Leo looked at himself in the mirror. His black hair was a mess, sticking up in ways that didn't make sense. He tried to smooth it down with his hands. It didn't work. It just sprung back. He gave up. Some things you just had to accept.
He pulled on clothes from the closet—dark jeans, a plain t-shirt, a jacket. He glanced back at the mirror. The guy staring back was… different. Handsome in a way that felt like it belonged to someone else. The angles of his face were sharper, his eyes clearer. He gave a slow nod. This was him now.
He headed downstairs.The house was huge and quiet. It was one of those old, beautiful places you saw on the show, all dark wood and big windows. Sunlight streamed in, showing dust dancing in the air. It felt more like a museum than a home. His parents—this body's parents—were gone. The emptiness of the place pressed in on him. He was alone in a giant, silent mansion.
He walked into the kitchen, another big, echoey room. He wasn't really hungry, but he needed to do something like his daily routine. He found bread, toasted it, and poured a tall glass of milk. He ate standing at the granite counter, the only sound his own chewing.The money, the trust fund, all of it was just numbers on paper somewhere. He couldn't touch it. The only real thing, the one rule hanging over him, was the sentence in the legal papers: Graduate from Mystic Falls High.
"Total crap," he said to the silent kitchen. His voice didn't even echo.
He rinsed the plate, left it in the sink. The keys were on a fancy hook by the big front door. Outside, in the circular driveway, the car waited. A silver 2008 Mercedes SL. It looked fast and expensive. Of course it was. He got in. The leather seat was cool. When he started the engine, the deep rumble was the loudest sound he'd heard all morning.
Driving through town was weird.Mystic Falls. It was all there, just like the show. The old town square, the clock tower, the cute little shops. It was pretty.But knowing what he knew, the prettiness felt like a mask. Something dangerous was hiding underneath all that.
Then he saw it. The red and white brick blocks. The sign: Mystic Falls High School.
He parked the Mercedes at the far end of the lot. He turned off the engine and just sat, watching. On TV, this was just a set. In real life, it was… loud. Kids everywhere, yelling, joking, slamming lockers. Through the closed window, the noise was a dull roar. It was so ordinary it was almost painful.
He got out, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. He walked toward the main doors. A weird calm settled over him. His heartbeat was steady. Why be nervous? They were just vampires. Just monsters. And he was…the Devil. The original. The father of all their kinds. The thought was crazy, but it straightened his back.
He pushed through the heavy front doors and was hit with the wall of sound. The hallway was packed. The air smelled like sweat, cheap perfume, and the lemony cleaner they mopped the floors with. Lockers slammed like gunshots nearby, making a girl yelp and laugh.
He moved with the stream of students, his eyes scanning the doors for the main office. He needed to hand in his transfer paperwork.
As he walked, a flash of blonde hair caught his eye near a bank of lockers. He glanced over. It was a group of three girls. Two had their backs to him, but the one facing his direction was unmistakable. Caroline Forbes. She was talking animatedly, her hands moving as she spoke.
He'd thought she was pretty on the show. In real life, it was different. The TV screen flattened her. Here, she was vivid. Bright blue eyes, a smile that was all energy, a kind of polished shine to her. He looked at her for maybe two seconds, a neutral, passing glance. Then he looked straight ahead again, continuing down the hall. First impressions matter, he reminded himself. Don't stare too much.
But those two seconds were enough.
Caroline had been in the middle of consoling Elena about her parents' recent car accident.Then, movement in the crowd pulled her focus. A new face. A boy.
Her eyes met his.
Her sentence died in her throat.
For a second, her brain just… stopped. He was tall, with messy black hair and features so sharp and perfectly put together it didn't seem real. But it was his eyes that locked her in place. Dark, intense, and for that brief moment, completely focused on her. A jolt, like static electricity, shot straight through her. Her breath hitched.
"Caroline?" Elena's voice cut through the fog. "You okay?"
Caroline blinked, finally tearing her gaze away from the spot where the boy had disappeared into the crowd. She realized her mouth was slightly open. She snapped it shut.
Elena and Bonnie followed her line of sight, turning to look. They saw the back of a tall boy in a jacket just before he turned a corner.
"Who was that?" Bonnie asked, frowning slightly.
"I have no idea," Elena said, her tone quietly curious. She'd caught a glimpse of his profile. Strong jaw, a certain stillness amid the hallway chaos. He was… strikingly handsome. The kind of looks that made you look twice. But there was something else, a feeling she couldn't name. It wasn't the cold dread she sometimes felt around town lately. This was different. Warmer, but heavier. It passed as quickly as he did, and she pushed it aside, attributing it to her own fog of grief.
Caroline, however, had already recovered. The shock was gone, replaced by a sparkling, determined energy. Her mind was racing. A new guy. That new guy. She'd never seen him before, and she knew everyone at this school. He had to be a transfer student. He was in her hallway. He was breathtaking.
A wide, competitive smile spread across her face. She looked back at her two best friends, her eyes lit up with pure, unadulterated possession.
"Okay," she announced, her voice full of cheerful finality. She smoothed her top. "That one? That's mine."
Elena shook her head with a small, fond smile. Classic Caroline. See something shiny, claim it immediately. A part of her envied Caroline's ability to bounce back, to focus on something so simple. "You don't even know his name."
"That's a minor detail," Caroline waved a hand dismissively. Her mind was already making a checklist. Find out his name, his schedule, his lunch period. "Did you see him? I mean, really see him? He just… looked right at me." The memory of that eye contact sent another little thrill through her.
Bonnie, however, stayed quiet. She had seen the boy too, for that split second. Like Elena, she'd noticed how good-looking he was. But unlike Caroline, who saw a new project, and unlike Elena, who saw a curiosity, Bonnie felt something else entirely.
It wasn't a bad feeling, not exactly. It was a shift. A change in the air around him as he passed, like the charge before a summer storm. It was faint, but it was there. She was still learning to understand her senses, the whispers of magic her grandmother said she had. This was a new whisper.
She pushed the sensation down. Caroline was already planning her approach, and Elena was listening with amused tolerance. Bonnie forced a smile, not wanting to rain on Caroline's parade with her weird, vague feelings.
"Well," Bonnie said, "good luck with that."
"Luck has nothing to do with it," Caroline declared, tilting her chin up with confidence.
Just then, another boy passed by their little group. He was slender, with glasses and pale skin,both hands in his pocket. He looked calm. Caroline's eyes flicked to him for a second, then away. Bonnie and Elena glanced at him too.
"Huh," Caroline said, her surprise evident. "Another new student? Transfer day or something?" She sized him up in a glance. "He's handsome. In a gloomy way. But not even close to the level of that other one." The comparison was instant and final in her mind. The boy with black glasses was just background noise.
The bell rang, a harsh sound that made Elena flinch slightly. The moment broken, Caroline linked her arms with Elena and Bonnie. "Come on, we're gonna be late. But first, a detour to the office. I need some intel."
As she steered them down the hall, Elena walked silently, her thoughts a mix of her own sadness and that fleeting, strange feeling from the handsome stranger. Bonnie walked beside her, her gaze drifting back down the hallway once more, a faint line of worry between her brows.