Chapter Four: Interview with a Hybrid

Dean drove with a heavy foot, being followed closely by the Sheriff's SUV as they made their way to the abandoned house.

"And you just let her leave?" Sam questioned, wincing at the picture his brother was painting.

"What was I supposed to do, Sam?! She freaked out. I barely had time to register what the hell was happening." His hands gripped the wheel tightly, turning his knuckles white.

Sam smirked. "But it was good, right?"

Dean's face bled into a smile as he recalled the kiss. "Oh yeah." He made an explosion sound, his hand leaving the wheel to accompany it. "Fireworks, man. She's something else."

"What do you think she freaked out about?"

Dean's lips pulled in a rascally, lopsided smirk. "Well, I do this thing with my tongue…it catches some girls off guard, but it's usually a panty dropper." He teased, relishing in Sam's groan of disgust. "I don't know, Sam." He thought about it for a moment. "She asked what happened to me."

That made Sam pause. "Meaning?"

"I don't know. Maybe she realized I'm not the guy she remembers." Maybe you're a little too broken for her to fix. He recalled the look on her face. Like she could see right through him, and he felt completely exposed in that moment. Like she knew that all his walls, all the bravado and humor was just a front for how empty he felt inside.

Hope's face was ashen, her body drained and her mind weak from the force feedings of wolfsbane and vervain. Damon's face was a blur in front of her. "Face it…it's not working." She rasped out, a dribble of blood leaking from her mouth.

His jaw tightened. "It will. This is just phase one." He walked behind her to the table laid out with weapons.

Her head lolled back following him. "I think you're wasting your time. What you should be worried about is Bonnie."

Damon paused, his hand hovering over the dagger. She was trying to distract him. "And why's that?"

"Because she's slipping right out of your fingers." She chuckled. Damon closed his eyes and refused to respond, reaching instead for the bottle of vervain and wolfsbane cocktail. "Oh, come on. Don't tell me you didn't smell that guy all over her when she walked in here."

Oh, he did…it invaded his nostrils the second she brushed passed him into the house. "She's a grown woman; she can do what she wants." He responded evenly, his back still to her.

"Bullshit. This is killing you. You always want what you can't have. And history repeats…again." She taunted.

Damon crossed to stand in front of her again, his stony face giving no sign of her words getting to him. But they did. Because it was the truth. But he was smart enough not to let her know that. "I see what you're doing. You think Bonnie is my weak spot. That you can get under my skin and maybe I'll slip up." He grabbed her chin, and forced her mouth open to guzzle the toxic water. "I won't."

She spat up the blood in her mouth, choking and sputtering as Damon stood. "You know she won't choose you, right? You'd just destroy everything good about her." She looked up at him unphased. "I mean look at you. This is what you're good at. Inflicting pain." His hand flexed at his side, and the muscle in his neck ticked. "Go ahead Damon…I dare you." She whispered sassily.

Then, the sound of gravel crunching in the distance caught his senses. "Someone's coming." He left Hope, breathing a slight sigh of relief for the break, running his hand over his face tiredly. He darted up the basement stairs to Bonnie who was in the kitchen mixing up a spell. "Hey…you expecting visitors?" He asked peeking through the blinds.

She jumped to her feet. "No, Caroline's shift is tomorrow morning."

"Maybe someone came looking for that hunter after all. We have to get Hope outta here."

She shook her head. "It's too risky. I can use a glamor; it will cloak anything foreign to the house …but it won't branch far and it won't last long." She grabbed a couple ingredients she needed and mixed them quickly. "You should go, I'll let you know when the coast is clear."

"Bonnie…" He began to argue in frustration.

She shot a glare at him. "I'm not asking, Damon. If that hunter was prepared to kill a teenager, what the hell do you think his friends would do to you?" She snapped back. In truth, he would be too much of a distraction. Bonnie wouldn't be able to focus if she was too worried about him getting hurt. She knew all too well of Damon's reckless abandon of restraint and killer instinct. "And I barely have enough ingredients to cloak all three of us anyways. We can't afford to take any chances. Just trust me. Please?"

He narrowed his eyes. "I won't be far." He sped out the back door, down into the woods behind the house and Bonnie sighed in relief. She locked the door to the basement, and came back to the kitchen table pricking her finger and letting a drop of blood fall into the concoction in the bowl.

