The neighborhood was silent, with only the rustle of the wind echoing along the streets.
However, inside the church, there hasn't been a moment for the last few hours that it has been silent.
Rafael – in his werewolf form – howled and roared continuously. There hasn't been a moment ever since he transformed he hasn't tried to break the chains or have tried to pull them off the floor.
Through the past hours, the rest of the group in the church have been doing different things. Alaric has been soundingly sleeping, with him having long learned how to not be bothered by the sounds of a werewolf.
John was using an entire bench for himself as well, lying on it while he leisurely played with his phone.
Honestly, Landon was the only one awake who seemed on edge. He constantly looked between his brother and the two men who had invaded the church.
The young man seemed to have questions, and John had noticed it. However, in his conception, he was way too busy to go out of his way to ask what Landon had in mind.
Fortunately, or not so much, Landon grew some courage after these past hours. His lips trembled sometimes in an attempt to form his words, but he finally said something.
"H-hey…"
"Hm?" John hummed when noticing the word was directed at him.
"Are th-they fine?" He pointed at the fainted figures on the floor a couple meters away from them.
Looking at them, John gave a faint nod. "They will be fine. By dawn, they will wake up and I'll make sure they have forgotten what they saw."
"Okay…" Landon said, but he paused to process what he listened. "Wait, forget what they saw?"
"Yeah." John replied.
"What do you mean?"
"Exactly what I mean. Make sure they don't remember seeing your brother turning into a werewolf, my existence or whatever happened tonight." John explained.
"Yeah, I get that. But, how will you do it?" Landon asked, but he didn't wait for an answer as an hypothesis soon surged in his mind. "You aren't going to…"
With a sigh, John put his phone away. "No, I'm not going to threaten them or whatever that you might be thinking. When I say making them forget, I mean literally. You know, erasing their memories and so."
"How?"
"You saw me kick an iron door a few meters away and your brother turned into a wolf. Take a guess." John said.
As he was told, Landon thought a little before coming to an answer. Even after everything he saw today, it was too much of a crazy answer.
"Hm… magic?" He said, not sure of his answer.
However, to his surprise, John's words confirmed his answer. "Believe it or not, you are right."
"What?!"
"Shh… There is an old man here trying to sleep." John pointed at Alaric.
"You want me to expel you?" Alaric muttered with his eyes closed.
John chuckled, knowing well Alaric had woken up from the moment Landon asked his first question. "I know it must be a lot to take in, but I would recommend you to wait for more answers. I'm not exactly the right guy to do that. It's his job." He jerked his thumb at Alaric.
In response, Alaric waved his hand since he knew John was referring to him. "Landon, right? As soon as everything here ends, I will be more than glad to answer all your questions and clean your doubts." He opened his eyes for a brief moment. "But until then, let me get some sleep. I've been driving for a long time and the trip back will be just as exhausting."
"Okay, no problem." Landon timidly nodded. "Sorry for the noise."
Thinking the silence would return, John picked up his phone again and rested his head over the bench. However, a couple seconds later, Landon asked him a question he wasn't expecting.
"Hey, hm… have we met before?" He looked at John.
Trying his best to appear unsurprised, John looked at him. "I don't think so. Why?"
"Nothing. I just think… I have seen somewhere else." Landon scratched the back part of his neck. "Maybe I'm just having a déjà vu."
"Be careful with that. They are caused by Imps." John said seriously.
"What?!"
Alaric sighed. "He is joking. There is no such thing as an Imp."
Laughing a little and ignoring Landon's slightly grumpy face, John went back to playing with his phone to kill time.
…
Hours passed by and the dark sky enveloping the city of Atlanta soon received its first yellow rays of light peeking out of the horizon.
As soon as the night started to fade, the enormous black wolf howled one last time. Its massive body fell on the ground while pain took over it and the unnerving sound of bones breaking echoed through the church.
The noise woke up Landon, with him being the first to move. "What is happening?"
"The full moon is over. He is turning back into a human." John replied, grabbing some blankets from the bags they brought.
The process of going back to human form was faster than the one to become a wolf. Soon, Rafael laid over the cold floor of the church just like the day he came to the world.
Throwing the blankets over the passed out young man, John turned to Alaric. "What do we do now?"
