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CHAPTER THREE
enter the wolf
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( bad moon rising )

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Harper's POV.

*Tyler's Party at the Swimming Hole*

What do you do when your cousin's sweet boyfriend asks you to help him accompany a newbie vampire to a party?

Say yes, of course. Especially if that someone is Stefan Salvatore.

I would much rather hang out with him and Caroline than go on a road trip with Damon to Duke University. Elena had asked me to come along with her, Alaric, and Damon to Duke so we could find out more about the Lockwoods and her connection to Katherine from Isobel's research. However, I declined since the last thing I wanted to do was be stuck in a car with Damon for a few hours.

So I stayed home, and that's when Stefan called me if I wanted to come with him and Caroline to Tyler's party down at the swimming hole. I was bored so I said yes. Regardless, I like Stefan too much to say no anyway. And, plus, my parents aren't around to say anything about it either since they're still locked up in the Salvatores' dungeon.

The three of us—Stefan, Caroline, and I—pull up to the swimming hole. I get out of the car and notice Tyler's uncle Mason driving by. I don't think much of him even though at this very moment my cousin and Alaric (and Damon, of course, but who cares about him) are doing research on him and the Lockwoods over at Duke. I would like to think that there's nothing really going on with their family, but that still wouldn't explain why the vampire device worked on them or why they have such incredible strength and athleticism.

I walk to the back of the car where Stefan and Caroline are talking.

"Ah, oh, I get it, okay," Stefan says to Caroline. "You think I'm, uh . . . you think I'm too serious. Is that it?"

I have no idea what they're talking about.

"I mean, I wasn't going to say it like that but . . ." Caroline trails off before walking towards the party to I assume find Matt.

Stefan turns to me. I honestly thought he forgot I was here. "Hey, uh, thanks again for coming to help me with Caroline," he says.

"Yeah." I nod. "It's no problem. I'll do anything to help Caroline get through this."

"You know." A small smile plays on his lips. "I have a feeling you probably wouldn't have come if I hadn't asked you."

A little confused by his statement, I give him a blank stare.

"What I mean is . . ." Stefan clarifies, "you usually don't come to these sort of things, do you?"

Ohhh. I quickly come to my defense. "I mean, I do, sometimes."

"But do you enjoy them?" he fires back, grinning.

Is Stefan teasing me?

Getting flustered, I stumble over my words, "Well—it . . . depends . . ."

"Sorry," he cuts me off, lightly touching my shoulder, letting me know I don't have to finish that thought. "It's just sometimes Elena and I have bets if you're gonna show up to stuff."

"Oh." How embarrassing, seriously, they really do that?!

"Anyway," Stefan goes on, "it really means a lot that you came for Caroline. Right now, she needs to stay connected to her humanity, and you being here will really help her have that sense of normalcy."

"Anything for Caroline I'll do it," I reassure. "Also, I wanna thank you again for taking care of my parents. I don't know what I would have done with you—" I was about to say without you guys, but that would include Damon, and there's no way I'm thanking that jerk. He's the reason my parents had to be locked up in the first place since there was no way I could keep anything from them after Damon snapped my dad's neck, and he miraculously came back to life.

"You're welcome," Stefan says. He suddenly looks over my shoulder. "Oh no . . ." he trails off before walking towards the party.

I follow him, having a feeling that this has something to do with Caroline. But based on his mostly controlled reaction, whatever she did or is doing must not be too serious.

We walk up to her leaning against a truck by herself.

"Hey, I saw that," Stefan scolds Caroline. "You compelled her."

I'm not quite sure who the her is that Stefan is getting mad at Caroline for compelling.

The blond crosses her arms. "Yeah, she deserved it," she gripes.

"Who?" I ask, but I don't get an answer.

"Caroline, nobody deserves to have their mind messed with for shallow reasons," Stefan says.

"You know," Caroline bites out, "why is everyone sticking up for Aimee freaking Bradley?" She scoffs, leaning further against the truck in frustration.

"Aimee?" I repeat, now totally getting where Caroline is coming from. That girl is a complete flirt, but I would never say anything bad about her out loud, of course.

"You're letting your jealousy get the best of you," Stefan says to Caroline.

"Oh, so now I have magnified jealousy issues too," she rants. "That's great."

"I told you this wasn't going to be easy," Stefan reminds.

"Yeah, well," Caroline says, "might as well have stayed dead. My entire personality is killing me."

Stefan crosses his arms and grins. We share a knowing look together.

Caroline notices and rolls her eyes at us. "Shut up," she says to Stefan and then she looks at me. "And you're not helping," she adds.

But I can see the amusement behind her expression.

*Time Skip*

Stefan and I are trying to get Caroline to talk to Matt. We find him by his truck putting away a beer keg.

"He's mad at me," Caroline says sadly.

"Go talk to him," Stefan encourages. "We'll wait."

"We'll be right here when you get back," I say.

