Title: Dirty Little Secret

Chapter: 10

Summary: Caroline Forbes is a lot of things. Neurotic, controlling and insecure being top of the list, but one thing she is not is stupid. So she knows that something is seriously up with childhood friend (and occasional enemy) Tyler Lockwood. She's determine to figure out why all the sudden he's acting as if he's seen a ghost and why he looks at her all the time with a heat she doesn't understand. As she digs deeper, she finds out about a whole new world she didn't know existed and- despite her lack of knowledge- how she's part of it. AU.

Author's Note: I know, I know. I freaking SUCK. I've been having horrible writer's block lately, amongst other things. My apology gift: a very long chapter.

I had to go back and watch a VD episode to write this chapter and I forgot how much I hated Tyler and Caroline in season one! I'm glad they stopped being so obnoxious!

Sooooo I started a new Fanfic (I know, I know, what the hell was I thinking?) but before anyone comes at me with a virtual baseball bat, it's not a story, story. I.e., it's lacking a plot and a story line. Basically it's just a collection of one shots of Damon and Elena in humorous situations with each other. Idk if any of you are Delena fans, but if you are, check it out.

Enough of my babbling. Read!

Tuesday

Bonnie had a bad feeling, and she was beginning to learn that they were more than just bad feelings. She'd always had them, even when she was a little girl, but plenty of people got bad feelings didn't they? It was natural and even when her bad feelings rang true, she could still pass it off as normal. But she was beginning to really understand that maybe they weren't just bad feelings. Maybe her Grams wasn't so crazy after all. Her family was supposedly descended from witches and witches had visions, or "feelings."

Could she really believe that witches were real? And even crazier, that she was one? Normal, quiet Bonnie Bennett a witch. She didn't feel particularly witchy, at least not until recently. Was there a tell that all witches had? A birthmark or a similarity in a particular feature? She'd always thought that witches had huge noses and warts when she was little. She didn't think she had a big nose and if she did, no one ever told her about it. Surely Caroline would tell her she had a big nose, wouldn't she? And she certainly did not have warts anywhere on her body.

Or maybe real life witches looked completely normal and weren't so… horrid?

She ran a hand through her brown hair and sighed, feeling in over her head. She was having a hard time pretending everything was normal. These feelings or "psychic visions" as Grams called them, were becoming stronger and felt more real. They no longer had that dream like quality. They felt just as real as she did.

Were they real?

She stared down at the numbers she had written in her old notebook. 7, 14, 22. The numbers meant nothing to her, but she couldn't stop writing them down. She woke up thinking about them, and she had immediately grabbed the notebook to write them down. They felt so important, but she couldn't figure out why. She'd thought maybe they were a date: July 14, 1922, but nothing specific had happened on that day, so she researched the same date but with the year 1822. Still nothing. She tried different centuries, but she came up blank. Somehow sports and openings didn't seem to explain the numbers.

She could go in denial and pass it off, but when she woke up, she felt such a powerful dread coursing through her veins, she nearly cried. It was a horrible feeling that left her drained and afraid of what was going to happen. Whatever these numbers meant, they were bad.

She traced her pinky finger over them and closed her eyes, trying to get a feel from them. She breathed in deeply and out slowly, focusing everything inside of her on those numbers like Grams said to do. In out, in out. She repeated the process over and over until finally, with one last deep breath…

It was dark. That was the first thing Bonnie noticed when she opened her eyes. Even lost in the darkness, she knew she was no longer in her bedroom or even her house. It was still too dark to really tell where she was, but the breeze ruffling her hair indicated that she was outside. The air was cold, causing goose bumps to form on her scantily clad skin and the ground beneath her bare feet was hard, like concrete or asphalt, though she couldn't tell which.

For one moment, she felt her heart lodge in her throat and she couldn't breathe. Where was she? How did she get here? And then just as soon as the panic had come, it went away as she remembered. She was in her bedroom early Tuesday morning, trying to figure out what three numbers that were repeating over and over in her heard meant. 7, 14, 22.

With a jolt, she realized she was having - what had Grams called it? - a vision. This surprised her as much as it frightened her. She'd tried it multiple times with Grams, but hadn't been able to accomplish it. She'd been frustrated each time. Now, she couldn't possibly understand why she had wanted to succeed in having a vision. It felt... Wrong, like walking into the last place you should be. Her skin felt startlingly cold and prickly, like someone was pricking her with needles over and over.

