Chapter One

Mystic Falls was eerily quiet. The last time this had happened, the Mystic Grill was blown up, people died… A lot of them. And there were a lot less people roaming around the small Virginia town.

Will was prepared for what might come. Being part of one of the few complete Founding Families left to do their job, she knew she couldn't be afraid. Yes, she was young compared to all the other hunters. Not the supernatural one of the Five Hunters, mind you. Just your average run-of-the-mill Vampire slayer, Werewolf killer, Witch stalker kind.

Will was ready to settle into her new home in Mystic Falls, start a new life packed full of action, packed full of everything she'd been brought up to fight for.

Will dropped her suitcase down on the twin bed the movers had brought into her small apartment bedroom. Her mother had offered to let her stay in the family house, but Will didn't want any attention drawn to her. Besides, one person living in a six bedroom home all by herself? No. That was way too much space and way too many unwatched corners of the house to make her feel comfortable.

Will glanced over her shoulder at the sound of something in the hallway. She pulled a stake out from the inside of her jacket and approached the front door. The movers had left fifteen minutes ago, so the loud thumping she'd heard couldn't have been them.

She reached for the doorknob and turned it slowly, peeking outside. She looked down at the bare concrete of the front porch and raised an eyebrow at the rolled up newspaper. She pocketed her stake and picked up the plastic wrapped paper, pulling it out of the sleeve and looking at the first page.

The headlines read out, "Fire Kills Many During Wedding". She scanned the article. It sounded like more than just a fire to her; it sounded like Witch magic.

Will tossed the newspaper inside the apartment and locked the place up tight before leaving in her army-green Ford Focus to the newly remodeled Mystic Grill. It was where all the local inhabitants that went bump in the night hung out. At least, that was what the intel she'd gathered told her.

"You're a new face." A blond man sitting at the bar beside Will said. She turned to meet his blue eyes. She looked at the blue t-shirt he was wearing. The name 'Donovan' was written in bold letters over the left side of his chest.

"I guess I am." She turned to reach for her coffee as the man behind the bar handed her the large mug. She poured in her sugar and cream and took a few gulps. She really needed the caffeine.

"Matt!" A female's voice exclaimed from behind. Will watched from the corner of her eye as a blonde girl wrapped her arms around Matt Donovan's neck. "How's the deputy training going?"

"Great, Care." Matt smiled at the girl and she let go of him.

"Caroline, come back here." A man's voice called. He was laughing as he spoke from across the room, by the billiards tables. Caroline's face lit up and she took Matt by the wrist and yanked him away from his seat, over to the small group of people with the rustic-haired man.

Finding the supernatural beings she was sent to keep an eye on wasn't going to be an easy task. First Will would have to slyly investigate, slip vervain into drinks, find the day walkers. She also had to fit in with them after she'd found out who they were. That was the only way she'd ever be able to keep tabs on them.

A dark-haired man took a seat beside her. "Bourbon, your oldest." He said to the man behind the bar. He was handed a glass and the host poured it half-full with an amber liquid. The dark-haired man took a shot of his alcohol, downing most of it. He held the glass out to the man again. "More."

The bartender filled the glass a second time. The man to Will's left took a swallow, instead of chugging the whole thing like he had the first go around.

"What are you staring at?" The man with the alcohol asked.

Will blinked, raising her eyebrows at his sudden question. She hadn't really been staring, she didn't think. "You sure know how to down your alcohol," she told him.

"Years of experience." The man swirled his bourbon around in his glass. He definitely didn't feel as lively and chipper as the other people she'd been watching the whole time she was there. "And you are?" He raised an eyebrow at her, meeting her eyes.

"Will." She would have answered even if she hadn't wanted to. The man's eyes were an almost translucent shade of neon blue. The were very mesmerizing, like he could hypnotize you with just a glance. I bet he gets a lot of women with those eyes.

"Bad time to come to Mystic Falls," he grumbled as he took another swallow of his bourbon.

"And why is that?" Will looked away from his face to look down at her coffee instead as she picked it up and raised the mug to her lips.

"Lots of bad juju will be coming around. I just know it." He downed the rest of the bourbon quickly and reached over the bar to grab the whole bottle himself. He put his lips to the top and drank straight from it.

Will furrowed her brow. "Might wanna slow down there, mister."

"Damon." The man put the bottle down long enough to look at her.

"What?"

"The name is Damon." He gave her a crooked smile, his eyes searching her face.

"Now you're the one staring." Will chugged some more coffee. At this rate, she'd need another cup.

Damon grabbed her jacket sleeve, and Will turned to look at him. His gaze locked with hers and his pupils dilated. "You're going to come with me to the back. I've got a surprise for you," he said softly, under his breath just loud enough for her to hear.

