“Found anything yet?”

     Jasmine rolled her eyes at the question, “like I’ve said the past fifteen times you’ve asked: no, Damon.”

     The sound of footsteps caused her to halt her search and look towards Stefan who smiled at her, “hey, there, handsome. How is the doppelganger doing?”

     “She’s good, thank you.” The pair smiled each other once more before Stefan looked at his brother, who was tossing books all over the place, “what are you looking for, Damon?”

     Without sparing him a glance, Damon continued searching, “not your concern.”

     Jasmine knew the older Salvatore didn’t want to tell his brother about them attempting to find another way to open the tomb. He had a gut feeling that his brother would only sabotage it.

     “No, but putting Elena in harm's way, that is my concern.” Stefan walked closer to Damon, hands in his pockets.

     Chuckling, Damon opened a book and skimmed its contents, “what are you talking about?”

     “I'm talking about Atlanta.”

     Jasmine leaned against the banister while looking at her favorite vampires, “come now, boys. No need to have a spat.”

     Damon smirked at the raven haired heretic before turning to face his younger brother, “oh, yeah. Elena and I had a blast.”

     Rolling her eyes, Jasmine sarcastically smiled at him, “nice to know I had no good affect to your road trip.”

     Damon stared at her with a knowing look before smiling at her, “of course you did, Jasmine. It was to die for.”

     Her smile vanished and she rolled her eyes at him. Stefan ignored their little exchange as he chuckled humorlessly at Damon, “I get it. You're just bitter because one of us gets to be with the person that we love, and poor Katherine is just out of reach. Unless, there's another way for you to get into that tomb. Is that what Bree said?”

     Jasmine smirked at her best friend before responding, “yeah, she did… right before I ripped out her heart.”

     Stefan and Damon both snapped their heads in her direction, horror sketched in their expressions, “what?”

     Jasmine could’ve fallen over from laughing at their expressions, but chose to roll her eyes and smirk, returning to finding the location of Emily’s grimoire, “wow, I didn’t know humor wasn’t programmed inside those torturous brains of yours.”

     Stefan looked at her suspiciously before dropping it. Damon rolled his eyes and looked at the green eyed vampire, “you're pathetic when you're fishing.”

     “And you're transparent when you're deflecting.”

     “Don't you have school?”

     Stefan smirked at his brother before leaving. Jasmine turned to face Damon, “I don’t think its in here, Damon.”

     Damon ran his hand down his face before looking at her, exasperated. She slowly walked towards him and placed a hand on his shoulder, “don’t worry, we’ll find it.”

▪▪▪▪

     Jasmine sat in the middle of the floor of her current bedroom when her phone went off. Groaning, she got up and answered the phone.

     “Hello?”

     “Jasmine.” Her breath hitched as she heard his voice. A voice she longed to hear.

     “Elijah. How did you-?”

     A small chuckle rang in her ears, causing her to grin, “it seems my resources are far more better than yours.”

     She sat down on the bed and held the phone close to her ear, as if by holding it close to her, he wouldn’t be able to leave.

     “I suppose they are.” Silence swam between both lines before she sighed, “I miss you, Elijah.”

     “I miss you, too, darling. How are you?”

     “The urge is back. I-I don’t know what I did differently, but it’s stronger. I can feel it slowly consuming my mind.”

     Elijah let out a concerned sigh, “we should’ve never separated from you. This is my fault. I just thought that you would be safer from Mikael if you weren’t anywhere near us. But now—”

     “No, Elijah. You did what you thought was the right thing to do. It’s not your fault; you have no control over this.” She stood up and walked towards the room entrance, keeping an ear to see if Damon was listening. She heard more books being thrown, so she figured he was occupied at the moment.

     “I’m staying in a small town here in France. I think it’d be best if you were with me here. Why don’t you come?”

“I can’t. A couple friends need my help here. I was hoping you could meet me?”

     An exaggerated sigh emitted from Elijah Mikaelson’s lips before he responded, regret lacing his voice, “I’m sorry, darling. I’m tied up here at the moment, I can’t necessarily leave—”

     “Alright, well, this was a total waste.” Chuckling was heard from both ends as she sighed deeply, frustrated. “Okay, I sincerely do not know what to do.”

     “You’re stronger than you think, my sweet Jasmine. If you come into more trouble you have my number now. Please, do not hesitate to call me.”

     Jasmine felt a sense of joy knowing that she had straight contact with one of her favorite people again. She felt cold whenever they shut her out, made her feel as if she wasn’t as important to them as they claimed she was. Though, every time she’s in trouble, she goes crawling back to them. Asking, even begging, for help. She knew it didn’t seem like such a… healthy relationship, but she couldn’t let them go, no matter how many times they left her.

     She sighed once she heard the dial tone. Sliding her phone into her back pocket, she decided to head down to the local grill to keep herself occupied. Quickly walking down the stairs, she noticed Damon leaving the same time.

     “Hey, where are you headed off to?”

     “To the grill, you coming with?”

     Jasmine nodded and followed the frustrated Salvatore out to his car.

▪▪▪▪

     The grill wasn’t as busy as usual, filled with the same teenagers who hang around here after school ends. Jasmine smiled widely as soon as she spotted a certain blonde and blue eyed male sitting at the bar. Promising to meet Damon later to continue their search, she bee-lined straight for the enticing human.

     “Matt Donovan. What are the chances?”

