Disclaimer: I own nothing, not the characters, not the plot, nothing.
Note: This story takes place just after episode six: Wake. It may or may not incorporate later episodes.
Cassie Blake lay flat on her back in bed trying in vain to count the stars. It was not working tonight. Her mind just kept returning to the scene she had walked into earlier that evening at the docks near the Boathouse - Jake arguing with that woman, Jake walking away, the woman attacking him and pulling out a knife. Cassie knew she did the right thing in using the crystal. She couldn't let that woman kill her newest Circle member, but she was would be lying if she said she was okay with the mysterious woman's death. As much as she tried to tell herself "better her than Jake or me," it just didn't sit right. She was so shocked that she had let Jake deal with the body alone. Not that she wanted to 'deal' with a body, but maybe she should have stayed and helped Jake out. And on top of everything Diana had come over all broken up about dumping Adam. Cassie had never managed to get a straight answer out of her as to why she did it, just that Adam was not to blame. Cassie let out a groan of frustration and tried once again to concentrate on falling asleep.
Jake was shaken up by his meeting with Marco, the leader of the witch hunters. Marco had taken great care to impress upon Jake the precariousness of his position as a witch trying to make his way among the very people who have sworn to hunt down and kill every one of his kind. Simone had not been alone among Marco's lackeys who objected to having a witch in their ranks. It had taken all of Jake's wits and strength to survive long enough to meet Marco and form an alliance with him. Some alliance this was. Their relationship was one of master and servant, not of equals, and Marco liked to remind everyone who exactly was the master. Jake stretched out his arms, examining the bruises Marco's men left on his body. They went easier on him this time because he needed to look presentable to blend in in Chance Harbor, but his sides still ached from the beating. He still wasn't sure why he killed Simone. Sure, she came at him with a blade, but she wasn't the first to do so. All he knew for sure was the depth of his desperation to stop Simone from killing the new girl, Cassie. When he followed her screams the other night, he couldn't help himself. He had to save her. It was the strangest thing, he had only just met her, but he needed to protect her. She was practically the only person in town who treated him like a human being, and he liked that. He found himself in Nick's room, staring out the window into Cassie's bedroom. How on earth was he going to be able to kill her?