"We load him in the car and bring him back to the school."
"I'm coming with you!" Landon chimed in, looking between the two men.
Staring at each other, Alaric shrugged his shoulders. "Well, I said I would answer your questions. It's better for me to do it in Mystic Falls than here. Also, since you are the closest person we know to Rafael, we will need your presence." He said, turning to John once again. "Care to move him?"
"I can't let you hurt your back, can I?" John chuckled, his hand reaching out towards Rafael.
Immediately, the body of Rafael started floating, with the blankets wrapping themselves around him.
Landon looked at this with amazement. Magic… Real magic…
Seeing his student doing the work, Alaric nodded. "After putting him in the car, fix the door and erase the memories of our friends here. We can't leave any traces. You know what to do to not raise any suspicions."
"I hope I'm getting extra credits for this." John said while walking towards the car.
After putting Rafael in one of the back passenger seats, John went back to the church.
When he got back, he noticed the three adults were showing signs of waking up some time soon. But to speed things up, John undid the last vestiges of the spell he put on them.
Slowly, the three adults woke up and tried to stand up. Meanwhile, John also fixed the damages to the church with some basic spells and his telekinesis.
"What… what happened?" Hector asked, feeling slightly dizzy.
Clap!
"May I have your attention?" John clapped his hands, the sound attracting the attention of the religious couple and priest.
"You… what…" The priest mumbled, remembering pieces of what happened last night.
However, since the intention was for none of them to remember a thing, John made sure to do a perfect job.
Taking the opportunity the three of them were looking at him, a weak wave of magical energy pulsed out of John's eyes. The energy moved through the air and invaded the mind of the three individuals through their eyes in less than a second.
The three humans immediately seemed to enter a hypnotic state. Their eyes were vacant and their bodies relaxed.
"As soon as I move out of your point of view, the three of you will remember nothing of the past twenty-four hours." John said solemnly. "You will go back to your homes, and you won't stop unless it's extremely necessary. If you do so or when you get to your homes, you will return to your normal, daily lives. The memories of me and the other individual that came with me will be gone. All you will know is that Rafael and Landon went on a trip, to help Rafael cope with his loss. Are my words clear?"
"Yes…" The three replied,
"Good." John said, relaxing as well. "Then, may we never meet again."
Whoosh!
Feeling a soft breeze passing by them, the group snapped back to reality. When they did so, they didn't show signs of confusion or anything. They just started to walk back to their homes, ready to continue with their lives as if the veil of the supernatural hadn't been pulled off in front of them yesterday.
[Scene Break]
The trip back to Mystic Falls was a quiet one for most of the time. Escaping from a big city helped a lot to calm down.
On the way, when just a few dozen miles were left to arrive at Mystic Falls, Rafael had woken up, as surprised and confused as someone could imagine if they woke up in a stranger's car wrapped in blankets.
Thankfully, Landon was there to calm him down and explain everything to his foster brother.
The way back was also a great opportunity for Alaric to answer any questions the two of them had about what would happen to Rafael or the overall situation.
After one more long trip, Alaric let out a long breath when seeing the steel gates of his school. "Everyone, welcome to the Salvatore School." He said, driving in when the gates opened.
When Alaric was making the turn to park right in front of the main entrance, John noticed someone patiently waiting for them. He met her eyes, making a small smile appear in her lips.
When the car parked and stopped moving, John immediately left it.
"Missed me?" He asked with open arms.
Hope's response was a wide smile as she walked down the stairs, diving in his embrace.
While the couple enjoyed their moment together, the rest of those who were in the car left as well, even Rafael. After he woke up and things were initially solved, they stopped and gave him some clothes to wear.
When Landon left the car, he looked at the young woman in John's arms and immediately recognized her. "Hope?"
Listening to a familiar voice calling her, Hope moved her head to see who it was. "Landon?"
Acting as if he was completely unaware, John looked at the two. "Do you two know each other?"
"Yes." Hope nodded slowly, her arms still around her boyfriend. "We met a couple years ago, he worked at The Grill." She explained. "I've never seen you since that time." She said to Landon.
"Right, that's when I, hm, moved out of town." Landon said.
The short exchange of words was followed by a short silence that seemed awkwardly long for some people.
