Bloodlines
Chapter 46: Home – Part 1
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Crash!
Bonnie Bennett visibly flinched at the loud sound that came from Damon kicking a chair so hard that it splintered into pieces. He'd just arrived at the dorms to find his brother's grey body laid out on a coffee table in the common room. Caroline was beside herself, crying and carrying on that she didn't know what to do with the body, so she brought him inside. Cassandra was speechless as she cradled her newborn daughter to chest while Elena let out an unholy shriek. Caroline immediately escorted Elena out of the room and they could hear her sobs from down the hall. Damon was quick to act, throwing a blanket over Stefan's body and moving it to a place where he wouldn't be seen by any lingering college students; all the while cursing Bonnie left, right, and sideways for her failed attempt. Elena, Cassandra, and the baby had gotten themselves settled into some empty dorm rooms on the floor while Damon decided to pay Bonnie a visit. Bonnie was sorry she even opened the door to her room, but she couldn't do much to stop him from coming in. He kicked the already broken chair, sending it flying towards the wall and Bonnie winced at the sound.
"Damon, stop." She pleaded as firmly as she could, but Bonnie knew there wasn't much that she could do to stop him. Damon then picked up a metal rod and swatted a glass vase off the mantel. The sharp pieces decorated the floor and he kicked them aside, making Bonnie jump back.
Damon whipped around and pointed the end of the rod at Bonnie. "You said you had a plan, Bonnie."
"I did." She tried to tell him. "I had a Traveler who knew the right spell."
"And you lost her!"
"I didn't lose her. She was sucked into oblivion like everyone else on the Other Side." She said.
"Then find another one!" He growled.
"It's more than just knowing the spell. Markos was able to come back because dozens of Travelers were willing to sacrifice themselves in order to overwhelm me." Bonnie spoke. "I doubt they'll be willing to do that for a bunch of supernatural strangers."
"You know who needs motivation?" Damon stepped closer to her, the point of the rod nearly at her neck. "You need motivation because if the Other Side goes away, everyone we know there, including you, goes away with it."
Bonnie swallowed uncomfortably. "I know that. Do you think I want to die?"
"My brother is over there."
"I know that."
The vampire's face was suddenly crestfallen and he tossed the rod to the floor. His brother was on the Other Side and his only hope of getting him back had been pulled out from underneath him.
"So is Alaric, and so is your Grams." He added.
"I know that, Damon."
Enzo, unseen by Damon, cleared his throat quite loudly. "Let's not forget who else is at the top of the search and rescue list."
Bonnie sighed. It was bad enough, having to deal with Damon, but now she had to worry about his friend. "Enzo is here."
Damon turned in the direction where Bonnie's eyes were currently staring and squinted. "Well, if it's not Mr. Butterfingers himself. How'd it feel to have your only hope of coming back literally slip through your fingers?"
"Hello to you, too, grumpy pants." He grumbled and looked to Bonnie. "Tell him to play nice. I have a plan."
Bonnie's almond eyes grew wide with surprise. "Are you serious? You found another Traveler?"
"Well, then get on it." Damon said to Enzo.
"I'm already on it, mate. You still need someone to do this coming back from the dead spell. I assume you still have a witch or two in your pocket," Enzo wondered.
"More or less." She shrugged.
After Damon had thrown his temper tantrum along with other objects in Bonnie's room, he'd gone to check on Elena and Caroline. Their room was just down the hall, but he could already hear the wails coming from Elena. Caroline was trying her best to comfort her friend, but no words could heal her heart. She blamed herself for Stefan's death and desperately wished that Bonnie's plan to bring him back from the dead would make everything right. Damon skirted along the hall, skipping over Elena and Caroline, knowing that it would be an emotional overload for him and he went to the spare room Cassandra had taken up residence in. He could hear her gentle breathing and he quietly pushed open the door.
Cassandra was snuggled in a heap of blankets, her curls in complete disarray. She hardly slept the night before since giving birth and once she found out about Stefan's death, she spent most of the early morning pacing the floor and holding onto the baby. She was terrified of having the Travelers find her, so she refused to close her eyes until Damon begged her to get some rest. While she was asleep, he watched over his daughter and glared at anyone who came too close. It felt odd to Damon to be protective over something so small, but his "daddy instincts" were quickly kicked into high gear as soon as she was born.
