CHAPTER NINE | THE DESCENT

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KLARA WALKED BACK INTO HER BEDROOM TO SEE STEFAN STANDING AT HER DOOR. The girl had finished doing her makeup in the mirror of the bathroom, and she was ready to start the day and face the inevitable drama that was coming their way. 

"Morning, stalker." Klara smiled toward her friend as she pulled a leather jacket over her arms. "How's it feel to be a free man? To wake up in your own bed and not a disgusting, dusty tomb floor?"

"Not to mention the showering." Stefan pointed out as she walked into his friend's room and placed himself down onto her bed. "God, I've missed showering."

Klara turned around from eyeing herself up in the white, full-length mirror and raised an eyebrow toward the Salvatore vampire. "Could've fooled me." 

"Ooh, hurtful." He pretended to be wounded and held his hand over his heart while the blonde rolled her eyes. "So, I was thinking about this whole Elena being Klaus' human sacrifice thing—"

"I mean, it would've been a little bit concerning if you weren't thinking about it. But, go on."

"Well, Katherine said that Isobel could have some answers and I've got a few questions that need answering." As Stefan spoke, Klara pulled a face. Elijah was very clear that they were not to upset his plan, and Stefan's idea could do just that. "Klara, relax. I just wanna know a little bit more about Klaus, okay?"

Klara scoffed quietly and wriggled her eyebrows toward her best friend. "Is this your way of asking me if I want to accompany you on a fact-finding mission?"

"Figured you and I haven't really had a friend-day in a while." Stefan shrugged. "I've missed you. So, yeah, I want you yo accompany me on a fact-finding mission."

"I suppose I could do with a day away from the house." Klara sighed out as she finally nodded her head, hearing Stefan cheer quietly. "Have you, uh, have you seen how Rose is doing?"

There was a werewolf attack that took place not too long after Stefan and Klara decided to go to bed. Damon had made an enemy of a wolf named Jules, who then decided to attack him during the full moon. But, Rose took the hit instead of Damon, which resulted in her gaining an incurable werewolf bite. She was dying.

"It didn't look good." Stefan's faced immediately tensed up. Rose and Damon had become friends in the short time they had known each other, and he worried that her death might undo his progress into being a better person. "The bite is fatal. I mean, I have never even seen a werewolf bite first hand. There's no telling how this will play out."

"But you're worried about Damon." Klara finished with a nod.

"I'm always worried about Damon." The Salvatore lifted himself up from the bed. He nodded his head toward the door and waited for Klara to follow. "Come on, let's get out of here."

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Klara walked from the bar back toward the booth that Stefan had acquired them. She held an extremely feminine looking cocktail in one hand, and a bourbon. As Stefan eyed his best friend up, he silently prayed that the bourbon was for him but he knew what Klara was like— she would have given him the cocktail just to see him squirm. 

"Getting day drunk is your answer to everything, isn't it?" Stefan watched the blonde slide the glass of bourbon toward him and exhaled in relief. 

"What can I say, alcohol is a stress-reliever." Klara placed her lips against the straw flopped outside of her glass. She took a few sips and hummed in pure bliss. "Anyway, you said it was a friend-day, friend-days require alcohol."

She had a point. With all the friend-days that they had ever had, it almost always involved a drink or two. Stefan eyed up the cocktail in front of her. "True. But, I'd just like to remind you that only one of us has a high tolerance, and it definitely isn't you."

"Rude." Klara rolled her eyes toward her friend. 

"So, we haven't really had a chance to properly talk about your dad since, you know—" Stefan awkwardly cleared his throat, and looked back up at the girl who's face had hardened upon the mention of her father. "How're you doing?"

"I'm okay." Klara nodded truthfully. "I don't know, I just— I feel weird about the whole situation." Stefan pursed his lips with a look of understanding. "He chose to leave me behind and I chose not to bother to care where he was or what he was doing. To be honest, if anything... I'm angry with myself."

"Yourself? Wh—"

"I'm his daughter and I didn't even know that he had died, Stefan." 

"I'm sorry." Stefan deadpanned. His eyes containing sympathy and guilt. "I guess I never really thought of it like that. I just thought he didn't deserve your grief or your sympathy. Someone that is capable of leaving someone as amazing as you, doesn't deserve that."

"Thank you," Klara spoke seriously with a light smile on her face. Their eyes were fixed on each other until they noticed Alaric who was walking toward their table with his phone up to his ear.

"Hey, Damon. The wolf is at the Grill." He spoke into the phone, hung up, and then slid into the booth beside Klara.

Stefan and Klara both looked over to the bar to see a woman sitting on a stool. She was rather slender and had dirty-blonde hair, though Klara wouldn't have thought she was a werewolf. "Ah, is that the—"

"Yeah, yeah." Alaric nodded in confirmation once their eyes returned from Jules to the table. "I just left Damon a message."

"Why does Damon wanna know where she is?" Klara eyed him up suspiciously and then it immediately hit her. "He can't kill her. Starting a fight is what got him into this mess, Ric."

"No. He thinks she could have a cure for Rose." The human cleared his throat and moved his gaze from the blonde to the vampire. "I couldn't find anything in Isobel's research. Except that it's fatal."

"Do you still know of a way to get in touch with Isobel?" Stefan asked.

"Even if I did, she isn't going to help." Alaric looked between the two who had very serious looks on their faces. "I have an old number, probably out of service."

"You could at least let us try. There's no harm in that, right?" Klara asked the man who seemed reluctant to give them Isobel's details.

"You both know that you can't trust Isobel." Alaric's voice was hushed, slightly lower toned as he spoke of his vampire wife. "Even when it comes to Elena."

