The air was graced with a weak coldness, making Dorian enjoy even more his hot coffee while he stretched his muscles by walking around the school.
So earlier, there was no one but him and a few members of school staff awake and around. When meeting them, he greeted them before resuming his way back to where he should begin his work of the day.
After so many years working at the Salvatore School, Dorian already had a habit of what he should do on days like today – a day of Full Moon.
"One more day…" He muttered when opening the door to the Archive Room, a place restricted for students.
Truth be told, only Dorian and Alaric accessed the Archive Room. There was an exception a couple years ago, when they needed a student's help to cast a spell that would require so much magic that the witch professors together couldn't muster.
The Archive Room was extremely clean, with not a single speck of dust at sight despite the old relics that resided in it.
Due to its location, a few white LED lights spread over the ceiling were solely responsible for the illumination of the room. They worked as a beautiful contrast to the worn leather-covered books stocked in the many shelves, and if someone with a special sight looked at these shelves, they would notice many of the books to emanate relative amounts of magic.
Books and bookshelves weren't the only things present in the room, there were artifacts of all kinds spread around. Some sparkled under the light, metal clean as new. Others were rusty or a little bit rot, not surviving perfectly the passage of time.
But among all of these things, what Dorian had to primarily work with this morning was a device located right in the middle of the archive.
The device was big, occupying a rather large area. It was round-shaped, with the map of the world printed all over it while supported on a wooden stand. Basically, it was a big globe of the world with every single city you could imagine in it.
Looking at it, Dorian sighed in a little bit of awe. Despite what he detested in magic, he couldn't deny it was something capable of things some would consider impossible or extremely hard to achieve. The device in front of him was an example – a globe imbued with a spell that located every single supernatural creature in the world with less than 18 chronological years of age.
To achieve the same objective with technology alone would require absurd amounts of work and professionals. Meanwhile, the thing in front of him was created by a single girl who hadn't seen seventeen summers yet at the time, all in the span of a week.
Of course, the device had its limitations. The amount of magic it used on every attempt was absurd, to the level that it was recommended to give it a break of five to seven days before it was used again so it wouldn't be damaged due to being overused.
And what day is better to use than today?
The Globe – as it is called – was used primarily on days like today to search for potential werewolves that might have been born during the past few days. Due to their weekly use of the Globe, rarely would they find a werewolf that would meet their criteria born in the past few days. After all, the chances of a teenager with the dormant werewolf gene killing someone were not as high as most imagine.
However, today… things would run away from expectations for a lot of people.
By putting his palm over the globe, Dorian put some force in it and spun the object before retreating a couple steps.
Slowly, countless dots started to glow over the map. Some were small, others were slightly bigger. However, most of them didn't run out of what could be counted as the average size.
All over the globe, there were only a dozen or so that truly stood out, showing off just how absurd was the magic running through their veins. However, the one who called the most attention was none other than a dot in Virginia, with the size of it covering basically half of the state.
"Impressive as always, Hope." Dorian muttered, taking a sip of his coffee.
The globe lit up from East to West, so soon after Virginia, the state of Georgia was next.
Dorian looked calmly at it, not expecting much from that state. After all, Georgia was ruled by witches and hasn't seen any other supernatural activity. Vampires were rarely seen there and werewolves have long fled from the state after a feud with the ruling residents. Basically, every supernatural being there was somehow related to the local covens, people who Alaric and Caroline had long talked with in an attempt to enroll more students. Unfortunately, the witches over there were unwilling to let their members share the same space with other species.
So, considering all of it, someone can imagine the expression of surprise Dorian had when a small, green dot glowed right in the center of Atlanta.
What? Dorian thought, looking at the capital of the state. "A wolf right in the middle of the city? The fuck?" He blurted out, knowing well Atlanta hasn't seen a werewolf in the past decade.
But despite his shock, Dorian knew what he had to do after seeing the dot. He put down his mug of coffee and wrote down the location in a small notepad while he waited for the device to finish scanning the US.
