Dark Side.
Chapter 10: Founder's Day. Part II.
The parade was as boring and tedious as Cass thought it would be. Her escort, a short, blond, hazel-eyed guy whose name actually is Chad, didn't know how to keep his hands to himself. It took all of her willpower not to snap his neck. Enjoying the festivities, however, was incredibly fun. Changing into a leather mini-skirt, a black, long-sleeved, soft turtleneck, and her favorite pair of mid-heeled Chelsea boots, Cassandra couldn't help but be overly thankful of this times' fashion. Sure, her skirt clung to her body from her waist to her mid-thigh, but she could breathe without anything pinching at her sides.
During the day, she had lunch with Caroline and Bonnie, flirted with cute boys, ignored Damon Salvatore like the plague, and ate popcorn. Lots, and lots of popcorn. Sweet and salty, the best kind. Now, she's hanging out with Stefan and Elena. The sun is long gone, the music around the town square blends with laughter and chatting, and the firework display will begin in about five minutes. While Cassandra is more than just annoyed at the fact that the tomb vampires will not, in fact, die as soon as she hopes, she's strangely… content. She had forgotten how nice it was to have fun with genuine friends. There are a hundred other different things that will go wrong in beautiful Mystic Falls, but right now, as she laughs with Elena about what a nightmare it was for her to wear a corset for only four hours, Cassandra feels happy, somehow.
"Wait, so you had to wear a corset every single day until the 20s?" Elena gapes at her, leaning around Stefan to talk to her.
"Since I was eleven." Cass nods. "I mean, the ones we wore when I was human weren't as bad. They accentuated our natural figure, while giving us a slightly thinner waist." She explains, smiling when Elena's eyebrows rise high on her forehead. Clearly, the human girl doesn't think that would be any easier. "Oh, you should have seen people's waists in the nineteenth century. Talk about impossible and unachievable goals."
At that, she laughs lightly. She had always had a naturally narrow waist, but it was nothing compared to what people considered beautiful centuries after she was born. As a vampire, her body did not lose or gain weight, and wearing a corset to thin her already small waist in order to fit into society was near impossible. She resented the French for a long time, having to tighten her corset even more after they thought it looked good. Nothing, however, prepared her for the impossible hour glass figure people tried to achieve during the eighteen-hundreds. She once met a woman with a fourteen-inch waist. What even was that?
"What a nightmare." Elena shook her head.
"Men wore corsets too." She adds, a mischievous smirk covering her features. "Right, Stef?" With that, Cass swiftly turns to Stefan.
"No way!" Elena laughs.
Elena turns to her boyfriend, laughter still plain on her face. Between the two girls, Stefan lets out a sigh that ends in a laugh, leaf-green eyes dropping to the asphalt.
"I hate you." Stefan shakes his head. Elena laughs again. This time, Cass joins in. "In my defense, I only wore them twice. The fashion wasn't that popular in Virginia."
"Sure, it wasn't." Cass teases, shoulder bumping against his arm.
The three of them turn right, walking towards the makeshift stage in the middle of the square, where the mayor is due to give some inspiring speech. Personally, Cassandra couldn't care less about what Mayor Richard Lockwood has to say—also, how fitting is it that his name is actually Dick—but she loves fireworks.
Unfortunately, they get intercepted on the way. Damon half-jogs towards them, grabbing ahold of Elena's free hand. The three of them slow down at the same time. Elena turns to Damon with a confused frown.
"What are you doing?" she asks, slowly trying to get her hand free.
"Saving your life. Fifteen words or less..." Damon starts explaining.
Something dips inside Cassandra's chest. He's trying to down play it, but Damon is worried. She can see it in the way his eyes keep darting around, like he's looking out for something. It seems like her happy day won't stay that way for much longer.
"Tomb vamps are here. Founding families are the target." Damon lets them know. The effect is immediate. The blood drains from Elena's face, Stefan's hold tightens around the human girl's other hand. Cassandra copies Damon, looking around for anyone familiar she knows shouldn't be around twenty-first-century Mystic Falls. "Get her out of here, now!" Damon practically barks at them.
