(3) Just Magic (D. Salvatore)

Chapter Eighty-Four

In one of the back rooms of the Mikaelson mansion, Cassandra blinks as she comes around. Damon, Stefan, and Elena are gathered around her, and each of them stares at her which makes her feel uneasy. That's not something that she wants to see when she wakes up. Especially considering what happened to her. The last thing she remembers is Esther and that powder but from the light coming in through the window, or lack of it, some time has passed since then, enough that the sun has completely set outside. Cassandra shifts slightly as she pushes herself to sit up.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" She asks the three of them, aware of the growing headache forming. A real doozy by the feels of it, worse than any of the others that she's recently suffered through.

"You feeling okay?" Damon counters as he crouches in front of her, gently brushing her hair back. She frowns at him. Frowns at the concern she can feel from him, can see in his eyes. It's alarming because what happened wouldn't incite that amount of concern. It's not the first time she's found herself unconscious at the hands of an enemy.

"I have a headache" She answers and notes the worried look shared between the three of them. "What is going on?" She pushes with a sigh.

"Do you remember what happened?" Damon asks her, she frowns and gives him a look.

"Esther knocked me out with some...powder stuff...which sucks by the way" She grumbles and rubs at her eyes. "Then...I woke up here" She adds and glances at Damon, but he's sharing a look with Stefan and Elena. "Why?" Cassandra asks. More alarmed now. Elena lets out a breath.

"Well, you woke up before and helped Esther" Elena admits, Cassandra turns a deeper frown on her because that doesn't sound like her at all, not after earlier. She would never help Esther. "It was like you were there, but..." Elena sighs. "It wasn't like you...It barely even sounded like you" Cassandra holds out her hand towards Elena, stretching her fore and middle fingers out to reach for her.

"Can I?" Cassandra asks as her eyes start to glow red. They know what she is asking. To see for herself. To see what Elena saw. Elena nods and moves closer to her sister, resting her forehead against the offered fingers. Cassandra closes her eyes and searches through the memories. Elena isn't wrong. Cassandra can see that she did in fact wake up before this moment, only something about her seems off. Her movements too stiff. Her voice to forced. It doesn't feel like her. Cassandra drops her hand and lets out a breath.

"You don't remember any of that?" Elena asks her, Cassandra shakes her head. She doesn't understand what happened. Why it feels like something is wrong and yet at the same time she still feels fine, except for a headache. Nothing else feels out of place. She feels fine in herself now.

"Let's just get through what's left of this party" Stefan points out, knowing that they can't really talk about it with the risk of the other vampires in the house hearing them. It is just best to get through the night and then talk about it in the morning when it is just them. Damon hums a little and gives Cassandra a questioning look, checking if she's really okay and not just putting on a front. But she really does feel fine, considering. She wants to get to the bottom of it, but right now, Stefan is right, this isn't the place to talk about something like this. She assumes it has something to do with the powder, that it was maybe some form of hypnotic thing. She's never heard of anything like that but it's not like she's been a witch for very long, she knows she is far behind most witch, even newer witches like Bonnie are more advanced than her.

........

In the foyer, Cassandra is standing alone, leaning against a wall. Damon and Elena basically want her not to do anything until they go home, just in case. Which, fair enough. She's had a rough few days. They all have, but not all of them seem to have been hypnotised by strange red dust. Plus her head is killing her and she isn't really in the mood for a party, not that she was before but she really just wants this night to be over. Actually she wants this threat to be over. She wants these vampires to get lost and leave her home alone. She rolls her eyes a little as Elijah sidles up to her. She is really not in the mode for him right now.

"So how was my mother?" Elijah asks as he hands Cassandra a glass of champagne. She glances at it and then to him before she takes it. She can be polite. For tonight. If they can. And right now, they do seem to have a shared enemy. Plus thanks to Elena's memories, she knows exactly what she missed in conversation. Elena was actually smart enough to ask questions considering Cassandra wasn't in the right mind to do so at the time.

"Intense" She comments then takes a drink from the glass.

"And for what reason did she need to speak with you in private?" Cassandra notices Esther on the staircase looking at her. Elijah follows her gaze before looking back at her. "Cassandra? Should I be concerned about my mother's intentions?" He pushes. Cassandra lets out a breath. She has two options here. One, warn him about what is going to happen, therefore foiling Esther's plan, or two...lie to him and go along with what Esther wants. Neither of those options really feel like wins to her because either Esther wins or Klaus and his siblings win. Elijah is the better option but he comes with an entire line of tag-ons that she is not so keen on. If she lets Esther go along with her plan then Elijah and Rebekah will die. Rebekah is her friend. A surprising one but a friend nonetheless. She lets out a breath and touches his arm as she turns to him as her eyes glow red.

[Don't drink the champagne...she plans to link you all together. Kill one of you. Kill all of you] She tells him telepathically.

"She just wanted to apologize for trying to have Elena killed....for her role in the ending of my life" She voices and they both share a look. He seems to understand that his mother might be listening, but she's given him an olive branch back.

"So it's true, then? She's forgiven Klaus?" He asks, playing along. She nods, removing her hand from his arm.

"It's true" She assures him. The two of them share another look. She nods again and he hums in thought. It's probably not the best move on her side, this would be her shot at killing Klaus but she's warning Elijah to stop that, something that would give her and her family peace. She's taking a shot by telling him this. She's taking a shot at trusting him.