(1) Just Magic (D. Salvatore)

Chapter Twenty-Six

It's always creepy being inside the school when it is closed. The dark. The silence. Cassandra shivers as she makes her way to the janitor's storage room, she knows there will likely be some of those cloth things in there. She glances at the notice board as she passes it, the plastic glass showing her own reflection back. She has to take a second look, swearing she saw something there. Her eyes begin to glow as she stares into the reflection. And that voice is back.

"Cassandra"

"No" She warns, she's not sure who she is warning but someone better listen.

"Cassandra" It tries again. "Help me. Help me" She reaches up and clutches to her head.

...........

Cassandra weaves through the crowds of people and towards her jeep, she needs to leave, she just needs to get out of here.

...........

"Cas!" Caroline scolds as the jeep squeals out of the parking lot. Elena frowns and moves to Caroline.

"What was that about?"

"I don't know" Caroline answers. "She just took off" Caroline turns to Elena. "What is going on with her? She's weirder than usual"

............

The gravel crunches under the wheels of Cassandra's jeep as she pulls into the boarding house driveway. She's cautious, confused, but not enough to ignore it, it's just going to bother her if she doesn't figure it out. She cuts the engine and peers up at the house through the windscreen, her hands on the wheel, and her eyes glowing red. This is wherever this thing is leading her. And she sees the link. The Salvatore boarding house, Damon's voice in her head. She worries her lower lip and then climbs out of the jeep. This is always a bad choice in horror movies. Going into the creepy house. She's always the first one to call it out that it's stupid, and yet, here she is, doing the exact same thing. She's so going to get murdered. She wraps her arms around herself, wishing she'd grabbed her jacket on the way, but she hadn't, because that would have been smart, and she is not being smart today, clearly.

...............

No one is going to leave their front door unlocked for anyone to walk in. Cassandra reaches out and wraps her fingers around the handle, twisting slightly.

"Oh, I was wrong" She mumbles to herself as the door opens with no resistance. She steps into the house and lets out a breath. "Hello?" She asks as she moves through the foyer. She cocks her head.

"Cassandra" She turns her head towards where she assumes that voice is coming from. She holds out her hand, pulling her powers ready to go. Just in case. If she dies here, she will at least go down fighting. She lets out a breath and carries on through the house.

........

Cassandra makes her way down some stairs. Which, basement, isn't a good idea. That's always a bad place to go in the movies. She can hear her own heart in her ears, her powers right there on the cusp.

"Hello?" She asks again and turns into a small corridor with some sort of cell-like door, with bars on and everything. Which is weird. Why would someone have something like this in their basement? She peers through the bars of the door and frowns. Damon is slouched on the far side of the tiny room. He looks like crap. Sweaty. Pale. Crap. "Wow" She breaths out, Damon's eyes flicker to her. "You look like shit" She comments and then cocks her head in question. "Is this a sex thing? Because this way beyond my comfort zone...." He pushes himself up to his feet and stumbles to the door. Cassandra stumbles back from it but keeps her head up high.

"Let me out of here. Please." Damon tells her.

"You strangled me" She reminds him. "Why the hell would I help you?"

"You knocked me out" He counters. "Remember?" She clenches her jaw, because that's true, yes, he strangled, her, but she got him right back. "You owe me, Cassandra" She frowns and then glares at him.

"I owe you nothing" She argues. "I defended myself...."

"Let me out and we'll call it even," He tells her, fingers wrapping around the bars. She raises an eyebrow. That might make her feel better about hurting him. But there has to be a reason he is in there in the first place. No one would just lock him up for no reason. She looks at the lock, her fingers twitching at her side. "You're gonna open the door, Cassandra" She glances from the lock to him. "Open the door" He pushes a little with a nod, trying to reassure her that this is a good idea, that it's okay, that she can do this. Her fingers touch the lock. What is she doing? She barely knows the man and yet here she is rescuing him from some dungeon set up. She lets out a breath. "Open the door" He repeats a little firmer this time. She wraps her hand around the lock and pulls it open.

"No!" A figure pushes her out of the way, she lets out a pained noise as she lands hard on the concrete floor. He throws himself against the door to stop Damon from getting out. "Get out of here. Run!" The door is slammed open as Damon pushes through and that is all she needs. Cassandra pushes up to her feet, ignoring the pain in her side, and hurries back up the stairs. But she can hear him, close behind, she doesn't even want to think of that other guy and what happened to him, because if Damon is right behind her, only bad things could have happened. Fingers wrap around her ankle and she almost goes face-first into the stairs, if not for her throwing out her hand to catch herself. She turns and kicks him in the face because screw him, that's why. He releases her ankle and she hurries to her feet, pushing forward away from him. She bursts through the upstairs door and only makes it a few steps before tumbles to the floor, a weight over her. Her eyes only catch a small, possibly insignificant, look at Damon's face. It's horrifying. Dark. Twisted. Damon pins her down and she slams her eyes shut, turns her head, not wanting to look at him. He brushes his hand over her cheek. Can feel she's trembling beneath him and not in the way he wanted. His eyes linger on her face before they move down to her neck. He leans closer to her face, brushing his nose over her cheek and then down her neck. Fingers brushing her hair out of the way. She scrunches her eyes closed tighter as he grazes her throat with sharp teeth, before he stops. That threat of pain disappearing and swapped with a soft press of lips. He mumbles something into her skin. Something she doesn't hear.

"What?" She asks.

"Get out" He repeats a little louder, pulling her up to her feet with him as he stands. "Get out of here" She glances at him now, frowning. Confused. She was so sure he was going to hurt her. Or worse. "Go on!" He snaps a little when she doesn't move. She takes a few steps back from him, not taking her eyes off of him, in case he changes his mind. But he makes no move to chase her. No move to come after her. She turns and hurries out of the house, running to her jeep.