CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
"You can do this the easy way, or we can do it the hard way."

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THE MIKAELSON'S WERE SITTING AROUND DECIDING ON WHO ELIJAH SHOULD GIVE THE CURE TO UNTIL KLAUS SMIRKS, sensing the presence of someone else in the room. Elijah and Rebekah only glance at him curiously before he speaks. "Nice of you to join us, Cassandra." Klaus says without even glancing in her direction. Elijah and Rebekah both turn, seeing Cassandra make her way towards them.

"Well, you're having a family meeting." Cassandra says as she gestures around the table. "I am still part of the family aren't I?" She asks as she raises an eyebrow at them. Rebekah only glances at her brothers who don't say a word.

"We're just talking about the cure. Klaus wants to give it to Silas." She tells the girl making Cassandra nod her head, knowing they should be doing what Silas tells them to.

"That's what we should do, yes." She agrees making Rebekah roll her eyes a little bit. "But I have a better idea." Cassandra says with a smirk, catching their attention.

"And what is that." Elijah asks as he leans forward on the table, her eyes flickering to him.

"We do what Qetsiyah did 2000 years ago." Cassandra tells them as she shrugs her shoulders making them furrow their eyebrows. "All we need is Bonnie." She adds knowing that was their best bet of actually being able to do the spell since Cassandra couldn't hurt him.

"What exactly are you suggesting?" Klaus asks as he crossed his arms, his jaw slightly clenching.

"It took some digging but I found the spell to turn him back to stone. Using Bonnie is our best bet of getting it done." Cassandra explains to them and Rebekah only scoffs, smirking at her lightly.

"Not you and all your little fancy powers?" She grumbles towards the raven haired girl who only stares back at her for a second, not liking her attitude.

"She's a descendant from Qetsiyah. Once we get rid of Silas, whoever wants the cure can have it." Cassandra says, her eyes staying on Rebekah as she knew the original wanted to become human.

"You raised Silas from the dead just to put him back?" She asks with a raised eyebrow, not seeing how any of this had to happen in the first place.

"Turns out he wants something from me and I don't really want him to hang around long enough to get it. I'm giving you guys a plan. Get whoever else in on it, I don't care. Silas will still meet with me whether he trusts me or not. We can use that." Cassandra tells them making all of them not seem to be to keen on the plan. Even though it was their best bet at defeating Silas.

"And why should we trust you." Rebekah questions as she leans closer to the girl. Cassandra only challenges her, smirking.

"Because you want to take the cure and this is the only way you can do it without having it for five seconds before your blood is drained from your body." Cassandra tells her making Rebekah furrow her eyebrows not understanding what she meant. Cassandra realized that they didn't know that just because someone takes the cure, doesn't mean it's gone forever.

"I don't like your attitude." Rebekah snaps at her as she glares at the girl. Cassandra only laughs squinting her eyes at the blonde vampire.

"Wonder who I got it from." She responds bluntly as she continues to stare back at her, not thinking Rebekah was intimidating in the slightest.

"You know, it must be painful not being able to take it. I mean you wanted to be human and now you can never be." Rebekah tries to get inside of her head, noticing how Klaus and Elijah get more on guard when she said it.

"Yeah, wanted. People change their minds Rebekah." Cassandra says with a roll of her eyes as she turns away from the blonde. Rebekah only bites her tongue before speeding over to her, grabbing her by the shoulders.

"Turn it on." Rebekah compels, looking straight in the girls eyes. Cassandra only smirks back at her before lifting her hand and dropping her unconscious on the floor. She sighs, taking Rebekah's seat as she puts her feet up on the table, looking at Elijah and Klaus.

"Either of you want to try that?" She asks them but neither of them make a move. Cassandra smirks at them, chuckling a little bit. "No? Okay." Elijah hits her feet off of the table making her glare at him before leaning towards the brothers. "Do we have a plan or not." Cassandra asks as she raises an eyebrow at them. Klaus only glances at his brother before his eyes land on Cassandra.

"Oh, we do." Klaus responds and Cassandra stares at him before suddenly her neck is snapped. Her head hits the table with a thump as Klaus looks behind her, seeing Nathan. The man only looks at the originals, raising his eyebrows at them.

"Thanks for the heads-up."

