❝waiting game❞
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"YOU SHOULD REALLY LOCK YOUR DOOR,"

Charlotte looks up from the couch, rolling her eyes at Damon's presence.

"Oh, come on, pouty. At least give me points for ingenuity," He glances between the twins sporting matching glares on their faces from the couch. "No? Not even you, Elena? Tough crowd today."

"You are the absolute last person that I want to talk to right now," She crosses her arms over her chest, glaring at the smile he gives her in return. "Do you think this is funny?"

Damon scoffs, stepping further into the house. "Yes, Charlotte, I find hilarity in the lengths that I have to go to repeatedly save you and your sister's life."

"Oh, that's right, I forgot–" She holds up a finger, smiling smartly at him. "You hate caring about me."

"Jesus, Charlotte–"

"Don't even act like–"

"How many times do I have to tell you–"

Elena sits up, glaring at the two. "I'm already trapped inside my house like a prisoner, I don't want to be held hostage listening to you two argue the whole time."

Charlotte rolls her eyes, sitting back against the couch, pointedly scooting over when Damon comes and sits next to her, slinging his arm across the back of the couch.

"Well, then, Elena, what do you want to talk about?"

"What does Stefan say about this?" She gestures around, referring to their aforementioned imprisonment.

Damon waves a hand at her, smirking. "We had a good laugh."

"And what did he say about Elijah still being alive?"

Charlotte's question makes him wince.

"Yeah, that... I didn't tell him."

Elena frowned at him. "Why not?"

"Well, A: he can't do anything about it; and B:... what I just said."

Jeremy stomps down the steps with all the grace of a teenage boy, throwing himself down in a chair amongst them.

Damon immediately looks at him, brows furrowing. "Where's Bonnie?"

"I thought she was meeting you,"

"No, she's on moonstone duty and I'm on Twin Patrol."

"Don't ever say that again,"

Jeremy and Damon both ignore Charlotte's remark. "And who's on Tyler Lockwood and the full moon?"

"Vampire Barbie asked me if she could handle it, and I said, why not? Figured if she screwed up, he'll bite her and then I'll be rid of two of my problems."

Elena sits up again, looking at Damon. "Hold on a second. Tonight's the full moon?"

Damon's phone starts ringing and he pulls it out of his coat, looking between the girls. "Yeah, but you two were too absorbed with all your suicidal tendencies to notice."

He gets up from the couch, answering the phone. "What?"

"Sheriff Forbes has officially declared Mason Lockwood a missing person."

"What? Why?"

"Some girl from Florida showed up on the Lockwood's doorstep looking for Mason."

Damon huffs petulantly. "What girl?"

"I don't know, but she sure got everyone in a tizzy."

"That's not good," Damon paces, wiping a hand across his jaw. "Where are you?"

"I'm at the Grill."

"I'm on my way," Damon ends the call, turning back to the three siblings. "Change of plans. You babysit."

Jeremy nods dutifully, standing up and immediately dropping onto the couch, draping himself across his sisters' laps.

Damon stops in the doorway, turning around to look at the twins. "Hey, you know, you guys should get out, enjoy the sun. Oh, wait– you can't!"

Charlotte throws one of the couch pillows at the door, narrowly missing him as he shuts it.

Jeremy laughs where he lays in their laps, and the twins share an annoyed look before they shove him into the floor.

His pained groan, at least, brings a smile to their faces.

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"I really wish you'd stop laughing, because I don't think it's funny,"

"I think it's hysterical," Cory snorts through the speaker, making Charlotte roll her eyes. "You got locked in your house by Bonnie 'cause you can't act right. That is objectively hilarious, Charlie, you have to admit it."

She shakes her head despite him not being able to see it. "I actually don't,"

"Oh, come on, it's not permanent, right? Just until we figure out how to fix the moonstone, or break it, I guess, would be the correct term. Either way, it's not forever."

"That's not as comforting as you think it is. We don't know how long it's going to take Bonnie to do this, and we don't even know if it can be done in the first place! That moonstone is older than Katherine, okay? That's a whole lot of ancient magic that Bonnie's never dealt with, let alone anyone else around here."