Damon slid into the bed beside his wife and he watched her gently open her eyes and peer at him with a soft smile. She still looked worn out, but at least she was able to get some rest after her long night. Their daughter was nestled comfortably in a laundry basket and wrapped up in lots of blankets. Caroline had promised to find some place to purchase a crib for the time being once Elena had calmed down. Seeing that a crib had not shown up, they assumed that Elena was still inconsolable.
"Hi." He scooted closer to his wife and her smile grew wider.
"Hi." She adjusted her head on the pillow so that she could look at him straight on. "Did...did last night really happen?"
"Oh, yeah. It happened," he replied.
"It all feels like a dream." She closed her tired eyes and Damon scooted closer to her. His fingers brushed along her cheek before tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. She exhaled and Damon wrapped his arms around her. He kissed her forehead and rested his chin atop her head. The events of the night before were still so fresh in her mind that she often found herself brought back to reality when the baby would cry.
"How's Elena?" He wondered.
"She's bad, Damon," Cassandra frowned, but then peered up at her husband from beneath her eyelashes. "How are you doing?"
"I'm fine."
"Damon," she tsked.
"Alright," he grumbled. "I'm managing."
Her frown deepened and her forehead creased. "I'm so sorry."
His lips were in a tight line, but his gaze was like a window into his saddened soul. "Bonnie will bring him back. I know she will."
Cassandra remained silent and nodded. She knew that Damon was in more pain than he was he letting on, but this was how he was processing his feelings, so she would continue to stand by him no matter what. She really hoped that Bonnie could find a way to get Stefan back. She couldn't think of a world where their daughter wouldn't know her Uncle Stefan.
A soft sniffle from the laundry basket made Cassandra pop up from the bed. She padded to the basket, picked up the squirming baby, and sat upright on the bed. She crossed her legs under her and moved her robe aside to let her baby suckle her breast. Damon smiled fondly and pressed a kiss to his wife's earlobe. Seeing Cassandra as a mother to their child was one of the most beautiful things he'd come across in his life. He imagined it in his mind over and over, but actually watching her brought him more joy than anything he'd experienced in his 163 years on Earth.
"Good morning, Miss Ava." Cassandra greeted her daughter's wide blue eyes.
Damon leaned down and kissed Ava's forehead. "She's so perfect."
The couple had agreed on the name Ava shortly after Damon had suggested it early on in the pregnancy. They felt that it would be a very fitting name for a little girl. While she was barely a day old, she already had a dark tuft of hair on her tiny head and her bright blue eyes took after her father's. She finished feeding from her mother's breast and Cassandra wiped the stray droplets from around her small lips. Cassandra held Ava against her shoulder and burped her; all the while Damon was in complete awe. She'd taken to being a mother so well and so quickly.
Once Ava was finished, her eyes drooped and Cassandra rocked her while she fell asleep. She passed the baby to Damon and he peppered her cheeks with light kisses to not wake her. The corners of Cassandra's lips tugged upward and she grew warm with love in her heart as her husband was so good with Ava. She initially worried about how Damon would take to fatherhood, but he handled Ava like he'd been a father all his life. He was wrapped around his little girl's finger and he didn't mind t at all.
Her gaze then fell to the laundry basket and her smiled faltered significantly. They were supposed to be in their home, not a college dorm room. Ava was supposed to be sleeping in a crib in her nursery, not a laundry basket lined with blankets. Cassandra was frowning now, fighting back her tears at the thought of someone else being in the boarding house and tearing down the nursery they worked so hard on.
"What if we can't ever go home?" Her somber question brought Damon out of his moment with Ava and he looked up to see his wife nervously pulled at the loose threads comforter on the bed. He placed a sleeping Ava back in her crib, for the time being, and came back to Cassandra. He sat across from her and took her trembling hands in his. He reached up to wipe away a stray tear from her cheek and leaned into his touch.
"Listen to me," he started and squeezed her hands. "I will do whatever it takes to get us home. I don't care what has to be done; I'll do it."
"But, Damon-"
"Ah!" He held up his finger and she bit down on her bottom lip to stop herself from rambling on. "What do you always tell me? Whenever the odds are against us, what do you tell me?"
Cassandra's lip quivered and her tears were flowing freely now. It was becoming harder and harder to stay strong and keep a clear head, especially with what had happened in the span of a day. They'd been kicked out of their town and their beloved friend had met his untimely end.
"Don't tell me you forgot." Damon's smirk broke up the silence in the room. "I mean, you practically tell me it so much that I thought you'd have it made into a bumper sticker by now."
