A/N: okay, guys, here's the sequel to Dark Side! Yai! If you're new here, I suggest you go to my page and read Dark Side first, otherwise you may not understand what's going on. If you're here because you read Dark Side and desired to continue reading about Cass and Damon, then thank you very much for supporting me and coming with me this far. I love you guys and here's the first chapter, enjoy.

Dark Inside

"Don't wanna let you down
but I am hell bound
Though this is all for you
don't wanna hide the truth."

-Demons, Imagine Dragons.

Chapter 1: The Summer.

The redheaded vampire rolls her eyes in exasperation, wanting to go home. Well, not home but the weird place where she, Stefan and Klaus are staying at. Klaus is nomad, she swears. They have moved more times since she agreed to go with him than when she had been running away from him. She supposes it is so Damon will lose the trail on them but her beloved raven-haired vampire is hot on their heels. And now she's stuck playing babysitter with an almost rabid Stefan Salvatore in the mid of a bloodlust fit.

"Yes?" she asks into her phone, walking away from the bloodied apartment where Stefan's ripping a couple apart. He claims it's because Klaus orders him to but she knows he's actually enjoying it.

"Oh, so now you're answering your phone?" Katherine asks, her tone teasing.

"I'm bored, Katherine." She admits, tilting her head slightly to one side. "Are you not going to ask me where we are?" she asks.

"Mmm, I don't feel like knowing right now." Katherine muses, a smirk in her face.

Cassandra laughs bitterly, knowing pretty well what that meant. "Oh, so you already know, don't you? Let me guess, you're next door."

"Not exactly," Katherine chuckles. "But close enough."

Cassandra looks back into the apartment, noticing how Stefan hasn't even noticed she's gone out. He's currently in phase 3: regret. She watches as he looks at the girl he ripped with a bit of guilt as he starts to put her back together. Ugh, it's disgusting.

"Here's something I don't get…" she starts, focusing back on the call. "Damon's been burning my phone with calls; understandable, I did walk out on him without much information." She shrugs. "Now, Elena—it's like she doesn't know how to do anything but text me. Funny, I thought we were friends but she mostly only asks for Stefan's wellbeing." She scoffs at that, rolling her eyes. "And Caroline! God, that girl is truly a pain in the behind! We're not even friends but I magically disappear and suddenly she's all worked up about it. Have I mentioned how much I hate vampires with bubbly always cheery personalities?" she asks sarcastically.

"Is this rant of yours going somewhere, Red?" Katherine asks, amused at the girl's frustration.

"Why are you calling, Katherine?" she asks. "You know where I am, you know what I'm doing, and you probably even know what Klaus is planning."

There's silence on the other side of the line and Cassandra straightens up. So that's what this is about, Katherine knows. She has found out what Cassandra herself has been trying to figure out for half the summer. She looks back quickly, knowing Stefan is almost over.

"You do know, don't you? Tell me." she demands. "Katherine, tell me right now or I'll tell Klaus where you are." She threatens.

"Okay…" Katherine sighs, feigning annoyance. "Have you noticed, little Red, that lately almost all of Stefan's victims are… wolves?" Katherine asks.

Oh, well. She thinks. I'm growing old. Cassandra hates how stupid she's become. Of course, it all makes sense now. Klaus wants to create new hybrids. But for that he needs a big pack of werewolves. One that has already a deep foundation, one whose members are so close they're practically family, that way he'd already have an army who's willing to cooperate. She knew that pack. All the wolves they had ran into were stupid little scavengers who had no idea where to find said pack. So they were useless, killable. All the killing they had done at first was just to make sure Stefan got fully into ripper mode.

"Katherine, if it weren't for the fact that you haven't been my favorite person in the world this year, I could hug you." She thanks the brunette.

"My pleasure. Now, what do you want me to tell Damon?"

"Nice try." Cassandra scoffs. "You're not telling him anything. Nothing at all, not even a 'hello'. I want you as far away from Mystic Falls as possible."

She rushes through her words when she hears footsteps from downstairs. That's probably Klaus, returning from wherever he goes when he leaves her babysitting. She hangs up and hides her phone into her short's pocket, turning to watch Stefan. She forces a grin into her face when she feels a pair of arms around her. She turns to find Klaus smiling down at her. She doesn't understand how she had loved this man once. He's wicked in every way possible. It used to allure her, now it made her want to shiver in disgust.

"Well, where have you been?" she asks teasingly, putting her arms around his neck.

"I've been around, love, doing some things." He answers vaguely. "How's our ripper doing?"

