Even a cold heart like Katherine's was shaken by the shear pointlessness of all this mayhem and destruction. A slight shiver went down her spine. In the wake of Klaus's wrath, the once charming town of Mystic Falls had been turned into a blood-soaked wasteland, bodies and limbs strewn everywhere!

Her eyes now turned to the body of Elena, badly beaten and unmoving. Katherine was about to turn away, but decided to check if Elena was...

Still alive, but barely, her pulse very weak. Since she would not make it otherwise, Katherine decided to feed Elena some of her own blood and carry her back to the Salvatore estate.


Elena was now safely tucked in Stefan's bed, but still not very conscious.

"Come on Elena, wake up!" Katherine shook her, but the only response was a light moan.

So Katherine gently caressed Elena's forehead, and then moved closer to kiss her doppleganger square on the lips. That did the trick!

"Huh...what?" A very startled Elena opened her eyes, and then suddenly jumped at the sight of her evil counterpart.

"Hey sexy!" Katherine chirped flirtatiously, with a devious smile.

"Katherine, what are you doing here? Where's Stefan!"

Katherine rolled her eyes, sighing, "Off trying to make himself into the hero or martyr like usual." Then she added, "To save you of course."

"I have to see him!" Elena insisted. She tried to get up but was still too weak. Katherine comfortingly rested her hand on Elena's arm.

"You know Stefan and Damon together have more lives than a cat, and no matter what you do, they always find some way to come back. That's one thing I've learned, " Katherine explained.

At that moment, Elena realized what had happened.

"You saved my life! Why did you...?" she asked.

"Well because Stefan would probably kill himself if he found out you were dead, and..."

And Katherine couldn't bring herself to admit just how lonely she suddenly felt because of all the death around her. She longed to be near a warm body, and for some reason, right now she felt particularly close to Elena. Perhaps it was because Elena represented the human self she could have been. The humanity she wished she still had.

But that thought had to be wiped from her mind. So Katherine pounced on top of Elena and once again tried to kiss her passionately, admidst an even more shocked Elena trying to push Katherine away.

"What are you doing!" Elena gasped, trying to talk some sense into her creepy insane look-alike. But it was too late.

The adrenaline was pumping, and it made Katherine feel very much alive. Her fangs came out, and she sank them deep into Elena's jugular. With her teeth pressed into the soft skin, the girl's warm innocent blood rushed into her mouth. So sweet! Just as she'd imagined.

Right as Elena was about to pass out, Katherine stopped. Then, while licking her lips, she recomposed herself.

"Just trying to have some fun before we all die," she explained.


Katherine sure has a weird idea of fun, Elena thought to herself. Actually, Elena felt very much weirded out by the whole situation. And the weirdest part she couldn't explain was that she might have actually enjoyed that kiss. Not so much the big hickey that came afterwards, but the kiss itself was rather hot!

"You know, if you let me die, you could have had Stefan all to yourself," Elena pointed out.

Katherine shrugged, pretending not to know better, and then replied, "My dear Elena Gilbert, don't you think I love you too?"

"Well let's see, you only turned my best friend Caroline into a vampire, tried to kill Jenna, and oh yeah, you're a psychotic self-centered bitch who ... I'm really not sure if you know what love is!"

Katherine shrugged again, and then mused, "Perhaps you're right, but I really do love Stefan. And as much as it pains me to admit it, even if I snapped you like a twig..."

Katherine menacingly wrapped her fingers around Elena's neck as she spoke. Then letting go, she continued:

"It wouldn't make a difference. Well, guess right now, it'd probably turn you into a vampire...not what I really want, since it removes the satisfaction of me knowing you'll one day be an old hag. But you're not the one standing in the way anyway, Elena. It's me! Stefan can't love me because of who I am. And as much as I hate you being little miss perfect goodie-two-shoes all the time, that's what I need to be to get Stefan to love me. I need to be you, which I can't be even if I wanted to be!"

Elena found herself impressed by this short speech. She'd never actually heard Katherine talk about love or wanting to be loved. Katherine wasn't the kind of girl to open up or share her feelings like that. And maybe it was the lack of blood circulating in Elena's head right now, but Katherine actually sounded sincere. Not only that, but you could almost feel sorry for her. It was kind of touching.

"It's not really that hard, all you have to do is stop killing people and..." Elena started to reply, and then interrupting that thought she jokingly added, "Hey, we could always share Stefan. I'm sure he probably wouldn't mind."

That was a joke, right? Truthfully, it wasn't that far-fetched. The man had loved both women in his lifetime, who just coincidentally happened to look exactly alike. And even as Elena had come to accept her boyfriend's history with her evil doppleganger, there were times when she still couldn't help but feel that the real reason Stefan loved her was because she reminded him of Katherine.

Katherine's eyes gleamed at the idea Elena had just suggested.

"Oh my dear sweet Elena, I like the way you think. Maybe you do know how to have fun afterall."

Katherine then crawled back on top of Elena, her eyes gazing at Elena like she was trying to compel her, even though Elena knew that was impossible given the immense amounts of vervain in her system. Katherine whispered, "Instead of being mortal enemies, we could all be lovers."

And this time, Elena knew exactly what Katherine was thinking, so she was not surprised by what came next. She did not fight it. Vervain or no vervain, she felt compelled to kiss Katherine. In fact, it was her lips that moved first.

Maybe it was because the whole world as she knew it was probably going to end very soon?

But at this moment, it didn't matter. The two girls' bodies gyrated in motion on top of each other, as their lips locked together. To Elena, it was almost like an out-of-body experience, where she her sense of self and where she was at this moment in space. As she stared deeply into Katherine's eyes, she felt her own stare reflecting right back at her, and then back again at Katherine. Back and forth repeatedly until infinity, each time causing her to focus more intently. Finally, she closed her eyes and became aware of herself again.

And just as abruptly as they had come together, they now pulled apart. Lying side-by-side, both girls broke out giggling uncontrollably over what had just happened.

"I swear I didn't know I was gay," Katherine muttered.

"Me neither," Elena replied.

Now sober, they both just stared at the ceiling.

At first Katherine had thought she'd just been teasing, but now she realized that she really did have feelings for Elena. And this was odd, not just because Elena was a girl, or because Elena was the splitting-image of her own sexy self...I mean, who could resist a body like that...but it was odd because Katherine rarely had feelings for anyone.

And to Elena, she too was trying to make sense of the bond she had with Katherine. Was it like some kind of kinship? Afterall, they were related to each other, albeit very distantly. The kind of kinship that leads to two sweaty bodies lying next to each other? That's rather disturbing. But something she could probably learn to accept just like all the other abnormal aspects of her life. Elena had known from the moment she'd seen Stefan's picture of Katherine, that somehow she was connected to Katherine.

It was something she'd tried to deny. She'd told herself that Katherine was evil, and an enemy to everyone she loved. And for a while, this mental barrier had worked, but ever since Katherine had started fighting on her side, it had started falling apart. And all that was left was the realization that her entire life stemmed from Katherine's existence. She was the doppleganger. She was connected to Katherine in a very special way...apparently, a physical and sensual way.

Was this just lust? It was impossible for Elena to know exactly what she was feeling. There were times when she'd secretly fantasized about being with Damon, but so far she'd not given in to those urges. Katherine was proving much harder to resist.

And just lying there, it seemed like hours were going by.

"The boys should be back soon," Katherine finally mentioned to break the silence.

"Let's hope so," Elena replied. Then she turned to Katherine with a mischievous smile and added, "Or else, who knows what we'll have to do to pass the time."