(1) The Phoenix (D. Salvatore)

Chapter Eighty-Eight

At the Wickery Bridge, construction workers are restoring the bridge, and townspeople are there for the restoration fundraiser. It's busy, with a lot of townspeople, and a lot of founding family members. Daphne can't help but think bringing Alaric here might be a bad idea. Given his current taste for murdering founding family members. Damon touches her arm and then draws his fingers down to thread with hers. Holding her hand. She glances at him and raises an eyebrow at how soft this seems for him. They haven't really spoken about what they are. They just enjoy one another's company at the moment, there has been no push to label it, but hand-holding definitely feels like more boyfriend/girlfriend thing. Alaric and Meredith walk slightly ahead of them. Daphne argued about coming here. She wanted to go back to reading her books and trying to find a way to fix Alaric, but Elena wanted her to take a break, even if for only an afternoon. Damon glances across at where Rebekah is standing talking with Carol Lockwood.

"Rebekah's up to something" Damon comments. "She's been snooping around in places she shouldn't be" He then looks at Daphne. "You work out what that whole milling record thing was?"

"Not yet" She answers. "But I do think it was from her...it sounded like her"

"Tell me again, why are we here?" Alaric asks, leaning closer to Meredith, but it is Damon that answers instead.

"Ric, the world can't stop just because you're an accidental psycho killer" Meredith turns and gives Damon a look over her shoulder.

"Do you have any tact whatsoever?" She scolds him. Daphne gives Damon a small nudge and he shrugs back at her. Sometimes he actually can't control what comes out of his mouth. He's just naturally sarcastic and it flows from him like word vomit. Carol has stopped talking to Rebekah and is instead making her way toward Alaric.

"Alaric, I'm glad you're here. Did you bring the sign?" Alaric appears confused by the question. "The restored Wickery Bridge sign" Carol continues. "The history department promised me you'd have it today"

"I- I don't have the sign actually it slipped...it slipped my mind. I've been...busy"

"Well, it's not an emergency. We'll just um- unveil it when the bridge is complete" Carol assures him before she walks away. Alaric turns to Meredith, looking rather sorry for himself.

"Get me outta here," He asks her.

"My pleasure" Meredith assures him.

"I'm gonna stick around for a bit" Damon comments, looking across the grass verge at a woman who is watching him back. Daphne raises an eyebrow and glances between them.

"Whose that?" She asks.

"Blast from the past" He answers and then turns to her. "I'm going to..." He nods across at the woman and Daphne nods a little. Though a little jealous. She can't help it. Of course, Damon has a past, a very long past, but after that whole thing with Rebekah at the bonfire and then the ball and Grill and all of that, she is feeling a little cautious. She's being stupid, logically she knows that. But her hormones are reacting differently.

"If Alaric's leaving, so am I," Daphne tells Damon. Mostly because she doesn't want to watch Damon and that woman talking because she knows it is going to make her feel 100 times worse about it. "I have books to read through"

"No" He argues. "You promised Elena that you wouldn't work this afternoon" She lets out an annoyed breath through her nose and clenches her jaw. She doesn't like doing nothing when something needs to be done and she doesn't want to watch what her hormones think is about to happen. Damon smirks slightly and pulls her closer to him, pressing his lips to her cheek. "I won't be long" He promises her then walks away. Daphne lets out a breath and closes her eyes. Scolding herself for being ridiculous. They are not girlfriend and boyfriend. That hasn't been laid out. Being needy and jealous is not going to work here. She can't be that person with him. She has to give him the benefit of the doubt, she has to trust him, and she does, she has trusted him. And so far so good. But jealousy is a whole new thing to her. She never felt it before she met Damon, before he watched him flirting with Rebekah. She doesn't know how to deal with it. The woman smiles at Damon as he reaches her. It's familiar and warm and does nothing to help Daphne's current creeping doubts and jealousy.

"Damon Salvatore, my favourite student" She greets Damon.

"Sage, my hottest teacher. What are you doing here?"

"I'm just passing through" Sage admits but Damon snorts letting it be known that he really doesn't believe that.

"Oh, come on, nobody just passes through Mystic Falls" He corrects her, the two of them sharing a look just before Rebekah walks up to them.

"Look what the cat dragged in"

"Easy there, Rebekah. You know she use to beat men for sport" Damon points out.

"She always was quite common" Rebekah comments with a curl of her lips.

"Rebekah. What a happy surprise" Sage greets.

"What are you doing here, Sage?"

"Well, I heard Finn was finally freed from that casket your rageaholic brother Klaus carted him around in" Sage admits.

"Mmm, Finn, you just missed him. He left town and didn't tell a soul where he was going"

"He probably went looking for me"

"Or quite possibly he forgot all about you" Rebekah points out with a smirk. She's enjoying this conversation. Winding Sage up.

"I doubt that"

"No? Cause he didn't seem to mention you" Rebekah continues. "Sorry, you came all this way for nothing. Have a nice life" Rebekah then walks away, leaving Sage to stew on that information.

"God, I hate that elitist Original bitch" Sage complains. Damon snorts and turns to her now that they are alone again.

"Finn, really?"

"He's my one true love" Sage admits softly. "He turned me so we could be together forever. Then Klaus daggered him and locked him away and I've been waiting ever since. Please don't tell me that you and Rebekah are friends, cause she and Klaus always treated me like some peasant whore"

"Ah, she's just lurking around because she wants something from me" Damon offers. "Can't figure out what it is though"

"Why don't you get inside her head and find out?"

"Cause it's impossible. She's too strong" Damon argues. Sage hums a little.

"So have your little pet phoenix do it?" She asks, Damon looks at her surprised as she smirks, nodding across to where Daphne is standing. "Not many of them in the world" Sage comments as she tilts her head, looking over Daphne. "Does Klaus know what your little girlfriend is?" Damon shrugs.

"Probably" He answers.

"Good luck with that" Sage tells him, turning slightly to walk away, Damon grabs her arm to stop her.

"What are you talking about?"

"If I were Klaus...I would either steer clear of her or use her circumstances to benefit me..." Sage explains. "Has she activated it yet?" Damon doesn't really need to ask what she's talking about. It's pretty clear that she knows that Daphne is cursed. She called her a phoenix. She knows.

"No" He answers.

"If Klaus knows that she has yet to be woken, how long until he forces the change in her?" She asks him. "Nothing will get in your way like a Phoenix Cursed in the midst of a full-blown eruption"

"You've met one before?"

"Once" She admits. "Long time ago...." She lets out a breath and gives him a look. "They're too dangerous to be left alive...best you take them out before they activate their curse...So if you're smart, you'll kill her and bury her deep" She shrugs off his arm and then walks away. Damon lets out a breath and closes his eyes. He's starting to get a real image of Daphne's curse, and the fact that Klaus and Sage seem to be scared of it in some way proves that she is right to be as scared of it as she is.