A/N: Thanks for reading! Please, please, please review what you think of the story!
Chapter 12 - This is Thriller
~X~
It was a calm night, a few days before halloween. Tyler had been going to a late night practise with the team, Carol had urged him to take Harper with him, why they had no idea. But she had been sitting in his cold car for about two hours when he finally came out from the gym.
"Finally! Do you know how bored I was, reading about stupid science stuff?" She exclaimed as Tyler opened the trunk to the car and threw his stuff inside. Tyler laughed and went over to the driver's side.
"Relax darlin', we will stop by the grill to get some food and everything will be fine" He rolled his eyes as he heard Harper say a silent 'yay!'. She had really come out of her shell when around him, and had the demeanor of a ray of sunshine nowadays.
Harper's gut feeling had also been correct, and the formal forms and papers for adopting a foster child had arrived in the mail at the same time as Harper's grandmother's package. The case moved along quite fast, as Carol and Richard worked in public office, they had a high income and room for Harper in their house and family. They had been screened by the social worker for Harper's case, who had given them a good statement as to be fit for adopting her. Even though she was old by the medium age standard, that didn't raise any suspicion to the good samaritan mayor and his wife. Harper would most likely be a Lockwood by the end of autumn.
Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, a hand slammed against Harper's car window. She screamed, as she realized it was her old co-worker Vicki. Who had been missing for a few days now. Everyone had been looking for her, and the police were involved.
"Vicki?" Tyler asked, and with a blink of an eye the girl was in the backseat of the car with them.
"Hi guys" She rasped, not raising her head as she looked at them. She was slumped over, and kept picking at the skin on her hands. Harper was terrified, and her pulse was quick. Something very, very wrong was going on with Vicki, and Tyler felt that way too.
"E-everyone is looking for you Vicki" Harper said in the strongest voice she could muster at the moment. But it sounded as afraid and frail as the girl looked like.
"I know" Vicki whispered and kept her slumped posture.
"What's wrong Vic?" Tyler asked, turning around fully to face her.
"I'm so cold" Vicki said and Harper realized she must be coming down from a pretty severe high to be this disoriented and odd. Harper shrugged off her thick jacket and was about to hand it over then Tyler stopped her hand.
"No, Vicki, it's the drugs. Everyone thinks you are off on a bender. Let's get you to the hospital or something" Tyler stated and turned around to start the car.
"No please.. the woods.." Harper was freaking out, even for Vicki, this was erratic behavior she had never seen her in before. Harper stared at Tyler with wide scared eyes.
"The woods? what happened in those woods Vicki, those people that died.. what did you see?" Tyler tried to pry out some information if it could be a vampire. Maybe the poor girl was traumatized from seeing a supernatural being in the flesh. He opened the car door again to stand with Vicki away from Harper, and also to keep her at a safe distance away from possible danger. Vicki's form was shivering and bending over, clutching her stomach.
"I-I'm so hungry, Ty.. I can't control it" The girl stood up as best as she could and wrapped her skinny arms around Tyler's body. Snuggling her face into the crook of his neck.
"It won't go away"
"Okay Vic, let's get you home, maybe get something to eat on the way" The girl tightened her grip on him in protest. Harper sat in the car, looking at them with her phone ready to dial 911.
Tyler cried out as he hit the ground, Harper didn't know if Vicki had pushed him or he had pushed away from her. But he was frantically crying out to Vicki to make her stop. The girl was hissing, and Harper climbed out of the car to help.
"Tyler!" She screamed, as Vicki suddenly charged at her instead, only to be held back by a pair of arms. Harper was crying out of fear, Vicki's face had big black veins running from her eyes and her fangs were out, ready to rip out any person's neck.
That's when Harper realized that it was Stefan Salvatore holding Vicki, a vampire, back. And his brother Damon was standing by Tyler. Her foster brother hurried over to Harper, wiping away her tears to try and calm her down.
"What's going on here Stefan? What's wrong with her" Tyler said as he enclosed his arms around Harper while staring at his ex in Stefan's arms.
