Chapter 14: The Surrender.
Cassandra knocks on the Gilbert household's door. She crosses her arms and sighs as she waits for Elena or whoever to open the door. Finally, the door is opened and Elena gives her a smile.
"Cass, come on in." she smiles, glad to have her friend with her.
The moment both Salvatores appeared in her doorstep, she knew the news wouldn't be good. She needed a friend by her side and immediately thought of Cass, that's why she told them she wouldn't hear a word until Cassandra was present. Surprisingly enough, Damon was a little hesitant about having the redhead over but Elena wouldn't have it.
"Yeah, you called, I came, whatever." She walks past her and toward the kitchen, already bored with this.
Elena follows her to the kitchen with a frown on her face. Well, that was not what she expected.
"Well, hello, boys. What has got your panties in a twist?" She asks them sarcastically as she leans on the counter.
Damon doesn't say anything, patiently waiting for her to explode on him in the least expected moment but she doesn't even look his way. It's like he's not in the room. Stefan looks at his brother and nods, deciding to tell the story. Turns out they went to the tomb and talked to Katherine or something like that, she tried to bargain the moonstone with her freedom and the promise that she'd disappear forever, typical Kat.
"You don't believe her, do you?" Elena asks.
"Of course not, we just want the moonstone." Damon scoffs as if the mere idea of him believing Katherine was a capital felony.
"According to Rose's friend, Slater, the moonstone could be used to destroy the spell that Klaus wants to break." Stefan explains to the two women.
"No spell, no doppelganger sacrifice… ergo, you live," Damon tells Elena with a tone that suggests he just discovered America.
"Yeah, which sounds like a big nasty pile of BS to me but if you want to live in a dream, be my guest," Cassandra says as she checks her recently polished nails.
She hopes she managed to clean all the blood from under them. She scoffs in her mind. Please, she's Cassandra Woodhouse, of course she did. She moves to grab a glass of water.
"How… how do we destroy the curse?" Elena asks once she realizes nobody's trying to question the redhead's odd behavior.
"By releasing it from the moonstone," Stefan says.
"Wait, how do you guys even know this will work?" Elena asks again, running a hand through her hair in a stressed manner.
"Because we have a crafty witch on our side," Damon tells her cockily.
"Who is not me, in case you're wondering." Cassandra adds as she takes a sip from her glass. "I get it you finally followed my advice? How did little Bennet take it?" She asks Damon, her tone of voice bored.
Damon opens his mouth but no words come. She stares at him blankly. Once she realizes Damon's brain is not working correctly today, or ever, she turns to Stefan who quickly gives her the answers she wants.
"She's agreed to do anything we need to do." He nods.
"You do realize Katherine is not just going to hand the moonstone, right?" Elena tells them.
"Well, what he means is that we're planning to pry it from her cold dead hands." Damon grins.
Everyone's eyes go to the redhead in a flash. She blinks at them, her face a cold mask. There's no worry for her caged friend, no protests of not killing her like there was before. Worry starts to brew in everyone's stomach.
"Well, it seems like you guys have it all figured out, congratulations." Cassandra starts to clap at them in pure mockery.
"Except for one thing…" Elena drawls, earning everyone's attention. "I don't want you to do it."
This even makes Cassandra look up. Elena has lost it. She has lost it and no one has realized it until now.
"What?" she asks, momentarily going to her normal self and allowing a small amount of shock into her word.
"Well, what about Klaus?" Elena asked.
"We'll find him." Stefan assured.
"Is that before or after he kills every single person I care about, including the three of you?" Elena demanded, signaling between the two brothers.
"We're just trying to save you, Elena." Stefan insists.
"I know," Elena says. "That's all you've been talking about."
With that, she leaves the room. Cassandra turns to the two vampires, they look at her hopefully, expecting her to open her mouth and save the day but, instead, she simply turns around and leaves the house.
….
Cassandra knocks on Dr. Jonas Martin's door and waits impatiently. How hard can it be for someone to open the door? Humans can be so useless sometimes. Finally, the door is opened and Martin appears in front of her with a frown.
"Yes, how can I help you?" the man says cautiously.
"I am here to speak to your friend Elijah." She explains.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Martin shakes his head, obviously lying.
"And you obviously don't know who I am either. Let's clear something out: I can rip out your throat without even touching you. And I won't even hesitate." She smirks at him.
The man doesn't even blink; he's obviously accustomed to deal with vampires. He takes a step forward but doesn't step out of the threshold.
"Try," he dares her.
