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CHAPTER TEN
the truth
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( katerina )

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Monday, March 8, 2010

Harper's POV.

*Harper's Bedroom*

Still very much asleep, I turn to my other side in bed. In my new position, I squirm a little to get comfortable.

"Rise and shine, sleepy head."

My eyes shoot open.

Damon's face is lying next to me. He playfully hikes his eyebrows up.

"You stayed." The words come out of my mouth before I can stop them, almost in a relieved manner. I'm too sleepy to feel embarrassed for saying them.

"Of course I stayed. I'm a gentleman," he says, feigning offense.

I only smile at him.

His gaze softens. "You sleep okay?"

"Yeah." I was about to add thanks to you, but I didn't want to sound too cheesy. I've already said enough cheesy things to embarrass myself this morning.

"Good," he responds.

We lie in silence for a moment, neither one of us moving.

Damon suddenly lifts his index finger. I go cross-eyed as his finger nears my face. He lightly taps my nose, making me giggle.

He smiles in return.

The piercing ring of a cellphone cuts the air between us.

"Of course," Damon sighs in annoyance, burying his face in a pillow.

Once I register the ringtone, I realize it's his phone, not mine. Back to reality. It's probably better this way. Sure, Damon and I are friends again, but we were getting a little close there. I don't know what came over me to make me act that way. The moment was nice, but it's not what I want. I want things to be good between us, platonically, for many reasons. One being that I'm still not allowed to date yet. And two, Damon has a lot of work left to do in order to be completely back in my good graces. And then there's the matter of my own feelings. After he almost killed my dad, a lot of how I feel about him has changed . . .

"And what could you possibly want from me this early in the morning?" Damon drawls into his phone. His facial expression changes almost immediately as he listens to whoever is on the other end. "Oh, so little miss pixy couldn't stay away, huh? I'll be right over." He hangs the phone up.

I sit up in bed. "What is it?"

"Just Stefan," Damon says tersely as he gets up from the bed. "He wants me to meet him at the house."

"Oh, okay," I say. Then what was all that about some pixy girl? What is he not telling me?

"I'll see you later," Damon says before disappearing so fast I hear the sound of the window closing before I realize he's gone.

Now alone, I pull off the covers and hop out of bed. With my arms in the air, I stretch out my body. It doesn't even feel like a school morning after all that's happened, and yet, here we are, it's Monday morning. The world doesn't stop for anything, does it?

All of a sudden, my phone dings.

A text from Elena.

ELENA GILBERT: I'm coming to pick u up

HARPER LACY: Why?

Elena doesn't usually take me to school.

ELENA GILBERT: Stefan called, said it was important

ELENA GILBERT: He said to give u a ride over

HARPER LACY: But what about school?

ELENA GILBERT: Just tell your mom and dad I'm taking u to school, if this doesn't take long I can drive us over later

HARPER LACY: But what if we're late and we get an unexcused absence? I can't have any unexcused absences if I wanna stay in NHS

ELENA GILBERT: You forget we have vampires on our side. We can just have Stefan or Damon compel the office for us

HARPER LACY: lol right

*The Salvatore Boarding House*

Elena knocks on the front door, and Damon answers it.

My heart lurches at the sight of him. I didn't expect to see him so soon after this morning.

"Hello, Elena," he greets first since she's standing in front of me.

"Is Stefan here?" she asks. "He called, said it was important."

Damon steps to the side to let her past. "Right this way."

She goes on inside, and I move to follow her. However, Damon steps in my way. He closes the door behind him before grabbing my lower arm and leading me to the front driveway.

"There's something you need to know," he says tightly.

"What is it?"

"There's someone inside here to see you. But before you freak out I promise I won't let her hurt you."

A stab of nervous fear goes through my stomach. "What are you talking about?" I snap. All sorts of ideas run through my mind of who it could be . . . Mary—Katherine—that blond vampire Ella . . .

"Just." He sighs. "Just come see for yourself."

Well, if he feels comfortable enough to let whoever it is around me, then it must not be that bad.

We go on inside.

