A Different Breed ▻ Legacies [1]

45

Just then, Rafael stood up, inhumanly growling at the group as he got ready to attack them.

Without hesitation, Ophelia lifted her hand up placing it on Rafael's chest, "Tardus pulsatio." She spoke up loudly, causing Valerie to frown when it looked as if Rafael had frozen.

Ophelia turned to the group, ready to answer their question, "To answer your question, yes, it's a thing."

"What did you do to him?" Valerie asked her mother in concern as she kept her eyes locked on Rafael.

"It's okay, Val," Ophelia assured her daughter in a calm tone, "I'm just slowing down his heart. It will calm him for the time being."

Rafael frowned in confusion, looking behind him, "What's happening to me?" He asked Ophelia fearfully, "I keep losing time."

Ophelia took a step toward Rafael, grabbing ahold of his hands before assisting him in taking seat at the foot of the bed, "Well, as I said lunar psychosis, which means that your mind is trapped between your wolf and human states, making it harder to bridge the gap and access your memories like you normally would. It's very rare, but I've seen it a couple of times over the years," Ophelia explained, quickly glancing over at Hope and Valerie, "It only happens after a premature reversion."

"So something caused your body to shift back before the full moon was over, leaving you like this," Hope spoke up, coming to a realization.

"Wh-What kind of something?" Rafael asked, looking up at Hope in concern.

"Usually trauma," Valerie responded, adding into the conversation, "Something bad must have happened."

"We don't know that," Ophelia argued in a stern tone, refusing to believe that Landon and MG were hurt or dead somewhere.

"Valerie's right, three of them left, and only one came back." Hope argued back, "Something bad happened."

Valerie turned to look at Hope, a bit of a saddened look on her face. When Hope finally turned to her, Valerie quickly looked away, causing Hope to sigh in defeat.

Ophelia sighed deeply, standing up from kneeling in front of Rafael and turned to face Valerie and Hope, "Hope, Valerie, why don't you give us a minute?" She suggested, causing Valerie to frown in confusion.

"What? No! I'm not leaving Raf--" Valerie began to argue, but Ophelia was quick to cut her off.

"Go on and check on the other wolves." She demanded in a calm tone.

"But I'm worried about this one!" Valerie argued, gesturing to Rafael.

"Valerie, please. Don't make this harder than it has to be," Ophelia pleaded, causing Valerie to sigh in defeat before she finally turned and left the room alongside Hope.

After exiting the room, Valerie started to walk down the hallway without saying a single word to Hope, "Are you seriously not speaking to me?" Hope asked Valerie in disbelief, "So what if we had a little spat? I'm over it. Come back to our room. I miss you."

Valerie's lips curled upwards as her back faced Hope. She was right. Hope was the first one to cave and come crawling back to the other, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to let it slide that easily.

"And I'm sorry for challenging you, what you said about my mother made me snap," Hope continued on, "We also really need to talk about how you bested me effortlessly. We need to tell Ophelia because that should be impossible."

"Why?" Valerie asked Hope with an attitude as she turned to face her, "Because you're Hope, a first-born Mikaelson witch? There are other powerful witch bloodlines. My mother came from the Claire witch bloodline, which is pretty mediocre, but since she had a werewolf side, she became one of the most powerful witches seen in centuries. I have a werewolf side and I'm the last living Bennett witch besides Bonnie, which makes me powerful. The sad part is...the second I beat you, you didn't want to believe that I was stronger than you. You've always underestimated me."