(1) Just Magic (D. Salvatore)

Chapter Seventy-Eight

Damon approaches a house situated deep in the woods. From the road he'd parked on, it looks abandoned but he knows better. Can hear and smell better. He glances back over his shoulder and towards where his car is parked. Where he left the twins. He sighs and turns to jog up to the house. He knocks on the door and waits. Listening. No one opens it. He hammers louder on the door.

"Pearl! Open this door. I swear to God I'll bust through and rip your head off" He demands. The door swings open, but it's not Pearl on the other side. It's Frederick who opens the door instead.

"Pearl's not home" Frederick offers and then leans his face up towards the sky. "Hmm. Beautiful weather. Not a ray of sun in the sky"

"Where's my brother?" Damon snaps.

"Billy" Frederick shouts into the house. Two vampires drag Stefan into the hallway, Stefan appears to be in pain, bleeding.

"You're dead" Damon growls and then tries to get through the door.

"I'm sorry. You haven't been invited in" Frederick reminds Damon and then glances back into the house. "Miss Gibbons?" He asks and an older woman approaches him.

"Yes, Frederick, honey?" She asks him.

"Never let this bad man in" Frederick compels Miss Gibbons.

"I'll never let him in" She repeats back.

"145 years left starving in a tomb, thanks to Katherine's infatuation with you and your brother. First few weeks, every single nerve in your body screams with fire. The kind of pain that can drive a person mad. Well...I thought your brother might want to get a taste of that before I killed him" Frederick describes before turning his head to the house slightly. "Billy" Billy stabs Stefan with a stake, Stefan grumbles in pain.

"You have a nice day" Frederick mocks Damon as he closes the door in his face. Damon clenches his jaw in annoyance and then turns, walking away from the house.

...............

Cassandra leans against Damon's car, worrying at the bangles around her wrist. She can put aside her current feelings for Damon to deal with whatever is going on with Stefan. Stefan means a lot to Elena, and Elena means everything to Cassandra. Of course, she can put it all aside to do something for her. She leans up when Damon approaches her. Elena climbing out of the car behind her and moving towards him.

"What happened? Where is he?" Elena asks, rapidly.

"They have him. I can't get in" Damon answers, still moving towards his car. Elena trailing behind him.

"Why not?"

"Because the woman who owns the house is compelled to not let me in" He answers as he walks towards his car.

"I can get in" Cassandra points out, Damon shakes his head, instantly.

"You're not going in there" He argues, she folds her arms over her chest.

"Erm...yeah, I'm going" He steps closer to her and stares at her, just to get his point home. They have no idea how many vampires are in there, and she is one person, one very powerful person, but still only one. She holds up her hand and wraps her fingers in her mist, giving him a look. He knows.

"You're not going in there" He repeats, firmer this time. She clenches her jaw and stares back at him. He is trying to protect her. Yes, she is powerful, but given that they don't know how many of the tomb vampires are actually inside, he has no idea how many they'll have to go up against.

"Why are they doing this? What do they want with him?" Elena asks.

"Revenge. They want revenge" Damon answers.

"We gotta do something"

"I know."

"We can't let them hurt him. We gotta get him out of there" Elena begs of Damon.

"I know. Elena, I know" Damon stops her. "But I don't know how to get him out" He admits. Cassandra cocks her head, thoughtful before she lets out a breath.

"I do" Cassandra counters, they both look at her. "We need to go to the school"

......

Elena knows it's awkward in the car as they drive back. There is tension between Cassandra and Damon. It was there on the way to the house, so of course, it is going to be there on the way back. Damon glances at Cassandra and then away again.

"We going to talk about it?" Damon asks her as she leans back in her seat. She glances at Elena who attempts to appear as if she can't hear them, but it's a small space, so of course she can. Cassandra sighs and looks forward again.

"Not now" She mumbles and crosses one leg over the other, folding her arms over her chest.

"I can pretend that I'm not here" Elena offers. Cassandra gives her a look over her shoulder. She doesn't want to have this conversation with Damon. She wants to put it off. She has no idea what he is going to say to her. What can he say that is going to make it better? If that is what he even plans on doing. She's not emotionally ready to talk about it. She would much rather just ignore it until she is ready to face it. She needs to process everything herself before she talks about it. She needs to work through what she feels and what he's done. Everything has just been so full-on for months. One vampire drama after another. Something else thrown at them. Secrets exposed. Damon pulls his phone from this pocket and sends a text to Ally, asking her what he should do here. She's older than him. Been around longer than him. And he's running out of ideas. He glances at Cassandra again as she touches the corner of her eye and then lets out a breath. His phone pings with a text pretty quick. 'Say something nice'. He gets in way of an idea from Ally, but he's not sure that's going to work, it's going to sound like false flattery. He tucks his phone away and grips the steering wheel. Plus that's not him. He's not the nice guy.