(2) Just Magic (D. Salvatore)

Chapter Twenty-Six

Damon glances to where Cassandra is sat, legs under herself, on the couch, Elena at her side. Despite how much they wanted to ignore the fact that Mason is now working with Katherine, they can't. They can't just ignore it or the implications. They have to be more wary of Mason, cautious. Damon just wants to straight-up kill him for what he did to the two brothers, but Cassandra managed to talk him out of it, for now. For now, they need information more than he needs to kill Mason. Information first. Kill later. It's starting to become a sort of mantra for him. Stefan lets out a breath and folds his arms over his chest.

"We should have seen this coming" Stefan points out. Cassandra nods a little. She sees it. Mason comes back into town around the same time Katherine does, even with the whole Richard Lockwood death thing, it's all very suspicious. And yes, Stefan is right, they should have seen it coming. Stefan looks at Cassandra. "Still no luck reading Mason's mind?" He asks, she shakes her head.

"I think it's something physical" She muses, drawing her fingers under her chin. "For both of them to block me...." Damon nods in agreement.

"I thought you couldn't read Mason because he's a werewolf?" Elena asks her.

"If I could get close to Tyler, I can test the werewolf theory" Cassandra argues. "But I definitely think it's got to be something on them" Damon pulls a face behind her. Cassandra smirks and looks at him. "Unclench" She teases Damon who gives her a look. "You dropped the G-word, okay? That means something to me....and I'm not Tyler. I am perfectly capable of keeping my legs closed" Damon snorts.

"Not in my experience" He teases, she gives him a look and he smirks at her.

"Hey, it took you months to get all up in this" She counters motioning to herself. Damon winks back at her and she smirks.

"Okay, can you two not?" Elena asks, Cassandra turns a look on her.

"We put up with you and Stefan" Cassandra reminds her. Damon nods in agreement. "And it's a bit of banter, chill your panties" Elena blinks and frowns a little, Cassandra snorts and shrugs.

"I think you were going for untwist your panties" Damon counters with a smirk.

"Right, whatever, my point was made" Cassandra offers and looks at Elena. "We've witnessed worse, you can deal with a bit of flirting" Elena clenches her jaw and looks away from Cassandra. "Well, we have that....urm...Masquerade ball prep thingy at the Lockwood house" Cassandra stands. "I'll talk to Tyler there" She offers. Damon fights the twitch in his face. He knows that she is with him now, but that Lockwood boy still bothers him.

"You did hit Mason with one of your..." Elena wiggles her fingers. "Is it wise for you to go to the house?"

"He tried to choke me, he deserved what I did and more" Cassandra argues. "And if he's smart, he'll stay away from me"

"Whoa, wait, what?" Damon asks. "He did what?"

"I dealt with it" Cassandra assures him.

"He choked you?" Damon counters. Oh, he is wishing she hadn't talked him down. Mason deserves a good heart extraction to get it into his head that no one touches Cassandra. No one hurts her. Ever.

"Damon" She warns him. "We need information" She reminds him. He clenches his jaw. "Then you can kill him"

"Please don't encourage him" Stefan scolds her. She gives him a look and rolls her eyes.

"Whatever" She turns back to Damon and pulls a face, he smirks back at her. "Okay, then what about..." She nods towards the basement. "Sheriff Forbes?"

"Caroline wants to be the one to fix that" Stefan answers. "And we should let her."

"I could do it like that..." Cassandra snaps her fingers. "But whatever" She folds her arms over her chest. "It's just wasting time waiting for the vervain to leave her system, we should be concentrating on Mason and Katherine not worrying if the local PD is on our backs for being weird" Damon snorts a little. "We need to be careful" She gives Damon a look. "And patient"

.........

Later: Damon hears someone knocking on the door, he sets his drink down and moves to open it. Finding Jeremy on the other side. Damon raises an eyebrow at him in question.

"Hey, Cas here?" Jeremy asks, Damon raises an eyebrow and nods.

"Yeah" He answers.

"I need to talk to her" Jeremy adds and then goes to enter but Damon stops him, staring at him. "You going to let me in or not?" Jeremy asks, Damon tilts his head before he steps aside. Jeremy walks in and Damon closes the door just as Cassandra bounces down the stairs.

"Hey" She greets seeing Jeremy. Jeremy waves at her whilst Damon moves closer to her.

"Why is he here?" Damon asks her.

"Well, we have that whole honesty thing going on now," Cassandra tells him as she pulls on her jacket. "So I told him about Mason and the whole werewolf thing" Damon hums a little, listening to her. "And then Jeremy went and spent time hanging out with Tyler" Damon looks at Jeremy who nods in agreement.

"Okay, so...I am guessing you found out something and you're not just here to have tea and cakes?" Damon then pauses and looks at Cassandra.

"No, there is no cake" She answers his unvoiced question. He pouts a little before turning back to Jeremy.

"So, come on, kid, wow us," Damon tells him, Jeremy and Cassandra share a look, she nods encouragingly at him.

"Tyler told me that he has to kill someone to activate his curse, but he's not a werewolf yet" Jeremy informs them. Cassandra lets out a breath, part of her relieved actually, she and Tyler might not be talking any more, she doesn't think of him romantically, she still cares what happens to him. "Mason also told him that he's looking for a moonstone, a special rock connected to the werewolf legend" Jeremy adds. "That's why he's here"

"A moonstone?" Damon asks, Jeremy nods.

"And I know where it is," Jeremy adds. Damon and Cassandra share a look. Her cell phone pings away, she pulls it from her jeans pocket and glances at the screen.

"Ah, crap" She complains.

"What?" Damon asks her.

"I have to go," She tells him. "I was supposed to meet Elena ten minutes ago" She grabs her bag from the couch before turning to leave. Damon is then at her side.

"Whoa, hey..." Damon grabs her arm. "What about baby Gilbert?" He asks her. She gives him a look and smirks.

"Bring him with you" She offers, he frowns at her and she smirks. "Oh, come on, we both know that with Mason after a funky space rock, and at this prep thing today, there is no way you are staying away. Even just to rub it in his face that you're alive..." Damon smirks and shrugs at her. "Bring Jeremy with you, try not to kill him" She gives him a look, he smiles at her and shakes his head, a little impressed actually. He gives Jeremy a look, thankfully the young teenager understanding just fine. Jeremy nods a little and then turns away, so his back is towards the pair. Damon snorts a little and then kisses Cassandra softly, his hand snaking around her waist to her back.