CHAPTER SIX:
❝Scarlett❞︎

     "GIVEN OUR RECENT INFLUX OF MONSTERS, SHERIFF DONOVAN AND I HAVE DECIDED WE NEED TO TAKE DRASTIC ACTION. Please give him your full attention." Alaric told the group of students before stepping to the side and allowing Matt Donovan to take his place at the podium.

     "Like Dr. Saltzman was saying, local girls Dana Lilien and Sasha Stoteraux didn't come home last night." Matt told them, making Harper and Hope exchange looks with one another. "Dana sometimes skips town for a few days to party, but this is a first for Sasha." He removed himself from the podium and allowed Alaric to stand back behind it.

     "Thank you, Sheriff Donovan. Now, while the knife is away with Dorian and things are quiet on his end, it won't hurt to assume the worst. If Dana and Sasha happened to be found by monsters. . ." He trailed off. "Now, I'll need a few of you to volunteer to go to Mystic Falls High under the guise of an exchange program meant to improve relations between our schools." He looked towards Lizzie and Josie before looking back towards the other students. "Which, unfortunately, is necessary, given recent events. Now, I give you permission to compel them, to gather materials for locator spells, because any information we can get will make a difference."

     That's when Lizzie stood up in front of the students. "Well, I guess that I can set aside my differences with Dana for a day. . . because that is what heroes do. So. . . I volunteer as tribute."

     "She battles one gargoyle, and suddenly she's Mother Teresa." Hope mutters, making Harper smile slightly before turning back towards the blonde.

     "You know she's always up for her dramatics." Harper told the tribrid with a small smile.

     "I'm in." Kaleb stood up, making them glance back at him. And then MG stood up beside him.

      "I'm in, too."

     "I'd like to help." Hope stood up and Harper looked at her in surprise before shrugging and joining her side and just nodding her head towards Dr. Saltzman. They were dismissed and Harper made it outside, sitting down on the bench and opening her book. She flipped the page, glancing up when Josie joined her and raising her feet so the girl could sit down before placing her legs over Josie's lap, Josie laying her arms on the girl's leg.

     "Always finding an excuse to do good." Josie smiled. "I've always liked that about you. You never do wrong."

     "Well, thank you, Jo." Harper smiled at the girl, bookmarking her page and closing the book to look at her. "I try." She leaned forward, placing a hand on Josie's arm. "Have some fun while Lizzie's gone, yeah? Take a breather for yourself." She glanced up to find Hope standing there, waiting for her. "I'll see you when I get back, and I better here all about your Lizzie-free day."

     "You will." Josie assured her with a smile and a nod. Harper stood up and made her way over to Hope, a sigh falling from her lips as the two got onto the bus along with the other volunteers. They arrived at the school for the humans, cheerleaders surrounding the place. It made Harper scrunch her nose up and glance towards Hope. Landon managed to run into Lizzie, making the girl snap at him before the two joined their little circle.

     "Okay, here's the deal." Lizzie spoke. " Landon, you talk to any of the people you still know from when you were here. Hope, you try to not deliberately alienate the entire student body. . . while the rest of us try to save the world."

      "Is the world really worth saving?" Harper questioned, cocking her head slightly. "I don't know about you, Lizzie, but saving the world needs to stay with the Avengers and Justice League. That's too much baggage that I don't want to deal with."

     "My god, what's made you so depressed." Lizzie scoffed.

     "This isn't a competition, Lizzie." Hope told her.

     "You're right. It's a mission for a hero and her league of. . . whatever's."

     "Yeah." Kaleb scoffed. "Screw that. I work alone." And then the vampire walked away.

     "MG, I need your compulsion skills. Would you like to be the Robin to my Batwoman?" Lizzie requested, looking at the boy.

     He furrowed his eyebrows. "Actually, Batwoman doesn't have a Robin, she—"

     "Metaphor, nerd." Lizzie cut him off, making Harper frown. "Let's go."