"He's currently reconstructing a very damaged body… probably memorizing another name, you know, to add to the list." She rolls her eyes. "He should be finished soon and we need to leave quickly. The police'll be here shortly." She clicks her tongue.

"Now, why—" Stefan says, leaving the apartment and walking towards them. He watches Cass for a second longer than necessary, completely repulsed by how fast she moved from his brother to Klaus. "Would the police be here 'shortly'?" he mocks her choice of words as he cleanses his chin of any blood with the back of his hand.

Cassandra steps away from Klaus, who stands back with a witty smirk on his face to enjoy the show. Feisty Cassandra is the best. She raises one eyebrow at Stefan as she crosses her arms across her chest. Stefan mimics her, not wanting to deal with any sass.

"You just massacred," she starts, pursing her lips when Stefan opens his mouth to interrupt her.

"I did?" he presses.

"Fine," Cassandra spats back at him. "We just massacred an entire three-story building… I'm pretty sure the police will find out. Perhaps even the FBI and I do not want to be here when that happens. There's not enough amount of acting skills to get us out of this one if they catch us as the only three people left alive." she pauses and eyes Stefan's shirt with annoyance. "Especially when one of us has blood on his shirt. Seriously, Stefan, after all this time, you still don't know how to kill without ending up wearing your meal?" she chastises.

"I don't need a mother, Cassandra. Don't treat me as baby." Stefan informs her, his tone laced with his own annoyance.

"Then don't act like one." She replies without battling an eye.

Klaus pushes himself off the wall, not wanting this stupid quarrel to continue. Cassandra is right. They've been causing havoc everywhere they go for quiet some time now, the police is already paranoid.

"All right, let's not get all worked out, shall we?" he asks, moving to put his arm around Cassandra's waist. "I still need you both alive and well."

With that he moves to the stairs, walking down them with Cass and Stefan following him, the two younger vampires shooting daggers at each others.

...

Damon sighs as he walks around the second-floor corridor of Cassandra's house. Everything is exactly like she left it, almost two months and two weeks ago. He finds himself here at times when Mystic Falls becomes too much, not that he'd ever admit that, even if he knows everyone knows. Andy knows, Alaric knows, Elena knows, the last thing he needs it's for Barbie vampire to know too. But he knows she probably already does. Everything is becoming too much; he hates to admit he's losing control of the situation. Stefan's body count is rising, it's leaking. At least he hopes it Stefan's and not Cassie's, although he knows she's probably helped. If that is true, then their humanity might be getting farther and farther away. And Elena bugging him every time there's a murder announced on TV does not help matters. He frowns when he gets to the last room, its door marked by some weird symbol he has no idea what it means. Damon had never gotten this far into the house, always staying in the areas he knew Cass spent most of her time in. he was pinning after her, badly. He opens the door and enters, only to take a step backwards at the view that receives him.

"Oh, would you look at that!" the girl exclaims, turning on her feet, her long era dress swinging with her movements. "Damon Salvatore finally ventures his way into the forbidden section." She gives him a smile then and he takes a step forward. Damon knows that smile.

"How did you get here?"

He walks closer to the mysterious redheaded girl but stops when he spots the rest of the contents of the room. In the middle of the room was a big circle, made out of what appears to be crushed now-dried lavender and still-lit candles that are completely melted out and that should've already burn out but are somehow still alit.

"She brought me back for a half an hour," the girl says. "Well, I had thought it had been for half an hour, but she left in a hurry and must have left the spell going. Now I can come in here for a few hours before having to go back to the other side, the good thing is I do it whenever I want." She walks closer to the limit of the circle so she can see him closer, her blue eyes shining.

"She did?" Damon asks, even if he knows who 'she' is.

"Cassandra." The young girl nods, looking sympathetically at him when he flinches a bit. "You've been coming here since she left, I've heard you, but you've never made it past her bedroom." The girl points out. He remains silent, inspecting her. "What are you looking for? She's gone, Damon."

"She can't be gone forever, all her stuff is here." He replies, all too aware that he sounds like a spoiled child. "And if you've been here all this time, how come you haven't left this room?"

"Oh, I can't walk past the circle." she giggles, waving him off. "It isn't the first time she's had to run away and leave all her stuff behind."

"Who the hell are you?" he demands, walking even closer until they're practically nose to nose. He hopes this will intimidate her but it seems to amuse him.

"I thought you were smart." She smiles, looking up at him. "I see what she sees in you, you're really handsome. Dark past, though." she adds as an afterthought, making him uncomfortable.

"That doesn't answer my question." He smirks down at her.