"Invisique." She disappeared from sight along with all their belongings only seconds before the front door creaked open. She watched cautiously as the first person entered. Matt? His gun was drawn, clearing the room. What the hell was he even doing here? How did he know? When he had called Caroline yesterday questioning about a student being taken from campus, she explained how it was all a misunderstanding; that a couple girls had the bright idea for sneaking in a bottle of vodka and one of them got sick. Damon was simply driving the poor girl home. So why was he here now? And how did he even know where to look?

"Are you sure this is the place?" Matt asked, looking around the kitchen, walking right passed her unknowingly. "Doesn't look like anyone's been here in years."

"Positive." She knew that voice. Dean walked in the front door with Sam following, and Bonnie felt her heart drop to the floor.

"I'll check upstairs." Sam said heading up the creaky staircase.

Bonnie walked up to Dean, staring at him curiously. Her mind was running wild with questions. Why is he here? How does he know Matt? The visions during their kiss flashed through her mind again. Who is he?

"How do you kill these vampires again?" Dean asked, looking around for more clues, his machete at the ready.

"Vervain weakens them. Stake to the heart will do the trick." Matt offered, holstering his weapon.

"Well that's considerably less messy than what I'm used to." He chuckled to himself. His finger dragged along the mantle of the fireplace, collecting dust. "Well, if vamps are staying here, they sure don't mind living in squaller. Something tell me this isn't really his style." He mumbled to himself. Sam came back down the stairs. "Nothing?"

"All clear. Maybe they moved on?" He followed Dean into the kitchen. "Not really any sign of a nest here."

Dean frowned. "Not our guy…but somebody was here. I can feel it." He tried the handle on a door, finding it locked. He handed Sam his machete, digging into the chest pocket of his jacket for his lock picks, and went to work.

Matt watched as Dean opened the door within seconds. "So are you heroes or criminals?" he joked.

Sam smirked. "We're hunters."

"So, both." Dean added with a grin of his own.

Bonnie staggered. Hunters? Everything started to make sense. Why they were in town. The hunter in the woods. Dean's suspicions of Damon…the visions. Her head was spinning. Damon couldn't know about Dean; he'd kill him without flinching if he thought for a second that he was a threat. Especially if he knew that it was him being hunted. But that didn't mean she could trust Dean either…

When he finally got the door unlocked, Bonnie acted on instinct. "Motus." Dean went flying back into the opposite wall and Sam and Matt rushed over to help him up.

"You okay?" Sam asked offering his hand.

"Yeah I'm good." He huffed in annoyance straightening himself out. "Ghosts?! Really?" He exclaimed to the unknown entity in the house. "Come on!"

Sam whipped out the EMF reader, but it was silent. "I'm not picking up on anything. Maybe it's a spell."

Dean laughed ironically. "Great, witches. Perfect."

Bonnie watched as the wheels turned in Matt's head, and she prayed he was smart enough not to out her. Thankfully, he kept his thoughts to himself, and diverted the subject. "Well, clearly there's no one here. I'll check in with some contacts, see if anything shakes out."

Dean seemed distracted attempting to cross the threshold again, only to stumble back. "Yeah sure…we'll keep an eye on our vamp. If you see him around town, you call us." He asserted.

Matt seemed uncomfortable. "Look, if Damon really did turn off his humanity…he's not the kind of monster you want to go toe to toe with. He'll kill you. No hesitation."

"We've been through worse." Sam assured. "We always come out on top."

"Even if it kills us." Dean joked with a grin.

Bonnie was feeling the effects of the spell fading and struggled to keep it going until they walked out the door and pulled away. She rushed down to the basement to check on Hope and was relieved to see her sitting there, still tied to the chair, a bored expression on her face.

"Well he seems charming." She taunted. "Doesn't seem too fond of your kind though…guess that didn't come up in your heated make out session, did it."

Bonnie crossed her arms, hip cocked. "You done?"

Hope smirked, leaning back casually in her chair. "I'm only getting started. So does Damon know? That you've been locking lips with a hunter that wants him dead, because I'd love front row seats to that conversation." Bonnie walked past her with a roll of her eyes and kept her hands busy with flipping through her open grimoire for a spell. Hope looked at her over her shoulder. "A monster on one hand and the thing that kills monsters on the other. You sure know how to pick 'em; unless…you didn't know either." The older witch was silent. "And the plot thickens."

"Why was this hunter after you in the first place?" Bonnie desperately tried to change the subject.

"Deflection. You're just as predictable as Damon." She laughed.

"If you don't tell me, I have ways of getting it out of you." She warned.

"Ooh...more torture. Goody."