"We know that." The pair nodded.

"Alright. I'm gonna see if I can find the number. If I do, I'll text it to you." Alaric nodded. He lifted himself up from the booth and headed out of the Grill.

"She doesn't look much like a werewolf, does she?" Klara asked. She noticed Stefan's gaze was on Jules who was eating food alone at a table not too far away from them.

"Superficial." Stefan's eyes eventually peeled away from Jules and he looked at Klara, who furrowed her brows. "I mean, I don't exactly look like a vampire. Physical looks don't determine who you are, you know that better than anyone."

Klara shook her head. "No. That's not what I meant." Eventually, she looked over her shoulder, back at Jules. "I just mean— oh, never mind." Stefan's phone buzzed and a look of hopefulness moved across his face. "Alaric pulled through with Isobel's number?"

"Let's just hope she answers." Stefan wriggled his brows and then lifted his phone up toward his ear. The dial tone was heard a few times, and then he was met with Isobel's answerphone. "Isobel, it's Stefan Salvatore. I need to speak with you, It's about Elena. Please know that it's important."

Once Stefan had removed his phone from his ear, they noticed Damon enter the Grill. Klara knew what he was doing, he was going to head straight toward Jules and probably get himself marked in the process. 

The Salvatore grabbed Damon by the wrist before he could make his way toward the werewolf. Damon groaned as he turned around to see Stefan and Klara. "What're you two doing here?"

"Not important." Klara shook her head. "What is important is the number of people that are here, Damon. The Grill is not the place to go for round two, okay?"

Damon tutted and looked around at the humans sitting around eating. He turned back to the blonde and rolled his eyes. "Oh, damn. There goes my plan to rip her spleen through her back."

The raven-haired Salvatore sarcastically rolled his eyes and attempted to turn away, put Stefan pulled him back once more. "Hey. Listen, I know you're upset about Rose."

"Why does everybody think I'm upset about Rose?" He asked. "I'm fine. I don't know if you two know this, but sometimes vampires die.  I'm going to have a friendly chat with ladywolf, brother. Ease up."

"Damon—" Before Klara could speak again, Damon had already taken himself off to Jules' table. Stefan sighed heavily and then his phone began to ring. He pulled out to see the same number he called earlier. Isobel's number. "Go. I'll keep an eye on him."

"Well, if it isn't the one I meant to kill." Jules glanced up to see Damon who had taken the seat opposite her. Klara moved from the booth she shared with Stefan, to Jules' table. "I'll have to get that right next time."

Damon watched the wolf pick up her drink and sip it lightly. "You won't live to see another full moon." He threatened. "Unless... unless you tell me who to cure a wolf bite."

"Promise?"

Klara watched Jules' fearful eyes move in her direction. She nodded slowly toward the werewolf, a light smile on her face. "You do that and I make damn sure he doesn't kill you."

Jules grabbed hold of her purse and left some money on the table before she lifted herself from her chair. "Bite me." She stood up and attempted to leave, but Damon rose from his seat and grabbed her. "I'm not afraid of you."

"Just tell him what you know, okay, Jules?" Klara's voice was a lot calmer than her exterior. She was worried about Damon losing his cool and killing her in front of everyone.

"How's your friend? Rose, is that her name?" Jules let her eyes fall to Damon who began to silently squirm as she teased. "Have the chills started? The unbearable pain?"

"If there's a cure, tell me. Or start watching your back."

"Did I mention the dementia?" Jules continued on as she glanced between the two. "It'll eat away at her brain. Soon, she'll be rabid. You want a cure? I'll tell you the only cure that exists; take a stake and drive it through her heart." She slowly backed away from Damon before she hurried out of the Grill.

Damon stood silently as if he were thinking over his options, but Klara couldn't get something out of her head. It'll eat away at her brain. Soon, she'll be rabid. As a gasp left the blonde's lips, she turned to Damon. "Elena's not safe. If what Jules said is true, Rose is gonna go after Elena."

Almost on cue, Damon's phone began to buzz in his jacket pocket. He pulled the leather away from his chest and dug his phone out from his pocket. "Elena, I'm comin—"

"No, Damon. Rose is gone, she just took off." Klara could just about hear Elena's frantic yelling from the other end of the phone call. "You need to find her. She's not stable. She's hallucinating or something."

Damon didn't respond, he just pulled the phone from his ear and hung up. "We need to find Rose. Now." 

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Eventually, Damon and Klara had found a delirious Rose who was feeding on innocents in the parking lot of the High School. Damon managed to calm her down and bring her back to the house, where he carried her up to his bed and insisted that he would be the one to witness her final moments.

He had gotten into her head and given her a moment of peace in the sun like she had wanted for centuries. Damon knew that he had to put Rose out of her misery and he staked her, in his bed. When he came down the staircase carrying her body, Klara didn't question it. She didn't want to upset him more than he early, so clearly, was.

"Hey," Klara called out once she saw the front door open a second time to reveal Stefan. "How'd it go? Did you find Isobel?"

"Not—uh, not exactly." The Salvatore awkwardly cleared his throat and hung his leather jacket up on the coat rack before he walked toward his best friend, who's eyebrows were furrowed. "I found John, instead."

"John?" Klara echoed incredulously. "As in Elena's jack-ass of a father, John? The same man that tried to kill you and Damon, why the hell would you do that?" 

"Because he said that he could help, Klara. To be honest, right now, we could use all the help that we could get against Klaus, okay?" Stefan immediately snapped, but then regretted it. "I'm sorry. It's just been a long day." He sighed. "Is Rose—"

"Yes." Klara nodded. "Rose is gone."

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