Villain Academy #JustWriteIt [WATTY AWARD WINNER OF 2015]

+ the 22 with the eh, Jumpstreet! +

Recap (skip italics font if you remember):

She was going to die like Roger did. And so was that shawl.

Stupid shawl.

The warmth stirred in my stomach, heat blasting through my lungs.

My mother reached forward and before I could move back, she snatched onto my wrist.

Ice cold air shot into my wrist and I yelped, staring down to see her finger quickly trace a symbol on my skin. Her nails dug harder as I tried to yank her off.

A sudden power plunged into my wrists, sucking of the heat pumping through my body and leaving my blood cold and dry.

I gasped, bones and muscles folding back into my human position. Her grasp fell loose and I dropped to the floor, knees hitting first before I bowed down in exhaustion.

"How...I thought..."

"I can't have you burn down our home, Vhalerie," she said, wrapping her knit shawl tighter around her chest.

"I...I thought heroes couldn't stop the beast transformations," I spoke, the warmth gone.

A chilly wind whirled around the room, snapping the windows shut along with the door.

"Only the heroes I teach it to can stop beast transformations. Archer wasn't one of them."

An abrupt rush of anger hit my chest. "You mean there is a way to stop beast transformations?" I pushed myself to my feet, wobbling before I grabbed onto the desk. "You mean I could've had the power to stop my beast from taking over my body whenever I could?" I straightened my back, taller than my mother now. "If I knew that trick, I wouldn't have killed Roger. Roger could be alive right now"—I launched myself forward, gripping her stupid neck—"if you taught me the damn spell?!"

I tried retracting my claws, but nothing happened.

I stared down at my wrist, the symbol still imprinted and bold.

"Vhalerie. Let. Me. Go."

I snarled and roughly released her, letting her stumble back into the desk. "Give me one good reason to not kill you."

+++

"Actually screw that question. How about I slit your skinny throat—" I latched onto the pen laying across the desk, but my mother screamed.

An invisible wave hit my ears and my grip around her loosened.

"Vhalerie."

Voices felt like needles, pain spreading into my ear and down my neck.

My knees hit the ground again. "Bitch," I hissed, lowering my head as her voice rose again.

"Vhalerie, never disobey your mother," she said, stepping around me.

"I thought shitty mothers were an exception."

Her sandal rested on my head, keeping my face pressed into the ground. "Shitty? Honey, if you stayed in Hero High as a child, no one would respect you or our family. You would've grown up to be a beast in a school of humans. I did you a favour."

She pressed her foot harder, and I held in a wince.

"You should be thanking me. I saved you years of torment," she calmly said.