Feeling as though if she didn't get herself moving, she wouldn't be able to stay away, Valerie got into some clothes suitable for working out in before heading to the gym, where she found Rafael using the punching bag.
"Hey," Valerie greeted Rafael with a smile on her face as she placed on her workout gloves, "What did the bag ever do to you?" She asked, beginning to laugh as Rafael finally stopped punching it.
"I'm done here, so let me get out your way," He told her, about to walk away.
Valerie frowned, feeling as though something was up with him. As he went to walk past her, Valerie grabbed his arm, causing Rafael to turn to her, "Actually, I could use a sparring partner right about now," She informed him with a smile on her face, "If I punch a bag instead of a person, I'm pretty sure I'm going to fall asleep. So, what do you say?"
Rafael was clearly hesitant after what had happened the last time they sparred, "Trust me," Valerie assured him, "I'm better with my fists than I am with a staff."
"Yeah. Alright," Rafael replied, finally agreeing to spar with her.
"I'm not throwing the first punch, though," Valerie commented and Rafael couldn't help but smile at her before he swung a punch to her face.
Without effort, Valerie ducked, able to dodge the punch. She stood up back up and as he tried to punch her, Valerie used her forearm to block the hit.
As Rafael allowed his arms to drop to his sides, Valerie smiled at him, "Stop being so gentle," She complained, "I'm not as fragile as you think."
"What do you mean?" Rafael asked her in disbelief, "I'm punching you with half my weight."
"Well, try to give me all of it," She suggested with a playful smirk on her face.
Valerie punched with both hands, one after another and Rafael was able to quickly dodge it.
Rafael swung a punch to her chest, but Valerie quickly caught his fist before pushing it. Valerie lifted her leg up, giving him a high kick that he was able to avoid getting hit with.
Valerie continued to try and kick him and Rafael did a backflip, landing on his feet. He lifted his feet and tried to kick at her sides, but Valerie was able to push his legs away before they hit her.
As Valerie swung her foot to kick him, Rafael caught her leg. He tried to flip her, only to have Valerie flip over and kick Rafael in the nose as she did so.
"Come on, Raf!" Valerie laughed, "I'm on the verge of taking your alpha status and honestly, I have no desire to be one."
They continued to fight and suddenly, Rafael swung a kick to her leg, causing her to fall. As she yelled out in pain, Rafael grew concerned and walked toward her, "Val. Are you okay?" he asked her concerned, only to have Valerie suddenly to stand up, grab him by the arm and twist it before knocking him to the ground.
Holding him by the neck, Valerie straddled Rafael as he laid on the ground, struggling to get free from her choke hold.
Rafael smiled, tapping Valerie's arm, indicating that he was giving up.
"I guess that shows you who the real alpha is here, huh, handsome?" Valerie asked him, a playful look on her face before she finally got off of Rafael, lying beside him on the gym floor.
"Damn, Val," He commented, causing them both to laugh.
"You know, I really feel bad about all of the shitty things that occurred in your childhood that make you so great at kicking ass," Valerie remarked, causing Rafael to smile as he turned to look at her, "But let me just say, I really needed that just now."
"I could say the same to you," He replied, letting out a large sigh, "Listen, there's something I need to tell you."
"What is it?" Valerie asked Rafael concerned as they both sat up and face each other.
"I left something out when I told you all about my dream," Rafael informed Valerie, "I just didn't want to say it in front of Hope, Alaric, and your mom."
"It can't be that bad," Valerie replied, looking a bit nervous, "Just tell me."
"I was in the library in the dream and Hope walked over to me. She was trying to kiss me and I kept trying to pull her away. She kept trying and trying, saying that you didn't have to know, but I refused. You walked in and got the wrong idea. I tried to go after you, but you told me you hated me and that you never wanted to speak to me again," He explained to her and Valerie seemed calmer than he had expected by the revelation, "I just want to tell you, I would never to do that to you. I don't like Hope like that and I never will."
"I trust you," Valerie assured, crawling over to him. She knelt in between Rafael's legs, cupping his face with her hands, "Hey," She spoke up in a hushed tone, causing Rafael to finally look her in the eyes, "I trust you, Raf. I know you won't do that. I refuse to believe history will repeat itself."
"What are you talking about?" Rafael asked her concerned.
"When Hope and I were fifteen, there was this boy. His name was Roman. Hope and I both liked him. I was friends with him at school and we sort of had this thing going on. After we got suspended for this thing we did, Roman started to get involved with Hope. Hope started to have feelings for him and stuff happened between them that led to her mother's death, but that's a whole other story. Anyways, Hope knew I liked the boy but she couldn't help herself. And Roman didn't care that he was screwing around with both of us. I stopped talking to Hope for a few months. Klaus and my mother tried everything to get us to forgive each other. We weren't the same apart from each other. Soon enough, we did." She explained before letting out a sigh, "But I won't let anything like that happen again."
_____
After Landon had gained some information about the monster, Ophelia, Hope, Alaric, and Valerie followed him into the library, "Let's pretend for a second that the research isn't wrong." Landon began to explain, "Maybe the Night Hag can't hurt us in real life. Maybe the Night Hag can't leave the astral plane and get ahold of the urn, so maybe we are not dealing with a Night Hag."
"I don't know where you grew up, but here, if it walks like a Night Hag, and talks like one, what else could it be?" Ophelia commented.
"That's exactly what I was wondering, so then I started going through all these books, and boom," Landon explained with a proud smile on his face as he showed a page in one of the mythology books.
