Title: Dark Omens
Fandom: The Originals
Characters: Hope Mikaelson, Rebekah Mikaelson
Pairing: None
Rating: G
Word count: 510
A/N: Takes place shortly before "The Brothers That Care Forgot" with spoilers up through that episode. Written for the prompt 'Omens' for
challenge 2 at
writerverse. Also on
AO3. Full table
here.
Summary: Rebekah and Hope are being followed.
Rebekah sat in the nursery rocking chair, telling Hope a familiar bedtime story. It was about a much beloved and beautiful princess whose father sent her away for her own protection.
Rebekah had invented the story in the earliest days of Hope’s life and repeated it to her every night. She knew the infant couldn’t understand it, but it felt comforting to share it with her anyway.
Hope fell asleep just before Rebekah concluded her story. Finishing her tale, Rebekah stood up out of the chair and carried the baby over to the crib, where she carefully laid her down for the night.
As she walked towards the door, Rebekah passed by a window. Sitting in the tree, unnoticed by Rebekah, was a lone starling. It stared intently at the child within the bedroom.
A few days later, when they were starting to run low on essentials like formula and diapers, Rebekah decided to brave a trip to the grocery store.
Rebekah hated grocery shopping. It was something she’d never had to do before Hope was born, and lugging an infant along for the journey didn’t make the experience any more pleasant.
They were actually having a pretty good day, as far as grocery shopping was concerned. It was the middle of the day on a Wednesday, so the store was almost empty.
Just as Rebekah was picking up a package of baby wipes, she heard a loud crash from the other end of the aisle. A glance told her someone had knocked over a stack of cans of baby formula.
The noise woke up Hope, of course, who had been sound asleep in the cart. The baby started wailing, attracting dirty looks from the few other shoppers who happened to be in the store.
Rebekah did her best to comfort the child while simultaneously rushing through the store, checking off the remainder of her list. When she was done, she quickly hustled Hope out of the store and into the car.
Rebekah was in such a rush she didn’t notice the small cluster of starlings nesting on one of the nearby cars.
The next few days were dreary, with cold rain. So when Rebekah woke up one morning to a cloudless blue sky, she knew a trip to the park was called for.
After they both had breakfast (formula and baby cereal for Hope, a bag of blood for Rebekah), Rebekah bundled Hope up into some warm clothes. Then, the two piled into the vampire’s car and drove to the park.
Once there, Rebekah made a beeline for the swings. Something about the motion of rocking back and forth seemed to please Hope, and Rebekah took great pleasure in seeing the look of joy on her niece’s face as Rebekah pushed her.
As Rebekah gently pushed Hope on the swing, she got the eerie feeling that she was being watched. Turning her head, she gasped in horror.
An entire flock of starling had invaded the playground, roosting on the equipment and watching her and Hope.
Esther had found them.