Tangled Fate

The Descent

March 31, 2010

Rose was undeniably getting sicker as the hours ticked by. She was resting on the sofa in the library, her favourite room of the Boarding House. Damon brought her some blood, but he had to admit, he felt a little lost. It was his fault Rose was going through this, there was no way around that.

"I was born in 1450, that makes me five hundred and sixty years old." she informed him.

"Well, if you were a bottle of wine..." Damon quipped.

"So I can die. I've lived long enough." She sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than him.

"You know, if you're gonna be morn, I'm just gonna kill you myself just to put me out of your misery." Damon threatened. If he kept making jokes then the situation wouldn't seem so serious. They still didn't know for sure that werewolf bites were fatal, after all. As it was, he decided to work on the theory that blood would build Rose's strength up. So, he poured her a glass. "Come on, it's just a little werewolf bite." He coaxed as she accepted the blood.

"Just a little, fatal to a vampire werewolf bite." Rose scoffed weakly.

"Well, according to a legend which is notoriously unreliable source. Drink up." Rose laughed, shaking her head before taking a drink of the blood. Damon watched her hopefully. "Blood heals."

"Yeah, it does feel like it's working." Rose nodded and he did see a little colour return to her cheeks.

"Let's have a look, come on. Let me see." Even though he'd asked for it, he still winced when he saw the bite mark. Rose turned to show how it had spread down her neck and it looked even more infected than before. He fought to keep a straight face.

Just then Elena sauntered into the study to find Damon leaning over Rose, examining her wound with furrowed brows. The vampire's shoulder did not look good in the slightest.

"'Lena?" Louise appeared beside her with a look of surprised. "When did you get here?"

"A while ago." Elena shrugged as her eyes fell on the white gauze in her hands. "What's that for?"

"Huh?" Louise frowned before she followed her sister's gaze to the bundle of bandages that she held. "Ohh - it's for Rose. She's..."

"Better." Damon's voice cut in from across the room. "Right, Louise?"

"Um, yeah." Louise managed to say. He looked over at her. She looked very uncomfortable.

"Where's Stefan?"

"He left." Elena told him. "I need you to talk to him. He's convinced that he has to find Isobel."

"As in our birth mother?" Louise frowned as she handed Damon the gauze. Elena was relieved to heard she wasn't the only one who didn't like the idea of Isobel returning to town.

"No, can do." Damon shook his head as he pulled away from Rose. "I'm with Stefan on this one." He moved a few steps closer to Louise, trying to look into her eyes but she was distracted by the sight of Rose. "Would you, uh, mind sitting in here for a while?" he asked her quietly.

"It's not necessary." Rose called.

"Yes, it is." Damon stated firmly. He didn't want Rose to be alone when she died and he didn't know how long it would be before she did. He side stepped Louise and headed out the room. If anything he just needed to get out of the house for a while before he went insane, let alone everything else that needed to be done.

"Damon..." Louise had followed him out, her voice soft as she called after him. He turned to face her. "Is she gonna die?"

"Probably." There was no point lying about it at this stage. "The wolf bite caused some kind of infection and it's getting worse." He didn't want Rose to overhear this so he kept his voice quiet, though he was sure she was perfectly aware of what was happening to her. He could tell she was afraid of dying and he didn't want to make it worse, especially when she was only dying because she tried to protect him.