She stood still for a moment, peering into the darkness for something, anything. It took a few minutes for her eyes to adjust, and when they finally did, she saw that she was in a parking lot behind a building. She could just barely make this out though, so deciphering anything else would be nearly impossible.

A strange feeling passed through her body and just as if it had been spoken out loud, she knew she needed to turn around.

She did and came face to face with nothing. There was nothing but more parking lot, each and every space empty except for one off to the left. It made her relieved and frustrated. What was this vision telling her? She was going to get a parking ticket?

She shook her head and just out of the corner of her eye, to her right, she saw movement. Whipping her head, she faintly saw a figure walking, heads down as they examined something. She thought the person was a man, but it could have just as easily been a big boned woman. She held her breath as the person grew nearer and nearer to her, wondering if she should try to hide as to not be seen.

You're not truly there, Gram's voice said in her head, the older woman raising a tea cup to her lips as she looked at her granddaughter over the edge. Therefore, you can not be seen or heard.

Bonnie rethought her choice on hiding.

Though the figure was closer to Bonnie - nearly in front of her, actually - she still could not make out any distinguishing features, like gender or hair color or skin color even. She watched the shadow figure as they continued to walk. After another few seconds, they had reached the only car in the parking lot.

The figure appeared out of literally nowhere. One minute, the second shadowy figure was not there, and the next, they were standing in front of the first shadowy figure. The first figure noticed and visibly jumped, but didn't move. Neither moved for a second and Bonnie guessed they were talking, though she couldn't hear anything. She knew she should move forward and listen, but her feet her frozen to the ground with fear.

The second figure took a step forward and the first a step back, raising their hands. The thing they had been looking at was papers. The person dropped them and they fell to the ground, scattering here and there. They were startling white against the seemingly black ground.

And then the first figure took another step backward and turned, as if to run. This gave Bonnie a clear view of the second figure. She squinted, expecting to see nothing but darkness. What she saw brought a gasp from her lips. Golden eyes. Not yellow, but truly golden eyes were set into the dark face, like two glowing orbs. The golden eyed figure was suddenly in front of the first figure. Their arm was outstretched and before Bonnie could tell what has happening, the first figure fell to the ground, at an odd angle. It reminded her of how a doll looked if you dropped it on the floor: bent, awkward, wrong.

And then, black liquid began flowing from the still figure, pooling around them.

Blood.

Bonnie stared as the golden eyed figure squatted down and stuck his hand in the blood before lifting it and on a clean spot of ground, where no blood would reach, trailing his fingers over it, as if writing.

And then Bonnie screamed.

Jeremy Gilbert was grating on his nerves.

Ever since Friday, he was acting all high and mighty, like somehow he had done some great deed by accusing Tyler of raping Vicki and then slicing his palm open. Of course, his hand had healed not long after, so technically it hadn't caused him that much trouble, but Gilbert didn't know that. Tyler wanted nothing more than to knock that stupid smirk he was shooting him right off his face. He distantly remembered a time years ago when he had been somewhat friends with him. He and Elena had always been in the same social circle, so naturally Jeremy fell into too.

That felt like a million years ago. Funny, how things could change so much in such a short amount of time. Now, Jeremy was an emo druggie, Elena was no longer the happy, bubbly girl she used to be and he was crushing on his best friend's girlfriend because of some werewolf gene he had awoken when accidentally killing someone.

Too bad he wasn't laughing.

Speaking of Elena, she was at her locker a set over from his with Bonnie, who looked like she hadn't gotten any sleep in awhile. Her face was pale, twisted, like she was sucking on a lemon and her lips trembled as she spoke. Elena reached out her hand and put it on Bonnie's shoulder, obviously trying to comfort the smaller girl, who looked on the verge of tears.

Tyler told himself it was more than likely nothing. Bonnie was having guy problems or got into a fight with her dad or something, but the undeniable terror in her eyes made him hesitate to believe it was something that simple. Whatever it was, it was scaring the hell out of the girl he'd known his entire life.

He stared at them, wishing he could hear what they were saying.

And then suddenly, he could. He could hear everything. Every footstep, every dropped pencil, every sigh, every laugh for what felt like miles. He could even hear the sound of a car engine spluttering outside of the school and the curse that came from its driver. It was like he had super hearing.