That made Cassandra giggle lightly and she met his hopeful gaze. "That we always survive."
Damon's smile grew wide and he cupped her cheeks. He brought her lips to his and kissed her with every fiber of his being. He could feel her warm tears on his cheeks, so he wiped them away with the pads of his thumbs. When he pulled away, she was looking up at him with a dazed stare and he brushed the side of his nose along hers.
"We always survive," his whisper was so hushed, but she heard every word. There were many times where she would have to pull Damon up when he was down, but this time he was returning the favor. Cassandra leaned into him, her head nestled in the crook of his neck and she hugged him at the waist. Damon knew that reclaiming Mystic Falls wouldn't be an easy task and that he most certainly couldn't do it alone. He had some bits of a plan floating around in his mind, but he'd figure out the details later. There was a very important task to attend to first.
It was time to rally the troops.
"Class is in session." Damon announced as he stood tall at the head of the classroom. Jeremy and Matt were standing around the large, wooden desk while Cassandra had pulled up a chair alongside it. Ava was still napping from before and she intended to keep it that way while Damon explained his plan. Luckily, Elena and Caroline had pulled themselves together and had gone to pick up Liv and Luke. They had joined the conversation via Damon's phone which was also on the desk. A large map of the town was splayed out on the surface with scribblings and markings along the margins.
"First assignment: anti-magic perimeter. Gilbert, whadaya got?" The vampire looked to Jeremy.
"I walked around Mystic Falls this morning to see where my Hunter instincts disappeared," he started.
"Meaning, what? Your biceps shrunk and your brain got smaller?" Damon quipped.
The younger Gilbert rolled his eyes. "Meaning that I have a supernatural urge to kill vampires, so wherever I hated you less, there was no magic."
They all gathered around the map and looked down at it. A big, red circle was drawn around Mystic Falls in order for them to determine the limits where magic was not allowed. A couple outlying areas were left where the supernatural population could go if they truly needed to.
Cassandra pointed to an area outside the red circle. "Well, here's the cemetery." She then dragged her finger along the map. "And some other un-populated areas; the woods and the quarry. These are our safe spots and by the looks of them...we're limited as to where we can go."
"Yep. We're limited alright." Damon mentioned.
Caroline's voice piped up from the speaker. "Hey, Professor Salvatore, not everyone can see the map."
"Yeah, don't forget about us," Elena added.
"Donovan, you had one job." Damon tsked.
"I'll send you a picture right now." Matt replied, completely ignoring the vampire's snide remark. He opened up the camera app on his phone, snapped a picture and sent it to the girls.
"We should be with you guys."Elena sighed as she waited for the message
"Nope. You should not be." Damon shook his head. "You are on witch duty because without Crazy Locks, no one's rising from the dead. So, next order of business." The vampire grinned maniacally and passed a glance to Matt again. "Mass murder. Quarterback?"
Matt brought over another set of maps that were rolled up and propped on the side of the desk on the floor. He carefully unrolled them and set them down on top of the previously marked maps. Damon tapped his chin, his gaze eyeing the maps for a few moments.
"Thank you." He replied cordially. "Okay. We got these from the Sheriff. Apparently, there was some truth to her evacuation story. There's a major gas line that runs underneath the town. Now, if it did leak, it could be deadly, as in massive explosion kind of deadly."
Cassandra cocked an eyebrow and stared oddly at her husband. "Wait, what? You're talking about basically blowing Mystic Falls to bits?"
"Yeah, kinda," Damon shrugged. "Good plan, right?"
"Actually, it's not," Matt piped up. "We can't blow up our hometown."
Damon's blue eyes rolled within their sockets. "Says one of the only people left in this group who can actually live there."
"We're not blowing up our town. We just need to lure enough Travelers to one spot." Elena added in her opinion.
"How? We can't lure anyone anywhere stuck out here." Caroline argued.
"And that's where your mama comes in." The vampire interjected.
"Oh, I can't wait to hear this," the blonde mumbled.
"She will convince them to gather somewhere inside. Meanwhile, these two geniuses," he pointed to Matt and Jeremy, "at 7:00pm, will turn on the gas; let it leak. We'll have about 10 minutes before anyone can smell it. You clear out. Boom! Travelers gone, resurrection spell starts, loved ones return." He seemed awfully set in his plan, but the drab faces around him told a different story. They all grew up in Mystic Falls, so the idea of blowing it up just added insult to injury. But then again, how else could they get the Travelers to leave other than blowing them up.
