"To the roof and back in twenty seconds?" A girl asked Landon, Rafael and Ruby, in disbelief. "Or we double your money." Ruby declared, as Rafael frowned at her for a moment, feeling like this was a stupid idea. "You're on. Ten bucks!" The girl decided, before she pulled out her phone from her back pocket and started a timer.

Landon clapped Rafael affectionately on the back. "You can do it Rafi." Ruby nudged him, encouragingly, as she could imagine them eating burgers, already.

Rafael, getting himself psyched up, nodded in agreement, "Yes!" Landon boomed excitedly in response. The girl set the timer before looking at Rafael as though he's already behind. "Twenty... Nineteen..."

Rafael rushed toward a wooden staircase in the alley, quickly rushing up the steps before leaping onto the railings. He hesitated for a moment and looked over at Landon, who nodded in reassurance, before squatting so he can leap almost six feet into the air. He grabbed onto the fire escape ladder quickly climbed it all the way to the top of the building. "He's not gonna make it." The girl said as Ruby just laughed, "Just you watch." She insisted.

Rafael, hearing this comment, looked over the edge of the roof before deciding to take his chance and simply leapt over the edge, landing on his feet with ease with one second to spare. Everyone else in the crowd, including Ruby, look impressed.

The timer went off, and everyone began to cheer and clap for him, Ruby and Rafael fistbumped, as Ruby offered her twin an impressed smile. The girl looked at Landon, with exasperation. What can I say? My boy's on fire." Landon said. "Pay up, love." Ruby added with a smirk.

"Triple or nothing!" A new voice suddenly spoke, as Rafael and Ruby's jaws dropped open in shock. Landon chuckled nervously. "Sir, we've already taken your money twice." He reminded the man. The man smiled at them before holding up a hundred dollar bill. "How about a hundred? But I want him to do it in ten seconds."

Rafael looked at the man, feeling uneasy. Ruby smirked, thinking of all of the burgers they could buy with a hundred dollar bill. She shared a look with Rafael before chirping, "Start the clock."

❤︎

Alaric rushed to his office, stopping when he realised he was being followed by Monica as he heard her heels tapping on the floor behind him. "Monica, what are you doing?" He asked, turning to the girl. Monica shrugged, "Coming with you, obvi." She replied as Alaric frowned and went to protest but Monica quickly replied, "You're human. I think you need a protector as neither of your daughters are able to protect right now. So, what are we doing, Ric?"

Alaric moved behind his desk, opening the lid to a pottery piece to find a key to unlock his middle drawer. Inside was the mysterious knife, which he grabbed quickly, showing it to Monica. "Luring the gargoyle away from the school."

Alaric then jogged back into the hallway, the blade clutched tightly in his right fist, Monica beside him. He slowly walked through the hall when he heard a snarling noise further into the building. The duo followed the sound.

Monica could sense something and turned toward a classroom entrance, where the gargoyle was standing, with its eyes closed. Alaric gulped worriedly as he stood face-to-face with it. "Ric— what are you doing?" Monica whispered hastily. Alaric ignored her and stared at the statue for a long moment, and when he doesn't open his eyes, he attempted to stab the gargoyle with the mystical knife.

The gargoyle suddenly opened its eyes and grabbed Alaric by the arm before the blade could even touch it. Monica then vamp sped towards the gargoyle and Ric, pulling the headmaster away from the monster. She then attempted to attack the gargoyle, which didn't harm it in anyway and only made it more angry. It's glare deepened on the vampire, deciding she was it's target.

❤︎

Landon, Rafael and Ruby were back at their campsite, where Landon was grinning as he counted their money. Ruby and Rafael were laying against a fallen tree trunk next to him, eating burgers and looking content as they laughed with a mouthful of food.

"Well, this is more like it." Ruby said, thrilled as Rafael offered his sister a proud smile. "Get used to it." Landon said, before the three fist bump each other happily. 

Landon suddenly seemed worried and looked around the woods. Ruby noticed this and frowned, "Everything okay?" She asked. Landon immediately put on a fake smile and shuffled the cash in his hands. "Yeah... It's all good."

