A/N: ok, here's another story. I adore the vampire diaries and I love Damon Salvatore BUT I don't like his relationship with Elena at all. I, personally, believe Elena doesn't deserve either brother but what can I do? i can write a story with a twist: Cassandra Woodhouse. I personally love her and her plot is much thicker than it appears. you'll see. so please, please, please pretty please with a cherry on top read and review. i want to know what you guys think. It'd be nice to know if you hate me for adding someone of if you find it cool.
here's the entire Summary:
Katherine and Cassandra best friends, running around the world together. That is until in 1864 they reached Mystic Falls where they met Damon and Stefan Salvatore. Cassandra soon found herself falling for the older Salvatore, only for him to fall in love with her friend and think of Cassandra as a friend, his best friend.
After a series of unfortunate events, both she and Katherine end up faking their deaths and going in the run, again. But after 145 years—and because Emily, her friend and fellow witch wants to—she decides to go back to where it all started. Mystic Falls is still a small town, something she knows vampires hate so she doesn't worry about having to run into any of her kind. Imagine her shock when she finds out Stefan, who 100% believes she's dead, is living in Mystic Falls again and so is Damon the brother who stole her heart.
It turns out Mystic Falls is supernatural territory and plenty of vampires are living there. What will happen this time? Will everything end up in terror, just like it did in 1864? Will Damon actually fall for her this time or will he continue to pin over Katherine? Follow Cass as she goes through a lot of trouble in this small town and deals with pain, horror, happiness and danger. You can only run away from your past for so long before it catches up to you and bites you. In some cases, literally.
Chapter 1: Welcome back to Mystic Falls.
1864
Cassandra Woodhouse sat in the moving carriage across a dark-skinned maid who accompanied her and her friend towards their new temporary home. They were moving once more. It was becoming incredibly tiring. She glanced out the window. Nothing surrounded them except for miles and miles of thick forest. So different from New York, so boring.
"Katherine," Cassandra stared without turning from the window. Her voice was as calm as possible. "What is the exact reason we are moving here?" she asked politely, although what she really wanted was to rip Katherine's throat out. It wasn't fair. They had been having fun in New York.
"You know why," Katherine Pierce said for the fifth time since they had left Atlanta.
"Oh, that's right. Because you're scared of the big bad wolf," Cassandra replied back sarcastically. "Or big bad vampire, in your case." She clarified, enjoying her own jest at the brunette vampire.
Katherine and Cassandra turned their heads towards each other at the same time, so their eyes met. Dark brown met green with more than just anger. Cassandra knew Katherine wanted her to back away first. She would not.
"You knew what you were getting yourself into when you decided to follow me," Katherine said slowly, trying to control her anger towards the younger than her, although not by much, vampire.
Cassandra clenched her teeth at the comment. It wasn't like Katherine had given her much choice in the matter, and after 400 years going anywhere else felt unnatural. Katherine was Cassandra's closest and oldest friend. They were practically family; not that she could trust Katherine completely but she'd have to do. Cassandra was mad at her for having to move so often though. Katherine was so terrified of Klaus and his people that every time she believed someone had a clue of their whereabouts, she'd run. Cassandra didn't care that much about Klaus, if she were to be honest. She was a few centuries old, which made her stronger, and her magic also made her powerful. Witches could not keep their powers once they turned but hers had somehow stuck around. She supposed it was her own punishment for all the things she had done as human, or maybe because she hadn't exactly been a servant of nature. It was a secret well kept, however, and only a few people knew. Being a hybrid was dangerous. Cassandra shook herself internally and focused back into the situation at hand. She could reminisce later but now she had to deal with Katherine.
"But I was having so much fun back in New York and then we had to go all the way down to Atlanta for this trip. I'm tired." Cassandra whined just like Katherine had taught her to, when she wanted people to excuse her bad behavior.
"Don't worry, we'll stay here longer. I promise." The other girl affirmed just as the carriage went to a halt and stopped in front of a beautiful white two story house.
Outside the house stood two gentlemen, one looked younger than the other but not by much. Both men were breathtakingly handsome. Katherine looked at them as the door was opened and she got out, bowing politely at the young man standing before her and giving him her hand for him to kiss.
Cassandra's turn to descend the carriage came at the same time the young man said:
"You must be Miss Pierce."
