A/N: Whitmore U is somewhere in Colorado (Whitmore, Colorado. Just outside Denver in this fic) it takes roughly 24 hours and 25 minutes to reach Virginia from there. I have a base knowledge of American geography, essentially I know where the states are. US geography classes are a little less than in high demand in Australian schools. Most of the places Bonnie and Damon make pitstops in are about as real as Mystic Falls, I'm using google maps but having never stepped foot outside Melbourne I haven't a clue what these roads look like, if they're in metropolitan or desolate areas so while I may use some real highway names they'll almost certainly be described wrong, don't hold it against me. Who ever it was that said fact is better than fiction is a dirty, rotten liar. I'm also working out how to pace it all, as a multi-chapter I have the opportunity to expand on what were once small, insignificant details and bring them full circle.

Thank you to everyone that followed, favourited, viewed and reviewed, I really appreciate the feedback. Someone in china read my work last night, how mental is that!

Voicegrl: Thank you! And I think so too. Beremy's days are numbered here. Suffice it to say Bonnie won't put up with no scrub :)

All of my stories are unbeta'd. All mistakes are my own.

It was almost as if the world around Bonnie shut down, his lips were moving but she paid no mind, the sound never quite made it to her ears. The chorus to Taylor Swifts 'I knew you were trouble' reverberated around her head, the theme song to the hurricane raging in her mind. She hoped with a feverish intensity that her internal response to the man was without a visceral counterpart. His dark aura, while off putting, held a level of intrigue. Almost certainly a supernatural. Witch, vampire, wolf or traveller? She wasn't sure but only a handful of humans had auras this vibrant, she herself had yet to see one. Bonnie broke out of her reverie upon hearing the piercing sound of metal against metal. Ice Eyes as she internally taken to calling him, accidentally scraped his garish ring across the drivers side door; a large, alabaster hand hung out of the rolled down window.

"What?" Bonnie asked, the man had a completive look strewn across his face, clearly waiting for the answer to a question she hadn't heard.

"I said," he shot a pointed look to Bonnie. "Do you need a ride?"

'Maybe she's high' Damon thought, 'easiest snatch, eat, erase I've ever found at the side of the road'

"No" Bonnie responded, it wasn't habit of hers to get into cars with strangers. Particularly good looking supernatural ones after a fight with her long term boyfriend. "can I borrow your phone though?" Bonnie asked, thinking it best not to show how desperately she needed it.

'Don't show him how far from home you really are'

"You don't have one?" He cocked an eyebrow, the mischievous smirk rearing it's ugly head once more.

'Does this guy get off on people in difficult situations'

Rolling her eyes she answered, polite falsities shoved out the proverbial window. "Would I ask you if I did."

"Fair enough" he opened the passenger door "come sit"

"I'll pass"

"Oh come on, I don't bite..." the glint behind his eyes increased tenfold. "Much" he finished with a nonchalant shrug of his leather clad shoulders, in a way she supposed, he believed to be seductive.

'Vampire' flashed through her mind, her eyebrows raised in realisation. 'And a showy one at that'

They quickly fell into a comfortable silence, daring the other to concede. Neither supernatural would back down or give up, a game had been set and lines drawn in the sand. It was a battle of wills in mighty proportions. For the use of a cell phone. Seconds turned into minutes quicker than he would've liked.

'Feisty.' he thought.

'Pompous.' Bonnie held back a scoff with great difficulty.

'Smart, but petty.' in the end it was Damon who gave in, but he wouldn't go down alone; or at least without a fight.

"Fine, fine" he raised his eyebrows and rolled an arm back, searching the centre console for his top of the line smart phone. Upon finding it he swung his door open, remaining in his seat but removing his feet from the camaro, with a stretch his taut muscles all but sighed in appreciation for, placing them on solid ground. It was only when he reached to place the phone in the young woman's dainty hand that he realised he'd never asked her name.

"Nah-ah, One condition" Damon smirked, pulling the phone back to himself just enough to ensure her warm carmel chocolate hands were too far away to make skin on skin contact. She seemed the type to snatch it from his hand. Bonnie rolled her eyes but played along. She'd always been taught that no matter how powerful you are, it's still never a good idea to get on a vampires bad side. If he tried to eat her she'd strike the fear of god into him but until then...

