Bloodlines
Chapter 25: The Devil Inside
Beta: PrincessOfSilence
Disclaimer: I own nothing of TVD or TO. I only own my characters and my story.
"You're pacing." Grams noted.
Cassandra ran her hands through her wild hair as she marched up and down on the side of the road; she was still floating around on the Other Side from last night after she died. Shortly after Tom had failed to save her, he was jujued by a young witch who had taken his body with her. She tried to flag down cars or people jogging by the side of the road, but no one could see or hear her. The car wreck had been cleared and it looked as if the accident had never happened.
"I have to get out of this place. I have to get back home."
"You can't leave this place, Cassandra. Once you're here, you're stuck here." She told her.
"I need to find my phone or a pay phone. Something." She rushed down the road to a phone booth and grabbed the phone, but her hand went right through it. Creasing her eyebrows, she tried again and again and again, but she couldn't take hold of the phone.
"You can't touch people or things from the Other Side, Cassandra. You cannot leave this place." Sheila said.
"No! I have to go home! I won't stay here forever!" The hybrid hissed at the dead witch before bursting into tears. "What will Damon say? What will they all do when they find out that I'm dead?!"
Sheila didn't answer her, she couldn't. Nothing could ease her pain and anxiety about her own death. She suddenly caught a view of a dribble of blood coming from Cassandra's nose. "It's starting."
"What's starting?" She wiped the droplet away.
"You being on the Other Side will slowly kill you and your child, just like that Traveler who sent you here wanted." She said. "The longer you stay here, the more your condition will worsen. Unless..."
Cassandra looked toward her. "Unless what?"
"You pass through Bonnie."
"But if I pass through Bonnie, I go away forever." She murmured. "No, I'm sorry Sheila, but I'm not going down without a fight."
"You will continue to deteriorate here. There is no fighting it."
"But I have to." Cassandra was determined to get back to the real world and back to her husband. "I'm off, but please don't tell Bonnie that I'm...you know."
Sheila smiled and gave a little chuckle, she certainly admired Cassandra for her determination to get back, but she knew that it would be damn near impossible. Unless...
"Wait." She called and it made Cassandra turn back to her with an intrigued look in her eyes. "You know a witch that's alive?"
The hybrid was a bit off-put by the question, so she shook her head. "Nope. Why?"
"A spell brought you here, so I would imagine that a spell could bring you back. It's just a hunch, but it's a strong one."
"How about a Traveler? If I find one, maybe they-"
"A Traveler killed you because of your child. I doubt they will want to bring you back." She interrupted her.
Cassandra grumbled a curse under her breath, but nodded to Sheila. "Of course. Well, I'll keep my eyes out for a witch."
Cassandra's nose wrinkled when she saw that she was in a dingy looking hotel room. It reminded her when she, Damon, and Elena went to Denver to pick up Jeremy about a year or so back. It was amazing how time had passed from then. Elena wasn't a vampire, Jeremy wasn't a hunter, and she and Damon weren't married and expecting their first child. So much had changed. Cassandra moved further into the room to see Elena sitting at the table by the window sipping a coffee.
"Elena?" She questioned when the door opened, revealing Nadia.
"Mia says she needs your corpse." She told her and that made Cassandra shake her head in confusion.
"Corpse? What the hell are you talking about?"
The brunette vampire rolled her eyes exaggeratedly. "My corpse? Could the Travelers be any creepier?"
"Travelers?" Cassandra hushed and continued to listen.
"Be nice," Nadia said. "Without Mia, you wouldn't be alive or inside Elena's body, right now."
Cassandra's eyes grew wide and if she could have slammed her hand down on the table, she would have. "God dammit! You just can't die, can you?!"
Katherine took a sip of her coffee and nodded to her daughter. "I know. I'd be dead...in my corpse. A corpse that some Traveler says they need. Yeah…you see how that's creepy. Well, actually, I would have been in Cassandra's body, but that little pregnant tart is persistent."
Nadia's eyebrows creased. "Cassandra?"
"Yeah, I tried to take over her body and it didn't work." She told her.
"And did you forget that my car crashed and I died in the middle of the road?" Cassandra gritted her teeth. "God, I wish I could kill you!"
"Where is she now? I don't want any loose ends."
Katherine shrugged her shoulders and toyed with her hair. "Don't know. For all I know, she's with her family in New York. That's where she told Damon that she was going."
"That's what I mean, Cassandra's consciousness was able to break through which means that Elena's can too." Nadia told her mother.
"Wonderful." The vampire deadpanned.
