Disclaimer: Refer to the first chapter.


Chapter 7

Tick, Tock

xxx

"Oof!" Kai blurted dramatically as he sat in the uncomfortable chair he'd been taped to earlier as Damon, Bonnie, and Cassandra joined him in the study, all of them unamused at his theatrics. He looked up at Damon, displeased. "Man, you know...this chair is just so uncomfortable. Don't you have any chairs...I don't know, not from the 19th century?"

Damon smiled sourly. "Sorry, we ran out of stock on that type of furniture."

Kai tried not to smile, but inevitably, one conquered his lips at Damon's willingness to play with him. "What a shame."

"Enough." Cass sighed, crossing her arms at her brother, who looked over at her with a highly annoyed expression. "I'm not playing games with you anymore, Kai. You gave us an ultimatium, now what do you want?"

Kai frowned. "I thought I made myself clear." He looked up at Bonnie and Damon. "Did I not make myself clear? Oh, crap. You know, this happens so often. I guess I just get caught up in all the...niceities." Bonnie scoffed, but Kai chose to ignore it as he stared at his sister from across the coffee table and dropped his light tone. "To sum it up, Cassie, I want the Ascendant."

Cassandra tapped her foot against the hardwood floor, biting down on her cheek as she schemed in her mind. Eventually, she nodded. "Okay. Okay, you and I can hop in car right now, Kai. I'll take you to it."

He laughed, a piercing sound that nearly hurt her ears. She refrained from flinching, but she wanted to badly. When Kai's amusement was over, he settled and shook his head at her, wagging a finger in disapproval.

"No, no, Cassie. I know you too well." He set down his finger and sighed. "With your track record, you'll trap me in an avalanche again and I'll have to claw my way out again and it's just so much work. And by the time I'm out, who knows? You three will probably betray me and by the time I'm able to get back and kill all three of you, you'll already be gone. And where's the fun in that?"

"You're sick," Bonnie snapped at him, capturing Kai's undivided attention for one of the first times since he threatened her in the kitchen. He looked up at her, unusually impressed.

"You know, Bonnie, you can be quite salty." A smile crept onto his evil lips, only causing Bonnie to look at him with more and more disdain. He only found it to be the catalyst to his amusement and therefore turned at Cassandra to continue what he had been saying before being plesantly interrupted. "Okay...here's what we're gonna do. How long will it take you to get the Ascendant and get back?"

Cassandra hesitated, but after thinking it over for a moment, she nodded affirmatively. "At least five days."

"Great. You'll do it in three." He smiled widely and turned his head to look at Damon. "And good news. You can go with her." Kai's attention turned back to Bonnie. "I kind of want some alone time with Bon-Bon."

"Gross," Bonnie muttered under her breath. Kai chose to ignore that, too, and watched as Damon scoffed and shook his head.

"You think I'm gonna leave your psycho ass alone with her for three days? Cassandra can go alone or she can go with Bonnie."

"Mm...did I say that was an option? No...no, I don't think so. So it's not an option," Kai hummed under his breath innocently before looking up at Damon angrily. "You're going with her. Think of it this way: you're her cheerleader. Motivate her enough to return the Ascendant in three days in case she forgets that poor Bonnie's life is in danger."

Cass stepped forward with a sigh. "Malachai—"

Just as she began to speak, Kai held up a finger at her. Cassandra let herself be cut off as he stood from the chair, a weary look on his face as he walked over to the window in the study and pushed aside the drapes covering the view of the Salvatore property. They all watched him as he peered out through the window and gasped before turning around at Cassandra, a wide-eyed look on his face.

"You see that, Cassie?" he asked softly. She waited while he continued with his unnecessary dramatic behavior. He straightened and shook his head at her. "Minutes on the hour, sis. You've got two days, twenty three hours, fifty-nine minutes, and fifty-eight seconds left." Cassandra stiffened as he smiled again, sending chills down her spine. "Tick, tock."

xxx

Tick, tock.

Tick, tock.

Tick, tock.

Tick, tock.