Cory sighs, like he knows she's right. "Yeah, well, it wouldn't kill you to have some faith, Charlie. It's not like we're the bad guys for not wanting you to sign your own death certificate."

She purses her lips, biting off her initial, snarky response.

"Charlie!"

She sighs, turning away from the phone at Elena's voice echoing up the stairs. "What, Elena? I'm on the phone!"

"I just need you to come down here, please!"

Charlotte groans quietly, getting up from her bed, still holding her phone to her ear. "Hold on, Cory, Elena's yelling at me. I swear to god, if she's trying to rope me into doing her chores again, I'm gonna–"

She stops short as she hops off the last step, coming face to face with Elijah, the man sporting a knowing, genial smile from where he stands beside Jenna. Elena glances back at Charlotte, eyes wide, and Charlotte takes another step forward, pushing Elena behind her.

"I gotta go, Cory,"

"What? What's going on?"

"I'll call you back," She hangs up, cutting off his call of her name as she sets her phone down on the small table. Her eyes shift to Jenna, narrowing slightly at her unsuspecting smile. "Who's this, Jenna? What's he doing here?"

Jenna scoffs lightly, batting a hand at her. "Charlie, don't be rude. This is Elijah, he's in town doing research on Mystic Falls with the Historical Society. Elijah, this is my other niece, Charlotte. As you can see, she and Elena are identical twins, and before you ask, yes, we used to get them mixed up all the time."

Elijah chuckles, nodding as he steps towards Charlotte with an extended hand. "It's lovely to meet you."

"You, too," She breathes out, shaking his hand firmly.

Oblivious to the tension, Jenna claps her hands together, gesturing to the boxes she'd taken out of the closet. "So, you're welcome to stay here and rummage through this stuff, or we can help you load it into your car."

Elijah drops Charlotte's hand, not taking his eyes off of her and Elena. "Or I can get someone to pick it up tomorrow,"

"Also a good plan," Jenna nods.

"Thank you so much for inviting me into your home, Jenna," He offers their aunt another charming smile that has her blushing before he looks back at the twins. "Elena, Charlotte... I hope to see you again sometime soon."

They step out of his path as he walks towards the door, shutting it gently behind him, and they don't waste another second before turning around and running up the stairs directly to Jeremy's room.

Elena smacks her hand on his door rapidly, startling when Charlotte is yanked back from her side by a strong grip. She snaps her head over, seeing Elijah standing behind a stone-faced Charlotte, holding a finger to his lips as Jeremy opens his door.

"What is it?"

Elena cleared her throat, looking at her brother. "Jenna was just asking me to get you to help her with the boxes."

"Okay,"

Elijah ducks out of Jeremy's line of sight just enough for him to miss his presence and he goes downstairs, and Elena quickly looks at Charlotte, fear racing through her.

"A wise choice," Elijah murmurs, looking between the girls.

"What do you want?"

"I think it's time we had a little chat."

Charlotte clenched her fists at her sides, gesturing for him to follow her into her bedroom. Elena sits on the end of her bed, but Charlotte remains standing, watching as he shuts the door behind himself.

"Forgive the intrusion. I mean your family no harm,"

"You'll forgive me if I don't trust you on that just yet,"

He nods, giving Charlotte an indulgent smile.

She crosses her arms over her chest, squeezing herself as she shifts beneath his gaze. "Why did you kill those vampires that tried to take me?"

"Because I didn't want you to be taken," He says simply. "Klaus is the most feared and hated of the Originals, but those that fear him are desperate for his approval. If word gets out that the doppelgänger exists, let alone two of you, there'll be a line of vampires eager to take you to him and I can't have that."

Elena frowns at him confusedly. "Isn't that exactly what you're trying to do?"

"Let's just say that my goal is not to break the curse,"

Charlotte scoffs. "So, what exactly is your goal, then?"

Elijah sighs, walking towards her window. "Klaus' obsession has made him paranoid. He's a recluse. He trusts only those in his immediate circle."

"Like you?"

"Not anymore,"

Charlotte watches him, eyes narrowing accusingly. "You don't know where he is, do you? You're trying to use Elena and I to draw him out of hiding."

