Chapter 11: Masquerade.
She gasps as a figure slams into her, fangs out and dangerously close to her face.
"What the hell are you doing?" she asks, looking at Katherine with widened eyes.
Katherine's hand goes up to her neck, cutting her air supply. She's livid; Cass can see it clearly in her eyes.
"Do you know what your little friends did? They killed Mason!" Katherine hisses to her.
"What?" Cassandra asks, alarmed.
Katherine slams her against the wall and she has the decency to cringe at the pain that curses through her head. She doesn't even understand why she's being attacked. She's done nothing, nothing at all.
"That's not—Kat, I can't breathe," she says, her voice strangled.
"What am I supposed to do know, uh? Now, I'm minus a moonstone and in terrible need of a werewolf and it seems to me it's all because of you!" she says, angry. "And we need to do something to repair that."
"You can't kill me." She manages out, still struggling for air. She puts one hand around Katherine's wrist, trying to rip it off her neck but fails.
"No, but unless you want me to hand you over to Klaus or Elijah, whoever one comes first, in a silver platter, you will do anything I say." Katherine threatens.
That makes her pause on her struggling. She looks at Katherine for a moment before glaring fiercely. Katherine immediately lets go off of her and grabs her head, letting out a cry of pain. With a flip of her wrist, Katherine goes flying to the other side of the room, knocking down a lamp as she falls into a small table.
"First of all, I haven't gotten out of this house in four days," she says.
That's true, after Liz's attempt at killing her she decided to have some alone time, away from everything. This is unbelievable. She leaves for a while and the main key in their plan dies.
"Second of all, Elijah and Klaus haven't killed you yet because of me, so don't threaten me with that. I'll be doing nothing." She spats at the brunette.
"And third of all, why don't you use your head instead of flipping out? We always have a plan B, remember? There's Tyler Lockwood, just make sure he triggers the curse," she tells the brunette.
Finally, she stops glaring at her and waits patiently until Katherine regains her composure. The brunette sits up, an annoyed look on her face, and helps herself up by supporting herself on the love seat. She straightens her shirt and studies the redhead. She hates that Cassandra is right. Of course, she can't hand her over to either original, they freaking adore the ground she walks on. Why or how that is, Katherine doesn't know. But Katherine needs help on her plan and Lucy is not help enough. She hates to admit it but she misses spending time with Red and ever since Cass started to hang out with the Salvatore brothers, she never has time for her. Cassandra wont help her willingly now, not after how she treated her. Fortunately for Katherine, she knows exactly how to make her cooperate.
"Fine, we'll make sure he triggers the curse tonight and the Salvatores will give us the moonstone tonight as well… two birds with one stone."
"Wait, there's no 'we' in this," Cass says.
"Yes, there is. You're going to help me, not only tonight but as long as it takes for me to go through the plan." Katherine retorts.
"Why is that?" Cassandra asks sarcastically.
"Because if you don't, instead of using Blondie for the sacrifice… I'll hand over Damon." Katherine threatens.
Both women study each other cautiously. Cassandra tries not to show any emotion, not even in her eyes. Outside, she looks like what Kat told her is the most boring thing ever. Inside, she's freaking out. Klaus might not hurt her, or well not kill her, but he'd definitely kill Damon. He's her ultimate weakness, Katherine knows that. After a while, the brunette smirks and turns to the door. She knows she won. When she reaches it, she turns and lifts an eyebrow at Cass.
"Come on, Red. We need to go shopping for tonight." She says.
"What's tonight?" Cass frowns.
"It's the masquerade ball, of course." Katherine smirks and goes out the door. Then she walks back in, a sassy look on her face and says: "Oh, and Happy Birthday, Red."
Cassandra rolls her eyes and, grabbing her coat, follows after her. Yeah, she hates coming back to Mystic Falls.
...
"Put the bags over there, please," Katherine orders the old lady as she and Red walk into the room.
Cassandra glares slightly at the old vampire and sits down comfortably. She loves Kat's room. It so full of light, so white.
"Thank you, Mrs. Flowers, you've been wonderful help." Katherine smiles at the old lady.
"My pleasure, dear. Tell me if there's anything else I can do," the woman says, looking at both girls.
