Dark Side.
Chapter 4: Miss Mystic Falls. Part II.
Cassandra's street is quiet, which is something her vampire ears are very thankful for. With one glass of white wine in one hand, and a book in the other, she flops down on her living room couch, enjoying the dip of the soft cushions. She would have preferred it if the glass was filled with blood and not wine, but if the Council really is enforcing security in the hospital, then her stash of blood will have to last longer.
Placing the glass back on the coffee table in front of her, she rolls her eyes as she opens the book.
"You do know I can hear you, right?" Cassandra asks, not bothering to turn around.
She can practically hear Damon rolling his eyes. He's annoyed? Well, that makes two of them. Without a word, he moves from the opened window until he stands in front of her, the coffee table between them. Seconds pass and neither of them say a word. She's still mad at him, at his insinuation that she's stupid enough to make mistakes when compelling, at the fact that he found out she's a witch and used it to taunt her.
"What do you want?" she nearly snarls, looking at him through the rim of her book.
"Stefan's the one stealing the blood." Damon reveals.
Her anger simmers down until it disappears completely in just two seconds. She feels herself tense all over, memories of a long-forgotten year flittering through her mind before she can stop them. Slowly, she closes the book and sits up.
"How bad is it?" she asks.
Damon's blue eyes widen a fraction before they narrow almost imperceptibly. She knows what he's thinking. How can she know Stefan on human blood is a bad thing if she hasn't seen either of them in so long? She ignores this, though, and takes her glass of wine again, leaving the book on the table.
"He has a fridge full of stolen blood bags. And he's in denial, and handling everything badly." Damon explains.
There's a sarcastic undertone to his words, like he really doesn't care that Stefan is the one stealing the blood or that he's drinking human blood again. If this was nineteen-thirty, Cassandra would have been sure that wasn't true. Sadly, she has no idea of how Damon and Stefan really feel about each other now. Downing the wine in one large gulp, she rises to her feet.
"At least he's not munching on cheerleaders." She shrugs, nonchalant.
Inside, she's reeling. It won't be long before Stefan loses control completely. Will they have to deal with the Ripper of Monterey all over again? How long until Stefan gets bored of cold, days-old blood and gives into the impulse of drinking warm, fresh blood? This is a problem. A big problem. Probably bigger than the tomb vampires. Or anything John Gilbert can come up with.
"That's not the point, Cassandra." Damon retorts.
"I know that." She replies, sending him a pointed look. "What does the Council think?"
"Nothing." Damon shakes his head. "I'm not stupid. John tried to hint it was a bigger problem, but Sheriff Forbes likes me best." He adds with a satisfied smirk.
Her lips quirk upwards and, before she can help it, she's giving him the most genuinely amused smile she's felt in years. Damon doesn't seem to be expecting it. He looks incredibly surprised and, honestly, so is she. She can't remember the last time she didn't fake a smile, or used it for some plot.
"I just got here!" Cass says, seemingly out of nowhere. Brand new plan forming in her mind. "It's been what, a little over a week? Point the finger at me."
"No!" Damon scoffs, dismissing the idea in a second.
"Why not? If they come after me, I'll just get rid of them."
It was simple, really. She doubted the Council was any bigger than it used to be back in eighteen-sixty-four, which means she should be more than able to kill them. Of course, so many people of importance disappearing overnight would be suspicious. She could always lock them in somewhere, wait until the vervain was out of their systems, and compel them to forget vampires even existed. Honestly, that's what Damon should have done in the first place.
"You're not killing the Council." Damon shakes his head. It sounds like an order.
It's her time to scoff now. "Don't tell me you actually care for these people."
Damon actually hesitates. Cassandra can't believe it.
"It's a symbiotic relationship," he manages at last. "We both benefit." She hums at that, unconvinced. It seems to annoy him. "I don't want your help."
He says it like it's the most obvious thing in the world. She shakes her head, arms crossed.
"Why are you here, then?"