Elijah bites out a frustrated sigh. "Well, to do that I need you both to stay put and stop trying to get yourselves killed."

"Yeah, that seems to be a recurring request lately," Charlotte mutters, dropping her arms as she watches him. "How do you expect us to believe a word you're saying?"

"If I wasn't being truthful, all of your family would be dead and I'd be taking you to Klaus right now. Instead, I'm here and I'm prepared to offer you a deal."

"What kind of a deal?"

"Do nothing," Elijah says, making the twins look at him in surprise. "Do nothing, live your life, stop fighting, and then, when the time is right, you and I shall draw out Klaus together and I shall make sure your friends remain unharmed."

Elena raises her eyebrows. "And then what?"

"Then, I kill him."

"Just like that?"

Elijah nods. "Just like that. I'm a man of my word, girls. I make a deal, I keep a deal."

Elena looks at him warily. "How are you gonna be able to keep everybody safe?"

"I notice you have a friend– Bonnie, is it? She seems to possess the gift of magic. I have friends with similar gifts."

"Oh, great," Charlotte sighs. "More witches."

Elijah throws her an amused look, clasping his hands together in front of him. "Together, we can protect everybody that matters to you. So, do we have a deal?"

Elena begins to nod, but she stops, glancing at her sister as an idea hits her. "I need you to do one more thing,"

Elijah raises his brows, looking between them in momentary disbelief. "We're negotiating now?"

Charlotte, unsure of what Elena's about to ask for, nods anyway. "That's how deals work, right? Consider this the fine print."

Slowly, he nods, looking back at Elena. "What is it you want, then?"

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"Do you believe him?"

Charlotte turns her head against Elena's pillow, scanning her face. "I think so. Do you?"

Elena nods quietly, making Charlotte sigh as she looks back up at the ceiling, the girls laying flat on Elena's bed in the wake of Elijah's departure.

Elena turns her head, looking at her sister's profile. "Charlie..."

The older twin hums, urging her on.

"What's going on with you and Damon? Why are you so mad at him?" Elena whispers her questions like she's scared to even ask in the first place, and her hesitation makes Charlotte feel horribly guilty.

"I..." She starts, trailing off as she struggles for words. "You still love Stefan, right?"

Elena frowns confusedly at the unexpected question, but she nods. "Yeah, why?"

"There's no doubt whether or not he still loves you," She continues, folding her hands on her stomach as she stares up at the ceiling blankly. "And even though you've been having some issues, you still care about each other, and you– you always fight to get back to each other. You love each other so much that nothing can stop you from being together. Every time the universe throws something at you, you find a way to beat it together."

Elena blinks back a sudden wave of tears, still staring at her sister's features mirrored on her own face. "Charlie, what does this have to do with you and Damon?"

She sighs, the sound long and tired. "I love him, Elena. And I know he loves me, too. The difference is... the difference is that every time the universe throws something at us, we let it destroy us. We don't fight for each other. We don't..."

She trails off, and Elena's dark eyes roam over her worriedly. "But if you know that you love him, and he loves you, why wouldn't you– why wouldn't you be together? Isn't that what you want?"

Charlotte turns her head to look at Elena again, revealing the tears slipping back into her hairline as they silently leak from her eyes. "Sometimes love isn't enough, Elena."

A small, childish part of Elena's heart breaks at her big sister's words. "Charlotte..."

"It's okay," She shakes her head, smiling wetly. "It's okay, Elena. I'll be okay. I don't want you to worry, alright?"

"I always worry about you,"

Charlotte huffs out a quiet laugh. "Yeah, I know. But this– I'll get past this."

Elena nods slowly, hesitantly smiling at her sister, and Charlotte mirrors it for a second before her eyes drift to the doorway, and she lets out a relieved laugh that has Elena following her gaze.

She gasps, sitting upright fast enough that she makes herself dizzy.

"Stefan,"

"Elena,"

Charlotte pushes off the bed, wiping her tears away with her sleeve as Stefan shoots a concerned look her way. "Nice to see you above-ground, Stefan."