"Handsome but not too smart, I see." She muses. "I'm Anastasia," she says, taking a step back. Her sister might not be here but she wouldn't appreciate it if she saw Ana this close to Damon.

Damon stares at her. He can see the resemblance, same smile, some personality traits. Anastasia looks much more cheery than Cassandra ever has. He supposes it has to do with the fact that she's younger, more innocent. But he still doesn't understand. Cassandra said she had killed Anastasia, that she had failed to bring her back. Why would Anastasia be here, smiling up at him and with a glint in her eyes that suggest she knows the answer to all the questions in the universe? Why would she stay?

"Why are you here?" Damon asks, not wanting to waist time. There's a distress teenage girl back at the Boarding House who is in desperate need of good news, he is not getting any good news.

"I wanted to warn you," Anastasia said, the juvenile air around her disappearing and her eyes darkening in a way that was all too familiar to him. "Stop chasing her, Damon. She does not want to be found."

"How do I know this isn't you trying to stop me from finding her?" he scoffs, rolling his eyes.

"Why would I do that?" she asks, narrowing her eyes.

"She killed you," Damon says instantly, ignoring the threatening look on the girl, because she's just that, a small girl. A small dead girl. "For all I know you hate her and this is your only form of revenge."

"I love my sister." Anastasia sneers, crossing her arms over her chest. "I would never do that to her. She'll eventually come back and when she does, she's not going to be the person you know." She informs him.

"I've seen her with her humanity turned off, thanks for telling me something I already knew." He scoffs again, annoying Ana to an unbelievable end.

"Yes, you've met ripper Cassandra, you've met vampire happy Cassandra. Have you met human Cassandra?" Anastasia snaps.

"Human Cassandra?" he repeats. This doesn't make any sense. Why would human Cassandra be worse than vampire Cassandra?

"Mother taught her how to be a cold carcass of the girl she used to be. Would you like to know why? Because the magic she practiced couldn't have the witch feeling. If you don't feel, you are powerful." She explains, walking around the circle.

"That's her with her humanity turned off." Damon points out, confused.

"No. she simply doesn't feel with her humanity turned off. Like this, she feels, I assure you that, she simply doesn't show it. She's a rock, as cold as ice." Anastasia corrects, staring off into space like she's remembering something. Damon guesses she is. "Klaus' favorite version of Cassandra." She adds, a smirk on her face as she looks up at him.

"So?" he demands, not liking where this conversation is going. That's even worse news than he expected.

"So," she starts, joining her hands in front of her. "Brace yourself. And tell Elena to do the same. Goodbye, Damon."

Anastasia sends him a somewhat cold smile before disappearing, leaving Damon alone in the room with a bad feeling brewing in his stomach. He walks out of the house with a new determination; he's going to find Cassandra and Stefan and he's going to bring them back home, Anastasia's opinions be damned.

...

"Did you find anything?" Elena asks the minute he's past the Boarding House door.

He rolls his eyes, ignoring her and making a straight line for the bourdon bottles and the glasses. He pours himself a glass and drowns it all in one go. Elena stands back, waiting until he's finished to talk again. She can tell by the way his shoulders are tense that he didn't find anything good. It's amazing how good she's gotten into reading Damon these past few months.

"Damon." She presses, crossing her arms.

"I didn't find anything, Elena, okay?" Damon almost snaps, not turning to see her.

"Well, I did." She announces, walking over to him and showing him a newspaper clip. "This was two days ago. A three story building was attacked near Raleigh, no survivors. The police thinks it's the work of a serial killer but I honestly believe it's Klaus. It follows the other deaths and the report says the bodies had little to no blood in them." She explains once she notices Damon is not going to take the clip.

"Hmh, sure." He hums, taking the piece of paper from her and discarding it.

"Why are you ignoring me again?" Elena demands, almost throwing a tantrum.

"Because it's useless, Elena." Damon snaps back. "Do you honestly believe Klaus would make it this simple? That he would simply leave bread crumbs for us to follow?" he asks, not telling her that it's not Klaus the one killing all these people; it's Cassie and Stefan.

"You've given up," Elena says, her arms falling to her sides as she looks at him with disbelief.

Damon doesn't answer her; instead, he serves himself another glass of bourbon and turns around, ready to go up the stairs and to his room. He won't tell Elena, but he'll add the newspaper clip to his rising pile of murders to look into.

"Fine!" Elena calls after him. "You do whatever you want, but I won't give up. I will never give up."

He closes to door to his room, allowing Elena to fume downstairs, alone.

...

