Title: Eternal Contemplations
Author: fading_tales
Pairing: Damon/Blair (Vampire Diaries/Gossip Girl cross-over)
Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Diaries, Gossip Girl or any of their characters.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Timing means nothing and everything when you have an eternity to live.

Chapter Eight

"I'm a… what?"

"An Immune. It's what we call humans like you. It doesn't happen often, but there are a few humans in the world who are born completely immune to supernatural forces."

"But… why?"

"It's something to do with your blood. I don't know the details since there have never been many of your kind to study… but unlike regular human's blood, yours has a defect that makes you unsusceptible to our kind. Nothing magical can affect you. No illusion or force or creature."

"Are you saying I'm defective?" Blair demands incredulously.

"Simply put, you're a mutation. The equivalent of a two-headed snake," Damon clarifies. It all begins to make sense.

"Gee, thanks for the flattering comparison."

"You're welcome," Damon replies with an infuriating smile.

"That means, she can't help you open that tomb," Emily points out.

Damon answers the witch with a glare. "Then I'll figure out another way."

"I'd like to propose a deal."

"You already backstabbed me once, witch. What makes you think I'm going to fall for it a second time? Hell, what makes you think I'm not going to snap your neck any second?"

"Because you need me. And I need her," Emily states, pointing toward Blair's direction.

"Me? What am I suppose to do? If I was actually a witch, maybe. But I'm a freaking Immune or whatever."

"Precisely. It's because of that little immunity of yours to spells that makes you so valuable. I need you to help me break one. Katherine's to be exact."

"Vampires can't cast spells," Damon injects.

"But they can buy one if they offered enough to the right witch and Katherine was well endowed with more than the feminine flesh. It's always been easy for her to swindle her way into wealthy young men's pockets... and pants," Emily smirks at the last part. She had had front row seats to the various kinds of depravity Katherine indulged in. If anything, Emily thinks the Salvatores are stupid, naïve, love-sick puppies wrapped around Katherine's finger.

"And what exactly does this spell do?" Damon inquires.

"It binds me to this earth. My body has turned to dust long ago, but my spirit cannot die. My soul is unable to move on to whatever afterlife there is. It's a curse on me and mine, Katherine's way of keeping us in servitude to do her dirty work even after death. She was always complaining about the mortality of the inferior witch race. She forgets that I could turn her into cinders if only I was free of my leash, a fact I dearly would like to remind her-"

Damon narrows his eyes and Emily pauses in her rant to smile an angelic smile.

"Well… It has been several centuries now… I guess bygones should be bygones. I just want my freedom back, as well as the guarantee of the freedom and safety of my family from further enslavement by your bloodsucking kind. If you help me get that, I promise not to hurt your precious Katherine. You don't have much to lose. You won't find another witch willing to open a tomb full of angry, starving vampires and let them loose into the world."

The witch makes a good point and Damon, despite his reluctance, is seriously considering the offer. The chance of finding another witch is slim to none as their kind have gone into deep hiding for at least three hundred years after the Salem Witch trials. Not to mention the less than amiable relationship between the vampires and witches makes it difficult to even deal with one should he find her. Katherine's exploitation of the Bennett witches being a prime example.

"I don't get it. Why would you want to help us free Katherine in the first place? I mean it's not like she can order you around from inside the tomb. If she could, she would've commanded you to free her a long time ago." Blair points out. "That is to say she was clever enough to have tried… but then again she did get herself captured and thrown into a tomb by a cliché angry mob of puritans despite her being the superior vampire being and all," Blair makes sure to use air quotes around the word "superior" with her signature bitchy condescension.

Emily looks like she wants to give her two cents about what she thinks about Katherine and her intelligence, but thinks better of it.

Damon gives Blair a pointed look and she merely shrugs her shoulders before turning back to Emily.

"What I'm trying to say is why the need to cross over? You can just keep floating around, haunting people and doing other ghostly things. It doesn't sound so terrible."

"The problem with just 'floating around' is that my spirit has the same physiological need as the living. I'll feel hunger, but I cannot eat. I'll thirst, but I won't be able to drink. Anything of substance passes through me. Even when I'm in a vessel, I cannot remedy the hunger or the thirst. I have been in constant pain for more than a hundred years. I'm quite literally a starving ghost. It is torture," Emily emphasizes.

"Well… that kinda sucks, but Damon doesn't trust you and I'm with him so…" Blair glances over Damon for affirmation.

He's been silent in contemplation; she could almost hear the gears turning in his head. After a long moment he looks back at her meaningfully, to which she answers with a sigh and a nod, and then back at Emily.

"What do we have to do?" Damon asks reluctantly.

Emily smiles the kind of smile of somebody who's gotten their way.