"Good? Good?" Damon's gaze scanned the room and found no opposing opinions or Plan Bs, so he simply smirked and leaned his hands on the edge of the desk. "Class dismissed."
The wooded outskirts of Mystic Falls had a certain beauty to it in the late afternoon hours. The setting sun rested upon the leaf-filled branches of the trees and sparkled against the sap that drooled from their trunks. Cassandra had often wondered why she'd never been in this neck of the woods before, but then she remembered that the problems of Mystic Falls rarely involved a chance to sightsee. Her boots crunched against the leaves and dirt as she weaved through the trees, her heart became more and more enchanted with the forest with each step she took. She could even foresee Ava running through these woods, laughing and tagging the tree trunks along her way. A couple feet ahead, she could see the shadow of her husband along the ground as he sat upright on a tree stump.
"Hey," Cassandra greeted her husband as she approached him. His hands were poised on his knees, anxiously clenching at what the conversation he had been preparing himself to have with her. She placed her hands on his shoulders and gently kissed his cheek.
"Hey. Where's the baby?" He asked her.
"Elena and Caroline are babysitting," she replied. "I figured it would be something to do for them to take their mind off...you know...what happened."
Damon pursed his lips and pushed himself off the stump to stand. He shoved his hands inside his pockets and pressed his heel against the leaves on the ground. He'd been dreading this conversation all day; he knew how it would pan out, but being the good husband he was, he felt it necessary to let her in on his part of the plan.
Cassandra's brown eyes glinted in the sunlight and she tilted her head curiously. "Damon, are you alright?"
"Assuming Donovan knows the difference between a water-main and a gas-main. Yeah, I'm good." He joked.
"Good." She smiled and could tell from his body language that something was on his mind. He took a deep breath before continuing on.
"Listen, I wanted to spare you the gory details and then I figured, well, I'll be lying, and then the whole point of the Universe would be moot because you'd be pissed." He saw her eyebrows creased and knew she wouldn't like what he was going to say next.
"So here it is; Project Kaboom needs someone to trigger the explosion, so-to-speak."
He didn't even have to finish his sentence; Cassandra was already shaking her head back and forth. "I know exactly where this is going, so I'm going to stop you before you say it. No, no, absolutely not! Have you completely lost your mind?"
"Go with your first instinct, Damon," the vampire muttered to himself. "Lesson learned."
"Look, I appreciate that you wanted to tell me. Really, I do, but don't expect me to be okay with you wanting to blow yourself up."
"What else are we supposed to do, Cass?" He asked her. "Just sit here while these low-lives take over our town?"
"So, going on a suicide mission is going to make everything better?!"
"To make sure our daughter has a good life, yes!" He stressed. "Right now, Ava's sleeping in a laundry basket. A laundry basket. That's not how a little girl should live."
"Damon," she took his face in her hands, making it so that her eyes were locked with his. In his orbs, she could see disappointment pouring from them. Damon was always a wonderful provider, but it irked him to end to have the ones he loved getting by on what they had. She could read it in his face whenever his gaze fell to Ava or when everyone was scrounging around for extra blood bags. He hated seeing them so helpless.
"I know that you want Ava to have a better life, but do you really understand what you're willing to do to make it happen?" He didn't reply, just continued staring into her eyes. She brushed her thumbs along his pronounced cheekbones, stroking his soft skin. "Do you see a future with me?"
His hands came up to grasp hers. "Cassandra, I've seen a future with you since the moment we met; I knew you were the one for me."
"And with Ava?" She asked him.
Damon removed her hands from his face and kissed the backs of them. "Since the second I laid eyes on her."
"Then, please, don't do this," she begged with desperation in her eyes. "I want eternity with you and Ava deserves that too."
"You both do." He agreed with her. "But the way I see it, it's only half a suicide mission because we're going to be bringing people back from the Other Side and I'm going to be with them."
"And what if something happens?" Cassandra felt a lump in her throat form at the very thought of this plan going sour.
"As much as I hate to pull this card, I'm going to anyway," Damon said. "This is my choice and I need you to respect it. I've always given you that, so I need you to do the same thing for me now."