Her question makes him frown. For a moment, they just look at each other. Until her irritation slowly starts to give way to longing. She missed him terribly for a century and a half. And now that she's here, all they seem to be able to do is fight. Cass supposes some of it is her own fault, but, lord, he doesn't help matters, either. It doesn't help that she knows that if she were Katherine, Damon wouldn't be holding these past decades over her head.
Shaking her head, she turns around. There's no point to all this.
"Why didn't you tell me you were alive?"
She halts on her step. The question produces a myriad of emotions in her body. Her skin gets flushed, her throat constricts. When she turns back around, Damon is glaring at her, his tone is accusing. The vulnerability he showed last week when asking the same question, when admitting to looking for her in that tomb, is completely gone, replaced by borderline hatred. It breaks her heart and makes her blood burn at the same time.
"Why didn't you look for me?" she shoots back.
"You were dead!" Damon exclaims, taking a step towards her. She thinks it's unconsciously done.
"There was no body, Damon!" she snaps, finally showing more than just feigned emotion. No, now she's livid, and he'll have to deal with it. "Drop the bullshit."
It is true she spread the word of her staking. But there had really been no proof. If someone dies, their body doesn't disappear. She hadn't worried about that. After all people trusted Jonathan Gilbert, and Klaus would have been happy with just news of her death.
"I didn't know you were crazy enough to fake your death."
"Oh, fuck off!" she snaps, voice so loud it borders on shouting. Damon blinks, surprised. She's a little shocked, too. Her magic bubbles inside of her, threatening. "Don't you dare put your issues on me, Damon. Learn to let go."
Why can't he just let it go and be happy she's alive and well? It's not that hard!
"I wouldn't have such a problem if you hadn't been hiding for a century!" Damon snaps back, rolling his eyes with his entire body.
Oh, this man.
"Hiding?" Cassandra repeats, disbelieving. "I wasn't hiding!"
It's true. At one point, she was even his neighbor. If Damon had wanted to, if Damon had searched, he would have found her. One of her aliases, Amélie Sinclair, followed him around for the entirety of the 30s, he didn't even blink at it. Eliza Elliott Van Ness, the name she went by for most of the late 70s and early 80s, had been a 5'2'' redheaded young girl in her late teens, who also had green eyes, and who Cassandra knows was killed by Damon, who then proceeded to indirectly give her Eliza's identity. She was always there. She was never really careful when it came to him, not after Chicago, when it became clear that, while Klaus was no longer fond of her—had probably never really been—he would not actively search for her as long as she kept out of his way.
She didn't dare seek him directly, still worried, still cautious of any Original vampire, or any other enemy of hers finding out about the Salvatores, but if Damon found her… well, that was a whole other story. Damon, however, never caught the hints, never curiously followed them.
"Then why didn't you talk to me?" Damon demands again.
She's had enough.
"Because you didn't deserve it!" Cassandra barks back.
He didn't and doesn't. Damon doesn't deserve running and constantly changing who he is, not because it's been twenty years and people will notice he doesn't age, but because if he doesn't, he'll be killed. He doesn't deserve playing games and double-crossing people. He deserves better. He deserves a real, happy life.
It's not until he's been quiet for too long that she realizes what her words sound like. Fuck. This is why she's usually so careful about what she says. Damon, however, seems to be making it a habit of making her lose control. She doesn't get this angry, not on purpose anyway, it blows the lid on her magic, makes her dangerous. Vampirism heightens her emotions, which already weakens the tight control she has on her magic, so she never really allows herself to feel negative emotions freely. She always calculates every conversation, every encounter with anyone, so that there won't be any mistakes.
As a human, that feat was harder. Cass has always been open with those she loves, which was pretty much everyone in her family, all her friends. Calculating was something she became after her sister's death. As a vampire, it was easy. She kickstarted her second life with the worst enemy anyone could ever have hunting her down. Katherine and Cassandra lived a life filled with betrayal and plots. Anything to come out on top.
