all the things we could do, if we had so much time, so much power."

    Hope gulped. So much power. Alyssa knew how to sell her her audience, but the thought of her family, her friends. She couldn't leave them behind, much less watch them die, one by one, as she remained the same. Alyssa, her only true companion.

    Alyssa must've read the thoughts from Hope's face, because she was frowning.

    "Hope, you know you want this," she said. "All the things you could achieve."

    "What happens if I refuse?" Hope said. "Will this be like last time, and you'll kill me if I say no?"

    Alyssa laughed, a short bark of a thing. "No, I'm not that crude anymore. I've changed. Just—how about you tell me tomorrow, what you decide?"

    "I doubt I'll change my mind, Alyssa." Her whole body was vibrating with want.

    Alyssa shook her head.

    "Always so stubborn, that's why I've always liked you," Alyssa said. "How about this? Let me drink from you tonight, and you can tell me your decision tomorrow."

    She knew she should say no, say that she'd never agree, but her finger was throbbing in such a satisfying way. And the idea of giving over to Alyssa, just this one time...it was too much to bare.

    "Fine," she said through gritted teeth. Her mouth had gone dry in anticipation.

    Alyssa's grin was like a wolf's. She stepped closer to Hope, until there was almost no room between them. She reached up, taking Hope's face in her hands—gently, so gently—and Hope leant down to give her better access. Despite the cold, Hope was sweating.

    "I've waited for this for so long," Alyssa whispered into her neck, before she bit down. Hope hissed at the pain, the feeling of the two fangs dipping into her. But then Alyssa was feeding, and Hope could only crane her neck to give her better access. It was exquisite pain, sharp and sore, her heart thudding in her chest and her control given over to Alyssa completely, who held her. Alyssa could drink until Hope died, and she knew that, and it made her less fearful than she thought it would.

    Alyssa pulled away, and Hope groaned at the lack of contact, at the sudden coldness of her neck. Alyssa licked a line over the cuts, presumably to get the stray blood.

    "You taste even better than I thought you would," Alyssa sighed, her voice thick and her eyes glassy. And suddenly, she was grabbing the back of Hope's head, and Hope tensed but she was just pulling her in for a kiss. Hope didn't pull away—didn't want to. Alyssa tasted of copper and lilies. Hope had never tasted herself in such a way, to know it was her blood was on Alyssa's lip. She kissed fiercely, unrelentingly, until her lips felt swollen and her body was shaking, though from the sudden lack of blood or the kiss, she wasn't sure.

    Alyssa pushed her off.

    "Think about it," Alyssa said. Her face was placid again, but her voice was too breathless to hide that the kiss had affected her. "I'll be back tomorrow night."

    Hope nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

    As quickly as Alyssa had appeared, she vanished, moving quicker than Hope could follow.

    Hope crossed her arms over herself to keep out the worst of the cold as she trotted slowly back to the house, her head spinning and her body aching.

    She was going to have a hard time refusing Alyssa's offer, that she knew for sure. But she held one thought close: at the very least, she could offer Alyssa her neck again, tomorrow.