Cassie lay across the foot of the queen sized bed with a pillow bunched comfortably under her head and her one year old baby sister happily playing near her. The little girl should have been taking her nap like she was suppose to do but instead Cassie was the one who was sleeping peacefully to recover some of her energy from having spent the past week of moving to the small town of Mystic Falls.

Cassie was cousin to Elena and Jeremy Gilbert who lived with Aunt Jenna in this town for quite a while now. So when Cassie's father's business required him to work in a nearby city only twenty minutes away from Mystic Falls, it had been Cassie's parents decision to move here where relatives were. Moving to Mystic Falls wasn't exactly thrilling yet it wasn't too bad either for while Cassie semi dreaded having to change high schools, at least she would know some people here.

Cassie and Elena had known each other well when they had been in their younger years so even despite distance and the passing of time, the two of them got along quiet well.

Just two days before, Elena had taken Cassie with her to eat at the Mystic Grill and meet her steady boyfriend, Stefan Salvatore. At first Cassie thought that maybe she was a tad paranoid for Stefan seemed to have a aura about him that Cassie had never before experienced. It was easy to see that Stefan was no ordinary, run of the mill, guy but somehow he seemed different and yet greater. Thus with these feelings, it took a while for her to get use to Stefan but the more time she spent with Elena and Stefan she could see several things. One, the two were completely in love. Two, despite Stefan's unusual aura he was a nice guy complete with manners and adoration for Elena. With her unease settled, Cassie held approval of Stefan and shared Elena's happiness that she had such a wonderful guy at her side.

Stefan wasn't the only person Elena introduced to her. Cassie also got to meet Caroline, Bonnie and Matt. Immediately she had established a friendship with Bonnie who was cool, confident and very friendly. Cassie soon also became to feel at ease with Matt, Elena's long time ex boyfriend. In Cassie's opinion, Caroline was a nice person to be around and even though at times she could act a bit dramatic and ditzy, there was a confidence about her that Cassie admired. The only person Cassie had not seen nor met stood in the room quietly watching her sleep.

The tall male with hair as black as a raven's wing, broad shoulders under that leather black jacket and tee shirt, casually stood there as if he was meant to be there. His gaze was fixed on Cassie's sleeping inert form. Making no sound, he slowly approached the bed with all the grace of a panther. Standing next to the end of the bed, he reached out and with two fingers brushed the side of Cassie's face with a tenderness that contrasted the ruggedness of him. Cassie began to slightly stir upon that unique feather light touch.

One year old Sandy stared curiously at the man before flashing him a sweet grin and emitting bubbling laughter. It was the childish laughter that helped bring Cassie to the present and open her eyes. Having been sleeping with her face turned toward her sister, it was her young giggling sister that she saw instead of the darkly dressed male standing behind her. At least she didn't know he was there until Sandy's little chubby finger playfully pointed to something behind her. Curious, Cassie sat up and turned to look and see what had her sister's attention.

Upon seeing the guy standing there with a leisurely atmosphere, and dressed all in black except for his blue jeans, Cassie gave a small backwards jump of surprise. Little Sandy found it amusing and began flapping her arms and kicking her little feet with babyish glee. However Cassie was attuned to the guy and immediately noticed several things about him. His jet black hair. Powerfully built, muscular male frame. A sculpted masculine jaw. And the most intriguing blue eyes she had ever seen. It was those eyes that made Cassie feel captive to his intense gaze.

"Who the hell are you?" Cassie demanded with curiosity, slight alarm and a bit of aggravation that his presence had temporarily scared her. If he was here to harm, she would resist and do what she could to protect those that she loved.

"Damon Salvatore." He replied coolly.

Cassie couldn't help but to stare at him. He most assuredly was the most darkly handsomest and sexiest guy that she had ever seen. Therefore it wasn't unusual that under his intense gaze her body reacted with the racing of her heart and butterflies in her stomach. As intimidating as he was, Cassie always made it a point to stand her own and not let anyone run her over.

"Salvatore. As in…"

Damon tipped his head in acknowledgement. "Stefan Salvatore? Yes that Salvatore."

