(1) The Phoenix (D. Salvatore)

Chapter Twenty-Six

Daphne curses herself for wearing her heeled ankle boots especially when she has to manoeuvre a forest in the dark. She should have switched out her shoes. And she would do it magically but she has no idea who's watching her right now. She taps the edge of the cup in her hand to her lips before she takes a drink. It's not butterbeer or fire whiskey great, in fact, it is most likely the cheapest beer they could get their hands on, which means, it's pretty far from great. But for now, it'll do. She passes by a group of students who are holding up a guy by his legs, so he can do a keg stand. Everyone chants 'drink', including Elena, whose laughing. Daphne smiles slightly seeing her. With everything going on, she's had little reason to laugh like that. Daphne moves on, leaving Elena to her fun. Elena smiles and takes a drink before she looks around. She stops smiling when she notices Stefan leaning against a tree near the students, looking at her. She looks at him and raises her glass and drinks again. Stefan drinks too. Rebekah is sitting near a campfire holding a marshmallow over it on a stick. Damon walks across and sits down next to her. His eyes scanning around the faces of the teens. Trying not to let it be too obvious that he is, in fact, looking for one single person.

"What? No friends your own age?" Rebekah asks him.

"Like you can talk" Damon argues. She brings the burning marshmallow to her mouth and blows it out. It's burnt.

"Is this supposed to be fun? I've been through 10 of these"

"No, you're just looking at it all wrong." Damon counters. "This is a little rough on the outside" He pulls off the burnt outer layer of the marshmallow. "But the inside...Yum," He moves the stick and puts the marshmallow in her mouth. She eats it and looks at him. He licks his fingers clean of the stuff.

"Mmm. It's good" She offers, taken in by his gaze and flirtation.

"Yep," Damon agrees with a charming smile. Daphne is watching them from a distance, leaning against a tree, a cup of beer set against her lips. Something bubbles inside of her. Boils even. She's not felt this way before. This weird twisty feeling in her stomach. This annoyance. The rage boiling inside of her. Not at Damon. But at Rebekah. Everything inside of her is telling her to pull out her wand and jinx the ancient vampire. Stefan walks up behind her, his eyes scanning down over her. She attempts to ignore him but he's pushing in closer to her. Boxing her in against the tree.

"What's that look like?" He asks her, brushing her hair back over her shoulder. She clenches her jaw in annoyance at being touched, but she knows they have a plan, and her straight up kneeing him in his special place isn't part of that plan.

"What look?" She counters as she lowers her cup.

"My brother's got his flirt on, and you're jealous" Stefan points out with a sly smirk. She scoffs and rolls her eyes before she turns to face him.

"I'm not jealous" She argues and pushes him back a little with little more than a wiggle of her fingers.

"It's alright" He coos a little, but it's too creepy to work for him. "Be jealous by all means. I'm sure Damon will be thrilled"

"I'm not jealous" She repeats firmer, but she can taste the lie on her tongue. That is exactly what she is feeling. She is jealous of the way Damon is with Rebekah. And she hates that. She's never been jealous of anyone before. "Whatever. I'm out of here" She finishes her drink and then walks away. She does not want to deal with those emotions right now. Not when she barely understands them in herself. She knows she's attracted to Damon. That's a physical thing that she can feel. But emotions. She's not really very good at them. Emotions are important in regards to magic, magic can react negatively but positively too depending on high emotions. And it's worse for Daphne. She's worked hard to control herself. To control those emotions. Jealousy is a bad emotion. Jealousy could affect her magic. This whole thing is stupid. She can feel attracted to someone and not be bothered by jealousy. It happened all the time back in school. But this feels different. That angry little feeling inside of her is raging at her. Can hear it in the back of her head. Her necklace flickers in the firelight and she closes her eyes. Bad emotions call on what's trapped inside of her. Even dormant, she can feel it inside of her. It always makes her wonder if running headfirst into dangerous situations if that influence, that it wants her to die so it can be born.

........

Damon is still with Rebekah, he gives her a marshmallow sandwich. Still putting on the flirting. Still playing the role. Trying to ignore that he heard Daphne and Stefan. Ignoring that hearing her jealous did things to him. Made him feel things. Pleased mostly. It means there is more to her flirting then just banter.

"Can't believe you've never had one of these before" Damon tells Rebekah.

"Well, I've been in a casket for ninety years" She defends herself.

"That's no excuse" He argues with a smirk. She eats the marshmallow sandwich and narrows her eyes at Damon.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Rebekah asks him. "You hate me. You should be mean"

"Well, I could be mean if that's what you're into" Damon counters with a sly smirk. She stands up abruptly.

"You're distracting me. Why?" He stands up too.

"Just trying to be a good housemate" He defends, but she can read through the lie. She stabs him with a wooden stick and pulls him closer.

"There's never a fair fight between us, Damon" She warns. "Remember that" She releases him and then walks away. Damon groans and sits down, removing the stick from him. That did not exactly go as planned.