~I do not own the vampire diaries.~
Erika POV
I sat with Rose in the library trying to comfort her. We sat next to each other as she rested her head on my shoulder. Damon comes in to bring us some blood bags and then sits next to me.
"I was born in 1450 so that makes me 560 years old." Rose started saying.
"Well, if you were a bottle of wine…" Damon started to say.
"So I can die. I've lived long enough." Rose cut him off.
I nudged her. "You are not allowed to die. You're only truly living now. You have friends like us and you don't have to run anymore."
Rose smiled a little. "I appreciate your kind words but I know what it going to happen."
"You know, if you're gonna be morn, I'm just gonna kill you myself just to put me out of your misery." Damon said as he poured one of the blood bags into a glass. "Come on, it's just a little werewolf bite."
"Just a little, fatal to a vampire werewolf bite." Rose corrected him.
"Well, according to legend which is notoriously unreliable source. Drink up." He hands her the glass.
"Blood will help you heal Rose." I said concerned for my friend.
She looks at me skeptically as she drinks it. I look at her skeptically and she rolls her eyes.
"Fine. I'll admit that I can feel it kind of working." I make her turn around so I can look at her bite mark. I held in a gasp as I see that it got worse and it spread further down her back. "How is it?"
"Definitely better. Right Damon?"
"Yup it looks perfectly fine." Damon agrees as I cover her back up. Elena comes into the living room and sighs as she plops down into a chair.
"Where's Stefan?" Damon asked.
"He left. I need you to talk to him. He's convinced that he has to find Isobel but I think that's gonna upset Elijah." Elena responds.
"No, can do. I'm with Stefan on this one."
"Erika?"
"I'm not 100% ok with it but you know when these two have their minds set on something there is no changing it." I told her.
"Exactly. I'm going to head out and you two can play nurse for Rose." Damon told us.
"It's not necessary." Rose fought back.
"It is necessary. Erika is your friend and Elena is a do-gooder. It's in their nature and they can't resist."
Elena and I roll our eyes as Damon leaves. We talk a little more in the living room until Rose starts coughing and feeling sicker. I help her stand up and support her up the stairs and to Damon's room while Elena follows behind us with water and blood.
"I hate this. I'm a vampire, I haven't had a cold in five centuries." Rose whined.
"Just get in bed." Elena helped me get her to lay down.
"There is a first for everything, right?" I asked to lighten her mood.
"We don't get sick Erika. When we die, it's fast and sudden and it's certainly not drawn out in illness." Rose lectured me.
"You're not gonna die." Elena scolded her.
"Such a human thing to say."
I sit next to rose as I text Xavier. He wanted to hang out today but something are more important than others. Elena was walking around Damon's room.
"You've never been in Damon's room before, have you?" Rose asked her.
"Not particularly." Elena replies as she picks up his book. "Gone with the Wind?"
"Is it not what you expected?" I asked her.
She rolled her eyes. "It's just a room with a bed. Maybe I expected there to be silk sheets."
"He did at one point but then things got heated and let's just say he doesn't trust me anymore with such luxury." I smiled as Elena giggled.
"You guys are lucky you know. No one has ever loved me the way you two are loved." Rose butt in.
"I doubt that." I nudged her.
"Trevor was my best friend. Nothing more. I spent all those years on the run from Elijah. I just never thought it would be a good idea to set up roots. The whole idea of family is not exactly compatible with being a vampire." She looked at Elena. "Why are you so eager to give up?"
"I'm not giving up anything." She gives Rose a glass of blood. "Here."
"What do you call this whole deal with Elijah?"
"I call it my best option." She looks at me. "Our best option."
"It's your easiest option."
I looked down disappointed as Elena continues talking to Rose. "That's not fair."
"Do you really thin 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."
"You really are determined to die, aren't you? At least I ran, you guys aren't even trying."
Elena and I looked at each other as Rose falls asleep. "let's go so she can rest." I say as I carefully get off the bed and we head to the door.
"No, stop, wait. Tell them to prepare the horses." Rose speaks.
"It's okay, Rose. Just get some sleep. You'll feel better when you wake up." I said gently.