"What" Bonnie crossed her arms.

"Pardon is typically much more polite,"

He was gazing on her expectantly, "Get on with it." she grumbled, running a clammy hand through her hair, feeling a headache coming on.

"What's you're name?" The man asked, cocking his head to the side. As if evaluating her every move.

'You're prey' a voice in the back of her head screamed, primal survival instincts kicking in to action.

'He's watching your pulse race, your carotid spluttering wildly'

'...run'

"Sheila, I'm Sheila."

"Huh... I knew a Sheila once" He said, "she didn't like me very much" eyes wide and deceptively doe like by the end of his sentence, as if someone not liking him defied all possible global scenarios.

"I'll bet" Bonnie murmured, her focus on the phone call she was about to make, and the dread that filled her insides and flip-flopped her stomach as a result.

'Maybe I should call Caroline,' she absently wondered. 'It'd be one hell of an easier conversation.'

Things with Jeremy, at least of late, tended to get very ugly, very fast. She was saved any arguments or lingering resentment, by the second ring, she'd been sent to voicemail. Bonnie and everyone she knew, knew what that meant. Jeremy'd found himself a nice bar, with nice bartender willing to serve a lot of booze to, more than likely than not, a lot more than just one incredibly riled up minor. At least drunk Jeremy was step up from violent Jeremy, a facet to her young love she'd seen too many times before. It also meant that she was stranded, with Caroline already in Mystic Falls and her boyfriend (?) out of commission, unless she could magically teleport - something she now desperately wished she'd made more of an effort to master - a ride to the nearest train station was in order.

Without warning she picked up both herself and her bag, walked around the mint condition, baby blue vintage muscle car and threw her hefty luggage into the backseat, des-or maybe in-spite of his wild warnings about scuffing the leather and dirtying up his baby. A threat or two thrown in for good measure, though wasted upon a Bonnie far too hungry and tired to care. Seconds later she swiftly slid into the passenger seat, trying her best not to let the heavy door slam her ass on the way in, and placed her hands on her knees. her sharp, black nails dug into the flesh of her lower thigh, painful even through thick denim. A sign of wariness she hoped the vampire to her right wouldn't pick up on.

Damon studied her quizzically, a man so often less than humble, more than well aware of his good looks and the fact that no man or woman in their right mind could nor would (voluntarily or with a little... persuasion) turn a blind eye, or so he believed, but colour him surprised when the dark, brunette beauty with the luminescent green eyes pulled her own unsurprisingly perky butt into his shinny, monster of a car without the help of his extra special talents.

"Well..." Bonnie questioned, fed up with his less than subtle side-eye staring.

"Well what?" He asked.

"Are we going?" He stared, she rolled her eyes. "You offered me a ride," she filled in.

'Didn't peg him for dense.'

"Yeah well I do a lot of stupid things," Bonnie hmm'd in response. "I could be a serial killer"

"So could I" she responded lightly. He scoffed, and started the car.

"Where to little one?" He asked, gearing himself for what could be the most irritating few hours of his entire undead life. Teenagers had flair for the dramatic and a tendency to grate on his very last nerve. If she weren't so pretty, maybe a little less easy and without that lithe body to boot, he wouldn't bother.

"The nearest train station."

"I'm Damon." He spoke, as the car roared to life. Purring in ways unaccustomed to Bonnie and her save-the-earth Prius.

"I didn't ask."

A/N: Two authors notes per chapter is my thing I can feel it. This really should've been tacked onto the first chapter but

1. I'm lazy, always.

2. Too excited to finally get something out there.

3. Still adjusting to everything.

The chapters will get longer and develop more relevant storyline from now on. I'm also no longer making promises because I suck at keeping them. (I am the worst.) again I'm sorry for the lack of bamon but I need everything to fit together and blend well before their relationship develops or really begins. Hopefully it'll be smooth sailing from here on out. Thanks again for reading! :) stick around, it'll get better (I almost half promise.)