She reconsiders him for a minute, focusing hard on his aura. There are many colors mixed together but the predominant is grey and mustard. He's angry, hurt, depressed. She sees her advantage right there.
"I've done my homework. You're married, two kids. I suppose your wife died, and so did your daughter, right? It would be really sad if something were to happen to Luka as well. You would end up all alone," she says slowly, almost mockingly.
"Come in," he says, stepping aside and letting her in.
She regards the small apartment with nothing on her face. She admits it's a relatively small apartment; all the grimores around it, piled all around the living room, makes the place look even smaller.
"Cassandra, I see you've come. I must admit I thought you'd come sooner." Elijah's smooth voice reaches her and she turns.
Elijah is standing near the window, wearing a fancy suit and his hair perfectly combed. She meets his eyes and doesn't flinch like she did last time, she doesn't recoil. He notices the difference between the passionate Cassandra he last met and this carcass. She has turned off her emotions.
"Yes… I got hold up. I get it you killed Slater?" she comments, walking around and passing her hands through the many grimores.
"That was merely collateral damage." He retorts without missing a beat.
She hums in answer and makes her way slowly closer to him. He looks at her cautiously, knowing very well that an emotionless Cassandra is a ticking bomb waiting for the precise moment to explode. Once she's standing right in front of him, she tilts her head to the side in a I'm-confused-would-you-like-to-explain-the-world-t o-me kind of way.
"I don't understand, Elijah. Why haven't you kidnapped Elena yet? She was all alone yesterday, unprotected…" she says as she puts one finger on his chest and starts to play with his tie.
"Do you want me to take your friend?" he asks back, ignoring the effect her touch has on him. He's not that man anymore and he's not stupid enough to become that man again, Cassandra is nothing but an old acquaintance.
"No, I just think it's weird… after all the time you spent chasing Katerina and me, I thought you'd do the same with Elena…" she pauses, looking up at him with fake innocence. Innocence they both know she doesn't posses, probably never has. "Unless… unless you don't want people to know she's alive. You don't want Niklaus to find out the doppelganger is alive…"
He moves out of her way, maneuvering around the many books until he reaches the table. She follows him with her monotonous green eyes. He hates that she discovered his real plan so quickly, but he can always pretend she's wrong.
"Your desperation for information is tangible, it radiates off of you. I can see your methods haven't improved," he informs her.
"A very effective method I learned from Katherine." She shrugs.
"You see that's not quiet true," he says as he sits down.
He remembers her using the same methods to get whatever she wanted back when she was human, now they're just intensified.
"You're right… Katherine just taught me how to master them." She pauses and points at him. "Speaking of… have you seen her yet?"
She curses at herself for the British accent that etches itself to her words. Great Britain, London, Brighton, all of that was part of her humanity. The humanity that had been so difficult for her to le go off, the humanity that had almost resurfaced when she met Damon's eyes that very morning. The humanity she had successfully buried again. But the more time she spent around British people, the more her mind was filled with old memories. Memories she has been trying to erase for 500 years. Shaking her head, she focuses back on what's going on right now.
Elijah inwardly groans at her but keeps his face stoic. She blinks boringly at him, waiting for him to break. It'll eventually happen. She's pushing his buttons, she knows it's only a matter of time and she has plenty of patience. The minutes tick pass as they both look at each other. She starts to get tired of this. Who is she kidding? She doesn't have patience, none at all.
When Elijah finally opens his mouth to talk, Jonas interrupts them and Cass feels like snapping his neck. She was about to get the information she wanted and he took it away.
"I'm ready to do the spell," the man says.
"Very well," Elijah nods before turning to Cassandra. "Will you like to accompany us?"
She walks after him silently.
….
They are sitting on the table, many items that belong to Elena around them.
"How does this work?" Elijah asks, a little hesitant.
"Give me your hand," Martin orders, lifting a dagger.
He splits Elijah's hand open. Cassandra watches with fake boredom. Magic is always interesting; no matter how low her emotions are at the time. He then positions Elijah's hand on Elena's picture and he then lets out his hand for Elijah to take.
"Now take mine," he orders. Elijah does as told. "Close your eyes, relax your mind and focus on the girl."
Cassandra watches as Elijah does as told warily and Jonas starts to go into a trance, chanting in ancient Latin. After a few seconds, both of them open their eyes.
"You saw her?" Martin asks.
"I know exactly where she is." He replies, his eyes flickering to Cassandra before looking back at Martin.
Well, things are about to get interesting, She thinks. About bloody time.
….