Thankfully, someone took it upon himself to break it. "Rafael and Landon, can you come with me? I'll explain the rest of the things to both of you." Alaric said, walking up the stairs.
Rafael silently nodded, with him needing to pull up his brother with him.
When the door was shut, silence followed again for some time.
"So, you and Landon…"
"Nothing happened there." Hope interrupted him, not wishing for any assumption to be raised. "I just had a crush on him a couple years ago, nothing else. We danced once and that's it."
Seeing how quick she was to say this, John smiled humorously. "I believe in you. However, I think his crush on you lasted till today." He said, knowing well what he saw under the boy's eyes.
Hope rested her head over his chest. "Do you feel uncomfortable with it?"
"It would be a lie if I said I'm not. But, what can I do?" John muttered, moving his hands over Hope's back. "I mean, we're friends with someone who we have our guesses about how she feels towards me. I can't simply be mad or jealous because you met a former crush of yours. If I did so, how immature would I look?"
"I'll refrain from answering because I know you know." Hope said, her voice slightly muffled.
He quietly laughed. How funny for me to say this kind of thing considering one of the primary reasons I tried to stop the events of today. John thought, looking down at Hope. Thankfully, it seems I was just an afraid idiot. John chuckled again, with it containing a bit of self-mockery.
Hope noticed it, but she decided to not comment and simply enjoy the moment after a day apart from her boyfriend.
Truth be told, John wished for the same thing. However, it seemed destiny had other plans for today.
Out of nowhere, an eerie sensation passed through John. Immediately, the hair on his arms stood up and a shiver ran down his spine. Whatever he felt made him push Hope away, earning him a puzzled look from the girl.
When moved away from him, Hope first had a puzzled look as to why he did this. And then, when she saw the fright in her boyfriend's eyes, the emotion was even more intense.
"John, what happened?" She held onto his arms.
"I, I don't know…" John replied, a single drop of cold sweat running down his forehead. "Suddenly, I just–" The phrase wasn't completed since a thought crossed the young man's mind.
Noticing the emotions swirling on his expression, Hope held him even tighter. "What? What happened?"
Unfortunately for Hope, John wouldn't give her the answers to the questions she asked. "Do what I say. Go inside while I verify something, okay?" He pleaded to her.
"Why?"
"Please, just do as I say." John said before his figure became a blur, disappearing from Hope's sight while the door to the building opened.
Left alone, Hope looked at the nothingness in front of her with puzzled eyes. "The shit?"
…
It can't be! It can't! It can't be! John thought while running to his room, ignoring the mess he left behind.
Ignoring the staircase, he flew to the last floor and continued moving that way towards the room.
When he looked at his door and noticed it still closed, John thought that he would feel some relief. After all, that meant no one invaded it and took the dagger.
Yet, all he still felt was dread and worry.
Bang!
He opened it forcefully, almost breaking the knob in the process.
By just standing at the door, John could see what he hoped to be an illusion. Between the gaps of one of the drawers of his desk, a white light was escaping.
Moving fast, John undid the spell he put on the drawer to prevent it from being opened and opened it, making his room even more bathed in the pearly light.
"Fuck…" He cursed under his breath, but he couldn't cope with his anger by just that alone.
Bang! The door slammed close and a silent spell was cast around the room.
"FUCK!!!"
[???]
…
Silence… Complete and utter silence stretched throughout the darkness. Not even the faint cries of despair of the countless beings couldn't be heard in this darkness.
This darkness was filled and empty at the same time. It was unmoving and unwavering – frozen in time, and it has been so for approximately a thousand years.
However, this place which has not suffered a change for almost a millennium suddenly shook. Most of the creatures locked in it didn't notice the chance, only a small group.
But even these few individuals couldn't listen to the voice that echoed to every corner of this dark space.
Finally…
[Scene Break]
In the Salvatore School's headmaster's office, three people were gathered.
They had just finished talking about the matters regarding Rafael being a werewolf and everything that changed with it.
"So, Rafael…" Alaric grabbed a file Dorian had previously prepared, giving it a brief look. "I guess it's obviously easy to see why I recommend you to study here instead of somewhere else."