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CASSANDRA GROANS AS SHE LIFTS HER HEAD UP WEAKLY, her head hitting something hard behind her. She tries to move but realized her hands were unable to go anywhere. She sighs, opening her eyes slowly as her vision slowly comes back to her. Cassandra saw three figures in front of her before her eyes drift to her arms, noticing that they were tied down to a chair with vervain ropes. She only starts laughing, her head leaning back against the chair as she could finally see who was in front of her. Cassandra had to give them credit for catching her off guard but she knew none of them had it in them to do what had to be done in order to get her humanity back.

Her eyes move to the man standing right in front of her. A smirk playing on her lips as she squeezes her hands on the chair arms.

"Nathan." She says slowly making the man give her a fake smile as he tilts his head at her.

"Hello."  He replied as he wiggles his fingers at her. Cassandra looks around the room, noticing the countless weapons he had near him in order to beat the emotions out of her.

"Nice set up you got here." Cassandra tells him as she coughs lightly, feeling the vervain move throughout her body but she could feel her magic fighting against it.

"Why, thank you." Nathan gasps as he puts his hand on his chest. Moving towards her, he leans into her. "You did teach me the best ways to get information out of someone." He points out making her arch an eyebrow at him. "Or you know in this case, get your humanity back on." Nathan corrects himself as he backs up, noticing the amused expression on her face.

"Oh, please. You think your little toys scare me?" Cassandra scoffs as she could withstand way more than what Nathan would do to her.

"You can do this the easy way, or we can do it the hard way." Klaus interjects, his arms crossed as he stood next to Elijah. Both of them staring at the girl who had sweat dripping down her body.

"You really expect me to believe either one of you will hurt me?" Cassandra asks as she raises her eyebrows at them before laughing and shaking her head.  "I don't think so." She says, knowing that both of them would rather kill her then torture her slowly and painfully. "You don't have it in you." She taunts them making Klaus only glance down at the ground. Both of them knew she was right but that was why they had asked Nathan for his help.

"No. They don't. But I do." Nathan says as he makes his way behind her before open the curtains. Cassandra feels her skin burn, closing her eyes for a second as she grabs the arms of the chair, groaning lightly. Nathan shuts it, her skin healing slowly and that's when she realized that they had taken her daylight bracelet. She only laughs, her hand hanging for a moment before she glances up at them.

"You think a little sun hurts me?" Cassandra asks, thinking he was really weak for thinking that she was going to give up just because of a little sun. Nathan only smirks at her before taking a hot poker and stabbing it in her side. Cassandra glares at him but she keeps her body neutral. Nathan speeds, opening up the curtain before stabbing another poker into her.

"Turn your humanity on." Nathan tells her but she only groans, withstanding it as she feels him carve into her leg. Nathan smiles at her before his fist connects with her jaw, punching her repeatedly until she was left spitting out blood. Klaus grimaces, noticing Elijah was also a little spooked even though they both have tortured numerous people. "Turn it onnn." Nathan sing songs in her ear before shoving vervain down her throat. Cassandra gasps, coughing as she desperately tries to get it out of her mouth. Spitting it out, she looks over at Klaus and Elijah who could barely make eye contact with her beaten face.

"You must love this." Cassandra scoffs as she stares at the man who she once loved. Klaus only stares back at her, not responding. Nathan rolls his eyes before opening the curtain again but that doesn't stop her from continuing. "I mean you never did get to torture me for sleeping with your brother." She says with a smirk as she could see him falter, his body tensing at the mention of her affair with Elijah. "Did it hurt, Nik?" She asks once Nathan had shut the curtain again. His eyes moved over to Klaus as he saw the man was trying to remain stoic. "When you found out that Elijah and me were smothering our hot bodies together?" Cassandra says in a sultry voice, giggling when she saw him clench his jaw, looking away from her. Nathan punches her again but she only spits out the blood, still looking at Klaus.  "Three hundred years. I mean, you shouldn't have been surprised. It's not like there wasn't any feelings when I was still with you." She knew that was the statement that hit him as she could see the anger flooding through his veins. "You left me so many times Nik, my heart had to go to someone else." Cassandra says softly, in a taunting voice making Klaus shake his head, looking down at the ground as he tried to stop the emotions from showing to her. "Oh.. am I hurting you?" She asks with a sickly smile on her lips. Elijah only sighs, looking right at her.