She smiles at us then goes to talk to Matt.

Stefan's phone begins to ring, and he walks away to take the call.

Okay, guess it'll just be me waiting here for Caroline when she's finished talking to Matt.

Not wanting to look like an eavesdropper, I pull out my phone. I have a new message from an unknown number, probably spam. I open the message and gasp.

It's not the message that freaks me out, but the picture above. It's a selfie of Damon holding up a book. I finally read the actual message:

Look what I found. Your favorite, right?

Why that little . . . I finally notice what book he's holding up. It's Twilight. He must have seen my copy of the book that night he came to my room and realized I was a fan of the series. But how he got my number I have no idea.

I think of something to respond with but come up empty. So instead I simply just block him. I don't need his sarcastic comments blowing up my phone every ten seconds. I'm gonna have to ask Elena how he got my number later.

Stefan walks back over to me, seeming worried.

"What's wrong?" I ask, quickly putting my phone away.

"Where did Caroline and Matt go?" he asks, his eyes searching around frantically.

Confused, I look back over at Matt's truck, but they're gone. "I—I don't know. They were just there," I stammer, feeling stupid for not even noticing that they left.

"Ugh," Stefan groans, putting his hands on the back of his head in frustration. "Where could they have gone?"

"What's going on?" I ask.

He takes his hands off the back of his head. "Listen. I need you to go to Caroline's car and lock yourself in," he orders.

"Why?"

"I don't have time to explain, but you'll be safer in there."

"Okay." I'm about to turn away and head for Caroline's car when I remember something. "Wait, but the car is locked. How will I get in?"

"Caroline left her purse on Matt's truck. The keys should be in there," Stefan says. And in the blink of an eye, he zooms away.

Now alone, I speed-walk to Matt's truck and find Caroline's purse lying on the back. I fish in it for Caroline's keys and pull them out. With the keys in hand, I jog over to Caroline's car, my blood pumping as I unlock the car and hop inside. I hastily shut the door behind me and lock myself in.

Wanting to be more comfortable because I have no idea how long I'll be waiting, I crawl into the back and spread my legs out over the three seats in the back. What could Stefan be so afraid of? I look out the windows but don't see anything. Sighing, I lean back further.

A low guttural growl from outside makes me jump.

What was that?!

I turn my body around and peak out the window, keeping my head low. I can vaguely make out the shape of an animal in the tree line. What is that?

The creature comes into the moonlight. It's a wolf, a huge wolf, about the size of a human. I've never seen one like this before. Was this what Stefan was so afraid of?

The wolf growls again and disappears into the woods. Whoa, where did it go?

That was no ordinary wolf. There's no way it could have been. It was much too big and moved way too fast.

Werewolf. That's the first thing that comes to mind. Did I just see a werewolf? Are they real? I mean, vampires are real so anything can be possible at this point.

A little later, Stefan shows up with Caroline and Matt. I unlock the car and go out to meet them. Streams of blood stain Matt's neck.

"What happened?" I ask.

Caroline's eyes dart to Stefan, and he gestures with his head towards Matt. She goes to him, leaving it as just me and Stefan.

"What happened?" I repeat.

Stefan shoves his hands into his hoodie pockets. "Caroline accidentally attacked Matt," he says.

My gut sinks. "Oh my God, is he okay?"

"He's fine." Stefan nods. "It was a small bite. Caroline's compelling him now to think he got attacked by an animal."

I glance over at Matt and Caroline then return my gaze to Stefan. "That's good." I nod then remember what I saw earlier. "Wait, Stefan, while you were gone. I saw something in the woods. It was like this huge wolf. I mean, not like that big, but it was too big to be just any ordinary wolf."

He takes his hands out of his pockets. "I know. It was a werewolf."

"So they are real?" I ask, amazed.

Stefan nods. "They are. Elena called me earlier and filled me in. They think Mason Lockwood is a werewolf."

"Wait," I hesitate. "You don't think that wolf I saw was Mason, do you? My dad has been friends with him forever." I begin to grow worried.

Stefan looks away from me for a moment. "I don't know. But I do know that Damon won't stop until he finds out."

Caroline walks back over to us, ending our conversation.

Maybe I should have gone to Duke after all. Books are much more my thing than this.

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a/n:

I am a Christian and serving the Lord means a lot to me. In fact, I consider it my purpose in life. So before I post new chapters, I'm going to ask a question (or something like that) at the end of each chapter and will require a certain amount of responses in the comments before I post a new chapter.

If you are a not Christian, I completely understand, and you don't have to take part. Just know that I will still require a certain amount of responses in the comments from other people regardless. So if you do choose to take part, it will just make updates happen that much faster.

So, my challenge for this chapter is: Watch the music video below and tell me you have watched it in an inline comment.

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Please comment responses that you have watched the music video here in the inline comment section >>>>>>

(if I get at least 11 responses, I'll post the next chapter of this book)

-- roxy

( word count: 2k )