(1) The Phoenix (D. Salvatore)

Chapter Eighty-Nine

Daphne stands off and away from the rest of the event, closer to the construction side of things. Her eyes are on the wood that is going to be used to repair and restore the bridge. She doesn't know why she came over her, just that she sort of felt a pull to be here, to stand here. She tilts her head as she looks at the timber that is going to be used for the bridge. Something about this is twitching at something in the back of her mind. Damon is suddenly at her side, touching her arm before he curls his own around her waist, leaning closer to her.

"What was that?" He asks her, she shakes her head and shrugs, her fingers moving over the timber as she thinks about what she just saw. Flashes of the old bridge. Flashes of a tree. Something niggling at the back of her mind that tells her that she already knows what this means. "Well, are you gonna torture me or are you gonna tell me?" He teases her a little when he sees her realise what it was trying to tell her.

"I'd rather show you" She whispers and then leans closer to him, and kisses him. His mind is then flooded with what she saw when she touched the wood. When she pulls back, she touches his chest, curling her fingers into his jacket.

"What does...." He stops when she gives him a small look.

"It's not the bridge" She whispers. "It's what it was made of" She nods a little and smirks when she sees it in his eyes, that he's caught up. That there can only be one reason why she is so excited about a wooden bridge. And with Rebekah's interest in the milling logs that she managed to hear the day before. It all adds up. It all starts making sense.

"A white oak tree" He whispers. "There must have been a new tree to replace the old"

"Cut down for the original bridge" She continues and looks at the building supplies.

"So all the wood stripped from the underside of that bridge is basically a weapon that could kill an Original?" Damon asks her, and she nods.

"Yep and given it is an entire bridge's worth of wood, we could kill them all and have wood to spare" She offers and then smirks. He suddenly grabs her face and kisses her firmly.

"You're a freakin' genius" He comments when he pulls back. "You're amazing" He offers softer.

"I know" She agrees, he smiles at her before he lets out a breath, the smile fading when he realises. He glances around but finds that Sage and Rebekah have gone. He's going to hope that they didn't just overhear this conversation. He should have told Daphne to keep her mouth shut until they were away from the event, but he got caught up in the excitement of having a weapon to deal some real damage to their foes, and she did too.

"And somehow you still manage to get involved with witch business" He teases.

"This was accidental" She defends. "I didn't go looking for it" He hums. She is right, but it is still considered witch work.

"Come on" He holds out his hand to her. "We need to get to that wood before Sage or Rebekah get to it" She takes his hand and he pulls her closer.

.......

Damon drives his car as Daphne sits in the passenger side, a book open in her lap as she reads, but it isn't one about jewellery or cursed objects. It's a Koine lexicon sent over by Hermione with her owl a few days back. She never thought much of actually sitting down and reading it with everything else going on, but she can get started now. It's ancient, ancient enough that she is only allowed a copy of the book and not the real thing. She is hoping this is going to help her read that Phoenix book. If she can learn more about herself then maybe she can learn about what she can do and if she can stop the Phoenix from rising at any point in her future. Damon lets out a breath, tightening his hands around the steering wheel. He's still thinking about what Sage said about Daphne. He's probably not going to be able to forget that conversation for some time. Pondering the concept. That if it came down to it, if he could kill her, if he could let someone else kill her to save everyone else. He feels far too selfish to do it. He feels like he'd pick her over everyone else. He lets out a breath again and glances at Daphne.