"So you are related how?" Cassie gazed at him quizzically and recognized that the same strange aura Stefan had was also present around Damon, with some differences. Damon's aura contained more ominous threat, danger and power.

Damon grinned then with dark amusement. "Neither one of them told you about me yet. I wonder how long they thought to keep that secret, one of many, from you."

When Cassie was fixing to comment, Damon answered. "I'm Stefan's brother."

Cassie couldn't help but show her surprise. "Brother? Older or younger?"

Damon reclined back against the bedroom door with his arms folded across his chest. "Older. We both are older than you think though."

Cassie narrowed her eyes. "What? What is that supposed to mean?"

She got off the bed and stood within reach of her baby sister. Though her back was turned to him, Cassie could feel the weight of Damon's gaze as if he could see every minute move that she made. "You know it doesn't really matter what you mean I guess. If you came here looking for Stefan and Elena, they are not here. They went on a date and will be back later."

"Yes I know. Went off on some trip to the movies I'm guessing." The action of Damon rolling his eyes was missed by Cassie who at the moment handed her little sister the stuffed animal that had been thrown to the other side of the bed.

Cassie felt a bit annoyed for he wasn't being as clear with his answers as he could be. "Okay…"

"Okay what?" A new feminine voice sounded from behind Cassie who immediately turned about in surprise.

Aunt Jenna had pushed open the door and now stood in the doorway to Elena's room. Since Cassie's parents had left to go on a rare date, Cassie had come over to Aunt Jenna, Elena and Jeremy's house to pass the time. Doing a quick glance about the room revealed that the mysterious Damon Salvatore was no where in sight which Cassie found extremely odd. He had been leaning against the door only two seconds ago but now it was like he had vanished into thin air.

"Uh, nothing." Cassie shook her head wondering at the strangeness that had just occurred. Maybe she needed to clear her head and get some fresh air. "Well actually if you don't mind could you watch Sandy for a little while? I think I need to get some fresh air and take a walk."

Aunt Jenna shrugged and smiled. "Sure I'll baby sit my youngest niece. I haven't gotten to spend much time with her yet."

Cassie grabbed her set of house keys, cell phone, sunglasses and a small wad of dollar bills from the dresser top where she had set them earlier. After sliding both the money and the keys into her jean pocket, Cassie put her sunglasses on her head as she descended the stairs. Just as she reached for the doorknob to the front door, it turned on its own and the door swung open to reveal Elena and Stefan just arriving back from their date.

"Hey Cassie. Where are you headed off to?" Elena stepped inside with her arm intertwined with Stefan's.

"I'm going to take a walk and try to make sense of what just happened upstairs." Cassie replied with a slight raise in her eyebrows.

Elena narrowed her eyes questioningly. "What happened?"

Cassie sighed and hoped that they wouldn't think she was crazy. "Well I was in your room trying to get Sandy to take a nap. I fell asleep and when I woke up, there was your brother," She pointed to Stefan. "just standing there staring at me."

Stefan's own eyebrows rose and he seemed concerned as well as curious. Elena didn't seem mad but she wasn't exactly fine with it either.

"Damon?" Elena turned to Stefan. "I thought he knew that we wouldn't be here."

Cassie answered before Stefan could. "Yeah he said he knew that you two were gone when I told him ya'll were."

"Did he say why he was here?" Stefan asked with a low contemplative tone.

Cassie shook her head. "No he didn't. I didn't get to ask him. Besides with all his odd answers I wasn't sure I would get the right one even if I asked."

"What did he say exactly?" Elena seemed worried and aggravated now.

Cassie shrugged. "Oh some strange thing about he and Stefan are way older than I think and he insinuated that the two of you were keeping several secrets from me, including his existence."

Elena sighed and clenched a fist. Stefan didn't say anything for he seemed to be in thought.

"I don't know what he was talking about but I'd rather not get into anything right now. I'm going for a walk to the park downtown. See ya'll later." Cassie passed by them and stepping out from under the porch, felt the sun's warm rays. She slid her sunglasses down off of the top of her head and over her eyes as she started her walk to the monument park.