     Harper stood there, looking between Landon and Hope and then meeting Hope's eyes. The two had a silent conversation back and forth with Hope telling Harper not to leave her alone with the boy and Harper responding with the fact that she and Landon needed some time to themselves. The only words she spoke out loud were, "Sorry."

     "Harper." Hope started as the girl walked away. "Harper!"

Harper walked around the school, looking at all of the students with curiosity. She remembered when she was normal. When she went to a school like this with nothing on her mind but her grades and the thought of trying not to cause any fights when she got home. But that was all gone now. And honestly, she didn't miss it. Even though she was a quiet girl, she was still able to express herself at the Salvatore school. She looked around, watching as the hallway's slowly started to be filled with less and less students.

     "You're from the Salvatore school, right?" She almost jumped at the female's voice, causing her to quickly turn around to face the girl with wide eyes. She was a pretty brunette with a kind smile and glasses placed on the bridge of her nose.  Her hair reached to the middle of her back, and she wore jeans that had holes at the knees and a cropped long sleeved shirt that only showed the bottom of her stomach along with white shoes. She chuckled at Harper's shocked expression. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

     "No, uh, you didn't scare me. I just thought that the hallway was empty so the sudden sound of someone's voice startled me for a moment." Harper answered, shoving a piece of brown hair behind her ear. She swallowed before holding out her hand, "Uh, Harper."

     The girl smiled and shook her hand. "Scarlett, but you can call me Scar."

     "I thought everyone at this school hated us. . ." Harper frowned, confused as to why the girl was so nice to her.

     "Well, everyone at this school are rich assholes." Scarlett scoffed. "Come on, let me show you around." And she did. She showed Harper every part of the school, even the cafeteria in which she saw Hope sitting with the cheerleaders with a headband on her head that had cat ears.

     "Scarlett, I have a feeling I already know the answer to this, but did you happen to know where Dana and Sasha escaped to the night they went missing?" Harper questioned.

     "Hm." The girl hummed, pursing her lips for a moment. "I think I might know. But I will only tell you on one condition."

     "I'm not so good with conditions." Harper mumbled as the duo stopped, the hallway once again being filled with students.

     "Well, you think you can give me a call whenever you are good with conditions?" Scarlett questioned with a smile. Harper wasn't expecting that. Her eyebrows shot up, though she found a smile forming on her face as she nodded her head.

     "Yeah. I think I can do that." Harper nodded. She watched as Scarlett grabbed a pen from her bag before grabbing Harper's arm and rolling up her sleeve, jotting her number down. She put the pen back in her bag before sending Harper a quick wink.

     "I expect a call from you."

     "And a call you shall receive." Harper responded.

     "Oh, and the Dana thing." Scarlett turned on her heel from where she had been walking away. "She and Sasha were coming to trash the outside of your school like the four year old's they are."

     "Oh. . ." Harper mumbled. "Thanks." She sent Harper a small salute before walking away. The girl made her way outside and to the back of the school, not at all surprised to find everyone else already there. "I'm late apparently."

     "Wait. Dana's dead?" That was the part Harper had walked in on, immediately making her join the conversation.

     "Who killed her?" Harper questioned.

     "Kaleb." Lizzie caught the girl up before turning back to the conversation.

     "Dr. Saltzman said they found her dead from a vampire bite." MG explained to them.

     "I didn't kill her, so y'all need to get the hell outta my face." Kaleb snapped before going to speed away only for Lizzie to hold out her hand, causing him to clutch this side of his head as he let out pained screams.

     "Come on guys, let's go. It's hero time." Lizzie spoke as she walked forwards.

     "To the blondemobile." Hope sighed before the rest of them followed after the Saltzman witch.

     "Not so fast, Kaleb." Lizzie spoke, finally putting her hand down.

     "I told you, all I did was feed." Kaleb said as he turned to face them. "Torture me all you want, but my answer's gonna remain the same. Because I didn't kill Dana."

     "Uh, he's right." Landon spoke up, immediately making Lizzie snap her head towards the boy.

     "What, so you're a mind reader now, Landon?"