She walks out of the room, a small smile still on her face, and closes the door after her. Cass gets up and moves to the several shopping bags. She's got to admit they bought a little too much. She takes out two particular dresses, still undecided as to which one she'll use. Katherine is doing pretty much the same, expect that she already knows what dress she's using. Then a sound makes Cassandra look up. Through the mirror, she sees Lucy sneaking up on them. She looks down again. She does not get along with the annoying Bennet witch. Katherine flashes toward the woman and pushes her to the wall without using much force, Lucy gasps a little but her face goes back to emotionless.
"Woah, Kat, chill," Lucy says, lifting her hands up.
"Don't sneak on a vampire," Katherine retorts.
"Don't attack a witch," the tan-skinned woman says. "I'm glad to see you, girl." She smiles at Katherine.
Cassandra watches as Katherine pulls her in for a hug. She meets Lucy's eyes and the witch nods at her, she gives her a polite smile. One that seems fake even to her. Then Katherine pulls away and smirks at her.
"I'm glad you made it," the brunette says.
"You called, I came."
"Like you had a choice." Katherine says while she gives her a pointed look.
"Don't get all bossy on me, you know I love you." The human pouts at Katherine.
She then starts to look around the room, glancing inside some of the bags. She then takes a mask out and examines it closely. Putting it up to her face, she squints at Katherine through the mask's eye holes.
"now, where does one wear this to?" she wonders out loud.
"To a masquerade ball," Katherine explains. Then, as an after thought, she adds. "want to be my date?"
"I thought I was your date," Cassandra says.
"You can always find yourself another date, maybe Matt." Katherine suggests, lifting an eyebrow.
Cassandra gets the hint and fishes her phone out of her bag. Dialing Matt's number, she patiently waits for him to answer. When he does, she smiles.
"Matt, hi," she says cheerfully. "Are you going to the masquerade ball tonight?"
"Yeah, I am. Why?"
"Well, I was wondering if you could be my date." She says in a bubbly voice that reminds her of Caroline.
She's met by silence. She turns to Kat and makes a face at her, signalizing with her hand to the phone. Katherine simple moves her hand, signaling to press the matter.
"Cass, I just went out of a relationship and—"
"Oh, no, no, no" she laughs. "Not like that. I meant as friends."
"I still don't know…"
"Matt, I'm begging you here. I don't have a date, that's a girl's worst nightmare." She puts all the right amount of desperation so he'll give in.
"Okay, I'll be your date."
"Thank you so much, Matt. See you at seven." With that she hangs up and turns to Kat with a satisfied smile. "Will you tell me now why you want him to be there?"
"All in good time, Red." Katherine smirks, passing her fingers through the lace of her dress.
...
"Hey, I got your message," Bonnie says as she enters the Boarding House.
"And you brought the grimore, good." Stefan nods.
They both start to walk into the parlor when Bonnie realizes the place is hectic. Alaric passes past them with a stake on his hand and toward a table full of other woodened weapons. Damon is leaning into the table, inspecting every weapon carefully.
"What's going on?" Bonnie slowly asks.
"We are gonna kill Katherine," Jeremy says excitedly, pausing in front of her before quickly moving toward the other men.
Bonnie pauses in her step and turns to Stefan.
"I can explain," Stefan starts, putting his hands together.
"Please."
"We…" he pauses and looks for a way to say this gently. There's no way. "…are gonna kill Katherine."
...
"What's with the hair?" Lucy asks as she watches how Katherine straightens her hair with Cass' straightening iron.
"Well, she's decided to impersonate Elena Gilbert, her doppelganger." Cassandra drawls.
"She has incredibly bad taste," Katherine adds.
"Except in men," Lucy says to Cassandra.
She giggles and goes back to looking at herself in the mirror. She leans in and applies the black eyeliner on her top-eyelid, adding a little tail at the end of it. she does the same to her other eye slowly and carefully. Once she's done, she turns to the other women.
"She wants to retrieve the moonstone tonight." She says to Lucy.
"I thought it was a myth." The witch frowns.
"Nope, it is very much real," she comments as she gets up. "And the three of us will get it tonight."
"Why? What do you want it for?"
The two vampires watch each other silently. The witch notices the exchange and suddenly everything clicks.
