Cassie could have had any job she wanted but she wanted to appear as though she got a job on her own merit and not because of her mind control capabilities.  She had been all over towns a half hour from Mystic Falls looking for secretarial jobs but so far she had found nothing. 

She stopped at a park on the way back to Mystic Falls because she was craving blood.  She got out of the car to stroll back toward the trees.  She looked around carefully before she stepped out of the line of sight from the road.  It didn’t take her long to find a nice little snack before she was done with her business.  She strolled down toward a small stream to catch her breath as to stop for a second to check her mouth in the mirror.  She sat down with her bag and napkins.  It wasn’t a minute until she felt Damon behind her. 

She grimaced, “You really do need a life.”

She shook her head as she wiped the blood from her lips but didn’t look up at Damon who smirked she was certain.

“Oh you know I hear that a lot but it’s been more than a hundred years now so well you are kind of my new pet project what can I say?  I want to know what makes you tick, Cassie Bennett Robinson.”

Cassie groaned.  She got up with her purse in her hand, rolled her eyes and attempted to walk away from Damon.  It would never do for her to use any of her abilities in public.  They were hidden behind trees but anyone could come walking past them.  She didn’t want Damon to have any excuse to kill anyone on account of her not being able to handle him well enough to keep him calm.  Bonnie would never forgive her if that happened.

“Now Cassie be nice; I can be a good friend to have,” Damon said as he grabbed Cassie’s arm.

She took a deep breath before she faced him, “Okay Damon, what is it that you want to know?” she asked with all the sincerity she could muster up.

“Since you asked so nicely well I am curious as to if you are also a witch, hum

Chica?”

Cassie rolled her eyes, “If I were a witch then would you go away if I scrunched up my nose just right and poofed you?”

Damon let out a howling laugh; then said, “No.”

“Then what does it matter Damon?  I really need to get home, Bonnie will worry.”

Damon walked behind Cassie as he wondered if she really had no idea about her possible gift.  It occurred to him that maybe she had been so busy with the vampire issue she hadn’t been concerned about much else the last two years.

“I can hear you thinking,” Cassie said as she kept walking.

Damon Salvatore was going to be the death of her.

“Damn, Vampires,” Damon said under his breath.

Cassie had to laugh at that.

--Back in California Dean was antsy to get on the road to find Cassie.  He had such a strong suspicion that Mystic Falls held some clue as to what was going on with here it was driving him a little insane.  He was anxious.  He was cranky.  He was pacing when he wasn’t searching the internet for more clues.  He had waited two days so far to leave the hotel.  He honestly didn’t want to be the guy that was nervous and in a hurry to find a woman, any woman but his gut feeling was quite strong this time.  He needed to know what was going on with her.

He sat at the door with his duffle bag as Sam came in the door with a huge grin on his face. 

“Oh I see you are ready; let me get my stuff.”

Dean pointed to the chair where Sam’s items were all neatly packed.

“You are ready to go? Well let’s get outta here to go can find your girl.”

Dean actually groaned he knew it was true in his heart but he felt he sounded like a chick when he heard it aloud. 

---

Lucy’s day at work was the worse yet she thought as got into her SUV.  She was ready for a long shower and some slow loving from Damon.  It was funny she wouldn’t even call him her man in her head.  She wasn’t stupid but she did like to enjoy his charms.  She smiled to herself as she closed her door.  

The hair on Lucy’s arms stood at attention before she turned around to find Elijah in her back seat.  She had no idea who the man was as she reached in her purse for her mace to something told her it wouldn’t help.

“Don’t bother,” he said, Ms. Bennett, I won’t harm you.  I do need your help with a matter.”

“Who are you?”

“I’m and original vampire and I know you are a Bennett witch,” he stated as

though he were speaking of the weather.

Lucy could only stare at him.  Why had she moved to Mystic Falls her life had been so good, elsewhere? 

“Your cousin needed you and you being the loneliest member of the Bennett’s also needed her.”

“Don’t read my mind and what do you want from me?”

Lucy tried to turn in her seat but he stopped her, “You will not yell at me you will show me some respect before I reach in your chest and pull out your heart.”

Lucy only glared at him before she gave him a major migraine with a slight blink of her eyebrow.

Elijah screamed out in pain before Lucy jumped out of the car to run back in the building.  She needed a moment to get some help.  By the time she was inside she had chanted a spell that made the building vampire proof. 

