Chapter 26

Rebecca walked back with Caroline into the ballroom. She went and grabbed her purse before walking back to Caroline who had done the same thing.

"Great minds" Rebecca said to her.

Caroline nodded and pulled out her phone.

"Who are you calling?" Rebecca asked.

"Back up" she told her.

The call went to voice mail.

"Katherine, its Caroline, Damon did something to Cassie and she is crying. We are meeting at her house for booze and chocolate. She needs you." She said before hanging up.

"Ready?" Caroline asked Rebecca.

Rebecca nodded and the two were about to leave when both of their phones beeped.

Meet at the boarding house in five minutes.

"Its from Damon" Caroline said.

"Do we go?" Rebecca asked.

Elijah blurred over to where they were "did you get the text?" he asked his sister.

Rebecca nodded.

"This isn't good" Caroline said.

Damon paced around the parking lot, after sending his 911 text to everyone in his contact list.

"Damn it" he growled this night did not go how he planned it. He blurred to the boarding house and saw everybody there.

Jeremy, Elena, Alaric, Stefan, Caroline, Kol, Klaus, Elijah, Rebecca, Matt, Bonnie, and Tyler.

"What happened?" Jeremy asked

Damon tossed Cassie's mask on the coffee table in the middle of the room.

Klaus picked it up "this is Cassie's" he said.

Damon couldn't say anything.

"Damon, what happened?" Caroline asked softly.

"They have her," he whispered. "They took her."

"Who?" Kol growled.

"I'll tell you who." Katherine said behind them.

Every one turned around to see her.

"The Russian who's wife Damon slept with, they attacked us earlier but one of them got away" she said

Klaus growled. "So Cassie is now subject to the whims of the Russians because of you."

Damon didn't say anything but nodded.

Katherine walked up to him "we will be talking about how you made her cry later." She growled.

"You made Cassie cry!" Alaric exclaimed.

Damon nodded "I said something stupid, it's a long story but right now we just need to get her back."

Everybody nodded and started doing what they do best.

Alaric, Jeremy, and Matt went to go get stock pilled with weapons.

The originals left trying to see if any of their contacts had anything.

Tyler and Bonnie went to go get her spell books.

Stefan looked at his brother.

"What happened?" he asked

"I screwed up," Damon said simply.

Stefan nodded and didn't say anything else about it.

For now.

Cassie slowly opened her eyes and took in her surroundings. She was tied to a chair in the middle of the room there were no windows. And it was dark.

The door opened.

"Ah good your awake" a voice said.

Cassie tried to make out any definite feature but couldn't.

"Do I know you?" she asked.

The man laughed. "No little hunter you don't know me."

Cassie was shocked to hear him address her like that. "How did"

"Know that you were a hunter? the same way I know you hold Damon Salvatore's heart" he replied.

Cassie laughed "sorry buddy but you have the wrong Gilbert if you are looking to get to Damon's heart.

The man laughed "trust me I have been watching Damon for years, you have his heart."

Cassie didn't say anything.

"And I must apologize in advanced, you're just a sweet girl caught in the crossfires of a feud, but you're in the crossfires none the less." He said walking closer to her.

Cassie started to panic at hearing this.

"What are you going to do?" she asked.

"Its simply really," he said, "Damon is reckless and doesn't care about himself because he doesn't need to."

The man put his hand on Cassie's cheek. Tracing her jaw line with his finger. "You however, are very breakable and through you I am going to break him."

And finishing it he punched Cassie along her jaw.

Her head snapped to the side.

Her head rolled to the front.

He grabbed her chin. "Its such a shame." He said punching her on other side of her face.

But Cassie was in a different place. Come on girl her mind said you have been her before, trained for this he is not going to break you.

"For you are beautiful." He said grabbing her chin again he placed his face into the crook of her neck. "And you smell wonderful, lets see if you taste that way to." He said before sinking his fangs into her neck.

Everyone but the originals was back at the boarding house.

"I can track her," Bonnie said "with Jeremy's blood."

"Not going to work," Katherine said.

"Why is that?" Matt asked.

"Because technically Cassie and Jeremy aren't blood related." Katherine said.

"No, Cassie and I are Jeremy cousins through blood." Elena told her.

"John wasn't her dad" Katherine replied.

"Then who is her dad?" Alaric asked.

"She doesn't know" Damon said finally joining the conversation.

"Fantastic" Alaric said running his hands through his brownish red hair.

Damon stared at his hair. It was familiar.

"Will Elena's blood work?" Tyler asked.

"No, she is a vampire" Bonnie answered.

"So we know nothing," Alaric said.

"Alaric calm down" Stefan said.

"No, Stefan I will not calm down, Cassie is being tortured by people who want revenge on Damon" Alaric answered. "And she has been with them for 9 hours now!" Alaric started to chew his lip.

It all snapped together for Damon right then seeing Alaric chew his lip.

"Ric" he asked, "how old should she be?"

Ric looked at Damon confused "22 in November" he answered "why?"

"How old should who be?" Elena asked.