Will hadn't planned on a vampire being so bold as to just compel someone for something so petty, at least not in Mystic Falls where vampires lived under the radar quite well. She had, however, filled herself up on vervain to protect herself from a vampire's compulsion. However, Will wasn't ready to blow her cover the first day on the job. "A surprise?" She smiled innocently, playing along.

Damon gave her a satisfied look. "You'll see. Come on." He took Will's hand and looked over to the group of people Caroline and Matt had run off to with careful eyes before slipping out the back door.

Damon closed it behind her and grabbed Will by the shoulders, moving so quickly it jarred her, leaving her feeling windless for a moment before she regained her composure. Damon had her back pressed up against the brick wall, a hand on her cheek.

"What are we doing?" Will asked, still going with it.

"We're going to have some fun," he explained. He looked into her eyes again. "Don't run, don't scream."

Will nodded as Damon's eyes turned dark and veins appeared over his high cheekbones. Fangs slid out over his canines and he gripped her shoulders tightly, uncomfortably.

He watched her for a moment, his expression shifting from a sad hunger to guilt. "This isn't doing right by Elena…," he groaned softly.

"Elena?" Will asked, frowning and furrowing her brow.

Damon stared at Will a moment longer before roughly letting her go, the veins under his eyes disappearing. "I can't. Guess it's your lucky day." His sad tone changed to that of rage in an instant. He grabbed a chair with a ripped up cushion and threw it at the far wall. Will tensed, eyes widening at the vampire in action. "Go before I change my mind," he growled.

Will slinked against the wall and turned to hurry inside. He grabbed her wrist and turned her to look at him before she got away. "I thought you wanted me to go," she said, her voice sounding a bit more frantic than intended. Was she actually afraid of him? Her heartbeat was racing and her breathing was heavy. She'd had close encounters with vampires before, so why was this one any different?

"You won't remember any of this. You'll go right home and go about your normal day." His pupils dilated again and he let Will go.

Without a word she escaped inside.

"Shit!" Will grumbled as she slammed the door to her apartment closed behind her. She pulled her jacket off and tossed it over a table before heading to the small bathroom. She turned the water on cold and splashed her face with it.

Will looked up at her reflection in the mirror. She couldn't be slipping now, not while she was out on the field. Her brother would have her head if she screwed this all up and gave away that the Maxwells were slowly coming back to town.

And honestly, why had she been afraid? Vampire hunting was second nature to her, the easiest thing for her to do. Vampires were simple compared to Witches and Wolves.

Will jumped when her cell phone started ringing in her pocket and she snatched it up, checking the message on the screen.

Tristan: Hope your first night in Mystic Falls is an uneventful one. The place is crawling with vermin. Sleep tight.

Will rolled her eyes and shoved her phone back into her pocket before getting ready for bed.

Will twirled her keychain around her index finger as she walked down the streets of Mystic Falls. She didn't have time to waste, she needed to get the ball rolling. She needed to see Damon again. Where there was one vampire, there was usually always another, a partner in crime, an accomplice. But Damon's behavior had been really strange. She'd never seen a vampire just stop themselves from feeding and then worry about what someone else thought about what they did. She needed to investigate further.

Will stopped at a crosswalk, on her way to the Mystic Grill again. Matt approached her, smiling. "Oh, hey," he said in greeting.

Will gave him a smile in return. "Hey yourself."

"Sorry about last night. I didn't mean to just say hi and disappear." He chuckled. He was so completely… Human.

"It's fine." Will told him, waiting for a clear path to the other side of the road. "But you can make it up to me," she said suddenly.

Matt smirked. "And how's that?"

"This black-haired man was harassing me last night. He went by the name, Damon. Do you know him?" She raised an eyebrow in Matt's direction. The light turned and they crossed the street together.

"Yeah, I know Damon." He didn't sound too happy about that fact. "He's a grade a douchebag. A lot of the time, especially now since Elena-" He stopped mid-sentence.

"Elena? Who's Elena?" Will watched Matt struggle for an answer.

"She's Damon's girlfriend… Was Damon's girlfriend. She's dead." Matt explained.

"Oh." Will pulled a strand of hair behind her ear. She hadn't expected that kind of answer. But she didn't really feel remorse. Vampires were horrible creatures. They deserved death. She hadn't met one who didn't.

"Yeah, so he's being a big dick about it. She told him before he died to be happy and date and move on but Damon isn't good at that stuff."

"Uh-huh. So what you're saying is just ignore him?" Will wasn't looking for that kind of an answer.

"Pretty much." Matt shrugged.

"Honestly I'd rather give him a piece of my mind. Know where I can find him?"

"Well, he lives in the old Salvatore Boarding house… Don't tell him I told you though, and be careful." Matt gave Will a worried look.

"The Boarding house, huh?" She smirked. The Salvatore's were part of the Founding Families as well. Ironic that a vampire would be living in their Boarding House. "Thanks. I'll have to drop by."