With that, and barely waiting for Stefan and Cassandra to acknowledge his order, Damon turns around and begins walking the other way. Panic suddenly strikes her. The tomb vampires are angry, they have spent a whole century and a half underground, in pain. She's not surprised they want revenge. She understands why Damon wants to stop them, she just doesn't want him anywhere near them.
"Wait, where are you going?" Cass calls after him.
Damon halts on his step, turning around to look at her.
"That's more than 15 words, Cassie," Damon says.
There's something to his eyes, a sort of deep intensity that somehow has her more worried. He nods at her once more, before turning around and walking away. Swiftly, she turns back to Elena, walking around Stefan to intertwine her arm with Elena's.
"Let's get you home." Cass smiles comfortingly at Elena, who looks like she's about ready to freak out.
The girl's heart is beating a thousand times a minute, and Cass can hear her elaborated breathing perfectly. Elena is afraid, and if worse comes to worse, Cass is basically the only one who can really protect her. There's no way animal-blood-drinker Stefan will be able to take on more than one tomb vampire. Stefan meets her eyes, delivering a silent thank-you followed by a nod as he softly tugs on Elena's hands, getting her to start walking again.
"Jeremy's somewhere." Elena comments, frantically looking around the square.
"We'll find him," Stefan assures her. "Don't worry."
With that, they set out with a mission in mind, crossing the street and walking away from the growing crowd. Elena insists this many people is far from her brother's scene, so they agree to start looking near The Grill, one of Jeremy's favorite hang-out spot.
Not five minutes have passed, when suddenly, the worst pain she's ever experienced attacks her head. It's almost like her brain is on fire, it burns worse than vervain. The pain pierces her skull, bats against the walls of her head. Air escapes hers. The only thing she can really do is hold onto her forehead, force herself to breathe in and out. She's barely aware of Stefan falling to his knees beside her, retreating into his body to try and stop the pain. Elena is shouting something at her, but she's so focused on not screaming that she can't really focus on what the girl is saying. This is worse than any aneurism a conniving witch has given her in the past, usually, she can shrug those off like nothing.
When a hand presses against her back, forcing her forward, she turns around in a panic. Cassandra has a pretty good idea of what's going on here, and there's no way she's falling prey to the plan she herself created years ago. She relaxes upon seeing Alaric, a concerned frown marring his features, is the man leading her away and not some council member. Blindly, she follows him, barely aware of Stefan and Elena walking after them.
Through her muddled mind, Cassandra stumbles down the stairs to the back alley of The Grill. Flopping down on the last step, she presses both hands to her overly hot neck, breathing in and out through her mouth and counting in her mind. The pain lessens on number one-hundred-and-two, disappears in one-hundred-and-eighteen.
Finally, she becomes aware of the stale stench of old cigarette butts littering the floor, days-old urine, and slight leftover trash liquids that have never been cleaned. She's aware of the cool late February air brushing her hair forward, kissing her neck. The stickiness of the steps she's sitting on, the irregular surface digging into the skin of her thighs. When she opens her eyes, she finds Stefan sitting next to her, head on his hands, and Elena hugging him close to her. Cassandra looks up; Alaric is looking down at them worriedly.
"Are you okay?" he asks her.
"I'm fine." She assures him.
It's not a lie. The pain is completely gone, the nausea is gone, her heart has returned to a normal tempo. Her eyes go back to Stefan, who looks in worse shape than he should. Sure, Cassandra is older, which would explain why she wasn't as affected as Stefan, but the younger vampire is old enough that recovering shouldn't take him this long. She makes a mental note of never going into an animal-blood diet.
"I don't know what happened!" Elena shakes her head. She still sounds worried, but Cassandra knows this worry is directed at Stefan, not her missing brother.
"The cops are injecting everyone who drops with vervain." Alaric explains. "They're taking them to the old Gilbert building."