The gentleman's voice was deep and a bit raspy, but it irradiated youth. Cassandra surmised he was around sixteen or seventeen years of age. So young and most likely about to be ruined by one Katherine Pierce. Cassandra had noticed the way the brunette vampire had eyed the man the moment she had gotten out of the carriage. Katherine Pierce had found herself a shiny new toy and, judging by the way the young man was gazing at her, Katherine would not have to convince him much. So, Cassandra simply stood to the side, not paying much attention to the conversation taking place beside her and focusing instead on her surroundings. Something caught her attention. Was that a maze?
Damon Salvatore stood near his brother as Stefan welcomed the two women who would stay with them for the year. Damon would wait for Stefan to finish and then he would welcome the women and introduce himself to them. But for the time being, he'd study them. The girl standing to the side looked incredibly unhappy, which was predictable seeing as though she had lost her entire family, but that didn't make her any less beautiful. Her dark red hair was in a complicated up-do and was covered with a white hat, her red lips pursed as curious light green eyes traveled around the garden. Judging by the little skin Damon could see, she was one of the few practically unheard of redheads without that many freckles. In fact, besides a few dark ones scattered across her nose and cheeks, she had none. Damon frowned unnoticeably. Miss Katherine Pierce and Miss Woodhouse were as different as the moon and the sun. What was their relationship again? He wondered. Distant cousins, Damon remembered with a small nod.
"Miss Woodhouse." Stefan curtsied, snapping the redhead out of her studying of the garden. She turned to look at Damon's little brother.
"I'm Cassandra, Mr. Salvatore, please do call me that," she said, politely giving Stefan a smile.
Damon's stomach clenched at that smile. It wasn't that special and he was almost positive that she was feigning it, but something about that smile had affected him greatly. Tearing his eyes quickly away from the redhead, he looked towards Miss Pierce and immediately forgot whatever it was Miss Woodhouse's smile had made him feel. For Miss Katherine was by far the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, with her dark brown curly hair and matching eyes, also an olive skin that suggested she had family in Europe.
Stepping forward he took Miss Pierce's hand and gave it a kiss as he said: "Miss Katherine, I'm Damon Salvatore, Stefan's older brother."
Katherine bowed before the other brother, who was as handsome as Stefan. As she met his blue eyes, Katherine realized she could have more than just one toy in town. She allowed a very small smirk to play at her lips. Then Damon moved to the other girl and did the same, for some weird reason dreading his reaction to the redhead.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Salvatore," Miss Woodhouse said.
"The pleasure's mine but, please, call me Damon." He answered, receiving a lovely smile from the girl. The clenching returned, this time accompanied by the increase of his pulse.
"Very well, then." Cassandra nodded. "But I insist you call me Cassandra." She tried as hard as she could not to giggle as she met Damon's eyes.
Present time, Mystic Falls.
Cassandra sighs as she gets out of her car and makes her way over to the school's front door. Each time she comes back to Mystic Falls she has that flashback. No matter how hard she tries, her brain doesn't want to forget that year; her heart doesn't want to forget him.
Every student turns around to look at her as she walks, something not new to her. The boys are gawking at her and her car. Have they truly never seen a Land Rover? Or a pretty girl, for that matter. The girls are glaring at her outfit so furiously, she looks down at herself. She's wearing a light pink skirt and a white blouse with some heels today. Her long dark red hair is completely straightened and to her left side in a fish-tailed braid, reaching her waist, and her green eyes are protected by a pair of sunglasses. Nothing too extraordinaire. After picking up her schedule in the office, Cassandra makes her way to her first class: History. Everyone's already in class, seeing as though it started ten minutes ago, and looks up to see her enter the room. Every boy's stares are fixated in her legs longer than necessary. She gives her access pass to the teacher and smiles politely at him.
"Right, Cassandra Woodhouse, transferred from New York," he says as he reads the card. "Welcome to Mystic Falls, I'm Alaric Saltzman, your history teacher. Take a seat." Mr. Saltzman directs her to the only available seat, the one right next to one Stefan Salvatore and behind the doppelganger.
