CHAPTER ONE !

A NEW BEGINNING 

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WHEN ASTRID MIKAELSON HEARD about the possibility of escaping the supernatural -even though she would always remain an original herself- she went for it as quickly as she could.

Of course, before actually leaving Mystic Falls and its inhabitants, she'd had to talk to her two eldest brothers, Klaus and Elijah. Being the youngest of the family still alive, they were reluctant to let their little sister go but they finished by agreeing on one thing: Astrid could use a little peace for once in her life.

Unlike her sister Rebekah's search for love or her brother Klaus' need for a kingdom and power, Astrid only wanted to have a somewhat peaceful life, as far away from the supernatural, as after all the shit life had thrown at her. So, she packed her bags and, after some preparation, she flew to the complete other side of the country, to a little town called Beacon Hills.

From what she had found out, the town seemed pretty peaceful, a few animal attacks had occurred in the last few months but that was basically it. It seemed like the exact boring small town she needed.

After saying her goodbyes to her siblings -with the promises to call once in a while and to not do anything too stupid-, Astrid had finally left Mystic Falls and had taken a plane to Beacon Hills, California. Of course, she had prepared for her arrival in this new town before officially moving in.

Since Astrid still had the body of a sixteen years old, thanks to her dear mom transforming her into a vampire while she was still in the prime of her teenage years, she had decided to compel a childless couple that seemed old enough to be her parents. Mikael and Esther being far from model parents and being dead and all.

Astrid was then moving into this couple's house while they both believed that she was their daughter, coming back from her stay in Los Angeles with her aunt Lucy. Also, she was enrolled in the town's high school and was going to be joining the sophomore class. Why not make the most of it and try and get the most out of this high school experience anyway?

Of course, if she had wanted, Astrid could've joined the grade above and be a junior but when she had made her plans, she thought that, if nothing went wrong, being a sophomore meant she could spend more time as a normal high schooler.

Her new name was now Astrid Greene and she had become the daughter of Lana and George Greene. She couldn't risk anyone recognizing the name Mikaelson and it would've seemed strange if she didn't have the same last name as her so-called parents anyway.

Astrid couldn't admit the contrary, being a vampire had made everything a lot easier.

She was arriving in the middle of the school year and that was a little inconvenient but it was still better than being stuck in Mystic Falls until the beginning of the next school year. And after all, it's not like it would change much for her. She would still be considered the new girl either way.

When the taxi that had picked her up at the airport neared her new house, Astrid was pleased to find a cosy and charming house. She smiled, taking in the pale orange color of the walls and the small but charming garden in the front. It really looked like the perfect suburban house to live in and she couldn't wait to visit the place she would, hopefully, spend the next few years living in.

After grabbing the few bags that contained most of her clothes that were appropriate to today's age meaning not that much since it hadn't been that long since she had escaped her brother's coffin, she paid the taxi driver and started making her way to her new house.

Astrid didn't have the keys yet so she had to stop in front of the door to knock. After a few moments, the door opened and before she really understood what was going on, Astrid felt two arms grabbing her and pulling her in for a hug.

Out of surprise, Astrid couldn't help but drop the largest of her bags which fell on the floor with a thud, before realizing it was her supposed 'mother' simply hugging her. It felt... odd at first. She wasn't exactly used to having parents that seemed to care for her for about a thousand years. She couldn't really qualify the short time after Esther's resurrection as parent quality time anyway since it had shortly been followed by her mother wanting to end her and all her siblings.

"Astrid! How have I missed you! Is your aunt Lucy okay? What about Los Angeles? Any major changes since the last time we went to visit you?" the brown-haired woman asked her after ending the hug.

"Aunt Lucy's great, she asked me to say hi! And no, nothing much happened in Los Angeles since last time. But, how are you feeling.. mom?" The last word had been harder to say for Astrid than the rest and it left an uneasy feeling in Astrid's mouth. She had always called Esther something more formal like 'mother' so the word felt really unfamiliar to her.

"I'm feeling much better now that you're here. Wait, let me take some of your bags. You remember your old room, right?" Lana asked her, taking the heaviest bag Astrid had dropped off the floor. Astrid had a nervous giggle, of course, she remembered a room she had never seen.