Katherine however was following Damon. She looked at Alaric; he had the same color eyes Cassie did. "Cassie turns 22 in November," she told Damon.

"No, it can't be" Alaric said.

Stefan stood up "her name is Cassandra" he said.

Alaric ran his hand through her hair.

Jeremy finally got it. "She is allergic to cherries." He said.

Alaric walked over to Bonnie. "Use my blood." He said holding out his hand.

"Wait what's going on?" Elena asked Bonnie cut Alaric's hand and let blood drip over the map.

She started her incantation.

"It means you bimbo, Alaric is Cassie's dad" Katherine told her venom in her voice.

The man kept beating and biting her for hours. Cassie couldn't tell you how many times they hit her face, arms, and body.

"What are we going to do with you then" he asked grabbing her chin and looking her in the eyes. "It's been hours and you haven't yelled once."

The man finally called in someone else.

They were talking in Russian so she didn't understand anything they were saying.

"Did you know Damon slept with my wife?" he asked walking over to Cassie something shining in his eyes.

"Yes" she whispered trying to figure out what he was planning.

The man looked Cassie in the eyes "good, now sleep" he compelled her throwing her necklace on the ground across the room.

Cassie struggled to fight the heaviness that was trying to surround her. But slowly she drifted off to sleep.

When she woke up she was in her grey lace brace with matching boy cut underwear. She tried to move but her arms and legs were tied so she was spread eagle on a bed.

"Hello there" the man purred. His eyes traveled down her body a slow grin creeping on his face. "I must admit even with all of your bruises and cuts from earlier, you look ravishing" he growled. His fangs popping out at the last word.

Fear was all Cassie felt as she struggled against the ropes trying to get loose as the man started toward her.

He ran his hands down her thighs and found the vein he wanted on her inner thigh and bit down, hard.

Cassie screamed and thrashed around but the vampire only kept going smiling while he did it, he finally found how he was going to break the girl.

"Got her," Bonnie yelled. "Twenty miles east of Mystic Falls."

"Ok, gear up." Alaric said.

Jeremy, Damon, Tyler, Matt, Katherine, Stefan, and Caroline all grabbed weapons.

"I'm going to tell Rebecca" Caroline said everybody left except for Bonnie and Elena.

"Are you not going?" bonnie asked.

"I cant control my blood lust, if she is bleeding I'll probably bite her." Elena answered.

Bonnie rolled her eyes but didn't say anything as the two girls waited.

When everybody got there they laid out the plan, the originals would go find Cassie while everybody else was killing the rest of the vampires.

Alaric looked at the vampires. "Please get my daughter out safely," he asked them.

"Of course" Rebecca said smiling at him.

Then they heard it.

Cassie's scream.

Alaric paled at the thought of what they were doing to his daughter, he just got her back, he couldn't lose her again.

"Go" Stefan said.

And the battle started.

The man pulled back from Cassie's thigh, her blood still on his face. "What's wrong?" he asked.

He ran his hands all over her body. Loving that she flinched when he would press his fingers into a bruise.

She was still trying to get loose from the ropes.

He straddled her. "You aren't getting out of those girly," he said.

"You might as well put that energy into something else." He said his finger trailing the edge of her underwear.

"No" Cassie cried still trying get lose.

"I guess we are doing this the hard way." He said.

The man gasped and fell off the bed.

"I guess we are" Klaus said holding the vampire's heart in his head.

Cassie saw Klaus and burst into tears.

"Sshh sweetheart" he cooed as he untied her. "Its ok" he looked at her body, it was covered in bites and bruises. He bit his wrist. "Here love drink" he put his wrist to her mouth.

Cassie had no energy to drink or do anything so Klaus fed her. When she had enough to heal he laid her back on the bed where she passed out. He looked around and found her dress in the corner. He slowly put it back on the girl and then picked her up.

Klaus walked out with to find that the gang had just finished killing the rest of them. "I got her," he said.

Alaric walked forward. "Is she ok?" he asked not knowing if he wanted to hear the answer.

"I fed her some of my blood she will be fine." He said.

Alaric looked at the vampire. "Thank you" he said.

Klaus was stunned at the man's thanks but quickly recovered and nodded.

"Where am I taking her?" he asked.

"The boarding house" Stefan answered.

Klaus nodded and blurred away to the boarding house.

He put her on a bed in one of the guest rooms.

He looked over her. Besides the blood on her dress you would never even know just how beat up she actually was. He kissed the top of her head and blurred away.

Katherine, Stefan, and Damon, went back to the boarding house while everyone else played cleanup.

"Klaus took her upstairs," Bonnie said before they could ask her "third room on the left"

Damon nodded and left. Stefan left to go get cleaned up. Katherine however stayed in the room sending Elena a look that could kill.

"Um I'm going anywhere but here," Bonnie said quickly leaving the two of them alone.

"You sister is fine, you didn't ask but I thought you ought to know" Katherine spat

"I know she is fine" Elena retorted.

"No thanks to you, you stayed and hid here" Katherine said.

"I didn't think I could get the blood lust under control." Elena said.