Stefan stiffens as he watches her make her way over the seat, her eyes never leaving him, and sit down next to him, a smirk playing in her cherry red lips. None of them truly pay attention to class; they're both looking at the other. Stefan with pure shock written across his features and Cassandra acting like she's enjoying his shock when in reality she's freaking out. Last time she saw Stefan this… human, he was dead, killed by his own father for trying to help Katherine. She didn't even get the chance to say goodbye, she had waited until they both turned and then she had fled. Even though she checked up on them over the years, a habit she got from Katherine, she never showed herself to the Salvatore brothers. As long as Damon and Stefan were concerned, Cassandra Woodhouse was as good as dead. She had wanted to keep it that way for the last 90 years. Stefan, sweet Stefan is sure going to hate her now. What would happen if Stefan told Damon? Was Damon in Mystic Falls too? Are the two brothers even in speaking terms? She doesn't know. Her blood runs with anxiety.
The minute the bell rings, she's out of the door and making her way to her locker as fast as she can without attracting too much attention to herself. It's useless; Stefan can catch up to her in seconds but they're in a school full of ignorant humans, which might give her a few more minutes to run or come up with a plan. Cassandra stuffs her books into her locker as fast as humanly possible but it still isn't enough; when she closes her locker door she comes face to face with Stefan and the doppelganger, who is standing next to him.
"Stefan," Cassandra stars, breathing deeply. "Long time no see," she says neutrally.
"What are you doing here?" Stefan asks, ignoring her sentence.
"Well… I started a life here before, why not now?" Cassandra asks with a mocking tone.
She then directs her gaze towards the brunette girl. The resemblance to Katherine is outstanding but she doesn't let it affect her. Katherine and Elena's auras are completely different from each other. Cassandra can tell right away that Elena is nothing like Katherine. At least not yet. The human girl squirms under the redhead's scrutiny, suddenly nervous.
"It's nice to meet you, Elena." Cassandra nods at her with a kind smile.
Elena Gilbert's eyes widen as she stares at the redheaded girl in front of her. How is it possible for her to know her? Because she knows Stefan, Elena was kind of expecting her to think she was Katherine. The vampire girl starts to walk past them but Stefan grabs her arm rather forcefully, stopping her in her tracks and, in the process, making Elena jump at his rudeness. It's not like him to treat someone so violently and she's a little shocked. Especially because it seems like he's actually trying to inflict pain.
"Explain to me why you are here." Stefan growls.
"No, Stefan," Cassandra says as she grabs his arm with her other hand, her nails digging into his skin and making blood come out. "Let me explain something to you. I'm not here to make your life miserable; I believe Katherine already did a pretty goddamn job about that." Cassandra snaps at him, completely appalled.
Stefan looks at her surprised and she takes the opportunity to lift his hand from her arm so she can free it.
"And that's why you will continue to live your life with your Katherine look-alike and I will live mine." Cass shrugs and lets go of him, cleaning the blood that stuck to her fingers in Stefan's shirt. She takes a step closer to him until their bodies are brushing and leans in. "And if I were you, I'd easy it down on the human blood, don't want you to lose control, now do we?" she whispers in his ear low enough for Elena not to hear and steps back.
Cassandra has watched Stefan in the past long enough to know that 1) he didn't drink human blood and that 2) when he did he lost control faster than anyone. And the way he has grabbed her arm suggests he's back on human blood. If he were in bunny diet, he wouldn't have been able to stop her. With that, Cass gives Stefan a tight smile before walking around Elena and leaving them alone in the now empty hallway.
"Who is she?" Elena asks once Cassandra left them.
"Cassandra Woodhouse," Stefan says vaguely, not really wanting Elena to know who that girl really is.
"I gathered that but how do you know her?" Elena presses the matter.
"She's Katherine's best friend. They were so close, she pretended to be her cousin when they stayed with us back in…" he trails off, knowing Elena knew enough to fill in the space.
"Wait, is she the one who was friends with you and Damon? The Cassandra you thought was also in the tomb?" Elena asks, surprised over the fact that such a rude girl was the girl Stefan, and even Damon, talked so highly about.
"She was more than that, Elena." Stefan sighs. "I've got to tell Damon."
Elena nods and kisses her boyfriend goodbye as he hurriedly leaves the building. Instead of going to class as she should, Elena goes the other way around towards where Cassandra went.
"Cassandra, wait!" Elena calls after her, once she finally finds her.
The vampire comes to a halt and turns around, lifting an eyebrow towards Elena once she doesn't make a move to walk towards her. What is the human girl waiting for, an invitation? When Elena sees that she won't run, she walks to where Cassandra is with a shy smile.