"Don't thank me. I'm honestly probably putting you into a lot of trouble, which is exactly what I'm not supposed to do as a cop." Matt sighed in exasperation.

"Don't worry. I'll be fine."

Will walked up to the Boarding house's front door. She knocked with the rustic knocker and waited for an answer. She only had to wait a couple moments before the door came open, the man who had called Caroline over to him at the Grill standing in front of her. Will furrowed her brow. "May I help you?" he asked.

"I, uhm…" Why was he there? "Does a Damon live here?"

The man's eyebrows raised high. "Damon?"

"Yeah. He was bugging me at the Grill last night, and I thought I'd bug him in return." Will crossed her arms giving him a smirk.

The man looked really lost, examining Will up and down like he was trying to figure out why this human girl was standing on the doorstep. "I can go get him. Come in." The man opened the door a little wider as he stepped inside. Will followed in, standing by the wall as he shut the door.

"So, what's your name?" he asked her.

"Will. Yours?"

"Stefan," he said. "I'll be right back." Will watched as he walked off and disappeared into a large room, behind a wall.

A couple minutes later, Damon strolled into the hallway, a glass of something amber in his hand. He raised an eyebrow at the woman with black hair. "What are you doing here?"

"I ran into Matt. He told me this is where you live." Will explained vaguely.

"Right, but that doesn't explain what you're doing here." He took a drink from his glass. "We just said hello and goodbye last night."

"I remember being outside with you last night, and I remember you getting up in my personal space but I don't remember anything else. I know I wasn't drunk because all I had was coffee. Did you spike my drink or something?" Will asked, playing it dumb.

Damon chuckled. "Right, because I need to spike a girls' coffee to get all close and personal." His tone dripped sarcasm.

"Then tell me what happened. You're the only one who would know." Will crossed her arms.

"Nothing happened." Damon said coolly. "I took you outside because you were feeling dizzy. You almost fell over so I grabbed and steadied you. When you started feeling better, you left."

"Right…" Will nodded her head. What a liar. And so good at it too.

"Don't believe me?" Damon looked a little annoyed, like he didn't want to spend his time arguing with a woman he met at the bar.

"No, not really." Will raised an eyebrow.

"That's too bad." Damon approached her, neon eyes meeting hers. "You believe my story. Now you will-"

"Damon." A woman's voice came from behind him, cutting Damon off mid-sentence.

He turned to look over his shoulder at the small caramel-skinned brunette. Will followed his gaze. "What do you want, Bonnie?" he asked, annoyance evident in his tone.

"What are doing?" Bonnie walked over to stand by his side and she looked Will up and down. "Hello stranger."

"Hi." Will furrowed her brow. Who was this now?

"Are you going to introduce me to your friend, Damon?" Bonnie looked up at the dark-haired vampire and raised an eyebrow at him.

"Not now, Bon-Bon." Damon groaned.

Bonnie turned to smile at Will. "Nice to meet you. I'm Bonnie."

"Will," she replied. She wasn't entirely sure what was going on. Were Stefan and Bonnie vampires? Or did they just not know that Damon was one? Maybe he compelled them and they were his walking blood banks.

"So are you two friends, or…?" She looked between Will and Damon.

"I barely know her." Damon said. "And she was just about to leave anyway, weren't you Will?" He looked at Will with a slightly demanding gaze and an authoritative tone.

"Was I?" Will shrugged one shoulder.

Bonnie smirked at looked back up at him again. "Was she Damon?" There was a hint of something in her tone, like she'd caught him red-handed. Damon didn't answer. He just downed some of his amber drink. "Wow, you've really hit an all-time low. What would Elena think?" Bonnie shook her head at Damon.

"Don't go there," Damon's voice was cold and threatening. Will could see his forehead crease with anger at Bonnie's words.

"I'm not afraid of you, Damon." Bonnie said as if he should have known that fact already. So maybe she wasn't compelled.

He shrugged her off and looked back at Will. "I told you what you wanted to know. So you can leave now."

"Wow, rude." Will raised her eyebrows. Really, she wasn't surprised. "Coming from the guy who helped me out last night."

Bonnie looked between the two with a curious look but she didn't ask any questions.

"Alright. I see I've overstayed my welcome." Will put her hands up in surrender. "I'll go. Thanks for clearing things up."

"Bye," Damon said in a sing-song way. He turned and left the hallway.

"Sorry about his attitude," Bonnie said, escorting Will to the door. "Why don't you come by the town square tonight? There's going to be a party."

"Oh?" She had heard about it. Something to do with celebrating the end of a school year. But she wasn't in grade school, so she hadn't thought of bothering to attend. "Are you in high school?"

"Oh, no, but it's fun to go to those things. It's not like it's a school-hosted event. It's thrown by all the seniors." Bonnie told her.

"Oh, okay. I might show up. Thanks for the invitation." Will opened the door and stepped outside. Bonnie nodded and waved as Will slid into her car for the trip home.