Cassandra knew Damon had caught her right where he wanted her, but she was still anxious about Damon's grandiose plan. It was completely dangerous and not to mention risky. Part of her wanted to vervain him and lock him in the dorm room until he changed his mind, but deep down she knew that there was no changing his mind once it was made up. Her hand passed through her curls and she was trying her hardest to bite her tongue on the matter, but what wife lets her husband blow themselves up for the sake of getting their town back.
Damon watched the conflict play out over her features and while he hated putting her through this, he had to do something to get the Travelers out of Mystic Falls. The idea for the plan had hit him when he was in the dorm with Cassandra and Ava. Guilt and anger wracked his entire being that his daughter didn't even get to enjoy her new room and that his wife couldn't recover properly in the comfort of their own home. He promised himself that he wouldn't let Markos and the Travelers win; he'd get them out of town by any means necessary and if that meant sending himself sky-high, so be it.
"I will make it back to you." His soft voice made let out a breath she forgot she'd been holding in. He tucked a wispy curl behind her ear and ran his thumb under her bottom lip. "I promise."
He brought his lips to hers in a gentle kiss, sealing his promise to her that he would come home. He just had to. He had a loving wife and baby girl to spend his eternity with. There were times in Damon's long life when he'd jump from place to place, from relationship to relationship, but there was never a time where he felt completely whole and like he belonged somewhere. Strangely enough, he found everything he was looking for right back home in Mystic Falls and he wouldn't let go of that happiness for anything in the whole world. Cassandra was his one and only love and he now had a new love to call his own in Ava. He pulled back, immediately missing the feel of her lips against his and he nudged his nose along hers.
"I promise you."
"Why do I feel like this plan is not going to end well?" Vanessa crossed her arms over her chest. She and Alaric were lounging in the common room at the Whitmore College dorms. They'd heard about Damon's plan to reclaim Mystic Falls, but residents of the Other Side were quite divided. Most of them were unsure if this plan would even work and they feared that Damon would have put in all the effort only to have everything blow up in his face.
"You've gotta have more faith in Damon."Ric sighed deeply.
"I do have faith in him and his intentions are good, but his plans go south very quickly." She explained.
"...that's mostly true." He hated to admit it, but Damon's plans were not known for getting off the ground. His plans were normally the crash and burn kind. "But you know Damon. He's going to go through with it no matter what."
"Don't I know it."Enzo materialized and stood behind the couch they were on. Vanessa tossed him a look over her shoulder and he winked at her. "Hello, gorgeous."
The blonde scoffed and rolled her green eyes, completely ignoring the vampire. She'd had the displeasure of meeting Enzo when he first came over to the Other Side. He was immediately taken with her and made it known, but Vanessa already knew what kind of man he was just by watching his actions he'd taken while living. She despised him so much so that Lexi had to hold her back from wrapping her hands around his neck and choking the life out of him.
"So, even if he is successful at getting through to the Other Side, he wants to bring some of us back. Can that even happen?"
"Why do you ask?" Enzo wondered. "Afraid he'll leave you behind?"
"No,"she narrowed her eyes at him. "Although, I would like to be around when he kicks your ass from here to Budapest."
Enzo made a face at her and plopped himself down on one of the love seats. "But you're forgetting one very important thing, blondie. When Damon blows up the Mystic Grill with him in it, that means he's sending those Travelers to the Other Side with him."
"If that's not before this place disappears," Vanessa said. "Let's face it guys, our days here are numbered."
"Very optimistic," Ric grumbled.
"Nothing like a 'debby downer.' Right, Stef?" Lexi and Stefan had entered the common room now, but neither of them took a seat.
"Look, I'm just trying to be serious here." Vanessa added. "I want to be brought back as much as any of you, but I'm not getting my hopes up."
"And what if the Travelers come here?" Alaric questioned. "You think they'd put up some kind of fight?"
Lexi's bright blue eyes sparkled with mischief. "Then we give 'em hell."
"I have no issues with that." Enzo smirked.
"Neither do I. I'd love to rip out Markos' spleen." Vanessa growled heatedly.
While everyone spoke, Stefan had remained silent, his mind wandering elsewhere. He wanted to share some input, but he grew anxious with each passing moment. He quietly slipped out of the common room and made his way down the hall to Elena and Caroline's room. He could hear soft giggling from inside and he slid between the open door. Elena was cradling little Ava in her arms and Caroline was shaking a baby bottle filled with formula. Stefan could feel a lump forming in his throat watching his girlfriend holding his niece. Elena was smiling down at Ava and she took the bottle from Caroline to feed her. Stefan drew closer and sat beside Elena, knowing that he could get as close as he wanted without being detected and he pondered on how natural his girlfriend looked with a newborn baby. He and Elena had talked before she turned about starting a family of their own, but Elena's death and rebirth as a vampire had changed all of that. They could always adopt, but decided against it since they wanted a child of their own. Ever since Cassandra learned she was pregnant, the very real hope of Elena becoming pregnant seemed reachable. But in a surprising turn of events, Elena was perfectly fine with spoiling Ava and being an aunt to her.