She couldn't stop thinking about it. Kai's countdown echoed in her head, causing her entire body to shake nervously as she, herself, counted down the seconds she had to retreive the Ascendant and get back. Damon zipped down the freeway, the radio blaring '90s rock in their ears and the wind whipping in their faces at extreme speeds. Cassandra didn't bother to look at the spedometer—if she did, she knew it would be well over 100MPH, and she didn't feel like being an accomplice to reckless driving even if there weren't any cops to catch them. She just stayed silent, biting her nail impatiently while shaking her her leg to the timer in her head. It had lasted all of twenty minutes before Damon, frustrated as hell, reached over and put a firm hand on her knee, silencing the shake. She looked over at him and he gave her a warning glance, letting his eyes tell her to knock it off rather than wasting the breath. Shifting, she shoved his hand off of her knee and kept her own fingers curled around it while she leaned up against the convertible door, her fist resting on her mouth while she watched the trees pass by quicker than she could observe them. After a few moments of peace, she barely even noticed it when she started to drum her fingertips to the countdown clock, and when Damon realized what she was doing, he grew furious. Slamming the radio so that it turned off, he leaned over and molded her fingers into his fist.

"You need to stop that," he threatened her over the high speed wind. She yanked her hand back to herself. "I'm aware of the countdown, I don't need a reminder; let alone one as annoying as you are."

"This never should've happened in the first place," she mumbled, but of course, Damon heard her with his super hearing. "This is your fault."

Damon looked over at her, shocked. "My fault? How in the hell is this my fault?!"

"You and Bonnie weren't supposed to be in here, Damon!" Cass shouted, sitting up straight in her seat, staring at the open road. "I've been keeping Kai in here for twenty years and the second you two show up, he schemes his way out. If you weren't here in the first place, he wouldn't be putting me in this position and he would've stayed in here forever like he was supposed to!"

He scoffed. "And so would you. How is that fair?"

"Life isn't fair, Damon! I learned that the minute he dragged me in with him!"

"Oh, don't do that. Don't act like you never get a chance to think about yourself. You've been thinking about yourself for the last four months, Cass, lying to me and Bonnie the way you did."

She turned his head at him sharply. "Are you really still pissed about that?"

"That and the fact that I've been assigned to drive Miss Daisy and be her fucking cheerleader," Damon growled under his breath, but she heard the words out of his sour mouth. She was silent for the longest time, trying to hold back her laughter. Inevitably, she failed, but desperately she tried to cover up the chuckles with her hand, but Damon saw right through her once he tore his eyes from the road and glanced at her. He shook his head. "It's not funny."

"I-It kind of is," she said through broken laughs.

"No, it's not."

"Yeah, it is."

"Cass..."

"Damon," she mocked, staring at him challengingly. He looked over at her again and rolled his eyes.

"Great. Not only are you annoying, you're annoying and a two-year-old."

"Sounds like the pot calling the kettle black if you ask me," Cass muttered, knowing full well that he could hear her. Damon gave her an unimpressed look, but she had looked away from him long before then. He watched her for a moment but then returned to driving on the empty strip of road, forgetting to turn the radio back on. The wind whipped at them for a while until Damon sighed.

"Did you ever think about leaving?" he asked suddenly. She turned her head slightly, but he didn't look over at her, he only shifted in the driver's seat. "Trapping Kai in an avalanche and getting the hell out. It had to have crossed your mind at some point."

"You mean is there a way to cheat around the spell?" she clarified. He shrugged and Cass took a moment to think of her answer before nodding. "I've thought about it a few times. There's a loophole to every spell, Damon, and my magic just happens to be wild enough to cheat its way around it. And you're right. I shouldn't sit here and pretend like I've never been selfish in twenty years because I have. So many times...I have."

"So why didn't you do it? Why didn't you leave?"

Cassandra looked over at him and caught his gaze. "Because no matter how psycho he is, he's still family. There was a time when we were close, when we were united against everyone who were at odds with us. We're different in our family, Damon, and that made us the same." She paused and tore her eyes, looking down at her feet. "And like it or not, he's my responsibility now. So I thought about it, but I never left. I couldn't."