"I didn't think you'd stop." Elena explains once she reaches her.
Cassandra considers the opportunity. She can easily brush Elena off, or she can finally start doing what she wants to; start a life. She could befriend Elena… and maybe Stefan. It would be great, being able to be part of Stefan's life once more. As long as she doesn't bump into Damon, everything should be good.
"Why?" Cassandra asks, making up her mind. "As far as I know, if the most popular girl in school is talking to you, you've to stop." she jokes.
"You're confusing me with Caroline." Elena jokes back, trying to see how far she can really go with this girl.
"Right, you're second in command now." Cassandra laughs and Elena has to blink once.
This girl is completely different from the dark and almost lethal one she saw with Stefan. Her laugh is so angelic; you'd think she was truly an angel not a demon.
"How do you know so much?" Elena asks surprised.
"This school has a very good gossip system." Cassandra replies with a shrug.
They fall quiet for a while as they walk towards the vampire's car. Elena tries to find a way to ask the new girl for information without seeming to pushy but comes out empty handed. She wants to befriend this mysterious girl who is so important to Stefan, but what if asking makes Cassandra hate her?
"What do you want to know?"
"How did you—I don't want—I mean it's not that I don't find your story interesting…" Elena stutters, shocked that she had seen right through her.
"Elena, it's fine. I understand, really." Cass calms Elena down. "I'll tell you someday, but not today… or next week." she adds before the brunette can get any ideas. "I saw on the newspaper there's a town party today?" Cassandra asks, changing the subject.
"Yeah." Elena nods, holding tight to her school bag. "It's Founder's Day party. You should come! It'll be fun and you'd get to be introduced to the Mayor and everyone else—you know, start fresh and all that." She explains to Cass.
"Sure, why not?" Cassandra shrugs. "I mean I went to the first one."
Elena laughs and gives who she hopes is her new friend her phone number and tells Cassandra she'll see her there, letting her get into her car and drive away.
….
Damon Salvatore is sitting lazily in the couch of his house as he thinks of a way to figure out what John Gilbert is planning when his brother enters the room, looking troubled.
"What's got your panties in a twist, little brother?" Damon teases, not expecting him to answer.
"Cassandra is alive." Stefan goes straight to the point as he stands in front of his brother.
Damon's smirk fades right away. Stefan knows she is a very delicate topic, almost as delicate as Katherine so why the hell is he bringing it up? Worse, lying about it. They had come to the conclusion that Cassandra had been killed by the founding families; they knew she wasn't at the tomb because they didn't see them drag her in but they assumed she had been killed later. Damon, however, always had the hope that she'd be in the tomb with Katherine. That hope was destroyed when he opened the tomb to find it empty of the only people he cared about. No lover and no best friend.
"Don't joke about that, Stef." Damon mock-scolds him when in reality he wants to throw him out the window.
"I'm not joking, she was at school today and she knows more than she lets on." Stefan explains as he starts pacing back and forth.
He hardly doubts it but what if she's a risk for Elena? They can't have her going around, pretending to be an angel but turning into a demonic killer when she feels like it. He's so engrossed in his thinking, he almost misses Damon getting up and going to the door.
"Woah, no. where are you going?"
"We are visiting her." Damon corrects as he opens the door. "If she truly is here."
Less than ten minutes later, the Salvatore brothers are standing in front of a two story house down at Green Street—the house is almost as big as theirs and isn't that far from theirs, either.—from somewhere in the second floor they can hear Help I'm Alive by Metric at full blast and someone humming to it. With a glance between the brothers, they both make their way to the window where the music's coming from and jump to it. Landing safely inside, they find a girl sitting in her dresser and passing a hair straightener through a strand of deep red hair. Damon's heart stops for a moment before racing. That's her. It truly is Cassandra Woodhouse sitting before him. His emotions flare up and he doesn't think twice before slamming her to the wall and keeping her there. She blinks up at him with such boredom Stefan might have thought she didn't get hurt by the shoving. The ugly sound her head made against the wall tells otherwise.
"And that is…3 and a half hours," Cass says lazily as she glances at the clock. "What took you so long?"
That question only gets her to be shoved harder. Well, this is sad. If she was going to be shoved against the wall by the one and only Damon Salvatore, she was kind of hoping it'd be because he was kissing her and not trying to hurt her.
