CHAPTER SEVEN:
haunted

Damon Salvatore groaned in annoyance at the sound of the door bell ringing. The door practically almost broke from how harshly he pulled it open.

Elena stood up tall, Samuel leaning into the wall as he typed away on his phone. "Is Stefan here?" Damon rolled his eyes as he glared at Elena.

"Yep!" Samuel pushed himself off the wall "nice to see you too" he pushed past Elena. "Where is he? Damon rolled his eyes as Samuel shrugged his shoulders at him.

"And good morning to you, little miss, I'm on a mission". Samuel couldn't help but grin as he walked towards the couch.

"Oh look my bloods still on your ugly ass couch" Damon huffed "get your feet off my couch, I might as well burn it at this rate".

Samuel rolled his eyes "glad you're in a good mood today grandpa! Who pissed in your cereal?". Damon pushed Samuel off the couch making the boy flip him off.

"How can you be so arrogant and glib after everything that you've done?". Damon sighed "and how can you be so brave and stupid to call a vampire arrogant and glib?".

"My god you guys are so annoying, if I knew coming here meant arguing I would've stayed at home. At least Jenna and I have standards and scream behind closed doors".

Samuel pushed himself off the floor huffing in annoyance "where is Stefan?" Samuel honestly regretted coming over already.

"My god! Just go and find him Elena! I feel like we're playing hide and seek but you just keep screaming for Stefan. Because we can't find him". He patted Damon's shoulder "you're buying me a fucking drink, in fact multiple drinks so I can forget about this long ass conversation".

He dragged Damon out of the house sighing deeply as he got into the man's car. "Just drive, don't even talk for the entire ride. I will flip shit if you do".

The man laughed as he started the car "you really are something else Samuel Gilbert".

—

Samuel pushed open the door of his house, he stepped inside holding onto a box of fries. While his other hand tightly grasped a chocolate milkshake.

The sound of footsteps running down the steps made him turn. Jeremy stood at the end of them, Samuel already knew the boy was worried about Vicki. It wasn't hard to miss the boys sadness.

"Hey Jere, I got you some fries and a chocolate milkshake, figured if you're gonna be worrying all day about Vicki Donovan. At least you have something to aggressively eat".

"I'm not ten anymore Sam. And how is Vicki? Did you hear anything about her?". Samuel huffed as he put his jacket and keys on the couch.

"If you don't want the fries and milkshake, I'll just have them. I feel like I deserve them after this long conversation about Vicki Donovan".

Jeremy snatched them out of Samuels grasp "I still want them, but seriously any news?". Samuel sighed as he neared the fridge.

"Well personally Matt hates me, so when I asked at the grill he flipped me off and told me to leave. But he was nice enough to mention she's fine, she called him and what not".

"So she's okay then? Elena wouldn't tell me when I asked her earlier, she just keeps telling me to let her go that she needs to get better". Samuel pushed the fridge closed with his elbow as he opened a bottle of water for himself.

"Well from the sounds of it she's doing okay, she probably just accidentally took something strong and it made her freak out. She'll likely be home and Matt will take her to rehab so she gets some help. Also don't tell Elena I told you any of this".

Samuel walked past the boy patting his shoulder "now stop stressing over it. Eat those fries and milkshake before they get gross".

Samuel ran up the stairs going into his room, before he could even sit down and relax. Elena pushed his door open "hey you wanna go to that halloween thing at my school tonight?".

He sighed "Elena, I graduated from high school ages ago, I would literally rather drop dead then attend anything with teenagers".

She put her hands on her hips "it's so we can distract Jeremy about the whole Vicki situation. It's making him really upset and I can't keep lying to him. At least if you're there he'll listen".

Samuel stood up from his bed "he only listens to me because I'm his favorite, even if I do go, no way in hell am I wearing a costume".

"That's fine, just come and keep him distracted at least for the night, I'll even let you drink". He laughed "oh Elena I always drink when I want, I'm twenty two for gods sake!".

He pushed his door closed "I'll be ready in like ten minutes!" he heard Elena huff as she walked away. He grabbed his car keys walking out of his room "you two kids better be ready or I'm leaving your asses here to fend for yourselves!".

Elena glared at him as she stepped out of her room wearing a nursing costume. "What? I told you I'd go, I never said I'd enjoy it, come on let's go".

—

The school was lined with teenagers, Samuel rolled his eyes the second he stepped out of his car. Jeremy and Elena trailed behind him as he pushed his keys into his pocket.

"Why are we here again?" Elena looked at him "it's a family bonding experience for us Samuel". He laughed lightly "yeah right, our family is the definition of not bonding".

He looked around the crowd "at least there's alcohol, I'll be inside gloating near the punch". He walked inside grabbing a random cup, he didn't really care what was inside of it.

