"What do you mean the girls are missing?" Yeona jolts up in her bed, grimacing as the world around her spins for a moment.
"The girls came over after school, but I got pulled into work and had to leave them home. When I came back, they were gone and Caroline's stuff is packed up." Sheriff Forbes had never sounded so worried, her voice rough with concern. "I called Elena and Bonnie's families and had them check their rooms- same thing."
"Do you think they ran away?" The question sounded insane. The red numbers glared through the dark of her room, Yeona's clock saying it was close to four in the morning. Cold air leaked through her cracked open window and the image of three tiny frozen bodies was enough to send her to her feet.
"I don't know. It looks that way." Liz sighs.
Yeona rifled through her clothes, pulling out the first jacket she could find and putting it on. She needs no light, her eyes easily cutting through the shades of cool tones that cover her room. Two electric dots glance off her mirror, the sight of her own eyes glowing through the dark like eerie blue candles only adding fuel to the fire raging in her. Yeona forces them away, biting her lip.
If the girls knew a creature such as her, one safely tucked away in her own home, then what else could be out there?
"What are you doing?"
"Getting ready to help look for the girls."
"No, no, you have school tomorrow. You should just go back to bed, I'll call you when I find something."
When, not if. Sheriff Forbes talked with such certainty like she wasn't aware of what lurked in the dark. Yeona knew otherwise- she's smelt the vervain on her breath enough times to know just how scared Liz is. Whatever little group she has going on with the other Founding Family members, pretending to be ignorant of the children of the night was useless.
Nobody knew that she knew. Not Liz, not the council, not the girls.
But the potential of getting in trouble wasn't going to stop Yeona from looking for them.
"Alright." She says softly into the phone. Her hand clenches tight around her car keys to keep them silent, the serrated teeth digging into the soft meat of her palm. "Call me soon."
Liz sighed, this time with relief. "I will. Goodnight, Yeona."
"Night Liz."
Instead of tucking herself back into the safety of her bed, Yeona heads for the door. She presses herself against the wall, sneaking past her mother's room and doing her best to bypass every single creaky piece of wood. Making it to the door, she peeks past the white scalloped curtains to look out onto the street. The powder blue beetle sits under the streetlights, her getaway car so out of place with the situation.
A throat clears behind her and Yeona whirls around. Her mother stands there, her arms crossed. Even with a fuzzy sleeping mask perched on top of her head, her mother remained impressive. Elegant, powerful, and stupidly stunning, Cho-Hee Noe was who Yeona wished to grow up to be.
"Going somewhere?"
"Did you hear the phone call?" Yeona sighs. "The Troublesome Trio are missing. You know how this town is- I won't be able to sleep if I don't look for them. Please?"
Cho-Hee sighs. "You will only sneak out if I say no, won't you?"
"I'm their babysitter, Omma. They are my kids- my responsibility."
She's lived in Mystic Falls for all of two years, and has been baby sitting the Trio the entire time. Every movie marathon, each fort made, all the secrets the girls have shared- it make Yeona ache to think of all of that disappearing.
The corner of her mother's lips twitch up and she brings a well-manicured hand to Yeona's cheek. "Go. Get your girls, but be smart. We do not need to run from this town so soon. If any non-human problem arises, call me immediately. And keep your wrist covered!"
It's all the permission she needs. She presses up on the tips of her toes to grab her mom in a quick, tight hug. The moment she's flat-footed again, Yeona rips open the front door and bolts down the driveway. Faster than a human but not quite as fast as her mother, Yeona blurs beneath the streetlights and throws herself into her car, forgoing a seat belt. Finding the girls without the lagging caused by street signs and human road rules would make this whole ordeal faster, Yeona knows.
But she can't make three human eight-year-olds walk home either. As if on cue, the universe deigns it desirable that she ramps right over a curb. Betty, her poor beloved beetle, comes down with a clang. Any other day and she would have stopped and pulled over probably to have a good cry over her shitty night. But tonight she just presses the pedal and peels off.