"Why are you here?" Damon hisses at her, trying not to get lost in her green eyes just like he used to when he was human.
Because he isn't human, not anymore and if the human Damon did anything she asked him, the vampire Damon won't. He won't even be nice to her. Right as if on cue, somebody that I used to know starts to play on her stereo.
"God, you Salvatore brothers have got to find yourselves a new question," Cassandra says, pushing Damon away and glaring at the stereo, turning it off with her magic. Too close to the topic on hand.
"All right, what about what are you doing?" Stefan asks, not realizing she was the one who turned the speakers off.
She walks to her wardrobe and starts to rummage around, trying to find a fitting dress for tonight. Is this party still as fancy as it used to be? Or has this generation ruined it already?
"Well, I'm getting ready for the Founders' Day party," Cassandra says as she grabs a dress and puts it over her body while looking at herself in the mirror. Nope, too slutty. "What are you two doing?" she asks, turning once again to her wardrobe.
"I came here to find an old friend I thought to be dead only to find she's a real bitch." Damon speaks for the fist time since his stupid question.
She freezes. He's right, so incredibly right it hurts. And the own pain in his voice makes it hurt ten times more, but she doesn't want to go there again. That place where Katherine is all holy and she's just the best friend, she doesn't want to, it hurt her too much and it will hurt again. Time passes and after what seems like an eternity to both brothers, she finally turns around to face them.
"If you don't want me to be a bitch then don't shove me to a wall and give me a headache," she says, lifting an eyebrow.
"Sorry, dramatic entry." Damon chuckles and takes a step forward. "So you've been alive all this time." He continues to walk to where she is, finally daring to meet her gaze.
"Yep." She nods, not moving an inch.
"And yet, you never found Me." the pressure his icy blue eyes are inflicting upon her makes her want to look down, but she's not one to do so. "That makes me think you didn't want to."
Stefan watches the exchange with pure curiosity. Since she had turned to look at Damon, none had addressed him again, it's like he's not even there just like it was back in 1864. When Katherine wasn't present, of course.
"Damon, I didn't know where you were." She lies and takes a step forward. By then, they're only inches apart and she has to look up to be able to meet his eyes.
"And I know you're lying, Cassie." The use of such a stupid nickname makes her look down. How many times had she told him not to call her that? 'Do not call me that, Damon, please, or I'll call you Mr. Salvatore.' She'd say with pursed lips and amused eyes.
But there's nothing amusing here and she's not at all surprised when she looks up only to find that Damon isn't in the room anymore. She sighs and glares a Stefan, who had decided to stay behind.
"That went well," Stefan says carefully, not really knowing what else to do.
"What part? Where he wanted to kill me or when he got all upset?" she asks sarcastically.
Cassandra walks to her dresser and grabs the lipstick she had put there earlier. She can see Stefan studying from her mirror but she tries to ignore him, instead focusing on trying on the lipstick. When is he leaving? She wants to be alone and get ready, that's all.
"Damon doesn't get upset." Stefan answers as he sees her start her make up.
"Yes, he does or did. I don't know anymore." She pauses for a moment and looks back at her closet.
What's the point of starting her make-up if she still doesn't know what she'll wear? She walks back to her wardrobe, deciding to simply accept the fact that Stefan is apparently not going anywhere any time soon.
"Listen, uh, about Elena…" Stefan starts after a few seconds of blessed silence.
"Lovely girl," Cass says, rolling her eyes. "Looks exactly like Katherine, though. Doesn't it bug you, knowing you're banging a copy of your ex?" she taunts, sending Stefan a playful smirk over her shoulder.
"She's nothing like Katherine." Is Stefan's automatic response.
Because she's not. Katherine was cruel and manipulative and made him love her. Elena's innocent and sweet and Stefan has been attracted to her kind heart from the very beginning. She has so much love to give to everyone. Katherine had love for no one but herself.
"Hmm, if I didn't know better… I'd say Katherine was pretending to be human just for fun." Cassandra shakes her head, clearly still making fun of Stefan.
She thinks it's ridiculous, how Stefan is dating a look alike of his ex. Of course she doesn't know Elena, so he might be right; they may be nothing alike when it came to personalities. But just because they aren't the same now, it doesn't mean they won't be the same later on. They share blood, Petrova blood, and Petrovas tend to be the same; stubborn, head bent on getting everything they want.
