Title: Manor House
Summary: Manor House is a home for troubled boys. Bonnie Bennett moves to the sleepy town of Mystic Falls in order to work with the boys on the demons haunting their lives. It helps that Bonnie knows a few things about demons.
Theme: Completely AU, Supernatural, Horror, Romance
Characters: Bonnie(23)/OC, Bonnie/Damon(17), Bonnie/Stefan(15), Bonnie/Tyler(16), Bonnie/Klaus(17), Bonnie/Matt(15), Bonnie/Elijah(18), Bonnie/Kol(16), Bonnie/OC (18), Bonnie/Alaric(25), Bonnie/OC (27)
Multi-Chapter Warnings: Minor! Dub-con, language, violence…
A/N: I've taken liberties with the character's ages and backgrounds for the purpose of the story. I've also made changes to the town of Mystic Falls, mostly cosmetics.
Chapter 1: Manor House
Bonnie Bennett hadn't had high hopes for Mystic Falls, Virginia. It was a small town, one that she'd never heard of before and one that she hadn't been able to locate on the map when she'd searched, but it had surprisingly enough made a good first impression on her. When she'd stepped off the train she'd landed on a clean station platform decorated with neatly plotted plants and brightly painted benches. The station master had been a bubbly older man with a god awful yellow and purple polka dot tie, a birthday present from his grandson he'd said, who'd only been too happy to call a cab for her and gossip about the town while she waited for it to arrive. By the time her ride pulled up Bonnie knew where the local grocery store was, who ran the best bar in town, and that Mr. Tule, the owner of the bank, took the train every second Sunday to go visit his mistress Penelope in the next town over.
After thanking the station master for his time, and his help loading her bags, Bonnie left the jolly old man to his work and entered her cab. It took her a minute to rattle off the unfamiliar address of her destination, but then they were off. As the cab rolled down the streets of Mystic Falls Bonnie felt herself relax into the leather seats of the car. The town looked quiet, but friendly. The shops lining the streets the cab passed were bright and open. Wide windows lined the front of the shops and the shop's names were beautifully scripted in frosted letters across them. Colorfully striped awnings were hanging over brightly painted doors and welcome mats. Past the shops the streets changed from neatly paved asphalt to a more historic cobblestone. Here there were large old buildings with neat signs declaring, "Mystic Falls Public Library," "County Court House," and "Civic Building." The people moving about, coming in and out of the buildings, all looked important. Their strides were long and purposeful in their tailored slacks and skirts and the briefcases and folders they carried were no doubt filled with important proposals and missives. Bonnie quickly turned her attention from them, the eager faces of the civic workers reminded her too much of her estranged political minded father, and instead admired the pretty landscapes of the county buildings until the cab passed them by.
The scenery beyond changed once again. The cobblestone gave way to packed dirt and the civic buildings gave way to large farmsteads. The farmsteads sat further from the roads than the shops or the civic buildings had and were hard to see, but many of them had large fenced off areas in the front where Bonnie could see a few horses and cows grazing. By now they were farther out than Bonnie had thought Mystic Falls went and just when she was about to ask the cab driver if he was sure he knew where he was going the cab began rolling to a stop.
"Miss? We're at your address," the cab driver's voice jerked Bonnie up, mostly in surprise… because there was absolutely nothing here.
"Are you sure?" Bonnie couldn't help but ask as she gingerly exited the cab. She turned around wondering if she'd missed something, but she hadn't. There were no buildings around here that she could see. There was a nice sized hill to her right and across the road on the left was the beginning of what looked like a forested area.
"Yep, this is it. The path is a little hidden because of the trees, but it is here," the cab driver assured her as he headed to the trunk to grab her things. Bonnie, still a bit skeptical, followed him to the back of the cab to help. He seemed to notice her hesitation and laughed while slapping her on the back hard enough to make her body pitch forward a bit. "Relax little miss, the path through the forest is too narrow for cars. We'll have to take one of the golf carts they leave at the front up the path."
"Oh, okay," Bonnie accepted readily enough and the sight of the mention golf carts and a path that was indeed too narrow for the cab car relieved her of any lingering anxious feelings.
It took the both of them less than a minute to load the cart with her luggage, and then they were off. The path was little more than a stretch of dirt where the bushes and trees of the forest had been cut down. It was easy for a person to miss, impossible for a car to enter, and made for a very bumpy ride in a golf cart. With a frown Bonnie felt her spirits start to fade. With an entrance like this how nice could main building be?
Her disappoint didn't have long to fester before the cart cleared the path and entered into a wide open clearing that had Bonnie quickly retracting her earlier thoughts.
"Well, here we are. This is Manor House," the cab driver announced cheerily.
"Oh, wow," she murmured as exited the cart.
