Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to any of the characters used from The Vampire Diaries or Kindred: The Embraced. I do not make a profit from this story in monetary value. My twisted sense of plot however gives me much joy.

A/N: I want to apologize to all my readers of this story. Last chapter had horrible mistakes of grammer and spelling and I truly am sorry for that. I added it without reading it aloud first to my best friend and I saw so many errors I was upset. I hope I caught them all this time.

Chapter 02

What the hell Elena, she chastised herself as she closed her apartment door. Walking into the wolf's den so to speak, and then letting him know she knew, and then getting him to promise to be good. Really? What the hell was she thinking, but then he responded to it so gentlemanly, and he could have eaten her right then and there. This was a massive clusterfuck and right before fall finals.

Elena couldn't help but compare this new found vampire to the Salvatore's. He screamed danger with his biker attire and that underlying sense of rebel that spoke volumes to her sex like Damon did, but he seemed like Stefan with his gentleman like nature and that need to hold back. Was Cash the best of both, and was she prepared to have someone like that near her?

Finals had breezed by although really they hadn't for Elena who struggled with the tests not only because she hadn't studied enough, but Cash was always on her mind. One way or another the picture of his smirking face when she had turned around from his fridge was planted firmly and she'd catch that memory crossing her brain when she'd drift from her studies. This blew and she knew it, vampires had always been a part of her life after turning 17, and they would ruin things if she'd let them. Now she let this one in and of course she felt as if she'd made a horrible mistake.

She'd see him around all hours of the day so that meant somewhere on him he had to have daylight jewelry but she never figured out where. He would be on campus a lot and after she saw him take someone down a darker part of an alley ways she knew his hunting grounds was on campus. Elena started to respect him more and more when she saw this and the chosen victim came out of the alleyway alive. He didn't kill. That gave her a sense of relief that unfortunately was able to let her justify him more and that was dangerous.

Cash was taken with this human. His vow wasn't the only driving force behind his need to watch over her. His duty to the Prince was forgotten around her, his punishment was forgotten too, and he was so attracted to her that when he sense catiff near her they found a new hobby he put it as he scared them from her.

Maybe the catiff sensed her like he did, like Kin but not. The frequency in which they came around her astonished him and made him very suspicious, like someone was sending them to spy on her. He didn't like that one bit so he needed to find a way to guard her against them when he couldn't be around. That meant marking her but how in the hell was he supposed to do that?

He was standing at the same tree he had seen her first when she came up to him, "So is stalking a prerequisite for your kind?" She said smiling so he felt it was just a joke.

Cash shrugged, "Don't know but apparently you are popular." He confessed.

Elena looked shocked and leaned closer to him as if it would keep it secret from the ears of the catiff near by but it would from passing humans, "Oh really?" He smelt her fear.

"There are others who have found you just as interesting as I have. They don't bother you because of me, but I really should know why you are so appealing." He spoke low as he caressed her ear with his lips. To any human passer-by's this would have looked normal, to the catiff it looked intimate and he noticed their hesitation.

"Dinner?" She asked pulling back. "Would you like to join me?" She said clarifying.

"I would love to." Cash said as he admired her courage. He also understood that public place would offer her the security she needed to tell him her secrets and of course the plot that her invitation held did not go unnoticed either. This human female was not new to vampire politics it seemed.

She took his hand both shocking and calming the Gangrel, "Might as well do this now before I lose my nerve." She confessed.

There was a well known little dive near campus that offered fun and good food, plus booths far from the activities of pool so they would have both security and privacy. It would be packed later since finals were over, but would be able to give them a corner booth this time of day.

Elena led Cash there still holding his hand. She was memorizing his feel although she kept telling her self it was to see if he had recently fed. He was warm so that confirmed it and she didn't let her mind fill with questions when she noticed he was a bit too warm for any vampire.