Slowly, the young man nodded in understanding. "I do. But, there are a bunch of other problems regarding it."
"Which ones?"
Rafael scoffed. "Well, to begin with, I don't have the money to pay to study in a place like this."
"We can solve it easily, believe in me." Alaric said, leaning back on his chair. "Financial problems hardly are a reason for us to deny a student."
Even if he was a little surprised by Alaric's words, Rafael continued with his reasons. "Then what about the fact that I'm currently adopted by a couple in Atlanta, people who I live with and deal with my legal situations."
"We can arrange that as well." Alaric said simply. "If you want, we can make you get emancipated by the end of the week. And since we are the ones asking you to do that, we'll be more than happy to help you navigate through the 'adult life'."
This time, Rafael was silent for a longer time since these two reasons were the biggest ones.
So, to stall for more time while he thought of the option, Rafael asked the question that has been bugging his mind for some time. "I have a doubt. I've been asking myself… How did I become a werewolf? I mean, I've never even been bitten by a dog, much less a werewolf."
This was a question that Alaric held himself from replying. He knew just how sensitive of a topic it was for a werewolf to know how they became one. It was never easy to take up the information you were cursed for life for being responsible for taking someone's life.
Thankfully, to save his skin, someone entered his office right in time.
"Hey, Hope. Perfect time." Alaric said simply. But at the next moment, he frowned when he noticed something in her expression. "What happened?"
"I don't know either." Hope said, still a little bit lost at what John had just said. Taking a deep breath, she walked to his side. "Anyways, I came here in case you needed my help. It seems you do."
"Rafael here asked how he became a werewolf." Alaric said.
Hope turned to look at Rafael with a sympathetic look while she approached him. "It's not an easy piece of knowledge to know."
"Why?" He asked.
"Because to become a werewolf, you must first have its DNA in your genome. And then, to trigger it, something is required."
As if he could already anticipate where Hope was going to with her words, Rafael abruptly stood up. The chair fell and he took a couple steps back. "No, no…"
"Rafael, I'm sorry…"
"No, please. Don't say that." Rafael said, his lips trembling and his eyes getting red. "Don't say it, please…" He begged, tears threatening to roll down from his eyes.
Hope sighed, knowing well that right there, he was holding to the edge of the string known as hope. She knew it because she was once in the same spot as Rafael, crying and praying for it to not be true, asking whatever was out there that her hands were not drenched in the blood of an innocent.
However, just as she knew it, she was also aware that the sooner this band-aid was ripped out, the better.
"I'm sorry, Rafael." Hope whispered. "Even if it was an accident, the curse still–!"
Bang!
Everyone in the room was momentarily distracted by the sudden sound from outside and the fact the school building shook a little.
The force behind the tremor was enough to make some books drop from the shelves and Hope, who was standing, to lose a little of balance.
It lasted for only a couple seconds, with Alaric standing up soon after noticing it had ended. "What happened?"
"I have no idea." Hope said, just as surprised as him and the other two teenagers in the room.
A few moments later, Hope turned her head to the door, with it right after slamming open from the outside by Dorian's hand.
"Dorian, what the–?"
"You need to come with me, now!" Dorian said, running back right after saying these words.
Looking between themselves, Hope was the first one to run out of the room, followed by Alaric and Rafael and Landon some time after.
…
By following Dorian, the group soon left the school building and stopped by the entrance.
From then on, they couldn't walk ahead anymore. Not because they were physically incapable of, but because they were stunned by the sight before them.
There, right in the middle of the parking lot, John stood alone. He held in one hand a dagger – the one Alaric had asked him to study – with it not glowing anymore.
But him standing alone over the pavement with a severe expression wasn't the reason they stopped. The reason was the person – or better said – the humanoid being he was staring at.
There was someone just outside the gates – someone easily recognizable as a woman by her traits – with her participating in a staring contest against John. Among her physical features, what called the most attention wasn't her charcoal-black scaled skin, neither was her white hair, crimson eyes, the large tail or even the obsidian horns protruding from her forehead.
What everyone first looked at and noticed was the fact she was looking at the young man from above the iron gates. She was tall enough to glimpse from above them if the gates were a complete wall.
"The hell…" Alaric blurted out, blinking constantly to verify if he wasn't hallucinating.