Every single place the girls could have gone flashes through her mind. Just how far can a couple of kids get? The answer is daunting because those girls are the most stubborn and troublesome kids she's ever had the fortune of babysitting. It was probably why they are her favorites. Yeona rolls down her window and sticks her nose out, inhaling as deeply as she can while still trying to drive a straight line.
She must look mad, her head hanging out like a dog, her tiny car jerking about. But the girls are all she can think of, their tiny faces stuck in a perpetual record scratching moment of fright. What if a vampire got to them?
A bloom of Caroline's particular kind of vanilla-y scent hits her nose, hints of Bonnie's sage and Elena's Lavender minging with the sugary scent. Her beetle jerks to a stop right on top of Wickery Bridge, the river rushing beneath. Yeona retches the door open and scrambles out. It's all too easy to let her nose do all the work- it doesn't take her long till their scents are practically a slap in the face.
The closer she gets, the more she can hear them, too.
"Caroline, I'm getting scared. It's creepy out here, I wanna go home!"
"Elena's right, this isn't fun anymore."
"I don't want to go home! It's lonely and sad and boring. I thought you said you were my friends!"
Yeona sighs, drifting between the trees. How could she have forgotten that Caroline's dad had recently left her family? While the why isn't his fault; it was how he went about it that put a crack in the Forbes family foundation. The girls keep arguing, more than one of them talking through their tears. Her mouth opens, but an unexpected scent floods her.
Grave dirt and cheap aftershave expose the vampire. She flashes through the woods, her footsteps silent. A man watches the girls, the veins beneath his eyes exposed by her impeccable eyesight. Her hand latches onto his throat before he can turn around, a steady kind of rage pumping through her.
A twig snaps beneath his sneakers, alerting the girls. Their scents twinge with fear, something both she and the vampire notice, if the dropping of his fangs is any indication. The Troublesome Trio scramble, the sound of their bags thumping against their backs as they run the opposite direction incentive enough to any kind of predator.
But the only predator lurking is this man, and Yeona herself. He thrashes against her hold, and she knows at once that he's a newborn. It was pure luck. Despite his age, his strength can rival her own. She was only sixteen- two years from now, after her Trial run, she'd be able to turn him to dust. But as she is now, she struggles against his thrashing, something he notices right away.
"God, you're a creep! Those are little girls, go eat someone your age!"
Her mother has warned her about men like him. Men, who after being given an ounce of power, abuse it. Yeona hated killing people, it made her sick to her stomach. But if anyone deserved it, it was this guy.
"You are no vampire, no witch. What the hell are you?!"
Her jacket falls from her wrist, the motion attracting his attention. Hazel eyes widen, his face turning from anger to fear. Beneath the rising sun, her birthmark looks just like irritated skin. But his supernatural eyes don't lie, the fear in them deepening the longer they rest on the circular patch of skin.
"I swear to God I didn't know- if I'd known someone like you had made this town you're territory, I'd never have come here!"
Yeona inhales, pulling her hand back as if he'd shocked her.
"What do you know?"
"You're fucked," He blurts. "Totally and utterly fucked. You'll never be free-"
Such familiar words echo in her head. All her life, she's heard that exact phrase from her mother. Never once has Cho-Hee explained, always clamping up when Yeona asked. It's as if she believed that even speaking about it would bring about disaster.
"What does it mean?" She whispers desperately. "Tell me!"
"Only a few people in existence have marks like that. Every single one of them is a monster! Just like you, you're a-"
Her own fangs drop before he can finish. She crawls up his larger body, sinking her teeth into his throat and ripping with all her might. Her hand muffles his angry scream, the other unfurls from his raggedy shirt. Claws slip from her finger nail beds, the perfect instruments to have as she dives her hand into his chest.
His sinewy heart pumps in her hand and she gives it a testing squeeze. The vampire only yowls louder. She takes a moment to mentally apologize to her mother for not calling, closing her eyes. Yeona takes in a deep breath.
