A Different Breed ▻ Legacies [1]

35

While Alaric was off with Hope to go find Landon, he had placed Ophelia in charge of the Salvatore School. Ophelia led Rafael onto one of the docks near a lake that she and Alaric always used to practice combat skills with Hope and Valerie.

"Let's do this," Ophelia spoke up with a smile on her face, causing Rafael to turn to her with a confused look on his face.

"Do what?" Rafael questioned her, causing Ophelia's smile to become even wider.

"I told you I was going to help you stay in control. The first step of that is learning to fight someone without becoming so angry that you won't be able to control your actions." She explained and Rafael slightly jumped as Ophelia tossed him a long staff at vampire speed.

He quickly caught it before it could fall to the ground and Ophelia immediately picked up another for herself.

She flipped it around in her hand, getting ready for the sparring match, "Training is important," She informed him in a calm tone, "So pay attention to what I'm about to do."

Ophelia held her staff horizontally in her hand as she swung it both ways. Rafael was quickly to use his own staff to block her hits, "Good," She praised him, "Now try to stage your own hits."

Before Rafael could do so, Emma and Valerie arrived, causing Rafael to frown in confusion, "Thank you for coming, Val," Ophelia told her daughter as she turned to her.

She passed her the staff she was holding and Valerie quickly caught it, "Take over for me. Emma and I need to handle something with some of the witches," She instructed and Valerie immediately obeyed, taking a step toward Rafael.

Ophelia smiled, turning to look at Rafael, who seemed to be piecing it all together. It was the plan all along. To get Rafael to spar with Valerie instead of herself. To see how he would do. Valerie was known to taunt people during her matches. She liked to get people annoyed and ticked off enough to get them to fight without thinking. It was how she always won.

Ophelia patted Rafael on the shoulder, "Good luck," She told Rafael, sending a small smile to her daughter before leaving with Emma.

Once she was gone, Rafael turned to Valerie with a nervous look on his face, "You were in on this, weren't you?" Rafael questioned her curiously.

"We figured you could blow off some steam what with all that was going on," Valerie informed her, "Ophelia's busy running the school at the moment and as much as she wants to train with you, she can't. That's why she appointed me. The next best thing. It might feel better if you hit something, you know. Even if it's me."

"I wouldn't do that," Rafael argued, shaking his head in response to what she had said, "I don't want to hurt you."

"Hey, you might have muscle and a really bad temper, but I have years worth of training and fighting skills. I've had nearly fifteen years with my werewolf gene triggered. You've only had, like, a month," She paused, holding up to the staff with a smile on her face, "Plus, I'm pretty good with one of these."

She turned to Rafael, beginning to spin the staff around in his hand, "It will most likely make us even. At least enough to get a workout in. If not, I can use my magic powers to stop you if it goes too far."

Rafael avoided eye contact with Valerie, still hesitant to fight her, "Look, Val. I can't fight you. You could get hurt--" Before he could finish his sentence, Valerie swung her staff forward, knocking the staff out of his hand.

It made a clinking noise as it hit the ground. Rafael's mouth gaped open a bit as he looked down at the staff on the ground. Valerie walked in a circular motion around Rafael, spinning her staff in her hand, "Tell me, Raf. Are you just going to stand there all day complaining or are you going to show me what you got?"