"If you didn't know better?" Stefan asks, making her abandon her closet and turn to him. "Cass, you need to tell Damon where Katherine is." His voice is accusing.
"Why would I do that?" Cassandra snorts.
"You don't understand. Damon's been looking for her for—"
"The last 145 years. His love for her is undying, blah, blah, blah." She rolls her eyes, flicking here hair over her shoulder. "Trust me, Stefan; I remember how toxic his feelings towards Katherine are." Cassandra assures him, deciding to go back to facing her closet so Stefan doesn't see how incredibly uncomfortable this conversation makes her.
"So, will you let him know? At least, to make sure he leaves this town." Stefan requests.
"Don't you think you guys would have found Katherine by now?" Cassandra asks, reaching out and grabbing a deep red dress. "If she wanted to be found, that is." She tilts her head to the side to study the dress.
"Does that mean you know where she is?" Stefan asks, taking a step towards her.
Cassandra hums, not agreeing nor disagreeing. She turns on her step with the red dress on her hands and makes her way to the mirror. It's not her favorite dress, especially because she secretly hates the color red. She's well aware of Stefan's eyes on her and it exasperates her. Does her really think she's going to tell him where Katherine is? They don't trust each other that much. She doesn't trust him that much yet.
"Is this thing still fancy?" Cass asks instead, wondering when Stefan's patience will end.
"Yeah, tuxedo and everything." Stefan sighs, realizing he's not getting any answers from Cassandra. "See you, Cass." He nods at her before walking out of the room, this time using the door.
She doesn't answer.
…..
"I should not be here." Stefan mutters as he and his brother make their way inside the Lockwood's where the party's being held.
"Come on, it's for the founding families, that's us." Damon answers, looking around and trying as hard as he could to localize a certain redhead so he could avoid her.
"It was easier when you hated everyone." Stefan shoots back.
"I still do, but I love that they love Me." Damon shrugs making both of them chuckle. "Is all the alcohol making effect on you, or are the cravings still there?" he asks his little brother, teasingly.
"Nothing would make you happier than to see me give in, right, Damon?" the younger Salvatore asks, eyes squinting slightly.
"It's inevitable." Damon shrugs.
"Yeah, but there's nothing a little bit of self-control can't do." a voice reaches them and both turn to the left.
Coming towards them in a beautiful short black dress that reaches her mid-thigh and incredibly high heels is Cassandra and, as much as he hates it, Damon has to admit he's never seen her this beautiful. Not that it matters because she's just someone he used to know.
"So you did come," Damon says with fake annoyance.
"Of course I did, I'm hanging out with my friends." Cass shrugs. "You still clean up good, Stefan." She winks at him.
"And you're beautiful, Cass." He tells her.
She smiles, showing her perfectly straight teeth, knowing it's the truth. Since she had come here, nobody had been able to tear their eyes away from her; although she thinks it's a little over the top. The thick layer of mascara and green eye shadow makes her light green eyes stand out more than normally and, seeing as though she had used a lot of make-up in her eyes, she only has a light pink lip gloss. The combination makes her look sweet and sexy at the same time.
"We're not your friends." Damon tells her harshly, ignoring Stefan's comment.
"I meant Elena and Caroline. My new friends." She snaps, rolling her eyes.
"I'm going to—um, find Elena," Stefan says as he walks away slowly.
"I'll join you; I do know when I'm not wanted." She adds, lifting an eyebrow Damon's way.
He's gonna be a dick, well, she'll be a bitch. It's not the first time she acts like one and neither will it be the last one. Walking towards where she last saw Elena, she notices Stefan stealing a drink but acts like she doesn't notice. If he says he's got it under control, then he does. No need to interfere, not yet.
Once they spot her, Stefan gives Elena a kiss on the cheek right away, making her frown.
"Are you drunk?" she frowns, glancing Cassandra's way.
"I know it's weird but it helps Me." Stefan stutters, suddenly nervous and confirming her suspicions about him not telling Elena about his little problem.
A little problem that she's staring to think it's not so little.
"The alcohol takes the edge off." She jumps in.
"How worried do I have to be?" Elena asks slowly, eyeing Stefan.
"Not at all, it's just until the cravings go away." He nods, taking her hand. "Would you like to dance?"