"They're rounding up the vampires." Cassandra mutters, rising to her feet. "That was the Gilbert device at its full potential."
"But how did he get it to work?" Elena shakes her head. "Bonnie unspelled it."
"Maybe she didn't." Alaric suggests, crossing his arms.
"She did, we saw her do it!" Elena insists.
Cassandra begins to pace, ignoring the conversation going on beside her. This is good. Sure, she and Stefan were pretty close to getting killed and Bonnie betrayed them, but John will be able to get rid off the tomb vampires swiftly, the authorities will cover it up, and word about the tomb being opened will be silenced forever. If they're really, really lucky, word about the Doppelgänger being alive won't reach farther than Atlanta.
"No, no, no, they are right. Think about it." Stefan nods with a clear of his throat. "We asked Bonnie to deactivate a device that could protect people against vampires."
"She would never do that." Cassandra acquiesces, turning to share a look with Stefan.
"It was so we could protect you." Elena reminds them.
Her eyes are wide, but Cass can see the hesitance in them. Elena is beginning to understand what Bonnie has just done. Cassandra isn't that bothered. She's getting the tomb vampires out of the way and everyone she cares about is okay. Her heart stops for a moment before starting again. Not everyone is here.
"Where's Damon?" she asks, incredibly aware of how alarmed she sounds.
There's no way Damon Salvatore is dying at the hands of John Gilbert in the exact same circumstances she was meant to perish under a century and a half ago. There's no way Damon is dying while she's around, period. Stefan stands up as well, the worry she feels reflected on his face.
"I don't know," Alaric says. "I haven't seen him since this started."
That is not what Cassandra wants to hear. They saw him last about ten minutes ago, give or take. They have no idea where he went. She thinks maybe he wanted to stop the tomb vampires from killing the founding family members, but if Alaric didn't see him, and he saw most of the tomb vampires go down, then where the fuck did Damon go?
"Okay, we need to find him." Cassandra's words are more of an order than a request.
Stefan nods at her, silently agreeing.
"Can you get my brother, take him home?" Elena asks Alaric.
"Of course," is the history teacher's immediate answer.
"Let's go." Elena announces.
The four of them begin walking out of the alleyway, Alaric to find Jeremy, and the two vampires, plus Elena, to search high and low for Damon, who could very much be already dead. Cassandra inwardly shakes the thought out of her head and makes a point of ignoring Elena's very obvious sympathetic looks directed her way, as they rush towards Elena's late father's old office.
The vampires were indeed taken to the old Gilbert building, the basement to be precise. Cassandra's age allows her to hear the screams, and smell the burning flesh, just as clearly as if she were standing next to them. Slowly, guilt begins to run through her veins. Those people spent a century and a half caged inside a tomb because of a plan she and Katherine devised, and now they are dying slowly, because of them.
The building, a three story, thin house that still maintains the old architecture it's had for a century and a half, just modernized inside, is surrounded by deputies. It's everything but subtle, and Cassandra wonders how idiotic John truly is. There's no way the townspeople won't suspect the fire, not if there's a bunch of police officers posted outside like jailors. Still, Cassandra can't help but be shocked. Not because of the situation they're in, but because Grayson Gilbert's old practice used to be Pearl's apothecary.
When she and Stefan finally reach the side door of the building, the screams are even louder. The guilt triples when she thinks Damon is in there, too. He could be dead already. Or burning slowly, going through the worst pain imaginable with no way out. Stefan doesn't wait a single moment, he throws himself at the door and forces it open. Cass takes a close step to him, when a demanding and uncharacteristically strong voice stops them.
"If you go in there, you will both die." Bonnie points out to them. Cassandra turns on her spot, unimaginable rage suddenly taking over her. Bonnie does nothing, simply stares at them, one eyebrow raised. "The fire will take you out."
"He's my brother, Bonnie." Stefan protests.
