"So, thank you," Dean said awkwardly as he and Damon walked downstairs. "For what?" Damon asked. Dean looked away sheepishly, and Damon's eyes gleamed in understanding. "Ah, you mean for not taking you to my bed last night," he grinned.
"Whatever, just... thanks for accepting my wishes," Dean grumbled.
"Dean, I'll always respect your wishes. I realize that lately, I haven't been doing that and I'm sorry," Damon replied softly as he gazed deeply at the man he loved.
Dean was almost taken aback by his honesty. And yes, Damon was definitely being honest. His voice always got softer when he was being honest. Dean figured that was probably the reason why he was so obnoxious and boisterous all the time. It was a façade to cover up who he really was, and Dean was probably one of the few people who knew that.
The hunter and the vampire were snapped out of their haze by the sound of the doorbell ringing and just like that Damon's soft expression sharpened again as he smirked impishly while heading for the front door. "Right on schedule," he mused.
Dean arched his eyebrow and darted after him. "What do you mean? Who's right on schedule?" Dean questioned.
Instead of answering, Damon simply opened the door to reveal none other than Dean's ex-girlfriend Elena. "Elena?" Dean frowned. Elena's attention was immediately drawn to Dean who was standing a little too closely behind Damon. Despite her sock and displeasure, she brushed it off and cleared her throat to speak. "Dean, I, uh, went by Miss Sheila's and she said that you weren't there so..." she trailed off. "So you came looking for me here?" Dean concluded.
Elena nodded.
"And good morning to you, little miss " I'm on a mission"," Damon quipped. Dean rolled his eyes as Elena folded her arms and glared at Damon. "How can you be so arrogant and glib after everything that you've done?" she sneered. "And how can you be so brave and stupid to call a vampire arrogant and glib?" Damon shot back.
"If you wanted me dead, I'd be dead," Elena argued.
"Trust me, sweetheart, all I want to do right now is rip your throat out... with my teeth," Damon snarled.
"But you're not going to because I said so," Dean stepped, having had enough of the incessant bickering. "Elena, go inside and upstairs to the room at the far end of the hall on the right. Stefan's in there." Elena nodded her head, glancing at Damon one last time before moving past him to get into the house.
Once she was inside, Damon and Dean walked outside and closed the door behind them, and then Damon started walking over to his Camaro. "Where are you going?" Dean queried.
"Why so interested in what I'm doing all of a sudden?" Damon retorted. Dean couldn't find an answer to that. Hell, the fact that Dean had to come up with an answer, to begin with, was a sure sign that the answer he was looking for was not an answer he was going to like. And if he didn't like the answer, then Damon was going to love it!
Not wanting to make himself seem too suspicious, Dean settled on a half-truthful response. "Look, I'm just making sure that you're not going into town and turning more people into vampires against their will."
Damon bit his bottom lip as he studied the half-Hunter, his blue eyes searching Dean's green ones for any sign of deceit. When he could find none, at least that he let on, Damon shrugged his shoulders and said, "Get in."
Dean scoffed, "And why would I do that?"
"Because you wanna know what I'm up to, and the only way to figure it out is by coming with me," Damon replied smugly.
Dean remained standing where he was and Damon groaned in annoyance. "Look, I'm not gonna kill anyone, or maim anyone, or torture anyone, if that's what you're worried about," he promised. After a moment of thought, Dean relented and walked with Damon to the Camaro, ignoring the shit-eating grin that threatened to split the vampire's face wide open.
* * *
Back in the mansion, Elena was called out to Stefan as she looked around the house. "Yes," Stefan said, making her whirl around to look up at the stairwell. "Where is Vicki?" Stefan gestured for her to keep her voice down as he whispered, "She's upstairs." He came down the last few steps and approached her when he was close enough that they didn't have to strain themselves to whisper, Elena said, "What happens now? Because my brother is out there joining the search party along with the rest of the town."