She never spoke freely; her words were always thought-out. Until she met Damon. He's always been able to get her to let loose. It's maddeningly infuriating. Like now, when he's starting to look like a kicked-puppy because Cassandra let her anger put words in her mouth without further explanation.
"Damon—" she attempts an apology.
"No." Damon shakes his head. She witnesses his eyes hardening, his lips stretching into a sarcastic smirk. "I got it."
He leaves just as quickly as he arrived. Cassandra sighs, letting herself fall back on the sofa. If she thought there was any chance of restoring her relationship with Damon, that chance is definitely gone now.
When the day for the Miss Mystic Falls' competition arrives, Cassandra isn't really feeling it. Neither is Elena, which is the only reason why she pretends eagerness, so the human girl will think maybe this isn't so bad. The competition takes place in the Founder's Hall, a building she's surprised to still see standing, a building that, were it not for the electricity-fueled lights and big boom speakers, or the very modern bar, looks more or less exactly like it did a century ago. It's strangely comforting.
She hasn't talked to Damon since the conversation that came straight from Hell, but she has kept a careful eye on Stefan for the last two days, playing none-the-wiser the whole time, and he seems to be handling the blood issue a little better. Part of her thinks it's his desperate desire to keep the news away from Elena. Whatever it is, Stefan has yet to move on from cold, bagged blood and onto fresh humans.
Wearing a tight, deep green dress and killer six-inch heels with no platform, Cassandra approaches the bar. She hopes the bartender isn't on vervain. The last thing she needs is being denied alcohol. Luckily for her, the young, fresh-out-of-college man who works behind the bar is close enough to her age group that a flirty smile and a subtle touch of a hand is enough for her to finesse a double Malibu and coke out of him, no compulsion necessary. It probably also has to do with the fact that if she leans on her elbows just right, her cleavage goes from classy to too revealing in a second.
She spots the Bennett witch as she walks closer to the main room, sipping from her drink without reservations. The two women meet eyes. Bonnie's are guarded, and Cassandra immediately knows Bonnie knows who she is. She pretends not to notice and matches Bonnie's forced smile.
"Bonnie! Hi!" Cass forces her smile wider, trying as hard as possible not to seem dangerous.
"Before you say anything," Bonnie says. Her right hand goes up in the international sign for 'stop'. "I know who you are, and what you are. I want nothing to do with vampires." She's at least smart enough to lower her voice at the word. "So, you will leave me and Caroline alone, or I will hurt you with a single look."
Cassandra's smile falls, she feels the cheery light in her eyes dissipating. Bonnie blinks, taking a step backwards. Her heartrate spikes up. Cass has no patience towards insolence. Taking a long sip from her glass, she enjoys the way Bonnie grows more and more scared by the minute. Then, without warning, mostly wondering what the witch will do, she takes a step forwards and grabs Bonnie's arm.
Bonnie gasps. She tries to get away, but Cass's hold is unrelenting. She watches as confusion flashes across Bonnie's face, until recognition replaces it.
"What?" Bonnie asks. "How is that possible?"
"I will help you." Cassandra ignores the question. "It's the main reason I'm here. Emily doesn't want you to continue your training alone."
"What?" Bonnie repeats.
"I am here to teach you magic." Cass explains slowly. "You can trust me."
"Thanks to your friend, my grams is dead." The statement leaves Bonnie's lips as a shaking breath.
Cass lets go off her arm, allows her frown to soften. She reminds herself Bonnie has gone through a lot in a very short span of time. It's not her fault being on guard. It's just common sense.
"I'm not like Damon, Bonnie." Cass shakes her head.
Because she's not. She's been worse than him in the past. But now she's desperately trying to be good and kind. Things she hasn't been in decades. Bonnie remains silent, studying her.
"Can I think about it?" Bonnie offers.
It's neither an acceptance nor a decline. Cass smiles.
"Of course."
