HUNTED

Gabriel never answered his unspoken question. Damon wondered if the vampire had stopped listening to his thoughts or if he didn't want to answer him. Cassius was his twin brother; instead of killing him all those years ago, Gabriel locked him up in a crypt. Would he really help destroy him or only help get Aila back?

Damon couldn't turn back now. Cassius needed to pay with his life; whether Gabriel helped him or not, he would find a way. But first, his priority was getting Aila back. 

"Alright, we should get something to eat and rest up. We leave early tomorrow," Damon said after the smells of the BBQ wafted through to where they all were, causing not just his stomach to growl but a few others as well. 

"Do you cater for vampires?" After seeing Damon's face drop, Gabriel smirked, and Luther burst into laughter. "It is a joke, Damon."

Damon turned away, ignoring them and leading the pack members down the hall and through the kitchen, where on the kitchen island were piles and piles of meat along with the usual food and plates. He gestured towards the food, letting his pack members go to it first; it had always been a given that the Alpha would eat first, but he never followed such rules. He had been a grumpy git for the last month, and so he should try and make it up to his pack. 

After Finn, Damon lined up behind him, grabbing a plate and turned after hearing Esme behind him. He gestured to the food making a few of the warriors glance in her direction questionably and a few glaring at her. The rogue shook her head, keeping his pack members happy, but she still brazenly met their eyes and held them. Damon turned back, shaking his head. 

"When you said early in the morning.. How early are we talking?" Esme asked as he started to pile up his plate. 

Damon handed Esme a plate and returned to add to his pile. "We leave at ten. Is that okay for you and your nightwalkers?" He half mocked but was utterly serious at the same time. Other than Esme, the others were vampires. Did they need more sleep, or did the sun annoy them at certain times of the day? 

He knew they were not ordinary; otherwise, they'd burst into flames like the others. 

"Ten is perfect. I'll have time to eat," Esme grinned, which made Damon pause at how lively and happy she seemed. His eyes softened, and he nodded before sitting down next to Finn and the trackers. He watched Esme walk back to Gabriel, who had also strolled into the room, and they sat down side by side, looking comfortable next to each other at the dining table. 

He suddenly felt bad for attacking Gabriel now, realising that whatever Esme went through must have been something big, and like how Damon would always be there for Aila, Gabriel would now be there for Esme. With that thought, his gaze met Gabriel's knowingly before he returned to his food and paid attention to the conversation between Finn and Zeke. 

After eating and showing his vampiric guests to their rooms, Damon returned to his own and once again felt the overbearing weight of loneliness seep into his being as he stared at the large bedroom. Still, he showered and crawled into bed, listening to the rumbling of Darius' voice, "Tomorrow, we will see our mate." Those comforting words wrapped around him warmly and sent him off to sleep.

Even though Ajax's comment infuriated him the night before, Damon did follow through with his annoying suggestion. Though he didn't have much luck on the 'beauty sleep', his mind had been warped in nightmares forever reaching out to his mate. He woke up covered in sweat more times than he could count. But the dark circles under his eyes weren't as bad as before. The redness that he'd been accustomed to seeing had calmed down.

He shaved his beard, trimmed it down to his usual neat stubble, and washed his hair, looking more refreshed with more colour to his complexion in weeks. After having breakfast with the pack members and the guests of the house, the groups were soon dispatched in a line of black SUVs. Surprisingly, Gabriel sat in the same car as Damon, Ajax and Finn. Esme seemed to be in the car full of vampires, seemingly comfortable around the creatures now, and his Beta was with the trackers, with a few more cars following behind of his warriors. 

Again, Chiara remained behind to protect the pack with Nairi, she was one of their best fighters, but they couldn't risk an attack while he was away. He also advised her to strengthen the areas Esme suggested the night before, hoping to distract the Gamma as well. He nearly left Ajax with her as well, but he was getting accustomed to having the shapeshifter with him, flying above them. 

Like the day before, Damon tapped his fingers and shook his leg impatiently as Finn drove. Even with the way Finn was speeding to help ease his Alpha's suffering, it still felt like he'd been in that seat for twelve hours and not two. But Gabriel spoke up once the sat nav announced they were ten minutes away from Maine on the motorway. 

"The castle is the other side of Maine, so it will be about twenty minutes. There are country roads that lead to it." The vampire pointed on the map along some roads and made a circular shape on one road in particular. "You should park up as soon as you go into this road; use the field no one will stop you. It is a private road."

Gabriel gave directions for the next twenty minutes, and Damon mind-linked the others, repeating them until they were safely on the side of a quiet thin country road. Stepping out of the car and into the soggy mud, Damon couldn't help but chuckle at Gabriel's disgust at ruining his expensive shoes. The vampire glared at him but then was briefly distracted by Esme approaching them.. They locked gazes for a moment, then he turned around and led the large group the rest of the way, walking further away from the road and merging into the depths of a large forest.