Bonnie has the nerve to shrug. Shrug. Gathering every single ounce of self-control and patience Cassandra has, she pushes Stefan towards the door. They don't need Bonnie, she can take care of the flames on her own. Stefan, thankfully, doesn't need to be nudged twice.
"Don't you fucking try, Bonnie Bennett." Cassandra snarls at the young witch when she takes a warning step towards them.
The threat behind her voice is enough for Bonnie to halt in her tracks, the ice in her eyes is what sends the witch two steps backwards. Saying nothing more, she twirls back around and storms into the building, pushing Stefan away from the scorching hot basement door.
"Wait—Cassandra!" Stefan protests.
She ignores him, forcing the door open and pretending like it doesn't hurt. She needs to get a visual of the fire before she can extinguish it, and if the prize to pay is a blistering burn that will heal within ten seconds, so be it.
The moment the door opens, hot air exits the basement with seeming personal hatred. The fire has been going on for long enough that some of the building's structure is beginning to give way, debris falls from the stairs' ceiling, ashes swivel around the air like snow, and the flames reach higher up than she'd expected, licking up the walls and steps. It's a perfect raging inferno.
Her heart lurches forward. There, at the bottom of the stairs, is a vampire, whirling in pain, body covered in flames. His screams ricochet inside her head. Cass knows him, his name is Theodore, Pearl turned him in the turn of the 18th Century. He used to have a wife and a son, who died tragically by drowning in the river near their home during a storm. His wife, Patricia, had died trying to save their son. He had been all alone until Pearl found him, gave him a new life.
Shaking her head, she focuses back on the task at hand, knowing very well the three seconds it's taken her to do the spell could be life or death. Theodore is going to die, but Damon might still get a chance. Or at least, she prays. Cassandra lifts up a hand in the air, softly muttering a spell she has known since she was ten-years-old.
When the flames are low enough that they don't reach the stairs anymore, Stefan flashes down the stairs, coming back up four seconds later, Damon leaning on his left side. The two brothers pause at the door, right in front of her. Stefan gives her a grateful nod. Damon, however, just looks at her with wide eyes. Amazement is the only word that comes up to her when she tries to name the emotion swirling behind the blue of his eyes. When his lips turn up in a tiny, barely-there smile, she immediately turns back to the basement, heart lodged into her throat.
Some of the tomb vampires are trying to crawl towards the staircase. Without hesitance, she drops her hand. The flames come back full-force, taking down the one vampire who had managed to reach the second step. Together, they stumble out of the building, with Damon still leaning heavily on Stefan.
"Bonnie, they're our friends!" Elena is protesting as they reach the service lot outside the building.
Her pleads are falling on deaf ears, apparently, as Bonnie simply stands there, impassive. The minute they stand on safe ground, breathe in fresh air, coughs begin racking Damon's body, his lungs desperately trying to exude the toxins from the fire.
"Oh, my god!" Elena gasps, running towards them once she notices them.
Elena jumps to Damon's other side at the same time she reaches for Stefan as well. The three of them form a very strange unit. Strange, but fitting, Cass thinks. In this moment, she understands the relationship between the Salvatore brothers and the Doppelganger better than she did yesterday, albeit not completely. They would do anything for one another, even Elena for Damon, whom she claims to hate, and Damon for Elena, whom he's adamant to pretend not to love. Strangely, it's… not as horrible as she thinks it should be, this weird love-triangle her friends are in.
While the three of them are more than happy making sure everyone is okay, Cassandra is now focused on something else. Or rather, someone.
"After everything I've done for you, after everything I've taught you." Cassandra starts, taking two steps and standing right in front of Bonnie, positively glowering. "You owed me, Bonnie! And you almost killed us all." She hisses at her.
Behind them, Stefan calls out to her in warning. Cassandra ignores him. She's not letting this go. Not yet. Bonnie did this on purpose, this wasn't her not knowing how to make the spell or trying and failing. It was completely deliberate, Cass can feel it in her bones.
"I couldn't do it, Cass." Bonnie shoots back, laid-back. Obviously, the girl manages a couple of medium-level spells and she thinks she can take on a five-hundred-year-old vampire hybrid. "I couldn't let them live, and neither could you."