Then she plucks his heart right from his chest.
It thumps to the forest floor. Slowly, his skin turns grey. Desiccating is never a good look for a vampire, and despite the situation, Yeona finds herself grimacing. The vampire's body drops next to his heart and she sidesteps it, already walking towards the sound of the Trio's frantic heartbeats. His words, his fear- she can hardly breathe, her limbs shaking as she forces herself forward.
"I want to go home now," Caroline sobbed. "I want my daddy back!"
"I want to go home too!" Bonnie sniffled. "I hate the woods!"
"Then let's get you girls out of here." Three heads snapped to Yeona, their teary eyes wide with fear. Pale streams of golden light filter through the tree branches, lighting Yeona with its glow.
She realizes her hand is still covered in blood and she wipes it off on her jeans as best as she can. The girls fly to their feet and crash into her all at once, their tiny arms wrapping around Yeona. Their crying only got louder, their small shoulders shaking with the force of their tears.
"Yeona! You came for us!"
"I'll always come for my girls," Yeona smiles, pushing a lock of hair out of Bonnie's face. Her smile drops and she puts on her 'means business' frown. "Now follow me. You three are in big trouble, you're parent's were worried sick!"
The Trio hangs their heads, gripping each other's hands, and looking anywhere but Yeona's eyes.
"Yeah, that's right, look guilty. Your parents are going to ground you until you're, like, sixty. Come on now, let's get to Betty."
The girls sit in silence, aside from some sniffles. Caroline was playing with the zipper of her Hello Kitty backpack, her forehead pressed against the window. Sheriff Forbes had scolded Yeona for going off on her own, but behind her stern tone was an immense relief. When she pulled up to the Forbes out, all three girls' loved ones were waiting outside.
Bonnie's dad and grandmother were the ones to open the door first, prying Bonnie out so they could hold her close. Elena slips out of the car to run to her parent's awaiting embrace. Only Caroline remained, still looking out the window.
"Just what were you girls thinking?!" Rudy asks. His voice is gruff, dark eyes blinking back tears he refused to let shed. Even Shiela looked like she'd been crying, and Yeona thought her to be tough as nails.
"Caroline Forbes, you are in so much trouble!" Liz crosses her arms, waiting next to a sobbing Miranda Gilbert.
Yeona puts her forehead on the steering wheel. Despite how upset she still was, she knew she needed to speak up or she'd come to regret it. She can't talk about the vampire, not without exposing herself in some kind of way. But she can try to explain why Caroline left. Maybe Liz could take her to a therapist- Yeona had to go to one after her mom took her away. She lifts herself up and twists her body to look back at Caroline.
"Hey, Car. I'll go with you. Come on."
Caroline whips her head to look at Yeona. "You will?" Her lip wobbles.
"Yeah. What you guys did wasn't good, but I get it. I want to run sometimes too. Now let's not keep your mom waiting, it'll only make her madder."
"Yeona?"
"Yeah, Car?"
"Thanks."
"No problem kiddo."
It was weeks of cupcakes and crayon-drawn pictures after that. Little gifts of flower crowns and thankful gift baskets by loving parents decorated Yeona's room, tangible proof in her eyes that she did the right thing. Life in Mystic Falls almost goes back to normal.
Almost.
But she just has to muck it up. It's Elena's birthday party, and the Gilbert house is packed full of people. A jumping castle has been inflated in the backyard, a castle fit for a princess where royally dressed Elena can lord over her subjects. The sounds of kids laughing and adults conversing about mundane activities drowns out the anxiety in Yeona's chest. She can nearly pretend she's fine.
Since the night she grabbed the Troublesome Trio, she's been having trouble sleeping. Her girls were young and unprotected. There was little she knew about Mystic Falls, but she did know one thing.
The Found Family's 'super secret' vampire Council.
