(A/N): We finally get to catch up with Jo and Danniel, and Danniel catches Jo up, before Herc and Shari arrive and catch them BOTH up. This is primarily a recount of things we've seen previously, so you can probably skip it if you simply can't slog through it, but it does explain how Jo and Danniel (particularly Jo) feel about these things, and bridges the gap a bit between this chapter and the next Jo pov'd chapter, which isn't the next 'Ellwood Clan' based chapter, but the one after that- so, not 508, but 511.

Welp, so, update after I wrote the above author's note: I decided to swap chapters around in order to make a different chapter line up for the special Valentine's Day chapter. Technically, only two chapters needed to move in terms of order of publishing, but I decided I wanted two of the later chapters- which are 'past arc' chapters- to be closer together, interspersed with either Ellwood Clan led chapters or Hogwarts group led chapters, which meant I had to do a bit more moving around. And by that, I mean the numbers above are wrong, and the next Ellwood clan based chapters are now 511 and 513... I think. In the author's note of each chapter I'll tell you what chapter number it was originally, just in case you're curious, but since they're different arcs, the order doesn't really matter outside of their own context, which remains the same. By that I mean, the chapter that follows on from this one in this arc will still be the next chapter in this arc, no changes there, it's just going to be uploaded five chapters after this one instead of two.

This chapter was originally 506, and remains, 506.

Trigger Warnings: Threats/recounts of violence.

Jo

If Danniel didn't stop humming, I was going to kill him. Clan rules be damned, if he didn't shut up, I was going to take matters into my own hands- and take his head in my hands, and rip it off of his body. He'd arrived about an hour after he'd originally disappeared with Leo- so much for none of us being alone, I guess- but my annoyance at his temporary desertion was put aside, as he filled me in on everything that had happened in the brief time I'd been away from the rest of the clan.

The first thing he said upon apparating in, and subsequently scared me half to death- the other half- was that Leo had punched Greygorry in the face. Danniel sounded delighted by this, for whatever reason- he always seemed excited by Leo's strength, and especially his more... violent, displays of it, but this was... this seemed different; like he was almost proud of Leo for being willing to use that strength... which I thought was probably a good thing, since knowing Leo, he was most likely already drowning in guilt over it. As I found out, Leo hadn't just hit Greygorry hard enough to break his nose- fair, and to be expected- but also both of his eye sockets and his neck, to boot. Wow. I'd been curious about what could possibly make Leo lose his cool like that, but in the end, the answer was predictable- Elaine.

Apparently, Greygorry had compared her to her father- Tarea Hugar, his name was, and it appeared both Greygorry and Jerremyah had a complicated- or maybe not so complicated- history with him. It made perfect sense to me; if Jerremyah went around turning people two at a time, and that wasn't something shocking or really even of note, of course he'd attracted the attention of the Hunters, as much as he'd tried to imprint on us the importance of avoiding such a thing. From that point, Danniel went on to tell me about how Leo had, in fact, reacted poorly after his impromptu act of violence, but not in the way I expected- instead of guilt over hurting Greygorry, it was fear... fear that he'd alienated himself from the rest of the clan, by resorting to said violence.

Luckily, according to Danniel, Lisbet had made it clear to him that this wasn't the case, and the conversation moved on to other things- like the fact that Greygorry had been a spy for his sire, taking information about Leo back to her in order to help her fulfill her promise to protect him, on the behalf of some unknown entity. Speaking of which- Leo needing protecting- Greygorry had informed all of them that his sire was part of a governing vampire committee, and said vampire committee- along with most of Europe- were not only well aware of Leo's existence, but had been since quite soon after his birth.

Danniel, of course, wasn't all that interested in this information- at least in this moment- but immediately moved to a more gripping subject... the fact that not only had Leo fed from Elaine, but she'd asked him to do so- and he hadn't lost control. Danniel told me that Leo said he'd made sure she had vervain on hand to prevent him from going too far, but they hadn't had to make use of it; obviously, Danniel was ecstatic about this, seeing as Leo was typically the closest approximation we had of our own- maybe slightly more advanced- capabilities, but... I wasn't sure we were quite that similar, anymore. In fact, I didn't know if we'd ever been in the same league; maybe Leo had always been in a league all his own and had just let us believe we were closer than we actually were- whether he believed it himself, or not.

Upon noticing my lack of excitement- well, I was happy for Leo and his progress, I just didn't assume they also applied to us- Danniel moved on to what he thought might brighten my mood... Elaine's threat against Jerremyah, in her letter to Leo. It was, admittedly, quite amusing- if ever so slightly worrying, since we'd recently received the reminder that she came from Hunter roots... and as much as I thought she wouldn't apply that sort of knowledge to any of us- especially Leo- I knew that on the off chance she did... it would absolutely wreck Leo. Seeing my concern but most likely not knowing the cause, Danniel changed the topic- to another secret Leo had been keeping from us. Apparently, there was another half-vampire at Leo's magic school, by the name of Dahrya- and according to Leo, she was Greygorry's daughter. Which, it seemed, Greygorry had been entirely unaware of.

He also, eventually, told me a few more things- about how Jerremyah had been the one to fix Leo's hand with a kind of unexpected tenderness; how Leo had stolen the vervain from a Professor's personal storeroom and it wasn't the first time he'd done so, and about Jonothan's sire- and following that, Jerremyah's sire, as well. Our grand-sire, I guess. There was also a brief mention of an old friend of Lisbet's who happened to be a werewolf, but either I couldn't absorb any more information by that point or Danniel's explanation was lacking, because I definitely felt like I'd missed something. Or... everything, if I'm honest.

We passed the time by talking- which got boring fast, considering we'd already talked plenty- playing games like rock, paper, scissors, and a very intense makeshift hopscotch, or spying on the two present Folley's. When we'd first started taking shifts watching over them, the older vampires had been very careful to impress on us the importance that while we were, technically, invading the Folley's privacy, we shouldn't push that further, and actively try to... well, get weird with it. As such, we did our best not to pay attention to certain bodily functions, and made sure not to hold any of the things they did while under the impression that they were alone against them. We did, however, take great pleasure in monitoring them, and tallying certain things- like how often they drank water versus tea or other beverages, how often they stumbled or fumbled an object, and how often they sang or whistled a tune. It was boring, but it kept us sane- or, as sane as we'd ever been, anyway- and time passed freely until some of our clan members finally saw fit to come and relieve us.

We'd been here, alone, for over a day- roughly forty hours, to be slightly more precise- when Shari and Herc arrived, having apparated a little further out and then walked the remaining distance so there was no risk of them spooking the Folley's. When they finally got within ten to twenty feet of us, I opened my mouth to greet them, but before I could actually say anything, they both beat me to the punch.

"Hermanito wants to train," Herc said quietly, calmly- only to be almost drowned out by Shari.

"Leo had a nightmare!" She blurted in a voice absolutely coated with concern, and when Herc shot a sideways glance at her with one dark brow raised, she flushed as though she was embarrassed. "I- I don't know what that was," She admitted. "It just came out. Still... they need to know, if either of them is going to see him anytime soon, considering- well... the smell seems determined to stick around."

Danniel and I shared a look, both of our brows furrowed. "What do you mean, 'the smell'? Dreams don't typically smell, do they?" By the look on Shari's face, I knew we were about to learn something new- but whether that would be about being a vampire, or about Leo, I couldn't tell just yet.

"Dreams- and nightmares- don't have a smell, but... emotions do. More specifically, fear- terror- has an awful stench... and currently, Leo reeks of it."

(A/N): Hermanito = Little brother (Colombian Spanish)