"You want to break the curse."
"Let's just get it first." Katherine looks down.
"You're here for back-up; I suppose Damon will not hand it over easily." Cassandra adds before going to get dress.
...
Stefan, Damon, Alaric, Jeremy, Caroline and Bonnie stand in the Salvatore living room. Everyone has their doubts, their excitements, their worries but they're not about to show them. They have a plan, one they'll go through with.
"So if anyone wants to back out… this is the time," Stefan voices everyone's thoughts.
"Yeah, cold-feeted leave now…" Damon glances at Caroline. "Caroline," he drawls.
"Don't look at me! The bitch killed me, fair is fair." Caroline shrieks.
"Bonnie?"
Five pairs of eyes go to Bonnie, she squirms under their gazes. Once she makes her mind up, she takes a step forward, head held high.
"No one gets hurt." She states.
"Expect Katherine," Stefan corrects.
"Tonight Katherine gets a stake through her heart." Damon finishes, looking around the room and wondering why is it that Cassandra hasn't made an appearance yet.
...
"Matt, there you are."
Matt Donovan turns around to see how Cassandra makes her way over to him. She wears a black and royal blue strapless dress that reaches her mid-thigh. The bodice reaches until her waist and then the skirt starts. Her red hair is curled perfectly and her mask matches the Tibi Vasily Jacquard dress.
"Cass, wow, you look beautiful," He comments as she kisses his cheek.
"And you are just dashing in a suit." She takes her time to give him a once over before shaking her head and going to business. "So, what are you supposed to do?"
Matt's expression immediately goes blank. "I'm going to provoke Tyler Lockwood until he snaps and I won't stop until he kills me."
She's not surprised at all. Of course Kat would use him as bait. Dramatic as it is, it seems very classical, as in Greek-novel classical, to have the werewolf kill his best friend and trigger the curse.
"Yes, ugh, I wish you didn't have to die." She shakes her head. "Well, move along." She waves her hand so he'll leave.
...
Damon stands in the middle of the crowd; he's eyes searching for any sigh of Katherine. Or at least, they used to. Now he's searching every face, looking into every mask to see if she came. Until now he's not successful. He doesn't get it. She's been everywhere since she first came here. She's friends with everyone, helps everyone. And suddenly, she disappeared. He's almost scared to think she left town. He still doesn't know whose side she's on, but he desperately wants her to be on his. Then his eyes finally find her. She's walking around, looking at everyone for a second before passing to another person. He inwardly wishes she's looking for him; he dismisses the idea as soon as it comes up. He flashes to her and she turns quickly. Then, her face lights up in a smile when she sees it's him.
"I thought you'd left town." He smirks. Her smile falters a little but she says nothing. "I—you look gorgeous tonight." He adds, deciding to say what he's always wanted to tell her, at least once.
"Thank you," she says, a little surprised. "You don't look too bad yourself."
"Want to dance? It is kind of tradition," he tells her and she laughs.
"You're right."
She takes his arm and they make their way to the dance floor. She puts her hand on his shoulder and grasps his other hand as Damon puts his hand on her waist. There's little to no distance between them and, somehow, the hand hat was on his shoulder moves up to his neck, where she can play a little with his hair.
"Happy Birthday," he whispers on her ear.
"Thank you, I didn't think you'd remember." She closes her eyes, enjoying the little time of peace.
"I always remember."
She opens her eyes at that. Once again pushing the hope that emerges to the back of her head. Soon, she finds Katherine dancing with Stefan all the way to the other side of the dance floor.
"Give me the moonstone, Damon, please." She begs.
"What makes you think I have it?" he asks as he twirls her around.
"Damon… please, she's serious. I don't want anyone to get hurt." She says.
"Then don't help her." He says harshly as he twirls her toward him.
She stumbles into his chest and tries to step away but he keeps her there. She looks up and her eyes find his clear blue ones. She knows then she's doomed. Before she knows what's happening, her eyes are filled with tears. She has to help her, otherwise, he's dead. She knows Katherine will go through with her threat and she's not so sure she'll be able to live without Damon. Of course, she hasn't seen him in 145 years but all this time she's know where he is, what he's doing. She just got him back, she can't lose him again.
"Cassie?" he frowns, loosening his hold on her.
