The Howling ▹ Klaus Mikaelson

16.

THE HOWLING.

     16. CHAPTER SIXTEEN : how does it feel with my teeth in your heart?

"Where is Rowan? I need her."

"She's a little out of commission at the moment."

She could hear Damon talking on the phone right on the other side of the door. By the sound his steps, he was pacing.

"I don't really care about your 'girl date,' Caroline. She hasn't moved since last night, doubt she's going to a dance." She heard him sigh heavily. "Fine. Yes, I'm walking in now." The door opened and the floorboards creaked. Rowan could hear Caroline ramble on about something and then she heard a click and felt the side of the bed dip under Damon's weight.

He waited for her to talk, and he sighed when she didn't. "You need to talk, Rowan. Or at least shower. Let us know you're still alive in there."

Alive. Alive. Such a word. Yes, her heart was beating. Yes, her lungs were still working. Yes, she was physically healthy. But what she did, how she beat and nearly killed Alaric with her bare hands, it took her back to when she was on the other side of those beatings. Where she was the one being broke down until her darkest part awakened. It wasn't just that though. It was the fact that she wanted to keep going. She wanted to tumble over that edge. She wanted to kill Alaric.

You're more like me than you are them.

"I brought you something too," Damon announced, raising from the bed and going out the door. He returned a second later, surprised to see Rowan had shifted onto her back. She was looking at him as he opened the box and pulled out a beautiful flapper dress. "Caroline dropped it off hoping you'd make it to the dance tonight."

Her eyes shifted to the ceiling and Damon sighed. "Okay. Yeah, I'm not doing this."

What he thought was going to happen did not. He thought he'd lift her by the shoulders, and stand her up, get her to do something. What he didn't expect to happen was as soon as he touched her, it's like someone flipped a switch. He could feel her claws digging into his neck as she flipped him onto the bed, canines extended and eyes lit up florescent, but they were dazed like she wasn't really seeing him. A threatening growl rumbled from deep in her chest.

"Bad idea," Damon rasped. He gasped when Rowan ripped her hand away leaving small stab markings that healed immediately.

Rowan stared at her hands, still bloody from the beating she'd given Alaric. Her eyes fluttered around the room until she gingerly took the dress from the box, silently admiring it.

Damon's phone rang, and he mumbled a hold on before walking out and answering it.

Of course, she didn't hold on. Instead, she stood wobbly before straightening. She grabbed the box and headed straight for the door.

When Damon hung up with Alaric, he went back to the guest room only to find it empty.

And just as the guest room in the boarding house was empty, when Rowan opened the front door, her home was empty as well. She figured Tyler was off with Caroline and her mom was at work. She didn't understand having such a large house if no one was ever going to occupying the space. Her bare feet barely made a sound as she went up the stairs and into the bedroom, and she stopped short upon seeing a slender box lying on top of her bedspread. She kept her face passive as she removed the top and lifted the paper out of it.

It was beautiful, the drawing. Her mother used to take her to exhibits but nothing compared to this. It was a wolf running. It's eyes so lively even in two dimensional form. She sighed and placed it back in the box where it was. That's when she took notice of the scrawl at the bottom of the paper.