"You don't talk" Damon stated and looked at Harper's tiny form. "And please stop crying, it's annoying me"
"Screw you dude" Tyler said and held Harper closer to him.
"Dude? Really? Dude?" Damon said and took a step closer to the pair.
"Damon don't!" Stefan said.
"Oh come on, who is gonna miss these two losers?" Damon shrugged his brother's warning away. But Tyler, quick on his temper, let Harper go and hit Damon hard in the face. Which Damon did not like, at all.
"Don't you hurt them!" Vicki said and struggled against Stefan more to help her friends. But Damon had enough, and took Tyler by the throat, lifting him off the ground. Harper was paralyzed with fear, fresh tears were rolling down her cheeks but no words came out of her mouth to protest.
"Forget what you saw here tonight, none of us where here. Just you and your little Bellrose" Damon stated, staring Tyler straight in the eyes, before throwing him over the car, making him land on the pavement further away from Harper. Damon advanced towards the girl, and smiled faintly to her terrified face. He reveled in her fright for him, it made his vampire instinkts surge through him, as to have her as an evening snack.
"Damon, let her be!" Stefan exclaimed as he started to walk away with Vicki. But that didn't help.
"You will forget about what you saw tonight, none of us were here, and the jock simply hurt himself because he is clumsy" Damon signed and stared into her eyes, Harper only nodded. And as fast as the vampires came, they were gone. Not realizing that both teenagers would remember everything.
~X~
Carol Lockwood had sneaked vervain into her cooking since the founders day. It had been in small doses, as Zach Salvatore had died and the supply of the vervain had been lost to them. She wanted to grow her own supply, but didn't know how to do it and didn't want to make any hasty decisions without the council.
It was now the day of halloween, many of the townspeople's favorite holiday. And as the wife of the mayor, she had many important things to do today. Most of them revolved around the party and horror house at the high school, which she had been the organizer of for a couple of years now. Sadly, this year she and Richard were going to their own party.
She looked over at Harper at the breakfast table, in these months she had really gotten a strong bond with her. And to be honest, she had always wanted more children, but Richard had been against it. He had his son, and that had been enough for him. He had no real interest in Harper either, but both of them knew about the rumors surrounding the Bellrose's. Psychics, fortune tellers, clairvoyant people, held a big purpose as to keep a trained eye on her.
The Bellroses had been forced by the first council to help them in the original vampire hunts, otherwise their families would be burnt with the witches. They had hid it in the history books how they had been a part of them as friends and allies during the founding of this town. But the family's diaries and secret records held the truth.
Carol only wished Harper would be a normal girl. That the so called psychic powers would have skipped her or that the power dried up years ago. But the recent headaches destroyed her dreams. She often kept awake at night, wondering what she could do to help Harper. Carol knew she could do nothing to hinder Harper from finding out what she is and what she can do.
The only hope she had left was the vervain in her storage that she would put in some jewelry to protect her children the best that she could.. for now.
~X~
The Bennett Household
The same Morning
"Was our family burnt in the witch trials?" Bonnie asked her grandmother as she sat on the couch. She was finally ready to accept her new form, but needed great guidance to help her feel normal again.
"No, the girls that perished in the Salem witch trials were entirely innocent" Sheila stated. "You have to have more than ignorance to trap a real witch"
"How did we end up in Mystic Falls?"
"Our family fled Salem in 1692, and relocated here" Sheila said as she lit another candle. "Our ancestors lived in secretsy for over a hundred years, it's important that we still do"
"Grams, everybody knows that you are a witch"
"They also know that that's absurd, it can't be true, I'm just a cookey old lady that teaches the occult at the university" Sheila stated and looked at her precious granddaughter. "No one really believes, they just poke fun. So let them, don't let them know the truth"
"But, where is the witchcraft? I mean, you have been talking about history for two days" Bonnie smiled. "I wanna get to the fun part"
"It's not meant to be fun, it's real and it's serious" Sheila looked deep into Bonnie's eyes. "You must understand it before you practise it, just look at the poor Bellrose girl"
"Harper is a witch too?!" Bonnie exclaimed, she knew that weird things had happened at school regarding Harper. But she had no idea that she might have a new friend in this mess.