To his surprise, a few more dots appeared on the map that weren't there five days ago.
"Los Angeles…" He muttered, seeing the new red and green dots hovering over the city of Angels. "What the shit is happening over there?" Dorian asked himself.
After writing everything down and the scan was over, he stopped the magical device and walked a little bit fast towards the exit. He needed to alert Alaric of everything.
In a couple minutes, after traversing the school building, Dorian found himself in front of Alaric's room.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
Only a few seconds were needed for the door to be opened after Dorian knocked on it.
Alaric stood there, trying his best to not close his eyes out of sleepiness. "I guess it must be important for you to wake me up at…" He looked at his smart watch. "Shit, 4:30 in the morning."
"It is." Dorian said, handing out the small paper. "We have a young werewolf close by."
Those words immediately woke up Alaric. "How close?"
"Atlanta."
"Shit…"
"I had the same reaction." Dorian said. "But as you can read, this is not the worst piece of news."
Listening to Dorian, Alaric paid some more attention to the paper. When he read it all, he frowned and his eyebrows furrowed tightly. "What is happening in Los Angeles?"
"Whatever it is, it's not good news." Dorian said.
Alaric breathed heavily, imagining what could be happening for so many young supernaturals to be born in such a short time. "Jeremy is already here?"
"Got here after you went to sleep."
"Sigh… Okay, okay." Alaric said, thinking of his options. "We will deal with this later. I don't want to send anyone on our side there now considering how blur is the situation in LA." He rubbed his forehead, taking a deep breath. "As for Atlanta… We need at least two people to go there. Sending someone alone might be risky."
"Ideas?"
Alaric was silent for some time. "Yeah… Would you mind calling John for me?"
"Only him?"
"Yeah. It will be better if only the two of us leave." Alaric said. "I will leave the school for you and the rest to take care of things. I highly doubt we will be back in time."
"Okay." Dorian nodded. "I will call him now. I will ask him to meet you at the parking lot in an hour."
"Thanks." Alaric said, closing the door when Dorian walked away. "Tsk… one more day running on four hours of sleep. I hope I don't faint."
[Scene Break]
Knock! Knock!
The dull sound of someone knocking on her door made Hope's eyes flutter open as she slowly woke up from her sleep.
However, the same principle couldn't be applied to her boyfriend. He continued to sleep soundly, and she knew that by how deep he was in his dreams, he wouldn't wake up any time soon.
When she was about to move out of the bed, Hope felt the weight of his arm around her torso, impeding her from moving.
Carefully, Hope moved it, ignoring whatever he mumbled in his sleep when she did so.
Putting on her slippers, Hope walked to the door. She opened it just enough to peek out her head and see whoever was calling her.
"Mr. Williams?" She muttered.
"Good morning, Hope." Dorian greeted her. "Sorry for waking you up. I just knocked on John's door and he didn't answer me. Is he here?"
A little bit flustered, Hope nodded. "Yeah…"
Not used to seeing that kind of expression on his student, Dorian tried to contain his laugh of amusement. "I'm just here to pass a message from Alaric. He asked for John's help in a matter outside the school."
Those words made Hope's mind get a little more clear. "What kind of matter?"
"A young werewolf was spotted in Atlanta. He wanted John's help when going there to see if it was necessary for our intervention." Dorian explained calmly.
Hope furrowed her eyebrows. "Normally, I'm the one to go with him."
"Well, he probably asked him this time since tonight is Full Moon. We need you here in case things run out of control." Dorian said what he thought about the matter. "I'm just here to tell him what I know. He asked John to meet him at the parking lot in fifty-six minutes."
That's oddly specific. Hope thought, nodding in understanding. "Okay, I'll tell him."
"Thanks." Dorian said, walking away to go back to his job.
As for Hope, she closed the door before slowly walking back to the bed.
Sitting on her knees on the bed, Hope nudged John. "Babe, wake up. Dr. Saltzman needs your help."
"Hmuhn…" Was all John replied, with his eyelids not even twitching.