She walks out of the apartment, following Elijah. She hates Jonas Martin; she knows if she stays with him longer than necessary, she'll dry him out. And as alluring as fresh blood is, she does not want to do it just yet. The man doesn't even look good.
"In case you're wondering… I won't take her. I just want her to be safe, and away from my brother's knowledge." Elijah provides a small piece of information. The redhead blinks emotionlessly, she already knew that.
"I wasn't wondering but… see you around, Elijah." She waves before flashing out of the building.
….
She's drinking from her new victim, a useless man that had been camping around and wouldn't be missed (at least, not here.), when her phone going off and off again bothered her immensely. She throws the man aside, who tries to get on his feet but is too weak to do so, and answers the call.
"What?" she snaps.
"Cass?" Elena's wavering voice meets her ears and somewhere deep into her mind she gets a flash of worry.
"Yes?" she asks.
The man on the floor tries to drag himself to the house phone on the coffee table, desperately wanting to call 911. She grabs his ankles and pulls forward, the man falling to the floor with a loud thud.
"Stefan's in the tomb… he's in the tomb, Cass, with Katherine and Damon won't let me see him and I can't—I just can't—" her voice breaks and she starts to sob down the phone.
The man manages to sit up and watches her soundlessly. He's handsome and usually that would make her drag his death, make it long and painful. She would sleep with him, toy with him, before terrifying him and enjoy how he tried to escape. But his dark hair and light blue eyes, matched with the glare he's managing to pull out, reminds her of Damon. She gives him a false smile, turning her face back to human.
"Elena, I can't do anything… you know that," she chastises.
"But Cass, please," the girl begs. "I don't know what Damon did to you but please, help me."
She glares at nothing in particular at his name. She's still having trouble with dealing with Damon but she's getting there. Rome wasn't built in a day.
"Hmmh, I'll think about it."
"But—"
"You bored me, now goodbye."
With that she hangs up the phone and puts it on the couch, turning to look at her victim. It occurs to her that she doesn't know his name. She gets closer to him, enjoying the way he squirms.
"What is your name, darling?" she asks.
"Robert Sutton," he says.
She tilts his neck, exposing one ugly bite mark. She grabs his arm then, looking at his untouched wrist.
"Do you have a family, Robert? How old are you?" she moves one finger up and down the vein that's visible on his wrist.
"I'm 25 and no." he shakes his head.
"Oh, well, in that case…"
Her fangs come out and she quickly bites down on his neck again, Robert falls to the floor and she straddles him there, one hand covering his mouth so his shout won't be heard by anyone. She stops for a second, and he looks up at her with pure horror on his blue eyes.
"Why are you doing this?" he whimpers.
"Because I'm hungry and hurt and guilty… and I don't want to hurt anymore. So I chose the easy road." She finds herself explaining as she plays with a strand of his raven-black hair.
"Please don't kill me," Robert begs and she actually falters, a memory filling her mind.
Dublin, 1531.
"I'm begging you, please don't kill me," the man said to her.
She simply glared, her eyes red and her fangs reaching her bottom lip. Her entire chin was full of blood.
"For the love of God, don't do this. I have a family, a wife. She just gave birth to our fourth child, a baby boy. They depend on me, without me they'll starve." The peasant said.
A family. That brought the vampire's attention. She had a family once, her most valued treasure. She changed her face back to normal and suddenly found herself with tears in her eyes.
"Look at me," she ordered. The man looked her straight in the eye. "You will not remember my face, my voice, my smell, nothing. I will heal you and you will walk out of here without any recollection of tonight's event. You simply got hold up at the tavern with some of your friends." She compelled the man.
She bit into her wrist and forced her blood down his mouth. The man swallowed until she retreated her wrist and then started to walk out of the alleyway they were in and into the depth of the clear of stars and moon night. She had watched the man walk away with confusion. That had been the first time since she had been turned that she had showed mercy on someone. Her humanity hadn't shown completely but it was there, begging her to let it in.
Present time.
"You'll die anyway, Robert. I'll make it quick though," she says before leaning over and snapping his neck in one fluid motion.
She stands up and goes up to her bathroom to clean herself. Once she's done she goes back down, wondering what to do with the body. Deciding that it's damaged enough to resemble an actual animal attack, she drags it from the living room floor toward her car and drives all the way to the woods, as far from her house as she can, and dumps the body in the middle of it. She wonders, as she drives back to her house, how is it possible for her to feel compassion for someone she doesn't know while she feels nothing at all when she's around the people she loves. Something is definitely wrong with her.