Five minutes later, Meredith was standing by; looking alarmed but not entirely surprised, as Damon stole a bright yellow sports car in the parking lot behind the bar.

"What happened to your car, and why the hell are we stealing somebody else's?" she demanded, her hand on her hip. Looking at her, she reminded Damon uncomfortably of the blonde girl from earlier.

"I sold my car a while ago. Then, two weeks later, you show up telling me that we have leave immediately for some town in the middle of nowhere to rescue a damsel in distress. Consequently, we are stealing somebody else's car," he replied smoothly.

"But why steal this car? We don't even have the keys!"

Damon gave her a disapproving look, and reached into his pocket. He slowly pulled out a bunch of keys on a key ring.

Meredith stared in disbelief. "How did you get those?"

"I took them from the young man who owned them previously on the way out."

"And how did you know this car belonged to him?"

He grinned. "I saw him drive it into the parking lot when I came in tonight."

Meredith blinked. I don't believe this guy, she thought, sighing. She was very concerned that the car's owner would turn up at any moment, demanding to know what they thought they were doing. But what would it matter if anybody did show up, anyway? I'm with a vampire, for Christ's sake. The first sign of any trouble, and Damon would knock the guy's lights out in a second, she realised.

Damon was looking thoughtfully at the car.

"I shouldn't have decided to take this one."

Meredith sighed. "Good, I'm glad you agree with me."

"I don't like the colour."

She stared at him, and eventually threw her hands up in defeat. He smiled a winning smile, and put the key into the lock. The driver's door opened, and Damon got in with a smirk, leaning over to unlock the door on Meredith's side. She shook her head, getting in.

Suddenly, the back doors to the bar burst open, and three men staggered out, obviously drunk. They didn't seem to be going in any particular direction, until the one in the middle happened to look up at the two figures in the sports car. With a change of expression and an angry shout, the man lurched towards them at a wobbling charge, his two friends following him confusedly.

Watching him quite calmly, Damon said slowly, "I think it's time we left."

Meredith nodded fervently. "Again, I think I agree with you."

"Hang on."

She turned to look at him. "What?"

The car lurched forward and screeched out of the parking lot, narrowly missing hitting the three men who were staring in amazement and bewildered rage as the car disappeared from view.

Meredith gripped the door handle so hard that her knuckles went white, as Damon pushed the car to go faster. He swerved round the bends and turns in the road with ease, his supreme eyesight allowing him to control the erratic movements of the speeding car without any problems.

Once they had driven for at least ten minutes, Damon finally slowed down, assured that they were out of danger. Meredith allowed herself to relax, and sat back in her seat. She glanced over at Damon, and saw that the usual wry smile was back on his face again.

"I'm sorry if I scared you." He didn't sound at all sorry.

"No, you didn't scare me at all," Meredith retorted sarcastically. "I was just wondering whether I'd told people what I wanted written on my tombstone or not."

His smile widened. Then it faded, and a thoughtful look came over his face. Eyes fixed on the road; he asked suddenly, "How did you know where to find me?"

Thinking of how much she hated the way he jumped from one subject to another, she asked for what seemed like the hundredth time that night, "What?"

"After Stefan… you said you came looking for me. How did you know where to start?"

Meredith looked down, and played with the zipper on her jacket. "Before he died, Stefan told us that he'd been following you. Trying to keep track of where you were going, making sure you were okay, that sort of thing. He'd said that the last place he saw you was in this area, so I came out here first. I didn't have an address, so I decided to start trying in all the bars around here." She looked back up at him, an eyebrow raised. "It didn't take me long to find you."

"So how long have you been here?"
"About a week."

He frowned. "About a week, and I haven't noticed you before now?"

She shrugged. "I can keep out of sight too, you know. It's not just creatures of the night that know how to stay unnoticed," she retorted.

He smiled in return. "I'm not talking about staying out of sight. I'm a vampire, remember? We have a superb sense of smell."

She looked at him. "Are you saying I smell?" she asked him abruptly.

He laughed. "Everybody has their own scent. And I never forget a scent." He looked deadly serious. Meredith felt a cold shiver run down her spine as she watched that charming but dangerous countenance of his.

They didn't talk very much after that, except for when Meredith had to give Damon directions as to where to drive. Eventually, they turned onto a narrow, dusty road leading to what looked like a couple of small houses rather than a town.

Meredith drew in her breath. "We're here."

Author's Note: Hello people! Sorry I haven't updated in ages, but I've just moved to Uni, and things have been a bit hectic. But I haven't given up on this, so please keep reading! Also, I've decided to reward you with two chapters instead of one, and the eighth chapter will soon follow. Enjoy!