"Trevor, don't be stupid. You're never going to make it there before the sun." Rose spoke more. Suddenly she sits up gasping in pain. I rush over to give her some blood in the cup.
"Elena go downstairs and get more blood." I ordered. Elena rushed out. I hold the glass to Rose's lips as she drinks the blood slowly but ends up puking on the side of the bed. I rub her back gently. "It's okay, everything's gonna be alright." I rush to the bathroom to get her a wet towel and when I come back she's gone. "Rose?" I called gently. I felt someone behind me and when I turn around she slams me against the wall and tries to choke me.
"It's all your fault, Katerina. You Katerina, you did this." She yells as she bares her fangs.
"It's Erika! Rose, I'm Erika!" I tried telling her as I fought her grip against me.
"You betrayed us!"
"I'm not Katherine!" I yelled as I broke my hand free and slapped her.
She remains quiet for a few seconds and then looks at me. "Erika?"
"Yeah?"
She pulls me into a hug. "Oh my god Erika. I'm so sorry. I don't know what's happening to me. I'm sorry."
"It's okay. You're gonna be alright."
"My mind, I'm…" She pulled away rubbing her head.
"It was just for a second. Lucky it was me and not Elena."
"I'm sorry, don't be scared of me."
"I'm not. Just go back to bed ok?"
Rose nods as she curls up on the side of the bed and stares at the ground. "I'm scared."
I get on my knees by the bed and hold her hand. "You're not alone. I'm right here."
"Here, where's here?"
"Damon's bedroom."
"I want to go home."
"Tell me about it."
"St. Austell, thirty kilometers south of London. With fields and trees and horses."
I smile. "That sounds amazing."
"When you live long enough, everything disappears. SO much time wasted, I just wish I wouldn't have been so afraid." She whispers before falling asleep.
I stick around for a few more minutes and she remained sleeping so I took that as a que to leave and go to Elena.
I met up to Elena who was on her way up. "Hey, is everything ok?"
"Umm…no. I'm gonna have to ask you to leave." I told her.
"What? Why?"
"She's getting worse. Her mind is having flashbacks and she can't tell the difference between what's real and what a memory is. She attacked me when you were getting blood."
"Oh my god! Are you ok?"
"I'm fine but I think it will be safer for you to not be here."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah I am positive." I hug her. "Just get out of here and I will call you later."
She hugs back. "I will come back in a heart beat if you need me ok?"
"Yeah sure thing." I walk her out and then I go to the closet to get some clean sheets to replace on the bed. I come back upstairs to see that Rose isn't in bed. I sigh and drop the sheets down as I leave to go find her. "Rose?" I call her out gently but got no response. I dialed Damon as I look in the library for her.
"What's up babe?" He answered.
"Rose is losing her mind. I'm worried and could use your help at home."
"I'm still doing that errand."
"Ugh. Well try to come home as soon as you can please." I hang up when I hear a noise coming from the basement. I walk downstairs and see a trail of empty blood bags. "Rose?" I see her in the corner drink yet another bag with a ton of them on the ground around her.
"Jesus Rose, thirsty much?" I comment.
She looks at me and bares her fangs. "Katerina."
"Umm..no it's Erika. We've gone over this."
She stalks toward me. "Alright we can do this the hard way." I vamp run out the basement and she does the same thing. When we get to the living room and she jumps on my back tackling me down to the ground. I roll us around but she ends up on top of me trying to choke me. "Rose, stop! It's Erika, not Katherine!" She didn't listen to me. We kept fighting but I was able to kick her knee so it snapped. When she screamed in pain I opened the curtain next to me to get her to back away. I felt bad listening to her cries but I ran upstairs to Stefan's room.
I open the curtain again and break a leg off his chair to have a make-shift stake. I prepare myself to chuck it to her shoulder or something. I heard footsteps coming up and then a gentle knock on the door followed by coughing. "Erika? I know that it is you and not Katherine."
"You sure about that?" I asked.
"Yes. Please, I need your help."
I sigh and throw the wooden leg aside. I open the door and step out but she wasn't there. "Seriously Rose?" I asked before I fell into darkness.