"That's enough, Cassandra." He tells her but she only looks over to him, not losing the obvious temptation in her eyes.

"Oh, don't get me started with you, Elijah. The noble man." She snorts as she licks her bottom lip. Her eyes run over him for a moment before she meets his gaze. "I gotta admit that you are sexy and are excellent in bed." She compliments as she giggles, her eyes gazing at him for a moment before she leans back in the chair. "But did you honestly believe that I was gonna choose you?" Cassandra asks making Elijah squint his eyes at her a little bit. "I never loved you, I was just filling my broken heart. You were nothing to me." She says, her voice more sharp as she stared at the man who now also was avoiding her eyes. "Just like you're nothing to Katherine." Cassandra tells him with a smirk as she sees him clench his jaw as he tries to hold back his tongue.

"She's just trying to get under your skin." Nathan tells them, seeing how her words were affecting them. Cassandra just laughs as she turns her head towards the man.

"Come on, Nathan. I'm just having fun." Cassandra says as she smiles at him, leaning towards him as he only squints his eyes, knowing she was going to say something to taunt him. "Just like Caroline is having with you. You're just a rebound. She doesn't actually like you." Cassandra scoffs making Nathan roll his eyes as he knew what she was trying to do. "She's gonna leave you just like you did to every other girl in your life." She points out but Nathan just smiles back at her, his eyebrows raising at the girl.

"Are you finding this amusing?" He asks as he crouches down and clasps his hands together. Cassandra only continues to look at him, a sickly smirk on her lips.

"Oh, very." She replies making him lick his lips, standing back up as he taps his fingers together.

"Well, how about we talk about you." Nathan suggests and Cassandra only stares blankly back at him. Elijah and Klaus share a curious look as the see Nathan lean closer to the girl. "I mean you had a rough start, your mom died giving birth to you, your dad let men abuse you. You got murdered, for crying out loud." He says with a laugh making Cassandra click her tongue, getting bored with them. "But you're over all of that right?" Nathan asks her but she only raises an eyebrow at him in order to challenge his words. "Because you got your power." He points out but she only shrugs her shoulders. Nathan smiles before taking the vervain in his gloved hands and holding it onto her skin. She groans as she tries to move her arms back he only holds her down, the rope helping. "You're not powerful, Cassandra." He tells her making her grimace as she pulls harder at the ropes.  Nathan stands back up again, letting the vervain off of her skin. "I mean, come on. You expect to believe that you are powerful? You don't even know how to kill someone properly, well I mean when you can actually stop yourself." Nathan taunts as he chuckles to himself. Cassandra only continues to stare blankly at him, her nails raking against the wood under them. "You use this power to act like you're so indestructible. Like you are actually something. But you are nothing." His voice was ice as he leans close to her, staring into her eyes. Cassandra only licks her bottom lip, grunting a little as she pulls at the ropes. "I mean, you can't even control your feeding how lame is that?" Nathan asks making cassandra roll her eyes lightly at his tactics. "The reason why you're saying these things to me, to them.. is because you know that everything you're saying is really about yourself. You can't commit to anyone. It's not from Klaus, it stems from your inability to care. Your father let people abuse you so you think it's okay to do that to other people. I mean, you played with their feelings. You aren't powerful. You are just some sad little girl who uses every chance she gets to screw over her own happiness. I mean you switched you humanity off when you were engaged. You sabotage yourself and then go blaming the person who actually cares about you. But they shouldn't." Nathan tells her and he could see something flash through her eyes but it was too fast for him to notice what it was. Elijah sighs as he looks at Klaus who was only taking Nathan's words in himself. "You don't deserve to be loved. To be cared for." He states making Cassandra glance away at him for a moment. "You would rather kill your best friend then admit that you don't have control over anything. You've lost a lot of people.. but you've caused more pain then one could ever feel." Nathan moves behind her, leaning over the chair as Cassandra's eyes move to the originals standing in front of her. They meet her eyes but see nothing but emptiness. "But you will feel it." Nathan tells her before grabbing a hold of her head and letting himself into her mind. "Jeremy, Mason, Hannah... Every single life that you cost along the way. Do you think it makes you better than them? You think it makes you feel powerful, taking people's lives, peoples loved ones?" Nathan asks as Cassandra fights against him, screams leaving her lips as he makes her feel the pain of every single person that she got killed. "You think your mom would be proud of who've you've become?" He scoffs as he shakes his head, adding more of the pain making her let out a ear piercing scream, her hands tugging violently at the ropes. Klaus grimaces, his eyes shutting for a moment as, as much as he hated her right now, he hated to see her in such pain. "She would hate you. she died for you just to become a huge disappointment. She would rather watch you burn then allow you to--" Nathan is cut off by Cassandra who was violently trying to get away from his touch.