She called Bonnie from the bathroom to tell her what had happened.  It was only moments later that Stefan arrived to speak with Elijah. 

“You scared her half to death.”

“She is dead meat.”

“No she didn’t know who you were and you scared her off; give her time to calm down.”

The fact that they were in the parking lot of a business stopped them from physically fighting but Elijah warned Stefan that few people got second chances with him.

--

After Elijah left Stefan went to the building to speak with Lucy.

“I know I panicked.  Who was that guy?  Why was he in my car?” she asked. 

Lucy wasn’t easily frightened by the man had given her the chills.  She felt lucky she had been able to get out of the car.

“Actually right now he is threat to Elena because he wants to do a spell that involves killing her.”

“You mean the supposed cure for the Sun and Moon curse?”

Stefan shook his head, “Does everyone know about it?”

“Did he want me to be the witch involved?  I can’t believe he doesn’t know someone who would willing do that for him. I mean he said he was an original vampire that means he knows; well most all of them.”

--

Stefan nodded.  Why had Elijah hunted down Lucy? What had happened to Jonas?  The man and his son had seemingly disappeared into the night a month ago according to what Damon had told him.  Elijah’s benevolent presence in town had begun to wear on the Salvatore brothers as well as Elena and her friends.  He had arrived with a pretense of writing a book but it wasn’t too long until he had made known to the vampires as well as the werewolves in town that he had other not quite so charitable things on his mind.  They had all sighed from relief when he had gone since before Lucy arrived now his return couldn’t mean anything good. 

Stefan shrugged, “Are you okay?” 

Lucy took a deep breath, “I’m fine I hope I didn’t make things worse.”

“It would be hard to make things worse, believe me.”

--

Elijah was angry as he walked through the woods on the other side of the building. He paced and swore aloud.  He saw a woman with a man ahead of him.  They were against a tree kissing.  Elijah decided to take his anger out on them; he didn’t care if some of the other vampires were blamed. Hell hath no fury like an angry vampire.

--

“Dean driving ninety miles an hour isn’t going to help because if we get a ticket things could get bad for us real fast,” Sam said.

Dean rolled his eyes because he knew that Sam was right, he huffed for a second before he slowed down to around sixty five miles an hour. 

“Satisfied?”

Sam shook his head, “We have to drive two days so we might as well pace our selves.   I sure hope she is there for your sake.”

Dean hoped so too.   He was beginning to have second thoughts about his mission.  Cassie was a stubborn woman unless she had been kidnapped she wasn’t going to take kindly to Dean trying to run in to rescue her.  He needed to think things through better; if vampires were involved as he thought they could be looking at a blood bath.  He groaned inwardly. 

“So you said this town has a history of vampires?  That doesn’t mean there are still vampires there today.  You of all people should know that; have there been incidents in the papers? Did you see anything online………..Dean?’

“Shut up Sam, can I drive in peace please?” he said as he considered all the questions that Sam was asking him. 

--

Two days later, Sam and Dean arrived at the edge of Mystic Falls.  Dean was convinced they should stay at the first hotel that they saw.  Sam was ready to agree with the hopes of keeping Dean in a slightly better mood.  They drove up to the Lady Bug Motel then got out to sign in at the desk.  Sam took the lead leaving Dean to get the bags as well as have a second alone.  He met up with him a few minutes later with the keys.

“I’m going to get us some grub meet you back at the room?” Sam said as they stood outside their room.

“Extra onions,” Dean said with a smile.

Sam grunted, “You need a room for those extra onions.”

Dean laughed before he opened the door then stepped inside as Sam went toward the small diner. 

Dean could only shake his head, how the mighty had fallen, not two days ago they were in a ritzy hotel in California living it up with Blondes and booze.  Well Sam did the living it up old school with chicks.  He had moaned about Cassie and surfed the internet.  Dean stood in the middle of the room before he walked outside again.  He stood quietly on the outside of the door.  He looked up to see Cassie at the gas pump near the diner.  The hotel also had a convenience store attached which probably made them more money than the small rooms. 

Dean watched as she filled her car with gas then put the gas cap on.  He waited a beat because that was the time it took for her to look up to see him.  Neither dared move for fear the other would run away.  The time that had passed seemed to animate that moment.  The hesitation was mutual as was the relief at seeing the other alive.

TBC