"It was terrible, Elena," he heard Bonnie say, wrapping her arms around her small body.

"Maybe it was just a dream," Elena said, meekly, like she knew whatever they weren't talking about wasn't just a dream.

"It wasn't a dream!" Bonnie hissed. "I was awake."

Elena looked like she didn't know what to say to that and realizing how nasty she had just sounded, Bonnie's angry expression dissipated, replaced by regret and underneath, fear. "I'm sorry," Bonnie said. "I'm just freaked out. It was so damn real, Elena."

"What… what do you think it means?" Elena asked, worry tightening the skin around her eyes.

Bonnie shook her head and tears welled up in her green eyes. "It was… it means someone's going to die." Her voice had just dropped down to a whisper, but Tyler could hear her as easily as if he was standing right beside her.

His eyes widened. Someone was going to die? How the hell did Bonnie know that?

Bonnie raised a shaking hand to her mouth and began biting her finger nails. A stray tear ran down her cheek and dropped off, falling to the floor. "Oh, god and the eyes," she said, her voice shaking. "I've never seen anything like them before, 'Lena. Not outside of a movie or a film."

Just then, Tyler heard the familiar sound of heels clicking on the floor and saw Caroline walking towards Elena and Bonnie, her face pinched. She stopped when she saw Bonnie and then quickly went to the girl. "Bonnie, are you okay?" Caroline asked just as Bonnie, finishing a sentence he hadn't heard, said, "…golden."

Carolina froze, a question mark on her face. "What's wrong?" she asked. "And what's golden?"

Bonnie opened her mouth, but quickly looked around and closed it. Tyler averted his eyes, hoping she hadn't seen him staring. If she did, she didn't say anything about it to the other two girls.

"This morning-"

She was cut off then, by the bell ringing.

Bonnie jumped and quickly said, "I'll tell you at lunch, okay?" before disappearing down the hall, leaving Elena and Caroline staring after her. Caroline turned to Elena, who just shook her head and said something Tyler didn't catch before walking in the opposite direction. Caroline was left standing there, staring at where Bonnie had disappeared. He watched her for a few seconds before she suddenly turned around and stared right at him, like she knew he had been watching.

He knew he should turn around and go to class, but he couldn't help but continue to stand there, watching her watch him. She cocked her head to the side, a slight smile on her face. He would admit that his heart skipped a beat. She took a step forward, but something caught her eye somewhere behind him and her smile quickly faded, replaced by a frown and she turned and began walking to her class, not looking back.

He turned around to see what it was that caused her to leave, but he saw nothing.

Caroline was the first at their table at lunch, nervously waiting for Elena and Bonnie to tell her what the hell was going on. Her nerves felt positively frayed what with Cody lying, drama with Matt and Tyler, and now Bonnie being upset about something. It felt like everything was falling apart and she wasn't sure exactly how to fix them. Matt had seen her staring at Tyler and the look on his face was less than happy. It wasn't her fault though- she couldn't stop. He was staring at them, like he knew exactly what they were talking about. It was a little more than unnerving. Apparently, Cody had told Liz that it was an animal that attacked him, though that had not been what he told her. Who did he lie to? And now Bonnie. She'd never seen the girl so scared.

She studied a tree, whose leaves were dying and falling to the ground, forming a pile of orange and brown and red for someone to clean up.

She didn't see her two best friends until they were sitting down in front of her. They both looked worried and freaked. Bonnie still looked terrified.

"Alright, tell me what's going on," Caroline commanded.

Elena looked at Bonnie, who was chewing on the bottom of her lip. "I… I'm not sure you're gonna believe me, Care," Bonnie said.

Caroline blinked. Why wouldn't she believe one of her best friends? "Try me," Caroline said. "I'm a lot more open minded lately."

"Well, you know Grams says we're witches, right?" Bonnie asked.

She nodded.

"And she also said that we can have visions… like of the future."

Caroline sat quietly, taking that in. She didn't believe in that kind of stuff but… "Did you… have one?" she asked.

Bonnie nodded. "I think so. I woke this morning with these three numbers in my head: 7, 14, 22. Do they mean anything to you?"

Caroline's eyebrows crinkled as she shifted through dates and addresses. Finally, she said, "No, not at all."

"They didn't mean anything to me, either," Elena said.

"Grams told me that if I focused all my energy on something, I can get a feel for it," Bonnie said. "So I tried that and I… had a vision."