"Do you want to take control of Elena's body, or not?" Her daughter asked.
"Of course I do. So, let's get this show on the road."
"Get on the bed." Nadia instructed and Katherine did so with a pout. A pair of handcuffs were slapped on her wrist, so that she was chained to the bed. "Just in case Elena decides to show up while I'm out getting your body."
"So, I'm just going to be stuck in some hotel room, on a bed, while Elena's friends are leaving me voicemails? Remind me again how this is better than being dead." Katherine pouted even more and reclined on the bed.
"Because once Mia does the spell, Elena will be gone forever and that body will be yours for good." She said and left the hotel room.
Cassandra growled low in her throat and moved herself so that she was standing beside Katherine's side of the bed. "Just so you know, you're not going to get away with this. You play a good game, Kat, but someone will eventually find out. I just hope I'm alive when they find out, so I can strangle you with my bare hands."
Damon Salvatore whistled a happy tune as he entered the boarding house with a shovel over his shoulder and his phone pressed to his ear. The sun was shining, the birds were tweeting, and Katherine Pierce was finally dead. Today was a damn good day. The phone at his ear rang a couple of times before going to voicemail and he stopped his whistling to leave a message.
"Hello beautiful. It's me. I tried calling you before, but I figured that you were resting after driving last night. Call me back when you get this. I wanted to make sure that you made it safely to New York. I love you." He hung up the phone and pocketed it before starting up his song again. He did feel a lot better that he and Cassandra were on the same page about taking a break, but he did worry that she hadn't gotten in touch with him yet. She promised that she'd let him know as soon as she arrived in New York, but he didn't receive a call or a text from her.
"Where you been?" Stefan asked as he entered the room.
Damon shrugged his shoulders, "Just out."
"Define 'out.'"
"One who hovers and sticks his nose in other people's business." He replied, but then quickly realized that he'd made a mistake. "Oh! Sorry...I was defining 'annoying.'"
"That's funny." His brother remarked sarcastically.
"Katherine's rotting corpse was stinking up the house. I got rid of it." He said as he wiped his feet on the rug.
Stefan made a face. "Could be a bit of a problem..."
"Why is that?" He grumbled.
"Because I'm here for Katherine's body." Nadia stepped out from inside the living room.
Damon's smirk made the female vampire growl low. "You're out of luck. You ain't getting it."
"My mother asked to be buried with her family in Bulgaria." She demanded.
"And nothing gives me greater joy than denying her dying wish."
"Damon...who cares? Katherine's dead. Just give her the damn body." Stefan was trying to keep the peace, but he knew that once Damon was set on something that he wouldn't back down.
"That bitch ruined our lives. Nadia has known her what? Five minutes?" Damon hissed before Nadia rushed forward and pinned him to the wall by his neck.
"Tell me where she is." She demanded. Damon quickly smacked her hand away and pushed her up against the wall.
"The nicest thing that Katherine Pierce will ever do is feeding the maggots that feast on her flesh." He told her harshly and then shoved her into the wall. "Give it up. You're not getting her back."
"Why is it that you always happen to get yourself into trouble?"
"I could ask myself the same question, but that wouldn't help."
Cassandra had found her perky blonde vampire friend, Vanessa, while she was looking for witches at Whitmore college. When asked as to why she was hanging around a college campus, Vanessa replied that even though she was dead, she might as well keep learning. The two caught up for a little while; Vanessa had already known a lot because she always managed to stay around Mystic Falls just to check in and they were now on a new quest. It was like a breath of fresh air to see her and Cassandra was more than thankful to see another familiar face on the Other Side. Both girls had searched the campus high and low for any traces of a witch on the campus, but their search had led them to a lot of dead-ends.
"No witches by the swimming pool," Vanessa joked, trying to make light of the situation.
"We have to keep looking." Cassandra quickened her pace, dodging some students along the way, but Vanessa was sure to keep up with her.
"Look, Cassandra, there are no witches here." She told her. "I know that you want to get back, but-"
"No, Vanessa. I need to get back. I am not going to stay here and die or pass through Bonnie. I don't care what I have to do." The brunette fought and Vanessa let out a small sigh. "I need to get home."
Vanessa knew that this whole search would most likely turn into a crapshoot, but she wanted to keep searching for her friend. Her blue eyes trailed to Cassandra's bulging stomach and she lightly touched it. "Come on, let's keep looking."
Cassandra gave her a smile and a quick hug. "Okay, so maybe we should check the library?"