The two women went up the stairs and, when Lana stopped in front of a door on the right, Astrid figured it was her 'old room'. Lana opened the wooden door before leaving the bag she was holding on the doorstep. "I'll leave you to it now, okay? You must be exhausted after the trip and might want to settle down a little." she told her « Also, your father is coming back for dinner but he's really excited to see you again! »

Astrid nodded and smiled at the other woman who left as quickly as she had come in, leaving Astrid alone in her new bedroom. The vampire looked around her. The room was furnished but seemed more like one of those rooms you would find at Ikea than an actual teenager's room, not being decorated and with few books or anything else of that matter. Astrid walked to the dresser and opened it, discovering a few clothes Lana and George had probably bought for her.

She took her bags and opened them, taking out the few belongings she had brought. There were some clothes but she had mostly brought a lot of photographs, letters and various pictures of her siblings. For now, she left them on a desk, deciding she would deal with them later. She wanted to hang some up but she had to be careful with what photos she choose. After all, she couldn't exactly leave old photographs of her that were more than a century old out in the open.

After practically shoving all her stuff in the dresser -she wasn't really in the mood for cleaning-, she left her bedroom and walked down the different corridors of the house, opening some doors to discover a bathroom, a guest room and so on on the way. When she ought she was done discovering her new home, she walked downstairs.

Being a little bored of staying inside, she grabbed the light jacket she had been wearing when she arrived which her 'mother' must have gotten off her when she arrived and opened the front door. When she realized she couldn't do as much as she pleased without consequences, like in Mystic Falls, she stopped at the door. "Hm, I'm leaving!" She yelled hesitantly.

Lana, who had heard who she thought was her daughter, yelled back at her, "Okay, honey! Just remember to be here for dinner. Your keys are on the buffet!"

Astrid nodded, even though Lana couldn't technically see her, and grabbed the keys before leaving the house, locking the front door after her. While she had compelled the couple to believe they were her parents, she had also hypnotized them to leave her a lot of liberty, not asking many questions and mostly just filling the role so that others wouldn't get suspicious of her. This meant that she didn't have to be accountable for them all the time if she wanted to.

Astrid started walking down the street, looking around at the houses around her. Because she was paying more attention to the various houses than to what was directly in front of her, she only noticed the person sprinting towards her at the last moment. She tried avoiding them but it was too late. Next thing she knew, she could feel a strong arm around her waist, probably avoiding her from falling even though she probably wouldn't have, vampire reflexes and all. The boy into whom she had just bumped looked down at her with an expression of shock on his face.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" the tanned boy asked, a little worried, all the while letting go of her. He had brown hair and was wearing a black sweater with jeans.

Astrid looked at the person who had nearly made her fall and, while she nearly missed it, she noticed his heart missing a beat and a confused expression on the boy's face but it only lasted a second. The next moment, everything seemed normal. Had she perhaps dreamt it?

"Don't worry, it's my fault, I wasn't looking where I was going anyway. I'm fine, you?" Astrid asked once she was steadily back on her feet. He had pretty nice reflexes, she had to admit that. Now, it was the boy's turn to observe her, maybe noticing he had never seen her around.

"I'm sorry but, are you new? This is a pretty small neighborhood and I don't think I remember ever seeing you around here." The tanned boy asked not much after

"Yes, I just moved in. I was leaving with my aunt in Los Angeles before. My name's Astrid, Astrid Greene, maybe you know my parents?" Astrid smiled at him. The lies had rolled out of her mouth pretty easily. One could consider her a natural but after a few hundred years of practice, it had become customary to her.

The boy's eyes widened, "You're Lana and George's daughter? Sorry, I just didn't know they had a child! Well, I'm Scott McCall, I live over there." the presumed Scott said, pointing to a house not even 30 meters away.

"Well, nice to meet you, Scott!"

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Astrid was waiting outside the room where she was supposed to have her first class. The principal was supposed to meet her to bring her in but he wasn't there yet. Instead, to pass time, Astrid was eavesdropping on the different discussions inside.

Some girls were talking about a new movie coming out soon while a group was discussing lacrosse, a sport which she heard was a pretty big deal in this high school. More so than football had been in Mystic Falls. What stood out was the discussion of two boys because she recognized one of the voices as Scott's. She had talked a little more to him and had learnt he was a sophomore too so she figured she would probably see him again.

"You remember how I told you I met a girl who was moving back to Beacon Hills?" Scott asked the other boy Astrid didn't know and couldn't see. She guessed it must be a friend of his."Yes, I remember, why?" the other guy responded.

