Cassie stared out of her window at the blur of green and brown. In five hours, the scenery had changed from masses of buildings, busy streets and blaring lights to endless glades and empty roads.
It was just them for miles now, not a single other vehicle in sight. The blue Camaro made its way through the highway at breakneck speed.
Her companion's quick reflexes were the sole reason they didn't crash. It didn't give her any comfort to pursue that thought. She had a feeling he would have driven faster if there were other cars just to mess with them. She didn't complain either in fear that he'd speed up to bother her.
She always considered myself a city girl, the Londoner in her fit right at home with bustling streets and busy crowds. She'd come to appreciate the beauty and peace of nature in her years in Scotland, but she preferred it as a getaway or a vacation rather than a place to live. Her time in New York had spoiled her even further. Her rooftop condo had become a part of her identity - one of the many in the street but the queen of her domain in her space. She had a lovely routine, she spent her days working from her home office or coffee shops with occasional socializing with muggle friends in quaint bars.
She was no doubt going to miss her life, but she hadn't paused to think if it was worth it. She looked at him briefly before turning back to staring from her window.
"Second thoughts?" he asked her as if reading her mind.
"Not quite, small towns isn't my scene and I'm going to miss New York," she gave him a small smile.
"We'll be in and out in no time," he assured her.
"Somehow, I doubt it" she told him, in a moment of honesty that surprised her. She pushed her head against her seat staring at nothing in particular, "It feels we'll be at this a lot longer than we planned."
"It feels more permanent," he uttered the words she'd hesitated to say out loud. She simply nodded at him willing herself not to ponder about it. He turned on the radio in silent agreement and let the music drown their thoughts.
The dark haired man thrummed casually on the wheel seemingly to the beat of the song blasting though the car. Not that she recognized it though. From the unbelievable glances he had been giving her in the last half an hour, he expected her to know at least some of them. He had then taken it as a personal challenge to find a song she knew. Between constantly changing stations to find the right songs, grooving to the beat and occasional singing along the lyrics, she was glad one of them was having fun. She had to admit it the distraction was working.
That was three hours ago, the music wasn't unpleasant per se, but after listening to it for hours she was ready to fling herself out of the car. The alternate would be a potential conversation though, she wasn't quite ready for it yet. But with less than two hours of the ride left, she knew she had to suck it up and talk.
"So.." she turned off the radio to signal that they should start.
"What do you want to know?" he asked straight to business.
"Tell me about her."
"Katherine was beautiful, but that wasn't all she was. She wasn't one for rules, even at a time when it was the norm. She had the ability to twist the world around her to fit her, she knew what she wanted and she wouldn't hesitate to take it. She was my first love, and in some ways my only love."
"You turned for her?"
"Something like that, I lived the undead life for her." She could sense that there was a story there he wasn't telling, but he was already sharing more than she'd expected and she didn't press it.
"Why shouldn't your brother know why you're there?"
"My brother and I have a complicated relationship. When we turned, things messed up. I'd promised him I'd make his life miserable and I did keep my word so far. It'll be better for him to think I was there to torture him than for Katherine."
"You think your brother will try to stop you," her statement was coloured with a tint of disbelief.
"He most definitely will. He doesn't want to revisit the mistakes of his past."
She hardly knew the man, but she couldn't help but sympathize his pursuit of love. If the brothers had even a fraction of the devotion, then she couldn't imagine why his brother would stand in his way. Yet another piece missing from the story.
She couldn't begrudge him that, not when she essentially got him to accept his deal without asking questions. She'd hold her end of the bargain and hope she never needed him to uphold his.
They were at the edge of Mystic Falls less than an hour later.
'Welcome to Mystic Falls' read the ominous sign.
"So welcoming," Damon snorted earning a light chuckle from her but it did nothing to brush the air of doom, the vampire also seemed to sense it. "We'll be in and out of here in less than three weeks," he reassured her.
"It somehow feels more permanent than that," she murmured.
"It does," he concurred without looking at her. "That's just Mystic Falls for you, a giant magnet for gloom and doom. You'd think they'd shut the town after everything that's happened here."