Damon POV
I felt bad that I took longer than I wanted to to get to Erika, but I'm sure she got things figured out. When I got to the house the front door was wide open. Alright that is weird. I stepped in and it was oddly quiet. "Erika? Rose? You guys here?" No response. I dialed Erika's number and heard her ring tone coming from upstairs. I followed to the sound and found her on the ground outside Stefan's room. "Shit." I hung up and rushed to her side. "Erika? Wake up." I lifted her to a sitting position. She groaned as she looked at me.
"God my neck hurts."
"That happens when you get it snapped." I commented.
"Damn it. When I find Rose I'm giving her an ear full."
"About that…"
"What? Where's Rose?"
"I don't know."
Erika groaned as she stood up. "We need to go find her but where do we start?" She asked as she rubbed her neck.
I look at my phone as a messaged buzzed in. "I think I know where to start." We leave the boarding house to my car and drive to the school. "Alright Liz wants me to go to the parking lot. You walk around and see if you can find Rose." She nods in understanding and runs in the opposite direction. I walk over to Liz who seemed relieved to see me. "Hey."
"Thanks for coming so quickly."
"No, I was close by Liz, what happened?"
"A vampire. Luckily one of my deputies discovered the body before anyone else saw him." She explained.
"We have to secure the area then."
Liz nods then looks at her deputies. "Don't cause a panic, but let's take this party into the cafeteria." She looks back at me. "I take the east side of the school, you go west?"
"Sure okay." I agree then leave to find Erika.
Erika was on the phone with who I assume was with Elena. I gently touch her back and she turns to face me. "Have you heard from Stefan today? Elena is worried about him."
"My baby bother is not exactly my priority right now. We need to go and find Rose before anyone else does."
We start searching around outside when we heard a girl screaming. We both vamp speed to the spot and see Rose feeding on a girl.
"Rose, stop!" Erika yells but Rose didn't budge.
I rush to Rose and tear her away from the girl and push her towards Erika. The two girls fight until Erika tripped her to the ground and then pinned her still.
"Rose, Rose! It's me, It's Erika!" She yells until Rose face turns normal.
Erika POV
Rose looks around confused before she locks eyes with me. "Did I do this? I never meant to hurt anyone. I never wanted to hurt anyone."
"I know." I reassure her. I get off her and help her up and pull her into a hug.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." She cried.
"Let's just go home."
"No, I don't have a home, I haven't had a home in so long." She breaks down more. "Oh make it stop, please make it stop! I hate it, make it stop!" She begged.
Damon compelled the girl and then came over to carry Rose in his arms. We rush out of there and go home. He takes her upstairs to his room and lay her in bed.
He walks over to pull me into a hug. "I'm going to go talk to Liz and get my car. I'll be back soon." He whispers and I kiss him goodbye. I go to the other room and grab a stake to but in my back pocket and then get into bed with Rose.
I wiped some loose hair off her face from the cold sweats she was having. "Hey."
"I'm sorry." She apologized weakly.
"You went on a murderous rampage. Damon has done a lot worse." I joked.
"I don't like taking human life, I never have."
She felt really bad so I sat behind her so she could lay against my chest and I could comfort her.
"It's the worst part about it: the hunt, the need to kill, the thirst, the pleasure it brings you afterwards. I wasn't meant to be evil. It hurts."
"We're all not meant to be evil. I don't think any of us are truly evil."
"I'm sorry for what I've done today."
"I know Rose." I gently rub her shoulders.
"Why are you so nice to me?"
"Because we're friends."
She smirks a little until she starts coughing to the point it hurts her body. "Oh god! Make it stop, make it stop! I can't take it anymore, make it stop!" She screams.
I wrap my arms around her tightly keeping her in place so she doesn't hurt herself.
When she calmed down, I convinced her to try to get some sleep. Once she was I closed my eyes to enter her mind.
We were in a field and I spotted her with the horses in a dress and her hair was super long. She seemed really happy and at peace. I watched her and when she finally noticed my presents, she ran to me in human speed.
"This was my favorite place to come as a girl." She told me as she hugged me.
"I know. You told me earlier as I smiled at her."
"Am I dreaming?"
I shrugged as I sat on the ground and pat the grass next to me. She sat down and enjoyed the sun radiating on us.
"The sun is so warm. I miss this. I miss being human."
