“Have Mary clean up a room for Damon. I want him to have a clean place to stay. Somewhere not too far from my room. Can you do that for me, please?”

Cassandra spoke to Isabella. Isabella was frozen in her place, hooked by her arms, leaning over Cassandra’s car, her vision pinned on the strange man seated in the passenger’s seat. She held his gaze, and he did the same.

Neither of them blinked or looked away, not until Cassandra snapped her fingers at Isabella.

“Hello…. What's ...