"Seriously, wake up." Hope tried again, moving him with even more strength.
All John did was turn his head around, ignoring the pleas of his girlfriend.
Hope sighed in exasperation, trying to think of a way to wake up her boyfriend. And quite frankly, she thought of a solution really fast. "Shit, my breast slipped out."
Whoosh!
In less than a second, John turned his head around and his eyes snapped open.
"You lied to me."
Hope had a small, amused smile on her lips. "I don't know if I should be happy for you to wake up at the mere chance of seeing my body, or insulted cause I couldn't think of another way to wake you up."
"I prefer you happy no matter what." John said, resting his hands under his head. "So, why did you wake me up?"
"Dr. Saltzman needs your help. Apparently, there is a young wolf in Atlanta and he can't go alone. So, he chose you to go with him."
If he wasn't so shocked by what he just listened to, John might've made a joke on Hope by him being chosen over her. But now, all he could think about were the words 'Young Wolf' and 'Atlanta'.
The world around him seemed to have frozen as he thought of a thousand different things that could be besides the single specific event he didn't wish for it to be. However, no matter what he tried to think, John couldn't come up with a situation that could just perfectly match what he tried to prevent.
It's too much of a coincidence. He thought, trying to pass the impression he wasn't dumbstruck by this information. "Do you know anything else about it?"
Hope shook her head. "Not really, only that Dr. Saltzman asked you to meet him at the parking lot in an hour."
"Okay, okay." John said, stretching a little. But just when he was about to get up, he let his arms fall on the bed again. "One hour… I can take a shower and change myself in twenty minutes. So, what should I do in the other forty minutes?"
Before he could attempt anything, Hope waved her finger in front of him. "No, I'm going to sleep. It's going to be a long day, and you already had your fun last night."
"Tsk."
[Scene Break]
On the road to Atlanta, Alaric drove while John sat by his side.
Along the road, they would talk about some topics. Most of them wouldn't involve supernatural matters, focusing more on trivial things such as sports and news.
That lasted until John's phone vibrated.
"It seems Dorian found something." John said, reading the notification. Then, when he read the text sent to him, he did his best to not react to it. "He probably found our target."
"Don't say it like that. Feels like we are going to kill him." Alaric said. "Who is he?"
"Rafael Waithe." John quietly narrowed his eyes. "Four days ago, he and his girlfriend – Cassidy – were involved in a car accident. He was driving when the brake broke and they clashed against a truck before sliding into a concrete wall."
Alaric frowned. "Shit… Worse part of it all is that the curse recognizes it like he killed her. Accident or not, he was the one driving the car."
"That's some shit of a curse."
"Which one isn't?" Alaric dryly chuckled. "Let me guess, it tells there he was discharged the day after the incident?"
"Yes. Meanwhile, the girl died on the way to the hospital." John said, verifying the posts regarding the accident. "People are wondering if he is lucky to survive or unlucky for having to live with such a burden."
"It will depend on him." Alaric breathed deeply.
…
A couple more hours passed on the road. Now, the once chilling morning was a rather warm late afternoon.
The scenario had changed, with the historical landmarks of the Old Dominion – Virginia – having long been left behind and replaced by the brightful and illuminated tall buildings of the capital of the Peach State.
John held his chin, resting his arm on the car's door while he sightsawed the high buildings. Never he had thought of seeing these buildings so soon, but what was life if not a box full of surprises?
During this long trip, John had spent much of his time about how things turned out to become the same event he tried to prevent – be it during his talks with Alaric or when he was in silence.
He formed a few theories, each one he liked less than the last.
They went from somehow Malivore or someone else pulling the strings behind the curtains to a certain phenomenon he read in some novels: Restoration of Fate.
Truly, he didn't know which one scared him the most. The fact that there might be someone or something trying to make Rafael go to the Salvatore School so Landon could somehow awaken Malivore or the fact the world itself was trying to make things become how they originally were supposed to be.
