(2) Just Magic (D. Salvatore)

Chapter Fourteen

Alaric and Elena are standing around Vanessa who is sat in a chair. She looks like she instantly regretted what happened, almost as if she knows what might come of it. She panics. Wanting to flee. Starts to stand up but Alaric pushes her back down and shakes his head.

"Please!" Vanessa begs. "I freaked out okay? Alright, you would have done the same thing, it's not possible! Katherine Pierce and Ally Franks can't be alive and Damon Salvatore died in 1864. Okay? I read Isobel's research" She admits, terrified.

"Well, then you should know just how possible this is" Alaric counters and shares a look with Elena.

"I'm Elena Gilbert," Elena tells Vanessa. "And that's Cassandra, my sister" She motions to the door as Cassandra and Damon walk into the room. "We're Isobel's daughters and descendants of Katherine and Ally. And this is Damon Salvatore who you just shot"

"I'd be extra nice to me right now" Damon points out.

"Look, we need your help okay? We need to see all of Isobel's research, anything related to Mystic Falls" Elena offers Vanessa who looks between them all nervously. Cassandra folds her arms over her chest.

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

Vanessa carries a box to Elena who is stood together at her desk. She sets the box down and Elena moves to it, taking the lid from it. Glancing at Cassandra who is in the other room with Damon, the two of them looking for information regarding the Lockwoods. Vanessa motions to the box.

"This box checks Katherine's arrival to Mystic Falls in April 1864 and Ally's arrival in 1859"

"Is that all there is about them?" Elena asks when she realises there is very little in the box.

"All that I'm aware of." Vanessa answers. There is vervain in the box. Elena looks at Damon and gives some of it to Vanessa.

"Here, take this" Elena whispers to her.

"Does vervain really work?" Vanessa asks her as she glances at Damon.

"Nope, not at all" Damon answers instead of Elena who shoots him a look as he smirks amused.

"Can he hear us?" Vanessa whispers to Elena.

"No, that would be creepy" Damon answers.

"Can he read minds too?" Vanessa counters.

"You know, if you want to see me naked, all you have to do is ask" Damon teases and winks at Cassandra who snorts a little.

"No, that he can't do" Elena argues. "But he is very capable of being a first-rate jackass" Vanessa puts the vervain in her pocket. Damon and Cassandra share a look, she shrugs back at him. It might be some time before Elena likes Damon in any way.

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

Cassandra cocks her head as she joins Elena and Damon who are going through the box. There doesn't seem to be a lot of information in there.

"Any luck?" Cassandra asks, Elena shakes her head.

"There's nothing in here about Katherine that we don't already know" Elena answers. "And we actually know more about Ally" She adds and glances at her sister.

"She was always private" Damon comments as he flicks through the file on Ally. There is very little information in here. "Kept to herself....so it's not that surprising...." He shrugs a little and glances at Cassandra as she goes through the box.

"Have either of you heard from her yet?" Elena asks them, Cassandra shakes her head.

"Nah" Damon voices and shrugs. He's trying to brush off his worry, whilst Cassandra is aware of how worried he is about Ally, he's not about to broadcast it to the rest of the world.

"She'll get in touch when she's ready" Cassandra adds as she picks up a book from the box. "Plus she's a grown-ass vampire who can take care of herself" She looks at Elena who nods in agreement. "It probably really weird for her being around us, Elena, I look like her and you remind her of the sister that screwed her over"

"Basically we were lucky she stuck around as long as she did" Damon points out. Elena nods a little.

"Hey guys, check this out" Alaric states, gaining their attention. The three of them move across the room to join Alaric and Vanessa who are reading from a dusty old book.

"There's no record of werewolf mythology in Mystic Falls" Vanessa admits, Damon looks at Cassandra and smirks at her. "But here are some records of some of the lesser-known legends. Everything from Scandinavian skin-walkers to the Maréchal de Retz" Vanessa gives them a book with drawings. "Tonartsliitsii Metslii, which roughly translates into the "curse of the sun and the moon"."

"It's Native American" Alaric offers.

"Aztec" Vanessa corrects. "It explains one origin of the werewolf curse traced through Virginia" Damon's smirk falls as Cassandra gives him a victorious look. "The short story: 600 years ago, the Aztecs were plagued by werewolves and vampires. They terrorized the countryside, made farming and hunting impossible until an Aztec shaman cursed them, making vampires slaves to the sun and werewolves servants of the moon. As a result, vampires could only prowl at night and werewolves could only turn on a full moon. When the full moon crests in the sky, whoever unlucky enough to fall under the werewolf curse turns into a wolf."

"Can they control the transformation?" Damon asks.

"If it were a choice, it wouldn't be called a curse" Vanessa explains. "Werewolves will attack humans but instinct and centuries of rivalry have hardwired them to hunt their prey of choice: vampires"

"Well, if werewolves were hunting vampires, I would know about it," Damon argues.

"Not if there aren't that many werewolves left alive. Hundreds of years ago, vampires hunted them almost to extinction"

"Why would they do that?" Cassandra counters.

"To protect themselves. Legend has it that a werewolf bite is fatal to vampires." Vanessa answers. Cassandra, Alaric, Elena and Damon look concerned by this news.

"Oh," Damon states and shares a look with Cassandra.