"Stop!" She yells at him but he only keeps going making her cry out in pain. "Stop! Please!" Cassandra pleads him and Nathan finally let's her go, her head dropping down as her hair covers her face. They all hear the soft cries of the girl as she holds the chair tightly. Nathan glances at the originals before making his way in front of her and crouching down so he can put his hand on her leg.

"Cassandra?" Nathan asks as he reaches up to move her hair away but she suddenly looks at him, screaming as she breaks the chair arms and head butts him. Cassandra kicks him back with full force before grabbing the piece of wood and raising it, speeding over to Nathan and forcefully pushing it towards his chest. Before it can make impact, her hand is grabbed as she is thrown off of Nathan, her body being held down. Cassandra grunts as she tries to fight off whoever it was but their hands only tighten around her. Nathan stands up, still in shock that he was about to be killed by his own best friend.

"Just because you feel rage, doesn't mean thats not an emotion." Nathan states as he moved closer to her, seeing the obvious hatred in her eyes. "Admit it." He says as he' leans in, squinting his eyes lightly. "You feel that thing coursing through your veins? That's called anger." Nathan tells her causing Elijah and Klaus to glance at each other surprised. It was a bad emotion but at least it was something. Klaus feels her go soft in his arms making him furrow his eyebrows. Cassandra had closed her eyes for a moment before meeting Nathan's gaze. Just like that, all the emotion was vacant from her body as she stares blankly at him.

"Angers gone." She says bluntly making Nathan clench his jaw as he shakes his head. "You thought it'd be that easy, huh?" Cassandra asks, laughing at him but that doesn't last for long as she suddenly grips her head, gasping a little bit before she falls unconscious. Klaus looks confused but places her down on the ground. Bonnie only makes her way into the room, catching their attention. Bending down, she places a bracelet around Cassandra's wrist.

"This will contain her powers for a little while." Bonnie tells them as she stands up to look at them. "She'll still be a pissed vampire though." She points out but Klaus only shakes his head.

"We can deal with that." He admits as he looks over at Nathan who seemed like he was having a hard time keeping himself together.

"I was so close." Nathan mumbles as he sighs, glancing down at the ground as he should've kept pushing her instead of acting vulnerable when she faked her crying.

"Hey, you got her to feel something. That's a start." Klaus tells him as he puts his hand on the man's shoulder. Nathan looks up at him nodding a little bit but Klaus could tell that torturing Cassandra did in fact take a toll on him.

"I need a break." He admits as he just needed to clear his head before he could go back to trying to get her humanity back.

"Nathan." Klaus gains his attention, sighing as he looks at him. "Go home." He states, knowing that if Nathan stayed here, if he kept hurting Cassandra, it was going to affect him in ways that he couldn't get rid of.

"No, I have to get it back on." Nathan immediately denies as he shakes his head, not just going to leave her when she needed him.

"You might act like hurting her isn't affecting you but it is." Klaus replies and Nathan knew he was right but that couldn't stop him from doing what had to be done.

"I have to do it. No one else can." He says, knowing that both Klaus and Elijah wouldn't be able to lay a hand on her. They were too affected when she was screaming out in agony.

"I can." A voice pipes up and they glance over only to see Damon making his way over to them. "You see, on the island, Cassandra made me promise her something. To stake her in the heart if she even showed signs of giving in." Damon tells them as he sighs, glancing down at her body as he realized he had totally missed when she had given in. "Obviously I kind of missed that opportunity." He mumbles before looking back up at the originals and Nathan who glance at him curiously. "But, if I can promise to stake her in the heart, I bet I'll be able to get her to turn her humanity back on through a little torture." Damon states as he stares at them, seeing a number of emotions flash over their faces.