"Witches in the library? That's a laugh." A teasing voice made the pair turn and Cassandra scoffed seeing a young brown haired man leaning against the now deserted hallway.
"Oh, God. Not you." She grumbled. "Today is just one big reunion."
"What do you want, Kol?" Vanessa crossed her arms over her chest.
The Original vampire let out a chuckle and pushed himself off the wall. "I just came to visit my favorite little blonde vampire." His playful eyes then darted to Cassandra. "And it looks like you brought a friend. Welcome to the Other Side, darling.
"Thanks, but I don't plan on staying here long." The pregnant woman rolled her eyes.
"Ah, yes. I couldn't help overhearing about you little witch problem." He made his way over to them.
"Have you seen any?" Vanessa asked him.
Kol shrugged his shoulders and looked the blonde up and down. "Maybe I have. Maybe I haven't."
"Come on, Kol. Just help us out," she hissed.
The two continued to bicker back and forth, but it was all a jumbled mess in Cassandra's mind. Things around her were beginning to spin and the once fine lines that kept things in order were starting to blur and bleed into one another. Perhaps her being on the Other Side were degenerating her condition a lot quicker than she thought. She felt fresh, warm blood trickling from her nose and a strong sensation of dizziness come over her. She tried to open her mouth to speak, but all she could make were frantic breaths that went unheard. She needed to find a witch and...
The raven haired vampire nodded his thanks to the bartender who had placed his drink down on the bar while sending a quick text to Cassandra. He still hadn't heard from her and he had decided to hit the Grill for a drink to try to calm his nerves. Plus he needed an escape from his annoyingly persistent brother who wanted to give Katherine's body to Nadia. Now he was wishing that he'd taken the chance to get out of Mystic Falls. Once the text went through, he dialed the number of Cassandra's niece up in New York. That was where Cassandra had last left word with him on where she'd be going. A part of him hated being incessantly needy in wanting to check up on her, but another part of him demanded to know where she was. He held the phone up to his ear. A little while went by before the line finally picked up.
"Hello?"
His eyebrows wrinkled confusedly and his lips pursed. "Laura?"
The seven year old giggled cutely. "Yep! Hi, Uncle Damon!"
"Hey, sweetie. And what are you doing with your mother's phone, young lady?" He asked her with a hint of amusement in his voice.
"Mommy's phone was ringing, so I answered it." She stated matter-of-factly and Damon chuckled at that.
"Well, could you be a dear and put mommy on the phone if she's there?"
"Okay!" He then heard the pitter patter of her little feet running down the hall and she called for her mom. Some shuffling about and a muffled conversation came from the other line before Laura came back. "Here she is, Uncle Damon! Bye! I love you!"
Damon smiled like a big idiot, his heart being warmed by that sweet little girl. "Love you too, Laura."
"Damon?" Jen's voice came through the phone.
"Hi Jen." He greeted her.
"Oh, gosh. Sorry about Laura. She has been answering my phone whenever it rings." She chuckled a bit.
"Nah, don't be silly. It was nice talking to her."
"She keeps asking when you and Cassandra will come up to New York to visit."
"Soon." Damon promised. "Things are a little hectic here, but once they calm down, we'll make a trip."
"She'll be happy to hear that." Her smile could practically be heard through the phone. "By the way, how is Cassandra feeling?"
"I was hoping that you could tell me."
"What do you mean?"
"She's still not there yet?" He exclaimed.
Some moments of silence passed before Jen spoke again. "Damon, what are you talking about?"
It was his turn to be silent now. For a few seconds, he was gripped by a strong panic and his free hand gripped the edge of the bar. "Cassandra and I decided that we needed some time apart before the baby came and she told me that she was going to see you. She didn't tell you?"
"I...uh, no. This is the first time that I am hearing this." Jen stumbled over her words, really unsure of what to say. "And she would have definitely told me that she was coming. And it would not have taken her this long to get up here, pregnant or not."
Damon's fingers rubbed his aching temple as his level of panic rose. "I just don't know what happened to her."
"I'm sure she's fine, Damon. Is there anywhere else she could have gone? Maybe she had a change of heart?" She asked.
"I have no-" Stefan clapped his brother's shoulder and he groaned audibly.
"Something wrong?" Jen asked worriedly.
"No, just some company decided to join me. I'll talk to you later, alright?"
"Okay, Damon. I'll try to call Cassandra. Please keep me updated."
"I will. Say hi to your girls and your husband for me."
"Sure." The phone disconnected and Stefan could see that his brother was upset about something.
"Cassandra get to New York alright?"
"I don't know..."
