Hello people, sorry I was away for a while, first it was a vacation (an amazing one) but then the second wave picked up in my country, the job situation isn't great either, so I was just caught up. I have this and another chapter ready to publish, so I'll go back to posting once a week hopefully.
Chapter note: Vicki was not attacked. Damon didn't need a diversion or his usual scare tactics because he already got his shock value with his entrance. Stefan was already trying to figure out the Cassie angle so Caroline won't be attacked either. But the latter's more for me than the plot, it was quite disturbing how there was no mention of it later and they were all a merry band.
More news, I picked who could play Cassie. Crystal Reed fits perfectly! Tell me you see it too? The high cheekbones, Black like features and all.
Cassie was at her desk pouring over her papers when she heard a lilting voice that seemed to be calling her. She ignored it, nothing good ever came out of following strange voices. So she chose to shuffle the papers to no avail, frustration creeping in from the lack of progress.
The voices grew in number, slowly getting louder and closer. The hairs on her neck rose as she felt a foreign pull on her core, beckoning her to heed its call. The room felt lighter and brighter as an ethereal light poured into the room, blinding her. The curtains billowed and the papers flew as torrents of wind gushed in. It felt like a storm was brewing right in the middle of her bedroom.
She closed her eyes and covered her face from the light and wind. She felt the air leave her lungs when she was knocked off balance, an unknown weight pressing her from all sides.
Suddenly, it all came to a standstill as fast as it started.
She opened her eyes to find herself in the middle of the woods. Leaves dry and green cushioned her fall, she realized as she slowly crawled to get up. She was in a small clearing, everything beyond the clearing looked the same. The pitch dark night and the tall willowy trees covering the night sky didn't help matters.
It was bizarre, to say the least. She prided herself on her war honed reflexes and for the life of her couldn't figure out what happened. Nothing could have taken her from her bedroom and dropped her in the forest. She didn't sense any presence magical or otherwise before she found herself here.
She thanked her stars she still kept her wand on her person at all times despite all the years in the muggle world after. She masked her signature and the magic wandlessly first, the spell taking more from her than she expected, fully out of practice. She quickly cast a point me charm to the boarding house and started walking, hopefully towards a road.
The night was a frightening place, anyone who told you otherwise was lying. He'd traveled the entire world and he'd yet to meet a person who didn't look twice at the dark shadows, a heart that didn't pace up at sounds unknown. The place hardly made a difference, cities that never slept or towns barely saw traffic. The smell of fear was inevitable.
Damon usually hated small towns. It was boring and there was nothing to do. It was a small community so missing people or mangled corpses got a lot of attention too. Not that he usually left a trail of bodies, but suck and wipe wasn't always fun.
If there is one thing small towns got right, it was fear. The smell of fear was intoxicating, no predator would say otherwise. He especially loved the taste of it too. That rush of adrenaline at fight or flight gives a tinge of taste to the blood that he finds heady. He loved the chase hence, playing with the food so to speak.
That's what had him out tonight. After days on blood bag to not offend the sensibilities of the witch, he needed a bite straight from the source. Bodies always bothered Saint Stefan, he'd already been in town for a few days, he decided to leave behind bodies so it didn't look like he was losing his touch. It was a win win.
He found a lovely couple camping at the edge of the woods close to the highway. He killed the guy and had his blood drip for the effect. The girl, he gave her time, to soak in the fear, to panic, to hope, to believe that she could nearly get away before he tore open her neck and dove in.
He'd have taken his time draining her if it weren't for the light, hesitant footsteps along the road coming his way. He recognized the smell, a faint whiff of vanilla and lilies, he carried on with his meal waiting for a reaction.
"Damon?" She called slowly, afraid to disturb the vampire.
"Yes, Cassie," he sassed back, "I'm busy eating in case you haven't noticed."
"Thank god, its you!" He heard before he heard her sprint to him. He dropped the body, half annoyed and half intrigued.