It was a hard thing to avoid when she babysits two of their children. She just hopes her gifts aren't taken too seriously. When it's time to open presents, the kids oohed and awed over the tiny doe sculpture. With big brown eyes and sprigs of lavender sprouting by its hooves as it proudly walked forward, Elena knew who it was immediately. It'd taken months of work and seeing the fruits of her labor be recognized sends a burst of warmth in Yeona's chest.
"It's me! Mom, dad, look! Yeona made me!" Elena grinned, holding up the sculpture with both hands.
"You? Honey, that's a doe." Grayson chuckled.
"You have to admit Mr. Gilbert, she's kind of like a little toe. All long limbs and big eyes. She's going to be a graceful one someday."
Elena only beamed wider. If she was anything like Miranda, her gangly limbs were going to give way to a willowy frame. Yeona hopes the deer makes her feel beautiful in moments she feels anything less than. While her mother is great, Cho-Hee was hardly home. She would give anything to have somebody help her beat back the harrowing moments of being a teen girl trying to grow into her body. Yeona glanced at her girls and wishes it for them all.
Maybe when she's all grown up, and they are in her position, she can remind them. That is if her mom lets them stay. The next gift she gave, was for all three of the girls. Golden anklets were pulled free from the bright green gift bags. Tiny lockets hung from the chain, along with room for charms to be added. When Yeona was their age, she'd wanted a friend group with matching friendship bracelets so earnestly- it made her smile to give them to the girls now.
She got to her feet and pointed at her anklet. It jingled as she shimmed her ankle, the empty lock clinking against the chain. "Now we all match!"
The girls squealed, scrambling from their seats and getting their sticky fingers all over Yeona as they held onto her. Her nose twitched, the subtle scent of vervain shaking loose from their lockets. Cho-Hee was no witch, but she has her own connections. The tell-tale sign of the vampire warding herb is bound to raise a few eyebrows, but it should settle down as the days wore on. New magic always took time to seep into man-made objects; if there's one thing that Yeona is jealous of, it's a witch's ability to do everything with a snap of their fingers.
Yeona helps put the anklets on, amused at how the metal subtly changed with their size. If they kept them on as long as Yeona hoped, they'd never notice that their anklet still fits them no matter how much they grow. When Bonnie races over to her grandmother, showing off her new jewelry, Yeona doesn't think anything of it.
She's too busy gushing over the anklets with Caroline and Elena to notice Sheila to touch Bonnie's gift and stiffen.
It'd only taken two months after that day for the sky to come down.
Sheriff Forbes sits at a picnic table when Yeona comes out of her school. She is still in uniform, and when they lock eyes, her smile is cautious. Yeona's surprise fades to a sickly dread, her feet planting themselves to the earth. She scans the grassy belt for any hint of an ambush and is only reluctantly relieved when no one jumps out of the bushes.
She swallows her fear as much as she can, and makes her way through the crowd of tired teens to sit across from the Sheriff. Vervain fills her nose as she sits down, the steaming cup of tea set before her immediately drawing her attention. Yeona makes it a point to drink it, staring Liz in the eyes as she takes a big fat gulp, ignoring the way it scalds her tongue. It'll heal.
"I'm not a vampire if that's what you're thinking."
"We know you aren't. You walk in the sun, and you gave the girls vervain…something that would protect them against you. That was never the question." Liz smiles, the skin around her eyes becoming tight. "And I've seen you go from a gangly tween into a teenager. Vampires don't grow."
"So then what is all this? Should I call my mom?" She asks it carefully, heart still hammering in her chest. Her fingers twitch and she wishes she'd already called her mom to help her out of this mess.
She wasn't supposed to reveal she knew about vampires, but her big mouth always did get her in trouble.
"I just - we just wanted to thank you. For finding the girls, and for trying to protect them. I know this world is scary enough without vampires in it, but it means the world to our families that you are trying to protect them against a world they don't even know about yet. It's a lot for a kid to take in."