At first, I see Elena and Stefan up the hall. They eye me nervously as I approach them. That's when I look to my left, and I see her—Rose.

My insides churn as I look around at everyone else to explain what she's doing here. What the heck does my kidnapper want and why the frick was she allowed in here?!

*Time Skip*

"Okay, you have to understand. I only know what I've picked up over the years and I—I don't know what's true and what's not true. That's the problem with all this vampire crap. But Klaus, I know is real," Rose makes clear as she paces back and forth in front of Elena and I on the couch.

Sitting to my right, Elena crosses her arms. "Who is he?" she inquires, voicing exactly what I want to know as well.

From where Damon is leaning against the back of another couch with his hands, he responds for her, "He's one of the Originals. He's a legend."

"From the first generation of vampires," Stefan adds from where he's sitting on the armrest of yet another couch.

"Okay, so—" Elena tries to process everything she's just heard. "You're saying that one of the oldest vampires in the history of time is coming after us?"

Us being me and Elena.

"Yes," Rose says.

"No." Stefan shakes his head.

Damon raises his voice. "What they're saying is, I mean." He goes to stand next to Rose. "If what she's saying is true . . ."

"Which it is," Rose says.

"And you're not just saying it so we don't kill you . . ."

Rose rolls her eyes at him. "Which I'm not."

"Then we're looking at a solid maybe," Damon concludes.

I'm gonna die.

"Look. Elijah's dead, right?" Stefan reminds, getting up from the armrest he was sitting on. He comes over to the couch that Elena and I are on and sets himself down beside Elena. "So no one else even knows that you exist except for Katherine, Mary, and Ella."

"The Succubus Sisters," Rose clarifies. "They're the ones that hired Trevor and I to take you to Elijah," she says, looking at me. "We were all supposed to gain our freedom."

Succubus? What does that mean? I'll have to look it up later.

"Look," Stefan speaks up. "I've never even met anyone who's laid eyes on him. I mean, we're talking centuries of truth mixed with fiction." He pauses. "I mean, we don't know what's real. For all we know he could just be some sort of stupid bed time story."

"He's real," Rose insists. "And he doesn't give up. If he wants something, he gets it. If you're not afraid of Klaus, then you're an idiot."

"Alright, we're shaking," Damon says, slightly annoyed. "You've made your point."

Still sitting next to me, Elena turns her head in my direction. "Come on," she says with unusual calm, a look in her eyes saying we need to talk.

She gets up from the couch, and I follow suit. We head for the front door.

"Where you going?" Stefan asks from behind us, still on the couch.

We stop and look back at everyone. Elena speaks for the two of us. "School. We're late."

"Let me, uh," Stefan gets up from the couch and walks over to us. "Let me grab my stuff. I'll go with you."

"It's okay," Elena insists with defiant calm. "We know where it is."

Once Elena and I are alone driving in her car, I finally speak up. "What are we gonna do?" I ask seriously, worry lacing my tone.

"I don't know, and I don't think anyone knows. None of us know enough about Klaus to do anything," she says, sounding frustrated.

"Then what did you want to talk to me about?"

"I have an idea, and I know you're not going to like it, but we need to talk to Katherine."

Katherine? "Wait, isn't she in the tomb?"

"We can have Caroline open it for us," is all she says.

It's a great plan, if only I wasn't so afraid of Katherine, and we weren't doing it behind Stefan and Damon's backs.

3rd Person POV.

*The Salvatore Boarding House*

The soft sniffles of Rose fill the Salvatore Boarding House as she cries alone in the study.

"Alright, Rosebud."

She quickly wipes away her tears at the sound of Damon's voice.

He strides into the room. "I need some answers."

After releasing a labored breath, Rose stands to her feet and goes over to the loveseat opposite to where she was sitting. She reaches into her travel purse.

"Oh please don't tell me you're crying cause your buddy Trevor lost his head," Damon says.

Rose pulls a tissue out of her purse. "You always been this sensitive?" she asks sarcastically, her voice still hoarse from crying. She dabs at her tears.