"You don't know?"
"That was Cassandra's niece in New York. She had no idea that Cassandra was coming up."
"Maybe she decided to surprise them?" Stefan suggested.
"I don't know, Stef. I'm worried that she's not there," he sighed wearily.
"She's fine. Come on, have a drink with me. I want to talk to you about something." His brother called over the bartender for a round for him and his brother, but Damon couldn't shake the feeling that something just wasn't right.
"Hey! Hey, Cassandra! Wake up!" Vanessa smacked her friend's cheeks and she groaned out. Her eyes slowly opened and she shied away from her friend's hand.
"Ouch! Stop hitting me!" She grumbled and looked about for a few moments. She was in an uncomfortable bed in what looked like a dorm room. Had she fainted at Whitmore? "What...what happened?"
"You passed out and you were bleeding from your nose." Vanessa told her as she helped Cassandra to sit herself up.
"I remember..." She trailed off softly and let out a huff as she looked around the room. "How the hell did you guys get me in here?"
"We carried you." Kol admitted from the corner of the room, making his presence known.
"Well, thanks." Cassandra adjusted herself to the side and placed her feet on the floor. With some effort, she pushed herself up off the bed to stand.
"How are you feeling?" The blonde asked her, concern etched along her soft features.
"I'm okay, I guess." She shrugged and suddenly jumped up when the door to the dorm room opened revealing a skinny blonde with curly hair. She didn't look too friendly as she tossed her bag that was slung over her shoulder onto the floor. She kicked the door closed with her foot and locked it.
"Relax, darling. She can't see you," the Original chuckled amusedly.
"Sorry. Still getting used to this...thing." She said and watched the girl go about her business. A sour puss was on her face as she took some dirty clothes from the floor and tossed them into the hamper. "She seems a little rough around the edges."
"You're telling me." Vanessa frowned.
"I like her." Kol grinned and the two women rolled their eyes.
"Ew, you would." The blonde vampire scoffed.
"What? She's a pretty little thing." Once again, the two of them bantered back and forth about the blonde. They fight like an old married couple, Cassandra thought and was ready to disappear to another area on campus to find a witch, but the blonde girl waved a hand over some candles that she had on her dresser. They immediately lit and Cassandra's eyes popped out of her head.
"No way." She hushed and watched the girl continue to play with the flames of the candles.
She was undoubtedly a witch.
The girl flopped down on her bed and pulled out her homework books and a pen, but she didn't start her work. Instead, she toyed with the pen using her magic, making it float up in the air like it was nothing. Cassandra drew closer to the witch and she could hear that Kol's and Vanessa's argument had died down. They too were staring at the witch with wide eyes.
"What are the odds," Vanessa murmured. "That you'd faint and I end up taking you to rest in the room of a witch?"
"Excuse me, but I believe I was the one that chose this room." Kol corrected her.
"Oh, give me a break!" The blonde growled.
"Guys, shut it!" Cassandra snapped and sat on the edge of the bed, bringing herself even closer to the girl. Her brown eyes peered down at her now open books and she saw a paper with a name scrawled on the top of it.
"Liv? Is that your name?" She wondered to herself. "Listen, Liv, I know that you can't hear me or see me, but I really need you to help me get home. Please, I'll do anything to get back." Liv didn't answer Cassandra's pleas. She worked on her homework and the pregnant hybrid let out a tearful sigh. Vanessa's normally bright smile faded and even Kol was slightly touched by Cassandra's desperation to get home.
"She can't hear you, Cassandra. No one can." Vanessa placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry."
Cassandra's entire posture deflated as she shrugged off Vanessa's hand from her shoulder and she rose from the bed, side stepping Kol silently. Both vampires knew that they couldn't console her in the way that she needed to and it hurt Vanessa more so than Kol to see her friend so defeated. In the blink of an eye, Cassandra disappeared, leaving Kol and Vanessa in Liv's room and they didn't even try to follow her.
"God, I love a good fire." Enzo remarked as he rubbed his hands together in front of the crackling fireplace. "Oh. That's so wrong, isn't it? Since you left me to burn alive in one."
"Didn't we already do this?" Damon asked him quite impatiently. "You tried to make me feel guilty, I saved your life. We're even."
Damon narrowed his eyes down at the large bag that Enzo had brought him. It sat on the couch like a giant black cloud and Damon grew anxious as to what was inside. "What's in the bag?"