"I'm working on it, but it's gonna take time," Stefan exhaled. "She's a very volatile and impulsive personality. She's a drug user. I mean, all that's going to affect how she responds to this." "So, she's a vampire with issues?" Elena questioned. "What am I supposed to do, because I am lying to everyone that I care about? What's gonna happen to her?" "I'm going to keep her here with me until I know that she's safe, and Dean will help me make sure she gets a handle on controlling her thirst," Stefan stated.
"And how long is that?" Vicki yelled from the top of the stairs.
Stefan and Elena snapped their heads up at the newborn vampire in alarm. "We can talk about that later," Stefan responded.
"Hey, Vicki. How are you?" Elena greeted awkwardly.
"How am I?" Vicki snapped. "You're kidding, right?"
* * *
Back at the Bennett house, Sam was sitting on the couch next to Bonnie while Sheila lit some candles that were near the large mirror hanging on the wall across the room. "So, just to recap, your dad raised you and Dean to be supernatural hunters after a demon came into your house and burned her alive?" she gasped.
"Yep," Sam nodded.
"And then you guys got separated, then reunited, and tracked down a mystical weapon that can kill any supernatural creature on the planet, which you guys were going to use to kill the demon," she continued.
"Correct," Sam agreed.
"However, the demon knew about your plan so he kidnapped your father, possessed him, and then tried to kill you and Dean. He failed, obviously, and you used a combination of your psychic powers and the Colt to get the demon out of your dad. But then, he sent one of his minions to kill you," Bonnie recited. "You guys ended up in the hospital, and Dean was about to die, but you presume that your father made some kind of deal with the demon to spare Dean."
"Yeah," Sam muttered sadly. "Then, Dean woke up, but our dad was dead and the Colt was gone. So we packed in the hunting life, went off the grid, and moved in with our uncle Bobby for a while until we eventually ended up here where we spent the last three years trying to forget about all the bad stuff that happened to us. So much for that, I guess."
Bonnie gave Sam a sympathetic look and laced her fingers with his as she turned to look at her grandmother. "And was our family burned in the witch trials?" Bonnie questioned. "No, the girls that were persecuted in Salem we're entirely innocent," Sheila answered softly. "You have to have more than ignorance to trap a real witch."
"How did we end up in Mystic Falls?" Bonnie badgered.
"Our family fled Salem in 1692 and moved here. Our ancestors lived in secrecy for over a hundred years. And our closest allies were Sam and Dean's ancestors who also happened to be one of the founding families of Mystic Falls, the Campbells," the elder witch explained. "They helped us carry on our secret at the expense of their own. We must remain a secret if we are to honor our ancestors as well as the Campbells' sacrifice."
"You didn't tell me that my ancestors helped yours," Sam pondered. "Despite what you're daddy may have taught you about hunting, your mother's side of the family knew the difference between good and bad monsters." "Well, Grams, does it really matter that much? I mean, everyone already knows that you're a witch," Bonnie chimed in.
"Yeah, well, people tend to not believe you if you tell them that you're a witch, or have psychic abilities like mine, or a-" Sam was cut off by Bonnie saying, "A supernatural curse of immortality like your brother's." "Sammy's right, sweetheart. To everybody else, I'm just a kooky lady that teaches Occult at the university," Sheila remarked. "No one really believes. Not unless they've been raised to believe like the boys or happened upon it by accident. They just poke fun, and let 'em so long as you don't let 'em know the truth."
"Okay, well, where's the witchcraft?" Bonnie huffed impatiently, letting go of Sam's hand to cross her arms. "You and Sam have been talking history for the last two days. Can we get to the fun part?" "Bonnie, this isn't made to be fun. None of this is. It is serious mojo, and it's real, and if you're not careful it could kill you," Sam chastised. The older girl frowned nervously as Sheila went on to say, "I get that this is tiring, but you must understand it before you practice it. Besides... aren't you two late for school?"
Sam and Bonnie shared a look of annoyance before pursing their lips at the old woman sardonically.
* * *
Later that morning at the Mystic Grill, Dean and Damon were sitting at the bar counter, where Dean was currently gorging himself on a double-stack burger and a slice of Apple pie while Damon watched with a look of amusement and adoration. "Good to know I made the right choice when I got that Apple pie," he mused.