Damon thought over her words and realized that they were far too familiar. His own brother dealt with the same, the eternity of misery and all of his own form of psychoness. And the more he thought about it, the more he missed his brother, and the more he missed his brother, the more he wanted to go home. The feelings began to creep into Damon's heart as he thought about the home that he missed more than anything, but he knew it kept distracting him. The clock hanging above them both wouldn't stop for them to care about things in the future, only what they were doing right at the moment.

So he reached down, slammed the stereo on, and turned the volume up so high it drowned out the thoughts in his head.

xxx

"I think...Professor Plum did it in the kitchen with the knife."

Kai looked up with a smile, staring at Bonnie across the coffee table in the study, ready to pick up the secret envelope and see who killed Mr. Boddy. But before he could, he watched Bonnie as she stared him down with a look of extreme distaste, causing him to drop his smile and shake his head at her.

"You know, Bonnie," he scolded, "you're sort of getting on my nerves. This game is supposed to be fun."

She scoffed. "Passing the time waiting for my friend and your sister to get the key to getting us out of here or else you'll kill me is supposed to be fun?"

"Yeah!"

"You're sick."

"You said that already," Kai reminded her, disappointed. "Come up with some new comebacks, please. I hate when people recycle old ones."

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Bonnie exclaimed faciteously. "Did I offend you? I didn't mean to...promise."

Kai chuckled. "I like you, Bonnie. I mean, I wish I didn't have to kill you if they don't come back but unfortunately...an ultimatum is an ultimatium. But if makes you feel any better, I really don't want to do it."

She frowned. "Gee, thanks."

"Welcome," he piped before reaching forward and opening the evelope to reveal who killed Mr. Boddy. With a gasp, Kai turned over the cards so Bonnie could see. "Look at that! Professor Plum...kitchen...knife."

xxx

Damon and Cassandra had been on the highway for nearly twenty hours straight before they finally agreed to stop at the nearest off-highway motel for a quick hour-long rest stop; no more, no less. Damon broke the locks on two of the motel doors so they could both quickly shower at the same time and get on the road as quickly as possible. They barely had time to grab a change of clothes before leaving the Salvatore house, but it was worth the ten minutes they wasted shoving a few pairs of jeans and shirts and clean underwear into a bag. Cass still hadn't told him where they were going, but he didn't care. As long as he got her there and back in time for Bonnie to still be breathing, he could care less. However, Cassandra had mentioned that if he kept at the speed he had been going for the first twenty hours, they would be there and back with some time to spare after taking the hour-long rest stops the way there and back with leeway for getting gas. Granted, it would be close, but it was possible.

It didn't take long for Damon to shower and change. The water was cold and the pressure was terrible, but he couldn't care less. After washing the day's filth off of his body, he changed, brought his bag back to his car, and walked over to Cass's room, where he could still hear the shower running. Damon knocked on the door before coming inside, shaking his head.

"Cass, come on," he scolded her as he entered the room. It had only been twenty minutes since they left the road and if she hurried, they could start driving again and cut down on the rest time.

"I'll be out in a minute!" she yelled over the water in her shower. Damon could feel the steam in his room and he frowned, realizing that he had chosen the wrong room to bathe in. He could still feel the slimy water he was sure came from some lake behind the motel falling onto his skin, but he pushed the thought out of his head and walked over to the bed, unzipped her bag, and pulled out jeans, a t-shirt, and her undergarments so they were ready for her to change in. He looked up and listened as the water shut off and a moment later, she walked out of the bathroom, dripping wet in a stained towel, scowling at him. "It's rude to rush a girl when she showers."

Damon gestured to the clothes in his hand. "Here. Change."

"Okay, jeez. You could be a little nicer, you know," Cass demanded as she walked forward, made sure the towel was tight around her chest and grabbed the clothes from his hand. He watched her as she put the clothes down on the bed and looked up, as if waiting for him to leave. Sure enough, she raised her eyebrows and gestured at the door. "You wanted me to change, right?"

He rolled his eyes. "I've seen you naked, Cassandra. I've done things to you naked, you've done things to me naked. We've seen each other naked. Just change. I have a couple questions."