He nods, giving her a grateful look. "Thank you. For doing this,"

"Don't look at me, that was all her," She waves him off as she passes him, stopping in the doorway to look back at Elena. "I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?"

Elena nods, giving her a brief smile before she looks back at Stefan, unable to take her eyes off of him for too long.

Charlotte shakes her head, shutting the door behind her before crossing the over to her room.

She walks over to her bed, eyes falling to her phone as it lights up with a text.

Brows furrowing, she lifts it up, sighing when she sees Damon's name pop up. She's immediately upset, but when she reads the text, all pretenses drop.

'A werewolf attacked Rose and I tonight. She took the brunt of it. I don't know what's going to happen, but it's not good.'

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"Damon?" Charlotte's voice rang out through the house, her eyes roaming over the first few rooms all empty at first glance. "Rose?"

"In here!"

Charlotte picks up her pace at the echo of Damon's voice and she hurries to the end of the hall, turning into the little corner room where Rose is sat on a chaise in front of the fireplace.

Damon's standing beside Rose, already turning to face Charlotte with a slight grimace as he pulls the strap of her shirt away from the growing wound on her back.

"It doesn't look too bad, right, Charlotte?"

Charlotte eyes the gnarled, festering werewolf bite, tightening her hand around her car keys as she nods. "Yeah. It's... better."

Rose sighed as she turned around, giving Charlotte a weak smile in greeting, the girl lifting her hand in a weak wave in return.

"Where's the happy couple?"

Charlotte gestured vaguely at the ceiling. "Actually, doing the same thing I came here to do. I need you to talk to Stefan and get him to leave Isobel out of this whole mess, because she doesn't need to be involved. And, you know, Elijah specifically said not to–"

"No can do," Damon cuts her off with a sigh, pouring more blood into the glass for Rose. "I'm with Stefan on this one."

Charlotte's face immediately slipped into a glare that Damon ignored as he walked over to her, handing the half-empty blood bag to her.

"But, if you could play nurse for a little while..."

"It's not necessary,"

Damon waves Rose off. "It is necessary."

Charlotte scoffed lightly, setting the blood bag on a table to turn and follow him out of the room. "Actually, it feels like I have to talk to you now, considering you're not listening to me. Elijah made this deal with Elena and I, and now you and Stefan are immediately trying to screw it all up."

"Listen, just because I'm not magically trusting the word of the vampire that tried to kill you doesn't mean I'm screwing things up,"

"Okay, but Elijah's never done anything to hurt me. He actually has taken several steps to save my life, despite, as you'd say, my various attempts to do the opposite. Your good friend Rose in there, on the other hand, actively kidnapped me and almost let her friend eat me and my sister. Speaking of, is she gonna die?"

Damon's face twisted in irritation at her words and he let out a long sigh. "Probably. The wolf bite caused some kind of infection and it's getting worse."

"Okay, great, so you want me to sit here and watch someone die? How do you even know that's what's going to happen?"

"I don't! I'm not an expert in the field," He throws his hands out, exasperation clear in his voice. "The sooner she goes, the better. It's gloomy as hell in here."

He turns and walks out of the house without another word and Charlotte lets out a long sigh in his wake, turning sharply to walk back into the other room. She offers Rose a small, sympathetic smile, rushing over to help her stand up.

"You wanna go lay down?" She offers, holding the woman's elbow as she nods. "I'll take you to Damon's room, you can be sick all over his sheets, he'll love it."

Rose chuckles, wincing as the bite throbs against her shoulder in response.

Charlotte grabs the glass of blood as they pass by it, and they slowly walk up the stairs, making the short trek down the hall to Damon's room.

"I'm a vampire," Rose grumbles, huffing as they approach his unmade bed. "I haven't had a cold in five centuries."

"Just rest, you'll feel better afterwards,"

"We don't get sick. When we die, it's fast and sudden. And it's certainly not drawn out with an illness,"

Charlotte sighs, helping her pull the covers up over her chest. "You're not going to die, Rose."

The vampire smiles wryly. "Such a human thing to say."