Dean moaned hungrily, as he took a bite out of his burger. "Not gonna lie, I kinda feel like I could kiss you right now," he hummed. In response, Damon leaned in toward Dean on the stool and puckered his lips dramatically. However, instead of being annoyed like he usually would be, Dean actually cracked a smile and flicked a French fry at the vampire's face, making him scramble back disgruntled.
Damon's reaction stirred a spark of amusement from the Winchester patriarch and he couldn't help but let out an impish chuckle. The Salvatore vampire's initial wave of annoyance was quickly replaced by a fond smile at the hunter's laughter. And that's when Damon realized this was the first time since their breakup that they were laughing together and not trying to kill each other. And despite the most recent developments and their current pressing issues, it... it felt nice.
Just then, his vamp hearing picked up on Mayor Lockwood entering the Grill and he glanced over his shoulder and watched the man slide into a booth opposite his wife as they began talking. "Okay, Dean, it's show time," Damon said, nodding over to the mayor and his wife. Dean followed his gaze and narrowed his eyes as the smile fell from his face, causing Damon's heart to ache. "This is insane, you know that, right?" Dean mumbled as they turned back around.
"Not if my theory is right," Damon differed.
"And what if you're wrong?" Dean hissed lowly.
"Look, you're the one who wanted to figure out what I was up to, and now you're helping me to make sure that the Founders' Council of the 21st century is not the same as the one before," Damon shot back. "Now remember what I told you. Clear your mind of everything and focus on the sound of their voices."
Dean huffed indignantly, closing his eyes, as he blocked out all the other voices from the diner except for Mayor Lockwood and his wife.
"We never should have trusted that Logan..." Lockwood paused and looked around before continuing, "weasel with the watch."
"Lockwood thinks they shouldn't have trusted Logan with the watch I found," Dean whispered. "They really shouldn't have. What else?" Damon said.
"How many are we dealing with?" Carol asked shakily. "Well, the coroner thinks one," the mayor answered. "Something about the wound radius or whatever."
"They're trying to figure out if there's more than one vampire, but they trust the coroner so they might not go looking too deep," Dean summarized. "And?" Damon pressed.
"And..." Dean paused to listen again. "They're nervous. Scared, more like. They know that you know that they know. Carol seems particularly unhinged, though. They want to hunt down the big bad vampire before he kills them and avoid raising any alarms in the process. Happy?"
"Very, thank you," Damon smirked. "I'll take it from here."
"Like hell, you will," Dean snarked, grabbing Damon by the shoulder as he was about to get up and leave.
Damon arched one of his jet-black eyebrows. "Excuse me?"
"I'm not letting you handle this on your own. This is bigger than whatever rivalry you and Stefan have, this is, shockingly, bigger than your ego. People's lives are in danger, mine, Sam's, Stefan's, Bonnie's, Sheila's, Vicki's... yours," Dean declared. Neither of them acknowledged how Dean neglected to mention Elena, however, both were aware of it and Damon couldn't help himself from inwardly pumping his fist victoriously.
"We are all tied to the supernatural to some degree, and I don't want us to get massacred simply because you rushed in guns blazing with no plan," Dean resumed. "Plus, I can't risk someone else dying because you're pissed off that you can't do what you want." Damon paused for a moment to think before nodding. "Okay, I'm in."
Dean spluttered in disbelief. "I'm sorry, did I hear that right?"
"You clearly want to help, and if I know you, which I do, you're gonna keep sticking your nose in my business until I agree, so I might as well say yes now and save myself the trouble," Damon crooned.
"So this is it? The epic creature double feature team up starring Van Helsing and Dracula?" Dean said. "That monk society ain't gonna know what hit 'em," Damon jeered. "Just promise me you won't kill anyone, okay?" Dean snorted. "Just promise me you'll let me do what I need to do to defend myself if they force my hand," Damon smirked.
"Fine. Deal." Dean rolled his eyes as he held out his hand.
Damon grabbed his hand tentatively at first before he shook it, as he said, "Deal."