Forever Original | Alaric Saltzman

Chapter 51

Christmas rolled around, but Hilda was not in the mood to celebrate.

She had only seen Damon and Stefan once, since she mostly remained in the house to read her books and would go out for walks. The brothers had lost their mother just recently, and she felt terrible knowing how close to the holiday it had happened.

She had gone to be a guest speaker in Alaric's classes for one day to help them review for their final, and it had gone terribly. She kept needing to rush out to throw up with the smell of all the blood inside the students and the different foods they were bringing to class, but she couldn't use her vampire speed in front of the students, so she had to sort of waddle out the door before speeding to the nearest bathroom.

Caroline was busy with who knows what (Hilda wasn't sure why she liked to add so many things to her plate, but if she liked it...), meaning that Hilda had not been able to spend much time with her. This became a major bummer for the Original, because she and Caroline were getting along really well, and Hilda felt quite lonely.

That loneliness became worse as the holiday season settled in. Hilda found she missed her siblings, even Elijah. Though she was still angry at what he'd done, she missed getting to snicker with Klaus about how often Elijah adjusted his suit jacket. She missed his signature way of saying Klaus's name. She missed Freya and Rebekah most of all.

She had tried to distract herself from her constantly varying emotions by reading the books Caroline assigned to her. Caroline had even signed Hilda and Alaric up for weekend birthing classes, which they were growing accustomed to attending. Hilda tried not to speak unless she was called on. And when she was, thankfully, she knew the answers because she had nothing else to do but catch up on the readings.

One particular class, however, had made her very angry.

They had just finished their session and were stacking the chairs when Hilda faltered, hearing the sound of one of the student couples having a conversation.

"That's the guest speaker that Danielle told us about," whispered the girl. "The pregnant one who kept having to throw up. She said Professor Saltzman said she was only a friend. They said she's a child prodigy or something, that's why she's so young. Can you imagine... he knocked her up! He looks old enough to be her dad. Talk about daddy issues. How much do you want to bet that she doesn't speak to her father?"

Hilda had tensed, and Alaric had frowned. "What's wrong?" he asked quietly.

She didn't respond, and continued to listen as the girl's partner replied. "Yeah, I bet," said the boy. "Can you imagine... she was probably still underage when they met and I bet as soon as she turned eighteen, he got in her pants. She looks the same age as my sister."

"How about," said Hilda loudly before Alaric could stop her, "we stop gossiping. Some of us have very potent hearing."

The boy and the girl looked incredibly alarmed. "O-Oh," the girl said shakily. "I-I'm— I didn't—"

"Yes, you did, darling," sneered Hilda. "For your information, yes, I don't speak to my father, because he was an abusive piece of shit when he was alive. And two—"

Alaric yanked her back. "Let's get you some food," he said hastily.

Hilda cast the couple a cheeky smile as they ran out. "Brats. I'll rip their throats out. It'll teach them not to gossip..."

She felt everyone was judging her, and though she didn't care, it bothered her that they had the audacity to say things. They didn't know she could hear them. They had no idea that if they kept it up, they'd find themselves attending their own funeral soon. She wished she could ignore it, but the gossip was all around her, and she hated hearing people saying such things about her and Alaric. They didn't know anything and she didn't know what they gained from all the rumors.