[Episode 34 - The Descent]

"I don't care Caroline, I'm not coming to the barbecue... Jus-" I sigh "-take care of it alright? You can do it, whatever, bye" I purse my lips, dropping the phone from between my cheek and my shoulder, while taking a blood bag.

Jules, the new werewolf in town took advantage of the full moon yesterday. Her ambush in the very Salvatore house led to Rose-Marie sitting in the parlour, face down on the couch with a werewolf bite on the back.

"I was born in 1450" the hurt vampire starts, tone lower and more forced "....that makes me 560 years old"

"Well, if you were a bottle of wine..." Damon rolls his eyes, taking the blood bag from my hands.

"So I can die. I've lived long enough" she smiles at me. The smile strikes something in me - a friend coming back from the pits of my memory. 

I frown sadly, shaking my head. Kneeling beside the couch, running a hand over her friend's hair, I assure "No one's dying Marie..."

"You know," Damon pouts, completely trying to hide how he was feeling "-if you're gonna be morn, I'm just gonna kill you myself just to put me out of your misery"

He pours blood from the bag into a glass. I look back to Rose, helping her sit up "Come on, it's just a little werewolf bite"

"Just a little, fatal to a vampire werewolf bite" the dying vampire cracks a small smile.

"Well, according to a legend which is a very unreliable source" I defend. 

"Drink up." Damon orders "Blood heals"

"Yeah," Rose licks and smacks her lips for his sake "...it does feel like it's working"

"Let's have a look, come on. Let me see" I gently lift the shirt up her back to see black poisoned veins painting snakes all over back, originating from the chomp of the werewolf.

"How is it?"

I place a Guardian hand above the wound, mentally chanting Asinta Mulaf Hinto, Sho Bala. We see the veins go back a bit but the next time I look at the wound, it's just as it was a second ago.

Damon and I share a serious look. I thought there would be some way to save Marie, but the wound just keeps fighting it's way up.

"Definitely...better. Right, Elena?" Damon looks up, causing attention to go onto the younger Gilbert who just descended the stairs.

"Um, it's not bad" her eyebrows shoot up to her temples as she looks worriedly between Damon and me.

"Where's Stefan?" Damon covers up the wound. I glare at him and then at Elena, showing a quick finger motioning them out. 

They go, leaving us alone in the room. She looks at me with a tiny sad smile, her eyes making me remember things that she trusted her with.

"I remember things" I whisper over her shoulder " And I'll try to make it hurt less okay? Marie?"

She smiles brightly "You used to call me that...."

"Well..." I smile "Then I'll call you that every day"

She scoffs, simply closing her eyes. I take hold of her shaking hand "Asinta Mulaf Hinto, Sho Bala Asinta Mulaf Hinto, Sho Bala, Asinta Mulaf Hinto, Sho Bala.... Better?"

"....Elena could play nurse for a little while..." Damon renenters.

"It's not necessary" Rose gets up with a sigh. 

"It is necessary. Elena is a do-gooder. It's in her nature, she just can't resist..." Damon smirks heartlessly.

He leaves the room, Elena hot on his heels. Rose was close to me before, not Elena, how could she take care of a vampire??

▹▹▹

"I hate this. I'm a vampire, I haven't had a cold in five centuries" Rose breathes, making me tilt my lips. I put her down in the bed carefully, not putting too much pressure on the bite.

"We don't get sick" she continues "When we die, it's fast and sudden and it's certainly not drawn out in illness"

"You are not gonna die. Get that into your thick skull" I mildly glare at her words

"Such a human thing to say..." she trails off, looking at Elena. My twin is looking around the room in a full circle, making Rose chuckle "You've never been in Damon's room before, have you?"

"Not what you expected?"

"It's just a room with a bed. Maybe I expected there to be silk sheets" she raises her eyebrows with a shrug.

We crack a smile.

Just as I carefully lean Rose on the side on some pillows, she wheezes out "You're lucky, you know. No one's ever love me the way you're loved... Trevor was my best friend. Nothing more. I spent all those years on the run from Elijah. I just never thought it was a good idea to set up roots. The whole idea of family is not exactly compatible with being a vampire. Why are you so eager to give up?" she asks the evaluating straight-haired twin.

"I'm not giving up on anything. Here" She gives her a glass of blood from the nightstand.

"What do you call this whole deal with Elijah?" she asks the sisters, one sighs while the other one answers "I call it my best option"

"It's your easiest option" Rose points out truthfully.

"That's not fair..."