"What happened? Why are you out now?"
"I honestly don't know, Damon. One minute, I was in my room in the boarding house and the next, I was in the middle of nowhere in the forest. For a moment there, I didn't know if I was even in Mystic Falls." She breathed out in one go.
She was shivering, he didn't know if it was the cold or fear. She was in the same clothes as the night before, but without her jacket and coat. She didn't seem to have her phone and was clutching to a wooden stick, lowered and slightly facing away from him, but alert and ready nonetheless. There were twigs and dry leaves in her hair, spots of dirt, on her knees and down her legs, no doubt from her trek back.
He gave her an odd look, unsure whether to believe her. For now, he decided to go with it, there definitely would have been some talk about the body at his feet if the witch wasn't shaken. He wiped his mouth and gestured for her to move, "Let's just get you home, okay?" he told her.
She nodded.
"Do you want me to speed us back home?" He offered more as a courtesy.
She shook her head and they started walking in silence alone with their own thoughts. About halfway to the boarding house, he noticed that she was still holding the wooden stick tightly.
"I don't know if you think that stick will help with vampires. Stakes need to be stronger than that."
"Oh this," she raised her stick, close enough to show it, "it's a wand. A focus point for magic, of sorts," she explained.
"I never came across witches he needed focus points," he told her, more curious than disrespecting. "Can I?" he asked, interested to see it more closely.
She pulled back minutely, hesitated a moment before extending her hand with a forced smile. He pretended not to notice her discomfort before taking it.
A surge of warmth flowed in before he could even comprehend it. Eyes wide, he asked her, "Is that normal?"
"You felt something?" She asked back astonished.
"It felt warm."
"Just give it back here," she snatched it back from him. It wouldn't have surprised him if she actually hugged it to herself.
"Did it feel comforting or wrong?" she asked him after a minute.
"I wouldn't say comforting, but it didn't feel wrong either," he pondered for a moment, "it felt like the first gulp of blood after days." the latter was more intimate a response than he'd have liked to give her.
"So, focus point." He brought her back to the topic to distract her.
"Alright, witches 101 it is."
"You have to be daft, witch! Star Trek cannot be better than Star Wars! I don't know what weird crap they feed you at witch school."
"I'm not saying one is better than the other, Damon, just that I never really connected to Star Wars the way I did with Star Trek because one was way before my time!"
"Classics don't age, just admit it, you have bad taste," he shoved at her lightly.
Stefan stepped at the entranceway as they got closer to the house, his face carefully blank while some judgment still managed to seep in. He picked pace while positioning the witch behind him without a word.
"Can we help you, Stefan?" he asked as he pushed his brother back walking through him. He turned back to face him while Cassie stepped in and moved further away from both of them.
"Where were you?"
"I don't know, mom, when was the curfew again?" He threw back.
"It's not funny, Damon," Stefan growled, "the police found a couple drained of blood on the way to town. You cannot do that here, not anymore. This town is not used to monsters but there are some who remember."
"Ouch, Stefan, you wound me. I thought I was your favorite brother," he pouted disappointedly.
He dropped it to turn around, looking at Zach at the other side of the hall, "I know you're the one speaking brother," he told Stefan before facing Zach again, "but the words are yours."
He walked towards the human, "And I would be careful if I were you, nephew. I generally prefer a living Salvatore in the boarding house, but I wouldn't sweat to end the line by my own hands," he said menacingly to the frightened man.
He walked away dramatically, a witch in tow, not too surprised at her standing by him by this point. He wouldn't admit even to himself that he liked it, but he definitely knew he considered compelling her if he could to achieve the effect that it did with Stefan.
And there goes another chapter.
Building the plot and the dynamics between our favorite duo at the same time. What do you think happened to Cassie? Is Damon too OOC?
Next up: Night of the comet, Elena visits the boarding house, more about the brothers' estranged past.