"I—I can't." She shakes her head. "She—she's going to…" her voice trails off as she sees how Katherine kills Amy right in front of Stefan.
This is enough. Katherine is her friend but she's crossed the line. She will not be afraid of her. She might've been sometime in the past but not anymore.
"I'll see you later," she quickly says before walking the other way.
Damon stands there, confused, before cursing loudly. He almost had her. She was about to say everything she knew, she was about to say she'd be on their side but he let her get away.
...
"Lucy! I need to tell you something."
The witch stops near a table full with different kinds of cheese and breads. She takes a piece and starts to eat it delicately.
"There's another witch, a Bennet." Cassandra continues.
"That changes things." Lucy puts the piece of cheese on a napkin.
"They're planning something, Lucy, and we need to help them." Cassandra continues.
The witch studies the vampire before saying:
"Why? What's in it for you?"
"She threatened the one person I love the most, Lucy. If she hadn't, I wouldn't be helping at all."
"Then I'll help you." Lucy promises.
...
"It's that one," Caroline says miserably.
Katherine angrily lets go off Caroline's hair and walks into the room not even hesitating, Cassandra foolishly follows. That is her first mistake. She stops immediately when she senses the magic in the air. Looking down she realizes she's already pass the door, no going back now. She cursers under her breath.
"I did it!" Caroline cheers. "I never thought I'd be able to fool you, but I did!"
Katherine turns to glare at her but Caroline doesn't even flinch. She's too happy to do so. Cass walks into the room carefully, trying to even out the panic bubbling inside her. They hate Katherine, not her. They're not going to kill her; they wouldn't dare, would they?
"Hello, Stefan," she says once she spots him.
"Hello, Cassandra, Katherine." He nods at both of them as he plays with a stake.
Katherine turns to face him, a frown on her face as she notices the stake. Cassandra starts to breathe a little faster as the panic inside her increases. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath in. they're not going to kill her; they're killing Katherine tonight, not her.
"Goodbye, Katherine." She hears Caroline say but doesn't turn. Her eyes only follow the movement of Stefan's stake.
"You won't kill me," Katherine says confidently.
"No,"—Stefan glances behind Katherine's shoulder.—"but he will."
Cassandra turns around at the same time Damon appears from one of the adjunct rooms with a crossbow on his hands. He targets at Katherine and shoots. She gasps in pain and stumbles forward.
"That gotta hurt," Cassandra comments.
She walks past the older vampire and toward one of the couches, sitting down comfortably and crossing her legs. Katherine glares at her.
"You're not going to help me?" she asks.
"Mmm, you see… I don't think so." Cassandra turns her face to Stefan. "Can I have one, Stef?"
Stefan hesitates but hands Cassandra the stake. She aims and sends it flying. It hits her right shoulder and she hisses, one of her hands flying to it.
"We had a deal," Katherine manages out.
"Yes, just like we did in 1759 and in 1530 and in 1863 and in 1943…" She counts with her fingers and pauses, noticing the way the brunette narrows her eyes at her. She leans in. "You see, Kat, I've come to the realization that I never got to get back at you for vervaining me and forcing me to come here."
Katherine Pierce gets up and rips both stakes out of her body. She's seething. Cassandra will not tell her what to do. Back when Cass was a first rate ripper, she did control her a bit but only a bit. Their friendship is based on that, treasons and savings and more betrayals. That's normal but this is very serious. Katherine's life depends on this. Taking a step forward to her redheaded friend, and ignoring the men with them, she looks her in the eye and says:
"I will go through with what I told you."
"I'd like to see you try."
Cassandra doesn't even bat an eyelash and that's when Katherine realizes that threatening Damon might not have been her best move. Cassandra has always done anything for love, anything. She should have known Cass wasn't just going to let her threaten him. She was obviously going to fight back.
"I'm tired of playing games and not knowing if I can trust you or not. I want real friends, Kat, for once in my life." She adds.
She looks at the brunette right in the eye, watches how slowly but surely the meaning of her words get to her, how she's not so angry anymore. Katherine Pierce suddenly feels alone. She's always been alone but she knew Cass would always be there for her. Then, after a pause, Cass looks over at Damon.