"That's me," Charlotte shrugs, hoisting herself up onto the mattress to sit beside Rose. "Painfully human, despite my vampire doppelgänger trying to make people think otherwise. Speaking of her, actually, I'm sorry. She told us the story about how she got you and Trevor roped into this whole mess, and even though it's par the course for Katherine, you didn't deserve it."

Rose sighed wistfully. "Unfortunately not even Katherine can be fully blamed for that situation. It was a poor mix of Trevor's infatuation and Klaus's psychotic vengeance that did the work. Besides, you shouldn't be apologizing for Katherine. It's not your fault you look like her."

Charlotte smiles, pushing her hair behind her ear. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Certainly hasn't made my life any easier, though,"

Rose smiles up at him, a glassy, sickly gleam in her eyes. "You're lucky, you know. You and your sister. No one's ever loved me the way you're loved."

Sympathy pangs in Charlotte's chest and she drags her fingers along the wrinkled comforter on Damon's bed. "I doubt that."

"Trevor was my best friend. Nothing more," Rose forces out a breath, wincing slightly. "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."

Charlotte purses her lips, looking away from Rose for a moment. She reaches for the glass of blood on the nightstand, offering it to the woman.

"Why are you so eager to give up?"

Charlotte snaps her gaze back to Rose's. "I'm not giving up on anything."

"What do you call this whole deal with Elijah?"

"I call it my best option to protect the people I love,"

Rose raises her eyebrows. "It's your easiest option."

"It's not that simple."

"You think your witch friend destroyed the moonstone?"

"Bonnie's not really trustworthy when it comes to this sort of thing, and she was working with Elijah, so no, I can't say I have a lot of faith in any of it."

Rose's eyes shift, glancing down at Charlotte's scarred wrists for a moment before she looks back up at the girl. "You really are determined to die, aren't you? At least I ran, you're not even trying."

Charlotte blinks down at the vampire in shock, the tips of her fingers buzzing as she presses them into the mattress as hard as she can. She watches Rose's eyes flutter shut and she takes the glass of blood back, dragging her finger around the rim as the vampire settles into the pillows. Quietly, she murmurs her response. "I'm tired of trying,"

Rose shows no notice of her response and Charlotte nods to herself, sliding off the bed carefully, setting the glass back on the nightstand.

She turns to leave, but Rose's voice stops her.

"No, stop– wait. Tell them to prepare the horses,"

Charlotte sighs. "It's okay, Rose. Just get some sleep. You'll feel better when you wake up,"

Rose's eyes flutter shut again as she turns her head into the pillow. "Trevor, don't be stupid. We're never gonna make it there before the sun."

Charlotte turns back to face her head-on, watching as she rolls over onto her back, awareness snapping back into her eyes with the sudden pain.

"Charlotte. Charlotte, I need more blood,"

Charlotte hurries over the bed, grabbing the glass to give to her. "Here. Here, careful,"

Rose lifts the glass up to her lips, taking a small sip of it. Before she can swallow it, her throat retracts around it and she gags, turning to spit it out on the other side of Damon's bed as she chokes.

"Hold on, Rose," Charlotte runs to the bathroom, grabbing one of the towels hanging by the sink and running it under cold water. She glances down at the faucet to turn it off, and when she looks back up, Rose is no longer on the bed.

Stopping short, Charlotte looks around, her breath hitching in her throat when she feels that familiar shift of the air behind her. She turns around swiftly, jumping away from Rose as the vampire lunges for her. She tries to skirt around her, but Rose grabs her arms, slamming her into the wall hard enough to take her breath away.

"It's all your fault, Katerina!"

"No, no–"

"You, Katerina, you did this,"

"No, it's Charlotte," Charlotte pushes at the vampire, trying to keep her hands from moving any closer to her neck. "It's Charlotte. I'm not Katherine!"

Rose's deathly-tight grip on her arms loosens suddenly, the veins beneath her eyes disappearing as she takes a small step back. "Charlotte?"

Charlotte nods, pushing herself off the wall, trying and failing to hide her wince when her back aches dully.

"Oh, my god,"

"It's me," Charlotte holds up a hand, looking at the vampire with wide eyes. "It's just Charlotte."

