“You cannot go out to some random little bar to go sucking on a neck by yourself! What if you had chosen a rebel? You would be killed! We make sure someone is with you so that there is someone there who can protect you!” Elijah snapped. “You had us all sick with worry! What if you hadn’t come home?! This is exactly why we want you here! You cannot keep doing this!” He sighed, getting a hold of his temper. He would never hurt Hope, but he was certainly not above compelling her, making sure she would do as asked, or just locking her very securely in her room, kicking and screaming if he had to. “You will not leave this house again without myself or your father accompanying you. And you should feel ever so thankful that he is out looking for you, rather than being the one that would be here upon your return. This will not keep occurring Hope,” he said, a strong hint of a threat in his voice.
“I’m not your prisoner Elijah, I can handle going somewhere by myself for a few hours! I wasn’t killed! I was just having some fun!” Hope wanted to argue the point, wanted to fight him with everything she had to try to make him see reason, but she knew it would be futile. It wasn’t the first time she had been ‘caught’, it was unlikely to be the last, and she had tried to fight him for much longer than this before. It wasn’t worth getting even more severely punished. “Yes sir,” she said hollowly. “I’m sorry Elijah. I didn’t mean to make any of you worry. I shouldn’t have left without telling someone. It was stupid, and it won’t happen again. I promise. Please don’t be angry.” The sad and guilty card didn’t always work, but Hope had her fingers crossed that this time it would work just long enough for Elijah to stop berating her so she could simply disappear to her room and think about what she had talked about with her aunt.