Cash liked how bold this human was; it was a danger to the Masquerade for a human to know this much about his Kine before she was turned and she wasn't turned or marked so however this played out he was grateful they were not in San Francisco or under any Prince's jurisdiction.

Elena ordered a bacon cheeseburger, fries, and a beer. Cash ordered a beer but nothing else, although he couldn't drink the beer he needed to keep up appearances and if it really became necessary he knew Elena could drink it for him.

The first few minutes was sat silent between them. Cash wanted her to fill him in on her knowledge of the Kindred before he told her anything. He didn't want to cause her to have to be turned under the law if he didn't need to.

Elena sighed, "This is going to be hard but since you have seen that maybe I'm in danger, again, that I should tell you why I know of your kind. I mean I'm really not surprised I'm in danger, seems to follow me like the Plague." Elena tried to break the ice. The look of surprise in Cash's face was genuine and she was sparked to go on in her explanation but not before she downed half her beer for courage.

"I'm from Mystic Falls, Virginia. I came to Stanford hoping I could get away from the vampire populace as a whole, or maybe just to run away from my past, or even just to I don't know, Cash, find myself."

Cash could feel her pain roll off her in waves and he had to control his Gangrel, this was odd that she spoke of vampires as more than just one, and he didn't know of a Prince on the east coast so this was getting complicated fast.

"I felt vampires here every once in awhile, not as strongly as when I felt you though." She said as if she was still contemplating on how she felt him so strongly.

"Felt?" Cash was again caught off guard by her his heart started to beat for a several beats before he basically told it to "sit and calm", he didn't want the gold to flash and scare her more.

"Oh yeah I guess you wouldn't know about how I do that," she said as she sat forward so she could whisper her secret as if it would keep it safe this way, "I'm the Doppelganger. I mean I couldn't sense vampires before I met my first one, or even the several after that, but after what happened to me in my long story I've been able to sense your kind ever sense." She smiled to try and lift the tension she saw in Cash's shoulders.

"I'm not sure I know what you mean." He had never heard of a Doppelganger before, let alone a human who could feel vampires. This could go very badly, very easily and he felt he needed to know it all so he could protect her.

Elena sighed, this could go all night since her story was a long one, but Cash deserved the truth and she was going to give it to him.

Elena's story was a long one filled with love, passion, pain and magic. Cash cringed at the mention of witches; magic never settled well with his Kine, but he let her explain all up until she died and magic revived her.

Then her quest to find her self and how she left her loves, if that's what you could call them, behind to start a new life away from all that. She sensed vampires here but none of them was a strong as Cash, and she was puzzled by that. "So why are you so special Cash?" She added as they were being rushed out of the establishment. It was closing and Elena hadn't even looked at the time. It took all night with Cash's questions to explain her story. Maybe she should write a book of this; actually the thought had crossed her mind but she stored it for later.

It was then that Cash had decided to take her back to his place and explain that. This was her death sentence for sure if the Prince found out, but he could do her this disservice since he had vowed protection and along the same lines wanted to make her Gangrel.

After his explanation Elena was full of questions, "Other vampires, and wow. So is that why you can be out in daylight without a magic ring? Oh and not to mention that you feel warmer than other vampires I've known, and you do feel a bit different that what I've seen as vampires." Elena went on and on and Cash explained to the best of what he could.

"Head of your Clan you say, then why are you here?" Cash could not deny any question that came out of her mouth and he told of his punishment and the Masquerade, down to the other clans, the catiff or rogues without clans that have been paying close attention to her, to his need to protect her although at the time he had not idea why but this Doppelganger thing might have something to do with it.

Elena blushed. It was late, she was tired, but she could offer a different idea in to why he wanted to protect her. His explanation of the Gangrel was helpful but she had other ideas.

Cash saw her blush and his eyebrow rose in response. "You know something I don't Elena?"

She stood acting as if she was ready to go home across the hall, she yawned stretching her arms and when Cash stood in front of her still with that questioning look Elena did what she knew would damn them both. She kissed him.