Flashback, 1864
I eagerly removed my arm-length gloves before kneeling down and gently scooping the tiny white rabbit away from the thorn-swamped rose bushes. I let out a small giggle when I caressed its furry body as the rabbit laid its head against my palm. Such a cute creature.
The sounds of footsteps coming in my direction reached my ears. I got up on my feet as Stefan stepped inside my line of view with both of his hands clasped behind him.
I strode over to him, still holding the tiny animal, and said, "Stefan, look what I have found!"
I splayed out my hand, showing him the bunny resting in my palm. I noticed his lips twitched up into a smile but then it disappeared as if he remembered something.
"Stefan?" I asked him, beginning to worry now.
"It's Damon," His voice slightly faltered as he answered, "Briar, he has fallen sick and he wants to see you."
I can feel the bunny was alarmed by my sudden distress because it quirked its head up and acted as if getting off my hand now. I stepped away from Stefan and the rose bushes before I released the bunny.
I slipped my arms into the white gloves while walking to my original position. Stefan held out his arm to me and I graciously accepted the gesture by encircling my right arm around his.
Together, we trod the garden steps into the Salvatore mansion. I grab hold of my floor-length dress as we walked up the stairs. We arrived in front of Damon's chamber after a few moments.
Stefan gently unwrapped my arm that was holding him and said, "You go inside, Damon has been waiting for you and Father wants to have a word with me."
"Please take care of him," Stefan whispered with much sympathy. I nodded at him and he began to walk away.
I turned to the mahogany door and knocked softly, "Damon? It is me, Briar Rose."
"Come... in," I heard him say, his voice strained a bit at the end.
I turned the doorknob and opened the door to Damon's room. I immediately saw him lying on his bed, so I closed the door behind me and sauntered over to him.
"'Morning Damon," I greeted with a small smile after sitting beside him.
Beads of sweat covered his face and his entire body. I placed my hand against his forehead, only to find him burning with fever. I grabbed a cloth from his bedside table and wiped the perspiration off his face.
"Hey," he greeted back while trying to smile.
"I am truly sorry Damon. I should not have pulled you out to play with me in the rain yesterday," I apologized before dunking the cloth into the basin filled with water. I twisted the cloth to squeeze the water out and dabbed the cloth lightly to his forehead.
"It is alright, we had lots of fun didn't we?" he said with a smile but then he went into a coughing fit.
I immediately poured water from a pitcher beside the basin into a cup and then helped Damon to sit up. With slightly trembling hands, he took the glass from my hand and held it to his lips and drank. When he was finished, I took the glass back and placed it on the bedside table.
"You should take a rest. I'll stay here if you want," I said while helping him lie down once again. He nodded at me as an answer and I let out a small smile. He closed his eyes and after a few moments, I can hear his slight snoring, indicating he has fallen asleep.
I stood up to clear the mess on his bedside table. I put everything in a pile except for the pitcher and his glass before sitting on the chair beside Damon's bed. I rested my head with my eyes closed on his mattress. It wasn't long before I, too, fell asleep while clutching Damon's hand.
Back to the present.
I looked at Damon with pity after Stefan threw him into the cellar for taking his daylight ring off and tried to kill himself.
"What's the plan, Superman?" Damon asked after Stefan closed the door of the cellar, obviously ridiculed by the idea of Stefan and I trying to find a cure for his werewolf bite.
"We're gonna find a way out of this," Stefan replied, his voice brimming with determination.
"Oh right, a miracle cure. Good luck with that one," Damon sarcastically said with a scoff.
I frowned at the thought of Damon giving up, "I got Bonnie looking for something Damon, anything."
Damon let out a chuckle, "Always the hero, both of you. Just tell me goodbye and get it over with."
Memories of him coughing his lungs out filled my mind as he coughed hard, only this time he spurted out blood. My face slightly contorted with concern as Damon coughs out some more.
"Lie still. Conserve your strength, Damon. We'll be back with the cure. I promise," I let out a deep sigh before walking away with Stefan trailing behind me.
Stefan's calling Alaric at the moment to watch Damon while we plan to meet up with Bonnie at the witch house.
"Sorry, you've reached somebody who's currently not operating," I heard Alaric immediately said after answering Stefan's call.
"We need your help."
"Well, you must have me confused with somebody else. You see, I'm not allowed to help, just idly sit by while my girlfriend gets sacrificed on an altar of blood," Alaric snapped.
"Damon's dying Ric. We really need your help," I spoke up as Stefan and I arrived in front of the door.
