PART 1

CHAPTER 16

"Rose turned it off."

Stefan who had almost been out of the room froze. His busy mind came to a screeching halt and his heart squeezed in panic and worry for the girl he was reluctantly falling in love with as the days went by, not that he would acknowledge the feelings. Stefan loved Elena, he put a stop to any wondering thoughts and emotions.

Turning around he made eye contact with Damon who was struggling to pull the wooden stake out of his stomach. Once the wood was free the eldest Salvatore pushed himself up, throwing the wood on a nearby table. "What do you mean she turned it off?" Stefan questioned, eying Damon as the vampire poured himself a glass of his bourbon supply, his head hung low.

For once Damon was serious, no manipulating or tormenting him. When the raven-haired vampire looked up at his younger brother, Stefan caught a glimpse of the sibling he had loved dearly before vampirism had destroyed their lives. Damon winced as he spoke, knocking back all the amber liquid and slamming the glass to the table. "Rose was helping me with my plan to get the council off our backs… but she went all ripper on a human, so before she could kill him, I stopped her…"

Stefan ignored the pain he felt when Damon revealed that Rose was part of his plan to murder his best friend, focusing instead on the immediate problem they faced. From what little Stefan had seen, Rose seemed to have good control, but she was still a ripper, and he knew better than anyone else what that meant, especially if she had her humanity switch off.

"Then she attacked me." Damon continued moving to sit on the couch. "She freaked out, started crying… and then she… was just…" Damon knew what it was like for a vampire to have their humanity turned off. He had been without his humanity when he arrived in Mystic Falls, but then he had found Rose, and his humanity had returned without him even realizing it.

"She wasn't Rose anymore… I could see it." Stefan took a seat opposite his brother. Stefan rested his elbows on his knees as he gripped his head. "Where is she now?" Stefan asked, hoping that Damon had some idea because wherever she was, death was sure to be close behind.

"I have no idea, she ran off, and then I deal with the whole council situation."

Stefan glared at Damon again but kept calm, "Did you try calling her?" He asked. Damon rolled his eyes in Stefan's direction. "Do you honestly think she'll pick up, tell me where she is or something?" Damon shook his head at the serious expression on Stefan's face. He threw his hands up, retrieving his phone from the pocket of his jacket. "Fine! I'll call. Not like she'll-"

Stefan and Damon heard the overwhelmingly loud music first before Rose spoke, "I was wondering how long it would take you to call. Guess you finished whatever you were planning then?" She asked. Damon nodded even though Rose couldn't see him and spoke sitting forward. "Yeah, I'm all done. Lexi's dead, where are you? I'll come to get you." Stefan recognized Damon's plan to draw her into a trap, most likely to keep her locked up until they could get her humanity back.

"So that's what you were up to, killing Lexi huh?" She was quiet for a moment, speaking after her pause. "By the obvious trap, you're laying out. I'm assuming you figured out that I turned it off. Conveniently forgot to mention to me that vampires could do that didn't you?"

Before Damon could speak Rose did, but this time her voice came from behind them echoing in the phone.

Rose was still wearing her revealing outfit from the party, but with the added accessory of blood. The red substance covered the entirety of her mouth and her neckline, the smell alone made Stefan's head swim with hunger. As both brothers examined the blood she was covered in Rose laughed, the sound grating on their ears. Damon could tell Rose was different, everything about her seemed different. "Relax, I know the councils on high alert or whatever, so I went out of town for my meal."

Rose licked her bloody fingers as she moved to sit next to Damon, leaning back into the comfortable couch. "I tore them up good, it looked like a grizzly mauled them." Her blood-red mouth twisted up in a sinister smirk. Rose put her arm around Damon's neck caressing his flesh as she pushed herself closer to him. Damon tensed under her touch, unsure if he should make a move to subdue her or to bide his time. For all that he was older than her, Rose had shown to be an exception to many facts about the vampire race. Despite being weeks old, she was considerably stronger than any baby vampire Damon had ever met in his lifetime.

Stefan couldn't move in his seat across from the two vampires, Rose's steel-eyed gaze holding him captive as she moved closer to his brother. Stefan was forced to watch as Rose sat up on her knees bringing one leg over Damon's resting there while her body pressed against his side. Rose turned Damon's face towards her, and without looking away from Stefan she kissed him. Stefan had gripped the chair tightly, the sound of the wood breaking under his hand seemed softer than it was, at least compared to the noise of Rose and Damon's embrace, Stefan's enhanced hearing picking up the soft subtle, and sensual moan that Rose made.

Stefan didn't know how much longer he could take seeing Rose cling to Damon's body, their lips connected in a heated kiss. Stefan felt anger flush through his body as Damon wrapped an arm around Rose's waist. His eyes followed the sudden movement of his brother's vampire speed, Damon now with his back towards Stefan as Rose wrapped her thighs around Damon's hips, pulling him flush against her.

Damon rolled his hips, waiting for his moment. Rose threw her head back, eyes closed as she basked in the sensation of friction against her core. The moment her grey irises were covered by the flesh of her lids, Damon reached up and snapped her neck.

Pulling himself off his best friend, Damon frowned down at Rose's unconscious form. Stefan stood next to him leaning down to push Rose's hair behind her ear. "How do we get her back?" Damon asked, pointedly ignoring Stefan's gesture.

The younger Salvatore sighed, picking up Rose's limp body. Stefan headed off in the direction of the basement, Damon pulling the door open for him.

Stefan was assaulted with the memory of the last time Rose had been in the cold and damp cell of the Salvatore Boarding House. Once again laid her down to the cement floor. Both brothers loomed over her form in the dark, plagued by a storm of emotions she seemed to call forth in them.

"How do we get her back Stefan?" Damon asked again. A dark cloud sat on Stefan's features when he answered.

"We break her."