A surge of wind sprinted along the dark road, rustling invisible leaves in its wake, gathering the scent of freshly drizzled rain up into the noses of the two beings statically staring at each other.

"I don't want trouble" she whispered, looking towards her car and surveying the road.

"Neither do I, but all I've got is trouble." He muttered. He swayed on the spot, taking another swing from his flask gesturing it towards her. Her heart sunk as she realised that she could no longer fight the feeling of impending doom that had been following her for the past day.

She felt herself inwardly drawing away from him, as it became very clear that he was wasted, and even more so that he needed to be in control. Faith watched him from her spot not even flinching when he placed his hands on her shoulder, wincing slightly at the hollow laugh he let out when he she told him her name was Faith.

"Well Faith, I have a big secret...one that I've never said out loud". She felt a sense of unease set through her as she watched him become more confident with his words, yet a nervousness crept into his eyes as he prepared himself. Still unmoving, she held a breath.

"What's the point? It's not gonna change anything! It's not gonna make me good, make me adopt a puppy. I can't be what other people want me to be. What she wants me to be." He squeezed her shoulders tighter, and he loosened his grip on her for a moment, waiting for her reaction.

Faith stared, watching his eyes crease as she realised just who she was standing in front of, his story folding out clear in front of her, like a map.

Vampire.

For a moment there was nothing just their breaths beating out the silence, a breeze blew between them, sending stray strands of her hair into his face, and he inhaled, letting out a primal growl.

"Are you going to kill me?" she whispered, squinting at him. The sky shuddered as it waited for his answer, and once again Faith found herself eyes wide in baited breath.

"I'm not sure. Because you're my existential crisis..." he slowly moved his hand so he held her head in his hands and rubbed her cheeks. He slowly lowered his face so that they were at eye level, her dark eyes locking with his light blue. "Do I kill you or do I not kill you?"

"Don't..."

This is beginning to feel like the dog wants her bones, saved.

"But I have to, Faith. Because I'm not human, and I miss it." He began to back away, still holding tightly onto her. She looked at him, confused. "I miss it more than anything in the world. That is my secret. But there's only so much hurt a man can take."

He let her go; she looked at him surprised for a moment before murmuring a thank you. Faith began to walk briskly back to her car, keeping her head down. She thought about running but hadn't wanted to give him a reason to drag her back, then again, she mused, the longer she was in his vicinity the more likely it was that he would.

Faith was more confused by the situation, the fact that she had let it get this far, she could have stopped it yet she hadn't.

Another breeze passed by just as she opened her car and Faith felt her heart stop, as she heard him take a deep breath, but she couldn't bring herself to look up. Before she had time to place her foot in the car, the door had been slammed shut and she was pressed against it.

They stared at each other for a moment, both wondering if it was worth the energy for her to do what was planned next. She screamed; as she took in a breath he nuzzled his nose against her neck, and just as her second scream finished she felt it. It was a sharp pain, like a knife stabbing into her neck, making her limp.

"Why?" she choked, still beating on his back, almost as if he hadn't explained it to her.

But the question she asked wasn't the same as the one he had previously answered.

Her breathing slowly became shallow as he drank more and more of her blood. He detached himself from her neck and she fell to the floor, looking up at him. Her vision became blurry and began to dim, just as she recognised a quick yet deep look of regret pass through his eyes.

"Because you are my existential crisis"

Never you mind, Death professor.

Damon swirled the contents of his glass, and slowly drank it.

The Grill, like Mystic Falls, had gotten eerily quiet in the past week. Stefan and Elena weren't talking to him again; they had somehow connected him to another disappearance. His thoughts drifted to how his last victim hadn't yet been reported, so he had taken the rap to avoid repeating the conversation.

As he was about to call it a night, a dark glass was placed opposite him as a eerily familiar presence made itself known; one that had been in his company for no more than 10 minutes before it had drifted from his mind.

Damon wasn't at his normal place at The Grill, today he sat at the back on a rounded table for two, further away from the bar than he normally preferred. The seat opposite became filled, just as the eerie almost unsettling feeling intensified then disappeared.

He looked and wasn't all to taken aback by what he saw. A young woman sat in front of him her face the model of the perfect poker face; full lips in a neutral line, dark eyes staring unflinchingly back, nose set and almost chocolate coloured skin sheen free. Her air of seriousness slightly intensified by dark hair tied in a loose bun, "Hello".

Damon was suddenly was very annoyed, wishing that he hadn't finished his last drink so quickly. He was surprised when she slid her own glass towards him. Faith watched the stony expression on his face and let out a sigh.

"It's Bourbon" he held it up sniffing it, well duh.

He didn't need her to tell him that, it was his drink, what he needed to know if there was Vervain in it, Damon looked at her for a moment before taking a gulp. There wasn't.

Faith let out a breath. "I am going to cut this whole 'who, what, why' thing short." she paused to see if Damon was following. "I know what you are, and what you are capable of and I'm not telling anyone." He irked an eyebrow at her and she continued. "I didn't die because I couldn't, and if you attempt to kill me again you'll get the same result. So I suggest you don't waste your time."

"Your point is?" he huffed. She seemed relieved and locked eyes with him.

"I need an associate"

"And I need-"

"Someone to help me settle in, and I was wondering if you would be that person" she supplied.

Damon was suddenly disinterested in the conversation; he was more interested in tasty dates, not scheduled meetings.

"No" a flash of determination crossed her face.

"Please?" she tentatively leaned in closer to him. "You may not believe it but, I think you might be a good guy" Damon choked on his drink and looked up at her. Suppressing a laugh, he finished the drink.

"You don't get it, do you? I may not have killed you, but I drank from you and snapped your little neck. I may not have succeeded, but I tried" relishing in her silence he shook his head at her and left, leaving Faith at the table, fingers drumming on its worn surface.

Damon Salvatore, a good guy?

Was she on crack?

The idea alone had gotten him to try and kill Faith in the first place, it was a shame she hadn't died. However, he was somewhat relived that she hadn't died, but her revelation that she wasn't going to leave, let alone die, put things on another level.

Damon let out a sigh as he turned round to face Faith; he checked the road to see if anyone was around.

"Ta da-"before she could finish her sentence she found herself backed up against a wall, Damon's hand wrapped tightly around her neck.

"Okay, you might not be good but you're not the freaking incarnate!" She choked out.

He stared at her for a moment, and she stared back at him, determined and ready to verbally spar with him if her mission required it. His grip on her neck tightened. This time however, she did not choke, but slowly removed his hand from her neck, sending him a bored look. He couldn't help being reminded of Katherine it was one of her trademark mannerism... until she opened her mouth.

"I'm not asking you to change, just to help me. You and I both know that we could do this all night, but we also know that there's an easy solution to this." Faith was a voice of reason.

"Why?"

"Because I need someone to help me get to grips with this town and you need help." She looked at him, almost accusingly. "Don't act like you don't, because we both know you do." Damon thought of Elena and wondered for a moment if she knew something, he decided that even if she didn't Faith seemed the type to help anyway. "So, is it a yes or a no?"

"Yes. Damon." Faith looked up him confused, "if I'm going to be your 'associate' then you should probably know my name"

"Oh"

This is beginning to feel like the dawn of the luz of forever.


AN:Thank you for reading, please review if you can. I would like to thank Naishu (my beta) for all the tweaks she made. I should hopefully update in the next week. Oh! The song used is DLZ by TV on The Radio, the same song used for the scene originally in the episode when it aired.