Forever Original | Alaric Saltzman

Chapter 43

June 23, 2013

Hilda was scared to attend the wedding.

For several months, she had been living on her own, completely isolated from her family. She didn't contact them. She didn't check in on what was happening in New Orleans. She remained alone, living in a small apartment in Washington, where she hoped they wouldn't find her.

Either they understood she didn't want to see them, or they gave up in their search. It didn't matter to Hilda— she didn't need them.

She spent her days reading and watching movies. She tried to work out, even though there was no need to get in shape for the wedding. She installed a punching bag to take out her anger. She called Damon and Alaric everyday, sometimes getting a chance to speak to Stefan or Jo.

It wasn't the healthiest lifestyle. She fed every day on some new victim. Hearing Jo's voice made her jealous and she hated herself for feeling that way. So she fed some more, reminding herself that Alaric was better off with Jo.

The day before the wedding had been the most terrible day when it came to her emotions.

She had been drunk since the morning, trying to urge herself to let out the nerves building inside of her. She tried to shake it off with a good jog, but nothing seemed to work.

Damon had called her in the afternoon, asking if she wanted to come to Alaric's bachelor party.

"It'll be fun!" he said encouragingly. "Dress sexy."

"Are you stupid?" she slurred, her legs up on her couch. "That's... so inappropriate... disrespectful..."

"Okay, fine, you can join Bonnie and Elena at Jo's bachelorette party. It's just going to be the three of them."

"Damon... I'm still in Washington... I won't get there until tomorrow afternoon... and... that's gonna be so strange... she'll think badly of me..."

"Jeez, you're too drunk for me to be asking you this, but do you really think she'll hate you if you go to support her? Are you planning for her to meet you for the first time at the wedding?"

Hilda nodded weakly. "Mhm... don't call anymore... need to throw up."

In the evening when she was packing for her flight, she felt better, but still unmotivated. It was made worse when she got a call from Alaric.

"Hey," she said gently, trying to sound perfectly happy. "How was the bachelor party? Couldn't make it, sorry."

"It's okay— but— I just found out the craziest thing."

"What is it?" she asked, thinking he discovered that his true father was a centaur, or something along those lines.

"Jo and I are having twins!"

Hilda nearly fainted. She stumbled back into her bed, a pain so great in her side that it took all her strength to not let out a gasp of shock. "Wow!" she said instead, her lip trembling. "That's amazing! Two babies instead of one— how did you find out?"

"Damon's mother, actually. She heard two heartbeats and told Jo. I still can't believe it... first time father to twins."

"At least my parents already had a few kids before that," Hilda tried to joke. Her eyes watered. Why did this hurt her so much? She ought to be completely happy for him, not feeling envious. "That's amazing, Ric. Jo must be thrilled."

"She sort of is— it's just the whole Gemini Coven and the Merge concern..."

"There's gotta be a way to get them out of it. There must be other twins that can take up that burden."