Elena blinks up at him surprised and takes her hand away from his. "You hate dancing; I always have to beg you."
Cassandra shakes her head, Stefan is definitely screwing up. Drunken Stefan never knows how to behave correctly, never, and he'd usually throw sober-right-behavior Stefan off the window. This far she has two options, one: she steps in and fixes this before he makes a fool of himself or two: she stands and watches as Elena finally discovers Stefan is not really a saint. Yeah, she'll go with second.
"You have to beg sober Stefan, drunken Stefan doesn't need begging." He lifts an eyebrow. Well, it looks like drunken Stefan is the one who does the begging.
"Stef, no one is dancing." Cass mutters, finally intervening.
"Yeah, because the music sucks." He glances towards the D.J. and starts to walk away. "Be right back."
"Ok, really how worried should I be?" Elena asks her, once Stefan isn't near.
"From 1 to 10… a 7, maybe 8." She sighs, running a hand through her hair. "I'll take care of it, okay?"
Elena shakes her head as she watches Stefan compel the man with the music so he changes it. the DJ does as told and good upbeat music starts to play. People walk to the dance floor and start to have fun.
"How? Don't take it the wrong way but the last time you saw him he was human, they both were and you knew they'd be vampires and yet you simply left. How can I trust you with something like this?" Elena demands.
Cass fights the red anger from within her because she knows Elena is just worried and maybe even confused, so she won't snap at her. Neither will she recognize that her comment stung more than it should have.
"That was different, Elena," Cass says.
She's about to continue but Stefan reaches them, offering his hand to Kelly Donovan who stands a few people away from them and Elena is momentarily distracted by the scene.
"Have I entered an alternate universe where Stefan is fun?" Damon asks as he approaches the two girls.
"Don't start, please," Cassandra says, rolling her eyes.
"Well, I just thought because you're a bitch I got to be a dick." He shrugs, making her clench her jaw.
Elena tried as hard as she could not to let out a gasp but was unsuccessful because Cass looks her way only to direct her blazing gaze back to Damon.
"Well, you really are a welcoming guy, aren't you?" she says sarcastically.
"Didn't you say you know when you're not wanted?" he asks, changing topic and confusing her.
"Um, yeah, I did," Cass says, glancing at Elena to find her looking between the two like she doesn't know what's going on.
"Then, what are you still doing here?" he asks with a sarcastic smirk on his face.
It takes everything she has not to slap him all the way back to the boarding house, but she can't because there are people here and if she does that he's sure going to retaliate. Instead, she swallows the newly formed knot on her throat and pushes her way out of the room, making sure to push Damon's shoulder a little harder than necessary.
"That was extremely rude." Elena scolds, looking after her new friend.
"I'm rude, and she deserved it," Damon shrugs, frowning.
"No, she didn't and you know that." Elena presses the matter before walking away.
The rest of the night Cass either spends with Elena and Caroline chatting away their sorrows—Elena doesn't ask anything about her past but she knows that eventually she'll have to spill the beans, so to speak.—or watching everyone from a safe distance. This far she's learnt a lot of things. Jeremy Gilbert, Elena's little brother, doesn't think Vickie Donovan's death was an accident—she makes a mental note to ask who Vickie was.—Stefan finally gave into the human blood, which she doesn't know if it's a good or a bad thing, Kelly Donovan and Tyler Lockwood, who is not bad for a simple teenage guy, made out and Damon killed John Gilbert, Elena's uncle. All that happened in four hours.
Now she's standing near the dance floor alone and watching everyone dance happily when something catches her eye. John Gilbert is making his way over to where the mayor is standing and he looks very alive. Scanning the crowd for Damon she makes her way over to him. It doesn't matter if he's an ass he's got to explain why the hell this guy rose from the dead.
"We have a problem." Cass mutters when she's close enough.
"Your personality?" he jokes but stops all together when he sees the look on her face.
"Damn it, Damon. I mean it, stop." She snaps. "John Gilbert is alive and unless you slipped him some of your blood before killing him, which I doubt so, I'd very much like for you to explain to me how it's possible."
"he is not ali—" Damon stops as his eyes travel to where she's looking and finds that he is indeed alive. "Come with me." he grabs her hand and starts to walk to where everyone is gathering.
