𝟙.𝟚: 𝕊𝕠𝕞𝕖 ℙ𝕖𝕠𝕡𝕝𝕖 𝕁𝕦𝕤𝕥 𝕎𝕒𝕟𝕥 𝕋𝕠 𝕎𝕒𝕥𝕔𝕙 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕎𝕠𝕣𝕝𝕕 𝔹𝕦𝕣𝕟

—Narrator's perspective—

Arabella had yet to decide if she should stay quiet and let them fight this, or cut in before Hope can actually crucify a human being for lying. Either way, she was having a very entertaining event occuring in front of her when the witch pushed Landon to a wall using her magic.

"Where's the knife?" Hope asked, hand still up to keep him against the wall.

"I don't have it. I must've lost it when I ran." He defended in a shaky tone.

"After you burned the bus?"

"That wasn't me, I swear! I barely got out alive."

Rafael spared a look to Hope. "Hope come on— Arabella help us!" He looked at the one leaning on a wall unfazed. Clearly staying out of it for their sake.

"Last chance." Hope warned stepping forward, might be a tad grateful that Arabella didn't stop her from interrogating Landon on the knife. "Who the hell was it?

Landon finally broke, "There was this girl..." He then started to explain what occured on the bus, leaving Hope to ponder in her thoughts if he was lying or not.

"Ara?" She turned to the girl who had her arms crossed the entire time with a blank look. Her purple eyes looked up to her and hummed in question. "Is he lying?"

"What— now the girl is a lie detector?" Rafael scoffed indirectly and rolled his eyes.

"Technically yes since she can hear Landon's heartbeat while beating the crap out of you if you won't shut up and let her hear." Hope sneered and turned back to the girl in anticipation.

Arabella looked at Landon, voicing out Rafael's complaints saying this was ridiculous. She could hear it faintly, his heartbeat was going through the roof but he was also afraid of what Hope will do so she wasn't sure what to say.

"I have no clue since he's so scared of what you will do to him if I say he's lying." She gave up, crossing her arms in a huff while refusing to meet Hope's eyes.

"You have every right to be mad at me, But I am telling you the truth." Landon cutted in. "Come on man, help me." He pleaded at Raf who was kneeling besides him.

Rafael looked back up at Hope. "I believe him."

"You believe that a fire-breathing woman burned the bus alive?" She ironically asked pointing at the human who was still panting.

"Yeah." Rafael stood up.

"And Landon happened to be spared?" She asked again, getting mad by the second of how they are wasting time of Landon's lies.

"He told you that he ran."

"And conveniently lost the knife on the way." She argued back, glaring at Raf who said 'yes'.

Landon looked up again. "She kept coming at me like she was gonna take it from me. She was burning everything in her path." He explained more which was no use seeing as Hope was still pissed.

"What were you doing with the knife anyways, Landon?" Arabella asked, pushing herself off the wall and looked at the boy on the floor.

"I don't remember stealing it!" He defended again, by now he realises his words was only making much less and less sense.

Hope scoffed. "Ofcourse not. How about pretending to be compelled?" By time and time again, her tone was reminding Arabella of how Klaus would act like this but much more vicious. Somewhat made her feel happy on the inside.

"That was to avoid being thrown back in the werewolf dungeon!" Landon stood up and raised his finger up as a matter of fact.

"Transitional cellar." She remarked.

"Small spaces! Hope, you have to understand, Dr. Saltzman had already told me the school wasn't gonna let me stay. If he thought I'd talk he'd lock me back up. There wasn't a good ending for me." By now he was standing up and coming close to the girl which lead to Arabella to have to push him backwards before he can get a step closer to the witch. "I didn't want to steal from you and I don't want a fire-breather chasing me. I'm sorry for all of it." He now finished and backed away, pacing around.

"He's not lying. I know him. Now, If he says that there's a fire-breathing woman running through the woods, then there is a—" His words got cut short when Alaric was rushing down stairs hurriedly.

When he got down, "—There's a fire-breathing woman running through the woods." He panted and realised what was happening here which lead his gaze to Arabella who know she was screwed. "Did I or did I not say 'Don't engage'?" He asked.

