Rafael Waithe

**Rafael Waithe** is a main character who made his debut on the first episode of *The Inner Circle*. He is a young werewolf and the foster brother of Landon Kirby. He triggered his curse when he unintentionally killed his girlfriend Cassie, in a car accident.

## Personality

Rafael is a dangerously charismatic and newly-triggered werewolf. With a combination of a pure and loyal heart mixed with a lifetime of abuse and anger, Rafael wants to be a good person but lives in a constant struggle with the emotional demons that have plagued him through a difficult childhood.

"Rafael is charismatic, loyal to a fault and values the truth above all else, no matter how hard the truth can be. His upbringing from unstable family followed by foster care has left him with some anger issues that he can't seem to shake. He was hoping the fact that him being supernatural would be the easy solution for his problems, but it's not. He believes that learning how to harness this inner monster at the school could solve all his problems and allow him to live life like the man he wants to be."

## Physical Appearance

He is a young man with a tall stature and an athletic build. He wears dark or light-colored clothing while not wearing the standard boarding school attire. He has dark brown eyes and short, slightly curled black hair.

In his wolf form, Rafael possesses black fur and has the typical glowing yellow eyes that comes with lycanthropy.

## Powers and Abilities

### Werewolf

Rafael possesses all the standard powers and abilities of a non-evolved werewolf. He has shown to be a capable fighter despite the newness of his triggering, as he was able to challenge and defeat Jed for the title of alpha, hold his own against Hope in a sparring match, and overpower Kurutta whilst under the possession of an oni.

### Hybrid

Rafael possessed all the standard powers and abilities of a non-original werewolf-vampire hybrid. Being the first successful non-original werewolf-vampire, Rafael was more powerful than non-original vampires in his age group, but was not as strong as those of greater age as shown in *Homecoming* when he was easily overpowered by Damon. However, he has been shown to be strong enough to hold his own as he was able to take on both Caroline and Stefan whilst possessed by Julian, even ripping out the latter's heart, and was shown to take on non-original vampires well above his age when he tackled Nadia - a vampire of 500 years - and temporarily overwhelmed her, long enough to bite her. He was strong enough to also hold his own against Klaus - the Original Hybrid - during his attempt to avenge his mother's death. Rafael was also particularly fast as a non-Original werewolf-vampire hybrid, being fast enough to surprise Klaus and stake him from behind. Initially he was loyal to Klaus upon his creation as a result of his sire-bond, but due to his hybrid nature, he managed to break free by transforming numerous times until the process became painless, although he would still lose control in his wolf form.

## Weaknesses

### Werewolf

Rafael has the typical weaknesses of a non-evolved werewolf.

### Hybrid

Tyler had the typical weaknesses of a non-original werewolf-vampire hybrid.