She frowned and grabbed her clothes, walking back to the bathroom. "You know, I don't appreciate this whole 'I've seen you naked, you've seen me naked' nonsense. We were supposed to forget about this."

Damon sat down on the uncomfortable motel mattress with a wrinkled nose and shrugged. "We'll forget about it once we're back in the 21st century. Right now, I just want to know where we're heading to. We've been heading towards California so I'm assuming it's somewhere there?"

Cassandra closed the door of the bathroom and turned, but what she didn't realize was that the faulty door had neglected to connect with the threshold, causing the door to become cracked ever so slightly. Damon didn't notice as he pulled open a drawer of the nightstand and pulled out a rotted paper map, unfolding it. Cassandra sighed and, while she changed, told him, "We're going to Yosemite, okay? I hid the Ascendant on the top of Yosemite."

He groaned. "We have to hike the whole damn mountain?"

"No, Damon. You can drive up to the top of the mountain."

"Oh." He placed the map under the light and knotted his eyebrows. "Okay. It looks like we're only a few hours away. We should be there by morning and be at the top of the mountain by afternoon."

"That's the plan," she agreed, pulling on her bra as she shook her head and rolled her eyes to Damon's commentary. Damon looked up at the bathroom, and that's when he saw the crack in the door. Things were quiet for a moment as he watched Cassandra, somewhat creepily, as she dressed. The light reflected the beads of water off of her pale skin while she twisted her hair up into a loose bun and tied it up. Hearing the silence from in the room, Cassandra let her eyes flicker to the door, where she saw the crack and Damon staring from the bed. To anyone else, it'd be awkward, but to her, it practically rocked her stomach as she locked eyes with him involuntarily and neither one of them looked away. She walked up to the door and kicked it closed, snapping them both out of the trance. Damon shook it off, clearing his throat and shoving the map back into the drawer.

"Why Yosemite?" he asked her, pretending as if nothing had happened. He could hear her sigh.

"I lived in California for a few years, the very first time my parents shipped me off to relatives. I was...six, I think. My Aunt Vera would drive me up to Yosemite every weekend and try to teach me how to control my powers. I watched seasons go by...seasons I created. I lived there the longest—about two and a half years. Aunt Vera gave up on me when I created a storm that nearly washed California underwater. Ever since then, I only spent weeks or a few months at a time wherever I was sent."

Damon looked up and saw Cassandra exit the bathroom, looking at him for merely a split second before tearing her eyes away and walking over to her bag to grab a pair of socks. He lifted himself from the bed and walked over to the door where he grabbed her sneakers and handed them to her on the bed.

"So that's it?" Damon asked, watching as she slipped her shoes on and tied them tight. "We drive to the top of the Yosemite and there it is? We're done?"

She chuckled. "Nothing's ever that simple, Damon. You don't think Kai knew about my time in California? Yosemite was probably one of the first places he looked—which was the good part about it. It's cloaked by my own magic and only my magic can uncloak it."

"But you don't have any magic," Damon retorted. She smiled and finished tying her shoes before standing up, coming inches closer to him than she was before. The heat of her breath drew him in for a few confusing moments, her eyes looking as if she were inviting him to do something they'd both regret in the morning.

"I know you have someone to get back to," she said quietly. Damon tensed, and she realized it, dropping her eyes carefully as she said the words she'd been dying to say. "And this...it's only sex. If we're being completely honest, we were using each other to stop thinking about things we'd rather not think about. But the last time we were together, I was sick to my stomach thinking about Kai. It only brought me more pain and ever since...it's been nothing but agony. I don't know what to do with him; I don't know how to stop him once he gets out." Damon watched her as she looked up and gave him a soft smile. "Turn around."

Damon cocked an eyebrow and did as told, watching as she walked around him while his eyes focused on a ratty, mass-produced painting that was off-center and rusting on the wall of the motel. He shrugged.

"Okay...a painting of a beach at sunset. What am I supposed to be looking at?"

"Just wait," she instructed, taming his impatience. Damon crossed his arms and stayed silent, watching as she closed her eyes and touched the painting softly with her fingertips. Suddenly, she arched and he jumped, watching as she winced slightly and clenched her fist around the ratty painting's frame.