"Easy, steal a necklace."

xxx

Deals are made and plans are laid out. It's basically a simple bartering system once you look at it. Damon wants Emily to open the tomb to free Katherine, Emily wants Blair to free her from Katherine's spell, Blair wants Damon to compel Nate. There's also things Stefan and Elena want, but right now they don't matter.

Damon is sent off to go gather some supplies for the spell ritual and Blair is left with the real witch drawing archaic figures in the dirt.

"Why are you doing this for him?" Emily asks, breaking the silence since Damon left.

"Because… he asked me to."

"Is it so simple?"

Blair smiles a devious smile. "Maybe it's because I like having a vampire owe me a favor."

"Damon can't be trusted."

Blair rolls her eyes. As if she hadn't heard that one before. There's a whole Anti-Damon campaign running around evidently.

"If I recall correctly, he upheld his end of the bargain between the two of you. It was you who broke the deal. Pot. Kettle. Black."

"I couldn't let Katherine be freed. She'll continue to hold power over me or my family. At least for now with her trapped in there, it's only me who is enslaved to her. Sometimes the ends justify the means."

"Whatever lets you sleep at night, sister. Let's get this whole hocus pocus business over with."

Blair continues copying the symbols Emily showed her in the dirt.

"Once Damon gets back with your rabbit's foot and eye of newt or what-not, we can get this show on the road. Break undead girlfriend out, steal pendant, smash pendant that will free your witch clan from eternal servitude in the afterlife and then I can go back to New York where my Christian Louboutins won't get ruined from marching around in the mud."

"It's not that simple. There's some process to breaking the spell on the pendant, merely smashing it won't help."

"Well, I cliffnoted it."

"What is 'cliffnote'?"

"I keep forgetting that you were like… really old. Remind me again… Why couldn't you have just stolen the stupid thing yourself?"

"Don't you think I haven't tried? I can't touch it. It's part of the curse."

"You Supernaturals are all so complicated."

"As if you're so simple and easygoing," Emily retorts.

"Hey! All I want is a little fame and power. Sounds simple to me."

It's Emily's turn to roll her eyes. She finishes her drawings in the dirt with a smile.

"I'm finished."

"Finally!" Blair exclaims, getting up from her crouched position and brushing the dust off her expensive tailored pants. "Is this the part where you start chanting?"

"Not until Damon comes back."

Just then Damon breaks free into the clearing, his arms laden with various witchy objects.

"Speak of the devil…" Blair mutters under her breath.

"I heard that," Damon answers.

Blair merely smiles angelically at him.

"You're just in time," Emily remarks as she motions him over. "Just set that over there."

Everything's laid out and the forest clearing looks like a scene from an old horror movie with pentagons, pentagrams, magic circles and all. Emily steps into the middle of it all and closes her eyes.

"Stand back," she commands.

The vampire and the Immune are quick to follow instructions. Emily raises her hands and soon little fires ignite all around them. She chants in some sort dead language that sounds slightly like Latin, but off somehow, and the flames grow brighter. It's yet another impressive display of fireworks from the witch and Blair seriously considers talking to Emily after all this is over about a possible gig for her next birthday bash.

Emily finishes her incantation and the flames quickly extinguish themselves leaving long trails of smoke. Damon and Blair both quickly cast their glances to the large marble tomb doors.

After several minutes, aside from lingering smoke coating Blair's eyes and nose, nothing happens.

"The tomb's not opening," Blair points out.

"I'm a witch, not a genie. These things take time, especially for such a large spell as this. I've uplifted the first layer of the spell that binds the tomb. We'll have to come back and break the others once I get the proper ingredients."

"What ingredients? I got you all that you asked already," Damon bites out.

"For this layer of the spell. I will need to prepare other things for the next layer of the spell. It will take time"

"And how many layers are there exactly?" Damon asks skeptically.

"Three. We can come back to unseal the next layer tomorrow if I can get what I need from the other Bennett witches, but for the last one we will have to wait till the next full moon."

"How do I know you're not just making this all up?" he demands suspiciously.

"I told you why I wouldn't open it before. Why would I lie now?"

"Because you're sick and twisted."

"I think you're projecting your own personality onto me, Damon. I told you. This spell is complicated. I need to make preparations."

"Fine. We'll meet again tomorrow night. Same place, same time."

"Oh, just one more thing."

"What?" Damon growls in exasperation.

"You need to take Bonnie home."

Without another word, the witch collapses on the floor.

"What… just happened?" Blair asks. Things only seem to get stranger and stranger every day.

"Emily oh so conveniently decided to leave her host for the evening," Damon replies sarcastically. "Leaving us an unconscious girl to take care of. What am I? A pack mule?"

"Is the girl alright?"

"She'll be fine. Probably won't remember a thing. She's Elena's friend though so we better make sure she gets back home safely unless you want some more whining and complaining from the do-gooder duo."

Damon picks up the limp witch and throws her over his shoulders as if she weighed about as much as a feather.