As long as it held some type of alcohol beverage. "Sam!" he turned Elena running towards him "what's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost or something". She looked around "Vicki's here, we gotta find Jeremy before something happens".

"I'm sure he's fine, he's probably outside being emo in a corner or something". He drank the rest of his beverage sighing when Elena looked at him "Sam please we gotta find him".

"Fine, but you owe me for this, I'll check out back, you look around in here". She nodded and they split up the second he walked near the exit doors two kids splashed fake blood onto him.

Samuel wiped the fake blood off his face with his sleeve as he walked outside. The boldness of the yellow school buses annoyed him.

He groaned when his body was forced into one of them, the impact making his flesh ache. The woman stared at him, her eyes bright.

A grin was on her lips as she looked over him, "come to finish me off?" his tone was soft and low as he smirked down at her.

The costume she wore made him laugh lightly "couldn't have went with something else? A vampire costume.. it's a little obvious isn't it?".

She pushed him back once more her hand resting on his chest. "what are you? yourself?" he huffed "I don't have time for this, I'm looking for my brother, he's in desperate need of help".

She pulled his collar away from his wound "it's still there" he nodded at her words as he moved forward. "Why won't it go away?".

Her fingers were cold when they touched his neck, "honestly, I've no idea" she sighed deeply. "I've heard stories, of this somewhere".

She seemed confused as she tried remembering where she heard such things. "Maybe we can figure it out together. My friend he tried healing me the other night with his blood. It didn't work".

She looked at him once more "the blood didn't work?" he pushed his collar back over the wound "I like coughed it back up. It was disturbing".

She hummed to herself slightly "odd, perhaps I'll ask around and see if I find any answers on the matter, what's your name?".

The distant sound of shouting made Samuel tense up "I gotta go" he ran off leaving the woman behind. Jeremy was held against a school bus.

Vicki was biting him harshly Samuel ran forward fast grabbing the woman and pulling her back. "Jeremy run!" Vicki lunges at him hissing.

Samuels scream entered the air as Vicki shoved him into the bus. Her fangs ripping harshly into his throat. Elena ran out of the school "Vicki no!".

Samuels vision began blurring as his head slowly began falling forward. Elena hit Vicki roughly with a wooden plank making the girl growl.

Elena screamed when she was thrown back, landing into a pile of garbage. "Vicki!" Samuel laid on the ground holding his neck weakly.

He couldn't focus on much besides breathing, Stefan slammed Vicki into the bus. "Get inside! go!" Samuel felt someone grab hold of him.

Elena struggled to hold him as they moved towards the doorway. Jeremy was mainly freaking out as he stood beside the duo. "Oh my god Sam. You're bleeding, she bit you!".

Samuel groaned as he felt his body giving out, Elena held onto him. At this point practically dragging him towards the door.

Vicki appeared throwing Elena away making Samuel fall towards the floor. The boy screamed when Vicki bit down into his neck once more.

Then it stopped and he felt her body fall away from him. He could hear the loudness of Jeremy crying and shouting out in agony.

Samuel breathed heavily as he pushed himself against the bus. Blood gushed out of his neck harshly "Sam!".

Before he could respond to Elena he felt someone grab him. He nearly threw up when his body was suddenly away from the school entirely.

The woman bit into her wrist rather quickly once Samuel looked at her. "It won't work" he moved in discomfort when his flesh began burning.

"Try it" he grabbed her arm letting out a shaky breath "if I had a dollar for every time I've been bitten this month.. I'd be rich".

He let the blood enter his mouth, it oddly tasted good and he felt better right away. He let out a slow breath when she moved back.

He leaned into the tree he was placed in front of. "Looks like it worked, so weird". He touched his neck the wound gone "I saved you, I suppose you'll finally tell me your name?".

Samuel laughed lightly as he pushed himself off the ground "I thought you'd know, seeing you're like obsessed with me".

She smiled lightly "you're different from other people I've meant, at least in a while".

"It's Samuel, Samuel Gilbert" he reached his hand forward and she took it. "Pleasure to finally meet you Samuel, I'm Rebekah... Mikaelson".

He let her hand go his stance changing "you're an original vampire....". He tensed up slightly "no need to be afraid, I saved you after all".

"No it's not that I'm afraid, it's just I thought all you originals were stuck in boxes..". He walked out of the woods and he knew she was behind him.

"You've heard of my families story, that's rather surprising. Most don't know of our histories". Samuel smiled lightly "your legendary for me, I heard your story from a witch I meant months ago".

"You heard all of my story, even the cruelness I've dealt with for centuries". Samuel sighed "your brother put you in boxes. Whenever you pissed him off, must've been awful".

Rebekah nodded as they walked down the road "I managed to escape, he'll find me eventually.. always does, he'll be rather upset with me".