"Bullshit, Stefan did and that thought didn't even cross his mind because he was worried about your sister." She told her.

"Well you guys obviously didn't need me," Elena said

"She is your sister!" Katherine roared.

Elena flinched at the ferocity of her words.

Stefan came back down the steps "what's going on?" he asked looking between Katherine and Elena.

"I was just telling dear Elena here how her sister was doing since she decided she didn't need to come along" Katherine said.

Elena didn't say anything and just kept her head down.

Katherine scoffed and pushed past Stefan to go find Cassie.

Damon walked into the room and saw her on the bed. He walked over and pulled a chair next to the bed. He grabbed her hand.

"I'm so sorry" he whispered. "Alaric was right, you got hurt because of me. And I don't know what I would of done if" he trailed off not being able to finish his sentence.

Cassie just lay there unmoving.

"You deserve someone better then me" he said, "so I'm going to take a very high and annoying road. I'm going to let you go."

Damon kissed her lips, stood up, and left.

Katherine was sitting in Damon's room waiting for him.

"What do you want Katherine?" he asked when he walked into his room.

"I want to know if you would rather I shove your spleen or your liver down your throat." She said.

"What?" Damon asked confused "Katherine it's been a long night and I really don't need this."

"I told you the next time you hurt her I would take your organs and shove them down your throat. So pick which one." She said.

Damon looked at her. "Not tonight" he said defeated.

Katherine looked at him and saw guilt in his eyes so she decided to leave it. She stood up and left the room shutting the door as she left.

Damon couldn't take it anymore; the pain, anger, and guilt were too much for him. He threw his desk across the room watching it shatter in pieces while everything that was in it flew across the room. Damon did the same thing to every piece of furniture in his room except for his bookcase and bed. When he was finally exhausted he fell on his bed and prayed for a dreamless sleep to come.

"Lets go" Stefan said to Elena

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"We are going to help with clean up so some people can get some sleep." Stefan said.

"Wait" Bonnie, yelled, "I'm coming"

The three of them made it back to the house.

"Time for a shift change" Stefan called.

Alaric, Jeremy and Matt left.

"Caroline, Tyler you can go to, we don't have that much left." Stefan said.

The two teenagers nodded and left as well.

"So what are we doing?" bonnie asked.

"Vampire bonfire" Stefan said.

Bonnie nodded and got to work.

Elena however just looked at all the bodies. "There were this many?" she asked.

"There are more in the house," Stefan said, "come on I need help"

Alaric raced back to the boarding house. He ran up the steps to where Cassie was.

He sat in the chair Damon had left and grabbed her hand.

"I had no idea you were here" he whispered to her "I never stopped looking but you were hear the whole time"

Katherine came in. "Ric you should get cleaned up and some rest before school" she said.

But Alaric shook his head "I'm not leaving her"

Katherine stood next to him "she is going to be out for at least a day, plus I'll be here."

Alaric looked at her.

"I'll call you the moment she moves," she promised.

Alaric nodded and left to get cleaned up.

Three days passed actually before Cassie woke up. There were some clothes and a note from Katherine. Shower then text me to see if Damon is here before coming down

She smiled that her friend came home.

She looked down and found she was still in her dress and that there were not bites or bruises. Then who found her came back. Klaus. He had healed her and dressed her before taking her out of the room.

She grabbed the clothes and got into the shower.

She was dressed in her favorite jeans and a plaid button up shirt. She took her phone that was one the bedside table and texted Katherine.

All Clear?

Clear, come down

Cassie walked down the steps and sat with Katherine on the couch.

"Where is everyone?" she asked.

"School, except Damon, he is probably at a bar somewhere" Katherine replied.

"How long was I out?"

"Three days, it's a half school day so everyone will probably be back here in like fifteen minutes"

"What happened"?

"Well, we found you, vampire battle ensued, we saved your ass, brought you here I then yelled at that pathetic thing you call a sister, then threatened Damon."

Cassie laughed, "thanks, but how did you find me."

Katherine turned to her friend. "We figured out who your dad is and used his blood to track you"

"Really?" Cassie asked. Excitement in her eyes "who is he?"

"Alaric" Katherine said.

Cassie shot up "it's a half day right?" she asked

Katherine nodded

"I'm going to talk to him," she said.

"Cassie what about what happened to you"

"Later" she called on her way out the door.

Cassie had to make one stop before making it to the school. Please still be here her mind pleaded.

She turned and knocked on the door seeing he was still there.

"Hey" he said looking at her "your up"

"Just woke up actually and I was wondering if you wanted to have a late lunch?" she asked holding a bag from the grill.

"Cassie you should probably still be in bed" he said nervous about how he was going to tell her.

"Alaric" she said softly "I know"

"You do?" he asked.

Cassie nodded and held up the bottle of whiskey she stole from the boarding house.

Alaric laughed "you are defiantly my daughter" he said walking out of the empty classroom. "My apartment?" he asked.

Cassie nodded. Happiness had flooded through her when he said that comment about being his daughter.