With a long sigh that was masked by the sounds of the big city, John turned his attention ahead. Whatever it is, first thing I'm doing after going back home is throwing that fucking knife to space. If needed, I will go to the Sun itself and let the star swallow it. "Take the next right turn." He said to Alaric.
"Okay."
Doing as the young man said so, Alaric soon stepped on the break. They had just stopped in front of a school, watching as a bunch of students left the main building.
"This is the place where he studies." Alaric said, turning off the car's engine. "Do you want to do the honor?" He asked the boy.
"Well, I hardly guess you can cast a locator spell on whatever we find from him there." John chuckled, opening the door. "Wait here and try not to stand out too much."
"You don't need to tell me that, boy. I've been doing this far longer than you've been alive."
John leaned his arm on the door's frame. "You mean tracking teenagers to kidnap them?"
"Just shut up and go." Alaric threw a paper at him.
The paper ricocheted on the door when John closed it on time, with him immediately walking into the school building after doing so.
Due to his physical features, he attracted some attention to himself when entering school grounds. Thankfully, no one tried to stop him because of it and he soon found himself in the main corridor.
He had to walk for some time to find what he was looking for. Even with his senses, he had some trouble to locate it since a school wasn't the best place for you to have enhanced hearing and sense of smell.
A couple minutes later, John stood before a school locker. On display in front of it were flowers, candles and what seemed to be objects carrying certain emotional value.
Bending his knees, John picked up from among the items a portrait. It had the picture of two teenagers, a cheerful girl and a tall, strong boy, both seemingly friendly and kind-hearted.
A pity what the world reserved for both of you. John thought, putting the portrait back in its place.
Then to not raise any suspicions, John cast some illusion spells around him before picking up one more item. This time, it was a ring.
I will return it. I promise. John mentally whispered, standing up before making his way back.
A couple minutes later, he was outside of the school and entering Alaric's car.
"So, how did it go?" Alaric asked John.
"I got this. Probably belongs to him."
"Probably?"
"It's a ring, obviously used by someone in a relationship, left among the items of sentimental value in a girl's altar. If it isn't his…"
"Okay, I get it." Alaric nodded. "Can you use it to track him down?"
"I'm already on it." John said, the magic flowing to his hands.
[Scene Break]
The sky over Atlanta had darkened rapidly, shifting from dusk to night. The moon was starting to show up more and more in the sky, with its pale glow replacing the fading sunlight.
Under this sky, two friends walked over the sidewalk, their talk intensifying with every step they took.
"Rafael. Seriously, think about it, man." The shorter of the two friends said, trying to catch up with his friend's fast pace.
For his age, he was average in height. He had short dark brown and slightly tousled hair and gray green eyes. His facial features were still somewhat soft, remnants of puberty. He wore a jacket over a simple shirt and jeans, a normal and typical attire alongside the bag on his back.
The young man by his side was slightly different from him. He had brown skin, he was tall and strong. His hair was short, with it neatly styled in a clean cut. He could be said to be handsome, with a strong jawline and intense, deep brown eyes which currently hide his normal confident self. He wore a gray long-sleeved sweater and brown gray pants.
"It is what it is, Landon." Rafael said.
When he walked under a light pole, the illumination faintly lit up the budding anger he was trying to hide. However, his brother's words only made it more difficult.
"Dude you're not catholic, or christian per se." Landon said, confused by his brother's actions. "You shouldn't have to confess your 'sins'."
"Look at me, bro." Rafael halted his steps, turning around to face Landon. "I went through a lot of shit lately. And to worse it all, I threw a fucking lawnmower over the training equipment. The School's Board may have forgiven me, but you know Maria and Hector. If apologizing to God is what it takes to get them off my back for what I did, I'll do it." After putting a bit of what he thought out, Rafael took a deep breath. "Besides… if by any chance talking to the big guy up there helps me ease this pain – even if a little bit – I'm more than willing to go to the church."
Landon sighed. "Rafael, how many times have I told you? Cassie's death was not your fault. It was an accident." He said, trying to get his brother to understand that point and stop feeling guilty.
