I knocked on the door, my duffel over my shoulder. Seconds later, it opened. Standing inside was a girl who looked exactly like me. I stumbled backwards, and inhaled sharply. Her eyes went wide as well.
"Katherine? What the hell are you doing here?" She half yelled at me. I was completely and utterly confused.
"Um... my name is Eliana Gilbert..." I said calmly, even though I was super confused. "I'm looking for a... Jenna Gilbert?"
"Cut the crap, Katherine. What are you here for?" The girl asked, obviously annoyed. I tucked a strand of my long brown hair behind my ear and sighed.
"Is Jenna here or not?" I asked, shifting my weight from my right foot to my left. She started to shut the door, but a voice stopped her.
"Elena, who's at the door?" A woman said behind her. Elena opened the door again. The woman stopped in her tracks. Then she had an ah-ha moment. So did I. That's Jenna.
"Oh! You must be Eliana. You look exactly like Elena! Social services said you were the sister, right?" She asked me. I nodded.
"Yes, Miss Browns told me that I was being sent to John's sister-in-law's house. It's very confusing." I explained. Jenna returned my nod with her own.
"I was so sorry to hear about John and Allison's deaths. Tragic." Jenna claimed. "Why don't you come in, get settled? Elena can show you to your room." I looked at Elena, who was looking me over. I wouldn't blame her. A girl who looks exactly like her, showing up at her door? I'd be acting the same.
"Where is she staying?" Elena asked Jenna, not hiding her annoyance.
"Jeremy's room, until we can fix the guest room. He's in Colorado anyways so..." Jenna explained to Elena. Elena motioned me to follow her. I walked into the house and she led me up a flight of stairs. At the top of the stairs, there were three doors. On the right was obviously Elena's room, the middle was a bathroom, and the left, I'm guessing, is my new room. I guessed correctly. Elena opened the door on the left and motioned me to go inside.
"This must be weird." I said flatly.
"Just a little." She replied, sitting on the bed. "If you're not KAtherine, who are you?"
"I'm Eliana. I should probably explain why I'm here... you obviously haven't been filled in." She nodded.
"So... John and Allison Gilbert are my parents... as you may know, John is your father, and Allison is your birth mother, but Miranda and Grayson adopted you. What you didn't know is...when Allison was pregnant with you... she wasactually pregnant with both of us. We're twins separated at birth, I guess you could say." I explained. She stared at me in disbelief.
"And last week, when John and Allison were attacked, Jenna became my legal guardian since Miranda and Grayson are..." i trailed off.
"Well... this is awkward. So... we're sisters?" Elena asked quietly. I nodded slowly.
"I have a um... date tonight. Could you maybe help me get ready? I'm not the greatest with makeup... and yours looks flawless." Elena requested. I sprung up quickly and ran to where I'd dropped my duffel. I knelt next to it and opened the large part, where my makeup bag was. It took up half the duffel. I extracted it from the duffel and set it gently on the floor. I motioned for Elena to join me down here. She sat in front of me, and I opened the bag, where I had packed it tightly so when it unzipped, half of it fell out.
"What are we going for?" I asked, picking up one of my brushes. She was thinking.
"I want something... that makes me look fierce, and matches that outfit." She pointed toward the entrance to the bathroom across the room, where there was a leather jacket, red long sleeve shirt, and blue jeans hanging on a towel hook. I started picking up brushes and eyeliner and primer, and did my job. Ten minutes later, she was ready.
"Oh em gee! I look amazing! Thank you so much!" She ran to the bathroom mirror. "Now I just need to change." She closes the bathroom door. Thirty seconds later, the doorbell rang.
"Can you get that? I think Jenna went out." Elena yelled from the bathroom. I said yeah, and jogged down the stairs. When I opened the door, someone kissed me, pulling me toward them. I pushed them off me and stepped back a few seconds later, he looked at me. He had green eyes and light brown hair. He was very hot. I tried to say something.
"I uh... Hi...?"
"Elena? You okay?" He asked me, and I laughed hysterically. He stood there awkwardly.
"I'm... not Elena." I said confidently. His eyes went wide. Less than a second later, i was shoved up against the wall in the hallway.
"Katherine. Why the hell are you here?" He started trying to choke me, lifting me off the ground by my throat. I grabbed his wrist and tried to get him to let go of me, attempting to scream. A few seconds later, Elena came running down the stairs yelling.
"Stefan! Stop it! That's not Katherine!" She yelled, shoving him off of me. I fell to the floor, catching my breath. I leaned my head against the wall and tried to breathe normally.
"Then who the hell is it? She's obviously not you!" He yelled. He was scaring me.
"Eliana." I replied, still gasping for air. Stefan froze. Elena nodded.
"You obviously don't know who Katherine really is, Elena. She'll say anything to make you believe her." Stefan said, still on the edge. He grabbed my arm and held me tightly, pulling me up off the ground. I winced.