"A little vampire switch, you can just pfft for this very reason," he says. "Takes the emotion out of it."

Rose straightens. "Yeah, you switch yours, I'll switch mine."

"Is that a dig?" he accuses.

"It's an observation. Not having Harper return your feelings must be difficult."

"I don't have feelings for anyone," Damon denies.

"You wanna try that again?" she jabs pointedly.

Having had enough, he rushes up to her with his vampire speed, sizing her up. "Don't get on my bad side," he advises.

"Then show me your good side," she says.

He brushes off her comment and instead looks at her seriously. "How do I find Klaus?"

"You don't find Klaus. He finds you."

"Come on," Damon scowls, turning to walk a few steps away from her. "Somebody's gotta know somebody who knows where he is, right?"

"Add another two hundred somebodies to that and you're still not even close." Rose sets herself down on an armrest.

"Humor me. You got in touch with Elijah, how'd you do it?" Damon asks.

"Through a very low somebody on the totem pole," she replies.

When she doesn't say more, Damon shakes his head at her to continue.

She rolls her eyes. "A guy named Slater in Richmond."

"Perfect!" Damon says, popping the p. "I'll drive."

"No," she says. "You forget not all of us can do sun."

Damon glances out a window before looking back at her. "Then you drive."

Harper's POV.

*The Woods by the Tomb*

"Tell everyone we stayed home sick," Elena tells Caroline, as the three of us make our way through the woods towards the entrance of the tomb. "Tell them we both ate the same food and got food poisoning or something." She readjusts the large travel bag in her hands which is filled with water bottles filled with blood and blankets—anything to bribe Katherine into telling us what we need to know about Klaus.

In my own satchel, I'm carrying the book about Katherine's family history.

"I can't believe I'm agreeing to this," Caroline complains. "I'm a terrible liar!"

Elena ignores our friend's griping. "And keep Stefan busy. I don't want him knowing what we're up to."

"I'm even worse at duplicity and you know this!" she wines.

"You managed to keep me occupied when Katherine paid Stefan a visit," Elena reminds her.

"Yeah, cause she threatened me." The blond slows down. "Not that I'm saying that you should use that as a tactic. It's . . ."

Having had enough, Elena turns around.

But before she can say anything, Caroline adds, "Stefan's gonna see right through me."

"Caroline," Elena says seriously, "as our friend, do you promise—or not?"

I give our blond friend a pleading look of my own. "My parents cannot find out I skipped school," I say.

Caroline sighs. "Okay—I promise."

"Okay," Elena says.

"Cool," I say.

We approach the entrance of the tomb.

"Why don't you want Stefan to know?" Caroline asks.

"Because he would never be okay with me doing this," Elena says. Without even hesitating, she makes her way down the stairs and into the underground church ruins.

I follow her, with Caroline right behind me.

I haven't been down here since last year when we tried to save Katherine from the tomb. Of course, as it turned out, she was never in there, so it's poetic justice that this is where she'll spend the rest of her immortal life—the place she should have been for 145 years.

"Are you sure you guys wanna do this?" Caroline asks.

"Yes, I know I'm sure," Elena says. "Katherine's the only one who knows the truth about Klaus. The only one who can tell us how to stop him."

"But you're asking for the truth from someone who's probably never given it," Caroline reminds, huffing a breath. "Are you guys sure about this?" she repeats.

"Yes, we can't just sit back and wait," Elena says seriously. "We have to know, Caroline."

"I agree," I speak up. "I don't really like this, but we don't really have much of a choice."

Caroline casts a wary glance at the large stone blocking the tomb entrance, understandably so. After all the terrible things Katherine has done to her, she has every reason to feel uncomfortable with this.

"Please," Elena begs.

"Remember. You don't have to stay. You just have to open it for us," I remind her.

After a moment of hesitation, Caroline gives in and goes over to the stone blocking the tomb's entrance. She grips either side of the stone and lifts it up off the ground. With it in her arms, she carries it away from the entrance and leans it against an adjacent wall.

She backs away to make room for me and Elena.

