(1) Just Magic (D. Salvatore)

Chapter Ninety-Three

Outside, in the small wooded area surrounding the building hosting the event, Amber is running for her life, literally running for her life as Stefan chases and toys with her. Amber trips and falls, straight into Stefan who catches her.

"You said to run!" She points out, Stefan's vampire face appears.

"I changed my mind" He argues. Amber screams as Stefan bites into her neck. Behind him. Cassandra, Damon, and Elena make their way through the trees towards him. And behind them. Bonnie.

"Stefan!" Elena shouts, pleading with him to stop. Stefan releases Amber and looks at her, then notes Cassandra and Damon with her. Cassandra changes her stance and holds her hands out at her side. Not pulling on her powers just yet, but ready if need be.

"Stefan, come on get control. It's okay, come on. Breath through it man." Damon instructs. Stefan catches Damon and throws him against a tree. Damon pushes himself to his feet just as Cassandra attempts to use her powers. But nothing happens. No red mist. No nothing. She frowns at her hands as she pulls them closer.

"What the hell?" She complains. She holds out her hands and pushes harder. Her nose bleeds with the effort but all she is getting is little more than sparks. She then suddenly collapses forward onto her knees and to her side. Unconscious.

"Cas!" Elena hurries to her and crouches at her side. Damon looks at Cassandra and then back at Stefan who growls at Damon, takes a step forward to attack him again. "Stefan, stop it!" Elena shouts. All of a sudden Stefan holds his head, behind the twins, Bonnie is casting a spell that hurts him. That really, really hurts him. She stops.

"It's okay. Stefan." Damon assures him. Stefan runs away from the scene. Damon then moves to Cassandra and Elena.

"What's wrong with her?" Elena asks. Damon shrugs, he has no idea. "This doesn't usually happen like this" Elena adds.

"I know" He agrees.

"What are we going to do?" Elena counters.

"You ever seen that film Weekend at Bernie's?" Damon asks as he reaches into his jacket for a pair of sunglasses.

"Damon, are you serious?" Elena scolds. "That's not going to work" He shrugs and puts his sunglasses back. It is the best he can come up with when he is internally panicking that something is seriously wrong here. Elena is right, Cassandra is stronger than this. They all know it. The last time she collapsed was when she was up against him and he was pushing against her force field with his full strength. Stefan wasn't doing anything even close to that. Bonnie watches them from behind. "Where's your car?"

"In the parking lot, with all the other cars" He points out, she huffs and gives him a look.

"We'll put her in your car until this is dealt with, plus she'll be safe and warm in there" Elena offers, Damon raises an eyebrow. Her sister is in trouble and suddenly Elena becomes a military general with all the plans. Damon nods a little and then picks Cassandra up into his arms, her head dropping to his shoulder. And at least she's breathing, that's all he can think of as he feels her breath on his neck.

"Stay here," Damon tells Elena. "Make sure no one sees her" He nods to Amber, Elena nods. Damon disappears at vamp-speed.

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

Damon grabs a blanket from the trunk of the car and moves back to the open side door. Drapes it across Cassandra who he has placed in the passenger side seat, it's not going to be comfortable but it is the best he can do right now. He brushes her hair back from her face, eyes worried as they watch her. He leans closer and kisses her head before he closes the car door. He looks down at his hands which are actually shaking, he clenches them into a fist. He knows he is worrying but that doesn't mean he likes showing it or admitting it. It's this girl. She's affecting him in ways he didn't consider when he came back to this stupid town. He lets out a breath and shakes his head before he takes off at vamp-speed.

...........

Damon carries Cassandra towards the Boarding house after dealing with Amber and the Sheriff's department. He assures Elena that he would look after Cassandra until she woke up. It was better than explaining an unconscious Cassandra to Jenna. As he moves closer to the house he finds that Anna is waiting for him. He lets out a sigh and shakes his head. He does not need this right now.

"Alright now, this is getting weird" He comments.

"We're here to talk" Anna argues as Pearl appears at her daughter's side.

"Not in the mood, today's been a no good, very bad day" Damon points out.

"Annabelle tells me you're looking for something I took from Jonathan Gilbert" Pearl offers.

"I'm listening," He tells her, she hods out a device. He gives her a look and then looks down at Cassandra. "Hand's are kind of full" He argues and then Ally appears in the doorway of the house. Ally hisses at Pearl who gives her a look back before Ally moves closer to Damon.

"Give her to me," Ally tells Damon but is already taking Cassandra from him, Damon goes to argue but just lets it happen. Ally gives Pearl one more look before heading inside with Cassandra.

"I see that abomination is still hanging around you" Pearl comments.

"Hey, don't talk about her like that" Damon scolds and takes the device from her. "What is this?"

"Jonathan was passionate about his inventions" Pearl answers. "He confided in me that he had created a detection device meant to track down the town's vampire element."

"It was a pocket watch" Damon points out, he already knows about that one.

"That's what it turned out to be yes. But that's not what I stole. I discovered my mistake when I saw the watch in Jonathan's hand, the night they took us, its stile pointed at me" Pearl admits. Damon looks at the device.

"So what is this?"

"I have no idea but now it's yours," Pearl tells him.

"What's the catch?"

"There is no catch. My daughter wants to stay here. I want to stay here. You refused to trust us and for good reason. Consider this an apology" He looks at them and then heads inside to find out what Ally did with Cassandra.