Enzo smirked slyly and turned towards Damon. "More like who; since you and I last spoke, I've done a bit of soul searching, had a trip to the barber and did a little research. Which revealed to me that you killed almost every member of the Whitmore family in the years since you escaped, leaving just one alive each time to carry on the family name - producing a whole new generation of victims for you to slaughter. Exactly as you said you'd do back when you and I were cellmates."
"Well you know me. I like to keep my promises," he bit sarcastically.
"And it's occurred to me that perhaps I wrote you off too quickly. That, in fact, the Damon Salvatore I remember is alive and well. I have a present for him." Enzo then moved to the couch where the bag was sitting and yanked down the zipper, revealing a bloodied body.
"You brought me Aaron Whitmore." He spoke, but then paused for a moment hearing Aaron's very slow, almost nonexistent heartbeat. "Alive..."
Enzo nodded and crossed his arms over his chest proudly. "He's the last of the Whitmore clan. Do you remember this vervain wrist watch? Dr. Whitmore never took it off even when he was rooting around in our chest cavities. How fitting that Aaron should die while wearing it too." Damon knew exactly where Enzo was going with this and he clicked his teeth, clearly irritated that no one was taking the hint to get off his back.
"So, do you want to kill him, or shall I?" Enzo asked him.
It was nighttime when Cassandra found herself wandering back in Mystic Falls. She hung her head low and fought off the waterfall of tears that had threatened to fall. A deep ache from within her chest ebbed throughout her entire body and her baby was kicking furiously, as if feeling her mother's defeat and heartbreak. She had managed to find herself in the cemetery and she was now sitting in front of Alaric's grave. Out of everyone she'd seen on the Other Side, she had yet to see everyone's friendly neighborhood history teacher by day and vampire hunter by night. She read the stone's engravings and her eyes lingered over the dead flowers that rested there. She scolded herself for not bringing as many flowers frequently and she made a note to do so if she ever got out of this limbo.
"Ric, what do I do?" She rubbed her hands over her face and sighed deeply. "I don't know what to do."
"I normally have a glass of bourbon to calm my nerves, but you can't exactly do that in your position." A teasing voice made her freeze up and turn towards it. There, standing amongst the trees was Alaric. She bolted up from her seat, as quickly as a pregnant woman could, and rushed to embrace him.
"Oh, Ric! I'm so happy to see you!" She cried tears of joy into his shoulder.
He smiled down at her and tapped on her nose when she pulled back. "Me too, although this isn't the best of circumstances." She was still crying even though she was smiling, so he wiped her tears away. "Hey, don't cry."
"I'm just so happy, but...I'm sad too." She frowned and he nodded.
"I know you are, Cassandra, but you can't stop now. You've found the witch and-"
"But, she can't hear or see me, Ric. How can I get her to do a spell for me when I'm invisible? I'm slowly dying just being here and my only other choice is to pass through Bonnie. I don't want that, but...I guess have to accept death."
Ric took her by the shoulders, his eyes gleaming with something that Cassandra couldn't quite place. "Accept death? Cassandra, you've got a husband and a kid on the way who need you. You're just going to give up on them?"
Cassandra was taken aback by that and her eyebrows furrowed. "I'm not giving up, Ric. I'm just-"
"No, that's just it; you are giving up. So, you hit a wall. Is that going to stop you from fighting? Because by the looks of it, it has."
"I guess you've got all of the answers then, huh? What the hell am I supposed to do about not being seen or heard? I'm invisible to everyone around me!" She was angry now that Ric was pointing fingers at her. It wasn't fair that he was badgering her for something that she couldn't control.
"I want you to keep fighting." He stressed and gently squeezed her shoulders. "Don't just fight for Damon or your child, but fight for yourself. I don't want you to be on the edge of death and regret not fighting as hard as you should have. If and when you do leave this earth for good, I want you to know that you fought with every fiber in your being."
She was ready to bite back at him, but his words rocked her to core. He was right. She had lost her will to fight and as much as it hurt to admit that she was wrong, she knew deep down that she had to keep fighting. She had been so distracted by her failure, that she had forgotten what was really important. When Ric had finished speaking, she sniffed back her tears and kept her chin up, making him smile triumphantly.
"What would I do without you knocking some sense into me?" She asked him and he chuckled at that.
"I'm glad I could help," He said to her. "Now, go. Stop moping, cemetery girl." A soft laugh escaped from her lips at his joke and she hugged him once again before darting off into the night with a new sense of hope.
"As much as I've enjoyed your quality bourbon, I feel confident our next drink will taste better with young Aaron's dying screams ringing in our ears. And your final act of revenge will bring us both closure and a new beginning." Enzo stated.