Believer or not, Caroline was intrigued by this. Bonnie wasn't a liar; she wouldn't lie about that. "What happened?"

Bonnie looked around for a moment before leaning forward and saying, "I was in a parking lot and a man - I think - was walking to his car. When he got there, another person was there. I think they talked for a moment before the first man began backing away."

Bonnie's voice had taken on a terrified, shaky tone and it scared the hell out of Caroline. She wasn't sure she wanted to know what happened next, because she knew it was horrible.

"And then the second man took a step forward, reaching out his hand. I couldn't see what he did, but the first man fell and blood started pouring out of him. He killed him, Care. And then he dipped his fingers in the blood and started drawing on the pavement."

Caroline's eyes widened. "A-and you're sure this wasn't a dream or something?"

Bonnie shook her head. "I was awake."

She wasn't sure what to say.

"And that wasn't even the worst part," Bonnie said.

"What could possibly be worse than that?"

"I caught a glimpse of the murderer's face," she said, shivering slightly. "I saw his eyes. They were gold."

Caroline nearly fainted.

"I heard something." He still had that far away, distant look in his eyes. "So I started walking but…"

"But what?" she asked.

He was staring at something she couldn't see, listening to something she couldn't hear. "I saw it."

Caroline's chest felt like it was about to burst. "Cody, what did you see?"

"Eyes," he said, vacantly. "They were… wrong."

She stopped breathing as she listened to him. He was acting like he was in a trance, like he wasn't fully in the room with her. His eyes looked almost glazed and his voice was becoming more and more empty. She wondered if he was going into shock.

"What was wrong with them?" Caroline asked.

"They were yellow. Bright, bright yellow. Gold, even."

"Caroline! Are you okay?" Elena's worried voice exclaimed.

Caroline was gripping the edge of the table to keep from falling. "Gold eyes," she whispered, thinking back to the hospital and the dreams.

"What?" Elena asked, leaning forward to hear.

"I- I need to tell you guys something," Caroline said, suddenly. "When I went to the hospital to see Cody, he remembered seeing something. He saw a man with gold eyes. That was what attacked him. Not an animal. But then he told my mom an animal attacked him. I think he was lying to her."

Bonnie paled and Elena's eyes widened. "This is crazy," she said, her voice sounding shaky. "You guys know that right?"

"And that's not all," Caroline said, suddenly not feeling so crazy anymore. "I've been having these… nightmares and in them, a man with gold eyes is chasing me through the woods. At the end of the dream, he always kills me."

They all sat in silence for a few moments.

"I think this is all very real," Bonnie said. "I need to talk to my Grams. Maybe she'll know what to do."

Caroline nodded, something in her stomach telling her that something seriously wrong was going on. In her peripheral vision, she saw another leaf fall from the tree, floating to the ground and landing on the pile of other leaves, having died from the cold.

He was quitting the team before practice. He was tired of dealing with Tanner and all of his bullshit and tired of worrying about games and practices. He had enough of his plate and while he couldn't do anything about most of it, he could do something about football. It wasn't like it was fun anymore anyway. No one could stop him now, not with his new speed and strength. He felt like a varsity player on JV.

He bounded into Tanner's office, not bothering to knock. Not like he could make him do suicides or push ups as a punishment anymore. He was on the phone, talking to someone about Friday's game. When he saw Tyler, he interrupted whoever was talking and said, "Let me call you back in a minute."

He hung up, not bothering to wait for a reply. He looked at Tyler. "Did you straighten everything out for Friday?"

"Yep," Tyler said.

Tanner looked relieved. "Good. I knew-"

"I quit."

"What?" he yelled, his face turning red.

"I quit."

Tanner narrowed his eyes. "Alright, Lockwood, I don't know what this is about, but-"

"It's not about anything," Tyler snapped. "I don't want to be on the team anymore. I just don't care about football anymore, so I quit."

If Tyler thought he looked mad before, now he looked murderous. He was sucking in air, his face nearly purple, then releasing it in little huffs. "If you think you can just-"

"I can just quit," Tyler interrupted. "You can't force me to play. Get Austin to take my position. He's capable."

And with that, he walked out of Tanner's office, feeling at least a small weight off his shoulder. He laughed as he walked through the locker room. He couldn't help it. He'd always hated Tanner and seeing him that pissed because of him was priceless. Even better, he couldn't do anything to get back at Tyler because he wasn't his history teacher.