     Matt smiled wide when he noticed her, her elbow leaning against the counter while holding her head against her fist. “Jasmine. What brings you here?”

     “Oh, you know, a little this and that. Nothing important. What are you doing here?”

     He slid the application form towards her, “applying for a job. The bills are piling up, so I decided it was time to pick up the slack.”

     Jasmine hummed in approval and slid her seat closer to his, “I like a man in charge.”

     A blush crept up Matt’s neck, which caused Jasmine to stare intently. Her gaze was quickly averted when she heard someone clear their throat in front of them. Jasmine clenched her fist underneath the counter as she steadied her breathing.

     “Matt Donovan. What do you know?” Matt averted his stare from Jasmine and turned to smile at the man behind the bar.

     “Ben McKittrick. What's up, man?”

     Jasmine tilted her head when she noticed Ben stiffen when he glanced at her. It was a normal reaction for someone she had encountered or simply heard about her. It wasn’t the greatest feeling sometimes when someone was frightened of you, but with good reason, she knew.

     She looked back at Matt who continued to talk to Ben, “yep, following in your footsteps, minus the state championship.”

     Ben smiled and shook his head, “well, we can't all be Football Gods.”

     “Yeah.”

     “So what's the plan? Cook line?”

     “Busboy.” Matt grimaced, but quickly followed it with a small grin.

     “What? There’s not a chef bone in your body?” Jasmine kept her gaze on Matt, but occasionally glanced at Ben when she noticed he wouldn’t stop glancing, either.

     Matt shook his head and laughed, “unless you count grilled cheese and mac and cheese, then no, I don’t think the cook line is in my future.”

     He soon realized that his company didn’t know each other, “Ben, this is Jasmine. She’s new in town.”

     Jasmine knew this was her chance to get a read on Ben, so she held out her hand, waiting for him to shake it, “nice to meet you, Ben.”

     Ben nervously glanced at Jasmine’s hand and slowly took a hold of it, letting go quickly while clearing his throat, “you, too.”

     Jasmine let a small smirk graze her lips once he let go. She knew what he was and decided that was the reason he seemed so nervous around her. No one knew and he didn’t want his secret to be out. A clear ‘reading’ confirmed her thoughts as she felt it. Death.

     Before Jasmine could throw in a sly remark, Ben excused himself and left the two alone. Sighing, she turned towards Matt who was finishing up his application.

     “So, are you doing anything after you turn in that form?” She could hear his heart beating faster as he looked at her with a grin.

     “That depends. What do you have in mind?” Grinning, she grabbed his hand and led him out the back door, looking around her to make sure no one saw them. A certain Bennett witch caught her eye as she stared at Matt in disbelief. Jasmine shot her a wink before closing the door behind her.

     Slowly leaning a smiling Matt against the brick wall, she looked into his eyes, her pupils dilating.

     “Don’t scream. Don’t make a sound.”

     Sighing softly, she tilted his head to the side and caressed his neck. The vein across his throat throbbed underneath her finger tips and the veins underneath her eyes showed themselves. She bared her teeth and slowly grazed the hollow of his neck, barely breaking the skin there.

     “You have the sweetest blood I’ve tasted in decades, Matt. Maybe that’s the reason I’ve kept you alive so far. Or it’s because my best friend doesn’t really like it when I murder people to satiate my thirst.”

     Matt looked at her with fear in his eyes, his teeth clenching as he took in her words and actions. Jasmine looked at him again, compelling him, “don’t be afraid, Matt. I’m not going to hurt you too bad. Promise.”

     She took no time in sinking her teeth into his neck, slowly pulling the copper liquid out of his system. She held the back of his head with one hand while the other clutched his shirt, pulling him towards her. Ignoring his small grunts of pain, she continued to drink from him, not being able to stop.

     The sound of footsteps didn’t faze her until they yanked her away from Matt. She snarled at Damon who stood in front of her, eyes wide.

     “Jasmine, that’s enough. You’re killing the poor boy.”

     Jasmine moved her eyes to look at Matt, who was breathing heavily and was looking pale. Her breath hitched and she took a step back, trying to regain herself. Damon took it upon himself to heal Matt and compel him.

     “Forget what just happened the last ten minutes. You followed Jasmine out to the back of the grill and had a hot make out session that you will remember for the rest of your small pathetic life because let’s face it, you probably won’t do any better than Jasmine. Now, go home.”

     Damon shoved Matt out of the alleyway and turned to face the crouching heretic. Sighing, he sat beside her as she regained her breathing.

     “So, should we tell Stefan? Or do you think you have it under control?”

     Jasmine lulled her head to the side to look at him with a smirk on her face, “I’m okay, Damon. I wasn’t going to drain the kid. I had it under control.”

     Damon knew she was trying to cover up how much control it had over her, but he knew not to push her. So, for now, he let himself be convinced that she did know what she was doing. He stood up and quickly offered her a hand, which she took begrudgingly.

     “I’ll meet you at the house, okay?” She nodded her head and shot a wide smile his way, “don’t eat anyone on the way there, alright?”

     Damon laughed as she tossed a bag of trash at his head. Once, he was out of sight and hearing distance, she let herself slowly slide down the wall. She clutched her head and thought about all the emotions that were swirling around her. Hate was evident in the sea of feelings, hate for how she felt. How only one emotion was brighter than the rest, especially when she was feeding off Matt.

     She felt exhilarated.