"Was it that bad?"
"Oh, it was worse. Rounding up vampires, killing humans that stood in the way, vampires tried to fight back, lives lost on both sides. Witches were rounded up and burned not too soon after. And then there was the newly turn us, not entirely in control of our blood lust. A lot of blood was shed."
"There were witches here?"
"Of course, the Bennetts were the only ones I knew though. Powerful creatures, they welcomed witches from other bloodlines to join their fold. I was friends with one of them. You see this isn't my first witch partnership. You'd think I'd learn to deal with them more carefully."
"You seem to be holding fine on your own."
"Yeah right, rich coming from Ms. Unspecified Favour."
"My lifetime is shorter than yours, Damon. So there's a high chance you'll never have to see to it."
"But it is something crazy enough that you'd not mention it just yet."
"Kind of, let's just get your girlfriend first."
"Ooh, human straight ahead. Let me just have a quick bite fresh from the vein. I'm going to be stuck with stale blood bags once we're in town." He stopped their car to the side of the road. Cassie strained her eyes to see if there was a person ahead, but she could see nothing but fog.
"Wait, you're not skittish right? You don't seem judgey witch, but if you intend to split my head open for having some blood, you need to give me a heads up now."
"Man's got to eat, please, go ahead."
Damon threw a smirk her way and was out of sight the next moment. Five minutes later, he walked back, almost dazed.
"Blood high?"
"I wish, that was something else altogether," he murmured.
"Are you alright Damon?"
"Yeah, just saw a ghost."
"I don't know if you're joking."
"I'm not entirely sure either. Let's just get our business done with and get out of here."
"No arguments there."
Stefan stood on the roof gable taking in the moment of tranquil as the sun set.
This was no longer the place he had once called home, time ensured that. Yet, he couldn't deny the sense of belonging that the town brought. He'd come visit once in a few decades but this was the first time he was moved back with the intentions of staying.
It was a risk coming back here, he knew it, but he couldn't resist.
To call the Salvatore Boarding House a house was an understatement. It was an estate of its own. There were several plantations in the expanse of land from the turn they took and the house. The two storeyed building was massive, the design had aged well and the place was maintained to stay in condition.
An engine purring at a distance interrupted him from his musings. He jumped down and went in before he could be spotted. All this time, the Boarding House hardly changed. Intentional as it conservation may be, it surprised him.
His room was exactly how he'd left it, his belongings untouched. He moved his fingers through the spines of his books, unbothered by a little dust that gathered. It was evident that the place was regularly cleaned and well maintained, he had Zach to thank.
He was surprised when he heard a car pull in front of the house. No one knew that he was here. Zach wasn't the kind that entertained visitors and the man himself was already home. He made his was to ground floor to see who it was.
"Are you expected anyone, Zach?" he asked the man who had come out from the basement as the door bell rang.
"No," Zach asked him back, "Are you, Uncle Stefan?"
He registered two sets of footsteps and opened the door to the last person he'd expected to see.
"Hello, brother," Damon smirked.
They pulled up in the driveway, right in front of the entrance. Damon had got our and opened her door. He pulled her forward when she moved to grab their bags, and moved them to the front door and rung the bell.
Despite the casual demeanor he was projecting, he stood stiff and angled himself slightly in front of her. She ran a hand down his hand in a show of comfort even before she had realized what she'd done. He turned to give her a small smile and she resisted the urge to snap her hand back.
The door opened to reveal a young man who looked to be in his teens. The man visibly froze at seeing Damon. The brothers stared each other down, she didn't know what Damon was looking for, but he relaxed when he found it and greeted his brother. He pulled her close and walked her through the lobby into what opened to be a living area where a blonde man stared at them in pale horror. Stefan followed them in after two beats and positioned himself covering the second man.
"Damon, what are you doing here?" he asked, finally finding his voice.
"You didn't think I'd miss your first day of school, did you, Stefan? Now, is that any way to great your dear brother?"