The ceremony begins without a hitch. Cass stands next to Jenna, Elena's young aunt who Cass met earlier this week, and Alaric, looking as girl after girl walks down the stairs where their escort is waiting for them. She's painfully aware of Damon standing just a few feet away. She doesn't look his way, though. Doesn't even acknowledge his existence until Elena's turn to walk down the stairs arrives and Stefan is nowhere to be seen.
"Where's Stefan?" Cass hurries to Damon's side, the question leaving her before he can even turn to her.
"I don't know, I haven't seen him since I told Elena he's a blood junkie." Damon mutters, momentarily glancing down at her.
"You told her?" Cass exclaims in half a whisper. "Today, of all days!"
Damon turns to face her. She keeps half her focus on him and the other half on Elena, who is already halfway down the stairs.
"She deserves to know, Cassandra." Damon retorts, uncharacteristically not angry. Or annoyed. "She asked me about it, twice."
She agrees Elena deserves to know what's going on with her boyfriend. But not today, not today when Stefan is needed on his best behavior.
"Take Stefan's place. Now." She shakes her head, softly pulling him towards the stairs.
"What? No." Damon protests, beginning to pull back.
She turns back to face him, frowning. "What's she gonna do? Dance by herself?" she wonders rhetorically, pulling on his sleeve again. "Please."
Damon finally complies with a sigh and willingly walks to the bottom of the stairs, just in time to receive a very confused Elena. She takes his arm anyway, and the two walk towards the patio, joining the rest of the couples. The bystanders join them at the same time the music filters through the speakers softly, rising in volume with the tempo.
Cass stands by Jenna and Alaric, listens Elena's inquisitiveness over Stefan's absence, unwillingly smiles at Damon's obvious nerves at the fact that this could just as well be a disaster because he probably doesn't even know the dance. He's good at covering it, though, and Elena seems happy to pretend like everything is fine for a bit.
They begin to dance with ease and Cassandra realizes this bothers her. For some fucked up reason watching him dance with Elena, watching him actually enjoy it, is making her hot with something very close to jealousy. When the beat drops slightly and Damon takes a step forward, gathering Elena up into his arms, Cass looks down, tucks her hair behind her ear, clears her throat.
She's being stupid. And she knows it. Damon's not hers to feel possessive over. The issue is she came to Mystic Falls thinking she was over him. Sure, seeing him awoke a lot of feelings. And, yes, she still finds him incredibly attractive and sexy. But she thought it was the sort of things you feel when you run into an ex for the first time after a while. They've spent the last two weeks doing nothing but fight. She's truly hated him at times. Now, however, Cass realizes she's still completely in love with him. And it's proving to be once more very inconvenient.
When Cass looks back up, her eyes meet Damon's blue ones. Her breath catches. She doesn't look away. Neither does he.
Damon walks amongst the crowd as fast as humanly possible, eyes searching for a very specific shade of red. Sure, Cassandra is not his favorite person right now, but if Stefan really has gone off the rails as he fears, then he's gonna need all the help he can get.
He finds her by the bar, openly flirting with the bartender, a clear way of getting alcohol without having to use compulsion in a building filled with Council members. The man fills a tumbler glass with Glenfiddich—enough for the drink to be considered a triple—at the same time Damon reaches Cassandra's side.
"Cassandra—"
"I heard everything." She interrupts him, downing the scotch in one large swallow without batting an eyelash. He's impressed. Then, she turns to the bartender, making direct eye contact, one hand on his arm. "You will go back to work now and forget every single word we utter from now on. As far as you're concerned, we're arguing over him crashing my car."
Damon's eyes roam around the room. Mayor Lockwood is close by, close enough that he'd notice if they began behaving suspiciously, but not close enough that he'd be able to hear them. Cassandra has just ensured that, if anyone were to suddenly suspect them, the only direct witness would actually be their alibi. And she did so in such a subtle way, with a soft smile and a sweet tone that couldn't hurt a fly, that no one around even looked away from what they were doing. Damon has underestimated her greatly.
"You think it's him, don't you?" Cassandra asks him, turning away from the now busy bartender. "The reason Amber's missing."