"Do you really think that your witch friend destroyed the moonstone?"

"I spoke with Bonnie. I know that she had the help of another witch; unless you mean it's Elijah's witch, so no, I don't" I take the empty glass from the vampire.

"You really are determined to die, aren't you? At least I ran, you're not even trying...."

I am, I say to myself. I'd been trying to connect to my past life visions to know how I planned to deal with Klaus. But too much is happening around the town, too many people on the brink of insanity. But I make a silent promise to Rose-Marie - I will not let Klaus go free, and I am going to save Elena. 

She just needs people to live around her. She doesn't trust Elijah, no. But he was the only option to save time.

Rose closes her eyes with a pained wheeze, Elena starts walking out of the room when both our attention goes to Marie once again "No, stop, wait. Tell them to prepare the horses...."

"Marie....It's okay... Just get some sleep..." I begin chanting again, feeling weak.

"You'll feel better when you wake up..." Elena says, sitting down on the other side of the bed.

"Trevor, don't be so stupid. You're never going to make it there before the sun.... Unh!" she sits up, grunting in pain.

"Letta, Letta I need more blood!"

"Here" I speed over to the nightstand and back to Rose's side. She sips it slowly, but ends up throwing up more than she took. She cringes in pain and cries. 

"It's okay, everything's gonna be alright..." I coo "Shh, Asinta Mulaf Hinto, Sho Bala.... Asinta Mulaf Hinto, Sho Bala...." I wipe off the blood from my nose before either of the girls can notice.

I go into the bathroom to clean up all the blood when I hear a scream. Rushing back into the room to see Rose pinning her sister to the wall with a snarl "It's all your fault, Katerina. You Katerina, you did this!"

"It's Elena!" I pull her off with a shout "Rose, Rose! It's Elena!"

"You betrayed us!" she kicks me out of her grip and tries to attack Elena again, only to be stopped again. 

Elena, her back against the wall, shouts with her hands raised "I'm not Katherine! Rose! I'm Elena...!"

The vampire stops struggling against me as her eyes droop in realisation "Elena?"

"It's me, it's Elena...." she soothes.

Marie comes to her senses, the disappearance of her vampire face followed by tears and slumping down further into my arms "Oh my god....! I'm so sorry. I don't know what's happening to me. I'm sorry!"

I pick her once again, bypassing the blood on the floor and placing her on the bed "You're gonna be alright Rose..."

"My mind, I'm...!" she cries into my shoulder, fighting for breath in between sobs.

"It was just for a second" Elena assures.

"I'm sorry, don't be scared of me!"

"I'm not...." Elena assures with a slow nod "I'm not, but you need to rest Rose"

As pleaded, she lowers herself down and to the side "I'm scared..."

I smile sadly "You're not alone.... We're right here"

"Here?" her eyes furrow in innocent cluelessness "...where's here?"

Swallowing my tears, I put on a brave face "D-Damon's bedroom, you're in Damon's bedroom..."

"I want to go home" she snuggles into the pillows like a small home-sick girl.

I look at Elena, motioning to the empty blood glass. She nods and leaves to get more blood.

"Tell me about it"

"St. Austell, thirty kilometers south of London. With fields and trees and horses..."

"Sounds beautiful" I whispers lowly, Rose needn't hear the shake in her voice.

"You know you lived there with me, for a while... When you live long enough, everything disappears. So much time wasted, I j-jus-just wish I wouldn't have been s-so, so afraid..."

"You don't to be scared anymore, Letta's here, she's here" I coo, rocking her gently back and forth.

"But I'm so hungry" Rose growls, her primitive instincts taking over. Before I can defend herself, the vampire's fangs bite hard into my body, one hand clutching the side of my throat and the other pinning my legs down.

"Mar... Marie, Rose" I croak, hitting her head. 

Rose snarls, eyes red and veins black. She throws me off the bed, not even giving me enough time to recover before she drains me of my blood. I protest with screeches, kicking and writhing as I try to push her away. But there's only so much strength that I can muster until my muscle grow weaker, welcoming oblivion.

▹▹▹

I open my eyes to hear screaming downstairs. I wake up groggily to await a pool of puked blood.

Everything flashes by, making me jump up, tearing of her shirt and digging through the cupboard from Damon's. Rose had gone rogue.

"Where's Rose" I shout when I'm downstairs. Damon looks at Elena, and then at my bruised and torn neck "I don't know".