"Cass..." he trailed off, concerned. He dropped his hands to his sides and watched as she fought to stand straight, doubling over and clenching the painting so tight that her knuckles turned a very unnatural shade of white. She didn't answer and he was starting to get worried. "Cassandra. Cass!"

The second he shouted her name, she opened her eyes and straightened at last, causing him to relax slightly. Her fist unclenched from the painting and she took a deep breath before stepping back. Damon's eyes widened as he saw something before him...something extremely strange. She stepped back, falling in line beside him, and she snuck a glance at him before smiling and looking back at the painting, which was now lined with a golden frame, shiny as a new penny, and moving. The beach cooed at the both of them, the trees swaying in a slight wind, the waves crashing on the shore, and the sun slowly beginning to fade over the horizon.

"In plain sight," she whispered triumphantly as Damon watched in wonder and then looked down at her, catching a glimpse of her soft eyes before she smiled faintly and jerked her head towards the door. "Come on, let's go. We're almost down to two days."

Damon stared as she walked around him and grabbed her bag, exiting the motel room without saying anything more. He looked back at the painting, which had suddenly turned back into rags, a rotting frame and rotting canvas with a faded picture staring him in the face. With a slight shake of his head, he tried to shake the thoughts out of his mind as he followed Cassandra out to the car and they hit the road once more.

xxx

I like big...butts and I cannot lie!

"You other brothas can't deny!" Kai sang along as the song blared over the speakers in the Salvatore kitchen. Bonnie watched as Kai held the end of a whisk to his lips and started to sing horrifically. "When a girl walks in with an itty bitty waist and a round thing in your face you get—" He stopped himself while the music played on and looked at Bonnie who was sitting at the table with a pout on her face and her arms crossed defensively. Sighing, he leaned over the counter and shook his head. "You've got to live a little, Bonnie."

"'Baby Got Back' is living a little?" Bonnie questioned. He nodded, and therefore she laughed bitterly. "You have no idea what living is, Kai. You're a serial killer stuck in a prison world the year Kurt Cobain committed suicide. And you're telling me to live?"

Kai hopped up on the counter and set aside the whisk as Sir Mix A Lot still played in the background. "So enlighten me."

"Excuse me?"

"Tell me about the 21st century. I've always wondered what it was like." He leaned over on his elbows. "Tell me, are there flying cars yet? I always thought there'd be flying cars in the 2000s."

She scowled. "No, there aren't any flying cars."

"Really? Because—"

"No flying cars, Kai."

"That sucks." He looked down at the floor and sighed. "Well, I don't have any more questions for you. That was kind of like a deal breaker for me. I've always wanted to fly in a car."

Bonnie couldn't take it anymore. She was tired of listening to the idiot babble, forcing her to play stupid games, and putting her through the torture of watching him dance to Sir Mix A Lot. Abruptly, she raised herself from the kitchen table and stormed out, knowing not to go too far but desperate for five minutes of alone time. Kai watched as she left with a scowl on his face.

"Fine! I don't like you very much, either." But by this time, he was basically talking to no one. Bonnie blocked him out of her head and refused to listen as he shouted. "You better be preying that your friends get back in time! They've only got two days left, Bon-Bon! Chop, chop!" There was no response, and therefore, Kai jumped off the counter and raised the volume of Baby Got Back, pulling the whisk back to his mouth. "My anaconda don't want none unless you got buns, hon!"

xxx

Damon's calculations were right: they managed to get to Yosemite by morning and after taking a quick stop for Cassandra to use the restroom (because, unlike a vampire, she still had a bladder), Damon drove them up the coast of the mountain, the top of his convertible still down like it had been on the drive to the mountain. Cass was unsure of where to stop, mostly because she hiked the trail to hide the Ascendant before and hadn't driven up the mountain, but she did the best she could. She managed to get them as close to the spot as they could before they both stepped out of the car and she led the way.

"Just reminding you that we only have a day and a half to get back to Bonnie," Damon chirped from behind her as she took them down an unmarked trail towards Yosemite Falls. Cassandra sighed.