"He's not in the greatest of places right now." Damon concedes.
"No, he's definitely not." Cassandra agrees. "I don't really know, but how long until he does more than… kidnap a teenager?"
"You mean how long until he becomes an uncontrollable ripper?" Damon frowns. Cassandra nods, her light green eyes eying the bottle of Glenfiddich longingly. "Usually, I would say hours. But it's taking him longer to lose control this time."
Damon watches as she sighs, leans her elbow on the bar's surface and places her cheek on her propped-up hand. The motion tugs her dress down slightly; his eyes immediately go down to her chest without him wanting them to. He catches the outline of her breasts before forcing his eyes up to her face. Thankfully, Cassandra is currently rubbing at her forehead, eyes closed.
"Which means he's unpredictable." She opens her eyes. The green of them is clouded with worry.
"What's going on? Did you find him?" Elena suddenly appears next to them, the panic in her voice nearly matching the worry in Cassandra's eyes.
After all, Elena's fear is for Stefan. She doesn't know how bad the situation really is. Cassandra seems to be pretty aware of how bad Stefan in human blood can be. They can lose control of the situation in the blink of an eye.
"There was a broken mirror with blood in the bathroom." Damon explains to the brunette. "We haven't seen Stefan in a long time."
"And Amber is still missing." Cassandra cuts in.
"He wouldn't do it." Elena shakes her head in denial. Her arms wrap around her body, tightening the thick, black coat she's wearing over her blue dress. "He won't do it."
Damon and Cassandra share a look. Within a beat, Cassandra jumps from her seat. Damon sends her a nod, turning to Elena.
"Let's just find him, okay?" Damon tells her.
Neither Damon nor Cassandra voice how they're almost sure Stefan has already hurt Amber to the point of death.
It takes them about ten minutes to find Stefan and when they do, Elena admits that maybe she didn't realize the severity of the situation. She thought Stefan was having trouble, sure, he'd fallen back into a human blood diet, but she didn't think he would actually hurt anyone. After all, both Damon and Cass live off a human blood diet without killing for it. The sight that receives her, however, shocks her to her very core.
Stefan has Amber pinned to him, mouth stuck to her neck. Amber doesn't seem to be struggling anymore, with her arms limply on either side of her, eyes droopy. Elena reckons she'd be on the floor if it weren't because Stefan is holding her up.
"Stefan, stop!" she exclaims.
The effect is immediate. Stefan jerks, turning around and letting go off Amber in the process. The girl falls to the forest floor. Stefan doesn't even look like Stefan. His leaf-green eyes are widened, are wild. His opened mouth is dripping with blood. He resembles a deer caught in the headlights. Elena knows it comes from getting caught, not from regret of what he's done. At least she thinks so.
"Oh, my god." The startled gasp comes from Bonnie.
Elena closes her eyes for a second. The last thing she wanted was for Bonnie to see Stefan like this. She doubts her friend will want anything to do with any of them after this.
"Stefan," Damon says slowly. He takes a step towards his brother. "Get control." It's a pleading request.
Stefan looks at them, half out of it. Suddenly, he takes a step forwards in Elena's direction. She takes a step back, afraid of him for the first time in a long time. Immediately, Damon takes a step closer to Stefan. Cassandra moves until she's directly between Elena and Bonnie and the crazed vampire that is Elena's boyfriend.
"It's okay, Stef." Damon coaxes. He takes a sure step closer. Stefan's attention goes from the two humans to his brother. "C'mon, fight through it. This isn't—"
Elena gasps as, in a blur of movement, Stefan launches at his brother, flinging him through the air until Damon hits a nearby tree. He stands up in a flash as well, his hands up, letting Stefan know he means no harm. Stefan doesn't seem to understand.
"Stefan, stop it!" Elena exclaims, horrified.
