Chapter 2

A loud knock at the door startled Isabelle awake.

She must have fallen asleep after having her long hot shower, as she was still towel-clad and the TV was still on but was on some strange early morning shopping programme.

Izzie yawned and stretched before forcing herself to get up.

She glanced at the time on her phone and saw that it was only eight in the morning.

Who the hell would be bothering her at this time?

She swung open the door, not caring that she was still just wearing a towel.

Jake was standing on the other side of the door, his smile faded a little when he saw what she was wearing.

"Did I - come at a bad time?" he stuttered a little.

"Yeah, actually," she folded her arms across her chest, really unimpressed with his presence, "I was sleeping. You know, you did only drop me off here like four hours ago."

"Sorry," he gave her a sympathetic smile, but then held up a brown envelope that she hadn't noticed he'd been holding.

Isabelle let out a deep groan at the mere sight of it.

Right now she just wanted to slam the door in Jake's face and pretend she never saw it, but she knew it was no use.

"Come in," she sighed, stepping to the side to allow him access.

Jake sat in the living room while Izzie went to get dressed. Not feeling up to actually greeting the day just yet she just threw on her green flannel pyjama pants and a black tank top, ready to jump back in bed at a moment's notice.

Entering the living room again, she plonked herself next to Jake on the couch and hugged a cushion to her chest mentally preparing herself for the next assignment.

"You know I wouldn't have come -" Jake started to try and apologise, but Izzie was too tired for him to be beating around the bush and she cut him off.

"Don't care, just get to the point," she stated abruptly.

Jake flinched a little at her words, usually she would have felt a little guilty as Jake was one of her only friends, but right now she just couldn't handle his blabbering.

He hesitated, fiddling with the envelope in his hands as he seemed to be contemplating what to say.

"You aren't going to like it," is what he finally settled on.

"Jake!" she groaned in exasperation, "Just open the damn thing and show me!"

Jake swallowed hard but did as he was asked and expertly opened the seal in one swift motion.

Jake was the son of the head slayer, so he always got a little more insight on what was going on.

That meant he already knew what was in the envelope, but he wasn't allowed to tell her, she had to look at the documents.

It was stupid really, but she respected her boss and if that's what he wished then so be it.

Jake pulled out the paperwork and handed it to her.

She all but snatched it off of him, getting impatient with him.

Her eyes skimmed over it quickly but stopped dead when they landed on the name printed in bold letters at the top.

"Are you kidding me!" she cried, staring at the paperwork in front of her with wide eyes.

"I said you wouldn't like it," Jake breathed.

"No, I do like it," she corrected him, "He's really trusting me with this?" she questioned in disbelief.

"You're one of our best," Jake smiled half-heartedly, but there was something in his eyes that told her he wasn't entirely happy about it.

"Buuuut -?" she probed.

Jake sighed, knowing that she had seen right through him again, "I just - you know - I -"

"You just what?" she probed again, feeling herself getting more agitated by the second.

Jake tussled his dark hair as he yet again searched for the right words. One of Jake's flaws in her opinion was his inability to articulate his thoughts, especially when she was grumpy and in need of sleep.

"Don't you think it's a bit - dangerous," he pretty much whispered the last part, knowing she would blow up.

And he was right.

"Dangerous!" she snapped, "This just proves he believes in my ability and I am actually being recognized for the amazing work I do! And you're worried that it's dangerous"

"Izzie, you know I didn't mean it like that" he tried to defend himself, holding his hands up on surrender, "You're my friend and Cassius is a -"

"A high priority target that we've been after for a while," she finished.

"A very powerful vampire," he took her hand in his and looked her with pleading eyes, "I'm not saying you can't handle him, Izzie, I'm not. But I just want you to really think about it, you've never dealt with a noble pureblood vampire before. If you decide not to do it, I can speak to my father -"

Izzie pulled her hand away from Jake, "That won't be necessary," she said coldly, a little hurt by how much he was doubting her right now.

She couldn't carry on this conversation the way things were going. She'd end up saying something that could possibly ruin her friendship with Jake, and as angry as she was, she didn't really want that.

Although one thing she wouldn't do was tolerate him speaking this way.

This was the sort of assignment she'd been waiting for, a chance to show her boss, Mr Francis Wells himself, Jake's father, that she could be more than just the run-of-the-mill slayer.

She might even be able to nudge her way into the elite team from this assignment, which had always been a dream of hers.

"I think you should go, Jake," she tried to soften her tone, "I'm tired and I have a lot of paperwork to read."

The hurt look on Jake's face did make her feel guilty this time, but he needed to know he'd crossed the line.

This is what she'd been working towards since she had started training to be a hunter.

As her friend, she thought he'd understand that.

Hell, she thought he'd be happy for her as surely he was working towards the same goal, if not higher with his father being the head of the whole operation.

"I'll call you later," she offered him a small smile as he reached the door.

He tried to return the favour, but the hurt was still there, "I'll talk to you later," and with that, he shut the door.

As the door clicked shut Izzie let out a big sigh and collapsed back into the couch feeling completely drained.

She hadn't meant to be so short with Jake, he was a good guy and genuinely cared for her, he was just a little overprotective at times.

They'd been friends for years now; they were so close that they may as well be siblings. They'd worked together on a lot of assignments in the early days while they were training. They were actually quite the team, it was a shame they didn't get to work together more often.

Izzie let out another deep sigh before looking back down at the paperwork. She felt tired just thinking about it.

This assignment was going to be a lot of work, thankfully there seemed to be a list of his frequent haunts, though it seemed he had no pattern, so catching him would take precision and good timing... and a whole heap of luck.

One thing was for sure though; she was going to need her strength for this one.

She would have to put in some extra training and definitely catch up on her sleep.

Speaking of...

She let out a massive yawn that made her head hurt.

The paperwork could wait.

She would get a quick bite to eat and then sleep the rest of the day and then come back refreshed to formulate a plan of attack.

She rose from the couch, scuffling her slippers across the laminate floor as she made her way to the kitchen. After staring blankly into the cupboards for a few minutes, she realised that her appetite wasn't as big as she'd originally thought.

It was probably from the lingering taste of that disgusting bloodsucker's tongue in her mouth.

Just the thought made her feel ill, and she reminded herself to brush her teeth another twelve times before bed.

With her appetite waning even further she just opted for a couple of slices of toast with a Nutella coating.

Not exactly healthy, but anything with Nutella on always went down smooth.

Once she was done, she made her way to the bathroom, and brushed her teeth with vigour, silently contemplating washing her mouth out with bleach but obviously deciding against it.

Finally, she got into the bedroom, her king-size bed looked so inviting, clad in silky soft blue sheets.

She didn't hesitate to slither under the covers and wriggle herself down into a comfy position.

Sleep wasn't far away; her eyes grew heavy as soon as her head touched the pillow.

The last thought on her mind before passed over into the dream world.

Cassius Lockwood.