"Oh no, not really. She comes from a long line of people with the ability of clairvoyance, nothing else. Her ancestors have suffered greatly for not being hidden and kept secret. We can only thank the Bellrose's for keeping our line hidden for so long" Sheila stated and drank from her coffee.
"Would she be able to help me become a real witch? Maybe we can help her?" Bonnie asked, still interested in getting to know the wallflower.
"We can't help her, she is simply not a witch darling" Sheila said with a sad tone.
"And aren't you late for school?" The old woman raised an eyebrow, making Bonnie pout in defeat and move off the couch. Sheila flinched as Bonnie slammed her door a little harsh on her way out. But ultimately understood where her defeated feelings were coming from.
~X~
The hallways were decorated for the holiday, and some kids were even dressed up already. Some pranking other students in the bathroom, some going out of their way to creep out their classmates. Poor Harper, her heart were beating a hundred miles per hour as she tried to make her way to her locker.
"What's with you today?" Tyler asked as he and Matt approached her.
"Some dude in a skull mask was hiding in a stall in the women's bathroom, scared the crap out of me" She said, carefully glancing at Matt. The brunette felt hot all over, as a blush rose from her neck to her roots.
"I swear, Halloween is the weirdos holiday. That guy is just a creep" Tyler huffed as he leaned on the lockers next to Harper.
"Yeah totally, I would totally beat that guy's ass if I saw him" Matt stated as he puffed his chest a bit.
"I kinda like the spooky, so there's no need to go and beat up anyone… even if he's a creep" Harper said and switched her gaze between them. Her soft smile sold it, as both guys just shrugged and moved on.
"Did you ever go to Henry's parties back in the day?" Matt asked as Harper closed her locker, down the hall Caroline and Bonnie moved towards them.
"Y-yeah, I mean.. I mostly kept to the second floor. But it was hard to ignore them" Harper said, then thought back a bit. "Henry would always make me dress up and attend for a while, she never wanted me to feel left out"
"She was awesome" Caroline said and hugged Harper sideways, which the girl appreciated.
"She was… we used to have our own little rituals, you know? Like every Valentine's she would give me chocolate and I would give her cash- her request don't give me that look" Harper said as Carolines grimaced.
"Did you guys do anything for Halloween?" Bonnie asked as they started walking to class.
"Well, we would let our mom do readings on us, most years just a tarot reading.. Then we would go shopping for costumes together and then watch a really corny slasher movie before decorating for her annual parties" Harper said and looked at the gang, who all smiled and small talked about those parties and Henry until the bell rang.
~X~
The Halloween Party, High School
Later that Evening
As Tyler had dressed up as a spartan, Harper had gone for an entirely different route and gone as the little red riding hood. It was a pretty lame costume that Tyler had bought for her, but it looked okay on her. She had a basket which was covered with a kitchen cloth, no food was there but instead their phones, wallets, cups and a bottle of the Lockwoods special 'cider'.
They went around the party, greeting may of Tyler's friends and giving them a cup of the drink. Harper was surprised that many talked to her as well, and didn't see her as Tyler's lap dog or the sort. Some cheerleaders had joked about that a couple of weeks ago, which had not ended well as Tyler had made a scene inside of the grill about Harper being his foster sister and friend, and he would not hear anyone talk shit about her.
Eventually they ended up at Caroline and Bonnie, which were both beautifully dressed as witches.
"Cider, for the ladies?" Tyler asked as he held two cups in his hands. Harper just rolled her eyes.
"Uh, no way. Last time I was hungover until thanksgiving" Which made Harper laugh.
"Lightweight" Caroline shrugged and took one of the cups from Tyler. "I'm going to drink until someone is hot enough to make out with"
"Sounds like a plan" Tyler stated and cheered with her.
"You guys look great by the way" Harper said, which made Bonnie almost want to hug her. She had been so nervous for some reason putting the costume on, she knew she looked amazing, but her neck felt weirdly empty without her necklace.