"He's only dangerous if crappy apologies can kill." Hope answered turning to Alaric.

"Looks can be deceiving. Now our bus refugee turns out she's a pyromancer."

Landom stammered, "Wait, wh-what's a pyromancer?" He asked.

"A fire-breathing witch." Hope breathed out, couldn't believe that the human was telling the truth all along. Rafael lets out a chuckle in the irony of their situation which everyone ignored. "Ric, she wants the knife."

"Okay, well, where is it?" He asked and everyone looked at Landon, waiting for an answer.

"I-I lost it in the woods, I was running around in circles all night trying to find a place to hide." He answered sighing, leaning on the wall behind him.

Alaric sighed, "Okay, Okay. Well, let's uh, find it before she does, huh?" He asked and everyone agreed. Arabella and Ric was the first to leave. "I told you to keep an eye out."

"They were already fighting and ranting." She defended in an offensive tone once they got up to fresh air. Hope looked at them weirdly before shaking it away and went besides Arabella.

They soon stopped when the same bus refugee was already there. She clearly wanted something.

"We don't want any trouble." Alaric said, looking at the woman with slight fear trembled his tone. The pyromancer held her hand out, gesturing for them to give them what she wanted.

Then, her eyes darted to Landon and still holding her hand out. "What does she want?" Rafael asked, looking over his brother.

"I don't know..." His voice trailed off, making Arabella scoff when she heard his heartbeat skip a beat.

"Now he's lying." She called out and Hope looked at her before turning to Landon in annoyance.

"Maybe she wants the knife you said you don't have." She hinted with a tight smile on her face.

The conversation didn't end well seeing as their pyromancer friend's face glow red, inhaling and it alarmed Alaric who told them to go back to the cellar which they did. Fire was already coming out her mouth when they got in, shutting the door for them.

"Where the hell is it?!" Hope sneered, looking over at Landon who was guilty and pulled the knife out of his inside pocket.

"I'm sorry. I panicked." He showed the knife which Arabella quickly took in anger for lying once again.

"What the hell, Lan?" Rafael heaved out in disappointment for lying to him.

The fire still pushed the doors, it slowly making their way to them. "Doors." Alaric called out which Hope handled immediately.

"Addiuuatur." She spelled and soon enough, the doors stayed shut with no problem of fire ever coming in their way. "Okay, it's a quick fix. It won't last long."

"All right, great, I need a cell phone." Alaric informed and looked at them all but no one seemed to budge other than Landon who pointed at a barrel sitting in the corner.

"Take your pick."

Arabella was the first to give in and walked

to where he pointed, a bunch of jewellery, phones, money sitting on a barrel like it was normal.

"Are you kidding me?" The Vampire sighed out, looking over at Hope who was already looking at it confused. Alaric found a phone which he didn't hesitate to dial a cell. "It's from

the people in the bus." She clicked her tongue, showing them an i.d of the bus driver.

They all turned their attention to Landon who was stammering again. "I didn't bring it here—"

"—If he says 'I swear' one more time, I'm gonna melt him." Hope sneered at Rafael and Arabella who snickered at how hilarious this all looked. Though the remark sent Landon silent.

"Is this funny to you, Arabella?" Rafael questioned, taunted the girl in front of him. Great, after going Hope he still shot at Vampire who can kill him.

"Want me to lie, Rafael?" She forced a teasing look and almost made the wolf jump on her but Hope stepped forward to Arabella, putting her hand up as a warning to the boy.

"If you take one more step I'll just as much melt you too." She warned making Rafael take a calmer and back away. To distract them, Dorian was on the other line, them telling him on what's been happening.

It came to a conclusion to Dorian. "Dragons!" He peaked up making the ones in the cellar frown in confusion.

"what?"

"Dragon. She steals treasure, Breathes fire, hides the loot in her lair. She's— She's not a pyromancer, She's a—"

"—Dragons don't exist, or look like normal people." Alaric cut him off by his crazy conclusion of an idea.

"There was a time we would have said that about vampires." Dorian stated.

Alaric scoffs in a forceful manner seeing as they has no other option but to believe that. "Okay fine she's a, human dragon. now what?"

"In anything I've ever read the way to take out a dragon, you need a buttload of courage and a sword."