"Are you going to be ok?" he asks. The day had been very long and rough. He wouldn't blame her if she pulled out now. He'd even let her do it…maybe. She is kinda crucial after all. The least he could do is make sure she's ok. "Look, I know this wasn't what you were in for…"

"Hey, I can survive witchfire. Can you do that, vampire boy?" She teases. "Don't you worry about me, I'm just dandy. Not everyone's an Immune you know. I always knew I was special," she replies, her voice full of narcissism.

They share a smirk, his relieved, hers cocky. Only Blair would find ways to twist a genetic defect to something favorable.

He would've let her go, but he's glad she's not doing it. He needs her.

"Common. Let's get the witch back in her bed so we can all go home," he says, extending his free hand out to her.

She doesn't hesitate when she takes it.

They return back from dropping off an unconscious Bonnie/Emily to find a black limo parked in front of the Salvatore Mansion across the field. As they make their way towards it, two familiar figures get out of the car. Out of all the crazy things that have went on tonight, this was definitely something neither of them would have ever predicted.

"What are they doing here?" Damon hisses.

"I-I have no idea."

From across the grassy lawn Damon Salvatore and Chuck Bass exchange glares.

"Stay here. I'll handle this," Blair instructs as she marches her way across the green expanse that separated the grand graveled Salvatore driveway from the borders of wild forest. She comes to a stop in front of the two boys she left back in New York. Chuck has on a somewhat bemused expression whilst Nate is leaning against the side of the limo, hands in pockets, looking somber.

"What are you guys doing here?"

Chuck takes in the image of Blair in an oversized T-shirt and beat up sneakers with a quirked brow.

"The question should be what are you wearing?" Chuck asks with a mixture of amusement and disgust.

Blair snaps her fingers in front of his face to get him from oogling at her footwear.

"Please spare me a fashion critique from the guy who thinks polka dotted bowties goes well with a purple shirt. And answer my question! What are you doing here?"

"What? Not even a 'hello' for your dear old friend and loving boyfriend? We deserve at least that what with you getting up and disappearing on us without a word."

"Hello. Now what are you doing here?" she screeches.

"Lower the volume won't you, Waldorf? Would you believe me if I said we're on vacation?"

"Chuck Bass… vacationing in Virginia?" the disbelief in Blair's voice was apparent.

"Well, you're here, aren't you? There must be something to this place that the mass populace missed." Chuck looks down and grimaces at the mud stain on his expensive Italian leather shoes. "Although I can't see what."

Nate is still standing by the limo, hands in his pockets, his face unreadable. Blair eyes him, but he still refuses to meet her gaze. The golden boy seems to have developed a fascination with the top of his shoes since she had left. After several attempts of trying to silently coerce the blonde to look at her with her bitchiest glare, she returns her attention back on Chuck.

"I don't buy it. At all," Blair emphasizes. Something fishy was definitely going on here.

"It wasn't my idea alright?" Chuck continues. "I just happen to be the one with the limo."

"And why did you guys need a limo?"

"Why did you leave in the middle of midterms to go college hunting in Mystic Falls?" Chuck returns. "What kind of name is that anyways? I'm all for playing hooky, but I didn't even know you knew of any other college besides Harvard, Yale and Princeton."

"For your information Mystic Falls College is a…" Blair struggles valiantly to come up with a good adjective to describe the abysmal place and comes up with nothing flattering. "Well it has a nice… library," Blair answers weakly.

"Yeah… 'I don't buy it'," Chuck mocks.

They were going no where and Blair was sick of trading barbs with Chuck.

"Fine! Believe whatever you want. Vacation wherever you want. I don't care! But you're not staying here."

"As if I wanted to stay at the El Salvatore Bed and Breakfast anyways. If it was up to me, we'd be in Fiji sipping margaritas on topless beaches, but there was somebody who really wanted to see you."

Chuck steps aside and opens the limo door. Emerging from the dark limo were long tanned legs clad in sky high heels followed by the unmistakable glistening blonde hair to match. Even in the drafty, gray Virginian weather she manages to glow and shine in such an easy, effortless manner that makes Blair instantly regret eating that extra yogurt at breakfast and allowing Damon to talk her into wearing a T-shirt and sneakers.

"Hi, Blair."

"Hello, Serena."

A/N: Gossip Girl wouldn't be complete without Serena and Blair drama. =) Also I think Serena would be an interesting presence to have in Mystic Falls. Maybe flirt with Stefan and make Elena jealous? Stefan is sorta like Dan since their both poetic writer types (Stefan has a diary for god's sake), so he'd totally fall for her (especially if she's playing the nice, sweet, GOOD Serena that she was in the pilot). Anyways, Damon has a few opinions about the BFF's return as well and he's definitely not under the Van der Woodsen spell. So that's what's coming up next time. Stay tuned and please read and review! 3