Ava took to the nipple of the bottle and suckled contently, her icy blue eyes becoming heavier with sleep as Elena sang to her. Stefan's smile grew wider, his heart swelling at the sight of his niece. If he felt this way, he could only imagine how elated Damon was when he held Ava for the first time. He wished so badly that he could share that emotion, but for the time being, he was stuck on the Other Side indefinitely. He sincerely hoped Damon's plan would work because it was evident that the Other Side would deteriorate and he couldn't enjoy sweet moments like these. He'd disappear into nothingness, never to see anyone he loved ever again.
"It's much more different up close." He slightly turned at Vanessa's voice over his shoulder. She'd noticed that Stefan was uncomfortable in the other room and that he had left, so she followed him, keeping a close eye just in case. She felt bad for him, especially since he'd been dumped on the Other Side so suddenly. Her original plan was to let Stefan be alone, but that wasn't what he needed. He needed hope and faith that he'd be rescued by his brother who was willing to go to the ends of the Earth to bring him back.
"It really is." He agreed with her. Elena pressed a kiss to Ava's forehead. She'd fallen fast asleep and Elena passed the bottle to Caroline to rinse out, but the blonde shook her head.
"You've been holding her for a bit, so now it's my turn." She gestured for the baby and Elena chuckled. "You're on bottle duty."
As much as Elena wanted to hold onto Ava for much longer, she had to admit that Caroline was right when she said that she was holding the baby for n while. She passed the pink bundle to Caroline who had to hold in a squeal when Ava moved her closed fist to brush against her eyelash. Caroline softly hummed a lullaby, swaying back and forth on her feet as if she were dancing.
"She is the sweetest thing in the whole world." She whispered it more to herself, but Elena caught onto it and couldn't help but nod.
"You know what the most depressing thing is?" The brunette's voice suddenly become somber and Caroline had stopped rocking Ava. "That Markos is going to come looking for her."
"And for Cassandra too." The blonde added and brushed her knuckle over Ava's cheek. The two friends were suddenly quiet all over again, the looming threat of the Travelers practically knocking on their dorm room door.
"What if Damon's plan doesn't work?" Stefan's shoulders were hunched.
Vanessa sighed and clasped her hands in her lap. "Look, I didn't mean to doubt him, I'm just worried. Everything seems so uncertain. Plus the Travelers have the upper hand and the gang is running scared."
Stefan gave her a disgruntled look, but it faded when Vanessa took his hand. "But I'll tell you one thing;I will stop at nothing to get you out of here and to run those Travelers out of Mystic Falls."
The vampire looked down at their joined hands and a small smile came to his lips. It did seem like everything was falling apart, but there was a small glimmer of hope that something could turn around for the better. Even though he was on the Other Side, he'd fight for his town and for his friends. Vanessa gave his hand a squeeze and caught the sight of a figure over her shoulder.
"Don't mean to interrupt." Enzo snickered and Vanessa rolled her eyes. She dropped Stefan's hand and stood while Enzo frowned at the male vampire. "Handholding with another vampire while your girlfriend is in the land of the living? Really, Stefan. What would Elena say?"
"Dick," Vanessa muttered and Enzo's eyes widened at the remark.
"Such language." He scoffed. "I'll have to wash your mouth out."
"You're such a jerk-off." She glared and Enzo was smirking now.
"Keep it up, darling. I'll have to give you a spanking."
The blonde vampire marched to meet him, her temper aflame. "How would you like me to remove your head from your shoulders?"
"Alright," Stefan stood between them, a hand holding each of them back. "Before we rip each other apart-"
"He started it." Vanessa argued.
"If you say so." Enzo gritted his teeth.