▹▹▹

I run into the town to find Rose biting into someone's neck "Rose, stop!" I pulls her off the human, who falls limp onto the ground. The vampire looks to her obstacle and pins me down with no memory of her only friend friend after Trevor.

"Rose, Rose! It's me, it's Letta. It's Letta" the shakes bring her back into the present. Her scared eyes flit between the fallen body and me "Did I do this?" she cries.

Damon and Elena run upto us from behind. "I never meant to hurt anyone. I never wanted to hurt anyone!"

"I know" Damon whispers.

She looks at Elena, crying and hugging us "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!"

"Come on, let's get you home" Damon lifts her up, only to have her struggle and clutch his shirt with her bloody hands "No, I don't have a home! I haven't had a home in so long...! Please, I can't please....!"

"Oh make it stop" she writhes in his arms, making me run to her, walking along with Damon "please make it stop! I hate it, make it stop!"

"Asinta Mulaf Hinto, Sho Bala, Asinta Mulaf Hinto, Sho Bala" I keep chanting, making Rose take deep breaths as the pain momentarily goes away. "Somnum" I put her to temporary sleep and Damon looks at her with heavy eyes.

All three of us sit in Damon's bed, Damon's legs supporting a sweating Rose who wheezes with every heavy breath "Hi there" Damon gently runs his hand along her shiny jaw, with non-judgemental but scared eyes.

"I'm sorry"

"You went on a murderous rampage. It happens"

"I'm sorry, Letta.... I-I don't like taking human life, you know I never have" she coughs, making me start chanting again. 

I felt my temples throb, and my muscles weaken. But I can't stop now. I won't.

For the whole day, Damon tried. There's no cure for a werewolf bite. And that meant that these might as well be Marie's last moments.

"I know...." I hold her hand tightly, scared that if I let go for one moment, she'll run away forever.

"It's the worst part about it" Rose grunts "-the hunt, the need to kill, the thirst, the pleasure it brings you afterwards. I wasn't meant to be evil. It hurts"

"Then stop talking about it" Damon frowns, pulling her closer to him.

"Damon's a lot like me" she looks up at me "He wants to care but when he does he runs away from it. I-I'm sorry for w-what I've done today"

"I know..." I gulp on my tears "God I know"

"And you need to fight Letta.... You fought before, please f-fight for L-Lub-" she coughs, making her friend loop an arm around her warm neck, kissing her forehead from above "I will fight, Asinta Mulaf Hinto, Sho Bala... Thank you Rose..."

She starts smiling but screams as she writhes in pain 

"Asinta Mulaf Hinto, Sho Bala! Asinta Mulaf Hinto, Sho Bala"  I sob, my voice breaking with every word.

Damon holds Rose's hands over her heart, "Oh god! Make it stop, make it stop! I can't take it anymore, make it stop! Please, please, I can't, I can't take it....!"

I stop chanting, sniffling near Marie's ear "Shh.... Sleep, just sleep...."

I take Damon's hand over both of Rose's and close my eyes.

The horses neigh as Letta stands beside Rose, petting them with a smile "Feel home?"

Rose steps closer to her, a happy innocent smile gracing her eyes "The sun is so warm. I miss this. I miss being human"

"Humanity is not all it's cracked up to be" Damon comes from behind, not even bothering to force a smirk on.

"I had friends" she smiles at the Salvatore"I had a family..." she squeezes my hand "I mattered..."

"You still do" I smile sadly.

"No but you do. You built a life whether you want to admit it or not. I spent 500 years just... existing"

"You didn't have a choice, you were running from Klaus" Damon insists.

"There's always a choice..." she smiles sadly, sitting down the slope.

"You know, you're ruining a perfect day with your strange philosophical babbling" Damon sits down beside her.

"I'd like to enjoy the fresh air. Would you enjoy it with me?" she hugs Damon, leaning onto his torso, facing me.

He holds her in his arms, interlocking his fingers with hers.

"Thank you" Marie smiles at me

"For what?"

"The pain's gone"

"I'm glad" I force on a smile, gulping on the lead in my throat.

"Will I see them again? " she whispers "My family?"

"I think you'll see whoever you want to see" Damon shrugs.

She smiles, kissing Damon's hand "That would be nice. Maybe I'll see Trevor too. I'm not afraid anymore..."

Outside the dream, I feel a hand grab mine and place both of them around something rough and dry.

I look to Damon with biting lips, burying a sniffle.

"I'll race you to the trees" Rose gets up happily, turning around to look at us.

"Well," Damon clears his throat "you'll lose"

"I'm older and faster" she states smugly.