"I'm aware and I don't need a reminder." She looked back at him with a sour smile. "Let alone one as annoying as you are."

Damon scoffed. "Ha. Funny."

"I thought it was."

"Your humor is off," he determined, shaking his head. She shrugged.

"Well, I guess that is true because I laugh at all your jokes." She took a sharp left and Damon tried hard to keep up with her, but even for a human she was walking extremely fast. Damon didn't like to hike, mainly because as a vampire there was no need to. She could tell he was getting frustrated behind her, and it caused her to look back with an eyebrow raised. "You know, you can just go back to the car. I can find the Ascendant myself."

"And if you get lost?"

"I won't get lost."

Damon gave her a disbelieving look, but she was stern in her words. He managed to come by her side and kept up her extreme pace, and therefore he shook his head determinedly. "I'm not going back to the car. I'm your cheerleader, remember?"

She snorted. "Where are your pom-poms, then?"

"Back with my school uniform." He rolled his eyes, causing her to laugh. He smiled, triumphant in his words, and followed her as she climbed up a few large rocks, swinging herself up with the barks of the trees beside her, and finally, they came to a stop on leveled ground looking at Yosemite Falls right in front of them, the largest waterfall in Yosemite National Park. Damon put his hands on his hips and sighed. "Okay. Where is it?"

"There." She stood in front of him, making sure that he could see the exact spot she was pointing to. It was a hole in the rock of the waterfall, sitting right behind the heavy flow of natural water; a secret cave. Damon widened his eyes.

"How the hell do you expect to get to that fast enough so that we can get back on the road? We're gonna be cutting it close as is!"

"Calm down," Cassandra instructed him, looking at Damon with an unimpressed expression. He waited for her to explain how she would be able to pull it off, but all she did was turn and take in a heavy breath before dropping to the ground, sliding over to the edge of the cliff they were on so that she went over the edge, making sure her feet were secure with the rocks beneath her feet. Damon rushed over to the side of the cliff, his eyes wide.

"You're insane! Are you gonna rock climb this thing?"

She scoffed. "You act like I've never done it before."

"You've done it before?"

"Yeah, but..." Cassandra looked up at him and shook her head. "That's not what I'm doing. Relax, Mom. I've got this."

"Mom?" Damon repeated to himself as Cassandra made her way further down the edge of the cliff. He paced at the top, shaking his head. "Girl's gonna get herself killed."

But when he looked over the edge again, he watched as Cassandra landed on a flat rock sturdy enough to hold her bodyweight. Without further delay, she waved her hand out in front of her and Damon's eyes widened as he saw rocks from the bottom of the cliff fly up and connect themselves to one another, creating a thick path for her to walk across. It stretched all the way from the edge of the cliff they were on to the entrance of the secret cave. Quickly, Damon dropped to the ground and jumped, landing on the flat rock that Cassandra was standing on. It was then that he realized she was breathing heavily and he remembered: fear of heights.

"For a girl with a fear of heights, you sure do like high places," Damon muttered to her, his voice loud enough for her to hear over the rushing of the water. Cassandra turned to him with a nervous laugh.

"I like to test myself," she admitted, swallowing hard as she looked down, feeling sick seeing the abyss beneath her. "It's stupid, I know."

"Stupid for sure," Damon agreed, but then grabbed her arm and pulled her way from looking over at the edge. He brought his attention back to her and nodded carefully. "But I get it. Don't look down, Cass, it'll just make things worse."

"I know." She nodded and then looked to the side, seeing the cave at the end of her rock road. She slipped her arm out of his grasp and instead grabbed his hand, pulling him along with her. "Don't let go of my hand. My magic keeps this thing afloat and if you're not linked with it, it'll drop you."

Damon scoffed as they began to walk on the path. "Thanks for the tip."

He kept a firm grip on her hand as the two of them walked single-file across the long path. He was weary about the rocks, but they seemed to be extremely sturdy—probably a result on the strong magic that turned an old motel picture into a beautiful scenery. Finally, they both walked underneath the waterfall, inevitably getting soaked from the pounds of water over their heads. Damon shook out the ice-cold water from his head as she released his hand when they were both safely on the ground of the secret cave and the rock road that led them to the other side fell back down into the abyss. Damon looked at Cassandra with an eyebrow raised, but she shrugged.