Bonnie lit a candle with her mind, and grabbed the dagger to slice open her hand. Hope panted at the smell, clearly starved. She let the blood drip into a wooden bowl, and dipped her finger tips into it. "Not exactly." She turned, pressing her bloody fingertips to Hope's temples and established a connection. The second she did, her eyes glazed over as she began revealing layer by layer the young witch's mind forcing the truth out of her. "How did he find you?"

Hope struggled, fighting the magic. "I…I don't…know."

"Yes, you do…tell me." She forced, pressing harder and imposing her will.

"She sent him to me." She reluctantly admitted. "It's all a part of her plan."

"Who's 'she?" When she didn't answer Bonnie pressed harder.

"Arrgh!" She exclaimed. "I don't know!" Bonnie's connection pushed through her defenses. "Lilith! Her name is Lilith. But it doesn't matter; she can't be stopped. It's only just the beginning."

"The beginning of what?" Hope's head bowed, exhausted from the invasion. "Hope!"

"The end of the world." Hope was responding almost mechanically now.

Bonnie's hands dropped breaking the connection in terror. What scared her more than anything, was Hope's conviction within her own mind. She believed it with her whole being. Collecting herself, Bonnie placed her fingers back to Hope's temple. "What does she want from you?"

The Bennett witch had broken through the superficial layers and tapped into Hope's factory settings. "She wants me to break the next seal."

Bonnie shook her head in confusion. "What? What seal?"

Hope's voice was just barely above a whisper now, a tone that sounded nothing like her but of a hollow shell. "One of many. It unlocks the cage."

She dug deeper. "The cage to what?" she asked desperately, but the closer she got to the answer the further Hope pulled away from her. "Come on Hope, what's in the cage?!"

"Lucifer." She forced out before the power overwhelmed her mind and she passed out.

"Lucifer?" Damon questioned doubtfully. "You're joking right?"

Bonnie shrugged, rubbing her face tiredly. "I wish I was. But that's what she said, and I believe her." After Hope's admission, Damon had come back to move her to another abandoned house, now that their cover had been blown there. Now they sat across from each other at the table, sharing a bottle of bourbon.

Damon rolled his glass in his hand, tongue poking the inside of his cheek as he contemplated. "Wait…so if there's a Lucifer…does that mean…there's a God?" He seemed both curious and perturbed by the thought.

Bonnie's brows shot up her forehead. "I mean…I guess, right? Lucifer was an angel, so I guess…yeah." She breathed in disbelief. It wasn't something she had thought terribly hard about before. Her dad was always a man of faith but Bonnie never shared his beliefs. "Whoa…"

"A bit heavy for a Tuesday, huh." Damon commented while filling their glasses nearly to the brim. "Okay…so how do we stop this? We don't even know where to start."

The witch avoided his eyes as her mind drifted to the other man plaguing her thoughts. Hope killed a hunter. A hunter that Lilith sent for her to kill…the same hunter that Dean and Sam were trying to find… "I might know someone that can help."

Damon tossed back half his drink. "Well, by all means. We need all the help we can get." He eyed her as the silence stretched between them. He couldn't deny that Hope's words got under his skin…now it was all he could think about. "So your friend…Dean, was it?" He tried for casual but it came off anything but. "Guess, he's more than a friend, isn't he." The jealousy rolled off him.

Her eyes shot up, looking at him like a deer in headlights. "How did you-" She cut herself off as it dawned on her. "Hope…of course. Bet she couldn't wait to spill the beans about that." She uttered to herself.

Damon scoffed. "I didn't need Hope to spill the beans, Bon I could smell him all over you." He released a huff. "I still can."

"What do you want me to say, Damon?" She started tiredly. "Dean and I have history, and I can't just table all of that because of whatever this is…or isn't." She finished bitterly, distracting herself by swallowing a gulp of her bourbon, wincing a bit as it went down. "It was a kiss. That's it. Just to see if what we felt was still there."

"And is it?" It had been a long time since Damon had felt this insecure about where he stood with Bonnie. It was easier when they were just friends; when she joked about how big of a pain in the ass he was, and he teased her about being the most annoying person in the world. Before they got drunk one night and threw their inhibitions out the window; all it took was one look from her sultry jade green eyes and he was lifting her in his arms, spreading her across her dining room table letting everything on it crash to the floor. It was like everything that they'd been through led up to that moment, but the second it was over and reality set in, he had realized what a mistake it had been. Not because he didn't want her…because now he couldn't think of anyone else. But he could never do that to Elena.