"Aw thanks, you look great too. Very sexy, innocent vibe going on" Caroline said as she sipped on her drink. Tyler frowned and looked at Harper, not really seeing what gave off that type of vibe at all.
"Caroline!" Bonnie laughed, and Harper took what the blonde had said as a compliment. She looked around them to finally spot Matt Donovan, dressed up as a doctor. And boy did Harper feel like she needed medical attention.
"Looks like Harper got the hots for Donovan" Caroline giggled, which made everyone turn to look at Matt. Harper blushed and looked away, not liking to be teased about her crush.
"Go on! Talk to him!" Caroline urged and pushed Harper towards the guy.
"Hey relax Caroline, if she doesn't want to she doesn't have too" Tyler stated, regretting giving the drink to her.
"N-no, she is right. I have to be brave, like we talked about" Now, when they had talked about being brave, it had been the morning after the Vicki car incident. Which had almost given Harper another panic attack when she realized that she remembered everything, unlike what Damon had commanded them to do. She and Tyler had come up with a plan to play it cool for now, as Vicki had once again disappeared and not come after them. Nor had Stefan done anything but ignore them like usual.
"Yay! Go Harper!" Caroline cheered, and Bonnie gave her a smile of encouragement. Harper gave the basket to Tyler, who raised an eyebrow as she started to walk over to him. But stopped as she saw none other than Elena Gilbert, walking up to him dressed as a sexy nurse. A couple costumes, they matched perfectly. Harper quickly turned her heels, her cheeks burning red of embarrassment as she returned to Tyler and the others. Tail between her legs.
"Why is she dressed like that? So rude" Caroline scoffed.
"Isn't she going with her beloved Stefan?" Bonnie was still a huge skeptic of the guy, and had kept her distance from Elena recently for her choice to be with her two-week boyfriend rather than her and their squad.
"Yeah, that is Elena Gilbert for you right there" Tyler sighed as he watched a defeated Harper trying to smile, as if nothing had happened. Meanwhile the group couldn't help but stare at the grinning Matt Donovan talking to his ex.
~X~
Later in the evening, as the bottle of cider was out and they had lost both Caroline and Bonnie at the party. They decided to finally go home. Harper was driving this time, as she was completely sober, much unlike Tyler.
"Do you think they will be home?" Tyler asked, still carrying Harper's basket.
"No, probably not for a few more hours" It was relatively early for a party to end, but since it was mixed ages, no one really complained. That's when they found Matt once more, sitting alone on a bench.
"Hey man, you okay?" Tyler slurred a bit, and patted Matt's shoulder. The guy slumped up more.
"I-I can't find Vicki, she totally bailed on me" Matt said and looked up at Harper, who frowned and sat down next to him. Tyler understood, even though he was drunk, that this was Harper's moment and so left his best friend together with Harper while he went on towards their car.
"I don't know where she is, have you asked around?" Harper asked and tried to not feel nervous about being alone around him.
"I talked to Elena, she said the same thing" Matt said, he had a gut feeling that Vicki wouldn't be home. And that she was gone, again. Leaving him, as an underaged teenager, in a lonely house without anyone there to rely on. What was his life, he had asked himself. It all seemed hopeless to try anymore.
"You are amazing Matt, don't forget that she is old enough to make her own decisions, and while those decisions may hurt you greatly. You gotta move on from that, because you are better than her" Harper said and looked at him. Matt stared at her, realizing that both of them were in the same boat. She knew what she was feeling right now because she has felt that before too. Their mothers leaving, never having a father, losing their sister.
"We deserve better than this shitty life, but you are also not alone Matt" Harper sighed and felt brave. She took his hand into her own and smiled faintly, her cheeks red once more. The tension between them was thick, as both of them felt nervous and glad to not be alone. Matt leaned closer and Harper's pulse got quicker, she had never kissed anyone before, but it felt natural to lean in closer too.
Their lips touched and their eyes closed, Matt's hand moved from the bench to the side of her face, holding her closer to him. He didn't dare to go deeper, but as he leaned away a bit Harper went back in. Kissing him eagerly with a smile.