As they walk, he tries to ignore the tingling sensation her hand in his gives him. Because he knows the feeling all too well, it's the same feeling he'd get every time she'd kiss him when he was human and he's not going there, won't open that door. Because he isn't human.
"… We protect each other." John is saying as they make their way through the crowd and Cassandra doesn't miss how he sends a pointed look Damon's way. "It's good to be home."
By then they're standing next to Mr. Saltzman which confuses her greatly.
"Look at his right hand." Damon orders him.
"Cassandra? What are you doing here?" Mr. Saltzman asks her.
"You know my history teacher." She states slowly, trying to take this piece of information in.
"He's kind of the vampire slayer of town." Damon shrugs.
"Like van Helsingr or Buffy?" she asks, eyeing the teacher up and down.
"… Buffy," Damon says making her giggle. "Look at town's favorite son's hand. His ring." He orders Alaric.
"It looks like mine."
"And it'd be a great coincidence if he hadn't come back from the dead five minutes ago." Damon hisses.
"Let me see that," she says as she takes Alaric's hand and examines the ugly ring in his finger.
"Emily did this, I helped her." She explains, not trying to cover that she's a witch, this is more important than a stupid secret they'll figure out eventually. "How did you get it?"
It didn't make sense, how could he have the ring if he wasn't from town? Emily had given the ring to the Gilbert's and it was supposed to stay in the family through the generations.
"Isobel gave it to me." Alaric tells her.
Isobel, as in Katherine's 'friend' Isobel. This isn't good. This town is more dangerous that she realized, she shouldn't have come.
"Who gave birth to Elena under the medical care of Grayson Gilbert…" Damon mutters angrily.
"John's brother." She nods, completing the sentence.
This is unbelievable, she'll kill Katherine next time she sees her. When she told Katherine over the phone that she'd go back to Mystic Falls she had said 'have fun with my doppelganger.' which didn't surprised her at all because Katherine obviously knew where her doppelganger lived but now, she's starting to think Katherine knows a lot more about this town than what she's telling her.
"You think John knew my wife?" Alaric asks Damon.
"He knows much more than that." she mutters.
…
As they walk outside, she had decided to stick with both men because what was going on there was much more exciting than anything else going on, they run into no other than John Gilbert.
"Leaving so soon?" he asks.
"Never liked to be the last to leave a party." Damon shrugs.
"Too desperate, right?" John says, glancing Cassandra's way. "Are you gonna kill me or are you gonna let Mr. Saltzman?"
Alaric comes to a halt, making her walk into him.
"Ok, so you obviously know who I am." He tells John warily.
"I do, the teacher with a secret," He says nonchalantly, obviously liking the fact that he knows more than them.
"You know an awful lot for someone who just got here," Damon says, also stopping.
By now, the four of them are standing in the middle of the street, with the three men looking at each other suspiciously and her wanting to blend in the shadows.
"And so does your redheaded friend," John says, stating that he knows she's there. "My knowledge about this town goes beyond anything that you or the council knows."
Cassandra has to suppress a scoff directed John's way. The knowledge he had came from Isobel who gained the knowledge from Katherine, meaning he knows everything she knows.
"So know that if I die, everything I know goes to the council; including the fascinating story about the original Salvatore brothers and their present-day return to Mystic Falls." John threatens, making her take a step forward.
Damon remains silent, whether it is because he's speechless or simply killing John inside his head she doesn't know; ten seconds pass before any of them say anything until Alaric clears his throat and says:
"How did you get that ring?"
"I inherited one, this was Gray's ring and I wouldn't have given Isobel mine if I'd knew she'd give it to another guy." He answers, looking down at Alaric's ring with disgust.
"So you knew her." Damon takes a step forward.
"Of course, who do you think sent her to you when she wanted to become a vampire?"
"You obviously did." He answers, his voice turning bitter.
"Yeah, who else did you think, Damon? Maybe Katherine pierce?" He asks, just to bother Damon.
"I'm out of here." She mutters.
Nobody even bother to turn to her. This is ridiculous and it's starting to become a testosterone contest. She's wasting her time. With that thought she turns on her heels and runs at vampire speed to her apartment. She is definitely killing Katherine next time she sees her.
A/N: this chapter has been revised and edited, sort of at least. Anyway, I appreciate all the reviews I get, thank you so much! follow me on tumblr if you want, i'm tumblr user mythicalh xx