"She asked you to stake her?" Klaus asks, his voice cracking lightly making Damon feel bad for him for a split second. No matter what the man did to him, Damon knew Klaus cared for Cassandra so obviously he was affected by knowing she wanted Damon to kill her.

"Yeah, I wasn't the biggest fan of it either but she knew I'd be the only one who could go through with it without hesitating." He says with a soft gaze on his face before sighing and lifting cassandra back into the chair and tying her up again. Nathan only bids a goodbye to them before leaving, needing to be with octavia in order to forget what he just did to his friend. Damon stares at Cassandra for a moment before slapping her cheek a couple of times. "Wakey, wakey." He says as he feels her move a little against his touch. Cassandra groans, opening her eyes as she meets the blue eyed vampire who she had hoped would steer clear from her.

"Damon." She says bluntly, rolling her eyes making Damon fake a smile towards her.

"Surprise." Damon says with enthusiasm before thinking about something. "You know.." He trails off making her stare at him with a raised eyebrow. "that little promise back on the island.. I could go through with it now." He tells her not giving her enough time to react as he grabs the wood off the ground and presses it to her heart.

"What are you doing?" She asks as she flickers her eyes back and forth between Damon and the stake.

"What you wanted." Damon says with a shrug of his shoulders as a smirk forms on his lips. "I mean, you're too weak and chained up to stop me." He points out making her tense a little as she tries to back a little away from the stake. "It'll be easy for me to just, pop--" Damon pushes the stake in a little further making her gasp. "Right into your chest." He finishes as he raises his eyebrows at her. Cassandra calls his bluff, squinting her eyes at him.

"You won't do that." Cassandra says, challenging him a little bit but Damon only glares at her.

"Oh, yes I will. You see, you've made some really dumb decisions and I'm mad so, don't test me." Damon snaps at her as he keeps the stake pressed into her chest. Cassandra groans as she feels her head hurt, a flicker of Silas popping into it. She widens her eyes before looking at Damon.

"Leave. Now." She tells him but he only rolls his eyes, not seeing how she thought she had any say in the matter.

"Not gonna happen." Damon replies as he doesn't move an inch from where he was.

"Fine get killed by Silas." Cassandra tells him with a scoff making him look at her curiously. "He's tracking me." She announced making Bonnie tense as she looks at Elijah and Klaus who had the same reaction.

"You have the spell don't you?" Damon asks making her nod a little bit. "Do it now!" He demands making her scoff. It wasn't like she could and Bonnie didn't have enough power to do it either yet. She needed a full moon.

"I can't!" She yells at him before groaning as she rolls her eyes. "He made me make an alliance. As long as I have this power, I can't use it to hurt him meaning I can't exactly kill him." Cassandra tells them making Damon groan as he stands up, rubbing his face.

"Great, that's fantastic." Damon says before he glances back at Cassandra. "Maybe I'll just leave you here for him... Let him do as he wishes." He taunts her making Cassandra grip the ropes as she shakes her head at him.

"Damon, no you need me." She says, pulling against the ropes as she stares at the man who only shrugs his shoulders.

"Nope. I have the spell, you can't do it so you're useless." Damon says with a smile before looking away from her, knowing he was getting underneath her skin.

"Please, let me go." Cassandra says as she looks over at the door before pulling against the ropes again.

"No can do, not until you flip that switch." Damon says with a dramatic sigh making Cassandra stare at him like he was crazy.

"Damon, this is not the time!" She yells at him but he only turns away from her, beginning to walk but Cassandra couldn't let that happen. "I read Rebekah's mind, I know where she hid the stake. If Silas comes her and compels me to tell him, you're all dead." Cassandra tells them making Damon clench his jaw a little bit as he couldn't tell if she was lying or not.

"You're bluffing." He says but Bonnie only interjects shaking her head.

"No, she's not. When she lies, she has a tell." Bonnie informs them as she looks straight at Cassandra who didn't even seem to have a soul left even though she seemed scared. "She's telling the truth." She says making Damon groan as he looks back at Cassandra.

"Damon." Cassandra looks at him, the two having stare off for the longest time before he cursed under his breath and moves towards her.

"Let's go."

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sooo close but sooo far. Nathan is hot thooo. Damon was like flip the switch or die 😂 comment your thoughts.