"Enough." Stefan growled and the two stopped their bickering, but they narrowed their eyes at one another. "Arguing won't get us anywhere. What we have to do is-"
Stefan stopped himself feeling the ground underneath him rumble. The bluish hue that surrounded the Other Side began to waver. Strong gusts of wind whipped around the trio and quickly picked up speed. Their feet slid against the floor as the winds pushed them back and it wasn't long before they were grasping at the open doorway to hold themselves. This same thing had happened earlier, but this time it was much worse. Neither of them knew where the wind would drag them to, but they did not want to find out. Stefan was able to get himself behind the door and shield himself from the oncoming wind, but he saw that Vanessa was struggling to hold onto the doorframe. She could feel it cracking beneath her fingers and when she tried to reach for Stefan's outstretched hand, she slipped. A scream left her lungs, but it was swallowed by the sounds of the Other Side beginning to collapse. Just when she felt herself slipping away, a hand caught her forearm and she was pinned to the wall by the door. She huddled into the body that saved her, holding onto them until the winds finally died down.
"Are you guys alright?" Stefan's voice was frantic.
"Never better." Vanessa's body suddenly went rigid hearing Enzo right near her. She peered up to see that he was the one that pulled her away from being sucked into the great beyond. She let go of him and pressed herself to the wall, still a bit frazzled from what had happened.
With a start, Lexi and Alaric were in the hallway too, both looking as if they'd gone through a wind tunnel. "Did you guys feel that?"
"How could we not?" Stefan said.
"Looks like the Other Side is depleting sooner than we thought." Alaric spoke. "This is not looking good."
"Alright, let's regroup and decide what we're going to do about this." Lexi nodded. Stefan and Ric followed her back to the common room, but Enzo and Vanessa hadn't moved. She shuffled her feet awkwardly and bit her bottom lip.
"What? No snarky remarks?" Enzo chuckled and stuffed his hands in his pockets.
"Thank you." She replied and the vampire looked curiously at her. "You saved me. If you hadn't of caught me, I wouldn't be standing here right now."
Enzo's nose crinkled at her gesture of thanks, but knew that it was genuine and had come from the heart. He smiled down at her and winked charmingly. "You're very welcome. I couldn't have you disappear. Who else would I bicker with?"
Vanessa giggled at that and nodded her head to where Lexi, Ric, and Stefan had gone."Let's go. And don't think you're off the hook for that remark about spanking me."
Wordlessly, he smirked widely, his gaze followed hers and they both went to join their friends.
Welcome to Mystic Falls
Damon held his bottle out to the mocking sign, toasting it before taking a nice long swig of bourbon. He'd been propped up on the hood of his car for an hour or so just watching the pink and orange sky fade to calming hues of blue and purple. Project Kaboom was ready to go and Damon reveled in the sheer thought of blowing all those Travelers to smithereens. Hopefully in a few hours, Mystic Falls would be back to normal and everyone could go back to their homes. His mind drifted to the Whitmore dorms where he'd left Cassandra and Ava and a part of him was regretting what he was going to do. He knew the risks of his plan and how quickly it could all go wrong, but he had to do this. There was no alternative; this plan had to go down as planned. He promised his wife that he would come home to her and he held a sleeping Ava in his arms until the last possible moment before he hopped in his car and drove to the border of town.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Damon's eyes snapped up seeing Cassandra leaning up against the hood of his car and staring at the very same landscape he was just enjoying a few moments ago. She was so silent that he didn't even hear her sneak up on him, but he wouldn't let on to the fact that he was slightly spooked.
"Hey you." He greeted and handed her the bottle of bourbon. She took it and flicked the cap off, swishing the remaining liquid around. "Come to see me off?" He asked her.
"No," she shook her head and brought the bottle to her lips. She downed the entire bottle, gulping the burning liquid as it touched her throat. Once she finished, she tossed the empty bottle aside into the grass. She slid off the car's hood, her eyes remained locked on the town she once called home. "I'm coming with you."
Damon gave a short chuckle as if she was playing a joke on him. "No, you're not."
Cassandra's right hand slipped from the pocket of her jeans and she held up the keys to the Camaro, leaving Damon speechless. "Uh, yes I am."
"Give me the keys." He reached for them, but his wife was too fast for him and she yanked them back.
"No." She sped to the opposite side of the car just as he zoomed to meet her. The two did this a few more times until they ended up where they started and Damon grew tenser by the minute.
"This isn't a game, Cass." He growled gruffly. Time was running short and he didn't appreciate his wife fooling around.
"I know that, but you must be out of your damn mind if you think that I'm going to let you do this alone." The car keys were grasped tightly in her fist now and her arm was down at her side. "I respected your choice, Damon. So, now I'm going to need you to respect my choice."
