(1) Just Magic (D. Salvatore)

Chapter Forty

Bonnie sits with Cassandra on a bench outside of the school. Bonnie is explaining her dreams to Cassandra. At least they are talking again. That Bonnie is still confiding in her. Cassandra has missed her. Missed having her friend around.

"And then, I ended up at the remains of the old Fell's church before I woke up back in the woods" Bonnie offers, Cassandra cocks her head.

"And you always see your ancestor Emily?" Cassandra asks, Bonnie hums in agreement.

"Do you believe in ghosts?"

"A month ago I'd say no, but now..." Cassandra admits, a month ago she would have said anything supernatural or sci-fi was utter horse crap, but now, with everything going on around them, how can she say no to anything else?

"Because I think I'm being haunted."

"I don't get it. Why Emily?" Cassandra asks.

"Grams said she was a powerful witch back in the Civil War days, and that this medallion" Bonnie touches the crystal around her neck. "Was hers. A witch's talisman."

"And it all started when I gave you that necklace?" Cassandra asks.

"I think she's using it to communicate with me."

"Okay, what does Grams say about it?"

"I can't call her. She's gonna tell me to embrace it. I don't want to embrace it, I want it to stop" Bonnie admits and shares a look with Cassandra, then realises. "Which is exactly how you feel about your powers" She whispers, Cassandra nods.

"Yeah" She agrees.

"I'm sorry...for what happened"

"Me too" Cassandra assures her. "And I'm done asking for the necklace back, it's clearly yours now..." Bonnie smiles and nods.

"Oh, I urm...I asked Grams about....your powers"

"You did?" Bonnie nods.

"Yeah, she said that you could be a manifestation psychic...."

"A psychic...." Cassandra repeats and frowns. It's not what she expected, but it is some form of an answer. And a rather simple one that she should have considered. Mind reading is a basic psychic ability.

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

Damon leans on the top of his car as he waits for Cassandra, his eyes watching her as she moves towards him. He finds himself smiling. But catches it. Because he is not turning soft on the girl. He's trying really hard not to but she's making it really difficult. She reminds him of Ally, of their friendship, of what could have been before Katherine but Cassandra is more. The best parts of Ally, magnified. Plus all these other little things that are Cassandra, that he actually likes.

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

Instead of the coffee shop, Damon and Cassandra instead find a little patch of grass outside of it. The sun is shining so why not enjoy it whilst it is. Damon sets a takeaway coffee cup next to Cassandra before sitting at her side with his own. Cassandra has a book open in her lap as she studies. Damon pouts at the lack of attention. The whole point of their little coffee trips is that she'd pay attention to him. He likes when she gives him all of her attention, which is unsurprising.

"Is that what our coffee meet-ups have become?" He teases and pushes her book out of her lap. She gives him a look.

"I have a paper to write" She argues and picks her book back up. "I need to study"

"I know something that's a lot more fun than studying" He whispers to her, she smirks and rolls her eyes.

"That's not going to get me an A" She points out and then picks up her cell phone as it pings with a new message. She snorts reading it.

"What?" He asks her.

"Elena is organizing a sleepover because you freaked out Bonnie" She reads and then lifts her eyes to his.

"Hey, you told me to keep you out of vampire drama, I did...you can't have it both ways" He points out, she raises an eyebrow and then sighs because yeah, he's right. She wanted out of it. And he did actually gave her that. They've not really spoken about vampire drama since that shared dream in which she warned him not to. "How great am I?" He teases and she gives him a look.

"Yeah, because this has nothing to do with you wanting to get into my skirt" She points out, he shrugs a little.

"Can't say it is not a factor" He admits, she wants to glare at him but she smirks instead, amused. There aren't many that can keep up with her comments, but he banters back with her. She leans back onto her hands, as far as she can go right about now, as he looms over her, his eyes flickering between her eyes and her lips. His hand finds her knee, sliding up under her skirt along her thigh. He smirks at her as she bites her lip.

"Don't forget that I can drop you into unconsciousness without much thought" She warns him, he hums a little, eyes locked. There is little more than a hair's breadth between them.

"That statement just turns me on more" He warns, she snorts and pushes at his chest until he leans back away from her.

"I have to study" She counters and goes back to her book. Damon watches her as she leans her book against her knees. He grabs her wrist and turns her towards him, she frowns at him. "What are you...?" She starts to ask, he cups her cheek and kisses her. No waiting. No teasing. Just dives right in for it. Cassandra has to grab onto his jacket to stop her tumbling backwards with the sheer force of it. She pushes at him, maybe even using her powers a little to get him off of her. "No" She stops him. "I'm not doing this with you" She grabs her book and stands.

"Cas" Damon starts, she shoots him a look.

"You'll somehow turn this into me helping you, pitching me against my friends...." She scolds. "No" She adds, firmer this time before she walks away. Damon purses his lips and then sighs. Honestly, he hadn't considered doing that. He had just wanted to kiss her again.