"I will always protect the girls. You know I love them." Her tone was defensive, but Liz's smile only grew.
She reached across the table to take hold of Yeona's hand, giving it a squeeze. "I know, sweetie. You aren't in trouble. It's the opposite. We just have some questions is all."
Yeona draws her hand back, fingers digging into the thick leather band around her wrist as she waits for Liz to continue.
"What do you know about Mystic Fall's history, Yeona?"
"Not much. I know that it's a small southern town that for some reason still has confederate celebrations."
Liz winced."Not exactly what I was talking about, but I understand your disdain. The Lockwoods have fought me tooth and nail every time I try to broach the subject. But I was thinking more about the, uh, supernatural variety."
"I know that vampires exist and that you think you have a super-secret Council that hates them. Once Mrs. Gilbert gets a few wine glasses in, she kind of….talks a lot louder than she thinks she does."
The hand that was just holding Yeona's flies up to cover Liz's mouth. "Damn it, Miranda! I'll be sure to talk to her after this. No wonder you know so young. Does your mother know too, or have you kept it from her?"
"My mom's always kind of known. They aren't just in Mystic Falls- they are everywhere." Yeona hides her frown at Liz's shudder. Would she react the same way if Yeona told her what she was? Probably. Evading the truth was something she was good at, unfortunately. Made sense, given her kind.
"Does she know about the council?"
Yeona nods hesitantly.
"Do you believe she would join us if we asked?"
The question makes Yeona sit up straight as if steel replaced her spine. "No. My mom wants us to have a normal life. Please don't go asking her about any of this, she'd pick us up and move us out of here before tomorrow."
Liz sighs. "That's unfortunate. We were hoping she would want to join- Rudy has been begging for new blood for years. I better let Sheila know then."
"Sheila?"
"I sent over to your house, hoping if anyone could convince her, it'd be Sheila. But I don't want to make trouble for you, so I'll just-"
Yeona bolted from the picnic table, her backpack thumping at her back as she ran as fast as humanly possible for her car. If Sheila pushed the issue… Yeona shuddered.
Ms. Sheila's car is in the driveway when she gets home.
Yeona parks haphazardly, the car engine barely turning off before she's racing up her front steps. Just as she reached the door, it opens. Her mom looks more tired than Yeona has ever seen her, and her mom works late nights all across the world for her high design lines.
"Get inside."
"Omma, I-"
"Get. In. Side."
Yeona shuffles inside, biting her lip. Sheila Bennett sits at the dining room table, two cups of steaming tea already set out. She gives Yeona the smallest of smiles, her eyes holding concern.
"Why don't you come sit down? We have a lot to talk about." Sheila asks, patting the seat next to her.
She glances at her mom. Her mother nods, rubbing at her forehead as if to shake off an oncoming headache. Yeona kicks her shoes off at the front door, trading them for a pair of house slippers. Her backpack slides off her shoulders, the loss of the heavy bag somehow discomforting. A quiet kind of power clung to the air around Sheila, one that danced across Yeona's skin like the pop of champagne bubbles as she got closer.
"You're a witch." Damn, she really has a big mouth, doesn't she?
Sheila narrows her eyes. "And how do you know that?"
"We can feel like coming off of you," Cho-Hee says, coming to sit next to her daughter.
"Are you witches as well?"
"What we are is not your concern, I'm afraid."
Sheila glances at their hands, looking for what Yeona can only assume must be a daylight ring. Finding none, she sagged with relief. "I'll let you keep your secret if you keep mine."
"Is Bonnie a witch too?" Yeona asks quietly.
"She will be. I don't want her involved until it's absolutely necessary. I'm sure you can understand, Cho-Hee."
Yeona's mother nods, tucking a strand of her silky black hair behind a slightly pointed ear. "A normal life for our children and their children is all a parent like us can hope for. Your secret is safe with me, as is Bonnie's."
"Thank you. But that is not what I've come to discuss with you."
