(1) Just Magic (D. Salvatore)

Chapter Seventy-Nine

At the High School, Alaric is walking down the hallway when Damon appears. Alaric stops in his tracks, fear overtaking him. Damon takes a step towards him. He wasn't entirely sure of Cassandra's plan, he didn't know what they were going to find when they got here, but now he does. Now he knows.

"Well, don't you look...alive?" Damon comments as he looks over Alaric.

"You can't hurt me" Alaric counters.

"Oh, I can hurt you, all right" Damon threatens.

"Mr Saltzman" Cassandra greets as she and Elena move towards Damon. "We need your help"

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

The four of them stand together in Alaric's classroom, Cassandra stands a little in front of Elena and Damon so she can talk to Alaric, trying to convince him to help them.

"Stefan's in the house. Damon's a vampire. He can't get in. We need you" Cassandra tries and then sighs. "I would go in, but..." She shoots Damon a dirty look but he ignores it.

"But your life is valuable" Damon argues, she seems surprised by this admission. Damon turns to Alaric, wanting to skip over that little thing. So he also misses Cassandra's eyes as they soften slightly, it doesn't make up for everything, but it gets him closer. "Yours, on the other hand is..." Damon shrugs implying that Alaric is less valuable than Cassandra.

"Stefan told me about your ring" Elena offers.

"What about it?" Alaric asks.

"Let me recap...You tried to kill me" Damon answers instead. "I defended myself. You died. Then according to my brother, your ring brought you back to life. Am I leaving anything out?"

"Yeah. The part where I try and kill you again. Only this time, I don't miss."

"Mr Saltzman. Please. It's Stefan" Elena begs.

"I'm sorry, girls. But it's not my problem"

"That's a shame. Because the woman in charge of the crowd can help you find your wife" Damon tells him, Alaric narrows his eyes in suspicion.

"You're lying"

"Am I? Why don't you ask her for yourself?" Damon asks him, but Alaric makes no move to agree to help them. Damon scoffs. "Coward. Come on" Damon touches Cassandra's arm and then starts to leave, the two sisters following behind him. Alaric closes his eyes and then leans back from the desk.

"Alright! Wait. I'll go." He announces to them. Damon smirks, victorious.

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

Alaric in his classroom pulls out his arsenal of vampire weapons, Damon looks over the weapons on the desk. Cassandra stands behind him, one around her waist, resting her other hand under her chin as she chews on her thumbnail with her worry. This is going to risky, whatever way they look at it.

"Teacher by day, vampire hunter by night" Damon comments.

"I've you to thank for that" Alaric counters as Elena picks something up from the table.

"Those are tranquillizer darts filled with vervain" Alaric answers.

"Just get me in. I'll get Stefan out" Damon points out.

"That's your plan? You're just gonna take them all on yourself?" Cassandra asks him, alarmed at how stupid it is.

"Well, I'll be a little stealthier than that, hopefully,"

"Damon" She scolds. "I can help...I'm not some...simple human...." She then looks at Elena. "No offence" Elena waves it off, because Cassandra has a point. Alaric frowns a little. Cassandra looks at him sensing his gaze on her. "I'm a psychic" She offers. "I move shit with my mind" She turns back to Damon. "I'm also a telepath and I will be able to find Stefan faster than you" She reminds him, Damon sighs because she's got him there. "You can draw them out and I will find a way around them...I can feel their minds, I can avoid them" Damon and Cassandra share a look. "I can do this" She assures him.

"I'm not doubting your powers" He offers. "I don't know how many vampires there are in there and if I am drawing them away from you then I can't protect you if you get into trouble...."

"I can protect myself" She argues as Elena takes one of the vervain darts from the desk.

"Whoa. What are you doing?" Alaric argues and takes it back off of her.

"I'm going with you guys" Elena points out, Cassandra and Damon both turn to give her a look. Damon points at Cassandra.

"Jean Grey coming is one thing" Damon argues, Cassandra gives him a look. "But you have no powers to protect you"

"Damon's right, Elena" Cassandra agrees. "I know you want to help, I get it. But you'll get yourself hurt or killed and you know that that's not what Stefan wants to happen....so you will do as your told...Okay?" Elena stares at her sister but then nods. For Stefan. "You can come with us, but you stay in the car"

"Okay," Elena agrees.

"If we're gonna go, let's go," Alaric tells them as he grabs his bag of weapons and then walks out of the classroom. Elena glances at Cassandra and then at Damon before she leaves them alone for a moment.

"Cassandra" Damon starts, she raises an eyebrow at the use of her full name because he doesn't do that.

"If you are going to try and talk me out of it" She starts.

"I wasn't" He stops her and moves closer to her. "I just...Be careful" He tells her, she folds her arms over her chest. "I meant what I said, I can't protect you and keep them away from you" He repeats. He won't be able to help her if she puts herself in danger. And he can't imagine her in that kind of danger and keep a clear head.

"I know" She assures him. "I know what I'm doing" She adds and then walks past him and out of the room. Damon sighs and runs his fingers through his hair before he follows her.