Little Did He Know

Chapter 3 – It's A Lie

Rose sat in one of the huge armchairs in the Salvatore Boarding House, tears rolling down her cheeks. Trevor had often been careless and foolish, but he had been her best friend for over five hundred years. She had done everything for him and he had meant the world to her. She could see his lifeless, headless body on the floor before her feet and she knew that it wouldn't have happened if she hadn't thoughtlessly contacted Elijah. She blamed herself for his death and probably always would.

"Alright, Rose-bud. I need some answers," said Damon, as he walked casually over to her. "Oh, please don't tell me you're crying because your buddy Trevor lost his head."

She sniffed. "Have you always been this sensitive?" she asked, wiping her eyes.

"There's a little vampire switch. You can phht, for this very reason," his voice lowered to a whisper, "Takes the emotion out of it."

Rose raised her eyebrows, at him, "Yeah. You switch yours, I'll switch mine."

"Was that a dig?"

"An observation. Being in love with your brother's girlfriend must be difficult."

"I'm not in love with anyone," he denied, totally unconvincingly.

"You want to try that, again."

He darted to her and cautioned in a low, quiet voice, "Don't get on my bad side."

"Then show me your good side."

xxx

Later that night, Damon sat in front of the fire, drinking bourbon from a crystal chalice. He heard Rose walking up behind him, but he didn't move. Even after all that had gone wrong that day he still couldn't help trusting her, or as close as Damon ever came to trusting.

"I'm sorry about today. I didn't know that was going to happen," she said, with clear sincerity written in her voice.

"I believe you," Damon answered.

"I wish we could save Elena. I know that you want to."

"And I will," he said darkly. He had to believe it was true, because if he didn't it would destroy him. There was a battle going on inside his head, for he knew he was trying to do the impossible and it was killing him. But none of this showed on his face. His scowl was a mirror image of his usual frown.

Rose gave a sort of half smile. "You remind me of Trevor."

His frown took on a sort of quizzical tone, as he asked with a slight shake of his head, "Why? Why him?"

Rose walked towards him slowly, saying, "Because he always talked big game. He was always working an angle. But underneath it all he was the best friend anyone could ever hope for."

"Hmm. And where did that get him?"

"Dead," she said quite plainly, of her friend of five hundred odd years. "And my loyalty to him almost got me dead, too."

Damon looked up at her and poured her another glass of alcohol. The vampire didn't smile as he proposed a toast to friendship and took a large swig of his drink.

Rose suddenly said, "You're right to fight it." Damon frowned at her. "The way you feel about her."

It looked as though he had just smelled something very unpleasant. "And why is that?"

"Because if we want to survive, we need to not care about anyone," she said, causing Damon's frown to deepen again.

"Caring gets you dead, huh?"

Rose sat, closing her eyes and shaking her head, "It may just be time to turn the switch off on your emotions."

Damon's eyes opened wide and then he thought for a moment, clearly considering the options. He turned around and raised his eyebrows and her, challenging her with, "I will if you will."

Rose set down her glass and he swallowed. They both flitted to each other in the centre of the room, pausing inches from the other, before Damon pulled her face to his. As soon as their lips touched, their hands wound around each other, pulling them closer. There was no emotion but raw lust and he just let it scratch any thoughts of Elena from his mind, their clothes were savagely ripped from the others body and strewn all over the floor and surrounding furniture. He pushed into her roughly and their hands pulled wildly at the other's body.

Then it was over. There was no cuddling. They just sat next to each other. Damon felt better for having done it, as this was a part of himself he had ignored since he had realised his feelings for Elena.

"It's a lie, you know," Rose whispered, "There's no switch you can turn off." Damon looked at her, as she continued, "Sure, when you're a newbie, but after a couple of hundred years, you just have to pretend."

Damon looked as if he was about to contradict her, but then he just nodded slowly.