Hope looked up in realisation and so did Arabella whom tossed her the knife which she swiftly caught holding it up. "How 'bout a knife?"

☘︎︎

Arabella was now waiting for the right time to pounce the dragon. Her ears perked up when she heard Hope speak. "Didn't anyone ever tell you smoking's bad for you?" She just pushed the woman away using magic. When it stood up again and walked closer to Hope, she gave it a stern look. "I know. Quitting's hard." The dragon didn't hesitate and breathed our a large amount of fire making Hope put the knife up. "Scutum." She spelled and it stopped it from coming to her.

Arabella was just about to rush to her but remembered the plan and picked up a rock, throwing it harshly to the dragon who stopped the fire and backed down and walked closely to where Hope was.

"Took you long enough." She muttered at Arabella who lets out an innocent look.

"Weighing out my options on pretty or lethal." She joked and could have sworn a chuckle escaped Hope's lips. "Alley-oop." Ara said and Hope nodded, tossing it to Rafael who was already in the air, catching the knife midair and stabbing the dragon to its chest once they landed.

Arabella sighed out in relief. "Thought you tripped and died on your way here." She joked and Rafael rolled his eyes, ignoring her and took the knife off the woman.

"Promise kept." He said and gave it to Hope who took it, having no choice but to do just that.

"You three all right?" Alaric and Landon came out the cellar, walking towards them. "Let's give her a proper burial. See if you can find a shovel." He said to Rafael who went back to the cellar followed by Hope and Landon.

Arabella stayed her ground, sitting on a stump near the body. Times like this she wished that she could die... Seriously, a dragon? Who writes this stuff?

Then, she found herself looking at the body transform into something much more worse than she could lay eyes on. "Ric... Ric!" She shouted and he turned around and saw the dragon at its final form.

"God this looks weird." Arabella sighed out, going alongside of him while they look at it.

"Dr. Saltzm...an." Hope Voice trailed away when they saw the once fire-breathing woman they know, turn into a dragon. "Oh, my god."

The dragon flapped its wings and took off the air. "Was... was that a—?"

"—You guys go. Get to the car and get out of here." Hope instructed and threw the shovel away.

"What about you?" Rafael asked

"I have an idea." She urged and turned back to Arabella who nodded knowingly.

"What?"

Hope pulled out the knife from her pocket and showed it to Alaric. "She wants this. She's going to be back."

"All right, you two go to the car. I'll meet you there, go go." He said to Landon and Rafael who wasted no time on running away. "You wake up with a death wish today?"

"Something like that." Hope replied, looking over the Vampire who's eyes stayed glue to the sky in hopes of finding the dragon. "Give me your hand." She said to Arabella who did nothing but that.

Hope sliced her hand using the knife making her teeth clench and groan. "Maybe a warning was too much to ask." She said through the gritted teeth but Hope just apologised wholeheartedly and held her hand tightly, despite the blood for her to channel the Vampire.

The dragon came back, circling the sky. "Now it's coming back, now what?" Alaric asked while having his gaze on the dragon.

"You should take cover." Hope adviced.

"Like hell." He snorted stubbornly.

Hope turned around still holding Arabella's hand tight. "Then tell me how I'm gonna explain to your daughters that all that's left of you is hot ash."

"The dad card? That's a low blow." He sounded offensive but it didn't matter seeing as an actual real life dragon was flapping its wings at them. "All right." He finally said and turned around to leave.

Hope pulled the paper out of her pocket. "I'm surprised. I thought you'll tell Ric about this." She waved the paper to Arabella who scoffed.

"You weren't actually going to do it Hope. No matter what Landon did, You were still let him breathe even if he lied." Her eyes was still glued to the sky, shadow of rhe dragon was on them. "Are you gonna start chanting or am I suppose to be worried?" Arabella asked and now looked at the witch who nodded, and placed the knife up after dropping the paper which she read.

"Tenebris anima vestra contundito mortem Et conteret spiritum. Frange vitam." Hope started and all that Arabella could do was stand there and pray that she doesn't have to wake up covered in ash.

All she saw was a bright light looming and then dropped to the floor besides Hope.

☘︎︎