He stopped laughing when he nearly waked right into Matt, who was frowning.

"Why aren't you dressed?" Matt asked.

"I quit."

Matt's eyes bugged out. "You what?"

"I quit," he repeated. "I'm done.

"W-why?"

Tyler shrugged. "I've been playing football since fourth grade. It's starting to get a little old. Time to move on."

At that, Matt's eyes narrowed. "Yeah, speaking of moving on," he said. "What's going on with Caroline?"

Tyler blinked, carefully making his face blank. "No idea," he said. "She's your girlfriend. Shouldn't you know?"

"I'm talking about what's going on between you and Caroline," Matt snapped.

"Nothing," Tyler said, which was mostly true. Not being able to stop himself, he added, "Why? Did she say something?"

"Not really," Matt said.

"Okay then," Tyler said, slightly disappointed. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! "Wait. What were you talking about 'moving on?'"

"You know what I mean."

"No, I don't."

"Look," Matt said. "I know how you are. You move from girl to girl without thinking twice about it. You were talking to my sister- what?- three weeks ago?"

"What does your sister have to do with anything?"

"I'm just saying I know how you are with girls. You use them till you get what you want with them-"

"I'm pretty sure I was the one getting used in the situation with your sister," Tyler interrupted with a dark look.

"-and then you dump them," Matt finished. "I just don't want Caroline thinking she's helping you and it blow back up in her face."

"So, basically," Tyler said, annoyed. "You're telling me to stay away from Caroline?"

Matt sighed. "Yeah."

Two months ago, Tyler would have punched him and done exactly what Matt asked him not to. But he didn't because he knew Matt was right. He needed to leave Caroline alone, once and for good, even if the idea killed him. She wasn't his. She was Matt's. And that was the way things were suppose to be. That was what was good for her in the end.

"Fine." His voice was surprisingly calm, steady. "I'll stay away from her."

Matt instantly looked relieved. "Thanks."

"Yeah, sure."

It was dark outside by the time William Tanner stepped out of the field house and began the descent to his car. It was cold, the wind blowing dead leaves and rusting his hair. His car was the only one in the parking lot. He had to stay later than he usually did, reworking plays and trying to figure out how the hell they were going to win the game Friday with Tyler. He still couldn't believe the Lockwood brat had quit.

He looked down at the reworked plays as he walked to the car, knowing they were going to get creamed at the game. There was just no way. Finally having reached his car, he reached for his keys in his pocket.

"Hello."

He jumped, dropping his keys back into his pocket.

A man in his late twenties, early thirties was standing in front of him, arms crossed over his chest. He looked harmless enough. Short blonde hair, gray eyes, pleasant face. He wasn't a large man, but William still watched him with cautious.

"Can I help you?" William asked.

The man smiled. Something about it unnerved him. It was a predatory smile, a dangerous one. He took a step back.

"Yes, you can actually," the man said, taking a step forward. "I need you to deliver a message for me."

"Look, man," William said, taking another step forward. He raised his hands, dropping the plays in the process. "I don't want any trouble."

"Oh no, of course not," he said, smiling, his tone pleasant.

William looked at him, not sure what he should do.

The man's pleasant smile turned into a frown and he sighed, like he was tired. "But unfortunately, we can not all get what we want."

Before he could do anything, the man's eyes flashed a brilliant gold and he stepped forward, extending his hand. He swiped it at William's throat and for a moment, he thought the man was trying to choke him. But when the man's hand brushed his throat, the skin ripped and he fell to the ground. Blood poured from his throat and his vision went black.

He stared down at the man unlucky enough to cross his path. His blood was rolling down the slight hill, dark and thick. His own hand was bloody ; he reached inside his jacket and pulled out a handkerchief, wiping his hand. When it was clean, he neatly folded the now red material and stuck it back inside his jacket.

He looked down at the man and smiled. "It won't be long now," he said cheerfully, before turning and disappearing into the night.

Dun…dun…dun…

So I'm going to go ahead and warn you: the next two chapters aren't going to have much Forwood action, but they're both going to have plenty of action as the characters start uncovering at least parts of the truth. The full moon is coming up though- within in the next three chapters probably- and I assure you, there will be enough Forwood action to keep you satisfied.

Review!