By the way this is not Vahanian writing this, its the sister!

Elena sat in the back of some kind of Mercedes, focusing intently on the back of the headrest. The last hour had passed in a blur which had started with Damon making feelings arise in her that she hadn't felt for her since they found Stefan. Then she hurriedly had to pack everything she would need whilst trying to say goodbye to her two best friends and her ex-boyfriend. Tears threatened to pour as she thought back to the goodbye.

Bonnie rushed at Elena when she announced that she would be going with Damon and very uncharacteristically, Meredith did the same. Matt stood in the corner, shuffling his feet and looking anywhere but at the group hug in the middle of the room. When they let go Matt made his way forward nervously and was surprised when a cool pair of arms wrapped around him confidently. It wasn't awkward, just two friends saying goodbye and when they pulled away both of them had a comfortable if not slightly sad smile on their faces.

"Why do you have to go without us?"

Bonnie asked through tear filled eyes. Starting to mist up as well Elena responded, "Because this could be dangerous and besides we need you guys to look after Fells church."

Bonnie dropped her head resignedly and Meredith put her arm around her shoulders and said with a positive smile on her face,

"We understand, you go and help your guys"

Elena felt extremely grateful that Meredith was so supportive and capable and it gave her comfort as the last bag was packed into the car and they drove away from the boarding house.

The first hour of the car ride was spent in silence. Stefan was sat next to Elena and immediately took her hand after getting into the car but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't stop looking at the side of Damon`s head as he drove the car. Every now and again her thoughts wandered back to what had happened with Damon and the strength of her feelings shocked her.

She was dragged out of her thoughts by a scraping on the roof. Sage opened his window and a purposeful looking Talon clawed onto his arm. As blood started to well from where the bird sat, the vampire and the animal started to communicate in away that Elena had never understood.

"Nobody followed us from Fells Church and there is no immediate danger,"

Sage announced whilst Talon, satisfied that he had given a good report flew back out the window.

After this the silence continued and it seemed they were in for a quiet ride when a low but very loud grumble filled the air. The car squealed to a halt and the three men in the car looked around as if they expected to see some sort of monster pop up. During these tense few seconds Elena realised what had happened and started to laugh. They all looked at her. She continued to laugh and said,

"Damon, are you hungry by any chance?"

Damon looked confused but Sage and Stefan finally comprehended what the deep growl had been.

"Yes but…"

he trailed off. Elena felt a strong desire to smooth the creases on his forehead with her hand but stopped herself when she realised how inappropriate that would be. She had to remind herself that Stefan was her boyfriend. During this inner turmoil Damon finally understood and as cars were building up behind them he started driving again whilst saying,

"I guess I'll find a diner to stop off at."

Elena really felt for Damon as it had only been two days since he had become human and Bonnie had made sure he had eaten when necessary. A five hundred year habit was hard to break. Now he seemed vulnerable and Elena felt the need to protect him. A need she found difficult to squash.

Ten minutes later they were pulling into a roadside diner which looked slightly shabby and has two old trucks parked outside. It was nearly empty inside but it was clean so they all sat down at a highly polished, blue, plastic table. Then a highly bored looking waitress came to take there order Damon ordered almost everything on the menu with a smile. Elena was looking at the menu when Damon took it and handed it to the waitress. With another smile that seemed to tell her she was missing the obvious he explained,

"I already ordered for you, I know what you like."

The waitress left and Elena was so shocked she could only murmur a 'thank you'.

Upon seeing Elena's expression, Damon quickly turned away in almost a perfect imitation of his now lost vampire grace and Stefan rolled his eyes. To try to lighten the mood a bit, Elena asked a question that had been on her mind for a while,

"So Damon, tell me more about this witch we're going to see."

Damon looked surprised at the way the conversation had turned but sensing the hostility coming from Stefan gladly responded,

"There's not much to know but one thing I should warn you about is her constant tendency towards violence."

Having recently been told that this witch worked white magic this was not the description she had been imagining. She felt she had to ask,

"How violent?"

"Well do you remember Bloddeuwedd from the dark dimension?"

"How could I forget?"

"Well this witch is one hundred times worse that her."

The fear must have been so evident on Elena's face that Damon felt compelled to add,

"She is only violent towards vampires or other evil creatures, that is why we needed you to come along. You're a strong, white magic being and the one with the best chance of getting her to fix us."

Stefan scoffed half way through this little speech but other than that gave no sign to show he was listening

Elena was given time to let this all sink in as the food had just arrived. She started to pick at it with the accompanying white plastic cutlery whilst Stefan and Sage started talking about practical plans for getting to California. Elena had not known that this witch had lived in California and now tried to digest the new act that they were still a long way from there destination. As the three others started discussing plans for where they would be staying that night, Elena's thoughts wandered and she started to see imaginary giant owls swooping down from the sky determined to slice her apart. She was not looking forward to meeting this woman.