She couldn't help but smile at how much Damon was enjoying this. The men in the room were still stuck in their places. It wasn't apparent in the first glance, but she could see the similarities between the brothers., the sharp noses and defined jawlines.
"Come in, darling," Damon brought her into the living area with a charming smile that set the residents on edge instantly.
Stefan turned his attention to her for the first time. He seemed too stunned at the sight of his brother to notice her until Damon pulled her forward. He turned back to Damon without missing a beat.
"What are you doing here, Damon?"
"You didn't think I'd miss your first day of school, did you, Stefan? Now, is that any way to great your dear brother?"
The way Damon peered behind Stefan made it quite evident that he hadn't missed the positioning. He greeted his uncle in what sounded like an amused threat, "Hello, Uncle Zach."
"Damon, I don't-" Whatever Stefan was saying was cut off.
"Stefan, Zach, I'd like you to meet, my fiancé. This is Cassiopeia Black. Cassie, you've already heard all about Stefan, my brother. That is Uncle Zach."
A myriad of thoughts flitted through before Stefan finally settled on disbelief. Silence descended in the room again. The 'fiance' took it as her cue to talk, he wondered if Damon trained her to give a half smile like he did.
Cassie bit back a laugh at Damon's antics and let him have his show.
They had four interactions before she packed up and came to Mystic Falls to hold her end of the deal. But she had a feeling they would get along better than she expected. She stepped aside from behind her 'fiancé'.
"Damon talks about you a lot, it's great to finally meet you Stefan." She held her hand out. "Umm, Stefan," she repeated when. Stefan stopped glaring at his brother to give her a forced smile.
"You cannot do this, Damon!" he hissed. Forest green eyes pierced the bright blue, in astonishment and plea.
"Don't be rude, Stefan," Damon admonished gently.
"You know not to take him personally, don't you, Cass? Let me show you to our room, Stefan will come around in a while" Light giggles filled the room as Damon walked her up the stairs.
"Stefan, can you help with our luggage in the trunk?" He threw the keys at his brother as we climbed up the stairs.
"It was good to meet you too, Zach," she throw out to the other man in the room.
"We have a few smaller rooms on the main floor, mostly guest rooms, the bedrooms are on the second level, family rooms are on the right wing. This side is Stefan's, our rooms are on the other end. This one is me." He opened his door to a spacious neutral coloured room. "There's an attached bedroom next to this if you want your privacy, it opens on the outside and has it's own attached bath too." He informed her pointing towards the door opposite his bed.
She stood near the entrance as she took in the room. The bed was against one wall, windows covered the entire adjacent wall pouring in natural light. The opposite wall was covered with bookshelves from ceiling to floor. The other wall was bare barring two doors, bath and closet she presumed.
"You look surprised," he smirked at her.
"Well, I've seen you wear nothing but black, I half expected your entire room to be the same including the walls and floor to be black too," she chuckled. "Too organized for someone who looks impulsive and almost minimal compared to your museum of a living room."
The mansion looked like it aimed to be warm but ended up dark. It had a brick and dark wood finish, coupled with dark reds and maroon in its furnishing. It was overall a little too Gryffindorish for her taste.
The pastel walls and light wood floor of Damon's room didn't fit into the rest of the theme she'd seen so far. His room was styled differently, and she was quite sure he had picked out what he wanted.
Damon sprawled on his bed and she joined him. "You seemed to have fun earlier," she commented, 'at their expense' was left unsaid.
"Egh, they had it coming," Damon dismissed it. "You're not going to chicken out, are you?" He asked her.
"I'll have you know I've had my fair share of scuffles, Salvatore, a broody eternal teen won't scare me away. I'm no stranger to pranking either."
"Good, we're going to have a lot of fun." His crooked smile promised trouble.
Cassie's back story will reveal extremely slowly as it isn't too relevant to the storyline at the moment, but the Black badassery will make its appearance soon, once the characters settle in.
Any guesses on her house? She's not a Gryffindor.
Next up: The newcomers meet the Mystic Falls gang
Reviews please!