"I'm just curious, but do you ask all of your friends to prove their loyalty by killing someone over drinks?" Damon wondered, leaving Enzo to frown quite deeply.
"His grandfather split our eyes open with a scalpel. You've taken it out on everyone else in the Whitmore family. I thought you'd want this."
"Would you believe he's a friend of a friend?" He asked him.
"No, because that would force me to believe that you've gone soft, when you and I both know that your first impulse when I presented him to you was to rip out his throat." The vampire took some slow steps towards Damon, sizing him up to intimidate him. "Show me my old friend is still in there someplace. End this for both of us."
Damon peered down at Aaron's lifeless body, considering Enzo's plea when his phone rang. Saved by the bell. He picked it up and rolled his eyes when he was greeted by a perky voice.
"Really bad timing, Blondie. I'm dealing with a blast from the past."
"Then deal with it quickly and get your ass over to Tyler's. Elena is here and she says that she needs to talk to you." Caroline told him. "She said that it's about Cassandra."
That suddenly took a hold of Damon's interest and he had forgotten the sound of Aaron's heartbeat, the smell of his blood, and the burning in his throat telling him to feed. "Put her on the phone."
"She wants you to come here." The blonde insisted.
With a growl, Damon looked back to Enzo. "Fine. Just finishing up some business here."
"Ah, yes, speaking of, I haven't seen your lovely wife around." Enzo mentioned. "I do hope that something isn't wrong."
Damon suddenly flew at his friend, curling his hand around his neck. "That sounded like you know where she is. Did you take her? As some kind of sick revenge plot against me? Hmm?"
For the first time since he entered the boarding house, Enzo wore a look of pure confusion. He clawed at Damon's hand to get him to loosen his grip, but it wasn't working in his favor. "What the hell are you talking about? I didn't take her!"
"Why should I trust you? You even said that we were doomed from the start!" The vampire hissed. "She's been gone since last night."
"Last night I was toying with our little friend. If you don't believe me, ask him." Enzo's eyes darted to Aaron. "I don't know where your wife is, Damon."
"You better not be lying because I swear, I will kill you!" His growl vibrated within him, clearly signaling to Enzo that he meant it.
A low groan from the couch made both vampires turn and look to see Aaron waking up from his spot on the couch and Damon tossed Enzo away from him. The young man sat up and held onto the side of his neck that had been viciously ripped open and he was now aware of the vampires that were standing over him.
"It's time to come to a decision, Damon. Do you want to kill him, or shall I?" Enzo asked again and Aaron's eyes grew wide with fear as Damon loomed over him. He wasn't going to beg a vampire for mercy, but the last thing he wanted was to die a bloody death. Aaron screwed his eyes shut when he saw Damon lunge for him, but the pain of the bite never came. Instead, he heard a sickeningly loud crack followed by a thud and that made him open his eyes. Enzo's body was sprawled out on the floor beside the fireplace with Damon standing over him.
"I hate that line." The vampire scoffed.
Aaron let out a shaky breath and stood up from the couch. "I didn't see that one coming."
"I can't kill you. Long story." Damon told him.
"Because your wife would hate you for it." He said, but immediately regretted it when Damon sped over to him and tore the vervain watch from his wrist. He took the young man's head in his hands and compelled him.
"I'm going to ask you this once; were you with Enzo all last night?"
"Yes." He replied without hesitation.
Damon gritted his teeth and tightened his grip on Aaron. "Enzo didn't leave at all? Did he mention anything about Cassandra?"
"He didn't leave and he didn't say anything about Cassandra." Aaron answered robotically. Out of frustration, the vampire gripped Aaron's neck much like how he did it to Enzo and the teen shrunk visibly in his hold. As much as Damon wanted to rip Aaron's head from his shoulders, a tiny voice inside his head was telling him to rethink it.
"Go back to college; pack up your entire life. There's one road that heads out of town. Take it north until you hit ice. Don't ever come back." He compelled Aaron who stepped back from him and rushed out the door without another word.
Damon weaved through the crowds of teenagers at the Lockwood house, dodging the young drunk girls who tried to latch onto him. He shook them off him like a man shakes a dog off his leg and continued through the party. He kept his eyes open for Elena since she was the only one who had news about Cassandra. He had continued to call her, leaving messages and blowing up her phone with texts. Jen had also done her work with trying to call Cassandra, but neither of them heard from her.
He caught sight of Elena who was standing coolly with a red solo cup in her hands. It was a bit off-putting to see her so calm and doing nothing because Elena would normally be with her friends or helping to clean up something. Damon pushed that feeling aside and met her, taking her by the arm and leading them so a place where they could speak in private.