"Well, first of all, she lives a couple of blocks away from us but when I met her, there was something about her smell-" Scott started but was cut off by his friend.

"What? Her smell? Do you think she might be a...? It must be Derek!" Scott's friend exclaimed. She heard a shush from Scott. Astrid wondered, who was this Derek? And why the hell were they talking about her smell? She didn't smell, did she?

"I don't think it was Derek, she only arrived yesterday after all. Also, I don't think she's a werewolf. But she definitely isn't human." Scott explained to his friend.

Astrid sighed, the pieces fitting inside her brain. She had only arrived yesterday and somehow, the supernatural had already caught up with her. Maybe she could try and avoid it? She hoped she could. She didn't exactly want to restart the whole process. It's not like finding a suitable couple to be her parents and enrolling in a new school was exactly quick.

From what she had heard, Scott seemed to be a werewolf but she wasn't sure. He had talked about her smell after all. Also, it meant she didn't smell so she guessed it was good news. Sort of. Then, this Derek guy must be a werewolf too. If Scott had mentioned werewolves right after Derek, then there must be a connection.

"What's her name?" She heard Scott's friend ask. She didn't know if Scott had the time to answer or not because the principal had just arrived. Without as much of a hello to her, he entered the classroom and Astrid followed him close.

"Hello students, here's Astrid Greene. She just arrived in Beacon Hills and will be in this class. I hope you will all welcome her well to Beacon Hills High." The principal said in a stoic voice. As quickly as he had arrived, the man then left the class and left Astrid in the hands of the teacher.

Astrid turned to the science teacher, Mr Harris, as she had been told. He had glasses that made him look like an idiot, she thought. "I guess you are familiar with science, aren't you Miss Greene?" he asked her, she nodded quickly, "Well, I hope you are then ready to show me your knowledge on this pop quiz. Sit over there."

Mr Harris showed her a seat next to a window. The rest of the class groaned when they heard about a pop quiz. When Astrid got the paper, she realized she actually didn't know a lot of answers. After all, who would study physics or whatever this subject was when they were a thousand-year-old vampire? She hadn't exactly had the time to be taught regular high school subjects anyway.

Noticing whispers not far from her, Astrid placed a strand of hair behind her ear to hear better. After all, what was she going to do? She had no idea what to answer. "Is it her?" she heard Scott's friend ask in a whisper. Scott didn't answer but instead just nodded to his friends. Of course, they were talking about her.

Looking at Scott's friend, she saw that he was pale, had a buzzcut and was wearing a brown plaid. The boy talked again, "All right, it's causing me severe mental anguish to say this but Jackson's right about Lydia." Astrid frowned, who were Jackson and Lydia? Gossip was better than boredom anyway.

"I know." Scott simply answered without even looking at his friend.

"What if the next body part she steals is from someone who's still alive?" Astrid's head shot up, what was he talking about? Stealing body parts? Werewolves were one thing but stealing organs from dead people was a whole other deal.

"This is a pop quiz, Mr Stilinski. If I hear your voice again, I may be tempted to give you detention for the rest of your high school career." The teacher said. Astrid had to admit Scott's friend hadn't been exactly subtle about his discussion with Scott. At least, she now knew his last name was Stilinski even though Astrid still had no idea what his name was.

"Can you do that?" the perplexed pale boy asked.

"Oh well, there it is again. Your voice. Triggering the only impulse I've ever had to strike a student repeatedly and violently. I'll see you at 3 for detention." Astrid was shocked to hear the violent teacher's words as a few giggles were heard from the back of the class. "You too Mr McCall?"

"No sir," Scott responded, keeping his head low. After that, the class was quiet and Astrid looked back at her pop quiz, wondering what could be the answers, even if she knew she probably wouldn't find any of them.

Suddenly, a student from the back, perhaps one that had giggled earlier, stood up from his seat. "You okay Mr Whittemore?" the teacher asked with a sense of worry. Astrid was surprised to see Mr Harris was able to feel pity for someone.

"May I go to the bathroom?" the boy who had just stood up asked, a hand to his nose. Mr Harris nodded hurriedly and the teenager quickly left the class. Looking at him the whole way, Astrid noticed that he was trying to keep a black liquid from coming out of his nose. Wasn't blood normally supposed to come out of here?

When she tried to identify the strange liquid from its smell, Astrid didn't even recognize what it was. One thing she knew for sure was that it definitely wasn't blood. What was going on in this town?