Landon folded up the cash and put it into his inner jacket pocket. Worried that someone was after them, Landon anxiously began gathering their things. "We should get out of here. Come on, Ruby, Raf. Let's go."

"Why? Yo, this is a perfectly good spot, bro." Rafael insisted, not wanting to leave. "We should keep moving." Landon responded, not answering their question as he puts on his backpack and starts to walk away.

Ruby, realising that he's once again hiding something from him, runs after him. "Lan!!" She called out annoyedly, as he stopped in his tracks letting her reach him. The boy hesitantly turned around, to face his sister.

"We're not going anywhere until you tell us what's up." Ruby declared, placing a hand on her hip. Landon hesitated for a moment, anxiously looking around to see if anyone had found them yet. He then turned to Ruby and was about to explain himself, though before he can say anything, he's suddenly hit in the neck with a tranquilizer dart.

Landon made a choking sound before he collapsed onto the ground, unconscious. Ruby, panicked and tried to wake him, but he was already passed out. Rafael quickly got onto his feet and rushed over to the pair. "Lan. Lan!"

Realising that Landon had his reasons for being concerned (although he didn't feel like sharing them with the twins), Ruby and Rafael both looked around to try to find the shooter, only for Rafael to be shot in the neck with an identical dart which knocked him out as well. "Rafi!" Ruby yelled, before she felt a stinging pain in her neck, as everything went black.

❤︎

"Raf? Ruby?!" Landon's voice could be heard, as Ruby finally became conscious. Her eyelids slowly opened as she asked, "Lan? Raf? You okay?"

"I don't think any of us are..." Rafael responded as Ruby finally opened her eyes to realise that they'd all been tied to trees. "What the fuck!" Ruby blurted out, as she looked around to find the culprit for all of this. "Better off than him." Landon confessed, bringing the twins attention to a skeleton that was nearby.

After a moment, the trio were all startled by the sound of footsteps approaching them from the other direction, and they both turned to see another person, unfamiliar to them. Rafael and Ruby returned to trying to break through the chains, while Landon watched anxiously, only for a male voice to call out to them.

"Relax, both of you." The man pulled down his hood, revealing that it was Jeremy Gilbert, a supernatural hunter. "I am not here to hurt you."

Ruby looked at Jeremy warily, as Rafael was visibly suspicious of him as well. "Who are you?" Landon asked as Jeremy held up a pair of bolt cutters and smirked.

"Your new best friend." Jeremy replied as the twins frowned before giving eachother a worried glance. "We're gonna die by the hands of a stranger in a hoodie, with a pair of bolt cutters." Ruby thought to herself.

❤︎

"What are you doing here?!" Alaric asked, as he and Monica bumped into Hope, in the hallway. Hope seemed startled, as she wasn't expecting to run into Alaric so soon. "Oh, my God. You scared me!" The Mikealson insisted.

"Dorian was supposed to keep you away." Alaric deadpanned Hope. "He tried. He lost. But here—" Hope held out a small, thin and old book with a triskelion printing on the front, titled Medieval French Folklore.

Monica peered over at the book, examining the cover. "Killing Gargoyles 101. He thought you could translate it." Hope explained before Alaric groaned when he realised that the book isn't in English, despite the English title.

"Gaulish. Son of a—" Alaric stopped himself, not wanting to swear in front of the students. Hope and Monica impatiently tried to redirect him to the task at hand.

"So, are we on our own, or did the Gauls provide clear instructions?" Monica asked, crossing her arms as she impatiently tapped her foot, wanting to defeat the monster already. Alaric took a deep breath and closed the book. "In a nutshell, it says Hit hard. Repeat as needed." Alaric admitted.

Suddenly, stomping footsteps were heard, before a loud shriek followed, belonging to the gargoyle. Hope, Monica and Alaric were all startled by the sounds, before Hope looked to the pair with her eyes widened, "Is that...?"