However, if his words didn't work the past twenty times, they wouldn't work now.
Quietly, Rafael turned around and went back to walking to the church. "Then, why does it seem so?"
Looking at his brother's back, Landon tried to catch up to him. Meanwhile, he promised himself to not say anything else till they arrived at the church, which took them a few minutes.
When pushing through the church's iron doors, the pair of brothers noticed only three people around: their foster parents and the priest of the church. They all stood in front of the altar, with the place dimly lit by candles. And if not to enhance the solemn mood, they could clearly hear their footsteps echoing across the church.
"Buenas noches, Father Pietro." Rafael greeted the priest of hispanic origin.
"Buenas noches, Rafael." The priest said steadily, bowing his head. However, if they paid close attention, someone could notice the slight fear beneath the priest's eyes. "Por favor, pray with me."
While Rafael and the priest talked, Hector approached his other foster son. "Landon, you can leave now. It's okay, we can take it from here."
"I'm good here, Hector." Landon said, not wishing to leave his brother.
Seeing this, Maria held Landon's hands. "My son, this is between Rafael and God, do you understand? Please, leave us for some time." She said, looking intently into Landon's eyes.
Since he was listening to their talk and knowing his brother would keep insisting, Rafael looked over his shoulder. "I got it, Lan. Just wait outside. I'll be with you soon enough."
Even if he was still a little bit worried about his brother, Landon nodded. He walked out of the church, with his foster parents following him behind.
When leaving, Landon took out his earphones and put on them, tapping his cellphone a few times before music started to resound in his ears. He took out a book from his bag while he sat down on the church's steps, deciding to wait for Rafael while writing and drawing.
Through the glass, Hector saw Landon distracted and looked at Maria, both acting immediately as they took some iron chains hidden nearby to make sure no one would enter the church for the next hour.
"With me, Rafael." The priest said, taking a deep long breath. "In nombre del Pai, hijo, espíritu santo, amém." He said, guiding his hand over his forehead, torso and lastly both of his shoulders.
Having done the same, Rafael soon started a prayer.
"Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou…" He muttered, losing himself amidst it. However, unexpectedly, Rafael felt a wet touch on his forehead.
Opening his eyes, he looked up to see the priest drawing a cross on his forehead with what seemed to be water.
This is new. He thought, but didn't think much of it.
However, there was a limit to how much he could tolerate unexpected things, and his limit was when he listened to the priest speaking in a language he had no idea where it was from
"Deus, cuius natura natura semper est misericors et ignoscens!" The priest sunk his fingers in the holy water, moving them to Rafael's forehead. "Suscipe deprecationem nostram ut hic servus tuus discedat!"
Seeing all of this, Rafael got wary of things as the fear started to crawl into his mind. "What's going on, Father Pietro?" He asked, slowly raising off his knees.
However, to make him even more scared, the priest did not answer him and continued the chant in Latin.
"Suscipe deprecationem nostram ut hic servus tuus discedat!" The priest's tone intensified with every word he said, almost shouting at the end.
"What? I don't understand…" When he tried to stand, Rafael felt the hands of his foster parents hold his shoulder and try to push him down on his knees. Unfortunately for them, neither had the strength to do it but keep him in place.
"What are you doing?!" He growled, demanding answers.
"Tum, sceleste, discede!"
For two long minutes, the priest continued to recite the exorcism rite while Hector and Maria did their best to hold Rafael. Unfortunately for them, this was a feat impossible for them as the Full Moon occupied more of the sky.
Unexpectedly, Rafael felt a pain he couldn't even imagine coursing through his bones and flesh.
"Argh!!"
…
"I would recommend speeding up. I can hear our friend's scream from just around the corner." John said, his enhanced hearing picking up Rafael's scream of pain.
"Hold up." Alaric said, making an abrupt drift that made the tires screech over the asphalt.
Before the car even fully stopped, John was already walking out of it with a bag in hands. However, by doing so, he walked face to face with someone very surprised after the maneuver Alaric pulled off right in front of him.
