Day 57: Courtyard (Third Shift)
The air inside the Institute was getting stifling. It wasn't much different than usual, really, but knowing about all the changes done under the Institute's hood in her absence, Utena could barely stand it. The staff were so stiff, even as they pretended to be the same caring nurses as always. Landel's regurgitated voice recordings crept under her
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Obviously, that wasn't what bothered him. Who the hell cared what had her crying to sleep every night. What did bother him was the reason behind it. Because of course he could figure that out. Soul searching wasn't his favorite past time the way it was Stefan's, but that didn't mean he hadn't gone over a century without knowing a few things about himself. That was the problem with having an infinite number of decades on your hands.
This would be so much easier if she just wanted a stake in his heart like everyone else.
Yeah. Tell me about it, he thought his eyes fell on the scar on her shoulder. It was large, fresh, and sure as hell not supposed to be there on a vampire. He frowned, genuine for once-not so much out of concern as out of realization. He knew, even before he asked, thanks to Rick's moment of concern about a week ago and his mini lecture on werewolves. Rose clearly wasn't dead and Rick hadn't mentioned a word about that, so either Rose had been bitten even after Rick could remember (more than possible, at this point) or the entire thing was, in fact, just bullshit.
And if Rose had the answer, she was taking her sweet time saying.
"You know, I'd like to buy what you're selling, seeing as how that would make my life easier, but you keep leaving me with cliffhangers and no story. This isn't Friday the 13th, honey."
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"And that's why this is my last memory," she muttered under her breath before turning to face him once more. Her gaze narrowed and she jabbed his shoulder with a single finger. "You don't make friends easily. I would say this is common knowledge, but the point is, you confronted a werewolf who showed up in Mystic Falls. Unsurprisingly, you got her hackles up and she came after you. I happened to be in the way. For a short while, it looked as if the curse was just a legend and the wound was healing. Turns out its not. Everything you heard about a werewolf bite - its true. Might be handy to remember that the next time you pick a fight with someone who's bite is worse than their bark."
Still feeling restless and frustrated, unsure if she could ever reclaim that strange companionship they'd fallen into without any foundation for it now, she began to pace in front of the bench again. Her arms crossed protectively over her chest as she straightened her coat once more, though the move was more an absent habit than any reaction to the temperature. "As for why I stayed to begin with... I don't even know where to start. How much do you know about the Originals?"
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"If it is true," he said, "then how you are here?" Vampires got a one-shot deal when it came to coming back from the dead. Do it again and you were screwed. No second chances. So either she was insinuating she'd died without it being true or she'd let the fact that there'd been a cure go unsaid.
More to the point, why hadn't she said something sooner? Don't get him wrong, it was nice that she hadn't immediately gone for the throat for nearly getting her killed (which was easy enough to believe; if there was a werewolf in town, of course he wouldn't just leave it alone), but it made very little sense, too. What did she care?
And why did he care? Whatever. That was why she shouldn't have been hanging around him in the first place. If she got caught in the crossfire, that was her problem for getting involved.
Right.
Suddenly, her reaction and the conversation were both dipping into territory he knew he didn't want to deal with. That he already was dealing with on and off for awhile now. Ever since he'd turned, in all honesty-but that wasn't a discussion for today. Or any day.
Moving onto the Originals: good plan.
While Rose paced, Damon stayed where he was. He brushed a bit of snow off the edge of the bench without looking away from her. "First of our kind, all-powerful legend, big bad Klaus, blah blah blah. I know they're interested in the curse...and I know you are." His eyes narrowed. "Tell me something, where does Elena fit into it?"
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"When I woke up, I was here, and the bite looked like this. The pain was gone, the bloodlust was gone. And I had this," she added, thinking it might be important to tell him this. She held up her hand, wiggling her fingers to indicate the ring now on her finger. "If you know how to fill in the pieces in between, I'd appreciate it, but that's all I've got."
Moving on to the real topic at hand - the reason this had all started, even if they were currently waylaid by this strange little field trip, Rose fought off the strong sense of déjà vu.
"Elena's the doppleganger. The Petrova doppleganger," Rose explained quietly, looking up at him and meeting his gaze. "It's her blood that's the key to breaking the curse."
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