Rose takes another step back, her eyes burning with tears. "Oh, my god, Charlotte, I'm so sorry. I don't know what's happening to me."

"It's alright," Charlotte shakes her head. "You're gonna be alright."

She gestures to the bed and Rose nods dazedly, turning to walk back to the bed as Charlotte hesitantly steps around her.

"My mind, it–"

"It's okay, Rose. It was a mistake, it's okay,"

"I'm sorry. Don't be scared of me,"

Charlotte immediately shakes her head, struck at the guilt in the woman's voice. "I'm not. I'm not, I promise."

Rose nods, getting back into bed, pulling the covers up over her shoulders. "I'm scared."

"I know," Charlotte says, standing at the side of the bed. "But I'm right here."

Rose starts to sit up again, eyes going wide. "Here? Where's here?"

"Damon's bedroom," Charlotte quickly stops her, gently pressing her back down to the mattress. "You're in Damon's bedroom, here at the boarding house."

Rose nods, looking around the room for a moment, her eyes growing watery again. "I want to go home,"

Charlotte's stomach twists with pity and guilt and she swallows as she looks away from Rose for a second, forcing a small smile on her face. "Tell me about it. I haven't gone on anywhere since my parents died except for a short roadtrip with Damon to Georgia."

Rose smiles, sighing wistfully against the pillow. "St. Austell. Thirty kilometers south of London. All fields and trees and horses,"

"It sounds beautiful."

"When you live long enough, everything disappears. So much time wasted. I just wish I hadn't been so afraid,"

Charlotte's eyes roam her face and she steps away from the bed when Rose finally settles, breaths evening out as she falls into her exhaustion.

She cracks the door to the bedroom when she leaves, making her way down the hallway, poking her head into rooms she's never been in, grimacing at the dusty smell of some of them.

She finds what she was looking for eventually, a big bathroom with a linen closet stacked with towels and sheets and blankets, and she carefully picks out some new sheets for Damon's bed, unable to stop her curiosity from dragging out the process, looking at all of the different things folded up and tucked away.

She glances around the bathroom, taking a closer look this time as she rarely makes it this far into the boarding house without interruption. It's nothing insane, at least compared to the general abundance of the rest of the house, but it's still beautiful somehow. There's a big bathtub in the middle of the wall, pressed right up against it beneath a bay of windows and she assumes Damon had something to do with the placement of it, huffing a quiet laugh.

She remembers the first time she walked into this house with Elena, looking for Stefan so her sister could confidently go after the boy she had a crush on. She remembers seeing Damon for the first time, and not liking him– or, perhaps, liking him too much right off the bat and hating herself and him for it.

The memories make her roll her shoulders back, physically shaking them off like they weren't just a few months ago. It didn't make it any easier, really, to know that things had changed so much in such a short amount of time. It just reminds her of how fast life goes by, and quickly things can go bad. Here lately they just seem to be getting worse.

Sighing, she grabs the sheets and leaves the bathroom and her existential feelings behind, walking back down the hall to Damon's room.

"Hey, Rose, I got some clean sheets..." Charlotte trails off as she looks up, finding the bed empty and Rose nowhere to be found in the room.

She sets the folded sheets on the bed, quickly leaving the room and heading downstairs where she'd left her phone with the rest of her things after Damon left. "Rose?"

She calls out for the vampire as she gets her phone out, dialing Damon's number as fast as she can. "Rose, it's Charlotte! You should be in bed,"

Charlotte huffs irritatedly when she gets no response from either vampire. Damon's voicemail beeps and she presses the phone back to her ear. "Damon, I know you're busy or whatever, but something's going on with Rose. The bite is making her sick and– and dangerous, and I don't know what to do,"

A distant clattering makes her look around, eyes searching for the woman, and she furrows her brows as another noise comes, sounding further away. "Damon, just... call me back, please. Or come home."

She hangs up, pocketing her phone as she turns down the stairwell to the basement, nose wrinkling at the smell of mildew as she carefully steps into the basement.

At the bottom of the stairs, she's met with a blood bag lying messily on the floor, drained of its contents.