Before her stood probably the prettiest grounds she'd ever seen. Large round flat stones red, gray, and white in color served as walkways between the three buildings that Bonnie could see. The first was the largest and, Bonnie supposed, also the main building. The front was hexagon in shape with the exterior done in a buttery cream shade of stucco. Large bay windows trimmed in white were fixed on each angled wall with the main doors fixated in the middle. The rest of the structure behind the hexagon was in a simple rectangle shape dotted with the same white bay windows, but with the exterior lined in aluminum sliding in a darker tan shade. Large pink hydrangeas edged around the building and two green park benches were parked on either side of the front door facing the large white stone fountain in the middle of the main building's entry grounds. She wanted to go closer and get a better look at the other buildings that she could see, but heard the cabbie beginning to grab her bags and turned to get her things.
"It's prettier than I imagined it would be," Bonnie stated as she came up alongside the driver.
"Yep, the mayor of the town went all out when commissioning the building of this place. Manor House is a real beauty," Bonnie smiled in agreement as the cabbie passed her bags to her. He tilted his head as he regarded her. "But as pretty as it is it's still no place for a nice girl like you. Are you visiting some boy here?"
"Haha, no. I just graduated from school with a degree in psychology. Manor House was the only place I found willing to take someone fresh out of school," Bonnie grinned at the cabbie. "Do you often drive girls visiting the boys here?"
"Like you wouldn't believe," the cabbie chuckled. "You'd think that they'd look for a boyfriend elsewhere with this being a house for the worst kinds of boys. But, you know what they say: girls love bad boys."
"Yeah, I guess they do," Bonnie sighed.
"Well, let me help you carry your things to the door. Are you going to be living on the campus?" The cabbie asked as he hoisted Bonnie's heaviest bags.
Bonnie smiled in thanks and grabbed the rest. "Yes, it's cheaper this way and I'm going to be a den mother, so I have to stay on site anyway."
"Oh, alright. Not sure I could handle it. I've heard that some of those boys are right demons," the cabbie chattered on, "I used to know a couple of them from back when I used to be a cop. I'm not sure if some 'trouble boys' home' can sort any of them out, even one as nice as this, but I guess it's worth a shot. Only other place for these boys is jail anyhow."
"That bad?" Bonnie questioned.
"Oh, don't let me worry you none. I also know Meredith, the gal who runs this place; she's all about keeping her staff safe. She'll probably assign you one of the security guards, at least until you're comfortable." The cabbie sighed as he set Bonnie's bags done in front of the door. "Well, here we are. Don't you carry those bags yourself to wherever they have you staying at; let some of those boys do it. And here," Bonnie took the card the cabbie fished out of his shirt pocket with a bemused smile.
"What's this?" The card was worn, faded, and the only thing Bonnie could make out on it was something that looked vaguely like a beer bottle.
"Oh, it's a free meal and beer ticket at the local pub, Oliver's. I like to give one out to all of the town's newcomers. It's right on the corner of Main and Castor, so you can't miss it."
Bonnie beamed at the old man. "Thanks! And thanks for all the help with the bags too," Bonnie added as she fished out a twenty to tip the man.
"Oh, it's nothing," The cabbie mumbled while rubbing the back of his head. "Well, you take care now."
Bonnie smiled and watched him leave before turning towards the large double doors of Manor House. With a deep breath she started forward, dragging her bags behind her, and entered the building. The inside was just as large and airy as the exterior had made it look. The receptionist desk was a large square structure in the middle of the hexagonal room. Two neat and prim receptionists were stationed there, one facing Bonnie and the front door while the other was facing the main hallway and the public restrooms. Scattered around their area were chairs, couches, and end tables covered in endless magazine covers. There was a fireplace on the west wall and over it were portraits of various people who had donated money to Manor House. On the east wall was another square desk, smaller than the receptionist area, and staffed with three guards who looked bored.
"Can I help you?" The receptionist facing Bonnie called to her. Bonnie nodded and stepped forward, after shrugging off her bags.
"Yes, hi, I'm Bonnie Bennett. I'm the new den mother for House 13," Bonnie greeted.
The receptionist, a pretty woman of some sort of latin decent, frowned delicately. Her previously smooth light brown forehead wrinkled and her perfectly sculpted eyebrows furrowed as her French tipped nails flew across her keyboard. After a minute her gray eyes narrowed at the information being displayed on her screen.
"I'm afraid that I don't see you… oh, wait, here you are. Well, I think this is the first time that 13 has ever had a den mother. That's odd," The receptionist muttered.
Bonnie found herself frowning at that as well. How was that possible? Every house with minority age boys should have had a den mother.
"Oh, well. House 13 is fairly new, so I guess it was probably just an oversight. Okay, so if you follow me I'll show you to House 13, introduce you to the boys, security, your assigned guard, your assistant, and the medical team for the boys of your House," the receptionist rattled off as she stood and grabbed a pad off her desk. After she picked it up she turned to tap the other receptionist on her shoulder. "I'll be back, Anna, after I show Miss Bennett around. Can you watch the front for me?"
Anna, waved her hand, "Sure, no problem, Crystal."
Crystal beamed at her colleague then turned her smile towards Bonnie. "So are you ready to start?"
Bonnie smiled back. "As I'll ever be."