"You're hurting me." I told him, trying to pull my arm away from him.
"No, Stefan. This is my sister. Eliana. Jenna's her legal guardian now." Elena explained. Stefan let go of my arm. He turned to look at me.
"Oh. I'm so sorry... I just..." He ran a hand through his mangled hair.
"I'll... be in the kitchen..." I walked quickly in the kitchen area, and pulled out my phone to text Angelina.
E: this town is weird AF!
A: whats going on?
E: my twin's boyfriend just kisssd me, then tried to kill me.
A: sounds great.
E: I'm gonna go to get something to eat in the town. Ttyl.
A: xo
I walked back into the hall where Elena and Stefan were talking. They turned and looked at me awkwardly. Stefan was obviously uncomfortable. Elena cleared her throat.
"We're going to the movies. Jenna should be home around 8. She went out to dinner with Alaric Saltzman." She explained, grabbing her coat off the hook by the door. Stefan waved awkwardly as he and Elena walked out. I was left alone.
I got in my car and drove where my GPS told me. I ended up at the Mystic Grill. I took my hair down from the ponytail it had been in all day. It was naturally straight, which had always been a benefit for me. I parked my car in front of the Grill, and turned it off. I'm still very confused. Who's this Katherine chick?
When I opened the door to the grill, I was greeted with noise. I made my way up to the bar, in hope they would serve me bourbon or something at least. I sat down next to some guy with black hair, wearing a leather jacket.
"Bourbon, please." I asked the bartender. He didn't even ask for an ID.
"Woah, Elena. Didn't know you had a thing for bourbon." The man next to me said in a very attractive voice. I looked at him and smiled. He turned his head to see me, right when the bartender slid the glass of whiskey toward me.
"I'm not Elena. Ugh I'm going to get tired of saying that very quickly." I rolled my eyes, taking a sip. The man's bright blue eyes went wide.
"Katherine." He said, standing abruptly. I grabbed his arm to stop him.
"Not Katherine either."
"Another Petrova doppelgänger?" He asked, sitting back down.
"Doppelgänger?" I repeated, taking another sip."I'm Eliana Gilbert. Elena's twin sister."
"Oh. So John has two daughters?" He took a sip of his drink.
"Had. He's dead. Him and my mother were killed in an animal attack last week." I downed the last of my drink and stood up.
"Wait... John's dead?" He asked, standing as well. "I'm sorry to hear that. He was an old friend." The extremely attractive guy looked at me apoligetically.
"Thanks. I'm staying with Elena and Jenna now." I said.
"Well, I'm Damon. Salvatore. You'll probably meet my brother, Stefan sometime soon." He offered his hand for me to shake. I shook it.
"I met him. He tried to kill me." I grabbed a $20 out of my pocket and put it on the bar.
"Doesn't sound like Stefan." Damon thought out loud.
"Well, first he kissed me thinking I was Elena, then he thought I was some Katherine chick, which led him to choking me." I sighed.
"Now that sounds like Stefan. You should call me sometime. We could do some more underage drinking. Or at least you could drink underage." He grabbed a napkin and a pen, wrote his number on it, and handed it to me.
"I might take you up on that. Thanks, Damon." I looked around and saw Jenna. "I need to get going."
"Of course. Have a good night." He waves, walking out.
I walked over to where Jenna was sitting with some guy. She noticed me immediately.
"Wait a sec. I got this. You're... Eliana!" She yelled as if she had just won a game show. I chuckled, nodding.
"Alaric, this is Elena's twin, Eliana. She's living with us now." Jenna explained to Alaric, her date.
"Hi." I waved.
"Were you just with Damon Salvatore?" Jenna asked me. I hope she didn't see me drinking.
"Yeah. Why?" I grabbed a strand of hair and twirled it around my finger.
"He's bad news. Stay away." Alaric interrupted. I looked at him.
"What do you know about the guy? He was a perfect gentleman." I said defensively.
"How do you know he's not a sociopathic murderer?" Alaric retorted. I felt like he knew something, but I couldn't figure out what.
"I should get home. I start school tomorrow and should get a good nights sleep." I waved to Jenna and left.
Outside, I heard a scream. I ran to where it had come from to find two people standing in an alley. A guy and a girl. The girl was screaming in pain.
"Let her go you sick freak!" I yelled, running toward them. I tackled the guy and he let her go. She fell to the ground and wept. He shook me off and I landed next to the girl. In the dim lighting of the street lamps, I saw who it was. Damon Salvatore. He had the girls blood all over his face. Purple and reddish veins were visibly flowing beneath his eyes. His eyes, though, were a dark red. I screamed. His teeth were fangs. I knew what I had to do.
It had been six years. Six years since I had last hurt someone.
I stood up and caused Damon's arm to break. He groaned and fell to the ground.
"What the hell? How did you do that?" He mumbles when I stopped.