"Oh, you think?" we get up with smiles. 

Our hands grip the stake tighter, shaking with both of our guilt and sadness.

"Well, I'm controlling this dream..." I tilt my head, blinking with a smile.

"And maybe I'll cheat" Damon stands beside Marie with a smirk.

"On the count of three" she bites her lip in happiness. She knows she'll win "One...? two...?"

Three.

My eyes fly open as I tighten my grip around Damon's hand over the stake. He doesn't let go of the stake, but I can see it. The way he lets go of his humanity.

▹▹▹

On a dirt road in the woods, Sheriff Forbes parks her car and gets out, switching on her torch. Damon and I wait against the car.

We're both lost in their own thoughts, pretending to not have been affected by the death of the vampire sitting inside the car.

"Here's your vampire" Damon heartlessly throws open the trunk to reveal a staked and desiccated Rose-Marie. "How did you find her?" the Sheriff looks at us. Damon may have killed the vampire, but the Sheriff didn't know Katherine Gilbert could too.

"It doesn't matter" I state without emotion "What matters is that it's over" I push off with a neutral look, arms crossed over my chest.

"Thank you Damon... And Kat. You've helped keep this town safe..." she smiles lightly, motioning for them to get aside so she could take care of the body.

"We'll take care of burying the body..." I demand, making the Sheriff step back, surprised at my sudden sharp tone. 

Killing someone can do that to one. 

"Kat if you ever want to talk...."

"Thank you Liz.... But I'd rather get going, I'll speak to you tomorrow, stay safe" I close the trunk with a thud and gets into the driver's seat of the car, followed by Damon.

She sighs to Damon "You can go if yo-"

"Just drive" he looks ahead, taking a breath to stabilise the storm of conflict in his heart. 

We bury her near the edge of the cemetery grounds "Damon...."

"Damon..." I nudge towards him, gently trying to take the shovel. But he doesn't give it up. He grips it as if it's the only thing he's holding onto.

"Damon pl-" the shovel falls onto a rock with a clunk and a thud just as he twists my neck.

▹▹▹

For the second time in a very awful day, I groan awake, touching my bloody neck. I feel my body burn with anger as I get out of the car, to Damon almost eating a passerby by the woods.

"Damon stop!" I pin him to the girl's car, almost shaking it over. My eyes flash yellow in his face, a growl silencing his struggle "What are you doing! Huh!"

"Just a bite..." his fangs extend as his eyes turn red with hunger. 

"Stop it!" I press a hard thumb onto his neck. Looking to the innocent girl on the road, I mutter "Somnum", making her fall down to sleep. 

I let go of the elder Salvatore and the moment he relaxes, I slap him hard "Go ahead, kill me" he snarls, pushing me off "I can't be what she wants me to be, kill me now Kat!"

I hold his cheeks roughly, glaring at him "Are you seriously that dumb! You can pine after girls all you want, but the one thing you are not allowed to do is change for them! You dumbass!" I kick him in the shins, holding him by the ear and drags him when he throws me off onto the concrete road.

"I wanna let go" he growls, squeezing her hands down onto the rough road "I can't save her and I can't save you. You'll die and I'll still be here, mourning. I hate it!"

"Don't you trust me?" I croak out "You really think I'll let Elena die?" 

Holding him by the collar, I growl.

"How are you gonna stop that?" he stops struggling and I can see the hope in his eyes. Elena can live.... There must be a way.

The question and his hope make me exhale with hesitation and fear "I don't know...."

I slump down by the car, lips trembling and eyes feeling weak. "I don't know...."

"But you're gonna try, right?" he sits beside me with wide eyes.

I smile sadly and take his still bloody hands in mine in a promise "I'll die trying"  

He sighs, closing his eyes, resting his head on mine.

"You sure you want to be around me? I'm no Stefan..."

I glare at him "Don't confuse me for Elena. Ever. I am a Guardian, and above all, I love people for what they are. We're all alike Damon, wanting to be human when we can't"

"Really?" he asks with a small hopeful smile.

"Just don't go around biting me when I'm passed out" I kiss his forehead as I get up, wobbling a bit.

"You alright?" he follows me.

"Listen..." I cringe at the weak lilt shining clear through my voice "Do you wanna kill anymore?"

He scoffs "I always wanna kill Kat"

I hold his shoulders as my vision sways "No, you trust me right? No more vamping out and self-pity?"

"Ok, I'll keep it down" he pats.

"Good" I huff with drooping eyes, "'Cause I'm gonna pass out"