Following the trail of blood spatters around the corner, she finds Rose sitting on the floor, surrounded by empty blood bags as she sucks down another one noisily, blood staining her hands and her chin.

"Oh, my god,"

She takes a step forward and then stops as Rose slowly turns to look at her, dropping the blood bag amongst the others on the floor as a glare settles onto her face.

"Katerina,"

"No," Charlotte shakes her head, immediately turning to run as Rose gets up and chases her. She throws an old door down behind her, blocking the path upstairs as she stumbles back up the stairs.

She runs down the hallway, hearing the growls of the ravenous vampire behind her and she tries to push open a set of doors into a different room, only to find them locked.

"No, no, no," She turns around, wide-eyed as she faces Rose, the vampire covered in sweat and blood. "Rose, stop. Stop! It's me, it's Charlotte! I'm not Katherine, you're hallucinating. I'm not Katherine,"

Rose stops her slow approach towards Charlotte and she lets out a shaky breath, not taking her eyes off the vampire. "I'm not Katherine,"

Rose's face twists in brief confusion before it disappears, quickly taken back over by her dazed rage as she lunges for Charlotte.

Charlotte's scream is cut off as Rose tackles her, and Charlotte grabs her wrists before Rose can pin her arms down, using the leverage to bring her leg up and kick Rose off of her. They tumble around one another, Charlotte grunting as Rose knees her in the stomach, and Charlotte looks over at the window covered in thick curtains, an apology on her tongue as she wraps her hands in the fabric, yanking it down off the walls.

Rose immediately screams in pain, forgoing her attack to get out of the vicious rays of sunlight beaming through the room, and Charlotte pushes to her feet, not lingering a second longer as she sprints out of the room and down the hallway, reaching for the front door.

Just as she pulls the door open, strong hands slam it back shut and she's spun around, pinned to the door.

Rose tries to latch her fangs onto Charlotte's neck, but just as she scrapes her skin, Charlotte slams a hand against the bite wound on her back, digging her nails into it.

Rose yells out in pain, dropping to her knees, and Charlotte jumps past her, running back up the stairs, immediately turning off into one of the studies, slamming the door and locking it behind her.

She gasps for air, turning to look at her surroundings for a moment before she carelessly swipes books off of a dresser and slides it against the door. It'll barely be anything if Rose is truly determined to get through the door, but it might give Charlotte enough time to find a weapon or escape if she's even strong enough to keep fighting.

She turns and looks around the room again, eyes falling to the doors on the other side of the room that she knows give way to a balcony. Hurrying over there, she pulls the curtains back and swings the doors open, stepping out to look over the edge of the balcony and wincing at the distance to the ground.

She hears the steps creak outside the door and flinches, grabbing a chair by the back of it and slamming her foot down onto one of the rungs beneath the seat, breaking off a makeshift stake that she holds in her hand.

The door wobbles against Rose's attempt to open it, and Charlotte raises the stake, tightening her grip on it. "Don't come in here, Rose!"

There's a moment of silence before the vampire responds. "Charlotte, I know that it's you and not Katherine,"

Charlotte closes her eyes, wishing she couldn't feel the pity she did for the woman as she retched and gagged on the other side of the door.

"Charlotte, please. I need your help,"

"Rose, I– I can't help you, and I don't want to hurt you so just stay out there," Charlotte shakes her head, using her free hand to pull her phone out.

She tries to call Damon again, but it goes to voicemail after a few rings and she bites out a sigh, gritting her teeth. "Damon, I really need you to answer your phone. I– I'm in danger, Rose is in danger, I need help,"

She shakes her head again, hanging up the phone as her voice begins to break.

"Charlotte?"

"Rose, just... stay out there, please."

There's a tired sigh from the other side of the door and Charlotte takes it for as much agreement as she's gonna get, giving herself permission to sink down against the wall, keeping the stake in her grip as she does.

She faces the door, eyes blinking wearily at the dresser pushed up against it, and resigns herself to a waiting game.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

author's note; I originally had this chapter way longer but I decided to cut it into two different ones bc it was stressing me out and I rewrote it like a billion times so 

edited and published; 7.24.24. 

 - liz