Still holding the travel bag, my cousin approaches the tomb first. "Katherine!" she calls into the darkness.

No answer.

Elena looks back over her shoulder at Caroline. "We'll be okay from here."

All of a sudden, a shuffling sound grows louder from within the tomb. Dirty feet, followed by a wrinkled black dress, and finally the grimy face of a messy-haired Katherine come into view. She struggles to stand and catches herself with a thump against the side of the tomb.

"Hello, Elena," she croaks out before coughing. "Harper. You come to watch me wither away?" A pause. "Goodbye, Caroline."

Elena looks back at our blond friend. "As long as we stay on this side of the door, she can't hurt us. Please."

Taking the hint that it's time for her to go, Caroline heads back up the stairs.

Elena ambles towards the tomb entrance with the travel bag. She sets it down on a rock. I remain in close proximity to Elena, feeling uncomfortable if I'm away from her even though Katherine can't get to me even if she tried.

"Do Stefan and Damon know you're here?" Katherine asks raspily.

We both ignore her question.

Instead, Elena says, "I brought you some things." She starts to dig into her travel bag.

"You came to bribe me?" Katherine rasps out. "What is it that you want?"

Elena pulls a blanket out of her travel bag and tosses it into the tomb. "I want you to tell us about Klaus."

"Hmm, you've been busy," Katherine muses in a gravelly voice. Her eyes turn to me. "And I'm surprised you're here. I guess things didn't go according to plan."

I find some satisfaction in the fact that their plan to hand me over to Elijah failed.

Elena continues to dig into her travel bag. "Yeah, we know how you guys tried to use her to gain your freedom from Klaus," she says testily. She takes a lantern out of her bag and sets it down on the ground.

"You shouldn't be complaining, Elena," Katherine says gruffly. "It could have been you. Klaus only needs one doppelgänger for the sacrifice."

Things have just become a bit more complicated.

Elena and I find ourselves looking at each other. Worry and fear etched on our faces at learning this new piece of information.

My cousin's gaze falls to the satchel at my side. Seriousness returns to her eyes as she looks back into the tomb at Katherine. "We brought you something else," she announces before nodding at me.

I open the satchel and take out the book about Katherine's family history for her to see.

"It's your family history," Elena explains. "It says in there that the family line ended with you. Obviously, that's not true," she says, referring to herself.

"You think that if you brought me some family keepsake that I'd open up?" Katherine scoffs.

Elena reaches into her travel bag again. "We also brought you this." She takes out a water bottle filled with blood and holds it up.

Katherine's eyes widen, and she rushes forward.

I flinch.

However, the invisible barrier from the tomb spell jerks her back. She breathes heavily with her eyes focused on the blood in the bottle.

"You don't look so good," Elena observes. "How long before your body shuts down? Ten? Twenty years? Must be painful to desiccate and mummify." She shakes her head condescendingly. "I can't even imagine."

Katherine's only response is silence. She shrinks back weakly. Putting all her weight against the wall closest to the entrance, she lowers herself down to the floor submissively.

After crouching down, Elena pours some blood into a small plastic cup. Using a stick, she slides the cup into the tomb for Katherine to reach.

With strained movements and breathing, Katherine picks up the cup of blood and gives Elena a hard stare. "You have the Petrova fire," she says in a thick—I'm assuming—Bulgarian accent based on what I read from the book. She gulps down the blood quickly. However, her breathing remains strained.

"More blood?" Elena asks.

Katherine doesn't say anything, but the action of placing the cup back on the ground demandingly is silent answer enough.

Using the same stick as before, Elena slides the cup back over the barrier so she can fill it with more blood.

"It's a long story, Klaus and I," Katherine speaks up in a no longer raspy voice thanks to the return of her strength. "Goes all the way back to England, 1492, after I left Bulgaria. Or was—thrown out."

Elena finishes filling the cup with blood and slides it back over to Katherine with the stick.

She gulps it down like before.

"Thrown out?" Elena questions.

I take this time to move closer and crouch down beside Elena, the Petrova family book still in my hands.