"What's an Oneiroi?" Hope asked Landon confused.
"It's a black-winged shapeshifting dream from Greek mythology," Alaric informed the group as he picked up the book.
"Yeah, of course, he knows what it is," Landon commented, turning to Hope and Valerie.
"Well, what did you expect? It's Dr. Saltzman," Valerie replied, a smile on her face as Hope spoke up.
"Why would one monster disguise itself as another monster?" Hope asked Alaric confused, "The Oneiroi sounds freaky enough."
"Because if we knew what it actually was..." Landon trailed off before Ophelia finished for him.
"Then we'd know how to stop it," Ophelia stated and Landon nodded his head in confirmation, "Hope, please kiss your boyfriend for us."
With that, Alaric and Ophelia walked off while Hope, Landon, and Valerie met up with Rafael, MG, and Kaleb.
"A black-winged what?" Kaleb asked the three teenagers confused.
"Shapeshifting dream demon," Hope, Landon, and Valerie informed the group in unison.
"I know it sounds bad, but now that we know what the creature is, we can fight it," Hope told the group confidently.
"How the hell are we supposed to kill a dream demon?" Rafael asked Hope in disbelief.
"Leave that part to me, the only adult in the room," Ophelia suddenly spoke up, causing the group to turn to their favorite teacher as she walked closer to them, "But since I can't fall asleep again without compromising the location of the urn, I need someone else to pull it out of the dream plane and into our waking reality."
"So, Freddy Krueger," MG commented, causing Valerie to let out a sigh, "Like I said."
"Wait, how the hell are we supposed to do that?" Rafael asked yet another question.
"If it's anything like the movies, we just grab and pull," MG informed the group of teenagers, causing Ophelia to let out a large sigh.
"Yeah, okay," Kaleb sarcastically replied before turning to look at Ophelia, "Miss Ophelia, is it too late to get on the, uh, evacuation bus?"
"No," Valerie answered for her mother as she shook her head, "I mean, we're not going to ask all of you to stay for this, it has to be your choice in the matter. We won't force you."
"I'm not leaving unless Hope does," Landon spoke up.
"We already know the answer to that, so..." Hope trailed off before Rafael began to speak.
"I'm not leaving Landon and Val behind," Rafael spoke up as he stood up from his seat.
"I'm a founding member of the Super Squad, so I can't bail," MG added in, a smile on his face as he stood up also.
"Y'all gonna get yourselves killed," Kaleb commented as he let out a large sigh, "But if MG stays, I stay. No child left behind."
"In that case, it's naptime, children," Ophelia jokingly commented before beginning to walk away.
"Is this the part where we finally get to see the hot, badass side of Miss Ophelia that all the older kids are always talking about?" MG asked with a smile on his face.
"Please," Valerie groaned in frustration, "Don't talk about my mom like that in front of me."
_______
Meanwhile later, in the gym, Valerie was helping the rest of the group get the pillows and blankets ready. She stood in front of Rafael, who held her hand in his hand in his own, "Just remember, Raf," She spoke up in a calm, soothing tone, "Whatever you see in there? It's not real."
"I could say the same to you," Rafael replied, leaning forward to press a quick kiss to Valerie's forehead before having to walk away.
After the group of teens, including Valerie and Hope, laid down and soon fell asleep.
Ophelia stood in front of all the teams, making sure nothing was happening to them as they slept.
Valerie opened her eyes to find it to be nighttime. She looked down to see that she was chained to the tree.
Valerie screamed out in pain as her bone started to break, beginning to turn into a wolf, "Ah!" She yelled out as her arm cracked.
Valerie pressed her back against the tree, groaning in pain as she tried to fight her shift. Usually, whenever she turned, she let herself go free, it made it hurt less and the time passed by quicker, but at that moment, something was forcing her to fight it.
"Val," A familiar voice spoke up, causing Valerie to open her eyes to see Josie walking toward her, "Hey. Hey."
Valerie's eyes widened as Josie cupped Valerie's neck with her hands as she moved closer to her, "It's okay. I'm here now," She assured Valerie in a calm, soothing tone.
Panting for breath, Valerie quickly pushed Josie away from her, "Please, Jos. Get away, get away," She pleaded, fearing that she would hurt her.
Josie fought back, moving closer to Valerie as she held Valerie's hands in her own, "Hey, it's okay," Josie reminded her quietly, "You can't hurt me, Val."
Valerie began to quietly cry as she felt agony as she fought against shifting. Josie cupped Valerie's hand in her own, "It's okay," She repeated and Valerie grabbed onto Josie's wrists.
"I'm not afraid of hurting you, Josie," Valerie told her calmly.
"I want you, Valerie," Josie whispered to Valerie softly, leaning forward to her as she looked down at her lips, "All of you. Don't you want that, too?"
Josie smiled, leaning closer to Valerie. As their lips were about to touch, Valerie pulled away from Josie, "I would never do this to Rafael! I love him!" Valerie confessed, "This isn't real," She paused, growling at Josie, "You're not real!"
Valerie began to cry as Josie disappeared. Just then, the Night Hag appeared in Valerie, "That might be true, you wish it was, no matter how much you try to deny it. That makes you the worst kind of monster."
Valerie growled angrily, her eyes glowing yellow as lunged for the Night Hag, only to have it disappear in a cloud of black smoke.
AN: For all of you asking if Val and Josie were done for 😉😉