Monica gave Hope a quick nod, trying to hide that she was frightened by the gargoyle. The thumping steps of the gargoyle caused the overhead lights in the hallway swing around, and Alaric tried to quickly recap what has happened before they were to defeat the creature.

"Yeah. Listen, it poisoned Lizzie— I'm guessing to get my attention. Then it attacked me and took the knife." Alaric explained hurriedly. "The knife? The dragon knife? And you're still breathing?" Hope asked. "Oh, I have a theory about that—"

"Well, save it, because we had to take down that containment spell to get inside the school, meaning our monster can get out." Hope sighed impatiently. "A containment spell?" Monica asked, raising an eyebrow as Alaric thought for a moment before he realised what Lizzie had done, "Lizzie wanted to make sure whatever attacked her didn't escape into the world." He then smiled proudly, "Good girl."

"All right. Well, I guess we better find it—" Alaric grunted as he wrenched an axe off the wall before returning to where Monica and Hope were standing, "Before it makes the evening news."

Monica turned to Hope, "So, how'd you take the containment spell down?" She asked, confusedly. Hope opened her mouth to answer, but before she could, Josie's voice called out from behind them. "She didn't."

Alaric turned and looked at Josie in surprise, noticing the determined yet annoyed look on her face. "I did." Josie added before she yanked the axe out of Alaric's hands and continued to give him a serious look. "And I have questions."

❤︎

Now freed from the restraints, Ruby glanced over at the dead body that laid nearby. "Who is that?" She asked curiously and concernedly, before she turned to Jeremy. "A werewolf hunter." Jeremy answered as Rafael looked at Jeremy in disbelief, "Is that really a thing?"

Jeremy nodded, "You're new to this. You probably think that being supernatural gives you the upper hand. It doesn't. This world is a scary place for someone like you, especially when you're dumb enough to use your powers in public." He explained to the siblings.

"So, what, you go around saving new werewolves, or what?" Ruby asked, her arms crossed, as she was trying to understand. Jeremy turned to her, "The name's Jeremy. I've known Alaric since I was a kid, and now I work for him sometimes. He told me to track you three and make sure that you stay out of trouble, which, apparently, you suck at."

Jeremy turned to look at Rafael, "And that note? That was supposed to scare you to safety." Jeremy declared but Ruby and Rafael both looked completely confused, not knowing what he was talking about. "What note?" The twins both asked in unison.

Landon sighed realising he'd be caught in a lie sooner or later. Ruby, Rafael and Jeremy watched as he reached into his inner jacket pocket and pulled out the five dollar bill with a warning written on it. Run wolf, or die

The Kirby handed the note to Rafael so he and Ruby could read it. Jeremy, sensing the tension between the siblings, decided to awkwardly excuse himself and give them some privacy.

"I'm gonna go grab the shovels. Once we bury the body, I'll bring you guys to school." Jeremy explained as Rafael (who was visibly furious), waited until Jeremy walked away before confronting Landon. "What happened to no more lies?" He snapped, as both the Waithe twins looked at him, disappointedly.

"You guys gave up a lot, coming out here with me. We were having fun today— the kind of fun you haven't let yourself have since Cassie died, Raf. When I saw the note and knew it was all gonna go to hell, I just..." Landon sighed, unable to put it into words better than that, "I just froze. I'm... I'm sorry, guys. I'm sorry. You should go with him. Honestly, you're probably better off without me anyway."

Rafael who was clearly conflicted, sighed, "I never thanked either of you for that. After Cassie, you guys were there— like, all in. It might not have seemed like I appreciated it." Rafael admitted, holding back tears as he thought about his late girlfriend, and how much his siblings . "I did. So, let's do what we gotta do here, then let's go back to school."

Ruby gave her brother a sympathetic smile, "Of course Rafi... we're always here for you." She insistes. Landon just gave him a tired look, "They don't want me there."

Rafael's tone of voice made it clear that he won't take no for an answer, "We're not going without you. All in." He reminded the Kirby before turning to Ruby who had a proud smile. "All in!" She added, glancing to Landon who smiled back at her, feeling grateful to have the Waithe twins as his siblings.