"I'll b-bring it b-back," she shivered, a result of all the cold water. He opened his mouth to protest to her coldness, but she moved past it and waved him with her. "C-Come on. It's over her-re."

She moved them deeper into the cave, which had appeared to be smaller from the cliff they had been standing on earlier. After turning a corner, Cassandra came to a dead end, a wall dripping with water from the mountain, cold and wet. He could tell she was extremely uncomfortable, as was he, but she ignored it and took a deep breath, trying to stop the shivers. She held out a shaky hand and focused, her magic spewing out in shakes as she shivered. Damon took a deep breath as well and walked behind her, placing his hands on her arms and beginning to rub up and down for the heat of friction. She didn't question it, but merely waited a few seconds for the heat of his hands to warm her up for even a split second, where her magic then managed to come out in a steady stream and the wall suddenly had a hole in it.

And there, in that small nook in the middle of the wall, was the Ascendant. It looked exactly like the replica Kai made except not with a can opener and whatever else he used to create the contraption. When Cassandra put her hand down, Damon stopped rubbing her arms and she looked back at him with a nod.

"Thank you," she said. He shrugged.

"Should've told me to bring a jacket for you."

Cassandra shook her head. "We had no time."

"Right."

She reached forward and grabbed the Ascendant in her hand, tapping it against her palm in anxiousness before nodding and looking to the exit of the cave. "Okay. We, uh, we got it. Let's go."

"Wait."

Cassandra turned around and observed Damon, who was standing where he had been before, motionless. She waited, watching as he turned to her with narrowed eyes and suddenly stuck out his hand for the Ascendant. Without a word, she cocked an eyebrow, but he beckoned for her to give it to him. Slowly, she walked forward and set the Ascendant in his palm, where he took it carefully and turned back around, setting it again in the secret nook in the wall. When he looked back at her, she shook her head, confused.

"Damon, we don't have time. Let's go."

"We have enough time. One last time," he clarified. She didn't understand to begin with, but then he reached forward, grabbed her hand, and suddenly pinned her against the cave wall. Cassandra opened her mouth to stop him, but he took it as an opportunity, reaching his hand behind her head and bringing his lips to hers. A million thoughts ran through her head as he kissed her breathlessly; Bonnie was still with Kai. If they didn't get back by sunrise of the day after the next, everything would have been for nothing. Bonnie would be dead and Kai wouldn't hesitate to take the Ascendant, kill Damon, and delay Cassandra long enough to get out and leave her to rot like he promised. They had to get back.

"Stop." Cassandra pushed his chest slightly away from her and shook her head tightly. "Damon, we can't do this now. Kai will—"

"You want to spend your time worrying again?" Damon asked seriously, his eyes laser-focused on hers. Cassandra opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. His hand came up from behind her head and he ran this thumb over her lip. "Every time you think of me, you're gonna think about the last time we had sex and how it made you sick to your stomach because of your psycho brother. So stop worrying for a few minutes. Stop caring, stop thinking. Let this be the last time. And enjoy it."

She wanted to stop it. There was a part of her that knew she probably should've. But like the day she decided to throw caution to the wind and jump him on the Salvatore couch, she found the agony inside of her a much bigger contender than the worry. Her hand came around his head and she forced him back onto her lips, where neither one of them objected ever again. Damon's hand drifted down from her mouth and joined the other in taking both of her palms, crossing them over the other, and pinning them up over her head as his lips drifted from the corner of her mouth, down her jaw, and over every inch of her drenched skin.

And, like she admitted honestly before, it was nothing more than a tool to let her worries drift away, let her thoughts become buried, and let simple words wash away as if nothing mattered.

When it was over, they returned back to the car with nothing to say, both of them enjoying the sounds of the nature around them and the bright sun that was beginning to start its descent in a few hours time. Damon studied the Ascendant as he opened the driver's side of his car and climbed inside.

