Black Magic ▹ The Vampire Diaries [1]

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
IN THE FLAMES

"An old friend whistles a casual song of yesterdays."

(   trigger warning underage drinking and mention of driving under the influence   )

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

     The thing about acting normal was that it meant Henrik also had to act human.

Henrik, as a former witch but still as an immortal being, was not normal. He was a thousand years old. His siblings were the Original Vampires, his mother was trying to kill him, and his half-brother was the first vampire-werewolf hybrid. Nothing about him was normal or human, and he didn't know how to act like he was. There were abnormal humans every single second of every day, but there weren't any immortal humans, and that was precisely what Henrik was. It was a confusing thing to realize, and Henrik tried not to think about it as much as he could.

Which was why he started joining Ethan whenever he socialized.

He had always had the habit of drowning himself in distractions whenever he was upset about something, but normally the thing he drowned himself in was magic. He didn't have that option now, even with more than enough grimoires at his disposal, so he drowned himself in social interactions instead. It was exhausting, but at least it wasn't with anyone he disliked. Ethan mainly went out with Morgan and Lacey, and that was who Henrik ended up going out with, too. It was Lacey who he always ended up talking to, though. She was the calmer of the two, the one more comfortable with silence, and sometimes that was what Henrik needed. Comfortable silence without any meaningless chatter filling up the space. Henrik got the sense that she needed those silences too, and it all sort of fit into place.

Henrik was surrounded by that same comforting silence now as he, Lacey, and Morgan all climbed out of Henrik's car. They were at the ceremony that would kick off the restoration of the Wickery Bridge, asked to attend by Ethan and Mayor Lockwood herself. Ethan had to make an appearance for political reasons, and Mayor Lockwood was hosting the event. Henrik had to make an appearance as well, not just for Ethan, but for Klaus, too. Klaus had donated a generous amount of money to the Wickery Bridge Restoration Fundraiser, and since he wasn't going to be there in person—something about "putting a stop to this once and for all" before he had stormed out of the mansion and never came back—Henrik and Rebekah had to show up for him. Morgan was only there because of Lacey, and Lacey was there because her last name was Fell.

Henrik looked around for his sister as they got in line to sign the guest book, because apparently rebuilding a bridge that had been destroyed during a car accident was a monumental and historical moment for Mystic Falls. He hadn't really wanted to come, but he had promised Ethan, and Rebekah had promised him that she would also be there for appearance's sake. The Mikaelson family had been off the radar since Esther had tried to kill them, and the only person who had been showing her face regularly around town was Rebekah. She needed to keep up the ruse that nothing was wrong and everything was in control, even while she dug around in the town's archives to find the white oak tree.

"Looking for someone?" someone asked behind him. He wasn't the only one to jump and whirl around. Lacey and Morgan nearly screamed. Rebekah had appeared out of nowhere, using her vampire speed to show up at the ceremony despite the amount of people around. She was far past caring, and now she stood in front of him with a smile, her hair barely windswept. She fixed the few strays out of place, then grinned and threw her arms around Henrik's neck, rocking him from side to side as she hugged him. Henrik completely forgot about Lacey and Morgan as he wrapped his arms around her torso and hugged back as tight as he could.