She regrets it the second Stefan's crazed eyes turn on her. Her own eyes sting. This isn't him. This can't be him. She wants to run and hide, but she can't look away. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Stefan lets out a pained cry. His hands move to his head, holding his forehead. The invisible pain seems to be strong enough to make him kneel. Somehow, this pains her more than knowing Stefan has lost control.
"Bonnie, what are you doing to him?" Elena shrieks, turning to her best friend.
"It's not me, Elena!" Bonnie exclaims back.
Elena turns back around, helplessly watching Stefan struggle. She's so confused. Maybe this isn't magic hurting him. What if it's something else? Like his body rejecting human blood after so long of nothing but animal blood? Could that happen? After all, some of Amber's blood is dripping out of his mouth in a long, thick string of half-coagulated blood. Combined with his wide, glazed, bloodshot eyes, it makes for a chilling and terrifying sight.
"I think that's enough." Damon sounds as worried as Elena feels.
"I told you, I'm not doing it." Bonnie argues.
"Cassie!" Damon admonishes. "Stop it, now."
He reaches the redhead in two big strides, grabs her by the shoulders and twirls her around until she's facing him. Like a switch going off, Stefan lets out a gasp. He's relieved of his pain.
"Stefan," Cass says so softly Elena's human ears almost don't catch it.
Elena looks at Cass. Damon still has his hands on her shoulders, looking down at her like he's seeing her for the first time. And Cassandra looks… disturbed. There's no other way of putting it. Her left hand is holding on to Damon's wrist so tightly her knuckles are white. Her other hand covers her mouth as she looks at Stefan. Whatever irritation Elena felt towards Cass disappears as she realizes she regrets the pain she caused Stefan.
Elena looks back at Stefan. He seems to be more present in the moment now. She takes a hesitant step forward. The movement jars Stefan. He flashes out of the clearing, leaving them alone. There's a pang deep inside Elena's chest, enough to make her not breathe.
"I didn't—I swear, Damon, I didn't want to—" Cass suddenly begins blabbering, turning to the oldest Salvatore.
"I know." Damon nods, looking about as shaken as Elena feels.
"It's just—he wasn't going to stop!" Cass continues. "Oh, god. I'm so sorry."
Her voice cracks at the end. She shakes her head, eyes squeezed shut. Elena thinks this is more than Cass momentarily hurting Stefan. This runs deeper, has more meaning, Elena just doesn't know what.
"I know." Damon repeats, kindly. His hand pushes Cass's hair back. "Okay, Cassie? I know."
She has never seen Damon this gentle, not even when talking about Katherine. Elena's eyes jump to the redhead. She sees her open her eyes, attempt a smile. Her grip on Damon's wrist loosens until her arm falls to her side. Damon's hands follow. He turns to Elena and Bonnie, the softness in his expression disappearing into a serious frown.
"Go find the sheriff, Elena. Tell her I need her."
Elena nods. Amber needs urgent help. She could be dying. Without hesitance, she and Bonnie rush out of the clearing.
The Boarding House is relatively silent. Mostly because Cass and Damon are trying as hard as they can to be quiet. Elena's idea to vervain Stefan and keep him in the cellar until the human blood is out of his system seems harsh, but Cass knows it's the only way. They need to help him get back on track, quickly before he's too far gone.
She fiddles with the ring in her finger as she sits in one of the sofas in the hearth room. Her undivided attention is upstairs, in the heated conversation Elena and Stefan are having. She's still aware of Damon's pacing in front of her, though. He told her to come just in case things went south and he needed help subduing Stefan. While she agreed, she has promised herself that she will not be using magic to do said subduing. The look on Stefan's face when she did the spell will haunt her forever.
It's not long until the distinct sound of someone collapsing on the floor travels through the house and reaches their ears. Getting Stefan down to the cellar isn't hard. What appears to be, at least to Damon, is actually walking away and locking the door behind him.
Cass glances back at Elena. The girl has her arms around her, eyes stuck to Stefan's unconscious form. Cass gets the feeling she's actually not looking at Stefan, too lost in her thoughts. She has half a mind to step over and close the door herself, finish the job neither Damon or Elena seem to be able to do, but before she can, Damon does it himself.