Oh, the nerve in this girl! This is how she wants to play, then she'll play.
"Don't you dare lie to my face." Cassandra spits. Bonnie blinks, apparently finally realizing the danger she's in. "You did this because you saw an opportunity to get rid of someone you hate, and you took it. You saw an opportunity to get rid of those you consider monsters, and you couldn't let it pass you, no matter the fact that one of those so-called monsters was the woman who taught you half of the things you now know, or Stefan, who has saved your life multiple times."
With each sentence, Cassandra gets angrier and angrier. By the time she's finished, her hands are around Bonnie's arms, keeping her in place tightly. She's this close to simply snapping her neck. There are no words to explain how mad she is. Not just at Bonnie, but herself, too. She makes terrible decisions, and because of that, Damon almost died.
"Cass, let me go." Bonnie demands, her voice weaker and with less conviction than before.
"Or what?" she challenges.
Bonnie says nothing. Cassandra waits, lips slowly lifting up into a dangerous smirk. Because Bonnie has nothing. She's won. It still doesn't feel like a win, however, guilt and rage still run through her, mixing with her blood until she's not sure she's made of anything else but war.
"Cassandra, please." Elena begs.
When Cassandra doesn't even blink, Elena walks until she is standing beside Bonnie. Her kind brown eyes are desperate. Cass knows why. Bonnie is Elena's best friend in the world. They've been friends since they were three. Cassandra looks back at Bonnie, who is finally looking afraid. Behind them, Cass can feel the Salvatore brothers, tense, watching.
"Bonnie just wanted to get rid of the vampires that were a threat." Elena proposes. "She didn't mean for you and Stefan to be in danger." Elena shakes her head. "For Damon to get hurt." With that, Elena places a hesitant hand on Cass's arm.
There's an immediate shift in the energy behind her, she can feel it without having to turn around.
"Elena." Stefan warns.
They're scared of her, Cassandra realizes. It sparks something inside of her, dark and dangerous. It spreads through her body like wildfire, hot and burning, but incredibly empowering. She's Queen. The master of her own fate; the master of theirs if she so wishes. She could so easily turn this treacherous witch into a pile of ash, boil her blood until she burns from the inside out. Do it, a soft voice whispers in her mind, perilous and loving, show them who you truly are. Remind the world you cannot be contained.
It was a tempting notion. She had been pushed and pulled and forced to do things she didn't want all her life. Her family turned her into a nuclear weapon and asked her to find peace. But, what is a weapon in times of calm? How do you Peace when all that's running through your veins is War? It was a conniving and ludicrous notion. Another way to keep her controlled. The only times Cassandra had truly felt free was when her humanity was off, those blissful centuries where she reigned over Europe through fear and horror. And her years with Nik. That thought halts every molecule in her body from committing an act Cass knows she would later regret. The raging sea inside of her—her magic—calms down into a peaceful ocean in a windless night.
Her green eyes go back to a frightened and pleading Elena, back to a near-crying Bonnie. Her mind reaches out to Stefan and Damon, to their tense and worried energies. Startingly, Cassandra realizes this is not who she wants to be, not anymore, not with the people she has started to call friends.
Cassandra finally sighs, letting go of the young witch. Bonnie lets out a relieved breath, closing her eyes. Cass watches as two tears slide down the witch's cheeks, silent and unchecked. Regret thrums through her.
"I can't teach you anymore." Cassandra lets Bonnie know. "As for our friendship… well, it's clear there wasn't any on your part."
She and Bonnie observe each other for a heartbeat. For a second, it looks like Bonnie might regret what she did, but the hesitance and apology in her eyes gets replaced by determination quickly enough. Cassandra fights the urge to roll her eyes, knowing that would display weakness, show feeble power, and old habits are hard to die.
One thing is for certain, walking away is slightly harder than she thought it would, and should, be.
UPDATED: 16/01/2020