"She's all yours, boys," she tells the Salvatores as she leans down on the couch.
Following her command, the brothers spring into action. Stefan jumps at Katherine, a new stake in his hand and ready to strike but she's faster, older, and pushes him backward. Stefan jumps up, as if the fall didn't affect him at all. Katherine gets angry at this. Damon comes up behind her and tries to stab her but she whirls around and takes the stake from his hand, pushing him against a wall and knocking several paintings and photo pictures off of the wall.
Cassandra flinches but tries not to act. She knows Katherine will try to put the stake through Damon's heart and she's itching to flash forward and take her down herself but this isn't her fight and she cares about both parties so she'll have to be impartial.
Stefan uses the compressed-air devise Alaric gave him and starts to send stake after stake flying at Katherine. She avoids them all and even grabs two and sends them back at Stefan. He ducks before they hit him. Damon sees and opportunity and pounces on her but she hears him before he reaches her and turns around, grabs his arms and pulls him to the floor harshly. Damon groans but tries to get up anyway. He takes the last stake he has left and tries to kill the goddamn bitch once and for all; but he's tired and she's 400 years older than him and it's not surprise to him when she forces his arm backwards and starts to move the stake closer to his own heart.
He tries to push her away but she's using all her strength. The stake is closer to his heart now, almost touching the soft fabric of his suit. The only thing in his mind is that he can't die now, let alone at the hands of Katherine Pierce. Suddenly, Katherine's eyes widen and she's pulled away from him. He looks up, surprised, only to discover that Cassie has Katherine's hair on her fist and is dragging the bitch across the room by the hair. She thrusts Katherine into Stefan's arms, who immediately puts her into a headlock and sends both of them into the floor. Damon positions himself above them, ready to, finally, run the stake through Katherine's heart. Cassandra covers her eyes with her hands, she doesn't want to look.
"Stop!" a voice reaches them.
Cassandra opens her eyes to see Jeremy near the door of the room. His face is scared and desperate. Everyone in the room freezes, turning to look at him expectantly.
"Everything you do is hurting Elena! You're hurting Elena!" he explains quickly.
Cassandra turns to look at Katherine. It all makes sense now; that's why Lucy is here, because Katherine knows she wouldn't hurt Elena but Lucy would. Katherine smirks as she pushes both Salvatore brothers off of her.
"You think you're the only ones with a witch on your side? Something tells me mine is better than yours." Katherine moves across the room, putting a safe distance between her and the brothers without making it too obvious.
The two brothers turn to Cassandra and she shakes her head.
"Don't look at me; I didn't even know what was really going to happen tonight." She snaps.
"Jeremy go make sure Elena's okay, go!" Stefan orders.
Jeremy rushes down the hallway and down the stairs, hoping that Bonnie has a spell on mind that can save his sister.
"Go make sure Elena's okay, poor Elena." Katherine complains sarcastically. "Well, this is sure going to hurt," she says seriously.
Katherine puts the stake in her hand and presses down, making a straight line down her palm. Blood pours out of the wound. She looks up and regards each member of the room before grabbing the stake with both hands and preparing to plunge it into her stomach.
"Wait!" Damon yells right before the stake punctures Katherine's stomach.
Cassandra looks at him, trying to mask her heartache. He just proved what he had denied four days ago while they sat in that piano. Damon Salvatore loves Elena Gilbert and not her. And there's nothing she can do about it. Katherine smirks at her, triumphant.
"Okay," she says, walking to the red couch Cassandra is sitting on and sitting down next to her. "How about that moonstone?"
"And it's the four of us all over again, just like old times," Said Katherine.
...
Damon stands in the doorway, looking longingly outside and trying to get out of the room. Stefan simply stands in the middle of the room, not really knowing how to proceed, while Cassandra stands by the window, looking at her reflection and trying not to cry. She's second best again, the rebound. Not even that. She's just a feeble distraction from what he truly desires. She closes her eyes at the pain on her chest. This is by far the worst birthday she's ever had. And it's her 531th birthday.
"The brother who never loved me enough,"—Katherine points at Stefan.—"the brother who loved me way too much,"—she looks at Damon with annoyance.—"And the expert player who lost at her own game."