"You're asking me what the hell?" The girl was still crying on the ground. I sat down against the wall of the building which enclosed the alley. I knew I'd be safe, if Damon tried something I could easily stop him.
"You're not a witch. How did you do that." He wasn't asking. He was demanding an answer.
"I don't know. When I was little it just started happening whenever I wanted to hurt someone. My dad said it was called "Psychic Pain Inflicting"." I explained.
"Now answer me. What the hell are you?" I crossed my arms across my chest. He rolled his eyes.
"I'm a vampire. Isn't it kinda obvious?" He motioned to the blood dripping from his chin. I shuddered. He started walking toward me, and I stood up.
"Stay back!" I yelled, taking a few steps backwards. He rolled his eyes.
"I'm not going to kill you. Yet." He said, walking closer to me.
"Take another step and I'll break all the bones in your body." I backed up some more. He put both his hands up in a surrendering way. I let out a breath of relief. A second later, he was gone. I looked around.
"Over here." He called from behind me. I turned around quickly, but he wasn't there. I looked back again and he was standing right in front of me. I screamed as he grabbed my arm.
"You won't remember any of this. You never saw me in this alley. After you saw me in the Grill, you left and drove straight home." He told me. I broke both of his legs. He screamed in pain.
"What the hell?!" He fell to the ground and groaned.
"I told you I would!" I yelled back.
"Eliana?" Elena asked. I looked up and saw her and Stefan both standing down the alley, illuminated by the street lamps. I looked back down at Damon who gave me a murderous look.
"Damon? Is that you?" Stefan asked, appearing next to him. I was speechless. Elena walked toward us, I tried to talk but the words lodged in my throat. She grabbed my shoulder and said something. I wasn't listening.
"…… you hurt him? Eliana, how?" Was all I heard.
"I-... I'm sorry... what?" I asked quietly.
"How did you hurt him?" She repeated. I rubbed my arms awkwardly.
"I can't." I said, running out of the alley. I started hyperventilating when I made it onto the sidewalk. A woman in a police officer outfit walked towards me.
"Hey, are you okay? Miss?" She shook my arm gently. I shook my head, no.
"Just breathe." She told me, pulling her radio out of her belt. It felt like my throat was closing. Black spots appeared in my vision. Suddenly, I saw the officer fall to the ground, dropping her radio.
A second later i was in someone's arms, wind blowing in my face. I was too exhausted to look who it was or where we were going. Using my magic after six years of not using it at all, let me tell you, was extremely tiring. I fell asleep quickly.
When I woke up I was in Jeremy's (my) bed. Elena and Stefan were standing in the doorway of the bedroom, arguing.
"You can't compel her! Then she won't know the monster that Damon really is." Elena shouted.
"It's safer for all of us if she forgets! It could be dangerous!" Stefan countered.
"I say no, Stefan. I'm not changing my mind!" Elena screamed, louder than I thought her voice could go.
"Would you two cut it out?" I asked, propping myself onto my elbows. "I don't care that Damon's a vampire. Or that Stefan is. I'm just as dangerous. Maybe even more." They both stared at me. Elena walked over and sat on the foot of my bed.
"Eliana... how did you hurt Damon last night?" She quietly wondered.
"Please don't comment. I'll tell you, but please." I replied, pulling the blankets over my lap. She nodded. I looked at Stefan. He nodded as well.
"I can hurt people without touching them. Without going near them." I explained. Stefan thought to himself.
"Is it magic?" He asked.
"Yes. I don't know exactly what kind, but John said that it's something I developed when I was little." I told them. Elena looked surprised.
"So that's how you broke Damon's legs?" She looked me in the eyes. I nodded.
"He's extremely murderous towards you now." Stefan said. "You should stay in the house. He hasn't been invited in." I laughed.
"Stefan, I can protect myself. And I'm going to school today. What time is it?" I picked up my phone and checked the time. 6:25 AM. I threw the blankets off and realized I was still in my jeans and T-shirt from last night.
"Hell no, Eliana. You're staying here. Even though you can protect yourself, he'll find a way to get to you." Elena told me. I rolled my eyes and looked at Stefan.
"Get out." I said to him.
"Why?" He asked.
"I'm getting changed, and unless—"
"Nope. I'll be in the kitchen." He left. I chuckled, slipping my jeans off and pulling on another pair.
"So I'm guessing there's no way to convince you to stay home?" Elena asked.
"Nope. I'm going to school." I changed my T-shirt into a maroon V-neck long sleeve shirt. I reached to my neck to fix my necklace, but it wasn't there. I screamed, and Stefan came running in.
"What's wrong?" He yelled from the doorway.
"My necklace! It's not on my neck! I never take it off! I need it! Where is it!?" I was freaking out. I dumped out my duffel and searched around in the piles of clothes. I heard Stefan whisper one word.
"Damon."