"You know there's no guarantee this will work." Damon points out to Elena.
"It has to work." Elena shakes her head.
She takes a step to the wall and sits down, right in front of the cell's door. The sight invokes a deep sadness inside of Cass.
"Can we talk for a second?" she asks Damon, hoping he won't say no.
He nods. The two walk away to the stairs, far away that Elena won't hear, but close enough that they can react were there to be an emergency.
"I want you to know I didn't mean what I said." She explains, going to the point immediately. "No, wait. I did. But you misunderstood, and I didn't correct you."
"What are you talking about?" Damon frowns.
Cass takes a breath in. She wants to apologize for what she said, for making him feel like he's worth nothing, means nothing. Because as far as she's concern, he means the world.
"When I said you didn't deserve it. I meant—" she clears her throat, forces herself to meet his blue eyes. "I meant you didn't deserve this life. My life. It's harmful and resentful, dangerous to an unbelievable degree." It feels weird, admitting it out loud. She feels completely exposed. "But mostly it is lonely, even when you have people with you."
"And you think my life's not been bad?" Damon retorts.
She shakes her head slightly. She knows his life hasn't been the best. He's gone through a lot. She just wants to have him understand.
"Damon, I'm trying to tell you why I left." She lets him know softly. "I thought I was protecting the two of you. And by the time I realized I'd made a mistake, it was too late."
"Protecting us from what?" his question ends in an unconvinced scoff.
"It doesn't matter anymore," she says.
It doesn't. It's too late. He's here, he knows the Doppelganger, he opened the tomb. Katherine is incredibly mad at him. People are starting to talk, about how Katherine was never in the tomb to begin with. News in the supernatural world travel fast. Cassandra knows Katherine already has a plan in motion, John's and Isobel's presence in Mystic Falls seems a little bit too coincidental, and while she knows the only reason why Katherine has not let her in on what she's planning is because she refuses to answer the phone each time Katherine calls, Cassandra knows ignorance is not bliss in this case. Damon and Stefan have stumbled into something that's bigger than they realize and, this time, Cassandra can't get them out of it.
"And you and Katherine have just been running around the world for this long? Without a care." Damon asks.
"After that… mess. Katherine and I sort of parted ways." Her lips stretch into a small sad smile.
"So, you never saw her again?" Cass thinks he has no idea of how disappointed he sounds.
"I didn't say that. She's still my friend."
"Cassie…" he looks back at her, but she shakes her head before he can finish the request.
"No, Damon." She interrupts. "I'm not telling." Her tone is finite.
"Why not?" Damon protests.
Her eyes jump to the teenage girl down the hallway. Elena quickly glances away, pretending like she wasn't just trying to listen.
"You know why. I never approached you because I worried about you. Katherine never approached you for a whole other reason. A reason I fear you already know." Cass confesses, hating that once more she's the one to tell him Katherine does not care.
Damon remains quiet, thinking over her words. Cass presses her mouth into a thin line, feeling her blood ringing in her ears, her skin flushing.
"I am not here to ask for your friendship, or your trust. I know I probably don't deserve either." She continues, wanting to look away from him but finding that she can't. He looks at her, silent. "I am only asking you to accept I'm here to stay. And I want to help."
With that, she shrugs. She may have caused more harm than good when she fled, but now she wants to help. Wants to try to keep Damon and Stefan alive. When he doesn't say anything, just looks at her with a deep frown marring his features, Cass turns to leave.
"Cassie?" Damon's voice stops her in her tracks. She turns to him, curious. "I'm glad you're okay." He admits with some difficulty.
Cass can see it in his eyes: forgiveness. It's not an assurance of how their relationship will develop. There's no telling if they'll go back to being friends, or if they'll just be mere acquaintances. But he forgave her for a century of what he probably thought was the cold shoulder. That's progress.
UPDATED: 16/01/2020