The Vampire and The Ghost | ✔︎

Chapter Thirty Five: First Impressions

                                                                            Annalise 

"What heathen goes traipsing in someone else's own home! Own home! And then pulls them by their hair. I tell you, young man, I'm going to hex you into the next century! I'm going to curse you so hard that even your children's children will feel it!-'' Harvey rambled on, pulling his hair this way and that. Never seeming to get it back into place.

Annalise winced, as he continued to spew out expletive after expletive. If there was one thing she had to pick out about this man, it was that he definitely had a colourful vocabulary. She didn't even know someone could swear in so many languages.

She watched Eugene with careful eyes, wondering how he was taking this so far. He took two steps back from his brother, eyes narrowed in a carefully hidden mask. She hated this side of him, the side that carefully stored his emotions into compartments and filed them away for another day.

She couldn't understand him. She couldn't read him. Or get anything from him.

Finally, Harvey snapped back up after having put his hair back in place and brushing the invisible dirt from his clothes. Annalise compared the two brothers in her mind, ironically, they had a very similar fashion sense.

There was a pause, when Harvey caught Eugene's eyes. And then-

"BROTHER!" Harvey cried, the tone of his voice causing Annalise to wince. She noticed Cassius cringing as well, his fingers twitching like he wanted to cover his ears. Harvey shot past them both, and straight to Eugene. Collapsing at his feet dramatically, and cuddling his legs.

Tears seemed to pool in Harvey's eyes, and Annalise felt a pang of sympathy for him. The same couldn't be said for Eugene. Eugene panicked, kicking his legs out frantically trying to get rid of the sudden limpet attached to them.

"Oh brother, I knew you would come back to me!" Harvey warbled, rubbing snot and tears into Eugene's jogging bottoms.

"Get off of me!" Eugene hissed, pulling at Harvey's scruffy hair again in an attempt to yank him off. Annalise frowned sympathetically, Harvey had been thrown this way and that, he was bound to have a sore scalp by now if not worse.

"Maybe he really missed you?" Annalise tried, but was abruptly shut up by the dark look he sent her way. Alright, so she wasn't going to try and reunite the brothers anytime soon. Eventually, Eugene managed to get one good kick in, and shoved his brother off of his legs.

"Oh you're so mean to me," Harvey cried, slumped in the patch of dirt he landed in. Eugene tutted derogatorily, unimpressed by the show Harvey was putting on. With a huff, he stepped further away from Harvey, and closer to Annalise.

"I'm not here for this shit," Eugene growled, "I'm not here to reconnect with you,". That seemed to sober Harvey up, he suddenly shot up to his feet. He scowled, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Then what are you here for," Harvey spoke with a seriousness that contradicted the man Annalise had just seen bawling at Eugene's feet. The abrupt switch was almost enough to give her whiplash. Eugene glanced over to Cassius, glaring at him.

"I thought Cassius told you why we're here," Eugene accused. Harvey shook his head, a stray blonde hair falling into his eyes. Eugene's scowl seemed to deepen even more. Cassius was looking anywhere but him, shrugging apathetically.

"We're here for her," Eugene huffed, pointing to Annalise. Annalise shrunk back into herself, she felt all eyes turn to her and squirmed uncomfortably under the attention. Harvey's gaze drifted over her for a moment, unfocused. Like he couldn't really see her.

Oh.

Her heart sank.

"Who?" Harvey asked, looking around the garden. Eugene seemed to pick up on it really quickly, sending Annalise a sympathetic glance before grabbing Harvey again and shoving him back into the house.

Raul followed diligently, but Cassius and Annalise hung back. "He can't see me, can he?" Annalise bemoaned. It never really stopped hurting. She was grateful, so unbelievably grateful she now had a group of friends who could see her. But it was like a knife in the chest when someone couldn't.

It reminded her of those 5 cruel years she spent alone, wandering around the house with nothing and no one. Isolation was enough to kill a person, but she was dead (technically) and it was torture.

Cassius shook his head before saying "Only the undead can see the dead," He ushered them both forward and into the house to follow the others before continuing. "Though he has an extended life span, he is still at the core a human. The living can't see the dead,"

"He can see you guys though," Annalise pointed out, stopping when they reached the living room where everyone else was. The house itself was a disaster. The wallpaper was peeling off in clumps, there were suspicious cracks in the ceiling and litter dotted around like snow.

There were no curtains on the windows, and the only furniture in the living room were the white plastic garden chairs that Annalise couldn't trust to sit a baby, let alone a full grown adult. Before they both entered, Cassius turned to look at her.

"We aren't dead, only undead. You only have a spirit, not a body. But we will find your body soon, and then everyone will be able to see you," His words were surprisingly comforting and she stepped into the living room with an extra jump to her step.

Apparently, they had all been talking in the time it took for her and Cassius to get to the room. Eugene and Harvey seemed in deep conversation, but it abruptly stopped when Eugene noticed she had entered the room.

"Where is she then?" Harvey asked, glancing around the living room. Ah, so Eugene had told him about her predicament then. Cassius pointed to her, where she was standing next to him and Harvey stood up. Making his way towards her, he dramatically bowed in front of her.

He was just off centre, and it was obvious he couldn't see her. But the fact he was trying warmed her heart. "Its a pleasure to meet you, Miss Redwood. I'm sure your beauty is of that of a thousand suns," Harvey blathered on, "My name is Harvey Cubert, and I'm Eugene's older brother,"

Annalise shuddered, it was nice that he was at least trying to communicate with her. But did he have to be so... dramatic? "Its nice to meet you too," Annalise said reluctantly, waiting for him to answer. Cassius shook his head once more, before explaining.

"He can't hear you," Annalise made a face, that definitely made things more complicated, but it made sense too. Harvey seemed to perk up at this, looking at Cassius.

"Did she say something then?" He inquired excitedly, looking like an overgrown puppy. Eugene yanked Harvey backwards by the collar of his shirt, throwing him down into the plastic chair he was sitting on before.

"She said to stop being so fucking dramatic," Eugene hissed, lying between his teeth. Annalise rolled her eyes, talk about Harvey being dramatic.

"Now, help us find this witch."

Authors Note:

Hey all! Thanks so much for reading this chapter! I hope you like it <3 And thank you once more for all the love recently <3 Here's something you may not know about me, i actually have dyslexia which is why sometimes it takes me a while to get chapters out lol.

Whats an interesting fact about you!

Love ya'll

Sam.E

Word Count: 1274