"Why are we staying here again?" Stefan asks as he walks around the one-story house, pretty much in the middle of nowhere.

Cassandra ignores him, walking past him to explore the house. Klaus finally informed them they were looking for a specific werewolf; Ray. He was supposed to have family in Tennessee. So far, Ray was a ghost. But this kill looked promising, with a little luck, they'd be able to get the information they needed.

"You are going to stay here while I go make sure we're near the right place." Klaus explains to him. "And then you're going to do exactly as I say."

Stefan watches as Klaus smiles smugly before turning to Cassandra. His smile turns slightly warmer but it's still creepy. The redhead doesn't seem affected by this, just like she doesn't even recoil when the Original approaches her and leans in to kiss her. Stefan watches with hidden disgust as her eyes close and she kisses back before parting and looking up at Klaus.

"You stay here, all right, love?" Klaus orders her.

He starts to walk towards the door; the redhead turns her back on Stefan to watch him go. Klaus knows she's going to make sure Stefan doesn't try to run for the hills, or has a sudden change of heart, while he's out. After three months, he still doesn't trust Stefan completely. Seeing as though Cassandra still has her back to Stefan while she makes sure the Original is completely gone, Stefan can't see how her smile drops immediately. She fights back a shudder, not believing she's been pretending to be okay with all this for three months now. She's been dealing with all the killings and the parties and the searching like it's everyday life for her, when in reality she only wants to go back home.

"I thought you were in love with my brother," Stefan says accusatorily.

She turns to face him, a cold expression on her face.

"I thought you had turned your humanity off." She lifts an eyebrow at the young Salvatore.

"I have." He answers, making her scoff.

Like hell he has. If he truly had, he wouldn't have asked her about his brother. Damon wouldn't even cross his mind as a feeble thought, one of those that come and go as easily as they appear. Besides, she can see it in his eyes, even if he's pretty good at hiding it, all he wants is for this to be over so he can go back to Mystic Falls, back to Elena. He counts every person he kills, hoping one day he'll reach the body count Klaus wants so he can go home. It's a pity he hasn't realized that's not how things work.

"Try saying that with less emotion and I may believe you." She retorts, walking closer to him.

"Have you seen how many people I've killed? No one with humanity can do that." He asks, slight desperation sipping through the wavering in his voice.

"Oh, darling, that's got nothing to do with it." She dismisses with a wave of her hand. "Just because you're a ripper doesn't mean you don't feel."

"That's what you did then? You turned off your humanity?" Stefan asks, needing to know how she can behave so normally.

"On the contrary, I embraced it," She says, moving to sit down on a tattered sofa. She wonders how the hell Klaus found this awfully kept house. Once she notices Stefan's more than confused expression, she sighs and pats the spot beside her, deciding to give Stefan a small clue as to what's going on. "I'm about to tell you something, the key to surviving living with Klaus, but you better not tell anyone." She warns once he has sat next to her. "Klaus likes to be obeyed, likes things to be done his way. That's how he knows if he should trust people or not. After a while, he allows you to talk back a bit—"

"He looks about ready to kill me every time I argue." Stefan cuts in, disagreeing.

"That's because he doesn't trust you yet, not completely." She rolls her eyes. "As I was saying, if you behave, after a while, he grants you certain freedom to do what you want. Of course, you'd always have to be within a phone call's reach but it's something."

Stefan nods, starting to understand why she behaves the way she does. It's not that she's forgotten his brother; it's that she's trying to gain Klaus trust to gain her freedom.

"So you're trying to get said freedom…" Stefan starts, a little hesitant.

"So I can go back to Damon." She admits, lowering her eyes for a moment. "Of course I wouldn't tell Klaus where I was going but…" she trails off, not knowing how to finish.

"How long would it take for him to let you go wherever you want?" Stefan asked.

"It depends… months, years? It's up to how I behave and if he feels like it, really." She sighs, running a hand through her hair. "I promised Damon I'd go back and I will, no matter what I have to do to make that happen." She finishes, getting up and leaving the room.

Stefan stares after her, admitting to himself that he had highly underestimated her. Klaus comes back after an hour, his spirit slightly uplifted. Cassandra and Stefan get up from the couch, where they've been waiting for at least fifteen minutes. Cass had looked around the entire house and found nothing interesting, so she had gone back to the living room to sit with Stefan while they waited.

"I've found the place." Klaus informs them as he walks in but leaves the door open. "It's a two hour drive, let's go."

With that he walks out of the house again. Stefan and Cass meet eyes briefly as they put on their jackets before following, knowing tonight's going to be a long night.