"My family, your true ancestors . . . they disowned me," Katherine explains. "My indiscretions were not tolerated at that time. I had a baby out of wedlock. The shame."

I see her ways haven't changed much. She's just lucky she can't get pregnant anymore since she's a vampire.

"It was kept secret?" Elena asks.

"Mhmm. My baby was given away. I was banished to England and I had to learn to adjust. So I quickly became English. It was there that I caught the eye of a nobleman named Klaus. I was taken with him at first until I found out what he was and what he wanted from me. And then I ran like hell."

"So . . ." Elena rises to her feet, and I do the same, "what did Klaus want?"

"The same thing that he'll want from you two," Katherine says. "He wants to break the curse."

"By sacrificing either a Petrova or Nolla doppelgänger," Elena puts together.

"He wanted to drain every single drop of blood from my body," Katherine goes on.

My body shudders internally at the thought.

Elena fills another cup with blood and slides it over to Katherine with the stick. "What do the Petrova and Nolla blood lines have to do with Klaus?" she asks, sitting down with her back against a wall.

I slide down to sit beside her.

Katherine picks up the cup of blood. "It's really tedious but . . ." She gulps down the blood, but this time crushes the plastic cup in her hand as she savors the taste. "The curse was bound by the sacrifice of both Petrova and Nolla blood. Witches are crafty with their spells. The doppelgängers were created as a way to be able to undo the spell. Once a doppelgänger reappeared, the curse can be broken."

"So you ran before he killed you?" Elena surmises.

"Something like that," Katherine says. She tells us how Trevor provided her a safe place to stay only for Rose to refuse to go along with it and insist on taking her back to Klaus.

I still don't like Rose very much and learning how she refused to help Katherine in her helpless state has made my dislike for her grow even further. Even if she is trying to help Elena and I now to stay out of Klaus's clutches, I highly doubt she would risk her life for us if things came down to it. She would probably even turn on us if it benefited her in some way.

"Rose never ended up taking you back to Klaus, did she?" Elena guesses.

"No," says Katherine, "but not because she had a change of heart."

"You turned into a vampire," I realize under my breath, forgetting that Katherine can still hear me.

"Bingo," Katherine says, looking towards me now. Elena looks between us in confusion because she didn't hear what I said. "Klaus needed a human doppelgänger. As a vampire I was no longer any use to him."

"You killed yourself?" Elena freaks, just now catching on. She takes a moment to contemplate things. "But it didn't work. You didn't really escape. You've been running from Klaus ever since."

"I underestimated his spirit for vengeance," Katherine says sourly. "But living out of a suitcase is better than dying so that you could have your blood spilled over some silly little rock."

Silence befalls the three of us, and I take the opportunity to debrief everything we've heard so far.

There has to be another way out of this that doesn't involve turning into a vampire. There has to be.

"What's wrong?" Katherine asks in a mock baby voice. "You guys afraid I'm right? You don't wanna die? There's another way out." She tilts her head to the side before nicking her own wrist with a finger nail.

I cringe at the sight of blood and look away.

"Better hurry," Katherine encourages. "Your opportunity is going, going, going and gone." I look back at her wrist and the scratch has healed because of her enhanced healing. "I made the other choice," she says.

I can't make that choice. I can't even fathom the idea of having to drink blood to stay alive. And based on Elena's unusual silence, I'm sure she feels the same way about it.

It's crazy that just a year ago none of this was even fathomably possible to me. And now, here I am, facing the threat of becoming something I didn't even believe existed.

Elena finally breaks her silence, "You know Rose and Trevor spent the last 500 years running because you used them? Trevor just got killed!"

"Never thought he would have lasted that long," is all Katherine says.

Elena shakes her head. "You don't even care that you ruined their lives."

"I was looking out for myself, Elena." Katherine directs a hard gaze at my cousin. "I will always look out for myself. If you're smart, you'll do the same."