Cassandra turns from the window at that but chooses to say nothing. Katherine is right of course. She started thinking she'd break their hearts, and she ended up having her heart broken in return. Karma is a bitch, she supposes.
"And the evil slut who never loved anyone but herself." Damon comments.
"What happened to the sweet caring Damon?" Katherine asks, walking up to him.
"Oh, that Damon died a long time ago."
"Good, he was a bore." Katherine deadpans.
"Can you, please, stop antagonizing each other? It's old and a little boring," Cass interrupts, turning fully away from the window.
"Fine, let's talk about you. Did you know little Cassandra has a little dirty secret she hasn't shared yet?" Katherine smirks. "Now that I think about it, two little secrets. One of them involves you." She twirls her finger around the Salvatores, not giving away which brother is involved in the redhead's secret.
"Katherine…" Cassandra warns.
"The other one, though, is much darker." Katherine continues, pretending she didn't hear her. "It'll creep you out, it's about her—"
"Shut up! Shut up, now!" she yells at Katherine.
Her emotions flare up and, with that, so does her magic. The windows bust open and a powerful wind goes inside, while the lights go on and off. The brothers look at her, shocked. They've never seen her lose her temper like this. Katherine, however, simply smirks.
"Mmm, I haven't seen you like this in a very long time. Careful, Red, your unsound expression might be showing," Katherine taunts.
The anger disappears from her face and is replaced by shock and then utter fear. Stefan watches as she lets herself fall to the floor right on her butt and stays there, looking at a spot on the rug. The moment her sparkling green eyes look up to meet his leaf-green ones, the wind stops and the lights go back to normal. She looks down again, pressing a hand to her mouth.
"Good, you're prettier when quiet. Now, where's the moonstone?" Katherine turns to Stefan.
"What do you want with it?" he asks instead.
She rolls her eyes and starts to pace around the room, touching everything within distance.
"Does Elena enjoy having both of you worship the floor that she touches?" Katherine suddenly turns around, smirking at Damon.
"That was really desperate, Katherine." Stefan takes a step forward. "Don't you think we can see right through you?"
"It doesn't bother you that you've fallen for me all over again?" Katherine avoids once again Stefan's questions.
Cassandra starts to feel like they're all in a real game. They're all pieces, including Katherine, and usually, she'd know who had the upper hand. Tonight, she doesn't know and that stresses her out.
"Stop it." Stefan grits his teeth.
"Or what? you'll hurt me? Everything I feel, Elena feels…" Katherine pauses and twirls on her step, facing Damon. "Kiss me, Damon. Elena will feel that, too."
Cass looks up at that, her mouth no longer covered by her hand. There's one single tear in her left cheek but she lets it dry on its own. She watches carefully as Damon smirks sarcastically before his smirk turns bitter.
"I'm a little confused, though. Why a werewolf?" Stefan asks, bringing the attention to himself. "The moonstone breaks a curse that helps them rid the world off vampires. What's in it for you?"
Katherine regards him and opens her mouth to answer but Damon beats her to it.
"Sorry about your pet, by the way," he says, trying to tick her off. "Should've kept him in a tighter leash."
Cassandra slowly gets up; cringing at the pain the high-heels give her feet, she takes off her mask. She walks to stand next to Stefan, tonight's favorite person for her. He locks eyes with her and sends a silent message: are you okay?. She shakes her head. She's far from okay.
"I'll make sure to remember that next time; he's not the only wolf around." Katherine shrugs as she, once again, sits down on the red couch.
...
"Where's that witch?" Damon mutters from the door.
Everyone ignores him.
"You're a witch, can't you unspell it?" he suddenly asks Cassandra.
She's still standing close to Stefan, almost using him as armour. When Damon suddenly addresses her, she looks up and he notices how she doesn't exactly meet his eyes but looks at other parts of his face.
"Unfortunately for all of us, when it comes to some spells, like this one, the witch who makes the spell is the only one able to make the counter-spell," She replies coolly.
Damon frowns lightly at her. She's been acting weirder than ever tonight.
"We could always play charades," Katherine suggests to Damon.
"You bargained the moonstone," Stefan tells Katherine, who falters on her step, before looking at Cass for confirmation. "When you made the deal with George Lockwood, you said you gave him something he needed. It was the moonstone, wasn't it?"