     "Call it a hunch." He nodded towards the woods, making them turn their heads to see Dana coming from the woods. She looked extremely pale as she carefully fell to the ground almost as if she couldn't see the group standing there. Harper was the one to walk over to Dana, holding out her hand. Dana looked up at the girl before accepting the help and walking with Harper over to a set of benches in the front of the school with the others following her.

     "We were on the way to graffiti that mill at your school. It was a harmless prank. But then, I got snatched. Next thing I remember, I woke up in a ditch." Dana explained. "So, enjoy it while you can, Lizzie—I'm sure I look like crap." She then placed her hand on her neck only to feel the bite mark that was there. "Oh my god, what is that!"

     "It's. . ." Hope started but froze. "Someone help me out here."

     "It's. . .the mother of all hickeys. You're fine, Dana. You're just a-a little slutty." Lizzie told her, making Harper give the blonde a look. She just shrugged whilst Dana let out a scoff.

     "I don't even like any of you." Dana snapped as she stood up. "I should be talking to the cops."

     "I can't let you do that." Landon stood in front of her.

     "Ad sonum." Harper called, closing her hand and watching as Dana fell to the ground. The group all looked at the girl surprised and she shrugged her shoulders.

     "I mean, she can't let you do that." Landon mumbled as Harper joined Hope's side with the girl giving her a proud smile.

     "So you didn't kill her." Lizzie immediately went back to snapping at Kaleb. "You freaking turned her?"

     "Turned her?" Kaleb questioned.  "You think I want to sit and listen to that for all eternity?"

     "Well, someone did, meaning that we have a transitioning vampire on our hands." Hope quickly cut into the conversation. "So what are we gonna do with her?"

     MG picked the girl up before making their way over to their school bus with Landon opening the back up and getting inside the bus, allowing MG to lay the girl down. Landon helped pull the girl into the bus whilst saying, "So, let me get this straight. . . Dana died with vampire blood in her system, so she came back to life, and now she's in transition, and she needs to feed or die...?"

     "Nailed it, bro." MG complimented. "Easy decision, right?"

     "All right, so we give her some human blood. It's that simple." Kaleb shrugged.

     "Not everyone wants to be supernatural, Kaleb." Harper told the boy, crossing her arms over her chest as she muttered the words. "Some people just want to be normal."

     "Dana's traumatized, you guys. This is a huge decision. Maybe we should give her a day or two." Lizzie shrugged.

     "She'll be dead in a day if she doesn't feed." Hope quickly told Lizzie with narrowed eyes making the blonde roll her eyes.

     "Oops. I suck at math."

     "You should tell her the truth." Landon frowned. "My guess is that she'd be psyched to be at a place like your school—I know I would."

     "You only want to be there because Hope and Rafael are." Harper rolled her eyes.

     "You are all kinds of hostile today." Kaleb cocked an eyebrow at the girl before turning towards MG. "You're awful quiet over there MG."

     "I'm a feminist, bruh. I'm not gonna tell Dana what to do with her body." MG shrugged. "Landon's right." They all looked towards Lizzie who glanced at them before letting out a scoff.

     "Ugh, fine. Okay. But, to be clear, she is not joining drill team."

     Hope rolled her eyes before quickly casting the spell to wake her up, "Surgere." 

     The girl sat up with a groan. "Did I pass out? I don't feel so well."

     "We know how you feel." Hope calmly told her. "And it's okay, you're just hungry."

     "Anorexia was sophomore year. This is something else." Dana lightly snapped.

     "You'll feel better after you feed. I promise." MG told her.

     "Oh, shut up! For real. Even thinking about eating makes me want to—" Suddenly, she started to vomit a greenish-black substance making the group all quickly step backwards.

     "Oh, damn! What'd that girl eat?" Kaleb cringed.  

     "I think her soul just got on my shoes. Ew." Lizzie scrunched her face, and Dana seemed to never stop throwing up.

      "I think I'ma be sick, too." MG gagged.

     "Is this normal." Landon made it a point to avoid looking at the substance the girl was still throwing up.

     "She's puking her guys out—literally." Hope answered. "Dana. Dana!"