"I miss it too but vampirism has it perks."
"I had friends, I had a family, I mattered."
I nudged her. "You still do."
"No but you do. You still have your mortal family with you and you have a future with Damon. You have a full life ahead of you, I just spent 500 years existing."
I frowned. "You didn't have a choice, you were running from Klaus."
"There's always a choice."
"You chose to stay by Trevor's side, just like I stayed by your side since we met."
She hugs me again. "I'd like to enjoy the fresh air. Would you enjoy it with me?"
I nodded as we lay on the grass and watched the sunset.
In the dream we were chatting and laughing but in reality I was holding her tightly as I sobbed. I knew what needed to be done. I carefully pulled the stake out and had it next to me.
"Thank you." She grabbed my hand and held it.
I returned the embrace. "For what?"
"The pain's gone."
"I'm glad." I smirked.
"Will I see them again? My family?"
"I think you'll see whoever you want to see."
"That would be nice. Maybe I'll see Trevor too. I'm not afraid anymore."
I lift the stake up and point it at her heart. I bite my lips to silence my sobbing to whimpers.
She stand ups and pulls me up with her. She bites her lip as she stares at me. "Thank you for being here with me."
"Yeah no problem."
She quickly pecks me on the lips and smiles wickedly. "I'll race you to the trees."
I laugh. "You're going to lose."
"I'm older and faster."
"Oh, you think? I'm controlling this dream. Maybe I'll cheat."
She laughs back. "On the count of three. One, two…"
I stab the stake into her heart and gasp at her last breath. "I'm so sorry Rose. I didn't want to do this but I couldn't continue to watch you suffer. I love you so much and I hope you see your family again." I continued to hold her and sob.
After about an hour I wasn't crying anymore but I didn't move. I stayed where I was even when Damon came back.
"Erika?" He called for me but I didn't move. He gently took Rose away from me. Before he walked out of the room, he looked at me again. "I'll make sure her body gets a proper burial."
I remained in Damon's room for 20 minutes before I came downstairs to the living room and poured myself a drink. I sat down by the fire and got lost in my thoughts. I only came back to reality when I heard the front door open to see Elena and Xavier.
"What are you guys doing here?" I asked.
"Damon called us and we wanted to make sure you were ok." Xavier answered.
"I'm perfectly fine." I lied.
"You know we don't believe you." Elena said as she sat down next to me.
"Congrats you win. Now leave."
"It's ok to hurt Erika. You don't have to put this brave face on for us. You can talk about it." Xavier assured me as he sat on my other side.
"I think I have cried enough today. I don't want to talk about it." My voice cracked a little.
"It's not good to bottle your emotions up Erika."
"I'm not bottling anything up." I fought back.
"Erika come on…" Elena urged.
I jumped out of me and glared at them. "What do you want me to say? I lost someone that I have come to care for? That I feel guilty that I was in the tomb with Katherine to protect my brother when I could have been here to stop the bite from happening to her? I feel like crap but there is nothing that I can do now. I ended her suffering so just let me move on." I didn't even realize I was crying again until Elena pulled me into a hug.
"It's going to be ok." She said as she rubbed my back.
"It feels like mom and dad again like I couldn't do anything to stop it. It hurts so much." I hugged back.
Xavier joined in on the hug. "I think you should go home with Elena. You need to get away from this house for a little bit."
I nodded in agreement as they led me to his car and he drove us home. When we were dropped off, Stefan was on the porch .
"Stefan, you're home." Elena commented.
"Rose?" Stefan asked.
I shook my head and bit my lip from crying. Stefan came and pulled me into a hug. "I'm so sorry." He kept me in a side hug as he talked to Elena. "I um.. I called Isobel."
"I know." Elena responded back.
"I'm sorry, I had to."
"It's okay. Did you find her?"
The front door opens. "Not exactly. Hello girls." John greeted.
"Uncle John." Elena greeted back in disbelief.
I scoffed and left Stefan's embrace and walked off the porch to the side walk.
"Erika where are you going?" Elena asked.
"I don't need to deal with this asshole after what I went through tonight. I'm going to Xaviers." I told her and walked to his house.
~Sorry for taking so long but I hope that you enjoy it!~