"Yes, Stef, two plus two." Cassandra congratulates, adding a mocking tone to bother Katherine. "And it would have worked perfectly if it hadn't been for a certain someone." Both she and Katherine shoot Damon a look.
"Yes, and now everyone is finding out I was never in that tomb," Katherine adds. "Have I mentioned how inconvenient your little obsession with me has been for me?" She asks Damon.
He smirks and moves to serve himself a glass of scotch. Then, as he brings his full glass to his lips, he says sarcastically:
"You and me both, honey."
"Why do you need it back?" Stefan asks again, desperately trying to get answers.
"Have I ever told you how hot you are in a suit?" Katherine gives him a once over, biting her lip.
"Why did you have it in the first place?" Stefan asks instead, crossing his arms across his arms and showing he's not even affected by Kat's confession.
"You're wasting your time." Damon rolled his eyes.
"Unless… unless it wasn't yours on the first place. In 1864 you both faked your own deaths, who were you running from?" Stefan asks, realization dawning on his face.
Katherine sends a look at Cassandra. Behind the bore in her eyes, there's fear. Fear because Stefan discovered one of their secrets and Cass is pretty sure her eyes reflect the same alarm.
"In 1986 we were in Chicago and so were you," Katherine improvises. "you were with that wench Lexi at a Bon Jovi concert."
Stefan looks at her, surprised. She smirks and moves forward.
"Come on, Stefan, don't look so surprised. Of coursed I watched over you through the years. You were in the front row, dancing all night. You were watching Bon Jovi and we were watching you." Katherine finishes, touching Stefan's chest lightly.
"Oh, no, I was definitely watching Bon Jovi." Cassandra corrects, shaking her head and making Damon chuckle.
"Who were you running from?" Stefan repeats, unfazed.
Katherine simply mouths 'I love you' to Stefan and is disappointed when he doesn't react.
...
"We're missing the party," Cassandra pouts. "This isn't fair, it's my birthday." She looks outside the window to the garden, where everyone's dancing and laughing and drinking.
Stefan glances at her. He had totally forgotten that today is, indeed, her birthday. Now he feels bad.
"I'll have one of those." Katherine tells Damon, who is serving himself another drink.
"Right away, Miss Katherine." He mocks while handing her a glass.
When she takes it, he takes the opportunity and, taking a stake out of his sleeve, slams her against the wall, aiming at her heart. Stefan and Cassandra immediately shout out for him to stop.
"Yes, Damon, please, do it." Katherine smirks. "When did you get so hot?"
She looks him up and down but then gives him a bored look. Cassandra feels a pang on her chest for him; Katherine obviously did that to bother him.
"I swear once the spell is off—"
Damon gets interrupted by another voice that comes from the door.
"Cassandra."
The four of the turn to see Lucy standing there with her arms crossed. Cassandra walks forward, nodding at Lucy. The witch lifts her hand and shows her the moonstone, Cassandra smiles. She walks as close to the door as she can and stretches out her hand.
"My debt here is paid," Lucy says to Katherine.
"Yes, now give it." Katherine replies, annoyed.
Lucy hands Cassandra the moonstone. The two women share a long look; Lucy narrows her eyes while Cassandra simply rolls hers. Katherine starts to walk to Cassandra, her hand already stretched so Cass can give her the moonstone.
"Cass, don't do it," Stefan says.
But Cassandra isn't paying attention; instead she's focusing in the cold stone in her hands. Then, she hands over the stone to Katherine. Katherine smirks for about two seconds before the spell makes effect. She starts to choke up, feeling like the air doesn't enter her lungs. Her eyes find Cass' and she inwardly curses. She should've never threatened Damon; she can see that clearly in Cass' eyes, which are cold as ice. Katherine falls to her knees, before lying unconscious on the floor.
"Wait, Elena!" Stefan calls out, alarmed.
"Elena is perfectly fine and already healing," Cassandra says. "Now, if you excuse me, I'm going home." She sends Katherine one last glance before walking out of the room.
...