Truth be told, he wasn't the only one doing this. As time passed, more and more students, professors and members of the school arrived, with most of them having the same reaction.
Amongst them all, probably the only one who was faring great by seeing the gigantic woman was Hope, and that's because she was mostly worried for who that woman had her eyes on.
"John…" Hope stepped forward, trying to reach her boyfriend.
However, it seemed she moved close enough for the woman to pay attention to her. And for the first time in years, Hope felt a fear she hadn't felt long ago.
Under those crimson eyes, she felt a specific fear, it was the fear of instinctively knowing that whatever that woman was, she was a danger to her life. In the depths of her mind and soul, she knew that woman wasn't someone who would feel threatened by only the sheer amount of magic in her veins.
What the hell is that?! Hope thought, afraid to take a step further.
However, if there was one person who felt pissed about what was happening, that person was John.
"Keep looking at her that way. See if I'm not going to pluck your eyes out." He stepped forward, gathering the woman's attention to him again.
After staring at the young man for a couple more moments, the woman finally opened her mouth to speak.
"Wyt ti'r gwarchodwr o'r lle hwn?"
The foreign words caught everyone by surprise, even John. However, he soon focused again and thought of the words.
"Oued mi." John said.
"I did not expect someone in a land so far from mine to speak my language."
"I like to study foreign languages in my free time." John said, keeping a casual but not servile tone. For now, he was stalling for time to understand the situation better.
Making use of the fact they were talking, Hope approached John slowly. When she was on his back, she pulled his shirt, knowing well what he would understand what she meant.
John? Hope thought.
I'm listening. He responded through their telepathic link, something they have been working for the past days.
What is she? What are you talking about?
As far as I know, she might be a true giant. John thought. And she has just asked me if I'm the protector of this place, which I confirmed.
Why did you say that?! Hope asked.
I don't know. Seemed right at the time. John internally shrugged, keeping his eyes at the woman all the time.
Ignorant of the talk between the couple, the woman spoke again. "The artifact you hold, I desire it."
Turning to her, John frowned. "Sorry, it's not up for trade."
"Even for your own life?" She asked. At the scatter of her words, her eyes darkened and the pavement under her feet began melting.
The threat might've worked with someone else, but John was far from budging under it. "You must be confident if you believe so to be able to take it from me."
What are you talking about? Hope asked.
Give me a moment. John said to her.
"I believe I am. And even if I did not believe in it, I would still do it. My kind depends on that dagger, and I will be more than willing to burn my soul to retrieve it." She spoke while the temperature around her kept rising even more.
John narrowed his eyes, knowing things weren't looking well. "You say your kind depends on this dagger. Why is that?"
"Because it does."
"That's not an answer."
"It is for me." She said, impatience growing in her semblance. "If you do not wish for a fight that will have consequences not only for you, but the creatures around you as well, give the dagger and we will never see each other again."
While the woman said so, two more individuals left the school's building and entered her sight. They were Rafael and Landon.
When she looked at them, the woman's expression slightly shifted. It seemed she was bothered by something, with her going back to normal after some time.
Obviously, John noticed it and couldn't help but furrow his eyebrows. Instinctively and consciously, he could see things were probably about to get worse.
The heat around the woman suddenly raised, melting the gates when she stepped forward, with the road under her feet not faring much better. Meanwhile, everyone outside could feel the temperature rising, knowing well things didn't seem good.
"Now, I not only require the dagger. I require the boy as well." She pointed at Landon.
Listeningto it, John had the urge to curse his luck. For fuck's sake. He thought. "I fear this is an unacceptable demand."
"Are you certain of your answer?"
"Not really." John chuckled, throwing his flip-flops away.
That was a small act, one anyone else would ignore. However, as people who frequently trained and sparred with John, Alaric and Hope knew what that meant in the current situation.
The headmaster was the first to react, with Alaric turning to face his students. "Everyone inside, now!"
When Alaric shouted so, Hope moved as fast as she could to retreat back to the entrance.
However, before she could even cross half of the distance, the giant woman moved. Her figure was a blur and in an instant, she was face to face with John, with her claws cutting down on him.
To block the attack, John raised both of his arms. And here we go…
Boom!
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