Katherine has a point, at least, somewhat. At the time while Klaus was trying to capture her, no one was trying to help her except Trevor. And, even then, Rose was not going to allow Trevor to help her. Katherine had no choice but to take things into her own hands. Whether she was a vampire or not, they all would have ended up on the run from Klaus for the rest of their lives anyway. At least, as a vampire, Katherine was able to keep herself from being the sacrifice and dying sooner.

Annoyed, Elena gets up off the ground and starts pacing. "So how much of your little story is true?" she asks skeptically.

I remain sitting on the ground with my back against the wall, watching Elena pace.

"I have no reason to lie, Elena," Katherine says exasperatedly. "I have no reason to do anything but sit here and rot."

"Okay," Elena nods, voicing her thoughts, "your story does make sense, considering that you and your friends came back to deliver one of us to Klaus so you could all gain your freedom."

Tired of sitting on the ground, Katherine puts her weight against a wall to lift herself to her feet. "Mmm, after all these years, we figured maybe he'd be willing to strike a deal."

"So you got Mason Lockwood to find you the moonstone," Elena goes on.

Still leaning against the wall, Katherine nods. "Right again."

"What else do you need to break the curse?" Elena pushes.

I never considered that there could be more.

"Hmm," Katherine hums, "look who's getting smarter."

Elena starts pacing faster. "It's not just one of us or the stone, is it?"

Katherine says nothing.

Elena continues, "Otherwise there would be no reason to trigger Tyler Lockwood's werewolf curse."

"Witches and their spells. So many ingredients, so many people to sacrifice," Katherine says in mock sadness.

Putting the pieces together in my head, my mouth runs with my thoughts, "So you need a werewolf. What else do you need?"

"Smart girl," Katherine comments, looking towards me now. "You're also going to need a witch to do the spell. Mine bailed, but, little Bonnie will do just fine."

Anger boils inside of me at hearing that they planned to use Bonnie against her will.

"Is there anything else?" Elena demands.

"Vampire," Katherine answers.

"Caroline," Elena realizes.

"Could have been anyone I suppose," says Katherine, "but I like the poetry of Caroline."

What? Are they going after our whole friend group or something cause this is ridiculous!

Elena shakes her head. "So you were gonna just hand us all over to be killed?"

"Better you die than I," is all Katherine says.

Elena runs her hands through her hair distressfully. She turns towards me. "We're leaving," she announces firmly, Katherine's selfishness having ticked her off. She goes to pick up the bottle of blood and her travel bag while I stand to my feet.

"Elena," Stefan's voice cuts in from the stairwell.

Inhaling a sharp breath, I whip my head towards the stairwell.

Stefan rushes in.

Oh shoot.

He walks over to Elena.

I remain standing by the wall so she can handle this. I'm a bad friend. I know.

Dazed, Elena asks, "Stefan, what are you doing here?"

He glances worriedly into the tomb, looks at me for a moment, then returns his focus to Elena. "I could ask you the same question."

I look into the tomb for myself. Katherine no longer stands at the entrance. She must have retreated further inside.

Elena sighs. "Caroline told you."

"No," Stefan says, "she kept your secret but it didn't take long for me to figure out what was so important that you'd have to keep it from me." His voice sounds sad, hurt even.

It makes me feel bad. I wonder what Damon's reaction will be when he finds out. I'm not exactly looking forward to it.

"I knew that you would try to stop us," Elena says.

"Listen to me." Stefan points into the tomb. "Whatever she said to you is a lie. Do not listen to her. She is a liar, Elena."

"What if she isn't?" Elena snaps. "You didn't hear what she said."

Stefan shakes his head. He says in a calming voice, "You don't have to worry. I'm not gonna let anything happen to you guys."

"That's the problem." Elena's voice breaks. "You won't, but you'll die trying. How is that any better?"

"There's nothing you can do, Stefan," Katherine's voice cuts in from within the tomb.

We all turn to look at her as she comes out to where we can see her.

"I haven't even told you the best part of the story," she says. "He killed them, my entire family, just to get back at me for running. Whatever you do to escape Klaus, he will get his vengeance . . . on your friends, your family, on anyone that you've ever loved."