She sits in her living room, the coziness of the couch doing nothing but making her feel loner. The T.V. is off, there's only one little lamp on, right on one corner of the room, and her eyes are stuck to the clock on the wall. 11:59. in less than ten seconds her birthday would end. She knows it's stupid, that she shouldn't care about a birthday. She's had many others, anyway. But this one has definitely been the worse of them all. Not even the one she spent with Klaus was this bad, in fact, now that she thinks of it, that one was the best. How ironic.
Then, there's a knock on her door. She doesn't move. The knocking keeps going until she gets tired of it and walks up to the door.
"What?" she snaps as she opens the door.
Stefan Salvatore stands there, wearing an apologetic smile and a small card box on his hands. Cassandra examines him before moving so he can come in. they walk into the living room, where they sit on the white couch.
"I know it's,"—he clears his throat.—"late but… Happy Birthday." He opens the card box to reveal five frosted cupcakes.
Cassandra's eyes go from the sweets to Stefan's face and back again. She feels her eyes water as she laughs.
"You're one minute late, but thank you, Stef." She smiles, her eyes shining with tears.
Stefan puts the box of cupcakes on the table and leans in to give her a hug. She sniffs a little, trying not to break down once again.
"I know it's been a rough night for you, I though you deserved a small happy moment." He starts. "I would've bought a cake but, considering the hour, that's the best I could find."
"It's perfect. I love cupcakes." She says as she leans away from the hug, glad to finally have her emotions on check.
She grabs one cupcake with white frosting and hands it to Stefan before grabbing one with red frosting for herself. They eat in silence and it isn't until both of them are on their second cupcake that Stefan speaks.
"About what you said to Katherine… I'm your real friend, Cass, you can trust me."
"I know that but… I've been friends with her for 500 years and it was so hard to see her—I don't think I'd have been able to see you kill her." She looks down.
"But you did that weird thing to her that allowed Damon to put her in the tomb."
Cassandra lifts her eyes to meet his and he gets it. He nods as he finishes his cupcake. The clock's ticking fills the silence and she starts to look around the room. She sacrificed all that, risked so much tonight for a man who doesn't even love her. A man who doesn't even considers her as relationship material. She's been literally friend-zoned again.
"She threatened Damon." He nods.
"Yes, she knows I do anything for love so she thought that would make me cooperate. I guess she didn't count on me stabbing her in the back." Cassandra plays with the tip of her hair. Stefan listens in silent. "At the end of the day it doesn't really matter because he's in love with Elena." She gets up and starts to pace.
"Is there something wrong with me? It has to be that, Stefan. There's something wrong with me. That's why every man I've ever fancied or loved chooses Katherine or my sister, why every relationship I've ever had ends the wrong way. I can't be loved, can I? I'm too clingy or annoying or something. Am I emotionally unstable? Is that why no one loves me? Is that why he doesn't love—" her voice cracks at the end and the tears that she had been holding onto finally slip out of her eyes.
"No, no, that's not true." Stefan reaches out to take her hand and pulls her down next to him.
"Yes, yes, it is." She cries.
"No, you listen to me. You're one of the best people I've ever met and you're kind and definitely not emotionally unstable." He corrects her as he grabs her by the shoulders so she has to meet his eyes.
"I am?"
"Yes." He affirms.
"Then why can't he love me?" she sobs, finally letting it all out.
Stefan lets her cry into his chest as he hugs her again, feeling bad for her. Cassandra deserves to be loved and he's incredibly angry at his brother for hurting her this way.
"I just want to get over him for good, Stefan, but I can't. Every time I think I finally did it, I'll be in a big city and look up and he'll be sitting in the other side of the room or walking by and I fall for him all over again." She rants, tears still streaming down her face.
"It's okay, maybe you'll be able to do so one day. No one ever realizes when they're over someone, one day they simply are," Stefan tells her.
He hugs her until she stops crying and she leans away. She gives him a small smile, glad to have a friend like Stefan. He sends her one back.
"How's Elena?"
"Well, she still thinks we shouldn't be together." Stefan's face falls.
"She loves you with all her heart, Stefan. She'll come around, don't worry." Cassandra retorts.
"Yeah, I'm not worried about me, though. Are you okay?" He asks her.
"No, not at all," She shakes her head. "But I will be. I'm strong, I've always been." She admits.
That night, Stefan stays and they spend the entire night talking about everything and nothing, really trying to get the friendship they used to have back.