"Ouch! Watch my arm." The female vampire grumbled, but Damon just rolled his eyes.
"You couldn't tell me about my wife on the phone?" He asked her incredulously.
Elena wrestled her arm out of his hold and distanced herself, clearly seeing that he was upset. "No, I wanted to tell you in person."
"Tell me what? What do you know, Elena?"
"I...uhm. Well, it's hard for me to tell you this, but..."
"Elena," he growled loudly. He was growing tired of her beating around the bush.
A pensive, yet fearful look crossed the young vampire's face and she sucked her bottom lip between her teeth, grinding it nervously. "Alright, I'm just going to come right out and say it." She rocked on the balls of her feet before clearing her throat and speaking again. "Cassandra left, Damon."
"Yeah, I know she left. And if she'd pick up her phone-"
"No, I mean, she left for good." Elena said. "She's not coming back."
"Elena, you're not making any sense." The vampire shook his head.
"She came to me last night and told me that she couldn't do this anymore."
Damon's blue eyes narrowed dangerously at her. "What do you mean she said that she can't do this anymore?"
Elena swallowed the lump in her throat and twiddled her thumbs. She then reached in the back pocket of her jeans to fish out something. She held the small object between her thumb and forefinger up to Damon's eyes.
Her wedding band and her engagement ring.
"She told me that she didn't want the father of her child to hide things from her." She extended her hand towards him, a silent plea for him to take the rings, but he didn't. Instead, he turned away, completely dumbfounded as to what he was hearing.
"No..."
"It's true, Damon. That's why she hasn't returned your calls. That's why she lied when she told you where she was going. She wanted to leave here and not be found." She told the vampire.
"But, she told me...we agreed that we needed time apart." He stumbled over his words unsurely.
"That was just a cover. Your past with Enzo and the Whitmore family really took its toll on her. I tried to talk her out of leaving, but she told me that her mind was set." Her words made Damon feel numb and he very slowly turned back around. His crystalline orbs were swimming with fresh tears, threatening to escape, but he tried his hardest to hold them back. "Damon, I'm so sorry."
Elena reached out to touch his shoulder, but he flinched away as if her comforting hand were a white hot branding iron. He was still trying to process his thoughts which were flying apart in every direction and he was unable to take a hold of them. His best friend, his wife, the mother of his child walked out on him because of his secrets. It was his fault that this whole thing happened. If he had come clean and been honest with Cassandra, he wouldn't have lost her. So many emotions welled up within him, each one fighting to get to the surface and he was consumed by their need to be recognized. He wanted to go after her, track her down, and drag her back to Mystic Falls by her hair, demanding that she stay with him. Yet, Enzo's words from a few days before began to ring prominently in his ears. He was a monster and his child would become one just like her parents. The prophecy of the Universe mocked him as well along with Tessa's promise that Cassandra and Damon were doomed from the very beginning. It was all too much. Too many voices, too many emotions, just too much of everything.
"Damon?" Stefan's voice from behind him broke the vicious cycle and for a few painstaking moments, the world fell into silence. He could see Elena mouth an apology, but he couldn't hear the words. She walked past him, shaking her head to Stefan who had rushed to meet his brother as if sensing that something was seriously wrong.
"What was all that about, Damon?" He asked his brother who was facing away from him. The raven haired vampire clenched and unclenched his fists uneasily before turning to meet his brother. The two held each other's stares and Stefan's stomach knotted nervously seeing a look of pure hurt on Damon's face.
"It's over."
The smell of fresh blood in the air made Cassandra's nostrils flare and she followed the scent to a road leaving Mystic Falls. She'd traveled this road a few times when driving up to Whitmore college and found the winds and bends in the road quite familiar. The scent of the blood got stronger and so did the taillights of a stalled car in the middle of the road. Was someone hurt?
Coming around the car, she saw Enzo and Damon standing there, the latter with blood all over his face. Had they gone hunting together? Since when were they so chummy, she thought to herself and sighed remembering that they couldn't see her. Cassandra took a few steps back to look at the car, but her feet hit something. Or, someone, rather.
Aaron Whitmore was lying in a dark puddle of his own blood with no heartbeat. He was dead. Cassandra examined the inside the car to see it packed to the brim with things from his dorm room. He had stuffed his entire life in his car with all plans of leaving and starting over. What would make him leave? Did Wes tell him to skip town to keep him out of danger?