A shiver of horror runs through my body.

Stefan quickly grabs Elena by the shoulders to make her look him in the eyes. "No—No, look at me. Do not listen to her, okay?" He looks past Elena to me still standing by the wall. "None of you listen to her—"

"Always the protector," Katherine interrupts, amusement in her voice, "but even you must realize that they're doomed. There's nothing you can do to stop it unless, of course, you have this." She holds up the moonstone.

I wonder how she got her hands on it despite the fact that she's trapped now.

"What?" Elena questions with confusion.

Stefan chuckles humorlessly. "There it is. That's the ultimate lie, isn't it?" He points an accusing finger at Katherine as he slowly walks toward her. "You spun this whole thing so that we would have to get the stone from you, didn't you?"

A beat of silence passes before Katherine responds. "I didn't spin anything, Stefan. It's the truth."

"No, let me guess." He points at the moonstone in her hand. "You wanna trade that stone for your freedom, hmm? You manipulative, psychotic bitch."

Katherine scoffs. "My freedom? That's where you're wrong, Stefan. I don't want my freedom. Because when Klaus shows up to kill us all and he will, I'll be in the tomb where no vampire will enter because they can't get out. I'll be the safest psychotic bitch in town."

3rd Person POV.

*The Salvatore Boarding House*

Flickers of firelight reflect in Damon's eyes as he stares into the fireplace from atop an armrest.

Friends. That's what Harper wants to be. Friends. He understands why. He shouldn't have expected anything else. After almost killing her father, she shouldn't have even forgiven him. And yet she did, so there is hope . . . or he may just be kidding himself for even thinking that.

Harper is delicate. She's innocent and pure—a flower without blemish. And he had hurt her in one of the worst ways possible. He had attacked someone she loved and almost made a mistake he would never be able to take back. The Gilbert ring gave him a second chance, and he will forever be grateful.

She still needs time to get over what happened though, and Damon understands that. The fact that she even forgave him is a blessing in itself. If what she needs right now is a friend and a protector, then that's who he'll be . . . no matter how hard it is to look at her everyday and not have his love returned.

His throat burns, and he automatically takes a swig of bourbon to soothe it with a different kind of burn.

A loud sigh comes from behind him.

"I'm sorry about today. I didn't know that was gonna happen," says Rose.

He doesn't turn around to face her. "I believe you," is all he says.

"I wish we could save Harper. I know that you want to," she says earnestly.

"And I will." No falter at all in his voice.

Rose smiles knowingly. "You remind me of Trevor," she says before picking up an empty glass from a side table.

Damon's brow wrinkles. "Why? Why him?" he asks, sounding a bit offended.

"Because," she starts walking towards him from behind, "he always talked a big game, he was always working an angle. But underneath it all, he was the best friend anyone could ever hope for."

"Hmm, where did that get him?" Damon asks.

She comes to stand before him. "Dead." She pauses before continuing, "And my loyalty to him almost got me dead too."

Damon pours some bourbon into her glass. "To friendship," he toasts.

They both drink.

Rose lowers her glass. "You're right to fight it . . . the way you feel about her."

"And why is that?" he asks.

She begins walking away from him. "Because if we wanna survive, we need to not care about anyone." She sets herself down on the armrest of another chair.

"Caring gets you dead, huh?" He bites the inside of his cheek in thought.

"It might just be time to turn the switch off on your emotions," she suggests.

Damon blinks to himself before twisting his head back at her. "I will if you will."

With glazed eyes, Rose sets her glass down on a side table. His eyes follow the movement, making his throat bob.

In the blink of an eye, they're standing before each other. She stares at his lips while he examines her face.

She's beautiful. He can't deny that.

He leans in, and their lips attach in a hungry kiss. They grip wherever they can reach as they're both consumed with the taste of each other's mouths.

She grips the back of his neck, allowing her to pull him closer and sweep her tongue over the roof of his mouth.

Damon tugs her hair in response.

Their tongues continue to dance in a passionate rhythm until they're both breathless and panting.

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