Samuel stopped walking and looked at Rebekah "I can help you, I'll make sure he doesn't find you. I mean you saved me tonight. I've spent years helping vampires stay hidden".

"I fear he'd only kill you if you were involved in helping me. For now let's part ways and figure out this odd situation we're in". Samuel hovered over her "how will I know you've found something?".

She smiled "trust me you'll figure it out, after all you are a smart guy, I'll see you around". With that she disappeared and he was alone.

—

    Samuel wasn't surprised Stefan was sitting outside of his house when he approached it. He also wasn't surprised when Damon approached the porch. "You're gonna make him forget aren't you".

His eyes lingered on Damon for a moment before going onto Elena "you're really gonna take away that pain from him, without his consent".

"Jeremy can't handle this Sam, Vicki being dead is hurting him, if he just thinks she left...". Samuel couldn't help but laugh "left, yeah right. She's probably in a shallow grave somewhere. You can't just pretend she's alive".

"This is the only way, we can't let Jeremy be apart of this life. He's just a kid". Samuel blinked "I know he's a kid Elena but if you take away his grieving, his loss.. it'll only ruin his life when he finds out she's dead".

"Sam this is gonna help him, he just lost mom and dad, he can't handle another loss". Samuel felt small like his body was on the verge of shutting down. "Go ahead and make him forget, take away all the pain, all the suffering. Every single moment from tonight. But if you even think about doing anything like this again, I'm packing my bags and I'm never coming back".

"Sam.." he pushed the door open "life's meant to be challenging, that's what a friend told me once". He looked at Elena "it's meant to be hard, because if it isn't, then you aren't really alive. I'm gonna go see him before you make him forget... he deserves to know I cared enough to help him before you made him forget about everything".

He walked up the stairs his fingers hovering over Jeremy's doorknob. "You know this is the right thing" Samuel looked at Damon who walked into the hallway. "It isn't, having someone mess with your mind it's not the right thing Damon. It's like someone burned a part of your brain and you can't figure out what it once was".

Samuel turned the doorknob "trust me, I'm not happy with this Damon. I've had vampires make me forget things.. and I'll never get those moments back, it's suffocating trying to remember".

He walked into Jeremy's room slowly the boy laying on his bed as he held onto himself. "Jeremy" the boy sat up at the sound of the boys voice.

"Sam, you're okay" Jeremy pushed himself off his bed "yeah I'm okay, I just wanted to see you before I went to bed. Make sure you were okay".

Jeremy let out a small whimper as he hugged the boy tightly. "She's dead, Vicki's dead.. I don't understand what happened Sam, I'm so scared".

Sam sighed "don't be scared, I'll help you get through this, I'll help you understand". Jeremy nodded weakly as he moved back.

"Elena she won't tell me what happened, she's just avoiding it. But I know what I saw, Vicki she wasn't human, she was something else".

Samuel sat down on Jeremy's bed "I'll tell you everything, just don't tell Elena I told you". Jeremy sat down beside the boy.

"I don't wanna lose anyone else Sam, why do people keep leaving me". Samuel grabbed hold of Jeremy's hands "I'm not going to leave you Jere, after mom and dad, I knew if I left you'd patch yourself back up after awhile. You're a strong kid a hell of a lot stronger then I ever was when I was your age. You're probably still stronger then I am right now, not that you'll remember this anyways".

Samuel sighed "I'm gonna keep you safe, I'll make sure you're always safe. And it sucks that they're taking this moment away from you. I'll remember and I'll make sure I hold onto it forever".

Samuel gripped Jeremy's face tears streaming down his cheeks slowly. "I never got to have a moment of peace in my life until you were born. For once I felt like I had a purpose in my life, and that was making sure you were safe and that you were loved. And I'll always love you Jeremy, even if I never say it or show it much... you're such a good kid".

Jeremy cried "far more than I ever was, you're pure and amazing. You're gonna do such great things in your life, and I hope I get to watch you grow up and become a beautiful human being. I may be your annoying big brother, but I'll always be a far more better father then dad ever was. Because I was here, because I cared when he didn't... I mean look where that got him, in the family plot with everyone else who didn't care enough".

Samuel kissed Jeremy's forehead and smiled sadly "I'll always care about you Jeremy, I'm not going anywhere, I promise". He stood up off the bed leaving Jeremy's room Damon looked at him.

"Sam" the boy wiped away his tears "just get it over with Damon, that's why you're here. So make him forget, don't let me hold you back".

Samuel walked into his room pushing his door closed. He sat down on his bed sitting in silence. When he heard Jeremy's door open and close and heard the sound of Damon leaving.

He couldn't help but fall into a wave of agony as tears fell out of his eyes. The moment faded away and he was just blank, he was alone.