"Woo...that felt good." Damon whistled, gaining his wife's attention and she whipped around with a hard look in her eyes.
"You did this?! Why?" She shouted at him.
"I always knew my old friend was in there somewhere." Enzo smirked knowingly and clapped his hand against Damon's shoulder. "If I may ask, my friend, why did you suddenly take me up on my offer to end the Whitmore bloodline?"
"Oh, I would love to hear this excuse." Cassandra glared hard at Damon, wishing that he could at least feel it.
"Well, when the love of your life and mother of your unborn child decides to leave your ass because of your past, you start to reevaluate some things." Damon replied.
Cassandra's mouth hung wide open in disbelief. What the hell was his talking about? "What?! Leave you?!"
"So, she just up and left? No explanation? No phone call?" Enzo wondered and Cassandra shook her head back and forth.
"No! No, no, no! I didn't!"
"Yes, she did. Elena told me she couldn't handle my past. She didn't like the secrets." The vampire explained and Cassandra's blood suddenly boiled. Katherine had once again found a way to ruin her life.
"Oh my...That wasn't Elena, you idiot! That was Katherine!" She tried to punch his shoulder, but it went right through him.
"And the baby?" He asked.
Damon shrugged his shoulders and thrust his hands into his pockets. "Not my problem. As far as I'm concerned, it's her kid now. Not mine. She made that her responsibility when she left."
Cassandra fisted her hair and yanked hard, her growing frustration with not being able to be seen or heard was mounting to an unprecedented high. "Not your problem?! Oh God, I want to strangle you! Damon, I would never leave you! No matter how hard things got, I would stay. And I sure as hell wouldn't take your baby, your daughter, away from you!" Bloody tears streaked her cheeks and her nose had begun to bleed as well.
"Well, mate. You're better off without her." Enzo told him. "You're better like this."
"More like he's better off without you! You're the monster, Enzo! The second I get back to this world, you'll be wishing I never came back with the amount of pain I'm going to cause you!" She screeched.
Damon took one last look at Enzo and then Aaron's body, pursing his lips thoughtfully. "Let's get this kid into my trunk. Don't need any relatives looking for him."
"Just what I was thinking, partner." He grinned.
"Oh, so you two are partners now?" She then became aware of her bloodied cheeks and nose, wiping the blood away as if it never happened. They lifted the body and sped away, leaving Cassandra to rant herself. "This day can't get any worse, can it?!" She threw her hands up to the sky, shaking them and cursing loudly. "Is this what you wanted, Universe? To see me like this? Well, guess what? You won! I lost, you won! I hope you're enjoying my suffering!" Consumed by a fit of rage, her fist clenched and without even thinking, she hurled her fist into the driver side window of Aaron's car.
A slicing pain engulfed her hand and she looked down to see that her hand has gone through the glass, shattering the window into a million pieces. Blood seeped from the open cuts and Cassandra hissed through her teeth, not expecting a cut hand to hurt that much. Her eyes darted back to the window and she had to blink a few times to see that it was really broken and her hand was healing slowly. How was she able to touch things now? Sheila had told her that she no longer could.
She was suddenly hit with a sharp pain in her skull and black spots clouded her vision. She clutched her head and called out into the night with no one to hear her. She was seeing flashes of visions before her of Nadia, Katherine and another woman in a dark cave of some-sorts. Cassandra recognized the other woman as the Traveler who made her car crash in the middle of the road. Words were exchanged between the women, but none could be heard. Katherine then sped forward and snapped the Traveler's neck, killing her. Once her body crumpled to the ground, it was clear to Cassandra that because the Traveler was killed, she could now have some sort of contact with the physical world. Perhaps this could help her make some sort of a connection with the witch named Liv at Whitmore College. Cassandra looked down at her stomach and patted it gently.
"What do you think? You up for one last fight?" She asked her daughter and her lips spread into a smile when she felt her kicking. "Yeah, me too."
Hello, my amazing readers! I totally just realized that the summer is nearly over and this whole story isn't done yet -.- GAH! Anyways, I am trying to get this story written, so please continue to be patient with me. Going through some tough times over here, but I am trying my hardest to get it all done for you. I've got it all planned out - just need to write it all down! Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed. I say it time and time again that you are all amazing, but you guys seriously are! Sending much love to all of you!
*insert shameless advertisement* A very dear friend of mine has just uploaded her first TVD story and I would LOVE it if you could check it out. Her name is twin of a sister and the story is called 'In Your Heart.' Please give it a read and review! She is a wonderful writer and such an amazing friend :)