The group stared the monster down, assuming battle stances. A monster like this in the realm of fairy tales did not bode well.

"Like, do something, Christina," Shaggy whimpered.

"Trust me, I will," Christina responded firing bolts of lightning at their foe only for her magic to bounce right back at her.

"Foolish Child!" the monster hissed in a guttural voice, I am the Destiny Demon. Your magic as no effect on me."

"Boys,"

"Yes, Christina?"

"You can panic now,"

Yet again, Shaggy and Scooby hurled themselves into Christina's arms while Duncan and Dirk tried to take on the monster together. Duncan shot a stream of fire which didn't even singe the monster while Dirk went after it with his sword. Not even a cut. Cackling the monster seemed to toss Dirk through the air with a mere glance. Faybelle and Raven tried next with no avail and if it hadn't been raining Melinda would have joined them. Clawdeen wasn't even able to get close to the demon as he constantly disappeared and reappeared.

"abandon your rejection of Destiny or suffer the consequences!" the monster roared.

"Hey, Ugly!", Dingbat yelled from above, and the demon looked up in confusion.

"D'uh, here's MUD in your eye!", Numbskull squawked, hurling a mud-pie into the demon's face!

"Good job, you two!", Melinda cheered.

"Well don't just sit there!", Dingbat called. "RUN!"

Run they did. Back to the school and back to safety. Once there, they hightailed it to Melinda's dorm so they could recompose themselves.

"L-like, that was terrifying!" Shaggy gasped.

"You can say that again," Melinda nodded.

"I think that's enough for one day," Christina declared.

"So now what?" Raven asked.

"Now we eat dinner and tomorrow we see Headmaster Grimm about this Destiny Demon,"

…...

The following day, Christina and company arrived at the Headmaster's office, surprised to find Maleficent there already. She meant business when she said she would pay a visit to the headmaster. Grimm seemed frightened though he was trying to hide it.

Maleficent noticed Christina in the hall and motioned for her to join them.

"I want to know why my granddaughter was sent to her father's family instead of to me like she should have been,"

Grimm, white as a sheet scrambled for an answer.

"W-w-well, I knew your daughter had not been on sp-sp-speaking terms with you at the time, Madam Maleficent, and that Christina was unaware of your relationship, but that she d-did know of her father's family. So it seemed the best thing to do for you, Miss Shadowfae."

"THAT'S MISS 'DRACULA'! STOP TRYING TO DENY MY SCARE-ITAGE!", Christina shouted."I'm PROUD of my Dad! I'm PROUD to be half-vampire!"

Grimm wanted to scold her for using that cursed name but with Maleficent there he thought better of it.

"I'm no fool, Grimm. I know you were far too eager to ship my granddaughter off. So eager in fact that you neglected proper protocol" Maleficent hissed, "Need I remind you, Headmaster, I am one of the senior members of the school's Board of Governors? While we may find it expedient to grant you a great deal of...latitude in your management of the school as a whole, I warn you NOT to abuse that power. Even YOU can be replaced, and your brother Giles, as your Deputy-Headmaster; is a MORE than qualified candidate."

Grimm was positively shaken by the thought of being replaced. Maleficent grinned evilly at him.

"Whatever your true intentions were they backfired and I'll see to it that you're...punished for your misdeeds,"

Maleficent took her leave, her cruel laughter ringing in everyone's ears

Christina gave the headmaster a moment to compose himself before waving her friends inside.

"Headmaster, my friends and I need to speak with you,"

"About?"

"Yesterday, my friends and I were attacked,"

"Attacked? By what?"

"It calls itself the Destiny Demon,"

"Oh dear. I feared this day would come", Milton sighed dramatically, turning to look out his window. "But I knew it would eventually, ever since Ms. Queen publicly refused to sign the Storybook of Legends, inspiring others to do so as well, starting this whole 'Rebel' movement."

"What do you mean, Headmaster?", Raven asked with concern

"The Destiny Demon is an ancient being in Ever After", Grimm replied. "A minion of Diagon. Like his master, he is contained by the magick of our realm, so long as Destiny remains on course. Now, at times minor changes to the stories have occurred over time, usually for the better 'Happily-Ever-After's; like 'The Little Mermaid'. Occasionally there is no heir for a role, or the heir refused their Destiny, but another was able to sign in their place; like Ms. Thorne did for you, Ms. Shadowfae. However, these were rare, isolated incidents...until NOW. With so many Fairy Tales rejecting their Destinies at once, the Destiny Demon has broken his bonds and seeks to free his master, who will plunge Ever After into darkness and chaos."

"How can this thing free its master?", Dirk asked skeptically.

"The Destiny Demon is the origin of the 'poof'-effect", Grimm replied. "He is the one that makes those who reject their Destiny vanish from existence, so they can't change their minds and sign. With every heir and every story that ceases to exist, the magick imprisoning Diagon weakens until..."

"How can we stop him?", Duncan growled.

"The only way to stop the Destiny Demon and bind him again", Grimm said solemnly, "is for ALL the Rebels to sign their pages in the storybook of Legends before he can make them go 'poof'. That will restore the magick and lock him away once more."

"We see," Christina nodded, "Thank you, Headmaster,"

She turned on her heel leading the others out of the office and back to the safety of Melinda's dorm.

"Like, we're screwed, we should just like, go home," Shaggy sighed flopping to the floor.

"No,"

"Christina-"

"I said, NO. We aren't leaving until we find out who killed my parents! Unless you want to earn the wrath of the evilest fairy in alll of Ever After," Christina replied.

"But, we've like, got a demon after us!" Shaggy argued.

Christina tapped him on the nose, "I think, I think Headmaster Grimm was fibbing,"

"Why?" Dirk asked.

"Yesterday when we were attacked the demon told us to abandon our rejection of destiny. If he intended to make us go, poof, he would have done so months ago when you first refused to sign," she pointed out.

Shaggy gulped, "Please don't say it,"

"Say what?" she smirked.

"Please, I'm like begging you here, please don't,"

Clawdeen and Duncan caught on, turning to grin at the trembling duo.

"Well, guys-"

"No,"

"It looks like-"

"PLEASE?"

"We have a mystery on our hands!" Christina finished.

"NOOOOOOO!"

"Stop being so dramatic," Christina laughed.

"So, we aren't going to find out who murdered Aunt Alissa and Uncle Radu?" Faybelle asked pointedly.

"Oh, we'll find out I swear!" Christina replied.

"Where do we go from here then?"

"We look for clues,"

/

Yes, It's shorter than I would have liked but it's been months and I've been itching to update this story so here ya go.

A big thank you to DRAGONDAVE45 for his help with this chapter.

Please, Review while I try to plot some clues.