A Different Breed ▻ Legacies [1]

14

  

Valerie, Hope, Alaric, and Josie all walked down the hallways of the Salvatore school together. The walls were covered in claws marks dragging all the way down the hallway.

Hope opened the door to the main dining room and entered along with the rest of the group, only to no one in sight, "Emma?" Alaric called out, only to get no answer, "Emma?"

The sliding door was soon opened to reveal Emma in the room with the rest of the younger kids and an injured Lizzie. Emma immediately placed her index finger to her mouth, telling them to be quiet. The loud footsteps were heard nearing the stairs and Valerie turned around to see the Gargoyle standing at the top of the stairs.

The Gargoyle roared, extending his wings out before flying through the air, going right toward the group of four. Emma had closed the sliding door, keeping her and the younger student hidden away.

The Gargoyle was running right toward Hope, causing Valerie to rush forward and grab Hope before pushing it backward onto the floor. The gargoyle was about to attack Valerie and Hope so Alaric quickly stepped forward and stood in front of her and Hope, "No!" Alaric shouted out.

"Dad!" Josie screamed out worriedly.

The gargoyle held the dragon knife right in front of Alaric's chest but didn't stab him for some reason. While the gargoyle was distracted, Josie went in back of it and sliced off one of his wings. As he was about to hurt her, Alaric shocked off his other wing.

Hope grabbed Valerie's hand, both of them facing the palm of their free hand outwards, "Fluctus inpulsa!" They chanted out and Valerie was shocked to see that the dragon knife had successfully flown out of the gargoyle's hand and was thrown onto the stairs.

As the Gargoyle rushed to get it, Hope and Valerie made their way over to Josie, "Josie, help us," Valerie instructed, immediately grabbing ahold of Josie's hand.

"How?" Josie asked concerned.

"Just repeat after us." Hope instructed as she grabbed Valerie's hand.

"Fluctus inpulsa. Fluctus inpulsa. Fluctus inpulsa," They chanted in unison and Valerie could feel the spell stopping her from doing magic fading away as Josie took some of her magic, "Fluctus inpulsa. Fluctus inpulsa. Fluctus inpulsa!"

Suddenly, the stone gargoyle blew up and pieces of it flew everywhere. Hope let go of Valerie's hand while Josie continued to hold Valerie's. Valerie smiled, turning to face Josie, "You can let go now." She commented.

"Oh, sorry," Josie nervously said, finally letting go of Valerie's hand.

Josie's mood drastically as she turned to glare at her father, "How could you jump in front of them like that?" She asked her father in disbelief, her eyes welled with tears, "You could've died, Dad."

"Honey, I knew it wouldn't kill me, because my research said..." Alaric began to tell her, but Josie had already walked off.

____

Later on that night, Valerie sat with Hope in the dining hall along with everyone else that attended the Salvatore School, "If you'd ask me a week ago, I would have told you I knew the difference between myth and fact. I would have said that supernaturals were limited to the species under this roof. I would have said that folklore and fairy tales were just stories. But I can no longer say that any of that is true. 'Cause just a few days ago, we were confronted by the existence of a dragon." Alaric revealed and all of the students began to talk amongst each other, "And then, today, our campus was terrorized by a gargoyle come to life. Some of us...were forced to fight. We won. This time. They were drawn here by a knife that went missing earlier this week. And for whatever reason, these creatures consider us to be the enemy. In their minds, we're the villains because we won't give them what they want. We don't even know why they want it. But we're gonna find out. I can't say for sure what their true intentions are. I can't say there won't be any more attacks. That's why I'm telling you this. To warn you. To ask you to look out for each other. To do what's best for one another. Because we're more than just a school. We're a family. And we will stand together, we will fight together, and we will win or lose this battle together, no matter what comes next."

_______

Valerie was walking through the living room when she saw Josie sitting with Lizzie. She smiled at her, sending her a small smile. Josie shook her head slightly, looking away from her. She was clearly still mad about her own father stepping in front of Valerie and Hope when he could have died when really, that wasn't their fault.

Valerie scoffed, walking past Josie in an angered state. She walked out of the hallway and started down the hallway. Josie sighed, watching as she felt. She immediately regretted acting like that to Valerie.

Valerie made her way down the hallway, not really watching where she was going since she was so clouded by her fuming anger. Her chest ended up colliding with another, causing her to growl under her breath, "Watch it!" She nearly shouted.

"Wow. Is that really how we're treating each other now? I haven't even been gone that long," A familiar voice said, causing Valerie to look up to see Rafael.

Her angered state immediately faded and a smile grew on Valerie's lips, "You're back." She told him happily.

Not caring if it would be weird or not, Valerie hugged Rafael. Rafael smiled, immediately wrapping his arms around Valerie.

Josie, who had decided to go apologize to Valerie, froze when she saw Valerie in the middle of hugging Rafael, who she presumed had just arrived back. She sighed out, a disappointed look on her face. Josie backed up a bit before finally turning around, walking away from the scene.

"I'm sorry for leaving." He apologized to Valerie.

"It's fine," Valerie replied, finally pulling away from the hug as she looked up at him.

"Mind giving me another one of your famous tours?" Rafael asked jokingly, "I think I might have already forgotten my way around."

Valerie laughed, grabbing ahold of Rafael's hand before she began to pull him along with her down the hallway, "Gladly."

"Wait," Rafael suddenly spoke up, "I forgot, Ophelia wanted me to tell you that she's going to reduce your punishment to five days with the ability to only to do magic within school walls." He informed her.

Valerie smiled, tilting her head to the side, "How the hell did she know that you would find me before her?" She asked curiously and Rafael shrugged his shoulders in response, "Whatever. Let's get this tour started."