Sandabury Academy

Broken

"Well, we were kinda hoping you could tell us what happened," Terry said in a gentle tone as he turns back to face her. I position myself so that I am kneeling in front of Jaheara and reach out to hold both her hands in mine.

Looking up at her confused face, I ask, "Did you have any idea you were capable of such a thing?" I hold fast her gaze, mentally crossing my fingers that Jaheara's sudden burst of power had nothing to do with what Jacques warned me about.

"No, I honestly have no idea what came over me. The last thing I remember was slamming into a bunch of pews and then feeling really, really angry."

"Holy shit! You guys know what this means right?" Terry suddenly exclaims. J and I both turn to look at him. "Jaheara just pulled a She-Hulk! But with like, flames and stuff. That's soooooo cool!"

"I'm gonna smack you."

"Please don't Val, it hurts when you do that," Terry whines as he curls up into a ball in the corner.

"Maybe I can learn to control it, that way I can be more helpful when fighting those thingies. Oh hey! Did we ever figure out what the hell those things were? Because I was completely fooled when the one thing came into the chapel looking like Terry."

To this, Terry perks up out of his ball. "Ooooo I know what they're called!" He sits up straight and continues in a more serious tone. "They're called Doppelgangers and they can take on the appearance of any humanoid creature. They also can read minds, which is why they always seemed to be one step ahead. Of course, their agility doesn't help with that either."

"You sound as though you've fought them before," Jaheara points out.

"I have. You know I did have a life before coming to Sandabury Academy, as surprising as that may sound." Terry sticks his tongue out at Jaheara, to which she just rolls her eyes.

"So how do you defeat them?"

Terry looks at me and says, "Well how you did it seemed to work out, but for us normal vampires and other supernatural beings, you can't think about what you're about to do. You have to act on natural instinct. Oh, and try not to let your emotions get the better of you because you're practically screaming at them what you're thinking."

His snide remark about my sudden outburst when fighting one of the Doppelgangers has Jaheara raising an eyebrow. "Have I missed something?"

"No, nothing. Now it's best you get some more sleep. We are heading out tomorrow. I'm sick of being here."

"Speaking of here...um, where are we?" Jaheara says while looking around the room.

Terry explains what happened to the chapel while she was unconscious earlier.

"Oh, well isn't that lovely. This has to have been a setup. I bet that Jacques guy has got it in for us. Only question is why?" Jaheara says with eyes narrowed.

"I'm inclined to agree, my dear. But, you should really go to sleep now. Wouldn't want to anger miss Grumpy-pants." Terry whispers the last part as if that's going to stop me from hearing it. Jaheara laughs and lays down.

"Just for that, you get to keep first watch." Terry makes a pout face at me as he walks out the door.

As soon as he's gone, I lean back against the wall and let my mind wonder while listening to the sound of Jaheara's steady breathing.

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A few hours later, I come downstairs to find Terry humming to himself while sitting on top of the bar counter.