"So this is the little bastard," Damon mumbled under his breath with a shake of his head. "All this trouble to get something the size of my fist. It's a shame."

"Mm, it's a hundred times more powerful than your fist, though," Cass corrected him as she watched him start the car from outside the passenger door. Damon set the Ascendant on the dashboard with a sigh and a shrug before looking up at Cassandra, waiting for her to get into the car.

"Do you need an invitation?"

"Nope." She clapped her hands down on the door and smiled at him. "You're going back alone. I've still got something to take care of."

"What's so important you've got to stay here?"

"If we're going home, Damon, I need to get my magic back."

"But you already have your magic back, Cass."

"Not all of it." She turned her hand and flicked her wrist, causing the stereo to come on at a soft tone. Looking back at Damon with a smile, Cassandra explained, "It's a lot of magic. Magic that won't expire because it isn't such a tiny fraction that it can't stick. This magic is here to stay but...it's not all of it. That's why I was able to control it so well at Yosemite Falls. If I had all my magic, those rocks would've been shaking and we would've never made it over."

Damon raised his eyebrow, concerned. "I don't understand."

"You aren't supposed to. It's a witch thing." She stood up straight and backed away from the car. "Don't worry about me, Damon. You've got the Ascendant...you'll get back to Bonnie in plenty of time. Kai will ask you where I am and...well, you can tell him the truth if you want. It won't affect what I have in mind."

Damon shook his head. "If you don't come with me now, you might not get back before we go home."

Cassandra sighed. "Maybe. Maybe not. We'll see."

"Cassandra—"

But she flicked her wrist again, and this time the stereo blasted up as loud as it went. Damon tried to turn it off, but it wouldn't, and by the time he looked up from fidgeting with the control, she was gone.


So I forgot to mention this the last time I updated but there's a Damon/Cassandra video on YouTube! Has been for a while actually haha but because I neglected to update and then forgot to tell you all the last time I did, some of you are just finding out about it now. The link is on my profile but I don't know if it works because for some reason out-of-website links aren't working for me on my computer so in case it doesn't work for you, either, all you have to search on YouTube is Damon and Cassandra and it'll be the first one. Hope you all enjoy it!

Thanks for reading! Please review!


vampangel25: Here's more for you! Hope you enjoyed it!

Pompeii1224: Definitely twisted. Thanks for reviewing!

CWTV-TeenWolf-Lover: Thanks! They're almost home! Damon and Cassandra have a lot of good moments later on in the season...even when they're fighting again. Here's the next update! Hope you liked it!

SomebodyWhoCares: Soon!

RHatch89: Thank you!

Scooter127: I'm far from her biggest fan. It's gonna be great because Cassandra will be pointing out all the flaws in Damon and Elena's relationship once she sees them that literally everyone thinks of. I don't understand why Damon chose to be with her either and I hope he finds someone else really soon. Thank you! Um, I'm actually not sure. I've been thinking about bringing in an OC for Stefan but it may just be Caroline because I'm lazy and I don't feel like bringing in another OC for Stefan and then another OC for Caroline. But we'll see! There's always a possibility. Thank you! Here's the next chapter! Hope you enjoyed it!

Scooter121: Thanks! I have no idea what other pairings are gonna be in the story honestly right now I'm just focusing on the Damon/OC. A Stefan/OC is possible but I can't really tell you right now. Thanks for reviewing!

HALEBTRASH: They're gonna try. It's not really gonna go over so well but Damon's got a commitment to Elena so he's gotta be pretty good about it at first. But that doesn't mean things won't still be heated between them. Thanks for reviewing!

Missy: Thank you! There was definitely more of both in this chapter! Hope you enjoyed it!

PrincessMagic: Thanks!

Guest: Thank you! That episode's gonna come before you know it.

WickedlyMinx: Haha I'm trying! Thank you. Ouch haha well, it kind of does suck to be her. Well right now she's going to get her powers back and when she gets back to the present, she'll have to try and control it so that it doesn't cause any issues. I have a pretty cool idea for Cassandra later on in the season but I'm still working out the kinks. We'll see. Thanks for the review!