"I don't think my mom wants to join the council," Yeona grimaces. "You can tell Liz that too."
"I do not. It is already an oversight to let Yeona get so involved with children of the council, and now I must reevaluate our place in this town."
Yeona purses her lips, knowing better than to try and fight a losing battle. Her mother wasn't typically stubborn, but when it came to Yeona's life, nothing could stand in the way of her decisions.
"Very well. I wouldn't have become involved either, if it weren't for Bonnie's connection to Elena Gilbert. And that girl is going to need as much help as she can get."
"Why is that?" Cho-Hee demanded.
The Bennett matriarch hesitates. After a moment of careful deliberation, she leans down to rifle through her bag, pulling free a bundle of sage. Yeona had no idea what it was for, but her mother seemed to if the nod she gave to Sheila's silent question was anything to go by. Sheila plucks free a lighter from her pocket and lights it, the small gas-lit flame curling and burning the edges of the bundle. The scent of sage and smoke plume in the air.
It tickles at her nose and Yeona lets loose a small sneeze. Her mother smiles to herself, unaffected by the strong scent. As it continues to burn, Yeona leans back in her chair, trying to get away from the smell as much as possible.
"What's that do?"
"For as long as it burns, it'll keep others from listening in. An old witch trick." Sheila explains, waving the sage back and forth.
"Given the need for secrecy, I'm assuming little Elena is a sensitive topic," Cho-Hee says.
"You assume right. We are not sure why, but a few years ago, a great evil came to collect her. My daughter Abby put him down. I believe it has something to do with the birthmark on her wrist- a perfect hollow circle."
The Noe family freezes. Beneath the table, Yeona's mother finds her hand and grips it tightly. Like a curtain dropping, Cho-Hee's face goes stone cold.
"What kind of evil?"
"Evil enough that it drained my daughter of her magic and her life. You may or may not know, but my family comes from a very powerful bloodline. For it to have taken her so wholly like that-" Sheila stops, her body shuddering. "And for whatever reason, he wanted Elena."
"And you think it's because of what? A birthmark? One that we have not seen, by the way."
"After the incident, I hid it. She and the girls were young enough that they'd forgotten about it by now. There is something strange about that mark, something that makes my blood freeze. Normally, I'd never divulge another's secrets, but…"
"But?" Yeona whispers.
Shiela's gaze turns to hers, her face weary. "But the day you gave Bonnie that anklet of hers, I felt something waft off of it. At first, I'd thought it was because you might have been a witch. But seeing sitting next to you like this, actually focusing on you…I know it's because you have that mark too, don't you?"
Cho-Hee sucks in a breath. Carefully, she brings her daughter's hand to the table. Agonizingly slow, Yeona's mother peels back the thick leather band Yeona always wore. Beneath it was something Yeona had always concealed, ever since her mom had found her as a child and ran with her.
A birthmark in the shape of a perfect circle.
"Just as I thought," Sheila sighed.
"So it's true. It's connected to something evil."
"You are not evil," Yeona's mother shot her a reprimanding look.
"But this is." She waved her wrist. "First, the vampire in the woods, and now Sheila…Something's wrong with me, isn't there?"
"It's the mark that is evil, not you. Ancient magic flows around it- it's how I can feel it even from an object you've touched. That man who came to Elena had been very upset she had that mark. He claimed the gods were hateful. I don't know what it means or what it does, all I know is that very powerful creatures know about that mark and it surely can't be good."
"Can you hide mine too?"
Shiela studied her for a moment, eyes glazing over. She came back to herself, shaking her head. "There is no hiding yours. Whatever you are, my camouflage spells would not help."
Yeona turned to her mother, a question at the tip of her tongue.
"Changing forms wouldn't hide that. It's too old," Cho-Hee answered bitterly.
"So what do we do?"
"We leave Mystic Falls."
An: This was just the prelude to Yeona's return, which is the next chapter! Can you guess what she is? ;)
