PART 1

CHAPTER 5

Caroline froze as the door opened her heart pounding against her chest. She was almost free, she had nearly escaped from the monster sleeping in the bed. Her eyes widened when she saw the familiar face of Rosabella Gilbert, Elena's older sister.

Rose paused at the entrance of the door, taking in the situation. "You're dumb sometimes, she almost got away." Damon shrugged from behind Caroline, "I would've stopped her but then I heard you." The girl gave him a sceptical look before she closed the door behind her. "I'm starving, can I have a bite?"

Damon sighed as he made eye contact with Rose. She was like a puppy asking for a treat, "Knock yourself out. Just compel her after." He shook his head as she pounced on the blonde and made his way to the bathroom. He was sick of the crappy motel and couldn't wait until he was back in his room. Caroline was passed out by the time he was finished with his shower. "What did you tell her?" He asked the female vampire who was playing with the sleeping blondes' hair. "Mmm…" She hummed, before sitting upright on the bed. "I told her not to mention us being vampires, and that she was our food, and your sex toy." Damon laughed at the last bit, dressing as the other vampire observed him.

"I'm going to school today," Rose announced after some silence. It was Damon's turn to hum, though he looked at her out of the corner of his eyes, trying to gauge what she was feeling. "You gonna be okay around all that people?" He asked sitting down next to Rose. She leaned against him taking in the sense of security and comfort he gave her. Rose shrugged, "I can't avoid it forever, especially now that Stefan knows I'm a vampire, I don't want his attention focused on me. If I can go without eating anyone in front of him, I can show him I'm in control and he won't scrutinize me, much." Damon didn't respond to her confession, he didn't know what to say.

"Do you think she'll like me?" Her question came suddenly and so far from their current topic that Damon stuttered a response. "W-what are you talking about?" He had a fair idea what that question meant but she had to make it clear for his brain to comprehend it. "Katherine, you love her, she's important to you, which means that I need to get along with her. But, I'm messed up, I don't know if she'll like me or not."

Rose's words seemed to fall on deaf ears, Damon too busy having an emotional crisis to respond to her. The young vampire wrapped in his arms never failed to surprise him lately. She was always saying things that made his heart clench, that made him feel emotions. At that moment, while she kept on ranting about Katherine potentially hating her Damon realized that since he had turned Rose he had also turned his humanity switch back on.

The implications of that didn't escape him, but he tried to shift his focus away from those thoughts and squeezed the girl in his arms.

Rose stopped her rant pausing at the pressure Damon applied with his arms. She looked up, her brows furrowed crossing her eyes as Damon pressed a kiss between them. "What was that for?" Rose asked. Damon shook his head, smiling down at her. "Nothing, I just.. felt like it." He moved away from her and Rose sensed that he didn't want to talk about Katherine so she stopped talking and observed him from the bed as he moved around his motel room.

"You should probably get to school, don't want to be late right?"

When he received no reply Damon stopped packing his stuff and turned around to look at her. Rose stared at him her expression fallen, Damon sighed before approaching her and sitting down next to her. "Hey." Damon rolled his eyes when she didn't look at him, grabbing her chin he lifted her head. "I'll pick you up when I drop blondie." Damon laughed as she smiled leaning up and kissing him swiftly before she disappeared with a shout of 'see you later.'

Rose sighed as she bit into the freshman his blood quenching her thirst. The day had dragged on without her having a meal for the sake of fooling Stefan. He had been watching her closely throughout the day whenever their paths had crossed, usually with Elena at his side which prevented him from confronting her about her new supernatural abilities.

Hands pulled her away from the boy, sighing as she stared into Stefan's forest eyes. The older vampires' brows were furrowed so deep she understood why Damon made fun of them all the time. "I knew you were trying to fool me," Stefan growled holding her with all the strength he could muster. Rose rolled her eyes, "I wasn't going to kill him, I just got hungry." She pushed his arms off of her with little effort, using her speed to rush in front of the human who had been her meal.

Rose made quick work of compelling him before sending him on his way.

Stefan stared at Rose as she wiped the blood from her mouth, contemplating whether or not to attack her. She was stronger than he was and he couldn't kill her because she was Elena's sister. "Why did he turn you?"

Rose blinked dumbly at Stefan before walking towards him. She smirked at him when he didn't move, even when she was pressed up against him. Rose examined Stefan's features, reaching out a hand and touching his face. "You are pretty." She commented. Stefan snatched her hand roughly, and Rose allowed the contact knowing that he couldn't hurt her because he was weaker than her. "Was it to get to me and Elena?" He asked, glaring into her grey eyes that looked so much like his brothers.

Stefan couldn't fight her when she sped them against the wall, her hands gripping the sides of his waist. She leaned up smiling at him, and Stefan blinked as he suddenly saw all of her, how beautiful she was. He pushed the thought out of his mind as soon as it appeared. He was with Elena, and something was going on with Rose and Damon if the emotion his brother displayed in her presence was not imagined on his part.

Stefan stiffened when Rose leaned up and barely brushed her lips against his before she was gone. Electricity zipped through his body at the contact, unable to react. Rose smiled at him as she stepped back finally answering his earlier question. "Damon turning me had nothing to do with you or Elena. He didn't even know who I was until after he killed me." Stefan likened the emotion in Rose's voice and the expression on her face to that of love. What kind of love they had for each other he didn't know, but the way she was speaking about Damon now combined with the way she had rushed to attack him on the roof told Stefan that they had something real, whatever it was.

Rose's mood shifted, her face scrunching in a glare so venomous Stefan felt the hair on his body raise in alarm. "Let's get one thing clear Salvatore. Damon is my number one priority and if you do anything to harm him, I will descend on you like a wrathful God." Rose glared at him a moment longer before she began walking away. Stefan finally stepped away from the wall lowering his guard enough to open his mouth and speak. "Damon will hurt Elena!" He called out, tensing as she stopped her stroll. Stefan frowned at the coldness in her eyes and her words when she spoke, looking back at him over her shoulder. "As I said, Damon is my number one priority. As far as I'm concerned he's my family, not her." The words were barely spoken before she disappeared in a blur of speed.

Stefan swallowed the lump in his throat. The encounter replaying on repeat in his head. Rosabella Gilbert was dangerous and her loyalties were with Damon who's planned for Mystic Falls were undoubtedly something sinister and would result in the deaths of the people of their hometown.

Stefan finally moved from the position he stood in, making his way towards Tanner who stood on the field desperately trying to shake away the feel of Rose's body against his own, and the light brush of her lips that had sent a zap down his spine.

Denial worked until it didn't, till then he had other issued to worry about.