Bonnie was caught off guard. That was a loaded question. It was easily one of the most intense kisses she'd ever had and it brought up feelings in her she thought died with Enzo, but Dean being a hunter, complicated things. "I don't know what I feel." Her words, hit him like a kick to the chest. The same words Elena once uttered to him in a dark motel room in Denver. He scoffed ironically. Hope was right, history was repeating all over again. "But I can't even think about that right now with everything that's going on. We need to focus on Hope and flipping her humanity on, and then stopping whatever the hell is trying to unleash actual Satan." She shook her head. "I can't believe those words just left my mouth."

He chuckled, nodding in agreement. "Speaking of…did she give you anything useful before she slipped into lala land?"

"Not really. Something about one of many seals? I don't know, it didn't make any sense." She grumbled rubbing the bridge of her nose.

"You think she's any closer to cracking?" He hated having her locked up like this. They barely got along, in fact he only mildly tolerated her on the best of days, but he felt obligated to protect her regardless; just like he did with Lizzie and Josie, who had over the years taken to calling him Uncle Damon.

Bonnie snorted with derision. "No…not even close. Even before the mind meld, she…was taunting me."

"Yeah…she's surprising good at that. She's a Mikaelson, that's for sure." Damon agreed. He noticed Bonnie try to cover a yawn. "Why don't you get out of here? Get some rest, I can handle Hope until Caroline comes in the morning." She was already shaking her head, but he reached across the table, covering her hand with his, rubbing his thumb over her smooth skin. "Bon…when was the last time you slept? For more than a couple hours." He asked her already knowing the answer.

She shot him a sassy grin. "I'll sleep when I'm dead."

"Go home. I'm not asking." He threw back her, repeating her words from earlier.

"Fine…" She stood, pushing the rest of her drink towards Damon. "But if she wakes up, call me."

He nodded. "You'll be the first to know, I promise."

She left reluctantly, and drove herself back into town, her mind running a thousand miles an hour. Oh, how things could change in such a short period of time. A couple days ago, she thought their only problem was a soulless teenage hybrid, now the whole world hung in the balance.

Dean and Sam trudged through the woods, looking for any sign of their hunter friend. They were starting to think it was fruitless until something in the distance stopped Sam dead in his tracks.

"Hey…" he drew his brother's attention. "Do you see that?"

Dean's eyes followed. "See what?"

"That. That glimmer." The moonlight caused a shimmer, illuminating a structure. It faded in and out of sight translucently as if caught between dimensions. "Is that…a trailer?"

They jogged over to it, standing in disbelief as it came in and out of view. Sam reached out, placing his hand on it, and it became solid before them. "Must be some kind of glamour."

"Now who would do that?" Dean snapped sarcastically. "Damn witches." He uttered under his breath. "Well…let's check it out." The entered the trailer cautiously, guns drawn only to find it ransacked. Whoever was staying here was long gone. The Sam flipped through some of the papers pinned on the wall and Dean found the books on the table. "Asa was here."

"How do you know?" Sam questioned still reading the notes.

Dean lifted a thick leather-bound book. "This is his journal. Maybe whatever he was looking for, found him first." He tucked the journal into the back of his jeans angrily, fueled to find whatever it was and kill it.

"Dean…" he called out, waiting until his brother came over to the wall. "Check this out." He pointed to a red dot on the map with a newspaper article taped to it. "Fifteen fishmen dead in Alaska." He pointed to another spot on the map. "Key West…ten species went extinct." He pointed to another. "New York. A teacher kills sixty-six children. Dean…Asa was tracking down the broken seals." He announced.

"So maybe that's why he's here. He's trying to stop a seal from being broken?" Dean connected the dots.

"It's gotta be. But I don't understand why he would do this alone."

"Damnit Asa." Dean grumbled. "Well…lets pack up whatever we can, see if we can't finish what he started."

Sam frowned. "You think he's dead?"

He pinned him with a look. "It's not looking good, Sammy. I mean come on; it's been days, and nothing. I ain't gonna stop looking for him, but in light of all this," he gestured around them. "We need to get our priorities straight. If Lilith is here breaking seals, we gotta do something about it." He frowned when his phone rang and pulled it out of his back pocket. It was Bonnie. He stared at the screen for a moment, debating on if he should answer.

Sam noticed and eyed his brother. "Priorities…remember?"

Dean ignored the call and tucked the phone back in his pocket. "Right. Let's hurry up and get outta here." It was better this way and if Lilith was here…he needed Bonnie to be as far away from her as possible.