Shit. Here we go…
"What the fuck?!" Landon blurted out, dropping his earphones.
Ignoring him, John walked by Landon and attempted to open the door. "It's locked." He said to Alaric.
"You know what to do." Alaric replied while he got out of the car while holding a bag as well.
"Hey, I know you." Landon pointed at Alaric, his eyes widening. "You are the principal of that fancy school at Mystic Falls."
"Do you know him?" John asked, taking a couple steps back.
Looking at Landon, Alaric tilted his head. "His face is familiar. But you know, there are days I forget to say hi to my own daughters. Give me some time."
"Okay." John said, raising his leg.
Bang! Crack!
As if it was made of rotten wood, the iron doors of the church bent and flew back before sliding over the door.
"The hell?!" Landon screamed.
"Dude, it's a church. Show some respect." John said, totally forgetting he just kicked the door of the same church. "Come on, it seems to be happening way faster." He looked at Alaric before walking in, the screams of pain were even more clear to hear now.
While the pair of student and principal walked inside the church, Landon did the same. And well, he didn't know exactly how to react.
His brother was there, writhing in pain on the floor. Meanwhile, the priest tried to exorcise him and his foster parents tried to stop the two men who just invaded whatever was happening.
However, with just a look from him, John put the three people to sleep while he continued to approach Rafael.
Due to his shock, Landon only reacted when he saw the giant who surprisingly seemed to share the same age as him take out steel chains and put them around his brother's neck.
"Hey! Stop it!" Landon shouted, running towards John.
Since they were on a timer, John stopped Landon from interrupting what he was doing by raising his hand towards him.
Immediately, Landon felt himself locked in the middle of the air, totally incapable of moving.
"What is happening?!"
"Relax, I will release you soon." John said, pinning the chains into the floor with his pure strength. "First of all, we need to keep him chained before he does something that is going to hurt somebody."
"Like what?!"
As if replying to him, Rafael, who was already showing animalistic traits, tried to jump in Landon's direction with his fangs out.
"Nope, sorry." John pulled on the chain around Rafael's neck.
Making use of the opportunity, Alaric and John finished up their jobs and retreated from the center of the church, with John bringing the bodies of the other people so they wouldn't be torn to shreds.
"Argh!!"
As they watched Rafael scream in pain, Alaric moved closer to John. "Is it my impression or is it happening too fast?"
"It's happening too fast." John agreed with him. "It hasn't been ten minutes since the transformation began and it's his first full moon. He shouldn't be in that stage yet."
"Well, sometimes… There are people who don't reject the pain and simply accept it." Alaric gave his opinion. "I mean, after what happened to him, if he feels guilty, he maybe subconsciously feels the need to accept the pain." He explained. "We will know for sure when this is all over."
While Alaric and John talked, the sounds of bones breaking, flesh tearing apart and Rafael's screams of pain echoed through the hollow parts of the church. If not for John casting a spell to minimize the sounds around the church just before he broke the door, the neighbors and maybe even the police would be here by now.
Thankfully, that didn't happen. Because explaining why a wolf of black fur, amber eyes and standing almost six feet tall was hard to do.
"Roar!"
With its supernatural strength, the werewolf tried to attack the group a second time. Obviously, he failed due to the chains holding him back.
Watching the scene in front of him, a myriad of emotions flashed in Landon's expression. He didn't know what he should feel, if he first felt scared, shocked or even curious after what he saw.
But by the end of this doubt, the only remaining emotion in his eyes was none other than worry.
"Rafael…" Landon muttered, looking at what his brother had become.
Taking a glimpse at Landon, John sighed before taking a couple steps back. "I guess we'll be here for some time." He said to Alaric, sitting down on one of the wooden benches. "I'd recommend sitting down and waiting." He suggested it to everyone.
However, Landon seemed to not have listened to him. He just stayed there on his knees, watching his brother try to break off the chains in an opportunity to kill everyone in the room.
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