"No, no, no." He was looking at her, dumbfounded. "That's not how this works. The second we cross the border, you're going to feel everything. You're going to die all over again."
Cassandra nodded silently. "I know what I signed up for, Damon. I'm all in. Don't try to talk me out of this because it won't work."
Damon gritted his teeth and made a face of disdain. "Alright, so let's just suspend reality for a second and pretend like I said yes. What if something goes wrong while we're on the Other Side, hmm?"
"You said so yourself, you'd be bringing back people from the Other Side, so we'd be coming back with them." She was playing devil's advocate with him and she could see his patience slowly crumbling. He wanted to fight her on this, but every point she made was similar to the ones he'd proven in their talk earlier. He could tell that she thought this out carefully and covered all of the bases. He had to give it to his wife, she was a smart one.
Cassandra took a deep breath and held out the keys again. "So, are you gonna drive? Or should I?" The corner of Damon's lips quirked up into a wry smirk and Cassandra met his expression with an expectant face.
"Get in the car." He nodded towards the passenger side and Cassandra grinned. She opened up the door and climbed inside. "As if you could truly handle this car with the precision that I do."
"Oh, please." She rolled her eyes and clicked in her seatbelt. Damon put the key in the ignition and the Camaro came to life, the engine revving loudly. He winked at his wife and put the car into gear before speeding off. The tires spun wildly, the rubber burning against the pavement as they barreled towards Mystic Falls.
"What are they doing?!" Vanessa rushed after the car, but she was eating the gravel that was kicked up from the Camaro.
"Relax, darling." Enzo stood beside her. "Once they cross over to the Other Side-"
"No, when Cassandra crosses over, she'll deteriorate. And now that the Other Side is disappearing, she'll get worse much quicker." She told him. "I've watched it happen. She'll die there, Enzo."
Enzo's expression sobered and he blew out air he'd been holding in. "I can see how this could be a problem."
Cassandra's stomach churned anxiously as her eyes watched the speedometer climb higher and higher. Her heart pounded painfully against her ribs and she tapped her foot against the floor of the Camaro. They'd passed the no magic border and nothing had happened yet, but she was waiting for the sudden pangs of death to hit her like a runaway train. They sped through town, ignoring any and all traffic laws that stood in their way. She checked her phone for the time and saw that it was a few minutes after seven.
"Drive faster, Damon." She said.
"I'm driving, I'm driving." Her husband retorted. "This isn't a Ferrari, you know."
"Well, step on it! We need to die while we're still-" Cassandra then doubled over in pain, clutching her stomach and wincing. Frantic gasps left her lips and leaned up to try and get more air into her lungs.
"No, no, no." Damon slammed his foot on the pedal and the car jerked before speeding up even more. He beat the steering wheel, knowing that the car wasn't going fast enough "Come on!"
Fear then gripped them when they caught sight of the neon lights in the window of The Grill. The green awning came into view and Cassandra stole a look at Damon who hadn't removed his eyes from the road. The glow of the streetlights illuminated his handsome face, yet some of it was shrouded in shadows. Worry clutched her entire being just baring the thought of never being able to look upon that handsome face ever again if this plan went south.
"Damon..." She rasped weakly and his eyes locked with hers. They were both scared, but like Damon told her the night she gave birth to Ava; they'd be scared together.
"I know." He held out his hand and she grasped it gently. He squeezed firmly and they both looked onwards as the car approached The Grill. Cassandra squinted her eyes, not wanting to see what would happen and she was sure she let out a scream once the car crashed through the front windows of the restaurant. They braced themselves for the impact, but seconds later, the entire building exploded. Flames charred everything they touched and the wails of dying travelers filled the air along with the sounds of the creaking foundation of The Grill.
Oh sh*t!
Please review ;)
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Please say hello and thank you to your friend for reading! I am glad she enjoys them. I have not watched Pretty Little Liars, but I have friends who watch it and love it.
Do not worry about babbling :-P It was very sad to see Hayley and Giuliana meet their deaths and Elijah is not taking it well. The next part of the chapter will certainly have more twists and I cannot wait for you to read it.
Talk to you soon, dear xoxo
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Anda: Hello Anda! I would love to write a Klaus/OC story, but I wouldn't want it to be too similar to the TO portion of Bloodlines. That wouldn't be fair to my readers. But thank you so much for your suggestions and you awesome review!
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