"What?" his voice filled with shock.
"Tyler Lockwood bit him. We don't have much time," Stefan explained.
There was a moment of silence before Alaric said, "What do you need?"
Stefan and I shared a glance with each other before I opened the front door and walked out with Stefan still following me to his car. I opened the passenger door and got in.
"We need you to keep an eye on Damon. He's downstairs, locked at the cellar. We'll meet up with Bonnie right now and find out if she knows something about the cure," Stefan said while getting on the driver seat.
"Alright, I'll keep you posted," Alaric said before hanging up.
We drove over to a dead-end path and vamp sped all the way to the witch house. When we arrived, Bonnie is already at the front door; she turned around and caught sight of us. We exchanged greetings after walking inside and into a room.
"I'm not sure this is going to work," Bonnie confessed with her forehead creased with worry.
I clasped both of her shoulders to reassure her and said, "You've done this before Bonnie, contacting Emily Bennett. please. Maybe one of the witches might know how to help Damon."
Bonnie nodded at me before saying, "Let's just hope they want to."
I stepped back from Bonnie as she started to chant in an ancient language. The flame in each candle around the room blazed up as the voices began to whisper around us.
"Bonnie?" Stefan peered over her while she continued chanting, "Bonnie?"
"Emily," the witch whispered as if on a trance.
"Why have you come here?" Bonnie spoke up but it wasn't her voice, this was Emily's.
"We need your help. We need to know if there's a spell that can heal a werewolf bite."
"No. Nature ensures a balance to everything," the witch declined.
I was slightly beginning to feel irritated by Emily's uncooperative mood, "Is that true? Or are you just saying no because it's Damon?"
Emily isn't obviously faltered by the sudden outburst when she said politely, "Perhaps it is his time to die."
Stefan shook his head and said, "No, that's not balance. That's punishment."
"I will not give you what you want," Emily replied.
Okay. That was it. Emily Bennett is definitely not in my good books anymore. I frowned at Emily's defiance in not helping us with our problem.
"So you're saying that there's an answer to give?" Stefan asked quizzically, "Please, if you know something, just tell me. Help us save our brother."
I was about to tell myself that Emily's going to give in and help us but instead, Bonnie screamed and fell to the floor while clutching her head.
Stefan and I rushed forward to help Bonnie and she said that the spirits don't want us here, "They think I'm abusing their power."
"They know something, Bonnie. There's an answer. They just don't want to tell us," I said while looking at her with tears pooling in my eyes in frustration.
"I heard them say a name."
"What was it?" Stefan's head shot up as he asked, his interest suddenly piqued.
"Klaus."
~
We are outside the witch house now as I no longer want to stay in that creepy house. We are currently walking away to where Stefan and I left his car.
When we arrived, Stefan rushed immediately to the driver side but I stopped.
"You two go inform Elena about Damon's state of being. I'll go straight to Alaric's loft and ask Katherine about Klaus' whereabouts."
Stefan was about to open the door when he stopped and said, "No, it's too dangerous."
"Stefan, we don't have much time. Damon's life hangs in the balance. I'll call you when I get something out of Katherine." Stefan was about to reply when I vamp speed away to Ric's apartment. Trees blurred around me as I ran through the forest. It wasn't long before I reached civilization.
I scanned the buildings and found out Ric's apartment is just a few blocks away. Hah, it looks like I'm not gonna have to walk that far. I walked all the way to Ric's loft and when I arrived I was slightly out of breath. I opened the door of the apartment and I found Katherine sitting on Ric's bed.
"Hello KitKat," I greeted the vampire after entering the room.
She got up seethed through her teeth, "Two days, I've been waiting. I'm supposed to be free of Klaus' compulsion by now. He's supposed to be dead!"
"I'm sorry but we ran into complications," I replied while walking past her.
"Complications?" she asked while turning around to face me.
"It really doesn't matter now. We just need to find Klaus," Katherine turned back around when she heard Stefan's voice. He leaned against the doorway and walked towards Katherine saying, "Have any idea where he might be?"
Katherine's eyebrows shot up before grabbing us both and slammed us into a wall.
"Ow! Hey!" I exclaimed before Katherine put a finger against her lips, signaling us both to keep quiet.
"Klaus, you're back. Look who decided to come for a visit," Katherine said after Klaus entered the room with Elijah trailing behind.
The hybrid looked at my brother and said, "You just keep popping up, don't you?"
"And you, my love," he said as he turned to my direction.
He flashed a cheeky smile and said, "I'm starting to think you can't stay away."